The battle rages on...

With the evening meal eaten, and the burning sun long settled below the horizon, some of the younger children were starting to fall asleep in their parents arms. But the older ones, and their parents, where still rapt by the old ashik’s tale, and so he continued his story of the battle of the Dura Dai.

Overcome by the defiler's sorcery, Kank launched himself at Miloch, but whether through luck or a mighty effort of resistance his blow narrowly missed the somewhat surprised Human warrior. The quick-thinking Balboa called upon the power of the gnomes of the earth and dismissed the foul sorcery affecting Kank. The heavily muscled Mul immediately shakes free of the enchantment and with a burning hatred in his eyes he charges for Toramund the Elf leader.

Meanwhile, Miloch and Scar are facing off against a pair of injured Elves, nevertheless, the two Elves are not going down without a fight. After a flurry of blows, and narrow misses, the two wounded elves are dispatched freeing up both Scar and Miloch to rush to assist Kank. Behind them, Ferulah charges in to assist the beleaguered Arthur who is bleeding from a severe cut, and is slowly being beaten backwards by both Toramund’s wife and eldest son, the latter being the iron scimitar wielding Captain of the Guard. As Ferulah arrives Toramund’s son once again nimbly avoids another of Arthur’s powerful swings.

Ferulah charges in and attacks Toramund’s wife, allowing Arthur to take on the skilful son of Toramund one on one. Things look like they are turning in the favour of the Company of the Cloaked Inix when in a flurry of attacks Ferulah severs her opponents’ arm and leg. Overcome by her wounds, Toramund’s wife collapses to the floor and starts to drag herself away from the fight. Before she leaps on top of the collapsed Elf, Ferulah spots a small elven child running for the stairs and there is no way to stop him, and so the child manages to escape.

With his control over Kank broken, Toramund calls upon more fell magics and four identical images of himself appear around him confusing the big Mul. Balboa charges at the bow wielding Jengi, the daughter of Toramund that the Company had rescued from the Silver Spring oasis, determined to punish the treacherous teen. The tenacious Balboa strikes her with a glancing blow, and in her haste to avoid the strike, Jengi slips over twisting her ankle in the process. She struggles to get back on her feet but is clearly in a lot of pain. But before Balboa can press his advantage six more Elves enter the chamber from the stairs to either side.

Two of the newly arrived Elves rush to assist Toramund’s son, one runs to Toramund’s aid, whilst the other three intercept Scar and Miloch. Just as Kank gets to within striking distance of the leader the Dura Dai, Toramund utters another fell command and points towards Balboa. A few heartbeats later the mighty Mul looms over his diminutive companion. With terror etched on his face, Balboa tries to summon up the power of the Gnomes of the earth to once again dismiss Toramund’s control over his companion, unfortunately his call falls on deaf ears and Kank brings Bone Crusher down onto Balboa’s right arm with all of his strength and the weapon, that Balboa created, lives up to its name and pulverises the bone of Balboa’s arm, rendering it useless.

The newly arrived Elves are not in peak condition, the effects of disease apparent in their movements, and their slow movements allow Scar to launch a ferocious flurry of attacks, beside her Miloch swings hard with his iron battleaxe and decapitates his opponent with one mighty swing. Arthur eventually manages to get a blow past Toramund’s sons defence, and in doing so, crushes the Elf’s arm and forces him to drop his iron scimitar. Once the Elf is disarmed Arthur makes short work of him and brings the Elf down just as the two newly arrived reinforcements step into the fray.

Jengi, using Kank’s attack on Balboa as a distraction, manages to crawl out of the fight and staggers to her feet, limping as quickly as she can towards the stairs and escape. The Elf who stepped in to support Toramund steps up behind the ensorcelled Kank and hits him a solid blow, but the muscled Mul still only has furious eyes for his friend Balboa. Balboa beseeches the Gnomes of the earth once more, and this time, the gnomes answer and dispel the fell magics controlling Kank. Having seen both his wife and eldest son killed, and his two younger children flee, Toramund retreats from the fight and runs upstairs to protect his young offspring.

The few Elves remaining in the chamber are quickly overcome and seconds after the leader of the Dura Dai retreated the Company of the Cloaked Inix stands victorious over the scene. Every member of the Company is injured to varying degrees, the worst of all being Balboa, whose arm is crushed beyond the realms of normal healing and Arthur, who is still bleeding from a vicious sword wound. Nevertheless, the powerful Dwarf is eager to hunt down the fleeing Toramund. Ferulah quickly tends to the wounded Dwarf, restoring him to a semblance of health, while the rest of the Company administer first aid to each other. Once she has finished with Arthur, Ferulah uses her power to regrow the bones of Balboa’s arm, and once Balboa is restored he is able to call upon the Gnomes of the earth to heal his companions.

Arthur, impatient to give chase, rushes headlong up the stairs following Toramund’s retreat. As he climbs the stairs the sounds of fighting can be heard from above, and when Arthur reaches the floor above, he finds his passage blocked by Toramund and an Elven guard. To his surprise, Arthur sees that the other Elves in the room are engaged in fighting a small group of Dwarves from Kled. The fight seems evenly matched, but the presence of the Elf chieftain has clearly started to shift the balance to favour the Elves. Desperate to create space for his companions behind him on the stairs, Arthur summons his will and disappears. He reappears in the blink of an eye standing behind the Elf guard, very much to the Elf’s surprise.

Kank rushes into the space provided by Arthur’s teleport, and is closely followed by Ferulah and Scar. Kank swiftly attacks Toramund, fury lending extra strength to his swing, but the Elven leader sidesteps the mighty swing, and counter attacks obsidian bastard sword, hitting the Mul a severe blow. Ferulah and Scar move up the stairs and attack Toramund, Ferulah’s attack is nimbly dodged by the chieftain, but Scar manages to land a solid blow to his left leg, piercing his armour and crippling the Chieftains limb.

The remaining Elven guards face off against the Dwarves of Kled, trading blows and scoring hits in equal measure. Balboa spots across the room the stout young Dwarf known as Caelum taking on another of Toramund’s offspring, this one is also wielding an iron scimitar. As Balboa watches, Caelum brings the elf down with a decisive cut to the Elf’s face and one of his companions fells a second elf. But the battle is evenly matched still, and one of the Dwarves falls to an Elven blade. With the death of the two Elves an opening in the Elven defensive line appears and the Dwarves have to decide to either attack Jengi or Toramund.

Jengi, realising the threat attempts to flee, but her injured ankle slows her down, however, Caelum charges at Toramund. Arthur, seeing an opportunity to wreak some measure of vengeance on the Elven girl, summons up his will again and disappears. Only to reappear a heartbeat later standing in front of the startled Elven girl with a ferocious smile splitting his face. The powerful Dwarf swings hard with his metal troll maul and smashes Jengi’s left arm before she has a chance to react.