XXII. Battle of the Glade

"My name is Indigo," the stranger introduced himself. "I am a druid and a follower of Obad-hai, The good beast brought me here per the instructions of his master, whom I understand is your friend. I fear the tale I have been brought here to tell will grieve you to hear, as it does me to tell." And he began to describe the battle he had found himself in, and what had happened after Edward had intervened: 

Edward, approaching the glade, saw the druid under attack by a horde of undead creatures. Dozens of zombies and skeletons surrounded the druid, trying to bring him down. Quickly, the intrepid paladin joined the fray.

The zombies and skeletons surrounding the druid swung at him, but all missed. In return, the druid summoned an ice storm, which pelted the undead but failed to destroy any of them. The skeletons continued their attacks against the druid, who had wild shaped into a large earth elemental. The zombies turned their attention to Edward, but, not surprisingly, failed to land a blow.

But suddenly Edward found himself under attack from unseen foes! A surging beam of black and red fluid sprang out from the woods northeast of the glade, striking Edward. The fluid burned through his entrails, pounding him severely but failing to take hold. Despite the beating, Edward attempted to turn the undead that were attacking the druid. To his surprise, only three of the zombies were destroyed!

This was when Edward began to suspect he was in over his head. The zombies must have been bolstered—and by a very high-level bolsterer!

He didn’t have long to reflect on this, however, as the magical attacks from hidden sources continued against him. Chest pains assailed him, and wounds magically appeared on his body. Meanwhile, the zombies and skeletons attacking the druid began to fall before the power of the earth elemental he had wild shaped into. The druid also had a secret weapon: a friendly bear, which also attacked the zombies.

Suddenly a group of six shadowy figures appeared and joined the battle. Edward took another wound from the new foes.

But in casting their spells, at least one of Edward’s new antagonists had been revealed: Khadija. Necromancer of Orcus.

This is bad, thought Edward.

The magical onslaught continued. Edward felt his arms and legs attempting to pull away from the rest of his body, but fought off the feeling, although he felt a wave of nausea wash over him. He activated his boots of speed, then turned invisible and, using the power of his sword, flew up toward his griffon and the now-visible Khadija, who was perched in the trees to the west of the glade. His upward flight evaded the grasp of dozens of black tentacles that suddenly sprang up in the glade, but the druid was stricken five times, taking slight damage but being entangled in the process. Two more zombies fell to the druid’s attacks, but then another dark, incorporeal figure appeared, seeking to attack the two valiant defenders.

Still invisible, Edward flew up to attack the black bird, but the dark figure–Edward realized it was a specter–pursued him and wounded him slightly. The bird took heavy damage and tried to escape, but failed to get away. The zombies and skeletons that had originally beset him now having been driven off or destroyed, the druid cast death ward upon himself, meanwhile drawing the continued attention of the six greater shadows, as well as a wraith. And then a new and terrifying enemy now appeared, a huge flying thing of darkness–a nightwing, summoned by an unknown summoner.

Suddenly a blast of lightning shot out, striking the druid to devastating effect and then rebounding to strike the bear as well. Arvid appeared from behind a tree, smiling darkly at the results of his handiwork. The specter turned its attention to the griffon, attacking it but doing little damage. Edward flew up again and slashed at the bird, and this time the hapless avian fell, shredded to bits.  Edward in turn was attacked by the nightwing, but fortunately for the beleaguered paladin, the monster’s attack went wide. The druid spoke words of power, and a huge firestorm appeared, destroying the shadows as well as the wraith.

Edward felt briefly nauseous as a malign influence tried to take hold of him, but successfully resisted its effect, to Khadija’s displeasure. The battle continued.

Arvid reached out a hand, and the druid felt its touch from afar, clouding his mind and judgment. The specter hit the griffon again. Edward paused, waiting to see which threat would become the greatest. As if in response, a fireball struck him as Khadija cackled maniacally, and the nightwing landed a blow as well. With attention now focused on the paladin, the druid cast heal on himself and took the opportunity to withdraw. However, Arvid continued his assault on the druid’s mental faculties, inflicting even more severe damage on the druid’s intelligence, wisdom and confidence. Edward laid hands upon himself, healing his severe wounds, but no sooner had he done so than the huge nightwing attacked again, hitting him and grappling the paladin!

The specter hit the druid but failed to drain energy from him. From the edge of the glade still another attacker appeared, aiming an evil spell at Edward. The paladin resisted the evil, despite the distraction of the nightwing, and from the corner of his eye noticed the identity of his attacker. Oconee, another of Khadija’s minions.

Another roaring blast of fire appeared, but this time directed by the beleaguered druid at the leader of his tormentors. Khadija was seriously burned by the righteous flames of the druid, and, driven to still greater frenzy, responded with a discharge from a staff that sought to drain both the druid and Edward of life energy. The two managed to resist its effect, further angering the fell necromancer.

Making a supreme effort, Edward, though grappled by the nightwing, was able to take advantage of his boots of speed and land four huge blows against the nightwing. His attacks smote the evil flyer, and the divine might of his attacks inflicted such damage on his attacker that the nightwing released the paladin and fled up and away, toward clouds that were beginning to look threatening. The druid, meanwhile, suffered a serious blow from the specter but did not lose any life energy. In return, the druid changed shape into a griffon! Two griffons and a bear now battled against the forces of evil along with Edward. But now, Khadija shrieked words of evil power and Edward, the griffon and the griffon-druid felt their precious bodily fluids being drawn from their bodies, taking terrible damage.

In the trees near Edward, a bat had alighted. Suddenly Arvid appeared in place of the bat, reverting to his natural form to observe the battle. But Edward wasted no time regarding the vampire, but instead charged Khadija, as did his mount! The griffon crashed into the branch the evil woman was perched on, and the flying beast seized her in his claws. Edward himself landed a heavy blow. The specter hit the druid once again, inflicting damage enough that the druid had to flee again to save his life. His bear companion felt its strength leave its body at the deadly touch of the greater shadow. The clouds continued to grow, and seemed to draw lower to the ground as if approaching the battle themselves.

Suddenly, from the clouds yet another horror emerged. A vast, bloated, pinkish-grey monstrosity, with huge tentacles and evil white eyes, reached out and grappled Edward! The mighty paladin’s response drew blood, but not nearly enough. And yet another foe re-appeared–the nightwing chose this moment to return to the battle.

Was there no end to the forces of evil arrayed against Edward and the druid?

Sudden waves of nausea hammered Edward and his mount. Edward flew about a hundred feet away, trying to recover his strength and vigor, but the griffon fell to the ground, violently ill and dazed. Arvid smiled as he watched the effect his scroll had on the two defenders.

The flying monster took quick advantage of Edward’s reduced capacity and rushed forward toward him, this time successfully seizing the paladin in its loathsome tentacles. The nightwing did the same to the druid. The druid, in response, shapeshifted into a huge cloud giant, but still failed to break the nightwing’s grip. The remaining attackers bided their time, watching the spectacle of the two huge monsters seizing their prey; Khadija took the time to heal herself of some of the damage she had suffered. Arvid assumed gaseous form and flew toward Khadija and the tentacled flyilng beast.

Edward recovered from his nausea but was unable to take any effective action. The tentacled monster had another surprise in store for him—its breath was a weapon that drained much of Edward’s remaining strength from him. Meanwhile, the nightwing bit the giant-druid, then dropped him due to his great weight. But as the druid fell, he changed shape again. Assuming the form of a delver, he burrowed into the ground, hoping finally to escape from the battle. He regretted leaving the paladin who had intervened on his behalf, but his first concern was with his own survival at this point.

With both the druid and his bear companion having left the field of battle, Khadija and the rest of her minions and allies could now focus all their attention on the paladin. Khadija promptly touched Edward, draining him of vitality as if she were a vampire. Arvid re-formed next to her, and observed, "I think he’s ready to bring back with us." Unobserved by his companions, Arvid then dismissed the spell he had cast on Edward’s griffon. Edward, however, saw what the vampire had done, and his thoughts immediately contacted the mount. "Find the druid, go home and tell what you saw!" he instructed the griffon.

The flying tentacled monster unexpectedly spoke. "Back to quarters?" it croaked. Oconee, from his perch in the trees, added, "It’s right, you know. Let’s go."

Khadija turned to Edward with a merciless grin. "You’ve never encountered a zyern, have you?" she sneered, glancing at the floating horror. To the rest of the party she said, "Right. Let’s go." Instantly, the group disappeared, teleporting to their base and taking Edward with them.

Some time later, the delver-druid emerged from its underground refuge. The druid reverted to his normal form and looked around, seeing no one. But Edward’s griffon spotted him from his patrol above the glade and swooped down to him. He told the druid what Edward had instructed him to say. The druid agreed to go with him back to Edward’s home and, hopefully, his allies.

"This was two days ago. And now here I am," concluded Indigo. "I regret I was unable to do more to aid your friend, who had tried to rescue me. But most likely it would have cost my life to no effect. I hope you understand."

"Of course," said Green Arrow. "None could have asked for more. We thank you for telling us of Edward’s fate." Firiona added, "We must consider how best to rescue our friend. If Khadija is behind this, I’m sure it will prove rather difficult. No doubt she’ll be well-defended."

The druid, refusing the party’s offer of a reward for his efforts, wished them well in their attempt to free Edward, and asked to take his leave. The party bid him farewell and provided him with an escort back to his home.

"Well, this ought to be fun," said Arnold.