"Great stabbing, Mar-Mar!" The illusionist called out to her bloodied companion. Perhaps their fighter wasn't as worthless as she had originally thought. She would share those thoughts with the human later.

"We've got to keep running!" Zina shouted as she ran back over to Argonox, and more importantly his horse. "Onwards?" She asked, offering up her hand.

Having dispatched of the last of the orcs, Pettilaen sighed out of relief. It wasn't a hard battle, for him, at least, but the situation they were in was dire, albeit slowly easing up on the group. Thanks for the mercy, Ilmater.

"Can't stop now!" he melodically called out to the group, jumping up in the air and clacking the heels of his shoes together before continuing to sprint west. He loved spazzledazzling.

He also wanted to see how the Hellriders were fairing. Coming to a hard stop, he looked at Mara with a wry smile. "Hey, Mara. Good fighting. Uhh... Can I climb on your shoulders? I wanna see how the Hellriders are doing."

Kanon roars victoriously as Mara dispatches the last of the orcs, "Great job, everyone!" He's quick to continue their retreat west though, and is curious as to the Hellrider's progress as well. 

"What do you see, Petti?" He asks between breaths. 

Portia brought up the rear of the group, but as soon as all the orcs were down she had rushed west like everyone else. She let her spiritual hammer linger for the short duration it had left and thankfully nothing else showed up for a fight.

Hopefully Petty did not overburden Mara too long while having Gaia do a quick look around. Porta still had some spell power, but would save that for healing if they ran into anything else before they could find a place to hunker down for the night. A night without a fire so nothing could see them from miles away in this mostly open land. On a good note they could tell Candlekeep a well organized company of the enemy still controlled the area. Maybe that message could be sent to the Gate so the core of Beregost would also know. She hoped the Hellriders were not doing something stupid.

Pettilaen shuddered as he climbed on top of her. His leg was wet, and he figured it was due to her blood. Deep breaths, Pettilaen. He focused his thoughts, merging minds with Gaia, and looked through her eyes.

Bloodshed. Screams. Fighting. The Hellriders were carving through the orcs, continuing to push eastward to the commanding group. Well, at least they're still up and standing. The thought gave him hope, until he saw the hundred or so orcs begins to turn away from following the Hellriders and heading west. 

Well, braeg.

Continuing to maintain his eyesight and hearing with Gaia, he called out, his voice particularly louder than average. "We got a hundred or so orcs who've lost interest and are beginning to turn and head in our direction!" Pettilaen looked around, trying to see if there was a place to hide. The orcs they encountered moved much faster than the group, and they might need to hide if he notices this new, much larger, group running after them.

"We can make for the forest!" Kanon suggested as he continued his run. He was tiring quickly. If they kept this up, they'd be too tired to fight when the Orcs eventually caught up to them. He makes a mental note to pick up a few spells that will allow an escape from armies of orcs. "Or we can slow our pace and prepare for a fight..." He says this hesitantly, but they were able to take out the last group fairly easily. Maybe they can take on a hundred? 

Riding with Argonox, Zina glanced behind her and saw the incoming horde. They could not hope to best the hundred orcs, nor could they truly outrun them. The illusionist waved her hand and cast Minor Illusion, creating a horrifying screech of a dragon and a five foot tall pillar of flame coming from the tree line. "Oh no, there's a horrible dragon in the trees," she cried out. Not a very good actress, her words were unconvincing.

Portia looked around wondering what trees and forest they were talking about . She shrugged. Obviously someone noted the dozen orcs that were to mop them up had not reported in yet. Actually looking about, the only thing they had to block the orc's view from seeing them was the low rolling hills.

"Left! Go in the low ground around this hill. It should block their view for a bit. Head somewhat south of west."

Portia looked at the sky having some idea which way to go by the stars. She had lived in Beregost as long as she could remember and nothing she knew of beyond a god could change where the constellations hung in the sky.

Kanon could have swore the Hellriders camped near a forest... his mind must have been playing tricks on him. Either that or they ran far enough to leave the forest behind them. He follows Portia's lead as she veers left for a dip in the hill. Perhaps if they followed the dip southward it would buy the group even more time. 

"It's not a good day to die, you ****," Zina grumbled, grabbing Mara and tugging at her arm. "It's never a good day to die. I've just started to be able to stand you, I'm not letting you leave now." 

"Braeg'fol!" Pettilaen screamed in his mind. She's not dying this easily. He called out, "Zina! When you see the dragon raise its head, weave an illusion of a dragon roaring!" He didn't have time to explain anything past that. "Everyone! Get down into that dip in the hills. Argonox! Get off your horse and send it away from us and the orcs. Do it all now!" Argonox, dismayed and confused at the tiny gnome's plan, dismounted and slapped in the butt away from the group, travelling south.

From the slight dip inbetween the hills, weaving his hands in an intricate pattern, he uttered the arcane incantation for Silent Image, visualizing Mara transforming into a great, gold dragon. Her eyes glowed, glittering like emeralds in the sunlight. Thousands of gold scales shimmered in the sun as her face bore a wicked snarl towards the incoming orcs; ivory teeth bared like a row of daggers, showing a glimpse of the terror hidden inside. A fan-like crest of spikes slid down her backside, merging into her massive, curved wings. The wings meld seamlessly into the fan-like crests of spikes which run down her tail as she viciously lashes it behind her. Four thick limbs carry her body, each limb adorned with several digits, and each digit ending in a wickedly-curved talon.

All-in-all, a terrible beast, and one that Pettilaen hoped would suffice for his plan. He caused the dragon to rear back its head and roar as loud as Zina could make her spell.

Zina's own illusion joined Pettilaen's dragon, causing the beast to roar and send out a plume of fire. She allowed that illusion to dissipate and ducked into the dip in the hills, creating yet another illusion above them. It looked as if the ground continued on over them, moving upwards instead of downwards.

She really hoped Pettilaen wasn't a complete idiot.

This... was a terrible idea. A group of rampaging orcs might just see this dragon as a challenge to overcome! They were prepared to ravage a small army of Hellriders. Just hiding in the ravine might have been good enough, why did we have to add a dragon into the mix!?

Because this would make an epic story, his mind told him. So Kanon falls in line with the rest of the group, gasping as he tries to catch his breath. "We're going to die here!" He says, "Just one orc has to stop and wonder why the dragon isn't attacking and we're doomed!"

He set his mind to the plan instead of continuing the argument... if any of them stop to investigate, he would cast Shatter on that group. Now all they could do was make this illusion even more realistic, and maybe a blast of sound and the explosion of any nearby boulders would help. 

Zina's final touches on Pettilaen's illusion made the illusion perfect. Before the orcs, their prey had turned into raging dragon, roaring loudly into the air and spewing forth fire. Pettilaen could only smile, his eyes becoming teary as he saw the orc group, only a hundred or so yards away, promptly turn around and run off east back toward the rest of their allies as they shrieked and screamed in fear. He could only imagine what the ground surrounding them smelt like.

Pettilaen closed his eyes, letting out a deep sigh as he realized what had come. Salvation. Ilmater's mercy had shown on them, and he was the vessel of his bloodied hands. His allies were safe. As much as they doubted in him, Pettilaen knew himself and knew the luck Tymora shined on him, coupled with Ilmater's grace, could get him through anything. He collapsed to the ground within their illusion, exhausted, as the adrenaline quickly faded from his body.

OOC: Natural 20 on Deception to convince the orcs the illusion was real.

"Holy Hells Pettilaen!!" Kanon reaches over and scoops the gnome up in a hug, "It worked! You've been kissed by Tymora!" He sets the gnome down gently and watches as the orcs scatter, keeping out of sight. "We should move now, yeah? Keep running?" He asks. The thought of running again made his legs quake, but they had to keep moving. The orcs were still too close. This was going to make an epic story. One that will be sung in taverns forever! 

"Shhhhh," Zina quieted Kanon, more loudly than he had spoken. "We should wait here until they're out of sight, then make our escape."