Chapter 21
Bazim-Gorag's eyes flashed, and suddenly the entire chamber was filled with a roiling storm of fire. It swept around for a few seconds before putting itself out, but the slaad lord was surprised to see the adventurers emerge unscathed. Growling, he hefted his glaive and moved around the lava pool toward Grundar. "Protected from fire, are you?" he said. "We can deal with that."
Grundar backed away from the slaad as he grabbed a potion off his belt that would make him faster. He was surprised when Rhys stepped up to take his place. The aasimar cleric cast a spell, and suddenly he grew in size until he stood nearly eleven feet tall, towering over the Firebringer. He leveled his staff at the slaad and spoke in a clear, booming voice. “This is where I fight. Bazim-Gorag, even if you summon Hell itself, I will not let you leave this prison. I have seen death before. I do not fear it. My death is inconsequential, so long as you are destroyed.”
Terenon conjured a sword of magical force to attack the Firebringer, but as soon as it struck him, it merely winked out of existence. It appeared that he was resistant to magic. The mage frowned as he looked around. It seemed like he was forgetting something. Then it hit him: Rumar had not come back! They were so caught up in the conversation with Yarrick Zan and the arrival of the Firebringer, they had forgotten all about Rumar! The mage hurried out of the prison back toward the lava room.
Bazim-Gorag grinned as he stepped toward Rhys, but he was momentarily blinded as a blast of chain lightning from Allanon shot toward him. The lightning merely sputtered against his skin, leaving him totally unaffected. The slaad lord smiled toothily as he took another step, but this time his advance was stopped as Grundar came tumbling under his reach. The elf rose up and thrust his trusty rapier deep into Bazim-Gorag’s chest, and the slaad lord grunted as the spry elf tumbled away.
The Firebringer growled as the wound in his chest began to close up. “You hurt us, elf,” he spat. “You will be the first to die.” His eyes flashed, and Grundar felt the magical protections the others had layered on him being torn away. Bazim-Gorag then tore into him with his glaive, delivering four horrific tears across his body. Grundar screamed in pain as fire played across his body and negative energy coursed through his wounds, barely having the strength to stand after the vicious assault.
“Grundar!” shouted Rhys as he made his way over to the elf. Calling upon Torm, he healed some of the elf’s wounds, though he still remained rather badly wounded.
Terenon reached the lake of lava and could make out Rumar on the far side, slowing winging his way back. “RUMAR!” he shouted as loud as he could. “Get the hell over here!” Not waiting to see if the paladin had heard, Terenon flew back down the hall toward the battle. He cast a quick spell and shot a black, bubbling ray at the Firebringer. The ray struck the slaad in the chest, suppressing its life force with negative energy.
Terenon’s enervation ray was followed up by a lightning bolt from Jelani and a prismatic spray from Allanon, but neither spell had any effect on the Firebringer.
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Rumar furrowed his brow in thought as he flew through the blisteringly hot air. What in the world could the problem be? How could they have gotten into trouble during the five-minutes I was gone? he thought. As he rounded the corner past where they (briefly) fought the hydra, Rumar finally spotted just where the group had moved. Drawing Pergium and settling his shield into place, he forced himself to double his speed.
They couldn't possibly be so stupid...not possibly...
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Grundar had been nearly torn in half by the Firebringer’s attacks, but he tumbled even further from the slaad lord and drew another potion, this one of the healing variety, downing its contents.
"You won't get away that easily, elf," growled the Firebringer as his eyes flashed. Suddenly, Grundar felt an enormous force pushing him with tremendous might. He tried to resist, but it was too much, and he was sent sailing forward through the air, landing inside the pit of lava. He screamed in pain as the lava coated his body, melting the flesh off of his bones.
"Now for you, priest," Bazim-Gorag said. He slashed four times at Rhys; two strikes penetrated his defenses and left gaping wounds in the aasimar's flesh, but Rhys managed to get his staff up to block the second two strikes.
“You are mistaken, Bazim-Gorag,” said Rhys. “It is your turn to die.” Rhys then stepped up and whirls his staff in a barrage of attacks at Bazim-Gorag, slamming the slaad lord with powerful swings of the enchanted weapon. The Firebringer tried to parry, but each strike slipped past his defenses to score his flesh. The slaad lord screamed in pain as the fierce blows landed on him.
Terenon fired another black ray at the wounded slaad, but this one went wide and didn’t even hit. The mage grimaced as he saw the beating everybody was taking. “Retreat!” he called. “We have to leave now!”
“We still have the upper hand!” cried Allanon. “His magic resistance is killing us, but I think I can take care of it!” Focusing on the power of the Weave in the prison, the wild mage began forming it to his will, attempting to trigger a wild surge that would lower the slaad’s spell resistance.
The Firebringer took a few steps away from Rhys, his teeth gritted and his wounds healing slightly. His eyes flashed, and a roaring wall of fire appeared where Rhys was standing, licking at the aasimar and eroding at his fire protection. "Now it's time to face our true potential,” he growled. With that, the man's form began to shift and stretch outward. In the span of a few seconds, he assumed his true form: a large frog-like creature the size of an ogre, with mottled skin of red and gold. It had two heads that hissed and muttered to each other, and its four eyes looked like balls of white flame. The glaive also shifted in size, becoming large enough for the slaad to wield efficiently.
Backing out of the flames, Rhys called upon the holy power of Torm and was surrounded by a nimbus of glowing white light. In a flash, the grievous wounds on his body disappeared as if they were never there, and he was back to perfect health.
“Jelani! Grab Grundar!” Terenon yelled as he waited for Allanon to complete his surge. The mention of grabbing Grundar came a bit late as Jelani was already flying over to help him. He barely heard Terenon’s words, however, his mind rapidly spinning, calculating the best action. There was really only one way to keep the elf from dying at this point. He reached the area just above where Grundar struggled in the lava and cast a spell, grasping his wounded comrade’s arm. As they faded away the words “The Well…” escaped Jelani’s lips and then they were both elsewhere and he could only hope that his companions had understood.
Allanon incanted the last syllable of his spell and released the wild surge at the Firebringer, praying for it to work. He flew closer to his friends, but kept them between himself and the Firebringer. He started casting a spell to test the enemy’s resistance. As the familiar arcane words rolled off his tongue, a long fork of lightning stretched from his finger and engulfed the Firebringer. It seemed to work, for the slaad lord convulsed and jerked as electricity coursed through his body. “Now’s our chance!” he cried.
Terenon cast a spell, creating a wall of force between the slaad lord and the rest of the party. “I don’t think that will hold him for long. We should get out of here,” he said firmly.
“No!” said Allanon. “He looks pretty badly hurt right now! We should take him down while he’s on the ropes, or the next time we fight him, he’ll be back to full strength and ready for us.”
Rumar flew into the chamber, his armor glowing with an enchantment of speed. He drew to a halt as he realized the Firebringer was momentarily contained. “Some may call this a bit reckless,” he muttered blandly. “But if we are to finish this now, let’s do it.”
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Jelani and Grundar materialized in the Well of Stars. The mystic theurge cradled the elf’s badly burnt and broken body as the motes of positive energy began to flock to him, infusing Grundar with healing energy. Jelani added some spells of his own and Grundar downed a few potions, and after a short time he was well enough to fight again.
“I’m out of teleportation spells,” said Jelani. “We’ll have to fly back.”
The two exited through the bottom of the well, passing by Yarrick Zan. The assassin flashed them a knowing smile as they passed.
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Bazim-Gorag laughed at the wall of force that stood between him and the adventurers. His eyes flashed, and he teleported to the other side of the barrier, within reach of Rhys. "Let's see how strong you are without your magic," the slaad growled, dispelling all of Rhys' protections and enhancements. Deprived of his protections, the fiery aura around Bazim-Gorag ignited the aasimar, setting him on fire.
Now his normal size and being burnt by the roaring flames, Rhys surrounded himself with an aura of divine fire. It was comprised of holy energy, not real flames, so it burnt the Firebringer's flesh a bit. He did not seem to notice it.
Allanon sendt a spray of prismatic colors sailing toward the Firebringer, but it did not seem to affect him. Terenon called a prismatic eye into existence that fired an indigo ray at the slaad lord. It struck him in the side, and suddenly his left head began babbling wildly. Its tongue lolled out of its mouth and its eyes rolled about. His right head glared at Terenon angrily. "We will deal you once the priest is ash," the right head threatened.
Rumar flapped his wings and rose up into the air. His eyes began to glow bright gold and suddenly twin rays of searing light shot out and struck the Firebringer, burning him with holy energy.
While his left head babbled on, the eyes of Bazim-Gorag's right head flashed, and suddenly four large glowing meteors appeared before his outstretched hand and shot out in various directions, leaving fiery trails of sparks, one each at Rhys, Allanon, Terenon, and Rumar. Rhys' meteor smacked him dead on in the face, and Rumar's hit him in the chest. The meteors targeted at the wizards merely exploded next to them. The meteors blossomed into enormous explosions, and while Terenon was only hit by one, Rhys Rumar and Allanon's explosions covered the same area, catching all three with each blast. As the blasts died down, Rhys toppled forward in a flaming heap, his flesh and hair smoldering. The others were badly burnt but had survived the assault.
Terenon's prismatic eye fired an orange ray, but the slaad lord dodged and barely seems to take any damage. Terenon and Allanon both sent powerful bolts of chain lightning at Bazim-Gorag. The electricity crackled across his body, eliciting a roar of pain and rage.
Rumar charged in, getting slashed by the Firebringer's enormous glaive as he went, and swung his own sword at the slaad, but it merely bounced off his hide.
The Firebringer's right head growled as his eyes flashed and he disappeared, reappearing at the other side of the wall of force by the black mirror. It rippled as he passed through, then turned solid again.
