Session II: Chapter 7, Part II
Hearing the screams that were emanating from the darkness, Valeria judged that her attempts to provide a focal point for her companions with her voice were fruitless. The wizard gathered up all of the courage she could muster, recalled an effective spell to keep in the back of her mind, and then she plunged into the pitch-black mill. Val followed the noise of combat until she emerged behind Thor who was standing at the edge of the cellar stairs, magically frozen in place. With no way of knowing what she was walking into, the young woman was just getting her bearings when a black-clad halfing came rolling towards her.
Valeria jumped to the side to avoid being bowled over, and she nearly screamed out loud as she stared into the ghastly white, fast approaching, flour-covered face of Gann Tolar. The unfortunate cleric was just emerging from the darkness for his third trip around the flourmill. Val dodged out of the way as Willow came running over to help Gann. Willow reached up and tried to pull him down as he flew past, but instead she managed to get herself hopelessly tangled in his dangling buckles and straps. Valeria shook her head in astonishment as she watched the cleric sail around the room with his newly acquired druid passenger.
Tas was deeply frustrated with his failed volley against his sneaky foe, and he was determined to cause some damage. The light-footed rogue tucked his chin hard against his chest and dove forward into an acrobatic roll. He tumbled past a very startled Valeria, straight down the steep stairway and into the cellar. With surprising grace, Tas pulled out of his roll and deftly landed on both feet, right between the two evil mages. In one fluid motion, he jammed his magical crossbow into the gut of the man in black and pumped a bolt into him at point blank range. As the man staggered back against the wall, the halfing had just enough room to turn and fire at the female wizard behind him. His shot was forced wide and high, however, as the woman sliced him across the back with a wickedly curved dagger.
Tonan saw his chance to make a move, and he dropped his crossbow to the floor. The ranger drew his sword and jumped into the basement. He landed hard on the bottom step, and he was forced to hold on with his off hand to avoid falling off. In an impressive display of strength and agility, which was further fueled by his anger, Tonan pushed off of the stairs and swung around in a wide arc. His outstretched sword opened a wide gash across the chest of the already injured man in the black robe. Tonan smiled in grim satisfaction and jumped down to the floor.
The rest of the companions, who were still upstairs, had no idea what was going on below. Tyris was still dazed by the spell that was cast upon her, and the sorceress was unable to focus. She had made several failed attempts to stand, and finally resigned herself to remaining on the floor until the effects had passed. Endora knelt down at her side, and the she laid hands upon Tyris. The paladin closed her eyes and she called upon the holy power of Heironeous to aid her friend. The genasi felt her strength return as the evil magic was forced from her body, and the two women helped each other to stand. They paused briefly to watch Willow and Gann fly by yet again before heading towards the open trap door.
The women; the three that had their feet firmly planted on the floor; stood at the edge of the stairs and surveyed the scene below. Tonan was standing nearly on top of Tas. Both of them were packed tightly into the narrow space between the wall and the steps along with two evil, and obviously combat savvy, magic users. Despite the nasty wounds on the male, both still posed a serious threat.
Valeria was determined to eliminate that threat, especially when her truest and dearest friend was the one in danger. Seeing Tonan's heavy crossbow lying at her feet, she picked it up and clumsily took aim at the injured wizard, intending to finish him off. She pulled the trigger and was delighted with the resulting squeal of pain from below.
"Uh oh," groaned Endora, prompting Valeria to take a second look at her handiwork. Tas was jumping up and down wildly, and cursing at the top of his lungs. As he turned away from the ladder, Val could see the shaft of a crossbow bolt protruding from his derriere.
"Oops," she said, stifling a chuckle. Valeria quickly knelt down and placed the crossbow back on the floor where she had found it.
The wounded halfling was furious, and he spun around looking for a victim to vent his anger against. Looking up, he saw the man in the black robes grimacing down at him. "You'll do," growled Tas, and he popped off another round from his deadly assassin's bow. The bolt hit his target in the shoulder and it spun the man around. With two crossbow bolts sticking out of him and a gaping chest wound from Tonan's sword, the dark wizard staggered across the damp basement.
Tas cried out in pain again as he was bumped from behind, and the offending projectile was driven deeper into his... wound. His vision was momentarily obscured as the female mage attempted to push her way past him, and into the open area of the basement. The rogue looked up just in time to see Tonan's sword lash out, and it cut deeply into the woman's back. She jerked around and twisted to the side at the unexpected attack, and Tas launched a bolt into her chest for good measure. He smiled as she slumped to the floor, dying, but still breathing.
Meanwhile, upstairs, Tyris, Endora and Valeria were waiting for their chance to join the fray. The small space at the bottom of the steps was far too crowded to accommodate any more bodies. As soon as the two robed magic users were out of the way, Endora drew her weapon and charged down the stairs with Valeria tight at her heals. Tyris waited until Tonan had lunged out of the corner with both swords drawn and waving in the air, and she started her descent as well. She stopped and looked back, however, when she heard the sound ofshouting coming from behind her.
"Blast you, let go of me! I can't BELIEVE I got myself into this mess trying to help you," bellowed Willow as she and Gann circled the mill once more. The angry druid was kicking and squirming, trying to work herself free from the rotating mill, and from the struggling cleric.
Tonan's charge gave Tyris the space she needed to drop into the cellar and assess the situation. Things seemed to be well in control. The female mage lay on the ground a few feet away, gasping for air. The powerful man in black was also mortally wounded. Tyris was impressed by the fury of the ranger's renewed attack, which brought the evil wizard to his knees with a series of deep cuts and slashes. The genasi sorceress was about to relax and drop her guard, but what she saw next made her blood run cold.
The black robed wizard was on the floor, bleeding from multiple wounds that had been inflicted by the party of heroes. He barely had the strength to breathe, and he certainly seemed incapable of standing or otherwise posing any kind of significant threat. Then the man turned his head to look at his fallen companion, the woman who had been cut down by Tas and Tonan, and he smiled wickedly. With great effort, he forced himself to speak a single word through bloody lips. "Lamia", and he grabbed the woman by the wrist.
Seconds before, the female mage had been unconscious and very close to death. Now, she was jerking spasmodically in the evil man's grasp with her back arched nearly to the breaking point, and writhing in supreme agony. From her mouth issued forth the most blood curdling scream that had ever been heard by any of the heroes, and the hair stood straight up on the backs of every one of their necks. They watched in horror as the woman's eyes sank back into her skull, and her lips and gums receded from her gaping mouth to expose her blood red teeth. The skin on her face and arms shriveled like aged parchment. It became taught and brittle, and finally cracked apart to reveal her yellowed bones and sinew beneath. The terrifying scream became a strangled shriek before it was choked off completely, and the woman crumbled to ash.
The dark mage shook the dust from his hand, and he rose to face the group. His wounds had healed into jagged white scars that stood out in stark contrast to his black robes. When he began muttering the arcane words of another presumably dangerous incantation, Tyris was shaken from her horrified stupor and immediately launched a spell of her own. "Succendo," she cried, and she hurled a flaming sphere straight towards her foe. The fully rejuvenated mage stepped nimbly aside and the sphere rolled past him to detonate harmlessly in the corner.
The companions sprung into action. Tonan moved in on the mage with his twin swords whirling in a dance that was dazzling to behold. Once he stepped within range, the half-elven ranger snapped his wrists outward and thrust both blades in towards his dangerous foe. With his black robes flowing behind him, the wizard side-stepped the attack and escaped without a scratch. The man's smug grin widened as his sharp eyes caught movement in the dark corner behind Tonan.
"Look out," yelled Tyris, just as a third attacker emerged from the shadows with a dagger aimed at Tonan's throat! The ranger spun to his left, and with a single swipe of his longsword he managed to turn his attacker's blade aside. He turned to face this new threat that appeared, at first glance, to be another female mage. Tonan did a double take, however, when he realized that she had two short, spiraled horns protruding from her skull and a long, sinuous tail emerging from the rear of her tight, ochre colored dress.
Valeria was markedly alarmed that Tonan had turned his back on an adversary as powerful as the man in black, and she stepped forward to intervene. The young wizard pulled a tiny candle from her pouch, and she pointed the unlit tip towards the floor between her friend and the evil mage. "Voco prodigium," she chanted, and a tiny burst of flame shot forth from the candle and struck the ground right where she had been aiming. The air seemed to shimmer for a split second, and suddenly an insect-like warrior stood in their midst.
The armored creature instantly drew forth a double-tipped javelin from its back and raked it across the evil mage's stomach. The dark man's eyes widened in surprise just before he doubled over from the searing pain of the deadly weapon tearing through his vital organs.
The evil man's scream of pain echoing across the basement had an odd effect as it mingled with a desperate cry of frustration from above. Gann Tolar and Willow were both engaged in mortal combat with the mill wheel. The druid had finally gotten her legs underneath her body, and she was now running in circles around the grinding stone while attempting to cut herself loose. She was forced to duck repeatedly as Gann reigned blow after blow upon the grease trap with his holy Truncheon of Truth. With every swing, the cleric bellowed in rage, and Willow shouted over and over for him to "Shut up and be careful with that thing!"
Back in the basement, Tas and Endora sought to eliminate their newest adversary swiftly and efficiently. The halfing rogue fired a bolt into the plane-touched wizard's gut as the paladin charged in with her longsword. Endora's vicious swing nearly severed her enemy's left arm, and an additional quick thrust of Tonan's deadly blade was enough to bring the woman to the ground.
All five heroes now turned to face the dreaded man in black. The scarred and twisted figure pulled a bloody hand away from his horrid stomach wound and placed it upon the antlike formian warrior that had been summoned by Valeria. "Imperium," he growled, and he pointed a gnarled finger towards Tonan.
The summoned creature whirled his javelin around with dizzying speed and opened a gash across Tonan's waist before the he had a chance to react. The ranger clutched his side and stumbled out of harm's way just as Tyris unleashed another flaming sphere at the wounded mage. Incredibly, the evil man once again was able to leap out of the way and avoid taking any damage from the powerful spell.
Endora stepped forward and attempted to dispel the dark mage's control over the formian warrior, but it was too late. The duration of Valeria's summoning spell ended and the creature vanished, back to its own realm of existence.
Furious that the evil mage had used her own spell to harm her friend, Valeria charged in and wrapped her hands around the man's throat. "Aduro," she wailed, and her hands became as flame. The mage screamed as the smell of charred flesh filled the cavernous cellar. The circle of friends gathered silently around Valeria as she continued to throttle the wretched man in her scorching grasp. With a final cry of rage, the young woman pushed the man away and kicked him back into the wall.
Tas fired a single bolt through the heart of the black robed man and he slumped to the floor, dead at last.
The group let out a collective sigh of relief, and then they heard the sound of footsteps on the stairs. Once again, spells were readied in an instant, swords were raised and the heroes turned as one to face the new danger.
There, at the bottom of the stairs, stood Gann Tolar, vengeful cleric of St. Cuthbert. He was covered from hair to boot in thick, sweat-clumped wads of sticky flour. His clerical garb dangled loosely from his left shoulder, exposing his chain tunic underneath. Willow sat on the steps behind him with a tired expression on her face.
"I told you the flour in this town was evil," Gann said between clenched teeth. "But fear not, my friends." The righteous cleric strained to stand up straight and tall, and he raised his mighty Truncheon of Truth as if in salute to a fallen enemy. "Myself and the noble druid have smote the wicked device of its creation!"