"Hyah!" Emrick cried out, leaning back in his saddle and yanking Talia into a tight curve even as Duran's thick body tumbled from his mount.  The source of the stone became quickly evident: bog beasts, three of them.  The hulking creatures, their bodies made of thick vegetation, mud, and water, lumbered out of the surrounding swamps to the trio's right.  The closest one had thrown the rock, and made a beeline for the draenei.  A second bog beast, its "shoulders" a matted mass of what appeared to be tangled vines, threw a handful of smaller rocks and pebbles at the travelers.  The projectiles were largely inaccurate: one landed a glancing blow on Emrick's thigh, stretching the cloth and bruising the skin underneath.<br/><br/>The mage had confronted bog beasts before in Zangarmarsh, and he had found that they were quite susceptible to fire, something he had in large quantities.  As the foremost bog beast stepped ponderously onto the creaking boardwalk, Emrick muttered a short phrase and hurled a fireball at its small, stumpy head.  The spell was simple, and quite weak and hasty by normal mage standards.  But it did the trick.<br/><br/>It's head suddenly alight, the bog beast let out a keening wail, sounding like an entire forest of tree trunks creaking in a gale.  It swiped blindly at Talia, who deftly stepped away from its thick arms.  This bought Emrick some time.  Holding onto his mare's torso with his legs, the mage slitted his eyes and focused his energy.  His hands began to smoke, and the air between them took on a shimmering quality.  A few seconds later, Emrick unleashed a powerful fire blast: a superheated pocket of air that spread quickly and did significant damage over the bog beast's broad frame.  It's vegetation singed and vines growing stiff and inflexible, not to mention its flaming head, the bog beast began to flee.  However, it forgot it was standing on an elevated boardwalk, and so tumbled off the side as it turned to run, splashing face down in the shallow marsh.<br/><br/>Emrick allowed himself a triumphant smile as the motionless beast slowly began to sink into the bog's decaying plant life.  The smell of burnt wood filled his nostrils, temporarily overwhelming the stench of the Zangarmarsh.  Safe for the moment, the mage looked to the draenei, suddenly remembering that there were two more of the creatures, plus however many might be behind them.  His right hand curled into a fiery fist as he prep--<br/><br/>He was suddenly upside down.  And now he was falli--  Then he hit the boardwalk, taking the brunt of the blow on his shoulders.  Talia had bucked beneath him without warning, flinging Emrick from the saddle.  The fall dazed him.  He dimly heard the sound of hooves on wood as Talia nimbly pranced about, dodging a<em>fourth</em>bog beast's tree-trunk arms.  As his eyes slid to the mist-shrouded canopy of Zangarmarsh, Emrick struggled to remain conscious.  He wasn't in pain, but his thoughts ended and began without cohesion, not making sense of the outside world.<br/><br/>Emrick dimly realized he had stood back up.  Eyes unfocused, he reached out for his gun, which was tied to Talia's harness, but his hands came nowhere near her.  Barely feeling the blow, he was knocked back down by the fourth bog beast's arm; whether it was an intentional attack, or just a case of him being in the wrong place, he couldn't tell.  He was on his back again, though, and this time he decided it would be best to remain there.