It is dusk, and deep shadows line the cemetery, as the warriors slowly
circle in on the spot where the evil is sensed.  Abruptly, there is a loud,
sinister laugh, and a huge humanoid creature pushes itself up from the ground
and the shadows.  It is at least as tall as two normal humans, and it looks
like some hideous combination of troll and devil; its skin pulses with an
unnatural green glow, its massive arms end with wicked-looking claws, and its
eyes are featureless orbs of darkness.  Whatever the thing is, it is clear
that it is not alive; indeed, some of the flesh is missing in places, and
there are even two spots where the bone shows through.  The warriors look
nervously at one another; they may have to disassemble the thing to destroy
it...

     Suddenly, the grass and plants at the beast's feet seem to explode with
growth, and they begin to entwine around the beast's legs, immobilizing it.
Seeing this, the warriors charge forward for the kill.  But, as they close to
just a few yards of the beast, an eerie red glow illuminates its dark eyes,
and the ground surrounding it bursts into roaring crimson flames!  The
warriors are quickly forced back, T'zan T'haliak cursing even more than most,
as the ground within twenty paces all around the beast is transformed into a
lethal maze by moving walls of flame.  So intense are the smoke and the
radiance of the hellish flames that the glow of the creature itself is
completely obscured.

     Some of the warriors circle the shifting maze, looking for a way to
enter without getting roasted; others draw missile weapons and begin firing
into the center of the flames, but they soon stop when they see their
missiles melting the moment they touch the flames.  They, too, wait for an
opening.

     Seeing the warriors temporarily stymied, the magic-wielders begin their
assault.  Dragon Queen spreads her fingers and launches a steady stream of
magic missiles into the inferno; the flames of the walls seem to shift
slightly, intensifying on the side where the missiles are striking.  T'zan,
his face masked in fury, joins in, launching fireballs at the same point;
Tryptych Anavar launches some magic missiles of his own as well.  The area
covered by the flames can now be seen quite definitely to be contracting, if
only by one or two paces.

     From the opposite side of the circle, Gorthaur unleashes a spell of his
own; a strange black bolt streaks through the weakened flames on that side,
and a hideous bellow from within the flames bears witness to the fact that
this missile, at least, found its mark.  The flames contract considerably;
now, the radius of the circle is no more than eight paces.  But the fires
still burn hot enough to melt metal, and now the creature launches fireballs
of its own back through the flames, sending everyone scurrying for cover, as
well as starting small fires all over the cemetery.  (The beast is obviously
weakening, though; at least two of the fireballs sputter out in mid-air.)
Gorthaur, seeing that flames are starting to lick the walls of the House of
Repose itself, retreats to defend his property.

     Now Kendrick draws his troops into a huddle, and they fan out, prepared
to rush in when the flames die down enough.  Laslo Tremaine casts some
spells, and all the warriors seem to blur somewhat, becoming more difficult
to spot.  Dragon Queen continues her assault; now, she causes a shimmering
sword to wink into existence, which disappears into the flames.  Another cry
of pain and a few more fireballs show that it, too, reached its goal.
Tryptych Anavar produces a scroll, and reads it in the direction of the
beach; but when he finishes, there is no visible sign of any effect.  "Damn,
that didn't stop it!" he shouts, beginning another spell.  Abruptly, there is
a blinding flash of light and a resounding thunderclap; the barely-
recognizable remains of Tryptych litter the ground halfway between where he
had appeared to be standing before and Dragon Queen's position, and Dragon
Queen herself, staring coldly at the remains, says, "No, it didn't seem to,
did it?"

     At the same moment, Duke Stephen finishes an incantation of his own, and
a column of orange flames appears just outside the circle of red.  Rather
than adding to the crimson blaze, however, the orange flames seem to suck the
essence out of it; the huge beast is now clearly visible again, as the wall
of flames shrinks to a ring a pace or so thick.  Suddenly, the huge Kuczmon
makes his move; he charges into the flames, landing a mighty blow with his
maul Avelanche on the back of the beast.  A great hunk of its flesh falls to
the ground; its bellow of rage and pain echoes throughout the town.  But
another scream of pain is heard as well; Kuczmon staggers back, cruelly
burned by the ring of fire.  He stumbles and falls, rolling away from the
beast; Doctor Tozer, who has been at the outskirts of the battle since his
initial attempts to turn the being failed, rushes in, and helps Kuczmon to
safety.

     But the blow disrupts the beast's concentration for a critical moment;
the orange flames and the red suddenly seem to swallow each other up, and
they both wink into nothingness.  The other fighters eagerly dive into the
fray!  Alek Mugni, Garen, Grey Wolf, Jean Brittanor, Laslo, Kendrick and
T'zan all surround the beast.  Though it moves with amazing speed, it is
still hard-pressed to defend itself from attacks from so many directions at
once, and the blurring effect of Laslo's spell helps to largely protect them
from the beast's attacks.

     Alek's mace knocks another large chunk of flesh from the beast's back.
The beast whirls, and Alek is sent flying by a mighty punch, but now Garen's
blade bites the same spot.  Grey Wolf lands several blows of her own, though
none with as impressive an effect; her huge wolf Ancathallion, who has been
circling the ring of warriors, suddenly dashes in and leaps at the beast, its
fangs closing on the beast's left arm, sinking in to the bone.  The beast
howls in rage, and tries to reach Ancathallion with its right arm, while the
wolf, dangling several feet off the ground, bravely maintains its hold.  But
the beast finally gets a hold of Ancathallion's hind legs, and the wolf howls
in pain, releasing its grip.

     Just as it looks like the beast will rip Ancathallion in two, Grey Wolf
screams in fear and anger and charges in, her longsword flashing.  Her blade
hits the beast's left arm at the elbow; the joint shatters.  Bellowing in
rage, the beast drops Ancathallion, who lies nearly motionless at the beast's
feet, and lands a devastating punch to Grey Wolf's abdomen with its good
right hand; she crashes to the ground beside her companion, gasping in pain.
As the beast, in single-minded rage, bends down to finish them off, T'zan,
who has been frustrated throughout the entire battle, roars in rage, and his
sword finally deals a perfect blow; the beast's head is severed cleanly from
its neck, and its body slowly topples backwards to the baked and blackened
ground.

     But just as everyone finally starts to relax, the beast's softly-glowing
remains begin to brighten and smoulder, and the red glow reappears in its
eyes, even though the head lies several yards from the body.  "Scatter!"
Kendrick yells, as the body bursts into red flame.  Everyone scrambles for
cover, as far away as possible.  Grey Wolf tries to get up, but can't;
Ancathallion is in worse shape, whining softly.  As the flames escalate, Jean
Brittanor reaches down and rests a hand on each of them, and shouts something
that is lost in the roaring of the blaze; just then, there is a thunderous
explosion, and a great fireball climbs into the night sky.  Everyone stares
in horror at the spot, knowing that there is no way that anyone could have
survived that hellish blast...

     "CLERIC!" screams a familiar voice; everyone turns to see Jean kneeling
on the ground, thirty paces or so behind them, with Grey Wolf and
Ancathallion on the grass next to them.

----------

     The battle appears to be over.  Everyone evailable, as well as some
Guard members who come racing up, helps to put out the remaining fires; when
the full extent of the damage is calculated, at least one-third of the
cemetery grounds are completely barren and blackened--even the gravestones
melted into puddles from the heat.

     Just about everyone involved in the combat has scrapes, bruises and
minor burns.  Alek still has the wind knocked out of him, and twisted his
knee in the fall.  Kuczmon has many second- and some third-degree burns.
Grey Wolf has a fiery pain in her chest when she tries to move or stand, and
Ancathallion still lies on its side as well, whimpering in pain.  There are
only ashes to mark the place where Tryptych Anavar was.  But there are no
other casualties, and there is absolutely no sign of the beast.

     --Referee IV