Flashing into rage, Izek grew giant and swung at Jarmo, only to be blinded by the Blood Hunter’s hemocraft. The clash set the tone for what followed: a grueling melee full of tactics, reversals, and desperation. Ghalwin slashed Mormeros to find only an illusion, but Lancelot perceived he was cowering beyond the standing stones. The war-dog charged the warlock, but Shakti summoned an Earth Elemental that descended on Lancelot with stone fists. Izek pivoted to attack Shakti instead, hoping to disrupt her spell, but the shifter was too shifty for the blind barbarian.
Above them, Atlas cast a circle of power that obstructed both Ajuni and Ezmerelda’s spellcraft. Tobias responded by heating the cleric’s plate mail, breaking his concentration, but Atlas proved difficult to remove from the fight. Ghalwin squared off against Marcus, deflecting the Boar's blows while smiting him down. Marcus surged back with many maneuvers, both were hurt, but the paladin but could not finish the fighter while Atlas kept him healthy from above. Mormeros counterspelled Ajuni’s magic whenever she attempted to turn the tide, prompting Ghalwin to abandon Marcus and teleport behind the warlock. The fight became scattered and chaotic, spells rewriting the field at every moment, and Ajuni had to expend her one-use scroll of Mass Cure Wounds to keep the Heralds standing.
Jarmo branded Tobias with a Mark of Axiom, but, assisted by Geronimo, the gnome again proved himself Marcus' better in combat before Ajuni cooked The Boar with a fireball. Now isolated, Jarmo flew to protect Mormeros, but the warlock soon ran dry of power; after he hellishly rebuked Lancelot, Ghalwin cut him down. Ezmerelda's magic missiles finally broke Shakti's concentration on her elemental, but the druid retaliated by wild shaping into a fire elemental herself, lighting her and Izek aflame.
Izek pivoted again and tried to grapple Jarmo out of the sky, but could not grab him due to strange mutagencraft. Instead, he simply slashed the Blood Hunter down, and Ghalwin did the same by teleporting above Atlas, felling the cleric before he could call for divine intervention. With four foes incapacitated, Lancelot stuck his silver sword into Jarmo's neck, and Ezmerelda ended the fallen with a volley of magic missiles.
Shakti turned to face her brother, and rather than fight, returned to her original form. She reaffirmed their foretold prophecy in a moment of melancholic solace, then disappeared from the battlefield, leaving only a dire wolf's fang behind. The Heralds gathered the remains of their fallen companions and placed them on the Forest Fane. Ghalwin delivered a final eulogy to the Ladies of Green, Grey, and Blue, then adopted a new title: Ghalwin the Golden Hart. The Fane answered, its magic responding to the sacrifice, and The Seeker revealed her true form at last as her sisters had.
The Heralds awoke in Madam Eva's tent, but the Lady had not returned. Five had fallen, but five still stood, with five days until their final fight.
