"I didn't sign up for this!" Winks' high pitched yell cuts through the din of battle all around him, as he vanishes from sight, only to reappear in the air behind a large hezrou demon, pulling back its head with one hand and drawing his dagger across its throat. The froglike beast gurgles as it brings its hands to its neck, and falls over just as Winks disappears again with a cry of "and people say goblins smell bad!"
Nearby, Ret'indall weaves a dance of death with his two swords, fending off a pack of vrocks, keeping them from coordinating their own dance which would turn out much worse for the drow and his companions. His barbed saber shreds the wing of one demon into bloody tatters, while the mercurial shortsword called Silverblade in his other hand hacks the legs completely off another. That unfortunate demon flaps its wings desparately trying to get away, but Ret uses one of its companions as a stepping-off point, launching himself into the air and twisting to bring both blades into a downward slice on the demon's shoulders. He lands lightly as the stricken vrock crashes to the ground, and turns to continue slashing at the rest of the pack.
The utter opposite of the drow's graceful movements, the grey render swings its massive limbs with abandon. Its enormous claws rip and tear at any demon witless enough to close with the vicious creature, and it lets loose a roar that shakes the surrounding trees.
More tanar'ri burst from the trees into the combat, but are met with a storm of metal as dozens of small spheres rip into their ranks at high speeds, flying through the air to rip through flesh, bone, scale and feather. The marbles return to their point of origin to take up orbits around the small body of 12 year old Serin Tannish, as the boy runs through the woods ready to support any of the other older, more experienced combatants. In each hand he holds a larger metal ball, 4 inches in diameter; and with a shouted arcane word he releases both to fly out in front of him to smash into either side of a babau's head as it was trying to sneak up on the grey render. The assassin demon crumples to the ground, the remains of it's head resembling nothing more than a pulpy mass, and the two spheres return to Serin as he continues running through the trees.
In the middle of it all, the archmage of House Godot stands within a storm of elemental energies, squaring off against a monstrous balor who's body and sword are wreathed in flames. The Elemental Blade in Stran's hand meets every swing of the balor's fiery weapon, and each time the two swords clash, sparks are thrown far away from the dueling pair. The mage catches the demon's blade and holds it on the crosspiece of his own, then thrusts out his left hand to release a scouring blast of high speed wind into the balor's face. The red-skinned giant staggers back, it's flames diminishing somewhat from the unexpected assault, and Stran pushes the attack, forcing the large monster onto the defensive. The Elemental Blade scores a few deep wounds on the demon's body, a testament to Stran's swordplay instruction under the drow; then the mage finds one last opening and drives the Blade through the balor's chest, cutting up and out through its shoulder. The demon falls to it's knees and with a roar explodes in a blast of light and heat. A magical shield manifests around the Godot, leaving him unharmed, and he turns to the next opponent.
One thing was sure to all five companions, this fight would not be ending anytime soon, and they needed to figure out what it was that stirred them up...
