Story HourPost your ongoing tales from your campaigns, and read those from others for inspiration. Lots of other RPG boards post "Story Hours", but this is where it started!
Okay, I'm off for a nice long holiday weekend in San Diego, so here's the cliffhanger for the weekend. Back on Monday!
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Chapter 38
A WATERY GRAVE
“Dar... hold...”
The fighter paused at Varo’s voice, scowling as he waited for the cleric to catch up. The priest’s mace glowed with a light spell, allowing them to see as they made their way back up the path of the underground stream. “How much longer is your spell going to last?”
“Not much longer,” Varo admitted. “But we must wait for the others nevertheless.”
“Why? They seemed eager enough to get themselves killed; I didn’t tell them to attack that golem.”
Varo paused; he had to put this in terms that the fighter would accept. “Without them, and especially without the healer, we have little chance of surviving long enough to find another way out of the dungeon.”
Dar sighed. “Assuming that there is another way out.”
Varo looked at the fighter critically. They had left behind the lingering effects of the emotion-dampening aura that infused the vicinity of the Well, but if Dar’s spirit had been broken, then his own plans would be cast into significant jeopardy.
“Screw it,” the fighter finally said, spitting loudly and drawing out his punching dagger. In the close confines of the tunnel, it was his most effective weapon. “Let’s go rescue those clueless idiots.”
But as the pair turned around, they could already see a glow approaching up the course of the stream. The light resolved into the flame atop Aelos’s staff, accompanied by all five of the survivors of Talen’s team. Argus still looked terrible, but he was moving under his own power, under the watchful eyes of Allera. Shaylara was bringing up the rear, casting frequent looked back behind them, alert for any signs of pursuit.
“Hey, glad you guys could make it,” Dar said.
“No thanks to you, coward!” Talen snapped.
“Hey, jerk, just because I’m not stupid enough to go charging a gods-damned iron golem...”
“Gentlemen!” Varo interjected. “We have only a few minutes before our water walk spells expire... I suggest we get moving.”
“We’ll never make it back to the far cavern,” Talen said.
“We’ll, we’re sure as hell not going to make it if we keep yammering here,” Dar said. “Let’s move it!”
The seven hurried back up the stream as fast as they could, helping each other past the inevitable low stretches and tight squeezes. They passed the fork in the tunnel, and here Varo bid them pause.
“We can’t stop here!” Dar exclaimed. Already, water was starting to froth around the soles of his boots; the spell was beginning to fade.
“As soon as the spell fails, we’re going to be shot down the river, right back into the waiting hands of those golems,” Shaylara said. “I’m a good swimmer, but there’s no way I can fight that current.”
“We have one other option,” Varo said. “As a contingency, I prepared a water breathing spell this morning. It won’t get us back to the worm cavern, but it may let us survive being washed down this fork.”
“But we don’t know what lies that way,” Shaylara said. “What if it pours off a thousand-foot cliff, onto rocks?”
“It can’t be worse than the alternative,” Dar said. He was holding onto a rock, now; the water was up to his ankles, and the current was beginning to tug at him. “Whatever we do, we have to do it now!”
Varo looked at Talen. “Do it, then,” the captain said.
“Gather around me,” Varo said. They did, with Aelos lingering the longest, expediency warring with preference in his expression.
The cleric cast his spell, touching each of them in turn.
“How long?” Talen asked.
“With all of you? A little less than an hour.”
“If we’re going to do this, we might as well get started,” Dar said. He led them into the side tunnel. He barely got thirty steps before the current grabbed him, and he fell into the water, the others close behind.
* * * * *
Dar’s head broke the water. His entire body felt battered and bruised, and he knew that had he not been able to breathe water, he would have certainly drowned. The river had been as fast and as nasty as they’d predicted, and it had not taken it easy on him.
He grabbed a rock and pulled himself half out of the water, gasping for air. It was dark, and the air felt cold. He looked around, but didn’t see any sign of his companions. Not that he could have seen them in any case.
No, wait. There was a flicker of light, under the surface of the water nearby. Trying to ignore the protests of his body, he made his way over to it. The current was still pushing at him, but it wasn’t as insistent as before; he must have ended up in a rivulet or pool of some sort.
“Varo? Allera? Anybody there?” he hissed.
“I am here,” Varo’s voice came from somewhere nearby. The cleric’s voice sounded as beat up as he felt.
“The others?”
“I don’t know,” came the response.
“There’s a light here,” Dar said. He reached down, and pulled out Aelos’s staff from where it had been jammed between two rocks.
Lifting the staff, he could finally see more of their surroundings. The magical flame revealed a large cavern, its ceiling beyond the range of the sphere of light. To his left, on the far side of the stream, a pair of massive stone formations rose up into the air. On the near side of the stream the cavern floor was relatively flat, rising slightly the further it got from the water. Lying on the strand there, the light shone on the prone forms of Shaylara and Talen.
“The captain and Shay are over here,” he said to Varo. He pulled himself out of the water, even that meager action taking a considerable effort. He wanted to lie down and pass out, but his battle-worn instincts were telling him that this place wasn’t safe. He saw that his pack had been ripped open, and his shortbow, stuffed through the loops for storage, had been snapped in two. A number of his weapons had been lost in the flood; the magical warhammer, the silver-edged greatsword, the orc cleric’s morningstar. But he still had his personal weapons, and one of the throngs holding the magical club had held, keeping the weapon bound to him. He shrugged off the waterlogged pack, and looked around.
“Help!” came a faint cry from the water. Dar turned and shone the light in that direction, revealing Allera, back near the mouth of the stream, only her head visible above the surface of the water. She was struggling with a heavy burden, which Dar identified after a moment as Aelos.
“Help the others, I’ll get them,” Dar said to Varo. Poking the staff into a gap in the rocks, so its light clearly illuminated the area, the fighter jumped back into the water, and pushing himself toward Allera and Aelos. The cleric was bleeding from a cut just above his left eye, and there were a few obvious bruises darkening in other places where the rocks had battered him. Dar took the man’s weight onto his, wrapping the unconscious cleric’s arm around his shoulder.
“Get him to shore, and I’ll heal him,” Allera said.
“I think we can all use some healing,” Dar said. “Where’s Argus?”
“I think I saw him over there,” Varo said, pointing. The cleric had pulled himself out of the water, and knelt beside Talen and Shaylara. The captain was stirring and groaning; he was alive, at least.
Dar looked at where Varo had indicated. There was a lump lying face-down in the stream, apparently caught on an obstruction just under the surface of the water. Argus.
And standing directly above him, leaning out over the water, was the largest troll he had ever seen.
Ah man...this is so cool. First Iron Golems and now a big ol troll. Rappan Athuk is one nasty nasty nasty place. Certainly better than any prison I've ever heard of.
LB, you're doing a fantastic job. Have fun in San Diego.
__________________ "I've done so much with so little for so long now that... Well, I can do anything with nothing."
Well, wake up the mage, cast Immolate on the troll, then flame weapon on Dar's beatin-stick and let Dar do Dar's thing.
The others might pitch in too, or they could just nap.
heh heh... well, optimism and ridiculous flights of fantasy are sometimes hard to tell apart =-)
I'm starting to suffer from withdrawals!!! Come on LB, where's the new post? Hope you had fun in San Diego!
Had to cut the trip sort; my wife sprained her ankle. I've basically spent the weekend hanging out around the house, fetching things for her, and playing Xbox 360 (tough life, I know ).
* * * * *
Chapter 39
PAY THE TROLL
The troll reached down, and grabbed Argus with a meaty claw. The creature lifted the two-hundred-pound fighter easily, drawing him up to stare into his face with its beady yellow eyes.
“Gurunga, tod nok,” it rumbled.
Argus, only semiconscious, muttered something incoherent.
Talen, restored to full awareness by a powerful healing spell from Varo, stood up and drew his sword. “Let him go!” he shouted at the troll. He moved to the edge of the stream, but the troll and Argus were on the far side, and there was no way for him to get to them.
The troll laughed and responded with another comment in the Giant tongue.
Dar turned to Allera. “Help him,” he said, pushing Aelos’s unconscious form up onto the shore. He considered swimming across to the troll’s side of the stream, but only for a moment. He pulled himself up on the near side. Reaching for the small pile of his belongings, he drew out his heavy club.
Talen had taken out his small shortbow, and was hastily fitting a new string to it to replace the waterlogged and ruined one left on from before. If the troll seemed threatened by his actions, it gave no sign of concern. In fact, it seemed almost casual as it shook its prisoner, and checked him for valuables. Finding little of interest, it glanced over its shoulder, and barked something else, “Zoolbing!”
Dar saw the second approaching form first. If the first troll was large for its kind, this one was truly monstrous. Standing well over ten feet tall, it carried a tower shield easily on one arm, and a large metal gauntlet covered its other clawed fist.
“Oh, we’re screwed,” the fighter muttered to himself.
The first troll tossed its captive back to the second troll as it lumbered forward. The creature caught Argus in its huge claw, locking its thick fingers around the helpless fighter’s waist. Argus was conscious now, and aware of the dire circumstances of his situation; he struggled to get free, but against the troll’s strength his efforts were feeble.
Talen drew an arrow from the quiver at his hip, and lifted it to his bow. But before he could act, the second troll smashed Argus hard against the nearer of the two stone spires. A loud crack echoed through the chamber, and the fighter fell limp in the troll’s grasp at once. Argus’s helmet had fallen from his head, and his hair, matted with blood and brains oozing from his shattered skull, left a greasy smudge on the stone as the troll dragged him across the ground. Seeing that this prey was done, the troll tossed him over his shoulder.
“Damn it, you bastard!” Talen cried, drawing his bow and firing at the troll that had killed his comrade. The hasty shot hit the troll’s shield, glancing away harmlessly.
Shaylara was up now as well, and she shouted a warning as the first troll came forward. The companions saw with surprise that the troll merely stepped onto the surface of the stream, charging forward with surprising speed. Dar hurled his throwing axe at it, but even though the weapon opened a gash on its right arm, the attack did nothing to hinder its charge. Within a few long strides, it was on their side of the cavern, and coming fast.
The second troll came forward as well. It looked as though its intent was to merely hurdle the stream, and as strong as it had already proven itself to be, it looked as though the obstacle would prove no barrier to its rush. Had it smashed into the defenders at the same time as its brother, the adventures of the Doomed Bastards would have likely come to an end right then and there. But Argus’s death had bought them a few seconds, a delay that gave Varo time to call upon the intervention of Dagos once more.
A pair of huge monstrous centipedes came into view around the two stone spires, converging upon the onrushing troll between them. The troll arrested his rush as one of the summoned creatures stabbed its mandibles deep into its shoulder. The second came up behind it, but the troll’s sharp senses detected the second attacker an instant before it struck, and it brought its huge shield up under the centipede’s head, knocking it aside. With the other centipede locked on its shoulder it couldn’t bring its claw into play, but it brought the shield around like a club, smashing it into the giant vermin’s body, tearing it free. The wound it left behind was a vicious one, but the troll’s regenerative powers were already working to close it, the flow of blood and venom from the injury quickly easing.
Dar, Talen, and Shaylara met the other troll’s charge, spreading out to flank it. The troll’s considerable reach gave it the first attack, smashing Dar with a painful blow to the chest from its leathery fist. Dar grimaced and staggered back, but he was quick to recover with a potent two-handed strike that caught the troll in its arm. The creature’s tough hide absorbed much of the force of the attack, but by the way it snarled at him, it was clear that the blow had hurt it.
Talen, dropping his bow, drew his magical sword and rushed to join the attack. His first thrust was ineffective, glancing off its skin as it turned to respond to Dar. Shaylara, however, was able to exploit its distraction, coming up from behind, and stabbing her small sword deep into its flank. The troll reacted quickly, turning on the scout. She ducked under its first sweeping claw, but it abruptly grabbed her with the second, digging its talons painfully into her side. Shaylara cried out and tried to break free, but as she lifted her sword to stab it, the creature lunged and seized her wrist in its powerful jaws. She screamed as the troll bit down hard, breaking her arm, and as the other fighters desperately pounded on it, trying to force it to free her, it spun its head around, sending her flying. She hit the ground hard, rolled, and came to a stop in a battered heap, unconscious and dying.
Allera and Aelos had not been idle during those first chaotic moments of battle. The healer had followed Dar’s instructions, ignoring her own hurts as she channeled a powerful stream of healing energy into the battered priest. Aelos’s eyes shot open, and he looked at Allera with surprise, as if surprised to see her there. The wound above his eye knitted shut, and the purpling bruises faded to a more normal color as the potent healing spell, augmented by the healer’s natural talents, worked its course.
Allera, exhausted, sagged back into the water. Aelos grabbed onto her, and pulled her to the edge of the shore, placing her hands firmly on the rocks.
“Heal yourself, child,” he said to her. “I must help the others against this dire foe.”
Channeling his own divine magic, the cleric summoned a spiritual weapon, a shimmering field of force in the shape of a flaming torch. Seeing that the other troll was still distracted by Varo’s summoned centipedes, and that his companions were being hard pressed by the other, he mentally directed the weapon to aid them in melee.
Neither he nor Allera saw the third troll that crept around the southern spire, near where the river entered the cavern. The troll, blending into the shadows, slipped silently into the water, and surged toward them.
Allera was just reaching up to pull herself up onto the shore when a pair of huge claws seized her from behind, and dragged her deep under the surface.
Ah man... No break in sight. Pretty soon it's going to be back to Dar and Varo trudging through this mess by themselves.
That's the problem, isn't it? From a story point of view, Dar is necessary for comic relief, to relieve the incessant bleakness, and perhaps for a dramatically appropriate tragic death later. Varo's just too evil to kill off -- it might lighten things up too much, and he's a good place to hang many neat plot hooks. And if you kill off all the remaining members of the original Bastards (barring the elf, of course), then it's not really "The Doomed Bastards in the Dungeon of Graves" anymore. More like "Some Guys Who Met the Doomed Bastards in the Dungeon of Graves". They could make T-shirts.
So, yeah. No surprise that the newcomers are getting put through the blender. Someone's got to provide the blood and gore.
__________________ "Hey! What kind of talk is that? There are Bleakniks around!"
That's the problem, isn't it? From a story point of view, Dar is necessary for comic relief, to relieve the incessant bleakness, and perhaps for a dramatically appropriate tragic death later. Varo's just too evil to kill off -- it might lighten things up too much, and he's a good place to hang many neat plot hooks. And if you kill off all the remaining members of the original Bastards (barring the elf, of course), then it's not really "The Doomed Bastards in the Dungeon of Graves" anymore. More like "Some Guys Who Met the Doomed Bastards in the Dungeon of Graves". They could make T-shirts.
Heh, I may have to kill off Varo and Dar just to surprise you guys.
And for the record, anybody in Rappan Athuk is a "Doomed Bastard", pretty much.
* * * * *
Chapter 40
TRIBULATION
Dar, Talen, and the troll continued to exchange blows in a violent storm of melee. The troll, having taken down Shaylara, found these two foes more tenacious, both men fighting with a furious determination. Dar slammed his club into the troll’s leg, smashing the limb. An ugly white spike of bone stuck out of the wound, but as the troll fought on, the extruding bone sank back into its flesh, and its skin knit together around it. Talen did his share, opening vicious rents in its torso with his sword, but at tough as it was, he couldn’t manage to score a critical hit that would dig deep enough into its body to cripple it. Aelos’s spiritual weapon continued to harry it as well, but the pounding blows from the magical torch did not burn in reality, and once the troll had failed to affect it with a claw swipe, it ignored the divine weapon to focus on the foes that could bleed.
The troll on the far bank was likewise going quickly through Varo’s centipedes. It brought down the edge of its shield once, twice, three times upon the one that had bitten it, severing its head from its body. As that creature dissolved, the troll turned on the second. The centipede managed to bite him on the back of its thigh, but the troll in turn got a grip on its long body with its claw, and started smashing it into the nearest stone column, even as the centipede continued to stab its fangs into its hand.
Varo, standing unengaged on the shore of the stream, knew that his companions were in dire straits. But he also knew that once the last centipede was destroyed, there would be nothing stopping this last—and apparently toughest—foe from joining the battle.
Summoning the power of Dagos, he hurled a potent enchantment across the cavern, calling upon the sinister might of his god to cloud the mind of the troll. The troll, though mighty, was not as strong of body as it was of mind, and it suddenly stopped its attack on the centipede, babbling incoherent scraps of phrases in Giant.
The centipede was quick to take advantage, breaking free and delivering another painful bite to the troll’s leg.
Aelos looked down at the water where Allera had suddenly vanished. The only part of the troll that had seized her that he could see was the top of its head. It fixed him with its yellow eyes, which seemed to smile at him, as if promising a like fate to him.
“Burn, fiend!” the cleric cried, opening his palm to release a bolt of searing light into the face of the troll. The beam struck the troll squarely in the center of its forehead, blasting away a blackened streak of flesh. The troll responded by erupting out of the water, surging up onto the shore directly onto the wide-eyed cleric.
Dar was a tough fighter, but the troll was incredibly strong, and there was only so much abuse that he could take. As he slammed it in the chest with one last blow from his club, the troll stepped forward and seized his shoulders with its claws. Unable to break free, the fighter could only struggle helplessly as the troll opened its jaws wide and bit down on his head. Fortunately Dar was still wearing his half-helm, but as the troll tore it off his head, its teeth took a few good-sized chunks of flesh with it.
The troll’s total focus on Dar gave Talen the opening that he needed. The veteran fighter came at the troll from behind, lifting his sword and driving it deep into the creature’s back. The troll shrieked and tore away, releasing Dar, who staggered back and fell to the ground, his face a bloody mess. The troll was still regenerating, but it was now critically wounded, and its legs collapsed under it. It fell to the ground, thrashing wildly. It tried to get up, but failed as Talen stepped carefully within its reach, and slammed his sword up to the hilt in the monster’s neck.
Aelos felt pain explode in his body as the troll tore into him. Its claws dug into his flesh, and it held him pinned as it loomed over him, close enough for him to feel the hot fetid stink of its breath on his face. He knew, and the troll knew as well, that there was no way he could break free of its grapple. All he could do was lift one hand, streaked with blood , and touch it to the troll’s chest.
”Umbra predate!” the cleric hissed, spitting blood at the troll. Darkness flashed between the priest’s fingers, and the troll reared back as a dark hole opened in its chest. Black blood gushed out of the opening, covering the cleric’s body.
In its fury, the troll tightened its grip, prepared to tear the cleric to pieces. But it heard a soft cough, and looked up into the face of Licinius Varo, who laid a gentle touch upon its brow.
The inflict serious wounds spell ravaged its terrible course through the creature’s body. The troll, furious, nevertheless realized that two humans that could deliver such terrible hurts with mere touches were not something to be confronted lightly. It fell back, and leapt into the stream, vanishing from view.
Varo bent to examine the cleric, who was drenched in blood, some of it his own, but most belonging to the troll. “Where is Allera?” When the cleric, still somewhat confused, shook his head, Varo repeated, “The healer! If we don’t find her, then this battle is lost!” He glanced up to see that the troll on the far bank was smashing what was left of his second centipede. The spell had been about to expire, in any case. His other summoning had been replaced with his water breathing spell; there would be no more aid forthcoming from Dagos this day. Lacking any further magic that could delay or discomfit the creature, he could only hope that his confusion would keep it delayed for a few more critical seconds.
Looking over at the others, he could see that the first troll was down, but its body was still intact. Aelos’s spiritual weapon was still smashing it, but as he watched, the spell’s duration expired, and the glowing torch faded away. Talen—the fool!—had gone over to Shaylara, as if there was something that he could do for her. Dar was down too, barely clinging to consciousness by the look of him.
Varo knew that the troll he and Aelos had faced had only been temporarily stunned, and that it would be back as soon as it had regenerated the damage suffered at their hands.
Where was Allera?
There! The cleric spotted the pale strands of hair floating near the submerged bridge of stones that connected the two sides of the stream. Trying to ignore the troll that continued to pound the already-dissolving body of the centipede into the stone, as well as the one that was continuing to regenerate just a few paces away, he ran over to the bridge, and pulled the limp form of the healer from the water.
She lived, if barely. He cast one of his last remaining healing spells into her. As her eyes fluttered open, he fixed them with his own.
“Listen, do not speak. We stand on the brink of destruction, and have only seconds to act. Heal the others, starting with Dar. Do not hold anything back. Do not hesitate.”
She nodded, and got up, with his help. She could barely stand, but she didn’t bother to heal herself, instead rushing over to Dar. The fighter groaned as she propped him up, but he gasped a moment later as she poured pure healing energy into him. The shock of it left him staggered, but she didn’t stop, darting over to Shaylara.
Varo had started toward the downed troll, but a roar from behind drew his attention around. Whether because it had finally shaken off the confusion, or because its addled brain had finally registered upon them as a threat, the big troll was coming.
It surged forward, ignoring the bridge, and leapt over the stream. It landed on the near bank with several feet to spare, ten feet and six hundred pounds of death waiting to be unleashed.
Excellent prose LB, I read every word of the post today all the way to the end. Thanks for giving me something great to read every day of the working week.
__________________ Eric Price
Rogue without a Home
I totally remember this section in Rappan Athuk. I HATE trolls... they're one of the nastiest monsters going. Tenacious enough to be a constant threat to anyone.
What a fantastic account of the area and its threats LB!
__________________ "I've done so much with so little for so long now that... Well, I can do anything with nothing."
Talen, kneeling with Allera over Shaylara’s broken form, looked up as the troll landed a few paces away. The fighter reached for his sword, but it was obvious from a single glance that he had no chance against it.
Dar yelled and rushed forward. The troll saw him coming, and smashed him across the chest with a truly titanic blow to the center of the fighter’s breastplate. The fighter only gritted his teeth and surged forward, smashing his club up with both hands into the troll’s chest. The blow didn’t do much damage, but Dar thrust behind it with his full weight and momentum, trying to drive the troll back.
It was like trying to push back a stone wall. The troll was incredibly strong, possessed of a sheer degree of raw physical might that the fighter had never before faced. Dar knew that in another second, he’d lose the advantage of leverage, and the troll would lay into him with a full attack that he had little chance of surviving.
So he dug deep within himself, and made a last desperate thrust. Maybe it was luck, or fate, or some distant god’s intervention, but the troll’s right foot slid back a foot, just a single foot. The troll was only trying to gain better traction, but that foot landed on a slanted piece of rock on the water’s edge, a rock that gave way when six hundred pounds of giant settled upon it. The troll, flailing its arms, went over backwards into the stream. Dar nearly went in after it, and only barely managed to gain control of his rush, windmilling his arms to maintain his balance at the water’s edge.
It was immediately obvious, however, that the respite was only a momentary one. The troll still seemed somewhat confused, as it blundered first toward the underwater line of rocks, and then back toward the far side of the stream. But when it turned back to the companions’ side of the cavern, it was obvious by the furious look that burned in its eyes that it had regained full use of its murderous capabilities.
Aelos, back on his feet, hurled a command at it to “Flee!”, but whether it failed to understand it, or simply resisted the magic, the troll didn’t stop coming on. It rushed forward, a wall of water surging ahead of it.
Dar was there to meet it, his club coming down in a powerful two-handed arc aimed at the troll’s head. The troll lifted the arm holding its tower shield and shifted to the side, but the blow still came down solidly on its shoulder. The troll snarled and lashed out at the fighter, knocking him back a step.
The fighter immediately started to come at the troll again, but he heard a sizzling sound from his chest that caused him to look down. To his surprise, he saw a large hole in the center of his breastplate... which was growing, as the metal dissolved into reddish dust!
“What in the hells?” he asked.
The troll had managed to gain a foothold on the near shore, and as it rose to its full height, it looked utterly ferocious, poised to unleash destruction on the defenders. Once again, the companions rallied to meet it, with Dar joined by the just-healed Talen and Shaylara. The scout was still pale, her arm newly restored through Allera’s potent arts, but she clutched onto her sword with grim determination.
With its back to the water, the troll lashed out with a violent fury. It pounded Talen hard with its gauntlet, smashing the fighter across the side of his head. Without his helmet, the blow would have crushed his skull like a melon, but even with the protection his head rang with the terrible force of the blow. It lunged forward to bite, but was intercepted as Shaylara leapt into its reach, darting under its shield and stabbing her sword into the crook under its arm as she passed. The troll shrieked and tried to knock her into the stream with a blow from its shield, but she ducked under the wild swing. The edge of the shield caught her on the back of the shoulder, knocking her down, but she rolled with the impact and out of the reach of the troll before it could follow up with a crippling blow.
Talen sliced a deep gash across the troll’s thick gut with his sword. Dark blood welled out from the wound, soaking into a ragged leather belt that the creature wore. The troll struck Talen again, knocking him back. It started after him, but was distracted as Dar laid into it with a full attack from the flank. The fighter brought his club down hard into the troll’s leg, and it let out another roar of pain. It turned on him, and with his armor all but ruined, he had almost no defense against its assault. The troll seized his arm with a claw, dragging the struggling fighter up into the troll’s embrace before digging its foul teeth into his shoulder. Dar screamed as blood erupted from the vicious wound, but he managed to grab a hold of his punching dagger, sliding it from its leather sheath.
Talen felt a soft touch on the back of his neck, followed by a rush of healing energy. Nodding in thanks to Allera, he leapt back into battle, charging at the troll. Without releasing its hold on Dar, the troll brought up its huge shield, deflecting the fighter’s attack. But once again it left itself open to a surging rush from Shaylara, who thrust her small sword deep into the meaty flesh of the troll’s thigh.
That pain returned redoubled as Varo touched the arm holding Dar, sending an inflict moderate wounds into the troll. The troll loosened its grip slightly, giving Dar a chance to lift his punching dagger, and stab the keen weapon into the troll’s left eye.
The troll let out a terrible scream, and thrashed madly in a violent explosion of limbs that knocked all of the defenders back. Dar fell hard and nearly went into the stream, only Varo’s quick helping hand dragging him back from the edge. The troll had lost all control over its movements, but it still clung tenaciously to life, its body continuing to regenerate the terrible damage it had taken. The companions could see that as well, and Talen and Dar, once they had recovered, came at it again, careful to avoid the mad gyrations of its limbs as they stabbed and smashed it. Within another several moments it was down, but even with huge gaping rents in its body, it continued to slowly heal.
“We must burn it!” Varo said.
“The bag of holding!” Talen exclaimed. “Shay, there’s still a few oil flasks in there...”
But the scout never got a chance to follow up on the captain’s suggestion. Aelos, a short distance away from the melee, saw the other troll, the one they’d put down in the first rush, leap up and rush forward. The companions turned as one at the cleric’s shouted warning, lifting their weapons. Dar and Talen swung at as it ran past them, but the troll was moving with incredible speed, and both missed. Then it was past, with only Shaylara standing between it and the bridge of underwater stepping-stones. The scout held her ground, lifting her sword to strike.
The troll did not change its course, and as it reached the much smaller human, it merely seized her with its claws and leapt forward, ascending in a fifteen-foot arc that ended with it hitting the water on the far side of the bridge. The troll and its prisoner hit the water with a massive splash, and then they were gone.
For a heartbeat the companions only stared after them, stunned by the suddenness of what had happened. Talen ran forward, staring out into the darkness. “Shay! SHAY!”
So we're down to fighters and clerics? Well, and our still missing maniacal elven rogue whose fate has yet to be determined.
Interesting. Hit points, armor and divine casting. Sounds good to me. Even though I prefer stealthier professions, you can't argue with the durability of that combo.
So we're down to fighters and clerics? Well, and our still missing maniacal elven rogue whose fate has yet to be determined.
Interesting. Hit points, armor and divine casting. Sounds good to me. Even though I prefer stealthier professions, you can't argue with the durability of that combo.
Are you kidding? Every single fight in this place has pushed them to the very limits of healing and endurance. No sneak attack. No arcane spells.
You can go a long way with nothing but hit point sponges and healers, but at the rate they're burning through their resources in EVERY FIGHT there's no way they'll make it very long.
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Is Rappan Athuk REALLY this deadly? As in, LB is writing it unmodified? If so, how in the world is a normal group supposed to get through this place? Yikes.
__________________ "On a long enough time line, everyone eventually rolls a 1."
-- Merkuri
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