What?

The near dozen newly appearing wolves and riders flocked to Great Mage Mirlie and the carriage. Her act of incinerating one of their fellow riders bringing determination to their hearts and a far stronger thirst for blood.

Their breakneck speed of encirclement surprising Great Mage Mirlie. Even in their fury, they maintained some sense of order, this made Great Mage Mirlie worry. As a renown fire great mage, she had previously been enlisted in several different purges of the undead and necromancers. Yet, in all those occasions, only the undead on par with Liches and Death Knights could maintain any form of intelligence during an engagement.

With haste, the riders began to close in on Great Mage Mirlie. She had to think of a way to both attack and defend. Her first instinct was to wait until they closed in and then attack with an AoE spell, the only problem being that if she attempted such a spell, she would probably incinerate the carriage and Percy along with it.

Under duress, she decided that she would do what was most natural for a fire mage. She would use the spell nearly all fire mages knew and relied upon, Fireball. One of the most ancient and useful spells for making things go boom, be it flesh or bone.

Instinctually, Great Mage Mirlie summoned a fist-sized ball of rabid flames, the sheer temperature distorting the air around it. Suddenly, Great Mage Mirlie threw the Fireball, with a motion of her staff, towards the closest rider.

The rapid hurtling of the Fireball leaving fear and trepidation in its wake. As the ball of pure flame approached the wolf, a single leap sent the wolf and rider out of the direct line of impact, or at least until the ball of flame made contact with the ground and exploded into an enlarged sphere of raging fire. Completely engulfing both the rider and wolf.

-

Nora, in her wait for Sev, to finish his 'discussion' with Lucius, fell asleep. Only to be rouzed shortly after by a series of loud knocking on the guestroom door.

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

Her natural flight or fight instincts kicking in, causing her to immediately sit upright at the noise. The friendly yet foreign environment having sent her normally careful nature into overdrive.

Before Nora could respond, the door handle turned and there stood Sev. In each hand, held a puppy. The puppies disliking Sev, wiggled and writhed trying to loosen themselves from his grip.

One of the puppies succeeding in their efforts fell to the floor. In a rather agile manner, the landing was rather delicate as at first impact, the puppy sped its way towards Nora, lunging into her embrace. Only for the other puppy to urgently follow suit once it too freed itself from Sev's grip.

The puppies clearly having imprinted on Nora. Having lost their original mom, now turning to Nora for protection and care.

"You two sure are adorable..."

-

Great Mage Mirlie having severely underestimated the oncoming enemies found herself in an undesirable predicament...

She now found herself almost completely naked. All her belongings having been stripped off and long taken.

The last thing she could recall was her throwing a series of fireballs towards the oncoming riders before something hit her on the back of the head, something blunt, something hard.

Before she knew it, lights out.

Looking around she could see the carriage tossed onto its side, damaged beyond repair. The body of the carriage driver spread across several feet beside her. The body having been devoured now rested in several pieces, the blood painting the ground around both Great Mage Mirlie and the corpse.

Further regaining her senses, she realized she couldn't spot Percy. Only a few scarce signs of a struggle indicating Percy's fate.

'At least he made it out alive...'

The new cold breeze disturbing her as she stood up. In her attempt to see some good in the bad, she commented to herself, 'At least I got a few of them." the bodies of several black-robed figures lay strewn across the now quiet battlefield.

As Great Mage Mirlie approached one of the more intact corpses, she pulled back the hood which had been covering the face of the assailant.

Only to freeze as she saw what lied beneath it.