45 Living Fire Wall
Fleeing from the enemy camp's retribution, the Aeromancer buffed party ran deeper into the forest; except for Terrel who hung back slightly in order to get an idea of how many were chasing after them.
They left an easily visible trail through the snow, leading their pursuers further from the camp. They had chosen the location of their attack against the camp so they could draw them far away from the path the prisoner's would flee along.
Soon they realized that at least three full parties were chasing after them. Of the estimated seven parties in the camp; they had eliminated one and lured at least three others away from the prisoners. Over half of the guards were no longer in the camp, their mission was a success.
Captain Xinyi led the party into a ravine and then they hooked around onto the heights along the steep ravine; they quickly hid themselves along one side and waited for their pursuers. Soon, the enemies' trackers came into view, leading the rest of their group into the ambush.
A deluge of attacks landed among their enemies; every member of Callum's party unleashed any ranged attack they had, while the melee fighters used weaker attack scrolls. Bolts of magic struck their targets, arrows flew through the air, writhing roots entangled themselves around legs, and an area attack fire scroll scorched all within the ravine.
As suddenly as the attack began, Callum's party retreated before the enemy could even launch an attack of their own. They didn't have the strength to press an attack due to the presence of two Advanced Class enemy soldiers.
The ambush was a success despite failing to kill a single enemy; their main goal, however, wasn't to push for more kills, although they would gladly take any lives they could. Captain Xinyi wanted to taunt their opponents into continuing their pursuit.
The enemy commander continued a dogged pursuit against the much faster and elusive party. For the next two hours, multiple small ambushes continued to hinder their pursuers, with similar results as the first.
Eventually, Terrel noticed another enemy group closing in on them; at least one of the scouting patrols had joined the chase. Because of that, Captain Xinyi stopped staging ambushes and had the Aeromancer finally start to hide their trail.
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Cadiwynn hid in the cave right next to her lord, Baron Wei Jin, as they waited for a report from a Thief class scouting just inside the cave's entrance. She had just cast the <<Mana Heart>> buff on herself, signaling to her party that they were ready for a breakout.
There weren't enough weapons and armor for all the newly freed prisoners; however, the highest leveled prisoners had been armed and would lead the breakout. She glanced at the silent group of people behind her and steeled herself for the fight ahead.
She wasn't normally someone who took part in a direct fight. Her previous role in the Baron's small army was to procure supplies, a role she preferred much more over fighting. But, she wasn't someone who would shirk her duties.
Suddenly, the Thief was right beside her and started to report to the Baron.
"Lord, the camp is stirring. They're gathering a group at the entrance, I think . . . "
Whatever he was about to say was cut out by the sudden blaring of a deafening trumpet blast that went on for an entire minute. The inside of the cave was bathed in the light of a red ball of intense luminance that they saw rocket upwards before leaving their sight.
"Get back to the entrance and keep an eye out in case they decide to check on us. Next time, don't leave your post, send a runner back if there's something to report," Baron Wei Jin instructed the embarrassed lookout.
He turned towards the group of prisoner's behind him who were brimming with an eagerness to leave their prison. Including himself, thirty four of his people had been freed and there were an additional nineteen prisoners that the bandits had captured before joining The Dog.
Less than ten of them were armed from captured weapons Captain Xinyi had previously placed in the storage ring; they needed to wait to see if their rescuers were successful in luring at least some of the camp guards away before they could do anything else.
"Be patient, we need to wait just a little bit longer. And those of you who aren't my people, remember you're under my command as long as you stick with us. You're free to leave whenever, but otherwise you need to listen to me or my soldiers as we flee."
Baron Wei Jin commanded the freed prisoners before turning back towards the cave entrance. He chafed at the waiting, he always hated the waiting period right before a battle.
A runner quietly approached Jin and Cadiwynn and reported that most of the camp guards had left, including two Advanced Class individuals. The wait would not be long now.
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Cadiwynn waited at the cave entrance with her new party; she had left her other party and joined a party that included some of the Baron's best soldiers. Her new party would act as the vanguard.
Stealthed individuals raced out of the cave with the rest of her party in quick pursuit. The surprised guards were quickly overcome by the combined attacks. She finished off the last guard who had been distracted by multiple attacks from the previously stealthed soldiers.
She led the vanguard towards the camp perimeter; they needed to open up a path to freedom in the perimeter for the noncombatants, who would be following after them. She paid little attention to the chaos around her and focused solely on what was in front of her.
She raised her shield to meet a slicing attack from an enemy's scimitar and quickly countered with a swing from her mace that struck her opponent's side. Before he could attack again, green tendrils rose from the frozen ground and wrapped him up.
The winter cold weakened the grasping tendrils so they didn't last for long, but they did hold him for long enough for her to knock him off balance. Once he was in a more vulnerable state, she wasted no time in beating him senseless.
She would have taken him prisoner, but they had no way to hold him as they fled. However, she felt no remorse in her heart as she finished off the defenseless man; he had made his choice and she had lost too many friends to their enemies.
She glanced around and saw that the way out of the camp was clear of any additional living obstacles. She looted the fresh corpse and sent some healing spells to whoever she saw that needed it.
Her party quickly blasted the wooden walls apart and created a new exit out of the camp. She stayed back to hold the exit open with half her party while the other half led the escapees into the nearby forest.
She then detailed her two remaining party members to guard the procession's flanks as she saw the rearguard swiftly falling back.
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Baron Wei Jin followed Cadiwynn's party out of the cave and started to deploy Barrier scrolls in order to protect the vulnerable members of their group. He quickly directed distribution of the fallen guards gear to finish outfitting his rearguard party.
The sudden attack from Cadiwynn's party caught the camp inhabitants completely off guard because they had been focused on external threats. Her party was halfway across the camp before desultory attacks from the guards started pouring in.
His rearguard party carefully observed the Barriers they had erected and sent their own ranged attacks back in response. He had handed out as many attack scrolls as they had, and his party liberally used them to keep the enemy's main force pinned down.
He witnessed several of the noncombatants go down and prayed the healers among that party could get them back up on their feet; the Barriers were starting to go down under the withering fire from their enemies.
He only had enough mana for one large spell, so he carefully husbanded his attacks. He launched <<Living Fire Wall>> at his opponents, it was his most expensive spell and left him unable to cast anything else but ineffective cantrips.
A large wall of flames sprung up between the two opposing forces. The flames slowly started to move towards the enemy, burning everything in their path. Fire based spells, the most common attack spells, would only serve to strengthen the moving wall.
A large swathe of steaming ground and ashes were all that was left in the wake of the spell. He knew that the spell would peter out soon, especially with all of the snow on the ground. But until then, his group should be safe enough.
He led his rearguard in a quick retreat in order to catch up to the rest of his men. He winced as he passed several still figures in the snow, not all of the noncombatants had made it out alive.
As the overall commander, he could see everyone's status. He pulled it up and glanced through all the parties. Everyone was all extremely low on Mana, the potions hadn't been enough to go around and had barely made a dent in restoring everyone's low Mana.
"Nicely done," he said to Cadiwynn as he caught up to her at the exit her vanguard had made.
"We'll make a soldier out of you yet. Thanks for holding the gap, now I need you to lead us out of here."
Their enemies were regrouping and their attacks were starting to pile up, the <<Living Fire Wall>> was about to collapse. He used the last Barrier scroll to block the hole in the wall and led the rearguard into the dubious safety of the forest while Cadiwynn raced ahead.
