gfunk said:
While we ponder the curious lack of Red Hand of updates (BTW Joachim, drop me an email and let me know how the raid on the swamp went!), what's up w/ the Age of Worms update?
Surely, six rounds of combat can't be so hard to put in prose . . .
Bite me!
THE SPAWN OF DRAGOTHA
‘This is becoming tedious,’ Havok thought to himself. The dilemma of the worm doors still had them stymied, though they had made some progress. The warlock had cycled through several different forms via his Shapechange spell, including that of a lillend, whose Knock ability had no effect, until ultimately he had assumed his current shape, that of a beholder. The null-magic effect of his central eye had not phased the portals, but the Disintegration ray from one of his eye stalks had destroyed one of the doors completely…for about thirty seconds, by which point the horrid vermin had repaired the barrier completely. Still, it had given Grubber just enough time to quickly investigate a small chamber off of the large corridor which exited the eastern side of the Temple of the Worm. Of course, before blundering into this hall, Mak had to warn his brother that the shimmering, green light which blanketed the hall was merely an illusion, underneath which was a seething mass of Kyuss worms, covering the walls, ceiling and floor. The small chamber turned out to be bare, save for a small hole high in the ceiling, through which a gentle updraft flowed.
At the end of the illusory hall stood a massive pair of worm doors. Once more Havok blasted apart one of the portals, and when Faust had assured them that his Touchsight revealed no living enemy beyond, the psion transported them all transdimensionally past the tunnel of worms, and into the chamber. Havok followed, after first reforming himself as a tulani eladrin, one of the most powerful of the celestials. The stony walls of the vaulted room rippled with the burrowing passage of thousands of hissing green worms. Above, the ceiling was a dome of green light that illuminated the chamber with a nauseating viridian shade. To the west, the wall curved and featured five tall windows that looked out into a large cavern. The floor near these windows rose up to form a lip or rim around a five-foot wide hole in the floor from which delicate tendrils of green mist rose. A cage made of writhing green metal hung from a stalk of green affixed to the ceiling above, its empty confines twisting lazily in the air above the misting hole.
Faust and Mak stepped cautiously around the gaping hole, and moved to the windows to peer into the cavern beyond. The ceiling of the immense cave rose up to a point nearly seventy feet above a ledge that overlooked it from a southern entrance. The ledge wound upward along the northern wall, around a corner to the east. The cave floor itself dropped away in three shelves, each ten feet lower than the last. The room they stood in protruded, balcony-like, into the cavern. The cavern was filled with a green glow from a huge circular pit to the south. It was at that moment, as they were taking in the vista, that Mak caught a flicker of movement to his right. Turning that way, he beheld a horrific sight. A forty-foot long, green, wormlike behemoth was uncoiling itself from beneath the balcony room. It had four, large draconic wings, and its eyeless head looked almost draconic as well, with a ring of horns that protruded back in a circular array around its neck. It had no arms or legs, but its wings sported large claws on the tops and tips of each joint. Its tail tapered down into a hook-studded member that ended in a set of large spikes. Faust drew in a hissing breath as Mak shook his shoulder to get his attention. It was a wormdrake. The psion had read of them in the apostolic scrolls, and had hoped never to meet one. Unlike the other minions of Kyuss, this creature had been created by Dragotha. It was a fusion of dragon and overworm, combining the worst and most ferocious features of both into one monstrous, chimerical menace.
‘We have to move, now, before it’s too late,’ Faust whispered, almost to himself, through the Mind Link, but as he saw the tell-tale shimmer of a Gate forming at the far end of the cavern, he knew it already was.
From the mystic portal stepped a creature straight out of nightmare. It stood nearly thirty feet tall, and its broadly muscled body was covered in skin the color of a frost-bitten corpse. Monstrous, red bat-like wings flared from its back, and its four arms constantly twitched and flexed. Its face resembled a cross between a mule and a snarling orc, and spines covered its head, neck and upper shoulders. Its most hideous feature was located in the middle of its abdomen: a large, gaping mouth filled with a slobbering tongue and rows of blunt, powerful grinding teeth. Just above this obscene maw sat a pair of massive, sharp pincers the size of large scythe blades.
‘A klurichir!’ Faust gasped, his mouth hanging open in disbelief. He had heard of the fiends before, but had never seen one. They were reputed to serve as generals under the greatest Abyssal lords. If balors had nightmares, then surely they were of these powerful tanar’ri.
“Destroy the enemies of the Worm God!” the wormdrake croaked in the demon’s own Abyssal tongue. The fiend nodded grudgingly, hatred in its eyes at being bound so. Still, reluctant or not, it would carry out its commands with all the powers at its behest. Raising its hands above its head, it conjured twin columns of black fire, and from these stepped two slavering, demonic forms almost as hideous as itself…balors.
As the two demons rose into the air on their mighty wings, Faust gathered his companions around him.
‘I’m staying,’ Havok spoke through the Mind Link.
‘Are you crazy?’ Faust snapped. ‘Even you can’t take on two balors on your own.’
‘I can be more help to you from here for now.’ Havok said. ‘Go! Now, while you still have time!’
Faust nodded, and swept the others up in a dimensional vortex, depositing them on the far side of the cavern, only a few yards from the klurichir. Their escape was none to soon, as a wave of dark magic washed through the room. Havok leaped back, just managing to avoid the tendrils of evil that would have incapacitated him had they touched him. He could see one of the balors hovering just outside the window, glaring at him. The second one, however, caught a glimpse of the other members of the League as they reappeared from limbo. Altering his flight course, he hurled a wave of dispelling magic over them before they had a chance to recover from their transdimensional hop. Each of them felt one of their precious protective spells ripped from them, leaving them even more vulnerable.
Grim was the first to recover, and never hesitating, he hurled himself towards the klurichir. As he ran, he heard a melodious voice rising above the din of the monsters around him. It was Havok, using his celestial powers to inspire renewed hope and courage among his comrades. Shouting a dwarven battle cry, the mineralized warrior slammed into the tanar’ri, reigning blow after blow with his axe. His greatest efforts barely scratched the beast. It looked down at him, and both of its tongues lolled in a sadistic grin. Grim took a hesitant step back, his shield raised to ward himself as best he could from the coming assault. Then, he felt a presence beside him. Glancing to his left, he saw the shining form of Hawk. The civilar struck like a thunderbolt, his holy blade tearing deep gouges into the demon’s hide, but even so, Grim could see they were merely flesh wounds to the great fiend.
Grubber shook off the effects of the transdimensional jaunt, and looked around him to take stock of the situation. The klurichir seemed momentarily preoccupied with Hawk and Grim, while the wormdrake watched the scene passively. The balors, however, were wheeling towards him and his allies, black fire crackling around them. Raising his hands, the priest shouted Grumbar’s name, and with a deafening rumble, a surge of null-magic blasted the demons, instantly sending them back to the Abyss from which they had been summoned.
Mak rushed past Grubber, closing to aid Grim and Hawk, but just then the klurichir stepped back from the warriors, putting distance between itself and its attackers. Then, slamming its hands together, it sent a torrent of unholy power through the entire group. Each of them felt a moment of vertiginous disorientation, and their limbs suddenly felt ten times heavier. At that precise instant, the wormdrake opened its great maw and breathed forth a blast of frozen acid, which enveloped them all.
Havok watched this all unfold from the balcony room, and he knew the time had come. He had hoped to avoid this drastic measure until they faced Dragotha, but he knew that if they were to ever have that chance, he must play his hand now. He spoke a single word, “Gabriel.” A moment later, he Teleported across the chamber to join his companions.
Suddenly, the entire chamber was filled with blinding white light, and the voices of ten-thousand angels brought tears to the eyes of the League members, and caused fear to clutch at the hearts of the klurichir and the wormdrake. As the heavenly choir went silent, and the unearthly light faded, the great solar stood revealed in all his splendor in the center of the cave. Raising his mighty, golden blade above him, he smote the klurichir, severing both the pincers from its abdominal jaws. Black blood spewed, and the tanar’ri stumbled back, a combination of hatred and terror in its eyes.
A sudden movement out of the corner of his eye caught Havok’s attention. Whirling that way, he saw an avolakia step from a previously hidden doorway down one of the corridors leading from the cave. Before he could react, the creature spoke several guttural words, and a wall of invisible force sprang up beside the warlock and Grubber, separating them from their friends and the battle which raged beyond.
Mak had been the only one of the group not affected by the blasphemous spell cast by the klurichir. He had expected such tactics from the hordes of Dragotha, and had warded himself accordingly before they had entered the Tabernacle. Now, as he moved to aid the solar in whatever way he could, he was spared a second time as the tanar’ri unleashed another blast. Once more his friends were stunned into immobility, but the demon’s intended target, Gabriel, was unphased. The wormdrake, however, was completely focused on the members of the League. Again its jaws opened, only this time they spewed an obscene cloud of Kyuss worms! The vermin began burrowing into the skin of the company as soon as they struck. Mak was horror struck. He quickly turned back towards his friends, weaving a powerful healing spell around the entire group, instantly killing the parasites within them.
Gabriel’s golden eyes burned as he advanced on the klurichir. The demon brought up its hands in a futile warding gesture as the solar’s sword severed them both, and then the creature’s neck. Never breaking stride, he closed towards the wormdrake. The dragon struck as he drew near, sinking its fangs into his thigh. The angel allowed himself a brief smile as he drew on the might of Heaven. In a blur of motion, he instantly grew to twice his already impressive size, now facing the great wyrm on equal ground. For the first time in its existence, the wormdrake knew fear.
Havok rapidly closed the distance between himself and avolakia, unleashing a sizzling arc of lightning as he charged. The jolt jarred the aberration, but only for a moment. In response, the creature loosed a blast of freezing cold and ice, which washed harmlessly over the celestial warlock, but took Grubber with its full force, slamming the goliath into the wall behind him. Then, the avolakia stepped back through the door from which she’d come, pulling it closed behind her, leaving only a blank wall in its place.
‘Not so fast,’ the warlock thought, and then he vanished, reappearing just on the other side of the wall. The decadence of the chamber he found himself in was nearly overwhelming. Thick carpet covered the floor, a crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling, and high-backed padded chairs and couches sat against the walls. A low marble table in the middle of the room was covered with an array of tantalizing drinks and foodstuffs. Soft music filled the air with a relaxing, soothing melody, and even the air itself felt warm and comforting. Havok’s celestial sight, however, allowed him to see that much of this was illusory. The furnishings were real, but not so food. When he saw what the bowls and dishes really contained, he felt his gorge rise. Twitching, writhing body parts slithered out of their containers and around the table. His attention, however, was quickly drawn back to the avolakia. She stood in the center of the room, halfway between two doors on opposite sides. Havok quickly threw up a wall of flames to block the northeast exit, but the avolakia immediately countered with her own spell, placing a second force wall between herself and the warlock. She then stepped through the southern worm door. Havok cursed, preparing to pursue her again, but just then he heard Grubber speak to him through the Mind Link.
‘She’s out here!’ the priest shouted. ‘She just appeared out of thin air, but she’s on the other side of the force wall! I can’t reach her, and the others can’t disengage!’
‘I’ll be right there,’ Havok answered.
Indeed, the remaining members of the League, along with Gabriel, were fully engaged with the wormdrake. Once more, the dragon breathed its blast of acid and ice, but only Mak suffered any ill effect, the others scattering out of the line of fire. Immediately after, the drake stretched its wings and body out to their full length, and then slammed down on the ground forcefully. A tremor grew into a low rumble beneath the feet of the defenders, and suddenly, from all sides, great, purple worms erupted from the ground. Gabriel didn’t give them a second glance. With one swipe of his blade, he disemboweled the dragon. Then, pivoting on one foot, he let his momentum carry him towards the nearest worm, slicing its body neatly in two. Grim quickly aborted his planned assault on the wormdrake, and instead closed to a second worm. His axe hewed deeply into the behemoth’s hide, covering the dwarf in viscous, green fluid. The great worm fell into a boneless mass.
Just then, Havok appeared high in the air, directly above the avolakia. Drawing on the eladrin’s magic, he launched a veritable swarm of flaming meteors at her. She was engulfed, as was the last of the purple worms. As the fires burned out, both lay dead, but just for an instant, Havok saw the avolakia’s form shift to that of a handsome, red-haired woman…one that he recognized. It was Mahuudril, the leader of the Red Blades Merchant Consortium in Starmantle.
“You should have listened to my offer when you had the chance,” he said to himself.
The battle ended, Gabriel strode purposefully towards Havok, eyeing his celestial form with a jaundiced eye.
“Our agreement is at an end, mortal,” the solar said.
“And you have my eternal thanks,” the warlock replied.
“You have no idea of what comprises eternity,” Gabriel replied, almost to himself. “In any event, I wish you success in your coming trials. A great onus is upon you. Your world will become a Hell on earth should you fail. My prayers are with you.” Then he was simply gone.
“We’ll need them,” Havok whispered.
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
