Forum

[Lazybones]

Chapter 44


Vhael fought against the tentacles that were lashed around his legs, but it was all he could do to keep his footing as the still-unidentified monstrosity under the floor tugged him inexorably closer toward the gaping hole it had opened. He tried to bring his sword into play, but couldn’t get enough leverage for a strong swing, and the big blade only bounced harmlessly over the rubbery hide of one of the tentacles.

The dragonborn’s companions came to his aid. Surina tried to blast one of the tentacles with a stream of fiery eldritch energy, but her bolt went wide, missing its target entirely and almost striking Gez back in the entry before it sizzled against the chamber wall. The warlock hissed and began circling around to get a better shot, flames erupting around her hands as she summoned her magic for another attack.

Gral’s intervention was more direct; the dwarf simply stepped forward, avoiding a lashing tendril that nearly clipped his head, and thrust his staff into the dark opening where the tentacles had emerged. His thunderwave shook the floor, and the tentacles shuddered wildly as the wizard’s spell impacted their owner below. The two holding Vhael loosened enough for the dragonborn to pull free, leaving ugly black burns where they had coiled around his limbs.

Carzen, finally recovering from his own surprise, drew his sword free and started forward to help. He didn’t notice Terrlen edging back along the wall toward the exit, or the dark shadow that shifted above the guide, a sinuous form that crept forward through a crevice in the ceiling overhead. But he did notice a flicker of movement as a second shadow approached in the shadow of the pillars to the right. The light from Gez’s lamp was partially obstructed by the chaotic melee taking place a few paces away, but as the thing leapt out from behind the nearest pillar, he caught a good look at it.

“Incoming monster!” he yelled in warning to the others, rushing forward to intercept it before it could leap upon Surina from behind.

He didn’t make it in time.

Carzen recognized the charging creature as a ghoul, the stink of it filling his nostrils as he drew closer. Surina, hearing his shout, starting to turn, but the ghoul was fast, damned fast, and it sprang at her like a cat, seizing her with its claws. A streaking globe of flame shot wildly from her hands, hitting the ceiling near one of the pillars, erupting in a wash of light and heat that quickly died. The warlock tried to shake the ghoul off, but the cloying effects of its touch were clearly affecting her, and it only dug deeper, trying to work close enough in to deliver a bite.

Carzen laid into the ghoul with a roar, delivering a powerful blow from his sword that bit deeply even into the unnatural hide of the undead monstrosity. The sheer force of it knocked it free from the warlock, but before either she or the fighter could respond it sprang back up and came at Carzen, claws extended toward his face. Carzen barely got his shield up in time to block, but even so it drove him back a step, the ghoul’s claws scraping loudly on the metal.

White flashes of cold energy flared near the other embattled combatants as Gral and Vhael continued fighting off the tentacle-monster under the floor. The creature had not given up after Gral’s initial attack, the tentacles surging up again to seize both foes. The wizard was caught around the waist, the tentacle tightening around him like an iron shackle. But Vhael was ready this time, and he intercepted a tentacle with a powerful stroke of his sword, severing it near the base. Unfortunately for him, the attack did little to dissuade the creature, and two more tentacles lashed him, one of which caught him around the ankle and almost pulled him off his feet.

Gez had spent the first few seconds of the battle huddled in the entry passageway, fighting a surge of terror that threatened to undo him. Carzen’s loud cry snapped him out of it, and he put down his lamp and drew out an arrow, fitting it to the fraying string of his bow with fingers that shook more than a little. He stepped forward and started to take aim, looking for a shot that wouldn’t risk his allies, when a strangled noise to his right drew his attention around.

He turned to see Terrlen being strangled by a creature with an impossibly long arm that stretched all the way from its perch in a crack in the ceiling to where the guide huddled against the wall, struggling furiously as he tried in vain to break free.

Gez aimed and fired almost by instinct. The arrow shot into the crevice above and stabbed into the monster’s leg. The thing looked down at him, fixing him with a cold stare that radiated pure malevolence, and it let out a sinister hiss.

Gez’s horror was redoubled as he heard an answering hiss behind him.

The soldier threw himself down, a desperate cry drawn unwilling from his lips as something hard clasped onto his shoulders from behind and above. For a moment the probing touch brushed his neck, but before it could lock shut he pulled free. Splayed out on the floor, overcome with the thoughts of whatever the hell it was coming for him, the soldier tried to crawl away, knowing that he would never escape, that the improbable streak of luck that had somehow let him survive thus far had finally come to an end.