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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Wraithdrit" data-source="post: 814299" data-attributes="member: 10820">Session 4 (continued)Durgaden found a good spot behind a still standing wall, placing the wall between himself and the oncoming forces. The Zhentarim were nothing but a soft glow distant in the ruins, their torches giving away their location.Tanerus found a good corner with rubble piled near it. He found a small hole in the wall, nestled into it and pulled up the hood of his magic cloak, all but dissappearing from sight.Will and Amador found an intact wall with a window that looked down the path of the approaching forces.They all hunkered as close to their cover as possible. The dire bat and its rider would have to fly directly over them to be able to see them. The waiting began.Tanerus settled in, wanting the fight to start. Fighting was scary, and he never liked to fight, but it was always easier than the waiting. The uneasy anticipation before a fight was enough to rattle anyone's nerves.Durgaden checked the straps on his breast plate. Satisified it was well in place, he examined the head of his magic waraxe. With his waraxe in his hand, he felt like he could take on anything. Will went over calculation after calculation, combination of spells after combination of spells. Amador pulled a few of his arrows out and stuck them point first in holes in the rubble. He figured he could fire faster if he had them so easily at hand.Finally the first of the Zhentarim came into view. It was a relatively small party compared to what they were expecting. In the lead were a pair of immense tigers. Behind them strode a young man dressed in leathers. He wielded a sword in one hand, and carried something else in the other. Behind him strode two Zhentarim Regulars. Large men, maybe even half-orcs, the two wore plate armor and carried the shield and short swords common to all Zhentarim Regulars.Behind the regulars rode two men, obviously commanders. Both wore full plate armor, and carried shields. Both had long swords in their hands. Overhead, the dire bat circled, a couple hundred feet up. The whole group was easily two hundred feet off in the ruins still."No better time than the present," muttered Will. He let loose with a spell, a single pea shaped ball of fire shooting forth from his outstretched hands, ripping forward to explode in the middle of the group. Chaos reigned for a moment or two in the Zhentarim ranks. Lt Grendar went down hard, his mount slain from beneath him. The woodsman and the two Zhentarim Regulars were thrown around like ragdolls. Captain Argah's horse reared up, but he managed to keep on his saddle and threw his sword forward, pointing and yelling. Then Will's second fireball exploded in their midst. Captain Argah's horse collapsed, dead. The Captain managed to roll to his feet. Lt Grendar also gained his feet. The two Zhentarim Regulars were dead. The woodsman scrambled to behind some rubble, yelling something at his tigers. Both the animals had been outside the blast of the fireballs.  The flames had surprised the tigers, and it was in that moment of surprise that Amador's arrows started to sink into the flank of one of the tigers. One, two, three, then a fourth arrow, all streaked in, biting deep into the tiger's flesh. With yowls of anger, the twin beasts charged toward thir assailants. The woodsman quickly quaffed a potion, then began to move in after them. Above the battle field, Xandos was momentarily blinded by the bright flash of the fireballs. He cursed and flung his own fireball into the ruins in which the arrows and spells were flying.Durgaden watched as the ball of fire streaked over his position. He covered his eyes and felt the heat of the blast, but was well out of the area of effect. Will and Amador braced as the fireball raced toward their position. The explosion was intense but both survived. Tanerus winced as the fireball went off behind him. He held his position, waiting to spring his ambush.Quickly Will went through the motions of his best protection spell, a globe of protection magic sprung up around him and Amador. It would keep out the effects of anything as powerful as a fireball or lightning bolt.Durgaden broke from cover as he heard the sounds of orcish howls. From the left and right flanks a score of orcs and ogres broke from cover at a dead run, looking like they were going to try and swarm the groups positions. Durgaden broke to the left, found a sturdy pile of rubble and set himself to hold the line against the coming charge. "Bring it ya smelly mongrels! These are my mines!"Tanerus' heart leapt into his throat as he heard the battle cries of the approaching orcs. He was on the right flank. He dared not move as half a dozen orcs raced past his position. He could have thrown a dagger at any of them, probably killed one, maybe two, but then all of them would know he was there.Durgaden smirked as the first of the orcs on his flank charged up the rubble at him. He dropped one, then a second, then a third one with easy swipes of his waraxe. Two larger orcs came racing up, but slowed at the base of the rubble. Obviously more intelligent, these two looked like leaders. One of them ordered the other to one side. So that was their leader then, thought Durgaden. The orcs moved more cautiously, not recklessly charging up the mound of rubble. They quickly surrounded the dwarf and swarmed in on him. Orcs he could handle, even the ogre that was moving in did not concern Durgaden. When he heard the yowl of the tiger though, he started to worry. The beast threw itself at Durgaden, latching onto him and biting and clawing at his armor. The shield and breast plate protected him well though, and while he was cut in places, none of the wounds were mortal. The orcs started to strike at his weapon and at the rubble he stood on, trying to break his defensive position and make it easier for thier captain, the ogre, or the tiger to finish the dwarf off. But Durgaden held his own. His training had been for just such instances. He knew how to defend himself, and as long as he had his shield and his axe, he was confident he could survive this. That was about the time the woodsman's scourge whipped up at Durgaden, wrapped around his waraxe's handle and yanked the weapon from his grasp.Over where Will and Amador were the second tiger raced toward them. It decided at the last moment that the window they were firing from was too small, so started to move around their position, flanking then with the orcs.Captain Argah and Lt Grendar were closing quickly on foot. Overhead Xandos ineffectively bounced Magic Missiles off of Will's Minor Globe of Invulnerability. Will cast his spell of webs up at the dire bat, hoping to entangle it, and bring it to the ground. The webs all dissappeared ten feet from Xandos, dissolving against Xandos' own Globe. Tanerus was about to move from his cover when a massive ogre walked right in front of his position and paused. The halfling held his breath hoping the ogre would move on.The mages were almost cancelling each other out. Durgaden's waraxe had been ripped from his hand, Amador and Will's position was being flanked, and Tanerus was trapped behind the enemy line. Things were not looking good for the companions, then Xandos' ice storm ripped through the ruins that Will and Amador were hiding in, easily penetrating thier protecting globe.</blockquote>

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