The small band of fighters were slowly inspecting a tower that had recently been build on newly freed Elfin lands. The group, which consisted of Mandi, Samanatha and her partner Reed, as well as the Songweaver sisters, Raya and Laurel, were investigating a tip that one of the leaders of the Gnoll army was holed up in this unnamed fortification.

Having fought and defeated several war parties of Gnolls throughout the past week. The Elfin army relished the chance to take out on of their enemy’s ringleaders. With permission from Poldera, Mandi assembled this group, having been impressed with their performance in the recent battles. However, the tip was proving to be a red herring, as throughout the whole afternoon, they had scoured the grounds and were just finishing up searching the largest room at the peak of the tower. Mandi opened the door to the stair well and started to call her gang in when the sound of snapping timbers above attracted their attention. What they saw next at once proved the tip was correct and blew away any easy expectations they had of rooting out a rouge enemy leader…

Sergoth floated down as quiet as a feather, not even making noise when he touched down. The quintet of warriors stared in awe of this wizard; his legendary evil deeds quickly sprang into their consciousness. He saw wide eyes and gaping mouths, and then produced his trademark—a cruel, malicious grin. While most smiles within the world, even from the lowliest of peasants, produced happiness and invited kindness, Sergoth’s inspired terror and dread.
However, on this day, he was facing…perhaps not the greatest fighting force around, but two naive angel sisters, an uptight elf archer, a demoness with heritage issues, and a buccaneer on a never ending quest for “booty” (in both senses of the word) should provide a sufficient challenge, even for one such as Sergoth.

As soon as he touched down, a uniquely tense stare down occurred. The once opened mouths and eyes closed and narrowed, preparing for battle. On the opposite side, Sergoth’s smile seemed to widen to a more horrifying pose. His teeth, which at first looked human, seemed to morph into obscene, canine-like fangs.

After a few moments of silent examination, Mandi began the battle and showcased her skill as an archer at the same time. In one quick, fluid motion, she drew two arrows from her casing and fired them simultaneously, aimed directly at Sergoth’s (supposed) heart. At least, that is where the projectiles would have landed, had it not been for the small portal that opened up in front of Sergoth, and swallowing the elfin crafted arrows. The group was momentarily stunned. Mandi started to ask aloud where they had disappeared to, but almost immediately her question was answered, for as soon as the portal had closed, it reopened, only this time in front of Reed, and the two arrows burst forth and sank deep into his right thigh.

“ARRGGH” Reed grunted as he was hit, crumpling to the floor with his leg taken out from under him.
“MR. REED!!!”
“SHADY-SAMA!!!” Raya and Laurel both shrieked.

Samanatha wasted no time in raising her blade, but in doing so, she had looked into the face of Sergoth. What she saw were a flash of two glowing eyes; eyes that paralyzed her the moment she tried to bring down her blade. She was frozen in place, but still aware of her surroundings.

Raya took the initiative and began her attack. “MAGICAoooph…!” Out of nowhere, a band of steel flew across the room and covered Raya’s mouth and wrapped itself around her head several times. Raya barely had time to cast a panicked look toward her teammates when four chains erupted from the opposite wall and enveloped her wrists and ankles. Raya was reeled back towards the wall and landed with a not-so-gentle thud, spread-eagle…or rather, spread angel.

Furious at the thought of her sister taken captive and her man in black sprawled out on the floor, wounded, Laurel drew her weapon and charged the fiendish wizard. “Halberd of MIIIGHT!!!” She screamed, aiming to slice Sergoth in halve. However, he had other plans. Sidestepping the beautiful, yet currently enraged warrior, he opened his cloak and Laurel vanished into its folds. Raya, tears streaking down her face, screamed her sister’s name, but the steel gag made it useless.

Meanwhile, Mandi still remained at the doorway, in shock that her arrows injured Reed and Laurel just disappeared. This hesitance cost Mandi as she found herself the victim of Sergoth’s wrath. Her bow, still held out in front of her, stretched and twisted itself, as if it were a snake. It wrapped around both her wrists and lifted her into the air. A spare arrow crawled up her body and found her mouth and formed into a bit gag. She then floated to a spot on the wall next to Raya, again landing with a small thud.

Reed quickly surveyed the situation. In less than a minute the team was basically decimated. Raya and Mandi where Sergoth’s newest decorations, Samanatha had not moved at all, and Laurel disappeared to who-knows-where. Sergoth began to move slowly in Samanatha’s direction. Reed came to the only albeit painful conclution; that he would have to slay this insanely powerful wizard. Wonderful. At least the element of surprise would be on his side, since he seemed taken out of the fight with two arrows in his leg. If this gamble was successful, at least he might come away with some smooches from the ladies, since the tower was void of any treasure.

Patiently he waited as Sergoth came within two feet of Samanatha. Lunging with his good left leg and ignoring the pain in his right, Reed aimed his rapier squarely at Sergoth’s chest. His momentum should carry his weight and allow him to crash blade first into his opponent, removing Samanatha from harm and insuring a victory for the team. Yeah, that will work. This plan can’t fail. This plan…was a very bad idea. Reed’s blade stopped just short of piercing Sergoth’s body. A supernatural force held Reed by the left ankle, and he knew the wizard had him trapped. A split-second later, Reed was catapulted backward, landing full force against the stone wall, next to the doorway where Mandi had previously been. No sound, save for the sickening crunch of a body striking a hard surface, was made. As soon as he hit the wall, Reed crumpled to the floor. Raya, her face red with crying closed her eyes and hung her head, sobbing over Reed’s fate and her inability to help him.

Samanatha could not see what was going what was going on, but she could hear it. And all she wanted to do was see how this bastard looked with his head on the end of her sword.

Sergoth dusted his gloves off, and shook out his cloak. To his captive’s surprise, the bound and gagged body fell out onto the floor. Nothing seemed wrong, other than the fact that she was fast asleep, unaware of what transpired, which was pretty much typical. Sergoth came within inches of Samanatha’s face. Looking deep into her angry, vengeance-filled eyes, he whispered barely audible, in a low, other-worldly voice, “I know your secet…and my servants would love a new plaything.”
Samanatha’s face twisted into a grimace; she was dying to cleave this arrogant sorcerer in two. Sergoth took his right glove and stretched it out, looking to touch Samanatha’s face. Knowing there was nothing she could do, she just glared back with a stare that would shrivel a normal man. Just as he opened his fingers to caress her cheek, a small dagger pierced his hand. Sergoth looked beyond Samanatha and saw Reed, one eye barely open, held up by one shaky arm. With a slight smirk, Reed gave Sergoth the finger and promptly passed out.

Sergoth stared incredulously at the body of the prone warrior and slightly shook his head. Ripping the dagger from his hand, he proceeded to throw it back at Reed, at least, until Samanatha struck first. Relieved by the noble deed of her partner and suddenly engaged at the most cowardly act by Sergoth since the battle began, she pushed herself beyond her normal limits and willed her body to move despite the spell. She brought her blade down to the point where the neck meets the shoulder, cutting at an angle, ripping it through the ribcage and finally exiting at the top of the hip. Not finished just yet, spun around quickly (now that the spell was completely broken) whipping the blade through his neck, just below the chin. She paused, looking at her handy work as Sergoth literally fell to pieces.

However, Samanatha noticed that despite his wounds, the wizard was not bleeding. He was laying there, the body twisted and mangled from her blows, completely dry. It was at this moment that the head of Sergoth turned, looked toward her face, and laughed. Disgusted at first, she readied for another slash, when another black portal opened up and sucked the pile of body parts into its void. A blast of bright light filled the room and all evidence of Segoth was gone. As soon as he disappeared, Raya, Mandi, and Laurel were released from their bindings. Raya and Mandi landed on their feet, free from their positions on the wall. Laurel sat up, stretched, yawned and after looking around the room, innocently asked her sister, “Did we win?”….

Half an hour later after the group gathered itself together and thoroughly swept the tower for any signs of Sergoth, found themselves heading back to base camp. Even though the tower and the land surrounding it would soon be in Elfin hands, they knew that Sergoth had been testing them, and he had been in know real danger of defeat. Mandi lead the way, a little shaken, but still ready for any stray Gnolls wandering the area. Behind her, limping along, was Reed, supported on each side by Laurel and Raya.

Dreaming of a position like since he was thirteen, Reed was in too much pain to enjoy his lovely “crutches”. He silently cursed Sergoth for not only ruining one of his many fantasies, but for also being too cheap to hide even a smidgen of treasure in the tower. Bringing up the rear was Samanatha, hoping to come across any stray enemies, who would then find out the extent of her anger.

She knew that someday she would meet Sergoth again, whether alone or with her fellow warriors, and she would have to find another way of destroying him. The idea of avenging this loss would keep her going until then…

The End?