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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lars Frehse" data-source="post: 613035" data-attributes="member: 1674">Serpent in the fold- part 2Before Niklas could duck down again, he and Torn heard the sound of a whistling arrow which was flying towards them. As they turned around, Torn noticed that the arrow had landed just a few yards away from them and that there was a piece of paper wrapped around it's shaft.He grabbed the arrow, and as he returned to his friends, he read the letter to Niklas, who was walking next to him.Good day again,as you can see, we hold the villagers hostage. If you want them to live, one of you shall go ahead and hand over Chardun's tome on the market square. If you do not comply, each and everyone of the villagers will die. We will start by killing the mothers in front of their children and then let the fathers watch their children die before they, too will die. This means that unless you hand over the tome, their blood will be on your hands.Any attempt to fool us will result in the villagers' death as well. Decide quickly, for we will start killing one hostage with each hour that passes within one hour.Tears of Her EnemiesFor Tears of Her Enemies, everything had worked out even better than she would have dared hoping for. She had succeeded in winning over the pair of Surged Giants who were living in the hills. She knew that it would take the giants only one swing with those oversized fists of theirs to kill her in an instant, but she succeeded in winning them over. Apparently, the pair had wanted to attack the village for quite a while, but they were afraid of the watchmen's arrows and pikes. So she walked ahead, protected by an invisibility spell, and casting sleep spells at the village's defenders they took the village by surprise. From then on, locking away the men and finding a new use for the fences around the village to put the weaker hostages on display for anyone who approaches had been easy.When she had discovered one of her hated enemies next to town, she slightly raised from her position on a roof and shot the arrow with the message into his vicinity. She watched him and the halforc returning back to the edge of the forest with the arrowthen, and she knew that they had taken the bait.Half an hour later, she saw the Paladin of Corean coming down the path between the fields, his shining armor glowing with the red light of the fire in her back. There was none of the others of his group with him and when he was standing merely ten yards from her, she signalled him to stop. In her back, each giant was holding up one woman in his functioning hand, and they were waiting for her signal to squish them in their hands, the way a human would squish a tomato."I think there is no need to waste time with any formal talk", she hissed, smiling gleefully at the expression of worry in the human's face:" Hand over the tome, and the villagers will live."."The giants should put the women back to the ground first!"Tears of Her Enemies was infuriated. What was this human thinking, giving orders to her, a proud woman of the Red Witches? It was time to teach him a lesson in humility. After all, they had more than enough hostages, so that one more or less wouldn't matter. She raised her left hand over her shoulder and snapped her fingers.Recognizing the signal, one of the giant's faces was further distorted by a sadistic grin. He pressed his hand, and amidst the sound of cracking bones and her screams of agony, he pressed until her intestines exploded and her head fell of like a doll's.By that time however, Ben tumbled out of the air in the middle of the pen, and then Niklas appeared, who kicked at the giant's leg. At the same time, Jan drew his sword, moving forward to attack Tears of Her Enemies, and Torn charged around the corner of one of the huts.In spite of the surprising development of things around her, Tears of Her Enemies was ready. She knew that the godsfollowers were likely to react irrationaly, and so she was able to cast a quick spell just before the Paladin could reach her. Three magic missiles hit Jan, but he ignored the magical effects crashing in him, and focusing his divine wrath, he hacked at the red witch, wounding her severly at the shoulder.Meanwhile, Niklas landed two more punches against the giant in front of him, who roared up in pain and then smashed the monk with his fist. Niklas rolled with the punch, but still, even though he was able to dodge the fist itself, it's knuckles caught him in the side, and as he heard a sickening, crunching sound from his chest, he felt how all air was knocked out of him and he tasted blood in his mouth.As the other giant rampaged through the village's women and children around him, killing at random, panic broke out. The  women and those children old enough desperately climbed the fence, some of them holding up their toddlers or dragging other children along them. The screams and wailing drowned all other sounds and flooded all senses like a frantic cacophony. Then, on one part were several women were trying to climb the fence at once, the wood gave away, crashing outward and immediately all survivors in the pen streamed towards the opening, oblivious to what they were trampling over underfoot, as if they were a mass of water that had been held back by a dam which had now broken.By then, Niklas had Tears of her Enemies with her back against a remaining wall. Her only route of escape had been blocked by Torn, so she cast a spell of invisibility again. Torn slashed his chain at where she had disappeared, but his metal hit nothing. At that moment, however, Jan noticed how the dirt of the ground was moved. Guessing that it had been caused by the Red Witch who had dodged the chain, Jan thrusted his sword at where he expected her to be, and with grim satisfaction, he felt how his blade hit on resistance for a moment, only to penetrate it. Then, he saw blood running down the blade, and a second later the Slitheren got visible again: impaled on his sword like a fish on a stick, ready to be held over the fire. Looking up, he saw that her toothy mouth stood open, and her dead eyes still had the look of surprise to them.Niklas and Ben kept on fighting, unaware of the fleeing villagers around them. While Niklas concentrated on avoiding the giant's brutal fist, Ben kept on healing him whenever he was hit. Then, as the other giant stepped over the fence, going after the killers of the Slitheren, Niklas jumped up and rammed his fist deeply into the giant's abdomen. Surprisingly, the skin, which was already way too tight over too many muscles ripped open and the Surged Giant watched helplessly as his intestines spilled out, covering both Ben and Niklas in stinking blood and gore.The dying giant fell backwards as his mate reached Torn and Jan. He hit Jan, and as if he were nothing more than an empty can, he smashed the armor, leaving the knocked out Paladin in his now useless armor on the ground. Now, it was only Torn left. The Halforc attacked the giant, cutting open an arm of his opponennt and then he braced himself for his opponent's answer.At one of the larger houses, the door burst open and the villager's men, hollow-eyed and weakened after having been locked in there for two days now, came out. Immediately, they headed for their homes, where they would pick up their bows. Torn didn't have the chance to watch their escape, though. The giant's fist came at him with unearthly speed and as he was punched into the ground, several bones snapping, a merciful darkness embraced him.Niklas was heavily wounded, but he saw no other chance to gain time for his two dying friends, and so he tumbled to the remaining giant and hit him in the leg. He focused all his attention at his superior opponent as the giant, unexpectedly, turned away and ran. The loss of his mate and the witch was too much for him, and even though he was dimly aware that he could take many more of those pesky smallish people with him, he keenly remembered the pain of arrows hitting him when he had approached the village in the past.As the giant ran away, all in the village forgot their many losses for a while. There would be time and need for grief and desperation later- now all those who could shouted and screamed as the basic animal joy of having survived took hold of them.</blockquote>

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