Part 4: Maniacal
The bandits had scattered when the swirling-blue energy disc appeared among their camp in the ruins. Living so near to the Darkfenne and its unnatural forces, the various men and women always kept one eye open for the unusual or wierdly arcane. This new addition left them agast as they were not expecting something to appear in the middle of their 'hidden' campsite.
Vorm, the bandit's Wood Elf leader and hedge-mageling, studied the disc carefully with beady black eyes while his compatriots gathered their weapons and hid. Vorm adjusted his conical hat on his greasy-black hair and drew his old thorn-wood wand.
"Its a Voltori Mage-Gate of some sort. Scatter and prepare! Someone or something valuable should be coming through shortly."
'Shortly' turned into several hours, and soon after that turned into nearly nightfall.
Higgson, a fallen human paladin of Westlock and his second in command, carefully approached Vorm with a worried look, his bow in hand and arrow nocked. Vorm hated his perfect brown hair and condecending attitude. The idiot still wore some pieces of his formerly shiny armor, despite the rust and corrosion clinging to them.
"Should we contact Nespa? She might be able to figure out..."
Vorm hissed at the human and whispered fiercely.
"Do not presume to underestimate me or my knowledge Vlad Higgson! Nespa is only a Fenne-Witch and her knowledge of signs beyond her realm of influence is limited."
A large flash of blue light brought both of their heads around quickly to reveal an older man with white hair and beard in blue robes as he stumbled from the portal's location .The old human leaned heavily on his staff after coming to a sudden stop and swore to himself, "I HATE it when it does..."
Finally noticing all the arrows and spears pointed in his general direction, the older man brought his words up short, "...that."
Vorm smiled a greasy smile, and looked his second in the eye and whispered again.
"Now the fun begins!"
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"Give up wizard! You are surrounded on every side, and have no chance..."
Two more flashes of light from the portal occurred, revealing the newest travelers to be a pale-furred Minotaur and a Raven so black it seemed to swallow its own shadow.
Vadicc muttered to himself, trying not to reveal his distress too obviously as the Portal snapped shut behind them.
"Glad you could join us."
Norch was a credit to his race. He managed to shake off the disorientation of the portal rather quickly and interpose himself between Vadicc and the largest concentration of enemies he could see. His Trident was in both hands now and was set in a point down on-guard postion, left hand near the head of the weapon, with the back end high in the air.
His familiar rested on a broken pillar nearby. Saying nothing he looked back at Vadicc with its emotionless eyes. Luckily their communication was not limited to physical voices. The Minotaur didn't know they were communicating and intterrupted.
"Master?"
Vadicc quickly realized these were Fringe Bandits, as they used the edges of the Darkfenne to hide after raiding across the border and into Westlock. The Army of Westlock had been trying to deal with them for decades, but the bandits were too few to be considered much of a threat and too good at sneaking across the border at thinly manned areas. The current speaker for these particular Fringe Bandits, a dirty-looking Straywood Wood Elf wearing a stupid looking off-green cone-shaped felt hat, poked his head up above some scattered rocks again and complained in a high pitched and very annoying tone.
"Tell your guard to put down his weapon or he will die first!"
Vadicc counted quickly. There were at least twenty bandits he could see and there were probably a few more that were well-hidden. Most had bows or spears trained on Vadicc and his bodyguard. They seemed to pointedly ignore his Familiar. Fools. He needed to buy the bird time to enact their improvised plan.
"I will not."
"You are not the only one who can cast a spell mage! I will sense if you draw Mana! We don't fear you! Give it up now, and I promise to leave you alive. Your monster and pet will have to die however. My favorite meal is roasted Raven anyway!" A nearly histerical but undeniably maniacal laugh errupted from the elf's lips.
His Familiar cawed noisily and shook his feathers in protest, and the rest of the group of bandits joined in on the laughter of their leader.
Vadicc seethed inwardly at his stupidity. He had used this location during his previous trips to the Darkfenne just because it was safe from prying eyes. It was situated in some ancient ruins just outside the border of Westlock and just barely outside of the Fenne. Obviously these Fringers had agreed with his assessment and used the place similarly.
By the strong smell that wafted through the air, Vadicc also concluded the Darkfenne had grown yet again and was close to swallowing these ruins all together. If he survived this he would have to find a new place on the edge of the Fenne. Nobody transported into the Fenne by direct magic, unless they wanted to end up in the stomach of a territorial Hydra or a blood-thirsty Bat swarm.
"To whom am I speaking? I would know the name of the badly-dressed man willing to challenge me: Vadicc Sharptongue the Blue Wizard of Victoriana!"
"I'm not that stupid! I won't give you a name to focus a spell on me with...Hey, did you just insult my hat!?"
Vadicc sneered at the indignant mageling, "I am no Warlock using naming magic to curse you. I am a master of the Wizardly arts and a multiple winner of the Mage War arena! You will move aside or I will erase your filth from existence, name or not! Destoying that awful hat will just be a bonus."
Face twisting in anger and rage, the elf spit back furiously at Vadicc, "Fine! Have it your way! I will wash my hat in your blood! KILL THEM ALL!"
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Only three arrows zipped out at the wizard's group however. One was swallowed by Vadicc's hastily raised Voltaric Shield absorbing the arrow into nothingess. The other two were directed at the suddenly moving Minotaur bodyguard. One missed completely and the other buried itself into the fur of the minotaur's muscled shoulder which slowed him about as much as a flea does to a charging Hydra in heat.
The bandit leader spun around, glancing at his various compatriots. Those few standing or shooting were suddenly panicking, but the remainder were incapacitated or comatose. Asleep! They were asleep! The Raven was a spellcasting Familiar!
Blood was spraying everywhere as the Minotaur began moving quickly among Vorm's remaining troops, his Trident and pale fur quickly covered in gore and visera. Stunned by the sudden turn of events, the elf staggered back away from the rampaging guard, who looked more demonic by the moment.
A rough guffaw coughed from the unmoving Raven then, catching Vorm's attention and causing him to spin all the way around comically in search of the sound. The Raven eyed him steadily as their gazes locked.
"As a mage, you should know to never under-estimate any true wizard's companion...but I guess I shouldn't be surprised by the stupidity of someone willing to wear a hat like that."
His vision turning red, Vorm gathered the mana he could build in the last few moments, and threw his biggest attack spell at the raven.
A jet of blue fire several yards long streamed from his hands and struck the broken stone pillar the bird had been using as a perch. The attack cracked it, and burned it clean of detrious and old vines. Several of his companion's bedrolls were on fire too, including his own, but in his anger he barely registered it.
While he had missed, Vorm's mind was clearing of his original panic and fear. He savored the distruction he had caused on the simple broken pillar and started drawing mana again, although it felt greasy and dirty so near to the effect of the Fenne. Turning, he looked about to find either the Raven or the Mage, while his second and his few living compatriots delt with the rampaging minotaur.
Just as he spotted the Mage, partially hiding behind another outcropping of old marble, the Raven familiar struck him suddenly from the air. Sharp talons scratched deep gouges in his forehead and nearly ripped off an ear as he lashed out with fire again, but hitting nothing but a few of his sleeping bandits. He ignored their sudden pain-wracked screams. Letting his rage and pain control his actions, he searched for the raven again, and tried to wipe away the blood running into his left eye.
The wizard's voice came from behind Vorm suddenly.
"You know, I really don't care what your name is."
Turning in triumph Vorm laughed in joy as he attempted to release his Fireblast spell again at the mage...but nothing happened.
"What the..."
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Vadicc laughed in the startled elf's face suddenly and lashed out with all the mana he had absorbed from the fool mageling, into his favorite spell. Vadicc, raised his hands in triumph as lighting danced out from them and slammed into all those bandits standing nearby, leaving them still and smoking on the ground.
Enjoying the feeling of his magic relased again, Vadicc easily reached out and laid the tip of his staff along the dirty wood elf's neck and whispered carefully.
"Hold still now."
A look of utter confusion crossed the bandit leader's features, but it was suddenly erased by a look of shock, pain and a final agonizing death. The bloody tips of the thrown trident poked out of the bandit's dirty vest and revealed their intense silverish-gleam through the sheen of blood before the body realized its demise and finally fell over.
Vadicc walked over and looked down at the dead elf, and screwed his face into a grimace.
"By Asyra's blessed arse, that has got to be the stupidest looking hat I have ever been witness to."
