“Guys,” Rafael said. Milo and Clarissa were on their flashlight holding duty for Tyler and Derek to see. “Guys!” It was sharp enough that Derek and Tyler stopped talking. Rafael glanced at Clarissa. “Do you sense anything?”

Milo and Clarissa finally noticed Quetzal and how perfectly still he was. Clarissa spun, looking into the distance. She scanned the area with her dark vision, her face dropping. “I… little dinosaurs.”

Rafael’s eyes widened. “What?”

Clarissa pointed. “Little dinosaurs. I don’t know what they’re called. The dinosaur island is far from the Shrouded Domain and I’ve never visited. Those things I see are small and hunt in packs.”

There were a few dinosaurs on the list. Rafael remembered seeing them and wincing because he knew those needed to be taken care of soon. People might notice dinosaurs quicker than a shadow lycros.

Derek and Rafael both turned toward Tyler, who threw Rafael’s clean shirt at him. “We’re outside the bubble. Get in the car. Now.”

Derek nodded, moving around the car. Rafael threw his shirt on, seeing Quetzal shake his rebellious little hind quarters as he prepared to pounce. Rafael ran toward him right as he did. He grabbed the drake as it tried to attack, snapping at something in the dark. Tyler and Clarissa were already running toward the car when a bigger dinosaur leapt out of nowhere, smashing into Clarissa. The druid toppled to the ground as the dinosaur bit her arm.

“Holy Jurassic Park,” Derek shouted. Rafael stared at the six foot long dinosaur. He focused more on Clarissa’s hit points, terrified she’d be dead, but she only lost four points. This dinosaur must not be strong.

Time slowed down, and Rafael panted, a panic building up inside.

Roll for initiative.

“No, no, no.” Rafael looked at Ezekiel’s character sheet. He had one more level one mana slot, and then cantrips. They couldn’t fight dinosaurs right now. They needed to get home, but he had no choice. Time was frozen, and he needed to roll the d20.

Seven total. His heart hammered as he kept Quetzal in his arms. Time resumed, and Milo pulled out his wrench, giving his crossbow a hard smack. It glowed blue. He then turned on the flashlight, smiling. “I really like this tool.” He aimed the crossbow at the raptor and shot. A blue streak crossed the air before smacking the raptor in the shoulder. It shrieked, stumbling dangerously. Where the claws were, there seemed to be a bit of skin to give it wings the movies never showed, with a few feathers sprouting from it.

Tyler pulled up the list on his phone, reading. “That’s a Huge Velociraptor. Or, in more local terms, a Utahraptor.”

The situation did not warrant a logical conversation, but Rafael was too nervous not to ask questions. “Sorry, but Utahraptor? Is that what they call it in the Shrouded Domain? A fantasy place that’s never even heard of earth, let alone America?” Rafael asked.

Tyler shrugged. “I don’t know if the locals call it that, but it’s certainly what we call it.”

Derek poked his head up from the car. “You’re asking the wrong question, Rafael. The real question is, what the hell is a Utahraptor doing in New Mexico?”

“God, Derek.” Tyler was staring at his phone, glancing at the velociraptor. “That thing is a level one. Kill it, and let’s get out of here!” Tyler said.

Clarissa stumbled to her feet before backing away. Evelyn climbed out of the car as Clarissa tried to stab it with her scimitar, but missed.

“Evelyn, stay in the car!” Tyler held out a hand to her. “Once this creature is done, we’re making a fast getaway!”

She nodded, wide eyed as she tried to get back in the car when a smaller velociraptor screeched, slamming into her.

“Evelyn!”

Rafael’s heart plummeted as Evelyn screamed in pain.

“No, no, no. Shit, no.” Tyler tried to dodge out of the way of the Utahraptor to get to Evelyn. The Utahraptor ignored Tyler and tried to bite Clarissa instead. Rafael was fighting the desire to run to her, too, but he needed to stay by Derek’s car. Level one combat. That’s what Tyler said. The Utahraptor sliced at Clarissa with its claws, and she groaned as her hit points dropped to sixteen. He tried to see past the chaos to where Evelyn was, but it was impossible with an enormous raptor in the way.

Time froze, and Rafael closed his eyes. He needed a clearer head. He couldn’t panic like this. Ezekiel didn’t have many options left. Milo was here, which meant their stockpile of gold mana would be there when this battle was over. But his first level spells were more buffs than attacks.

Ezekiel was near Evelyn. He could use this. His cleric’s hand to hand was pretty good, so he chose that. The d20 landed on a nine, and he gasped. Would that be enough? For a low-level velociraptor?

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He waited, his heart hammering, before the d6 appeared and he let out a breath. He rolled, pleased to see it land on a five. The +2 was nice, but would he be able to kill it?

Time resumed and Ezekiel stumbled out of the car on Evelyn’s side. He brought his fist down and punched the miniature velociraptor hard. It succeeded in the velociraptor changing focus from Evelyn to Ezekiel. Honestly, that’s all Rafael wanted. He heard the firm slamming of a car door as the little velociraptor growled at the cleric. Alive, but haggard.

Rafael was so caught up on Ezekiel’s doings that Quetzal leapt out of his arms and pounced into the darkness. Rafael’s eyes widened as a second little velociraptor appeared in the fields.

“Quetzal!” Rafael headed toward the fields.

“DON’T!” Tyler pointed a finger at Rafael, causing him to stop. “Don’t take one more step near those dinosaurs. Stay. By. The. Damn. Car.”

Rafael let out a breath, but stayed where he was. He understood Tyler’s terror. They didn’t know how many dinosaurs were out there.

Quetzal’s tiny roar sounded over the group as another mini velociraptor got his ass kicked. He felt a vibration in his pocket and he pulled out his phone to see Alejandra calling.

“Alejandra?”

“Who am I rolling for? Is Quetzal fighting?” She screamed so loud Rafael had to hold the phone a bit from his ear.

“We’re getting away. I swear we’re getting through this as fast as—”

“STOP HIM! HE’S A BABY!”

Rafael stared, wide-eyed, as a small velociraptor stumbled out of the field, one of its wings torn off and its leg broken. “Holy shit.” It tried to snap at Quetzal, but the baby drake slammed its claws into its face, and the velociraptor went down, dead. Rafael’s jaw dropped. Quetzal killed a velociraptor in one move. Ezekiel couldn’t even do that. What the hell did Alejandra roll?

“Rafael?”

“I… I…”

“RAFAEL!”

“I… promise he’s okay. I need to call you back.” He hung up, and his phone immediately vibrated again. He ignored it, knowing he’d get an earful when he eventually would talk to her again.

Another little velociraptor leapt out of the field, slamming into Ezekiel. It wasn’t deep. A testament to the low-level creatures these were. Rafael didn’t even want to think what would happen if they were larger. Ezekiel’s hit points dropped to fourteen. Rafael tried squinting toward the bushes and saw a flickering green light above Quetzal’s head. He was getting hit points.

Milo aimed his crossbow at the Utahraptor. Another ice bolt slammed into the side of the creature’s face, and it turned, snarling at Milo. It didn’t look good. Which was great for them. Clarissa slammed her scimitar into the Utahraptor, and Rafael felt surprised the raptor was still standing. A smaller velociraptor bit down hard on Ezekiel, and he screamed in pain as his arm snapped. Clarissa looked over, wide eyed. The huge Utahraptor snarled before chomping Milo’s shoulder and clawing his stomach.

Derek gasped, and Rafael stood frozen at the spot as Milo’s hit points plummeted to one. The mana fusor backed away, gripping his stomach as the blue aura around the crossbow flickered and went out.

“Oh shit,” Derek said.

Time slowed down, and Rafael felt nauseous. He rolled the d20 and hissed when it landed on a two.

Time resumed. “Milo!” Ezekiel shouted, unable to do anything else but that. He was seriously weakened. They were getting destroyed by low-level creatures.

Quetzal leapt onto the velociraptor that attacked Ezekiel, snarling before it chomped on its neck. Tyler still looked torn, ready to leap into the car, but he didn’t want to get in the way of the fight. The velociraptor shrieked, then clawed at Quetzal.

“No!” Rafael said. Quetzal let loose enough for the velociraptor to chomp down and shake the drake before throwing him against the car. “Shit. Quetzal!”

The drake was in a bad state. Rafael’s eyes widened as green lights flickered to life. Enough for him to see four hit points out of fifteen.

His phone vibrated again with Alejandra’s new call. If Alejandra was indeed rolling for Quetzal, then she could see his hit points, too. Rafael let out a breath, knowing he needed to stop Quetzal.

Milo lifted his regular crossbow, holding his stomach as he took aim and missed the Utahraptor.

“Shit, he should have healed himself,” Derek shouted, hands in his hair.

Clarissa tried to slam her scimitar into it, but it dodged that too, snarling at the two of them.

Something deep and low roared across the planes. Rafael’s eyes widened. He turned, seeing the black, clear sky. He couldn’t see anything, but something more was out there.

“We’ve got to go.” Tyler shoved his hands in his hair. “Shit, we’ve got to go. Everyone get in the car! Forget killing them!”

The velociraptor tried to attack Ezekiel, but he dodged both attacks, gasping. He held his shoulder, even though Rafael didn’t recall any bites happening there. Ezekiel stumbled toward the car.

The Utahraptor attacked Clarissa the same way it did Milo, snapping down hard on her shoulder and clawing her middle. Clarissa gasped, then her eyes rolled up.

“NO!” Ezekiel shouted.

Clarissa’s knees buckled before she collapsed, unconscious.

Time slowed down, but Rafael knew exactly what his cleric would do. Milo was down to one hit point, Clarissa at zero. Ezekiel wasn’t doing so great, either.

Rafael slammed on the preserve life option. He was going to split it between Ezekiel, Clarissa, and Milo, then get into the car. Just as he was about to choose it, he hesitated. Time unfroze for only Ezekiel, and the cleric turned his gaze to Rafael. It was odd to have everyone else frozen except his character.

“Ezekiel?”

The cleric said nothing, looked at Rafael, a hollowness coming to his eyes. That was new.

“I think… something is...” Ezekiel glanced down at his fingernails. Rafael’s pounding heart froze with everyone else’s time. Something flickered in his view, and he glanced at it.

Roll for nature.

Rafael stared at the words. What did this mean? He didn’t understand. He rolled, and it landed on a six. The +2 made it an eight.

Failed.

Rafael stared at those words, wide eyed. What did that mean?

“Ezekiel?” Rafael’s gaze shot to his cleric. Ezekiel closed his eyes as time resumed. He clasped his religious medallion, trying to speak the words of the incantation for preserve life. Rafael took a few steps forward. “Ezekiel!”

Tyler placed a hand on Rafael’s chest, his gaze bouncing between him and the cleric. Ezekiel stopped the incantation, something caught in his throat. A gargling noise that turned into a growl. His long fingernails covered his ears as he screamed.

Time froze again. Rafael was panting, terrified. “What the hell is going on?” As though on cue, words appeared for him to read.

Failed nature check. Wererat form appearing.

Ezekiel’s character sheet wobbled, then changed.