As Ranchefus finished his spell, an almost tangible feeling of dread, one that most of them had felt before, fell over everyone except Jana. Blacky made his way out into the hall, but before he could move to aid Jana, a woman in leather armor standing just out of sight beside the door, slipped a garrote around his neck and clamped it in a deadly strangle hold. He attempted to hit her with his hand axe, but he missed as his vision began to quickly blur. Jana quickly took out the wounded bandit and began exchanging blows with the unwounded man who was also facing her. Lasiar pushed his way past Aloysius on the stairs, then past Etienne and Kaileer to get out into the hall as well. Arachne retreated up the stairs.
Two skeletons wielding short swords came from the same opening that Ranchefus and the other bandit appeared from. Four zombies, two of them the ones that had just retreated minutes earlier, came out of a door farther down the hall and began making their way towards the fray. Lasiar tried to turn them, but all six undead ignored him.
Ranchefus began to cast again. His arm turned black and extended in length, so much that he was able to strike Etienne with his claw-like hand without stepping into the room. Etienne screamed at the priest's chilling touch and fell to the floor.
Lasiar moved to fight the slow-moving zombies with his moon's hand. He hit one of them and amazingly dodged all of their blows. Jana injured the bandit she was fighting with a couple of well-placed blows that would have nearly killed him had she not been so drained from the events earlier in the night. The two skeletons went after Kaileer. He chipped one of them with his club as both of them missed him with their short swords. By sheer force of will, Blacky clung to consciousness as the woman continued to choke the life out of him.
A man dressed in only breeches with a long sword in his left hand rushed toward them from the end of the hall. He was an awful sight, his right arm ending in a bloody stump and his face covered in fresh blood and gore from a wound that had recently taken his eye. He moved to help Lasiar with the zombies, wielding the sword very awkwardly, even as the priest bellowed in rage at his appearance. Two of the zombies shambled away, back towards the door they had come from.
"You!" screamed Ranchefus, "How did you get out?" His unnatural arm retracted to its normal appearance as he drew his flail and headed after the man and Lasiar.
The barking of the dogs had stopped.
Aloysius looked on in panic as the others engaged in combat. Seeing that there were too many people and things between himself and Blacky, he raced to Kaileer's side, slinging the dagger he had in hand at one of the skeletons the ranger was battling.
Blacky pushed the woman back against the wall hard, forcing her to release the garrote. The unusual weapon had a lock mechanism that held it in place even after she released it. The exertion from pushing her away was nearly enough to make the warrior pass out. He fumbled with the lock and barely managed to figure it out before he passed out. Just as he started to black out, he released the lock.
The woman who had been holding the garrote was stunned for a moment after beign shoved into the wall by Blacky's brute strength. As soon as she recovered, she drew a dagger and crept over to Jana and the bandit she was fighting, completely ignoring Blacky now.
Jana and the bandit continued to exchange blows. Although she should have easily gotten the best of him in the match, the trials of the day were affecting her fighting, allowing the man to live much longer than he would have otherwise. The bandit was injured badly at this point, but Jana looked worse than ever after taking another bruising blow from a short sword. The woman who had just taken Blacky down moved in behind the man and slipped her dagger between his ribs. She whispered something to him that no one could hear as she pulled her dagger out and he sunk to the floor. The bandit woman gave Jana a smile that suggested she was completely insane and prepared to fight her with the dagger she had just used to take out Jana's previous opponent.
Aloysius tossed a dagger at the skeletons and rushed to Kaileer's side. The skeletons missed both ranger and mage with their swords; unfortunately, both ranger and mage failed to damage the skeletons as well.
One of the zombies was further wounded by Lasiar's moon's hand. The priest smacked the stranger with his flail, and the man, who had not been in good shape to begin with, fell to the floor. Ranchefus turned his wrath on the Silverstar and nearly took him down with a single blow from his flail.
The two zombies that had wandered away from the melee disappeared into an open door down the hall.
Rumer gulped back tears seeing Falgout lying on the ground. Lasiar looked like he needed help so she ran lightly toward him. She attempted to stab the man dressed in dark colors in the back.
Blacky gulped for air and waited for the spots to clear from his eyes before pulling his large axe off his shoulder. "You're dead, b*tch." Blacky croaked out as he moved toward the woman who had nearly strangled him. "Go find someone else to fight, this one's mine." He growled to Jana before chopping at the woman holding the dagger.
Rumer reappeared on the scene, trying to move into position to attack Ranchefus. The priest was involved with the Silverstar and seemed to pay no heed to her approach. She got his attention, however, when she stabbed him with her shortsword, wounding him seriously. Lasiar was hit by one of the zombies, but managed to injure one of them as well. Rumer was forced to defend herself against the dark priest and his deadly flail, but once again seemed to be holding her own, for the moment, at least.
Before Blacky could interceed with the woman who had been choking him, she stabbed Jana with her dagger, taking her out just as easily as she had taken out Jana's previous opponent. She then turned to face Blacky with absolutely no fear evident on her face. It didn't take the fighter long to make short work of her, killing her with a single blow from his great axe.
Kaileer and Aloysius continued fighting with the two skeletons in the small room. The skeletons were proving remarkably ineffective with their short swords. Kaileer lost his footing at one point and gave himself a bruise with his club. He recovered quickly and took down one of the skeletons with a couple of hard hits. Aloysius shattered his dagger against the bony leg of the remaining skeleton.
Blacky finally went after the main target of their aggression, Ranchefus himself. With both Rumer and Lasiar in the fray, he was forced to switch back to a smaller weapon. Lasiar took down one of the two zombies. Ranchefus, in a move that completely surprised both Blacky and Lasiar, swung his flail at the fighter's feet and legs and pulled him off his feet. With Blacky on the floor, he yelled, "Keep them back!" to his remaining undead. Rumer swung her short sword at him again as he ran for one of the open doors in the hall, but she missed him. The door slammed shut behind him and blended into the wall. The sound of a lock clicking into place echoed through the hallway.
Blacky managed to hack the remaining zombie to bits even from a prone position. Kaileer and Aloysius, who drew yet another dagger to replace the broken one, chipped away at the skeleton until it finally collapsed into a pile of old bones.
"It be good we find you," Kaileer said to Rumer, "Be you hurt?"
"Oh no, you're not pulling that one again!" Blacky said as he regained his feet. He ran to where the door disappeared, trying to find a way to open it. "Rumer, help me figure this out. The rest of you patch up Jana, Etienne and that other guy who was helping. Rumer, how many more of them are there and where are they keeping Echo?"
"She's not here! They gave her to the orcs. They give all the spellcasters to the orcs. We need to get out of here." Rumer ran to Falgout's side, "Lasiar, can you look at him for me? He got some of these wounds for me." Rumer began to cry silently, kneeling at Falgout's side.
Aloysius quickly moved over to the fallen Etienne and did his best to stop the half-elf's bleeding. "Quickly!" he implored, "we must aid the fallen before we pursue Ranchefus."
"Damn!" Blacky said pounding a fist on the door. As long as all the wounded were being attended to, he moved to strip the bandits of valuables, taking the woman's dagger as well. He used her dagger to cut up the weapon she used to strangle him muttering something about evil, cowardly weapons.
"Someone attend, Janathell," said Aloysius as he worked on Etienne. "Since Echo be not here, and we have retrieved the gypsy, it would be wise to depart. We are sorely injured. Perhpas the gypsy and the other man can tell us what they have learned, so we may know more fully the enemy we face."
"We need a safe place to go," said Rumer through her tears. "They know about your camp. They were going to ambush you in the morning. We need a safer place than that. Discussing this stuff here is stupid."
Blacky stopped to attend to Jana, before stripping the bandit corpses of valuables. "We need to pick up Oleane and her wolves on the way out. Maybe she knows of a safer place." He said while binding Jana's wounds.
Aloysius moved aside so Lasiar could check Etienne. "If they know of our camp, then we should make haste to return there. Thou speak wisely, Eric. No one knows these woods better that Oleanne. Perhpas she knows of a place where we can camp and better tend to the wounded."
Lasiar moved to the strange man's side, gently pushing Rumer out of the way, and began tending to the more recent of his wounds. When he finished with him, he checked on both Jana and Etienne, examining the job that Aloysius and Blacky had done and apparently finding it satisfactory.
"They will all live," Lasiar remarked, "if we get them to a place where they can rest."
The mage quickly surveyed the available personnel. "Eric, thou wilt have to carry Janathell again, and perhaps Kaileer can carry Etienne. Stargazer, the gypsy, and the Silverstar can work together to carry the injured man and the torch. Let us depart now while we have them in retreat." He looked about for a moment. "Where in the name of Shigand's bones did Arachne go?"
"Not a problem. Grab anything that looks valuable on the bandits and let's go." Blacky moved to search the bandit woman, taknig any valuables as well as her dagger and garote. He then picked up Jana and prepared to depart. "The gnome can take care of herself. I'm sure she'll find us later."
"I thought she didn't come." murmured Rumer. "I never saw her anyway."
With the wounded stabilized, the party began the daunting task of moving them to safer quarters. Everyone had been exhausted before returning to the keep. Now the hour was well after midnight, and nearly everyone was badly hurt, literally almost dead on their feet. Blacky was able to pick Jana up again, but it became very clear that moving the others was going to be difficult. Kaileer wasn't able to carry the considerably larger Etienne. With Aloysius aiding Kaileer and Rumer and Lasiar working together, they were able to get all three unconscious people to the top of the spiral staircase, but transporting them the distance to Oleanne's camp in this manner was going to be difficult, if not impossible.
They found Arachne waiting in the room at the top of the stairs.
About that time, a boy, probably no more than fourteen, came in from the main hall they had entered through. He was tall, gangly, and pimply faced. He was also badly hurt, with wounds that looked like dog bites. He tossed down a few weapons at the group's feet. "Don't leave me here," he whined in a cracking voice. "I surrender. I don't want to stay here by myself."
Aloysius stuffed the coin purses into his pack along with the other purses that remained uncounted. He helped Kaileer haul Etienne up the stairs, although it was apparent that the ranger was doing the bulk of the work.
"Doubts have I that we can return like this to our camp," he huffed. "I wonder if the bandits keep any horses nearby."
As the boy appeared, Aloysius cocked a curious eyebrow in his direction, but waited for someone more diplomatic to address him.
"What are you talking about? We can't go back to your camp. They'll be attacking it in the morning. At best, let's find some other place to rest and then send a messenger to Oleanne for her to get out of there. Going there is a bad idea." Rumer pleaded.
"Uh.....," began the mage sheepishly, "that 'twas my intent. Mayhap we can reach Oleanne afore they do - there be much darkness yet this night. We will likely need her knowledge of these woods to find a substitute campsite. Howe'er, mayhap if we sent Kaileer ahead, he could get her and bring her back to the rest of us? Then, we could search for anew campsite together."
Aloysius looked at Rumer apologetically. "Thy concerns be valid, girl. I meant not to indicate otherwise."
"Sorry," muttered Rumer, "I just don't want to be captured again."
Kaileer looked doubtful about carrying Etienne. "Maybe we need leave sword and armor..."
The ranger put down his end of Etienne, removed his pack and handed it to the boy. "You help carry, we help leave." With a look that spoke volumes about what would happen if the boy made trouble, the ranger went back to helping move Etienne.
The mage placed a hand on Kaileer's shoulder. "Brave one, need have we of a messenger to Oleanne. Thou art swift and keen of eye in this darkness. No love have I of sending thee into the night alone, but I see no other choice. We shall need her to find another camp as well as to fend off any later attacks."
He looked at the bandit boy suspiciously. Then, in elven, he added, "We shall proceed directly westward from the gate. Since you shall be travelling much faster, you should have no problem in catching up with us." He gave the ranger a somber look. "May the forest spirits be with you."
The mage then assessed the sizes of those in need of being carried, as well as the sizes of those to do the carrying. "Hmm......a most perplexing problem. Perhaps the boy and the Silverstar can carry Etienne, and Stargazer and the gyp-, er......Rumer, can carry the other man? Arachne, wilt thou be our eyes this night? I am at a loss for other suggestions....." Aloysius lowered his head as his weariness bore down on him like a black cloud.
