I played this game a long time ago but never all that good. However, there was a cave entrance to the north and east of the Castle (more North) that I had to flee due to my getting whacked badly. When I exited, I lost my entire team to what appeared to be an explosion of activity. Many many enemies of various sorts. But I lost the team so quickly and the events so unexpected that I could never figure out what really happened. Now this was not the white lights that attack and are more west of the castle. This event was the screen filled with activity.
Never able to duplicate it. So I never really understood the event.
Does this sound like something that would be familiar to anyone on the Board. And, if so, what the heck was it.

The forest area has several spots where bad guys can spawn. The most problematic of these are the ones where a mad wizard spawns, who can do a lot of damage with his spells.
If you're unlucky, then the game could spawn more than one, and if you also get the bonus of additional crossbow-wielding enemies, then things go sour pretty fast. And to make matters worse, the trees can make it hard to see what is going on.
If you're under-leveled and under-equipped, you could be wiped out pretty quickly, and I imagine this is what happened.

It was a mad wizard. But it was-- for a the brief moment I survived-- a screen of that creature. And I swear they were doing cart wheels. (No this was not drug induced.)
Thank you, that gives my memory some context.