ltclnlbrain
First Post
Chapter 8
The adventurers made their way back to the barracks house. It was eerily silent; with the cultists there having been defeated, nothing remained to make a sound. They passed through the ruins and started making their way along the winding path that led up the hill to the Dungeon of the Ruins.
The old keep must have been a striking place in its day. Vast quantities of rubble littered the steep, barren slopes of the knoll, and little remained at the top except thick walls that outlined the original shape of the fortress. The causeway climbed around the feet of the old stronghold, eventually ascending to the wreckage of an ancient gatehouse at the southern end of the keep. None of the main keep's upper floors still stood, and the remaining structure seemed little more than an empty shell of battered walls and wind-rustled weeds.
“Seems awful quiet for the headquarters of a cult,” said Grundar as he warily looked around. The causeway climbed up the slope to meet a flight of stone steps, which ascended to an old gate. The gatehouse was still reasonably intact compared with the rest of the tower. Not only did most of its walls still stand, but dark arrow slits within them still menaced the passage through the thick outer wall to the courtyard.
Grundar's sharp eyes picked out some movement. Atop the gatehouse and behind its crenellated battlements crouched a hideously misshapen giant. It was garbed in a large cloak that did little to conceal its hunchback. Patches of wiry hair were scattered over its pale white skin, and large warts and other growths dotted its thick hide. It grasped a huge crossbow in its hands as it looked about the courtyard. It squinted in the party’s direction, but made no threatening move yet.
“Giant on top of the battlements, huge crossbow! Quick! Hide!" cried Grundar, ducking behind a nearby bush.
"Perhaps if we put on some of the Acolytes’ robes, he may think we’re friendly and we'd get close enough to surprise him with an attack,” suggested Rhys.
Berek hesitated at Grundar's command, eyeing the distant giant uncertainly. On the one hand, the elf seemed to think hiding was in order and would doubtlessly be irritated if Berek failed to copy his action. On the other hand, he would rather be struck blind by the Gods than cower behind rubble like some sort of rat.
Then there was the fact that it WAS a giant that was looming up there--as a dwarf, he was pretty much honor-bound to kill the thing. On the other-other hand, he wasn't entirely certain how he would get up to the blasted thing...
Terenon cast a quick spell, and suddenly several illusory duplicates of himself appeared. Noticing that Terenon had opted to not only remain standing but unleash some sort of dark magicks, Berek began to run forward. His head was titled downward, his arms were clenched tightly against his body and his jaw was clamped tightly shut--all in an attempt to keep things stealthy. Damn complicated, sneaking about... he thought.
"Berek!” Grundar whispered as the dwarf charged forward, giving away their presence. “Come back! He might not see us yet!" They could have just as easily taken cover and planned their assault better. "Oh, why did we ever agree to take him with us?" Grundar sighed as he drew his rapier and started hustling after the dwarf.
“Too late now!” shouted Gillian as she blazed past the slower elf and dwarf. “It’s giant-slaying time!” Gillian rushed up the staircase leading into the keep. The gate opened onto a courtyard about 100 feet across. At the southwest corner stood the old gatehouse, and a flight of stone steps in the middle of the northern wall led up to another, higher courtyard. A large, clumsy structure of fieldstone and thatch leaned against the rubble of the eastern wall. The building looked like a ramshackle, oversized house with a crude wooden door a full 15 feet tall.
Rhys unleashed a blast of searing light at the giant. It struck him and he howled in pain as his flesh began to boil. However, the wound slowly began to disappear as the giant took aim down the crossbow and let loose a huge bolt that hit Berek. Berek grunted as the bolt rooted itself in his shoulder. Within an instant, the familiar red haze began to swirl in front of his vision...only to fade back away as he forcibly bit down on his tongue.
Berek crested the stairs into the courtyard as Gill began to speed up the guard tower. Terenon had hoped that he would have a little longer to prepare, but he acted quickly, calling to mind a powerful enchantment that he cast on the giant. The magic coursed through the giant’s body and he suddenly stopped moving, paralyzed and helpless. He was unable to avoid the ball of acid that Allanon had sent hurtling toward him, nor could he even scream as the caustic acid burned his body.
Berek's metaled shoes skidedd to a halt, his head snapping upward to contemplate the stairs and what lay beyond. Suddenly, he heard some noises coming from beyond the door of the ramshackle hut. Hearing the the measured steps of Grundar behind him anyway, the dwarf quickly opeds to face the new threats instead of trying to rush up the stairs. "Never beat the bloody halfling up there anyway," he muttered to himself as he gripped his weapon and idly swung it about, waiting for the new foes to present themselves.
Rhys had summoned a spiritual bastard sword which was now plugging away at the helpless giant. Gillian made it to the top of the tower and added her chain to the melee as Terenon and Allanon flew toward the keep. The giant atop the battlements remained paralyzed, though his large eyes betrayed his fear. His wounds continued to slowly close up.
Suddenly, the large wooden door swung open with a crash and two more malformed giants entered the courtyard. Up close, Berek could see that they stood nearly 15 feet tall, more than three times his size. Spotting the dwarf, they swung enormous flails at him. Berek had trained many years fighting against giants, so he was able to dodge the first one's swing, but the second one crashed against his chest with enormous strength, nearly knocking the wind from him. "Death to intruders!" one giant shouted. "Crush the little ones!"
As Berek fell backwards, he couldn't help but wonder whether the stabbing pain he felt in his chest was due to his old wounds re-opening or a rib snapping. Then, all coherent thought was lost to the anger. With a roar of fury, the berserker scrambled back up to his feet and charged heedlessly at the giant which just struck him. Insults spewed from his mouth as he struck repeatedly at the thing's ankles and knees. "Long-limbed, dung-brained, sewer-breathed, ear-wax-eatin' son of an ox's testicle!"
Atop the gatehouse, Gillian performed a coup de grace on the helpless giant. Her spiked chain sliced open the creature's belly; the contents of its abdominal cavity spilled out over the gatehouse and drip down the sides of it.
As Grundar finally made it inside the courtyard, Terenon and Allanon released powerful lightning bolts at the giants from high in the air. They took the full brunt of the blasts, but remained standing despite the vicious burns dotting their body. The giants lashed out at Berek with their flails again, but the dwarf managed to avoid most of the poorly-timed swings. However, he got smashed once more; the flail connected solidly with the side of his head, making him see stars.
Berek's jaw flopped about, shattered bones shifting about painfully even as he continued to try cursing his foe. Blood poured over his eyes and nose from the wounds on his head, blinding the dwarf to the world around him. In the distance, mages continued to work their spells upon the constantly healing enemies. For the berserker, none of this truly mattered. He swung his mighty hammer three times, each blow solidly connecting with the giant’s kneecaps. He felt the bones give way beneath his blows as the giant staggered to his knees.
The other giant raised his flail high overhead, preparing to smash what little life was left in Berek, when suddenly he was struck square in the chest by a thin green ray from Terenon’s outstretched hand. With a brilliant flash of light, the giant’s body crumbled into a large pile of ash. Allanon put an end to the fight by dropping an enormous ball of electricity on the remaining giant. His blackened and burnt corpse dropped to the ground.
Berek's rhythmic pounding upon the giant’s corpse continued on for a few heartbeats even after the creature expired. Such effort cannott be kept up for long in face of such serious injuries though and, with a visible wince of pain, the dwarf slowly toppled backwards.
“Ah, I see that my patient is ready and compliant,” said Rhys, coming up beside the unconscious dwarf, ready to heal him. “Glad that he's a friend; I'd hate to see what would happen if he didn’t like my bill."
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Berek nodded once in gratitude to Rhys as he slowly pushed himself back up to his feet. "Thanks for the magic," he mumbled, pulling up his shirt to wipe at the blood coating his face. Once he had done that to his satisfaction, Berek began poking himself in the chest. Now and again he gave a quiet grunt. ”I ain't up to full speed though--those bastards really hit hard. Suppose'n you could cast some more of that mending magic?"
Rhys smiled as he used his wand to heal the dwarf’s wounds. “Next time, don't charge a giant with a loaded crossbow who's standing at the top of a guard tower. Bad idea."
Berek, having finally cleaned off the crud on his face, shrugged. "Oh, I d'nno--I coulda taken one of the bastards. Three mighta been a bit much though. Truth be told," he continued sheepishly, "I mighta been a bit confused as to the mage's intent back there when we first spotted the giant. Sorta expected the thing to explode into bits when he finished casting his first spell.”
Grundar peeked out from the giant’s hut. "All clear in here,” he called. “I found the giant's loot, mostly jewelry, gold and silver. I'm going to drop it in our portable hole." He headed back into the hut and the other adventurers heard some scraping sounds, along with the jingling of coins. Moments later, Grundar emerged with a smile on his face. "All done. Let's check out the rest of the place. I wonder if the cult hired the giants to guard this place. Well, they didn't do a good job." The elf looked pointedly at the pile of ash and the acid-burned body on the ground.
“Well, it’s a bit late to ask them now,” said Terenon. “Questioning their souls would just be a waste of Torm’s blessing. Perhaps we should just find a way to get in.”
A flight of stone steps led from the lower courtyard, beside the gatehouse, up to a high courtyard placed immediately before the wreckage of the ancient keep. If any gate once separated the lower court from the upper one, it was long gone, and the buildings that once stood within these walls were nothing more than rubble. In the center of the courtyard, another flight of steps rose toward the gate of the keep itself, stopping 10 feet short. A drawbridge must once have spanned this gap, but now several planed timbers formed a temporary bridge to the keep. The structure's original doors had been replaced by new ones made from thick green timbers lashed together. A crude lock secured the gate.
Looking at the padlock, Grundar fished in his pockets and retrieved the key he had taken from Flame Lord Moskogg’s body. The key fit easily into the lock, and with a quick twist, the gate opened.
The adventurers made their way back to the barracks house. It was eerily silent; with the cultists there having been defeated, nothing remained to make a sound. They passed through the ruins and started making their way along the winding path that led up the hill to the Dungeon of the Ruins.
The old keep must have been a striking place in its day. Vast quantities of rubble littered the steep, barren slopes of the knoll, and little remained at the top except thick walls that outlined the original shape of the fortress. The causeway climbed around the feet of the old stronghold, eventually ascending to the wreckage of an ancient gatehouse at the southern end of the keep. None of the main keep's upper floors still stood, and the remaining structure seemed little more than an empty shell of battered walls and wind-rustled weeds.
“Seems awful quiet for the headquarters of a cult,” said Grundar as he warily looked around. The causeway climbed up the slope to meet a flight of stone steps, which ascended to an old gate. The gatehouse was still reasonably intact compared with the rest of the tower. Not only did most of its walls still stand, but dark arrow slits within them still menaced the passage through the thick outer wall to the courtyard.
Grundar's sharp eyes picked out some movement. Atop the gatehouse and behind its crenellated battlements crouched a hideously misshapen giant. It was garbed in a large cloak that did little to conceal its hunchback. Patches of wiry hair were scattered over its pale white skin, and large warts and other growths dotted its thick hide. It grasped a huge crossbow in its hands as it looked about the courtyard. It squinted in the party’s direction, but made no threatening move yet.
“Giant on top of the battlements, huge crossbow! Quick! Hide!" cried Grundar, ducking behind a nearby bush.
"Perhaps if we put on some of the Acolytes’ robes, he may think we’re friendly and we'd get close enough to surprise him with an attack,” suggested Rhys.
Berek hesitated at Grundar's command, eyeing the distant giant uncertainly. On the one hand, the elf seemed to think hiding was in order and would doubtlessly be irritated if Berek failed to copy his action. On the other hand, he would rather be struck blind by the Gods than cower behind rubble like some sort of rat.
Then there was the fact that it WAS a giant that was looming up there--as a dwarf, he was pretty much honor-bound to kill the thing. On the other-other hand, he wasn't entirely certain how he would get up to the blasted thing...
Terenon cast a quick spell, and suddenly several illusory duplicates of himself appeared. Noticing that Terenon had opted to not only remain standing but unleash some sort of dark magicks, Berek began to run forward. His head was titled downward, his arms were clenched tightly against his body and his jaw was clamped tightly shut--all in an attempt to keep things stealthy. Damn complicated, sneaking about... he thought.
"Berek!” Grundar whispered as the dwarf charged forward, giving away their presence. “Come back! He might not see us yet!" They could have just as easily taken cover and planned their assault better. "Oh, why did we ever agree to take him with us?" Grundar sighed as he drew his rapier and started hustling after the dwarf.
“Too late now!” shouted Gillian as she blazed past the slower elf and dwarf. “It’s giant-slaying time!” Gillian rushed up the staircase leading into the keep. The gate opened onto a courtyard about 100 feet across. At the southwest corner stood the old gatehouse, and a flight of stone steps in the middle of the northern wall led up to another, higher courtyard. A large, clumsy structure of fieldstone and thatch leaned against the rubble of the eastern wall. The building looked like a ramshackle, oversized house with a crude wooden door a full 15 feet tall.
Rhys unleashed a blast of searing light at the giant. It struck him and he howled in pain as his flesh began to boil. However, the wound slowly began to disappear as the giant took aim down the crossbow and let loose a huge bolt that hit Berek. Berek grunted as the bolt rooted itself in his shoulder. Within an instant, the familiar red haze began to swirl in front of his vision...only to fade back away as he forcibly bit down on his tongue.
Berek crested the stairs into the courtyard as Gill began to speed up the guard tower. Terenon had hoped that he would have a little longer to prepare, but he acted quickly, calling to mind a powerful enchantment that he cast on the giant. The magic coursed through the giant’s body and he suddenly stopped moving, paralyzed and helpless. He was unable to avoid the ball of acid that Allanon had sent hurtling toward him, nor could he even scream as the caustic acid burned his body.
Berek's metaled shoes skidedd to a halt, his head snapping upward to contemplate the stairs and what lay beyond. Suddenly, he heard some noises coming from beyond the door of the ramshackle hut. Hearing the the measured steps of Grundar behind him anyway, the dwarf quickly opeds to face the new threats instead of trying to rush up the stairs. "Never beat the bloody halfling up there anyway," he muttered to himself as he gripped his weapon and idly swung it about, waiting for the new foes to present themselves.
Rhys had summoned a spiritual bastard sword which was now plugging away at the helpless giant. Gillian made it to the top of the tower and added her chain to the melee as Terenon and Allanon flew toward the keep. The giant atop the battlements remained paralyzed, though his large eyes betrayed his fear. His wounds continued to slowly close up.
Suddenly, the large wooden door swung open with a crash and two more malformed giants entered the courtyard. Up close, Berek could see that they stood nearly 15 feet tall, more than three times his size. Spotting the dwarf, they swung enormous flails at him. Berek had trained many years fighting against giants, so he was able to dodge the first one's swing, but the second one crashed against his chest with enormous strength, nearly knocking the wind from him. "Death to intruders!" one giant shouted. "Crush the little ones!"
As Berek fell backwards, he couldn't help but wonder whether the stabbing pain he felt in his chest was due to his old wounds re-opening or a rib snapping. Then, all coherent thought was lost to the anger. With a roar of fury, the berserker scrambled back up to his feet and charged heedlessly at the giant which just struck him. Insults spewed from his mouth as he struck repeatedly at the thing's ankles and knees. "Long-limbed, dung-brained, sewer-breathed, ear-wax-eatin' son of an ox's testicle!"
Atop the gatehouse, Gillian performed a coup de grace on the helpless giant. Her spiked chain sliced open the creature's belly; the contents of its abdominal cavity spilled out over the gatehouse and drip down the sides of it.
As Grundar finally made it inside the courtyard, Terenon and Allanon released powerful lightning bolts at the giants from high in the air. They took the full brunt of the blasts, but remained standing despite the vicious burns dotting their body. The giants lashed out at Berek with their flails again, but the dwarf managed to avoid most of the poorly-timed swings. However, he got smashed once more; the flail connected solidly with the side of his head, making him see stars.
Berek's jaw flopped about, shattered bones shifting about painfully even as he continued to try cursing his foe. Blood poured over his eyes and nose from the wounds on his head, blinding the dwarf to the world around him. In the distance, mages continued to work their spells upon the constantly healing enemies. For the berserker, none of this truly mattered. He swung his mighty hammer three times, each blow solidly connecting with the giant’s kneecaps. He felt the bones give way beneath his blows as the giant staggered to his knees.
The other giant raised his flail high overhead, preparing to smash what little life was left in Berek, when suddenly he was struck square in the chest by a thin green ray from Terenon’s outstretched hand. With a brilliant flash of light, the giant’s body crumbled into a large pile of ash. Allanon put an end to the fight by dropping an enormous ball of electricity on the remaining giant. His blackened and burnt corpse dropped to the ground.
Berek's rhythmic pounding upon the giant’s corpse continued on for a few heartbeats even after the creature expired. Such effort cannott be kept up for long in face of such serious injuries though and, with a visible wince of pain, the dwarf slowly toppled backwards.
“Ah, I see that my patient is ready and compliant,” said Rhys, coming up beside the unconscious dwarf, ready to heal him. “Glad that he's a friend; I'd hate to see what would happen if he didn’t like my bill."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Berek nodded once in gratitude to Rhys as he slowly pushed himself back up to his feet. "Thanks for the magic," he mumbled, pulling up his shirt to wipe at the blood coating his face. Once he had done that to his satisfaction, Berek began poking himself in the chest. Now and again he gave a quiet grunt. ”I ain't up to full speed though--those bastards really hit hard. Suppose'n you could cast some more of that mending magic?"
Rhys smiled as he used his wand to heal the dwarf’s wounds. “Next time, don't charge a giant with a loaded crossbow who's standing at the top of a guard tower. Bad idea."
Berek, having finally cleaned off the crud on his face, shrugged. "Oh, I d'nno--I coulda taken one of the bastards. Three mighta been a bit much though. Truth be told," he continued sheepishly, "I mighta been a bit confused as to the mage's intent back there when we first spotted the giant. Sorta expected the thing to explode into bits when he finished casting his first spell.”
Grundar peeked out from the giant’s hut. "All clear in here,” he called. “I found the giant's loot, mostly jewelry, gold and silver. I'm going to drop it in our portable hole." He headed back into the hut and the other adventurers heard some scraping sounds, along with the jingling of coins. Moments later, Grundar emerged with a smile on his face. "All done. Let's check out the rest of the place. I wonder if the cult hired the giants to guard this place. Well, they didn't do a good job." The elf looked pointedly at the pile of ash and the acid-burned body on the ground.
“Well, it’s a bit late to ask them now,” said Terenon. “Questioning their souls would just be a waste of Torm’s blessing. Perhaps we should just find a way to get in.”
A flight of stone steps led from the lower courtyard, beside the gatehouse, up to a high courtyard placed immediately before the wreckage of the ancient keep. If any gate once separated the lower court from the upper one, it was long gone, and the buildings that once stood within these walls were nothing more than rubble. In the center of the courtyard, another flight of steps rose toward the gate of the keep itself, stopping 10 feet short. A drawbridge must once have spanned this gap, but now several planed timbers formed a temporary bridge to the keep. The structure's original doors had been replaced by new ones made from thick green timbers lashed together. A crude lock secured the gate.
Looking at the padlock, Grundar fished in his pockets and retrieved the key he had taken from Flame Lord Moskogg’s body. The key fit easily into the lock, and with a quick twist, the gate opened.
