The Age of Worms - Morrus' Campaign - Finished 6th August!!
El Jeraldo
First Post
Wow what a slugfest. It must have been an amazing role-playing situation. Those doppelgangers were pretty brutal but they can’t be all bad after all, the one pretending to be Evan helped Malachite get his kitty cat after all.
That viewpoint change killed me for a while as I was trying to figure out whom in the world Evan was. You never use you characters name in first person so I had completely forgotten what it was.
Anyway, awesome story. In fact, far superior to any thing that I’ve read recently. (And note that I was paying for those other things, this stuff is all FREE of charge)
-El Jeraldo
One more question. What levels is the party at now?
That viewpoint change killed me for a while as I was trying to figure out whom in the world Evan was. You never use you characters name in first person so I had completely forgotten what it was.
Anyway, awesome story. In fact, far superior to any thing that I’ve read recently. (And note that I was paying for those other things, this stuff is all FREE of charge)
-El Jeraldo
One more question. What levels is the party at now?
Eccles
Ragged idiot in a trilby.
We're all 8th, verging on 9th level. We're deeply concerned by what Endo might start flinging around soon - he's got some enervation spells hidden up his sleeve at the moment which are causing several of us conniptions!
(Mind you, he's not created the walking death in ages, which is a plus point!)
And the death of doppel-Evan was perhaps the stupidest thing ever. Failed a balance check Evan would've passed, backing away from a combat Evan wouldn't have needed to because he has a few more hitpoints. In his own base, fleeing from his own monsters, falling onto his own rusty weapons of death (and that stuff was nasty! We're seriously considering getting a portable hole and filling it with the things to bull rush enemies into). Whoops! Slam! Crunch! Gurgle...
(Mind you, he's not created the walking death in ages, which is a plus point!)
And the death of doppel-Evan was perhaps the stupidest thing ever. Failed a balance check Evan would've passed, backing away from a combat Evan wouldn't have needed to because he has a few more hitpoints. In his own base, fleeing from his own monsters, falling onto his own rusty weapons of death (and that stuff was nasty! We're seriously considering getting a portable hole and filling it with the things to bull rush enemies into). Whoops! Slam! Crunch! Gurgle...
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Diplomat123
First Post
Really liked your write up of what Evan has been up to for the last two and a half weeks. Presumably you will need some sort of counselling to get over all the psychological torture you have had to endure...
Tamlyn said:
Yep, he played the double. Very well - he had to use the double's stats, not his own, whihc meant he had to cleverly avoid getting into situations where his lack of ability in some areas would give him away. For example, in the pub, he chose to get completely drunk and pass out to avoid being talked into performing on stage (the doppleganger could not play any instruments).
Inconsequenti-AL
Breaks Games
It was really good roleplaying on Eccles part. Kept it up for 2 sessions. I had no idea at all until the very last fight where the doppleganger died... and that was only because he wasn't singing bardic songs at that point.
He'd been getting up to quite a lot of doppling behaviour as well. Tryign to persuade us not to do things and the like. Don't think any of us had twigged?
Was really well done!
Liked the writeup a lot. The dopplegulag stuff is excellent! Particularly like the multiple malachites taunting you. Along with the general paranoid horror atmosphere you got going... Thanks mate.
Lets see if we can keep it a little easier to explain this week. Your typing fingers must be totally knackered!
On a side note, think Igmut was raising suspicions. The dice made him forget how to fight that week - had a streak of a dozen misses in a row against the invisible guys concealments.
He'd been getting up to quite a lot of doppling behaviour as well. Tryign to persuade us not to do things and the like. Don't think any of us had twigged?
Was really well done!
Liked the writeup a lot. The dopplegulag stuff is excellent! Particularly like the multiple malachites taunting you. Along with the general paranoid horror atmosphere you got going... Thanks mate.
Lets see if we can keep it a little easier to explain this week. Your typing fingers must be totally knackered!
On a side note, think Igmut was raising suspicions. The dice made him forget how to fight that week - had a streak of a dozen misses in a row against the invisible guys concealments.
Eccles
Ragged idiot in a trilby.
Now fully re-equipped and ready for the fray, I turned to the patch of wall where Flynne had indicated there might be a secret door. Flynne, however, had other ideas. He and Malachite prised one of the glowing stones out of the wall. It immediately rewarded them by going dark. Only when they’d removed and destroyed three of the magical lightsources did they give up, and Flynne unlocked the door hidden behind one of the mirrors.
Beyond a short passage and another door lay a dizzying array of reflective lights and mirrors down a tight series of complex and narrow passageways. Gingerly, Flynne crept in first, followed by the rest of us. Dazzled by the bright lights glinting off every highly-polished surfaces, we moved around three tight corners, following Flynne as he tested and checked every surface.
Suddenly, there was a metallic slam. A thick sheet of the tough metal slammed up out of the floor between Flynne and the following form of Igmut. We tried everything which we could think of; pushing, levering, hitting and even trying to carve through the sheet, before Flynne’s muffled voice came through the metal.
“It’s no good,” he announced. “I’ll try and find another way around and rejoin you."
Whilst we waited, we toyed with a number of ideas for getting through the wall blocking our passage. Having seen how thick the sheet was as it slammed across the passage, we realised that it would be the works of many hours to get through it by force. Endo toyed with the idea of changing his shape and turning himself into a rust monster to corrode his way through the walls.
“Non-ferrous,” muttered the mage as he examined the walls closely. “Damn that lich.”
We pulled back to the maze’s entranceway to await Flynne’s return (and for me to ponder what Steve had meant about a lich in a complex filled with doppelgangers). Dimly, we could hear the faint sound of a second metal plate slamming across a distant passage behind Flynne as he explored further. Then we heard his voice howl in pain.
.oOo.
Unbeknownst to us at that point, Flynne had been viciously attacked by an unseen swordsman, which gashed him deeply, carving 4 terrible wounds across his torso. Horrified by the sudden ambush, Flynne then fled up the narrow metal corridors; a number of heavy plates slamming up behind him as he ran.
In his flight, he caught sight of the one non-reflective surface in the maze – a single wooden door stood at the end of one of the narrow passageways.
With the sound of the invisible assailant clanging up the passages behind him, Flynne made short work of the lock and slammed it shut behind him. He leant on the door and breathed heavily, fumbling at his belt for a restorative potion.
.oOo.
With the sound of footsteps, cries of pain and the banging of a door, the four of us (plus a tiger) threw caution to the winds and started to run to Flynne’s help. However, each of us was hearing the sounds echoing down a different corridor. To my eyes, I saw Igmut hurtle away in his gleaming armour into the reflective passages. He leapt from one steely flagstone to another, before hurtling off in what was (to my eyes) completely the wrong direction.
He was followed by Endo as I started a chant of encouragement which I hoped would reach Flynne’s ears wherever he was in the metal maze. Endo took a slightly different course to Igmut, but as he was rounding one corner I heard the resounding crash of a further metal plate slamming into place and sealing the corridor tight behind him.
Sheba and Malachite also leapt into action, the faster tiger leading her master down the corridors, squeezing her large form down passages which were not designed with large animals in mind. Despite this impediment, she was still by far the faster, but as she dashed ahead of Malachite, yet another metal barrier slammed up out of the floor, leaving Malachite without his companion.
Realising that all of my companions had all run off in different directions, I also hared off into the maze with a view to catching up with them. I could see dozens of their reflections glinting around as I ran, and waved a confirmation of what I thought might have been Endo at the far end of what could have been a passageway or a series of tight twists and turns. A few seconds later, his enchanted form hurtled past me leaving me alone save a dozen reflections of his departing back.
Then, pain blossomed over my back. Two heavy sword blows tore past my armour to cause me agony. Shocked out of my singing, I glanced behind myself and saw nothing whatsoever.
I fled, bouncing off the steel walls and leaking blood as I ran pell-mell through the maze.
.oOo.
Flynne looked around his new surroundings. A macabre chamber was laid out in front of him; to his right were a number of vats and a bloodstained, strap-covered wooden table. To his left was a long dais, raised ten feet from the floor. Atop the dais was an ostentatious throne, from which rose a tall familiar figure.
“It is so kind of you to join me,” said the bearded figure of Allustan from in front of the throne. “It is time for you to learn the truth of things. Although, I am terribly sorry, but first I shall have to kill you!”
The bearded figure of Allustan started to chant a spell; his eyes fixed on Flynne.
Flynne’s reaction was almost poetically simple. He waited until ‘Allustan’ was nearly at the pinnacle of his spell before raising his bow and firing a single arrow. The long shaft slammed into the mage’s chest, and he cursed loudly as his concentration was broken.
.oOo.
I caught up with the others, shouting out that there was something invisible chasing me even as I cast a curative spell on myself. Endo was also spellcasting, and gestured to send a dark ray of strength-draining magic towards the door which I could now see. The spell splashed against the wood of the door, clearly missing its intended (and invisible) target. Igmut was also here, and was swinging his sword in frustration, clearly also thwarted by his opponent’s invisibility.
.oOo.
Beyond the door, Flynne was horrified to see ‘Allustan’s face and body shift and grow into the hulking 7 foot form of a greataxe-wielding half-orc. He snarled and leapt towards Flynne, the edge of the greatsword rimed with enchanted frost as it sliced through the air.
The half-orc missed, and Flynne backflipped away from the fight. Bleeding heavily despite the effects of a hastily-swallowed potion, he leapt onto the dais and crouched in the rudimentary cover provided by the throne.
.oOo.
I could hear the combat Flynne was involved in, together with he shouts of “get in here and help me!” through the door, even as I heard Malachite chant and the sudden sounds of a heavy hailstorm resounding through the twisting maze. Clearly, the creature which had caused me my grievous injuries had already caught up with Malachite and Sheba, who stood guard to the back of the group down the corridor.
Before me, Igmut slashed a heavy blow through the creature at the door, whilst another of Endo’s spells flew wide, splattering draining energies against the door once again. The wood heaved and turned slightly grey, but held firm.
.oOo.
Inside the room, the massive half-orc transformed in an instant back into Allustan’s much smaller form. He gestured, and a bright bead hurtled across the room and exploded. Flynne, his reactions usually so swift in the face of explosions and traps, failed him. He was very badly burned in the explosion, and leaned heavily on the throne for support.
.oOo.
Outside the room, things were going no better. Igmut had been taking the brunt of the invisible creature’s assault, and was by this stage bleeding from 7 or 8 serious injuries. He stepped away from the melee, and cast a spell on himself to repair many of his injuries. I assisted him by casting a protective illusion on him, making him appear slightly to the left of where he was actually standing whilst simultaneously rendering him invisible, hoping to befuddle his enemies into striking the wrong target.
Endo, now face to face with the invisible foe at what was (for him) an alarmingly short distance, cast a complex-sounding spell before vanishing completely. I stared at the space he had occupied. Had he just teleported away? Had he truly learned so much whilst I had been in captivity? The far wall swam slightly as I stared at it, but I persuaded myself that this was yet another invisible creature heading towards Igmut and I.
Suddenly, there was a short splattering noise. I turned sharply back to where Endo had been standing, and could see the air rippling and contorting slightly. Within his space there was a clear man-shaped void. Endo had not teleported away – he had turned into a clear gelatine-like substance, and the invisible creature had simply walked into him. And the foe wasn’t moving, paralysed by some strange property of Endo’s new form.
Growling, Sheba dashed around the corner of the corridor, blood matting her fur. I did what I could to cure her, and she dashed away up the passage. From where she ran, I could hear the sound of Malachite’s desperate chanting.
.oOo.
Inside the room, Flynne fired once again at the chanting form of ‘Allustan’. Once again, the arrow sank into his shoulder, making him gasp in pain and grasp the wound, meaning that he couldn’t complete the intricate patterns of the spell he was weaving.
.oOo.
Outside the room, Endo abruptly ceased being a gelatinous cube. There was a slapping noise as the paralysed invisible foe collapsed onto the floor. Endo gestured broadly to us to show where the fallen foe was, and drew a wand expectantly.
Igmut, ever ready for action, stepped forwards to open the door, and was rewarded with the vision of Allustan. My half-orc friend stopped abruptly, confused by the scene of a familiar face in such a chamber of horrors. From perhaps 15 feet away, Igmut could see Allustan’s features soften and expand, the features thickening and warping into the massive thuggish half-orc form.
The enemy dashed across the room and brought his heavy axe down onto Flynne’s already heavily wounded body. With a flash of magical frost and a gout of blood, Flynne collapsed.
As I witnessed this carnage from behind Endo and Igmut, I could hear a second body collapsing behind me, coupled with a rage of fury from Sheba. Clearly, the second invisible enemy had just defeated Malachite in his valiant defence of us from behind.
.oOo.
Panicked, I dashed back through the twisting mirrored corridors, images of Malachite’s fallen body and the valiant, but already injured, Sheba’s flashing claws reflecting at me from every angle. I ran, bashing off several walls but following the smears and smatters of blood as I ran towards Sheba.
From behind her, I cast the most powerful spell I had remaining, one of displacement to make the big tiger a much harder target as she sniffed out and fought the invisible enemy, standing over Malachite’s body as she did so.
.oOo.
In the room behind me, I could hear the sound of Endo casting another spell which I had never heard him use before, and a reflection of a roiling black cloud of strength-sapping energies could be seen enveloping a screaming Allustan in the larger room. As the enemy mage shouted in pain, a cluster of ethereal spirits with wicked hooks and claws hooked them into Allustan, tearing away and shredding part of his spirit. Endo then immediately raised the Rod of Quickening and cast a second unfamiliar spell, and a second horde of tiny ghosts swarmed over the enemy, weighting down his limbs and making his every movement a laboured struggle.
As Endo was casting, Igmut swept up his longspear and charged the Allustan-like figure, a huge shower of blood pouring from a serious wound to his belly.
In response, the foe cast a spell of enfeeblement, draining a huge volume of strength from Igmut, whose flesh seemed to age and turn grey with the magical assault.
.oOo.
Turning my back on the fight, I cast what little healing magic I could on Sheba, who tore into the wounded invisible creature in the narrow corridor.
.oOo.
Back in the larger room, more spells flew, as Endo sent a series of wormlike spirits to attack ‘Allustan’s eyes. The spirits tried to burrow into the flesh and damage his eyesight, but ‘Allustan’ shook his head, and managed to avoid the spell’s effects.
Igmut reached to his belt, snatched up a flask and quaffed a potion, instantly removing the effects of the enfeeblement spell.
Heavily injured, and affected by two very powerful spells, the doppelganger of Allustan snatched a dagger from his belt and turned to Flynne.
“Try anything, and your friend will die,” he announced as he stepped forward to slash at the rogue’s throat.
“Grab him!” Endo yelled.
As the enemy mage took a second step, Igmut launched himself horizontally at the mage, tackling him and dragging him to the floor.
Behind the struggle, Endo hurtled across the room and tipped a potion down Flynne’s throat. The worst of the blood stopped seeping from the rogue’s wounds.
.oOo.
Meanwhile, the struggle in front of me was going from bad to worse. Slashed and hacked by a series of wounds from the invisible swordsman, Sheba slumped to the floor, struck again and again as the narrow corridor thwarted the large tiger’s efforts to dodge. Aghast, I realised that the lethal creature would be advancing on me next, and I backed off, drawing my thin rapier as I went.
.oOo.
Meanwhile, Igmut abruptly found that he wasn’t wrestling an fatigued and spirit-drained feeble wizard, but a fatigued and spirit-drained raging half orc barbarian. Gnashing his teeth, Igmut flew into a rage as well, and swiftly had his dagger out and thrusting at a heavily restrained enemy, the greataxe and longspear lying forgotten to one side. After a couple of savage thrusts at such close quarters, the enemy went abruptly limp and slumped, his face greying and his muscles shrinking as he subsided into the body of a swollen and ash-faced doppelganger.
.oOo.
Fleeing, I yelled to my comrades that there was still another enemy coming. I dashed into a narrow corridor and dashed off a spell to make me invisible so that I could avoid the lethal stroke that might follow.
I could hear the careful steps of the approaching figure; heard it pause within inches of me, and then heard cloth of leather armour creak as a sword swing was brought down within inches of my face; saved only by the spell whilch I had so recently cast upon myself.
I ducked and scrambled away from the enemy, clinging to the wall and making the most of my invisibility to get away and join my fellows in the large room lined with vats and torture equipment. By the time I reached the room, Endo was headed in the opposite direction, again casting his spell of shapechanging before again taking the near-invisible form of the gelatinous cube right at the door.
Almost immediately, there was a fleshy tearing sound as Endo was slashed by the sword of the invisible enemy. A rent appeared in the gelatinous substance of his flesh, but Endo simply moved to envelop the second enemy, but there was no sound of his capturing anything other than the form of the aleady-paralysed villain on the floor.
Igmut and I moved to cast spells on Flynne, who soon blinked blearily at us, clutching his burns and multiple wounds in considerable pain. He staggered up to join Endo, who was already fumbling on the floor and stabbing at the paralysed enemy with his dagger.
Around the corner, Igmut bellowed in anger, and there was a metallic clanging as his sword met the steely walls of the maze. Two wet fleshy thuds followed, leaving no doubt that his blow had bisected its target.
A second wet gurgling came from the floor near Flynne and Endo, as Flynne’s sword came down where he felt was the softest target point.
.oOo.
We dashed away up the corridor, and reached both Malachite and Sheba in time. Miraculously, despite his injuries Malachite had received had stopped bleeding, but we cast a long series of spells from the restorative wands which we carried amongst us.
We waited for the invisibility effects on the swordsmen to fade into sight. They turned out to be leather-clad doppelgangers, and piled them up with the corpse of the doppelganger ‘king’ Igmut had wrestled to death.
Flynne spotted a pair of chests to one side of the room, and set to them with a set of lockpicks. As he worked on the first one, spears leapt up from the floor, catching him seriously and necessitating more use of wands before he could complete the unlocking of the chest almost 20 minutes later. It contained a large emerald, which emanated a powerful magic which Endo identified as necromantic in origin; he could only equate it to the phylactery of a lich.
Flynne turned to the second chest, and no sooner had he touched it than a massive trapdoor opened beneath his feet, dropping him some 40 feet onto yet more spearheads.
A rope was lowered, more charges from the curative wands were used, and Flynne again took his time to unlock the chest. An identical enchanted emerald lay within, and we nervously closed both chests and placed them into a captured bag of holding along with the other items we scavenged from the fallen enemies.
Taking one last look at the room, Flynne remarked, “Hey, guys – there’s another door hidden behind the throne over here, look!”
Swinging the door open, we stepped towards the next room in this terrible complex.
Beyond a short passage and another door lay a dizzying array of reflective lights and mirrors down a tight series of complex and narrow passageways. Gingerly, Flynne crept in first, followed by the rest of us. Dazzled by the bright lights glinting off every highly-polished surfaces, we moved around three tight corners, following Flynne as he tested and checked every surface.
Suddenly, there was a metallic slam. A thick sheet of the tough metal slammed up out of the floor between Flynne and the following form of Igmut. We tried everything which we could think of; pushing, levering, hitting and even trying to carve through the sheet, before Flynne’s muffled voice came through the metal.
“It’s no good,” he announced. “I’ll try and find another way around and rejoin you."
Whilst we waited, we toyed with a number of ideas for getting through the wall blocking our passage. Having seen how thick the sheet was as it slammed across the passage, we realised that it would be the works of many hours to get through it by force. Endo toyed with the idea of changing his shape and turning himself into a rust monster to corrode his way through the walls.
“Non-ferrous,” muttered the mage as he examined the walls closely. “Damn that lich.”
We pulled back to the maze’s entranceway to await Flynne’s return (and for me to ponder what Steve had meant about a lich in a complex filled with doppelgangers). Dimly, we could hear the faint sound of a second metal plate slamming across a distant passage behind Flynne as he explored further. Then we heard his voice howl in pain.
.oOo.
Unbeknownst to us at that point, Flynne had been viciously attacked by an unseen swordsman, which gashed him deeply, carving 4 terrible wounds across his torso. Horrified by the sudden ambush, Flynne then fled up the narrow metal corridors; a number of heavy plates slamming up behind him as he ran.
In his flight, he caught sight of the one non-reflective surface in the maze – a single wooden door stood at the end of one of the narrow passageways.
With the sound of the invisible assailant clanging up the passages behind him, Flynne made short work of the lock and slammed it shut behind him. He leant on the door and breathed heavily, fumbling at his belt for a restorative potion.
.oOo.
With the sound of footsteps, cries of pain and the banging of a door, the four of us (plus a tiger) threw caution to the winds and started to run to Flynne’s help. However, each of us was hearing the sounds echoing down a different corridor. To my eyes, I saw Igmut hurtle away in his gleaming armour into the reflective passages. He leapt from one steely flagstone to another, before hurtling off in what was (to my eyes) completely the wrong direction.
He was followed by Endo as I started a chant of encouragement which I hoped would reach Flynne’s ears wherever he was in the metal maze. Endo took a slightly different course to Igmut, but as he was rounding one corner I heard the resounding crash of a further metal plate slamming into place and sealing the corridor tight behind him.
Sheba and Malachite also leapt into action, the faster tiger leading her master down the corridors, squeezing her large form down passages which were not designed with large animals in mind. Despite this impediment, she was still by far the faster, but as she dashed ahead of Malachite, yet another metal barrier slammed up out of the floor, leaving Malachite without his companion.
Realising that all of my companions had all run off in different directions, I also hared off into the maze with a view to catching up with them. I could see dozens of their reflections glinting around as I ran, and waved a confirmation of what I thought might have been Endo at the far end of what could have been a passageway or a series of tight twists and turns. A few seconds later, his enchanted form hurtled past me leaving me alone save a dozen reflections of his departing back.
Then, pain blossomed over my back. Two heavy sword blows tore past my armour to cause me agony. Shocked out of my singing, I glanced behind myself and saw nothing whatsoever.
I fled, bouncing off the steel walls and leaking blood as I ran pell-mell through the maze.
.oOo.
Flynne looked around his new surroundings. A macabre chamber was laid out in front of him; to his right were a number of vats and a bloodstained, strap-covered wooden table. To his left was a long dais, raised ten feet from the floor. Atop the dais was an ostentatious throne, from which rose a tall familiar figure.
“It is so kind of you to join me,” said the bearded figure of Allustan from in front of the throne. “It is time for you to learn the truth of things. Although, I am terribly sorry, but first I shall have to kill you!”
The bearded figure of Allustan started to chant a spell; his eyes fixed on Flynne.
Flynne’s reaction was almost poetically simple. He waited until ‘Allustan’ was nearly at the pinnacle of his spell before raising his bow and firing a single arrow. The long shaft slammed into the mage’s chest, and he cursed loudly as his concentration was broken.
.oOo.
I caught up with the others, shouting out that there was something invisible chasing me even as I cast a curative spell on myself. Endo was also spellcasting, and gestured to send a dark ray of strength-draining magic towards the door which I could now see. The spell splashed against the wood of the door, clearly missing its intended (and invisible) target. Igmut was also here, and was swinging his sword in frustration, clearly also thwarted by his opponent’s invisibility.
.oOo.
Beyond the door, Flynne was horrified to see ‘Allustan’s face and body shift and grow into the hulking 7 foot form of a greataxe-wielding half-orc. He snarled and leapt towards Flynne, the edge of the greatsword rimed with enchanted frost as it sliced through the air.
The half-orc missed, and Flynne backflipped away from the fight. Bleeding heavily despite the effects of a hastily-swallowed potion, he leapt onto the dais and crouched in the rudimentary cover provided by the throne.
.oOo.
I could hear the combat Flynne was involved in, together with he shouts of “get in here and help me!” through the door, even as I heard Malachite chant and the sudden sounds of a heavy hailstorm resounding through the twisting maze. Clearly, the creature which had caused me my grievous injuries had already caught up with Malachite and Sheba, who stood guard to the back of the group down the corridor.
Before me, Igmut slashed a heavy blow through the creature at the door, whilst another of Endo’s spells flew wide, splattering draining energies against the door once again. The wood heaved and turned slightly grey, but held firm.
.oOo.
Inside the room, the massive half-orc transformed in an instant back into Allustan’s much smaller form. He gestured, and a bright bead hurtled across the room and exploded. Flynne, his reactions usually so swift in the face of explosions and traps, failed him. He was very badly burned in the explosion, and leaned heavily on the throne for support.
.oOo.
Outside the room, things were going no better. Igmut had been taking the brunt of the invisible creature’s assault, and was by this stage bleeding from 7 or 8 serious injuries. He stepped away from the melee, and cast a spell on himself to repair many of his injuries. I assisted him by casting a protective illusion on him, making him appear slightly to the left of where he was actually standing whilst simultaneously rendering him invisible, hoping to befuddle his enemies into striking the wrong target.
Endo, now face to face with the invisible foe at what was (for him) an alarmingly short distance, cast a complex-sounding spell before vanishing completely. I stared at the space he had occupied. Had he just teleported away? Had he truly learned so much whilst I had been in captivity? The far wall swam slightly as I stared at it, but I persuaded myself that this was yet another invisible creature heading towards Igmut and I.
Suddenly, there was a short splattering noise. I turned sharply back to where Endo had been standing, and could see the air rippling and contorting slightly. Within his space there was a clear man-shaped void. Endo had not teleported away – he had turned into a clear gelatine-like substance, and the invisible creature had simply walked into him. And the foe wasn’t moving, paralysed by some strange property of Endo’s new form.
Growling, Sheba dashed around the corner of the corridor, blood matting her fur. I did what I could to cure her, and she dashed away up the passage. From where she ran, I could hear the sound of Malachite’s desperate chanting.
.oOo.
Inside the room, Flynne fired once again at the chanting form of ‘Allustan’. Once again, the arrow sank into his shoulder, making him gasp in pain and grasp the wound, meaning that he couldn’t complete the intricate patterns of the spell he was weaving.
.oOo.
Outside the room, Endo abruptly ceased being a gelatinous cube. There was a slapping noise as the paralysed invisible foe collapsed onto the floor. Endo gestured broadly to us to show where the fallen foe was, and drew a wand expectantly.
Igmut, ever ready for action, stepped forwards to open the door, and was rewarded with the vision of Allustan. My half-orc friend stopped abruptly, confused by the scene of a familiar face in such a chamber of horrors. From perhaps 15 feet away, Igmut could see Allustan’s features soften and expand, the features thickening and warping into the massive thuggish half-orc form.
The enemy dashed across the room and brought his heavy axe down onto Flynne’s already heavily wounded body. With a flash of magical frost and a gout of blood, Flynne collapsed.
As I witnessed this carnage from behind Endo and Igmut, I could hear a second body collapsing behind me, coupled with a rage of fury from Sheba. Clearly, the second invisible enemy had just defeated Malachite in his valiant defence of us from behind.
.oOo.
Panicked, I dashed back through the twisting mirrored corridors, images of Malachite’s fallen body and the valiant, but already injured, Sheba’s flashing claws reflecting at me from every angle. I ran, bashing off several walls but following the smears and smatters of blood as I ran towards Sheba.
From behind her, I cast the most powerful spell I had remaining, one of displacement to make the big tiger a much harder target as she sniffed out and fought the invisible enemy, standing over Malachite’s body as she did so.
.oOo.
In the room behind me, I could hear the sound of Endo casting another spell which I had never heard him use before, and a reflection of a roiling black cloud of strength-sapping energies could be seen enveloping a screaming Allustan in the larger room. As the enemy mage shouted in pain, a cluster of ethereal spirits with wicked hooks and claws hooked them into Allustan, tearing away and shredding part of his spirit. Endo then immediately raised the Rod of Quickening and cast a second unfamiliar spell, and a second horde of tiny ghosts swarmed over the enemy, weighting down his limbs and making his every movement a laboured struggle.
As Endo was casting, Igmut swept up his longspear and charged the Allustan-like figure, a huge shower of blood pouring from a serious wound to his belly.
In response, the foe cast a spell of enfeeblement, draining a huge volume of strength from Igmut, whose flesh seemed to age and turn grey with the magical assault.
.oOo.
Turning my back on the fight, I cast what little healing magic I could on Sheba, who tore into the wounded invisible creature in the narrow corridor.
.oOo.
Back in the larger room, more spells flew, as Endo sent a series of wormlike spirits to attack ‘Allustan’s eyes. The spirits tried to burrow into the flesh and damage his eyesight, but ‘Allustan’ shook his head, and managed to avoid the spell’s effects.
Igmut reached to his belt, snatched up a flask and quaffed a potion, instantly removing the effects of the enfeeblement spell.
Heavily injured, and affected by two very powerful spells, the doppelganger of Allustan snatched a dagger from his belt and turned to Flynne.
“Try anything, and your friend will die,” he announced as he stepped forward to slash at the rogue’s throat.
“Grab him!” Endo yelled.
As the enemy mage took a second step, Igmut launched himself horizontally at the mage, tackling him and dragging him to the floor.
Behind the struggle, Endo hurtled across the room and tipped a potion down Flynne’s throat. The worst of the blood stopped seeping from the rogue’s wounds.
.oOo.
Meanwhile, the struggle in front of me was going from bad to worse. Slashed and hacked by a series of wounds from the invisible swordsman, Sheba slumped to the floor, struck again and again as the narrow corridor thwarted the large tiger’s efforts to dodge. Aghast, I realised that the lethal creature would be advancing on me next, and I backed off, drawing my thin rapier as I went.
.oOo.
Meanwhile, Igmut abruptly found that he wasn’t wrestling an fatigued and spirit-drained feeble wizard, but a fatigued and spirit-drained raging half orc barbarian. Gnashing his teeth, Igmut flew into a rage as well, and swiftly had his dagger out and thrusting at a heavily restrained enemy, the greataxe and longspear lying forgotten to one side. After a couple of savage thrusts at such close quarters, the enemy went abruptly limp and slumped, his face greying and his muscles shrinking as he subsided into the body of a swollen and ash-faced doppelganger.
.oOo.
Fleeing, I yelled to my comrades that there was still another enemy coming. I dashed into a narrow corridor and dashed off a spell to make me invisible so that I could avoid the lethal stroke that might follow.
I could hear the careful steps of the approaching figure; heard it pause within inches of me, and then heard cloth of leather armour creak as a sword swing was brought down within inches of my face; saved only by the spell whilch I had so recently cast upon myself.
I ducked and scrambled away from the enemy, clinging to the wall and making the most of my invisibility to get away and join my fellows in the large room lined with vats and torture equipment. By the time I reached the room, Endo was headed in the opposite direction, again casting his spell of shapechanging before again taking the near-invisible form of the gelatinous cube right at the door.
Almost immediately, there was a fleshy tearing sound as Endo was slashed by the sword of the invisible enemy. A rent appeared in the gelatinous substance of his flesh, but Endo simply moved to envelop the second enemy, but there was no sound of his capturing anything other than the form of the aleady-paralysed villain on the floor.
Igmut and I moved to cast spells on Flynne, who soon blinked blearily at us, clutching his burns and multiple wounds in considerable pain. He staggered up to join Endo, who was already fumbling on the floor and stabbing at the paralysed enemy with his dagger.
Around the corner, Igmut bellowed in anger, and there was a metallic clanging as his sword met the steely walls of the maze. Two wet fleshy thuds followed, leaving no doubt that his blow had bisected its target.
A second wet gurgling came from the floor near Flynne and Endo, as Flynne’s sword came down where he felt was the softest target point.
.oOo.
We dashed away up the corridor, and reached both Malachite and Sheba in time. Miraculously, despite his injuries Malachite had received had stopped bleeding, but we cast a long series of spells from the restorative wands which we carried amongst us.
We waited for the invisibility effects on the swordsmen to fade into sight. They turned out to be leather-clad doppelgangers, and piled them up with the corpse of the doppelganger ‘king’ Igmut had wrestled to death.
Flynne spotted a pair of chests to one side of the room, and set to them with a set of lockpicks. As he worked on the first one, spears leapt up from the floor, catching him seriously and necessitating more use of wands before he could complete the unlocking of the chest almost 20 minutes later. It contained a large emerald, which emanated a powerful magic which Endo identified as necromantic in origin; he could only equate it to the phylactery of a lich.
Flynne turned to the second chest, and no sooner had he touched it than a massive trapdoor opened beneath his feet, dropping him some 40 feet onto yet more spearheads.
A rope was lowered, more charges from the curative wands were used, and Flynne again took his time to unlock the chest. An identical enchanted emerald lay within, and we nervously closed both chests and placed them into a captured bag of holding along with the other items we scavenged from the fallen enemies.
Taking one last look at the room, Flynne remarked, “Hey, guys – there’s another door hidden behind the throne over here, look!”
Swinging the door open, we stepped towards the next room in this terrible complex.
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