A Weapon Too Free

Nearly Engulfed

"What was the point of pretending we are hurrying through the dungeon if we then spend a season discussing the next fight?"

Bhishani wasn't expecting an answer, and got none. A compromise had been reached but it had not come quickly; they needed to put it into action swiftly in order to maintain the initiative. Her every movement was eager, straining forwards. Essendra could see the monster's calf muscles twitching, waiting to propel her into the fight.

Essendra had bought herself a LightRock case in town, that opened like a lantern and gave her some control over how much of its light was visible. She kept it almost completely closed so as not to alert the orcs. The two of them, together with Ursa and Butterfly, were waiting in the mouth of the tunnel, just out of sight of the darkness orcs. The huntress had one hand on the back of the bear's neck, keeping him calm underground. The merest sliver of light picked out a relaxed smile on the girl's face. Essendra realised it only looked odd because she had never actually seen Ursa in an unguarded moment until then. She hoped that one day she would feel that at ease well, anywhere.

Essendra judged it had been long enough for Piktadarys and Smaragdina to get into position. She flipped open the case and threw the LightRock as far into the cavern as she could. Orcs turned at the light and the noise, a sea of pale faces in the dark. Ursa flicked the blanket she was holding and her own LightRock tumbled out of it and across the floor. The wraith issued a rasping noise and its head craned slowly around to stare. Behind them, Bhishani whacked a fresh LightRock on the floor and threw it into the muddy mushroom area, accidentally scoring a hit on one of the orcs. All three then covered their eyes.

On the upper level, Piktadarys used the last moment of her Night Sight to ready a FlashLance. It was one of the prizes from Bhishani's cache of adventurers' equipment. To the untrained eye it looked like a tiny model of a lance. Piktadarys took it in both hands, screwed her eyes shut and snapped it like a matchstick.

Scalding light flooded the cavern, leaving after-images even through closed eyelids. The orcs howled in pain. A hideous keening, which they guessed came from the wraith, could be heard over the howls. By the time the adventurers risked opening their eyes again the shade hounds were pressed against the far wall. Their smoke-like bodies seemed to be having trouble maintaining proper shape after the flash. Essendra led the charge into the cavern and sought out the largest knot of orcs to engage.

Smaragdina stepped out from behind one of the rock pillars on the upper level and unleashed fireballs at the stunned hounds. Motes of smoke danced away from the flames but the beasts reformed once the blast had dissipated. Smaragdina threw a couple more but to her annoyance they were no more effective.

"You said it would work!" Piktadarys hissed.

Smaragdina ignored her. She could hardly explain that she'd never actually fought against shade hounds. Bhishani was on her way to engage them.

The hounds weren't hurt and confused as she'd expected them to be but the green monster plunged into them anyway. Her butterfly swords danced through the air. Every stroke passed through at least two of them. The blades were so fast they inflicted almost no damage. She had to make a conscious effort to strike more slowly in order to slash just one of them to pieces.

Essendra had gathered as many orcs around her as she could, which was not quite all of them. They might have been stunned but some of the cleverer ones had recovered enough to start looking for weak targets. A couple had even had the foresight to run towards the hunting bows stacked in the far corner. It would be bad news for Piktadarys and Smaragdina if they reached them.

The rogue sighted along her crossbow and aimed at the darkness orc Chosen, standing with its back to her. Chosen were formidable enough opponents on their own, let alone when among a pack of allies. Her first quarrel went straight through its upper arm and it spun around to roar its anger at her. Beside it, the other advanced orc planted her staff in the ground and a spark of magic jumped from one orc to the other. Piktadarys's second shot hit the Chosen squarely, but the head barely penetrated. The monster chuckled roughly at her and turned its attention towards Essendra.