There were only two of the Ravagers left for the party to question; one of the hin barbarians, and the cansin with dragonfly wings. Knowing the cansin was a mage, they decided to keep her unconscious and interrogate the hin instead. The party watched for a while as some of the circus hin poked at their Fiel-worshipping kinsman with knives and hot pokers, retaliation for the terror caused by one of them own race. The Ravager’s scar-covered body barely showed the blood and burns, and he was laughing between screams.
“Somehow I don’t think torture will get us results here,” Kavan said.
“I think we’ll need to try a different approach,” Arrie said.
“Should we grab a feather?” Osborn offered.
“Kyle,” Arrie said, “maybe we could trick him into telling us where their camp is. He can’t be too bright.”
“Maybe,” Kyle replied, “but that’ll take time.”
“We don’t have that time,” Autumn said. “I don’t think the villagers will last the night.”
Kavan closed his eyes, sighed, and then stepped forward. “I can try something,” he said. “My Talent is the ability to influence minds so that people are more friendly toward me and more likely to want to help me.”
“Really?” Lanara said. “I didn’t know that. You’ve never talked about your Talent before.”
“I haven’t used it in quite a while,” the elf replied. “I used to use it all the time, in my… former career. Using it brings back unpleasant memories. But as Autumn says, this is important, and we don’t have time to waste.”
Kavan walked up to the bound hin, who was still laughing at his captors. Kavan concentrated a moment, then smiled and asked the hin if he could help find his camp. The hin’s reply was to spit in the elf’s face. Kavan walked back to the group, wiping the spittle off his face.
“Sorry, everyone,” he said. “I’m afraid it didn’t work. I’m out of practice.”
“It’s okay, Kavan,” Lanara said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “We appreciate you trying. But I think I can handle things from here.” Lanara began walking toward the prisoner, unslinging her lute as she walked.
Osborn’s father, Bartlebee, walked up to the group as they watched Lanara work. “What’s going on?”
“Lanara’s about to find out how to get to the Ravager’s camp, Dad. There were some prisoners taken from that town.”
“Prisoners, eh?” Bartlebee said. “Well, then, I guess I’d better get ready, then.”
“Ready for what?” Osborn asked.
“To go with you, of course,” he replied. “You folks are pretty beat up already after taking care of that raiding party, and you’ll need the help. Besides, we owe you for helping us, so this is how I can repay you.”
“Sir,” Tolly began, “we appreciate the offer, but I am sure your son would…”
“Nonsense!” Bartlebee blurted, cutting Tolly off, “who do you think taught Osborn everything he knows?” The middle-aged hin turned and dashed off toward his wagon.
Lanara walked up as they watched Bartlebee run off. “I’ve got it,” she said, tapping her finger on her temple. “It’s about two hours ride from here. If you want to get there before sunset, we’d better move.”
As the party moved to get ready, one of the circus hin ran up to Tolly. “What should we do with the prisoners, sir?” he asked.
Tolly looked back at the bound hin. “They are pillagers and looters,” he said flatly. “Kill them.”
* * *
The party rode as fast as they could toward the Ravager camp. With Kavan and Tolly’s horses dead, they had to double up, which slowed them somewhat, and the fact that their horses were already tired from the previous ride didn’t help. Still, they managed to get to the camp before the sun dipped below the horizon.
They spotted the Ravager camp about a half-mile away, perched on the side of a small hill. Dismounting, they tied their horses in a small grove of trees and approached on foot. A wall of wooden spikes pointing outward to ward off riders surrounded the camp. The main gate was a barn door, which appeared to have been carried off whole and driven into the ground. The entire stockade was about two hundred yards across. After some initial planning, the party sent Osborn to scout out the garrison. He returned after about half an hour.
“There are some sort of magical runes on the gate,” Osborn reported. “As for the walls, I think I could squeeze through the gaps, or they might be climbable. Inside is just a bunch of tents, with one wooden building. I’m assuming their leader is in the building. About halfway up the hill, there’s a cage made of grasses that’s holding prisoners. I’d say ten to twenty people, I couldn’t tell for sure where I was.”
“A grass cage?” Autumn looked confused. “That doesn’t seem very secure.”
“I think they’re being held more by fear than anything,” Osborn said. “Anyway, inside I saw a couple of giant spiders like that tiefling was riding, and a couple of barbarians – humans and orcs again. I also saw a cansin with butterfly wings that looked an awful lot like the one back at the circus.”
Arrie looked at Lanara. “How come you didn’t get wings?”
“I picked pink hair instead,” she said sarcastically.
“There was another prisoner, too,” Osborn said. “An old human, in a loincloth, chained to a stake outside the leader’s home. He looks like he’s been there for a while. He must be some sort of special prisoner.”
“You know,” Bartlebee said, “it seems strange that the Ravagers would build such a permanent structure here. There’s nothing here worth guarding as far as I can tell, and Ravagers usually stay mobile so they can spread death and pain further.”
“What is the ground like around the wall?” Tolly asked.
“The ground? I don’t know, it was… dirt. Like this.” He dug his fingers into the soil at their feet.
“I can soften the earth around the gateposts, and we could push it over,” Tolly said.
“Why not save that for the cage?” Arrie suggested. “We are here to save the prisoners, after all.”
“We could enter the camp near the cage,” Xu offered. “That way we could get them out more rapidly.”
“Good idea,” Arrie said. “We sneak up to the wall, bust in, and run out. Hey, you know what would be good, Tolly? A spell that makes us quiet.”
“I don’t have such a spell available,” Tolly said. “It’s not one I asked Ardara for today.”
Arrie looked cross. “Why not?”
“Because it’s not one of the spells I pray for when traveling,” he replied. “I did not get up this morning expecting to fight a clan of Fiel-worshipping barbarians.”
Arrie sighed, then looked at Kavan and Kyle, both of whom shook their heads to indicate they didn’t have a spell that would do what Arrie wanted.
“I think we are approaching this the wrong way,” Tolly said. “If we all go to free the prisoners, then the Ravagers will come to stop us, and they can bring their full force to bear while we’re trying to defend the townsfolk. Instead, why not send a few to rescue the prisoners, while the rest of us assault the gate as a distraction? I should point out that besides freeing the prisoners, destroying this cult before they strike again would be a good idea.”
“That’s a great plan!” Osborn said. “I’ll go free the prisoners.”
“I’ll go with you,” Bartlebee said.
“Xu, you’re pretty nimble,” Arrie said. “You should go with them, too.”
“You may need some magical assistance,” Tolly said, “I will accompany you as well.”
“You, Tolly?” Autumn asked. “You’re not exactly stealthy like the others.”
“I can remove my armor and pack it in with me,” he said. “That should help me be quiet. The armor is enchanted to be simple to don, so if there’s trouble I can be ready in a few moments.”
“Why not send Kyle with them? He doesn’t have to worry about armor.”
“Because, Lanara, Kyle may have to deal with the wards on the gate. Kyle, I assume you have a
dispel magic prepared?”
“Sure do,” Kyle replied.
“Here, Tolly, take this,” Osborn said. “It’ll help.” He handed the priest his
ring of invisibility.
“How do we know when to start the attack?” Arrie asked.
“We’ll send a signal,” Osborn said.
“Yes, when you hear people screaming, that’s the signal,” Bartlebee quipped.
“I can send a short message telepathically,” Tolly said.
“Perfect,” Arrie said. “So we have our plan. Let’s get into position.”
The party moved out, skulking through the tall grass surrounding the hill. The Ravagers didn’t appear to have any sentries or lookouts, so their approach went unchallenged.
“Tolly, give us a count of two hundred before you cast your spell,” Osborn said.
Osborn and Bartlebee pushed through the gaps in the wall, while Xu scrambled up the wall by jump-stepping up between two posts and flipping over the top. Tolly remained outside, invisible, waiting for the others to eliminate any sentries before bringing the wall down.
Xu, Osborn and Bartlebee made their way to the grass stockade. Along the way, one of the giant spiders lumbered by, and spotted the party, but a few quick dagger throws from Bartlebee put the arachnid down silently. They approached the cage, and after reassuring the prisoners, began pulling apart the bars. At that same moment, there was a tremendous crash as a large section of the outer wall collapsed, flinging loose dirt into the air.
As the late afternoon air filled with shouts of alarm, Tolly, who had begun donning his armor after casting soften earth and stone, stopped long enough to cast a
sending: “Now.”
* * *
Arrie, Autumn, Kyle, Lanara, and Kavan took up their positions as close to the gate as they dared. Kavan and Kyle muttered the words to a few preparatory spells, while Lanara, softly singing to herself, wove arcane phrases into her song and suddenly vanished from sight.
Autumn, looking over at Kyle, noticed that he was frowning. Of course, he had also cast a
mirror image spell, so she saw seven frowns. “What is it?”
“There’s a magical aura here,” he said. “I can’t quite pin it down. I know I’ve seen something similar, but I can’t remember where.”
“Is it from the runes on the gate?” she asked.
He shook his head. “No, it’s stronger than that, but… less distinct. I can’t figure it out.”
“Maybe there will be time later,” she said.
Kavan, listening to their conversation, cast a
detect magic spell of his own to check what Kyle was seeing, and though he saw the magical aura Kyle had mentioned, couldn’t make any more sense of it than him.
Just then, Autumn stiffened as Tolly’s voice echoed in her mind.
Now.
“Go,” she said, standing up suddenly. The others followed Autumn and Arrie toward the gate. Kyle attempted to dispel the wards on the gate, but they were too strong. He shouted out a warning, and Arrie suddenly veered off course, heading toward the wall near the gate. She scrambled up to the top, teetered on the tops of the sharp ends, then jumped down into the garrison. Kavan, taking a slightly less acrobatic approach, cast a spell on himself and suddenly lifted, running on the air itself as he dashed over the wall and landed near Arrie.
“Nice of you to join me,” Arrie said as she unfurled her chain.
“Any time,” he replied.
The other three, still outside, waited for Kyle to take out the wards. He reached for a dispel scroll, but realized that it was less potent than what he could muster himself. Instead, he grabbed onto Autumn and Lanara’s arms (grateful that thanks to Princess Aralda’s gift, he could see the invisible bard) and used a
dimension door spell to get to the other side of the gate.
Autumn drew her blade. A few feet away stood an orc gripping a greatsword tightly. Several feet behind him was a tiefling wearing the priestly garb of Fiel, its barbed tail swishing behind him eagerly. Across the yard, closer to Arrie and Kavan, Autumn saw the old man chained to the ground like Osborn had described. Standing next to him was a figure that at first the sentinel thought was surely a devil or demon of some variety. Looking closer, she realized that it was a humanoid, perhaps another tiefling, but perhaps the most diabolical-looking tiefling she’d ever seen. Ebony horns protruded from a head covered in scaly red skin, and black claws tipped each finger. It grasped a black iron mace in one hand, and with the other backhanded the old man, who nodded weakly and began casting a spell on the fiendish creature. A second orc barbarian with a greataxe stood nearby the infernal figure, eyeing Kavan and Arrie greedily.
“This bunch is uglier than the last,” Lanara’s voice rang out.
Kyle, still disoriented from the teleportation, gasped at the sight of the horned figure. “Acolyte of the skin,” he said.
Autumn knew all about such foul beings. Drawing her sword, she pointed it at him. “Devil-spawn!” she shouted, “Let us dance!”
* * *
The four in charge of the prison break tried to help the prisoners out as fast as they could. Most of them were children and older people, and so moved slowly. As they clambered over the fallen wall, Xu suddenly shouted a warning. Behind them, three figures approached. One was the butterfly-winged cansin, another was a human with a scimitar and shield. The other was a feral-looking hin in uncured hides and blackened, crooked teeth. He bore the same facial scars as the others, but instead of a spider the hin bore the image of raptor wings across his face. The hin was gibbering to itself, apparently casting a spell… somehow.
Tolly’s voice growled out of the air near Osborn. “Priest of Feesha.”
Osborn regarded the feral hin. “Didn’t we kill him months ago, back in that swamp?”
“Apprently, there is more than one crazed hin spellcaster in this world,” Xu replied.
Osborn, Bartlebee, and Xu turned to face the Ravagers as Tolly continued to help the townsfolk clamber over the remains of the wall and flee. Bartlebee casually juggled several knives, waiting for the enemy to draw closer. Osborn, however, clicked the heels on his boots, and ran forward at accelerated speed, firing a crossbow bolt at the human and striking him in the leg.
“A crossbow?” Bartlebee shouted incredulously. “A crossbow! I taught you better than that!”
“Relax, Dad!” Osborn shouted back, as he withdrew a pair of daggers from his vest, “They were out of range! When they get closer, then I’ll release the death!”
Just then the cansin pointed, and a massive shadow came out of nowhere and wrapped itself around Osborn’s face, burning his flesh and rendering him unable to see. Panicked for only a moment, Osborn called on the enchantment in his armor that gave him the ability to sense his surroundings and activated it. The magic flared to life just in time for Osborn to sense the human charge in and slash at him, spilling his blood onto the flattened grass. In response, Osborn stepped back and hurled eight daggers at the man, turning him into a pincushion.
“See?” Osborn shouted.
Tolly, who had just helped the last prisoner over the wall, ran full-bore toward the hin priest. Seeing him coming, the hin cast a
sanctuary. Compelled to ignore the Feeshan, Tolly instead headed toward the winged cansin. Xu also attacked the cansin, and was much faster, leaping into the air and punching the warlock in her solar plexus, sending her crashing to the ground in a heap of limbs and butterfly wings. Bartlebee took advantage and threw a handful of daggers at the cansin, hitting her and making sure she didn’t get up again.
The scimitar-wielding human, now bleeding profusely, began to froth and shiver and charged Osborn, cutting him deeply again. Osborn continued to step back and throw knives, further wounding the Ravager, but he knew that he’d soon run out and be forced to resort to melee.
Tolly, denied his target, once again focused on the hin priest. Summoning his will, he managed to break through the compulsion keeping him from harming the priest, and with a smile he threw his warhammer at the Feeshan, which arced around and struck the hin in the back, pulling him toward Tolly. Though startled by this move, the hin was crafty, and responded with a curse that stole Tolly’s vision from him. Shrouded in permanent darkness, Tolly was forced to withdraw. Xu, seeing his plight, ran to aid Tolly, whirling and kicking at the feral hin. Her blows were solid and deadly, but the priest’s wounds seemed to close of their own accord, and the hin refused to die.
Meanwhile, although Osborn’s own vision had returned with the death of the cansin, he had thrown his last dagger at the human. But just as he was about to pull his sword, the man shuddered, and fell face down, a quartet of Bartlebee’s daggers in his back. From a short distance away, Osborn’s father waved before turning his attention to the Feeshan priest.
“Hey!” Osborn shouted at him, “I had this guy!” Secretly grateful for the aid, Osborn took a few moments to collect his own daggers from the body. Tolly stumbled past him, ignoring his own blindness and following the sounds of battle on the other side of the camp, hoping to find Kyle and the potion he carried that would cure his blindness.
The cleric of Feesha, now menaced by two enemies and with a third on the way, started to get desperate. After blasting Xu, Bartlebee, and the withdrawing Tolly with a
chaos hammer, he then summoned an air elemental to fight off his foes while he healed himself. The huge vortex of air slammed into Xu and Bartlebee, scattering them like geese. But they recovered, and fought back against this new threat in the most efficient way they knew; by killing the hin that summoned it. A combination of fists and daggers brought the Feeshan cleric down, and with a howl of rage the elemental vanished.
“That was nasty,” Bartlebee said, wiping blood off his brow. “You do this all the time?”
“Not as frequently as many believe,” Xu replied, “but often enough, yes.”
Osborn came running up. “I think we should go try and help out the others,” he said, “they’re still fighting at the gate.”
“Where’s your big friend with the beard?” Bartlebee asked.
“He wandered off that way,” Osborn pointed. “Probably eager to get into another fight. I hope there’s something left for him by the time he gets there – the opposition didn’t seem too bad over here.”
* * *
On the other side of the encampment, things were not going so well.
Autumn had tried to charge the acolyte of the skin, but was blocked by the orc with the greatsword, whose opening blow had been to shatter Autumn’s blade. Forced to switch to an old mace she’d borrowed from Tolly ages ago, the sentinel was in a pitched battle with the barbarian, both bleeding profusely. Arrie and Kavan’s charge toward the devilish being was similarly blocked by the orc with the greataxe, who was handily keeping them both at bay while seemingly ignoring the wounds they inflicted back. The tiefling cleric had unleashed an
unholy blight, sending several of them reeling. The acolyte was also unleashing bolts of dark purple energy into the party, which would strike one person and then jump to another as if it were alive. Kyle had hit the acolyte in return with a
scorching ray, although the acolyte’s demonic skin had absorbed most of the damage. In response, the acolyte had fixed Kyle with a horrific gaze that had sent Kyle to his knees, rendering him senseless for several seconds.
Lanara, still invisible, had remained close to Autumn while she sang, first casting a
blur spell on the sentinel after her sword was broken, and then staying close to provide what little healing she could. But the orc was opening wounds faster than she could close them, and Autumn was paying little heed to her own defense, instead trying to edge close enough to the stunned Kyle to protect him from harm. Looking across the field, she saw the old man cast another spell – she didn’t know what, but assumed it was another protective spell for his captor. The cansin chafed at such forced servitude, and decided the best thing she could do was free the old man so his powers couldn’t aid the enemy any more. Slowly she began to make her way around the battle toward him. As she moved, she saw that the tiefling cleric was standing unchallenged, and sent a small spider from her wand of summoning to harass him. But as the spider approached, the tiefling concentrated for a moment, and suddenly the spider twitched and turned around, heading to attack Autumn. Lanara bit her tongue to keep from swearing out loud and giving her location away.
Cleric of Fiel – their totem animal is a spider. Brilliant. Fortunately, the spider seemed unable to penetrate Autumn’s armor, and would only last a few seconds anyway, so Lanara ignored it and kept going.
Kyle’s head spun. The sheer evil of the acolyte had been too much for him, and he couldn’t focus. He was vaguely aware that the orc with the greataxe had been attacking him, and the only thing that had saved him thus far was his
mirror image spell. But the images were disappearing fast. Then, out of the corner of his eye, Kyle saw a badly wounded Kavan rush up behind the orc. Arrie had broken off to try and stop the acolyte, and was being barraged by arcane bolts. Kavan swung, and his sword bit deep into the barbarian’s side, cutting a large chunk out of his flesh and exposing rib bones. The orc’s eyes turned black, and with a feral snarl he turned and brought his greataxe around in an arc. The head of the axe bit into Kavan’s shoulder, and continued straight through on a downward angle into his chest and erupted out near his waist. The two halves of Kavan fell to the ground with a wet thump.
Kyle wanted to scream, but his jaw wouldn’t work. Arrie had put a few wounds on the acolyte, and had knocked him down, but was unable to pin down the acolyte, and was suffering under his barrages. Autumn was barely holding up against the orc with the greatsword, and it seemed as though the tiefling cleric was targeting her with spells as well, though his vision was still too fuzzy to tell what he was casting. Lanara was nowhere to be seen. Everyone else was too busy fighting for their own lives to have seen what happened. But now the barbarian was coming after him unchallenged; he had to move. Stumbling a short distance away, Kyle muttered the words to a simple cantrip and his staff raised up off the ground and into his hands. He was just able to deflect another swing of the greataxe enough to keep from being decapitated, though the force of the blow crushed his shoulder.
Lanara finally made it over to where the old man was chained. But as she stepped up to try and speak to him quietly and formulate a plan, she stepped past an unseen barrier, and her invisibility suddenly vanished. She found herself looking at a very startled old man.
“Hi. We’re here to rescue you.”
The old man blinked, then nodded his understanding. Looking over at the acolyte, he cast a spell, and the devilish figure screamed as all of his protective enchantments suddenly pulsed and poured raw magical energy through him. His eyes dark with fury, the acolyte ran up and began attacking the old mage, smashing him with his mace. The prisoner tried to fight back, but his offensive spells were apparently very meager, and being chained to the ground prevented him from fleeing. Fortunately, Arrie was right on the acolyte’s heels, and laid into him with her chain. The acolyte began blasting away with arcane power again, arcing his bolts between Arrie and the old man. Arrie took the brunt of the punishment, however, and soon fell to the earth, finally overcome.
On the other side of the field, there was a sudden concussion as the tiefling priest dropped a
sound burst in the midst of the combat between Autumn and the orc with the greatsword, apparently unconcerned that he was hitting his ally. Though severely wounded now, Autumn pressed her attack, and she finally managed an opening, bringing the head of her mace down on the orc’s forearm and shattering it. Unable to bring his sword up, the orc was defenseless as Autumn caved in his skull. She then immediately ran up to block the other orcs’ attack against Kyle, who was down to his last
mirror image. She swung at him and connected, then stepped back awaiting the counterattack. Then she saw a figure come out from behind the wooden structure.
“Tolly!” she shouted, “Heal Kavan and Arrie!” She returned her attention to the orc, unaware that Kavan was beyond help, and that Tolly was blind.
A moment later, it didn’t matter. The orc barbarian ran up to Autumn and swung his greataxe with unearthly power, knocking her shield aside like it was paper and biting deep into her throat. Gurgling a last curse, Autumn fell stiffly to the ground, and lay unmoving.
The acolyte, now unchallenged, concentrated on slaying his prisoner. Kyle tried to hit him with
magic missiles,but he still stood inside the area of the old man’s
globe of invulnerability, and the missiles dissipated. Lanara quickly stepped back, out of the area of the old man’s
globe of invulnerability, and tried to charm the acolyte. When the spell failed to take hold, she threw a tanglefoot bag at him hoping to tie him up, but the acolyte stepped out of it before it hardened. The acolyte was so focused on his enemies that he did not see Xu run up and pour a healing potion down Arrie’s throat. The warrior rose, and once again waded into battle, though she was still very weak and approached much more cautiously. Xu also closed on the acolyte, as did Tolly, who heard the sounds of battle and assumed that would be where Arrie and Kavan would be. The fiendish warlock tried to blast Xu and Tolly; the monk avoided the invocation, while Tolly was hit and staggered by the evil force behind the blasts. Xu and Arrie landed solid blows, and for the first time a look of worry replaced the acolyte’s smug grin. Then Osborn ran up into the battle, arriving quickly thanks to his
boots of speed, and threw a storm of daggers into the horned figure, finally bringing him down.
The Fieli cleric cast another spell, and the orc Autumn had just killed slowly rose to his feet, the cold light of undeath in his eyes. However, the old mage, who had a reprieve from the acolyte’s assault, saw the orc rise and cast his own spell, severing the spark of magic that animated the corpse. Meanwhile the orc that had just killed Autumn turned his attention back to Kyle, swinging his axe and dispelling the last of Kyle’s protective images. The cleric also hit Kyle with a
deific vengeance, though the wizard was able to shake off the spell’s effects. Kyle looked at the orc with hate-filled eyes; he had killed Kavan, and he had killed Autumn. He would suffer terribly for that; if necessary Kyle would tear him apart barehanded. As the words to a spell came into his mind, time seemed to slow to a crawl.
No.
Kyle heard his own voice in his head. The sensation took him by surprise.
This isn’t the way. I won’t avenge Autumn if I get myself killed. I’m wounded, and my best offensive spells are gone. That orc can take anything I throw at him right now and keep coming. There’s a smarter way to do this – I just need to see it.
Kyle blinked, and glanced around the battlefield. It almost seemed to move in slow motion, even though Kyle knew nothing had changed. He saw the orc coming at him, axe raised, blood pouring from the many wounds inflicted by Kavan and Autumn. A short distance away he saw the priest of Fiel, practically unharmed, preparing another spell. Understanding came in a flash.
The words to the destructive spell faded from Kyle’s mind, replaced by another. The uttered the spell, then shouted at the orc rushing in. “Ravager, hear me!” he shouted. “Look upon he who would call himself Fiel’s servant in this world!” Kyle pointed with his staff at the tiefling priest. “He stands apart from battle, inflicting no pain, no death! For the greater glory of Fiel, slay this upstart and prove yourself to your god!”
The orc blinked, the magic of Kyle’s
suggestion seeping into his rage-addled brain. With a snarl, the orc turned and charged the priest, who rose his arms in a panicked attempt to cast a protective spell. But at that moment Lanara cast a spell of her own, and the tiefling froze in place, held by her spell. Thus he wasn’t even able to close his eyes as the orc’s axe came down through his skull.
The orc turned as the halves of the tiefling fell away, ready to dispatch the mage. But then he stumbled, and his axe dropped. The adrenaline that had been keeping the orc on his feet was wearing off, and he’d lost too much blood. He still tried to step to attack Kyle, but only made it a few steps before stumbling over his feet and falling to the ground. The orc looked up to see Kyle standing over him, the end of a wand in his face.
“This is for Autumn, you son of a bitch,” he said.
With the orc dispatched, the party gathered together over the bodies of Kavan and Autumn. They had won, but at what cost?
And if you are curious, there was no fudging to give Autumn the raise; the party was at the cusp of ninth level before the Ravager battles. (Kavan did get raised by DM fiat, admittedly, but there were story reasons behind it, and Kavan did lose his magical plate armor as 'payment').
