“Back to the portal!” Lance shouted orders as the team stumbled back into the clearing that hosted the exit to their world. Howls reverberated from all around, as the lights they had created – that Keeley was busy throwing up at further fixed points to provide illumination – attracted the attention of the gnolls. “We fall through and Keeley throws an Entangling Roots if we have to run.”

A couple of the others shouted agreement, but Lance had no time to pay attention to them. Instead he raised his hand and pointed to the sides which were still wrapped in shadows as Keeley’s hanging light above them proved insufficient to cast them all away.

“Fire Bolt the sides. We need more light out here,” Lance said, glancing at his own Never Ending Quiver. The arrows within were great, but he hadn’t bought any Fire Arrows which meant he was of no use here. Cursing, he considered if he could somehow manipulate the Mana around him into a Fire Bolt. Maybe if he had time to study the upgrades being used, but they just hadn’t had time.

It’d literally been six or seven hours since the start of this entire debacle of a day. Third worst day of his life, right now – right behind the clown party at the go kart track.

“Neil, Sarah – slow them down and hold them if you can. We need to give Keeley enough time to use her Roots. Can we…” He trailed off, seeing one side of the clearing from the right, where Sarah had taken position and leading near their portal, had been blanketed by the writhing roots. “Nevermind.”

“Teach your grandmother to suck eggs!” Keeley said. “Why don’t you go shoot something!”

“I would if…” Seconds later, he saw a gnoll and loosed moments later. The Splitting Arrow he shot caught the dodging gnoll with one of the created arrows, while the other two winged off into the night. To Lance’s amusement, another yelp from deeper in the shadows indicated one of those arrows managed to cause trouble.

Nocking another arrow, he started aiming at the injured animal only to see it sprout an arrow in its throat. Matt grinned as the Barbed Arrow tore open its throat, leaving the monster to struggle and die. In the meantime, fire continued to blossom on the sides as the mages lit up the surroundings.

“Keep to your zone of fire!” Lance snapped.

“Yeah, yeah…” Matt said, waving off Lance’s objections. On the other hand, he did turn his body away so that he could watch for more monsters. He loosed moments later, only for his arrow to fly off into the distance, striking nothing.

All around them, the gnolls began to circle, letting out little yelps and howls, their gleaming yellow eyes reflecting the light thrown by the fires and magical orbs. Lance shivered a little, fear coursing through his body as the howls continued and as he looked around, he noted that the team as a whole was being affected. Arrows were missing, spells and reaction times a little slower than they should have been.

“Steady!” Lance roared, or tried to. His voice came out higher than he had wanted, a little more uncertain. He cleared his throat and tried again, tracking one of the monsters that had crept into the circle of light, thinking it was unseen. He released his arrow, even as he repeated himself.

The monster staggered, whimpering a little. A second later, the High Explosive Arrow exploded in its torso, making it yowl. It pulled back, clutching its bleeding side.

“Debuff…” Keeley croaked out, then shook her head. “Trying something…” A wave of her hand and Sarah perked up a little, as Second Wind struck her.

“It’s… better,” Sarah said,, sounding a little easier. A little braver. Still, Lance could see her spearhead tremble, the tip dancing in the air as it reflected the light from Keeley’s orbs.

“Just hold them back. Once Keeley gets off cooldown, we’ll be good….” Lance said, reassuringly.

Maybe they heard him, maybe they had gathered enough of themselves, but suddenly the howling cut out. Silence pervaded the clearing for a brief second before the monsters charged, closing the distance.

“Grandmother’s smelly underpants…” Neil howled, crouching low beneath his shield as he stared over the top at the dozens of charging monsters. Leading the charge was a massive gnoll, nearly one and a half times the size of its compatriots, grey and silver fur and gleaming yellow eyes with claws that were the length of Lance’s fingers.

“MINE!” Screaming out loud, Sarah leaned forwards and threw the shorter spear she had bought for going up the building. The monster leaned to the side, dodging the attack with ease though the thrown spear managed to impale a gnoll behind her.

Reaching behind her, Sarah pulled at the longer weapon she had strapped to her back. However, she fumbled with the straps, unusued to unsheathing the weapon and struggling with the jerry-rigged contraption. Her breathing quickened and her struggles grew more frantic as the monsters kept nearing her.

Lance in the meantime was drawing and firing, loosing Splitting Arrows into the group, attempting to slow downt he charge from the sides. He barely had time to pay attention to the melee fighters in the front, the sheer number of monsters forcing him to pay attention.. His arrows took the gnolls in arms, chests, legs and once, luckily, in an eye.

Keeley twisted a hand, throwing it outwards and cast her spell, light striking and hanging in space, forcing a couple of monsters to flinch. The pause caused others to crash into the first, creating a pileup that Keeley then made use of, casting an Entangling Roots over the entire group, holding down that side by herself.

Not to let his girlfriend hog the limelight entirely, Matt was loosing his own Barbed Arrows into the pileup, the attack leaving the monsters with large, gaping and bleeding wounds.

Seconds before the Alpha Gnoll hit Sarah as it leaped through the air, a claw extended, Neil appeared, using Shield Rush to send the monster bouncing off into the distance. The monster managed to clip Neil in the side of the head with its claws, twisting in mid-air to strike the man and twist his helmet as it flew, causing the melee fighter to stumble to a stop.

In the meantime, Sarah finally managed to yank a spear out, just in time to thrust it at the first of the gnolls to reach them. However, seconds later, the pair of melee fighters were swarmed by the gnolls, the creatures falling on the both of them, pushing them to the ground and tearing at their armour.

With both melee fighters down and an opening created by Neil when he moved to save Sarah, there was nothing to stop the monsters from closing in on the backline. They rushed towards the casters and Lance, mouths open and howling.