In the front of the convoy was one of the covered wagons containing Alex and Archie. Archie was our lookout due to his enhanced senses, a trait of rangers. Their job was to watch ahead for anything that may attack us. The second wagon was also a covered wagon, most of the materials for sale were in this wagon leaving no space for us adventurers. The third wagon was the open wagon in which myself and Maria sat because our support skills could help protect the convoy. In the rear wagon was Zach and Ruby. Zach and ruby were positioned there to protect against any attacks from behind.

Our journey started travelling through open fields and was pretty uneventful. After a couple of hours, one of the merchants requested for Maria to play her harp and sing a few songs to entertain us. Maria agreed and began singing a few short ditties. The songs were light hearted and funny telling stories of things that had happened in Stormbridge. Quite a few of the songs were about a farmer who tripped over his dog on a daily basis. It seemed like Maria was quite fond of the old farmer in her songs.

On the third day of the trip we reached a mountain path which had gnolls on it. Gnolls are a humanoid race with a wolf head and short stumpy legs. The gnolls came in three types, a melee type which used a two bladed battle axe and a heavy shield. An archer who used a short bow, and a shaman which could heal and curse with its blood magic. The gnolls range between level twenty and thirty five. Gnolls hunt in packs of three to five, yet a settlement can contain many packs forming a clan.

Maria was unable to sing whilst we were in the mountains because we didn’t want to attract the gnolls. After 10 minutes in the mountain we ran into our first pack of gnolls.

It was a pack of 3 melee gnolls and 2 archer gnolls. Maria immediately went into song which created a barrier around the wagons leaving 2 metres on either side. The warrior gnolls charged at us whilst the archer gnolls fires from a distance. The barrier deflected the arrows as they came into contact with it causing confusion amongst the archers. Alex ran to the front and drew his spear and shield trying to absorb the blows of the gnoll warriors protecting the rest of us.

Zach casted lightning spells at the archers causing them to stagger and let arrows loose in every direction.

Archie shot at the archers in the rear helping Zach out.

I ran up to the three melee gnolls and performed my dance of the Warrior increasing our damage considerably.

Ruby kept casting regeneration spells on Alex to keep him healthy.

Archie managed the first kill shooting an arrow between the eyes of one of the archers. At almost the same time I hit one of the warriors in a chink of its armour causing it to cry in pain and retreat a few paces. The gnoll I hit changed its target to me but was unable to hit me due to my unpredictable movements.

The second archer came down next from the accumulated damage from Archie’s arrows and Zach’s lightning. The two quickly changed targets to one of the warriors attacking Alex.

Maria stopped her shield and changed her song to a calm soothing song. Hearing the song washed away the fatigue I was feeling from the fight so far. I struck the gnoll in the leg causing it to fall and finished it off with a lunge to the head.

The other two warriors saw this and tried to retreat, one died immediately as it turned from a spear running through from its back straight into its heart. The other died shortly after from an arrow plunging through the back of its head.

Successfully defeating the gnolls we congratulated each other and returned to the wagons to rest.

After 15 minutes to rest, the merchant on the cart with us asked me to dance since we couldn’t have Maria singing, I complied and began a sort of country jig. I didn’t have much moving space because of being on a moving wagon and it was hard to balance due to the rocks on the path yet, the merchants and other players didn’t mind and enjoyed it anyway shouting words of encouragement to me.

We spent the rest of the day travelling through the mountains. We ran into 4 packs that day consisting of combinations of archers and warriors. We didn’t run into any of the shamans but, our luck wasn’t to last.

That night whilst we sat around camp a large group of gnolls ambushed us. Archie warned us in advance of somebody coming close due to his advance hearing but, even that didn’t prepare us for what was to exit the thicket we were camped in.

In the thicket there were several pairs of red eyes approaching us and a pressure bearing down on us from within.

Maria sang and pulled up her barrier to deflect arrows. She told us that although the song will protect against projectiles fired from outside, those fired from within or spells cast can pass through the barrier unhindered.

We created a formation in the direction of the gnolls as they started charging from the forest. At the front was Alex, slightly behind to the right I was standing. Behind that was from the left Archie, Zach and Ruby. A few metres behind us was Maria playing her harp and singing.

In a single moment everything went into chaos. Fourteen gnolls stormed out of the thicket wielding their signature heavy battle axes, they discarded their shields and went into a full offence. A storm of arrows pelted down above our heads bouncing off the barrier from the direction of the thicket.

We drew our weapons and began to fend off the attacks from the warriors. I performed my dance of the sylph to help us avoid the attacks and improve our survivability.

As soon as we killed our first gnoll it screamed in agony and out from the thicket walked three more gnolls. The air was rich with the metallic stench of blood and the pressure bearing down on us increased. One of the gnolls drew a dagger and had a crooked smile. If looks could kill I would have died a hundred fold. The gnoll slashed its wrist with his dagger and a geyser of blood sprayed out onto the ground. The blood then came up into the air and covered the edges of the warrior axes.

The first to get hit was Archie. “Poison!” he exclaimed. “The Shaman enchanted their weapons.”

Ruby quickly reacted and cleansed Archie of his poison but, at the same time I got hit. I lost 18 percent of my life in a single hit. “Huh?” I said “I didn’t get poisoned.”

The shamans realising this cast a slew of curses on me and I began to feel sluggish. In the meantime, Archie managed to take out 3 of the gnoll warriors with the help of Zach paralysing them.

“AHHHHHHH” a scream could be heard and where Alex stood a pile of grey dust emerged. Alex was slain by the warriors.

“Alex!” Shouted Ruby, Zach and I.

Angry at the warrior who slayed Alex I changed dance. I performed my dance of the Berserker for my first time ever in battle. In a matter of seconds every gnoll changed their target to me. The arrows bombarded directly above me head and the warriors began swinging their blades at me.

Zach caught on and used an area of effect spell called static. Static is a spell that chains off enemies dealing almost zero damage however, in return it causes enemies to stagger and has a low chance to paralyse.

We quickly dispatched eight more warrior gnolls in an instant by striking fatal blows with my sword and Archie’s arrows. Then the situation changed again.

One of the shaman’s drew his blade and plunged it into the heart of the gnoll next to him causing a two and a half metre geyser of blood spraying out towards us. Straight after that, he stabbed the other shaman in exactly the same manner. The geysers of blood crossed and merged then rose into the air. The blood started pouring down soaking through the barrier and immersing Maria in thick red blood.

The second the blood hit Maria she fell unconscious on the ground and the barrier above us failed and disappeared. Arrows started falling all around us and in an instant Archie was riddled with arrows and died in a cloud of grey dust.

Zach and Ruby retreated slightly running around avoiding arrows. As mages, they needed to stand still and concentrate to cast their spells. I quickly dispatched the last two warrior gnolls and continued my dance of the berserker causing the arrows to fall around my general vicinity.

I danced for what seemed like hours watching as bright yellow and white flashes appeared in the thicket until finally Zach emerged from behind the bushes telling me that it was over and I can rest.

Ruby spent the next 20 minutes cleansing Maria from the shaman blood. And we called the caravan to move as soon as possible because the stench of blood would attract more gnolls. By morning we managed to exit the mountains not running into any more gnolls.

We were all feeling depressed after we left the mountains. We had lost two of our companions, Alex and Archie. The atmosphere was gloomy. The songs played by Maria all had a solemn tone and my dances accompanying it were half hearted to go with it.

On the ninth day we entered a thick forest and fought off the occasional bear attack until at one point we were ambushed by a group a six.

In an instant six people dressed in ragged clothing and wielding crude daggers leapt out from the shadows of the forest and charged at us. The bandits looked thin and malnourished with their bones sticking out.

“Bandits! to arms” Raphael shouted.

I began dancing my dance of the dragon to weaken the minds of the bandits. The bandits didn’t even flinch because they were drive by their need for food. The bandits weren’t afraid to lose their lives so they fought aggressively.

The bandits had no technique and were easy to attack due to their lack of training. Zach kept casting static whilst Maria sung her song which removes fatigue. After a 15 minute battle, the bandits were dispatched and we continued on. Due to the Gnolls we fought in the mountains we had gained 6 levels each making the starving bandits weak in comparison. I had also unlocked a new skill balancing which makes it easier for me to strike from awkward positions during my dances. The skill unlocked because of me dancing on the wagon and stumbling due to rocks in the path.

After 2 more days we finally arrived in Heaton. The sight was breathtaking. You could actually see the mana in the sky, truly a city of magic. Looking down the main street you could see water dancing around the streets, sculptures were made from the various elements. In the centre was a fountain made of fire spraying out in arches from the centre. The fire of the fountain didn’t look hot because people were drinking from it. The buildings were made from white stone with pillars being common. The city looks like an ancient roman city if magic was a reality.

Raphael came up and spoke to us. “Thank you for protecting the caravan, we are sorry it was at the cost of your friends lives.” Raphael took out a seal and wax. He took each of our flyers for the quest one by one and dropped wax on it followed by imprinting his seal into the wax to create a mark. “Show those flyers to the adventurer’s guild for your reward.”

We left one by one, as I was about to leave, Raphael stopped me “Elyssa, I have something extra for you for entertaining us on the trip with your dances” Raphael had a sleazy grin on his face before handing me a glass comb.

glass comb hairpina purely ornamental hairpin which catches the light

Attractiveness +5

Charm +5

“Thank you Raphael” I said before turning and walking away. I hate merchants.

Phew finally in Heaton, I get to write about Vanessa now, look forward to it