Time seemed to move slower while Vidar was moving away from the pile of rotten corpses and fish. He was worried that once they would notice the fishmen he had killed he would be overwhelmed by enemy forces. He could deal with them separately well enough but as soon as they gathered in numbers his time would come.

Then he saw a light up ahead and noticed a widening cave. He hid in a shadow and tried to see what was up ahead. He saw several fishmen and a group of them had gathered around an altar. Behind it stood a single fishman who seemed to be the leader, dressed in what looked like a sort of exoskeleton. That single fishman pointed into several directions and then pointed directly towards the Khord. Vidar was certain that they couldn't see him and that the fishman was only pointing randomly. But then they motioned him to come closer and the Khord reflexively looked behind him to be sure they weren't meaning someone else. He waited for few seconds to see what happened but nothing did. Slowly, he moved into the cave with fastened grip on his axe and shield, wary if someone would suddenly attack.
He walked up to the altar with a serious look on his face. He was going to let the fishmen know that he was not happy with their hospitality even though he would not say a word.

Elessarae's battle hymn reached out to the others with her (Bardic: Inspire Courage) to hearten them in battle. She kept the Goblin captain in her sight, yet knew she had to watch out for all the others least they overwhelm her with numbers.

Come now, come now, taste of my blade.
Feel your life's blood begin to fade.

Good, Over Evil shall prevail.
You and your kind will surely fail.

Here prevails Elven sovereignty
Throughout our entire longevity

This is where we make our stand.
To rid you from our sacred land.

Since the battle with the owls, Elessarae had taken to wearing her healing wand around her neck on a cord, which had proved a wise move, especially since she could now activate it without having to get it out of a pouch. Elessarae danced back 5 feet her sword acting like a shield as she moved, incase that the Orc was not as staggered as she thought. Once free she activates the wand and will do so again as soon as possible.

Rage had the habit a narrowing focus and not allowing one to adapt fighting style, all fighting was based on brute force, and the need to kill. Elessar planned to use that rage against him.

Now her sword to the ready for the Goblin to close she watch him cock back his sword to make mighty swing at her at the end of his charge. As he began his charge she suddenly rushed forward, leaped into the air, and brought her blade down with all her force and the force of her dropping down to earth. She figured that it was the last thing he would expect of her since backing away from him as wounded as she was. Even if her tried to swing after she was there, she would be inside of his swing, and she would have time to do a healing and her next attack, which be to shorten up on her sword and use it as a dagger in a piercing stroke.

Killing the Goblin captain quickly would be demoralizing to the goblins. It was an advantage they desperately needed.

Come now, come now, taste of my blade.
Feel your life's blood begin to fade.

Good, Over Evil shall prevail.
You and your kind will surely fail.

My sword has tasted of you blood
From your wounds it shall flood.

Death will come from my swift bade,
I will watch your ill life fade.

Geim is taken aback when his solidly stuck blow of his trusty ax literally bounced of the creatures back. He rapidly shifts gears and thinks of what spells he has that can protect his party against this beast and aid them.
He had several spells that can probide aid but his best is Prayer.

Geim begins to cast Prayer to aid his friends and hinder their foes. He gathers himself and clearly enunciates the ancient words of Prayer ot Khadox, evoking his Deity;s intervention in this battle

"Oh Great Kharox, I pray for my companions in arms Aid them in their battle against this foul unnatural creature and Confound the beast and render it helpless."

Londelirinen Kingdom
Sylvari village
4th day of the 8th month: Temoth Ore
7:03 pm
Elessar darted backwards a few steps, out of range of the goblin and his heavy sword. Her hand sought feverishly for the wand around her neck, and caught hold of it. The goblin hesitated one moment, and it was enough for her to sling the chain over her head and free the healing stick. She could feel energy flowing from the stick; a warm bath like a short comfortable heat wave. Her wounds stopped bleeding, but it was hardly enough to regain full strength.

Then he came at her with an overhead hew of his blade. She had anticipated his action and sprang up. She passed his blade by a hair’s width and landed at his rear, where she turned quickly for a back-slash.
As her longsword’s blade completed its course, she already knew this was going to be the final blow. When it hewed its way towards the creature’s heart, Elessar was already drawing it back to take the head from the falling corpse.

Moments later, the head was dangling on its hairs from the bladesinger’s fist. From the outskirts of the village she could see how the battle on the town square had begun fully.
The guard that she had sent to fire oil at the inn from the other side of the village had not completed his course, but was now facing three goblins while others were firing arrows into the combat. Goblins were running around from one end of the square to another. A wall of fire had sprouted upwards from nothing and several dead goblins lay at its base as fuel. The troll was nowhere to be seen, and the goblin captain sat with his back against a wall of a building between himself and the place where the mage and the other guard were supposed to be. He was shouting orders and then rushed over to the other side, where Elessar couldn’t see him. Then suddenly a big ball of fire exploded in the middle of the square, sending goblins flying in all directions. The mage was using her spells wisely, causing death and chaos in the goblin ranks. But she was not going to be able to keep this firepower steady long.

---

Inhabited Cave
South-west Chakran Mtns.
28th day of the 7th month: Pfier
0:10 pm
Vidar moved on, carefully watching all directions for fishmen to spring at him. He was sure this was going to be another trap, and his trusted axe lay ready in his fist. Slowly he moved into the light, but none of the fishmen made move. Their faces were stoical, devoid of expression; or perhaps Vidar just couldn’t see it.

The fishman dressed in the skeletal outfit beckoned him to come closer still, but when Vidar stepped into the cave, he suddenly moved one hand under the altar and withdrew a long dagger. But before the Khord could react in a hostile way, the fishman did something that stunned the warrior: it spoke in the Khordaldrum language.

“Do not be afraid, my best Khord. We are not here to harm to you. In fact, we are happy of your coming.”

With his other hand he grabbed a fish from under the altar and started slicing it up with the dagger. As the blade rolled through the meat, Vidar realized that this dagger carried the same Seleta as his grandfather’s axe. It was one of the weapons depicted on the leather scroll!

“We know that our previous meeting wasn’t a glad one, but you must pardon me and us for that. I am Glurblusius, Shaman of us Skum. I am going to tell you the matter we are happy of your coming.”

He poured a handful of red and yellow herbs over the fish and handed them over to one of the fishmen. The receiver placed them on a hot stone in a fire further into the cave, and a appetising smell filled the room.
The shaman motioned for Vidar to sit down. Whether or not he took the invitation, the shaman started talking.

The story he shared was a long one. It started with ancestors arriving in the lakes near the Chakran Mountains. They discovered underground tunnels and eventually found these caves. The vastness of the caves was never fully explored by them, but at some point a great monster came from one of the deep lakes inside the mountain. It was the tentacled fish-creature Vidar had witnessed before he was captured. The fish-creature, called Aabouless by the shaman, could control their minds, and made slaves out of them. The shaman himself was born in slavery, but with a special talent. Somehow the brainwaves of the Aabouless could not take over his mind. They had been plotting many schemes to get rid of the monster, but so far nothing succeeded. Now their hopes had returned with the coming of the Khordaldrum hero.

“We are willing to give you anything you want, if you help me and us banish the monster from the lives. I alone am not strong enough, and other Skum get slaved when in close contact with Aabouless. You will help me and us?”

(OOC: Maps coming soon!)

Alloryen Kingdom
The Exaulted Tower
2nd day of the 8th month: Temoth Ore
5:24 pm
Geim was taken aback by the thickness of the creature’s hide. Depending on a source that would always be there for him was perhaps a better idea. His voice echoed over the battlefield.

"Oh Great Kharox, I pray for my companions in arms Aid them in their battle against this foul unnatural creature and Confound the beast and render it helpless."

A slight tingling sensation spread through the present companions. Their first misses and setbacks seemed forgiven for a moment and but it wasn’t enough for all of them to recover from the shock of what stood before them. Loda and Thondrek turned when the demonic animal’s attention sprang from them to the Sylvari bladesinger. Loda was lost for a moment, upon seeing the enormity of the creature. It was the second time she had blanked out in a battle against these freaks of nature, and she should not make it a habit. Her companion, Gothard, was braver, or perhaps more stupid, and launched himself upon the bear. His teeth tried to pierce the fur and skin, but he yelped as he bit down, and sprang down again with a bleeding mouth.
Thondrek simply stormed toward the bear and launched a blow that would’ve crushed a rock. It pierced the creature’s skin, and cut some of the spiky hairs off, but the monster did not seem to notice or care.

Instead, it sprang forward with a mighty kick from its hind legs and slashed a claw at her as big as her torso. She could jump aside just in time, and landed well balanced in a crouching position, with her blade ready to retort. In the mean time, an aura of light had formed around Alyssia’s body, and now it slowly began to rise, as if a divine hand lifted her from the ground. He fair face glanced upon the beast as a judgemental angel, and she felt the power of Lysora course through her veins.
Malius had fished another arrow from his quiver and knocked it on his bow. Following the movement of the animal he let go, just when the creature landed its attack on the bladesinger. His arrow flew straight into the thick coat of fur, struggled to get through and pierced the flesh underneath. Again, the bear did not react to the impact, so focused was it on the battle closer at hand.
The bladesinger came in with her rapier, slammed the point into the creature’s twisted face and drew it out as she sprang back. It was a mighty attack, but the bear’s leathery nose resisted most of the cut. For a moment it seemed to pause, and its eyes darted back and forth, as if assessing its opponents.

(OOC: I would like to continue, but I realised I don’t have everybody’s information. I would like to know what you all intend to do the following two rounds.)

Loda snapped back into attention as she watched her poor companion suffer from the attack. She gripped her fists and decided to cast a spell, a flaming sphere. She spoke the words and summoned a fiery ball, and commanded it to attack the bear, along with Gothard. She took out her axe and shield, and gripped its leathery handle tight, keeping it in hand as she struck out at the bear with it, along with the fiery ball attacking again and Gothard too. Hopefully the bear will fall sooner than they all expect it to.

Vidar walked slowly towards the altar while looking paranoid into into every direction and at every fishman in the cave. As he drew near the altar, the fishman wearing bones drew forth a dagger. Vidar was about to lift his axe in a defensive response but the fishman suddenly began to speak in the Khord's native language.

“Do not be afraid, my best Khord. We are not here to harm to you. In fact, we are happy of your coming.”
The fishman drew forth a fish and began cutting it with the dagger. Only then could Vidar see that it had the same Seleta as the axe he was searching for. "If you are indeed happy that I have come to these caves," the Khord said, "you have a weird way of showing it."

“We know that our previous meeting wasn’t a glad one, but you must pardon me and us for that. I am Glurblusius, Shaman of us Skum. I am going to tell you the matter we are happy of your coming.”
Glurblusius told Vidar a long story about these caves and the creature he had seen when he was captured. The bottom line was that they needed his help and would reward him with what ever they could. Vidar thought about it. On one hand, this was the chance he was waiting for to get his grandfather's axe as well as it was the kind of battle that he wanted to fight, a battle that would bring him well earned glory. On the other hand, they were only two against the beast since, according to Glurblusius, the other Skum, as they called themselves, would be mind controlled by the beast if they would get too close.
However, the reward outweighed the risk. The glory would be well earned and the axe would finally be returned to the halls of clan Thorudrin.

"Very well," he said, "I will help you. As a reward I wish to claim my grandfather's axe, an axe with the same Seleta as your dagger, as well as any other such weapon that you seem fit for this task. However, if we are to do this, I will require my shield, the one that was taken from me when I was captured, as well as sufficient healing. Then we can start planning our attack. I do not intend to attack that beast blindly."

Head in hands she uses the wand two more times as she sees where the Goblin Leader had gone. She judges her position and made a quick estimate of which way around the building would get her to the Goblin leader the fastest. Once her decision is made she races to where she can see around the corner of the building and searches for her intended victim, the Goblin Leader.

She hopes to get a jump on him, She has to kill him quickly. With him dead there would be none to rally the goblins.

She could not now worry about the Mage and the Guards, she could only pray that they were safe. Elessare knew how much depended on her strength and skills, but in the back of her mind she was angry at the tower for not sending out a strong force of fighters.

That anger she now used in making herself equal to the missing force. She would be the army that was not, she had to be for the sake of all Elves.

Once she faces the Goblin Leader in battle she sings her song of battle again, calling on all the deities of good to aid her, in this desperate fight. She was fast becoming like a sword tempered by the the hottest fires and quenched in water in between. She prayed that after this tempering that she would be alive to enjoy the quenching.

As she moved in on the Goblin learder she was that white hot sword, ready to strike, ready to quench itself in the Goblin's blood. There was a look of steel in her bearing, in her movements, and in her determination.

By her blade and by herself would they succeed.

Once again, his 2nd arrow having hit the beast before him, Malius was surprised at the lack of attention to it by the mutant bear. Did this freak of nature not feel the bite of steel as the arrows struck it.
It was clear to Malius that he would have to attack it head on, his bow slung and both of his swords drawn to hand, he moved to attempt an attack against it from behind...

Geim may have been more of a Lore Master that A fighter, but His Domains were War and Earth. Unfortunately his earth spells that could affect this creature would also affect those fighting it. His best weapon then was to cast another spell from the War Domain. WIth that Geim calls on Khord.

"God of Dwarves hear my call. Strike this foul beast with you might (Cast Spiritial Weapon) Then he steps forward again to attack, trying to bring down the grotesque abomination.

It was a fearsom beast though. Even as he fights he calls out to his comrades. "Divide its attention, Move around to keep it off balance. Keep on the defensive. Being hit by that thing may well be death or near death." With that Geim yells at the beast and he swings a mighty blow at it yet again.

Londelirinen Kingdom
Sylvari village
4th day of the 8th month: Temoth Ore
7:04 pm
In the orange wake autumn twilight, Elessar overlooked the battle and took her time to heal her wounds. The wand she had used was starting to run low, and would soon need replacement. The two charges she used didn’t bring her back to full fitness, but they would do for now. As she applied the second spell, she heard a scream from the right. The goblins attacking the guard there, Hivalus or Mirnando, they were hard to tell apart in the heat of battle, had managed to force themselves upon him and were hacking their blades at him savagely. She could hear them chippering of evil joy as they slashed the Sylvari body to pieces.

Elessar knew what had to be done now. She rushed over the town square, dodging the smouldering corpses of goblins and made for the corner after which the goblin captain had disappeared. This brought her close to the wall of fire, which was still raging up from the ground before her. Through the flames she perceived the head of the troll, and its swinging arms as it clawed and grabbed at something before him.
Then her attention was drawn around the corner of the building, where she noted the goblin leader just as he crouched into the building opposing her. Perhaps he was looking for a clear shot at the mage and the remaining guard as they fought the troll?

She went in after him, into what had been a small Sylvari farmhouse. Tables, chairs and cabinets had all been turned over to clear the space. Two goblin archers had already broken down the hatches in front of the window, and the goblin leader was urging them on, and got ready to head out the door again when he saw Elessarae standing in his way.

Last time they had met, he had wielded a curved sword, but now a big goblin warhammer hung from his hands. He grinned as he recognized her, and then, much faster than she would have given him, he launched an attack on her. The warhammer appeared to come high, but with a sudden flick of his arms, the goblin slammed it low into her chest. The impact drove her backwards, and crushed the air from her lungs. Struggling for air she readied for her reply.

Her opponent was fearless, and she could use that against him. Judging the right place to strike him through his full plate armour, she waited for him to come again. Then, with a quick hew, she struck at his neck. He ran straight into her blade, and his neck exploded with blood and a harsh scream of pain. (Critical hit)
With one hand pressed against his neck, the goblin leader turned around, colour draining from his already ghastly face. Then he let go of his wound and sprang at her, wielding his weapon in two hands, in a mighty attempt to crush her. The attack barely missed her, for anger had misjudged the blow, and Elessar put in a quick stab.
Again the hammer came at her, this time hitting her arm. A sharp pain and a loud crack resonated from the place where the hammer struck. Her left arm had been broken by the brute force of the attack.

(OOC: The goblin leader is bleeding heavily, but doesn’t seem willing to give up yet. I didn’t want to continue this battle without knowing what you want to do, heal or continue fighting.)

---

Skum Cave
South-west Chakran Mtns.
28th day of the 7th month: Pfier
0:20 pm
Glurblusius, the Skum shaman, looked at Vidar, and then at his dagger.

“You say, you want axe with the same mark as on my dagger? Me and us don’t have that axe. We know that it is, but me and us don’t have it. Other Skum have told me and us that Aabouless has one long blade in lair. It is yours if you help us, yes? And my dagger.”

He looked up, as four Skum came running from the tunnel Vidar had come from. They looked agitated, and started speaking in the watery language of their people. They glanced at Vidar, and their claws twitched as they told their story. Glurblusius listened carefully, and raised a claw to calm the men down. He replied, and their conversation intensified. Vidar couldn’t understand a word they said, but they were definitely talking about him.

Then the shaman turned to the Khord and spoke in the Khordaldrum language again:
“Did you kill any of our men before, warrior? Four of Skum have been found slain by a weapon as yours. I told Skum that it was a wrong understanding of you. But you must promise not to kill me and us more.”

Their conversation went on, and the four Skum disappeared into the tunnel. Still, a tension remained present, as Vidar and the shaman returned to business.
The shaman explained to the warrior that attacking the Aabouless was not going to be an option. It is far to strong to kill by hand. A plan should be made that involved less direct contact with the creature.

---

Alloryen Kingdom
The Exaulted Tower
2nd day of the 8th month: Temoth Ore
5:25 pm
Geimiedefher turned to Kharox once more. Channeling the divine blessings into magic he wove his hands in a pattern that mimicked the forging of a weapon. Within seconds, a glowing battle axe of energy was hovering behind the wicked bear-demon and came down in a ghostly cut. It hit, penetrated, but like all of their attacks didn’t seem to cut too deeply into the skin of the creature.

Loda returned to the battle, snapping out of the initiate shock that she seemed to have developed when it came to doing battle. She knew this monstrosity had to die, if the Sylvari forests were to calm down. She encouraged Gothard in his attack, and released a ball of flame from her hands herself. The ball dove in, but the demonic bear could flip aside just in time to avoid being damaged.
Gothard bit down again with bloody fangs, and struck flesh once more. He didn’t yelp this time, when the needle hairs punctured his mouth, but bit through.
Thondrek raised his weapon again but missed this time. Still, the bear took some interest in the Khord, for hitting him before. Two claws came his way, and raked his cloths and armor alike to pieces. A shower of blood sprayed from the Khord’s torso and he fell down, stunned by the impact of the blows and the swiftness of the bear’s attack.

Alyssia, high in the air, saw Thondrek go down, and decided the battle had to be over soon, before more victims could be made. She released the strong energy that had been building up inside her in an eruption of electricity. She remembered how her bolts had killed many enemies before, even evaporated a hellhound. This time, the bolt shot at the unnatural bear and hit it full in the back. Arms of lighting crackled over the hairs and the creature’s spine, but did absolutely nothing to damage it. A moment later the electricity had drained into the ground, and the creature remained unharmed by it.

Malius two had noted that his arrows didn’t do any harm, and he decided to go a different course. He grabbed his weapons and ran for it.
His longsword came down upon the low back of the bear, but cleaved only a small portion of hair. Then he saw the bladesinger come in from the other side and strike a good, solid blow into the creature’s face.

Geim joined Malius, and the bear was now surrounded by the companions, who were all hacking away at it freely. The Khordaldrum cleric struck hard with his axe, and cleaved off a good portion of flesh from the bear’s leg.
Loda’s ball of fire missed its target once more, but the druid also joined in and made a good hit with her axe. Gothard bit down again, but could not pierce the leathery hide, and let himself fall down, blood flowing freely from his jaws now.
Thondrek still lay down, but tried getting up. His strength had been taken though, and he sagged back towards the earth.

The bear turned, fangs dripping saliva in a continuous flood. Its eyes burned bright red, and were now locked on Geim, who had seriously harmed its leg. A claw shot forward and missed the cleric by an inch, then a second one followed and hit the Khord in the head. Malius, standing next to Geim was then the target of the long teeth. Jaws closed over the Syl’s shoulder and buried deeply into the flesh, and did not let go.
Alyssia released more magic, this time in the form of magic arrows that rained down upon the evil distortion of nature. The missiles drove themselves into the hide and formed dark spots on it.
Malius was in a difficult position. He was almost engulfed by the creature and could only use one of his arms. His left arm was paralyzed by the forceful bite, but his longsword could still aim. And so it did. It cut hard over his enemy’s neck and carved a gash in its flesh.
From behind, the bladesinger made two quick jabs at the bear’s spine. Her blade pierced far into the creature’s meat, and it growled loudly, but still didn’t let go of Malius.

Although their joined efforts had wounded the creature severely, it was still standing, and showed hardly any signs of feeling pain or exhaustion.

Malius screamed in pain as the mutant Bear’s jaws closed and bit deep into his shoulder. As he fought to somehow extract himself from it he could not help but think that his attacking, melee wise, may not have been the smartest of moves.

With his Shortsword arm useless he jabbed upwards with his longsword aiming for the gap between its upper and lower teeth caused by his flesh in between.

“Amin Khiluva lle’ gurtha ar’ thar”
(I will follow you to death and beyond)
He shouted as he attacked.....

Elessarae blinked back tears of pain brought by the crushing blow to her arm and she drops the head. In a flash she side steps to the Goblin's off side making it harder to reach her and backs well away knowing she had opened a major vein in his neck and he would soon die. Making him come to her would only cause him to bleed even more.

Keeping an eye on the other Goblin's she uses the wand twice to heal herself again, and if there is time she will do so again. Once healed to whatever level she can get for now, she will gage the condition of the Goblin leader. If he falls she will take his head too and if he does not fall she will leave him then go to the aid of the Mage and the other guard, holding the one or two heads high to demoralize the goblins.

She taunts the Goblin Leader in Goblin, she wanted to draw him to move toward her as she moved toward the Mage.

"Come! Come to die on my blade, the maggots wait to feed on your carcass. Are you afraid to join me in battle? Would you let a little elf girl frighten you."

(OOC Up to this point I have counted 16 uses out of 50 for my wand, 17 if I get a third chance to use it.)

The Skum could see that Vidar was not really pleased when he heard that the axe was not in the caves, or at least not in the hands of the Skums. But the blade and the dagger would be enough. Perhaps he could get some information about the other weapons. He was about to speak when the other Skum came running from the direction he had come from. They seemed agitated and spoke in a gurgling language that the Khord did not understand.

Before Glurblusius could explain to Vidar what was going on he had already guessed it. They had found the four Skum that he had killed earlier and were not exactly pleased about that.
"You must understand that your people attacked me earlier as if they had the intension to kill me. I did not want to kill any of your people Glurblusius, but until now you had not given me any reason not to." Lying was, much like sneaking, not a skill that Vidar was particularly good at. "You must also understand that I will not make a promise that I might not honor. But trust me when I say that if I harm another of your people it is not because I want to but because there was no other way."

"That long blade will be enough of a reward for me. Please keep that dagger as a token of my shame for what I have done or may need to do." Vidar bowed his head before Glurblusius and appeared as humble as he could (which is not to say that he actually appeared very humble). "But I will ask you to tell me what you know about the other weapons on this drawing." The Khord pulled forth the leather scroll which he had found in the caves and presented it to Glurblusius. "Preferably what you know about this axe."

Geim had been ready to tell everyone to back off and led the creature away, while keeping themselves out of the way. Again her hits had hardly done any real damage. The next best spell he had he could not use while everyone was gathered around the beast attacking it. What spell turned solid ground to mud and the big beastie would have a difficult time in slippery mud. Only he couldn't do that now.

Malius was clasped tightly in the beast jaws and it wasn't letting go. They couldn't back off and leave Maius without their every attempt to get him free. Frustration didn't even begin to scratch the surfaceof how he felt her first three attempts to damage this abberant creature.

So Geim did something that was perhaps surprising for an old man of his years. He took out his silk rope and tossed one end around the creatures leg and he ties it off and wraps the rope around his next leg and begins to pull up the slack. He calls out as he does this "Does any one have oil and fire available. Douse it with oil and set it ablaze. I can hal Maius if he is not bitten in half first. I am going to try and trip it.so be ready."

Geim hopes the beast will trip and fall as he tries to move. Then they all may have a chance when it goes down to get malius free and then he can soften earth and erhaps prevent the creature from rising.