Graywolf-ELM
Explorer
I need to expand my budget for books and .pdf's. This looked like fun. But will the scorps meld with the blue goblins?
GW
GW
Don't laugh..... it's here.
Hairy Minotaur
Explorer
A new leader?
"You should be leading this rabble, your power is unmatched, yet you secret me away like an embarrassment."
"This rabble is much more fun to watch while I'm not in a position of responsibility."
"Yet you teach them so much of their folly, not like the minotaur, who's constantly making excuses for why he can't get the job done."
"I fear they won't follow me, there's no love loss with them."
"That's why you need me, I can show how to make them bow, make them open their eyes and see the light that you can bring them to."
"I have no sway with the giants, they look upon me as a snack, or something to wipe off of the bottom of their shoe."
"Simpletons, they lack any kind of direction in life. Allow me to extend a hand and guide them down the path of glory."
"What about the rest of the minotaurs, they simply will not allow a foreigner to take charge."
"Then Paquito will need to be eliminated."
"I am not a murderer."
"Who said anything about murder? Is it murder if a man is told to fetch a rope and falls into a pit and dies? Is it murder if a man dies while defending another? Certainly not and there's no need for you to soil your hands with the deed. The big one, Gronar, maybe his swings a little erratic one day, certainly not your fault if Paquito is in the way. Or the paranoid one, Finrod, is it your fault if he believes Paquito to be a shapechanger and strikes him down? The pillars have already been set within each of them, one must merely nudge them and the whole structure will collapse."
"What is it you do?"
"I nudge people."
"What shall I call you?"
"Call me the hand that guides."
"Who do you think will require the least nudging?"
"All in good time, for now, let's go see the new one, Gorfine, he has potential."
Lothred tucked the metal stick safely back into his backpack. Even though it was well out of sight, it still spoke to him almost constantly. What was once an odd whisper while alone, was now a raging debate in his head. Lothred had easily won the first debates, but these later ones weren't so decisive.
In fact Lothred chalked this latest one up as a draw, while the item made quite a few good points, Lothred intended to ignore it and engage his free will to show he was still the one in control. The item of course knew it had already won, when it first spoke to Lothred and he didn't get rid of the item. The beast knew then that it's immortal patience would bear fruit.
The following morning Paquito gathered the party for another excursion below.
"Didn't we kill Taurranous again?" Luciann asked, annoyed at having to go so far down in the dirt again.
"We must make sure the umber hulks are dead. No?" Paquito explained.
"Can't your tribe take care of them now, seems like they were winning if Taurranous didn't show up." Lothred spoke
"You don't have to come then, stay here, plant some mushrooms, eat roasted mole. Then try to leave with half of Mirwood pointing arrows of oppugnant slaying at you. No?"
Bah, elves. Paquito and the giants could wipe them out if they were even slightly motivated
"Ha! Elves, tree fairies with pointed sticks, come on you could wipes out an entire barracks with your bad breath alone, and don't get me started on what an angry Gronar could do with a brigade of elves charging him." Lothred spoke
"Yes, Gronar make pillow out of soft green elfys." The giant's words made Luciann and Finrod uncomfortable.
"Why would you even suggest such a horrible course of action, he'd be cut down before he took two steps into the daylight." Lothred replied referring to Gronar
Ah, but at least he'd have tried
"But, at least he'd go down facing and knowing his enemy on the battlefield, not in these cramped tunnels that offer no room for a proper swing of a sword." Lothred countered
"What you're suggesting is suicide, you want him dead?" Luciann challenged
but where do the loyalties of Finrod lie?
"I suggest we put Finrod on the top step and see if he gets shot at." Lothred offers
"What! Are you trying to get me killed too?" Finrod demands
"Enough of this! The umber hulks await. No?"
The conversation quieted down and before long was nearly forgotten as the party traversed the dark beyond the room where Taurranous' body lie rotting. The party came upon a small cavern on natural rock, stalagmites and stalactites offered good cover to anyone or anything which might have designs on an ambush.
there are creatures afoot
"I don't like this, smells like a trap. Maybe we should try a few ranged attacks through the room just to be sure." Lothred offered
"What? Are you psychic now, I don't want to be wasting spells because your ear twitched the wrong way in the breeze out of Gronar's backend." Ratchet retorted
A streak of flame erupted from a nearby stalagmite, bursting across the chest of Omar and dropping the dwarf to one knee.
"Ambush!" Lothred shouted and pointed his staff at the direction of where the flame originated and called forth an acid blast to drench the area. Nothing moved.
The group moved to take up defensive positions within the cavern, and as they did so, the walls behind them crumbled as a group of umber hulks tore into the cavern. Paquito whirled and shot off a scorching ray, in his haste to call forth his power, he failed to aim properly and blasted the roof of the cavern above his target's head.
Gronar and Korg made short work of the four that appeared behind them, then another gout of flame erupted in the cavern filling the space with fire and force. The party recoiled from the ground zero fireball.
"Find the source of that magic. No?" Both Lothred and Paquito said in unison, so that it sounded as if Paquito was responding to Lothred rather than merely ending his sentence.
The floor and walls shook and melted away as more umber hulks poured into the cavern. Paquito fired off another scorching ray and this time blasted a stalactite to rubble. "This things have spell resistance. No?"
There were two voices laughing hysterically at Paquito's ineffectual attack, and they both were inside Lothred's mind.
The rest of the party took care of the new umber hulk arrivals fairly easily, Paquito kept his eyes scanning the cavern looking for signs of the spellcaster that had made this attack far harder than it should have been, as he brought his around he caught a shimmer near the opposite wall of the cavern.
"There!" Paquito shouted as the party's attention was draw to where Paquito indicated, the large shimmer moved along the wall and escaped down a dark tunnel to the north.
Paquito and Korg raced to the tunnel the shimmering form had retreated into, soon followed by the rest of the party.
"You should be leading this rabble, your power is unmatched, yet you secret me away like an embarrassment."
"This rabble is much more fun to watch while I'm not in a position of responsibility."
"Yet you teach them so much of their folly, not like the minotaur, who's constantly making excuses for why he can't get the job done."
"I fear they won't follow me, there's no love loss with them."
"That's why you need me, I can show how to make them bow, make them open their eyes and see the light that you can bring them to."
"I have no sway with the giants, they look upon me as a snack, or something to wipe off of the bottom of their shoe."
"Simpletons, they lack any kind of direction in life. Allow me to extend a hand and guide them down the path of glory."
"What about the rest of the minotaurs, they simply will not allow a foreigner to take charge."
"Then Paquito will need to be eliminated."
"I am not a murderer."
"Who said anything about murder? Is it murder if a man is told to fetch a rope and falls into a pit and dies? Is it murder if a man dies while defending another? Certainly not and there's no need for you to soil your hands with the deed. The big one, Gronar, maybe his swings a little erratic one day, certainly not your fault if Paquito is in the way. Or the paranoid one, Finrod, is it your fault if he believes Paquito to be a shapechanger and strikes him down? The pillars have already been set within each of them, one must merely nudge them and the whole structure will collapse."
"What is it you do?"
"I nudge people."
"What shall I call you?"
"Call me the hand that guides."
"Who do you think will require the least nudging?"
"All in good time, for now, let's go see the new one, Gorfine, he has potential."
Lothred tucked the metal stick safely back into his backpack. Even though it was well out of sight, it still spoke to him almost constantly. What was once an odd whisper while alone, was now a raging debate in his head. Lothred had easily won the first debates, but these later ones weren't so decisive.
In fact Lothred chalked this latest one up as a draw, while the item made quite a few good points, Lothred intended to ignore it and engage his free will to show he was still the one in control. The item of course knew it had already won, when it first spoke to Lothred and he didn't get rid of the item. The beast knew then that it's immortal patience would bear fruit.
The following morning Paquito gathered the party for another excursion below.
"Didn't we kill Taurranous again?" Luciann asked, annoyed at having to go so far down in the dirt again.
"We must make sure the umber hulks are dead. No?" Paquito explained.
"Can't your tribe take care of them now, seems like they were winning if Taurranous didn't show up." Lothred spoke
"You don't have to come then, stay here, plant some mushrooms, eat roasted mole. Then try to leave with half of Mirwood pointing arrows of oppugnant slaying at you. No?"
Bah, elves. Paquito and the giants could wipe them out if they were even slightly motivated
"Ha! Elves, tree fairies with pointed sticks, come on you could wipes out an entire barracks with your bad breath alone, and don't get me started on what an angry Gronar could do with a brigade of elves charging him." Lothred spoke
"Yes, Gronar make pillow out of soft green elfys." The giant's words made Luciann and Finrod uncomfortable.
"Why would you even suggest such a horrible course of action, he'd be cut down before he took two steps into the daylight." Lothred replied referring to Gronar
Ah, but at least he'd have tried
"But, at least he'd go down facing and knowing his enemy on the battlefield, not in these cramped tunnels that offer no room for a proper swing of a sword." Lothred countered
"What you're suggesting is suicide, you want him dead?" Luciann challenged
but where do the loyalties of Finrod lie?
"I suggest we put Finrod on the top step and see if he gets shot at." Lothred offers
"What! Are you trying to get me killed too?" Finrod demands
"Enough of this! The umber hulks await. No?"
The conversation quieted down and before long was nearly forgotten as the party traversed the dark beyond the room where Taurranous' body lie rotting. The party came upon a small cavern on natural rock, stalagmites and stalactites offered good cover to anyone or anything which might have designs on an ambush.
there are creatures afoot
"I don't like this, smells like a trap. Maybe we should try a few ranged attacks through the room just to be sure." Lothred offered
"What? Are you psychic now, I don't want to be wasting spells because your ear twitched the wrong way in the breeze out of Gronar's backend." Ratchet retorted
A streak of flame erupted from a nearby stalagmite, bursting across the chest of Omar and dropping the dwarf to one knee.
"Ambush!" Lothred shouted and pointed his staff at the direction of where the flame originated and called forth an acid blast to drench the area. Nothing moved.
The group moved to take up defensive positions within the cavern, and as they did so, the walls behind them crumbled as a group of umber hulks tore into the cavern. Paquito whirled and shot off a scorching ray, in his haste to call forth his power, he failed to aim properly and blasted the roof of the cavern above his target's head.
Gronar and Korg made short work of the four that appeared behind them, then another gout of flame erupted in the cavern filling the space with fire and force. The party recoiled from the ground zero fireball.
"Find the source of that magic. No?" Both Lothred and Paquito said in unison, so that it sounded as if Paquito was responding to Lothred rather than merely ending his sentence.
The floor and walls shook and melted away as more umber hulks poured into the cavern. Paquito fired off another scorching ray and this time blasted a stalactite to rubble. "This things have spell resistance. No?"
There were two voices laughing hysterically at Paquito's ineffectual attack, and they both were inside Lothred's mind.
The rest of the party took care of the new umber hulk arrivals fairly easily, Paquito kept his eyes scanning the cavern looking for signs of the spellcaster that had made this attack far harder than it should have been, as he brought his around he caught a shimmer near the opposite wall of the cavern.
"There!" Paquito shouted as the party's attention was draw to where Paquito indicated, the large shimmer moved along the wall and escaped down a dark tunnel to the north.
Paquito and Korg raced to the tunnel the shimmering form had retreated into, soon followed by the rest of the party.
Hairy Minotaur
Explorer
Another stoned party member....
The party races after Paquito, through narrow passages and slippery terrain. Emerging in a huge cavern deep under the maze, over one-hundred feet across and twice as deep, the ceiling stretched beyond normal vision, as the floor seemed aglow with an eerie green light.
To the left, about half-way down was a wide passageway leading away from the cavern, the back of the room held large upright glass tubes where a bubbling liquid sound could be heard.
Interposing themselves between the party and the equipment at the rear of the room was a gaunt hunched over man in tattered garb. It may have once been a grand outfit hundreds of years ago and the age and wear of the garments easily gave away what type of creature he was even without a visual facial confirmation.
With him stood a dull gray, stone-like minotaur and an obsidian minotaur, it's reflective surface playing tricks with the low light beneath it.
"Your intrusion here is too soon, I cannot make an effective assessment of my work without it being complete first. Leave now and I shall allow you to return when I am fully ready." The gaunt man spoke with a grave inflection.
*Ha! you've surprised him, take him now while he's weak. Don't let these fools dictate to you what you can't and can't do. Seize the power for yourself*
"I think we've stepped too far into the latrine on this one. No?" Paquito whispers
"Korg not know what latrine is, but Korg know undead when smell it." Korg says under his breath
"Charge!" Lothred's voice shatters an uncomfortable silence as the magister closes the gap and launches an acid bolt into the lich's frame. The bolt dissolves away some of the filthy outer robes, but fails to do anything further.
Gronar watches the apprehension upon the faces of those behind him, turns ands sees the little elfy rush headlong into the enemy. gripping his sword tight his forces his blood to seethe with an ancestral desire as he too charges the stunned trio of enemies.
The smell of courage fills Gorfine's nostrils as he watches Lothred and Gronar engage the enemy on their home soil, he too waves off the rest of the party and runs to the battle. Omar, his dwarven blood calling to him from a far off place, brings a ringing to his ears like that of a hammer struck anvil and it rouses him to action as well. "For the mountains!"
Ratchet blinks to Gronar's shoulder and hears the puffing plodding of the dwarf behind him. Ratchet hears an arcane chant ahead of him as a spell, more ancient than perhaps this cavern, is ushered from the skeletal jaw of the lich.
Before the rest of the party, a pained moan echoes from the ground in front of them, just prior to a wall of near insubstantialness erupting from the pained earth. Ghostly visages and auditory warnings powered by the negative material plane and driven through the ethereal plane seem to dance slowly across a surface that is at once non-existent and very real.
The appearance of the wall of spirits causes Gorfine to pull up just short of the minotaurs and fires off two arrows from his longbow, the attacks bounce ff the gray minotaur as if it was actually made completely of stone.
The attack draws the gray minotaur's attention to Gorfine and the beast lumbers towards Gorfine, stopping about twenty feet from the black minotaur and opening it's mouth in a wide "O" shape as a green gas escapes from the gray minotaur and envelopes Gorfine. Once the gas dissipates a statuesque form of Gorfine remains, eternally posed for all to see.
As Gronar charges passed the gray minotaur, he arcs his sword at the beat's head and clips it's neck, thick gray blood pours from the critical wound as the minotaur bellows a painful cry into the cavern walls. Korg watches as Gorfine is rendered useless and resolves to protect his friend from this undead most foul.
The hill giant takes a step back and leaps through the ghostly impediment. An unimaginable cold licks at Korg's skin as his vision is assaulted by a myriad of death scenes most of the unpleasant violent variety. Landing on the far side, Korg shakes off the bitter cold as his skin has turned a deathly blue-white, the hill giant makes his way for a close distance to launch his artillery of faith at the undead monstrosity.
Paquito, wary of the wall, tries to fire magic missiles through the apparitions, only to have the spell disappear through the ether once it comes into contact with the wall. Dismayed, Paquito looks over to Finrod and Luciann.
"You'll have to jump through like Korg did, or we're going to need reinforcements from upstairs. No?"
"Jump, through that? That's crazy, you saw what it did to Korg, that's not natural. I'll go get reinforcements." Finrod yells back.
"Wait! We can do this, getting reinforcements will take too long anyhow, one side going to be dead long before you would get back with anyone." Luciann spoke reason to Finrod
Finrod looked Paquito and Luciann up and down, swallowed his courage and stepped up to the spirit wall. The faces within coalesced in front of a terrified Finrod, void filled bottomless eyes peered back at the elf from every imaginable race, they each silently screamed out in pain and horror attempting to entice the elf into the wall. Finrod reached out a hand to touch the ethereal surface and a deluge of suffering and torment washed up his arm and into his soul. Finrod screamed and twisted his body violently from the wall and ran for the cavern entrance.
Luciann ran to intercept his fellow elf, but Finrod bull rushed him over at the entrance and began to head into the tunnel beyond, he only had to go ten feet before he found reinforcements, unfortunately they were of the umber hulk persuasion and definitely not friendly towards the party.
Pulling up short as the tunnel walls around him collapsed, Finrod tried to take it all in before the floor beneath him collapsed as well, sending the elf tumbling down a pit trap neatly dug by a waiting umber hulk at the bottom of the fall.
The party races after Paquito, through narrow passages and slippery terrain. Emerging in a huge cavern deep under the maze, over one-hundred feet across and twice as deep, the ceiling stretched beyond normal vision, as the floor seemed aglow with an eerie green light.
To the left, about half-way down was a wide passageway leading away from the cavern, the back of the room held large upright glass tubes where a bubbling liquid sound could be heard.
Interposing themselves between the party and the equipment at the rear of the room was a gaunt hunched over man in tattered garb. It may have once been a grand outfit hundreds of years ago and the age and wear of the garments easily gave away what type of creature he was even without a visual facial confirmation.
With him stood a dull gray, stone-like minotaur and an obsidian minotaur, it's reflective surface playing tricks with the low light beneath it.
"Your intrusion here is too soon, I cannot make an effective assessment of my work without it being complete first. Leave now and I shall allow you to return when I am fully ready." The gaunt man spoke with a grave inflection.
*Ha! you've surprised him, take him now while he's weak. Don't let these fools dictate to you what you can't and can't do. Seize the power for yourself*
"I think we've stepped too far into the latrine on this one. No?" Paquito whispers
"Korg not know what latrine is, but Korg know undead when smell it." Korg says under his breath
"Charge!" Lothred's voice shatters an uncomfortable silence as the magister closes the gap and launches an acid bolt into the lich's frame. The bolt dissolves away some of the filthy outer robes, but fails to do anything further.
Gronar watches the apprehension upon the faces of those behind him, turns ands sees the little elfy rush headlong into the enemy. gripping his sword tight his forces his blood to seethe with an ancestral desire as he too charges the stunned trio of enemies.
The smell of courage fills Gorfine's nostrils as he watches Lothred and Gronar engage the enemy on their home soil, he too waves off the rest of the party and runs to the battle. Omar, his dwarven blood calling to him from a far off place, brings a ringing to his ears like that of a hammer struck anvil and it rouses him to action as well. "For the mountains!"
Ratchet blinks to Gronar's shoulder and hears the puffing plodding of the dwarf behind him. Ratchet hears an arcane chant ahead of him as a spell, more ancient than perhaps this cavern, is ushered from the skeletal jaw of the lich.
Before the rest of the party, a pained moan echoes from the ground in front of them, just prior to a wall of near insubstantialness erupting from the pained earth. Ghostly visages and auditory warnings powered by the negative material plane and driven through the ethereal plane seem to dance slowly across a surface that is at once non-existent and very real.
The appearance of the wall of spirits causes Gorfine to pull up just short of the minotaurs and fires off two arrows from his longbow, the attacks bounce ff the gray minotaur as if it was actually made completely of stone.
The attack draws the gray minotaur's attention to Gorfine and the beast lumbers towards Gorfine, stopping about twenty feet from the black minotaur and opening it's mouth in a wide "O" shape as a green gas escapes from the gray minotaur and envelopes Gorfine. Once the gas dissipates a statuesque form of Gorfine remains, eternally posed for all to see.
As Gronar charges passed the gray minotaur, he arcs his sword at the beat's head and clips it's neck, thick gray blood pours from the critical wound as the minotaur bellows a painful cry into the cavern walls. Korg watches as Gorfine is rendered useless and resolves to protect his friend from this undead most foul.
The hill giant takes a step back and leaps through the ghostly impediment. An unimaginable cold licks at Korg's skin as his vision is assaulted by a myriad of death scenes most of the unpleasant violent variety. Landing on the far side, Korg shakes off the bitter cold as his skin has turned a deathly blue-white, the hill giant makes his way for a close distance to launch his artillery of faith at the undead monstrosity.
Paquito, wary of the wall, tries to fire magic missiles through the apparitions, only to have the spell disappear through the ether once it comes into contact with the wall. Dismayed, Paquito looks over to Finrod and Luciann.
"You'll have to jump through like Korg did, or we're going to need reinforcements from upstairs. No?"
"Jump, through that? That's crazy, you saw what it did to Korg, that's not natural. I'll go get reinforcements." Finrod yells back.
"Wait! We can do this, getting reinforcements will take too long anyhow, one side going to be dead long before you would get back with anyone." Luciann spoke reason to Finrod
Finrod looked Paquito and Luciann up and down, swallowed his courage and stepped up to the spirit wall. The faces within coalesced in front of a terrified Finrod, void filled bottomless eyes peered back at the elf from every imaginable race, they each silently screamed out in pain and horror attempting to entice the elf into the wall. Finrod reached out a hand to touch the ethereal surface and a deluge of suffering and torment washed up his arm and into his soul. Finrod screamed and twisted his body violently from the wall and ran for the cavern entrance.
Luciann ran to intercept his fellow elf, but Finrod bull rushed him over at the entrance and began to head into the tunnel beyond, he only had to go ten feet before he found reinforcements, unfortunately they were of the umber hulk persuasion and definitely not friendly towards the party.
Pulling up short as the tunnel walls around him collapsed, Finrod tried to take it all in before the floor beneath him collapsed as well, sending the elf tumbling down a pit trap neatly dug by a waiting umber hulk at the bottom of the fall.
Jon Potter
First Post
Hairy Minotaur said:
Beautiful.
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
I also love the exchanges we've seen in the last few updates between Lothred and his... ahem... rod. Very well done, but how do you handle that at the table? Notes? Or are your players just really good at separating player knowledge from character knowledge?
Hairy Minotaur
Explorer
Jon Potter said:Beautiful.
I also love the exchanges we've seen in the last few updates between Lothred and his... ahem... rod. Very well done, but how do you handle that at the table? Notes? Or are your players just really good at separating player knowledge from character knowledge?
Wait 'til next update and see what Lothred does with his rod....
There are only 2 players in the game I wouldn't want to give OOC knowledge to as they seem to struggle with that.
Hairy Minotaur
Explorer
It gets worse
Gronar brings his heavy blade crashing down upon the obsidian minotaur, the powerful blow merely scratches the construct. Ratchet fades in behind Gronar and gives the hill giant a temporary strength boost.
Korg calls forth a brilliant steam of faith from his holy symbol, the searing light strikes an invisible barrier just in front of the lich and is diffused harmlessly around the undead creature.
Lothred aims his staff at the lich and issues forth a stream of acid at the lich, Lothred's spell also fails to reach it's target as it too is deflected away.
*Bah, you'll never get through it's spell resistance, you're too weak. Get some fodder like Paquito up here to waste his spells.*
Lothred motions to Korg to get his attention, "His spell resistance is too strong, we're going to have to try another way."
Korg laughs at the teifling's gestures and nods in agreement of something, Lothred couldn't be sure if Korg understood him at all.
*Hah! Fool! You'd probably engage darkness if you thought it had ears.*
"Shut-up! I'm trying to think!" Lothred shouts, confusing Korg and Ratchet.
The obsidian minotaur paws at Gronar's chest, it's brittle claws shattering and splintering into the wound track, as it's sharp claws disintegrate into Gronar's chest, torrid orangish lava leaks out from the obsidian minotaur's fingers and splashes across the hill giant's chest as well.
Gronar howls in pain as he tries to wipe off the burnt char of his flesh. Meanwhile the just excised claws of the construct grow back white-hot and seething to their former length and darken as they cool in the dampness of the underdark.
Korg moves over to help Ratchet attend to his friend, with the three heroes lined up nicely for the lich, it chooses now to act and arcs a bolt of lightening through the two hill giants and the gnome. Nearly felling Gronar and giving Ratchet a nasty burn.
*Soon now, soon it will be just you, and then who would be left to boast too? If only you survive then this battle has little consequence.*
Lothred was preparing and answer when the room shook like a man with demon fever. A low rumble echoed from the mammoth passage exiting the room to Lothred's left, peering over his shoulder the teifling spotted the red glow of two large eyes off in the distance down the passage.
Silenced reigned for a brief moment before a draconic roar of outrage and hatred filled the room deafening all those who use ears to hear. Then the heavy feet of the dragon vibrated through wall and body as the dragon made it's way down the passageway in a near sprint.
"I'm dead." Lothred said aloud, realizing he had no way of getting far enough away from a charging dragon to escape it's wrath.
*Let me help you, you will be triumphant!*
"I don't trust you." Lothred shouted as he unconsciously pulled the metal rod from his backpack.
*What does trust have anything to do with? I would think you would trust the lich or dragon to destroy you? After those two, the unknown I am offering looks pretty good.*
Lothred held up the rod and closed his eyes, "Ok tell me what to do!"
The activation words poured into Lothred from a place as bleak and dark none but the damned dared call it home. The immense energy of the rod enveloped Lothred as the head of the dragon breached the room and open it's jaws to retribution. A sickening laugh pounded against Lothred's soul.
Paquito gave a long look to Luciann as they watched Finrod slip below their eyesight level in the passage, as umber hulks scattered into the passage like roaches. Dozens of the chitinous beasts, their shells clattering like an insane symphony, choke off the view of the only viable (to Paquito and Luciann at this point) exit to this lich's room.
"****!" They sounded in unison as Paquito fired off a scorching ray at the nearest umber hulk. Luciann began to intone the words of a spell, only to catch the gaze of the creature he intended to blow up. The world became a rush of colors and physical sound, Luciann stumbled away unsure of where he was or what he was doing.
The elf nearly tripped several times as he groped his way through a soup of color and material noise, as Luciann felt for a wall or Paquito, his hands reached into the wall of spirits. Cold, freezing even his very thoughts welled up through Luciann's body, then the images came. They swept away the confusing colors and sounds like an ogre kicking a wooden door in, thousands of dead and dying lay before a wasteland as a skeletal figure moved through the sea of death, prodding and spearing those that tried to rise above their prone positions.
Sometimes it would halt it's solitary walk and pick up a rotting, bloated corpse, twist it into an unimaginable shape and then animate it to feed on the dying beneath it. The skeletal creature picked up another body and shoved it's arms through it's own chest, breaking it's collarbone with a sick crunch, it then ripped off it's lower jaw before animating the poor soul. It's fingers wiggling helplessly out of it's abdomen and it's moans only high pitched screeches with no tongue to give it form.
The skeletal figure wiped away the blood from the body beneath it's creation and the Luciann's own visage appeared under the mire. The skeletal form there set it's new animated work on top of a broken but screaming Luciann to gnaw away at his skin for all eternity. Luciann's mind snapped and he ran delirious into the waiting arms of the umber hulk horde.
Hopelessness washed over Paquito, then he felt the ground shake and the dragon's roar, and his mind cleared. There would be only one way out of this, which would it be? Umber hulks, lich and dragon, or death? He briefly gave death a thought but then realized that mating would no longer be an option while undead.
Gronar brings his heavy blade crashing down upon the obsidian minotaur, the powerful blow merely scratches the construct. Ratchet fades in behind Gronar and gives the hill giant a temporary strength boost.
Korg calls forth a brilliant steam of faith from his holy symbol, the searing light strikes an invisible barrier just in front of the lich and is diffused harmlessly around the undead creature.
Lothred aims his staff at the lich and issues forth a stream of acid at the lich, Lothred's spell also fails to reach it's target as it too is deflected away.
*Bah, you'll never get through it's spell resistance, you're too weak. Get some fodder like Paquito up here to waste his spells.*
Lothred motions to Korg to get his attention, "His spell resistance is too strong, we're going to have to try another way."
Korg laughs at the teifling's gestures and nods in agreement of something, Lothred couldn't be sure if Korg understood him at all.
*Hah! Fool! You'd probably engage darkness if you thought it had ears.*
"Shut-up! I'm trying to think!" Lothred shouts, confusing Korg and Ratchet.
The obsidian minotaur paws at Gronar's chest, it's brittle claws shattering and splintering into the wound track, as it's sharp claws disintegrate into Gronar's chest, torrid orangish lava leaks out from the obsidian minotaur's fingers and splashes across the hill giant's chest as well.
Gronar howls in pain as he tries to wipe off the burnt char of his flesh. Meanwhile the just excised claws of the construct grow back white-hot and seething to their former length and darken as they cool in the dampness of the underdark.
Korg moves over to help Ratchet attend to his friend, with the three heroes lined up nicely for the lich, it chooses now to act and arcs a bolt of lightening through the two hill giants and the gnome. Nearly felling Gronar and giving Ratchet a nasty burn.
*Soon now, soon it will be just you, and then who would be left to boast too? If only you survive then this battle has little consequence.*
Lothred was preparing and answer when the room shook like a man with demon fever. A low rumble echoed from the mammoth passage exiting the room to Lothred's left, peering over his shoulder the teifling spotted the red glow of two large eyes off in the distance down the passage.
Silenced reigned for a brief moment before a draconic roar of outrage and hatred filled the room deafening all those who use ears to hear. Then the heavy feet of the dragon vibrated through wall and body as the dragon made it's way down the passageway in a near sprint.
"I'm dead." Lothred said aloud, realizing he had no way of getting far enough away from a charging dragon to escape it's wrath.
*Let me help you, you will be triumphant!*
"I don't trust you." Lothred shouted as he unconsciously pulled the metal rod from his backpack.
*What does trust have anything to do with? I would think you would trust the lich or dragon to destroy you? After those two, the unknown I am offering looks pretty good.*
Lothred held up the rod and closed his eyes, "Ok tell me what to do!"
The activation words poured into Lothred from a place as bleak and dark none but the damned dared call it home. The immense energy of the rod enveloped Lothred as the head of the dragon breached the room and open it's jaws to retribution. A sickening laugh pounded against Lothred's soul.
Paquito gave a long look to Luciann as they watched Finrod slip below their eyesight level in the passage, as umber hulks scattered into the passage like roaches. Dozens of the chitinous beasts, their shells clattering like an insane symphony, choke off the view of the only viable (to Paquito and Luciann at this point) exit to this lich's room.
"****!" They sounded in unison as Paquito fired off a scorching ray at the nearest umber hulk. Luciann began to intone the words of a spell, only to catch the gaze of the creature he intended to blow up. The world became a rush of colors and physical sound, Luciann stumbled away unsure of where he was or what he was doing.
The elf nearly tripped several times as he groped his way through a soup of color and material noise, as Luciann felt for a wall or Paquito, his hands reached into the wall of spirits. Cold, freezing even his very thoughts welled up through Luciann's body, then the images came. They swept away the confusing colors and sounds like an ogre kicking a wooden door in, thousands of dead and dying lay before a wasteland as a skeletal figure moved through the sea of death, prodding and spearing those that tried to rise above their prone positions.
Sometimes it would halt it's solitary walk and pick up a rotting, bloated corpse, twist it into an unimaginable shape and then animate it to feed on the dying beneath it. The skeletal creature picked up another body and shoved it's arms through it's own chest, breaking it's collarbone with a sick crunch, it then ripped off it's lower jaw before animating the poor soul. It's fingers wiggling helplessly out of it's abdomen and it's moans only high pitched screeches with no tongue to give it form.
The skeletal figure wiped away the blood from the body beneath it's creation and the Luciann's own visage appeared under the mire. The skeletal form there set it's new animated work on top of a broken but screaming Luciann to gnaw away at his skin for all eternity. Luciann's mind snapped and he ran delirious into the waiting arms of the umber hulk horde.
Hopelessness washed over Paquito, then he felt the ground shake and the dragon's roar, and his mind cleared. There would be only one way out of this, which would it be? Umber hulks, lich and dragon, or death? He briefly gave death a thought but then realized that mating would no longer be an option while undead.
Graywolf-ELM
Explorer
Oh man, throw the encounter levels out the window, these guys are in for some hurtin'
GW
GW
Hairy Minotaur
Explorer
I'm not really feeling myself today
As the sweaty breath of the dragon bore down on Lothred, he hoped the bite would be clean through and his death instantaneous. As seconds wore on, he wondered what was taking the dragon so long, the twisted beast must be playing with him, taunting Lothred to open his eyes and stare death in the face. He wouldn't do, he'd wait out the dragon until starvation took hold if need be, but he wasn't about to watch the jaws close around him.
Nothing came.
*open your eyes, we've won*
Lothred heard the voice again, he didn't want to believe the words, he cracked one eye and then the next and looked up into the gullet of the dragon, hovering inches above his head. It's laws poised to strike as if a steel trap. Confused Lothred looked around and caught the eyes of Gronar, Omar, Ratchet, Korg and the lich staring back in awe and fear.
*what do we want the dragon to do?*
"Kill the li.." Lothred started his reply
*No! The lich is easily defeated, kill the guardian first*
"Kill the minotaur!" Lothred's voice echoed off the cavern wall
The dragon lurched up and took a step over the huddled Lothred, Gronar watched as the dragon eyed the obsidian minotaur he then looked over at the lich who was attempting to sneak away from the battle. The hill giant roared out and charged the undead figure, he blade crushed bones and hidden potions about the lich.
Korg scampered away from the lunging dragon and blasted a hole through the retreating lich, it's form collapsed in a heap of bones and smoldering rags. Then the dragon struck, it's powerful jaws clamping around the waist of the stone guardian and gnawing away as the obsidian minotaur hammered it's fists into the side of the dragon's mouth. shards of obsidian flew through the air, molten rock splashed across the eyes of the dragon, as the enormous dragon brought it's prey up to the ceiling and then slammed the construct back into the stone floor shattering the minotaur into a thousand tiny fragments of obsidian that shred the dragon's eyes blinding the creature.
The dragon pounded it's head into the cavern wall as the pain ripped through it's head.
*get control or it'll trample us*
Lothred held up the rod and willed the dragon to cease moving.
"We need help down here! No!" Paquito shouted, with the lich's demise the spirit wall had also ceased to exist. Paquito stood slack-jawed as the crumpled mess of the lich, the shattered remains of two guardian constructs, and the body of a dragon bleeding profusely from it's head lay amid the party.
The rest of the party saw the umber hulk mass pouring forth from the cavern entrance, they quickly took a deep breath and waded up to meet the new challenge. Lothred too turned to help, until the voice came back.
*what are you doing?*
"Helping, the umber hulks will .."
*shut-up, you have the perfect opportunity here, a downed dragon. Kill it before it awakens and breathes you into the astral plane for eternity.*
"It's sleeping"
*not for long, who do you think controls the dragon? Not you I hope*
Lothred realized what the rod had done when he tried to drop the rod from his grasp, he found his hands would not open.
A sick laugh reverberated through Lothred's mind.
*stupid mortal, I control the dragon, because I control you*
"Wait! we need to kill the dragon first! It's the greatest threat!" Lothred shouted
Gronar, Omar and Ratchet stopped and considered Lothred words for a moment.
"Bald man with stick smart. Best not leave enemies behind you." Gronar spoke
The three men retreated back to the dragon's sleeping form.
"I've put it under a deep sleep, a well placed slice across the neck followed by some continued bashing about it's head will do it in quickly." Lothred directed
Paquito watched as only Korg came up to help stem the flow of umber hulks, looking back he saw Gronar raise his sword to the throat of the dragon, the dim light reflected off the blade's metal to reveal brass tinged scales below.
"Wait!" Paquito shouted
As the sweaty breath of the dragon bore down on Lothred, he hoped the bite would be clean through and his death instantaneous. As seconds wore on, he wondered what was taking the dragon so long, the twisted beast must be playing with him, taunting Lothred to open his eyes and stare death in the face. He wouldn't do, he'd wait out the dragon until starvation took hold if need be, but he wasn't about to watch the jaws close around him.
Nothing came.
*open your eyes, we've won*
Lothred heard the voice again, he didn't want to believe the words, he cracked one eye and then the next and looked up into the gullet of the dragon, hovering inches above his head. It's laws poised to strike as if a steel trap. Confused Lothred looked around and caught the eyes of Gronar, Omar, Ratchet, Korg and the lich staring back in awe and fear.
*what do we want the dragon to do?*
"Kill the li.." Lothred started his reply
*No! The lich is easily defeated, kill the guardian first*
"Kill the minotaur!" Lothred's voice echoed off the cavern wall
The dragon lurched up and took a step over the huddled Lothred, Gronar watched as the dragon eyed the obsidian minotaur he then looked over at the lich who was attempting to sneak away from the battle. The hill giant roared out and charged the undead figure, he blade crushed bones and hidden potions about the lich.
Korg scampered away from the lunging dragon and blasted a hole through the retreating lich, it's form collapsed in a heap of bones and smoldering rags. Then the dragon struck, it's powerful jaws clamping around the waist of the stone guardian and gnawing away as the obsidian minotaur hammered it's fists into the side of the dragon's mouth. shards of obsidian flew through the air, molten rock splashed across the eyes of the dragon, as the enormous dragon brought it's prey up to the ceiling and then slammed the construct back into the stone floor shattering the minotaur into a thousand tiny fragments of obsidian that shred the dragon's eyes blinding the creature.
The dragon pounded it's head into the cavern wall as the pain ripped through it's head.
*get control or it'll trample us*
Lothred held up the rod and willed the dragon to cease moving.
"We need help down here! No!" Paquito shouted, with the lich's demise the spirit wall had also ceased to exist. Paquito stood slack-jawed as the crumpled mess of the lich, the shattered remains of two guardian constructs, and the body of a dragon bleeding profusely from it's head lay amid the party.
The rest of the party saw the umber hulk mass pouring forth from the cavern entrance, they quickly took a deep breath and waded up to meet the new challenge. Lothred too turned to help, until the voice came back.
*what are you doing?*
"Helping, the umber hulks will .."
*shut-up, you have the perfect opportunity here, a downed dragon. Kill it before it awakens and breathes you into the astral plane for eternity.*
"It's sleeping"
*not for long, who do you think controls the dragon? Not you I hope*
Lothred realized what the rod had done when he tried to drop the rod from his grasp, he found his hands would not open.
A sick laugh reverberated through Lothred's mind.
*stupid mortal, I control the dragon, because I control you*
"Wait! we need to kill the dragon first! It's the greatest threat!" Lothred shouted
Gronar, Omar and Ratchet stopped and considered Lothred words for a moment.
"Bald man with stick smart. Best not leave enemies behind you." Gronar spoke
The three men retreated back to the dragon's sleeping form.
"I've put it under a deep sleep, a well placed slice across the neck followed by some continued bashing about it's head will do it in quickly." Lothred directed
Paquito watched as only Korg came up to help stem the flow of umber hulks, looking back he saw Gronar raise his sword to the throat of the dragon, the dim light reflected off the blade's metal to reveal brass tinged scales below.
"Wait!" Paquito shouted
Graywolf-ELM
Explorer
Hairy Minotaur said:
I loved this. Nothing like the party taking out the enemy, and their own potential treasure.
Thanks for the .sig add, I've been thinking of changing mine around too.
GW
Jon Potter
First Post
Hairy Minotaur said:
Man! I am WAY to player-friendly with my intelligent magic items!
I wish I'd read this prior to the current situation in my own campaign...
