NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 894674" data-attributes="member: 1210">Against the Nematodeans, Pt. 2 (or, the Second Half)When the second nematodean reappears, Sheva’s already thought out her best option.  She tings a tuning fork and cries, "Go to Heaven!!"  But it resists her plane shift, so she pulls out a torch, cursing mightily.Another fireball blossoms from Habiskis' wand, and Sybele hurls two flasks of alchemists' fire at the huge worm.  Thrush rushes in and the torch he wields slaps at the worm some more.  People are scattering as the worm rushes at them, frightfully deadly.  Its bite snaps at Sheva, only her blur saving her.  She hastes herself and activates her cloak of embrace, sprouting extra arms.  She pulls a torch, and stands ready for it.  Angelfire breathes a gout of flame at the worm, which reaches down to Thrush, who has severely burned it with the torch, and bites him!  He just grunts as the worm tears loose a chunk of his abdomen, but he’s clearly just taken a serious wound.  Worse, the thing crashes down on him with its long coils and constricts him!  "Aaargh!" he cries.Orbius summons a fire elemental.  "Grapple that worm!  Don’t actually strike it!" he cries in Ingnan.  Then he tries to polymorph the great monster crushing Thrush into a bunny, but once again he fails to affect it!Sheva scoops up Thrush's torch, lights hers with it, and lays a devastating series of blows on the worm, on the side Thrush didn’t burn.  Its pale skin bleeds copious yellow fluid as it hisses and sizzles.  The thing hisses and sways above the party like a reed in a windstorm, squeezing Thrush in its terrible coils.  "Thrush!" Sybele cries, firing off a dinky little psionic finger of fire- it's all she's got left.  The creature’s forebody whips down, biting Sheva's arm and shaking her for an instant before dropping her to the ground again.  She staggers, then grimly shakes it off and keeps up her assault.  A final fireball completely expends Habiskis' wand and it crumbles to dust, leaving the imp squeaking curses and cowering behind a rocky pillar.But then Orbius' elemental moves in, trying to grapple the nematodean back.  The monster slaps a bite at it as it reaches for it and easily twists away from the living fire’s grab, but the yellowish fluid leaking prolifically from it catches fire and it burns.  As it writhes and twists, Thrush finally manages to slip free, staggering away, his ribs cracked, almost all the breath driven from him.  With a groan, he pulls back from it and quickly quaffs two healing potions, then glances around.  Orbius is firing rays of frost, Sybele more fingers of fire.  Is that all we've got left? the fighter wonders wildly, then shakes the sweat from his forehead and chugs another bottle of healing fluid.But Orbius is just waiting for the right moment.  He’s been edging around, looking for a clear shot, and as he hesitates while Sheva and, especially, Angelfire tumble out of his line of fire, he starts casting the last big damage spell he’s got- a final cone of cold.  There's a sparkle of blue-white light as frost condenses from the water vapor in the air and forms on the stones; the nematodean takes the worst of it- although the fire burning on it goes out- and with a final hiss, it falls, shattering into hundreds of icy chunks.For a moment the party is silent, scarcely believing it's over.  Sybele almost points out that there could, indeed, be more of them- but she decides to cross her fingers and hope for the best instead.  And nothing else emerges from the rubble. "We did it!" cries the Eye. A search through the rubble turns up some very interesting loot...Next Time:  Treasure!  Negotiations!  Marius!  Morland!  And New Years' Eve!</blockquote>

Verification