Battling Boscobelous (Third Time Lucky)

Meanwhile, the Kozlo S.M.A.T. Team carry on up the stairs. The party members casually continue with their drinks as they wait to find out the results of the confrontation.

They hear the S.M.A.T. getting into position in a corridor just above where th foursome are sitting in the bar below. The floorboards of the story above them are obviously quite thin, as they can hear every word that the S.M.A.T. Team are saying:

"Are you two ready?" they hear the MageMinder saying.

"Check," replies Oskar.

"Check" replies Priest Klima.

"Cover me," says the MageMinder dramatically, "I'm going in."

The party then hears the sound of wood splintering as the MageMinder obviously kicks the door to Aneira's room in.

"Welcome, fools," they then hear an eerily familiar voice saying. "I've been expecting you."

"ZZZZZZZAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"AAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" thye hear the MageMinder screaming, before his screams are cut short and they hear the sound of a loud "THUMP" on the floorboards above them:

Fae simply says, in a voice with no regret that was loud enough to be heard over the din of the battle.

"Donna say I didn'a tell ye so."

"I guess that means that she's possessed then," they hear Priest Klima shouting to Oskar.

Fae simply shook her head in disgust at the overwhelming incompetence of the now two members of the team.

"TAKE THAT, YOU FIEND!" Oskar replies.

"ZZZZZZZOOOOOMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!"

"SSSSSCCCCHHHHWWWAAANNGGGGGG!!!!!"

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha," Bosco laughs maniacally. "You're going to have to do better than that.

"BBBBBLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMM"

"AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHH," they hear Oskar screaming, before he too falls silent, followed by another loud "THUMP" upon the floor.

"RIGHT, YOU'VE REALLY ASKED FOR IT NOW," you hear Priest Klima shout out.

Those below then see ripples start to appear in their drinks and a rumbling sound starts to be heard emanating from just outside the inn. The rumbling sound quickly gets louder and louder. The mugs on the table start to clink together and then bottles and glasses start to fall off the shelves behind the bar. Plaster is starting to fall from the ceiling as the rumbling sound continues to get louder and louder.

They can hear the sound of buildings close by crumbling to the ground as the floor starts to undulate, knocking over chairs in the bar and sending their table shaking up and down.

As the sound of the rumbling becomes almost deafening, there is a sudden roar and they look on in amazement as the far side of the building starts to collapse and tumble down. They immediately leap from their seats and leap over to the opposite side of the bar where they throw themselves prone on the floor in order to avoid the debris that comes flying towards them. Will gets hit by a flying piece of timber, which cuts him on the forehead, but the rest of them manage to escape without injury.

Then, as quickly as it started, the earthquake subsides. The four of them quickly pick themselves up from the floor, shaking off the plaster and dust that has landed upon them from the collapsing building. They look up, but can see nothing because of the fact that the room is filled with a cloud of dust. Everything seems to be terribly quiet.

Slowly, the dust cloud subsides and they can see that the entire north side of the building has collapsed and they can feel the cold wind blowing through the open wall. They can hear the creaking of the floorboards above them and it is obvious to them all that the rest of the structure of the inn could collapse at any moment. They look out through the open wall to see that, opposite them, the road is strewn with rubble from the collapsed side of the inn. Looking further afield, they can see that the earthquake has devastated quite a wide area, with three shops on the opposite side of the road having also been destroyed, and two more teetering dangerously on the brink.

The silence is then broken as they hear the voice of Priest Klima shouting from almost immediately above them:

"Ha! That showed you. So who's the big boss now, abomination?"

The Priest's question is answered by the sound of rocks being moved slowly. The foursome look through the wall to see some movement among the rubble. They see a bloody hand emerge from the rubble first, and then more of the stones tumble away to reveal Aneira's head poking out.

They can see that Aneira has been very badly injured by the falling masonry. Blood is pouring from a terrible gash in her head and one of her eyeballs is hanging out of its socket. Her other eye sparkles maniacally and her face contorts into an evil grin.

"I am," Bosco's voice says from Aneira's mouth as it murmurs an incantation and then Aneira's hand stretches out towards the upper story of the inn:

"WWWHHHHOOOOOSSSSSHHHHHHH!!!!!"

A gigantic ball of fire emerges from Aneira's hand and goes flying towards the inn.

As the foursome close their eyes from the brilliance of the light, they hear another scream:

"AAAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!"

They then see the burning body of Priest Klima come crashing down from the wooden corridor before thudding into the rubble just in front of Aneira/Bosco. They can hear the crackle of flames from above them and it is obvious that the fireball has set light to the wooden floor of the inn.

By the light of Priest Klima's burning body, they can see the maniacal gleam in Aneira/Bosco's one remaining eye. As the flames continue to crackle above them, they can hear the sound of more stonework tumbling as they see the body of Aneira/Bosco hauling itself up from the rubble. The eye is staring at them as they see the body stumbling towards them, dragging one of Aneira's crushed legs behind it.

Bosco's voice laughs maniacally once again:

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha."

"So, my treachous little plaything," it says looking directly at Faewen'il, "it seems as if today is the day that our little games come to an end. Such a shame. I was having so much fun."

The eye then swivels towards Winnacer:

"It's Judgement Day for you, too, GodBlatherer. I'm going to make sure that you die painfully for all the problems you've been causing me."

Fear of the flames battle with anger in Fae's glittering green eyes. She knows all too well that Bosco doesn't need the ruined body of Aneira to cast his spells... yet he can't afford to take the time to discard it. So much had been lost because she had put her trust in first Konan and then Winnacer... and if she lived, she certainly wouldn't ever make THAT mistake again.

She thinks briefly of making a mad search for the gem as a wraith, but even if she finds it in the rubble, she has no clue as to what the spell is that triggers it to suck forth souls.... no... her only hope is to be able to outlast his barrage of spells that he might have left.

Over the weeks that had stretched into months, she had come to know more of her tormentor than perhaps he had meant her to know. She knew what caused him to turn to darker magicks and eventually madness... and the book.... the book gave her even more insight into his twisted being.

The first thing she needed was time, so she began casting. From her pouch, she drew forth a piece of black gauze which she began to waft back and forth through the black smoke that is starting to fill the remains of the inn from the burning floor above. Faewen'il utters not a sound as she makes the intricate movements but, after a few short moments, her form begins to shimmer before slowly dematerializing, until just the faintest shadow of her form remains. The form immediately starts to head off towards where Bosco is standing.

Will, none too happy about getting smashed in the head by a falling timber cast by an inconsiderate mage, wipes the blood from his forehead and takes action.

Leaping onto the rubble-strewn bar, the bard does a flip through the air and rebounds off of one of the few remaining support timbers of the building. Landing in a quick tuck roll, he comes to a stand some distance from the remainder of the party, blades coming unsheathed once more, he stands ready to pounce.

Winnacer is ready with the Ripper, prayers going to his Goddess for protection from this beast. Gritting his teeth, he lumbers forward looking to separate his soul from what is tethering it to the earth, even if it rests on Aneira's neck.

Yaz scrambles on all fours away from the other three, thinking the same as Will: to get away from a possible fireball. He stumbles partly out of haste, but mostly out of an inability to find his own feet through the pot-haze.

Once a safe distance away from the others, behind a fallen table, Yaz collapses to the ground and starts to change. Swiftly, his arms shrink up into his torso, while his legs morph together to form a continuation of his body. At the same time, his entire body starts to shrink dramatically, while his pouch and attachments morph into his body, where they are immediately covered by tiny gray scales. After a minute, Yaz has morphed into a gray-colored rock snake, capable of poison and silent movement. Unseen by the others due to the darkness, snake-Yaz then slithers towards Bosco/Aneira with all speed, taking a circuitous route that keeps to cover and attempts to encircle the lich/priestess.

While the party has been preparing for the coming conflict, Bosco has too, as the party members can see him gesticulating wildly and uttering an incantation. All expect the worse from Bosco's the necromancer's actions, but there are no immediate effects from his casting.

Winnacer and Will quickly start to head towards Aneira/Bosco in order to try and dispatch him/her/it before he/she/it can get up to too much mischief. Snake-Yaz has the same strategy, slithering quickly and quietly through the rubble in order to try and approach the lich from the rear. The insubstantial Faewen'il has disappeared into the darkness, her intentions unknown to all save for the magess herself.

As Winnacer and Will advance, they soon discover what Bosco was casting, as the shadows thrown all around by the burning floor above take on a life of their own, morphing into a terrifying human form and lashing out at Winnacer and Will with their claws.

Three of them lash out at Winnacer. Two of them manage to take him by surprise and hit him before the LawBringer knows what's happening. The damage caused by the shadows' strikes is only minor but, as the pair of them hit, Winnacer starts to feel himself getting weaker, though not to a level where it effects him yet. The young Lord lashes out wildly at the shadows in response, anxious to finish off the shadows as quickly as possible. The large forms looming over him are difficult for him to miss, and two mighty blows from the Ripper are enough to make one of the three shadows disappear.

Will finds himself in the same predicament as Winnacer. The bard is more alert to the danger than Winnacer was, however, and quickly threw himself out of the way of the shadows' claws as soon as he realized what was going on. In retaliation, he lashes out at one of the shadows with both 'The Educator' and 'Teacher's Pet'. He misses the shadow with the dagger, but strikes the black creature with 'The Educator', causing it some major damage, but not enough to finish it.

Bosco is chuckling to himself at the surprise with which the shadows struck before he casts once again. He mutters another quick incantation while gesticulating. As he finishes, a ghostly, glowing hand suddenly materializes just behind the shadows that Winnacer is currently battling.

Winnacer and Will continue to fight off the shadows swarming around them. Winnacer catches one of them with a glancing blow, but the damage caused is minor. In retaliation, one of the shadows manages to catch him again. As before, the damage is not severe, but Winnacer feels himself weakening still further. Will lashes out at the shadow that he had previously damaged. He manages to strike true with both of his blades, but the shadow still does not fall. The bard manages to dodge away from the strike of one of them, but the other strikes true. As with Winnacer, the damage caused by the shadow is minor, but Will starts to feel a little weaker.

Boscobelous is so busy casting another spell that he doesn't see snake-Yaz coiling up and preparing to strike at the lich. However, Yaz is not completely comfortable with his new form, having never used it before, and his strike misses Aneira's ankle by a wide margin.

Bosco is able to complete his spell and the ghostly hand close to Winnacer starts to glow with a dull yellow light. Seeing the snake menacing him from behind, Bosco gestures towards the snake with his hand and the ghostly hand starts heading towards snake-Yaz.

The lich in Aneira-form is still chuckling wildly at the problems he is causing the party. Then, Aneira's form pulses once with a dull red light and Boscobelous screams out with rage:

"YOU TREACHEROUS LITTLE BITCH," the lich cries, "I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU PAY FOR THAT!"

Despite the lich's threat, the party can just detect a subtle hint of fear in Boscobelous' words as he utters it.

Winnacer, held back by the shadow creatures, realizes the key to this battle is surely not going to be him. He calls out to Boscobelous:

"INFIDEL! COME CLOSER AND BE READY TO SEE YOUR FAMILY ONCE AGAIN!"

"PERVERT! IT SEEMS THAT THE ONLY WAY FOR YOU TO GET A WOMAN IS FROM THE INSIDE!"

"COME CLOSER, YOU FAILURE! DESPITE 500 YEARS, YOUR FAMILY STILL ISN'T ANY CLOSER TO BREATHING!"

He keeps at it, trying his hardest to get into striking range of the lich. However, it is impossible to get through the two shadows that block his path to the lich.

"SAVE YOUR BREATH, GODBLATHERER," Boscobelous responds. "I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TRYING TO DO AND I'M QUITE HAPPY TO BE WHERE I AM RIGHT NOW."

Realizing that the lich isn't going to make it easy on him by moving towards him, Winnacer tries another approach to try and damage the abomination. While trying to keep the shadows at bay as best he can, he reaches into his pouch and pulls forth the vial of holy water that he has been carrying. He hurls the vial towards the lich as hard as he can, and is rewarded by seeing the vial hit the lich on the shoulder, shattering and spraying the holy water upon Bosco's borrowed body. Unfortunately, much of the holy water lands on the ground behind him, and so the damage caused to the lich is not severe. Despite the fact that the young Lord has been concentrating upon hitting the lich with the holy water, the shadows are still unable to get through the young Lord's platemail. Winnacer realizes, however, that they are performing their task simply in keeping him at bay.

Will's progress is similarly blocked by the two shadows facing him. He lashes out at the one that he has been concentrating upon thus far, and manages to hit it with both of his blade. As 'Teacher's Pet' hits the shadow, it vanishes into the darkness. The other tries to lash out at Will in retaliation, but the bard is too quick for it and he manages to dodge out of harm's way once again.

Annoyed at missing Aneira's ankle with his first strike and conscious of the ghostly glowing hand that is heading towards him, snake-Yaz tries to coil itself around the calf of Aneira, hoping to creep up under the nightdress that she is wearing. The lich, who is not casting at the moment, and is keeping a good eye upon the snake, is not having any of it, however, and neither snake-Yaz' attempt to coil round Aneira's leg, nor his attempt to bite at the lich are successful.

Boscobelous retaliates by sending the ghostly glowing hand towards the snake. The hand moves fast and snake-Yaz is unable to recoil fast enough as the hand strikes him with a glancing blow. As the hand hits him, Yaz can feel his lifeforce starting to drain from him, causing him some massive damage. At the same time, Aneira's body seems to heal up immediately, and the lich seems to be stronger than ever now.

The lich is starting to feel happier now, as he feels Yaz' stolen lifeforce pulsing through his veins. He starts to laugh once more.

So confident is he that he fails to see the insubstantial form of Faewen'il rematerializing from behind some rubble caused by one of the collapsed buildings to the east of where Boscosbelous is standing. Immediately upon her reappearance, she pulls forth a small rod of crystal from her pouch and starts to rub a small piece of fur against it while chanting an incantation. She then gestures towards the grinning lich and releases the electrical energy that is dancing between her fingers.

A bright blue light pierces the darkness of the night as a forked bolt of lightning flashes from Faewen'il's hands towards the lich. Bosco/Aneira sees it coming towards him, however, and throws himself backwards, thus avoiding the full force of the bolt. The lightning bolt continues on its path, hitting the roof of a thatched cottage some hundred yards away and setting it alight.

As a result of Bosco's partial avoidance of the bolt, the damage caused to him was far from fatal and, after stealing much of Yaz' lifeforce, he still seems stronger than he was before.

He is pretty pissed at that though, cursing Faewen'il angrily as he makes to cast again.

Winnacer still has two of the shadows to contend with. He angrily tries to take another one of them down by throwing a mighty blow with the Ripper at it. The blow impacts and the shadow takes damage, but still not of a sufficient amount to manage to fell it. The two remaining shadows try to strike back, but neither of them is able to find a way through the LawBringer's armor.

Will has just one of the shadows remaining now and he puts all of his effort into trying to dispatch it as quickly as possible, so that he can tackle Bosco itself. He manages to strike the shadow with both blades, but they are still not enough to finish off the shadow. The shadow tries to strike back in retaliation, but the nimble half-elf manages to dodge out of the way once again.

Snake-Yaz tries, for the third time, to strike at the lich's ankle. Finally, his strike is successful, and Bosco/Aneira shouts out in annoyance. Unfortunately, Yaz is disappointed to see that he does not start gurgling before falling to the ground and so either Bosco is immune to the poison, or it is taking a long way to work its way through his system.

It annoys him enough to make him believe that he needs to keep a little distance from the party members. He casts once more, and another five shadows spring to life, surrounding him so as to form a dark shield. He steps back away from Yaz and sends one of the shadows towards him. Seeing that Will is almost through the one that he is fighting, he sends a second shadow to reinforce the first. A third shadow is sent in the direction that Faewen'il cast her spell from. The other two he keeps close to him so as to act as his own personal bodyguard.

As Faewen'il sees the shadow heading towards her, and sees that Bosco is making to cast again while looking over in her direction with a look of total hatred upon Aneira's face, the lass realizes that she had better get out of harm's way as quickly as possible. She quickly pulls an eyelash encased in gum arabic from her pouch and casts an enchantment. Before the shadow is upon her, the form of Faewen'il disappears and the shadow stops in its tracks.

Winnacer continues to hack away at the shadows, calling out once again:

"Padre, get yourself out here! We have a situation!"

There is still no reply to the LawBringer's words, however, as the Padre is nowhere to be seen, and so Winnacer has little choice but to continue to fight off the shadows. He hacks deeply into one of the shadows with The Ripper, and the shadow promptly disappears. He tries to lash out at the other one facing him, but the shadow manages to avoid the LawBringer's strike. The last remaining shadow upon him tries to hit Winnacer in retaliation, but the LawBringer manages to avoid its touch once more.

Close by, Will is in a similar predicament, as he tries to rid himself of the shadow upon him before the other one that Boscobelous summoned reaches him. The bard hits the shadow before him with both of his blades, and the shadow promptly disappears. However, immediately that it does so, the new shadow is upon Will, lashing out at him with its black claws. Once again, however, the nimble half-elf is able to dodge out of the way of the shadow.

A short distance from Bosco/Aneira's feet, snake-Yaz sees one of the newly summoned shadows heading for him and knows that he is in trouble. From the fact that Bosocobelous does not seem to be suffering despite having been successfully bitten, Yaz realizes that his poison is not of the fast-acting variety and also that his bite is going to have zero effect upon the shadow. As a result, he realizes that he has no option but to return to his regular form.

The snake starts to morph back into the familiar form of Yaz, growing quickly and with his limbs growing back out of his torso. Before he has finished the transformation, however, the shadow is upon him and strikes him with his claw. Although the damage caused by the shadow is minor, Yaz feels himself getting slightly weaker. While, for the others, this is not such a problem, the puny druid has little strength to start with, and so he can ill-afford to lose what little he has.

From her position, Faewen'il desperately tries to see if there is a way to get to Bosco. However, with two shadows right next to him acting like his personal bodyguards and one more standing in front of her, trying to spot any sign of her, she realizes that this is not going to be possible without revealing herself from her invisibility after making her attack.

She decides that she needs to get away from the area as quickly as possible. Moving as quickly as she can without making any telltale sound, she circles around behind the lich so as to try and strike him from another angle.

Boscobelous curses as he sees Faewen'il disappear, and curses again as he see Winnacer and Will take care of another shadow each. He sends the two remaining shadows around him to reinforce those that are already fighting the two of them, and calls the one that he sent after Fae back to him. He then casts, muttering another evil sounding incantation and then gesticulates towards the spectral hand, which is waiting patiently by his side. Upon the incantation's completion, the hand starts to glow with an unholy light. He looks around to see if there is any sign of Faewen'il, but he can see nothing. Cursing to himself yet again, he sends the glowing hand in the direction of Winnacer.

Winnacer suddenly finds himself under attack from many different directions, as Boscobelous sends another shadow plus the glowing hand in his direction. Seeing the hand as the most dangerous of his now three opponents, he tries to target it. The hand is faster than he is, however and lashes out at him. Winnacer is well protected by his armor, however, and the hand is unable to strike him, much to Boscobelous' annoyance. Winnacer takes advantage of his luck in avoiding the hand's blow by lashing out at the ghostly apparition that is dancing around him and manages to land a glancing blow upon it with 'The Ripper'. As he does so, the spectral hand disappears, leading to a shriek of pain and rage from Boscobelous.

Winnacer still has the two shadows to contend with, however. Luckily, despite his concentration upon the hand, neither of the shadows is able to land a blow though Winnacer's armor.

Will also has two more shadows to contend with. He manages to land a massive blow on the first of them with 'The Educator' but misses the follow up with 'Teacher's Pet'. One of the shadows manages to land a blow upon him in retaliation and the bard feels a little bit weaker again.

Closer to where Bosco is standing, Yaz finishes his transformation from snake to druid. The shadow tries to strike him as he does so, but the druid manages to dodge it while drawing his lucky scimitar. He responds by striking out at the shadow with the scimitar, but his strike is way off the mark.

Then, from behind where Bosco is standing, Faewen'il appears with one of her rods in her hand. She quickly, but carefully, aims the rod towards Bosco and then fingers the rune on its side. As she does so, a thin ray of bluish color shoots out from the wand. With his back towards the magess, Bosco doesn't see the bolt towards him and it hits him on the back. As it does so, the lich in priestess form goes completely rigid, unable to move a muscle.

The shadow at Bosco's side, seemingly having been pre-programmed by its creator, starts to head away from the lich, heading towards the now visible Fae.

Winnacer breathes a sigh of relief as he sees Bosco's form goes still, but he knows that the necromancer's paralysis will not last forever. With the hand now having gone, he puts all of his efforts into finishing the two remaining shadows upon him as quickly as possible. He lashes out at one of the two shadows, hitting it twice with good blows from 'The Ripper'. Although both blows are true, they are not sufficient to take the shadow down. One of the shadows manages to find a way past his armor finally, causing the young Lord some damage, but also weakening him still further.

Will is in the same predicament as Winnacer, but can only manage to graze one of the shadows with 'Teacher's Pet', his strike with 'The Educator' falling far short of its target. In response, both of the shadows manage to strike at the armorless bard, causing him a fair amount of damage, and weakening him still further.

Yaz is also locked in combat with one of the shadows. Much to his delight, he manages to hit the black apparition with his lucky scimitar, but he knows that he has a long way to go to finish the abomination. The shadow lunges at him in retribution, but Yaz manages to avoid the blow easily.

Sighing at her fate of having the shadow coming towards her, but glad that Bosco can no longer see her, Fae begins casting at the shadow. As the black nothingness is almost upon her, she raises her right hand towards the creature and three bolts of magickal energy fly towards it, all three of them striking home. They are not enough to stop the creature, however, and the shadow flies for her, lashing out at the magess with its insubstantial claws. The creature is unable to get past the magess' magickal protection, however.

Winnacer, Will and Yaz all attempt to finish off the shadows upon them as quickly as possible so as to give Boscobelous the blow that will finally finish the evil necromancer off once and for all. Winnacer lashes out at the injured one of the two shadows again, easily managing to finish it with a mighty blow from 'The Ripper'. He tries to find a way round the side of the last remaining shadow upon him, but the shadow is doing its best to block him, lashing out as the young Lord, although his armor manages to protect him from any further harm.

The draining of his strength from the shadows' attacks have started to take their toll on Will now. He tries to put his limited strength behind a good strike against the shadow before him. As he does so, however, he loses his grip upon 'The Educator'. To his horror, he sees it heading straight towards Winnacer, fighting not too far away from him.

Winnacer has his attention firmly fixed upon the shadow before him and doesn't see the sword flying through the air towards him. The noble weapon hits him full square on the head, inflicting a terrible wound, much worse that any that the shadows have caused upon him thus far. Realizing that 'Teacher's Pet' alone is not going to have much effect upon the shadows, Will runs towards Winnacer in order to pick up his weapon. As he does so, both of the shadows attempt to strike him, with one of them catching him a glancing blow as he goes, weakening him still further.

Yaz is having similarly little luck, although manages to keep his scimitar is his hand despite the fact that he comes nowhere close to hitting the shadow. The shadow, however, manages to just catch the druid with its claw, inflicting a minor wound upon the druid, but weakening him still further.

Fae knew her luck wouldn't hold out much longer against the shadow, and so she began to cast yet again. As she was getting ready to cast the spell, the shadow lashes out at her again, but once more, her magickal protection saves her from any harm. The magess then began to cast, uttering a quick incantation while gesticulating wildly. As she finishes, six exact replicas of the magess suddenly materialized around her, slightly blurred at the edges, leaving it impossible to say which is the real Faewen'il and which are the copies.

Distracted by the combat with the shadows, the party members suddenly realize that someone is creeping up among them. While they try and keep the shadows at bay, they glance over and see that a female form has managed to crawl up among the debris. The figure has obviously just managed to clamber out of the rubble of the inn, as she is dressed in just a filthy, dust encrusted, nightgown and she has obviously been badly cut and bruised by falling masonry, with blood running down from a massive gash on her shoulder. They notice that she is around 5' tall, or would be were she standing at the moment and not crawling towards the paralyzed figure of Aneira. Her face is made up of sharp features that proclaim her elven heritage for all to see. Her eyes are a warm brown, as is her hair. She appears to be lithe and quick rather than bulky and muscular. She currently appears to be tugging at a thin piece of wood, which is half covered by fallen stones from the rubble, a look of both pain and anger writ large upon her face. As she pulls the piece of wood clear from the rubble, the others see that it is a longbow. She clears more of the wreckage from alongside the bow, revealing a quiver, from which she produces a glowing arrow.

Any further observation of the woman is interrupted by the need to try and finish off the shadows that are upon them all. In coming over to retrieve 'The Educator' that he had accidentally thrown at Winnacer, Will has brought the shadows over with him, leaving it still impossible for Winnacer to find a way through to finally finish off the paralyzed necromancer.

The young Lord lashes out at the shadows around him once more, anxious to clear a path to his goal. He hits the last of the shadows fighting him with two more strikes from 'The Ripper', but the two strikes are not sufficient to finish the creature. It tries to hit him in retaliation but, once again, his armor protects him for any more damage.

Will tries to fight off the two shadows with 'Teacher's Pet' while he reaches down in order to pick up 'The Educator'. He is an easy target for the shadows while he does so, however, and one of them manage to get a strike upon him, injuring and weakening him still further.

Yaz is still struggling to hit the one shadow that he is in combat with, missing it again by a wide margin. The shadow is having no such problem, however, and strikes out at the unlucky druid once again, injuring him still further and leaving him so weak that he can barely manage to lift his scimitar in defense.

Now faced by seven potential Faewen'il's, the shadow lashes out at the one which is closest to him. Needless to say, he picks the wrong Fae, and one of the false images simply blinks out. As it does so, the other six Faewen'il's are all casting once again. As they finish, the fingers of their right hands start to glow once more, and each of them fires three bolts of mystical energy towards the shadow. Although only the bolts from the real Faewen'il are real, they all hit their target and the shadow disappears under the impact.

While this is going on, the mystery rubble woman pulls the glowing arrow from her quiver and, with her hands shaking through the pain that is pulsing through her body, she nocks it to her bow and aims it towards the paralyzed figure of Aneira housing the evil necromancer. She uses the last of her energy to draw back the bow and aims it up squarely at Aneira's head, which is just a few feet away from her.

At such close range, it is almost impossible for her to miss and she looks up to see the arrow fly right into the center of Aneira's forehead, producing a disgusting squelching noise. As the mystery archer collapses from exhaustion, the form of Aneira teeters on her feet a little before finally falling backwards to land with a crash upon the ground.

As it does so, the four remaining shadows all disappear as quickly as they were summoned.

Boscobelous is finally dead.