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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jon Potter" data-source="post: 2822890" data-attributes="member: 2323">[PLAIN][Realms #335] The Turning Tide[/PLAIN]The effects of Huzair's spell blossomed atop the cliffs to her left right and Shamalin could hear confused cries from within the billowing smoke. She straightened and looked toward Morier. The spell afforded her a few precious moments which she fully intended to use. She was stopped, however, by Huzair's tight grip on her arm."Thank you for saving me, beautiful priestess of Flor. Allow me to return the favor," he hissed, moving little to maintain the pretense of his death with any that might still be able to see him. "I can cast an invisibility spell. Do not attack anyone and you will stay-" But Shamalin shook her head impatiently, cutting him off."Save your energy. My goddess will watch over me." And she moved purposefully toward Morier, hoping that the words were true.The cloud of black smoke roiled below her, completely blocking Lela's line of sight to both her Flaming Sphere and to the entangled bandits. She could still sense her Sphere, of course, and continue to direct it, but it was a blind direction and she didn't much think that -An arrow arced up suddenly from the left of the cloud, missing her, but still clearly aimed at her. One of the halflings had made it to the edge of the smoke cloud and was sniping at her. As she watched, a second of the four tumbled adroitly out of the smoke and drew a bead on her with his shortbow. It was the one that she had previously burned with her fire, and despite the difficulty of the shot, he managed to send his missile cleanly into her chest. The point of the arrow was turned aside by a rib before piercing her lung, but she felt a stab of hot pain indicating that rib had been cracked in the process. Her side was on fire, and she found her wings faltering as she struggled to remain aloft.One more hit like that would be her end, she knew.Karak heard Lela cry out and saw the two halflings that were still shooting at her as if they yet had a chance of prevailing. Deprived of his opponents by their own cowardice, he moved down the far side of the hill back toward the trail below. He loosened his last throwing axe as he went.He grunted in surprise as an arrow found the gap between greave and poleyn on his right knee. His tough leather leggings absorbed most of the impact, but he could feel a trickle of blood begin working its way into his boot.Huzair glanced furtively around and saw that the rain of arrows seemed to have let up - at least as far as he was concerned. Sparky was circling above the cloud, marking the position of the only identified enemy spellcaster and Huzair smiled. Producing a smooth chip of white stone from his spell component pouch, he drew on The Weave to send a Snowball Swarm into the midst of the smoke cloud. Spells of cold weren't the mage's specialty, but he was pleased by the multiple screams of pain that issued from beneath the smoke as his spell struck home.Morier lay in the mud bleeding and waiting for Shamalin to arrive with healing. After what seemed like a lifetime, she finally reached his side. She met his gaze briefly, acknowledging the pain and urgency clearly visible there.Thankful that it was not too late, Shamalin pushed away the surrounding chaos and turned her mind inward. It always surprised her initially - the sound of one's life, played out in rhythm and measure. It was the utterly unique song of a soul. And it never failed to move her with its beauty. Calling upon the mercy of her goddess, Shamalin took Morier's hand adding the soft sounds of healing to his rhythm in her mind.Lela dodged arrow fire from the two snipers who seemed intent on knocking her out of the sky, Looping back away from the line of fire and calling on the Green, she managed to suffuse some much-needed healing into her small frame. It wasn't much, but the ache in her ribs abated some. She managed a wan smile, thankful for the reprieve from death she had given herself.She heard laughter from below and saw that two of the halflings were chuckling despite the situation. They were laughing and pointing at Karak who had hurled his second throwing axe and sent the weapon sailing off into the distance rather than actually threatening anyone with it. The dwarf seemed nonplussed by his performance in ranged combat and he bellowed an unintelligible battle cry as he charged across the trail and started up the opposite hill toward the hobbits who had now turned their bows on him. An arrow pinged off of his breastplate before he'd moved five feet.Huzair rolled to his belly and crawled toward Feln's arrow-ridden corpse, although what he was hoping to accomplish eluded Morier as the Eldritch Warrior got to his feet. He spared Huzair a disapproving scowl and laid a hand on Shamalin's shoulder. "Thank you," he said simply and hefted Ravager. The sword felt hungry in his hands as he started toward the far hill.Shamalin watched him go and considered targeting him with a Shield Other spell. She could tell through the lingering effects of her Deathwatch spell that Morier's health was vastly improved by the application of her Cure Serious Wounds spell. Huzair was in worse shape, but the wizard wasn't making his way toward melee, either. It wouldn't do to have her healing all undone by an enemy's well-placed sword blow.She targeted the albino's retreating form and then moved to keep him within range of the Shield Other spell.Arrows from all three halfling archers struck and were turned away by Karak's thick plate armor as he advanced. As he closed with them, all three dropped their bows and drew shortswords, ready to meet the seemingly unstoppable dwarf with steel.Lela drew her Flaming Sphere out of the smoke cloud , directing it at the halfling she had already burned. He cried out as the fire ball slammed into him from the side and danced away from the flames, but the smell of burning hobbit flesh was strong in the air.The two uninjured halflings concentrated on Karak, They both assumed offensive postures, sizing up their enemy and awaiting the moment to react. There was little Karak could do except charge on as he had been, axe gripped in both hands and ready to split the hobbits in twain. As soon as he was near enough, the pair sprang into action. The halfling on his right dove forward into a somersault that brought him up behind the dwarf, opposite his companion. They stabbed with their shortswords as one.Karak was able to dodge the blade in front of him, but the tumbler's sword slid underneath his pauldron and found the soft meat of his armpit, drawing blood and a roar of pain from the dwarf. It was a good plan- flanking the enemy so that he would have to divide his attention between two adversaries. Sadly, it also set up the halflings for Karak to lay into them with a full attack - which is what he did.His waraxe separated the first halfling's guts from his body cavity, strewing the ground with frost-rimed entrails. The other halfling managed to avoid the follow through attack and the second blow that came in its wake. He tumbled backward out of Karak's reach, drank a potion and vanished.The third halfling tried desperately to get away from Lela's Flaming Sphere... without luck. He fell, his clothing and the grass beneath his feet forming his funeral pyre.At that moment, the black smoke that Huzair's spell had generated began to dissipate, revealing the remains of the ambushing force locked helplessly in the embrace of Lela's Entangle spell. There were only five of them left including one halfling, the man with the large sword who Lela had picked out as the leader, and the hunched and misshapen spellcaster in platemail. The man with the sword looked up as Morier crested the hill near him with Shamalin clanking along behind him. He cast a glance around at his decimated force and hung his head."We yield!" he choked, his voice raw from coughing. "We yield!"</blockquote>

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