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A group of four people are riding this way. They bear no coats of arms or any flags, and appear to be simply four travellers. As the group draws nearer, you can make out that a man and a woman wear no armour and carry only light personal weapons - knives and daggers. The other two look somewhat oriental. You've heard of warriors from faraway places in the East such as Rashemen, Thesk and also the Tuigan horde. Perhaps these men come from one of these races. The two easterners are heavily armed warriors with chain mail. The woman holds her hand high in a sign of greeting. As you come within shouting distance, she says: "Samastrus galtora Dracluus heilah!." The two armed men stay to the front, hands on sword hilts, prepared to defend themselves if necessary, but certainly not attacking. The other two remain just behind them. The man is a Halfelf.

Yvandel quickly stepped up to meet the arriving group. He mimicked the stranger's salute, putting his right hand high up in the air. "Hail, strangers." Yvandel then put his hands out in front of him, palms up (staff is secured to back, puppet strung around neck). He remained at a distance from the group, though he was a little too close to be able to escape an all-out charge.

Ceely looks directly at Von Fedel's feeble attempt to find pity in her heart. She flexes her fingers a few times around her harpoon, until an almost devious smile comes to her face.

She looks around to the others, and eyes Merrel, Cleo and Balnor, as if waiting for them to move along. She finally says "Damn you Von Fedel. I liked beeing your friend." She goes down and raises him, still tied, the point of her harpoon touching the ground now. "Come on. You will ride with me, I know this looney act must be some kind of magic Manshoon put over you. Let´s do this."

She smiles to Von Fedel, and continues :"You promise me you keep quiet, and not give these guys something to complain about, and that we will seek help from a mage on our way to Silverymoon. How about it?" Without waiting for an answer, she starts to undo the knot on the ropes.

Ceely finishes undoing the knots holding von Fedel, and with a quick pull, helps him stand on his feet. "Are you ok?", she asks while helping him clean himself. "Let´s go, you will be riding with me, on my horse." She gently puts her arm on his shoulder and guides him to her horse.

As Yvandel hails a greeting, the woman who had shouted the strange words at the party glances at her half-elven comrade, and speaks with him. He shrugs, and then all four of the party move forward again. The two "eastern" warrior types relax somewhat, but remain silent and alert as they approach.

As the group get closer, the woman speaks again, this time in the common trade tongue (OOC: the same I assume that Yvandel used).

"Well met people!" She leans in her saddle looking strangely at Ceely as she helps Von Fedel to his feet. She then shrugs again and looks at Yvandel, being the only one who had spoken to her so far. "We just saw a black dragon take-off from here - a rider on it's back no less..." she pauses to look around the party, noting the lack of acid burns, dead bodies or maimed people. Her gaze returns to Yvandel. "So what happened here?!"

She stops her horse about 10 yards away, and her three companions stop with her. The half-elf nods greeting as well. The two warrior types sit impassively in their saddles, looking relaxed in all but their eyes, which retain the sharp glint of caution and readiness.

Yvandel returns the half-elf's greeting with a nod of his own.

"'What happened here' indeed..." Yvandel replied. "We're not even too sure ourselves yet. I guess it's safe to say that we're lucky to live through an encounter with a black dragon."

The woman laughs in disbelief. "Luck doesn't get you through an encounter with a dragon!" She glances at the half-elf next to her, smiling broadly. "But how did you manage to persuade it against killing you all...?" She trails off for a second before resuming. "...But of course, this dragon had a rider, and only powerful spell casters would be able to persuade a dragon to bear a rider, so it is more a question of who was riding it and what did they want with you?"

<Yvandel aka Sebastian wrote>:
> Yvandel returns a slight chuckle at the
> woman's broad smile. "Perhaps luck did
> not have a hand in this... Let's just say
> the 'powerful spell caster' took something
> he desired. I guess he considered us too
> much of a threat to deal with... Or too
> little of a threat."

The woman frowns. "I can't believe..." she starts. "...So you're telling me you don't know who was riding the dragon?"

"We are on our way to Nesme. I take it you came from that general direction... Have you encountered anything on your way that you'd like to share with us? We've had so many surprises on our own travels, that we'd appreciate any information that might aid us in avoiding another stumbling block..."

The half-elf speaks for the first time. "Nothing unusual" he comments, shrugging. "You have any problems... other than the dragon that is..." he smiles as well.

<Yvandel aka Sebastian wrote>:
> "Well, a little further down this path you
> might run into someone named Khelin Haldonn.
> He'll try to goad you into giving him your
> valuables. He might have some accomplices
> hiding on the side of the road... According
> to Khelin these 'friends' are armed with bows.
> Oh... you might also find evidence of a
> skirmish along this same path. We had to
> defend ourselves against some people who
> didn't care for us too much. Let's just say
> we feel sorry for their departed spirits..."

The half-elf nods appreciatively at the warning of Khelin. "Seems you have had your fair share of trouble. Have you been travelling long?"

He looks over each of the members of the party, careful, as if assessing them. Feeb has vanished, probably hiding under one of the wagons again, and Ceely has mounted up behind Von Fedel.

Herod will just watch as the conversation goes back and forth, and try to determine who is really in charge of the group. Since the two are asking different questions, but supposedly together. He will make sure the wagon is in order, and then will move to his place on the seat of the wagon. He knows that they can not deal with Von Fedel in front of these new comers, and will abide his time. Being one of the silent group.

Milo, bewildered, also watches the various events going on, not quite sure what to do.. Not feeling particularly diplomatic at the moment, the priest catches sight of Ceely, now mounted up with Von Fedel, and steps closer...

"I hope you know what you are doing..."

Milo trails off.. just watching... and wondering...

Blondung peers out from the wagon behind Herod. "Long enough," he interrupts. "What about yourselves... a small party to be travelling the wilds of the north alone...

"Yes," adds Serena, having gotten a small fire started with scraps of cloth, dry grass, and some stray twigs, "These lands are fraught with peril." She douses Von Fedel's log 'horse' with some oil, and sets it into the little blaze.

"Already today we have been set upon by two necromancers." Serena gestures toward Von Fedel. "That one we managed to capture. These things are remnants of his sorcerous handiwork." Serena douses the remains of the kitten with the remaining oil in the flask. She prods the putrid bits of flesh in the flames, using the tip of her longsword.

The woman looks up from Serena's work with the fire to Von Fedel, now untied and mounted behind Ceely.

"Captured..." she says slowly. "From what I saw, I thought perhaps you'd just rescued him from the dragon and it's rider!"

"His master -- or former master, I should say -- flew off on the dragon." Satisfied that the fire is doing a good job of consuming the undead kitten and the log horse, Serena turns her full attention to the newcomers.

The woman half turns to her half-elven companion. "Maybe we should be speaking more to him..." she mutters.

She strides toward them, sheathing her longsword. "Now then, travellers, let me introduce myself. I am Serena Shadoweaver of Neverwinter. My companions and I are journeying eastward to Nesme and beyond on a mission of some importance. Who may you be?"

"Well, you're not the people we thought you were," the woman says to you. "I thought you were people from our own organization. I'm Karana Tharr, a Keeper of the Hoard of the Dragon Cult, if that means anything to you. But it really doesn't matter. We can't let you go off your own way. You know too much to suit me. DOBRISH HADDAR!"

As soon as she shouts the strange last words, the two eastern looking warriors move with incredible speed. In a single fraction of a second, they spur their horses toward the party, each throwing several small, sharp star-shaped wheels of metal. The shurijens fly amongst the party.

The first narrowly misses hitting Milo, though a second one thrown from the other man thwacks into him with force, knocking him back a couple of steps (8hp damage),

Yvandel, is very surprised as one hits his puppet, sticking deeply into the wood and he luckily manages to duck one thrown by the second.

Blondung is not so lucky, and is knocked over backwards into the back of the wagon as two hit him.

One of the attackers then fumbles his remaining shuriken, dropping them harmlessly. His companion throws his remaining ones, one hitting Merrell (4 hp damage), and one Serena (5 hp damage).

The two warriors then smoothly draw a pair of slim sharp looking swords each, steering their horses expertly forward for the attack.

"Eeeeek!!!" shrieks Feeb from under one of the wagons. Dwarven curses come from Larz.

ROUND ONE

As the two horsemen charge forward, one towards Serena/Cleo and one towards Lucretia/Yvandel, Yvandel turns tail and flees towards one of the wagons, yelling to Ceely to kill Von Fedel. Milo also rushes to Serena's wagon where his mancatcher was stored.

Merrell, already near the rear, starts to move his horse towards the shelter of the wagons, but notices both the woman and the half-elf starting to cast some form of spells. He quickly dips his hand in his robe and pulls out something. Gesturing, and muttering an incantation, a dart of magical energy bursts from his outstretched finger and zips across to the priest, where it scorches his chest (OOC: 5hp damage) The priest rocks in his saddle from the shock, and he glares at Merrell, his concentration broken.

Cleo hesitates, glancing towards Ceely and Von Fedel, wanting to make sure Von Fedel doesn't get away but very aware of the pounding hooves of the Easterner's horse approaching her. Her eyes widen as she sees Von Fedel roughly push Ceely from the saddle, and grab the reins himself. She launches herself towards him. Ceely, surprised herself at this sudden turn of events glances up at Von Fedel as if she can't believe that he has betrayed her trust.

Meanwhile, Lucretia goads his horse and leaps forwards, ignoring the eastern warrior approaching him, and aims for the woman. The warrior slashes at Lucretia with the sword in his left hand, scoring a hit across his side (OOC: 7hp damage). The eastern warrior continues with his own momentum, and then ignores Lucretia, aiming towards Cleo who has turned away from him.

Balnor, seeing Cleo expose her back to the horseman, leaps into the gap, and bravely lunges up with his rapier, striking the man squarely (OOC: 6hp damage) The man grunts and brings his right hand sword down on the young thief. Balnor tries to block with his dagger, but the blade slashes across his shoulder, opening it up (OOC: 8hp damage).

The woman, seeing Lucretia charging towards him, points at him and utters an arcane word. A black bolt of crackling energy bursts from her fingertip and strikes Lucretia as he tries to duck it. Lucretia feels all his energy drain from him, his muscles go weak, his mind clouds and he slumps over the neck of his horse, his heart stuttering. (OOC: You failed your saving throw, and have been temporarily "drained" to level -1 and you only just made your system shock roll - you will be aware of what is going on, but incapable of doing anything beyond a whisper or waving a finger. Sorry!) Lucretia's horse canters on for about 20 yards, then slows to a walk and turns back somewhat, Lucretia still slumped over it's neck.

Cleo reaches Von Fedel and slashes at him with her broadsword. Her blade cuts into his thigh, and he gasps in pain, as he kicks the horse into motion, galloping away.

Larz, standing on one of the wagons, finishes his prayer to Clangeddin (OOC: Bless spell in operation)

Blondung, a little slower to act, finishes his own spell, and two magical missiles similar to the one Merrell had cast, spring from his finger tips. One hits the woman and one hits the half-elf.

Meanwhile, the other warrior rides towards Serena, leaning over the left hand side of his saddle to attack her with both swords. Serena, longsword in hand stands her ground and cuts up at the Easterner, her sword tasting blood (OOC: 7hp damage). One of her attackers blows hits her shield, the other slashes her badly (OOC: 9hp damage) as he rides past.

Finally, Herod completes his own spell. The woman glances at him, her face confused for a moment, before she shakes her head a little, as if to clear her mind (OOC: she made her save).

Milo, having extracted his mancatcher, turns back to the combat.

ROUND TWO

The dragon cultist warrior who had slashed at Balnor continues to ride onwards, using his legs to steer his horse towards Milo. Milo, now armed with his mancatcher, lifts the cumbersome weapon and manages to clamp it's jaws shut on the rider approaching him. Milo is jerked backwards a couple of steps, and almost looses grip of the mancatcher as the horse moves on, and the rider is forced off the back of the horse, falling to the ground. (OOC: 2hp damage). The man curses in a foreign language, and tries to force open the jaws of the man catcher, but fails.

Almost as soon as he hits the ground, four men jump out of the covered wagon Larz is still standing on, landing in front of Yvandel and just behind Milo, facing towards the downed man. Two of them are holding crossbows, and the other two holding spears. He looks up in alarm and shock as he struggles with the jaws still clamped around him. Milo, following his gaze, does a double take himself as he sees them appear at his side to "cover the man".

Meanwhile, the other Easterner slashes at Cleo and Ceely as his horse shies away from Ceely's harpoon. Cleo receives a massive wound across her shoulder (OOC: 11hp damage - Cleo is very badly injured now!) as she herself slashes with her broadsword and connects with the man's thigh (OOC: 9hp damage back!). Ceely, perhaps put off by the horse shying, fails to connect with her harpoon. As the horse comes down however, the foreign warrior, ignoring the pain in his left thigh, strikes true with his own blade, slicing open a wound on Ceely's chest (OOC: 12hp damage. Ouch!)

Larz, from his vantage point on the wagon starts to cast another spell (OOC: Hold Person), looking at the warrior, and a moment later, the man suddenly freezes in mid sword swing. Off balance, he tumbles from his saddle, landing awkwardly (OOC: 3hp damage).

Serena, catching up from behind, launches herself at the fallen warrior, hacking at him with her longsword a couple of times, before perhaps fully realising that he was frozen. (OOC: 9hp & 6hp damage)

A cry of anguish comes from the male half-elf as he sees both warriors dismounted, and he raises his hands, calling to some higher power. The wagon and all on it suddenly bursts into flame. Larz cries in pain (9hp damage) and grabs his axe, preparing to jump from the wagon. On the far side of the wagon, Yvandel and Milo shy away from the sudden heat at their side. A squeal comes from underneath the wagon, and a steaming Feeb comes shooting out the back. The horses scream their fear, and the wagon lurches into motion, even with the brake on, as they struggle to flee the fire behind them.

Balnor, seeing the half-elf priest summon this fire, drops his main-gauche, and grabs a couple of throwing daggers, launching them at the priest. Unfortunately, both fly wide. Seeing the horses lurching towards him, he starts to back up.

Meanwhile the woman, who had been frantically searching for a particular spell component (OOC: how else to explain an initiative of 10 :-) suddenly pulls it out, and still smarting from the magic missile that Blondung had zapped her with, casts her own magic missile spell. Five magical darts erupt from her finger tips, all streaking across towards Blondung. About a foot from him they strike an invisible shield, their energy dissipating in a shower of sparks. Blondung smiles as he completes his own spell, extending his finger and pointing at the woman as a jet of fire erupts from it, bathing her and her horse in fire. The horse adds it's screams to the confusion, and bucks, throwing the woman - her own clothes partially on fire - to the ground (OOC: 9hp +3 hp damage). Milo and Balnor both flinch as the jet of fire streams above their heads.

Herod, praying to Tempus, is answered as a torch sized flame appears in the ball of his hand. He raises his arm and throws it towards the woman as she hits the ground. The flame flies through the air and lands slightly behind and to the left of the woman where it bursts, just catching her the edge of the explosion (2hp damage). The horse, it's mane on fire and it's face burned, bolts, screeching in pain, leaving the woman rolling away from the sudden heat, her cloak smouldering but not aflame.

Merrell, having ridden his horse to the relative safety of the far wagon, looks on, unsure of what to do.

ROUND THREE

Von Fedel, bent low over the saddle, continues to gallop away towards the east, soon getting out of range of most spells and weapons.

Ceely runs to try and cut free the horses from the burning wagon, leaving Cleo to "deal" with the magically held eastern warrior. As Cleo bends to slit his throat, the warrior's eyes, the only thing that can move, plead frantically for few moments, before glazing over as the deed is done.

Meanwhile, Milo wrestles to control the other eastern warrior, still sitting on the ground, trapped in the sharpened jaws of the man catcher (ooc: another 2 hp damage to him!). The 4 men that had jumped out from the wagon behind Milo a few moments earlier, all stride forward then suddenly disappear. The trapped man frowns for a moment in confusion, then narrows his eyes at Milo. He drops one of his swords, and reaches into his clothes to produce some more throwing stars which he flicks at Milo from his sitting position. The first misses, as Milo ducks, jerking the mancatcher , but the second strikes true (OOC: Oh Oh Critical hit! - 12 hp damage!) Milo, a throwing star sticking in his neck releases the mancatcher as he is thrown back onto the ground, bleeding freely from his wounded throat. (OOC: Don't worry Milo, I'm sure SOMEONE will heal you before you get to -10!) The eastern warrior then struggles to his feet, and continues to try to extricate himself from the mancatcher.

Karana Tharr, the woman magic user quickly rolls to her feet, her cloak smouldering from where Blondung's spell had touched it. Using the burning wagon as cover for a moment, she casts a new spell, and a 3 foot diameter ball of fire suddenly appears on the ground 10 foot in front of her. The woman then spins and looks behind her for a moment, before returning her gaze towards the battle. (OOC: Sorry Yvandel, she made her concentration throws!)

Serena, appearing around the back of the wagon, is suddenly confronted by the ball, which rolls towards her. Serena leaps to one side as it approaches, but can't move away quickly enough, and her armour smokes as she is scorched by the heat of the flaming sphere. (OOC: 3hp damage) She continues to try to move around the blazing ball to reach Karana Tharr, but the woman backs off, obviously manoeuvring it to keep it between them.

Meanwhile, the priest finishes his own casting, and smiles as it takes effect. Herod, Yvandel, Blondung and Merrell as suddenly feel their bodies seize up, and find themselves magically held. Herod freezes with his hand held back ready to throw, a flame still burning in it. Merrell likewise is paused in mid throw of daggers. Blondung, who had been struggling to bring his jet of flame to bear on Karana Tharr freezes with finger outstretched, and the jet winks out. Yvandel, standing behind the second wagon, simply remains still, his eyes focused on the woman.

Larz, having jumped off the burning wagon, rolls to his feet, his armour smoking. Seeing Milo's horrific wound, and that the warrior that Milo had trapped is about to free himself now that Milo was no longer controlling the mancatcher, he dives towards him, freeing his axe. Placing one hand on the young priest of Ilmater, he quickly mutters some words in Dwarvish. A glow appears around Milo's neck, and the throwing star falls out, the wound healed. (OOC: 7hp back - now on +3) Milo's eyes open to see Larz rising with axe in hand to face the eastern warrior still freeing himself.

Balnor, almost run over by the burning wagon, hesitates as Serena runs past him, then finally gets the opening he was looking for. Slipping a pair of throwing daggers into his hand, he throws them at the enemy priest. The first goes wide, the second snags the priest's riding cloak, but fails to draw blood.

Draconians Appear

Suddenly tiny bolts of light flash all over the battle, but they hit only the three surviving members of the Cult of the Dragon, and the bolts seem to cause them intense pain. Looking towards a group of trees to the south,a man in black, with dragon like wings can just be seen in the shadows beneath trees more than 100 yards/90m away.

There is little that can be made out about this man. Everything is black about him, and he seems to be trying to remain mostly hidden. In front of him however are eight strange creatures coming toward the battle. They all look like something of a cross between lizard men and dragons. The first four of these creatures have skins ranging from yellow and orange to red - about the same colour as goblins - and they're about the same height as goblins too - 4 feet/120 cm tall or so. They're advancing with short swords drawn - half hopping and flapping their dragon-like wings, but they don't seem to be able to fly.

Three of the four remaining creatures are a little way behind the first four, but seem to be gaining quickly. These three are larger and seem to be able to use their wings to glide for short distances. All three spit on their long swords as they fly. These three are about the same size as orcs and have the hairy, grey skin of orcs, but all resemblance ends there.

The eighth creature is considerably larger than the others - about 9 feet/270cm tall. It wears a red cape and has warty, green-grey skin, like that of a troll, also the sunken black eyes of a troll, but all other resemblance ends there too. This is the creature that is using the magic. It seems to be preparing to cast again.

The three surviving cultists turn to face this new threat...

ROUND FOUR

Serena dodges backwards behind the moving burning wagon, trying to avoid the rolling ball of fire. The ball suddenly stops, as the female dragon cultist stops concentrating on it, now focused on the new attackers! Serena takes the moment to get out her bow, and prepares herself to shoot.

Meanwhile, having cut the horses away from the burning wagon, which suddenly lurches to a halt, Ceely spies Milo and charges to help Larz with the remaining eastern warrior.

Larz, a lot closer, leaps forwards swinging his axe as the dragon cultist finally breaks free of the mancatcher's jaws. With the sword in his left hand, the easterner deflects the blow, the axe head thudding into the soft ground instead. Grabbing his other sword, the man starts to rise, only to spin at the last moment as Ceely's charging footsteps herald the arrival of her harpoon. The point scores along his side as he twists trying to avoid it (OOC: 6hp damage).

Meanwhile, both the half elf priest and Karana Tharr have started to tackle their new foes. The woman pulls a wand from her belt and shouts "Nagasz hratblar". A double-forked bolt of lightning strikes out and hits the large, magic-using creature at the back of the group of monsters. It doubles over in apparent pain. The priest casts some form of spell, and two of gliding creatures literally come to a halt in mid air as if they had hit something. They both fall to the ground senseless.

The four creatures at the front, and the remaining gliding creature continue their approach.

Serena, finally getting her clear shot, unleashes her arrow (OOC: only one this round as changing weapons), aiming at Karana Tharr. The arrow just flies wide.

Lucretia, thrown from his horse when it shied at the sudden thunderclap from the lightning bolt, looks on from his position on the floor. Strange thoughts pass through his mind as he struggles with his weakened body.

Merrell is more lucky, and with his legs frozen, manages to remain seated in his saddle, though he looses sight of the battle for a while as his horse turns around. Yvandel, Herod and Blondung all stare on, watching whilst frozen. Cleo hobbles to one side, and tries to stem the blood from her own severe wound. Balnor staggers over to her, and tries to help.

Milo, having been revived by Larz, staggers off towards Yvandel and the still whole wagon.

ROUND FIVE

The eastern warrior slashes at Ceely with one sword and at Larz with the other, before charging towards his masters. Incredibly, Ceely manages to deflect his blow (OOC: Lucky! He rolled a 2), suddenly very aware at how outclassed she is. Larz is not so lucky, and takes the blade across his stomach, the blade cutting through his banded mail and spilling dwarvish blood (OOC: 12hp damage). The dwarf grunts in pain, and takes a swing at the man as he charges past. His axe cuts only air again, and he curses fluently. Ceely, aiming at the disappearing back is more lucky, and manages to draw more of the seasoned warrior's blood (OOC: 4hp damage).

Meanwhile the remaining gliding creature reaches the half-elf priest, still on his horse. Wielding a long sword, the creature strikes at the half-elf, but he manages to duck the blow, and grabbing his staff from his saddle, strikes back, shouting "Kzhenarh!" The creature loses the grip on its sword it's arm shrivels and withers away. The sword falls to the ground, and the creature crashes, clutching at it's useless limb.

Karana standing close by raises her wand again, this time at the four smaller goblin-like dragon creatures, now almost upon her. They scatter wide as she aims, and the double forked bolt only hits two as the thunderclap sounds again. They fly backwards through the air landing awkwardly, before suddenly turning to stone. One of the other two literally dives on top of Karana, only for her to explode in flame. The two of them roll on the ground in a miniature fireball for a moment, whilst the other hesitates, looking towards the charging warrior. As the flames die down, Karana rolls out of the grip of another scorched looking statue, herself unharmed.

Serena, taking more careful aim, lets fly her arrows again, this time focusing on the half-elf. The first arrow hits, punching into his shoulder and nearly knocking him from his horse (OOC: 5hp damage). The second misses as he jinks his horse sideways, glaring around at Serena.

Balnor looks around for a horse, but most of them have scattered, so with Cleo leaning against him, they attempt to tend to each other's wounds. Meanwhile, Milo drags Yvandel behind cover.

The creature with the shrivelled arm struggles to get to it's feet.

ROUND SIX

The enemy warrior reaches the surviving goblin like dragon creature, and in an almost graceful manner, slices expertly at it with his two swords. The second blow appears mortal, as the creature suddenly turns to stone, trapping the man's sword.

Meanwhile Karana appears to have dropped her wand during her fiery tussle and yells a command to the warrior, who, now with only one sword, starts to charge towards the 9' tall creature.

Karana casts a spell, and as the man runs, he suddenly grows, till he is nearly 12 foot tall! The priest, glancing back at the party, starts to cast another spell as another arrow from Serena flies past his head. Moving quickly, Serena notches and lets fly another arrow, which hits the priest before he completes his spell (OOC: 6 hp damage). Whatever his spell was, it was probably disrupted, as no effect could be seen.

Meanwhile the 9' tall troll like dragon creature casts it's own spell, and a huge ball of fire suddenly envelops the charging warrior. When the flames clear, he lies on the ground, writhing in flames.

Karana begins fidgeting with a ring on a finger of her left hand, but the dragonman back in the shadows sees this and raises his right hand. A sickly green forked light streaks from his hand and hits all four of the dragon cultists, even the one killed by Cleo. Their bodies simply vanish into nothingness, and their armour and possessions fall to the ground in a heap.

The dragonman does not move from his position in the shadow. The 9-foot/270cm tall creature also merely stands watch. The creature that crashed with a shrivelled sword arm finally gets to it's feet groaning in pain. His arm remains shrivelled, as though it had been dead for years already. The other four dead creatures that had been killed by the dragon cultists begin dissolving into dust. The two gliding creatures that had been made motionless begin moving again. One walks over and picks up two Chinese stars from the remains of one of the warriors.

Those who had been held also suddenly regain the ability to move. Lucretia starts to feel stronger, but is still very weak. (OOC: i.e. you feel you can probably stand, and maybe even walk slowly (where is that zimmer frame when you need it), but you certainly can't move quickly...

As the party start to re-group themselves, Merrell grabs his horse and remounts, riding it towards the orc-like dragon creature with the shrivelled arm. As he approaches it, his horse becomes increasingly nervous, but continues. Close up, the creature looks like an orc that has had it's face crossed with a lizard man or a dragon. Oversized jaws and long teeth, horny ridges and spikes make for one ugly creature. Apart from the skin colour, the oversized nostrils are the only thing that make one think perhaps of orcs. The wings, folded on it's back now, look leathery, somewhat like a bat's, and have a couple of wicked looking claws on the main joints. To counterbalance the wings, the creature ends up leaning forward somewhat, making it almost appear hunched. The phrase "orc draconian" seems to fit the description best...

As Merrell approaches, the creature, still cradling it's withered arm, looks up at him. It's face is expressionless, or better to say that any expression on it is unreadable because of the strange facial features. Merrell offers to help the creature on to his horse. The creature seems to understand, but simply shakes his head, glancing back towards the dragon man in the shadows. The two other "orc draconians" are flapping and gliding their way towards the scene of the battle.

A moment later they arrive, causing Merrell's horse to shy back a few steps. One of them goes straight to the pile of belongings that marked where Karana Tharr had been killed. It rummages around for a moment then seems to pick up a ring. The other goes to where one of the warriors had died. It picks up a couple of throwing stars, then turns to the creature with the withered arm. Without warning, it throws one in it's face, then another in it's chest. The creature screams and staggers back, before suddenly dissolving into a large puddle of steaming fluid that dissolves all of the creatures possessions. An acrid smell fills the air.

The two orc draconians then simply turn their back on the party and start to return towards the 9' tall troll-like dragon creature, (or "troll draconian" for short) and the half hidden dragon man in the shadows.

As Serena keeps a bead on the retreating orc draconians, Milo tends to Cleo and Balnor. Laying his hands firstly upon Cleo, Milo prays to Ilmater, and a glow surrounds her wounds for a moment. The priest shivers as he experiences some of her pain in return. Her skin somewhat heals back, closing the wounds, but does not heal them completely (OOC: 5 hp back). Safe now from her immediate death, Milo turns his attentions to Balnor. Praying again, Balnor's wounds also heal over, this time completely (OOC: 8hp back - now on full). Again, Milo gasps as he endures the pain of Balnor's suffering for a few moments. Balnor feels his pain ease away, to be replaced with a warm feeling and a nagging hunger in his stomach.

Larz watches the injured priest of Ilmater, and makes a decision. He approaches Milo, and lays his hands on the young priest. "Don't take on everyone's suffering without thinking of your own..." he mutters, before praying to Clangeddin. A glow appears around his hands, and the dwarven gods power heals some more of Milo's own terrible wounds. (OOC: 6 hp back) Larz smiles. "Good trick with that man-catcher - shame there weren't more of us to get at him whilst he was down on the ground."

Meanwhile, the two orc draconians finally meet the troll draconian, and all three continue back towards the dragon man hidden in the shadows. As they reach him, all four simply disappear!

A silence settles over the area, disturbed only by the crackle of burning wood from the still blazing wagon, the bundles of cloth burning slowly, causing a large plume of smoke to rise high into the sky.

<Lucretia aka Joe wrote>:
> He will them move towards the left over possessions
> of the cult members to see if there is anything useful...
> "Blondung, Merrell want to give me a hand, I believe there
> maybe a book and a few other items of interest over here."

Blondung nods, and gets down off the surviving wagon, where he walks over the where the half-elf priest would have been. On the ground is a staff, which he gingerly picks up, (the one he used to wither the arm of the orc draconian). The priest's horse is also still nearby, and Blondung is about to approach it, when he spots something glinting in the grass. He bends and picks up a ring, holding it up to the light to examine it. Moving to the horse, he calms it, then looks through the saddle bags. Apart from normal travelling gear (bedroll/clothes/water skin etc, he draws out a potion bottle and a bag which has the chink of coins.

Meanwhile, Lucretia examines the pile of belongings that mark where the woman Karana Tharr was vaporised. The charred robe has a number of pouches sewn into it, filled with what appear to be spell components. A ring lies on top, and nearby is the ebony wand she used to zap lightning bolts. Her horse, blind and burnt lies dead about 50 yards away, her own saddlebags still on it.

<Herod aka Scott wrote>:
> He hears what is being said and then starts to move
> the wagon in between the group and the creatures.
> "Get behind the wagon if you are hurt, so we can heal
> you."

As Herod starts to move the wagon, he spots that the dragon creatures have all disappeared, so stops.