Raiding in the Night
It has been three nights since their last raid into the gnoll camps. Kyrael couldn't wait to get this task over and done with. Pacing the length of the camp, he brooded over the fact that the attack on the encroaching Woodpaw Gnolls were not as planned as he would like it to be. Kyrael was nervous; he knew that he would be whenever he was in a forest. He was never at ease in any forest, though trained as a hunter. His experiences in the twisted forest of Ghostlands made him wary of hidden enemies that lay beyond the next tree (or sometimes it was the trees themselves). While Durgana had admitted that his tracking was far superior then the other hunters, he would somehow lose his bearings when thrust suddenly into the wilds of Feralas.
It's this upbringing of mine, as a blood elf. I had never had to be in the forest for long, the magisters always had this curfew against roaming the woods of Eversong. Even while training, his trainer had jokingly said that while Kyrael could definitely shoot an arrow from three hundred paces, he would never be able to see that range come to fruition in the woods. It's like as if… Kyrael had a phobia to the forest. His friends always made fun of him; they had called him the skirtstrider, hunter of the urban jungle. And yet he still persevered to the training, even if it meant that his family's name derogatorily often came up on the lips of others.
"You seem lost in thought Ky. Is there something that you want to tell me?" The tauren leaned against the wooden frame of the longhouse of the camp. Durgana was able to move his massive frame silently, as though he would not dare disturb the peace of the surroundings. Not that it was that peaceful, given the fact that the latest raiding company just arrived in the camp and was boasting to everyone how they had bested four alpha gnolls and their ilk.
"I was just thinking of my past, how I get to be this…pathetic excuse of a hunter." Kyrael replied. "Look at me Dur, I'm a hunter and I practically hate this place. Its wet, it's hot, and the beasts here are killers. Not only that, I'm eating traveler's bread, drinking river water and I can't even find a decent spot to bathe without having either a rabid snarling wolf or a raging crazy bear attacking me for no reason whatsoever!" the hunter ranted at the tauren while the lynx perked its ears up as if expecting a fight whenever his master raised his voice.
"You forgot about the apes." The shaman replied.
"Ah yes the gods forsaken apes."
"And the hippogryphs. And the sprite darters. Oh, don forget the-"
"Yes yes, all that! The point is that I can't take a moment's rest out there." Kyrael was livid now but as he was about to start another tirade, he gave a groan and paced once more.
Durgana sigh, realizing that this was the few moments when his good friend would need a good punch in the head or a kick in the guts. "Maybe they like your pink butt my brother. It works well for their target practice I suppose." Kyrael didn't reply to the answer. Instead he gave a steady look at Durgana and continued to pace, in all of his knowledge, as he would call it, 'drawing the line'.
The tauren knew that the hunter was not very secure with his profession, as his father was the great Magister Lorien'alar. The history of Kyrael Windblade is as transparent as the waters of the oases of the barrens but still, sometimes the blood elf would be as different as night and day to the other normal blood elves. He also knew that the hunter would meditate every dawn and dusk to prevent himself from succumbing to the ravages of magic addiction that was commonplace among his race. But there were many times when he took the meditation to the extreme, to a point of fevered dedication. Was his addiction that deep?
"On your feet! The camp is under attack! On your feet!" The shout suddenly galvanized the blood elf into action, his hands grabbing the bow that he had propped at the wall with the quiver already slung at his back. He grabbed the upper railing of the door and swung himself onto the balcony. There he surveyed the scene with his bow already strung and ready.
Durgana unhooked his twin axes and rushed out into the main 'square' of the camp. He closed his eyes and let the spirits of fire took over his awareness. He needed the extra damage that the spiritual fires imbued onto his weapons for the searing heat made many foes think twice of letting him close. He scanned the camp and in the dark of the night, all that he could see were shadows running amok among the camp. "Kyrael!"
"I'm on it!" The hunter replied as he took out a special arrow for night fighting. It was imbued with a special powder that the dwarves had manufactured in their forges; gunpowder. He acquired the powder while making an errand for Gazlowe in Booty Bay. Whispering an arcane incantation, he ignited the arrowhead and with a release, he shot the arrow directly above the camp. As it falls to the ground, it grew brighter and continued to burn brightly enough to give an eerie red illumination at the center of the main square. With a grin, the tauren shaman raised his axe in salute and prepared himself to stem the tide of the gnolls that had the audacity to attack the Feralas Horde outpost.
It would seem that the gnolls had purposely let the last raid group return to the camp with the hopes of striking the camp at its weakest. It wasn't surprising at all for those who had fought the gnolls before as they had feral intelligence, added with a basic social hierarchy that made them dangerous enemies. The coordination that they had displayed here did surprised the shaman though as the gnolls were not deemed to be intelligent enough to cooperate among the warring tribes within the Woodpaw.
The many warriors who were returning to camp were quickly overwhelmed, the enemy taking down a warrior with three of their own. The gnolls soon had minimal control of the western half of the camp, taking down almost 20 warriors in one fell swoop. The remaining defenders quickly coordinated under the leadership of Mok'tharok, an elder orc hunter who had lived out at the outpost almost all his life.
"Braves! To the right! You there! Shore up the bridge with the rest of your brethren! Get the wind rider out of that chokepoint!" His loud commanding voice could be heard over the chaos that had gathered over at the camp. The three troll hunters that were returning from the lower wilds were quickly sent to the forefront, their pets and ability to see the hidden trappers that were shooting from the wreckage that was previously the main longhouse. Battle shouts such as For the Horde, For the Dark Lady, For Cairne and the Braves, were heard all over the camp as the defenders tried to stem the assault.
Durgana and Kyrael were still at the second longhouse of the camp, defending the doorway with ruthless efficiency. Together with Barduk the orc warrior and Halein the tauren druidess, they provided much relief to the stragglers that were caught on the wrong side of the battle. The warrior and the shaman were fast becoming 'gnollbane' as they scythe their way to clear the main square. Kyrael still stood above the longhouse, his relentless volley of arrows prove to be the undoing of many gnoll spellcasters. His pet Mikael and the druidess moved the injured closer inside with the great lynx becoming the stretcher. While they were still holding, Halein knew that the gnolls would press the attack here to fully control this side of the battlefield.
"Seems to me I'm earning my pay, tauren!" Barduk shouted as he swung his great battleaxe to decapitate a loping gnoll trapper. "This is so much better than us going to them! Haha!" Barduk gave a primal laugh as he continued to swing death.
The shaman answered by raising his hands into the air, calling the very spirits of the storms. Suddenly, a thunderclap was heard and three gnolls were electrified out of existence by lightning. "That makes us even, orc!"
"That's not fair Durgana! You damn cheated!" The warrior then proceeded to slash a gnoll. As he swung the deadly weapon, he followed the arc of the swing towards the next incoming gnoll, which was promptly disemboweled. With a twist of his body he struck a kick at the gnoll that tried to help its brethren. He gave a bestial roar that terrified the next three incoming gnolls who tried to attack him all at once. At the sudden pause, he started towards them but the shaman threw a totem onto the ground in front of Barduk and instantly, all three gnolls were burned. Barduk turned to the tauren and made a rude gesture at him. The shaman responded by laughing heartily and shouted back, "What ever works my good friend!"
Durgana looked up to see how his hunter friend was doing and was surprised that Kyrael was still on top of the longhouse. He hoped that the blood elf was able to deal with the spellcasters as was planned whenever they go battling or simply raiding the enemy's camp. He had fought with the hunter for so long that he would know what was the next target that the blood elf would take down without even uttering a word. Kyrael was simply a magebane; he of all the warriors here knew what it meant to wield the arcane and their weaknesses, as he was a mage trainee a long, long time ago.
Kyrael was hard pressed however to shake off the climbing the gnoll warrior while his attention was distracted by one of the main spellcasters. He made a quick strike at the gnoll, slashing the sword arm to incapacitate it. The gnoll however head butted the hunter, stunning him for the moment. It was at that moment the spellcaster chose to cast a spell upon the blood elf. Sensing the incoming spell, Kyrael once again called upon his beast aspects; these had helped him much whenever he needed an extra edge in battle. The aspect of the monkey was called upon and as the gnoll warrior charged towards him, he dodged both the fireball that the spellcaster had conjured and let it hit right dead center of the charging gnoll.
As the spellcaster looked on in shock, he drew his bow and let fly a stinging shot that struck the joint between the shoulders. He grimly smiled, as he knew from experience that the shot would impede the spellcaster's ability to cast any spells. Many of the primitive spell users would not know how to effectively cast a spell without the use of their arm gestures. With two strides, the hunter jumped from the balcony, covered the distance between them and gave no chance for the spellcaster to recover. "Never believe you have the enemy down until you see it you pathetic excuse of a runt." He snarled at the dying spellcaster while sheathing his sword.
"Kyrael! We need assistance!" The druidess shouted at the hunter while there were six gnolls advancing upon the longhouse. She had the stragglers equipped with the various weapons that the dead had left but the blood elf could see that the survivors were still weak with injuries and though they put up a brave front, it would be over quite soon. Mikael had developed a close companionship with the druidess; it was to be expected given the druidess closeness with the wild animals. While the blood elf was not a bad master, the hunter knew that given the chance, Mikael would definitely stay with Halein.
"Help them you whining effete! Can't you see us warriors here fighting?" Barduk barked at the blood elf. Kyrael stared at the orc, it was getting unbearable. Even when he had saved the orc's life many times during their adventures together, the orc still felt sore about every incident. It was as if he did not believe that the small frame the blood elf possessed could stand the fight and the constant battles the group had to endure.
Kyrael let it pass and drew three arrows from his quiver. My quiver's almost empty. We have to end this soon. Notching the arrows altogether on his bow, he let his awareness spread out and focused on three of the advancing targets. They were all spellcasters naturally. As they took the next step, three of their brethren had fallen, killed by the three simultaneously released arrows. Halein took the cue and gave a guttural war cry as she shapeshifted into a huge horned bear. Mikael gave the loudest roar he could and charge into the melee. The remaining gnolls were quickly dispatched with and the three companions moved into the longhouse with Durgana and Barduk back with the group. "We have got to get to the other side. Staying here will only bring death to us all." Kyrael stated to the group. Many of the survivors nod their heads in agreement.
"You afraid of death coward?" Barduk spat even as he glanced at the increasing gnolls surrounding the longhouse. "I'm not afraid of it. I'd rather die than get help from the likes of you."
"Then I shall leave you to your own fate orc. I have better things to do than staying dead. I don't know if you noticed it but we have ten stragglers here with us and I don't believe they want to end up dead as well." The hunter retorted.
"Peace! The enemy is in front of us, not within us! If we cannot stay together in this, we might as well give up! Do you both want to do that?" The tauren shaman stamped his feet and snorted loudly. Just as well Durgana helped him out of a predicament. The orc even had the surprising ability to look crestfallen. "Anybody with ideas is really appreciated right now."
"I have a plan. But if anybody," the hunter glanced at the orc, "if anybody goes a different way, you are left on your own. Everybody got it?" Kyrael quickly explained his plan and with everybody agreeing to it, they prepare themselves with things that could be of use when they get to the safer side of the battle.
"Well, as long as we get to the other side," Halein thought as she looked around the longhouse. They were now completely surrounded…