Mission:
On the night following the assignment of this mission, the snakes struck again, killing both wall guards as they had for many consecutive nights. As a result, Sampetra is running short of regular guards and nobeast wants to volunteer. Therefore, I decided that I would handle the business myself by volunteering for the next night's duty.

My companion the next night was a small, wiry, scared rat who did not stand a chance against the snakes when they made their move. Being a marlvixen, I was able to blend in with the surroundings and escape the snakes.

"Where issss the ssssecond guard?" the first snake hissed.

"Forget her. Basssed on the frightened condition of thisss guard, we can be assssured that we will be offered little resssissstance when we finally enter the casssstle," the second one replied, and he then slithered off with the first snake in tow.

I followed at a distance, silently picking my way through the barren wasteland and covering my pawprints. It wasn't long before the snakes led me to a small hollow, where a hissing mass of snakes--at least two score--awaited them. I immediately knew that, based on their number and the shooken state of most occupants of Sampetra, the snakes would have to be taken by surprise in order to be beaten.

"Well, what issss the report?" one heavily decorated snake, obviously the leader, slid towards the first two snakes.

"They are weak enough," the second snake hissed.

"We attack tomorrow!" was the immediate command. It was met by a chorus of chilling approvals from the other snakes, and, despite myself, I shivered in the darkness.

There was no time to waste. I knew that the snakes's original plot to weaken the beasts in Sampetra through fear had succeeded, so it would be hard to find enough brave beasts to battle them. However, since the snakes slept during the day, the element of surprise would be on our side.

At dawn, I returned to camp after hearing everything I needed to hear. I then knew how to kill them and what was the best time to attack, for the snakes had been discussing their weaknesses and possible ways to prevent the Sampetrans from exploiting them. Little did they kknow, they had provided the exact information that I needed to devise a working plan of attack.

By noon, I had managed to round up a score--half the snakes's number--of willing beasts to attack the snakes (myself included). Each beast was equipped with a weapon dipped in the snakes's own poison, which we had managed to extract from the bodies of the slain guards. The poison, I had learned, would kill the snakes in a flash, and, hopefully, kill them off before we could take any casualties. Fifteen of the assorted beasts were skilled archers, and all were skilled with some weapon for close combat. The main problem was that we had been unable to make an antidote for the poison to treat our own fighters, and there was no time left. Also, many of the beasts were unnerved at the thought of attacking such a large number and, as a result, were too shaky to fight at their full capacity.

I scouted ahead of the rest to make sure that all the snakes were asleep. Unfortunatly, there were two guards on duty. Since my cloak did not give as much camouflage in the day as it did in the night and since the only cover came from hills and small shrubs, I was unable to sneak too close to the snakes and had to use throwing daggers. As luck would have it, my daggers--thrown consecutively without much of a pause--reached their targets with exact precision, silencing them before they could hiss a warning. I breathed a sigh of relief and motioned for the others to set up. I arranged the beasts so that there was a row of seven archers flanked by a row of eight more archers. The five swordsbeasts positioned themselves on the sides of the rows.

"Fire one!" I shouted the command and rose with the first row, firing a single arrow and then crouching.

"Fire two!" The second row stood and fired.

"Fire one!" So far, the still-shaky beasts had only managed to hit two our of every three targets, and, by the time they were composed, the snakes were roused.

"Fire two!" The bows were useless following the fourth volley of arrows for the snakes were upon us. There were still a score of snakes ready to fight, which matched our number. One could only hope that the Sampetrans could overcome their fears and fight bravely.

All the archers had unsheathed their close combat weapons and rushed into the fray, led by me, but, although they were raring to go, they were dropping like flies. The snakes were simply too agile and perceptive; they avoided attacks and struck out within seconds, bringing many Sampetrans down. The situation seemed hopeless, yet I still fought on. Surrounded by five snakes, my life flashed before my eyes. My axe blade sliced through one...two...three, singing its death song and slaying snakes all around. Encouraged by my efforts, a few other heroic beasts began fighting with renewed spirits against unbeatable odds, but they eventually ended up falling under masses of coils. I feared that I would face the same fate, too, but I did not allow myself to quit.

Suddenly, the snakes stopped attacking and formed a ring around me. I turned, hearing a rasping sound, and faced the leader of the snakes, who looked more menacing than ever. In the moment of rest, I noticed that about ten snakes remained while only seven of my fighters were still alive and kicking. However, the ring around the leader and myself gave them the opportunity to hack away at the snakes backsides and take many down before the snakes turned and resumed their attack.

"Did you really think you could beat usssssss?" the hiss had a hypnotic quality.

"No...," I found myself beginning to say, before I caught myself. "Your tricks won't work on me, serpent. Prepare to meet your maker!"

The snake coiled up, tensed to release and strike me at any moment when a flying furry thing knocked into its head, stunning it for long enough for me to spear it with the blade at the end of my axe shaft. The poison on the blade immediately took effect, and the snake's eyes glazed over. The rest of the group was easily finished, and the five of us who remained standing supported each other as we struggled home with four wounded in tow--they had not been injected with a deadly amount of poison. I put my arm around the bat who had saved my life from the head snake and trudged home to give my report to Ublaz.