[color=a187be][i][b][center]Annabeth Gulch[/center][/b][/i][/color]

Snatching Colette away from the clutches of the Roc Annabeth put a protective arm around the vampire. It was a bumpy ride and while Eural was doing his best to get away from the roc, there was only so much he could do with two spooked horses. [color=a187be]"Hang on tight Colette!"[/color] Letting go of the vampire Annabeth tried to load another bolt into the balista. however the roc was way too fast, even on foot; right as she was about to crank the bolt into position the roc slammed against the wagon and sent the bolt out of the balista, and nearly knocking over the wagon. Annabeth was knocked to her feet but luckily managed to stay on the wagon. [color=a187be]"Damn! I can't reload if that roc is on our tail!"[/color] Briefly, Annabeth thought about taking her sword out and stabbing the creature. But she stopped herself right as she hand her hand on the hilt. Even if she had stable footing that roc could very well snap her sword right out of her hand, leaving her defenseless. And even if she was quick enough not to be disarmed, she doubt her blade could pierce the naturally tough hide of a roc. She'd have to stab it in it's eye, which wasn't the easiest target to hit right now.

But that's when Annabeth realized that she didn't need to hit the eye; she just needed to make sure it was looking at her. [color=a187be]"Colette, call your demon back and close your eyes! Things are about to get bright."[/color] Positioning herself so that her body was between Colette and the Roc, Annabeth unsheathed her war axe and hurled it at the roc. It bounced off it's head without any notable harm, but it did get it's attention at least. Taking a deep breath Annabeth focused the archanite flowing through her body. A practiced spell, one that she used with Ssarak and Satori all the time. She used it in the midst of sparing and even against Satori's illusions. But those were just training; it was safe. Here there was real danger. Annabeth was scared. If she messed up this spell not only could she die, but Colette and Eural too. But that was all the more reason why she couldn't fail now. Before, training with Satori and Ssarak, Annabeth held back because she didn't want to risk hurting herself. But now she had to go all the way to make sure that no one else was hurt. Annabeth was scared, but she couldn't be a coward right now. Looking the roc directly in it's eye she raised her hand at it.

[color=a187be]"Let there be LIGHT!"[/color]

Then from the palm of Annabeth's hand, a blinding light emerged and shined right into the face of the Roc. Annabeth focused a measurable amount of her mage blood into this simply flash spell in order to get the most out of it. She needed to blind the roc, stun it, to give them time to reload the balista and get ready for round two. [color=a187be]"Eural, see if we can lead the Roc into the forest. We have to cut down it's mobility!"[/color]

[i][b][center]Caravan Mission[/center][/b][/i]

The only thing the bandits had going for them was archery to counteract Alaira's savagery. The big bandit was going to rely on their range support to trap Alaira while he gets his men back in line for battle. But things quickly went badly for him when, out from the skies, a dragon swooped down. Actually it was Ssarak, but as if the bandit was expecting an eysire of all things to show up. First Alaira arrived as a humanoid thunderbolt, and now a dragon man came in and just killed one of the crossbowmen. The big bandit turned to look at the one in the tower, only to see him cut down by a Yarosmere swordsman. 

"Fuck."

The bandits (Or at least the ones who didn't get brained by Alaira at this point) were finally in a state of mind ready to fight, but were in for even more of a shock when they saw the big bandit make a run for it, throwing his weapons away to lessen his burden. With more than half of their forces gone in less than a minute the big bandit knew better than to stay and fight. Even if the last two bandits could survive just five more minutes, the big bandit had no doubt that Ssarak and Alaira were going to double team him, and once he goes down the other bandits were going to be cleaned up. So he cut his loses and ran for his life. The other bandits followed suit.

The camp was now filled with dead, dying, or pretending to be dead but very hurt bandits. The surface camp had little of interest aside from food supplies and sleeping gear. It seemed like whatever cargo they had stolen from caravans in the past has been moved on. The weapons from the bandits were fairly mundane, however there was a glowing rune on the axe of the big bandit. It's purpose was questionable, it may even just be ornamental. Either way however it wasn't over for the caravan group. They had succeeded in defeating one of the robed men and the bandits covering the surface, but now they had to enter the Ravine entrance and fine out what was hidden in the darkness.

Even from the entrance of the hole the students would only see darkness. A sharp ear would hear breathing, but it was raspy and dry. There was four, perhaps even five deep below. While it would be large enough to house Ssarak just fine, the ceiling of the underground cave was just a few feet above his head; there was very little room to maneuver in such tight spaces.