Dances With Wolves

Everyone looks around them to assess the defensive position that they are in. They are basically in three sides of a square, one wall having fallen down. At least they can only attack the party from one side.

"Maire', stoke that fire up, use some of the timbers from the roof if you have too," barks Xavier, showing his precise military nature.

"Yaz, you look after the cow, your kind are good with them. Winnacer, Colin come over here and help me with the cart. We shall use it to blockade this open section of the wall here. Schnell Schnell, hurry, hurry I do not think we have much time..."

The cart is wide enough to narrow the open section to half its width. It is now wide enough for only three wolves to attack at a time, although a crafty wolf might leap onto the cart and get behind the fighters.

In the few seconds before the wolves launch themselves upon the arty's position, there is a frantic rush of activity. Darius scrambles up onto the roof of the building and takes a position on the wall, where he is less likely to fall through. The cart is quickly moved into position and gently toppled so as to form a barrier partially blocking the only way into the building. The three warriors - Winnacer, Xavier and Colin, step into the breach to fill it with steel. Yaz stands behind the cart in case any of the beasts should try to leap over it to get behind the warriors.

Behind the defensive line, the others build up the fire as much as possible, using all of the fallen rafters that they can find. Heimlin, Maire', Corrow and Giselle all take refuge behind the fire, grouping together for security.

With the exception of Winnacer and Darius, all hold burning rafters in their hands to protect themselves from the wolves.

Everyone gets into position just in time. A small pack of seven wolves comes bounding towards them.

From his position on the wall, Darius is the first to see them approach and the first to react. Taking a loose brick from the wall, he hurls it into the group of wolves. His aim is true, but he only manages to graze one of the wolves, who snarls back at him, angry that he is not able to take revenge upon his attacker.

The wolves bound onwards, and reach the wall of steel formed by the warriors. They are fast and their ferocity gives them the first strike on the warriors.

The first wolf launches himself at Xavier, taking the Saxon just a little by surprise. The wolf's bite just manages to connect with Xavier's leg making him wince with the pain slightly. But the battle hardened veteran has known much worse injury than this.

Xavier takes a swing with his longsword and exacts revenge for the wolf's attack. The sword bites deep into the wolf's flesh, cutting a terrible gash in the canine's back. The wolf barely lives after this attack.

Colin is the next in the line of steel, and he too feels the wolves' wrath, as one of the wolves manages to nip him in the arm. Luckily, as was the case with Xavier, the bite is only a flesh wound. Although the pain is not great, it was enough to put Colin off his swing and he misses the wolf with his attack.

The other wolf to launch himself against the warriors strikes at Winnacer. The wolves are obviously starving, as this wolf also manages to find a chink in Winnacer's armor. This wolf's bite is a little worse than the others received, but is still not too serious.

Winnacer wields the ancient Bohavian longsword which proves to be a well-balanced weapon, as it strikes the attacking wolf, opening a serious gash in the wolf's flesh. It is not sufficient to despatch the beast, however, as it whimpers and howls with the pain.

The four wolves not in combat look around, trying to work out their best way at getting to the delicious smelling meals behind the steel wall of death.

Just too late to try and use his illusion spell to close the missing wall of the farm, Corrow changes his plan a little and places the imaginary wall in front of himself, Maire', Heimlin and Giselle - all of whom the others would rather not participate in the combat.

Yaz remains in front of the wall guarding against any of the wolves trying to jump over the cart.

Giselle is starting to panic through some sixth sense that tells her that the wolves want her for dinner. Heimlin tries his best to calm the ox down, but does not have Colin's knack for keeping the animal quiet.

Meanwhile, in the front lines....

As soon as he has thrown his first brick, Darius lobs a second brick into the snarling mass of wolves below him, being careful not to hit any of the fighters. As he hurls the brick towards the wolves, he suddenly sneezes, with disastrous results. Not only does his brick go flying way over the heads of the wolves, but Darius goes flying also, losing his footing completely.

Luckily for Darius (the only lucky thing) he falls on the opposite side of the cart, rather than amongst the wolves, where he would surely have been gobbled up within a matter of seconds.

Yaz steps back as the goblin comes crashing through the roof, almost on top of him. Darius falls head first and lands on the ground with a horrendous dull thud. Darius is most definitely unconscious and blood starts to stream from his broken nose. It's easy to see that he is going to be a dead goblin unless he is seen to pretty shortly. He could already have received terrible brain damage (although the rest of them would probably not notice the difference!)

Although the others are very much aware of the goblin's plight (all of those behind the 'wall' [apart from Giselle!] know that it is only an illusion, thus can see through it normally, the three fighters in the front rank are oblivious to Darius' fate and carry on fighting.

Winnacer lashes out at the wolf in front of him that he just injured. He wields 'Old Bohavia' as if the two were old allies and cuts the wolf in front of him in two, splattering gore amongst the other s. With lightning fast reactions, Winnacer strikes at the wolf which Colin is fighting. However, this move proves to be too much for Winnacer and he just misses the second wolf.

Yaz hesitates for a second as the goblin crashes in front of him. Everyone watching him can tell that he is suffering from a moral dilemma. Then he acts. He picks up the goblin by the scruff of his neck and starts to drag Darius towards the rear of the building, leaving a trail of blood as he does so.

Immediately that she sees Darius' plight, Maire' rushes from the relative safety of her position to come to Darius' aid. As she does so, her actions dispels Corrow's illusion of the wall. Maire' reaches Yaz and the two of them together pull Darius behind the fire. As soon as Darius is in place, Maire' pulls bandages and herbs from her pouch and starts work on stopping Darius from bleeding. Yaz looks on with a pained expression on his face.

Meanwhile, back at the front line, the combat increases in its intensity.

Xavier strikes once again at the wolf which bit him just before. His aim is true and his blade sinks into the animal's flesh, dispatching it immediately.

Colin also tries to get some payback on the wolf that previously injured him. Once more, however, his sword fails to connect with the wolf and his efforts are in vain.

Oblivious to the plight of the other members of their pack, more wolves rush in to take the place of the fallen pack members. Three more charge into the wall of steel, leaving just one lone wolf not in combat.

The wolf that charges at Xavier halts when he sees the flame in his hand, simply standing mesmerized by the flame. Colin now has to face two wolves - the one he has been facing and a new attacking wolf, trying to overpower the unprotected fighter. With no armor to protect him, Colin is easy prey for the vicious canines and both of them land powerful bites on him.

Colin reels at the pain, he knows that he cannot take much more of this.

'Yaz' he cries out 'I can't take much more of this, help me!'

The cry is heard easily by Yaz, pulling him from his inner thoughts. He starts to dash towards Colin in order to assist him.

Next to Colin, the wolf charging at Winnacer is also successful in its attack, and mauls his arm badly, sending him groaning in agony. As with Colin, Winnacer knows that he, neither, can take much more of this damage.

The fighters strike back, more determined than ever to be rid of the wolves.

Xavier lands a good strike on the wolf facing him, slashing the wolf that was already damaged by Darius' brick. It seems as if the blow would be enough to kill the wolf, but somehow the wolf still clings on to life.

Colin desperately tries to rid himself of one of the wolves, but the pain affects his aim badly, and he misses both of the attackers.

Winnacer tries also to take out the opposing wolf, putting all of his faith in 'Old Bohavia' to dispatch the foe. His faith is amply rewarded as the noble blade takes off the wolf's head with one swing.

The final wolf still hesitates to join the combat, standing considering how to stop itself from starving, but avoid the fate of the rest of the pack.

The wolf facing Xavier, is now maddened with pain after the Saxon's last attack and lashes out at him in an attempt to do away with him. He lands a powerful bite on Xavier's leg, biting through the chainmail. Now all three fighters are in serious trouble.

Once again, Colin's lack of armor means that it is easy for the wolf to strike and hit him. The wolf sinks his teeth into Colin's throat and the unfortunate fighter is very much down and unconscious, losing blood rapidly.

The third wolf, seeing Colin down , turns his attention to Winnacer. The fighter's heavy armor easily protects him from the wolf's bite.

Yaz, seeing Colin down realizes that he must take away the attention of the wolf upon him, or else Colin would surely be dinner for the wolf. Drawing his scimitar, he charges at the wolf. However, he is not a man of combat, and his blow just fails to connect with the wolf.

Xavier strikes out again, trying to despatch the maddened wolf in front of him, but he too is weak from pain and misses the wolf totally.

On the other side of the crumbling wall of steel, Winnacer lashes out again at the wolf that tried to attack him before, and manages to cut the wolf. This one, however, is the biggest of them all and so he hardly feels the cut. He lashes out again, but the wolf is too quick for Winnacer, and he just slashes the air.

The wolf responds by leaping at Winnacer and sinking his powerful jaws into his arm. The pain is too much for Winnacer to endure, and he too goes down next to Colin, leaving just a weakened Xavier and Yaz in the front line.

Luckily, both the wolf attacking Xavier and the one attacking Yaz both fail to connect with the two.

The final wolf which had been hesitating as to whether to join the combat finally decides that enough is enough and runs out from the barn.

Xavier strikes once more at the weakened wolf in front of him. This time, his blade is true, and the wolf goes down. Yaz strikes again at the wolf facing him, but again manages to miss with his scimitar.

Seeing its route to the delicious looking Giselle now free, the large wolf bounds over the unconscious Winnacer. Maire', Corrow and Heimlin look petrified, but hold their torches steady to try and fend off the huge wolf.

The only wolf fighting in the front row lunges at Yaz and connects with him, biting a chunk from his leather armor and leaving Yaz racked with pain.

Yaz furious that a creature of nature could betray him like this, strikes back savagely with his scimitar. This time it connects and he takes the wolf's throat out, leaving him stone dead. Xavier, seeing that Yaz is now out of harm, rushes back towards the others to protect them from the large remaining wolf.

Distracted by the fire , the wolf is uncertain as to how to get to his prize. Maire', Heimlin and Corrow all try to hit the wolf with their torches. However, combat does not come easily to any of them and they all miss the wolf. It does, however, distract the wolf so that he cowers from the flames.

Xavier and Yaz rush up to the last remaining wolf in order to save their friends and give them time to save the lives of Winnacer and Colin. Xavier reaches them first and strikes out once more, managing to cut the wolf again, but not enough to finish him. Yaz also takes a swipe, but the wolf ducks and the blade passes just over the wolf's head.

Maire', Heimlin and Corrow all try again to hit the wolf with their torches. However, only Corrow is successful. Even so, the torch does very little damage on the large wolf.

The wolf strikes out at Xavier in response to his cut, however he is confused by all of the fire around him, and his bite is way off target.

With five people all trying to get hits onto the wolf, the melee is very confused as everyone is being too careful avoiding the others to strike confidently. Only Heimlin manages to connect with the wolf using his torch. However, as with Corrow, the damage caused was minimal.

The wolf strikes out, with five people around him, it's not difficult for him to hit one of them. It is Xavier who ends up being the unlucky victim with a bite to his side. He too blacks out, leaving the last of the fighters out of combat.

Now this REALLY pisses off Yaz, knowing that it will be him that has to patch them all up. With all of his might, he brings his scimitar down on the creature's back, surprising even himself with the power. As a result, he easily chops the animal in two.

All of the wolves are dead, but there is no time for any relief or celebration. They all realize that, without immediate attention, Colin, Winnacer and Xavier will all be dead.

Maire' managed to bandage Darius up before the wolf broke through the ranks. Everyone else who is conscious is fine, apart from Yaz, who feels as if half of his energy has gone.

As soon as the wolves are despatched, the four survivors who are all on their feet waste no time in seeing to the survivors.

Within just a few minutes, all of the three fighters are bandaged up and Colin receives the benefit of Yaz's healing spell.

It is a sleepless night for Yaz, Maire', Corrow and Heimlin. All of the four injured are brought together so that they may be looked after easier. Leaving Yaz and Maire' to look after the injured, Heimlin and Corrow begin the arduous task of dragging the wolves' corpses away from the building, so that their stench does not attract the attention of any carrions.

Not being the strongest of types, it is a lengthy exercise for the two of them to drag the large wolves a short distance away from the ruined farm.

The night is a long and fraught one. All four that were not badly injured speak very little to each other. They all know that the others are wondering whether they will see their brave comrades alive again. Maire' and Yaz work constantly at nursing the injured, changing their bandages and mopping their fevered brows. Heimlin spends most of the night kneeling by their sides, praying to his god in his gnomic tongue.