Book III, Part 2
Five hippogriffs dove toward the adventurers, exposed atop the crest of a rocky hill.
But the companions were far from helpless, and their attacks lanced into the diving creatures. Benzan sighted and fired his bow, drawing and releasing the second even before the first had covered half the distance to its target. His first arrow hit the lead creature in the breast, digging deep into its muscled flesh and dragging a screech of pain and fury from it.
The others, following his lead, targeted the same creature with their weapons. Lok’s arrow, backed by the potent force of the minotaur pirate’s longbow, narrowly missed, as did the bolts from the crossbows of the two crewmen, but Cal’s crossbow scored a hit, the bolt burying into the creature’s wing. It faltered, its momentum carrying it down quickly, but it managed to maintain control of its dive even when Delem sent a pair of magical missiles darting into its body.
Benzan’s second arrow missed, and then there was no more time; the diving hippogriffs swept down out of the sky and tore into them.
The tiefling hurled himself desperately aside as the injured leader lashed out at him with its powerful foreclaws. He felt a claw rip into his tunic as he spun away, shredding the cloth but failing to get a grasp on the mithral links of chainmail beneath. As he finished his dive he came up into a smooth crouch, his scimitar slicing out of its scabbard at the ready.
Of the others, however, only Lok fared equally well in that first strike, holding his ground and absorbing the creature’s momentum with his shield as it tried to find purchase through his heavy armor. Delem tried to duck under the rush of another but felt a hot sting across his back as its claws dug deep into his flesh. It landed a few feet away and spun to come at him again, but Dana quickly moved to block its path to the vulnerable sorcerer.
Another dove into one of the Raindancer crewmen, catching the hapless sailor as he tried to dodge out of its path. Both claws ravaged the man, and as the hippogriff’s momentum carried it forward it knocked him roughly down the far slope of the hill, coming to rest finally in a bloody tangle at its base.
The last creature attacked Cal, who for once would not have minded being overlooked. Cal tried to dodge out of its path, but at the last instant once claw latched onto his shoulder and yanked him roughly up into its grasp. Electing not to land at all, the hippogriff instead spread its wings and continued on past the hilltop back up into the air, bearing the struggling gnome with it.
“One of them’s got Cal!” Lok shouted in warning, but the rest of them were too busy defending themselves to intervene. The genasi tore into his attacker with his axe, cutting a great wound in its chest, but that only seemed to drive the creature on into a frenzy as it tore at him with claws and beak. None of the attacks hit, deflected by Lok’s magical armor and shield, but neither was he able to break free from its surging rush.
Benzan had a better chance, fighting an already critically wounded adversary, but as he slashed at it he stumbled on some loose stones, and only barely kept his footing. The hippogriff was quick to take advantage of his misfortune, lashing into him with its claws and beak. His agility and armor protected him against the first lashing claw and the stabbing beak, but its final claw scored his unprotected leg, drawing multiple gashes across the limb as he dodged backward from the creature’s grasp.
Meanwhile, Delem and Dana also had their hands full with their attacker. Dana successfully drew its attention away from Delem, but then had her hands full dodging its powerful attacks. One claw slashed her despite her efforts, trailing a line of blood across her torso. Her own blows seemed to have little effect, but Delem used the distraction to launch a stream of fire into its flank, injuring it.
The last hippogriff turned on the remaining crewman, who tried to fight off the creature with his mace, but fell before it as it stabbed its long beak into his chest. The man’s screams, combined with the sound of rending flesh, sent a chill down the spines of each of the remaining combatants as they fought desperately to repulse the vicious creatures. With two allies down, and another carried off, and none of the creatures yet dispatched, the situation looked grim for the companions.
Cal, meanwhile, dangled in the grasp of the hippogriff, high above the rocky ground below as it carried him back toward its lair. He had a good idea of what it intended for him when it arrived, and the thought gave him an additional burst of energy as he reached one of his pockets and drew out a wand. Without hesitating he twisted around and fired a color spray up into the beast’s face. The angle was bad, so the colors didn’t hit the creature’s eyes directly, but the sudden display was enough to get the hippogriff to release him.
Cal fell, and the ground, eighty feet below, rushed up to meet him.
Benzan lashed out again at his wounded opponent, and this time the magically keen scimitar cut deep, tearing a wide gash in its throat. Even as the creature fell he was running in the direction that the creature carrying Cal had headed, sheathing his sword and drawing his bow as he went. He saw the burst of color and Cal’s fall, and his breath caught in his chest.
Lok, meanwhile was trading blows with his adversary. The hippogriff got through his defenses with a powerful slash of its claws, but took in turn a devastating attack that ripped open its chest. Staggered, but still managing to fight on, the creature swarmed over Lok, who held his ground stoically against its attacks.
Dana and Delem continued their two-pronged attack on their opponent. Dana could have retreated from the hippogriff as it turned back at Delem, but instead she came in at it again, raining a flurry of blows at it that drew it angrily back to her. The move cost her, as it tore into her with beak and claw, nearly dragging her under it to be torn to pieces. She was able to dodge free, although her steps were no longer sure and bright red blood spotted her garments in several places. Delem attacked it again, sending a pair of magic missiles into it, but could not follow up as the last creature, having finished off the Raindancer crewmen, leapt to attack him. Unarmored and virtually unprotected, the sorcerer suddenly felt very vulnerable.
Cal fell half of the distance to the ground before he recovered enough to utter a word of magic, hastily invoking a spell. The result was immediate, and his fall eased to a gentle drift, like that of a falling feather.
He landed just in time to see the hippogriff he’d stunned wheel around and dive at him again.
Lok finally finished off his adversary with a defiant roar, and immediately charged to the aid of the hard-pressed Dana and Delem. Delem had drawn his wand of sleep, and only narrowly dodged out of the way as the onrushing hippogriff collapsed where he had been standing only moments before. Dana, meanwhile, continued her retreat, drawing her adversary after her. She saw Lok coming and angled toward him, but before she could reach him the hippogriff caught up to her.
She tried to twist away, but her considerable skill could not save her as the creature pounced upon her.
Cal cast another spell as the hippogriff dove right for him, but the creature shook off the whispered lull of the magical sleep. It was not able to shake off the long arrow that slammed into its chest, however, or the burning pain of the acid that immediately began to ravage its flesh. Screeching in anger and pain, the creature tried to veer off and retreat, but barely managed two beats of its powerful wings before another arrow slammed deep into its body. Staggered, the creature lurched drunkenly through the air for another few yards, then plummeted to the hard ground below.
Lok charged full-on into the hippogriff that was tearing at Dana, slamming his shield into its chest and bodily forcing it back from the bleeding and unconscious monk. It screeched in anger and tore at him, but its attacks were unable to penetrate the genasi’s defenses. Lok slammed it again, lifting the front of its body off of the ground with brute strength, and then ripped his axe through its belly. The creature screamed as Lok pushed it over into a thrashing heap, finishing it with one more blow to its throat from his deadly axe.
Delem was already crouched over Dana’s bleeding form, focusing the extra mental effort to summon a spell of healing. Luckily, Lok had reached her just in time to keep her from being torn apart by the hippogriff, but it had only been a matter of seconds. The two, fighter and sorcerer, shared a sigh of relief as the young woman stirred, and opened her eyes.
“Thanks,” she said, gingerly getting up. She closed her eyes and whispered the words of an invocation to Selûne, adding her own healing power to further restore her. The spell took a few seconds longer than normal, and some additional concentration, but finally the blue glow of healing suffused her battered frame. That finished, she took out her healing wand.
“What about the sailors?” she asked.
Lok, who’d seen what was left of the two men, shook his head.
“A close one,” Delem commented, as Dana used her wand to treat his injuries.
“We got complacent,” Benzan growled, as he and Cal came up and rejoined them, both somewhat the worse for wear from their encounters with the hippogriffs. “And careless. No tactics to speak of, and we let those things come at us from all sides, and take out the weaker fighters.”
“They came at us from above,” Delem protested. “There really wasn’t anything more we could have done.”
“Tell that to Jerim and Corwin,” Benzan snapped, gesturing toward the ravaged corpses of the two sailors.
“This isn’t accomplishing anything,” Cal said. “Let’s get back to the ship. We’ll take the bodies of the sailors for a proper burial.”
Their mood darkened, the five of them headed quickly back toward the waiting Raindancer.