The deepest parts of the Shadewood were darker and more shadowy than most. The canopy was so thick that it blocked out sunlight, and at night it made one feel claustrophobic, like they were inside a cavern with bristly, wooden walls rather than beneath trees. The branches jutting out along the forest paths were like clawed fingers, grasping hands scraping at those who came too close. The wind when it blew carried a faint, shrill whistling sound as it rustled the branches. It sounded almost like distant screams.

On such a dark night in such a twisted place was exactly where the Deadwood Devils chose to make camp. Wicked men find shelter in wicked places, after all.

Several of the blackhearts were sitting around a campfire, eating a meal that consisted of stale bread, boiled cabbage, and two unfortunate rabbits with a side of edible roots. It wasn't the most impressive fare, but living as an outlaw meant sometimes eating poorly. The rabbits, at least, were good eating, and the bandits laughed and argued as they discussed what they were going to do with their ill-gotten earnings.

Their leader, Granth, was not eating so much, however. He was staring down at a map with a contemplative look on his face, measuring his area of influence within the Shadewood and debating on his next move. And he felt he had it... but it was going to be dangerous.

Granth rolled the map up, nodding to himself. He walked over to the crackling fire where he could smell roast meat, and jerked his head over to the bandit acting as chef. The skinny fellow slapped some food onto a wooden plate for him. The bandit king took it, then turned to another man finishing up his meal and gave a sharp order.

"Find Red and tell him we've got another job to do."

The young man nodded and darted off. Granth marched off with the plate of food in his hand, heading toward the corner of the camp where the prisoner was being kept.

There was a single bandit and a wolf sitting near the young woman's prison. She wasn't caged or the like, but her leg was bound to the nearby tree with thick rope. She had space to move around, but having seen how capable she was in a fight, Granth didn't trust her with anything that resembled a weapon. At least... he hadn't before.

The bandit king set the plate of food down on the crate that served as Mariana's table, then gestured to the bandit standing nearby.

"Fetch her things," he told him. "Be quick about it."

Looking confused, the bandit rushed off to do exactly as his boss commanded. Granth focused his attention on the young woman, assessing her a while in silence before he spoke.

"I think you've learned your lesson," Granth began, watching the woman intently. "So I'm going to let you go. But you ain't walking off for free, no; you're going to do a little favor for me first.

"So happens there's a bunch of someone else's goons claiming an old ruin here in the Spider's Canopy for themselves. Unfortunately for them, I ain't feeling neighborly. But fortunately for you..." Granth leaned forward, grinning behind his mask as he spoke. "You get an opportunity to pay your debt to me after that fight back on the road. You help me drive off the bastards lurking there, we plunder what they have for ourselves, and you're free to go. I'll even let you take a half-share of the loot because I like you so much.

"Just don't try and run, the robber lord added in a grave tone, his eyes narrowing beneath his hood. "You do that and I won't hesitate to put an arrow in your eye.

"So, what do you say? You want to stay a prisoner, or you want to earn your freedom?"

Mariana had been tied to a tree only once before this, and the treatment then had been far worse. She was certain these bandits were among the least brutal she'd met. They had even given her a crate table, how kind! Their time around the campfire had almost been pleasant, the bandit guarding her wasn't half as unpleasant as he looked either. Their leader still scared her though, less so than before but he had an air of cold authority about him.

As he approached and ordered the guard away to get her things she gave the guard a smug smile and a wink. 

Hearing his offer she understood that it was more of a command, keeping her tied up would just be a hassle if they had a fight coming up. He even offered her a share of the spoils, hopefully it was an honest one...

"I can't say these ropes have been too comfy, despite their best attempts at hospitality your men are just not the best conversationalists. I'll help you, but only if you convince that one-" She nodded her head towards her guard as he brought her things back. "To bathe more regularly... he smells worse than a dirty stable." 

As the man returned with her halberd she gave him a pleasant smile, then looked back to Granth with pleading eyes in regards to her earlier request. 

"What sort of goons are we after, anyway? None so refined as yourselves, I Imagine?" She pulled her free leg up and crossed it over the roped one, shaking her foot nervously. 

A loud squeal could be heard as Xalmann chopped his battle axe downward into the neck of the boar that had charged at him in the forest. He grabbed the boar and dragged it to a tree where he hung the boar by its back legs with some rope to drain the blood. He hadn't expected to be attacked while he went out of the camp to practice his fighting. He preferred to practice alone since he didn't want anyone to be burned by accident. Well, the boar would make a fine meal if he brought it back to camp with him. It would be a shame to waste it.

While he was waiting for the blood to drain, he decided to take care of his weapons. He wiped the blood off of the axe and sat down in the shade of another tree where he pulled out a whetstone and file. He began to sharpen and maintain his weapons. His trusted kukri dagger and his battle axe, the namesake of his tribe. When he finished, he looked up at the hanging boar to see the blood had stopped dripping from its open neck. He didn't want to deal with any more animals that the smell of blood might attract. He quickly took the boar down and hoisted it over his shoulders with a grunt and started walking back to the bandit camp.

As he walked through the forest, the heavy boar on his shoulders weighing him down and slowing his walking speed, he heard the sound of breaking twigs and rustling leaves close behind him. The sound of bootsteps. He tossed the boar backwards off his shoulders and turned around, drawing his axe and dagger from his waist. He saw a familiar man pinned under the boar he had just tossed. One of Mask's other allies.

"Hey Woah! Easy Red Boss sent me to find you! Another job to do!" the man stammered out with a bit of difficulty. It was hard to breathe under the weight of the boar on top of him. "I give! Get it off me!" he wheezed, slapping his hand against the boar's side to signal his defeat.

Red dragged the boar off of the man who rose to his feet, coughing. "My apologies. You startled me" he said.

"Yeah... startled..." the other man coughed out "My bad"

"I'll take your suggestion under consideration," Granth answered in that sort of tone that suggested he'd do no such thing. Truth be told, her guard, Tharn, did have a habit of not bathing too often, but clean water was a precious resource in the Spider Canopy. Bathing was more of a sometimes thing in the life of a highwayman.

Still, if he did stink so badly, maybe he'd give off a scent that caught someone's attention. Granth decided maybe he would give Tharn a talking to later.

"The goons are some sort of weird cult. Don't know too much about 'em," Granth muttered, folding his arms over his chest. "But we've avoided dealing with 'em so far because they dwell dangerously close to the spiders of these woods. Ain't many people that head into spider territory and live, so they're either real tough or have some weird trick up their sleeve. Best be cautious."

Granth stepped on forward and cut the woman free from the rope binding her in place, then started passing Mariana her belongings one by one. Her halberd he saved for last, of course, and he made sure to give her a hard stare to remind her not to try any funny tricks.

It was as Mariana was gearing up that the bandit Granth sent off before arrived with a strange, red-scaled lizardman following him. When the archer spotted them, he stepped back from Mariana and gestured to the lizard.

"Meet Red. Don't make him angry," Granth said firmly, flicking a look at Mariana. "I ain't gonna get between him and you if you do. Red, met Mari. She's going to join us on a little expedition to clear out a rival gang. Cultists."

With that, Granth snapped his fingers at one of the men by the fire. The big fellow stood up rapidly, tossing the bone he was chewing on aside.

"Yeah, boss?" the big lug asked.

"Fetch your mace. You're coming with me. Bring Ripper, too."

Boris strode off to do just that, grabbing his weapon from near the fire and opening up the pen where the wolves were kept. He brought one of them out - a rather nasty specimen, truth be told - and strode back toward the group.

Granth glanced once more at the others, raising an eyebrow in askance. "Any questions?" the man rumbled as he pulled his mask up.

From the way he spoke Mariana assumed she'd only annoyed him a bit with her request, still failing to get even the slightest laugh out of the grim man. As they released her and handed her belongings back to her she took them wearily, it wasn't often a group of bandits re-armed their captive. It was actually the first time any such thing had happened as far as she had heard. This would be a wonderful story to recount, and one she would any chance she got.

She answered the hard stare at receiving her halberd with a hesitant smile, this man's mannerisms threw off her usual confident demeanor more often than not.

Their newly gathered companion, a lizard man, seemed particularly devoid of expression. He simply was, not showing any sign of his feelings, this was always a fun type to her. He seemed dangerous yet less intimidating than Granth, poking dangerous things with verbal sticks was irresistible to Marian...

"Another of your pets? I can see how you chose the name." Her tone was intentionally mocking as she waited to gauge his reaction.

She approached with a smile and gave the lizard man a bow.

"Nice to meet you, Red. Lovely ax you have there. Though, I think mine's a tab bit bigger." She winked at him, hoping it would offset her teasing of him earlier.

She was silent as Granth gave directions and asked for feedback. She understood her role in this, follow along and kill some cultists. 

"I am no one's pet" Xalmann said, a hint of annoyance in his voice and his eyes narrowed. From his first impression of the woman, she had seemed like a decent fighter. But his appraisal of her lowered once she began talking. She was arrogant and annoying. Thinking her weapon is better than his just because it was larger. She had even called him Mask's pet.

The remark about his axe didn't bother him at all. It wasn't about the size of the weapon, but the warrior who wields it. That much was obvious to him from how many enemies he had killed with just a dagger in his hand. But calling him a pet struck a nerve. It reminded him of the thoughtless servitude his tribe had shown Dagon. Pet may have been a fairly accurate word to describe them. It sickened him to think he had been the same. But he would never act that way again. He only helped Mask because he had saved his life and his friend had never made him do anything as foolish as run into a burning fire. If he ever did, he would refuse, just as he had refused Mask's offer to officially join his gang. He would never blindly follow orders again.

"My name is Xalmann Dakarr. Red is my nickname." he said to the woman before turning to Mask "She is annoying" he said loud enough for the woman to hear. "She is needed?"

Granth was silent for a moment after Mariana taunted the lizardman, and after Red asked his question. Granth considered both sets of comments, then answered them together in as quick and succinct a way he could.

"Xalmann," the archer began, looking across at Red. "She is here because she is capable and because I would rather risk her life than those of my men. However, you've saved my life as many times as I've saved yours. If she calls you a 'pet' again, you may kill her however you wish."

If that didn't drive the power dynamics of the situation home, then perhaps nothing would. Granth was willing to play nice; hell, he felt he'd been plenty cooperative with Mariana over the last couple days. Then again, she'd been cooperative too, and she'd earned his respect. But Granth would not hold Red back if the lizard was insulted again. He doubted he could even do so if he tried.

Without another word, Granth began marching off.

---

Granth was at the front of the group with his wolf held in front of him on a leash. He spoke with the canine occasionally while stroking his bone-tooth necklace¹, somehow asking questions of the beast and getting answers only he could understand. He seemed confident the group was headed in the right direction. Boris and his spiked mace guarded the rear, watching for signs of an ambush or flanking maneuver while waving his torch back and forth, casting light for the group to use... but also, most likely, alerting whatever denizens of the woods were out there to the group's presence.

"We're maybe a half-mile from their territory now," Granth murmured, his bow and arrow in his hand. "Ain't likely to see them before they see us. They're holed up in some old ruins; between that and the trees, they'll have plenty of cover. We're going to have to beat them in a straight fight, so look for defensible ground. Gonna be more of them than there are of us."

---

Abilities used: 1. Necklace of Animal Speech

Hearing that she was a meat shield was far from reassuring. Red now sufficiently riled she decided to back off for the moment. Though she was now interested in the lizard man, his fierce independence was something she respected. She had presumed too much it seemed, he was more than just Granth's lackey. She made a point of walking near him as they trekked to the bandit camp.

"Xalmann, apologies for my rudeness earlier, I'll prove myself worthy of your respect soon enough..." She spoke in a hush.

"How did you end up with this gang? I doubt they managed to capture you..." Admiration was in her voice, as well as curiosity.

If this lizard was here by will was he also a bandit? Perhaps he was just the type to fulfill any debts and Granth had truly saved his life. She couldn't imagine why though, he didn't come off as the heroic type to her.

Their walk was mostly quiet, though she swore she saw things skittering beyond their view in the trees. This place was supposedly home to enormous spiders. She'd never have come here of her own accord, spiders were another thing entirely from bloodthirsty bandits. They had way too many legs... The feeling of being watched was strong as they closed on the ruins. The whole forest seemed to be hiding something from them, paranoia gave her the feeling that each canopy would hold dozens of spiders ready to wrap them up and suck their insides out...

"I really don't like this..." She whispered to no-one in particular.

Xalmann listened to Mariana's apology as they walked along. He was still a bit annoyed by her earlier words, but her apology calmed him down some.

"You will prove yourself through battle" he replied coldly. He almost laughed at the idea of Mask capturing him. He greatly respected the man, but he was well aware that they would have a hell of a time facing him if they ever fought. Mask's talents lie more in making plans and finding useful things like his necklace that lets him speak to his wolf dogs. Or finding useful people, like he had found Xalmann that day. Well, his skill with a bow was also respectable. Of all his talents, the bow would be the thing Xalmann would have the most difficulty with. Anyone trying to fight him in close quarters would get burned. Literally. "I will tell you about myself only then"

He continued walking, looking up as he heard skittering in the trees. He didn't like it. This place was too dark for him to see well, but the torch behind him was an obvious signal of their presence. It was a lose-lose situation. Either not be able to see at all or announce your presence for all to see. He really didn't like it.

Mariana was also walking very close to him. It wasn't her fault that she didn't know his abilities, but he still found himself a bit irritated. Or maybe it was just lingering anger from her pet remark. He couldn't really say. The remark had cut him much deeper than he expected. His thoughts were interrupted by the rustling of the leaves above and the sound of hissing. He saw giant spiders beginning to drop from the canopy, toward the party.

"Spiders! Stay back!" he said as he swung a leg out, pushing Mariana a safe distance away from him. His scales began to glow orange-red, like they were pulled from a furnace. The spiders dropping onto him burst into flame as they came within a foot of his scales, the others nearby hissed in pain as their fur began to be singed by the heat. He pulled out his axe and dagger.

---

Heat Cloak
Conflagration

Boris was surprised by one of the spiders dropping down near him, but the wolf leapt on it, and he finished the nasty creature off with his mace and torch. Then another spider leapt out at them both, and it fell to a well-timed arrow. Granth narrowed his eyes, scanning their surroundings as more spiders began descending down from the canopy.

"Close ranks!" Granth shouted to the group, Mariana included. Then he turned toward Xalmann and waved him forward. "Take the lead, Red! Clear a path for us!"

Boris kept close to the wolf, and Granth moved near them as well, depending on the different ranges of their attacks to keep spiders at bay. However, Granth spotted something that caught his attention: the gleam of metal in the distance, barely reflecting off the torchlight. Granth scowled, then fired an arrow at the subject, and a human scream rose into the air.

"That way!" he shouted to the others, pointing forward. "Be ready!"

The cultists, having lost one of their number to a precision shot, came out of hiding. There were three of them up ahead, and another half-dozen giant spiders raced ahead of them, rushing toward the band of crooks, bringing the total number of spiders remaining to nine. As if that wasn't enough, the middle cultist raised his hand up, conjuring an orb of ice above his fingers, the antithesis to Xalmann's flames. Then the ice split into several sharp shards, each pointing at Xalmann.

The dread archer wasted no time loosing an arrow at the wizard, knowing he was the highest priority target. But then the mage simply raised his hand, conjuring a shield of ice that blocked Granth's shot.

Granth grimaced. It was going to be a hard fight.

As Red gave her a stiff shove backwards a handful of spiders were incinerated by him, she was surprised he hadn't just torched her as well to get even, guess the kick was enough for him. The spiders now dropping around them caused her to clench the halberd tighter, shivering a bit before the adrenaline kicked in enough for her to push through her fear of spiders. Granth organized them and they began to fight the encroaching arachnids.

"I'll cover your back!" Mariana shouted at the lizardman as he started to move into the rushing spiders. 

Of those that dropped from the canopy only a few remained that weren't on fire. Boris and the wolf seemed to have Granth covered so she focused on covering the gap between them and Xalmann to the best of her ability. The three nearest focused on Granth, Boris, and the wolf. The six charging all headed for Xalmann. Killing the smaller group seemed to be the best decision as it would allow their group to focus on the numbers ahead.

Mariana turned her back to Xalmann and lunged towards a spider that dropped close to Granth. With a slight hop she brought the halberd down and sliced the creature in two, her halberd sending a puff of dirt in the air as it landed in the ground below the spider. She used her left leg to hoist the blade quicker, allowing her to spin back towards Xalmann. As she span the halberd back around she clipped another spider that landed nearby, taking its legs off and leaving it squirming on the ground with a large chunk of exoskeleton missing.

Her attention now returned to the front, Boris and the wolf could surely handle the last spider and she needed to be ready to cover Xalmann in case he was surrounded. She held the halberd at ready, and moved in pace with the lizard man while remaining in the middle of their group.

Xalmann rushed forward, leaving behind a trail of burnt footprints and burnt spider corpses. The spiders were easy to defeat, their webs and bodies burning as they got anywhere close to the red-hot Lizardfolk. The cultists were caught off guard, obviously expecting the spiders to be more helpful. It seems they timed their assault on the group to coincide with the attack by the native spiders. They had planned to make two of their enemies fight each other and then take out the weakened victor, but the spiders were dropping like flies, so they decided to join the assault a bit earlier.

The ice wizard among the group was also a bit startled by the rapid approach of the Lizardman. Fire and ice were perfect opposites, and this Lizard seemed powerful. But from their charge, it seemed they lacked any ranged fire attacks. The wizard gave a slight smirk as they sent their conjured ice shards flying toward the rapidly approaching Lizardman and another cultist next to them aimed their bow and peaked out from behind the ice wall. They hoped to take out the warrior before he came anywhere near them.

Xalmann dodged to the side as one ice shard and an arrow flew past him, deflecting the second ice shard with the broad side of his axe. The third however, pierced his thigh. He stumbled slightly, but managed to keep his balance and continue charging toward the cultists. The icy projectile had been weakened, melting quickly as it approached, but it seemed to be a double-edged sword. The projectile embedded in his leg rapidly melted away. The hole in his thigh bled horribly, the shard of ice no longer helping to stem the flow. This was bad.

He finally reached the ice wall the wizard had conjured and smashed the melting wall with a kick of his foot, but the third cultist was already swinging a sword toward him while he was still off balance from the force of his kick.

Granth loved nothing more than seeing his decisions vindicated, and his plan was bearing fruit that did exactly that.

Mariana quickly dispatched of the first spider to dare to drop near Granth, then slew another while rushing to the lizardman's aid. One of them was not quite dead, but it would be soon; as soon as Boris and Ripper finished tearing apart the last standing spider, Boris rushed up and crushed the fallen arachnid with his mace, putting an end to its horrifying, pitiful shrieks.

Still, the battle was far from over. Red was far ahead of the others, his fiery aura contending with the spiders that tried to engage him, leaving them burning heaps of chitinous legs upon the forest floor. But Granth could see he was bleeding profusely from his thigh, and even as he moved to strike at the cultists, one of them was preparing to ambush him with his sword.

Granth rushed in as quick as he could, took aim, and loosed his arrow at the cultist. The projectile flew unerringly and embedded itself in the fool's forehead with a satisfying THUNK! His body made a similar sound as he crashed to the ground.

Unfortunately, before the fight could be finished, a mist suddenly covered the whole area, steaming up loudly around Xalmann especially. Magic! The ice mage was likely making his retreat, trying to inform the rest of his lackeys, and there was little that Granth's company could do about that.

"Regroup!" Granth called out in the mist. "Close ranks again and keep your eyes peeled.
Ain't gonna be good do us any good if we're spread out like-"

Before Granth could finish, the third cultist - the one with the bow - leapt at at him from the mist with a battle axe raised overhead, ready to crash down on Granth! And the only person close enough to stop him was Mariana.

As the lizard man charged forward Mariana tried to keep up. Arrows and shards of ice that missed him flew past her, one even sliced her shoulder as it passed by. She managed to fend off another spider with a well timed swing of her halberd that struck it as it lunged towards Boris. Another tried to leap onto her from behind but she batted it away with the haft of the halberd. 

"Don't push too far!" She tried to warn Xalmann of his rashness as he broke through the ice wall. 

The swordsman who leapt up and was shot had just about gutted him before she could react. The arrow from Granth had saved the lizard's life, now she understood how they'd bonded, their styles were complimentary. She continued to slash and stab encroaching spiders until the battle took a sudden shift.

A thick mist covered the area and the attack seemed to stall as the mage sprinted away and the spiders let off in their assault. Granth gave the call to regroup but Mariana was already moving back towards him, not wanting to be left out in the mist in a forest of spiders and cultists. As she looked back to make sure no-one was attacking their rear she noticed Granth's eyes shoot up to her left. A cultist with a battle-ax came crashing through the mist roaring with deadly intent towards Granth. 

Without a moments hesitation Mariana stepped between the two and thrust the Halberd up into the man's chest. He was impaled slightly but the spear tip was stopped by his armor. The force of him sent her to her knees, she planted the pole in the ground and the bandit jerked forward as his momentum was halted. With a gargantuan effort she raised the man up, ripped the spear free, and span the halberd around and slammed the axe head into his gut bringing him to the ground screaming.

"You're not dying until we get a rematch." She winked at Granth before moving back to Xalmann's rear to defend him.

As the sword-wielding cultist fell to the ground, Xalmann used his tail to push himself forward and regain his stability. Spiders continued to rain down on him, but they were of no concern. They fell to the ground, twitching and burning, before they could touch him. No, his focus was entirely on the wizard in front of him.

The wizard turned and ran, summoning a cold mist to cover his escape. Xalmann wanted to give chase, but he heard Mask call him to regroup with the others. The wound on his leg would also slow him down. Blood streamed down his leg and pooled at the bottom of his leather pants. A trickle flowed down his calf and foot, starting to pool on the ground around his foot. He could throw his axe or his dagger, but in this dark place, who knew if he would be able to find them again before the cultist might steal them. He couldn't throw away his most treasured possessions.

However, he spotted something he could do. He looked toward the burning carcass of a spider nearby and pulled the flames off of it. He willed it to fly at the retreating enemy with a wave of his hand. The fire soared toward the wizard who believed the Lizardman had no way of attacking him from such a distance. He turned to look behind him just in time to see the small ball of fire flying at him and dodged to the side with a shriek of surprise. The fire managed to graze his arm, setting the sleeve of his robe ablaze. He quickly patted the small flame out, but still glared at Xalmann with a look of pain and anger before turning and continuing to run.

Xalmann turned around and limped back toward his allies, a hand on the hole in his thigh to try and slow the bleeding.