Though the roads near Pavalar were generally safe, the party still kept watches. Early in the second watch, Blink suddenly noticed that it had gotten unnaturally silent. While he pondered this, suddenly out of the darkness a human dressed all in black with a hood over his head materialized next to him. In his hand was a wicked dagger. In a blur, the human turned the dagger to the pommel and struck a blow squarely to Blink's solar pluxus. The pain was excruciating and Blink immediately faded to unconsciousness.

Vaugner awoke to a dagger scraping uncomfortably to his throat. Though slightly paniced, he was smart enough not to impale himself on the dagger. The next thing he noticed was that it was unnaturally silent. He took stock of his surroundings and realized there were two men surrounding him; both were dressed in all black clothing with no armor. Each had a hood over their faces to prevent identification. One was about 6' tall; the other was perhaps three to four inches shorter. Aside from the dagger, he saw no weapons on either of them.

The man with the dagger motioned for Vaugner to sit up, and he complied. A blindfold was put on him, and his hands were bound behind his back. He was hauled to his feet and prodded to start moving.

After a few minutes, the unnatural silence went away. A voice came from about 10 feet in front of him, "Why have you been asking about Nikolai Hel?"

"Well, I heard about him and his talents, and I was interested in potentially learning from him," Vaugner replied.

"Do you feel yourself worthy of his attention?" the voice continued.

"I hope to be soon..." Vaugner replied. He knew he was still too low level to grasp the instuction he was interested, but also felt he would be prepared soon.

"We shall see... let's see how good you are!" came the disembodied voice as it moved away from him.

After a few seconds, Vaugner realized he probably ought to do something with the ropes binding his hands. After a few tries, he was able to loosen the ropes enough to escape from them. Taking off his blindfold, he saw his weapons laid out in front of him. He was in the middle of a forest, with trees all around. There was some moonlight, but it would be easy to hide in the many shadows of the trees and undergrowth.

He carefully donned his weapons, alert for any attack. Out of nowhere, a man apeared and punched him with a punishing blow to a vital area of his ribs, and then sprang away. Vaugner charged him with his great sword but missed badly.

The other man then moved away and hid again. Vaugner spun around, trying to spot or hear his enemy. A few seconds passed and then again Vaugner was caught unawares and hit in the same place. Luckily he wasn't taking lethal damage, but his opponent had gotten two brutal blows in against him, and almost any more damage would render him unconscious.

The man had sprung away again, but ended up about 10 feet away. Vaugner moved in with his sword again, but again didn't even come close -- in fact, Vaugner almost lost his grip on his sword but managed to hang on. Certainly he wasn't making a good impression so far.

Vaugner decided to change tactics. Dropping his sword, he loaded his bow and tried to move silently and hide himself. Vaugner moved around trying to find a good angle for a bow shot. A few moments passed, and Vaugner spotted the man! Two shots with his bow and two good hits! Well, at least his opponent would be denied a flawless victory.

"Not bad," came the voice from the forest. Vaugner tried to keep his eyes on the man, but when a tree broke his line of sight, the man had vanished. Vaugner himself hid again, and tried to move silently to where he could get a good shot if his opponent attacked from where Vaugner thought he might.

A few more moments went by; with his total concentration on this battle, Vaugner was not sure how much time had really passed. Suddenly Vaugner spotted his opponent again. Two more arrow shots and two more hits! "Well, at least he's not too hard to hit," thought Vaugner, and then he realized he was fighting a man that was wearing no armor and no weapons.

The game of cat and mouse continued. Later Vaugner would still not be sure whether he was keeping his enemy at bay or if he was just being toyed with. Eventually Vaugner spotted his opponent again and took two more shots. This time only one connected. He was able to get a look at his opponent; he seemed a little hurt but certainly no where near the point of going down. The game continued.

Vaugner kept moving silently and hiding. So far by moving around he was able to keep his opponent far enough away that his opponent was unable to get close enough to him without being detected. And luckily each time his opponent had chosen to retreat rather than charge when he had been found.

Vaugner spotted him again and fired two more shots. This time, both connected again. Fearing that he might actually be getting close to killing his opponent, and thinking that killing a member of the organization he wanted to join might be counterproductive, Vaugner put down his bow after seeing both arrows hit. If his opponent could do unarmed damage, he could too, he decided.

After dropping his bow, Vaugner moved off and hid again. Unfortunately, he realized, he hadn't done that good of a job. He caught a blur in the corner of his eye right as a fist hit his head and knocked him unconscious.

An hour or two later, Vaugner awoke back in his tent. His weapons were laid out as he normally laid them. It was only upon close inspection that he could discern that they had been moved. That, along with the soreness of his ribs and head, proved that he had not just dreamt the encounter.

Getting up, he saw Blink, still unconscious but alive. He moved Blink into his tent and started his watch.