looked downright giddy about getting to kill stuff.
He shifted his crossbow to his hands, and then moved forward without comment. His Tansya quickly strung her bow in one smooth movement, and then knocked an arrow but didn’t draw yet as they moved forward. They were following April. She’d lead them to the opposite side of the depression and downwind of the enemy.
When they arrived, it didn’t look like a natural depression. A meteor crater perhaps, the overhang on the other end was probably formed as the meteor struck from an angle and dug partially underneath the earth. It was also about two hundred feet across, and twenty feet down.
He nodded to Tansya, then took aim at one of the dire wolves and opened fire.
Tansya’s arrow and a small bolt of flame from Cinder followed quickly, and they struck their targets as well.
His bolt took one in the upper right chest causing it to howl sharply in pain. The wolf’s eyes locked on them and he lunged in their direction, but only made it fifteen feet before collapsing to the ground.
Tansya’s arrow didn’t find a critical area, but the spell she put on it sure did, as the dire wolf simply stiffened and died from the arrow in its flank. Cinder’s fire bolt was probably the most effective, and it cut a six-inch-wide hole completely through the monstrous wolf from chest to tail.
The hill giant roared, and the last three wolves lunged and loped their way. They were standing opposite on the ridge, but it was also the shallowest wall of the depression and a natural ramp. Two hundred feet wasn’t all that far for gigantic monstrous wolves and a twenty-foot-tall giant to traverse, but he had enough time to load one more bolt, aim, and fire.
The wolf he fired at saw it coming of course, and it managed to dodge fast enough to only receive a shallow cut down its side.
Bows were a lot faster on the other hand, as were fireballs, and after taking down a second wolf of their own, his wolf was taken in the throat by Tansya’s third arrow, while a fire bolt from Cinder dug a much larger trench along its side.
All six wolves were down and dead as he shifted away his crossbow and shifted his bastard sword and shield to his hand and left arm. He also set off the earth cantrip and channeled some of his magic and transmuted it to put a strong earth shield around his body.
They had the high ground, but the twenty-foot-tall giant still towered over them as it got in melee range.
Tansya got off another arrow, but it bounced off the giant’s skin, leaving a tiny red mark behind. That wasn’t going to work, so she re-shouldered her bow as she grabbed her staff and fanned to the right.
The giant took a massive overhand swing that whistled his way, the damned club was bigger than he was, but he managed to dodge to the side. The club hit his shield with a glancing blow, but it was the earth magic shield that saved him from being slammed to the ground and crushed even by that slight contact. It still knocked him on his ass and sent him rolling, which hurt, but it didn’t break any bones.
He grunted and sent more magic into the shield as he rolled to his feet and lunged. His bastard sword barely penetrated the giant’s leg as he rolled underneath it.
Tansya’s staff glowed a leafy green color as she launched her magic at the giant, at the same time Cinder cackled and shot a fire blast at the giant’s chest from a sharp angle. The fire dug into its chest, but not nearly far enough to reach the heart. Tansya’s spell sunk into the giant’s body, but it seemed to have no immediate effect.
He lifted his sword, and he streamed a large amount of magic as he fired a lightning bolt straight up, and directly into the giant’s dangling bits.
The giant roared in excruciating agony.
He rolled back and to the side, as the giant lifted his foot and tried to stomp him.
The giant swung the club up, its frustrated eyes focused on Cinder, no doubt with the intention to swing it down and turn her into paste, but the club slipped from its fingers and went flying backwards. The giant grunted in confusion, looked at his hand, then his whole body seized up and he fell backwards onto his ass.
He jumped up on