The elemental shifted into its tornado form just as it struck me and my lacquered helmet, not being tied by the strap, flew off my head. Dirt and grass, but thankfully no rocks, swirled inside the aerial maelstrom blinding and choking me. At this moment, with my hands held before me, I was "in contact" with the elemental I screamed out the Arcane word and triggered my Bigby's Shocking Grasp spell. Electricity flared out from my fingertips just as the elemental brought my helmet back around and smashed it into my head hard enough to knock me out.
My comrades would tell me later, it was exactly at that moment when the other two attacked in the same manner, slamming into the party. Charles swung his longsword and missed and rewarded for his efforts by being tossed twenty feet (6 meters) into the grass breaking his arm. The small wagon was tossed over on its side, its contents spilling and Karl and several of the Venetti mercenaries were tossed as well. Brey, favoring is injured left arm thrust his magic sword into the swirling air mass of the elemental as Amenaruu's spiritual hammer slammed into the thing and destroyed it, mainly because its essence on the Prime Material Plane was already damaged by Helena's lightning bolt. Dimitri and Chai used their agility and magical weapons to launch attacks on the elemental. Gerrex, holding his shield up to block any rocks or other debris being tossed about, thrust his sword into the monster, eliciting another high pitched scream. Since they were inside the monster, the two standing Venetti crossbowmen still standing could not miss with their crossbows and they fired of their bolts and were immediately rewarded with black energy bursts that tore the monster apart.
I was not unconscious for long, but the fight was over by the time I did regain my consciousness. My vision swam and I could for a moment or two at a time see clearly, but I could not think. I verged on blacking out several times and reality was a disjointed series of images that made no sense to me. I could see the small wagon sitting on its side, its contents spread upon the ground. The ice wall fell apart, tinkling as it dissipated. Several party members were down and everyone looked disheveled and more than a little stunned at the ferocity of the attack. I felt someone lift me to a sitting position, making me almost vomit from pain and nausea. They pulled open my gambeson and lift my healing potion flask and press it to my lips. I drank by instinct, and a sudden white hot spike of pain crashed into my head. When it faded, my vision and my senses were restored. I was surprised to see that my benefactor was Gerrex. I had expected it to be Dimitri, but he was kneeling beside Karl. Helena was tending to her brother and our cleric was with the mercenaries.
I rose to my feet and nodded to Gerrex and I quickly went to see what the damage was. I came up to Dimitri and looked down on our dwarf fighter. I could see in an instant his neck was broken. Petrio, one of the Venetti, was dead, as well. Two horses were badly injured and one was dead. Godfrey was bleeding from a cut on the side of his head was doing his best to calm the horses down. Gerrex soon joined him in looking after our beasts.
The three elementals had attacked intelligently, which is unusual for them, and that told me they were being directed somehow. I knew that our unseen enemy could not be far from us, but the attack had been so vicious it would take us time to regroup and put ourselves right, and I was sure they would be long gone by the time we able to search for them.
Amenaruu cast his Cure Light Wounds spells on the less injured among us. I went to get some healing potions and cursed when I saw half of them had been broken and were soaking the ground. Since another attack might be imminent, we had little choice but distribute some of the potions to get back into fighting shape. There were moans and curses as the healing potions did their work but exacting a toll in pain for their effects. One of the horses was badly injured, a broken leg from having the wagon flipped over while still hitched to it. I told our Cleric to use his Cure Serious Wounds spell on the beast. Out here, it was too important to let it die. The spell got it back on its feet, but it was still injured. Once Amenaruu regained his spells he would treat the beast again since we could not treat such a large animal with our healing potions.
I asked Dimitri to help me unload the rest of the goods from the overturned wagon after inspecting it to make sure it was still sound. Once the gear was unloaded and the horses unhitched I used my levitate spell to lift it up and then we flipped it over and set it on its wheels. We then began to reload the wagon, taking stock of what we had lost or what had been destroyed. If we had not been gifted with the magic from Lowen and his associates, this encounter would have destroyed us, of that I am sure.
Once were back in some semblance of order, Amenaruu called us into say the rites for our dead. Using my Dig spell, I opened up their grave, promising to make it into a proper tomb on the morrow. We wrapped them in shrouds and buried them with weapons and armor, but not their magical ones. This may seem greedy and mean spirited, but it was practical and adventurers have little use for sentimentality.
Once our dead had been buried, I informed everyone that I was going to look for our attacker. I did not wait for them to say anything about coming along, but I spoke the Arcane spell of Polymorph Self, and I changed myself into a Red Tailed Hawk, my preferred flying form. I launched myself into the air, my arm/wings beating with vigor, until I had climbed a thousand feet (305 meters) into the sky. I rode the thermals as I began to circle our current location, using my excellent vision to scan the ground. In a fold in the land, that would have hidden anyone from view upon the ground, I saw wisps of smoke arising from a small campfire, the tall grass had been trampled down but there was no one around. Laid out in lines of powdered chalk was a summoning circle. I had found where our enemy hand launched his, or hers, attack upon us. I continued my search as long as I could before turning back. I dove down to my friends and flaired my wings to slow my descent and then the spell expired and I returned to human form, having to run a few steps to take up the rest of my momentum.
"I found where they summoned the elementals," I announced without preamble, "but I did not see anyone around for ten miles (16km). Either they are invisible, or they teleported away. I suspect the latter."
"They hit us hard," Dimitri said, "which means they fear what we are doing. I wonder how much they know of our quest?"
"It may not be the object of our quest they are interested in," I replied. "Remember, Lowen said they had auguries about us, even the evil ones. It may well be that our enemy has had the same. We do not really know what this cult is capable of, although so far this has been the normal sort of summoning, if it has been particularly strong. That strength might be due to the Illios star entering into the Constellation of the Serpent and making the barrier between the planes easier to violate. It will only get worse when the red star Illios becomes the 'Eye of the Serpent.'"
"You are aware of this?" Chai asked me, surprised.
"Yes," I replied, "why are you surprised?"
"It is something only our wisest people at the monastery have knowledge of," Chai replied with a shrug, "it is very obscure lore. My abbot spoke of it before he sent me west."
"What is this Illios and Serpent all about?" Charles demanded of me.
I gave my comrades a brief explanation of what I had learned from the Sages of the White Tower.
"You lied to us when you said you would tell us everything about this quest," Charles accused me openly.
My anger began to slow burn and I gritted my teeth and replied, "Whether or not Illios is a threat to the world, it has nothing to do with this quest, at least nothing directly to do with it. The effect it has on summoning beings from another plane is a general condition that will be affecting the entire world. Illios and has nothing to do with the Bloodstone. If I had known you wanted to know about summoning spells and the effect of astronomical phenomena on them I would have been glad to tell you."
"You have lied to us from the beginning and you are lying to us now!" Charles spat out at me.
I took two big steps, and thanks to my Girdle of Hill Giant Strength, I easily picked up the petulant little shit and shook him until his teeth rattled.
"You stupid little boy!" I shouted in his face. His eyes were wide with fear at how easily I tossed him about. "If you ever accuse me of that again I will break both your arms! Pack your things, take your sister, and leave. I do not want you and I do not need you in this party."
My anger, exacerbated by the death of our friends, took over me and I threw Charles across the camp and he rolled to a stop on the ground. He shook his head to clear it and then he jumped to his feet and drew his black sword. Still angry, I was just summoning up another lightning bolt, which would have fried him where he stood when our companions began jumping on us, all except Gerrex who obviously thought it was time I dealt with an inferior that has been showing me too much disrespect.