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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 4005716" data-attributes="member: 1210">On the Slopes of Firestorm PeakThe mountain grows ever more jagged as the party ascends its slopes. Scree and gravel scramble out from underfoot as the party continues along the little-used trail that they are climbing. Their breath becomes shorter; Kyle, especially, is gasping and wheezing as he ascends. From somewhere on the mountain far above them, the multicolored blast of flame that jets into the comet hanging in the sky above beckons them. For a moment, Otis pauses to gulp in a breath of the chilly night air. His ears are working again, thank the gods- and the elves. After they at last reluctantly saw that the party, like them, was opposed to the villainous Sir Harth, they healed him. He takes a deep breath...Movement!Something huge is slithering towards them. He can hear the skitter of stones brushed aside by an immense form. The sides of the trail are lined with rises of stones, some four feet high; beyond the markers, many larger boulders are strewn up and down the mountain’s side. Some of them are quite large, and it behind one of these that the slithering thing has hidden itself- but clearly, it is stalking the party. It is gigantic, at least 40 feet long.“Beware!” shouts Otis. Then the wizard casts a fireball into the darkness where the form is lurking, and the blast of heat and light illuminates a horror beyond his understanding.Serpentine, with multiple pairs of serpent-like legs, the monster is dark indigo in color. It looks like some sort of bizarre reptile, yet it has too many legs, and it is far, far too big to be any sort of reptile that any of our heroes have ever seen.With a cry, Lord Cedric spurs Thunderpuss into a charge. She easily leaps over the rocky marker beside the road, and he leans forward, lance braced, as they speed towards the beast. He slams into it, but the tip of his lance shivers and almost shatters harmlessly. Then the monster lunges forward, and its long mouth plucks Cedric from the saddle! He cries out in surprise. It seems that the monster is trying to swallow the lisping lord!“There’s another one!” shouts Sir Colder, and his bow sings as he launches an arrow into the second sinuous monster. Sir Jorgen immediately charges at it, skewering it with his spear. It roars in surprised pain. Simultaneously, a volley of Adelle’s magic missiles peppers the horrifying thing that is grappling with Cedric, and for a moment it seems ready to release him; but instead, it only transfers him to its coils, where its many short legs begin tearing at him. He cries out and struggles to free himself, but still to no avail! The monster is extraordinarily strong! But Otis, Adelle and Kyle keep feeding the beast a steady diet of magic missiles, while Sir Colder, Sir Percival (the half-orc known as Me, because he is too stupid to say his own name) and Sheriff Jorgen engage the second monster in melee. Suddenly it shows an unexpected- and terrifying- ability.It breathes out a great stroke of lightning, blasting Me, Adelle and one of the peasants. “Nooo!” Adelle cries, as she sees one of the last of her people die. The great beast (dragon?) seems almost to snicker.“RAAAHHHGG!!” Lord Cedric exerts himself mightily. Straining to his utmost, he manages to force the monster holding him to loosen its coils just the smallest amount; and he manages to slip free. He shakes his head to clear his vision as he whips out his bastard sword.Boom! A flame strike explodes down at Dahlia’s urging, scorching the great monster that is meleeing with Colder. It bites him savagely and rips at him with its claws. Blood flies, and Colder screams in pain. The second monster laughs horribly, then plucks one of the peasants- Bates- from the road.“Bateth!” cries Lord Cedric. “Oh no! I will rethcue you!”The monster rips the lad to pieces.“NOOOOOOO!!!!” wails Cedric. The monster laughs again, chewing on part of Bates’ body noisily. Then Jorgen’s spear takes it in the side, sinking deep into the horrible creature. It gives a loud, startled burp full of blood, then turns its hate-filled eyes on the sheriff.Uh-oh, thinks Jorgen.Crunch!Suddenly Me is there, tumbling in, and he gives a great swing with his magic mace just as the blue thing is lunging in to attack. The mace hits it right between the eyes. Bone shatters, and Me is thrown back ward by the force of the monster’s charge. It collapses to the ground. Me stumbles with it. Abruptly he realizes, in his dim way, that this is because his arm is in the monster’s brain up to his elbow. The other monster gives a wail of despair. Before it can make another move, Otis blasts it with the flames of the magical rod that he discovered- and it, too, finally collapses!“No,” moans Lord Cedric. “That monthter killed Bateth! Ahh, the poor lad. I remember when I uthed to dandy him on my knee...”“Yes, yes,” interrupts Otis brusquely. “But we must continue our pursuit of Harth. If we do not, his death will have been for nothing.” Adelle shoots him an angry look, but he ignores it. “Quickly,” he urges. “From what the elves told us, Harth has stolen some kind of vehicle. They teleported us as far as they could, but he might still be ahead of us. We must catch up to him and stop him- and learn how he planned to get home!” He glances up. “And another thing: if that comet is linked to Harth’s plan, we have another reason for urgency. It can’t be long until it fades from view.”Adelle opens her mouth to snap at him for his insensitivity- even a few moments to grieve- but Kyle speaks up first. “He’s right. He may be an <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />, but he’s right.” Otis shoots Kyle an inscrutable look, but now it’s the apprentice’s turn to ignore it. “You have to put off your grief, my lord- and my lady,” he nods to Adelle. “If we don’t catch Harth, we’re stuck here.”Lord Cedric sniffles. “Drink,” he demands.Less than a minute later, the party moves on, beneath the strangely-hued light blasting from Firestorm Peak at the comet above them. They have gone on for only about ten minutes when they hear a strange noise not far away and above, strangely similar to the piping of an organ. They continue cautiously over a small shoulder- and a pack of four strange, eyeless creatures with gaping, tubular mouths.Otis doesn’t ask questions, he just tosses a fireball into their midst. The combat that breaks out is terrifically loud. The monsters prove capable of projecting their calls into deadly sonic attacks of terrific intensity. Cones of bone-shattering, flesh-pulverizing sound rip across the entire group- including all of the peasants.Adelle cries out in horror again and again as peasant after peasant falls. She casts a fireball on the monsters, and the party presses their attack as best they can, especially once Otis hastes the party. But Sir Porthos staggers and falls to the sonic assault, and it takes the party’s utmost efforts to overcome the monstrous trumpeters. Of all of the peasants, only Danelle, Adelle’s horse-faced sister, survives. “I know,” Adelle growls at Otis’ impatient look. Tears stream down her face. “No time. I know.” “But we are pretty wounded,” Dahlia points out. She and Cedric are administering what healing magic they have to the party’s worst-wounded, but still living, souls. To everyone’s surprise, Sir Porthos is still clinging to the ragged edge of life, and Lord Cedric’s ministrations soon bring him around. But- other than Danelle- the other peasants are gone.“We don’t have time to wait,” Kyle groans. “I would love to rest as much as any of you, but we don’t have the luxury of time. If we can beat Harth to the gates of this mountain, maybe we can stop him from entering. If we fail- if he beats us in- who knows whether we can stop him at all. Who knows what elven weapons he might steal, or-”“You’re right, Kyle,” Sir Colder says. “But if we do find him now, are we in any shape to fight him?”Lord Cedric snorts disdainfully. “We have beaten him before. We thall do tho again!”“But his beholder ally beat us before,” Colder reminds him.“I can fight,” Sheriff Jorgen states unequivocally. “And I agree with Kyle. We need to move.”And they do, pushing on through the night, which is now getting closer to dawn. Otis glances at the comet again, and frowns. It’s fading fast, he thinks. We must hurry! Nothing must slow us down! This may even be its last night in the sky! He glances at the first hint of light from the east and bites his lip apprehensively. On and up the trail they go. It crests another shoulder as it zigs and zags, and our heroes see, at last, the place from which the firestorm for which the peak is named emanates from.About 400 yards ahead of them, the party sees a wide chasm. A thin bridge of stone crosses it. On the far side, there is a plateau not far beneath the peak. It runs 100’ to the mountain’s face, and a set of huge gates, made for all appearances of glass, stand open there, leading into the mountain. A blazing wreath of multicolored fire seems to come out of nowhere from the air directly above the gates, rushing into the sky and up towards the mysterious comet. The Glass Gates, Otis thinks suddenly. The Gates of Fire.He glances up into the sky, and his blood runs cold. “The comet!” he cries. “It is almost out of the sky! We must hurry!”And then, before the party even has time to move, they see a pair of small figures ascend from within the chasm. One of them, even at this distance, is clearly humanoid. And the other seems to be, basically, spherical- perhaps with just a hint of some sort of bristling things atop it.“It’s Harth,” Sheriff Jorgen spits. “It has to be!”“Quickly!” cries Lord Cedric. He vaults into Thunderpuss’ saddle and begins moving as quickly as he can towards the bridge. But he must follow the path, which winds and zigs and zags, switching back and forth along the mountain face. He gives a cry of despair as he sees Harth and the beholder (he believes that is who he sees, anyway) float across the chasm and out of it- and walk through the glass gates.Which, he suddenly realizes, are slightly narrower than they were when they first came into view. A glance into the sky confirms his worst fears, and Otis’ warnings: the comet is fading. It is barely visible now. It is not the effect of the coming dawn, either.If I must chase you down by myself, Harth, I shall, vows Lord Cedric, pushing Thunderpuss for all she is worth. The others race after him as quickly as they can. But they are far behind him when Cedric thunders across the bridge. By the time the first of them has reached the bridge, Cedric is riding hard through the glass gates. They are closing visibly now. Everyone else redoubles their pace. Otis casts a frantic glance overhead. “Hurry!” he gasps. Kyle is falling behind.Across the bridge they go. To the other side. And quick, now, across the field! Before the gates close!Kyle gets across the bridge at last. He is gasping for breath. His lungs burn. He sees Me, Colder, Jorgen reach the gates. Almost there. He runs as fast as he can. The gates are moving fast enough that he can see their motion, as they slowly swing towards a shut position. Dahlia turns and calls out, “Kyle, hurry up!” Her eyes are wide. Through the gates! The aperture is only about 12’ wide now; when fully open, they offer a passage around 40’ across. “Made it,” gasps Kyle.The gates close behind our heroes.“Let’s hope so,” murmurs Jorgen.Next Time: Inside Firestorm Peak!</blockquote>

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