5. The Wood of Sharp Teeth

Caught up in all the excitement, Stella's thoughts slide by too fast for her to make sense of. When they're out of this situation and have some peace, she might be able to sort it out or ask Aldous for more details.

If Viconia's laid a trap... Well. There's not much to be done about it now.

With Aldous slung to Aiwe's back and Koveras grimly watching the rear, the group moves out.

Chaos assaults their senses. Smoke, blood, the clash of metal on metal, the screams of the fighting and the dying. The bandit camp is tearing itself apart.

Instead of a large unruly mob, the forces have all splintered and spread throughout the camp to fight their battles in small groups. The more skilled combatants stalk the battlefield, seeking out easy targets, while the most craven are cut down as they try to flee the nightmare.

The four companions move as quickly and silently as they can, trusting in Stella's magic to keep them safe. And for the most part, it does! The eyes of enemies seem to slide right off of the group, and the few bandits who pass too close are easily put down.

They just make it to the stream below the party's hiding place when a mote of fire flits past them through the air. It's obviously magical in nature. And it's obviously a fireball spell."Tazok!" A voice magically booms over the battlefield. "Your prisoners flee!"

A mage in purple robes strides across the battlefield. He's portly, even for a dwarf, but he shines with a nimbus of arcane power. He must have somehow tracked the group in its sneak across the killing ground.

Round 1 Player Phase!

Round 1 Summary

The roar of the fireball ends and its flames die away. Somehow, all of Stella and Aiwe's group are alive. Aldous manages to put his back against a large rock and lift himself onto his foot, grunting the words to a spell as his hands clutch at the air in clumsy arcane gestures.

Above, the Flaming Fists follow orders and unleash a volley of crossbow bolts at the dwarven mage. Six bolts fly towards the mage, and six bolts stop dead in the air just before impact, then fall to the ground. A ripple of purple magic around the mage reveals his trick: a spell that wards him against most projectiles.

Unfortunately for the mage, such a spell doesn't hinder Dieter's arrows at all, which he fires from a magical longbow. One such arrow pierces his hand, an expert shot, forcing him to drop his spellcasting focus - some sort of glass sphere. It's too large for Stella's familiar to grip well, but the bird does manage to scoot it several feet away from the mage. When he tries to pursue, Stella's radiant bolt hits him in the shoulder, lighting him up for all to see.

This dwarven mage is made of tough stuff, though, and manages to keep concentrating on his defensive spell. He points a finger at Stella's familiar, ready to zap it with a mere cantrip, when Aiwe's silence spell slams into place on the area. The mage's lips turn in a silent snarl as his spell fails, and then to an expression of fear as he realizes his doom. Looking for a way out of the silence sphere, he turns to run...

But not before Koveras catches him! Patches of flame eating at his close, it seems the half-orc chose not to jump into the stream, but instead charge the wizard head-on. But how did he cover so much ground so quickly? It's a sore point for the wizard, who takes a nasty slash on his arm from Koveras' longsword (Koveras deals 13 dmg to Mage). The half-orc looms over the dwarven mage, but grips the sword in only one hand. The other arm looks too severely burned for use in battle at the moment.

As warrior and wizard glare at each other, each sporting grievous wounds, it's hard to say who might come out the victor. But while the mage is alone, Koveras isn't.

Twin fire snakes swim through the air, unleashed from Aldous' outstretched hand, and streak across the battleground, into the effect of Aiwe's silence sphere, and bite into the dwarven mage with searing fangs (Aldous casts Scorching Ray, deals 14 dmg to Mage), then dissipate into smoke.

The mage, somehow still alive, drops to his knees before Koveras and lifts a bloody hand in surrender.

The party doesn't have time to celebrate the victory, however, for the battle between bandits still rages around them - and at least one of them heard the dwarven mage's initial call.

Tazok steps out of the fray nearby. In one hand he brandishes his sword, and the deceased Ardenor Crush that lies impaled on it. In the other massive hand he holds Taurgosz above the ground by his helmet. The Blacktalon leader's legs kick as he futilely punches at Tazok's arm. Until Tazok squeezes, muscles in his arm bulging, and crushes the helmet in his palm.

The half-ogre's gaze falls on the party and his escaped captives. "Do I feed your livers to crows, or do I EAT THEM MYSELF!!!"

He charges towards Aiwe and Stella, the nearest of the companions.

Round 2 Player Phase!!