The sky darkened as the approaching dust storm rose above the horizon. The shrill screams of the wind ripped through the caravan, kicking up more dust and occluding the defenders' vision. Merchants, servants, and pack animals huddled beneath wagons and carts as the beleaguered adventurers waited for the inevitable attack.
"I can't see anything, and the proper storm isn't even here yet!" Chun shouted into the wind, then immediately spit out dust and other particles.
"Now we know why it's called the Howling Gap" Matsu shouted from behind a wheel while suckling her half-oni child, Ignis, in an attempt to settle him.
"Eleia, can't you do anything about this wind?" Lyssara shouted.
"I can't even cast Control Wind, let alone counteract the effect of who knows how man djinn are out there" the copper skinned wood elf replied. Despite her sharp features, the willowy woman had the ethereal beauty common to her race, though at the moment it was muted by her tangled and knotted hair and dust-stained leather armor. She had become a fast friend of theirs when they met after signing up to protect the caravan in exchange for passage west.
They're almost here. I wonder what they're after? Are they simply trying to destroy everything passing through or do they have some other agenda?
"Somehow, I doubt it's going to be "breeding any female who wanders through the pass" Lyssara muttered to the sword.
Pity, but you're probably right.
"Get ready, they're almost here!" Lyssara warned the others as she squinted against the storm. Dark, vaguely humanoid shadows became apparent in the swirling dust. One of the other guards loosed an arrow, but the strong wind blew it uselessly aside.
Maybe magic will be more effective.
Lyssara tapped her apprentice on the shoulder and pointed out one of the shapes on the left. A moment later the two wizards cast magic missile and sent the arcane darts flying through the air. All six slammed cut through the sand and slammed into the approaching jinn, making it stumble to the ground. She gave the young woman a thumb's up and then resumed looking for targets.
There were plenty to choose from, but Lyssara was wary of casting her best spells too early. Lyssara, Chun, and a few of the other casters sent a few more attacks into the wind, but the more plentiful arrows and bolts continued to be ineffective in the face of the howling winds. A wave of sand rolled over them, but thankfully calm followed in its wake as the storm abated.
The djinn were quick to attack though, giving the defenders no respite or opportunity to exploit the clear skies to attack at range. One of the pale blue outsiders leaped atop the cart Lyssara was standing behind brandishing a massive scimitar. The muscles of his bare chest rippled as he raised the blade above his head and prepared to attack.
Lyssara and Wagnard were ready for him, and the enchanted katana flashed out and sliced through the djinn's knee. As he cried in pain the adventuress swept out his other knee and sent him tumbling back. His spine cracked on the edge of the cart, but his pain quickly ended a moment later when Eleia thrust her spear through his throat.
Another djinn leapt at the druid, but Lyssara blasted him with a lightning bolt. The electricity stunned the attacker, and a burly fighter on the other side of the wood elf buried an axe in his chest. The fighter was soon hard pressed by another of the djinn, but before Lyssara or Eleia could assist they had their own outsiders to contend with.
The razor sharp edge of the djinn's scimitar sliced the tip off Lyssara's pigtail as she snapped her head out of the way. Her counterstrike drew blood, but only shallowly, drawing forth the barest line from the outsider's chest. Before she could reset for another attack her opponent chopped down with the sword, forcing her to duck to one side.
The djinn parried her slash, but grunted in pain as the spellsword brought her knee into his stomach. He launched his elbow at Lyssara, but she checked it with her arm. The outsider's eyes widened at the diminutive woman's surprising strength. She bashed down his arm, and then slashed with the katana again.
She scored another shallow hit, but due to their proximity to each other Lyssara couldn't find the leverage to cut deeper.
I've got to create some distance
she thought, a moment too late as the djinn slammed his shoulder into her. Although she had the magically enhanced strength to match the outsider, his greater mass proved decisive and as he followed through with the rest of his body weight it knocked Lyssara to the ground.
There isn't time to look up his loincloth, Lyssara! Focus!
"Shut up!" the spellsword snarled as she raised her arm to deflect the djinn's downward slash. Fiery pain engulfed her forearm and blood gushed out onto the sand, but luckily she was able to avoid a worse blow. Lyssara quickly thrust up with the sword, inflicting another light wound on the djinn, but when she slashed back a moment later the magical blade bit deep, rupturing the outsider's stomach and causing his intestines to spill out.
Lyssara quickly rolled away before the gore rained down on her. She pushed herself up with a wince as the weight on her injured forearm lanced her with pain. She quickly scanned the battlefield to see who was most in need of help. Chun was fighting defensively, holding off one djinn by using the cart to create distance while relying on her mage armor to prevent any lethal blows. Eleia was in more trouble, as the small statured wood elf was hard pressed, and now that the djinn was within her guard she couldn't effectively use the spear to inflict damage.
I guess that decides it.
Lyssara moved towards the embattled elf, circling behind the djinn. The outside caught her in his peripheral and turned, backing away from Eleia to prevent Lyssara from flanking him. The wood elf capitalized on the opening, and thrust her spear, prodding the djinn to move towards Lyssara.
The adventuress attacked as well, not giving the outsider the space to move. Their blades clashed as Lyssara sent a flurry of blows at the djinn, keeping his scimitar occupied and his attention away from Eleia. Seeing an opening, the wood elf thrust forward again, sinking the tip of her spear deep into the blue skinned djinn's side. He howled in pain and backslashed at Eleia, but the spear gave her enough distance to avoid it.
Wagnard flashed as Lyssara darted in with the blade and cut the djinn from the collar bone down across his chest. Blood splattered in the dust and the outsider reeled. Eleia twisted the spear inside him so he couldn't escape and causing even more internal damage. The sword fell from his fingers, and a moment later Lyssara beheaded the outside with another slash of her sword.
"Thanks Lyssara" Eleia said with a smile as she caught her breath. The wood elf positioned herself beside Lyssara, so that neither could be taken unawares as she rested. "I thought I was in real trouble there and I didn't know how to get out of it."
She could have tried blowing him. Maybe that would have tempted him to breed her instead?
"I told you to shut up!" Lyssara muttered, before returning her attention to Eleia. "That's what I'm here for; we're a team and we look after each other" Lyssara assured the other woman before dizzily swaying. She reached out to clasp Eleia's arm to steady herself as her blood dripped onto the druid.
"Speaking of which" the wood elf replied and cast cure light wounds on the adventuress.
The cut on Lyssara's arm closed and she immediately felt better. "Thanks-oh no!" The spellsword cried out as a djinn snuck up behind Chun. As the outsider raised his scimitar to strike the unsuspecting mage from behind Lyssara lashed out with a new spell she learned from the necromancer's spellbook. Blight afflicted the djinn, withering his flesh and draining him of water and vitality. Lyssara watched in mute horror as the blue flesh became ashen gray and crumbled. The outsider didn't even have a chance to scream before he collapsed to the earth.
"Good job Lys!" Eleia called as she charged forward and speared the djinn that had been occupying Chun in the back. The blade point burst through his stomach, flicking blood across the young mage but she ignored the spray and thrust the tip of her rapier through the blue skinned outsider's throat, ending him.
"Thanks!" She called merrily and joined them, forming a circle as they surveyed the melee looking for the next place to intervene. A knot of attackers had broken through their lines and were making their way to the non-combatants. "Over there!" Chun called and cast another magic missile at the djinn.
