The Rescue of Dorthan Lhal, part III: The Attack of the Storm Cows
Kyros, the Mithral Knight reeled from the mental attack but remained unaffected. Then by the grace of Tymora, his dispalcement helped him to avoid another mauling from the armored athachs. Aris could only watch sprawled and stunned on the floor, and he was amazed. The next few moments allowed him to see Kyros become a hero.
The Mithral Knight dashed over towards the mind flayer with amazing speed, and before the illithid could act and flee, split its skull. The creature slumped to the floor, tentacles still writhing. Then the psychic warrior bounced back towards the three-armed giants and took one down. He had bought Aris enough time for his motor control to return as he bobbed and tumbled and weaved between the clubs of the remaining athachs. Aris rose and dropped the second and last armored hulk as Kyros became less blurry.
As if on cue, Varen's yell of "Let's get out of here!" and beams of light, followed the brief pause after the victory. The bard ducked under the floating, umber-hulk form of Nosr, and dashed past Aris and Kyros, down into the tunnel. Kyros and Aris looked at each other with resolve, and prepared to fight against a new assault of enemies, wand-wielding sorcerer monks. As the heroes watched, platforms were lowering to admit something big and hairy into the lower chambers. Nosr only had time to change back into his normal form before being paralyzed by a green ray from one wand. Then he was encased in a clear sphere of force from the grey beam of another.
Varen called from the tunnel, "A little help down here!"
Aris, seeing that they were soon going to be cut off, gave the order to retreat. Rolling the entrapped Nosr, he followed Kyros into the tunnel. Close on their heels, the Monks of the Quivering Thumb followed, firing wands behind the cover of a collared dire bear. In the tunnel, Varen fought bugbears stacked three deep and wielding ranseurs. The injured and outmatched bard fell back while Aris and Kyros engaged more of the servants of the Quivering Thumb. Nosr's rolling prison provided cover from the rays. Kyros and Aris fought side by side.
The psychic warrior hacked away at the goblinoids attempting to drive them back. One bugbear tripped the genasi and drove the but of the ranseur into his ribcage. Aris felt bones crack, but sprung up from his prone position driving Blue Destiney deep into the bugbear's gut. The next minion stepped over the body to take his fallen comrade's place, and apparently trained both in close-quarter and formation tactics, the bugbears attacked in the front row by choking up on the haft, and in the second row by stabbing past their ally with the prongs of their military pitchforks. The fighting was desperate, but shortly, bloodied and on their last legs, Kyros and Aris prevailed. One bugbear escaped and had a head start for the other end.
With his last bit of mental power, Kyros collapsed the tunnel behind him and still rolling Nosr along the three Stormwolves began to head towards the other opening, knowing that more of the enemy awaited.
**
At the Temple of the Blinding Truth, soldiers loyal to Tyr flooded from behind the mighty iron doors to aid the heroes. Seeing the troops, Seance vanished. Potions and healing were administered to Manta.
"I'm going back. Are you coming?"
With a groan, Manta replied, "If we failed, Aris told us to regroup at the townhouse and then head to Reddanspyr."
That was the extent of his arguement as Alberia was adamant about returning to where Aris and Nosr had started the tunnel and go in to rescue her father the back way. The gladiator muttered something, but clearly Alberia did not hear as she was already running back towards the colisseum. Manta shrugged his shoulders and followed.
**
Cautiously approaching the tunnel entrance, and stepping over the dead body of the escaped bugbear, Aris held out his 'mirro-on-a-stick' contraption only to have it smashed by a hairy fist. A fiendish-looking ape then charged into the tunnel and drove the genasi tumbling back, startled, but unscathed. By this time, the paralzying effects of the wand had expired on Nosr and he had dispelled the resilient sphere. Thus he was able to toss a fireball at the tunnel entrance, blowing the creature out and sealing the tunnel. Of course, this also collapsed the dirt and rock around the heroes leaving them buried alive.
Fortunatley, Nosr was able to move his hands and concentrate enough to use his last polymorph. The umber hulk rose and began digging it's friends out. Varen had nearly suffocated, but still lived. Huddling close to the digging umber hulk the heroes began to move forward at Aris's direction. He was attempting to flank whatever else the Quivering Thumb had in store for them, or if was too powerful, to flee the city.
**
Seance had teleported in the wrong direction. Realizing his error he began walking towards the arena. With a spell, he changed shape to assume the form of an overweight merchant. Then he flagged down a carriage, suggesting that a driver stop. when the young fop reached his head out to complain, Seance was already climbing aboard.
"I've heard there is a riot at the Colisseum. We MUST go and see!" he said pretending he and the noble were old friends.
"The bloodsport is so barabaric..," began the fop,
Seance made a subtle gesture and muttered some arcana under his breath.
"But for you my friend I will go. Driver!" he called "We have had a change of plans. Let's go see a riot! To the Colisseum!"
The driver complied and soon the carriage was bouncing along the cobblestone streets of Westgate at full speed.
Seance saw Manta and Alberia running along the streets as the carriage careened past. Seance was about to feel important for getting to the arena first when he felt the weight of the two warriors cause the vehicle to lurch to one side before stabilizing and rushing out the gate.
"What was that?" asked Seance's new friend.
Defeated, the wizard answered, "Nothing. Nothing at all."
Very soon, the carriage was forced to come to a halt as patrons were streaming from the Colisseum en masse and jamming the road to the venue. Alberia and Manta jumped off and began running again towards the grove of trees.
Jhovan and Zert spotted them and intercepted the duo as they neared the grove.
Seance watched and then his new annoying friend whined, "Ahhhh, we're too late."
The wizard raised an eyebrow and quickly cast a sleep spell. Then he left the vehicle ordering the driver to take his master home and casually began following his companions.
Breaking through the trees and bushes to the clearing, the four Stormwolves stopped short, but it was too late. They had been spotted by the Quivering Thumb's welcoming committee: a banelar and a half-dozen armed bugbears. Manta was torn as he saw Alberia and Jhovan charge the snake-creature. He winced as Zert was cut down by three bugbears in a matter of seconds.
Then he relaxed and felt at ease when he saw one of his new masters, an illithid leader of the Quivering Thumb, appear behind the banelar. Soon his adventuring companions would be part of the family.
**
The buried heroes eventually began angling up based on Aris's prediction that they would come up on the opposite side of the grove and attack the bad guys from the rear. Aris had greatly miscalculated. The umber hulk popped out in a cow pasture, startling several bovines as they munched on the grass. Nosr changed form and climbed out, followed by Aris and Kyros, who carried the unconscious Varen. The mithral knight revived Varen while Aris tried to get his bearings. He pointed to the grove, heard a series of explosions and began sprinting in the that direction. Nosr created wings and took flight. The psychic warrior wanted to go, but was out of power and Varen could not be left alone in his state, but then he looked around and an idea popped into his head. He began waving his sword and yelling. Varen catching on, began first to hum and then sing.
**
Realizing Manta's betrayl, Alberia turned her horror into anger and fought valiantly as the banelar and the bugbears surrounded her. It hurt her even more as Manta joined the fray. Jhovan took the brunt of the snake-like banelar's attacks and after being constricted by its snaky coils and then impaled by the creature's barbed tail went unconscious.
Seance arrived and sent a series of small explosions into the midst of the ring of bugbears, dropping a couple, and harming the banelar, but not even fazing the illithid.
The mind flayer sent Manta to deal with the mage and the gladiator charged, severely injuring Seance. A bugbear speared the young wizard through the abdomen and he crumpled to the ground. Then Manta returned to help subdue Alberia who had already taken and resisted one of his master's mind blasts.
As bravely as she fought, her luck ran out. The banelar's barbed tail again struck, slicing her across the face and sending her into darkness.
Aris and Nosr had arrived just a second too late. Arrows and arcane missles struck the banelar and the illithid. The snake-creature convulsed and died. Acting quickly, the aberration grabbed Jhovan and Alberia, dragging them into the ring of surviving bugbears and keeping Manta close. He put his tentacles around Jhovan's head and then reconsidered seeing the ex-assassin's now greenish skin-tone and sensing poison. Then his tentacles writhed around the semi-conscious paladin. Alberia wanted to scream, barely aware of what was about to happen, but lasping in and out of consciousness, could not.
Surrender and I will spare one of your friends. sent the mind flayer to the cluster of trees.
"Spare them both and we'll talk," replied Aris readying an arrow and hoping he was quicker.
The illithid commanded two bugbears to go and find the pesky new foe. Nosr sailed overhead and fired another barrage of missles. These had no effect on the aberration.
You anger me! You have caused me much trouble. His tentacles clutched Alberia's head tightly. She felt her head being squeezed and blood dribbled down her forehead.
Aris drew his bow back but choked back a sob. He had a better chance to hit and kill Alberia than the illithid. Better to kill her and deny the squid its meal.
Then all the beings in the grove heard a steady, but growing rumbling. The mind flayer hesitated, and Aris raised his bow. He couldn't bring himself to kill Alberia. He fired at the mind flayer, striking its shoulder, as a stampede of cattle crashed through the grove. As it clucthed at the arrow, the mind flayer's eyes and then tentacles went wide as the animals plowed into him and the bugbears. The illithid, trampled by several of the beasts, did not survive.
Miraculously, Jhovan still held loosely in the banelar's coils, did. Alberia also lived as Manta trying to absolve himself, tumbled with her unconscious form between the legs of a few crazed cows. Two bugbears survived and after picking themselves off the ground ran back towards the Quivering Thumb compound. The heroes let them go. Kyros and Varen high-fived each other as they arrived to survey the damage.
However, Aris did not feel congratulations were in order. They had failed. This victory in the grove had been pyrrhic. Kith was lost. Zert and Seance were dead. Giving terse orders, Aris--forcing a concoction down Jhovan's throat to neutralize the poison coursing through his veins--had all the bodies collected and the group shortly began marching towards Reddanspyr, and the temple of Oghma there, with heavy hearts.
Aris, eyes narrowed and ever vigilant, kept Manta in front of him the entire way.
