Overnight Skirmishes

I did the first stint of my watch alone, and called Kenner to join me for the second half.  He wasn't really asleep, but had just been relaxing.  The fire had been kept lit, but it was now quite low, I'd been sitting with my back to it watching.  As a creature of the under-land I could see far better than these Hznaman in the starlight, and the fire really didn't help my night vision.

A couple of hours after dark we both heard the sounds of movement away in the darkness.  We weren't sure at first what it was but I stepped further from the fire to see better.  I could then see them, crouched in the bushes where we'd been this morning as we closed in on the lair; there must have been half a dozen Gurgam trying to be hidden.  I reported to Kenner, and he woke the others while I kept a close eye on the invaders.

They were shuffling closer, trying to remain out of sight, but doing it really badly.  We must have been outlined against the fire, but I was suddenly aware of Barr and Elenhugh beside me.  They were squinting into the darkness - they couldn't see what I could see.  Elenhugh said we'd need some light over there, so Barr scratched around on the ground for a stone, he grabbed one about half the size of his fist.  I heard Elenhugh mutter some incantation and the stone burst out with light; Barr threw it right into the middle of the bushes.  Suddenly the Gurgam were illuminated.

The next thing I knew Kenner was charging into the middle of them and Barr was firing his short-bow at them.  I joined in the shooting, but I'm nowhere near as good as Barr.  He seems as deadly with that as he is with his dagger.  The Gurgam stood and started firing arrows back at us, a couple clattered off Kenner's large metal shield and then he was in among them.  Daran was close behind him and the two together soon cleared up the ones that Barr had been unable to pick off with arrows.  There were only six of them - there had been twelve in the hunting party that went after me.  Mullory suggested that some may have gone for more help.

He wan't wrong.  After this fight the others went back to resting while Kenner and I continued to watch.  The light on the rock that Barr had thrown faded after half an hour or so and my night vision didn't return properly while I was on watch.  Eventually I handed over to Barr and went to get some sleep myself.

It didn't seem that I'd been asleep long when I was woken from slumber by Daran.  He and Elenhugh were on watch, and the others were just preparing for a fight.  The fire had gone out and I could see clearly across the land around the lair.  I had no armour to buckle on, and I was ready in seconds.  I could see off towards the woodland that some creatures were heading our way.  The others had heard them but didn't know what it was.  I told them what I could see - eight Ogruks, and two others I couldn't make out very well, but were probably Gurgam.  As they closed to us that was confirmed, Barr threw another light-stone at them when they were in his range, then disappeared.  The fighters went off to do battle, Mullory went with them while Elenhugh threw more of his magic into the fray now he could see them.

The others had left me behind a little, and I struggled to catch up.  When I reached the skirmish the fighting was in full swing.  They clustered around us, but I saw Barr behind them, taking them out one at a time then slipping off into the shadows again.  The Gurgam hadn't survived the first seconds of the fight but the Ogruks were a different story.  The fight ebbed and flowed a little in the odd artificial light of the stone.  I ended up fighting one on my own, he hit me on my left leg, tearing at the muscle and cutting deep.  But the pain didn't have the effect it would have only a few weeks ago, I didn't crumple or fall.  I stood firm and swung my sword at him.  I hit him three times before he fell, while his blows upon my shield took chunks out of it.

Eventually they were all slain.   The last two were injured and had tried to flee, but Barr caught one by surprise as he turned, and the other fell victim to a perfectly thrown knife which stuck in the back of his neck.  We took an assessment of where we were.  The wound on my leg appeared to be the worst we had suffered, although both Daran and Kenner had been hit in the fighting.  Barr joked that he'd hurt himself when he caught his shirt on a bramble as he returned to the camp site at the lair entrance.  My leg was healed, this time with a different prayer from Mullory which seemed more potent than the ones he'd used before.  The others were patched up in a similar way, and we returned to our rest.

That was the last of the night's fighting.  In the morning as we ate cold pork and bear, we again discussed the night's events.  The others hadn't appreciated just how good my sight was in the dark, and they'd found that quite useful.  Again we talked over the whole story, making sure that no event was missed from the 'official' version.

We're just beginning to break out camp up now, and we'll be off in a few moments.  We're late leaving, but its no surprise that the others want to take it easy too, we've all had a disturbed night's sleep.  We've chosen to head off down into the valley, not following the river, though - we're going to take the route pretty much due west of here.  The land of the Gnaeblin is in on a flat plain, and Mullory thinks this is the most likely location of it.