Meanwhile...
Brutus quickly turns around and rushes out of the room with the brazier and back into combat. His long legs easily put him back into the thick of things. He can see that Meridith is fumbling around in the dark and that Aureus is pointing at something down the north corridor with her eyes closed. He rushes past both of them and sees both Timmins and Wieland engaged with another cultist. Beyond them, the double doors are now open and an eerie red glow emanates from it. He growls in the darkness around him.
"Brutus," Aureus says as she opens her eyes.
"There is an invisible foe in the corridor. He's standing right behind you to your left."
The young half-ogre catches his breath and looks for this invisible foe. He scans the corridor but cannot see anyone near him besides the two fallen cultists laying near him and Aureus. He also can't hear anyone moving near but the sound of blades, armor, bears growling, and people running overload his senses.
"I don't see or hear anything. Are you sure?"
"Yes!"
The cultist flanked by Timmins and Wieland sees Brutus coming and shifts away from the onrushing half-ogre and Timmins. He swings his mace at Wieland and manages to connect with the young guard's right side. There is a crunch of bone and Wieland gasps and grimaces.
One of the cultists facing off against Angus steps back and casts another spell. Angus recognizes the same incantation that one of the other, now fled, cultists used on his lance once before. But he doesn't aim it towards Angus, he aims down the north corridor at Wieland. The
shatter spell resonates on the young soldier's scale armor with a piercing howling sound. Wieland watches in disbelief as his armor comes apart on him. The floor of the corridor is soon scattered with bits of metal.
"What the..." Wieland says in shock.
The other cultist stays where he is and tries to cast another spell, carefully. It doesn't matter. he bumps into the open door again and the spell fizzles. He curses his bad luck and at the door.
Aureus knows where the unseen foe is and where to shoot. She knows that hitting him won't be a given but she lets her ears be her guide. Both her shots twang through the air but all they hit is the stone wall. Aureus growls in frustration.
"Did you get it?" Meridith asks.
"Does it sound like I got it?" Aureus barks back.
"Find that... wizard," Timmins yells to Brutus and the others. "We've got this one." He turns to Wieland. "You okay, lad?"
"My armor!" Wieland yells.
"It was passed down to me by my grandfather!"
"Worry about it later," Timmins says as he steps towards the cultist and slices at the man with his longsword. The cultist deflects both strikes deftly with his shield. "Damn."
"You will have to do better than that," the cultist mocks the old warrior.
"I don't have to kill you," Timmins says with a smile. "I just have to keep you busy until the centaur is done with your friends."