Interrupted Journey

Finally, we started the journey back to the lich’s lair. Our new companions included a handful of men-at-arms, plus the lord’s friends and his sorcerer fiancee. There was a quiet ranger, a chatty bard, a grim cleric, and a curious sorcerer - a dwarven one! She and Sprocket chatted a lot. Maiyr and I decorated our horses with charcoal handprints to match Darvin’s, and we were off.

We had traveled about four hours when the ranger returned from a scouting trip with bad news: a force of undead and gnolls approaching, some forty of them! While the rest of the group got ready in a double line across the road, Darvin and I rode around to the side, planning to attack from behind. Partway there, we decided to attack from the side to avoid being struck by arrows coming straight through - but when we saw the attackers for ourselves, we headed back to our friends.

Along with some forty undead and gnolls, there were skeletons, dire rats, and an undead ogre! Darvin and I put aside our attempt at battlefield strategy, warned the others of the extra dangers, then settled into positions with the group. I ended up under a tree at one end of the line, watching as Sprocket made the image of a deep chasm appear across the road. This slowed the things down, and caused them to split into two groups to come “around” and attack. I shot a few arrows, but was quickly surrounded.

The fighting was long and hard. I remember fireballs doing a lot of damage to the enemy, and the cleric turning many to dust. I remember the bard’s singing was very inspiring, and I remember that several of the men-at-arms came to my aid. I saw my friends fighting to help Maiyr, who was down, and I remember feeling very weak and wounded by the time the men-at-arms and I got to the last of the attackers on our side of the “chasm”... and then the rage hit.

I easily killed the last gnoll, and ran lightly for the other half of the battle. Everything was dead except for the ogre, which had begun to shamble away from the power of the cleric. I chased it down and killed it very thoroughly! When my head cleared, I saw that Darvin had helped, too. I don’t know how I was on my feet by then! But every attacker was dead and the lord’s keep was safe. We buried our dead and burned the rest. Maiyr survived, thank Ubtao!

None of the undead were my husband. My task is yet unfulfilled.