Night Raid (Part 1)

"I was hoping they would hunker down for the night but it doesn't seem that way." Thelora said as another of my wards was set off.

It was a little after sunset and based on the rate that the wards were going off they were moving at a slower pace then normal. Not all of my wards were being tripped so I assumed they had someone with enough magic to sense some of them. Siguror felt that we bought ourselves about three hours in total and they more than likely were moving at a hasty pace until they hit where we changed up the path markers. He guessed they would be here in less than an hour.

"It looks like they're coming from the other way also." Feadr started to feel his own wards start to go off.

We had always assumed that the guides coming from the entrance of the marsh would have an easier time finding the safe path. That was why we had Feadr place his arcane traps mostly along that path. Based on the rate they were moving they would take nearly two hours to get here.

"He'll probably wait until both groups get near here to attack." I said.

"If he does that it will be in the middle of the night. Does he not care if he attracts monsters?" Feadr said.

"Obviously not. But if he is so insistent in a dangerous night raid, he must have something up his sleeve to give him that much confidence. There's no way he hasn't suffered losses already. What is he thinking?" Thelora said.

I could tell this made no sense to her and it didn't to me either. Why push this hard? He had to know we weren't going anywhere from our conversation. And even if we did try to leave the marsh, he had a force blocking our exit. We were missing something.

"Welp there's no reason to sit around and stress about something we won't be able to figure out until it bites us in the ass. I'm going to get a little shut eye." Cedric said.

"He's right. Feadr and Wilmaer will keep watch on their wards and warn us if they get too close. Everyone else needs to conserve their strength." Thelora said.

There were nine of us now as the young man we had bound, Vragi, had decided to join us since he was convinced that Torfredr was going to kill him either way. That still puts us at a disadvantage of at least two to one, depending on how many they lost on the way here. However we had the advantage of a fortified position.

As I sat near the gate Thelora came up to sit next to me. She didn't say anything so I didn't either. I could feel her tension lessen as we sat in silence.

When they tripped the ward closest to the tree line I let her know.

"Lariss it's time." Thelora said.

Lariss brought out her copper colored Eavesdropping Rock and held it up for the three of us to hear. There was several minutes of silence before we started to hear faint voices. They weren't directly next to the other rock so we couldn't hear every word but we got most of it.

"Master, are you sure you want to attack? We could just hold both sides of /unintelligible/ and starve them out." Someone said.

"And how long would that take? They have /unintelligible/ some level of aura or magic to take out Gerbold and his people. Do you want to be trapped here /unintelligible/ a few weeks? We have places to be." Torfredr said.

Someone that was further away spoke and we couldn't hear what they said.

"No, she isn't as understanding /unintelligible/ seem to think. I can't let her see any /unintelligible/ before we're in a position to kill her." Torfredr said.

"So what do we do? A group that can take a B ranked quest will /unintelligible/ tricks up their sleeves. We /unintelligible/ attack them directly." Someone else said.

"I'm not sure there is a B ranked quest and once Gervas gets here, he'll be able to /unintelligible/ and we'll attack in the chaos." Torfredr said.

As if on cue a scream came from the other side of the island.

"I guess /unintelligible/ have to wait too long." Torfredr said.

Near the gate on the far side of the island Feadr started sending out Firebolts wildly as he grabbed his bleeding eyes. Everyone else was running about trying to put out the fire on tents while Cedric tried to get to Feadr.

"WIlmaer, we'll be back." Thelora said as she and Lariss rushed off to help.

I knew that I needed to keep watch at this gate but I also figured that this Gervas would also know this. My Osgar aura circulated around my vitale areas and my Lydos aura illuminated my blade. Taking a deep breath in, I ignored the useless chill in my heart and focused my senses on my surroundings.

From the shadows, a small ball came towards my face. Just in time I was able to thrust my sword upwards, sending out a thick line of my Moonlight Lightning Slash. It burned through the ball and I saw small little sparks as the contents scattered and burned up. I moved more of my Osgar aura to my eyes as I raised my shield to block as much of that dust as possible.

As the dagger came towards my side my sword moved by instinct to push it aside. It scraped against the back of my armor instead of piercing my flash. I now had a clearer view of my now angry attacker. He was a willowy man that was covered in black from head to toe and surrounded by a Cloaking spell that was close to Thelora's level.

His speed had me mostly on the defensive as I tried to adjust to his attacks. From beyond the wall furthest from me there was an explosion followed by flames and multi-colored sparks reaching above the wall. Gervas looked over in dismay and I took the advantage for a moment. He quickly took back the initiative and I took the opportunity to slip into my counter stance giving him a perfect opening.

The dagger started towards the opening but pulled back as Gervas saw that it was a trap. Even then he wasn't fast enough and my blade slashed through his left thigh. As we continued to exchange blows, yells started to come from the far side as the guides had gotten past the traps on the path and were engaged in combat with the others. They were an hour earlier than expected. At that same moment an explosion followed by flames and multi-colored sparks came from my side of the wall. Torfredr's people were coming.

I once again went on the offensive and pressed him on his left side. He soon made a mistake and I capitalized on it. My blade sliced through his chest as my Lydos aura burned him. After one more weak attempt to stop me, I landed the fatal blow.

Looking over at the far side I saw a battle that we were winning. But I doubted they would be able to finish them off before my side was breached. Thankfully I had a few things that I could do to buy some time. As I heard them trying to climb the wall I tossed the stomach of the Ganmudr that was attached to a line. When it reached the limit of the line, the stitches ripped out and Janir leeches contained within flew out. I then heard a few screams followed by giggling.

My attack was followed by a few jars lobbed over the wall. As they broke on the ground a green mist started to spread around. When it touched Gervas' dead body the flesh started to melt away. I rotated half my air motes to create a Wind Shield around me. Two bandits cleared the wall and went to remove the bar keeping the gate closed. They must have taken something since the mist didn't affect their skin.

The mist didn't rise too far off the ground so I moved my Osgar aura to my legs and used my Wind Shield to push most of it away. My legs still burned but the flesh wasn't melting off. The bandits saw me coming and stopped what they were doing to defend themselves. I was in my aggressive stance and with them against the gate, I was able to easily dispatch them.

I grabbed a bottle of liquid that Thelora gave me and climbed on top of the wall. Looking over I saw four bandits right next to the gate and a few others close behind, one of them was on the ground laughing to himself. Towards the rear was a taller, thicker older man holding a greatsword, I presumed he was Torfredr. Next to him was a broad muscular man with a heavy club, a smaller man with a bow, and a man in plate armor holding a spear. Before they could attack I dropped the contents of the bottle on the one near the door that I thought was the weakest willed.

As I dropped back behind the wall a Flaming arrow and a Lightning Bolt flew over my head. The bandits near the gate started to yell as the one I hit with the potion entered a state of enraged confusion that caused him to attack anyone near him. By this point the green mist started to dissipate and I moved away from the gate expecting another attack.

It didn't take long for more jars to fly over the wall and as they crashed fire spread through the area. A massive blow hit the gate and the wooden bar began to crack. After two more hits the bar broke and the gate burst open from the force of the muscular man. Torfredr and his main people were now in the front and easily made their way in.

"Thought you might need a little help." Thelora stepped up to my side along with Lariss. Cedric, Hrothgar, Thorarinn, and Siguror soon followed them. Everyone looked worn out from their fighting. Glancing back I saw Vragi helping a wounded Feadr stand.

"Looks like it's time for the main event." Torfredr said.