Ahnasha scarcely had time to gather some light leather armor before the sentries warned of the incoming hunters. As per the plan, they lit the fires and had some of their mages fan the smoke up into the caves. Once the smoke thickened, it reduced visibility considerably, as evidenced by the sounds of explosions coming from the caves. It seemed as if at least some of the hunters were unable to detect the rune traps before falling prey to them. 

Conjuring up her bound bow, Ahnasha stood with the other archers, waiting for the first of the hunters to come within sight. Although, she did not expect that to be only a [i]single[/i] hunter stumbling through the smoke. Caldris felled him quickly, but his allies soon followed through more organized, with their shields raised to protect them from the incoming volley. 

The wall of smoke was providing some measure of a disadvantage for the defenders in that it blocked them from seeing the hunters until they drew close enough. This meant that they did not know the exact positions nor composition of the enemy force, but overall, it was still helping the defense much more than it was hurting it. While the mages and archers at the gates could not see the exact positions of the enemy through the smoke, the cave was not all that wide, so if the hunters wanted to move a large enough force through, they would have to be moving fairly close together. This meant that just firing into the smoke would still have a good chance of hitting an enemy. Not only that, but just as the defenders could not see the attackers, so too could the attackers not see the composition of the defense until they were already very close. While in the smoke, they would not know how to hold their shields to provide the most coverage against incoming arrows and spells. Lastly, if they could hold back the hunters and keep up the fires for long enough, then the attackers would have a very real chance of suffocating in the confined caves. 

As soon as the order was given, Ahnasha fired not an arrow, but a spell. Taking advantage of her skill in illusion, Ahnasha used a fear spell on one of the frontline hunters. She tried to pick out the one that looked the most nervous and uncertain, but there were no guarantees that the spell would be successful. Being lycan hunters, she could believe that many of them were likely strong-willed, but she would not expect that [i]all[/i] of them would have such mental fortitude. If she could get the spell to work, then it would not only open up a hole in their defense when her target fled, but it would cause even more issues in their ranks once the target tried to flee through the smoke, towards his advancing allies.

Not waiting to see the results of the spell, Ahnasha fired her first arrow. Since she was a rather precise archer, she did not fire into the smoke at the more vulnerable hunters behind, but rather at those in the frontlines. Their shields were raised to protect their vital areas, so her arrows were aimed at their feet. If she hit, it would not be lethal, but it was very likely to open up her target to subsequent arrows.