Amid the chaos churning around them, the tallest spider beast and Marcus, the Magus’ apprentice, gazed into each other. Each seemed to be waiting for the other to make the first move, having identified what appeared to be their most pressing threat, but both entities were still. Watching.

Stunned by a arcane assault of fire, one of its small minions had been unable to fend off an attack from a furious Aretan knight. A pass of steel tore open a greenish gash across one of its weight bearing legs, bringing the creature hurtling into the ground. The end of its limb had been cracked open enough to snap at what could be called its ‘ankle’.

A scythe-arm swung outward for the Knight, but missed in its panic. One of the Ytharien dashed forward to take advantage of this opening, driving a shortspear into a fleshy patch between chitin plates, but the shaking earth threw him off of his feet. Though a spear protruded from its thorax, the spider beast raised its bladed limb and ended its newest attacker.

The tallest creature slid away without a care as the Knight then accosted the mage, having no apparent interest in the conflict. Its bladed legs traversed the shaking earth easily, unbothered by the thunderous clamor as the very land around them seemed to fall apart.

Almost serene, it moved past the caravan, stepping over its crippled comrade and two elven corpses, and then unfolded all of its limbs to begin ascending the nearby cliff. Shafts of sunlight that pierced through the dustclouds illuminated portions of its carapace, revealing watery, jewel tones. Its aim seemed to be reaching the highest point in the area.

Defending itself against a spray of fire and glowing hot sand, one of the smaller beasts mustered little defense against the leaping elf. Feeling a weight upon its back, the creature reared up, bucked, and spun, its scythe arms swinging wildly in desperation. It was blind to whatever was happening on its back, and seemed unable to reach accurately to defend itself.

Annara had gone to Lothren in an attempt to pull him to safety, but an insectoid leg had knocked her into the cliff wall. She crumpled lifelessly on the ground. Having gotten back to his feet, Aust found himself forced to help either the wizened Ytharien leader or the younger, more fragile human. Cursing himself, he ducked the mayhem to retrieve Annara. 

While the beasts decimated the elves and what remained of the elves focused on other threats, Aust found that all he could do with a human woman in his arms was to escape while he could.

 The other creatures seemed to care little for their injured comrade, and continued to attack what elves had remained to face them. Most of the Ytharien had by now fled the caravan, including the poet dwarf. Only a handful bloodthirsty madmen remained, braving the collapsing earth and attacking either the beasts that had set upon them, or the prisoner they had once sought to preserve.

The leader of the monstrosities had reached the zenith of the cliff, separating itself from the violence. There it lifted the scepter high above its head, and then swing it downward and drove its pummel into the earth. A surge of power flowed into the ground, opening a series of new cracks in the cliff’s face.  What had once been hard rock melted easily into sand. The cliff lost its form and turned soft, collapsing into itself. On its long, able legs, the beast moved on easily as the rockface fell away, opening the caravan to a greater view of plains.

All across the plains, the Viceni desert seemed to be tossing like the sea and sinking away. Through breaks in the sandy clouds, the mountainous horizon that should have been there could no longer be seen.