Despite the best attempts of the cult to hinder the escape of the heroes of Greenest now with a monk by the name of Leosin in tow (or more accurately bound atop the old man that had decided it would be appropriate to turn into a bear at a moment like this), the group that had put itself together by pure chance alone a night ago was making their daring escape with great success. As the last desperate attempt to cut this act of heroism short, the cult fired a volley of arrows at the ursine beast that had been a person only moments ago. However, a divine presence protected the Druid with no interest in aggressive manoeuvres from the hail and he would end up suffering of only one arrow, while Leosin would manage to grab the few arrows coming his way with his hand, exhaling loudly and leaning against the furred back of the creature as their swift retreat resumed its process.

For a few minutes, there was silence. The few men and women that had ran after them simply could not keep up with the pace of the adventurers and cursed their inability to move any faster. However, it would not be left only to those of solely human ability to chase the meddling heretics down. Several riding horses burst into the night, a search party composed of two higher ranking cultists and their three underlings took off, following the path they could still make out in the grass of the plains and aiming for the people they could see from their higher vantage point. "Get them! Bring them back to the poles where they belong!" a Dragonclaw would call out, the rest of the bunch joining him in the battle cry.

As bolstering an act as it may be, it would however serve as the first warning of the impending danger to the heroes. Had they missed the approaching silhouettes in the dark, they would now know for sure that enemy was indeed approaching. The beating of the hooves of their horses, as well as their snorting, would definitely clue them in just how they had managed to catch up to them just as well. The enemies had the speed. They knew they could not make it to the forest, not before the enemy caught up at the very least. And so, there were but few options. To cut the advancing spearhead of the enemy attack down, or to attempt to avoid it long enough for safety to be reached.

[hider=Mechanics&Rolls]
Welcome to the second combat of the night! A group of five cult members has been catching up to you on the merit of them having horses, unlike you people. Thankfully, it does not appear they would be in a position to receive additional backup any time soon. Initiatives have been rolled... with the exception of Kyra's as I came to note as I looked through the provided numbers, so if you could do that for me [@Norschtalen], that would be appreciated. Either way, it seems the enemy very much shares your trouble with rolling high on the die, the first turn landing on either Brannor or Kyra, depending on the upcoming result.

FYI, natural light is currently dim, meaning everything that is not lit up by other means is lightly obscured to those without darkvision/outside darkvision range. What does that mean? Perception checks relying on sight are made at a disadvantage.

[hider=Map][img]https://i.imgur.com/9MsZeem.png[/img][/hider]
[/hider]
[@The Harbinger of Ferocity][@Ryonara][@Lucius Cypher][@Gordian Nought][@Norschtalen]