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Ceolfric watched with bated breath as the arrow buried itself in the wolf’s back. He doubted their assailant had crafted a new illusion involving the arrow so expertly that he couldn’t tell even while scrutinizing it, so that meant the thing before them was some variety of magical construct. Which meant it could hurt them in a very real way. Kyreth’s warning drew his interest, but the bandit found it ultimately pointless; he thought it quite obvious that they were under magical attack, though he didn’t miss that the Tainted’s perception of the situation differed wildly from his own. Something to file away for later, he supposed. 

That being said, he doubted a mere illusion would cause such a stir. Was it rigged to explode? He didn’t know how strenuous it was to maintain a conjured entity, but, unless the wolf harbored a nasty surprise, that likely meant more constructs were prowling the bushes around them. 

It was no surprise when the thing before them rose up to attack, nor when the rest of the pack came out to reinforce it. The others looked to be in far worse shape; their attacker had chosen the uninjured one as the decoy for a reason. If they were indeed dealing with Agitha’s beast, it had the cunning of a man. Then again, Kyreth had sensed the magic in the air immediately prior to the wolf's arrival, which suggested at least some of them were freshly reanimated. If it were the work of some fell toxin embedded in the demon's fangs, wouldn't they have already been raised and shambling about prior to the ambush ever occurring? He didn't know a thing about the demands of necromancy, but he [i]did[/i] know how to puppet a few animals - it shouldn't have demanded such effort if the demon merely willed them into action. Not to mention the matter of the demon itself; he certainly didn't sense a Rancor nearby waiting to pounce on them, but if Cerric could snuff out his presence, then surely the necromancer could as well, mortal or otherwise.

Ceolfric readied his sword to intercept the canine’s charge and disembowel it right then and there, only to be forced to shift away by the stupid horse’s panic. He barely caught the wolf’s maw with the edge of his shield, battering it away as he ducked under a storm of flailing hooves. Oh no, he was [i]not[/i] going to entertain interference from their own fucking pack animal. Ceolfric circled away from the wolf as he regained his footing and thrust out a hand before the next lunge, flicking his gaze away from the present threat to the horse only briefly as he snapped his fingers.

[color=AA4A44]"Stay out of the way,"[/color] he commanded, and the horse obliged. It ceased its thrashing immediately, returning to a calm, docile stance as if blind to the chaos around them, despite the way its lifeless, dazed eyes remained firmly affixed on the wolf, concerned only with the desire to move [b]out of the way[/b] should the beast draw near.

[color=AA4A44]"Don't suppose anyone knows how to stop these things from getting up again?"[/color] he questioned loudly to no one in particular. Short of chopping all their legs off and staking the squirming torso to the ground to stop it from worming after their ankles, he didn't exactly know how to incapacitate something that moved through magic and not blood.

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