The Battle for the Arrow of Thania

[youtube:https://youtube.com/watch?v=78ckHmhvUlg]Story Script:

The party of six moved quietly through the forest. Ranger Thawkins took the lead and had instructed Ferdinand to follow in the rear. The boy had argued at first that he should be in the front to help since he knows how to handle himself in a fight after weeks of hard training.

Party of six from rear walking through the forest path

“I need to know that no one is following us.”

Thawkins close up, blurred background

The trio of farmers had some sort of armor, marked with emblems Ferdinand didn’t recognize. The boy of a few months ago would have asked, but he had grown up a lot since leaving Port Breigh to come West and search for The Frost Druids.

Farmers walking on the path with bows

Thawkins signaled for the party to stop. Motioning for Sage Rikon to move up to him, Ferdinand noticed, astoundingly, the Sage moved almost completely silently through the forest. In children's books, he remembered, tales would often have the hero snuck up on or surprised in a forest. This was, mostly, nonsense. Men walking through the woods made more noise than is possible to ignore, and yet, when Rikon walked up from the pack to the Ranger, he was silent. Ferdinand put that at the bottom of a very long list of questions he had for his mentor.

Thawkins and Sage Rikon talking in the forest

Thawkins whispered something to Rikon and handed him a small bag. The sage moved off in a different direction as Thawkins resumed their trek through the forest. Finding the pillagers camp had not been as difficult as one might expect. After just a few minutes, the group came upon a clearing. Just ahead, there was a small tower standing above the trees. Around the tower, there were several pillagers, a few horses, and some… cages.

Pillager Outpost

“Are those men in the cages?” Ferdinand whispered to Hin.

Shrugging, Hin just shook his head, disgusted.

Ferdinand and Hin talking

“Be ready, we’re going to move fast and hard. I count 18 pillagers, we need to cut that number in half before they know what is happening.”

Ferdinand could only see maybe 5. The ranger was simply amazing. His senses and attention to detail made Ferdinand feel like a child. The men readied their bows and spread out against the edge of the clearing. Seconds ticked by, with Thawkins finger in the air, more seconds.

Party of five hiding in clearing watching outpost.

Just then, from the opposite side of the prairie, a single flaming arrow arched through the sky. It was almost beautiful in it’s slow, graceful arc down.

Burning arrow

Just as it hit the roof of the pillager tower, it exploded. Fire rained down on the tower and the pillagers! Thawkins let loose an arrow.

Fire erupting on outpost roof

The arrow struck true. Before it even hit its pillager target, however, Ranger Thawkins had unleashed another. He had told the group there were 16 pillagers, although Ferdinand had only seen maybe half that number. All 6 men were firing away, hidden in relative safety at the edge of the clearing, 5 or 6 pillagers already laid dead before the first return shot came through, Ferdinand had missed with his first shot, but connected with the next 2.

Six men firing arrows from forest to outpost

“Cover!” Thawkins had told them when he called for cover, they needed to immediately duck behind a tree. Ferdinand stove behind his cover tree, but two of them in the party had gained in the monument to the Fallin didn’t move fast enough. Maybe they had tried to unleash one last arrow before hiding, but both took a simultaneous arrow… No, it wasn’t an arrow, it was different… Regardless, both of them fell to the ground, instantly dead. The vacant eyes of Hin and Okel looked unblinkingly at the sky.

Hin and Okel dead

“Stay down, they have an enchanted crossbow at the top of the tower.” Though the roof of the Pillager outpost was ablaze, it seemed as though not all the pillagers had abandoned it. Ferdinand called a few yards away to get a look at the outpost. He saw, with a fiery backdrop, just one Pillager holding an odd kind of bow, maybe that is what thawkins had called a crossbow? He watched the Pillager fire again, and three bolts flew out in towards the ranger’s tree. Three bolts! Thawkins spun out from his tree and fired and two more pillagers on the ground, striking both down before returning to the safety of cover.

Pillager with a crossbow on top of the outpost

Ferdinand stood and fired at another pillager who had been heading towards Quarly. Just as Ferdinand dove back to the ground, he saw the lone pillager with his shining crossbow appear again from the outpost roof about to fire another trio of bolts. Peeping out from behind his tree, he could see the remaining pillagers retreating to the bottom floor of the outpost. With the sniper on the top of the outpost and his enchanted crossbow, there would be no way to cross the clearing between the woodland and the enemy.

Thawkins, Ferdinand, Quarly hiding behind a tree with an outpost in background

Just as he readied his damned crossbow to fire again, Sage Rikon appeared from the shadows, dagger in hand. Moving silently, the sage, slit the sniper's throat, dropping his body off the edge of the tower. The party made quick work of the remaining pillagers.

Rikon behind Pillager in the outpost

After the battle was over, the four men gathered at the foot of the outpost. “Quarly, release the villagers and see to their wounds. Ferdinand, retrieve our friend’s bodies, we will return them to Monument to the Fallen” Ranger Thawkins, glanced at Sage Rikon, “Let’s go find your arrow.”

People In the Story:

* Ferdinand Keet

* Thom Thawkins

* Rikon Gerro

* Quarly

* Okel

* Hin

Locations are shown in Cinematics:

This Is a machinima, no place in the realm is shown.