Turn 33 -- Battle

"Dammit!!" curses Kersath as the first arrows fly into the camp. "ATTACK!! WAKE UP!!" he then yells to alert his companions. He then quickly draws his swords and looks toward the direction of the trees for possible attackers. He moves around a few of the crates to edge closer to Dain as an arrow hits home to the leg of the wizard. Dain yells out in pain, waking what other party members were not aroused by Kersath's warning. Looking down at his leg, the young mage sees the shaft of the arrow protruding from his heavily bleeding leg. Shock and pain hit Dain at the same time and his eyes roll back into his head as he falls to the ground unconscious.

Alerted by Kersath, Talimar sees the arrows and yells, "AMBUSH! GET UNDER COVER!! THOSE WITH INFRAVISION, INTO THE THORNWOOD! THE REST, PROTECT THE BARGE!" He then draws his longsword and prepares to head into the Thornwood. He is quickly slammed to the ground as two arrows hit him hard. Both striking the young elf in the chest. As he struggles to get under cover, another strikes him in his left arm. Reeling from the pain and loss of blood, Talimar collapses beside one of Gelderon's crates.

As he comes awake and looks at the rain of arrows embedded in the wooden crates as well as the bodies of Dain and Talimar, Randor lets out a shout, "By Tyr's hand you shall be punished! And if ye be goblins we'll cut you down like the dogs you are!" He then moves over to the still form of Dain and begins to bandage the young mage's wounds, removing the arrows in the process. Placing his right hand over the wound in Dain's leg while grasping his holy symbol of Tyr with his left, Randor slowly begins mouthing a prayer to his god. He can feel the healing power of his god flowing through him and into the still form of Dain as he finishes the prayer. Looking down at the wound, he sees a clear place on Dain's leg where a few moments before had been torn flesh. He quickly checks Dain's pulse and as it gets stronger he feels comfortable that the mage will live.

Randor feels a bit drained from the exertion of healing Dain and decides he will take up a watch over his fallen comrade while catching his breath.

"And even if yer not goblins we'll be cuttin' you down too!" yells Garth in response to Randor's challenge. Grabbing his mace and preparing himself to rush into the melee, Garth notices the crumbled form of Talimar and instead goes over to check his wounds. As he gets to the elf, Garth realises that Talimar is not breathing! Rolling the elf onto his back and raising his head, Garth quickly removes the arrows from his body.

"Lady, please be with me." prays Garth as he begins to heal the wounds of his new companion. Much like Randor, Garth feels the healing energy that was bestowed unto him from his God use his body as a transport to heal Talimar. Garth slumps from the effort of healing Talimar and looks at his companion. Talimar's breathing has returned but is extremely shallow at best and he is still bleeding from several wounds.

"Oh please lady," asks Garth, "Give me the strength to heal him!"

"Gelderon, get your people under cover behind your goods!" shouts Beleg as he rolls out of his bedroll, grabbing his shield and helm immediately. He then sets his shield in front of him between himself and the treeline, bastard sword in hand as he scans the trees for sign of attackers. Ras takes the opportunity to move behind the protection offered by the large warrior. Druckner, Gnore, Ortho and Kre after rising from their slumber quickly attempt to make sense of what is happening. Seeing the large warrior Beleg crouched behind his shield with his eyes to the treeline, Ortho quickly sets his shield in front of him and crouches down behind it as well, Kre moving to take up a defensive position behind him also. Gnore moves to take up defence among the crates as Druckner appears to simply disappear into the night.

"Regroup!" yells Kersath from his position among the crates, "Keep those shields up, but be prepared! We need to attack together and protect the rest!" After this, a second volley of arrow fire emerges from the treeline to thud home among the companions. Having a portion of his leg exposed behind his shield, Ortho takes a grazing wound to his thigh. Kre is less fortune as he takes a minor wound to his left arm. The remainder of the arrows simply bounce off the shields of the companions or find refuge among the goods of Gelderon.

After this last volley of arrows is finished, Ortho begins whispering a few strange words of power and then points his finger toward the treeline. Somewhere among the front row a tree begins glow with an eerie mystical light. The area around it is alight and the party makes out three humans among the trees.

Screaming a loud war-cry, one of the men in the trees comes running out wielding a longsword and shield. As he gets to the camp, Beleg stands up to absorb the swing of the man with his shield. He then takes the opportunity to return the mans attack, his being much more successful! Catching the man with a downward swing of his great bastard sword, the blade crushing down to sever the man's left arm at the shoulder. The bandit looks at his dismembered arm on the ground, still grasping his shield, before he falls to the ground dead.

At the same time, the remaining men come charging out of the treeline to engage the party. Five men in all come streaming out of the trees to attack the encampment. Ortho intercepts two of the men as Kre misses one of the men with his thrown daggers.

In the treeline, Druckner has successfully come upon the men unawares and after surprising one of the bandits, he catches the man in the chest with his battle-axe, crushing through his ribs to split the man's chest open. The man's surprised eyes lock onto Druckner's as he falls to the ground, his organs spilling out of his exposed chest. Druckner looks around to see that no one else has seen him and then he scans the trees west of his position, looking for more bandits to ambush.

Back at the camp, Ortho's lit tree blinks out as he sees another man emerge from the treeline. As he looks at the man, Ortho thinks that he's rather short for a human. A flash of lightning illumines the area and Ortho is able to make out the man's features. He appears to be dark-haired with a swarthy complexion. Ortho then notices that the mans right eye is missing and the socket appears to be covered with a black eyepatch. The man looks at Ortho and points at the dwarf, "Get that one as well!" he shouts to his men.

Ortho doesn't have time to think about the man's command as he is quickly engaged with one of the larger bandits swinging his longsword menacingly. Ortho dodges the mans attack and returns it but he only manages to hit the bandits shield.

Seeing the new bandit who appears to be the leader, Ras takes out two of his daggers and throws them at the man. The first narrowly misses the leader's head while the second strikes him in his left shoulder. Garth and Randor both look at each other across the camp and then at the leader before rising. Garth makes a few hand gestures, drawing energy into his body before pointing to the leader and commanding, "DIE!" The man simply looks at the dwarven priest and laughs! Meanwhile, Randor has picked up three small stones from the ground, transferring energy from his body to the stones, he puts them in his sling to be launched at the strange man. With a whirl, the three stones fly out towards the man, the first striking him in the chest as the others fly by harmlessly. Keeping up the assault on the leader, Kre steps up from his position behind Ortho and throws a couple of daggers at him, both managing to strike him in the chest!

Back at the front line, Gnore steps out from around one of the crates and with a mighty swing of his bastard sword, catches one of the thieves across his right leg, severing it about mid-thigh. The man drops his weapon and desperately clutches at the gaping wound where the rest of his leg used to be, blood flowing unabated onto the ground. Ortho dodges another blow from his assailant, who is becoming desperate, as Beleg brings another of the bandits to the ground dead, a gaping wound on the side of the mans head spilling his brains to the ground. Seeing as his companions are taking care of the underlings, Kersath moves out of the safety of the crates and takes on the leader. The man easily dodges a blow from the swift ranger but is unable to hit Kersath with a blow of his own. As the realisation of the futility of their attack dawns on the leader, he speaks a strange word and from no where, some type of magical wings sprout from his back. As he rises in the air, Kersath takes a futile swing at the man with his longsword as Kre and Ras both throw daggers at the man as well. He looks at the party and speaks, "Remember me, you fools! I will have your heads!" And with that he streaks off into the night sky.

With their leader having deserted them, the remaining two bandits take futile swings at Beleg and Ortho both before trying to bolt from the camp. Beleg deflects the blow of his assailant and returns it with a vicious one of his own. The man's head goes flying across the encampment, the body taking a step or two more before falling limply to the ground. As the last thief misses Ortho, he turns and runs from the battle. Unfortunately, he runs right into Druckner emerging from the woods.

"Take him alive!" yells Kersath from the other side of the camp, a bit too late though. Druckner catches the man with an awful blow to his stomach, the bandit falling to the ground trying desperately to close the wound that means his death.

As Kersath scans the now-quiet battlefield, he looks over at the still forms of both Dain and Talimar, who have yet to come to from their wounds. Talimar's breathing is still very shallow at best.

"Watch over him," tells Kersath to Randor and Garth, "I'm going to look through those trees and make sure there aren't more waiting out there for us." He then silently disappears into the treeline. He emerges a few minutes later, shaking his head.

"I coulda told ye that!" says Druckner, "I looked all through them woods meself 'fore I came out ta find that fella there tryin' to get away." He shakes his head as he looks at the dead man, his hands still firmly clasped in an effort to hold his innards inside him.

Beleg, Gnore, and Druckner set about securing the camp just in case other attacks come in the remaining night. The slight rain is still falling as the others set about to make sure that Dain and Talimar will be ok.