Cipher left the meeting Hall with a very solemn face. He had thought that the team that Rahz was putting together was suppose to do regular missions like guard duty or some light hunting that the other teams were doing but listening to what was going on he knew he was now part of something more.
Rahz decided to leave that same night and started moving towards the border without anyone noticing that he was missing. Sometimes in order to fool an enemy, you have to be able to fool a friend. The team travel light and used the trees to cover their tracks a little bit as it was now a war and the FrostWolf rangers were extremely skilled in tracking.
It was the first day of winter and the first snow of the season was falling on the four shadows that were advancing through the trees. Rahz Kobold fur was quickly getting cover in snow and Elune had a Russian hat on that made her look pretty sophisticated despite the fact that they were running at amazing speeds. Arne led the pack and was accustomed to light leather armor for maximum mobility, last but not least Cypher brought up the rear in a massive bear coat.
The snow was getting thicker and thicker and that help to conceal them from their own Barbarian scouts.
After a few hours of travel, the team finally arrived at the designated area of operations and set up a quick camp at the top of pretty wide tree while Arne set up a perimeter and went around asking the patrols for any information they had about Orcs attacks in the area.
The team had just arrived into the Red Zone so the first order of business before moving into enemy territory was to make sure that their own side was safe from Orc influence. While Arne did his thing, the rest of the team were receiving a very nice package from Elune. Even though the materials were of low quality the recipes available to her via the Witch Doctor were massive. Each and everyone received a Health Potion, and Elixir depending on their forte Rahz received a Strength Elixir that double his Strength for 10 seconds and finally and speed potion that increased their running speed by 10% in case they need it to run away from imminent danger.
Cypher was amazed at the abilities of Elune and was glad she was a friend and not a foe as having those potions brought an indescribable advantage to whoever had them.
Arne came back at the early hours of the morning and relayed the information of the latest attacks and the groups that had suffer. After the big incident, the patrols started sending people in pairs to the border to do their rounds and a few had been tap by an arrow or two but nothing really severed like the last case.
According to reports the majority of the opposition seem to be Orcs but one patrol was swearing that they saw a few weird races trying to ambush a couple of people a few days before.
Rahz thought about it carefully and settled in heading towards the place with the least lethal attacks to start from there. It was true that the truly high Level individuals from each side would not appear often in the scrimmages but it was important to assess first hand the strength of the other powers, if they could get a couple of the sons of some important figures it would drive the other party into not thinking clearly.
The party arrived at the first zone made out of about 40 miles half of which belonged to Helgahvall and the other 20 belonged to the Frostwolves. The first thing they did thanks to Arne's suggestion was to take over the job of one of the patrols and see if they could hook a couple of fishes while Arne's tracked their position.
The original group patrolling the zone were pretty eager to concede their shifts as they still accomplished their duty while taking a break. Since the group didn't want to raise any suspicions, Rahz and Cypher took on the shift while Elune was responsible for the Healing Wards in case an arrow was trying to find its way into one of their skulls.
With the plan set, the team started their stakeout and very soon they realized it was pretty boring as nothing happened for the first 3 days and specially Elune had fallen asleep on duty various times. The only positive was that the Basilisk egg was showing signs of Hatching.
Arne kept on searching for the enemy teams but it wasn't until the 5th day that he discovered a Frostwolf Level 13 roaming around the area seemingly following a scent. Rangers had special bonds with their pets and had abilities that could allow them to communicate with them across long distances or see through their eyes in certain occasions.
Arne thought about it and decided not to take action against the wolf, instead he disappeared from his spot and let Rahz know there might be a chance. The distance between the wolf and Rahz was about one mile and whoever was behind the creature was probably another mile away, the problem was in which direction.
Rahz was alerted to the incoming threat but in order for the entrapment to work they had to act as normal as possible.
The wolf came within 500 feet and stopped in his tracks while it communicate that he had found Two Barbarians close by. Almost three miles away two Orcs were sitting down eating a piece of meat talking about how they were going to earn enough war credit to become an elder in the village and how their battle prowess was going to impress the more popular single woman in the village.
"Get ready, Khan found a patrol of two Bear Coats a close distance from here. If you want those merits this is your chance, last time you guys fail to finish the ones that I wounded how can you possibly think in getting top women."
"Those cowards ran from the fight!!! We thought they had Honor and would fight to the death!!! you can't blame that on us!!"
...
The Ranger was a little perplex but what could he expect from two Muscle head Berserkers. The three Orcs quickly made way towards the Frostwolf and as soon as they arrived they could see the footprints on the snow covered ground. It was quite obvious that there were only two but as soon as they arrived beside the Wolf the ranger started to feel anxious. Animals were always more sensitive to danger than humanoid creatures and something was spooking Kahn but he didn't know what it was.
The Orcs followed the foot prints and when they were 50 feet away from their prey, they split up in a predetermined formation and waited for the Ranger to use his skills to start the fight. Once they were in position, the ranger activated the skill Glimpse which granted the Ranger's eyes magical acuteness as well as the skill Penetrating Arrow, by feeding Energy to the arrow it increased its penetrating power allowing it to go through Strengthen Defense and if the levels were too far apart it could also go through a Shaman's ward.
Penetrating Arrow was a great skill to start a fight while the prey was not aware of what was about to happen. However, it had its disadvantages as it require a few seconds to empower the arrow and in a heated encounter a few seconds was all the opponent need it to end it.
The Ranger empowered the arrow to the max and like Rahz's Cyclone it could be done three times. The arrow zoomed in Rahz direction and was aim to the most vulnerable spot, the back of the head. As soon as the arrow left the bow, the wind resistance created a buzzing sound that was heard by the two Berserker that sprang into action.
The arrow was extremely fast and 1 second after it was launched, it had already arrived at its destination.
Through Glimpse the Ranger was able to accurately see that his aim had been true and was expecting brain matter to leak out of that Barbarian's skull but instead what happen next send a chill down his spine.