Hounds Rising

Across the tavern, Rhokhishi swung her hammer at the cook. Her hammer smacked into his shoulder, and she used her excess energy to push him to the side. Every moment counted, and Rhokhishi needed to get across the room to Arric. She could see him in a crumpled pile on the floor. Still determining if he was dead already or still had time, she tried to push past the human and climbed up on the bar.

The triton was standing between her and Arric. He turned and swung his sword at Rhokhishi. Taking her hammer into two hands, she swung and deflected the attack, then thrust forward to shove the head into his stomach, causing him to gasp and lose his breath.

She saw someone moving closer and saw Myla running from table to table. She jumped from the last table and came down on the bar with her daggers in her hands. Rhokhishi watched as Myla smacked the dagger’s pommel across the triton’s face, stabbing the other into his shoulder. Now stuck between the two, the triton did his best to deflect attacks but quickly became overwhelmed. Rhokhishi hit hard with her hammer, and Myla used her daggers to cut and stab. Then, she heard Myla shout while looking over Rhokhishi’s shoulder.

“Lyla!”

Myla took one of her daggers and threw it at her sister. Rhokhishi watched as Lyla used a chair to lift herself into the air, doing a spinning kick, which connected with the dagger. The dagger was deflected and stuck into the hand of the water genasi, causing him to drop his sword and scream out.

Rhokhishi turned back to see Ana lying on the ground, her clothes colored red from her own blood. She was too far away to do anything, and the triton tried to take advantage of the moment. Swinging his sword down on Rhokhishi, she moved carefully out of the way and watched as Myla punched into the back of his head, stunning him and causing his eyes to glaze over momentarily. She could just barely hear Ana shout over the noise.

“Rhokhishi! Myla! Save Arric!”

The cook stood back up, slowly moving towards Ana, sword still in hand. He held his weapon over Ana’s body, who held her hand up weakly to try and stop him.

“I don’t want to hurt anyone, but you’ve left me no choice… Mammoth King, give me your strength!”

Ana brought her pan flute to her mouth and let her weakened breath push through. The sound reminded Rhokhishi of an elephant trumpet, and then the song got louder and louder, almost deafening. She pushed the triton back and looked over again to see Ana’s reddish skin turn brown and fur grow from her body. She grew larger and larger, becoming enormous, and she watched as the spell took hold and transformed her from eladrin to a mammoth.

The mammoth Ana turned and raised her trunk into the air, swinging into the human and throwing him into the wall. The cook dropped to the ground in a heap, and then she turned toward the bar.

“Myla, watch out!” Rhokhishi hollered as Ana lifted her front legs and dropped them on the triton and bar. It shattered the bar right as Rhokhishi and Myla jumped off and away, putting their hands over their heads as wood shot out in an explosion.

Now free of the fight, Rhokhishi rolled herself over to Arric and pressed her hands onto his chest. The blood was still pouring out of his body. She prayed, felt the warmth move to her hands, and started to close the wound. Rhokhishi opened her eyes a moment later to see the halfling’s chest fully healed. Arric gasped, then coughed, as air returned to his lungs.