Msaka visited the inn on his way to the gates, and put on his desert robe. It was getting late, and the sun would be setting shortly, but he didn't want to be out there without it, especially since it could get rather cool during the night.

Once properly attired, he left the city, trudging through the hot sand. Soon, the hills to either side of him turned away, leaving open desert to both sides of him. He turned right, heading along the base of the hills, rather than moving out into the endless sands. He had little fear of getting lost, but knew it was still wiser to stay to a path he could easily retrace, if for no other reason than to save himself time.

The sun began to sink below the horizon, and Msaka stopped to watch the sunset, which painted the western sky with beautiful reds and oranges. It was oddly relaxing to watch; despite whatever troubles he or anyone else might have, the heavens remained orderly and constant.

All too soon, it was over. Msaka sighed and walked on, determined to put a good distance between himself and the city before he set about working his magic. Fortunately, the breeze was fairly light, so he wouldn't have to worry about the sand being blown around when it came time to sketch the necessary pattern for his sending.

Up ahead, he soon spied something odd; there was a nest of some sort partway up the cliff face, and the creatures within were unlike any he'd seen before. They appeared to be some sort of hybrid between lion and bird, though Msaka wasn't certain what species. He thought back to the tales that the caravan guards had told, and recalled hearing about creatures like this. He couldn't remember what they were called, but did remember that they weren't usually hostile unless provoked. Given the size of the pair, he didn't particularly feel like provoking them.

He continued forwards, watching the desert around him. So far, he hadn't been troubled by any of the pests he had heard described, and was glad of that. His skills at staying hidden from detection in the jungle weren't much use here, with little cover being available, and he suspected that should anything approach, a fight would be his only real option.

Msaka noticed that someone had fastened a sign to the cliff below the nest, and approached it, curious as to what it might say. The creatures gave no indication they'd even noticed him, apparently uninterested in doing anything but continuing to sleep, as they had been since Msaka had first seen them. He looked over the sign, which was made of wood, with the letters carved out and painted in in black.

"While bothering the griffin is no longer an automatic disqualifier, we still don't recommend it - The Management." he read, and frowned. The sign made little sense to him - what would doing so disqualify people from, and who exactly were 'The Management'? "This must have been placed here by someone who'd let the sun shine on their head for too long," he thought, and turned away, still puzzled by its meaning.

He looked around the area. The creatures - griffins, if the sign was accurate - presence notwithstanding, this seemed as good a place as any to cast his sending - if he could only figure out what he was going to say. He sighed and sat down against the cliff face a short distance away from the nest, trying to decide what he was going to tell the shaman. "Wait a few years" was not an option, and neither was "I can't get one". Despite the supposed abundance of elementals in this region, he had only heard of four of them specifically, and seen none directly.

He suddenly heard something to his left - someone was speaking quietly, not far away. He stood, pressing himself against the cliff face to keep a small profile, and glanced in that direction. Three men were approaching, all of them armed and with weapons drawn. They were, to all appearances, following his tracks, and he recognized one of them as the man who had threatened him back in the city.

He cursed silently and cast his Hide spell, fading from view. It wouldn't throw them off for very long, since they'd just be able to follow his tracks to his present location, but it would prevent them from seeing him until that point. He knew he had a problem - three against one was very poor odds, and while he might be able to down one of them if they charged, that would still leave two of them against him, which was not as bad, but still not good.

Unfortunately, he couldn't see any real way to avoid combat, once they found him - there was just nowhere to hide around him. He glanced along the cliff face to his right, and spotted something that he could use - what appeared to be a small crevice in the cliff face. If he could slip inside there, then they'd be forced to come at him one at a time. Unfortunately, it would also mean he'd be unable to run away should it become necessary. He weighed his choices for a brief moment, then broke into a run towards the crevice, immediately becoming visible.

A shout went up behind him, as his sudden movement was very noticeable even in the fading light. He sprinted to the crevice and ducked within, then realized he could slow them down a bit more. Quickly, he began tracing a rune in the air with his finger at the front of the crevice, allowing his magic to flow into the design. The sounds of their footsteps were close by the time he completed the design, and the rune he had traced suddenly flared into visibility for a moment, glowing a bright orange-red, before fading from view again.

The man he'd met before came into view first his face twisted with anger. His two cronies appeared a moment later, and the three of them took up positions around the crevice. "Cowardly dog!" the man bellowed. "Come out and face us!" Msaka summoned his staff and aimed it towards the trio. A crackling arc of electricity sprang forth, striking the leader of the trio. The other two winced as well, as the ground currents from the stroke shocked them as well, though not as badly.

With a snarl of fury, the leader of the trio charged in, heedless of the fact that he would be facing even odds, and completely unaware of the suprise that awaited him. As he reached the spot where the rune had been drawn, it suddenly flared into visibility and exploded outwards, unleashing all of its fiery power at the man. He fell backwards, landing on the sand with a thud, a screech of pain escaping his lips.

Msaka sent out another stroke of lightning, this time directing it at one of the two other men; his initial assailant was too close for him to target him safely. All three of the men were shocked by it again, the man stuck getting the worst of it. That assailant backed off, ducking away to one side of the crevice where Msaka couldn't see him.

The leader of the trio scrambled back and climbed to his feet as the third attacker charged in, apparently having decided to risk another hidden trap, and sliced down with his raised sword, trying to split Msaka in two. Msaka easily avoided the blow by dodging backwards, though it left him right up against the back of the crevice. Knowing that he would be in trouble if he got pinned there, so he stepped back foward as the man's scimitar finished its downard swing, and thrust his staff towards the man's middle.

The man couldn't get his shield up in time, being overextended from the swing, and Msaka's staff connected solidly. Not being constructed for use as a weapon, it didn't cause as much of an injury as a proper fighting staff might have, but it still knocked the man back, and gave Msaka the opening he needed.

He released a Flame Dart from the tip of the staff as the man recovered, striking him square in the chest, sending him reeling again. Another ball of fire quickly followed the first one; it slammed neatly into the warrior's neck, burning away his throat. The man collapsed with an astonished look, clutching at his neck and twitching violently.

A dagger suddenly whistled through the air, landing in Msaka's left shoulder. He bit back a yell, and blindly sent another lightning stroke out into the ground outside the crevice. The grunt of pain told him he'd landed the attack close enough to hurt whoever had thrown the dagger.

The leader of the trio bolted towards him as Msaka staggered, fighting back the pain of the dagger wound. The dagger had slipped out of the wound, landing on the ground, and Msaka could feel the blood trickling down his side and soaking the shoulder of his robe. He unleashed another arc of lightning, sending it right into the attacker's chest, and this time is was Msaka's turn to grunt as the ground currents shocked him as well.

Those two last strokes of electricity proved to be too much for his attacker, who collapsed in a heap as he entered the crevice, falling against Msaka, who was knocked against the back of the crevice again. He kicked the corpse away, managing to clear enough space to stand in and passed his staff over his shoulder in a complex pattern, invoking his healing spell. The remaining attacker didn't show any sign of returning, and Msaka completed his healing spell. His wound closed, and he heaved a silent sigh of relief as he listened intently for any sounds from outside.

Carefully, he edged out of the crevice, fully on guard against a sneak attack. When he emerged, he found no sign of the third man - apparently he had fled while Msaka was dealing with the others. Msaka leaned against the cliff face, trying to steady his breathing. While he hadn't exerted himself all that much physically, the excitement had left him feeling very fatigued.