A second Hyena-man skulker leaped from the shadows and landed a blow against Dahlia’s back. The graze depleted the protective power of Dread Resolution and a small spray of blood escaped her leg where the weapon made physical contact, before Dahlia hit the ground. A creature as small as a fairy didn’t take blows from behemoth sized creatures like Hyena-men without consequence.
Within moments the protective barrier reasserted itself around Dahlia, the spell refreshing as it would for all those it protected. Yet it did nothing to restore her lost health, which plunged dangerously low.
♫”Wisp of life, wisp of death,
Heal the heart, leave no trace,
Shimmer soft, spirits guide,
Mend the pain, heal inside.”♫
The Wisp appeared next to Dahlia, and she spent a charge to heal the bloody wound on her leg. Xeras still hadn’t been injured yet, and her other two companions had yet to return from their task to hunt down the infiltrators. Dahlia decided to put some distance between herself and the ground, and floated higher up into the air, outside of the reach of the dumb hyena’s swords.
“Ruff!” We killed the ones that got by. Mr. Disapoofer spoke into Dahlia’s mind, and she could feel the two other minions returning.
“Your fur has more matts than a flea-ridden rug!” Dahlia proclaimed her insult against the stalker that chattered and howled at the sky, frustrated that the fairy had simply flown away from it. Since Dahlia couldn’t speak the unnaturally guttural language of the Hyena-men, she had no idea the beast actually used its brain and called for ranged attacks against her, even as the shadowy choruses of insults ensnared the mind of the beast-man.
“Fey? Why do you block my path, little fey?” A gargantuan hyena-man demanded to know as he moved into melee range with Xeras. The wooden blade met the twisted, bloody weapon of the elite warrior in a shower of magical sparks. For a brief moment the wicked metal blade looked like it might cut through the wooden one, but it only penetrated a quarter of an inch before the brute’s immense strength petered out, and Xeras parried the cursed weapon. Gloombough healed itself nigh instantly, Dahlia was pleased to see.
“Don’t let any more in!” Dahlia cried down at Xeras from her raised vantage.
The shadows cast by the torches on the palisade went crazy when Xeras counter-attacked the huge Hyena-man. Shadowy-tendrils reached out from all of the nearby shadows and the wooden blade pulsed with dark power, which Xeras unleashed in an attack. His wooden blade pierced the leather and bone armor of the gigantic brute, and the darkness his blade had absorbed unleashed itself into the brute’s cursed flesh.
“Arggg!” The brute screamed as dark energy flowed into the torn flesh, and his blood flowed out.
Orbs of acid and fire spiraled out of the darkness towards Dahlia. She dodged spell after spell launched by the casters outside the palisade before she got frustrated at her inability to do anything but dodge. Mr. Disapoofer and her Shadow rejoined the fight in time for her to land on Mr. Disapoofer’s head.
With the Shadow manifesting behind the large brute, and Mr. Disapoofer flanking Xeras, the Hyena-men were unable to enter the town through their explosive-created hole, but the press of hundreds of Hyena-men raiders pushed the sea of flesh inexorably towards the outnumbered defenders both at the gate and at the breach.
“Last offer, Fey. Step aside and we will have peace between us,” the huge Hyena-man growled out to Xeras and Dahlia. All Fey knew a lie when they heard one. The discordant noises the Hyena-man uttered might not have even been words, so disharmonious with reality was the lie that it sounded like nails on a chalkboard to Dahlia’s ears.
“I’ve met ogres with a more authentic I’ll betray you later spiel!” Dahlia snarled at the uppity Hyena-man. Not only did it offend her by acting like Xeras deserved to be talked to instead of her, but it was ugly, smelly, and its minions had hurt her, then it dared to lie to her?!
The darkness pulsed and slithered around the huge Hyena-man, and whispers filled the night, mocking Snarf, Warchief and Chosen of Set. The effects of Shadowy Whispers were insidious and instant. Snarf’s huge, bloodied weapon failed to find Xeras, as the debilitating murmurs forced him to make mistake after mistake in his attacks.
“Die!” Snarf screamed at the fey warrior in frustration.
“No, you,” Dahlia masterfully retorted and unleashed another cast of Shadowy Whispers. The chittering of dark unheard voices tormented Snarf inside of what counted for his head, and the huge Hyena-man raged at the night sky impotently as his blade failed to land on Xeras.
Mr. Disapoofer ripped great chunks of flesh from the Hyena-man’s calf with angry bites. As Dahlia could feel her familiar’s emotions, it could somewhat feel hers. Shade’s dark claws sapped life itself from the brute, while Snarf’s minions attempted to attack the shadow from behind. Those who managed to hit the shadow, which were few, did almost no damage thanks to the powerful weakening aura generated by Xeras and the shield generated by Dreadful Resolution every few seconds that absorbed what damage they managed to dump on it.
While Shadows were counted amongst the weakest of the undead with their lack of sapience, they were insubstantial creatures who resisted most types of elemental magic and non-magic weapons. This made them exceptionally annoying opponents, great at splitting attention and perfect for throwing a monkey wrench into the advancement of forces.
A final fireball lit up the night and struck outside the breach in the palisades. The minions so eager to pile into the town went up in a burst of powerful magic, giving a temporary respite to the Shadow.
“There’s Snarf! Get him!” Zorah cried out to the archers. A moment later a column of daylight surrounded Snarf, making him a bright obvious target for everyone. It didn’t surprise Dahlia that the elite creature fighting her knight to a standstill was the legendary leader of the Hyena-men. If rank and file monsters were a match for her knight, she would’ve been forced to get a new one!
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“Out of my way!” Snarf demanded of Dahlia’s minions, but no matter how he pushed, he couldn’t make headway or retreat, and Zorah’s archers turned him into a pin cushion.
“Don’t let him escape!” Dahlia ordered and unleashed yet another cast of Shadowy Whispers at the big, stupid, hyena-man.
“Where are my forces? Break through the gates!” Snarf yowled at his forces, and the press of hundreds of hyena-men made the palisades risk collapse from the press of the wiry haired bodies.
“They’re busy getting killed by a cleric,” Dahlia cheerfully informed Snarf.
The front gate, defended by Jessa and her powerful spell dispatched Hyena-man after Hyena-man, with a little extra help from dozens of soldiers with spears and halberds. The guards of Riverwatch pounced with vengeful glee at the Hyena-men who were attacked by Jessa’s holy spell, delivering vicious finishing blows. Few of the mongrel horde were sturdy enough to survive even a feather touched attack after Jessa’s radiant spirits welcomed each new opponent.
“Why isn’t your fence burning?” Snarf cried in anger and confusion.
“Apprentice mages may not have many spells per day, but they can put out blazes with Control Fire all night long,” Joel snorted as he joined the melee against Snarf.
Xeras, with a flair for the dramatic, unleashed another Gloaming Strike with his blade. The dark energies of shadows and dusk, the death of light, exploded from his sword and the head of Snarf hit the ground. His body fell a few moments later, a proverbial pincushion full of dozens of arrows and crossbow bolts.
It didn’t end with the death of Snarf, unfortunately. The Hyena-men saw a path to victory and charged into the gap in the palisade to take on the fey, Joel, and the archers. One by one, the tide of Set’s hungry children crashed against the palisades and was repulsed again, and again. Corpses littered the ground, and the defenders failed to notice stealthy skulkers dragging bodies away until it was too late.
Two crafty Hyena-men skulkers built a ramp of their own corpses to climb over the palisade. Ten, then twenty Hyena-men jumped the palisade. The hyena-men didn’t care about space, or even jumping to their deaths, they piled into the town like possessed creatures.
Dahlia noticed the bloodied, rusty weapon of Snarf glowed with disgusting, cursed magic. She flew over to the weapon and inspected it more closely with her magical senses. It had a dark, evil core that reminded her of snakes and Discordant Ones.
“I can do it!” Dahlia told herself, before she touched the hilt of the weapon with a fingertip and tried to seal the curse. Despite her own vast reserves of fey magic the weapon threatened to overwhelm her immediately. Desperate, Dahlia expended a Glimmer point to strengthen her attempts at controlling the powerful energies in the weapon. She was so close, and yet so far, and so she expended a second point to tweak reality and successfully alter the flows of magic in the weapon.
Instead of an open circuit, Dahlia closed the circuit, sealing effects of the cursed weapon of Snarf inside itself. It was a nasty, nefarious piece of magic, and Dahlia had seen her share of nasty, mean-spirited magic over the years. That bitch Deborah was always talking about how to do things with curses this and curses that, but even Deborah wouldn’t make a weapon that possessed someone and transformed them into a depraved mockery of a long dead monster who had been a devoted, murderous, follower of Set. Probably. Maybe Deborah would. She was a bitch.
“Stupid Set, no one likes repeats,” Dahlia chided the god, while admiring her masterful tweaks to the thaumaturgical properties of the item. The twisted weapon glowed, the metal turned red-white like coals, and acrid smoke wafted off. Heat—like a campfire at first, then a forge, then a wildfire—radiated in distorting waves.
The hordes of Hyena-men rushed towards to the burning sword, as if it was the only thing that could save them. They didn’t dodge blows, they had a single command drive their bodies: reach the sword. So, when the sword exploded, it mostly killed hyena-men.
Inside the palisade and out, the Hyena-men all lifted their heads and yowled and whooped at the night sky. Even those mid-battles did this, resulting in more than a few being struck down.
The angry dirge in response to the loss of Snarf’s cursed weapon ended and then the Hyena-men broke for the forests. Any hints of organization, community, or leadership vanished with the death of Snarf and the sealing of his sword. Archers and warriors, mages and clerics, all desperately tried to strike down the fleeing Hyena-men, but over half of the thousand+ strong raiding party made it back to the edges of the Bramblewood.
“What’s that bit of fire magic you did at the end, little one?” A dark-haired human man of middling years asked Dahlia.
“It was the big guy’s weapon. It had a nasty curse, so I changed the curse to stop effecting the Hyena-men,” Dahlia bragged to the human.
“That’s a mighty bit of magic to work in the middle of a battle,” the human remarked with a hint of skepticism.
“You use magic, I am magic,” Dahlia retorted.
“Enough, Bennet. Lady Dahlia not only held the breach but slayed Snarf and prevented the transference of his cursed weapon. That deserves celebrating, not suspicion.” Lord Graystone chided the man as he entered the still glowing circle of light that radiated off Snarf’s corpse.
“Thank you, Lady Dahlia. Riverwatch would have been doomed without you,” Lord Graystone said with a bow of his head to the tiny fairy.
You have gained 1 Glimmer point.
Pact complete: Save Riverwatch from Snarf. Glimmer points awarded: 15.
The sudden delivery of so many Glimmer points caused visible distortions of magical vortexes to swirl around Dahlia, and the haughty mage went pale faced. The human’s eyes revealed the birth of a deep, existential fear in the mage as he witnessed evidence that all of the legends about the fey were potentially true.
Dahlia spun and twirled happily in the vortexes of magic, which she greedily consumed.
Experience breakdown for the Battle of Riverwatch:
+834 experience from slaying Hyena-men.
+420 experience from slaying Snarf.
+1,000 experience for sealing cursed item The Crimson Hunger.
Congratulations, you have reached level 3. Please proceed to the nearest Pillars of Ascension.
“We leveled up! Yay!” Dahlia cheered, and checked on each of her minions. Dahlia dumped a charge of Wisp heal into Xeras and Mr. Disapoofers to be safe, then flew around above the humans, distributing aid to the worst injured.
“Thanks, Miss Fairy!” One man called.
You have gained a Glimmer point.
Dahlia earned four more Glimmer points from people thanking her, as she buzzed around and tended to the wounded. Each charge of Wisp Heal did minimal healing, but thanks to the war magic cast Dread Resolution, few of the defenders had sustained wounds that breached the protection of the potent magic.
““Dahlia!””
Adeline and Amelia got the fairies attention as dawn broke the horizon.
“Hi!” Dahlia greeted the two who still lugged their crossbow and bow.
“Dad wants you to get some rest, now. We’re going to have a big party tonight.” Adeline said.
“A party? That sounds fun,” Dahlia chimed in as she flew in circles.
“A party. So, let’s visit the Pillars of Ascension and get some rest, okay?” Amelia requested.
“Oh, right, level up. I totally forgot!” Dahlia said, and she laughed a little sheepishly.
“Ruff!” I tried to remind her! Mr. Disapoofers said.
“I will return to the Between,” Xeras proclaimed in Sylvan, and then took a sideways step and vanished.
“Aww, he’s such a party pooper,” Dahlia pouted.
“Is he… alive?” Amelia questioned.
“He’s bound to my service,” Dahlia answered truthfully, but without giving an actual answer.
“Is there going to be cake tonight? I like cake,” Dahlia dropped a subtle hint for the girls before she approached the Pillars and their iconography to Thoth.