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!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DoctorB" data-source="post: 186292" data-attributes="member: 903">Nine Heads, No WaitingSeeming to notice the raggedly dressed drow in the rear of the party for the first time, Sidroc asked, “Do you want to remove the collaborator before we go further.”“Well,” Cobbe started.  “He is not exactly a collaborator but an escaped slave from somewhere below.  He claims he was a slave of Mind Flayers.  We have taken him under our protection.”The drow had named himself as Maer when the Champions caught him following them out of the Underdark.  He spoke no languages in common with anyone else, but could communicate through Lux.  He seemed thrilled at the thought at seeing the mythical “outside.”  Since he seemed a downtrodden person, Liana had taken him on as a personal project and had slowly begun teaching the young drow to speak Khal.  Maer seemed nervous around all these enemies of dark elves, but remained firm in his desire to see the surface world.“Well then,” Sidroc continued.  “About the Hydra…”“My people cannot stand against the beast,” the Kurnzarn explained.  “Whenever we gain an advantage, they send the 9-headed monster and we are forced back.  If you could slay the beast, we would be able to finish off this drow army.  For now, go with my orderly, Helm, and rest.  Tomorrow we will attack.”The young dwarf Sidroc introduced to them led the Champions to a makeshift mess hall for a filling dwarven meal and then to an unused barracks.  There, they rested for another day to recover from the effects of poison and wounds.The next day, Decimus 17, the Champions returned to the battlefront.  The Kurnzarn met them with an elite force of dwarven warriors.“Wherever the fighting is toughest is where they send the hydra,” he explained.  “So we are going to create some tough fighting for them to draw the creature to us.  The other Defenders of the Dwarvenrealm lead forces holding the dark elves at all points along the perimeter.”Looking out over the battlefield, the Champions saw a still impressive host of undergoblins with giants scattered here and there.  The drow leadership stood in the center of the cavern giving orders.  This was the largest entrance to the huge chamber, the tunnel opening partially blocked by a barricade of wood and stone.Sidroc seemed to talk to himself as he prepared his dwarves.  Titansbane gleamed in his hand like an extension of himself.  The soldiers finally lined up in a wedge and fiercely attacked the nearby goblins.Cries went up from several parts of the cavern.  The dwarves had coordinated their assault well.  The Kurnzarn and his troop made quick progress through the outer lines of the enemy until three of the three-armed giants waded in with their clubs.  Sidroc gave a war cry and attacked one of them as Titansbane began to glow.The Champions did not participate in the attack, waiting behind the barrier for the hydra to come closer.  Joy called on the Lady’s power to shield the party as Toiva began to sing a chant-like battle song.Finally, the drow decided to commit their monster.  Rumbling across the floor of the cavern, it moved at Sidroc with frightening speed.  Up close, the creature’s skin was pale green and the eyes of its nine heads seemed exceptionally large, standing above the sharp teeth snapping at anything in its way.  One of the goblins did not move fast enough and found itself bitten in half by the monster.Joy called up a wind wall to shield them from the arrows of the drow still behind the lines and Galena opened the way through the goblins with a fireball.  The Champions then charged by the still fighting dwarves to engage the nine-headed beast.Liana and Arin were the first to arrive in the beast’s range and nearly died in the beast’s first series of attacks.  Liana tumbled away while Arin fell back towards Joy.  Cobbe and Toiva then charged in, slashing at the beast’s heads.    One head collapsed under a blow while another was severed from the neck.  Even as the beast continued to fight, however, the damage slowly began to heal.  The Champions redoubled their attack.Galena now called on the powers of earth and fire and several creatures sprang up around the Hydra.  Snake-like, the human-sized creatures glowed like magma, especially near the front of their bodies.  Used to the mage’s summoning power, the Champions hesitated only a moment as these strange beings joined the attack.  Soon another group joined the first.  Wherever these fire worms struck, the hydra could not heal.  Even the nine-headed monster could not keep track of all its enemies at once, giving Liana opportunities to seek weaknesses in its hide.  As the great beast finally fell, the Thoqquas, as Galena called them, crawled over it and prevented any further regeneration.Having accomplished their goal, the Champions withdrew again from the battle.  Galena stayed behind until she had exhausted her magic aiding the battle.  Though it was obvious that the dwarves had a great deal of difficult work to do, the dark elves would see no more reinforcements.  Dwarven victory was only a matter of time.</blockquote>

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