~“Now that everyone is here,” Nate begins, “I will lay out the battle plan. Dean, Lauren, and Tom will hold the front line. Lynn and Rav will stand behind and between them, using the space to fire projectiles at the enemy. Marie will reinforce any position where someone goes down, buying time for Anthony to heal them and get them back in the action. Any questions?”

Yeah, just one: what will you be doing?

~”Alright. Positions everyone, and remember, fight tirelessly.” Everyone moves, making as little noise as possible. A bright fire burns just beyond the illusion. My potions of ‘bottled light’ have been moved to the back of our fortifications, placing them out of harm's way (even from thrown rocks… mostly), but still able to cast light on our positions and, more importantly, our attackers. Lauren had made a ton of the same fire poison she had used on the Wights, and distributed it to anyone with an edged weapon. I touch Rav’s shoulder as he moves past me. “These guys are resistant to magic, right?” I murmur, “Try casting the brightest light you can manage when they charge us. Pin them between the fire and your magic.” Rav smiles and nods. -”Be safe, my friend.”

I feel a little miffed that Nate insisted I stay in the back lines with him. I know I’m the best (and only) healer we have, but I fight at just a level below Lauren at the very least! I’m certainly worth more on the front lines than our blacksmith. His weapon is literally a smithing hammer. Sure it can probably kill things, but compare it to a fucking greatsword? Hardly.

That said, making waves right before a battle that we might very well lose is just asking to die, so I keep my mouth shut. I’ll fill the front line if it’s necessary, and Nate can’t stop me. It would be a shame to waste the mass buff he gave us. It seems to be a +2 to Strength and Endurance.

The silence deepens as the minutes pass. The sky darkens rapidly, and the world around us is cast in dancing shadows. The crackling fire alone breaks the quiet of the night. The tension rises slowly. Hands shift and tighten on their weapons. All eyes peer through the translucent veil of illusion into the darkness beyond.

A howl pierces the air. Another. Soon, a cacophony erupts in the distance. The screams contain only fury.

I have to consciously release the tension in my body, feeling much less secure than I would like, even with the greatsword in my hands.

Closer and closer.

They crest the hill. A group of at least ten. More howling in the distance confirms that these are merely the vanguard. Lynn looses an arrow, which embeds firmly in the hill next to the advancing force. I look over to see her hand shakily reaching for another arrow. She moves fast, but every shot counts. There aren’t enough in the ground beside her for nerves to make her miss. I channel a calm that I don’t feel and lightly tap her shoulder. My Energy bar depletes by a few points, but her hands steady. Maybe it’s ok for me to be in the back.

The charge slows as the Shades approach the fire, but one of the larger monsters speeds up instead. The Shade obviously can’t tell that it’s about to fling itself into a wall of spikes, but its mass alone might be enough to break the shoddy fortifications. It readies to hurl itself over the fire when Lynn’s follow-up shot cracks through the air, passing straight through the head of the offending creature and into the arm of the Shade behind it. The charger continues forward under its own momentum, careening into the fire and scattering it slightly.

Not good. It won’t last as long spread out.

The Shades group up at the edge of the fire, howling in fury and indignation, and for a moment, it seems as though the one death will be enough to deter them. Lynn fires off shot after shot while Rav practically glows with the amount of Mana he’s channelling.

The fallen Dwarves return fire with anything and everything lying around. Clumps of grass, rocks, brush, anything that can be used as a projectile rains around us. Fortunately, without actual sight on their targets (courtesy of the illusion) or access to more effective weapons, their efforts are largely fruitless.

Until a dark figure crests the ridge, followed by at least a dozen more Shades. A distorted voice rings out over the howling: “Dirt… fire.”

We can only watch with growing dread as the Shades stop pointlessly flinging dirt at us and start throwing dirt on the fire. Though at first there appears to be no change, the dirt steadily piles into the fire and it grows more and more dim. We still have the light from my potions, but… it’s not nearly as bright as the fire. It will weaken them at best.

The monsters edge closer, excitement apparent in their gestures and noises. The brave ones run around the edge of the bright area toward us. The people standing at the front ready their weapons.

With a sickening *thunk*, the shade impales itself on the spiked exterior of the front barricade, only managing a brief scream of horror and pain before Dean slices its head off with a single stroke.

+”More you bastards! MORE!” He roars the words, giddy with anticipation.

As if in answer, more Shades rush around the fire and swarm our position. There are so many, but the power of their numbers is limited by our fortifications and the choke point the cave entrance presents. They are forced to come at us head on. The two sides are a blue of blades as Dean and Lauren send gouts of fire and shadow up into the night sky. They’re clearly straining, but it’s nothing they can’t handle for now. Tom is doing less well. Where I probably could have held my own, he is primarily a craftsman, and though he certainly has some combat skills, he’s wielding a blacksmith’s hammer as his weapon of choice. Far from the deadly knives or greatsword, and incapable of making use of Lauren’s poison. Lynn tries to cover him, but she can only fire so fast, and the barricade in front of Tom is almost entirely gone. There isn’t enough room for anyone to reinforce his position either, he just… isn’t strong enough to hold it. If he falls, it will be up to me and Marie to hold the tide… without a barricade. I prepare for the eventuality, raising my sword, when I hear Rav gasp. The man is almost blindingly bright. My hair stands on end just being this close to him. I can only imagine the power of a spell that takes almost a minute to charge.

-”Shield...your...eyes…” Rav struggles to speak. I obey without question, covering my eyes with my hand. Even so, the flash shines so brightly that the bones of my hand are the only black I see. I hear a body hit the ground as I try to blink away the spots in my vision. Most of our group listened when the wizard spoke, but Dean’s screams of pain make it clear that he callously ignored the warning. The good news is: the Shades expected this even less. Their advance was thrown into disarray, with many greatly diminished and a few of the smaller ones being destroyed entirely. Thanks Rav, I owe you one.

~”Dean! Come get healed!”

+”I CAN’T FUCKING SEE.”

~”Anthony, guide him back here and heal him.”

I frown at Nate. “I don’t know, he’s waving that sword around a lot, it looks dangerous to approach him-”

~”Now.” The headache diminishes quickly as I immediately move toward Dean. I manage to bat his sword down to the ground and get close enough to grab him. Alright, Dean should be no different than Lynn. I just need to channel calm feelings and he’ll follow me.

“Come on, this way, I’ll get you healed up in no ti- hey, watch it with that! Stop swinging, there’s nothing to hit near you! Fucking drop th- FINE.” Dean had been not so subtly swinging his sword around, seeming to target me the moment he heard my voice, and that last swing had been dangerously close to hitting me. I actually had to smash his ‘random swing’ into the ground. So what if it was a smash that was enhanced with Fortify? So what if it put a nice chip in his blade? Next time don’t attack the healer.

His response was no longer subtle. He roared, swinging full force at me, and, if not for his blade having been stuck in the ground by my earlier hit, I wouldn’t have had time to duck it.

He did not have the same good fortune when the flat of my blade smashed him in the face, knocking him out cold. God, that was fucking liberating.

Not to mention, I feel the familiar sting of someone having fought back against my Energy and quickly deal with the murderous darkness he left in me. Dean clearly doesn’t have the same susceptibility to Energy that Lauren does, so his distrust and outright hostility will make it impossible even to calm him, let alone heal him. I’d have to destroy his defenses first, and that might end up triggering Domination… I can’t risk it. I will not.

Scowling, Nate orders Marie to hold Dean’s position while I drag his limp body to the back.

~”That was unnecessary, now we’re down two people. Fix Dean up immediately.”

“I can’t, he’s closed himself off to my healing. I’ll get Rav back in fighting condition first, then see what I can do.”

~”No. We need Dean to hold the line more than Rav to shoot projectiles. Heal Dean.”

The pain sears through my mind as I fail to make any move to follow the order.

“It’s too dangerous. Either I’ll die or he will. No.”

Shock, then anger, flashes across Nate’s face. ~”If you’re not going to follow orders, then get out of our way. We don’t need you.”

“Like it or not, you do.”