the Jester
Legend
Ambush at Bile Mountain II
The first level of Bile Mountain, 10:15 a.m.
Ratchet up the intensity another notch, will you please?
From outside the entrance to the caves within Bile Mountain, the thunderous echoes of the titanic forces being unleashed within are clearly audible. Cries of pain, the clash of metal on metal, the explosive detonation of magical blasts of fire and sound... it is as if a battle is playing out within the mountain whose repercussions might be felt hundreds or thousands of miles away.
And really, isn’t that the case?
If Horbin perishes- well, he is the Bishop of a realm thousands of miles away. Lillamere, Thrush- are they not Baron and Sheriff of an area within Horbin’s? And all of them- if they fall, will that not dash the hopes of the chaotic forces seeking to overthrow the Bastion of Law?
Of course, neither Horbin nor Lillamere nor Thrush nor anyone else in the party intends to die...
***
There is a brutal clang! as Inoke charges into the thick of the nimblewrights, destroying one of them immediately and preparing to work on the rest. But to his chagrin, one of them casts a spell and gestures and reconstructs the one that he just destroyed.
Orbius curses inventively over the telepathic bond that nets the party’s communications together. At least they can only each be reconstructed once, he grumbles. These guys are playing dirty!
While the Axars are distracted from their devastating attack on him, Horbin casts a mass heal spell. Meanwhile, the death snappers begin attacking Thrush, Inoke and Gerontius, their intestines whipping out to smack and ensnare anyone that they can. The freedom of movement that virtually everyone in the party has active proves its usefulness again and again. However, the ooze octopi are deadlier still: each lashes out with a full set of eight tentacles, and each tentacle that hits delivers both a stinging acid and drains the very health and life from its target! One of them tears Wankerman limb from bloody limb in a shower of blood and innards, and the other one moves in to engage Thrush.
“Wankerman!” cries Gerontius in rage. He tumbles away- he can’t find any vitals on the nimblewrights, the ooze octopi, the gutling snapping turtles or the bile ooze! Zis is not my day, he thinks grimly. But upon gaining some distance, he grins. I am not out of tricks yet, he chuckles mentally, and activates his ring of radiance to cast forth a sunbeam at the closest enemy. The death snapper makes a hollow hissing sound and charges back up on him, lashing out with its guts. They lash across his body and snarl around him, but- again- his freedom of movement saves him from a potentially lethal grapple. Simultaneously, the Axars are focusing on Inoke and Thrush, trying to disable or destroy the two burly warriors. Inoke charges one of the nimblewrights, smashing it into another, and in a series of incredible blows he pounds both of them to crushed metal, tangled wire and broken gears.
Sybele and Chakar remain focused on the bile ooze. While the warrior of Chaos continues firing arrows into the ooze, the dwarven monk pulls more chunks of stone from the wall and hurls them. Chunk after chunk of stone smashes into the ooze; arrow after arrow penetrates it. Sybele and Chakar exchange a glance. It is very tough, acknowledges Sybele.
Chakar grimaces and leaps, tumbling through the air, into position next to it, muttering the command that activates the contingency that Orbius bestowed upon him. In Chakar’s case, a bile shield springs up around him. With the ghost of a smile on his face, he engages the bile ooze in melee, hoping that it will prove to be a fruitful decision.
Thrush finishes off one of the death snappers and then charges forward at an ooze octopus. The octopus has dealt several telling blows to him; now, he figures, it is his turn. Indeed, he lands a single mighty blow on it before the monster’s myriad of tentacles pound into him, almost killing him!* Thrush is batted away unconscious and bleeding.
Inoke reels as four polar rays blast him. Between his energy adaptation and his sheer endurance, he manages to survive, but he finds himself worried about a fight for the first time in a very long time- but he also knows, if the party is to overcome their adversaries, he cannot falter now. He must risk it all. He roars a challenge and charges another of the Axars, smashing it back into another of its kind, and hammers them both with his sweeping strike technique. Tortured metal gives way, and both of the spellcasting nimblewrights go down. “You’re next!” he calls, pointing at another of the constructs, but telepathically, he adds, [i[Horbin! I’m not sure how much more of this I can take![/i] Then he gives another yelp as a targeted greater dispel magic strips him of many of his psionic enhancements. His schism fades, he shrinks back to normal size...
You’re not the only one, my friend, comes the reply across the link.
Suddenly a crushing fist of spite appears, crashing down atop one of the ooze octopi. Baron Lillamere, in marut form (via shapechange), follows this up- enhanced by Marius’ double actions- with a maximized disintegrate.
Horbin has managed to pour enough healing onto himself that he can take a round of attacks (he hopes), so he steps forward to face the death snappers that are crawling towards the party, their intestines searching for prey to grab and crush. He flies quickly on his carpet of flying to the best spot he can find- and casts a mass heal. Positive energy surges through him, several of his allies (though neither of the ones that need it most, Inoke and Thrush, are close enough to target)- and most of the death snappers. Several of the gutling turtles have already suffered damage from one thing or another (such as Thrush or Gerontius’ ring’s sunrays), and all of them ones that are caught in the mass heal explode in a blast of silver radiance. This leaves only one of the turtles left alive- or rather, undestroyed- and it immediately charges in on Chakar, flanking him with the bile ooze.
“This ooze is tough!” Sybele yells unbelievingly. It has absorbed arrow after arrow after arrow. She shakes her head in dismay and keeps shooting. It looks like her arrows are causing it to leak fluid and are gradually deflating it, but it seems to have truly epic resilience.** Twang! Thwack! Another arrow shot and another hit... and it still keeps going, lashing out at Chakar with a pair of pseudopodia. Gerontius is tumbling like mad, firing sunrays at the death snappers and trying to stay out of reach.
Chakar blocks pseudopodia from the ooze with his hands, then back flips over the incoming gut slam of the death snapper. Another blow from the turtle lands across his shoulder, however, bruising and burning him. Chakar grunts and slips free as the intestinal cord attempts to wrap around him. The dwarf never even hesitates; he maintains his focus on the bile ooze. Its caustic spray is vicious and must be stopped, before it destroys more of the party’s gear! He hears the worry in Sybele’s voice, but he eliminates it from his existence. There is only the ooze and the turtle; but the turtle is nothing, it is only an obstacle. There is only the ooze.
Chakar’s fists piston out, splattering huge amounts of cytoplasm out of the disgusting ooze. Again, he punches deep into it, and grainy stuff flows out of the hole he makes. Spinning into a kick, he forces a great gout of the stuff out of the ooze. And one more blow, and it is deflated like a pierced balloon. Chakar stands triumphant over his foe, and the party cheers.
To his dismay, Inoke sees more of the Axars are reconstructed, and he realizes that if they get another volley of spells off at him, they will probably kill him. There are four of them, he thinks. But at least, now, they are close together.
First he expands to large size. Then- he charges, augmenting it with a psionic lion’s charge. He smashes into the ‘odd man out’ of the nimblewrights, using his domino rush ability to push him into his allies. Then- using his sweeping strike- he smashes two of them with a mighty blow, then another. They explode in a shower of gears and springs, and Inoke cleaves, bringing his mace through and into the face of one of the remaining two Axars. It staggers back, and another blow finishes it. He great cleaves on through, smashing into the last Axar. If I can destroy it, he thinks, they won’t be able to reconstruct each other any more, because they’ll all be dead! His final strike is perfect, smashing into the nimblewright’s chest and crushing it, knocking it back and down into the water. Another cheer comes from the rest of the party: things seem to be turning in their general direction.
But Horbin notices something that most of the rest of them, at least initially, do not: shadows under the water, following Inoke’s progress. There is something else in the water, the Bishop realizes with dismay. There are more enemies still.
Next Time: The ambush at Bile Mountain concludes!
*If Thrush didn’t have the Cling to Life feat, he’d have died here. With it, he can reach something like -50 hp before he dies.
**I seem to recall Sybele noticing that it was round 8 and that she’d be doing just a little shy of 100 hp/round to it for several rounds.
The first level of Bile Mountain, 10:15 a.m.
Ratchet up the intensity another notch, will you please?
From outside the entrance to the caves within Bile Mountain, the thunderous echoes of the titanic forces being unleashed within are clearly audible. Cries of pain, the clash of metal on metal, the explosive detonation of magical blasts of fire and sound... it is as if a battle is playing out within the mountain whose repercussions might be felt hundreds or thousands of miles away.
And really, isn’t that the case?
If Horbin perishes- well, he is the Bishop of a realm thousands of miles away. Lillamere, Thrush- are they not Baron and Sheriff of an area within Horbin’s? And all of them- if they fall, will that not dash the hopes of the chaotic forces seeking to overthrow the Bastion of Law?
Of course, neither Horbin nor Lillamere nor Thrush nor anyone else in the party intends to die...
***
There is a brutal clang! as Inoke charges into the thick of the nimblewrights, destroying one of them immediately and preparing to work on the rest. But to his chagrin, one of them casts a spell and gestures and reconstructs the one that he just destroyed.
Orbius curses inventively over the telepathic bond that nets the party’s communications together. At least they can only each be reconstructed once, he grumbles. These guys are playing dirty!
While the Axars are distracted from their devastating attack on him, Horbin casts a mass heal spell. Meanwhile, the death snappers begin attacking Thrush, Inoke and Gerontius, their intestines whipping out to smack and ensnare anyone that they can. The freedom of movement that virtually everyone in the party has active proves its usefulness again and again. However, the ooze octopi are deadlier still: each lashes out with a full set of eight tentacles, and each tentacle that hits delivers both a stinging acid and drains the very health and life from its target! One of them tears Wankerman limb from bloody limb in a shower of blood and innards, and the other one moves in to engage Thrush.
“Wankerman!” cries Gerontius in rage. He tumbles away- he can’t find any vitals on the nimblewrights, the ooze octopi, the gutling snapping turtles or the bile ooze! Zis is not my day, he thinks grimly. But upon gaining some distance, he grins. I am not out of tricks yet, he chuckles mentally, and activates his ring of radiance to cast forth a sunbeam at the closest enemy. The death snapper makes a hollow hissing sound and charges back up on him, lashing out with its guts. They lash across his body and snarl around him, but- again- his freedom of movement saves him from a potentially lethal grapple. Simultaneously, the Axars are focusing on Inoke and Thrush, trying to disable or destroy the two burly warriors. Inoke charges one of the nimblewrights, smashing it into another, and in a series of incredible blows he pounds both of them to crushed metal, tangled wire and broken gears.
Sybele and Chakar remain focused on the bile ooze. While the warrior of Chaos continues firing arrows into the ooze, the dwarven monk pulls more chunks of stone from the wall and hurls them. Chunk after chunk of stone smashes into the ooze; arrow after arrow penetrates it. Sybele and Chakar exchange a glance. It is very tough, acknowledges Sybele.
Chakar grimaces and leaps, tumbling through the air, into position next to it, muttering the command that activates the contingency that Orbius bestowed upon him. In Chakar’s case, a bile shield springs up around him. With the ghost of a smile on his face, he engages the bile ooze in melee, hoping that it will prove to be a fruitful decision.
Thrush finishes off one of the death snappers and then charges forward at an ooze octopus. The octopus has dealt several telling blows to him; now, he figures, it is his turn. Indeed, he lands a single mighty blow on it before the monster’s myriad of tentacles pound into him, almost killing him!* Thrush is batted away unconscious and bleeding.
Inoke reels as four polar rays blast him. Between his energy adaptation and his sheer endurance, he manages to survive, but he finds himself worried about a fight for the first time in a very long time- but he also knows, if the party is to overcome their adversaries, he cannot falter now. He must risk it all. He roars a challenge and charges another of the Axars, smashing it back into another of its kind, and hammers them both with his sweeping strike technique. Tortured metal gives way, and both of the spellcasting nimblewrights go down. “You’re next!” he calls, pointing at another of the constructs, but telepathically, he adds, [i[Horbin! I’m not sure how much more of this I can take![/i] Then he gives another yelp as a targeted greater dispel magic strips him of many of his psionic enhancements. His schism fades, he shrinks back to normal size...
You’re not the only one, my friend, comes the reply across the link.
Suddenly a crushing fist of spite appears, crashing down atop one of the ooze octopi. Baron Lillamere, in marut form (via shapechange), follows this up- enhanced by Marius’ double actions- with a maximized disintegrate.
Horbin has managed to pour enough healing onto himself that he can take a round of attacks (he hopes), so he steps forward to face the death snappers that are crawling towards the party, their intestines searching for prey to grab and crush. He flies quickly on his carpet of flying to the best spot he can find- and casts a mass heal. Positive energy surges through him, several of his allies (though neither of the ones that need it most, Inoke and Thrush, are close enough to target)- and most of the death snappers. Several of the gutling turtles have already suffered damage from one thing or another (such as Thrush or Gerontius’ ring’s sunrays), and all of them ones that are caught in the mass heal explode in a blast of silver radiance. This leaves only one of the turtles left alive- or rather, undestroyed- and it immediately charges in on Chakar, flanking him with the bile ooze.
“This ooze is tough!” Sybele yells unbelievingly. It has absorbed arrow after arrow after arrow. She shakes her head in dismay and keeps shooting. It looks like her arrows are causing it to leak fluid and are gradually deflating it, but it seems to have truly epic resilience.** Twang! Thwack! Another arrow shot and another hit... and it still keeps going, lashing out at Chakar with a pair of pseudopodia. Gerontius is tumbling like mad, firing sunrays at the death snappers and trying to stay out of reach.
Chakar blocks pseudopodia from the ooze with his hands, then back flips over the incoming gut slam of the death snapper. Another blow from the turtle lands across his shoulder, however, bruising and burning him. Chakar grunts and slips free as the intestinal cord attempts to wrap around him. The dwarf never even hesitates; he maintains his focus on the bile ooze. Its caustic spray is vicious and must be stopped, before it destroys more of the party’s gear! He hears the worry in Sybele’s voice, but he eliminates it from his existence. There is only the ooze and the turtle; but the turtle is nothing, it is only an obstacle. There is only the ooze.
Chakar’s fists piston out, splattering huge amounts of cytoplasm out of the disgusting ooze. Again, he punches deep into it, and grainy stuff flows out of the hole he makes. Spinning into a kick, he forces a great gout of the stuff out of the ooze. And one more blow, and it is deflated like a pierced balloon. Chakar stands triumphant over his foe, and the party cheers.
To his dismay, Inoke sees more of the Axars are reconstructed, and he realizes that if they get another volley of spells off at him, they will probably kill him. There are four of them, he thinks. But at least, now, they are close together.
First he expands to large size. Then- he charges, augmenting it with a psionic lion’s charge. He smashes into the ‘odd man out’ of the nimblewrights, using his domino rush ability to push him into his allies. Then- using his sweeping strike- he smashes two of them with a mighty blow, then another. They explode in a shower of gears and springs, and Inoke cleaves, bringing his mace through and into the face of one of the remaining two Axars. It staggers back, and another blow finishes it. He great cleaves on through, smashing into the last Axar. If I can destroy it, he thinks, they won’t be able to reconstruct each other any more, because they’ll all be dead! His final strike is perfect, smashing into the nimblewright’s chest and crushing it, knocking it back and down into the water. Another cheer comes from the rest of the party: things seem to be turning in their general direction.
But Horbin notices something that most of the rest of them, at least initially, do not: shadows under the water, following Inoke’s progress. There is something else in the water, the Bishop realizes with dismay. There are more enemies still.
Next Time: The ambush at Bile Mountain concludes!
*If Thrush didn’t have the Cling to Life feat, he’d have died here. With it, he can reach something like -50 hp before he dies.
**I seem to recall Sybele noticing that it was round 8 and that she’d be doing just a little shy of 100 hp/round to it for several rounds.
