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Wulf's Collected Story Hour -- FINAL UPDATE 12/25
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<blockquote data-quote="Wulf Ratbane" data-source="post: 713" data-attributes="member: 94"><p><strong>FORGE OF FURY (Part VII)</strong></p><p></p><p>A few healing potions later, the party continued down the path, which emptied into a huge cavern with a stout iron door at one end. Wulf took a quick look at the lock-- dwarven craftsmanship-- and decided that it was better to leave a locked door behind them than an open passage. The party moved on through the large cavern and up into the smaller galleries above, where more grick awaited them. Wulf had the only weapon capable of piercing their rubbery hides, so he moved up front and left the party a few paces behind. He wasn't particularly happy about being grick-bait, but then he'd be damned if he'd sully the scout's honor with a lot of peck-like whining and groveling. It was tough work. Despite the fact that they could hear the grick tunneling through the walls, and that they were all wary and traveling with weapons bared, they were constantly surprised by grick bursting from the walls around them. It took its toll on Wulf, but fortunately Kellick was around to keep him healed.</p><p></p><p>The halfling's brush with death, as well as the constant threat from the grick, put the whole party in a rather sombre mood, and their own mortality was the pre-eminent topic of conversation. Kellick insisted that, should he ever go to that big Grove in the Sky, the party was under no circumstances to disturb his eternal rest by <em>Raising</em> him from the dead-- no, nor even <em>Reincarnating</em> him-- NO, not even as a badger, dire or otherwise. Wulf agreed and promised that he'd personally make sure Kellick was properly "planted" to nourish the earth. Maybe even tip back a brew or two in Kellick's honor and add a little extra fertilizer. Kellick seemed satisfied but the dark mood never left him.</p><p></p><p>The party spent a while longer cleaning out the caves-- more grick, more trogs, some yellow mold and even a roper-- leaving only the iron door between them and the unknown. Wulf tried his lockpicks on the door but was confounded by the clever craftsmanship. Keldas suggested a return to town for some <em>Knock</em> scrolls as well as more supplies.</p><p></p><p>The mules were still doing fine, still happily tethered up in the cave entrance-- evidence (as if they still needed it) that the orcs were gone for good. They loaded up the treasure they'd accumulated and returned to town.</p><p></p><p>While Wulf crafted another masterwork chain shirt for himself, Keldas took a little time out to study <em>Taranak</em> and was able to discover the command word.</p><p></p><p><strong>DM: Uhh... The command is the dwarven word for ‘the molten rock at the heart of the volcano.’ </strong></p><p><strong>Wulf: Right. Which is…?</strong></p><p><strong>DM: [stares blankly]</strong></p><p><strong>Wulf: Uhh… Right. I say ‘the dwarven word for the molten rock at the heart of the volcano.’</strong></p><p><strong>DM: Right. The axe bursts into flame.</strong></p><p><strong>Wulf: Right. Ok!</strong></p><p></p><p>Another quick visit with the Old Man and the party was once again off to the mountain, their packs bulging variously with oil, healing potions, and scrolls. They quickly moved through the deserted upper caves and stopped before the stout iron door leading to the unknown. Wulf pulled Halma aside to give Keldas access to the door.</p><p></p><p>"Right then. <em>Knock</em> 'er open."</p><p></p><p>"Well, I would... only I don't have a <em>Knock</em> spell ready."</p><p></p><p>"Yer spent <em>days</em> up in yer room scribblin' away... I <em>thought</em> yer were making a scroll to get past this door. We talked about this on the way back!"</p><p></p><p>"Well, I didn't get to it. I was busy scribing <em>new</em> spells into my spellbook."</p><p></p><p>"This is the <em>last</em> door we have to pass to get any further! Ach, for the love of..." Wulf grabbed his locksmith's tools and stepped up to the door to take another look at the lock. Still, no clue. He turned and started back the way they came.</p><p></p><p>"Where are you going?"</p><p></p><p>"Well I'm not bloody sleepin' outside the bloody door so who-knows-bloody-what can bust out and beat us-- while yer got yer nose in yer damn books! Back to the top, let's go!"</p><p></p><p>...</p><p></p><p>A few hours later the party was past the door, descending narrow steps into a small room guarded by three large statues: dour dwarven warriors, with wide bronze axes held high. Each ominous statue stood impassively watching a different exit.</p><p></p><p>Wulf halted the party at the entrance. "Better let a dwarf go first."</p><p></p><p>"Careful! This could be a trap!" the halfling chimed in. Wulf turned to stare at him for a moment before walking in.</p><p></p><p>"If there be spirits here, this is Wulf Ra-... ahh... Wulf Kraggson, son of Krag Bladebeard, an' I'm here to reclaim these halls for dwarven kin! Let none defile the works of Durgeddin!" He waited a moment for something to happen. "Hmm... And, praise Moradin!"</p><p></p><p>Wulf sniffed. "Right. That oughtter do it. Yer can come on in now."</p><p></p><p>The party remained huddled outside the room.</p><p></p><p>Wulf moved over to the door to his left and crouched down to check it for traps, his nimble fingers once again crawling expertly over the surface and around the edges, looking for the inevitable trip-wire or latch that would... <click></p><p></p><p>"Oh bloody..."</p><p></p><p>There was a screech of metal as the huge bronze statue swung its axe down in a wide arc, slicing through Wulf's armor and gouging into his shoulder. He rolled with the blow as best he could and quickly turned so he could watch the mechanism reset itself. The arm had already returned to its former position but Wulf could see the tell-tale signs of the clockwork where it had disturbed the dust. "Clever work, that..."</p><p></p><p>Satisfied that the danger in the room wasn't other-worldly, the rest of the party crept in. The halfling, fancying himself something of a scout himself, moved over to check out the other two doors.</p><p></p><p>"Get <em>back...</em>" Wulf grabbed the halfling and pulled him away. </p><p></p><p>"Hey, look, just because YOU lack the skill to find a trap doesn't mean I do."</p><p></p><p>"I found 'er just fine, peck. Now get out of the way while I disable this next one."</p><p></p><p>"Suit yourself, but I can see from here that the trip wires are <em>very</em> cleverly hidden and it is going to take <em>phenomenal</em> dexterity to get past... Hey... whatcha doing?"</p><p></p><p>Wulf climbed up onto the shoulders of the second bronze statue and brought <em>Taranak</em> up in a blazing arc, then down onto the shaft of the axe. Whang! Taranak was unharmed, but the statue was scored. Wulf shrugged and finished dis-arming the trap. Clang! Bang! Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bink.</p><p></p><p>Keldas was scowling up at him. "Well, they know we're here NOW I guess."</p><p></p><p>"Let 'em know! Let 'em come!" Wulf climbed up onto the shoulders of the last statue to repeat the job. "That's right! (bang) Wulf (clang) Ratbane is here (bang) with fire and axe (whang), to purge any of yer (bang) defilers who fancy a righteous taste o' boot!" (bink bink bink...)</p><p></p><p>Wulf hopped down and opened both doors, stepping easily out of reach of the weaponless statues. Both doors opened onto a solid wall, but Keldas spotted a secret door behind the third one. Once again, the party moved through and entered a narrow hallway, with barely enough room for one person at a time to pass. Another door awaited them on other side, but as they reached the center of the short passage, a woman's voice cried out, "Intruders! Turn back!"</p><p></p><p>The voice spoke dwarven, but with a strange accent Wulf could not place. Perhaps it was simply an older dialect, from when Durgeddin still walked his halls. Keldas confirmed that it was some kind of magic message-- it might very well have been around for thousands of years. Wulf shrugged and opened the second door. </p><p></p><p>It opened onto a grand hall, stretching away into the darkness to a raised platform with a throne. Huge stone pillars reached into the blackness above, arching up to support what Wulf could only imagine was an intricately carved dome. It was dwarven workmanship at its finest-- and very old.</p><p></p><p>The creepy, old, strangely-accented woman's voice spoke again. "Who are you to intrude into our halls?" Wulf stepped alone into the room. Creepy disembodied voices? No problem. He raised his arms and his eyes to the dark ceiling.</p><p></p><p>"Oh mighty spirits of my ancestors! I am called Wulf, an' I'm here to defend these halls against any who would defile them!"</p><p></p><p>"Turn back. <em>We</em> guard these halls now."</p><p></p><p>Wulf turned to look at his companions for help. They all shrugged and pointed back at him, giving him the thumbs up. ("You're doing great!")</p><p></p><p>"Uhh... Who are yer, again, exactly? Is this the spirit of Durgeddin?"</p><p></p><p>"Durgeddin was a weak fool, to allow these halls to fall to the orcs! Now we have reclaimed them. You are not needed here. Turn back-- or you will all pay dearly!"</p><p></p><p>"Oh <em>really</em>?" Wulf hitched his thumbs into his belt and took a step forward. "Now listen to me, yer creepy old bi-- ack!"</p><p></p><p>A half-dozen crossbow bolts sprouted in Wulf's chest and arms as duergar warriors appeared from thin air. Wulf was instantly knocked to the ground and lay dying. The smug look on the female duergar was the last thing he saw.</p><p></p><p>The agony! One minute, a proud dwarven warrior in the prime of his life; the next moment, flat on his back, lying there helplessly as his barbarian buddy trampled his battered body in a mad dash to slaughter. Well, come to think of it, that wasn't so bad after all. He could hear the sounds of battle as the duergar were killed or driven off. Kellick propped him up and plied him with healing potions, and Wulf was soon back on his feet. </p><p></p><p>"Praise... Nature! Or the grass, or... ach, ferkit... Whatever..." He patted Kellick on the head and swept up his axe to follow his comrades. </p><p></p><p>The duergar had fled to the far end of the hall and out a side door. They posted Misty in the hall to guard their backs and booted the door in hot pursuit.</p><p></p><p>The door opened onto Durgeddin's forges, and the party was surprised to find them blazing hot, some with blackened blades still lying in the coals. They had little time to gawk at this interesting turn of events, for almost immediately duergar warriors sprang onto them with longswords. Behind the forges and across a narrow stream, the duergar woman was directing her warriors-- and preparing to cast a spell.</p><p></p><p>Naturally, Halma was the first into the room, desperate to cut a path right to the sorceress, but he was soon surrounded by warriors. Kellick and the halfling moved in and off to the left; Wulf got out his sling and started trying to pelt the sorceress, who was soon protected by multiple glimmering images. Keldas stepped just inside the doorway, with Misty guarding the door at his back, and started trying to conjure up some counter magic. </p><p></p><p>The party soon found themselves facing bigger problems. Without warning, the duergar doubled or tripled in size. The freakishly huge duergar were suddenly deadly effective, and their swords struck with a force that could fell a bull. </p><p></p><p>Halma managed to kill a couple of warriors, but they concentrated their attacks on him and soon brought the naive young warrior to his knees. There was a yelp from the doorway, and suddenly more duergar were pouring into the room at their backs. Keldas was quickly surrounded. Wulf watched with admiration as the elf dropped his pouch of spell components and his longsword came whistling out in a flash of silver. The furious elf charged in, catching the duergar off guard for a moment, but soon he, too, lay bleeding on the floor.</p><p></p><p>Wulf drew axe and dagger and stepped onto the bridge across the stream, trying to keep the enemy from surrounding him. A warrior stood between Wulf and the duergar sorceress. Wulf brought his axe down on the warrior and used his dagger on the sorceress, trying to whittle down her mirrored images. </p><p></p><p>The halfling was tumbling around the center of the room, dashing in to stab the enemy in the flanks whenever the opportunity presented itself-- and tossing vials of alchemist's fire when they did not. Before long, a large warrior with a double-bladed sword stepped up to engage the halfling, and in mere moments, the peck was sprawled across the floor.</p><p></p><p>Wulf held his position on the bridge. The sorceress' familiar, a rat, kept nipping at Wulf's flank, delivering shocking bolts of electricity through a magical link. Try as he might, Wulf could not afford to ignore the rat to concentrate on the sorceress. On the other hand, he didn't want to kill the oversized critter and allow the double-sword warrior to step onto the bridge and into his flank.</p><p></p><p>The warrior summed up the situation and simply <em>jumped</em> across the stream, onto Wulf's other flank. (Didn't think of that.) The little rat seemed to laugh.</p><p></p><p>"All right yer prick... time ter meet Mr. Ratbane..." Wulf slashed at the rat with the fiery <em>Taranak</em>, but the rat nimbly dashed aside-- to be pinned against the ground the dagger in Wulf's other hand. "Works ever' time." </p><p></p><p>Little time to celebrate-- Wulf still had to contend with two warriors and the sorceress.</p><p></p><p>The halfling suddenly sat up-- "Ha! I was faking! Suckers! Ha ha ha!"-- and pulled out his last flask of oil. He was long since out of alchemist's fire, but he tossed the oil across the blazing forges and onto the duergar across the room. Wulf saw that Kellick was backed against the wall there, desperately trying to use a <em>Flaming Sphere</em> to hold off two warriors intent on flanking him. The ball of fire danced from side to side, scorching each of the duergar in turn, but they were able to keep up their attacks on the little gnome until Kellick, too, fell. The angry warriors turned to attack the halfling who had doused them with oil. They charged, chasing the halfling around the forges, until one of them fell over dead from the residue of the burning oil.</p><p></p><p>Wulf shouted to the halfling. "Quick! Save Kellick! Use yer potion! I got that one for yer!" While the red-hot <em>Taranak</em> kept his opponents at bay, Wulf flipped his dagger over and prepared to hurl it backhanded at the last warrior out on the main floor.</p><p></p><p>"No way! Too dangerous! He can wait!" The halfling drew his dagger and danced about with the last warrior, looking for an opportunity. </p><p></p><p>Wulf had no choice but to turn his attention back to his own opponents. The sorceress stepped away and vanished, leaving a furious Wulf to deal with her underlings. In just a few short strokes his axe and dagger had finished off the last of the warriors-- but he could hear the invisible sorceress retreating over a dark cliff at the north end of the forges. </p><p></p><p>Wulf wasted no time on what could not be helped, and concentrated on what could. He charged back across the bridge and helped the halfling finish off the last warrior. </p><p></p><p>"Now! Grab a potion for Kellick! Quick!"</p><p></p><p>The halfling rummaged through Keldas' pack and came up with a healing draft. He raced across the floor to check on Kellick, while Wulf checked Halma and Keldas for vitals. They'd make it. Halma was merely knocked out, and Keldas could be brought back almost to full strength with a single healing draught. </p><p></p><p>And Kellick?</p><p></p><p>The loyal gnome had gasped his last breath while the halfling was tumbling about with the last warrior. If he'd acted a moment sooner, Kellick would have made it.</p><p></p><p>The silence on the other side of the room spoke volumes. Wulf looked up from Keldas and locked eyes with the halfling. One pair of eyes, grim and furious. The other pair widened with sudden, frightening realization.</p><p></p><p>It was just the two of them, now. Alone.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Wulf Ratbane, post: 713, member: 94"] [b]FORGE OF FURY (Part VII)[/b] A few healing potions later, the party continued down the path, which emptied into a huge cavern with a stout iron door at one end. Wulf took a quick look at the lock-- dwarven craftsmanship-- and decided that it was better to leave a locked door behind them than an open passage. The party moved on through the large cavern and up into the smaller galleries above, where more grick awaited them. Wulf had the only weapon capable of piercing their rubbery hides, so he moved up front and left the party a few paces behind. He wasn't particularly happy about being grick-bait, but then he'd be damned if he'd sully the scout's honor with a lot of peck-like whining and groveling. It was tough work. Despite the fact that they could hear the grick tunneling through the walls, and that they were all wary and traveling with weapons bared, they were constantly surprised by grick bursting from the walls around them. It took its toll on Wulf, but fortunately Kellick was around to keep him healed. The halfling's brush with death, as well as the constant threat from the grick, put the whole party in a rather sombre mood, and their own mortality was the pre-eminent topic of conversation. Kellick insisted that, should he ever go to that big Grove in the Sky, the party was under no circumstances to disturb his eternal rest by [i]Raising[/i] him from the dead-- no, nor even [i]Reincarnating[/i] him-- NO, not even as a badger, dire or otherwise. Wulf agreed and promised that he'd personally make sure Kellick was properly "planted" to nourish the earth. Maybe even tip back a brew or two in Kellick's honor and add a little extra fertilizer. Kellick seemed satisfied but the dark mood never left him. The party spent a while longer cleaning out the caves-- more grick, more trogs, some yellow mold and even a roper-- leaving only the iron door between them and the unknown. Wulf tried his lockpicks on the door but was confounded by the clever craftsmanship. Keldas suggested a return to town for some [i]Knock[/i] scrolls as well as more supplies. The mules were still doing fine, still happily tethered up in the cave entrance-- evidence (as if they still needed it) that the orcs were gone for good. They loaded up the treasure they'd accumulated and returned to town. While Wulf crafted another masterwork chain shirt for himself, Keldas took a little time out to study [i]Taranak[/i] and was able to discover the command word. [b]DM: Uhh... The command is the dwarven word for ‘the molten rock at the heart of the volcano.’ Wulf: Right. Which is…? DM: [stares blankly] Wulf: Uhh… Right. I say ‘the dwarven word for the molten rock at the heart of the volcano.’ DM: Right. The axe bursts into flame. Wulf: Right. Ok![/b] Another quick visit with the Old Man and the party was once again off to the mountain, their packs bulging variously with oil, healing potions, and scrolls. They quickly moved through the deserted upper caves and stopped before the stout iron door leading to the unknown. Wulf pulled Halma aside to give Keldas access to the door. "Right then. [i]Knock[/i] 'er open." "Well, I would... only I don't have a [i]Knock[/i] spell ready." "Yer spent [i]days[/i] up in yer room scribblin' away... I [i]thought[/i] yer were making a scroll to get past this door. We talked about this on the way back!" "Well, I didn't get to it. I was busy scribing [i]new[/i] spells into my spellbook." "This is the [i]last[/i] door we have to pass to get any further! Ach, for the love of..." Wulf grabbed his locksmith's tools and stepped up to the door to take another look at the lock. Still, no clue. He turned and started back the way they came. "Where are you going?" "Well I'm not bloody sleepin' outside the bloody door so who-knows-bloody-what can bust out and beat us-- while yer got yer nose in yer damn books! Back to the top, let's go!" ... A few hours later the party was past the door, descending narrow steps into a small room guarded by three large statues: dour dwarven warriors, with wide bronze axes held high. Each ominous statue stood impassively watching a different exit. Wulf halted the party at the entrance. "Better let a dwarf go first." "Careful! This could be a trap!" the halfling chimed in. Wulf turned to stare at him for a moment before walking in. "If there be spirits here, this is Wulf Ra-... ahh... Wulf Kraggson, son of Krag Bladebeard, an' I'm here to reclaim these halls for dwarven kin! Let none defile the works of Durgeddin!" He waited a moment for something to happen. "Hmm... And, praise Moradin!" Wulf sniffed. "Right. That oughtter do it. Yer can come on in now." The party remained huddled outside the room. Wulf moved over to the door to his left and crouched down to check it for traps, his nimble fingers once again crawling expertly over the surface and around the edges, looking for the inevitable trip-wire or latch that would... <click> "Oh bloody..." There was a screech of metal as the huge bronze statue swung its axe down in a wide arc, slicing through Wulf's armor and gouging into his shoulder. He rolled with the blow as best he could and quickly turned so he could watch the mechanism reset itself. The arm had already returned to its former position but Wulf could see the tell-tale signs of the clockwork where it had disturbed the dust. "Clever work, that..." Satisfied that the danger in the room wasn't other-worldly, the rest of the party crept in. The halfling, fancying himself something of a scout himself, moved over to check out the other two doors. "Get [i]back...[/i]" Wulf grabbed the halfling and pulled him away. "Hey, look, just because YOU lack the skill to find a trap doesn't mean I do." "I found 'er just fine, peck. Now get out of the way while I disable this next one." "Suit yourself, but I can see from here that the trip wires are [i]very[/i] cleverly hidden and it is going to take [i]phenomenal[/i] dexterity to get past... Hey... whatcha doing?" Wulf climbed up onto the shoulders of the second bronze statue and brought [i]Taranak[/i] up in a blazing arc, then down onto the shaft of the axe. Whang! Taranak was unharmed, but the statue was scored. Wulf shrugged and finished dis-arming the trap. Clang! Bang! Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bink. Keldas was scowling up at him. "Well, they know we're here NOW I guess." "Let 'em know! Let 'em come!" Wulf climbed up onto the shoulders of the last statue to repeat the job. "That's right! (bang) Wulf (clang) Ratbane is here (bang) with fire and axe (whang), to purge any of yer (bang) defilers who fancy a righteous taste o' boot!" (bink bink bink...) Wulf hopped down and opened both doors, stepping easily out of reach of the weaponless statues. Both doors opened onto a solid wall, but Keldas spotted a secret door behind the third one. Once again, the party moved through and entered a narrow hallway, with barely enough room for one person at a time to pass. Another door awaited them on other side, but as they reached the center of the short passage, a woman's voice cried out, "Intruders! Turn back!" The voice spoke dwarven, but with a strange accent Wulf could not place. Perhaps it was simply an older dialect, from when Durgeddin still walked his halls. Keldas confirmed that it was some kind of magic message-- it might very well have been around for thousands of years. Wulf shrugged and opened the second door. It opened onto a grand hall, stretching away into the darkness to a raised platform with a throne. Huge stone pillars reached into the blackness above, arching up to support what Wulf could only imagine was an intricately carved dome. It was dwarven workmanship at its finest-- and very old. The creepy, old, strangely-accented woman's voice spoke again. "Who are you to intrude into our halls?" Wulf stepped alone into the room. Creepy disembodied voices? No problem. He raised his arms and his eyes to the dark ceiling. "Oh mighty spirits of my ancestors! I am called Wulf, an' I'm here to defend these halls against any who would defile them!" "Turn back. [i]We[/i] guard these halls now." Wulf turned to look at his companions for help. They all shrugged and pointed back at him, giving him the thumbs up. ("You're doing great!") "Uhh... Who are yer, again, exactly? Is this the spirit of Durgeddin?" "Durgeddin was a weak fool, to allow these halls to fall to the orcs! Now we have reclaimed them. You are not needed here. Turn back-- or you will all pay dearly!" "Oh [i]really[/i]?" Wulf hitched his thumbs into his belt and took a step forward. "Now listen to me, yer creepy old bi-- ack!" A half-dozen crossbow bolts sprouted in Wulf's chest and arms as duergar warriors appeared from thin air. Wulf was instantly knocked to the ground and lay dying. The smug look on the female duergar was the last thing he saw. The agony! One minute, a proud dwarven warrior in the prime of his life; the next moment, flat on his back, lying there helplessly as his barbarian buddy trampled his battered body in a mad dash to slaughter. Well, come to think of it, that wasn't so bad after all. He could hear the sounds of battle as the duergar were killed or driven off. Kellick propped him up and plied him with healing potions, and Wulf was soon back on his feet. "Praise... Nature! Or the grass, or... ach, ferkit... Whatever..." He patted Kellick on the head and swept up his axe to follow his comrades. The duergar had fled to the far end of the hall and out a side door. They posted Misty in the hall to guard their backs and booted the door in hot pursuit. The door opened onto Durgeddin's forges, and the party was surprised to find them blazing hot, some with blackened blades still lying in the coals. They had little time to gawk at this interesting turn of events, for almost immediately duergar warriors sprang onto them with longswords. Behind the forges and across a narrow stream, the duergar woman was directing her warriors-- and preparing to cast a spell. Naturally, Halma was the first into the room, desperate to cut a path right to the sorceress, but he was soon surrounded by warriors. Kellick and the halfling moved in and off to the left; Wulf got out his sling and started trying to pelt the sorceress, who was soon protected by multiple glimmering images. Keldas stepped just inside the doorway, with Misty guarding the door at his back, and started trying to conjure up some counter magic. The party soon found themselves facing bigger problems. Without warning, the duergar doubled or tripled in size. The freakishly huge duergar were suddenly deadly effective, and their swords struck with a force that could fell a bull. Halma managed to kill a couple of warriors, but they concentrated their attacks on him and soon brought the naive young warrior to his knees. There was a yelp from the doorway, and suddenly more duergar were pouring into the room at their backs. Keldas was quickly surrounded. Wulf watched with admiration as the elf dropped his pouch of spell components and his longsword came whistling out in a flash of silver. The furious elf charged in, catching the duergar off guard for a moment, but soon he, too, lay bleeding on the floor. Wulf drew axe and dagger and stepped onto the bridge across the stream, trying to keep the enemy from surrounding him. A warrior stood between Wulf and the duergar sorceress. Wulf brought his axe down on the warrior and used his dagger on the sorceress, trying to whittle down her mirrored images. The halfling was tumbling around the center of the room, dashing in to stab the enemy in the flanks whenever the opportunity presented itself-- and tossing vials of alchemist's fire when they did not. Before long, a large warrior with a double-bladed sword stepped up to engage the halfling, and in mere moments, the peck was sprawled across the floor. Wulf held his position on the bridge. The sorceress' familiar, a rat, kept nipping at Wulf's flank, delivering shocking bolts of electricity through a magical link. Try as he might, Wulf could not afford to ignore the rat to concentrate on the sorceress. On the other hand, he didn't want to kill the oversized critter and allow the double-sword warrior to step onto the bridge and into his flank. The warrior summed up the situation and simply [i]jumped[/i] across the stream, onto Wulf's other flank. (Didn't think of that.) The little rat seemed to laugh. "All right yer prick... time ter meet Mr. Ratbane..." Wulf slashed at the rat with the fiery [i]Taranak[/i], but the rat nimbly dashed aside-- to be pinned against the ground the dagger in Wulf's other hand. "Works ever' time." Little time to celebrate-- Wulf still had to contend with two warriors and the sorceress. The halfling suddenly sat up-- "Ha! I was faking! Suckers! Ha ha ha!"-- and pulled out his last flask of oil. He was long since out of alchemist's fire, but he tossed the oil across the blazing forges and onto the duergar across the room. Wulf saw that Kellick was backed against the wall there, desperately trying to use a [i]Flaming Sphere[/i] to hold off two warriors intent on flanking him. The ball of fire danced from side to side, scorching each of the duergar in turn, but they were able to keep up their attacks on the little gnome until Kellick, too, fell. The angry warriors turned to attack the halfling who had doused them with oil. They charged, chasing the halfling around the forges, until one of them fell over dead from the residue of the burning oil. Wulf shouted to the halfling. "Quick! Save Kellick! Use yer potion! I got that one for yer!" While the red-hot [i]Taranak[/i] kept his opponents at bay, Wulf flipped his dagger over and prepared to hurl it backhanded at the last warrior out on the main floor. "No way! Too dangerous! He can wait!" The halfling drew his dagger and danced about with the last warrior, looking for an opportunity. Wulf had no choice but to turn his attention back to his own opponents. The sorceress stepped away and vanished, leaving a furious Wulf to deal with her underlings. In just a few short strokes his axe and dagger had finished off the last of the warriors-- but he could hear the invisible sorceress retreating over a dark cliff at the north end of the forges. Wulf wasted no time on what could not be helped, and concentrated on what could. He charged back across the bridge and helped the halfling finish off the last warrior. "Now! Grab a potion for Kellick! Quick!" The halfling rummaged through Keldas' pack and came up with a healing draft. He raced across the floor to check on Kellick, while Wulf checked Halma and Keldas for vitals. They'd make it. Halma was merely knocked out, and Keldas could be brought back almost to full strength with a single healing draught. And Kellick? The loyal gnome had gasped his last breath while the halfling was tumbling about with the last warrior. If he'd acted a moment sooner, Kellick would have made it. The silence on the other side of the room spoke volumes. Wulf looked up from Keldas and locked eyes with the halfling. One pair of eyes, grim and furious. The other pair widened with sudden, frightening realization. It was just the two of them, now. Alone. [/QUOTE]
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Wulf's Collected Story Hour -- FINAL UPDATE 12/25
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