The group walked through the Fangwoods, a dark and foreboding journey that Delde would never have willingly taken if she had a say in the matter. Although the town of Kassen was surrounded by forests, everyone knew to travel with the utmost caution when going through Fangwoods to the south. As the town was build next to, and in fact was now at the point where it was bisected by the river Tourondel there were very few who travelled to Kassen over land, and the ones that did tended to come from the northern, more lightly forested side and leave the same way. The only ones who would regularly enter the Fangwoods were hunters and trappers, men and women who were experienced rangers and outdoorspeople, people who knew how to properly survive and navigate the wilderness. Not a bunch of strangers who had mostly never spoken more than a few words to each other in their lives.
The more she thought about it the more ridiculous their traveling through the Fangwoods were. If it really was as dangerous as everyone claimed it was, then why were they just left to their own devices in traveling through them. They had been walking through the forest for almost two hours, the security and shelter of Kassen was far out of reach now. Delde gripped her new staff tighter as Onyx climbed up her and retreated into the safety of her backpack.
A cold wind picked up and the dull grey clouds in the sky darkened, though they didn’t yet deliver on the rain that they promised. Baye led them all through the narrow winding forest path, unperturbed by their circumstances and environment as the rest of them were clawed at by the lifeless branches of the tightly packed trees. Said trees were mostly barren of leaves now, a smattering of yellow, amber and orange ones remained in stubborn denial at the changing seasons, but the rest had submitted to natures cycle and fallen to the earth, brittle and lifeless. The only sounds were the crunching of those dead leaves beneath their feet, the growing howling of the wind, and the creaking and clattering of the branches as they swayed in the wind.
No birds. No insects. No animals of any kind as far as Delde could tell. It felt as though they were the only living things in the Fangwoods.
In the warmth of spring or summer Delde imagined that the forest might look appealing, picturesque even. But as it was now, in the end of the autumn months the forest looked every part the image of a child’s idea of the haunted woods.
Delde realised that Igmar and Dal had stopped walking and talking. That, she grasped was because Baye had stopped ahead of them. There was a fallen tree trunk on their path, but Baye didn’t skip over it as she had done with other minor obstacles.
Then she saw Baye slowly begin to back away, her hand slowly going to her bow. Igmar’s hand was already on his sword Delde noticed.
The earth from behind the fallen tree exploded upwards and animalistic, guttural battle cries cut through the now forgotten silence. Three hulking figures erupted from the ground and began rushing towards the group. They were partly covered in mud, but she could see the yellowed tusks in their frothing mouths, the green pigment of their skin as they gripped fearsome looking great axes. Igmar was able to reach the same conclusion as she was, but he vocalised it quicker than she could.
‘ORCS!’
He screamed it in a way that was at once a warning and a battle cry as he drew his long sword and rushed to meet them in battle. Baye rushed past him in the other direction but was already notching an arrow in her bow. She didn’t see what happened to Dal, he seemed to have vanished in the confusion. Adriana had been a few steps behind her, and she didn’t look back to see her reaction.
Some small part of Delde’s mind continued its analysing of the situation even in her terrified state. Their ambushers must have been literally lying-in wait for them, hidden, half buried in the cold earth and dead leaves. But she could not think of a reasonable explanation for why they were there. Bandits would have no reason to hide in a place so unlikely to receive travellers, and there wasn’t anyone who would want to target them specifically, was there?
Then there was the fact the attackers were orcs. They weren’t especially common in this region, and they would have been the talk of the town if they passed through Kassen, so where did they come from? They didn’t wear any markings or heraldry that would indicate they were part of a larger group like a mercenary company or a war party, were they-
A wickedly sharp javelin torn through her right thigh and her world became nothing but pain.
Delde screamed louder than she ever had in her life, tears ran down her face as she forced herself to look at the wound. Blood was quickly staining her robes. It was dark, so much darker than she had ever expected blood to be.
There was a battle raging before her but she couldn’t focus on it, couldn’t focus on anything but the pain and the blood, there was so much blood now, why was she bleeding so much, what was she meant to do, this was so stupid, she was going to die in such a stupid way, she didn’t want to be here she wanted to be safe and warm in her room with her books, she-
‘Delde!’.
She looked up and found herself staring at Adriana who was standing above her. When had she fallen to the ground? Where was Onyx? Was he ok? Adriana reached down towards her, but rather than her hand she took hold of the javelin still embedded in her thigh.
‘Please brace yourself, I am afraid that this is going to hurt’.
With no further warning she yanked the javelin hard and pulled it out eliciting another cry of agony from Delde. Dark blood pooled in the cold earth as Adriana kneeled next to her now, placing her hands over either side of her gaping wound, whispering words that she couldn’t quite make out.
Then the intense pain that had overridden everything else faded away in an instant and was replaced instead by a warmth that reminded Delde of lying in the summer sun. It passed after a moment and she felt the aches and pains of walking for so long return, along with the chill on the air once again. But the memory of the warmth lingered.
The clash of metal brought Delde sharply back into the situation at hand and she quickly accepted Adriana’s assistance in getting up while taking stock of what was happening.
Igmar was currently facing off against two of the orcish attackers by himself and seemed to be worse for wear because of it. While she couldn’t see his face from the angle, she was at she could see his blood on the vicious great axes of the attackers and could hear him breathing hard.
That said, Igmar gave no quarter and fought with a skill that impressed Delde. He took advantage of his shorter stature and used it to duck and weave beneath their powerful, but clumsy strikes, dodging more than she thought a man in armour would be able to. Then there was his fighting style, he only wielded his longsword and kept his left hand free, but far from idle. With every glancing blow, every testing strike, every successful attack Igmar would push, shove, tug and otherwise disrupt his opponent. It seemed to Delde to be a rather “dirty” and dishonourable means of attacking, not what she would have expected from a dwarf at all, but its effectiveness was undeniable. Both the orcs challenging him were blooded, with the one on his left suffering from an especially wicked wound on his head that had carved most of his right cheek and ear away to the bone.
Then there was the third orc that stood apart from the others, javelin in hand. His attention had shifted to Baye now it seemed as she stood between two other javelin that had apparently missed her. The orc on the other hand had two arrows sticking out of its chest, though it showed no discomfort at their presence. It was entirely focused on Baye and hitting her with what looked to be its last javelin.
Or at least it was until something small smashed into its head. For a second Delde saw Dal peeking out behind a pile of fallen leaves, sling in hand, before disappearing into the trees. The orc roared in frustration but returned its focus to Baye, just in time for another of her arrows to find its mark, this time in its left bicep.
Adriana strode with solemn purpose towards the two orcs fighting Igmar, drawing her scimitar and calling out at the top of her lungs.
‘I AM A CLERIC OF SARENRAE, THE DAWNFLOWER! THROW DOWN YOUR ARMS, REPENT AND BY MY WORD YOU WILL BE SHOWN MERCY! CONTINUE TO FIGHT US AND YOU WILL DIE TODAY!’
None of the orcs showed any interest in her words, continuing their attacks with abandon. But Delde was not sorry that Adriana’s attempt at diplomacy had failed; she wanted retribution before the day was done. She stared at the orc that had attacked her with hate filled eyes. It wasn’t even looking at her. Had it thought her dead in one blow from it? Did it see her as just some mewling child incapable of retaliating? She would teach it its error.
Delde tampered down her anger, what she was going to do would not be an emotional response. It would be cold, calculated and certain. She reached into her mind and called up the formula to one of the spells of the first level that she had prepared for the day. She brought it now to the forefront of her mind, focused on it, and on her target. She voiced the words and tones needed for its activation and felt the magic course through her, around her, and then she aimed it straight at the orc that had dared to not only attack her but deemed her unworthy of any concern afterwards.
Three blade shaped burst of magical energy burst forth from her outstretched hands and flew unerringly towards the orc. All three of the magic missiles struck the orc in its chest, right over its heart. Delde imaged herself stabbing the scum in the heart each time one hit him. Then it fell over. No death cry, no attempt at fleeing or begging for mercy, no last act of defiance. Just death.
Something about the way the orc died bothered Delde, but she put that to the back of her mind, there were two other threats that had to be dealt with first.
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Adriana had reached Igmar at this point and the tide of the battle was turning in their favour now. While she was not as skilled, nor as “dirty” a fighter as the dwarf her presence made it a two on two fights, taking a great deal of pressure off him. And with her target gone Baye began to fire arrows towards the remaining orcs, they didn’t land, but they helped to distract them. Or at least it should have, the orcs showed little interest in anything that didn’t directly affect them. Again, something bothered Delde about this and again she put it aside.
Igmar pressed the attack, dancing around his opponent, never letting him keep his balance for too long, always looking for an opening to abuse. Adriana in contrast, was much more conventional in her attacks, she stood her ground and tried to inflict more damage upon her opponent that he could on her. It was not as effective as Igmar’s style, as the orc, while not more skilled than Adriana, was stronger and more capable of inflicting pain. A punishing swing from its great axe hit her in her lower chest, breaking through the splint mail and drawing blood along with a cry of pain from her. Igmar responded by disengaging from his opponent and turning on her attacker, slicing him in the back with his long sword and shoving him to the side with his free hand to knock him off balance.
With the orc staggered Adriana had an opening which she quickly took advantage of, slicing through the crude studded leather armour it wore through to its chest with her scimitar. As it struggled to restore its fighting stance Delde acted. Although she couldn’t cast another magic missile spell that day as she had only prepared one, and the sole first level spell she had remaining was a defensive one that wasn’t going to be especially useful just now, Delde still had options. She knew some offensive cantrips that might have been weaker than the magic missile spell but would be more effective than her just running up and hitting the orc with her staff.
Once again Delde drew forth the formula for the spell in her mind, spoke different, though similar words and felt the magic course through and around her. It was weaker this time and the effect was different as a sphere of viscus green liquid manifested in her right hand which the wizard then through towards her foe, hitting him right in the open wound in his chest. As soon as the acid made contact it hissed and ate through the orcs armour and flesh, it wasn’t a strong acid and it quickly dissipated but the damage was enough to kill the second orc. For the second time an orc attacker fell to Delde’s magic and once again something bothered her about it.
A sickening thwack sound stopped her from pursuing that thought though as the third and final orc ambusher had not abandoned its attack. It had struck Igmar in the back with a devastating two-handed swing from its great axe dropping the dwarf down to the ground as he cried out in pain. Adriana rushed to his side, but lacking Igmar’s combative prowess could only land a glancing blow that did nothing to distract or dissuade the orc from attempting to finish off the dwarf. Even Baye firing another arrow at it did nothing as it failed to strike. The orc raised its heavy great axe to the sky and prepared to bring it down on Igmar, who even now kept hold of his sword and was trying in vain to get up.
Everything slowed in Delde’s mind as she rushed to muster up another spell to attack the orc. She feared that it wouldn’t be enough though. The orc was nowhere near as badly injured as the last one was, and she didn’t have any more powerful spells left to hit it with. She did have a defensive spell, but she needed to be closer to cast it on someone other than herself; she had never considered protecting others with her magic before.
The orcs knees began to drop to deliver the blow.
A blur rushed past it. Dal, dagger in two hands plunged it straight into its lower abdomen and carried on running, the momentum helping to slice open the orcs stomach, gutting it. Its knees continued to fall along with the rest of it. The great axe fell from its hands and spun off into the ground. It died just as silently as its brothers had.
And at that moment the realisation that had been just out of her grasp hit her.
The orcs were all identical. Perfectly so. A group of orc triplets would be odd but not impossible, but it was more than that. Everything about them was identical, from their weapons to their armour, to the dirt that was on them from hiding in the leaves. They were all perfect copies of each other.
Then there was their behaviour. Absolutely zero interest in anything not directly affecting them. They didn’t even react to their “brothers” dying in any way.
And what they were doing there out in the middle of the Fangwoods? Nobody came out there, especially at this time of year. Even if they had been waiting for a hunter or two to pass through, they could have chosen a better ambush point. If any of them had tried to escape there was a good chance, they would have been able to, the forest, though dense was not impossible to navigate through. No, the only people they could have been realistically preparing to ambush was them, and the townspeople would never have gone as far as to hire a group of thugs to attack their “heroes”. That left only one reasonable explanation to her, they had to be-
‘-An Illusion!’
Delde cried out in frustration, kicking a pile of leaves nearby. Just as she did so the orc ambushers all began to fade away, along with all the injuries they had all sustained in the fight. Igmar rose to his feet helped by Adriana and Dal, though he appeared to realise that he didn’t need their help halfway up.
The rest of the group stood in stunned silence at Delde’s revelation, unable to refute it seeing as how their attackers and injures had disappeared.
‘W-whit? All that wis an illusion? I-it all felt so real’.
Dal collapsed on his back. The others rushed to his side to see if he had perhaps been hurt but as they approached, he burst out in laughter.
‘Ah ha ha ha, I-I-I didn’t think the old codger had it in him. Ah ha ha ha. Oh gods that was amazing! I thought we were all going to die! Oh I’m going prank that old wizard so hard when we get back to town! I’m goin’ to fill his boots with toads, I’m goin’ to cover his bathtub in rancid butter, I’m gonna… I’m gonna do something to him. Just as soon as I… catch my breath. And my hands stop shaking. Don’t try and stop me Igmar, he’s got this coming to him’.
‘Just try an no do onything that does permanent damage’.
Igmar said in response absentmindedly. He seemed to be running his fingers over where he had moments previously been apparently gravely wounded, although Delde didn’t know if it was a conscious action on his part or just instinctual curiosity. Not only was he unharmed but the damage to his armour was also gone as if it was never there; although whether that was the case was a debate that arcane theorists had been arguing about for many years now.
Onyx’s meowing caught Delde’s attention, and she walked over to where he was pawing at the earth. She didn’t notice anything that would have attracted him, although she was grateful that her familiar had the good sense to keep away from a dangerous situation. Then she smelt a pungent whiff of smoke and realised exactly had happened.
‘Damn it he was here! Of course he was he would need to be, he would need to be close enough to cast the spell!’
The rest of the group, including a still slightly hysterical Dal wandered over to see what she was talking about.
‘There! See!’ she pointed to the greyish patch of earth that Onyx had been pawing at moments earlier. The others did not seem to reach the same conclusion that she did and looked in bewilderment. Baye approached it and gave a hesitant sniff.
‘Ash?’
‘Pipe ash to be precise. To be even more precise its pipe ash from Henamore tobacco. Holgast smokes it almost constantly and he’s the only person in town that does so. He has it delivered straight from Tamran once every two months. I’ve been cleaning out his ash trays for as long as I’ve been that man’s apprentice, I’d know that smell anywhere’.
Frustration boiled over in her as she thought of her mentor quietly watching her and the rest of the group fighting it out against his illusionary opponents. Delde never noticed him, but she was too fixated on her apparent ambushers to pay attention to her surroundings, in any case it would be simplicity itself for him to just cast a spell of invisibility on himself. She could see him in her mind, watching, taking notes, casually smoking from his pipe, probably playing with Onyx. All the while she and the others were fighting as if their lives depended on it.
‘I should have noticed the signs of them being illusions! I did notice them! I just wasn’t paying proper attention. If I was then we could have all avoided that fight’.
She hung her head in utter shame. She had been so proud of her intelligence, her arcane prowess. But when faced with a challenge that she was perfectly suited for dealing with she had failed completely. Had she recognised that the three orcs were illusions then she could have warned everyone and if her suspicions were correct, though at this point she found herself even doubting them, then the illusions would have dispelled if everyone was aware of their true nature. But instead, she had been fooled just like everyone else, worse in fact as she had been struck by one and had thought that the pain was genuine. So many opportunities to prove herself, all of them wasted. It was humiliating for her, especially as her failure had been witnessed by not only her mentor but a group of people, she had hours before viewed as beneath her.
‘I think that you are perhaps being a little hard on yourself Miss Vargidan. In all fairness we all saw the same thing and none of us had any idea that our opponents were illusions. In any event while you might not have realised, they were illusions until the very end you did you were still most effective in the battle’.
‘Aye, ye managed tae kill two o them. An illusion or no they bloody hurt when they hit ye. We’d probably be worse oof if you worny here so dinnie be tae hard on yerself’.
Their reaction and support were unexpected, but pleasantly so. But Delde wasn’t used to getting compliments outside of Holgast’s approval for her spellcasting and studious nature and she found herself tongue-tied, unable to come up with a response.
‘If we’re all done pattin’ ourselves on the back, can we go now? It’s getting’ late. We’ll need to pick up the pace to make up for all the time we lost with that fight. I reckon that if we keep goin’ for a few more hours we should have time to find a good spot and make up camp before it gets dark’.
‘What, afraid that the wizard’s going to throw more illusions at us while its dark and spooky?’.
Dal wiggled his fingers as he spoke in a dismissive tone.
‘I’m concerned about the local wildlife gettin’ worked up after hearin’ all that commotion. The last thin’ we need is some hungry wolves or another predator followin’ our trail lookin for an easy meal’.
‘Phff, we’ll be fine! You saw how we handled ourselves in that fight. Any wild animals that come our way will turn around when they see all six of us coming’.
‘Six? There’s only five of us here’.
‘I’m including Onyx. Look at his wittle face nothing could ever want to hurt him’.
‘Sigh, Baye’s right let’s head off. I don’t think that Holgast is still watching us but if he is I don’t want him to say that we were so shocked by the illusion fight that we had to stop and rest before carrying on’.
Delde was grateful for the chance to put this behind herself but found the experience to be rather interesting. While she was still annoyed that she didn’t realise that the orcs were an illusion until the last posable minute she was pleased that she had at least been able to destroy two of them with her magic. Admittedly they had both taken wounds before she attacked them but still, she felt that she made a good showing.
She was also impressed with how admirably the rest of her group had fought, even if she found it difficult to articulate that to them. Baye had noticed the ambush before any of them and had managed to keep one of the orcs occupied with her archery. Igmar had managed to hold off two attackers on his own for a good portion of the fight. Dal’s stealthy attacks had helped distract one and kill another of the attackers. Even Adriana had held her own in the fight, and she had healed her in the middle of the battle. Admittedly it wound up being unnecessary but, in the moment, nobody had known that.
As Onyx assumed his position inside her backpack and they all resumed their march onwards, Delde found herself for the first time since she had heard that she would be taking part in this “quest”, feeling happy about how things had turned out.