"This is a long shot, northman. A bindstone in the middle of a Cult village, and we're supposed to just swan in there, kill everyone, and take it over? It all sounds vaguely suicidal. And that's supposing we're not killed by gnolls first, which I personally..."

"Come on, Linetha," I interrupted, in a slightly more exasperated tone than intended. "We've discussed this already, and besides, don't you think the men are frightened enough as it is?" I nodded towards young Will Stoneham from Mercia , who recently fired three arrows at a passing squirrel while yelling "They're here! They're here! oh."

The 'they' in question were gnoll tribesmen, who dominated the forest-clad wilderness we were traveling through. Driven from their hunting grounds in the central Tribelands, gnolls still linger in the peripheries, nursing an implacable hatred for their conquerors. Though more primitive and less physically intimidating than the mahirim, they possess great ferocity and finely-honed hunting instincts.

Travelling through gnoll-infested lands was dangerous, I knew, but there were good reasons for risking it. The word among Cult sympathizers in Red Moon, was that a group of worshippers had discovered a long-forgotten bindstone in the southern Tribelands, and that they were building a stronghold around it. If I could verify this rumour, the information would be worth a lot of money to the right people in the right clans.

According to my calculations, my crew was strong enough to get me through gnoll territory and to the gates of the Cult stronghold, where they would all die horribly, while I sneaked off to look for the bindstone. I would only feel marginally bad about this, since I had carefully selected the worst thugs that could be dredged up in Red Moon, and won them over with visions of using the bindstone to found a bandit clan in the wilderness.

"But Torgrim," Linetha continued, after we had walked in blessed silence for all of five minutes, "is it true that gnolls hunt in packs that are several dozen strong, and that they can smell fear over long distances?" My friend Linetha was fully aware of what the real plan was, but she seemed incapable of leaving the poor henchmen alone,

"Nah, those gnolls are overrated," I lied, while giving Linetha the evil eye. "They're nothing but jumped-up hyenas with rudimentary tools and anger issues. Plus we've been hiding our tracks very carefully all day, and they'll never detect..."

"They're here! They're here!" Will Stoneham interrupted, firing an arrow into the undergrowth.

"Oh shut up, you moron," I snapped, "it's only -"

The forest on two sides of us came alive with spears and movement, and I realized that we had walked - babblingly - into an ambush.

1) Gnoll club
2) Gnoll spear
3) Cult of the Moon-Beast shield
4) The Cultist scythe is only used by officers
5) Spear used by Cult infantry
6) Cultist halberd

--

With fur-covered bodies and a hunched posture, the gnolls looked like recent and slightly reluctant bipeds. Their ugly, dog-like faces were dominated by impressive sets of pointed teeth, which were being eagerly displayed by our six ambushers. Five of them wore nothing more than ragged loincloths over their own ragged and unkempt fur, while a sixth individual - currently barking commands on the right flank - was wearing some sort of homemade hide armor.

After unleashing a volley of heavy spears, the gnolls charged toward us, snarling and barking as they advanced. Two of my bandit crew were injured, but neither of them had gone down. "Stand firm, men!" I encouraged, "We can deal with these dogs!" I hoped that my relatively spineless henchmen would fight rather than flee, if nothing else then because escape was obviously futile.

Crashing through the undergrowth, one of the gnolls barked as it swung a primitive, nail-studded club towards my head. Its black eyes shone, and the stripe of hair along its spinal ridge bristled with eagerness. I successfully parried the blow, but became unbalanced in the process - clearly, these gnolls were stronger than their relatively lean limbs indicated. I cursed under my breath.

Taking a single step backwards, I raised my sword to meet a second blow from the gnoll, who was grinning viciously by now, probably sensing that he had the advantage. This time I had the measure of him, however, and I stood firm as sword met spike-clad club. Without delay, I took a half step to the left and followed up the Parry with a Riposte maneuver, sinking my sword into the gnoll's exposed left shoulder.

Meanwhile, to my left, Linetha was dodging spears and clubs while casting a spell of some kind. A tall and raven-haired mirdain, she moved with speed and assured gracefulness as she dodged blows with apparent ease, while simultaneously invoking magic in a steady voice. Like many mirdain spellcasters, she wore a green silken robe and wielded a long staff made of two intertwining ash branches. A simple silver circlet held her long hair in place as she suddenly stopped and lifted her staff to the sky; her yellow eyes lit up as she spoke the final word of her incantation.

A ray of lightning shot from her left hand and into one of the gnolls on the left flank. Seeming to travel straight through him, the lightning arced onward and struck a second, very surprised gnoll, before discharging into a medium-sized boulder behind him. The second gnoll fell instantly, and soon lay smoldering and twitching on the forest floor. The first gnoll was made of sterner stuff, however, and just shook its frizzled head as it charged towards Linetha.

The gnoll in front of me appeared to be distracted by all the electrical activity and I gambled on a Mighty Blow, thrusting my broadsword point first towards his belly. The sword sunk in deep, and even as he yelped in pain and surprise, I knew that my opponent was mortally wounded.

Perhaps slightly distracted myself, I had failed to notice the armor-wearing gnoll approach on my left. The Mighty Blow had left me open for attack, and his rusty sword sliced into my shoulder, its rough edge ripping off flesh. I shouted in pain and anger as I turned towards him, lifting my shield to protect the injured flank.

"You hairy bastard," I offered, as I swung my sword towards him. Realising that insults wouldn't help much, I began casting the Hymn of the Sword, am advanced chanting spell I had learned from an Order of the Crescent master in Red Moon. As the Hymn took effect, I felt my blows grow harder, swifter and more precise. A stupid grin gradually stiffened on the face of my opponent as I drove him on the defensive.

I risked a swift glance to my left, just in time to see Linetha smash her staff into the side of a gnoll's head. The Lightning Bolt survivor lay dead already, in a messy, furry heap next to her present opponent. Smiling to myself, I refocused on my own gnoll, and just before the effect of my Hymn of the Sword ended, I managed a slashing blow to the side of his neck, almost decapitating him.

In the meantime Linetha had dispatched of her third gnoll for the day, with some help from one of the hired help. To their credit, the other henchmen had managed to kill the final gnoll, but three of them had died in the process. Still, if we could avoid any further gnoll encounters, I believed that we remained strong enough to reach and breach the Cult stronghold.

"Let me have a look at that," Linetha said, indicating my wounded shoulder. In addition to the Air Magic impressively advertised by her recent Lightning Bolt, Linetha was a master of Divine Magic. As she began casting another spell, I recognized the familiar first few words of a True Heal spell.

--

Fearing that the dead gnoll tribesmen would be missed by nightfall, we marched quickly for the rest of the day. As the last rays of sun filtered through the autumn leaves of the forest, we chanced upon a small clearing. While we were approaching it, however, Linetha suddenly signaled for the rest of us to wait and be silent. Indicating that she'd heart something, she ducked down and moved carefully towards the clearing's edge. After peering out through the undergrowth for a short while, she waved me closer, but ordered the henchmen to remain hidden. With great care, I crawled - as soundlessly I could - towards Linetha and the vantage point.

Peering out onto the leaf-covered clearing, I saw a mahirim flaying a deer less than thirty meters away from us. Half hidden by bushes and tall grass, he worked quickly and efficiently, finishing the job without appearing to notice us. Then he rose and put his hunting knife away. Looking about him and sniffing the air heavily, he then walked gingerly eastwards, still oblivious of our presence. I must admit to being quite relieved: Even if this mahirim hunter didn't appear to be a Cultist, his reaction to encountering a group of humans within his territory was unpredictable, to say the least.

--

Early the next morning, we saw the spike-clad palisades of the Cult stronghold rise in the distance. Walking quietly along a rocky ridge, we approached as carefully as we could, moving from cover to cover among fall-coloured trees and boulders. Suddenly, a tall shape rose from the rocky folds of the ridge to our left, holding its palm up for shade and peering in our general direction. Clearly, we had stumbled onto a Cultist sentry point. Signaling for the men to get down, I dove for cover behind a bush to my right. Keeping absolutely still, I held my breath as I listened intently. Within seconds, I heard approaching footfalls from the direction of the ridge.

As I rose from cover, I drew my sword and began to chant a Hymn of Swiftness. Somewhere behind me, I heard that Linetha was already casting what sounded like a Bless spell. I turned towards the approaching enemy, and immediately saw that our ragged little outfit had a serious challenge on our hands: Five big Cult warriors were closing in quickly, weapons at the ready. Casting a glance towards the stronghold, I saw that a fifth guard was on his way to raise the alarm. If we were to have any chance of getting through this, we would have to dispatch of our opponents quickly.

The Cult of the Moon-Beast seeks to return the Tribelands to a primitive past, and the approaching guards were equipped with the weapons and armor of pre-prophet mahirim culture. They wore light hide armor and wielded spears as well as crescent-bladed halberds. Like all mahirim, they were heavily muscle-bound, despite standing stood close to 230 cm. tall, and they moved with a self-assured determination that probably comes naturally to a race of half-giant predators. The evil grins on their faces indicated that they didn't rate seven humans as much of a challenge.

I felt a surge of speed as the Hymn took effect, and almost simultaneously, my senses were sharpened by Linetha's Bless. I dodged a well-aimed spear, and ran towards the Cultist who had thrown it. He grinned and readied his halberd as I charged, and I grinned right back at him. To my right, raw fear marked the face of a henchman as he barely managed to deflect a halberd blow from an advancing Cultist.

Concealing my magically enhanced speed until the last moment, I struck with a swiftness that surprised the cultist. My sword sunk into his shoulder, and as blood gushed from a deep wound, the Cultist barked out his surprise. Wincing in pain, he still kept both hands on the halberd as he swung it in a broad arc towards me. I read the move, and easily sidestepped the cluster of crescent-shaped blades. I tried to drive home my advantage by stabbing my sword into his flank, but the mahirim had adjusted to my speed by now, and he dexterously dodged my attack.

In the meantime, one of the henchmen circled opportunistically around my opponent, and now tried to stab him between the shoulder blades. Somehow, the Cultist had noticed the approach, however, and without even looking, he swung his halberd toward the henchman, while simultaneously walking leftwards, getting some distance between himself and me. Through luck, skill or both, his heavy, crescent-bearing halberd smashed into the side of the henchman's skull, splitting it open. The would-be backstabber's eyes went blank and he collapsed to the ground like a rag doll.

"Well done, Rusty," I complimented, while striking my final blow before the Hymn of Swiftness wore off. Fortunately, my opponent was still open for attack following his blow against the unlucky henchman. I struck his left leg with some force, and the Cultist lost his balance and tumbled to the ground. The evil grin had long since disappeared from his face, and I caught a brief glimpse of fear as I drove my blade through his throat.

I turned around in time to see Linetha send a Lightning Bolt towards a Cultist who was leaning over a recently fallen henchman. The Bolt crackled with electricity as it sped towards its target, and the sound thunder boomed in the same instant as it hit the Cultist, who was flung head-over-heels by the blast. Already injured by sword and arrow, the mahirim outlaw stayed down. Another, already slain Cultist lay close to him, smoking faintly with the after-effects of some spell unleashed by Linetha. That was the good news, the bad news was that my mirdain friend was bleeding quite heavily from several wounds. "I'm out of mana," she shouted," nodding towards the final cultist. Cleary, he was mine to deal with.

Realising that time was short, I charged towards our final opponent. He swung an already bloodstained halberd towards me as I came within reach, but I ducked just in time, and avoided decapitation by a hair's breadth. My momentum carried me forward, and I tried to gut-stab the slightly off-balance mahirim. He stepped nimbly aside, however, and immediately swung his halberd once more, cutting my left flank quite badly with one of its scimitar-like blades. I failed to suppress a gasp of pain, but gritted my teeth and tried to keep concentrated.

Realising that I was in trouble, I decided to gamble on a Daze Strike, even though a failed attempt could prove fatal. I noticed that Linetha had started to advance with her gnarled staff at the ready, even though she was badly injured. "Stay back!" I shouted as I prepared to dodge the Cultist's next attack while at the same time looking for a Daze opportunity.

Grinning maliciously, the Cultist swung his axe down towards my ridiculously exposed head. I took a short step backwards and, timing it perfectly, felt a breath of air as the crescent blades dove past, centimeters away from my forehead. As the Cultist sank his halberd into the ground, I had my opening, and smashed the flat blade of my sword against the side of his skull. I saw the mahirim's eyes become unfocused, and knew that the Daze Strike had been successful.

Determined to follow up quickly and make the opportunity count, I swung my sword against the Cultist's skull once more - edge forward this time. My blow struck true, and blood spattered down the side of the mahirim's face as he woke from his Daze-induced stupor. But it was too late: I had already swung another, fatal blow - driving my sword through his torso. The last of our opponents fell limply to the ground.

Casting a glance towards and the Moon-Beast stronghold, I waved Linetha towards me. "Quickly," I urged, "we have to get moving before reinforcements arrive." I used my Cover Tracks skill as we half-ran towards the forest.

--

When we were healed and (in Linetha's case) magically recharged, we once more approached the palisades of the Cult stronghold. Having used a several Invisibility scrolls, we managed to sneak undetected past several Cultist patrols, even though there were a couple of close shaves and plenty of suspicious sniffing of the air.

Even though many of the Cultists were out looking for us by now, the entrance to the stronghold was still heavily guarded. Spear-wielding mahirim looked down from parapets, while two attentive-looking Cultists guarded the entrance itself. Knowing that the latest Invisibility spell wouldn't last forever, we waited nervously for an opportunity to sneak into the complex.

With time running out, an opportunity finally arose. A returning patrol of five Cultists approached the entrance quickly, and the guards stood aside and saluted them as they marched through. One of the Cultists, who appeared to be some kind of officer, wore studded leather armor and wielded two viciously curving scythes, rather than the halberds carried by his subordinates. I gave Linetha a tap on the shoulder, and we slipped into the wake of the returning patrol, following them unnoticed past the guards and into the stronghold.

Half a dozen buildings stood inside, but two of them appeared to still be under construction. The wooden houses were structurally similar to those built by ordinary mahirim, but here the roofs appeared to be uniformly thatched, and the lower sections of walls were protected by close-leaning stone fences. I noticed that large trees had been allowed to stand within the stronghold's walls, and that several hide tents stood next to one wall.

As the patrol continued towards a large building in the far end of the complex, we sneaked behind the far wall of a building to our right. We reached cover just in the nick of time: as we rounded the corner, Linetha popped into view as our spells wore out. Saving the last couple of Invisibility scrolls for our exit, we crouched as we moved on between the building's wall and the palisade, trying to remain unnoticed while looking for signs of the rumoured Bindstone.

As we were about to round the corner, Linetha gestured urgently for me to stop and be silent. Her sharp ears had picked up the soft sounds of approaching feet. I leaned against the wall and held my breath, pondering the fact that, if we were discovered here, we would be in very bad trouble indeed. I caught a glimpse of an armor-clad mahirim female, and breathed a sigh of relief as she passed us by and continued towards a well in the southeastern corner of the settlement.

After watching her disappear, we risked a peek around the corner, towards the building-free heart of the settlement. And there it was: the Bindstone stood in the exact center of the stronghold, right next to the trunk of a large, autumn-clad tree. It was a relatively unassuming stone pillar, less than two meters tall, and crowned by a row of short, horn-like spikes. Clearly, the Moon-Beast worshippers had not managed to activate the Bindstone yet, since a functioning stone would have been a rather more spectacular and colorful sight.

"There it is! I whispered to Linetha. "That's a Bindstone, if I ever saw one. Now get those Invisibility scrolls going, and let's get out of here while we still have heads on our shoulders."

Less than five minutes later, we were moving swiftly northward through the Tribelands forest.