They had followed the tracks for about an hour when a rock struck Vultressant in the head. The pain was intense, and his HUD actually flashed red. He could see a debuff indicating that he was stunned and would remain so for another 15 seconds. He heard cries and commands from others in the party, but he was unable to focus on the things happening around him. He was able to hear things, but it was the understanding that eluded him. Before the debuff finally wore off, he was struck with two more rocks, but neither caused another debuff nor an extension to the existing one.
When he could act again, Vultressant quickly cast his personal shield spell, and a faint blue light enveloped him and faded after a few seconds. The hail of stones had left him wounded; his HP now diminished to 155 out of 240. Assessing the situation, he observed that both Taloc and Vanya were momentarily stunned. Reacting swiftly, he seized the globe of light he carried and hurled it in the direction of the attacks. It passed over two malevolent-looking creatures, each wielding a sling and wearing a hat that also served as a mask. The hats resembled Santa hats in the back, but they covered their faces to the nose and hung low on the sides several inches below their mouths. Despite their hunched stature, they stood almost as tall as he did.
He prepared a bolt of fire spell to send at one of his attackers, but before he had fully charged it, he heard a commotion in the direction of the Ranger. Taloc, who was just coming out of the stun debuff, had been assaulted by a running Redcap. He was kicked by an oversized boot, and he went sprawling to the ground on his back. With his globe gone, Vultressant was now away from the light, and he hoped that he would be more difficult to target by the Redcaps wielding the slings. The spell that he was preparing was made of fire, so it had its own light, but its brightness was a mere fraction of what the globes gave off. When the pressure of the spell power was almost too much for him to bear, he released the spell at one of the sling bearers. The bolt streaked through the air and struck his target’s chest. The impact knocked the creature back, and it landed heavily on the ground. Seeing the power of his spell, its partner put his sling away and grabbed a wicked-looking sickle that had been attached to his hip. With a cry, the Redcap raised its sickle and charged towards the Wizard.
Vultressant took a quick look around, and he saw that the rest of the group was dealing with three Redcaps near where Taloc had gone down earlier. Taloc was now back on his feet, fighting with a Shadowbane, while the others were locked in melee combat; Vanya, positioned behind the group, was the exception. Isla held her shield high, but not between herself and her nearest attacker; she seemed to be shielding her head from sling attacks. It looked like he was on his own, so he opted for his wind wave spell. Just before the Redcap charging him was upon him, he finished casting the spell. The creature flew back through the air, its weapon landing a few feet away from where it hit the ground. While the Redcap recovered and searched for its weapon, Vultressant cast his jet of steam spell. Unfortunately for the Redcap, it had just turned to face him when the steam blast struck. It dropped its newly recovered weapon and raised its hands to protect its face. Neither the hands nor the hood it wore offered much in the way of protection against the searing heat that penetrated both clothes and armor.
After the steam stopped, the creature ignored its dropped weapon and ran towards its companion. The other Redcap was still standing in the light of the thrown globe, but it was sending its missiles at other members of the party, likely because the lanterns in the area were providing enough light for targeting them more easily. The Redcap was also standing in an illuminated area, so if it had some sort of night vision ability, then the light would stifle that ability. Vultressant considered sending another bolt of fire at the ranged attacker but decided to target the Redcap currently fleeing from him. It had fewer HP left, and removing a combatant from the fight was important, so he charged his spell and focused on the back of the runner. The spellcasting drew the attention of the other Redcap, as the light from the charging spell revealed his location, making him an easy target. His shield flashed as a stone struck the barrier, but the projectile bounced off harmlessly. Vultressant channeled mana to recharge his shield before releasing his bolt of fire, which hit the fleeing Redcap in the back. The creature screamed and vanished; there was a small flash of purple as a core dropped where the creature had been just a moment before.
Vultressant moved away from the action and drew his bow, aiming at the Redcap still within the light radius of the globe he had thrown earlier; the creature apparently wasn’t smart enough to escape the illumination. He heard a noise from behind him as he loosed the arrow, the distraction causing his shot to go wide of the mark. He turned to see Jaro creeping about.
“Help or stop distracting me,” he whispered harshly to the dockman, who held up his hands in a defensive gesture.
He took aim again, and this time he hit the Goblin while it was in the middle of whipping its sling in the air. It stopped its attack and turned to stare towards the direction of the arrow attack. As the creature scanned the area, Vultressant sent another arrow at it, striking it in the face. The creature went down but was still alive, so he shot another arrow at it. There was less of the creature to target as it lay on the ground, and his shot flew over it. He tried another arrow shot with the same result. However, it was clearly out of the fight for now, and with his shield still charging, he was content with the current stalemate.
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Once his shield was nearly fully charged, he crept towards the light, hoping to get a better shot. He glanced towards the rest of the fighting as he approached the downed Redcap. The others were now fighting four of the creatures, and an unknown number were still out in the darkness, hurling stones at the fighters. When he crept closer to the Recap on the ground, he saw that the creature had an arrow sticking out of its mouth. Its eyes, which Vultressant could clearly see through the eyeholes of the hood, were looking at him intently. It must be paralyzed. Just in case it was a trap of some sort, he remained where he was.
He shot at it again, and the Redcap’s eyes closed in pain, though it did not cry out. The third strike was in the chest, and it finally disappeared, replaced by a softly glowing purple core. Vultressant quickly grabbed both of the cores, then tucked the globe of light into an inner pocket, which again shrouded him in darkness. He was unaware of the difference between the green cores that the Hound Stalkers had dropped and the purple cores of the Redcaps, but he would ask Rena when he saw her next.
Vultressant was excited to have defeated two of the Redcaps without any assistance. The result may have been different if it had been in the daylight, but throwing his light globes at his attackers in the dark was extremely useful, and it allowed him to attack at range from the cover of darkness. A smart opponent would have run away from the light or thrown the globe back, but it worked out this time.
He made his way towards the group, which was now surrounding their last two opponents. He tried to determine which direction the sling attacks were coming from, and when he thought that he knew, he pulled out his globe and threw it in that direction. His throw was off target, but he was able to see where more of the creatures were as the globe passed close to them. He quickly created another globe and hurled it where he had seen the sling-wielders. Just as he threw, a stone struck his shield.
Once the light was no longer near him, he ran to avoid being targeted from his previous position. The new globe of light revealed the Redcaps’ positions, giving his allies a clearer view of their hidden attackers.
The second throw landed close enough to light up two of the three Goblins that he had seen on the previous throw. The only spell that would work at this distance was his bolt of fire spell, so he opted for his bow to prevent giving away his position. The Goblins would only have a general sense of where the arrows had come from, but they would not be able to see him, so targeting him would be much more difficult. As he aimed his bow, he saw that Isla was charging the slingers with her shield raised high enough to protect her head. One of the Redcaps put away its sling and drew its sickle before moving forward to meet the approaching Skirmisher. Vultressant took the opportunity to fire one shot at the Redcap as it started to move. The arrow struck its side; it was difficult to tell exactly where the strike landed given the hunched over stance the creatures used. The arrow slowed the Redcap, and it looked his way briefly before Isla was upon it. The two Redcaps with slings pelted her with stones as she fought, but she skillfully used her shield to deflect most of the projectiles.
His arrow shots did damage, but they did only a fraction of what a fully charged bolt could do. He decided that it was better to risk revealing himself in order to increase his damage level and help protect Isla. His shield was still active, so if a rock or two came his way, then it should be able to withstand them. Although the others could see him, they were too focused on the skirmisher to bother with him, so he cast a spell.
That changed when his bolt struck one of the ranged attackers, knocking it backwards and causing its clothes to catch fire. Vultressant moved to a new position, and he narrowly avoided a rock that flew at his prior location. One was distracted and the other was on the ground and burning, so there were no more rocks pelting Isla. This allowed her to easily deal with her wounded attacker, who already had an arrow sticking out of it. Once it was down, she turned her attention to the Redcap rolling on the ground, desperately trying to extinguish itself. She made short work of it, then rounded on the remaining Redcap.
The rest of the group had defeated the Redcaps they were fighting and rushed to Isla’s aid. Seeing the group closing in, the remaining Redcap turned to flee but didn’t get far. Once they had dispatched it, they paused to catch their breath and assess. All told, they had collected 12 of the creature cores. One core was from the leader of the Redcaps with a trait called ‘command’.
“Well, we finished the quest!” Isla called out excitedly.
Taloc looked for Jaro, and when he located the man, he asked, “Did you already contact the council?”
The man shook his head. “I only speak to Hufalon, and I have not made my report on this battle to him yet.”
“I guess that your report will be good enough for him then,” Taloc said, and then he looked to the rest of the group. “Should we head back?”
“I would rather sleep now and travel during the day for a change,” Isla replied. “It will be much quicker that way.”
“Weren’t there supposed to be larger biped footprints out here?” Vultressant asked, remembering the descriptions of the different reported footprints in the area.
“Well, it doesn’t look like we have to deal with those since the quest is done,” Isla said.
“Maybe when we go back, we’ll get another quest to hunt down the big ones,” Taloc offered.
“Maybe,” Isla said, “but they’ll likely want us to kill some Orcs for now. I, for one, am tired and tired of this quest. Let’s camp and head back when it’s light out.”
No one had an objection to camping, but no one wanted to make camp at the site of their ambush, so Taloc found them a suitable place to rest for the night that was relatively close. They posted a guard just to be safe.