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<blockquote data-quote="Delemental" data-source="post: 1988674" data-attributes="member: 5203"><p>After three days of uneventful travel through the mountains, the party arrived in Lisk. They immediately went to the town’s small Ardaran church, where a dwarven priest named Durkoth greeted them.</p><p></p><p>“Thank you for coming so quickly,” he said. “The stonebreather has taken up residence in our mine, and all work has halted. We’ve lost a few of our miners to the beast already. The town guard has set up a watch outside the mine entrance, to keep others from wandering in.”</p><p></p><p>“Any other exits?” asked Kyle.</p><p></p><p>Durkoth shook his head. “Ventilation shafts, but nothing the stonebreather could use,” he said. “And recently some of the guard have reported hearing rumblings from inside the mine, as though there have been cave-ins.”</p><p></p><p>“It’s possible that the stonebreather is knocking out support beams,” said Lanara. “They’re really sort of the ‘see it, charge it’ variety of monster.”</p><p></p><p>“It’s the being turned to stone part that worries me,” said Osborn. “Kyle, anything you can do about that?”</p><p></p><p>“Sorry, Osborn. That’s a bit beyond what I’m capable of.”</p><p></p><p> “Actually, I can offer some help in that regard,” said Durkoth. “Just prior to your arrival, the Church sent us a vial of <em>stone salve</em> to aid those who had fallen victim to the stonebreather. I would be more than happy to reserve it to aid you should you require it, but there is only a small amount in the vial, and if several of you are petrified by the creature there may not be enough to help all of you.”</p><p></p><p> “We’ll take our chances,” said Arrie. “Now, which way to the mine?”</p><p></p><p> Durkoth led them to the mine entrance, introducing the group to the town guard so they would be allowed to pass. Durkoth advised them that the creature would be on the upper level, as it would be unable to operate the lifts to get to the lower tunnels. After unpacking their light sources, the group went inside. Osborn crept ahead, to just inside the range of their lamps. He made shadow-puppets of a bull on the wall while waiting for the others to get ready.</p><p></p><p> They didn’t travel far before encountering the stonebreather’s first victim. Their light shone on the small statue, which appeared as though it had been running for the exit and looked back at the moment of its doom. Kavan regarded the stone face frozen in fear as Tolly muttered a short benediction.</p><p></p><p> “This poor, unfortunate soul,” said Kavan.</p><p></p><p> “He’s better off than others,” said Lanara, pointing at the ground nearby. They saw scattered chunks of stone littering the ground; Lanara bent down and picked up a hand-shaped chunk of rock.</p><p></p><p> They continued to explore the tunnels, retracing their steps once or twice when they encountered a dead end. Occasionally they would pass another dwarf statue, or the shattered remnants of one. They eventually came to a widening in the tunnel just before it made a sharp right. The tunnel had once gone straight as well, but part of the wall had collapsed, blocking off the tunnel. Osborn peered up at the piles of stone.</p><p></p><p> “You know, I think I can squeeze through there,” he said. “Might want to check it out, in case that stonebreather got caught back there or there’s any trapped miners.”</p><p></p><p> “Sounds good, Osborn,” said Arrie. “We’ll wait here.”</p><p></p><p> Osborn unpacked his own lamp and scrambled up the piles of loose stone. His dog, Rupert, looked up at him, whined once, then laid down at the base of the pile. The hin shuffled through a narrow gap, allowing only the barest sliver of light to escape from his lantern. After going about forty yards, Osborn stopped and listened. He could hear the sound of water nearby.</p><p></p><p> Odd, he thought to himself. Just then he caught a glimmer of motion in the darkness ahead. After a moment’s self-debate, Osborn allowed a little more light to escape his lamp.</p><p></p><p> The tunnel opened up again a few feet ahead. Osborn saw that his light had caught the reflection of a large pool of water that had collected in a depression in the ground. The water rippled slowly, and Osborn could see that the chamber had no other exits. He was about to begin crawling back to his companions, but then he felt that familiar itching at the end of his nose.</p><p></p><p> Osborn had learned not to ignore that itch. It was his personal warning system, the way he knew that he’d missed something important. The itch had saved him back when he was still hunting for the man who’d stolen his troupe’s money, when he almost walked into that ambush. It saved him when he was opening up the door to that merchant’s home in order to get out of the rain (a simple Sargian double-tumbler, he recalled) and he’d almost missed the poison needle. It had saved him during his training at the Tower, when he realized that the pressure-plate trap he was disarming was counterweighted to go off if the main trigger was jammed.</p><p></p><p> Osborn surveyed the scene, this time more carefully. His eye kept wandering back to the pool of water, so he studied it. It was too shallow to be hiding anything, and even if someone was back here they could easily avoid the water. Scowling to himself, he looked harder, willing himself to see beyond the obvious.</p><p></p><p> Then he had it. He watched the rippling of the water, and realized that it was too regular, and a little too slow. He also realized that there was no water dripping into the pool from the ceiling that would cause the rippling. He also watched the light from his lantern dance on the surface, and realized that it wasn’t reflecting onto the cave walls properly.</p><p></p><p> Osborn decided that he needed some advice. He backed up into the tunnel, eventually emerging back on the other side of the cave-in. He gave Rupert a quick pat before reporting. He filled in the others of what he’d seen, including the details that bothered him.</p><p></p><p> “That is unusual,” Tolly admitted when Osborn finished. “However, whatever the cause of this strange pool is, we are not in a position to investigate. The pool is behind this pile of rock, and it would take days to clear it.”</p><p></p><p> “Besides, we’re not here to look at weird water,” said Arrie. “We’re here to kill a stonebreather. Let’s keep going.” She picked up her lamp and began to move around the bend.</p><p></p><p> Just then, the pile of stone moved. Or rather, something moved through the stone, oozing out from between the jagged rock. It was almost the same color as the grey stone surrounding them, and the spots where it touched the rock were hissing and smoking slightly. Three large gray blobs dropped onto the floor in front of the party, and pseudopods began to rise up from them, menacing the group.</p><p></p><p>Osborn immediately stepped back; he knew there was little he could do against a living ooze. Xu tried to punch one of the oozes, but quickly withdrew her hand in pain as the highly acidic ooze burned her flesh. Fortunately she was not seriously damaged. Arrie’s chain swept through an ooze, send globules flying everywhere. Her chain started to smoke a bit, but she whipped it around in a reverse stroke that flung most of the clinging bits off. Tolly pointed at the oozes and let loose an acid burst, which to everyone’s surprise actually seemed to hurt them.</p><p></p><p>“Heat and cold won’t affect them!” shouted Tolly.</p><p></p><p>Kyle stepped around to the side and let a <em>lightning bolt</em> fly through all three, scorching them and causing one to splatter apart altogether. Kavan and Autumn drew their swords and hacked into others, using swift strokes to avoid having acid cling to their weapons. In all, it only took a few more seconds for them to destroy the other two oozes.</p><p></p><p> Lanara looked around at the globs of ooze dripping from the walls, leaving shallow channels where the acid had eaten through the stone. “So, Tolly, is this sort of thing common in dwarven copper mines?”</p><p></p><p> “Not really,” he said. “Perhaps some of these cave-ins opened up a channel to an underground river, and the ooze came in from there.”</p><p></p><p> “I did hear running water while I was back in that chamber,” said Osborn.</p><p></p><p> “Well, let’s keep moving,” said Arrie, “and don’t step in any puddles.”</p><p></p><p> The tunnel wrapped around, descending slightly. After about a hundred and fifty paces, the tunnel dropped further, and water lapped at their feet. The tunnel had flooded in front of them, and although it seemed the water was only about four feet at it’s deepest, there was no telling how far it extended.</p><p></p><p> Xu dipped the end of her long staff into the liquid, and examined it. “It is just water,” she said.</p><p></p><p> “Looks like we’re wading,” sighed Kavan.</p><p></p><p> Lanara looked apprehensive. “Are you sure it’s safe?”</p><p></p><p> “It won’t even go over your head, Lanara,” said Autumn.</p><p></p><p> “I know,” she sighed, “but it’ll ruin my leathers.”</p><p></p><p> Kyle suddenly yelped in surprise. Osborn had jumped up onto his legs and was scrambling up his back.</p><p></p><p> “Let’s go!” Osborn said, grabbing onto Kyle’s shoulders.</p><p></p><p> “What are you doing?” Kyle cried out. The others tried to hide their smiles.</p><p></p><p> “I need a ride,” Osborn explained. “The water may not be over Lanara’s head, but it’s over mine, and I don’t think she’d let me climb her.”</p><p></p><p> Kyle relaxed a bit. “Well, okay then. But you could have said something first.”</p><p></p><p> Osborn looked at him curiously. “But then it wouldn’t be funny,” he said.</p><p></p><p> “Yeah, but I have to admit, you’re the last person in this group I expected to try and climb on top of me.”</p><p></p><p> There were a couple of snickers from the others. “And who were you expecting to be the first, Kyle?” Kavan asked, his eyebrows arched into a mischievous look.</p><p></p><p> “Oh, come on, Kavan,” said Arrie, not even trying to hide her laughter. “Everybody wants some wizard loving.” She looked at Kyle, waiting to see how red he’d end up.</p><p></p><p> Instead, Kyle looked at her and flashed a half-smile. “Yeah, it’s something about our long staffs.”</p><p></p><p> Everyone had a hearty laugh. Arrie nodded, slightly impressed. She hadn’t expected such a witty comeback from Kyle. Maybe there was hope for him after all. <em>Best get my fun in now, because in a few years…</em></p><p></p><p> Everyone saw Arrie’s face suddenly grow somber. “All right, let’s go.”</p><p></p><p> It turned out that the flooding didn’t extend too far. They waded through until they felt the floor under their feet start to ascend. Once the water was low enough, Osborn jumped off of Kyle and began walking forward. He got to the edge of the water, and looked around. The first thing he noticed that was odd was that he could see his own reflection dimly just a few feet away. This time he didn’t need the itch to tell him something was wrong.</p><p></p><p> “Help!” he cried.</p><p></p><p> The others began wading forward quickly as a large, cube shaped mass of nearly transparent matter slid forward slowly. Tolly, Kavan, and Arrie drew weapons and charged, while xu produced her crossbow, having learned her lesson from the fight with the ooze. Autumn had moved up closer to the cube, but had yet to draw her sword. Kyle dashed just in front of her in order to get into range, and loosed a beam of intense heat at the cube, watching in satisfaction as chunks of the ooze crisped and curled away. He prepared to fire another bolt, but at that moment Autumn stepped up behind him with a flask of alchemist’s fire in her hand. She placed a hand on Kyle’s shoulder to make sure he didn’t step into her arc of fire. Her aim was true, but the unexpected touch threw Kyle’s aim off, and the second beam lanced into the ceiling, leaving a smoking black line.</p><p></p><p> “Sorry,” said Autumn quietly.</p><p></p><p> However, the loss of Kyle’s second ray made little difference in the final outcome. The slow-moving cube was unable to react quickly enough, and was quickly cut into chunks of quivering slime. Pausing only long enough to wipe their weapons clean, and collect the loose coins and valuables that had been suspended in the cube, they moved forward.</p><p></p><p> The group waded through a second flooded section of tunnel, this one blessedly free of any sort of ooze, mold, or fungus. As they went around yet another bend, Kyle suddenly called a halt.</p><p></p><p> “Listen,” he said, leaning up against another pile of loose stone. Leaning in, they heard the sound of a hoofed animal pacing somewhere beyond the barrier.</p><p></p><p> “Do you think it’s trapped back there?” asked Osborn.</p><p></p><p> “Are we going to have to dig it out?” asked Lanara.</p><p></p><p> “I’m not sure,” said Kyle, “but this tunnel continues on. It may bend back around and meet up to wherever that thing is. Let’s check it out before we start moving rocks.”</p><p></p><p> They continued forward, and sure enough the tunnel made a sharp turn and began to double back on itself. Within minutes, they could hear the same rhythmic stamping of hooves Kyle had picked up before. The group paused a good distance away, around a sharp corner.</p><p></p><p> “What’s the plan?” asked Kavan.</p><p></p><p> “We’re going to run in there and kill it quickly before it knows what hit it,” Arrie said, grinning like a madwoman.</p><p></p><p> “Ah, ‘Plan Get ‘em’,” said Lanara. “I think I’ll just stay back here and play my fiddle.”</p><p></p><p> The group made preparations. Tolly unloaded most of his remaining divine power on the party, enhancing their weapons and bodies. Kyle used a wand they’d found in the ogre mage’s cave to make the warriors stronger, then used a mirror image on himself, surrounding himself with seven identical images.</p><p></p><p> The group crept up to the corner as quietly as they could. Arrie raised a hand with three fingers extended, and began counting down.</p><p></p><p> Three.</p><p></p><p> Two.</p><p></p><p> One.</p><p></p><p> The majority of the group rushed into battle. Kyle placed a <em>haste </em>spell on several of them just as the charge began, which allowed them to easily engage the stonebreather standing several yards down the corridor. Tolly lit up the tunnel with <em>daylight</em>, banishing the darkness, while Kavan doomed the beast. Xu immediately engaged the metallic creature, striking a solid blow, while Osborn moved around to flank. Arrie and Autumn approached from either side, hugging the walls of the tunnel. Kyle also moved forward, though his progress was slower since he hadn’t hasted himself. The wizard saw that he wasn’t quite close enough for the spells he had in mind, so instead unleashed a magically conjured cloud of golden particles. Kyle hoped that the cloud might blind the stonebreather, but it blinked them away. Still, it was now covered in sparking gold dust, and would be easy to find if it chose to run away.</p><p></p><p> Kyle felt his heart beating faster with anticipation. He felt that he’d prepared well for this battle. Though he’d had to use his <em>lightning bolt</em> and <em>scorching ray</em> against the oozes, he had more tricks up his sleeve. A <em>grease </em>spell would ensure that the stonebreather was unable to charge anyone, and a <em>ray of enfeeblement</em> would render it too weak to do much damage. All he needed to do was get a little closer so he was in range. It was one of those rare moments when Kyle felt he might just make a difference.</p><p></p><p> Then the creature breathed.</p><p></p><p> A thick, greenish cloud blasted out of the stonebreather’s mouth, enveloping everyone except Lanara, who was safely tucked around the corner. Kyle felt the vapors surround him, and he held his breath, but it almost felt as if the vapors were leaching into his flesh. He began to move forward to cast his next spell, but his feet suddenly felt very heavy. Glancing down, he saw the ends of his boots had transformed into solid stone. With horror, he realized the transformation was crawling up his legs.</p><p></p><p> Kyle tried to turn around, but the effect had traveled up past his knees, and his legs were now too heavy to move. He twisted spasmodically, as if he could shake the effect off somehow. He felt the petrifying magic move up past his hips, and he was hit with an unsettling sensation as his intestines were turned into granite. He tried to cry out, but the air was forced out of his chest as the magic solidified his lungs from the bottom up. Gasping, he looked around to see who might be able to aid him. The others seemed to have escaped his fate – Osborn and Xu were behind the stonebreather when it had emitted its magical breath, and the others had resisted its effects. All except one.</p><p></p><p> Autumn was standing just a little ahead of Kyle, and now stood helpless as she was slowly turned to stone. Autumn managed to turn her head to look back at Kyle just as the effect reached her neck. Her face was contorted with a look a panic, but upon seeing Kyle had suffered a similar fate, a glimmer of sadness appeared in her eyes just as she was fully petrified. A second later, Kyle’s vision went black.</p><p></p><p> Arrie coughed, waving the noxious clouds away from her face. She stepped back a moment to survey the scene. Her eyes came to rest upon the granite statue that was once her adopted sister. Blood rushed to her head, and she tightened her grip on her chain, her knuckles turning white. With a cry of rage, she spun her chain around in a blur, bringing its full weight down on the creature’s smooth, metallic hide. She was barely aware of her companions surrounding the bull-like beast, slashing and hammering away. None of that mattered to her. All that did matter was that this hells-spawned beast was trying to take away something precious to her, but that this time, at least, she had the power to do something about it.</p><p></p><p> It was Tolly, ultimately, that brought the beast down. Reeling from the fury of the party’s onslaught, the stonebreather was unable to sidestep Tolly’s warhammer as it crushed the creature’s forelegs, bringing it down in a heap of flesh and metal. A return swing caved in the top of its skull.</p><p></p><p> As Tolly stooped down to cut the stonebreather’s throat and begin bleeding it, and Osborn went off into the tunnel behind the beast to make sure the coast was clear, the others gathered around the statues of Kyle and Autumn.</p><p></p><p> “What do we do?” asked Kavan.</p><p></p><p> “We get them back up to town,” said Arrie. She was still covered in gore from the stonebreather, but seemed unaware of it. “He’ll bring her back. He promised he could bring her back.”</p><p></p><p> “You mean bring ‘them’ back, right?” said Lanara.</p><p></p><p> Arrie blinked and stared at Lanara for a moment, almost looking through her. Then she shook her head. “Yes, of course. You’re right. I’m just not thinking clearly right now.” She reached out and patted Kyle’s stone cheek, leaving a pinkish smear. “Sorry about that, Kyle.”</p><p></p><p> Navigating the two heavy statues and dead stonebreather through the tunnels was no easy task. Fortunately, the strength-enhancing enchantments they’d received before fighting the stonebreather were still in effect, which made the task easier. Before long they were standing out in the sun, surrounded by a crowd of dwarves that were cheering and throwing rocks at the dead beast. The priest, Durkoth, examined the two statues, and then produced a small golden vial. He poured a viscous liquid onto each one, watching as it oozed down and soaked into the stone surface. Within moments, both Kyle and Autumn stood fully restored, blinking in the sunlight and trying to get their bearings. Arrie gave her sister a big hug.</p><p></p><p> Later that day, as the group made their way slowly up the mountain trail leading back to Laeshir, Kyle spoke. “You know, this may sound kind of dumb, but in a way I feel bad that they had to use up all that <em>stone salve</em> on us. I mean, they’ve got their own folks to take care of, too, and now they won’t have the opportunity.”</p><p></p><p> “Nobody begrudged you or Autumn your chance at life, Kyle,” said Kavan. “You shouldn’t feel guilty about that.”</p><p></p><p> “I guess,” he replied. “I just wish that there was more that we could do to help.”</p><p></p><p> “Well, can you make any of that salve?”</p><p></p><p> “No. It requires stronger magic than I’m capable of handling.”</p><p></p><p> Autumn, who was listening in, stepped back to join the conversation. “Stronger magic than you can handle now, Kyle. One day you’ll have the ability, and maybe then you could return here to set things fully right.”</p><p></p><p> “You really think so?” asked Kyle.</p><p></p><p> Autumn smiled. “I’m certain of it.”</p><p></p><p> Kyle looked back over his shoulder at the small town, where he could see several bonfires had been lit in celebration. “One day…”</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Delemental, post: 1988674, member: 5203"] After three days of uneventful travel through the mountains, the party arrived in Lisk. They immediately went to the town’s small Ardaran church, where a dwarven priest named Durkoth greeted them. “Thank you for coming so quickly,” he said. “The stonebreather has taken up residence in our mine, and all work has halted. We’ve lost a few of our miners to the beast already. The town guard has set up a watch outside the mine entrance, to keep others from wandering in.” “Any other exits?” asked Kyle. Durkoth shook his head. “Ventilation shafts, but nothing the stonebreather could use,” he said. “And recently some of the guard have reported hearing rumblings from inside the mine, as though there have been cave-ins.” “It’s possible that the stonebreather is knocking out support beams,” said Lanara. “They’re really sort of the ‘see it, charge it’ variety of monster.” “It’s the being turned to stone part that worries me,” said Osborn. “Kyle, anything you can do about that?” “Sorry, Osborn. That’s a bit beyond what I’m capable of.” “Actually, I can offer some help in that regard,” said Durkoth. “Just prior to your arrival, the Church sent us a vial of [I]stone salve[/I] to aid those who had fallen victim to the stonebreather. I would be more than happy to reserve it to aid you should you require it, but there is only a small amount in the vial, and if several of you are petrified by the creature there may not be enough to help all of you.” “We’ll take our chances,” said Arrie. “Now, which way to the mine?” Durkoth led them to the mine entrance, introducing the group to the town guard so they would be allowed to pass. Durkoth advised them that the creature would be on the upper level, as it would be unable to operate the lifts to get to the lower tunnels. After unpacking their light sources, the group went inside. Osborn crept ahead, to just inside the range of their lamps. He made shadow-puppets of a bull on the wall while waiting for the others to get ready. They didn’t travel far before encountering the stonebreather’s first victim. Their light shone on the small statue, which appeared as though it had been running for the exit and looked back at the moment of its doom. Kavan regarded the stone face frozen in fear as Tolly muttered a short benediction. “This poor, unfortunate soul,” said Kavan. “He’s better off than others,” said Lanara, pointing at the ground nearby. They saw scattered chunks of stone littering the ground; Lanara bent down and picked up a hand-shaped chunk of rock. They continued to explore the tunnels, retracing their steps once or twice when they encountered a dead end. Occasionally they would pass another dwarf statue, or the shattered remnants of one. They eventually came to a widening in the tunnel just before it made a sharp right. The tunnel had once gone straight as well, but part of the wall had collapsed, blocking off the tunnel. Osborn peered up at the piles of stone. “You know, I think I can squeeze through there,” he said. “Might want to check it out, in case that stonebreather got caught back there or there’s any trapped miners.” “Sounds good, Osborn,” said Arrie. “We’ll wait here.” Osborn unpacked his own lamp and scrambled up the piles of loose stone. His dog, Rupert, looked up at him, whined once, then laid down at the base of the pile. The hin shuffled through a narrow gap, allowing only the barest sliver of light to escape from his lantern. After going about forty yards, Osborn stopped and listened. He could hear the sound of water nearby. Odd, he thought to himself. Just then he caught a glimmer of motion in the darkness ahead. After a moment’s self-debate, Osborn allowed a little more light to escape his lamp. The tunnel opened up again a few feet ahead. Osborn saw that his light had caught the reflection of a large pool of water that had collected in a depression in the ground. The water rippled slowly, and Osborn could see that the chamber had no other exits. He was about to begin crawling back to his companions, but then he felt that familiar itching at the end of his nose. Osborn had learned not to ignore that itch. It was his personal warning system, the way he knew that he’d missed something important. The itch had saved him back when he was still hunting for the man who’d stolen his troupe’s money, when he almost walked into that ambush. It saved him when he was opening up the door to that merchant’s home in order to get out of the rain (a simple Sargian double-tumbler, he recalled) and he’d almost missed the poison needle. It had saved him during his training at the Tower, when he realized that the pressure-plate trap he was disarming was counterweighted to go off if the main trigger was jammed. Osborn surveyed the scene, this time more carefully. His eye kept wandering back to the pool of water, so he studied it. It was too shallow to be hiding anything, and even if someone was back here they could easily avoid the water. Scowling to himself, he looked harder, willing himself to see beyond the obvious. Then he had it. He watched the rippling of the water, and realized that it was too regular, and a little too slow. He also realized that there was no water dripping into the pool from the ceiling that would cause the rippling. He also watched the light from his lantern dance on the surface, and realized that it wasn’t reflecting onto the cave walls properly. Osborn decided that he needed some advice. He backed up into the tunnel, eventually emerging back on the other side of the cave-in. He gave Rupert a quick pat before reporting. He filled in the others of what he’d seen, including the details that bothered him. “That is unusual,” Tolly admitted when Osborn finished. “However, whatever the cause of this strange pool is, we are not in a position to investigate. The pool is behind this pile of rock, and it would take days to clear it.” “Besides, we’re not here to look at weird water,” said Arrie. “We’re here to kill a stonebreather. Let’s keep going.” She picked up her lamp and began to move around the bend. Just then, the pile of stone moved. Or rather, something moved through the stone, oozing out from between the jagged rock. It was almost the same color as the grey stone surrounding them, and the spots where it touched the rock were hissing and smoking slightly. Three large gray blobs dropped onto the floor in front of the party, and pseudopods began to rise up from them, menacing the group. Osborn immediately stepped back; he knew there was little he could do against a living ooze. Xu tried to punch one of the oozes, but quickly withdrew her hand in pain as the highly acidic ooze burned her flesh. Fortunately she was not seriously damaged. Arrie’s chain swept through an ooze, send globules flying everywhere. Her chain started to smoke a bit, but she whipped it around in a reverse stroke that flung most of the clinging bits off. Tolly pointed at the oozes and let loose an acid burst, which to everyone’s surprise actually seemed to hurt them. “Heat and cold won’t affect them!” shouted Tolly. Kyle stepped around to the side and let a [I]lightning bolt[/I] fly through all three, scorching them and causing one to splatter apart altogether. Kavan and Autumn drew their swords and hacked into others, using swift strokes to avoid having acid cling to their weapons. In all, it only took a few more seconds for them to destroy the other two oozes. Lanara looked around at the globs of ooze dripping from the walls, leaving shallow channels where the acid had eaten through the stone. “So, Tolly, is this sort of thing common in dwarven copper mines?” “Not really,” he said. “Perhaps some of these cave-ins opened up a channel to an underground river, and the ooze came in from there.” “I did hear running water while I was back in that chamber,” said Osborn. “Well, let’s keep moving,” said Arrie, “and don’t step in any puddles.” The tunnel wrapped around, descending slightly. After about a hundred and fifty paces, the tunnel dropped further, and water lapped at their feet. The tunnel had flooded in front of them, and although it seemed the water was only about four feet at it’s deepest, there was no telling how far it extended. Xu dipped the end of her long staff into the liquid, and examined it. “It is just water,” she said. “Looks like we’re wading,” sighed Kavan. Lanara looked apprehensive. “Are you sure it’s safe?” “It won’t even go over your head, Lanara,” said Autumn. “I know,” she sighed, “but it’ll ruin my leathers.” Kyle suddenly yelped in surprise. Osborn had jumped up onto his legs and was scrambling up his back. “Let’s go!” Osborn said, grabbing onto Kyle’s shoulders. “What are you doing?” Kyle cried out. The others tried to hide their smiles. “I need a ride,” Osborn explained. “The water may not be over Lanara’s head, but it’s over mine, and I don’t think she’d let me climb her.” Kyle relaxed a bit. “Well, okay then. But you could have said something first.” Osborn looked at him curiously. “But then it wouldn’t be funny,” he said. “Yeah, but I have to admit, you’re the last person in this group I expected to try and climb on top of me.” There were a couple of snickers from the others. “And who were you expecting to be the first, Kyle?” Kavan asked, his eyebrows arched into a mischievous look. “Oh, come on, Kavan,” said Arrie, not even trying to hide her laughter. “Everybody wants some wizard loving.” She looked at Kyle, waiting to see how red he’d end up. Instead, Kyle looked at her and flashed a half-smile. “Yeah, it’s something about our long staffs.” Everyone had a hearty laugh. Arrie nodded, slightly impressed. She hadn’t expected such a witty comeback from Kyle. Maybe there was hope for him after all. [I]Best get my fun in now, because in a few years…[/I] Everyone saw Arrie’s face suddenly grow somber. “All right, let’s go.” It turned out that the flooding didn’t extend too far. They waded through until they felt the floor under their feet start to ascend. Once the water was low enough, Osborn jumped off of Kyle and began walking forward. He got to the edge of the water, and looked around. The first thing he noticed that was odd was that he could see his own reflection dimly just a few feet away. This time he didn’t need the itch to tell him something was wrong. “Help!” he cried. The others began wading forward quickly as a large, cube shaped mass of nearly transparent matter slid forward slowly. Tolly, Kavan, and Arrie drew weapons and charged, while xu produced her crossbow, having learned her lesson from the fight with the ooze. Autumn had moved up closer to the cube, but had yet to draw her sword. Kyle dashed just in front of her in order to get into range, and loosed a beam of intense heat at the cube, watching in satisfaction as chunks of the ooze crisped and curled away. He prepared to fire another bolt, but at that moment Autumn stepped up behind him with a flask of alchemist’s fire in her hand. She placed a hand on Kyle’s shoulder to make sure he didn’t step into her arc of fire. Her aim was true, but the unexpected touch threw Kyle’s aim off, and the second beam lanced into the ceiling, leaving a smoking black line. “Sorry,” said Autumn quietly. However, the loss of Kyle’s second ray made little difference in the final outcome. The slow-moving cube was unable to react quickly enough, and was quickly cut into chunks of quivering slime. Pausing only long enough to wipe their weapons clean, and collect the loose coins and valuables that had been suspended in the cube, they moved forward. The group waded through a second flooded section of tunnel, this one blessedly free of any sort of ooze, mold, or fungus. As they went around yet another bend, Kyle suddenly called a halt. “Listen,” he said, leaning up against another pile of loose stone. Leaning in, they heard the sound of a hoofed animal pacing somewhere beyond the barrier. “Do you think it’s trapped back there?” asked Osborn. “Are we going to have to dig it out?” asked Lanara. “I’m not sure,” said Kyle, “but this tunnel continues on. It may bend back around and meet up to wherever that thing is. Let’s check it out before we start moving rocks.” They continued forward, and sure enough the tunnel made a sharp turn and began to double back on itself. Within minutes, they could hear the same rhythmic stamping of hooves Kyle had picked up before. The group paused a good distance away, around a sharp corner. “What’s the plan?” asked Kavan. “We’re going to run in there and kill it quickly before it knows what hit it,” Arrie said, grinning like a madwoman. “Ah, ‘Plan Get ‘em’,” said Lanara. “I think I’ll just stay back here and play my fiddle.” The group made preparations. Tolly unloaded most of his remaining divine power on the party, enhancing their weapons and bodies. Kyle used a wand they’d found in the ogre mage’s cave to make the warriors stronger, then used a mirror image on himself, surrounding himself with seven identical images. The group crept up to the corner as quietly as they could. Arrie raised a hand with three fingers extended, and began counting down. Three. Two. One. The majority of the group rushed into battle. Kyle placed a [I]haste [/I]spell on several of them just as the charge began, which allowed them to easily engage the stonebreather standing several yards down the corridor. Tolly lit up the tunnel with [I]daylight[/I], banishing the darkness, while Kavan doomed the beast. Xu immediately engaged the metallic creature, striking a solid blow, while Osborn moved around to flank. Arrie and Autumn approached from either side, hugging the walls of the tunnel. Kyle also moved forward, though his progress was slower since he hadn’t hasted himself. The wizard saw that he wasn’t quite close enough for the spells he had in mind, so instead unleashed a magically conjured cloud of golden particles. Kyle hoped that the cloud might blind the stonebreather, but it blinked them away. Still, it was now covered in sparking gold dust, and would be easy to find if it chose to run away. Kyle felt his heart beating faster with anticipation. He felt that he’d prepared well for this battle. Though he’d had to use his [I]lightning bolt[/I] and [I]scorching ray[/I] against the oozes, he had more tricks up his sleeve. A [I]grease [/I]spell would ensure that the stonebreather was unable to charge anyone, and a [I]ray of enfeeblement[/I] would render it too weak to do much damage. All he needed to do was get a little closer so he was in range. It was one of those rare moments when Kyle felt he might just make a difference. Then the creature breathed. A thick, greenish cloud blasted out of the stonebreather’s mouth, enveloping everyone except Lanara, who was safely tucked around the corner. Kyle felt the vapors surround him, and he held his breath, but it almost felt as if the vapors were leaching into his flesh. He began to move forward to cast his next spell, but his feet suddenly felt very heavy. Glancing down, he saw the ends of his boots had transformed into solid stone. With horror, he realized the transformation was crawling up his legs. Kyle tried to turn around, but the effect had traveled up past his knees, and his legs were now too heavy to move. He twisted spasmodically, as if he could shake the effect off somehow. He felt the petrifying magic move up past his hips, and he was hit with an unsettling sensation as his intestines were turned into granite. He tried to cry out, but the air was forced out of his chest as the magic solidified his lungs from the bottom up. Gasping, he looked around to see who might be able to aid him. The others seemed to have escaped his fate – Osborn and Xu were behind the stonebreather when it had emitted its magical breath, and the others had resisted its effects. All except one. Autumn was standing just a little ahead of Kyle, and now stood helpless as she was slowly turned to stone. Autumn managed to turn her head to look back at Kyle just as the effect reached her neck. Her face was contorted with a look a panic, but upon seeing Kyle had suffered a similar fate, a glimmer of sadness appeared in her eyes just as she was fully petrified. A second later, Kyle’s vision went black. Arrie coughed, waving the noxious clouds away from her face. She stepped back a moment to survey the scene. Her eyes came to rest upon the granite statue that was once her adopted sister. Blood rushed to her head, and she tightened her grip on her chain, her knuckles turning white. With a cry of rage, she spun her chain around in a blur, bringing its full weight down on the creature’s smooth, metallic hide. She was barely aware of her companions surrounding the bull-like beast, slashing and hammering away. None of that mattered to her. All that did matter was that this hells-spawned beast was trying to take away something precious to her, but that this time, at least, she had the power to do something about it. It was Tolly, ultimately, that brought the beast down. Reeling from the fury of the party’s onslaught, the stonebreather was unable to sidestep Tolly’s warhammer as it crushed the creature’s forelegs, bringing it down in a heap of flesh and metal. A return swing caved in the top of its skull. As Tolly stooped down to cut the stonebreather’s throat and begin bleeding it, and Osborn went off into the tunnel behind the beast to make sure the coast was clear, the others gathered around the statues of Kyle and Autumn. “What do we do?” asked Kavan. “We get them back up to town,” said Arrie. She was still covered in gore from the stonebreather, but seemed unaware of it. “He’ll bring her back. He promised he could bring her back.” “You mean bring ‘them’ back, right?” said Lanara. Arrie blinked and stared at Lanara for a moment, almost looking through her. Then she shook her head. “Yes, of course. You’re right. I’m just not thinking clearly right now.” She reached out and patted Kyle’s stone cheek, leaving a pinkish smear. “Sorry about that, Kyle.” Navigating the two heavy statues and dead stonebreather through the tunnels was no easy task. Fortunately, the strength-enhancing enchantments they’d received before fighting the stonebreather were still in effect, which made the task easier. Before long they were standing out in the sun, surrounded by a crowd of dwarves that were cheering and throwing rocks at the dead beast. The priest, Durkoth, examined the two statues, and then produced a small golden vial. He poured a viscous liquid onto each one, watching as it oozed down and soaked into the stone surface. Within moments, both Kyle and Autumn stood fully restored, blinking in the sunlight and trying to get their bearings. Arrie gave her sister a big hug. Later that day, as the group made their way slowly up the mountain trail leading back to Laeshir, Kyle spoke. “You know, this may sound kind of dumb, but in a way I feel bad that they had to use up all that [I]stone salve[/I] on us. I mean, they’ve got their own folks to take care of, too, and now they won’t have the opportunity.” “Nobody begrudged you or Autumn your chance at life, Kyle,” said Kavan. “You shouldn’t feel guilty about that.” “I guess,” he replied. “I just wish that there was more that we could do to help.” “Well, can you make any of that salve?” “No. It requires stronger magic than I’m capable of handling.” Autumn, who was listening in, stepped back to join the conversation. “Stronger magic than you can handle now, Kyle. One day you’ll have the ability, and maybe then you could return here to set things fully right.” “You really think so?” asked Kyle. Autumn smiled. “I’m certain of it.” Kyle looked back over his shoulder at the small town, where he could see several bonfires had been lit in celebration. “One day…” [/QUOTE]
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