With the brotherly love worked out, the group gets some rest. As it is only very early evening, the rest is long, and quite nice for the wounded party members. They hear the howling of wolves in the distance, but never close enough for worry.
At one point during that night, Rhune whispers something in Asif's ear and after standing holdd out her hand to him. She takes their blankets and walks a little bit away from the rest of the party, just out of sight. There is a warm smile and a contented look on her face the next morning.
Asif smiles taking Rhune hand and moves with her into the darkness.
Rhune looks content when they return to the party the next morning. The look she gives Asif is one of love and commitment to the young man.
Rising in the morning, feeling better, though still a bit ragged, the group decides to begin following the trail of the Big Chief again. It is a warm and dry day, with no clouds, and the group figures they can make good progress, perhaps resting again if necessary. Forte has not regained the usage of his right arm, though he can feel the nerves in it again, which is a good sign.
Asif rises early as is his nature to see the rising of the solar disc over Aten's creation. He moves to the edge of the camp site and lays down a small ornately woven prayer rug. Washing his hands and feet from water from his water bottle he then prepares to pray. This he does for five minutes, first standing, then kneeling then kneeling with his head upon the ground. During this time he keeps up a very musical chant. To those who have learnt his tongue it appears to be related to Arabic, but is much different. Once completed Asif rolls up his rug and returns to the main encampment for breakfast.
"Good morning my friends, the day is most fine. I hope rest has brought your greater strength."
Amibar rises quickly from his bedding, and swiftly sets to the task of making breakfast, feeling it's the little he can contribute to raise the group's spirits.
Very early in the morning, Dakath sees a group of the long-beaked birds wheeling about in the sky. They seem to be hungry. However, when the group draws their bows to threaten back, the birds make a hasty retreat, and the party does not see them again.
After some hours traveling northwest, the group loses the trail. The ground is harder, the trees are thicker, and no one in the group ever had much skill in this area anyway. However, being stubborn, they continue in the direction the trail was pointed. With the sun high in the sky, the group comes upon the sacked remains of the last logging camp they passed when they headed to the tombs. The smoke has died down now, though they can still see the embers of the walls. This place was quite destroyed, and now the tracks the group found earlier have pretty much been erased by the winds.
Settling down to rest for a bit and eat some of the few remaining provisions among the party, Dakath and Asif attempt to find again the trail of the Big Chief, but have absolutely no luck.
"Now what? Continue on north? Or what?" Rhune asks as she looks around the site once more in the hopes that they might have overlooked something the first time.
"Damn!" replies Ullar. "I hate it when a plan doesn't come together. Why doesn't that Big guy leave decent tracks!?"
Ullar kicks a nearby branch, sending it flying away for a couple of yards. After this, he calms a little and looks around, finally realizing it is the same log camp they visited before.
"Let's check the map once again. Perhaps there is anything on it which could give us a direction to go. North would be fine, but what should we do at the next intersection? Jeez. Never thought I would say it, but we surely can use a ranger right now."
Dakath turns to watch Ullar kicking a branch in frustration. "Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning? Try to remain calm and patient." He strokes his chin thoughtfully.
Dakath dismounts Stenu and crouches down. "Amibar, Wolves surely feel the need to mark their territory, perhaps your little pet can pick up the scent of wolf sh*t?"
"Good idea, Dakath. I'll ask Natasha to sniff around." Bending down, he converses shortly with the ferret, who scurries off into the undergrowth. Within an hour or so, it returns and chitters to him. He tells the party that Natasha has found some recent 'offerings' left behind by a particularly large wolf, and leads them to where she found it.
It is nearly a mile to the west, and you wonder that the little creature could have gone so far so fast. But there it is, a big steaming pile of dung. You have no means of telling how long it's been there, but it's still warm. There is a trail leading away from it to the northwest.
You all remount, making slow time to keep the trail, which now has emerged into the grassy plains. It is easier to follow the trail away from all the trees, as the earth is softer, but you still have plenty of trouble. Seems the wolf-prints appear and then fade, only to reappear, along with several human-sized footprints.
After some hours of slow riding, easy on the horses and on your own wounds, Dakath, who has been doing most of the tracking along with Asif, sees something moving far to the north, perhaps half a mile away. It appears to be a mounted figure accompanied by some human-sized figures walking.
Unfortunately, it appears that the figure noticed you all as well on the open plain, for no sooner does Dakath note the figure than you see a flight of the great black winged creatures heading toward you at high speed. Looking beyond them, you can see that the mounted figure has begun charging toward you as well, followed by the walkers running at a hard pace.
"Curse this land efendi. The blessing of Aten being corrupted by such fiends as this. Return to the others we must, to warn them and prepare to meet our attackers. Return now I shall loosen a few arrows to slow their advance and then rejoin you."
Dakath turns around the short distance to the rest of the party, alerting them to the incoming threat.
Asif performs the traditional Arabic horse archer ride by. Loosing a few arrows at the enemy at full gallop then retreating.
Not waiting to see his results, when the second arrow is in the air, Asif heads back to the group, rejoins them, then turns and draws another pair of arrows. There are still five of the creatures in the air, so if he hit one he did not kill it.
Seeing her love, firing and then retreating, Rhune abandons her plan of sticking it out and just remounts quickly, jerking as many arrows as possible from the ground and firing from horseback.
For a second, Forte looks at his useless right arm. Then he grabs his mace with his left hand, preparing to defend himself as best he can from the winged creatures. He looks at the others and asks, "Fight or flight?" He looks at the creatures rushing toward them, wondering which one will attack him first.
"I say we fight. We'll have to face him sometime, and with our current luck, I doubt I'll be ever in better shape. Let's get ready to receive their charge!" replies the ex-gladiator.
Forte sees Rhune preparing to fight. "I will fight, but if everyone wants to run for now I can do that as well,” she replies.
In the meantime, Ullar removes a small potion from his backpack. Muttering, to no one in particular, he whispers: "I don't know what you do, potion, but if things work out badly here, I will surely quaff you down!"
Ullar takes position at the side of the road, planting Forte's greatsword in the ground behind him. He readies his new found daggers and, as soon as the attackers are within range, the warrior fires them upon the nearest opponent, thinking that if he misses the first, the dagger might up in the second behind the first. "It's a long shot, but it's worth a try!"
"Archers, can you take care of they flying thing?!" is Ullar calling out, pointing to the black spot approaching the group.
"And be careful. If this is that Wolf they were talking about, it has an ice breath!"
"Yes be very careful," Rhune agrees as she waits for the flying creatures to get within range.
Seeing the enemy advance, Ami readies himself for yet more fighting. Readying his sling, he also checks the small pouch of sand on his belt.
As the five black creatures soar down in rapid fashion, Ullar realizes he will only have time to throw one dagger, and the archers will only have time to fire one volley if they want to have their melee weapons out to engage.
In combination, Rhune and Taglio target one of the creatures, all three missiles hitting it, and it plummets to the earth. Asif misses with both arrows, cursing his luck. Interestingly enough, Amibar fells one with his sling, the first time he has done that you all are aware of. Ullar's throw is truly spectacularly bad, not even approaching the target.
Dakath, Rhune's bow having been repossessed, throws a dagger, showing the rust he exposed earlier and missing badly. Forte has no missile weapons, and could not throw one if he did. He sits awaiting the worst.
You have no time to wonder about this, though, as the remaining three bats come plunging down toward you. Two spy Forte, unarmored and helpless and, of course, come down his way, while the third attacks Ullar. That third never has a chance, as Ullar bats it away with his greatsword before it ever gets close. It flutters weakly on the ground before expiring.
On horseback, none of you are close enough to defend Forte from his attackers, and the great black creatures land upon him as he awkwardly waves his left arm at them, one upon his chest and the other upon his leg. He falls from his horse as Rhune, Dakath, and Asif rush toward him and dismount. They are not pleased with what they see. The two creatures left him as he fell for fear of perishing beneath his weight, but it appears they have sapped the last of his life force. He lies awkwardly, his leg twisted backward, and bleeding badly from the two wounds inflicted on him.
Crossing over to Forte, Rhune checks him out to see if he is living or dying. She prays that he is alright.
As the rest of the group dismount, Rhune moves to stop Forte's once again impending death while Asif and Dakath attack the two creatures. Asif quickly dismembers his with his slashing scimitars, but Dakath trips over Forte's other leg and falls to the ground, narrowly avoiding the bat's attack in the process. Asif moves over and fells the creature with two more wicked slashes from his weapons.
The group hardly has time to breathe or check on Forte, whom Rhune cannot tell if he is alive or dead, when a white wolf comes charging onto the scene. A gigantic goblin rides him, with pale skin. It appears somewhat different than the goblins you have seen before, much taller and stronger. There are four more with the same pale skin and height running behind him.
Recognizing his strongest opponent, the great goblinoid comes rushing toward Ullar, raising up his huge sword (even larger than Ullar's!). Ullar raises up his sword to fight. Kyo rushes in alongside him, stone club raised high. However, the wolf turns it's head toward him and breathes an white cloud toward the savage, freezing him in place, encased in ice.
Meanwhile, Ullar reaches up to parry the great sword coming down at him, and almost manages to, deflecting it's deadly blade, but still allowing the flat to ring down upon his skull. The open-faced, jeweled helm that he has worn ever since the tombs, saves his life. However, it cracks in half from the force of the blow, falling on either side of Ullar, whose head swims from the concussion.
The others come rushing over to help as the other tall goblins come charging in. Amibar has something for them, though, tossing a pinch of fine sand while incanting. Two of them drop to the ground asleep. The other pair come rushing, one at Amibar and the other at Dakath. Meanwhile, Rhune stays with Forte, knowing that if he is alive, he surely won't survive even a brush at this point. Asif assists Dakath for the moment, not close to Ullar. However, Taglio is, and he moves to help with his rapier.
However, this attracts the attention of the great mounted monster, though, and his wolf lunges toward Taglio, ripping a huge chunk out of his leg, while the rider smashes his huge sword into Taglio's chest, sending him sprawling unconscious onto the ground.
Ullar, meanwhile, has great trouble orienting himself, but finally does, sending his own sword crashing into the monster's chain mail. What should have been a lethal blow, though, is strangely deflected by the chain mail, which glows dimly upon contact. However, the impact is not reduced, and Ullar's strength drives the thing off it's mount.
The two tall goblins attack Amibar and Dakath without results, but Amibar's thrust with his dagger is true, plunging with all his strength into the fellow's midsection. However, all Amibar's strength is still not much, and his opponent does not fall. Dakath misses, but once again Asif fells his foe with his flashing blades.
Realizing that the group is in very serious trouble, Ullar takes a chance and swallows his potion before he is attacked by the wolf and it's rider again. However, the effects are not quite what he had hoped. The rest of the group sees Ullar vanish from view. Seeing his opponent vanish so, the mounted monster moves casually over toward Asif, Dakath, and Amibar. His great white wolf paces along with him, it's drool freezing from it's mouth.
Realizing they are in danger, Amibar casts his remaining spell upon the wolf. Similar to the last time, the wolf howls, turns, and runs off to the north. At the same time, Asif fells the remaining opponent in front of them while Dakath once again tumbles to the ground in an attempt to plunge his dagger into him.