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Message: <blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 4081587" data-attributes="member: 3285">Madness in Freeport - Part 23: The Tower StairsOpening the trapdoor released a shaft of sickly yellow light that washed over Kham’s face. A five-foot-wide, railed staircase hugged the walls, rising clockwise all the way to the summit of the tower, a hundred feet above their heads. The light emanated from the walls of the tower and the hundreds of ritual candles that lined the railing. “Well,” said Beldin, “I guess Tarmon was right.” The Yellow Sign within each of the bricks was throbbing with magical energy, illuminating the whole tower with an eerie light. Near the top of the staircase, almost at the summit of the tower, were six people looking over the railing and down at them. One of them was clearly Milton Drac. The other five were ssanu were dressed in robes. Drac spoke in a booming voice that echoed off the walls of the chamber, “Well, well, well. I see that you have dispatched my pet. No matter. The ritual is almost complete. Soon the Yellow Sign will return to Freeport and drive all the unfaithful masses to madness!”Kham struggled to reach for his pistols, but his hands gripped the hilt of Fleshripper instead.  “Damn it, Fleshripper, not now!”“Your ridiculous attempt to stop us ends now,” said Drac. “Farewell, friends. What a pity that you have come so far only to fail in the end.” With that, he turned to the ssanu next to him on the stairs and said, “I leave them to you, N’tal. They should provide some amusement. Don’t take too long though. I wouldn’t want you to miss the glorious arrival of our master, the Unspeakable One.”Drac tossed something down on the ground before him and disappeared in a puff of smoke.“Dramatic,” said Kham.N’tal threw off his robe and flew into the air. The other ssanu drew their bows.“Uh, I don’t remember you saying anything about the snakes being able to fly,” Vlad said Ilmarė.“I didn’t,” said Ilmarė.  “He’s a sorcerer!” “I am indeed, ssslave,” hissed N’tal.  “Now feel the might of a true sssanu: Incendiariesss globusss!”  He pointed and a pea-sized ball of flames flew towards them.  Everything seemed to move in slow motion.  Vlad knew the spell.  He’d seen it once before, when the insane elorii Neyadis had nearly slaughtered his companions with a fireball.  He had to get in front of it…He drew Grungronazharr in one motion and skidded into the spot where the fireball would land.  Vlad raised the weapon up before him: Elabac said that Grungronazharr meant “forged in fire” and that if he bonded with the weapon, they would both emerge from the flames stronger than ever.  Vlad had no idea if it would work.Fire exploded around him, but the blast arced away from Grungronazharr in a hemisphere that protected him and his companions.  When the fires died out, a circle of soot outlined the edges of the blast.  “What?!” shouted N’tal.Kham swigged two potions in quick succession.  “Keep him busy,” he said to Vlad. “I’m going to have to do this the old fashioned way.”“Scatter!” Ilmarė dove to the side.  “I’ve seen what a sorcerer can do, don’t let him line you up…”“Fulgur sssagitta!”A bolt of electricity arced from N’tal’s finger into Vlad and then Beldin.  They fell to the ground, twitching. Ilmarė rolled to her feet and fired an arrow at one of the other ssanu on the steps.  It plunged to its death.Beldin struggled to his feet.  “That’s it,” he snarled.  “Now I’m really angry.” Arrows whistled past Vlad’s shield, but they were slapped out of the air by an invisible force. He stood in front of Beldin.  “Follow my lead!” They charged up the steps to attack the ssanu in hand-to-hand.  Ilmarė looked around. The lightning bolt had missed Kham.  Where was he?She looked up overhead.  Hopping from wall to wall like some sort of tree frog, Kham covered the distance between the ground and the flying ssanu.  N’tal was too focused on Vlad and Beldin to notice.“Glaciesss imber!”Hailstones rained down on Beldin, Vlad, and the three remaining ssanu.  The two warriors were stalemated, forced to hide beneath their shields as the hailstones pounded down upon them.  One of the ssanu lost his balance and fell to his doom.There was a blur and something rammed into N’tal hard from the side.  The ssanu sorcerer hissed in surprise, only to find Fleshripper jutting out of his torso.They spun crazily, bouncing off wall and then another.  With a horrible crunch, Kham, N’tal, and Fleshripper smashed into the floor near Ilmarė.Ilmarė looked up.  Beldin and Vlad stirred, covered by snow and ice. The ssanu around them were frozen, bloody pulps, pounded to death by their own leader’s spell.She inspected the crumpled heap of val and ssanu. For a moment she thought they were both dead.  Then Kham slowly rose to his feet, wiping blood from his nose.  He yanked Fleshripper out of N’tal’s corpse. Kham slowly, painfully, began to climb the steps. “Let’s finish this,” he said.</blockquote>

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