Hawaii:Sessions:19910427: In the Midst of Enemies
IN THE MIDST OF ENEMIES
They had only been moving for about twenty-five minutes when Thurladeem decided to take to the skies and serve as forward scout. He transformed into a condor and went up top. About twenty minutes later he encountered two raptors approaching the party. He veered away toward the left. At about that same time, Darr caught sight of them also. He fired, wounding the one on the right, and then shifted aim to the one on the left. Seeing/hearing this, Thurladeem circled around to attack one of them. Thurladeem took a little damage finishing it off as Darr finished off the other one. As the last raptor fell, Darr asked over the net if the ground was clear. He received no answer, so the party moved on. Durithil, however, had noticed some gray shapes off to the left. After a couple of minutes she mentioned them, and Jake and Hyllar peeled off to take a look. The team continued to move slowly north.
Thurladeem, who had remained in the sky, had been circling the team. All of a sudden he landed, transformed, and reported that the team was half-encircled by rat creatures to the south, stretching from east to west, and that the closest was about a half-mile off. Darr immediately tried to get hold of Jake on the net to have them break north. Jake heard, but didn't know which way that was. Then Jake and Hyllar were in a fight. The team then broke at speed toward the west and Jake. Durathil and Darr started the process, but were soon passed by Xumbala.
The three gray creatures charged out of the bushes at Jake and Hyllar. Jake immediately cut one down before they were too close, and combat went hand-to-hand. Hyllar (in his cat form) engaged one and Jake the other. Both had just about finished off their creatures when Xumbala arrived and delivered the final blow to the one Hyllar was fighting.
When the rest of the team arrived, Jake and Hyllar (now in human form) mounted up. The team as a group felt that the creatures to the south were there to drive them to the north. Instead of going that way, the team decided to break through to the south. Just as everyone was prepared to begin their charge south, they saw four riders proceeding at a run to the north. Jake immediately yelled that there they'd find the Hero, because this was surely in the middle of their enemies. As one the team agreed, and then sprang in pursuit of the horsemen to aid them.
This time the process broke down almost entirely by speed. Since the horses were faster, Hyllar, Durathil, Brandon, and Gerret, along with Xumbala, were in the forefront. Next came Brodie, Laura, Black, and Thurladeem. Jake and Darr got the rear, because Jake had to slow down to bring Daisy on board, and Darr had to slow down to allow a suddenly appearing Ariel to find a perch on his left shoulder. The team rapidly caught up to the four riders as a force of gray ones from the west and rat-things from the east sprang an ambush on the riders. There were about twenty-four attackers in all.
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The first wave fell upon the enemy. Xumbala and Hyllar broke to the left, heading toward the stream. Gerret and Brandon headed to the right just a little off center, while Durathil swept to the right. Xumbala cut one down and engaged a second as Hyllar did the same. Durithil cut one down and continued. The second wave continued on and dispersed in much the same manner. Darr, with Ariel on his left shoulder, swept toward the stream on the left, while Jake swept toward the woods on the right. Brodie and Thomas headed straight up the middle, while Laura went slightly to left of center, and Thurladeem went to right of center. As the second wave hit the enemy, Jake saw a rat creature break and run off into the woods.
As the attack overran the enemy's position, the fight broke down into several individual encounters. Xumbala disposed of two foes, then moved north along the stream to get a few more. Hyllar engaged two and killed one before being attacked from behind and de-horsed, thrown behind one of his attackers. Durathil rolled up the right side of the enemy, killing several. She turned to aid Brandon when he was de-horsed and beset by rat creatures. Darr took pot-shots at various gray ones as his oukry approached. Darr was about to cut between two enemies when his mount stopped and started munching on a gray one that Xumbala had killed. When Darr stopped, Ariel took to the air, flew up close to a gray one, and attacked with her poisoned spear, hitting it in the groin. Laura charged up the middle with a gun in each hand, firing at the enemy. Brodie also went up center, engaging the enemy. Thurladeem attacked a couple. Thomas moved up toward the back of the action and turned himself invisible while hovering above the flight. Jake hit one and dropped Daisy down to finish it off. When Jake saw that the others had the conflict well in hand, he went off in pursuit of the one which had fled. A couple of seconds later Thurladeem headed off after Jake. For a while Jake thought he had lost it, but with help from Thurladeem he spotted movement. After dismounting to investigate, Jake was attacked by the rat creature. Since his guns were empty Jake defended himself with his throwing knives. After it took two of his knives it was still coming, so Jake finished it off with his belt knife. As it fell, the creature managed to claw Jake's arm. Thurladeem, who had been planning to ride it down, reined to the side when he saw it fall.
Meanwhile, the main fight ended. Several members of the team moved to help the wounded. One of the riders had been pinned under their horse. Hyllar helped them out and discovered it was a woman. Durithil saw to helping Brandon. Darr called for a comm check and got a positive response. Xumbala had gone to help Jake and Thurladeem, but met them on their way back. Thurladeem saw to helping the rider's wounded horse.
Knowing that there were several enemies to the south, Darr dropped back and took up watch to the south while the battlefield was being cleaned up. Darr did spot a raptor (using his binoculars) a long way off. He took aim and took two shots at it, both of which missed. Jake, upon seeing what he was doing, asked if he could take a shot. Darr gave him the M-16, but Jake missed his first shot (at least, nothing seemed to happen). Brodie, who had walked up during this, offered some suggestions before Jake tried the second time. With that advice, Jake's second shot hit. The raptor fell from the sky. Jake then offered to take perimeter guard. Darr said he needed backup and asked Laura. After he gave her his binoculars to use, Darr went back to the main group.
The leader of the four riders introduced himself as Ambrose Pendragon. This was a scouting party heading back to the Green Silences. They were heading there with information concerning the Black Tower. The team decided to escort them there. The area to the south was now quiet with no sign of anything.
The woman whose horse had been hurt had to ride double with her friends. As soon as all the wounded were taken care of, they headed out toward the Green Silences. The order of ride fell out as follows: Hyllar, Xumbala, Ambrose, and Thurladeem taking the lead; in the middle in no particular order rode Ambrose's three companions, Brandon, Gerret, Brodie, Black, and Laura; the rear was guarded by Jake, Darr (with Ariel on his shoulder), and Durathil.
After about fifteen minutes of riding, Darr and Durithil spotted something in the sky off to the northwest. Just a little later they encountered in their sight a large group of gray ones and others off in the same direction. Darr informed the group. They began to pick up the pace. Jake moved up to the front and stayed with Thurladeem as he led the way toward the Green Silences. The eleven flying things turned out to be raptors. Two of them continued on while nine seemed to stay back. Twisting in the saddle, Darr took a shot, to no avail since both remained in the sky.
At about that time Black noticed that the lady riding double was very unsteady. Once he informed the group, Darr urged his mount on until he was even with the two and asked Ariel to hop over and examine/help the lady. Ariel was able to heal her enough that she could continue the ride. Ariel returned to Darr's shoulder and informed him of that. Meanwhile, at Thurladeem's suggestion, Hyllar had gone to eagle form and taken to the sky as scout. During the hour that the transformation lasted, he scouted out a pathway, examined part of the mountains, and noted that the enemy party was staying back. It was almost as if they did not see the team (which was now a party of sixteen).
As Hyllar approached the group on his return, one of the two raptors dropped and dove toward the team or Hyllar... it was hard to tell. Darr took careful aim and brought it down with a shot. Hyllar landed, remounted, and reported his findings to the team. A big discussion broke out over the net as to where they should go. The southern exit to the Green Silences was not a good idea, since they'd have to approach the enemy force which numbered over eighty plus the raptors. So as they talked, they headed up the east side of the Silences looking for an entrance Thurladeem couldn't quite remember. Since the enemy was not pursuing them, they also slowed down their pace. At about this time they trampled the corpse of the gray one that they had not been able to find after the earlier battle. It was the one Jake had thought he had killed.
Since he couldn't remember where the east side entrances were, Thurladeem decided to take to the air himself to see if that would help him find the entrance. He changed into a condor and launched from the back of his oukry mount. His search didn't turn out to be of much benefit. Before he returned, he spotted a small (2.5 feet tall) lizard creature, which he approached. After convincing it that he was not going to hurt it (by changing to his natural form), he asked it to show him the way into the valley. It was finally convinced enough that it said it would go and ask the Lady. As it left, Thurladeem tried to follow it, but eventually lost it on the rocky face of the mountain.
As the rest of the team continued on, they eventually encountered another snow cat. Hyllar stopped to talk to it. Darr and Durithil, upon seeing this, each stopped; first Darr, then Durithil, who kept herself last in the line. Hyllar did not pick up any new information from the cat, which had been healing itself at the pits. Hyllar answered the cat's questions about conditions behind, and then Hyllar, Darr, and Durithil left to catch up to the rest of the team.