Sallying forth

     Every morning Rollobal would take up a marching position next to Oolah, and somehow she would end up on the other side of Van. Van didn't dislike this, but had mixed feelings regarding Rollobal. He was likable, a seemingly honorable person, and in that vein Van liked him; almost felt bad for him, in fact. Then he resented him. Not only was he spoiling his alone time with Oolah, but had romantic designs on her as well. Van didn't know what it was, but something had changed in him since his delirium. Something seemed to have changed in them both, despite Van having no recollections of his fevered dreams. It had become easier not to think of Ella, and he felt his guilt allayed, somehow. He longed, as they walked, to reach out and grasp Oolahs hand. He didn't want to rub it in Rollobals face, and besides, it had been Oolah that had mentioned how they should strive to get along with him. There would be time to hold hands, later. Van pondered these things as they walked along, nibbling on a fortified cracker roll. So lost in thought was he, he failed to notice the attack when it came. Before he knew it he caught movement out of the corner of his eye, was about to get hit by whatever it was, when Rollobal with his long shield intervened on his behalf. Already arrows were flying by, launched no doubt by Oolahs bow.

     "Fear not human child!" he heard Rollobal say in traders tongue as he charged in the direction more attacks were coming from, "Rollobal protects the weak!"

     "He can speak traders tongue?!" thought Van for a fraction of a second before springing to action, himself. Scanning for the source of the needle bunches that kept assaulting them and starting to run in that direction, some were already having chunks blown off by Oolahs arrows (bigger explosions took longer to charge).

     The enemies were centipede like, but with a circular maw of jagged teeth and mandibles protected by large powerful pinchers and a smaller set of clawed appendages. The were attacking at range via a scorpion like tail with clusters of needles. They were replaced almost as soon as fired... until they weren't and the creepy giant insects charged in.

     Following Rollobal into mellee range, he had several false starts as he began summoning floating shields to protect Rollobal from attack but holding off as each time Rollobal reacted even quicker, ducking, jumping or raising his shield.

     Mellee was joined and Van glanced back making sure Oolah was safe. Nothing seemed to be molesting her and she was walking in behind the other two warriors. She had began taking a second to charge the arrows and was now taking out opponents, rather than slowing and distracting them. As a few had broken off and started heading her way, it was a crucial difference. Meanwhile Rollobal was displaying an impressive combination of skill and pure physicality. He was less skilled Then the master Eloin, but made up for it with incredible strength, fueling an impossible speed and agility. He would be a match for her.

     As for Van, he finally began making a good account for himself. The black sword made up for his lack of strength, shearing through the strong exoskeletal armor plates of the enemy. Now fully aware and in the zone he summoned floating round shields as he fought, blocking the new needle cluster attacks as fresh crawlers arrived and joined combat. At first Van had thought it would be a quick combat. however, they didn't stop coming, and in fact was just the fringe of a great swarm that had now turned in their direction. Oolah, having exhausted her arrows, used her last to loop some twine around a low lying branch, and now sped along the branchl, dropping charged acorns among the swarm. The explosions managed to keep the two grounded warriors from being completely overrun. They constantly kept moving back as the battle raged, the corpses of the enemy hindering their movements. An hour passed, then two more. Vans limbs were like lead. Even Rollobal seemed to be slowing a bit. Oolahs explosions had weakened considerably. Then nothing. Finally the onslaught ended. "Too... many," said Rollobal between slow, heavy breaths.

     "Not enough." Said Van, expelling his sword and stretching, a hand on his back.

     Rollobal laughed. "There is more, and the queen," he said. they are surrounding us, having worn us down with the scouts. Besides, they prefer night." Indeed, it had began growing dark. With his enhanced vision Van had not noticed the dusk setting in. What he noticed now was the thousands of eyes, 4 per crawler reflecting eerily white, now surrounding them. 

     Van despaired. His body was exhausted. Yet, His mana seemed boundless. He didn't want to resort to this. "Rollobal," he said. Don't get close to the black balls". Van summoned four of them, rotating around them both. 

     Upon seeing and feeling the aura of the sinister black orbs, Rollobal commented in return, "You don't have to tell me twice."

     With intense concentration he sped them up while trying to expand their rotation area. He could feel them getting smaller. He didn't want to sacrifice rotation speed, but the further away they got, the more difficult it became. finally they dissipated entirely. Van was out of power. Dropping to his knees, he hung his head. "I'm... sorry..." was all he could manage. He fought back the tears he felt coming... but why should he feel ashamed? They would be dead soon, he and Rollobal. "At least Oolah was safe.... wait! Oolah!!"

     Van felt a hand on his shoulder. "I'm not carrying you up the rope." said Rollobal. "I'll let you go first, though."

     Standing up and raising his head he saw the rope Oolah had lowered. Taking a deep breath he began climbing. The lower limbs were easily out of range of the nasty poisonous barbs.

     "Why'd we fight them at all?" asked Van as they were setting up their hammocks.

     "There are several good reasons" answered Rollobal. "It is never a bad thing to weaken a horde when it gets that big. In fact, if they don't leave tonight, I look forward to decimating them tomorrow. But that brings me to the second point. We've demonstrated strength and resourcefulness in finding respite. There is no upside for them to fight us, they can't wear us down and they continue to grow weaker. They'll probably disengage over the night."

     Indeed, by morning they were gone.