The fight was pretty bloody and shortlived. Due to the last few weeks fighting and working together we seem to have developed an instinctive bond, and we work as a team to brutal efficiency. Ayeena held the doorway against the tiefling and Anaris while the rest of us dispatched the horde of Anaris' creations that she'd summoned from the other rooms to attack us from behind. Anaris managed to surprise us by demolishing an internal wall and hurling the debris in all directions, I took a nasty hit on the head from it, but by then she was the only foe left, and we rallied to charge her.
It's hard to describe the feeling that wells up when you charge towards danger and certain death to have your comrades rally alongside you and lend their strength to you. On my own I'm certain Anaris would have torn me apart, but with the rest of the group behind me, it was all she could do to hurl me across the room into the opposite wall. The impact opened up a large cut in the back of my head, and my vision went blurry, but by then I'd opened up her defenses, and the party were massacaring her. Ayeena shouted for her surrender, and she gave up.
We now have a new deal. Anaris will copy for us whatever living things we desire, at the moment this is restricted to deer, rabbits, sheep and vegetables. The people of Hollow and Scardale Keep have a supply of food that they can eat without worry, and Anaris gets to live. She warned that she would grow stronger and return to defeat us someday, but Vincent bartered her down to occasional individual duels between himself and her creations, which I suppose I can live with. The mage is working on a way to truly purify food so we don't need to rely on Anaris in the future, but for now, we have a solution. It seems Anaris only needs to touch someone to copy them, so the bad news is that there could be several rogue Piccolo's out in the world if we're not careful. Vincent can tell me apart at least.
Anaris also made us a new companion, but I don't think she's figured out exactly why I asked for it yet. For the time being, our coterie has a seventh member, that we can talk to Anaris through. I call her Piper.
