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Elemental's Story Hour: Updated 30 /5
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<blockquote data-quote="Elemental" data-source="post: 858253" data-attributes="member: 7931"><p><strong>Re: Part 6</strong></p><p></p><p>Part 7:</p><p></p><p>Looking for the source of the laugh yielded nothing. But what did become audible was the sound of someone coming down the corridor. Usha peered down it, but her darkvision didn’t yield anything until….</p><p></p><p>"Carduan. You had us worried there."</p><p> </p><p>"Sorry, things took a little longer than planned." he said, returning to the group. There was the sound of many weapons being sheathed, and mutters of annoyance.</p><p></p><p>Estivan led the way down the stairs. The old spiral staircase, smoothed by time and water flow, carried on down for quite a bit before it came to a door out, with a sign above saying "Warning: Random Thaumaturgic Generation Ahead."</p><p></p><p>"Our friend the wizard." said Usha.</p><p></p><p>"Thaumatugic?" asked Carudan.</p><p></p><p>“Magical radiation.”</p><p></p><p>“Ah, lovely.”</p><p></p><p>"I'd guess it's faded. The skum didn't seem too badly affected."</p><p></p><p>"How could this radiation affect us?"</p><p></p><p>"Random transformations, destructive energy, general weirdness." said Silver.</p><p></p><p>"Dangerous to us?"</p><p></p><p>“I am not afraid of such things!” sneered Estivan.</p><p></p><p>"I would rather not be turned into a weird thing.” said Blue. “Any protection you could come up with Silver would be great."</p><p></p><p>"Shouldn't need to. It's mostly burnt out. A few pockets that fade out and will probably only annoy."</p><p></p><p>"Then let's press on." said Usha, and did that. She didn’t feel comfortable standing here and waiting; she wanted to be doing something.</p><p></p><p>As they got to the bottom of the sloping tunnel, it became plain that there had been some radical changes wrought in this place, by magic or nature. The carved stone walls were pitted, eroded, and broken in places, and the briny smell was more pronounced. </p><p></p><p>"This smells like the sea, I remember it from home. I heard there actually are subterranean seas in the Underdark." said Usha.</p><p></p><p>"We have only gone down two levels.” said Blue. “Do you really think we are in the Underdark already?"</p><p></p><p>"When we meet an embassy, we'll have to ask."</p><p></p><p>“Hold up.” said Blue, looking at the T-junction in front of them. “Remember those pockets I mentioned? The intersection has one, and it’s not moving.”</p><p></p><p>"Well, we could send a small creature through, to see how effective it is...." said Usha. She glanced at Silver’s owl familiar, then shook her head. "Any chance you could summon something?"</p><p></p><p>"Summoning isn't my style."</p><p></p><p>"What do you suggest we do, sorcerer?” asked Estivan.</p><p>Silver drew a dagger and threw that into the middle of the field. There was a flash of light, and when it faded, the weapon was visible, hovering in the air and turning to face in different directions like a more lethal compass needle. Usha made sure her shield was between her and it.</p><p></p><p>"A rock wouldn't have worked. It needed silver, iron or diamonds to distort the effect." said Silver.</p><p></p><p>"So is it safe to go in or not?" demanded Estivan.</p><p></p><p>"Should be but watch the dagger. It’s got all the juice now."</p><p></p><p>Estivan and Carudan went through. The floating dagger hit his shield, and fell to the ground, where Silver recovered it. Blue stopped. "There is something buried in the intersection."</p><p></p><p>It wasn’t buried very deep, so Usha used her spear and shield to move the earth away. It turned out to be a small quartz crystal with some etchings on it.</p><p></p><p>“Well, it looks pretty at least, so it's not totally wasted effort." she said.</p><p></p><p>"Well that’s something. Not sure what but something." said Silver.</p><p></p><p>"Hmm, quite interesting, isn't it, Silver?" said Carudan.</p><p></p><p>“Do I get to know what it does?” asked Usha.</p><p></p><p>"Question now is which one of use counted as the certain being."</p><p></p><p>Since the answer to her question was apparently no, she pocketed the gem, and went onto the door at the end of the corridor. It opened onto a forge. An anvil and heap of metal slag, various tools, and something that looked like a furnace were positioned around the room. Also, a pair of bellows and a lever of some kind, which Estivan tried out.</p><p></p><p>"I wouldn't have thought it possible, but you proved me wrong.” said Usha. “You found a way to produce even more hot air that normal."</p><p></p><p>“It is paltry compared to the amount you produce, wench!”</p><p></p><p>“I think he’s jealous.” said Silver with a chuckle. Blue dug up a large shield, with a symbol of a griffin on it. Estivan took that.</p><p></p><p>Carudan had a look over at the tools. "If you want the tools, we can toss them into the sack." said Silver, seeing his interest.</p><p></p><p>“Not really, I’m just curious is all. Though now that I think about it, we should remember to come back here. These could be worth some money, or be a nice gift to the school.”</p><p></p><p>"Just put them in the sack. Usha found a gold mine when she discovered it."</p><p></p><p>"If we secure this area for them the it could be an income generating source for them." said Estivan. "Silver, I believe this shield to be of some sort of magical nature, perchance you could tell me what sort?"</p><p></p><p>Their attention was distracted by the fact that the forge seemed to have come back to life of it’s own accord, the red glow intensifying.</p><p></p><p>Blue stepped back. "Everybody, there is something wrong with that forge. I suggest we move."</p><p></p><p>"Back away from the forge! Something is in it!” declared Estivan, with his usual flare for the dramatic. He brandished his shield, though it was anyone’s guess what he meant to do with it.</p><p></p><p>"Estivan, move it. There is no reason to die fighting a forge. There is no glory in that."</p><p></p><p>Estivan instead used the shield to push through the flames into the forge (it seemed to have protective properties), and threw a waterskin into it. To the surprise of no-one but him, a few ounces of water didn’t extinguish the fires.</p><p></p><p>"Damn, water is not as effective as I hoped..." said the master of the obvious. Whatever had possessed Estivan, it seemed contagious. Carudan had backed out of the room with Usha, Blue and Silver, but ran in to throw more water on the flames, only to get pushed back by the great heat.</p><p></p><p>"Silver. Do you have some kind of ice spell that would help?” asked Blue, showing at least some of them were thinking clearly.</p><p></p><p>Silver didn’t answer, watching the unnatural fires. "Guys, this is a bad thing." he said eventually. "Planar rift. To the fire plane.”</p><p></p><p>"How do we close it? And how did it open in the first place?"</p><p></p><p>Carudan seemed to realize how, lunging forward and shutting off the valve. Immediately the licking flames withdrew inside the forge.</p><p></p><p>"And this is why you don't fool around with switches in a dungeon." said Silver.</p><p></p><p>“Unless you’re a skilled….treasure hunter, like me.” said Blue.</p><p></p><p>"Perhaps I should listen to your advise more often, then again perhaps not." said Estivan. Truly, the man had a talent for phrases that seemed sensible on the surface, but were in fact very stupid.</p><p></p><p>"Now then that you have roasted yourselves, can we move on?"</p><p></p><p>There were no other exits, so they went down the other corridor of the T-junction. This one led to what looked like a disused laboratory. There were vials, crumbling scrolls and various spell components scattered around. There were also two heavy cloaks, looking in surprisingly un-decayed repair, hanging on the wall.</p><p></p><p>Usha had a look round for anything that looked like information, and Silver gathered useful bits for useful spell components, but they were both cut off when the cloaks suddenly jumped off the wall, revealing fanged mouths and malicious red eyes, and swooped in to attack. Cloakers!</p><p></p><p>Estivan reacted, but his scimitar glanced off the creature’s tough hide. Caurdan grabbed at one of the things, slamming it against the wall. It lashed at him with it’s tail, but the strikes just glanced off his skin. Silver launched bolts of fire, which only burnt holes in the walls. The other cloaker released an unearthly, haunting, moan.</p><p></p><p>Usha tried to grab at the cloaker, hoping to pin it down and deny it its mobility. However, it was impossible to get a grip on the boneless thing. It screeched as Estivan managed to draw blood.</p><p></p><p><em>Oh no, I’m not having you of all people show me up here. </em></p><p></p><p>Carudan managed to keep up the blows coming in on the other cloaker, sending it falling back onto a bench full of sharp glass. However, it wrapped it’s wings around him, enveloping him. A muffled yell came from within the bulk of the creature. Couldn’t be nice being face to face with that mouth of sharp little teeth. Silver tried to stab it with his rapier, but managed to cut Carudan instead.</p><p></p><p>Usha focused on the other, a slash of her new longsword cutting a gash in its wing. In response, it released a terrible moan, which touched off an unpleasant reaction, as Usha felt nausea rise up in her. She barely avoided vomiting, trying to keep her footing. From the sounds she could hear, she hadn’t been the only one affected, which was scant consolation.</p><p></p><p>Suddenly, there was another burst of sound, from under the smothering creature. Both cloakers exploded under the sonic assault, in a cloud of gore. Looking round, she saw that Carudan had been the origin of that attack. He’d also hit Estivan, though not as badly.</p><p></p><p>Carudan staggered towards the injured Estivan, and healed him. Usha sat down, fighting the nausea down. After few moments, it faded, and she looked up. "I vote we finish turning over this room, then go."</p><p></p><p>Arden had a quick look round the place, but if he found anything, he kept it quiet. Estivan, despite his wounds, insisted on being first out. "So anxious to have a target on your head...." muttered Usha as she followed the group out.</p><p></p><p>As they left through the other door, into a new tunnel, there came a gurgling, echoing cry of pain from ahead.</p><p></p><p>"Beshsaba's bosom, what in the nine hells was that?" exclaimed Estivan.</p><p></p><p>"That sounded unhealthy. I suggest Estivan goes first." said Silver.</p><p></p><p>"Let's not get hurt too seriously this time.” said Carudan. “I only have one potion left"</p><p></p><p>The room they hurried into was a natural cavern. It had a lower ceiling than the others, but was a lot larger and there was a pool of water on the floor. Looking round, Usha saw a skum limping away from something, but even as she was drawing steel, it was yanked back into the darkness. More screaming issued, but that was abruptly cut off.</p><p></p><p>"That's not good..." muttered Carudan.</p><p></p><p>"Now that's a bad sign" said Estivan.</p><p></p><p>"Nothing gets past you two, does it?" asked Usha.</p><p></p><p>"We might want to consider retreating for the time being.” said Carudan. Usha was finding it steadily more hard to believe he was a priest of Torm. She looked over. "Blue, you're our best chance of finding a nonviolent way out, but if you don't want to go into there, I won't blame you a bit."</p><p></p><p>"It looks dark enough. I shouldn't have any problems sneaking in and out."</p><p></p><p>But they were cut off by a strange clanking sound, causing the floor to collapse, depositing them all in a large muddy pit. Usha climbed to her feet, just in time to see some hideous creature, like a giant quadruped crab, rise from the mire.</p><p></p><p>“Beshaba’s bosom!”</p><p></p><p>“What is it with you and bosoms lately?” asked Usha, before drawing her sword, and attacking this new threat.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Elemental, post: 858253, member: 7931"] [b]Re: Part 6[/b] Part 7: Looking for the source of the laugh yielded nothing. But what did become audible was the sound of someone coming down the corridor. Usha peered down it, but her darkvision didn’t yield anything until…. "Carduan. You had us worried there." "Sorry, things took a little longer than planned." he said, returning to the group. There was the sound of many weapons being sheathed, and mutters of annoyance. Estivan led the way down the stairs. The old spiral staircase, smoothed by time and water flow, carried on down for quite a bit before it came to a door out, with a sign above saying "Warning: Random Thaumaturgic Generation Ahead." "Our friend the wizard." said Usha. "Thaumatugic?" asked Carudan. “Magical radiation.” “Ah, lovely.” "I'd guess it's faded. The skum didn't seem too badly affected." "How could this radiation affect us?" "Random transformations, destructive energy, general weirdness." said Silver. "Dangerous to us?" “I am not afraid of such things!” sneered Estivan. "I would rather not be turned into a weird thing.” said Blue. “Any protection you could come up with Silver would be great." "Shouldn't need to. It's mostly burnt out. A few pockets that fade out and will probably only annoy." "Then let's press on." said Usha, and did that. She didn’t feel comfortable standing here and waiting; she wanted to be doing something. As they got to the bottom of the sloping tunnel, it became plain that there had been some radical changes wrought in this place, by magic or nature. The carved stone walls were pitted, eroded, and broken in places, and the briny smell was more pronounced. "This smells like the sea, I remember it from home. I heard there actually are subterranean seas in the Underdark." said Usha. "We have only gone down two levels.” said Blue. “Do you really think we are in the Underdark already?" "When we meet an embassy, we'll have to ask." “Hold up.” said Blue, looking at the T-junction in front of them. “Remember those pockets I mentioned? The intersection has one, and it’s not moving.” "Well, we could send a small creature through, to see how effective it is...." said Usha. She glanced at Silver’s owl familiar, then shook her head. "Any chance you could summon something?" "Summoning isn't my style." "What do you suggest we do, sorcerer?” asked Estivan. Silver drew a dagger and threw that into the middle of the field. There was a flash of light, and when it faded, the weapon was visible, hovering in the air and turning to face in different directions like a more lethal compass needle. Usha made sure her shield was between her and it. "A rock wouldn't have worked. It needed silver, iron or diamonds to distort the effect." said Silver. "So is it safe to go in or not?" demanded Estivan. "Should be but watch the dagger. It’s got all the juice now." Estivan and Carudan went through. The floating dagger hit his shield, and fell to the ground, where Silver recovered it. Blue stopped. "There is something buried in the intersection." It wasn’t buried very deep, so Usha used her spear and shield to move the earth away. It turned out to be a small quartz crystal with some etchings on it. “Well, it looks pretty at least, so it's not totally wasted effort." she said. "Well that’s something. Not sure what but something." said Silver. "Hmm, quite interesting, isn't it, Silver?" said Carudan. “Do I get to know what it does?” asked Usha. "Question now is which one of use counted as the certain being." Since the answer to her question was apparently no, she pocketed the gem, and went onto the door at the end of the corridor. It opened onto a forge. An anvil and heap of metal slag, various tools, and something that looked like a furnace were positioned around the room. Also, a pair of bellows and a lever of some kind, which Estivan tried out. "I wouldn't have thought it possible, but you proved me wrong.” said Usha. “You found a way to produce even more hot air that normal." “It is paltry compared to the amount you produce, wench!” “I think he’s jealous.” said Silver with a chuckle. Blue dug up a large shield, with a symbol of a griffin on it. Estivan took that. Carudan had a look over at the tools. "If you want the tools, we can toss them into the sack." said Silver, seeing his interest. “Not really, I’m just curious is all. Though now that I think about it, we should remember to come back here. These could be worth some money, or be a nice gift to the school.” "Just put them in the sack. Usha found a gold mine when she discovered it." "If we secure this area for them the it could be an income generating source for them." said Estivan. "Silver, I believe this shield to be of some sort of magical nature, perchance you could tell me what sort?" Their attention was distracted by the fact that the forge seemed to have come back to life of it’s own accord, the red glow intensifying. Blue stepped back. "Everybody, there is something wrong with that forge. I suggest we move." "Back away from the forge! Something is in it!” declared Estivan, with his usual flare for the dramatic. He brandished his shield, though it was anyone’s guess what he meant to do with it. "Estivan, move it. There is no reason to die fighting a forge. There is no glory in that." Estivan instead used the shield to push through the flames into the forge (it seemed to have protective properties), and threw a waterskin into it. To the surprise of no-one but him, a few ounces of water didn’t extinguish the fires. "Damn, water is not as effective as I hoped..." said the master of the obvious. Whatever had possessed Estivan, it seemed contagious. Carudan had backed out of the room with Usha, Blue and Silver, but ran in to throw more water on the flames, only to get pushed back by the great heat. "Silver. Do you have some kind of ice spell that would help?” asked Blue, showing at least some of them were thinking clearly. Silver didn’t answer, watching the unnatural fires. "Guys, this is a bad thing." he said eventually. "Planar rift. To the fire plane.” "How do we close it? And how did it open in the first place?" Carudan seemed to realize how, lunging forward and shutting off the valve. Immediately the licking flames withdrew inside the forge. "And this is why you don't fool around with switches in a dungeon." said Silver. “Unless you’re a skilled….treasure hunter, like me.” said Blue. "Perhaps I should listen to your advise more often, then again perhaps not." said Estivan. Truly, the man had a talent for phrases that seemed sensible on the surface, but were in fact very stupid. "Now then that you have roasted yourselves, can we move on?" There were no other exits, so they went down the other corridor of the T-junction. This one led to what looked like a disused laboratory. There were vials, crumbling scrolls and various spell components scattered around. There were also two heavy cloaks, looking in surprisingly un-decayed repair, hanging on the wall. Usha had a look round for anything that looked like information, and Silver gathered useful bits for useful spell components, but they were both cut off when the cloaks suddenly jumped off the wall, revealing fanged mouths and malicious red eyes, and swooped in to attack. Cloakers! Estivan reacted, but his scimitar glanced off the creature’s tough hide. Caurdan grabbed at one of the things, slamming it against the wall. It lashed at him with it’s tail, but the strikes just glanced off his skin. Silver launched bolts of fire, which only burnt holes in the walls. The other cloaker released an unearthly, haunting, moan. Usha tried to grab at the cloaker, hoping to pin it down and deny it its mobility. However, it was impossible to get a grip on the boneless thing. It screeched as Estivan managed to draw blood. [I]Oh no, I’m not having you of all people show me up here. [/I] Carudan managed to keep up the blows coming in on the other cloaker, sending it falling back onto a bench full of sharp glass. However, it wrapped it’s wings around him, enveloping him. A muffled yell came from within the bulk of the creature. Couldn’t be nice being face to face with that mouth of sharp little teeth. Silver tried to stab it with his rapier, but managed to cut Carudan instead. Usha focused on the other, a slash of her new longsword cutting a gash in its wing. In response, it released a terrible moan, which touched off an unpleasant reaction, as Usha felt nausea rise up in her. She barely avoided vomiting, trying to keep her footing. From the sounds she could hear, she hadn’t been the only one affected, which was scant consolation. Suddenly, there was another burst of sound, from under the smothering creature. Both cloakers exploded under the sonic assault, in a cloud of gore. Looking round, she saw that Carudan had been the origin of that attack. He’d also hit Estivan, though not as badly. Carudan staggered towards the injured Estivan, and healed him. Usha sat down, fighting the nausea down. After few moments, it faded, and she looked up. "I vote we finish turning over this room, then go." Arden had a quick look round the place, but if he found anything, he kept it quiet. Estivan, despite his wounds, insisted on being first out. "So anxious to have a target on your head...." muttered Usha as she followed the group out. As they left through the other door, into a new tunnel, there came a gurgling, echoing cry of pain from ahead. "Beshsaba's bosom, what in the nine hells was that?" exclaimed Estivan. "That sounded unhealthy. I suggest Estivan goes first." said Silver. "Let's not get hurt too seriously this time.” said Carudan. “I only have one potion left" The room they hurried into was a natural cavern. It had a lower ceiling than the others, but was a lot larger and there was a pool of water on the floor. Looking round, Usha saw a skum limping away from something, but even as she was drawing steel, it was yanked back into the darkness. More screaming issued, but that was abruptly cut off. "That's not good..." muttered Carudan. "Now that's a bad sign" said Estivan. "Nothing gets past you two, does it?" asked Usha. "We might want to consider retreating for the time being.” said Carudan. Usha was finding it steadily more hard to believe he was a priest of Torm. She looked over. "Blue, you're our best chance of finding a nonviolent way out, but if you don't want to go into there, I won't blame you a bit." "It looks dark enough. I shouldn't have any problems sneaking in and out." But they were cut off by a strange clanking sound, causing the floor to collapse, depositing them all in a large muddy pit. Usha climbed to her feet, just in time to see some hideous creature, like a giant quadruped crab, rise from the mire. “Beshaba’s bosom!” “What is it with you and bosoms lately?” asked Usha, before drawing her sword, and attacking this new threat. [/QUOTE]
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