Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Greybar" data-source="post: 858736" data-attributes="member: 4938">"Into the wilderness", part three"Not again?"Daphna draws her sword for the second time of the night as more wolf-shapes slide amongst the trees.  It is now the third watch and the Llassa worshippers are awaiting the blessed dawn."Llassa bless us and keep us from harm.  Awake!  They're back", Arlissa incants the quick blessing and steadies herself behind her quarterstaff.  She's gotten too used to the whirl of combat.  It seems like so long ago that she was a happy scholar staring through a telescope at the stars."Damn stubborn things" Samus's shortbow is out and firing until the last possible moment, then the greataxe appears in his swift hands again.  The skull of the previous lizard-hound has now been affixed to the left shoulder of his armor, a <a href="http://home.attbi.com/~johndunk/haraiva/Articles/Culture/craftsmen.html" target="_blank">token</a> of the earlier victory.The group pulls into a more compact and efficient knot this time.  Berke speaks an arcane formula under his breath and reaches out to touch Daphna.  Her arms swell with strength and a thin smile crosses her lips.The lizard-hounds feint at one side of the group, then charge into the other.  A blur of swords and axes meet them.  Karrinkas quick wraps around one side, harrying their flanks.  Balius wraps the other way, though his axes are having a hard time crunching through scales.  The largest beast leaps upon Samus, bearing him down to one knee, its jaws wrapped around his right arm.  Its forelegs rake along his chest, ripping chunks out of flesh and leather.  A lesser man would have died on the spot.  A seasoned warrior might still have screamed.  Samus grits his teeth and uses the haft of his greataxe to lever the thing off of him.As soon as it is clear, both Balius and Karrinkas are on it.  It shook Samus' bloody from its mouth as it spun, trying to keep up with them.  But the axes and claws were too much.  Even as one tries to limp off back to the bushes, a thin ray of cold blue light springs from Berke's extended finger, bringing it down.This time they aren't quite as easy-going in their victory.  Llassa's blessings of healing, channelled by Arlissa and Daphna, are well needed.  Samus waves them off with a "I'll be fine", and sure enough when given a few moments to himself the wounds seal up.  When dawn comes, the moonborn are quite willing to give them room and quiet for their prayers.</blockquote>

Verification