Neverwinter Knight
First Post
Set free, indeed. ![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
The Doomed Bastards: Reckoning (story complete)
Nightbreeze
First Post
Lazybones said:
Yay for Allera
Should be noted that a mass heal or two would kill the entire group of vampires, even if they make the saving throws
aus_autarch
First Post
So that's going to make things a bit tactically interesting. No more throwing out mass heals anymore, I guess...
Heh. How long until Dar does go LG and dual wields Beatus Incendia and Valour? Pity he can't apply his PRC abilities to both blades...
Heh. How long until Dar does go LG and dual wields Beatus Incendia and Valour? Pity he can't apply his PRC abilities to both blades...
Nightbreeze
First Post
Nah. Dar is the power attack type. I really canàt see him as a dual wielderaus_autarch said:
Lazybones
Adventurer
Actually, mass heal is "one or more creatures", so it can be targeted rather than just affecting everything in a predetermined radius.aus_autarch said:
I'll let Dar's alignment issues play out in the course of the storytelling. I try to never come out and say, "He's [insert alignment] now," but you should be able to tell how things go from the context behind the story.
* * * * *
Chapter 328
THE OVERMIND
The chamber was vast by any measure. The smallest sounds echoed off the sheer walls, distorted and twisted as they bounced across the huge underground space. A pair of huge iron braziers, easily ten feet across, illuminated the room with a flickering, bluish light that died well before it reached the edges of the chamber. The center of the room was dominated by a ring of thick pillars of black stone, around which the light seemed to gather and shine with a cerulean aura. In the center of that gathering there was a broad stone basin, easily twenty feet across. A thick, briny stink filled the air, accompanied by a stale hint of decay.
Around the pool stood nine illithids. They faced inward, silent and motionless, sunk deep into some torpor of communion with the entity that occupied the basin. There were other things in the chamber, grimlocks that huddled beyond the pillars, and still others further out, shadows that stood immobile in a row along the north wall, awaiting command.
Another dark form materialized on one of the staircases that ascended into the chamber under the struts of the iron braziers. This one had the form and shape of a man, and strode forward without concern for the place’s guardians or the unholy blue glow around the pillars. A pair of grimlocks moved to intercept him, but the newcomer let his hand drop to the rod he bore at his side, and the creatures recoiled, letting him pass without challenge.
He entered the circle of the pillars, a simple feat beyond the capability of most living men. But the newcomer, though once a man, was no longer living.
One of the mind flayers turned to address him. Its tentacles flared around a mouth that hissed unaccustomed sounds; it was not used to normal speech, but the newcomer’s mind was impervious to its intrusion. “Speak, warlock.”
Zafir Navev’s mouth twisted slightly; perhaps some part of what he had been still remembered the revulsion that the illithids inspired. “Maphistal launched an assault upon Corath Dar and his companions that survived your ambush. Somehow, the Camarians have been reinforced; they were able to drive off the demon.”
The mind flayer’s alien features betrayed nothing of its reaction to the news. “Yes, we know,” it finally said. “Talen Karedes is with them, and Licinius Varo.”
The undead warlock did betray surprise at the announcement. “But... Karedes serves the Master, now.”
“His collar is not as firm as the one you wear, warlock.”
Navev bristled; flickers of black energy flashed around his fists as they clenched. The mind flayer did not react, and the other eight had not so much as stirred since he had arrived. “They will likely come here, to recover the bodies of their fallen friends.”
The mind flayer’s face remained inscrutable. “Yes. They are coming.” The creature turned away from him, rejoining the circle around the basin. Navev looked into it for a moment, at the foulness within, but felt nothing. Apparently his earlier reaction to the illithid had been only fleeting. The only emotions left to him, it seemed, were hatred and anger.
And pain. Yes, he could still feel pain.
The undead warlock left the circle of pillars, drawing his power close around him. Destruction was still within his purview. Maphistal had not invited him to join in the assault upon the fugitives. He had spent the time after the initial ambush in a tiny room, alone, convulsing in agony as power had surged uncontrollably through him. Orcus’s varied legions had all fallen before his erstwhile companions like wheat before the farmer’s scythe, but he was still here. His powers had grown beyond any reckoning he might have made when alive, but that was not enough to fill the gaping emptiness that existed within him like a vast chasm. It sucked at him like an open wound.
All he could do was try to fill it with more hatred and anger. He hated his Master, but was powerless to do anything to vent that fury. If anything, Talen’s defiance only stabbed at him like a sharp knife, widening the wound inside.
But there was something he could strike at. Those who had brought this upon him, who had left him to die in this accursed place, and then had left him behind to fall into the grasp of the dark powers of Rappan Athuk.
Corath Dar and Licinius Varo, at least, could pay. Would pay.
Zafir Navev lifted a hand, pressed it into a fist. Black power surged around it, a crackling nimbus that felt raw, pure, potent.
Lazybones
Adventurer
Chapter 329
CHILLED TO THE BONE
They came in speed and silence, dashing up the stairs. The bright glow of holy auras surrounded the living contingent of the team, and other wards were layed under that protection; stoneskins, death wards, bear’s endurance. Letellia was surrounded by a bevy of mirror images, and all of them moved with the unnatural speed that was an obvious hallmark of the haste spell.
As they reached the top of the stairs, and started to spread out, Varo tossed the stone holding his silence spell away, and the noise of clattering armor and booted feet rushed into the quiet.
The enemy was waiting for them.
A biting chill exploded in their midst, sucking the heat from their bodies. The sudden icy freeze in the air was accompanied by black flashes from the floor. Long thick tentacles sprouted from the stone where the flashes occurred, twisting into the air, seeking targets to attack.
They found no shortage of victims. Allera and Letellia were grasped by tentacles that swirled around their torsos, tightening before either could slip free. A few feet away, Varo was likewise snagged by a tentacle that caught his left leg; the cleric tried to break free, and had nearly tugged his way out of the tentacle’s grasp before two more seized his arms from behind.
Off to the left, the vampires were snagged with equal efficiency. Shay, moving faster than the others, nearly leapt free of the danger area, but a tentacle lashed around her right ankle, dragging her down to the floor. The five vampire spawn were all trapped, lifted off their feet by the probing tentacles.
Only Talen and Dar avoided capture in the first few moments of the invocation’s effect. Dar tore free of two tentacles and turned back to help Allera. Talen, conversely, glanced back at Shay, but instead of returning he rushed forward, escaping the radius of the invocation without further incident.
The vampiric knight saw that the defenders of the Overmind were already approaching. Directly ahead he could see the black pillars that surrounded the bowl. Blue flickers of light were flaring around the bowl, casting long shadows outward from the pillars. As Talen cleared the edge of the chilling tentacles, he saw seven grimlocks detach from those long shadows and rush toward him. The grimlocks were mindless thralls of the illithids, but they were strong, and their mental state did not hinder the smooth, deadly grace with which they moved. He laughed; this would be interesting.
Dar hewed at the tentacle holding Allera, but the rubbery substance of the thing withstood even a blow from Valor without apparent damage. “You cannot sever them!” Varo shouted, struggling in the grip of several tentacles. “Go... we will manage!”
Dar hesitated for a moment longer, but Allera nodded in agreement with the cleric. “Corath... go!” she yelled, grimacing as the tentacle tightened its grip around her body.
Three more tentacles were already probing at Dar; the fighter thrust them away and rushed for the edge of the spell’s effect. He saw Talen engage the grimlocks, which quickly moved to encircle the vampire. Normally Dar would have been worried, but he’d seen the vampire fight, and knew that Talen was now as strong as he was, if not stronger. And indeed the first grimlock fell back, its torso hacked open from shoulder to navel from a powerful blow from Talen’s keen sword.
Dar was more worried about the mind flayers. He could see strange lights and shifting within the ring of pillars, and he started in that direction. But out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement to his right, approaching out of the darkness that blanketed the far expanse of the room. He recognized the shambling movements and knew the identity of the new threat even before the figures entered the radius of the light shed by the huge iron brazier.
Still, it was a shock to see them. Zahera, matted brown hair surrounding a black opening in the left side of her skull. Alexion, his torso splayed wide open where the abyssal hound had eviscerated him. Marcus. Nelan. Alderis. They still wore the remains of their armor and clothing, and some still carried their weapons, although Beatus Incendia was nowhere in view. The zombies saw, or rather sensed, his presence, and started toward him.
Dar realized that his jaw had clenched so tightly that he could feel the grinding pain down to the base of his skull. “Damn you to the hells,” he muttered, turning back toward the pillars. The blue glow had intensified, and weird sounds had begun to issue from within that ring. Talen had said that no living man could withstand the power of the Overmind, but Dar was of a mind to prove them wrong. He lifted Valor, and turning from the slowly-approaching zombies started forward.
He managed two steps before the eldritch blast arced out of the darkness and smashed squarely into his chest. He’d been hit by Navev’s bolts on several occasions now, but the sheer power of this one caught him utterly by surprise. Knocked off his feet, the air was blasted from his lungs even before he hit the ground on his back and skidded to a halt more than thirty feet from where he’d been standing. He groaned, and shook his head to clear it of the ringing that sounded inside it like the huge bells in the steeple of the Great Cathedral in Camar.
He looked up to see the zombies standing over him, their dark eyes staring down at him almost accusingly.
“Fine, you want it, I’ll give it to you,” he said, as he tried to get up.
Tried, because two thick black cords had twined around his arms. Navev’s eldtritch blast had knocked him back to the edge of his chilling tentacles invocation. As he struggled to get enough leverage to pull free, his former companions fell upon him, tearing and hacking in a violent frenzy.
CHILLED TO THE BONE
They came in speed and silence, dashing up the stairs. The bright glow of holy auras surrounded the living contingent of the team, and other wards were layed under that protection; stoneskins, death wards, bear’s endurance. Letellia was surrounded by a bevy of mirror images, and all of them moved with the unnatural speed that was an obvious hallmark of the haste spell.
As they reached the top of the stairs, and started to spread out, Varo tossed the stone holding his silence spell away, and the noise of clattering armor and booted feet rushed into the quiet.
The enemy was waiting for them.
A biting chill exploded in their midst, sucking the heat from their bodies. The sudden icy freeze in the air was accompanied by black flashes from the floor. Long thick tentacles sprouted from the stone where the flashes occurred, twisting into the air, seeking targets to attack.
They found no shortage of victims. Allera and Letellia were grasped by tentacles that swirled around their torsos, tightening before either could slip free. A few feet away, Varo was likewise snagged by a tentacle that caught his left leg; the cleric tried to break free, and had nearly tugged his way out of the tentacle’s grasp before two more seized his arms from behind.
Off to the left, the vampires were snagged with equal efficiency. Shay, moving faster than the others, nearly leapt free of the danger area, but a tentacle lashed around her right ankle, dragging her down to the floor. The five vampire spawn were all trapped, lifted off their feet by the probing tentacles.
Only Talen and Dar avoided capture in the first few moments of the invocation’s effect. Dar tore free of two tentacles and turned back to help Allera. Talen, conversely, glanced back at Shay, but instead of returning he rushed forward, escaping the radius of the invocation without further incident.
The vampiric knight saw that the defenders of the Overmind were already approaching. Directly ahead he could see the black pillars that surrounded the bowl. Blue flickers of light were flaring around the bowl, casting long shadows outward from the pillars. As Talen cleared the edge of the chilling tentacles, he saw seven grimlocks detach from those long shadows and rush toward him. The grimlocks were mindless thralls of the illithids, but they were strong, and their mental state did not hinder the smooth, deadly grace with which they moved. He laughed; this would be interesting.
Dar hewed at the tentacle holding Allera, but the rubbery substance of the thing withstood even a blow from Valor without apparent damage. “You cannot sever them!” Varo shouted, struggling in the grip of several tentacles. “Go... we will manage!”
Dar hesitated for a moment longer, but Allera nodded in agreement with the cleric. “Corath... go!” she yelled, grimacing as the tentacle tightened its grip around her body.
Three more tentacles were already probing at Dar; the fighter thrust them away and rushed for the edge of the spell’s effect. He saw Talen engage the grimlocks, which quickly moved to encircle the vampire. Normally Dar would have been worried, but he’d seen the vampire fight, and knew that Talen was now as strong as he was, if not stronger. And indeed the first grimlock fell back, its torso hacked open from shoulder to navel from a powerful blow from Talen’s keen sword.
Dar was more worried about the mind flayers. He could see strange lights and shifting within the ring of pillars, and he started in that direction. But out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement to his right, approaching out of the darkness that blanketed the far expanse of the room. He recognized the shambling movements and knew the identity of the new threat even before the figures entered the radius of the light shed by the huge iron brazier.
Still, it was a shock to see them. Zahera, matted brown hair surrounding a black opening in the left side of her skull. Alexion, his torso splayed wide open where the abyssal hound had eviscerated him. Marcus. Nelan. Alderis. They still wore the remains of their armor and clothing, and some still carried their weapons, although Beatus Incendia was nowhere in view. The zombies saw, or rather sensed, his presence, and started toward him.
Dar realized that his jaw had clenched so tightly that he could feel the grinding pain down to the base of his skull. “Damn you to the hells,” he muttered, turning back toward the pillars. The blue glow had intensified, and weird sounds had begun to issue from within that ring. Talen had said that no living man could withstand the power of the Overmind, but Dar was of a mind to prove them wrong. He lifted Valor, and turning from the slowly-approaching zombies started forward.
He managed two steps before the eldritch blast arced out of the darkness and smashed squarely into his chest. He’d been hit by Navev’s bolts on several occasions now, but the sheer power of this one caught him utterly by surprise. Knocked off his feet, the air was blasted from his lungs even before he hit the ground on his back and skidded to a halt more than thirty feet from where he’d been standing. He groaned, and shook his head to clear it of the ringing that sounded inside it like the huge bells in the steeple of the Great Cathedral in Camar.
He looked up to see the zombies standing over him, their dark eyes staring down at him almost accusingly.
“Fine, you want it, I’ll give it to you,” he said, as he tried to get up.
Tried, because two thick black cords had twined around his arms. Navev’s eldtritch blast had knocked him back to the edge of his chilling tentacles invocation. As he struggled to get enough leverage to pull free, his former companions fell upon him, tearing and hacking in a violent frenzy.
Burningspear
First Post
Dar = Foodfight! , lol
CrusadeDave
First Post
Hmmmm
Another foul mess our friends are in.
I suppose new stat blocks for at least Shay, Allera, and Varo would be handy.
Wonderful writing as usual. Keep up the great work.
Another foul mess our friends are in.
I suppose new stat blocks for at least Shay, Allera, and Varo would be handy.
Wonderful writing as usual. Keep up the great work.
