The battle continues

15^th December 356 AC

As Sir Dominic's armour cooled from the cowardly bolt I charged the draconian wizard alongside the courageous Starsong. Sadly the contemptible creature disappeared from sight before our blades found their home in its flesh. Brother Ithariel recognised the fiend as an Aurak draconian, having faced the wretched magic users in combat before. Unsure of what magiks were in play this time Starsong & myself became motionless as the trees around us, though the cretin never betrayed itself with sound.

After some moments trepidation Brother Ithariel took to action & began shepherding the valiant defenders of the cart to our own wagon, wielding shield on main arm & off. Believing these three to be the object of the criminal's intentions I withdrew from the fight to add my own shield to his defence and we pursued a guarded retreat.

Not long after Nedlog (the Triumphant?) began yelling the most heinous taunts, the details of which do not bear recording, Lady Azshauna took on a strange look. Almost immediately she drew a rod from within her robes & unleashed a barrage of unholy fire on Brother Ithariel & myself, as well as Sir Dominic. Despite the discomfort, we struggled on to evacuate the civilians while the Holy Brother whispered Great Kiri-Jolith's blessing of aid.

A swift pebble flung from the sling of Nedlog brought the elf back to her senses & she attempted to ignite the woodland in flames, though the effects of the mind control would seem to have temporarily impaired her magic. The kender and Starsong were both struck with yet another bolt of lightning while the Lady Azshauna struggled with her spells, though this did not stop Nedlog (the evidently durable) bounding brightly into the undergrowth.

Brother Ithariel & myself continued the withdrawal as Sir Dominic & Starsong finally came within striking distance of the Aurak, though the beast stepped through another frustrating portal.

Without warning Brother Ithariel dropped one of his shields and swung with mace at the wife of the merchant. I managed to parry his attacks but I was unable to disable him, Lady Azshauna moved the innocents away as we contested.

Unable to ascertain the location of the enemy Sir Dominic took advantage of the moment to investigate the human accomplices, finding tattoos of the Red Dragon-armies upon each of them.

A circle of fire immediately surrounded Ithariel, Azshauna & myself, as well as the three under our protection, further compounding my suspicion that this was no simple act of brigandry. The dauntless Brother Ithariel bent his will to dispel the flames about us, but the toll of combat both physical & spiritual was beginning to show on his countenance. Fortunately this act of spell-casting served only to reveal our foe's location.

Sir Dominic mounted his steed for the charge, while Nedlog succeeded a hit with a poisoned dart of some kind. Unfortunately Sir Dominic lives by the rules of Knight & Paladin both and so reaching the apparently unarmed draconian he chose to dismount and fight the cretin bare-fisted. I encountered many such knights during the war, many locked into the old fashioned way of thinking and most of them now dead. I must explain to him at some stage that the finer points of chivalry do not apply when facing a superior foe, or magic-users (both of which applied in this case). Needless to say, despite my misgivings, the combat began to swing in favour of the Chosen Warrior. That is until our dear kender decided to lend her aid by inexplicably attacking Sir Dominic with a grapple, he all the while continuing to pursue the creature's surrender.

Meanwhile we had reached our own wagon and the noble Ithariel very nearly secured his demise dispelling another Aurak lightning bolt while I struggled to load one of our heavy crossbows. As I brought tension to the weapon Lady Azshauna peppered the enemy with arrows before I sent a bolt to its jaw. The reprobate did have time to swallow a potion of healing at this point but soon after Starsong's axe cut it very nearly in half and the beast yielded. We proceeded to bind, gag & blind the prisoner so that it could be brought to the High Clerist's justice while Nedlog kindly unleashed another barrage of taunts & jeers, sending the draconian into such a fit of rage that it could think of nothing but thrashing madly at its bonds.

With all our foes vanquished we prepared to continue our journey. The attackers we left to the wolves and crows, though Sir Dominic was careful to collect a breastplate as evidence of the nature of our enemy. The merchant's guards on the other hand deserved a decent burial, so we placed their bodies, along with the prisoner, on their cart and hitched to our own. Sir Dominic took up the duty of driving & protecting the train, while I rode ahead in case the Aurak had more men waiting ahead on the road. With the extra load our horses struggled to maintain good pace trailing the two wagons but we covered what distance we could, stopping an hour after nightfall. Watches set, we ate a swift meal & then retired.