The battle for Szith Morcane, pt. 6
The column of undead marched out onto the webway with the companions following not far behind. They could see quite a bit of drow activity below them; several archers emerged from the barracks and started peppering the undead soldiers with arrows, while at least three flying drow wizards could be seen hovering in various locations. Far below them a large troop of warriors had appeared on the web with crossbows in hand, looking for the enemy that had invaded their home.
The flash and crackle of magic began to resound through the cavern. The drow wizards began casting and the group was buffeted by leaping bolts of electricity and icy hail and wind. One bolt tore through the skeletal troops and remaining zombies and wiped them out entirely, but otherwise the companions were protected by their spells and received little damage. Meanwhile Bruskin aimed a wand at the large group of drow below them and a ball of fire erupted in their midst. The screams of dying drow rent the air, and when the smoke cleared not a single dark elf remained standing.
Artimas pointed towards the second closest cave, which Tierak informed him led to the Wizard College of Szith Morcane. Two dark elf wizards hovered near the opening and a third was just exiting, but it appeared to be the most lightly defended of the caves near them. “This way, everyone!” he yelled. “We need to get off this web and into tighter confines!” he followed by trying to paralyze one of the wizards with a wave of a wand, but the dark elf resisted the effects and prepared his next spell.
Higreld and the other flying companions found themselves the targets of the drow archers taking cover in the entrance to the barracks. He also pulled a wand from his belt and activated it, and two hulking ogres stepped out in the midst of the archers, diverting their attentions.
Tierak meanwhile focused her attention on the third drow wizard, the one who had just destroyed her freshly raised skeletons, and the elf succumbed to the attack, his body growing rigid as he plummeted from the air. Larala uttered a curse in the drow tongue and flew ahead of Artimas, reaching one of the wizards just as he was ready to unleash a spell, and cut into him with her scimitar. The mage cried out in pain and anger and targeted Larala with his spell, but she easily dodged the lightning bolt and pressed her attack.
Gnish fired off a rapid succession of bolts at the remaining two flying wizards until both of his repeating hand crossbows were empty. One of the dark elves was riddled with bolts and fell, but another emerged from the cave to take his place. Gnish sighed, hung the bows back on his belt, and pulled his kukris with one smooth motion, then was startled by a cry of “Gnish!” echoing up from below. He leaned over and stared into the chasm and his jaw dropped. Zooky was somehow alive and running towards the battle! His heart brimming with joy at finding another of his people alive, he started to call out to her, but her eyes went wide and she began to scream at him to watch his back. As he whirled around she raced to reach the battle as quickly as possible.
Above the canyon, hanging from the ceiling of the immense cavern, Saeshan Drey and her outriders had carefully held their wraith spider mounts in check until the last of the invaders had stepped onto the webway. Then with a subtle motion of her hand and body she conveyed the order to attack. Regal looking in their black and white tabards and mithral helms, the dark elf knights lowered their lances and charged as one down the side of the canyon. They crashed into the foe with calculated skill and savagery before reigning in their mounts and withdrawing for a second charge. Saeshan smiled behind her visor, the blood of her enemies running off the tip of her lance. The surface dwellers would be crushed in no time.
The charge of the mounted drow took the companions by surprise and inflicted severe punishment upon them. Artimas’ quth-maren, in the rear of the party, was struck twice and nearly torn in half, while Higreld was struck a nasty blow to the leg that ruined his concentration on his latest summoning attempt. Gnish was also struck a glancing blow but the gnome seem unfazed and chased after his attacker with his curved knives flashing.
Artimas quickly assessed the situation and ordered the quth-maren to join Gnish in his attack. At the same time he focused his will upon opening a rift to the negative energy plane and called forth a pair of shadows, ordering the shadow of the roper to join them in assaulting the knights. These actions were not lost upon Saeshan, who chose the target of her next attack and ordered a second charge.
Her underlings were blocked by the gnome and the necromancer’s undead but Saeshan rode untouched through the ranks of her enemies and aimed her lance at the weakling human’s heart as he prepared to cast a spell to save himself. He jerked aside at the last instant, but her lance still pierced him through the chest and splintered in his ribcage.
Artimas staggered away from her with blood pouring from his mouth and nearly collapsed. He looked up in time to see his quth-maren get torn apart by the other drow, but his shadows succeeded in dragging one from the saddle and draining his life. Focusing all of his remaining strength, the mage brought the riderless wraith spider under his control and ordered it and the shadows to him. As the spectral figures descended upon the drow officer, forcing her to retreat, Artimas pulled himself atop the riderless spider and willed it to run in the direction of the cave that had become their immediate goal.
Meanwhile the battle still raged across the rest of the canyon. In front of the barracks, the drow archers had fallen back in response to the ogres that had suddenly appeared in their midst, being replaced by warriors wielding long, thin, whip-like swords and more warriors behind them wielding glaives. Higrled watched in consternation as they effeiciently sliced his ogres to pieces, suffering only minor bruises in return. He tried to call more creatures into the fray but was distracted by a shooting pain from his lower body as the outrider’s lance caught him unawares.
The goblin floated further out over the canyon, his entire body pulsating with unimaginable pleasure from the nasty wound on his leg. Reigning in his passions, the Loathegrot activated his wand and summoned a dire ape to help battle the knights and another pair of ogres to occupy the drow across the webway.
Saeshan cursed bitterly as she withdrew from the swirling melee. The spirits she faced robbed her strength with every touch and she doubted she could survive their continued attentions. She issued the order to retreat but the remaining outriders were surrounded; the gnome warrior had been joined by a female armed with a battlepick that wept acid and a spiked buckler and a dire ape which had appeared behind them and cut off their retreat. She choked back a lump in her throat and hurled venomous barbs at her foes as she watched one of her soldiers dragged from the saddle by the ferocious ape and torn limb from limb, then turned and charged off to help her brethren finish the latest group of ogres that appeared in front of them.
Tierak had fled before the knights’ charge and had almost reached the entrance to the Wizard College. Larala still distracted one of the wizards, the two combatants playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse as they circled one another, Larala unable to dodge her enemies’ stream of stinging arcane bolts long enough to strike the finishing blow. The other remaining wizard focused his attentions on the running priestess but proved ineffective at penetrating her innate resistance to spells. Finally he broke down her resistance and blasted her with electricity just before she entered the cave, knocking her flying through the opening, her hair and limbs dancing crazily. Artimas entered just behind her on his huge arachnoid mount.
Larala finally succeeded in cutting down the wizard she faced at the same time that the two deep gnomes finished dispatching the last dark elf rider and mount, and all of the companions broke and ran for the cave entrance. Higreld directed his ape to charge the remaining forces at the barracks to help cover their withdrawal, while Bruskin blasted the last wizard from the air with a stream of acid as he flew past.
The drow finished dispatching the dire ape, Saeshan running it through after it had torn apart two soldiers, just as the last party member disappeared into the entrance to the Wizard College. An unnatural hush fell over the chasm as the sounds of fighting temporarily faded.
Next: The archmage of Szith Morcane and an offer that can’t be refused...
