Samuel had known for a while now that someone was coming after him. It was inevitable really, he had made so many enemies in his short life, the Academy, the Warrior’s Guild, and he’d killed one of the Black Hands best assassins…

Two days into a long chase, Samuel finally found the sort of place he was looking for. His boots splashed through saturated grass and all around him large boulders protruded to the sky, as if worshiping their father mountain far off in the distance. The Ice Mage, dressed in simple robes and furs which met more utilitarian needs than anything else, peered out into the dim-light of a winter’s late-afternoon, the sun just threatening to dip beneath the mountain.

“Here is where I’ll meet him.” Samuel said to himself, slightly worryingly he had taken to talking to himself as of late, though the ramifications of this behaviour had yet to sink into his paranoid mind. Looking around, he took cover between two nestled boulders which obscured most of his body, and began drawing mana to his hand, looking around intently as he did so. His satchel pushed to one side, he slammed his palm directly into the rock beside him, a blue rune suddenly appearing and fading away just as quickly as he did so.

“I’ll kill him.” He muttered, settling down to wait.

(Mana: 85)

The sun was just beginning to raise on the horizon as Haruk marched up the rocky steps of the jagged surface of stone that made up the area many stone formations. There were dozens of them all leaning forward toward the small pond of swampy water in it's center. With the growing shadows reaching out as the sun began to peek from behind mount Freore, Haruk pulled his piwafwi closer around himself as he reached the edged of rocks head. At this vantage point he had a clearer picture of his environment. There were several smaller pools of water littered about the area, with pockets of dry land with tall grass circling the large rocks that jutted from the ground like the teeth of the earth itself.

A strong breeze blow down from the mountain carrying with it the mossy scent of earth. Haruk shielded his sensitive eyes from the sun as he awaited his opponent on the agreed upon battlefield. The time had long since come when the two would discover who was the superior arcanist. Haruk took not that the rock he stood upon was some forty feet from the ground, the cliff face some fifteen feet wide. Adsorbing the landscape he continued to wait.

The problem with a vantage point is it of course works two ways, which isn’t always to the advantage of the one up above if his prey is awaiting his presence and has hidden themselves. Such was the case as Samuel peered out cautiously from his rocky hiding place, peering intently at the mage up high. So this was the man he was going to kill, not even human by the look of him, possibly an elf, dark skin, a Drow?

Samuel had been forced to part with some mana, but as his foe was content to just stand up on top of a cliff he was more than happy to wait around, until his mana was recharged, while he watched him for any sense of casting magic.

(Mana: 90)

Haruk Nhil'olil studied the damp and wet environment of the landscape taking in his surroundings. Haruk made sure to note every cluster of stones in the area and commit them to memory. He marked the best locations in which to cast the spells he had prepared that day, which took him only a few moments. With that done he was already planning his next move. As his challenger had yet to reveal themselves Haruk could only assume he was hiding out and watching.

With his piwafwi and robes concealed from view Haruk cast a simple spell drawing power from the weave, making sure to keep a simple defensive spell in mind if he should need it. The moment the divination spell began the energies of the weave become more attuned to his senses. His eyes now sensitive to magic auras it did not take him long to spot a weak presence of magic some thirteen meters away behind a cluster of rocks.

With no direct sight on his target however he filed away their location as slipped back down the stone face to vanish behind several boulders before seeming to merge with the foliage. If undisturbed and now out of sight Haruk would circle around several other rock formations. His magically enchanted boots producing not so much as a ripple or sound in any puddle of water he slipped across. While his cloak perfectly mimicked his surroundings. All the same he made certain to place as much cover between himself and his target as possible. If the surface human made no move since leaving his own high perch Haruk would stop just 20 feet away behind two larger stone formations. Making sure to put the rising sun behind him.

It was likely the human would become jumpy after losing sight of the drow. His reaction would at least reveal if he was aware of the drow.

Almost immediately after watching the Drow cast a spell and stare directly at his position from his lofty perch Samuel obviously had no intention of sticking around. Moving while the Drow was out of sight, presumably making his way down and around the rock, Samuel sped across the grass with athletic grace. He skirted between rocks and jumped into another position of cover, roughly fifteen feet to the North West of his earlier position when facing the mountain-top.

Samuel paused there, once again in cover with his back to a standing rock roughly twelve feet in height, though it provided scant cover to anything other than the direction of the mountain. Luckily for him, the Drow had decided to place himself in such a way that he had unknowingly made it difficult for him to see the Ice Mage.

Assuming the Drow would be coming soon, Samuel drew his right hand close to his chest and began building up an Arcane Bolt, preparing to launch it and test his opponent’s mettle, so to speak.

(Mana: 95)

Haruk had expected his opponent to start moving after he had lost sight of Haruk. Thankfully his spell made tracking him a simple task. The glowing aura of magic was on the move...then suddenly it split. One aura was moving around to another set of stones, while the other remained where he had last spotted the glow of magic. Could it be some sort of trick? It could be the moving aura was some kind of illusion or trap. Yet it seemed more likely that the stationary aura was some sort of decoy. Did that mean his target somehow knew of his divination spell?

There was only one way to be certain, he would have to draw his foe out of hiding. Manoeuvrings to a position some 30 feet behind where Samuel currently hid, Haruk crouched among a circle of stones 3 feet high. Too his far left was a leaning rock raising 18 feet off the ground, a dozen of those stone lay between him and the magic aura that had stopped moving to his north. Haruk began chanting the arcane words to spell he hoped would get his enemies attention.

With a flourish of his hand it was complete, and a green haze seemed to seep into existence 30 feet above Samuel's hiding spot. As it expanded 20 feet in diameter it took on a darker shade of green. As quite silent as the effect was it was unlikely anyone would even notice unless they had been staring at the sky to begin with. Without warning a drizzle started, before become a powerful downpour that quickly became torrential rain. Unlike normal rain however the drops of liquid melted through stone and charred vegetation. The ground would become muddy and slick in little time, all the while his target would be in danger of being melted alive if they didn't act quickly.

Samuel probably wouldn’t have noticed the Acid Rain, if he was an imbecile. However, a large dark green cloud manifesting itself only thirty feet above one’s head tends to draw the eye, and he was a smart enough mage to know that standing around and waiting to see what happened was likely to be a terrible idea. He burst out from hiding as the first droplets fell around him, one singing his robe and another burning a painful line down his cheek, acid.

Samuel’s run had brought him closer to his enemy, and now he was tired of the foe’s cowardice. The Arcane bolt in his hand was ready as he ran away from the cloud and skirted around a tall rock, spotting a smaller circle of stones which seemed strange to his trained eye. He made no move to assume he had spotted his opponent, but rather crept around the tall rock he was in and looked about rapidly, expecting to see the tell-tale signs of magic from that area but keeping his eyes open in case his intuition had failed him.

(Mana:100)