Siliwen doesn't have to look far. Veering her direction another wolf is moving in full bore. It had just veered past Alea, who had used her spear against it but had not slowed the huge beast down in the slightest. Now is was clearly aiming for her. She lifts up her hand and sends the flashing spark of energy flying at it. Then as quickly as she can she prepares another Magic Missile.
A dagger of light strikes the wolf square in the chest causing it to stumble and fall, but it rises again with a charred hole in it’s chest. It takes a second to reorient itself on it’s prey and starts after her again.

The fire of fight flares in Alea, "Corellon," she cries out and lunges after the wolf going for Siliwen, the Mage had no way of protecting herself. In the heat of battle Alea turned warrior was determined to save her companion.
But before the wolf can launch itself at Siliwen; Alea catches it, thanks to the magic missile cast by the mage and stabs the wolf in the through the side with the full force of her charge. The spear pierces through the body and out the other side. With a whelp of pain the wolf hit’s the ground dead.

Riddle quickly pulling himself out under the wolfs dead body. Raises one hand to wipe the blood that now adorned his face and takes a quick survey of the surrounding area. Noticing that Alea is already on her way to help Siliwen with the wolf facing her. Trusting that between the two of them they could handle the one wolf Riddle heads into the fray with Billy and Thor, the sight of the wolf with the broken whimpering in pain sends more pangs of anguish through riddles mind he always hated to see animals hurt but one must do as needed to survive
Riddle doesn’t have to go far to find an opponent; he almost runs into a wolf rushes towards Siliwen and Alea, striking at it’s sides as it dodges to go around him. His first swing missed, but the second caught the wolf through the spine crippling it and it crashes to the ground. The cries of the wolf are pitiful to the Ranger who begins to realize that something is driving these wolf, something is making them attack this party.

Billy was about to move towards the injured wolf when several more appeared from the bushes. Strange indeed they seemed to completely ignore the fighters but focused on one behind them. "Something is not right here. These wolves are acting very unwolfy, or wolfish or wolfesque. Bah, they are just plain acting strange." Billy turned to the nearest wolf and swung his sword. He would do what he could to protect the others. "At least they die, that is a plus."
Billy swings his great sword at a wolf dodging past him but misses as the wolf moves to go around him. His sword sinks into the soft ground, burying itself half the length of the blade.

He doesn't think he is going to be fast enough as another group of wolves are already charging but to his surprise the wolves seem to be bent on getting to those who are behind him and Billy's defensive line like they have been preprogramed for a specific target. If he has the time he will grab up his weapons and automatically attack the wolf nearest to him always leading with his war ax, if not he will just grab his weapons and either stand in defense if the wolves are not past him yet and wait to attack as they approach, or if they are past him he will turn and go after them attacking when he is close enough.
Thor manages to retrieve his weapons quickly and meets the charge of a wolf headed straight for him. At the last second the wolf tries to veer past him but he is ready and swings his axe catching the wolf squarely in the face. The animal goes down but quickly struggles to get back up. It’s face covered with blood it never sees the Morningstar that crushes it skull and ends it’s suffering.

The wolf that got past Billy races through the group making a beeline towards Siliwen. Everyone else is engaged so the wolf manages to reach her, it leaps at her throat. This time the elf is on sure footing and not surprised. Siliwen manages to duck underneath the wolfs leaping attack and the animal lands past her and whirls to face her again. It stops and growls menacingly at her as it seems to be looking for a clear line for her throat.

Staring into the beast’s eyes Siliwen sees the strange red glow which brightens. She can sense a strange magic at work here. She may not be as gifted as her teacher but she knows that someone is using magic to control these wolves and forcing them to attack. For some strange reason they seem to be ignoring the others unless they get in the way of their attack on her.

The glow in the wolfs eyes is almost hypnotic to her, she feels a strange compulsion to drops her guard and let the wolf have a clear shot at her throat. She shakes her head at the bizarre thought and the feeling wanes.

Meanwhile, two more wolfs come out of the brush in front of the defensive line formed by Billy, Thor and Riddle. Instead of attacking these wolfs stop just out of reach of the trio and stare at them, their glowing eyes lock on the men and they growl at them ominously. They don’t stand there long, but begin to spread out as if trying to find a safe way past the men.

Status:
Thor – Moderate Wounds
Billy – Minor wound
Siliwen – Uninjured
Riddle – Minor wound
Alea – Uninjured

Round Three (Initiative: Siliwen, Riddle, Wolves, Alea, Billy, Thor. Remember to use conditional posts for those acting after the attackers.)

two more wolfs come out of the brush in front of the defensive line formed by Billy, Thor and Riddle. Instead of attacking these wolfs stop just out of reach of the trio and stare at them, their glowing eyes lock on the men and they growl at them ominously. They don’t stand there long, but begin to spread out as if trying to find a safe way past the men.

" We need to Hold the line and form our circle around Siliwen they are after her not us. Lets not let them get what they are after"

Riddle falls back making his way to Siliwen.
keeping his eyes on the wolfs in front wondering if what could drive these wolves to attack and just Siliwen.

"Alera see if blessing the wolves will remove the spomplusion they are under." she call out

Siliwen looks up as two ne wolves enter the fray and begin to spear out. "Will they never stop coming?" First choice If they are too spread out for she uses sleep. Her desire is to affect as many as possible. with her spell. whichever one is most suitable to what she has before her. Second choice If she can get a few in one area she will cast Color Spray to stun or p\\blind them hopefully. If she uses Color Spray she will warn them "Color Spray coming shut your eyes"

Two more wolfs come out of the brush in front of the defensive line formed by Billy, Thor and Riddle. Instead of attacking these wolfs stop just out of reach of the trio and stare at them, their glowing eyes lock on the men and they growl at them ominously. They don’t stand there long, but begin to spread out as if trying to find a safe way past the men.

"We need to Hold the line and form our circle around Siliwen they are after her not us. Lets not let them get what they are after"

Riddle falls back making his way to Siliwen. Keeping his eyes on the wolfs in front wondering if what could drive these wolves to attack and just Siliwen.
Riddle’s movement caused the wolf trying to get around his side to pause and growl at him and it continued to side slip in an attempt to get past him. But his continued strategic retreat towards Siliwen would not allow it to get past him without engaging him. The wolf didn’t come within reach of Riddle, but it continued to growl at him menacingly as it shadowed him on his right side.

“Alera see if blessing the wolves will remove the compulsion they are under." she call out

Siliwen looks up as two ne wolves enter the fray and begin to spear out. "Will they never stop coming?" First choice If they are too spread out for she uses sleep. Her desire is to affect as many as possible with her spell. Whichever one is most suitable to what she has before her. Second choice If she can get a few in one area she will cast Color Spray to stun or blind them hopefully. If she uses Color Spray she will warn them "Color Spray coming shut your eyes"
As Siliwen considered her spell options; the other wolf facing off against Thor and Billy suddenly saw an opening to the left, with Billy’s great sword still sunk deep into the ground the wolf was able to dart around him and stay out of reach of Thor. Riddle was keeping one wolf at bay so he didn’t see this wolf make a charge behind him towards Siliwen. Alea’s spear was still buried in a dead wolf so she was unable to stop the fleet wolf.

Seeing this wolf coming from her left and the growling wolf still stalking her to the right, she backed up a little as the two wolves got closer and then when they were both within the range of her spell she cast sleep at a point between them. A faint ‘thrum’ sound engulfed the area of her spell and the two wolves both fell to the ground, though the one in mid charge came to a more abrupt end. Both wolves were sound asleep on the ground.

Only one wolf remained in front of Riddle and near Alea, and when the other two went down it paused, looked at the party as if it wished to flee but struggled against some force that compelled it to move on even though it was the lone survivor of this attack.

Billy and Thor looked out for more wolves to come through the brush, none came, but thanks to Billy’s extreme height advantage he saw something that the dwarf couldn’t see over the brush. He saw a tall figure standing just outside the trees, a dark figure that was slightly taller than Billy himself. He couldn’t make out any details about the figure other than its tallness and its large red glowing eyes which mimicked those of the wolves. The figure didn’t move, it just stood out there, beyond range, watching what was transpiring within the trees.

(DM Note: Time for the remaining people (Billy, Thor, Alea) to post. No change in character damage.)

Alea straightens and calls out in a voice filled with conviction. "Correllon, Father of the Elves, Defender of Elvin Kind, and Any Good Deity of Nature, Grant your blessing on us all, companions and wolves alike. Some Evil uses these creatures of nature to do their evil.

And if there is anyway to move her spear to shield Siliwen, she will do so. Her only other option, when she can move, is to use her body to block Siliwen from any frontal attack.

Billy swung and missed teh passing wolf and found his sword buried in the dirt. 'That will certainly take the edge off and need fixing later.' he thought to himself. As he pulled his sword free he noticed two thing; first, the wolves continued to ignore the fighters and second, a strange man was standing a short distance away. He realized that the others probably could not see the man for he himself could barely see him over the bushes. He watched for a moment and saw the man never moved and seemed focused on the party. Then Billy noticed the eyes, red and firey like those of the wolves. "Blasted, sneaky mage!!" Billy roared as he charged at the stranger, intent on doing the one thing he knew would stop a mage: sever his head.

Siliwen switches spells to one she hopes will help. The ancient words ring out with the one spell Elves were seldom bothered by--Sleep. She saw the fiery glowing red eyes ands knew that the wolves had been geased or were being controlled. Their actions were unnatural of that she had no doubt. While not a ranger or Druid she dislike wanton killing of anything--except for evil beings and creatures. This was not the wolves fault but whoever was controlling them.

As soon as her spell is complete she casts it on the wolves. She hears Billy cry out something about mages or a mage but is not sure what he is saying as the words are lost n all the noise around her. If she could find a hole she would crawl in it. If she thought she could get to a tree in time she would climb it, but her was was laying like a fallen log not daring to get up least it slows her spell casting down.

How many more were coming she had no idea, but it was not a comforting thought and so she chose not to think about it. She would do what she could as quickly as she could. Her friends were gathering around her recognizing that she seemed to be their wolves sole target. Their seflless actions buoyed her spirits.

"You will not get me without a fight, whoever you are. And I promise full retribution on whoever you are for using these wolves so."

Moving as quick as a dwarf could Thor was lucky to retrieve his weapons and still have time to catch the next wolf as it tried to get past him, his war ax catching it in the face and his morning star finishing it off by crushing its skull, blood was flying everywhere as the dwarf tried to get a fix on his next target.
Things seemed to slow down as the wolves stopped outside their reach and instead started to circle looking for away to breech their defensive line and get at their mage. It had become obvious that she was the primary target, and it was also obvious that these wolves where being controlled by an outside force.

Siliwen standing her ground and in a great act of courage manages to put two wolves that where charging her to sleep just before they got to her that left just one wolf to deal with at the moment, and this wolf was near Riddle and he was keeping it at bay.

Then Thor heard Billy, who was next to him in their line and who could see much farther into the brush than Thor could, suddenly yell out Blasted, sneaky mage!! and take off running into the brush that was in front of them.

Thor could not see what he was yelling about but if there was a mage in that direction he was not going to let Billy blindly charge into a battle with him alone. Watching to see where Billy was heading into the brush, Thor makes a break in the same general direction but he angles off slightly so he can approach whatever or whoever Billy is charging, from Billy's right. Trying his best to make haste and to keep Billy in sight off to his left but at the same time trying to use his short stature to his advantage by keeping low and the bushes and brush will help conceal him.

As he watches Billy run strait at whatever he saw he hoped that would keep whoever focused on Billy, and Thor hoped he could find who or whatever was Billy's target By keeping the big man in sight so he could find the target without being noticed.

Alea stood guard over Siliwen, the wolves would not get to her except through the Cleric. She keeps her eyes moving to watch for any sort of attack from any direction. Her spear is ready to swing into action. Using it was the best choice of weapon she had to use against the wolves, because she could set it and that allowed her to use the weight and speed of the attacking wolves against themselves.

Alea straightens and calls out in a voice filled with conviction. "Correllon, Father of the Elves, Defender of Elvin Kind, and Any Good Deity of Nature, Grant your blessing on us all, companions and wolves alike. Some Evil uses these creatures of nature to do their evil.

And if there is anyway to move her spear to shield Siliwen, she will do so. Her only other option, when she can move, is to use her body to block Siliwen from any frontal attack.

The entire group feels a warm tingling sensation as the blessing of Correllon surrounds them. The lone wolf left in the camp is also enveloped in a light colored glow which causes the wolf to whimper slightly. After a few seconds the glow fades and the red glow in the wolf’s eyes fades away leaving a more normal color. The wolf looks at the party members (Riddle, Siliwen and Alea) before it and turns and with it’s tail between it’s legs flees off through the brush.

Billy swung and missed the passing wolf and found his sword buried in the dirt. 'That will certainly take the edge off and need fixing later.' he thought to himself. As he pulled his sword free he noticed two thing; first, the wolves continued to ignore the fighters and second, a strange man was standing a short distance away. He realized that the others probably could not see the man for he himself could barely see him over the bushes. He watched for a moment and saw the man never moved and seemed focused on the party. Then Billy noticed the eyes, red and firey like those of the wolves. "Blasted, sneaky mage!!" Billy roared as he charged at the stranger, intent on doing the one thing he knew would stop a mage: sever his head.
As Billy rushes through the brush he can see that he is too far away from the tall figure to reach him quickly. The figure looks right at Billy and the red glow in it’s eyes diminishes but does not fade away completely.

Seeing the large man rushing towards it, the figure turns and slips down to all fours and runs quickly away from him loping along much like a large wolf. Billy realizes that he will never catch it as it is much faster than he. He did get a better glimpse of it as it turned to leave.

It’s didn’t look like any ‘man’ he had ever seen; it appeared to be naked with dark black oily skin, there didn’t appear to be any hair on it anywhere, it’s head had a ridge that ran down through the top from front to back, and it’s face had two eyes, two slits where it’s nose should be and a lipless v-shaped mouth. Definitely nothing like he had ever seen before back on his world.

Then Thor heard Billy, who was next to him in their line and who could see much farther into the brush than Thor could, suddenly yell out Blasted, sneaky mage!! and take off running into the brush that was in front of them.

Thor could not see what he was yelling about but if there was a mage in that direction he was not going to let Billy blindly charge into a battle with him alone. Watching to see where Billy was heading into the brush, Thor makes a break in the same general direction but he angles off slightly so he can approach whatever or whoever Billy is charging, from Billy's right. Trying his best to make haste and to keep Billy in sight off to his left but at the same time trying to use his short stature to his advantage by keeping low and the bushes and brush will help conceal him.

As he watches Billy run strait at whatever he saw he hoped that would keep whoever focused on Billy, and Thor hoped he could find who or whatever was Billy's target By keeping the big man in sight so he could find the target without being noticed.
Thor came out of the brush only to se the tail end of some creature, much like a large hairless wolf without a tail, loping along away from Billy out of range of any attack. He came up next to Billy panting as they both watched it running swiftly across the plain.

Alea stood guard over Siliwen, the wolves would not get to her except through the Cleric. She keeps her eyes moving to watch for any sort of attack from any direction. Her spear is ready to swing into action. Using it was the best choice of weapon she had to use against the wolves, because she could set it and that allowed her to use the weight and speed of the attacking wolves against themselves.
Alea found herself without any attackers as the last of the wolves that attacked them ran off in confusion. She did see Billy and Thor rush off through the woods as if in pursuit of someone or something.

"You will not get me without a fight, whoever you are. And I promise full retribution on whoever you are for using these wolves so." Siliwen rages against the night.
She watches as the last attacking wolf ran off, apparently under it’s own control once again. As she finished her statement of revenge she saw a faint glowing form taking shape a few yards in front of her. It quickly coalesced into a glowing apparition of her mentor, Joriel.

“Retribution?“ He asked sarcastically, “It was you who left me for dead.” His arm rose and he pointed a finger at her.

“It will be you who will feel my vengeance!” He screams at her then fades with an evil sounding chuckle.

No one besides Siliwen saw this vision of her former, supposedly dead, mentor.


Location: Northpoint Road – South Southwest
Date/Time: Day Two / two hours till sunrise

As the two wolves fall to sleep and the only other one in the area seemingly blocked by Riddle and Alera, Siliwen rises to her feet. As the mists form before her Siliwen's eyes open wide at the apparition forms into the well known form of Joriel. Again he denounces her and cries out for Retribution.

"No NO NOooooo," she cries out to the empty air, or so it appears to the others. Joriel you told me to run. I did as you told me." Siliwen lifts her hands to her face to shut out the ghastly sight before her trying to deny it presence. Her body shuddering like a trembling left in the wind. "Joriel, I did what you told me to." Siliwen begins to weep uncontrollably with great sobs that literally shake her body.

"Joriel, Come back, listen to me." Siliwen’s voice fades as the apparitions fades.

The adrenaline rush fades now the battle is over only compounds her trembling, she is shaking hard she can hardly keep standing. She staggers over to where the apparition was but it faded away before she got there.

Billy slowed to a trot as he watched the man turn into a wolf-like creature and turn tail. "Run you coward! Have you no honor?" Billy turned and saw Thor nearby. "Did you see that? The cursed mage ran away. Just like them to use others to do what they themselves cannot do. Ugly thing it turned into. Not sure if it was a wolf-man or man-wolf. Never saw anything like that before." After a moment Billy realized that with Thor and him here there was no fighter left to help the others. "We have to see if the others are OK." With that he turned and ran back to the party.

As the sounds and thrill of battle draw to a close end Riddle begins to survey the battle seen. First he notes Billys crushed wolf

"perhaps we should end this ones misery" he states with a wince pointing to the still whimpering animal. "as far as the ones sleeping i would like a chance to communicate with them see what i can find out and who knows possibly make and ally"

Scaning the surroundings again noting billy and thor staning in the brush apparently having run off chasing some thing

"or perhaps we should begin moving away from here what ever it was that led the attack knows we are here i think it would be wise to put as much distence as possible between us and this place, your thoughts."

Alea goes over to the cripple wolf, her heart goes out to the animal.

"Please let me try to heal the wolf." (male? female?) Alea looks to the others. "It was not its fault that it was used by Evil.

"I will need a couple of splints about 2 feet long, and the bandages in my pack or even some rope. I will need to immoblize it until the healing is complete, as it may take me a couple of healing spells, but I would like to try."

Billy arrived just in time to hear Alea asking about trying to heal the injured wolf. "I do not object to trying to help where we can but this one might be beyond help. Unless I am wrong, it's spine is broken and at best it would be a cripple. It could not hunt or run with the pack. I am not sure if healing it would be a blessing or a curse to it."