Ambush - Lion's Way

You have always known Gorion as a quiet, steady presence, an unflappable but - if the truth be known - frequently boring scholar. But when the armored figure steps forward and raises his great sword, you see Gorion in a way you never have before, and the explosion of concealed power is almost as frightening as your circumstances.

A translucent shield surrounds him, and in so doing pushes you back further into the underbrush alongside the road. Behind it, the old man goes to work, the little light on his staff eclipsed by a bright cascade of magic. He doesn't seem to need to speak. Much of his spellcasting is done with a flick of a finger, a lift of his staff. The armored figure's sword glances off the shield, but for a moment Gorion simply ignores his most pressing attacker, focusing on the dark-skinned woman behind him who is aiming a bow at you. Gorion silences her with a gesture, and then gleaming cords twine around her arms and legs, locking her in place. Her eyes roll with rage, but he has already moved on to the other lumbering assassins - a pair of ogres by the look of them. They disappear in a hail of magic missiles, and Gorion hasn't even broken a sweat yet. But the shield around him is beginning to buckle, and the huge figure is laughing while he hacks away with a sword larger than you.

Fire pours from Gorion's hands, spell after spell slipping from his lips. His face grows tense, and under the murderous blows he takes first one step back, then another. At last, with an earsplitting ring, his magical shield collapses, and in the last moment as the figure raises its sword again, Gorion turns - not to run, not to save himself, but to throw out a hand toward you. Your vision blurs, and a sickening sense of motion overtakes you. Dimly, you see the sword fall, and Gorion cut down in one brutal swing, before unconsciousness sinks in.