Deadly Games

Outside the arena, the three elf-kin watch the display in amazement.

"I guess that would be the signal then," says Jihan, deadpan.

Yaz's jaw drops, sending his 'Cheroot of Relaxation' plummeting towards the slushy ground beneath the tree.

"The crazy f*cking mother-f*ckers!" Yaz exclaims, shaking his head in disbelief. "Didn't I say lightning blast first, THEN the explosion."

'LIGHTNING BOLT *THEN* THE EXPLOSION!" the druid shouts out, oblivious to the fact that the explosion has drowned out all of his words.

'DO YOU F*CKING IDIOTS HAVE SOME SORT OF A LEARNING DISABILITY??!!" he shouts out, incensed. 'DON'T YOU CRETINS REALIZE THAT IT'S GOING TO TAKE ME TEN F*CKING MINUTES TO CALL THE FIRST OF THOSE BABIES DOWN?"

"THAT'S WHY THE PLAN WAS LIGHTNING FIRST, THEN THE F*CKING EXPLOSION!"

"What's done is done," says Will, sensibly. "The sooner that you get is started, the sooner that you can get the first one on its way."

Yaz makes a final curse and then gets to work on the incantation required to harness the power of the weather.

Back in the arena, there is a moment of calm as everyone stands in stunned silence, hardly able to comprehend the disaster that has just occurred. Then, all hell lets loose as everyone who was not killed in the first explosion starts screaming or shouting and the animals in the pens start to go even more crazy than they were already.

Knowing that all hell is really going to be let loose in a matter of seconds, Winnacer tries to keep Klauf at his side, in the hope that his brother will fight with him. Winnacer tries to egg him on to accomplish this:

"So you are too much of a coward to face your brother's enemies" Winnacer starts, using a sneering tone that is a remarkable mimic of Klauf's own reaction to his younger brother so far.

"Are you going to sit there and make me show you how to use a sword" Winnacer continues, looking into his brother's face to see what reaction he is getting from him.

"So who's yellow-bellied now? Is this fight too much for brave Klauf to handle"

Winnacer's words are definitely getting a reaction now as Klauf face starts to redden with rage

"If Dad was here he'd be forced to call you a wimp and a coward" Winnacer finishes, sure that he is getting Klauf well and truly wound up.

This is certainly the case, but Winnacer looks on in horror as his brother leaps towards him, his eyes almost popping out of his head and purple veins visible on his forehead.

"There's only one thing worse that a coward," Klauf spits, "and that's a f*cking traitor, you rebel scum."

With that, he dives upon Winnacer, taking the young Lord totally by surprise. There is a terrible clashing of metal as the two brothers' armor smashes together. With Klauf being by far the stockier and stronger of the two and with him having the element of surprise, it is easy for him to send Winnacer tumbling to the floor with Klauf on top of him.

As Klauf brings his mailed glove up to smash Winnacer in the face, he shouts to the young Lord with venom in his voice:

"You're a Stradheim no longer, you traitorous dog. I'll see you hang for your treason. It's the only way that the Stradheim name shall be cleared."

Flint is oblivious to the goings on as part of the Stradheim inter-family struggle. He manages to control himself and to stop laughing crazily for long enough to bring Towcester up and aim the rod towards the other VIP room. He presses the rune on the rod and another pea shaped blob of fire goes shooting towards the building.

The results of his action are identical to the first in that the blob explodes into a ball of fire. As it starts to erupt, however, they look up to see the form of Yurek running away from the building as if in slow-motion, his face screwed in concentration and his muscles rippling as he takes powerful strides away from the ball of flame that is following right behind him.

The Polak gets out just in time before the powder ignites to send shards of wood flying into the cold air once more, bringing the roof down upon all of the rest of the occupants inside the 'VIP Lounge Of Death'!

Not surprisingly, the arena complex is now completely and utterly total chaos, although people are starting to realize exactly what is going on.

Amidst all of the chaos, Xavier and Bennett have remained calm, scanning the entire complex to see where the greatest danger is coming from.

They see Tomas, Viktor, Corrow and the ten Dragons all starting to rush towards the Bookies' Office. Guarding the office are seven of the fur farm guards. There are also a small gaggle of shocked punters in front of it who were all placing their final bets at the time of the mayhem. Amongst the nobles and merchants are six hefty looking bodyguards belonging to the nobles and merchants. As they see the Dragons rushing towards them, the bodyguards draw their weapons in order to protect their masters. Also amongst the gamblers at the booking office is one of the two Witchfinders who has obviously just come to the realization that his day off has DEFINITELY been canceled. Also amongst the gaggle of people is the mystery woman which had the hots for Klauf upon leaving the VIP room.

The feuding Stradheim brothers along with Faewen'il, Xavier, Bennett and the crazed dwarf are in the middle of the amphitheater, halfway between the remnants of the VIP rooms and the Bookies Office. There are six guards and Yurek who have all realized that Flint is the culprit for the exploding VIP rooms and so are heading over towards him fast with axes and broadswords in hand looking for some serious retribution.

Standing around in the amphitheater, or more accurately laying on the ground quivering in fear in most cases, are a large number of merchants and petty nobles, several of whom have bodyguards. The party's initial reaction, however, is that the bodyguards are, quite sensibly, only interested in making sure that their employers survive the conflict rather than getting involved in any heroics of their own.

Amongst the animal pens are Eladria and her sidekick junior druid along with three hunters that were not eaten by the beasts earlier in the day. There are several servants, but they seem to be relatively harmless, not to mention being petrified out of their wits.

At the entrance to the complex. The party saw seven guards in total. These, they hope, should be taken care of by Boris and the other eight Dragons who have been assigned to take care of these guards.

Yaz, Will and Jihan are still perched in their tree, which is situated in a position where they have a good view of all the goings-on in the arena. The tree is in a position where all of arena is just within maximum range of their shortbows.

Three of the hunters were following the trail away from the arena. However, the noise from the explosion will have been heard from miles away in the still air of the forest and so they can be expected back on the scene in a couple of minutes or so. The party knows that there are another three hunters at large, although they have no idea as to where they could be.

As he finds himself right in the center of the carnage, Bennett draws 'Retribution' and speaks to Xavier, his face betraying little emotion as he does so:

"Get ready for the fight of your life, my friend. This one is not looking good."

Winnacer, pinned under the weight of his brother, quickly realizes that things yet again are not going his way. Feigning the helplessness of his youth, Winnacer relaxes for a minute under his brother's threats before attempting to drive his knee straight into Klauf's crotch.

Unfortunately, however, this is one piece of his anatomy that Klauf is rather attached to and had taken the precaution of ensuring that it is very well protected with plate and all that Winnacer is able to produce is a rather loud *clang*

Klauf too is similarly unsuccessful as he aims a blow at Winnacer's favorite piece of anatomy, namely his face. The young LawBringer sees the blow approaching, however, and turns his head so that Klauf's mailed fist crashes into the side of Winnacer's helmet, deafening him a little, but leaving him unharmed apart from that.

Winnacer then turns in order to speak to his brother:

"The only traitor here is the one willing to sell out his own people to the greenskins. Now get off me and be a real man, not some orcish lapdog."

Although it appears that Klauf has no intention of doing his brother's bidding, Bennett has other ideas as he attempt to seize Klauf by the straps of his armor to throw himself onto his back.

However, Klauf in his three-quarter plate is a heavy item and is difficult to grab, as he is struggling away on top of Winnacer with the result that Bennett is unable to drag the crazed sibling off him.

"Shit!" Bennett exclaims. "Xavier, give me a hand to get him off Winn."

"Javohl!" exclaims Xavier with a gleeful look upon his face. However, instead of reaching down to attempt to pick up Klauf, he goes for his scabbard and draws 'Sorrow' instead, which he brings crashing down upon the back of Klauf, denting the man's armor badly and giving him a terrible blow:

"Die traitorous schweinhund," the Saxon cries as Klauf shouts out from pain and surprise, "ve have not time for collaborating bastards such as thee. As you choke on your own blood, bastard, you shall take back your insults, to the only Stradheim worthy of his name. By Rodengast do I swear."

"NO!" both Bennett and Winnacer shout out together as Klauf starts to rise from the ground, drawing his longsword as he does so.

However, from the expression of total hatred upon both of their faces, it looks as if neither Xavier nor Klauf are paying much attention to anyone except each other.

Bennett sees that the situation is heading towards disaster at a fast rate of knots and so does something remarkable - he actually appeals to Faewen'il for assistance:

"Please, Fae, if you never do something for me, do this thing. Please put Klauf out of action before he and Xavier kill each other."

One would almost imagine that this was Bennett's brother rather than Winnacer's.

So amazed is she that Bennett has used the words 'please' and 'Fae' in the same sentence that she cannot help but to answer his call and immediately starts to chant an incantation, one that none of the others have heard her using before. As she finishes her utterings, she casts her hands towards the rising form of Klauf.

As the effects of the spell take hold, Klauf feels himself becoming weaker and weaker and he struggles to get to his feet, let alone finish drawing his sword, a look of total surprise and a little fear replacing the anger on his face.

"He be weak now," says Faewen'il as she sees the results of her handiwork. "Jus knock him to the ground an stand on him an he no be causin no more harm to any o ye."

With all of the sibling rivalry that has been going on, no one has been keeping an eye on Flint until he starts shouting at Yurek and the six guards that are charging towards him:

"Come on, you bastards," he shouts, laughing like a loon. "Come and get me."

He then turns round to the others and shouts:

"Close your eyes."

Knowing better than to argue with the mad dwarf, they do as they are told and shut their eyes. A few moments later, they hear the fiery sounds of a minor explosion and then look up to see that four of the guards, as well as very many of the merchants, minor nobles and their bodyguards dispersed around the amphitheater are kneeling on the ground rubbing their eyes in agony, obviously blinded temporarily.

However, Yurek and two of the guards are still running towards Flint, even more pissed with him than they were before.

"Oh f*ck!" exclaims the dwarf as the three warriors descend upon him and start to lay into him with their broadswords. As he does not bother with the encumbrance of armor, Flint is easy prey for the warriors and Yurek slashes into him twice and one of the other guards also hits him, although, mercifully, the other one cannot get a blow upon him. Flint screams out and it is obvious that he is in serious trouble.

Meanwhile, over by the Bookies' Office …

The Witchfinder, who has realized that he should be in for some serious overtime payments after this event, is making for his pouch of spell components as he realizes that there is a veritable coven at work here. However, he is interrupted by the mystery woman, who screams as she sees the results of the explosions. She makes her way to the Witchfinder, trying to hide behind him, all the time yelling:

"SAVE ME, I DON'T WANT TO DIE! MY HUSBAND WAS IN THERE, THEY'VE KILLED HIM! PLEASE, PROTECT ME!"

The Witchfinder does not resist as she makes her way through the gaggle of nobles, guards and bodyguards to take refuge behind him.

As the Dragons spring into action, with fear showing on several of their faces, Corrow shows that he has learned a new trick or two of late, as he pulls forth a glowing stick of incense and starts to twist his body into bizarre gesticulations. As he does so, four of the guards and several of the nobles and merchants stare at him, hypnotized by his movements.

With half of the guards out of actions, the Tomas, Viktor and the Dragons draw their swords and start to lay into the remaining three.

Considering that they out number the guards four to one, the Dragons put on a rather poor display, as none of the three remaining guards fall, although two of them look close as a result of some nasty wounds by the rank and file Dragons, with neither Viktor nor Tomas managing to land a blow on any of them, showing the same lack of success that they showed during the assault on the Diamonds' HQ in Pardubitze.

The guards immediately strike back as they realize that they are fighting for their lives. Luckily, they have as little luck as the Dragons and only cause one wound.

As the nobles and merchants start to scream as melee breaks out all around them, their bodyguards push their employers behind them and start to assist the arena guards by laying into the Dragons as well. They prove to be much more effective than the arena guards, as one of them nearly kills one of the Dragons outright and another of them wounds the hapless Tomas.

While the melee erupted all around him, the Witchfinder started shaking and mumbling an incantation, gesturing towards the Dragons. Just before he is about to finish the spell, however, he goes rigid with a look of surprise written all over his face. He then slumps forwards, obviously dead. Behind him, they see the mystery woman pulling a couple of daggers out of the Witchfinder's corpse and wiping them on her robes before replacing them in a couple of concealed holsters.

Meanwhile, at the front gate …

The seven gate guards are watching the happenings within the arena with a mixture of fear and confusion, not knowing what they should be doing. As a result, a herd of elephants could have crept up behind them with their still being unaware. As a result, Boris and his crew have no problem in creeping up on them in order to launch their stealthy attacks.

Despite this advantage, however, the thick mail that the guards are wearing is still tough for the Dragons blades to penetrate and so the damage to the guards is less than Boris would have hoped for, although Boris and one of his crew bring one of them down together. The guards are quick to retaliate, causing a similar amount of damage to the Dragons, although none of Boris' men fall.

Meanwhile, in the animal cages …

Eladria, not surprisingly is not terribly happy about the disruption to her 'experiments' and sets about trying to do something about it. While the three uneaten hunters cluster around her in order to give her a degree of protection, she starts to cast and seems to be speaking to the three-lion headed rhinoceros-bodied creature that caused her trouble earlier in the day. While she is doing this, her acolyte is casting upon the Darius-monster.

Meanwhile, in the forest outside …

Yaz, Jihan and Will are watching the commotion in the arena with shock.

"Well," comments Will, "I think there's gonna be more trouble already stirred up than may be needed, but I will stand at the ready to help out wherever needed."

Jihan nods his head in agreement:

"Hmmm. Things look as if they're getting VERY interesting down there, and I'd hate to miss out on all the fun. What say we try and squeak just a wee bit closer," he says, belying the anxiety that is devouring his mind with a bit of gaiety.

"Care to try your feet at a bit of stealthy meandering, Will my brother?"

Will nods, obviously considering the best course of action under the circumstances:

"There's not much we can do from here other than watch," Jihan continues. "I'm a bit worried about those other hunters that didn't turn up, but we might have to risk it to make a bit of a rescue attempt here. I think we might want to start thinking about facilitating escape for our comrades, if this confusion and terror doesn't make it easy enough. Got any more of those wood warping spells handy, brother?," he says to Yaz, sort of distractedly.

Yaz is continuing with his casting to bring down a lightning bolt, however, and so is unable to answer.

Jihan's knuckles are white on Weitbeissen as his eyes dart around, checking for the missing hunters or any other suspicious movement towards or away from the arena.

"I would love to go down and get into the fray my brother," Will replies after thoroughly considering the situation, "but I fear for Yaz if someone happens upon him quietly. We can play as the gods from here, adding our archery support from a distance while keeping a watch on the overall scene. And when Yaz gets his lightning going, then it's going to be quite a rout I imagine, even more than it looks to be one down there now."

"Perhaps you're right," replies Jihan, not taking his eyes off the events that are unfolding in the arena.

"I really don't like to imagine what Eladria could be getting up to in the animal pens. She's already proved that she's a powerful spellcaster and so I fear that she could cause some real trouble before Yaz gets to blast her out of existence. Fancy trying to make her life more difficult?"

"From here?" Will says with surprise, noting the long range and the fact that the druidess is partially concealed by the wooden bars covering the cages. "Well, it's worth a try, I suppose."

With that, Will and Jihan raise their bows and each send a couple of arrows heading towards Eladria in the pens.

Will, much to his delight, manages to hit Eladria with his first shot, causing her some pretty serious damage. His second shot, however, is quite a way off target.

Jihan, is having another one of his REALLY bad days, however. His first shot misses Eladria by a fair margin, but on his second attempt, he loosens the arrow far too soon and it goes flying into his foot.

"AAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!" he cries, as the arrow passes right through his foot and effectively nails him to the tree.

Meanwhile, back in the center of the amphitheater …

With the weight of Klauf being removed from his chest, Winnacer sits up to see Flint in the process of being hacked to pieces by Yurek and the guards. Although he is very much concerned by the fact that Xavier and Klauf are trying to slaughter each other, he realizes that both of them have the advantage of being dressed in armor as well as being very tough characters.

As Winnacer gets up, those around him can see that his eyes are glowing with an unnatural fire. Then, his voice drops from its normal tenor to an unnatural bass, resonating across the compound in a most unnatural manner as he points towards Yurek and the two guards with 'Old Bohavia':

"Spravedelna has judged you all unworthy of life. She has infused me with her fury, to smite down all those who oppose Her Justice. Your deaths have already been foretold in Her Book of Punishments."

Yurek and the guards look up to see where the voice emantes from. As they do so, they see that Winnacer's eyes then start to gleam with a pale, blinding light and an unnatural aura begins to radiate directly from the young Lord. His features can no longer be distinguished through the intense luminence and all those looking him upon him cannot help but feel as if Spravedelna herself has stepped into his body to deal Justice to those he has condemned. Even Bennett and Xavier feel the need to take a few steps back, for the fear that they too may be judged unworthy by the Holy spirit infused within Winnacer.

As the three men see the seemingly possessed form of Winnacer, their countenances become one of total fear. Then, they stop attacking Flint and start to scream hysterically before charging off in the direction of the exit of the arena.

As they do so, the unnatural glow in Winnacer's eyes fades immediately and the young Lord seems to regain his senses. He looks on in amazement as he sees Flint looking back in amazement at him. Flint then immediately charges towards the young Lord. His maniacal laughter has been stopped as a result of the damage that he took from the warriors' blades, and he now seems to be rather terrified by the whole situation.

Bennett, Xavier, Klauf and Faewen'il have all been standing agog as they witnessed Winnacer's Holy Possession, but as he reverts to normal, they resume their feuding.

"Please, Xavier, will you please stop this pointless attack upon Klauf?" Bennett asks Xavier, practically begging his friend.

"Nein," Xavier replies firmly, fury still evident in his eyes. "The collaborating schweinhund has insulted my Lord and so he must die."

Xavier goes to take a swing at Klauf who has just managed to get back to his feet. Bennett attempts to stop Xavier from attacking him with a bearhug. He manages to wrap his arms around him, but Xavier in his rage is easily able to break free from his friend's grip.

Xavier strikes out at Klauf, but Bennett has distracted him and so his aim is way off. In doing so, Xavier opens himself up for a masterful stroke from Klauf despite his weakness which finds a chink in the Saxon's mail and damages him severely. Xavier cries out with the pain and he is now really, really mad.

Faewen'il realizes that her armory of spells that could harmlessly take care of the situation has already been exhausted, but that she must take some kind of action to stop the party from killing each other and thus performing the guards' work for them. She thus takes actions in her own hands.

Knowing how weak Klauf is, she takes the risk of charging towards him before throwing her entire body weight, what little of it there is, against a very surprised Klauf. As she impacts against Klauf's breastplate, she winds herself and then falls immediately to the ground in front of him. It seems as if her actions have had no effect upon him at all for a moment, but then the others notice that he is starting to sway a little and then, like a mighty tree, he begins to fall backwards.

Panting deeply in order to get her breath back, Faewen'il is up on her feet in no time just in time to see Klauf crashing to the ground. Before he has a chance to get to his feet, Faewen'il rushes up to him and kneels on his breastplate, her boot firmly fixed upon his sword hand and her thighs gripping his helmeted head.

Klauf must obviously be very weak indeed as he hardly makes any attempt to struggle whatsoever.

Meanwhile, at the Bookies' Office …

After finishing off the Witchfinder, the mystery woman tears off her dress, revealing leather breeches that she has pulled up to mid-calf and a tight-fitting leather vest that is extremely low-cut in the front so that it would not be visible beneath her dress. She then hurriedly kicks off her high-heeled shoes that are far from being suitable for running and combat and then starts to tear off bare foot through the slush and mud underfoot heading in the direction of Winnacer & Co.

Corrow is continuing his hypnotic patterns that he is tracing out with the glowing incense, keeping the four guards totally spellbound while the Dragons and the remaining guards slug it out together. The combat seems to be fairly evenly matched in terms of abilities, but the guards' mail and mixture of battleaxes and broadswords give them the edge over the Dragons, who are dressed in their leather armor and have only shortswords to fight back with. Little damage is caused by either side, although a Dragon and one of the guards both fall together.

Meanwhile, at the front gate …

The battle between Boris' group and the gate guards increases in its intensity. Despite the guards' superiority in equipment, the Dragons seem to be getting the upper hand, wounding a couple more of the guards while taking no damage themselves.

At the animal pens…

Getting shot in the back by Will's arrow took the wind out of Eladria's sails. She ceases speaking to the tri-lionoceros and starts to cast a different spell, She starts to chant and then produces a sliver of bark from her pouch. As she finishes the spell, the texture of her delicate skin seems to change, becoming the texture of bark. The junior druid close to her, however has stopped casting at the Darius-monster and has cast again and he is now starting to talk to it. The three hunters bunch closer to Eladria and scan the surrounding trees with longbows in hand, obviously preparing to launch some counter-fire.

In the forest …

Yaz is still chanting away, gesturing towards the skies. Jihan is still sobbing away from the pain which is pulsing through his body from the arrow that pierced his foot. The elf grimaces and then grabs the shaft of the arrow, snaps the flight from it, and then lets out a blood-curdling cry as he pulls the foot away from the arrow, taking cartilage and boneshards with it.

"I-I can't feel my foot," he says in panic, as blood continues to drip from the gaping wound onto the ground. "I don't think that I can walk."

Will is too busy to give much assistance to Jihan as he has been spurred on by his success in hitting Eladria. He loosens another couple of shots at the druidess, but neither of them land too close to her.

Back in the center of the amphitheater …

"Get off him, Faewen'il" Xavier shouts, maddened with fury. "He must be made to pay for his actions."

"What the hell has gotten into you?" Bennett screams at the Saxon. "We're in the middle of a f*cking battlefield and all you're worried about is Winnacer's honor?"

Winnacer is about to add his thoughts to the matter when he is halted by a cry from Flint:

"Oh, shit!" the dwarf exclaims before he starts chanting madly.

The rest of them look round to see that the four guards that had been blinded by Flint's pyrotechnics have already regained their senses and are charging towards Flint and the rest of them with swords and axes ready. Xavier realizes that Klauf will have to wait for the time being and wheels round in order to meet the oncoming warriors.

As the guards rush towards them, Winnacer, Bennett and Xavier brace themselves to receive the charge and to stop the guards getting at either Flint or Fae.

Xavier is so wound up by the interrupted fight with Klauf that he hacks one of the oncoming guards to pieces with two powerful blows from Sorrow, getting a small cut in return. Bennett also manages to bring Retribution crashing down upon another one, although does not quite manage to finish him. Winnacer is really missing the superhuman strength that he gained from the Belt of Yaromir as the damage that he causes his opponent is relatively mild. In return, the guard that he is facing manages to cut him, although the wound is mercifully slight.

Faewen'il still has a calm Klauf pinned beneath her. Seeing the heavily armored guards approaching, she suddenly feels terribly vulnerable. She starts to cast once more and takes a piece of finely cured leather from her pouch. Flint finishes casting at the same time and, as he does so, a large flaming blade emerges from his right hand.

The mystery woman stops in her tracks as she sees the guards rush into combat with the group. She draws forth her twin daggers once more and begins to circle round behind the guards.

Yurek and the two other guards are still running from the amphitheater in panic, heading towards the exit fast. Around half of the nobles and merchants within the amphitheater have the same idea and charge after them, with the other half of the audience too petrified to do anything at all.

Back at the Bookies Office …

Corrow has still got the four guards hypnotized with his gesticulations, which is a good job, as the Dragons need all the help that they can get. Another of the Dragons falls and both Tomas and Viktor take quite a bit of damage, giving out very little to the guards in return.

At the front gate …

The situation is similar, with the guards having the better of the Dragons, although thankfully none of Boris' men fall. To make matters worse, one of the hunters turns up and helps the guards to dish out more damage to the Dragons.

At the animal pens …

Eladria and the junior druid take a break from casting as they open the doors to the cages containing the Tri-lionoceros and the Darius-monster. The creatures are totally mad with rage, but seem to be avoiding attacking the druids or the hunters. One of the hunters opens the door to the pens and the two terrifying creatures are loose. They seem to be heading towards Flint at quite a speed.

The other two hunters have spotted Will's location now and each loosens a couple of volleys towards him. Although the range and the fact that the bard is partially obscured by foliage serve to make him a difficult target, one of the arrows manages to catch him.

As if that wasn't bad enough, another volley of arrows heads towards him from the opposite direction. Obviously the three hunters sent off on their wild goose chase have returned and Jihan's screams have led them straight to them.

From the six arrows fired towards him, two find their mark and Will is in real trouble. He immediately fires back at them, as they are only thirty yards away. One of his shots strikes home and hits the hunter in the chest.

Jihan realizes that he must fight the pain in order to fight off the hunters. Using all of his concentration, he pumps another arrow into the hunter injured by Will which kills him and then hits a second one with his next shot.

Yaz attempts to ignore the arrows flying past him in order to concentrate upon his casting, knowing that Prirodna's artillery will certainly be needed before the combat is out.

Continuing in the center of the amphitheater …

Winnacer, Bennett and Xavier continue to battle it out against the three remaining guards, anxious to finish them so that they can take evasive action before the Tri-lionoceros and Darius-monster are upon them.

Winnacer uses both hands to slash 'Old Bohavia' into the guard he is locked in combat with. Even with the extra force, the damage that he causes is only slight, however. The guard fails to strike the young Lord in retaliation. Bennett is having some trouble mustering up his usual battle rage, and fights in a workmanlike manner, obviously distracted from his usual caustic comments. Despite this fact, he still manages to cleave the guard before him in two with a casual blow from 'Retribution'. He looks over his shoulder to check that Fae is OK. Xavier's attack upon the third guard is way off target, but the guard is not able to take advantage of the opening that the Saxon gave him.

At that moment, the mystery woman emerges from lower in the amphitheater and comes up behind the guard that Winnacer is locked in combat with and brings her hands, a dagger in each, around the guard's head, before deftly slicing through the guard's throat and windpipe with both daggers. Blood starts to bubble out of the gaping maw that was the guard's throat and he falls by the side of a surprised Winnacer.

Flint has been casting and, as he finishes his uttering, he gestures towards the last of the guards facing off against Xavier. Steam starts to rise from the guard's armor.

As Faewen'il knelt on the form of Klauf, her entire body shimmering a bit as if encompassed by some kind of magical force; she watched the Tri-lionoceros and Darius-monster bounding towards them, getting closer and closer with each step. With the warriors still having the last guard to deal with, she pulls forth a scroll from under her cloak and waits for the monsters to get within range.

Winnacer looks towards the horses to see if there is any chance of getting Flint out of the place and hopefully getting the monsters to follow him away from the arena. Although the horses are not far away, Flint is no horseman and so it would take him time and assistance in order to get mounted, plenty of time for the monsters to eat him in the process.

At the Bookies Office …

The combat between the Dragons and the guards continues with fury, with both sides doing more parrying than attacking. Viktor and Tomas both manage to get hits on the guards, but none of the other Dragons manage to make contact. The guards are obviously getting the better hand from the combat, although no more of the Dragons fall. They are all taking many cuts, however, and are going to start falling fast if the combat continues for a long period.

At the front gate …

While the Dragons and guards continue the struggle, Yurek and the two guards rush through the gate and dash into the forest. A stream of other visitors to the site are rushing after them, ignoring the battle that is happening in the gateway, making the combat even more confused than it was already. Things are now starting to go very badly for the Dragons, as the guards take advantage of the confusion and inflict some fairly horrific injuries upon them, inflicting a nasty wound upon Boris and killing two of his men. To add to Boris' problems, another hunter runs up from the woods and joins in with the combat.

At the animal pens …

With the first two beasts away, Eladria turns her attention to another of the beasts - the five headed flying crocodile. She starts to cast upon the creature but, as she finishes, nothing happens. They can see from the expression upon her face that she is not at all happy about the situation. The junior druid, meanwhile, is seeing to the wound that Will gave her with his shot. The junior druid draws the arrow out while healing her.

The hunters, however, are intent upon peppering the tree containing Will, Jihan and Yaz with arrows. One of them hits Will again. With the protection of his armor spell now having been exhausted, he's now a very easy target for them. However, worse is to come for the three in the tree. Yaz, who has been quite safe in the bushiest part of the tree until now, is accidentally hit by a stray arrow. Although the damage it causes him is minor, it is sufficient to totally disrupt the spell that he has been working on for so long.

"SSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Yaz cries, obviously distinctly unhappy. "Five f*cking minutes I've been working on that f*cking spell and now it's f*cked up."

"I could do with some help here," says Will as he tries to fight off the wounds from the many arrows that he has been hit by.

Ignoring the crazed druid ranting and raving above them in the tree, Will and Jihan attempt to take out the two remaining hunters before they get a chance to add more arrows to the situation. It is obvious that there are some very experienced bowmen facing off here, as almost all of the shots are right on target. Jihan manages to hit one of the hunters in his hand, making him cry out in pain and rendering his hand useless. He decides that he would rather not simply stand around to get hit and so decides to tear off into the forest.

It's not all good news, however. Jihan gets hit by another arrow and, more critically, so does Will, who starts to totter a little as he struggles to remain on the bough.

"Yaz, I know that you're not very happy at the moment," he grimaces, "but I could REALLY do with some help here."