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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: 953" data-attributes="member: 94"><p><strong>THE HEART OF NIGHTFANG SPIRE (Part III)</strong></p><p></p><p><em>Why died I not from the womb?</em></p><p><em> Why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly? </em></p><p><em>For now should I have lain still and been quiet,</em></p><p><em> I should have slept: then had I been at rest.</em></p><p></p><p>Wulf was feeling confident. He'd overseen the daily prayers and advised both Dorn and Alliane to keep a strong supply of <em>Restoration</em> and <em>Protection</em> spells of all kinds. Kheldas had apparently learned a few spells of fighting usefulness, and for the most part Wulf trusted the elf to himself as far as his own arcane preparations went. Better still, Keldas had identified the bastard sword they'd found on the dead body in the shack below: <em>Ghost Touch</em>.</p><p></p><p>Wulf handed the blade to the paladin. "Take this sword, ass-mar. Yer see any vampires going misty, take a couple of whacks at 'em with this." The paladin nodded, taking up the bastard sword and making room for it on his belt, beside his own trusty longsword.</p><p></p><p>They returned to the top of the tower and once again looked down into the darkness below. Wulf stopped Halma just as he was about to jump through the hole. "Hang on... Let me take a look."</p><p></p><p>Sure enough, Wulf's trained eyes could faintly see the runes of a <em>Glyph</em> protecting the entrance. His comrades stood impatiently behind him, waiting for him to disarm the glyph, but it quickly became apparent to Wulf that the magical glyph was beyond his skill. </p><p></p><p>"Safe yet?" Halma had his greatsword in his hands and was eager to jump into the hole and hew into some evil-doers.</p><p></p><p>"Ahh... Just a second." Wulf stood up and backed away from the hole. He stared at it for a moment. There was only one way he knew <em>for sure</em> to make the way safe for the rest of them. With a shrug, he bolted towards the hole, tucked himself into a tumble that would make the peck proud, and just flopped right through the glyph. He felt a crackle of electricity as he went through, but escaped any serious harm.</p><p></p><p>He dusted himself off and called up through the hole. "All clear!"</p><p></p><p>The party joined him and they began to systematically clear out the rest of the the tower. Each time they reached a new door, Wulf would check it for traps, they'd all have a listen (though they quickly tired of straining for the sounds of the restless dead), and Halma would boot the door. Each intersection was handled in similar logical fashion. "Lefts... all lefts," Keldas decided. They found themselves working their way around the rooms of the tower, from the center to the outside wall, in an orderly clockwise direction. </p><p></p><p>The stairs to the next level down, of course, were in the last place they looked. They all felt a happy elation at having cleared the first level of the tower, but were nonetheless concerned that they couldn't find any additional sarcophagi where the two escaped vampires might have headed. "Must be downstairs then."</p><p></p><p>They headed down to the next level, which they found to be largely unoccupied and sparsely arranged. In a long room that occupied most of the outer wall, they found their first interesting and unfathomable obstacle: a large pool of oozing black liquid. From time to time, small bubbles of what they surmised to be pure, unconcentrated evil bubbled up to the surface.</p><p></p><p>"What's that?"</p><p></p><p>Halma quietly whispered his profound assessment: "It's... it's his <em>mojo</em>, baby."</p><p></p><p>It certainly didn't look like anything they could simply <em>attack</em>. Wulf turned to the group. "Well, I'm stumped. Ideas?"</p><p></p><p>Only the paladin spoke up. "I suppose I could use the <em>Bless Water</em> spell you asked me to pray for."</p><p></p><p>Wulf clapped him on the back. "Good plan! We'll wait over here while yer try it."</p><p></p><p>The paladin spread his hands over the bubbling pool and called on his celestial powers. A broad patch of the black liquid cleared to crystal purity-- then immediately began to hiss and sizzle as the blackness quickly regained dominance. </p><p></p><p>Wulf shrugged. "Right. Next room."</p><p></p><p>The hallway out of the goo-room turned and headed off to the south, but Wulf stopped the group at a door on his left. Room after empty room, door after untrapped door, and yet they were taking no chances. Wulf carefully checked the door for traps-- nothing there. Halma booted the door open onto an empty room full of broken furniture and shattered bits of pottery. The party turned to follow the hallway to the next room, but Wulf stopped them.</p><p></p><p>"Let's just search through this mess real quick, right?" He stepped into the room.</p><p></p><p>Wulf was caught completely flat-footed as the floor just inside the doorway gave way beneath him. His reflexes were uncharacteristically slow, and he found himself sliding down a steep slope. He put his hands out to slow his fall, but was rewarded with the stinging pain of several razorblades that had been sadistically arrayed along the inside of the chute. He pulled his hands tight and tried to lift his feet, leaving his arse and his chain shirt to bear the brunt of the razor action. </p><p></p><p>"Well, this couldn't get any wor--wha-- what the f--aaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!" The chute had ended-- at the outside of the tower. Wulf scrabbled at the walls as he fell a colossal <em>one-hundred forty feet</em> to land solidly on his back.</p><p></p><p>He blinked up at the sky, just thinking and resting for a moment. The fall hadn't killed him-- at least, not instantly. Sure, he felt like he'd been laid across the anvil and pounded by the All-Father himself-- but this... this was the stuff heroes were made of. </p><p></p><p>He raised his fist and shouted-- to the sky, to Moradin, to the tower itself, he didn't care. "IS THAT THE BEST YER GOT?"</p><p></p><p>-----------------------</p><p></p><p>Minutes (and a great many charges from their healing wands) later, Wulf was back in the tower and looking for vengeance. They continued to clear out the second layer of the tower, which although deserted did turn up another interesting item. In another dusty room, they found a section of the floor that was swept clean. A large rune was carved into the floor-- an iconic representation of a tree. </p><p></p><p>Wulf was in the mood for another of Moradin's hammer-blows, so he nonchalantly stepped onto the rune. As far as he could tell, nothing happened-- but elsewhere in the tower, unbeknownst to them all, things were set in motion. They found the stairs to the next level, checked it for traps, and were prepared to head down, when the flickering shadows on the walls suddenly seemed to come alive. <em>Dozens</em> of shadows, moving ethereally through the tower walls, came at them from all sides, rendering their carefully planned "fighting wedge" useless. To make matters worse, a trio of vampires materialized around Keldas and Alliane.</p><p></p><p>The shadows caught them by surprise, and in the span of just a few seconds, the paladin was completely drained of strength and collapsed on the floor. Wulf and Halma flailed away almost uselessly with their weapons, blocked off by shadows and unable to get to grips with the vampires. Alliane tried to cast <em>Holy Smite</em> but her spellcasting was constantly interrupted by the vampires. Keldas fared no better-- neither elf could seem to maintain their concentration.</p><p></p><p>Wulf watched with alarm as the paladin's prone and pallid form grew more and more shadowy. Alliane shouted with alarm-- her own <em>Restoration</em> spell was gone with the first touch of the vampire spawn. Dorn knew instinctively that that he lacked the charisma and willpower to convincingly call on his goddess to turn the shadows, but he also knew that it was folly to <em>Restore</em> the paladin while they were still surrounded by shadows.</p><p></p><p>Naturally, Wulf did his part to take command of the situation. Knowing Dorn's affinity for Haela Brightaxe, Wulf did his best to scream like a dwarven woman. "Turn! Turn! Turn 'em, dammit, or we're all going to dieeee!" </p><p></p><p>Dorn held his great-axe high and called on Haela. For a brief moment nothing happened, then slowly the shadows began to slink away. Dorn wasted no time, casting <em>Restoration</em> on the shadowy form of the paladin. Just as his soul was fading out of existence, the paladin was saved. He returned to the land of the living at the last possible moment.</p><p></p><p>Wulf panted and dragged his drained and weary arse over to Dorn. "Well done. Now... let's save these stairs for tomorrow, aye?"</p><p></p><p>The two dwarves led the way out.</p><p></p><p>-----------------------</p><p></p><p>While they camped that night, Wulf laid out his alternate plan. </p><p></p><p>"Right, I've had about enough o' this." He looked at Dorn and started counting off on his fingers. "Move earth, soften stone, summon an earth elemental if yer have to. Just tip the bloody thing over. Use yer priestly hoo-hah to control the weather, push back the walls of the valley, get some sunshine in here, and let's be done with it."</p><p></p><p>"What about the treasure inside?"</p><p></p><p>Wulf flexed his hand around <em>Taranak</em>. "I got everything I need already. Going back time after time... This is asinine!"</p><p></p><p>Dorn shook his head. "Well, I can't do any of the things you suggested anyway. I don't have access to such magic."</p><p></p><p>"Well what CAN yer do?" Wulf's face reddened with frustration.</p><p></p><p>"I throw a mean <em>Flame Strike</em>."</p><p></p><p>Slowly, Wulf grinned. "Right yer are. Right. Let's give 'em some more, then."</p><p></p><p>In the morning, they headed back in. </p><p></p><p>-----------------------</p><p></p><p>Noticing from their crude, hand-drawn maps that there were some inaccessible areas, they stopped short of the next unexplored level. Wulf suggested to Keldas that it might be time for the Umber Hulk to make an appearance. Keldas agreed and made the transformation, but they quickly discovered that the large unmapped areas were solid stone-- supports for the tower. Keldas was happy to continue burrowing through the other areas, but Wulf thought better of potentially collapsing the top two levels of the tower onto their heads.</p><p></p><p>Just before Keldas was ready to transform back into elven form, Halma spoke up with one of his rare, but insightful, ideas. "Smash a hole in the outside wall and throw all the coffins out."</p><p></p><p>The party grinned and cheerfully went about the vandalism of the vampires' home. It was a simple matter for the umber hulk to smash a huge hole in the outer wall, then heave out all of the stone sarcophagi they'd found so far. The party cheered each time a sarcophagus shattered on the stones below. Just as the last sarcophagus was unceremoniously added to the pile of rubble, Wulf noted a glint in the rocks below. Quite a few gemstones were shattered and useless, but an evil-looking bone-handled dagger had miraculously survived the fall. Intrigued, Wulf retrieved the odd-looking dagger and put it safely in his pack.</p><p></p><p>Satisfied that the way above them was secured for their retreat, they headed down. The next level of the tower was empty, and eerily quiet. Eventually they found their way to a long room that, by Wulf's estimation, spanned the length of entire tower. All down the long hallway, there were darkened alcoves cut into the walls, and a large decorative sarcophagus stood suspiciously at the far end.</p><p></p><p>Wulf cursed his luck. <em>Wish we had the peck right about now...</em> "I suppose yer all want me to scout it out, eh?"</p><p></p><p>Wrapping his cloak about him (and trying desperately to persuade himself that it wasn't pointless) Wulf moved stealthily down the hallway, searching for traps, scanning for enemies. The alcoves, thankfully, were empty. Slowly but surely he advanced until he was standing just before the sarcophagus. His allies were a long way from him. He turned, expecting to see them still cowering in the doorway-- but god bless 'em, they were moving right along behind him, not more than thirty feet or so.</p><p></p><p>Little good it did him when the sarcophagus sprang open and a mummy leapt out at him and assumed a fighting stance, a kama in one hand and its open palm facing him in the other. Wulf couldn't help but notice it was unusually <em>spry</em> for a member of the walking dead. He was both surprised and amused when the mummy struck him with its open hand. <em>He's trying to infect me with mummy rot.</em> It was more than that. The mummy had struck him a solid blow on the solar plexus. Wulf chuckled. <em>He's... he's trying to stun me with a monk's strike!</em></p><p></p><p>Wulf was nearly incapacitated with laughter, knowing he had the fortitude to keep <em>that</em> up all day. The mummy wasn't about to stun him or infect him, and it wasn't about to nickle and dime him to death with a kama, either. <em>Taranak</em> flared up in his hand and he chuckled at the thought of a mummy facing his flaming axe.</p><p></p><p>When the spectres and shadows came drifting out of the walls, Wulf stopped laughing. Three spectres surrounded him and before he knew it, he'd felt as if he'd lost about half his lifeforce.</p><p></p><p>Now, the mummy was a bit of a problem. Drained as he was, Wulf couldn't lay a hand on it. It was too quick, and in his weakened state, too tough for even <em>Taranak</em> to bite through. Wulf quickly assessed the situation. He could retreat back to the protection of the party, but they were strung out along the hall, and he'd leave Halma a sitting duck for the spectres' next target. And frankly, he didn't know if his numb and lifeless legs were quick enough to tumble away from three spectres without them striking him down from behind.</p><p></p><p><em>Ferkit!</em> Wulf sidestepped into the shallow alcove beside the sarcophagus, fully prepared to die, but intent on taking a few of them with him and still trying to make the best use of the options available. He hoped the alcove would keep at least some of his enemies at bay. He turned his attention to the nearest spectre and was lucky enough to land a series of solid blows, dispersing it. <em>One down, two to go...</em> Wulf feebly fended off another round of attacks from the spectres, but one still struck true. Wulf felt more of his lifeforce drain away.</p><p></p><p>The paladin was rapidly becoming Wulf's new favorite ally when he stepped up and turned the remaining two spectres. He had a radiance and a force of will that neither Alliane nor Dorn could match-- and which the undead could not withstand. Alliane and Dorn turned the shadows, and Halma's greatsword soon brought the mummy crashing to the floor.</p><p></p><p>They pulled a brilliant (obviously magical) helm from the mummy's treasure. Keldas put it away for later study and pointed to a door he spotted at the end of the hallway. Dorn had already <em>restored</em> Wulf's lifeforce so he stepped up to search for traps. Wulf didn't spot anything, but he heard a low moaning from within-- and couldn't help but notice the awful stench.</p><p></p><p>Foul-smelling, moaning entities were almost universally good for a rumble, so he readied his axe and booted the door.</p><p></p><p>The room opened onto a grisly scene of dismembered, rottting corpses-- but not so grisly that Wulf didn't start kicking through the remains to find the source of the moaning. Sure enough, he turned up a pale and scrawny human woman, who somehow mustered the strength to stay his arm and beg for help.</p><p></p><p>"Please... they've been feeding off me... I... I don't think I can take anymore."</p><p></p><p>Wulf turned his back in disgust and jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "Right then. In yer go, ass-mar... yer show."</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Wulf Ratbane, post: 953, member: 94"] [b]THE HEART OF NIGHTFANG SPIRE (Part III)[/b] [i]Why died I not from the womb? Why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly? For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest.[/i] Wulf was feeling confident. He'd overseen the daily prayers and advised both Dorn and Alliane to keep a strong supply of [i]Restoration[/i] and [i]Protection[/i] spells of all kinds. Kheldas had apparently learned a few spells of fighting usefulness, and for the most part Wulf trusted the elf to himself as far as his own arcane preparations went. Better still, Keldas had identified the bastard sword they'd found on the dead body in the shack below: [i]Ghost Touch[/i]. Wulf handed the blade to the paladin. "Take this sword, ass-mar. Yer see any vampires going misty, take a couple of whacks at 'em with this." The paladin nodded, taking up the bastard sword and making room for it on his belt, beside his own trusty longsword. They returned to the top of the tower and once again looked down into the darkness below. Wulf stopped Halma just as he was about to jump through the hole. "Hang on... Let me take a look." Sure enough, Wulf's trained eyes could faintly see the runes of a [i]Glyph[/i] protecting the entrance. His comrades stood impatiently behind him, waiting for him to disarm the glyph, but it quickly became apparent to Wulf that the magical glyph was beyond his skill. "Safe yet?" Halma had his greatsword in his hands and was eager to jump into the hole and hew into some evil-doers. "Ahh... Just a second." Wulf stood up and backed away from the hole. He stared at it for a moment. There was only one way he knew [i]for sure[/i] to make the way safe for the rest of them. With a shrug, he bolted towards the hole, tucked himself into a tumble that would make the peck proud, and just flopped right through the glyph. He felt a crackle of electricity as he went through, but escaped any serious harm. He dusted himself off and called up through the hole. "All clear!" The party joined him and they began to systematically clear out the rest of the the tower. Each time they reached a new door, Wulf would check it for traps, they'd all have a listen (though they quickly tired of straining for the sounds of the restless dead), and Halma would boot the door. Each intersection was handled in similar logical fashion. "Lefts... all lefts," Keldas decided. They found themselves working their way around the rooms of the tower, from the center to the outside wall, in an orderly clockwise direction. The stairs to the next level down, of course, were in the last place they looked. They all felt a happy elation at having cleared the first level of the tower, but were nonetheless concerned that they couldn't find any additional sarcophagi where the two escaped vampires might have headed. "Must be downstairs then." They headed down to the next level, which they found to be largely unoccupied and sparsely arranged. In a long room that occupied most of the outer wall, they found their first interesting and unfathomable obstacle: a large pool of oozing black liquid. From time to time, small bubbles of what they surmised to be pure, unconcentrated evil bubbled up to the surface. "What's that?" Halma quietly whispered his profound assessment: "It's... it's his [i]mojo[/i], baby." It certainly didn't look like anything they could simply [i]attack[/i]. Wulf turned to the group. "Well, I'm stumped. Ideas?" Only the paladin spoke up. "I suppose I could use the [i]Bless Water[/i] spell you asked me to pray for." Wulf clapped him on the back. "Good plan! We'll wait over here while yer try it." The paladin spread his hands over the bubbling pool and called on his celestial powers. A broad patch of the black liquid cleared to crystal purity-- then immediately began to hiss and sizzle as the blackness quickly regained dominance. Wulf shrugged. "Right. Next room." The hallway out of the goo-room turned and headed off to the south, but Wulf stopped the group at a door on his left. Room after empty room, door after untrapped door, and yet they were taking no chances. Wulf carefully checked the door for traps-- nothing there. Halma booted the door open onto an empty room full of broken furniture and shattered bits of pottery. The party turned to follow the hallway to the next room, but Wulf stopped them. "Let's just search through this mess real quick, right?" He stepped into the room. Wulf was caught completely flat-footed as the floor just inside the doorway gave way beneath him. His reflexes were uncharacteristically slow, and he found himself sliding down a steep slope. He put his hands out to slow his fall, but was rewarded with the stinging pain of several razorblades that had been sadistically arrayed along the inside of the chute. He pulled his hands tight and tried to lift his feet, leaving his arse and his chain shirt to bear the brunt of the razor action. "Well, this couldn't get any wor--wha-- what the f--aaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!" The chute had ended-- at the outside of the tower. Wulf scrabbled at the walls as he fell a colossal [i]one-hundred forty feet[/i] to land solidly on his back. He blinked up at the sky, just thinking and resting for a moment. The fall hadn't killed him-- at least, not instantly. Sure, he felt like he'd been laid across the anvil and pounded by the All-Father himself-- but this... this was the stuff heroes were made of. He raised his fist and shouted-- to the sky, to Moradin, to the tower itself, he didn't care. "IS THAT THE BEST YER GOT?" ----------------------- Minutes (and a great many charges from their healing wands) later, Wulf was back in the tower and looking for vengeance. They continued to clear out the second layer of the tower, which although deserted did turn up another interesting item. In another dusty room, they found a section of the floor that was swept clean. A large rune was carved into the floor-- an iconic representation of a tree. Wulf was in the mood for another of Moradin's hammer-blows, so he nonchalantly stepped onto the rune. As far as he could tell, nothing happened-- but elsewhere in the tower, unbeknownst to them all, things were set in motion. They found the stairs to the next level, checked it for traps, and were prepared to head down, when the flickering shadows on the walls suddenly seemed to come alive. [i]Dozens[/i] of shadows, moving ethereally through the tower walls, came at them from all sides, rendering their carefully planned "fighting wedge" useless. To make matters worse, a trio of vampires materialized around Keldas and Alliane. The shadows caught them by surprise, and in the span of just a few seconds, the paladin was completely drained of strength and collapsed on the floor. Wulf and Halma flailed away almost uselessly with their weapons, blocked off by shadows and unable to get to grips with the vampires. Alliane tried to cast [i]Holy Smite[/i] but her spellcasting was constantly interrupted by the vampires. Keldas fared no better-- neither elf could seem to maintain their concentration. Wulf watched with alarm as the paladin's prone and pallid form grew more and more shadowy. Alliane shouted with alarm-- her own [i]Restoration[/i] spell was gone with the first touch of the vampire spawn. Dorn knew instinctively that that he lacked the charisma and willpower to convincingly call on his goddess to turn the shadows, but he also knew that it was folly to [i]Restore[/i] the paladin while they were still surrounded by shadows. Naturally, Wulf did his part to take command of the situation. Knowing Dorn's affinity for Haela Brightaxe, Wulf did his best to scream like a dwarven woman. "Turn! Turn! Turn 'em, dammit, or we're all going to dieeee!" Dorn held his great-axe high and called on Haela. For a brief moment nothing happened, then slowly the shadows began to slink away. Dorn wasted no time, casting [i]Restoration[/i] on the shadowy form of the paladin. Just as his soul was fading out of existence, the paladin was saved. He returned to the land of the living at the last possible moment. Wulf panted and dragged his drained and weary arse over to Dorn. "Well done. Now... let's save these stairs for tomorrow, aye?" The two dwarves led the way out. ----------------------- While they camped that night, Wulf laid out his alternate plan. "Right, I've had about enough o' this." He looked at Dorn and started counting off on his fingers. "Move earth, soften stone, summon an earth elemental if yer have to. Just tip the bloody thing over. Use yer priestly hoo-hah to control the weather, push back the walls of the valley, get some sunshine in here, and let's be done with it." "What about the treasure inside?" Wulf flexed his hand around [i]Taranak[/i]. "I got everything I need already. Going back time after time... This is asinine!" Dorn shook his head. "Well, I can't do any of the things you suggested anyway. I don't have access to such magic." "Well what CAN yer do?" Wulf's face reddened with frustration. "I throw a mean [i]Flame Strike[/i]." Slowly, Wulf grinned. "Right yer are. Right. Let's give 'em some more, then." In the morning, they headed back in. ----------------------- Noticing from their crude, hand-drawn maps that there were some inaccessible areas, they stopped short of the next unexplored level. Wulf suggested to Keldas that it might be time for the Umber Hulk to make an appearance. Keldas agreed and made the transformation, but they quickly discovered that the large unmapped areas were solid stone-- supports for the tower. Keldas was happy to continue burrowing through the other areas, but Wulf thought better of potentially collapsing the top two levels of the tower onto their heads. Just before Keldas was ready to transform back into elven form, Halma spoke up with one of his rare, but insightful, ideas. "Smash a hole in the outside wall and throw all the coffins out." The party grinned and cheerfully went about the vandalism of the vampires' home. It was a simple matter for the umber hulk to smash a huge hole in the outer wall, then heave out all of the stone sarcophagi they'd found so far. The party cheered each time a sarcophagus shattered on the stones below. Just as the last sarcophagus was unceremoniously added to the pile of rubble, Wulf noted a glint in the rocks below. Quite a few gemstones were shattered and useless, but an evil-looking bone-handled dagger had miraculously survived the fall. Intrigued, Wulf retrieved the odd-looking dagger and put it safely in his pack. Satisfied that the way above them was secured for their retreat, they headed down. The next level of the tower was empty, and eerily quiet. Eventually they found their way to a long room that, by Wulf's estimation, spanned the length of entire tower. All down the long hallway, there were darkened alcoves cut into the walls, and a large decorative sarcophagus stood suspiciously at the far end. Wulf cursed his luck. [i]Wish we had the peck right about now...[/i] "I suppose yer all want me to scout it out, eh?" Wrapping his cloak about him (and trying desperately to persuade himself that it wasn't pointless) Wulf moved stealthily down the hallway, searching for traps, scanning for enemies. The alcoves, thankfully, were empty. Slowly but surely he advanced until he was standing just before the sarcophagus. His allies were a long way from him. He turned, expecting to see them still cowering in the doorway-- but god bless 'em, they were moving right along behind him, not more than thirty feet or so. Little good it did him when the sarcophagus sprang open and a mummy leapt out at him and assumed a fighting stance, a kama in one hand and its open palm facing him in the other. Wulf couldn't help but notice it was unusually [i]spry[/i] for a member of the walking dead. He was both surprised and amused when the mummy struck him with its open hand. [i]He's trying to infect me with mummy rot.[/i] It was more than that. The mummy had struck him a solid blow on the solar plexus. Wulf chuckled. [i]He's... he's trying to stun me with a monk's strike![/i] Wulf was nearly incapacitated with laughter, knowing he had the fortitude to keep [i]that[/i] up all day. The mummy wasn't about to stun him or infect him, and it wasn't about to nickle and dime him to death with a kama, either. [i]Taranak[/i] flared up in his hand and he chuckled at the thought of a mummy facing his flaming axe. When the spectres and shadows came drifting out of the walls, Wulf stopped laughing. Three spectres surrounded him and before he knew it, he'd felt as if he'd lost about half his lifeforce. Now, the mummy was a bit of a problem. Drained as he was, Wulf couldn't lay a hand on it. It was too quick, and in his weakened state, too tough for even [i]Taranak[/i] to bite through. Wulf quickly assessed the situation. He could retreat back to the protection of the party, but they were strung out along the hall, and he'd leave Halma a sitting duck for the spectres' next target. And frankly, he didn't know if his numb and lifeless legs were quick enough to tumble away from three spectres without them striking him down from behind. [i]Ferkit![/i] Wulf sidestepped into the shallow alcove beside the sarcophagus, fully prepared to die, but intent on taking a few of them with him and still trying to make the best use of the options available. He hoped the alcove would keep at least some of his enemies at bay. He turned his attention to the nearest spectre and was lucky enough to land a series of solid blows, dispersing it. [i]One down, two to go...[/i] Wulf feebly fended off another round of attacks from the spectres, but one still struck true. Wulf felt more of his lifeforce drain away. The paladin was rapidly becoming Wulf's new favorite ally when he stepped up and turned the remaining two spectres. He had a radiance and a force of will that neither Alliane nor Dorn could match-- and which the undead could not withstand. Alliane and Dorn turned the shadows, and Halma's greatsword soon brought the mummy crashing to the floor. They pulled a brilliant (obviously magical) helm from the mummy's treasure. Keldas put it away for later study and pointed to a door he spotted at the end of the hallway. Dorn had already [i]restored[/i] Wulf's lifeforce so he stepped up to search for traps. Wulf didn't spot anything, but he heard a low moaning from within-- and couldn't help but notice the awful stench. Foul-smelling, moaning entities were almost universally good for a rumble, so he readied his axe and booted the door. The room opened onto a grisly scene of dismembered, rottting corpses-- but not so grisly that Wulf didn't start kicking through the remains to find the source of the moaning. Sure enough, he turned up a pale and scrawny human woman, who somehow mustered the strength to stay his arm and beg for help. "Please... they've been feeding off me... I... I don't think I can take anymore." Wulf turned his back in disgust and jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "Right then. In yer go, ass-mar... yer show." [/QUOTE]
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Wulf's Collected Story Hour -- FINAL UPDATE 12/25
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