Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="ellinor" data-source="post: 5398904" data-attributes="member: 14561">17x03Savina struggled to calm her horse as it reared back from the ice monster.  The creature was the size of four men—or more—and as it roared and growled, its heavy breath coated the road with thick, reflective ice.  It would be hard to get close—but then again, Savina did not want to get close.  The monster was more than just menacing, more than just angry, more than just enormous—there was a sort of melancholy about it, a sort of depth.  Something powerful…Kormick settled his horse and dismounted.  “Hey!  Where are they handing out giant frost creatures in exchange for service to Kettenek?” he asked, with what Savina knew was only mostly bravado.“You may not get one,” Mena replied, wryly, “but you get the pleasure of defeating one.”Kawazu stepped out from behind the monster with a malevolent grin and held forth the crystal gem, which pulsated with white light.  “Kettenek shall smite the unrighteous!”  Don’t be so sure, Savina thought.  She pulled a holy symbol from her robe—the symbol of vengeance she had received from the spirits of the Sharpstone Monks—and held it before her.  “Alirria, bring your might!”  The holy symbol shimmered blue, and a blue lance of light sprang from it, piercing the icy monster.  At once, the others saw their opening to attack the monster’s master:  Arden threw her dagger, which sank deep into Kawazu’s gut.  Nyoko shot an arrow, which hit Kawazu's shoulder.  Tavi hurled his sword, which whirled through the air, licking with green flame, and knocked Kawazu on the head before returning to Tavi’s grasp.  Kawazu staggered and snarled, brandishing the glowing crystal and spouting Kettenite invective.  He had clearly begun the fight with more confidence than strength, and now—perforated and bruised—confidence was nearly all he had left.The monster, however, was as strong as ever.  Kormick strode forward, steady on the ice, and pounded on the colossus with his warhammers.  His attack was brutal:  Kormick whirled, chopped…shards of ice flew from the creature’s legs and chest.  Yet it barely left a dent.  The thing lumbered forward and swung a great arc with its crystalline paw.  The sunlight glinting off its giant, sharp claws made Savina gasp as those claws connected with Tavi’s shoulder, slicing deep and pushing him off his horse.  The cold wind extinguished the flames on Tavi’s sword.  The cold— Savina felt it deep inside, and she stumbled, fell from her horse, landed on the hard ice below.  Savina heard screams from Tavi, Mena, and Nyoko.  This is no ordinary monster, Savina thought.  If there is such a thing.Only Twiggy remained on her horse.  She concentrated and cast, and a ball of fire appeared just in front of the monster.  The flames licked at the creature’s giant form, twining with its crystals.  Steam rose from its front, and its crystalline edges began to soften, reform, drip.  The ball hissed and spat as droplets hit.  Behind Savina, Mena’s armor whispered, then screamed, and Mena urged the others forward:  “Jan!  Tavi!  Again!”  Kormick spun behind the monster and struck it.  Tavi winced and staggered, but rose from the road and hurled himself forward.  He swung his sword like a bat and clocked Kawazu with its broad side.  Kawazu fell, unconscious, the crystal gem still tight in his grasp, and still glowing.  Tavi and Mena walloped the crystal with their swords, but it absorbed the force.Unbreakable.What is this thing?  The snow beast wheeled around and, with a giant roar, a huge swath of the monster’s face exploded, sending streaming shards of ice flying directly down at Tavi.  They lacerated Tavi’s clothes and face.  It was as if the monster had expelled the shards from its own form, leaving a misshapen mass in place of its face.  But its eyes remained, dark, deep…Savina prayed, and again, a lance of Alirria’s vengeance shot from her holy symbol.  Nyoko shot again, too, and her arrows pierced the monster.  One remained inside it, visible beneath the icy surface.  Another flew straight through, spraying chunks of snow and ice in all directions from the creature’s back.  Mena charged, stabbed; Kormick chipped, sculpted.  The beast batted at the fireball, which hovered before it, casting a ruddy glow on its crystalline form.  Then, as the creature was distracted, Arden crept behind it and unleashed the full force of her might.  In a flurry of frost and blade, she stabbed the creature's leg once, twice, burying her dagger in its icy mass and wrenching it out with such force that clumps of snow flew everywhere.  [i[That[/i] got its attention.  Cold waves exploded forth from the monster.  It knocked Mena and Kormick to the ground, but Arden took the brunt of it.  She slid backward on the ice, her body bruised and bloody from a thousand icy cuts.  The monster knocked Tavi over and lumbered forward, uncaring.  Then it swung its mighty claws at Arden.  BAM.  Arden cried out.  Savina winced in sympathetic pain.  BAM.  Another.  Arden’s body slacked.  She was unconscious.  “You don’t get to do that,” Mena announced, and clawed herself to her feet.  Her sword, and Nyoko’s arrows, struck in concert.  Chunks of ice flew from the monster’s sides.  And still, the fire ball remained, glowing and licking at the monster’s melting form.  Twiggy cast again, and a giant wave of force flew past the fire ball, blowing a hole in the monster’s torso.  Savina saw her chance and ran to Arden’s side.  She prayed for healing.  Alirria’s warmth came, comforting, and Arden blinked awake.  “Will you be alright?”  Savina asked.  Arden sat up.  “It has been a very long day, Blessed Daughter,” she replied, and looked behind Savina. “It’s looking at me, isn’t it,” Savina said.  It was.  She steeled herself and turned.  It was just a few feet away, swinging its claws. . . Savina held up the holy symbol, and stared into the creature’s cold, dark eyes.  Try it, she thought, try it and learn of Alirria’s wrath.  A boulder of ice flew at Savina, at the holy symbol.  When it hit, it melted.  Water dripped from Savina’s hand, and the monster held her gaze.  Suddenly, she knew.  They were not fighting a monster.  They were fighting an angel of Kettenek.  Why…Arden, barely conscious but still fighting, stumbled forward toward the angel.  She and Tavi, Mena, and Kormick surrounded it, chipping away at its mass, beating.  It was no longer the shape of a person, as ice and snow fell from it in great chunks and sprays.  It was moving defensively, now, as Twiggy cast into its mind, and Kormick knocked its arm away in a giant block.  Tavi raised his green flame sword at the staggering beast, and brought it down on what once was a leg.  It crumpled, melting, crumbling, splashing, into . . . water.  The gem shattered.  The last remnants of the angel hung in the air and fell slowly, in a soft snow.  Quiet, brief.Kormick returned the warhammers to his belt and pushed gingerly at a bruise on his forearm.  “I’m sure it is an honor to Kettenek to banish such an abomination called in Kettenek’s name,” he declared, proudly.An honor,  Savina thought, to banish an angel.  Like a storybook hero.</blockquote>

Verification