Better check it out... carefully

I moved slowly and cautiously toward the sound, keeping as low as possible.

I didn't want to rush in without knowing what I was getting myself into. A pack of Fleshwood Hunters would end up just killing me, and I wasn't particularly interested in dying with the pain settings as high as they were.

“Help!”

“Please! Someone help us!”

The feminine voices were panicked.

I smothered my urge to charge forward and slowed even further, doing my best to stay quiet as I left the road and entered the forest beyond.

The underbrush was thick, though thankfully not with brambles. Mostly ferns and bushes, but they provided plenty of cover.

A short distance in, I spotted the blonde woman from the Adventurer's Guild, one hand raised defensively. A dwarven woman stood behind her, taking shelter behind her shoulder and clutching a short sword.

They were slowly backing up a hill, their eyes darting through the trees below them.

Just in front of them lay a strange creature.

Ugly. About four feet tall. Unnaturally thin, with long arms and oversized hands. Its skin was an unnatural gray, and its body looked like someone had smashed it into a tree.

Neither woman looked strong enough to have inflicted the blunt-force trauma that had killed it.

“Run! Leave me!” The voice came from the left. It sounded like the blonde woman, assuming I remembered her voice correctly, but her mouth hadn't moved.

“Don't listen to her!” Another feminine voice came from the right. It didn't belong to the dwarf, but the blonde turned her head toward it anyway.

I scanned the forest.

Two more of those ugly, gray-skinned creatures were hiding in the underbrush. The only reason I could see them was because of my angle - they weren't hiding from me.

Another was slowly creeping up behind the two women.

If I used Spark Lance, I'd definitely draw attention to myself. It wasn't exactly subtle.

But I had no skill with ranged weapons.

That didn't mean I couldn't give it a shot.

I unslung the bow, nocked an arrow, and drew the string.

It took a hell of a lot more strength than I'd expected, but I managed to keep the bow relatively steady. I released.

The arrow went wide, completely missing the creature.

I didn't think anyone would ever find that arrow again.

The creature turned toward me.

I froze, keeping as low as possible.

After a moment, it turned back toward the women.

“Quick, this way!” The call came from the left. It still sounded exactly like the blonde.

The dwarf glanced in that direction, shifting her stance to bring her short sword to bear on the other side.

I nocked another arrow. This time I aimed for center mass and let it fly.

The arrow hit the creature squarely in the butt cheek.

The creature squealed and jumped, spinning toward me as it searched the underbrush.

The creature behind the women was almost within striking distance.

I dropped the bow, drew my longsword, and cast Spark Lance at the creature preparing to ambush them.

The creature screamed, and both women turned toward it.

Then the third creature rushed them.

I cast another Spark Lance at it as the one I'd shot charged toward me.

The creature with an arrow in his butt slashed at me with the claws at the ends of its strangely oversized hands.

Its claws tore through my shirt, leaving long slices across my skin that immediately bloomed red. It slashed again.

I stepped backward and brought my sword up.

Its claws caught against my blade and knocked it aside.

It was only the step backward that kept the claws from sinking into me.

A little blinking light appeared in the lower-right corner of my vision.

I ignored it.

The two women were back to back now. The dwarf faced the creature up the hill while the blonde faced the one below.

Two more creatures burst from the underbrush a short distance away and charged me.

Great.

I started casting again.

The creature nearest me slashed, and I was barely able to parry.

Then I blasted it point-blank in the face with a Spark Lance.

It screamed and staggered backward.

It looked badly hurt. Not dead, though.

I drove my sword through it and it stopped moving.

I barely leapt out of the way as the next creature swung at me. I parried its claws and started casting again.

Pain screamed through my side as its claws tore through my shirt, leaving long, bloody trenches across my ribs.

I twisted to the side, forcing them to get close to each other if they wanted to attack, and let loose with another Spark Lance.

I grinned through the pain. Apparently, the explosion from one Spark Lance could actually injure another creature if it was close enough. That was useful.

I backed up, dodging and parrying as I cast three more Spark Lances.

One of them went down. Only one left.

I started casting again.

It knew my pattern by now. Cast. Parry. Dodge. Spark Lance. I'd done the same thing three times in a row. Almost exactly.

So when I started casting again, it didn't swipe at me with its claws.

It rushed me instead.

I was hoping it was smart enough to pick up on my pattern. Apparently, it was. I thrust with my sword instead of raising it to parry, letting its momentum carry it straight onto my blade.

Still, it tried to claw me.

I hit it with another Spark Lance, right in the face.

Its weight shifted as it collapsed, tearing the blade from my hand.

I toppled over beside it, the pain from my new wounds searing through me.

I tried to catch my breath as I felt the ground beneath me grow muddier with blood.

Footsteps came crashing through the forest.

I propped myself against a tree trunk, readied another Spark Lance, and raised my empty hand where my sword should have been.

The blonde woman from the Adventurer's Guild burst through the thick underbrush. “You!” she shouted in surprise. Then she noticed the blood. She dropped to her knees and immediately began casting a spell.

Warm green light suffused my body, glowing brighter around my wounds.

She cast it again. The same warm light washed over me.

That brought me up to ten Health. One more than I'd started the battle with.

“Thanks,” I said, giving her a smile.

She looked over her shoulder. “It's okay, Ami. He isn't going to hurt us.”

The dwarven woman stepped out of the underbrush, looking dirty and covered in blood.

I wasn't entirely sure whose blood it was.