Droid101's Story Hour, "Of Gods and Devils" Updated 10/12!

[Droid101]

Okay okay, I know... what's the deal, right? How did Dendybar survive the blast from that futuristic laser-gun thing Eltharion used?

Simple: it's not a laser. It was a phase-fluctuation mass of energy. The effect of the blast is to send whatever it hit out of phase with their current plane of existence (effectively getting rid of them).

In game terms, it sent Dendybar into the Astral plane, which summarily shunted him out into a random outer plane (rolled up by me). I rolled Carceri, so Carceri is where he went. Hey, it could've been better, but then again, it could have been worse.

Once again, another cordial thanks to those who are reading. As you can maybe tell, the story hour started off sort of in "Summary Mode," and as I got more and more caught up to the current time, I was able to remember so much more, that it could be way more narrative and fun. The farther along I get, the better it gets, so thanks to everyone who has stuck around thus far. Hopefully it'll catch on with more people.

 

[Hairy Minotaur]

Great story hour, and you're right it is getting more detailed.

Good to see a party pick their fights well, my group would've rushed the mounted drow and then taken on both the slaad and formorians.

 

[Sandain]

Yay! thanks for the updates.

 

[Droid101]

Great story hour, and you're right it is getting more detailed.

Good to see a party pick their fights well, my group would've rushed the mounted drow and then taken on both the slaad and formorians.

Thanks!

And yeah, I know what you mean. I was surprised to see them show restraint for once, actually.

 

[Droid101]

The large, bloated, ant-like formian queen lay before them in an empty chamber. Two smaller formians tend to her.

These people saved our expansion team. They seek shelter. The mental “voice” of the formian calls out to the queen and the Heroes.

Why have you come to this cube of Archeron? The queen asks the Heroes.

“We are here searching for some metal cats who stole something from us,” The Necromancer steps forward to answer.

We are aware of the presense of these metal cats. If you defeat them, you may use him as a guide, and our complex as shelter as long as you are on this cube. The queen sets the proposition.

“We accept,” Eltharion chimes in.

The Heroes are led to some empty dug-out metal rooms. Without any real padding, the rooms are quite uncomfortable, but they take their rest anyway.

The next day, their guide wakes them.

Are you ready to go?

“Yes, we heard about some stronghold somewhere on this cube. Can you take us there?” Blaze asks.

I know of this place. I shall take you there. The formian gathers everyone in close. The Necromancer takes one last survey of his quarters, so he’d be able to teleport everyone back after they were done. In a flash, they are in front of a huge iron fortress, seemingly built right out of the metal of the cube itself.

Good luck to you. And the formian vanishes.

“Doesn’t look so big,” Grog says, and just as he does so, a huge metal cat pounces on top of him from behind a jutting of iron. A 12 foot tall humanoid made of iron, with blades instead of arms, charges at them from the doorway of the fortress.

The Necromancer casts haste on himself and Blaze. Blaze casts greater magic weapon on his and Ogrim’s axes. Ogrim casts shield of law from his staff of defense and readies himself. Eltharion flashes out his Sun-sickle and Moon-scimitar, and slashes into the great iron cat, pushing it off Grog. Grog hops up and cuts into the thing with his razor-sharp Murasamé katana.

The blade-armed iron golem closes and slams into Blaze with the flat of a blade, knocking him back and drawing a deep bruise.

The cat claws and bites into Grog, who isn’t able to dodge out of the way. Three brutal hits bring Grog to his knees, but he stands back up in an instant.

“TEMPUS!!” Blaze calls out, his muscles swelling and growing. He launches himself at the iron golem and slams into it three times – hard. The huge golem staggers backward, losing its balance. Ogrim steps up and slams into the thing with his axe as well, knocking it over completely.

The Necromancer casts fly on himself, and launches a lightning bolt at the cat. It seems to deflect off its metal hide, doing no damage.

Grog and Eltharion flank the cat, striking in unison, and adding deep cuts all over the metal hide. Greenish black blood seeps from each wound.

“Bloodthorne, help us!” Blaze calls out as he jumps atop the prone golem, slamming his axe into its face. Ogrim chops down into its bladed arm, trying to separate it from its body.

Bloodthorne is flying in circles overhead, as if he didn’t even know combat was going on around him.

A few seconds later, the metal monsters are not moving. Grog and Eltharion are severely injured from the tough metal cat.

Blaze heals himself up with a few spells, and heals Grog and Eltharion as well.

Bloodthorne finally lands.

“What was that all about? We could have used your help,” Blaze says.

“What was what now? Let’s get going into the fortress. I’m sure there’s treasure to be ‘ad,” Bloodthorne seems oblivious.

“Insane…” The Necromancer mutters under his breath. The Heroes head into the iron fortress.

Is Bloodthorne crazy? Imperagon; metal cats; adamantium; what’s the connection? Find out next time.

 

[Droid101]

Blaze pushes open the huge metal doors with another quick boost of strength. The inside of the fortress is much the same as the outside. Bare iron halls, iron doors, iron floors. It’s extremely noisy in there, the sound of hammers hitting steel reverberates, and the roar of a large fire seems to echo in the halls.

The Heroes go into the first room they see. A strange chain-covered humanoid and a smaller imp-looking creature seem to be torturing a lillend; a winged anel with a snake’s tail instead of legs.

The Heroes rush in immediately. The noise of the fortress masks their entrance, and they are able to sneak up and dispatch the creatures without much effort. They free the lillend.

“Thank you for your help,” the creature says.

“You’re welcome, why were you here?” The Necromancer asks.

“Those two monsters kidnapped me and brought me here to fulfill their evil fantasies,” she responds.

“You’re free to go now, there should be an open path to the exit of the fortress,” Eltharion says.

“Thank you,” and she flies off.

The Heroes exit that room and proceed cautiously toward the next.

This next room has hanging cloth here and there to give it a more closed in feel. A voice is heard in their minds.

We don’t want anything else, leave us. A mind flayer steps out from behind a cloth. It is startled when it actually sees the Heroes, and it steps back. Another mind flayer is seen, and a minotaur steps forward in front of them. Its eyes are glazed over, but it is at the ready.

“We’re not here to fight you… do you know anything about any adamantium?” Eltharion asks.

Imperagon is gathering it. Using it to rebuild his puny weapon to use it to conquer. His ideas are stale and we have no use for him. The voice responds.

“Man, this guy can’t keep any allies…” The Necrmancer chuckles.

“We shall leave you then, we have no business with you,” Blaze says. The illithid nods. The Heroes leave.

They go up a flight of stairs. Two rooms up here have nobody in them, but are more heavily decorated. The Heroes plunder an item or two.

The next room they go in has several exotic weapons hanging from the walls, and the floor is covered in a thin wooden mat. A black-skinned dwarf is sitting cross-legged in the center of the room. As the Heroes enter, her head jerks up and she jumps to her feet immediately. She has a shaved head.

“I didn’t know there were dwarf females,” The Necromancer quips, and draws a grunt of disagreement from Ogrim.

The dwarf takes up a fighting pose, so Eltharion, Grog, Ogrim and Blaze charge. Bloodthorne is still rummaging through the other rooms. The Necromancer watches with a wry smile.

The duergar moves with exceptional speed, and as the Heroes close in, she takes up the ancient dwarven defensive stance.

“Nice,” Ogrim notes, as he swings his axe at her. She ducks.

Her hands and legs fly out at every different angle. She sweep kicks, tripping Grog, Ogrim, and Blaze; each of them hitting their head on the way down hard. Two more attacks hit pressure points on Eltharion and Grog, and they are both stunned.

“She’s winning!” The Necromancer calls out from behind them.

Ogrim and Blaze hop up and strike at her again. This time she is unable to dodge, and takes two axe cuts to her forearms.

She launches another flurry, stunning and tripping Ogrim and Blaze. Grog and Eltharion get feeling back in their extremities and strike her. She parries best she can, but takes another couple of slashes.

She concentrates for a moment, and some of her wounds seem to close up.

“Damned duergar!” Ogrim grunts from the floor. He doesn’t bother to get up, and swings his axe four times from his prone position. The fourth cut brings her to one knee.

And Grog finishes her with an overhead chop to the upper back. She falls into a pool of her own blood. The Heroes look at each other in disbelief.

“She just took on all four of us,” Blaze says, rubbing the back of his head.

“Not bad,” Eltharion says.

Blaze heals everyone, and he’s out of spells. They move on to the next room. However, before they get to it, the door opens a fair blonde woman comes out, with light skin and beautiful eyes…

…and is summarily turned to stone.

The party spins around to look at The Necromancer, who is still holding out his hand after casting flesh to stone.

“Why’d you do that?” Eltharion asks.

“Did you see her eyes? Nobody that beautiful is going to be in an evil fortress in the middle of an evil plane without being a prisoner. She had to have been evil,” The Necromancer reasons. Everybody shrugs. Ogrim pushes over the statue and watches it smash into hundreds of small shards of stone that scatter across the iron floor.

The Heroes head back downstairs to see the last two rooms they didn’t visit. They go in one and see piles of iron shrapnel all over the place. In one pile a metal cat is laying. As soon as the Heroes enter, it leaps up. It seems larger than the others they fought.

The Necromancer immediately casts forcecage and traps it inside an invisible box of force.

“Good work, how long will that hold him?” Eltharion asks.

“Probably for about 15 hours or more,” The Necromancer guesses.

“Let’s go then,” Blaze goes to open the next door in here, but it is hot to the touch. “Door’s hot. Let’s go back to the other room first.”

The Heroes head back to the last door on the first floor they haven’t been in.

“I told you not to bother me, and I told you what would happen if you did!” a voice calls out as Blaze pushes the door open. A huge blade cuts down and nearly severs Blaze’s arm, but he jumped back enough to lessen the damage. A 15 foot tall fire giant is wielding a huge greatsword. From behind him, two 10 foot long red lizards leap to the attack, each of them drawing a hit on Blaze.

Blaze pulls out his axe and strikes at the giant, chopping down into its foot. It jumps in pain, and growls all the louder.

Eltharion and Ogrim take one lizard, and Bloodthorne and Grog take the other. Blaze takes the giant alone.

The giant hits Blaze a couple more times, and he feels his world spinning. Several heavily bleeding injuries send him to one knee.

The Necromancer sees his friend in need, and searches through his head for the proper spell to solve the situation.

He casts magic jar on the giant.

The Necromancer’s body falls limp, and the fire giant’s eyes take on The Necromancer’s evil gleam.

Bloodthorne finishes off the first lizard with a precise strike to the back of the head, piercing its spinal column. Eltharion and Ogrim have damaged the other lizard. A huge greatsword from the fire giant finishes it.

“Nekky, is that you?” Eltharion asks up at the fire giant.

“Yes, and what did I tell you about that?” the fire giant’s deep voice takes on a few of The Necromancer’s sarcastic undertones.

“Good job Nek,” Eltharion responds.

Blaze is breathing heavily, but has bandaged up his wounds somewhat.

“We need to make a tactial retreat. I need to be able to heal myself if we’re going to face this Imperagon guy,” Blaze manages to say.

“Okay, first, let me go through all the rooms we trashed, and hack everything to pieces in this fire giant body. That way, Imperagon will think that this guy is the one who did it. Maybe they’ll think he went crazy or something,” The Necromancer says.

“Good plan, get to it,” Ogrim states.

The fire giant runs down the hall, hacking at the walls, leaving huge greatsword gashes here and there. The rest of the Heroes retreat out of the front of the fortress, carrying The Necromancer’s body with them.

After about ten minutes, The Necromancer comes to.

“Let’s get out of here, now, I’ll explain when we get back,” and with that, he casts teleport, and everyone is back at the formian complex.

“So what happened?” Eltharion asks.

“Okay, I went into all the rooms we searched and made it look like he did all the killing. Then, I went to that one room with the hot door. Since the thing was a fire giant, it could take the heat, so I went in. It was extremely hot in there, like a furnace or something. All the hammering is coming from there, as I saw tons of various creatures pounding away on anvils. I killed a couple of guards, spiney looking creatures.

“I went deep into the forge, and saw a foundry. Four huge pillars of fire surrounding a huge floating scimitar. Looked very ornate, but I didn’t mess with it. I went back the other way, and wandered out of the forge to a new area.

“That’s pretty much when the body of the giant died. I was rushed by three things. They were definitely preparing for the ambush. One was a duergar with heavy plate armor. One was like… an angel, but his wings were black. He had a trumpet. And one was like the devil Gryrtag, a pit fiend. I was killed in almost literally a second.” The Necromancer takes a deep breath.

“At least we know what we’re up against,” Ogrim states.

“Let’s rest and get back there. You saw the room, right?” Eltharion asks.

“Yes,” The Necromancer responds.

“Good, then you can teleport us in, so we can get the drop on them,” Eltharion says.

“Time to sleep,” Blaze collapses onto a blanket, and falls asleep on the hard iron floor.

Three on six, piece of cake, right? Right??? See how many Heroes die, next time!!

 

[Droid101]

“I’m ready to go back in,” Blaze says emphatically.

The Heroes gather. Bloodthorne is nowhere to be found.

“He probably went wandering off again…” The Necromancer says. “We don’t have time to wait around for him, let’s get going.”

The Necromancer casts fly on everybody. He then casts haste on himself. Eltharion casts barkskin on himself. Ogrim casts a shield of law. Blaze casts righteous might and greater magic weapon.

The Necromancer gathers Ogrim, Grog, Blaze, and Eltharion in close, and teleports into the chamber where his fire giant body was killed.

They are in a large room with two stories. A staircase leading up to the second level can be seen, and there is a balcony surrounding them from above.

Several forms start moving right away. Two large metal cats leap at the Heroes from hidden crawl spaces on the first level. A duergar with heavy adamantium armor peers over the balcony, and casts a spell. He doubles in size and grows a pair of large red leathery wings. A light-green skinned angel is standing next to him, and he readies a large silvery greatsword. His normally white and pristine wings are blackened and twisted.

The final form on the balcony is a huge, 15 foot tall red-scaled, horned devil. It immediately stands and gets ready to attack.

“TEMPUS!!” Blaze’s strength grows exponentially, and his now ten foot tall form rushes at the nearest metal cat. He swings his axe down in a powerful overhead chop. His axe pierces through the thing’s tough metal skin, and crushes its spinal column, killing it instantly.

“Impressive!” Ogrim chimes in. He flies up to the second level, straight at the duergar. “May the Hammer of the All-Father smite you!”

Ogrim’s axe slams into the adamantium plates, drawing a grunt from the dark dwarf.

The pit fiend launches a powerful fireball down at the party. The flames engulf The Necromancer, Blaze, Eltharion and Grog. Eltharion dives out the way, The Necromancer and Grog are protected by magical items, but Blaze feels the full strength of the fire. His hair is singed and his skin burned and peeling.

“Imperagon, let’s surround this one…” the fallen angel takes up position behind Ogrim, leaving him bracketed by the duergar and angel.

They strike at Ogrim with deadly precision. A greatsword slash from behind, a greataxe chop from the front. Ogrim grits his teeth and fights on, despite the considerable pain from the various wounds.

Grog and Eltharion fly up and bracket the fallen angel. Grog throws all his weight and rage into a katana strike, and scores a deep hit to the angel’s flank. Eltharion similarly slashes into the angel’s opposite side with his Moon-scimitar.

The other metal cat bounds upon Blaze’s back, raking and rending its four metal-clawed paws into him. Blaze grits his teeth and falls to a knee.

The pit fiend flies down and bites into Blaze; its teeth dripping vile greenish venom. Blaze is unable to dodge due to the metal cat bearing down on him. His vision becomes blurry and his body burns. He can feel the caustic venom coursing through his veins. Strength leaves his arms. He can feel his insides becoming liquefied. His eyes roll back in his head so he can’t see himself hitting the ground. He hardly feels the hard iron connecting with his head, only the searing poison inside of it. His world and his senses fade to black.

The Necromancer’s eyes flare an evil and vengeful glow. He hefts his drow-skull topped staff with rubies for eyes, and lowers his gaze upon the pit fiend.

“Now you die…” The Necromancer weaves a horrid wilting spell. It affects the pit fiend, metal cat, fallen angel, and Imperagon. All four of them feel the moisture in their bodies evaporate; their skin shrivels and becomes dry and brittle. The pit fiend begins a slow and deliberate stalk toward The Necromancer.

“I’m coming Nekky,” Eltharion disengages the fallen angel and flies down to meet the pit fiend head on. He crashes into it and stabs it deep in the stomach.

Grog and Ogrim both focus their attacks on the angel. Ogrim’s overhead axe chop causes the angel to call out in pain and grasp his shoulder. In that moment of letting his guard down, Grog swings with all his might and cleaves the thing’s upper torso from the rest of its body. Both pieces fall quite unceremoniously to the unyielding iron floor. Grog flies down to help Eltharion.

Imperagon sets his gaze upon Ogrim.

“You think you can stop me from taking over this and all other planes of existence?” the dark dwarf mutters in a deep and draconic voice. He swings at Ogrim, who blocks a few quick greataxe strikes with his shield. Ogrim retaliates by pushing his shield into Imperagon’s face, then chopping with his axe low, below his shield and out of Imperagon’s field of vision. The blade of his Orc-Killer axe weaves perfectly through the plates of Imperagon’s adamantium armor, and send Imperagon to his knees, and finally to another Hell altogether.

“The Hand of Moradin guides me axe.”

Ogrim looks down at The Necromancer, Grog, and Eltharion, and he starts to fly down to help.

The pit fiend, watching both his comrades die, decides upon another course of action.

“This isn’t over…” its dark and evil voice whispers. With that, it vanishes.

“Teleported,” The Necromancer says as he puts the last metal cat into a forcecage. “Let’s get out of here, we’ll come back to plunder the place later…”

Grog and Ogrim heft up Blaze’s large body, and The Necromancer teleports them all back to the formian complex.

“Damn, just five more seconds and he would have been able to heal himself…” Eltharion says while healing up his and the others’ wounds.

“Tomorrow, we finish that devil and steal that sword that they are building. Tomorrow, we take our revenge,” The Necromancer sums up. The Heroes nod.

One on four… this should be easy, right? Nothing unexpected, right? The Heroes prevail, right?? Find out this and more, next time!

 

[Droid101]

After a good rest, the Heroes gather.

“Bloodthorne, where were you yesterday? We could have used your help!” The Necromancer seems annoyed.

“So, are we goin’ back in now?” Bloodthorne stays oblivious.

“Impossible…” The Necromancer is quite flustered.

“Okay, okay. Blaze is down, but we’re going back in to steal that sword in the foundry. We’ll teleport in. This time, we’ll have protection from fire spells going to help us if that pit fiend is still there, and so we can go into the forge without getting hurt,” Eltharion takes charge.

“Stealin’ is my specialty,” Bloodthorne chimes in.

Eltharion casts protection from fire on everyone who needs it. He also casts barkskin on himself. The Necromancer casts mirror image, haste and fly on himself. He then casts fly on everybody else.

“Ready?” The Necromancer asks. The Heroes nod, and The Necromancer teleports them onto the balcony of the two-story chamber.

The female duergar they killed is sitting down on the first level, cross legged. Her eyes dart up to the Heroes as they arrive. A wry smile crosses her lips.

From the far side of the chamber on the second level, four magical meteors materialize and streak toward the Heroes. Their eyes widen and they all try to dive out of the way, but to little avail.

One of the meteors strikes The Necromancer head on, and he is killed instantly. The explosion from the impact sends his limp form flying across the room and tumbling down the iron stairs. His charred body lets out a puff of ash into the air.

One of the meteors strikes Ogrim squarely in the chest, but being the stalwart dwarf he is, he doesn’t budge. The pain from the burns and subsequent explosion urges him to grit his teeth, but he hardly flinches. The flames pour over everybody else. Eltharion jumps, ducks and dodges, but still takes heavy burns from the fire and staggers to one knee, coughing from smoke inhalation. Grog doesn’t fare much better, staggering but not falling.

Bloodthorne seems unaffected. He jumps down to the first level and strikes out at the female duergar, cutting her on the arm.

Eltharion casts aside self-preservation and casts faerie fire near where the meteors originated from. Sure enough, the artificial fire illuminates the invisible form of the pit fiend.

Ogrim runs around the balcony, straight toward the pit fiend.

Eltharion closes in, and Grog does the same.

The duergar lashes out with a flurry of punches and kicks, attempting to stun or trip Bloodthorne, but to no avail. He stays standing and dodges deftly.

The pit fiend flies down and bites into Bloodthorne, injecting his vile poison.

“ ‘ey mate, that stuff don’t work on me,” Bloodthorne throws off his hood to reveal his undead nature.

Ogrim jumps down to the first level, following the pit fiend. He crashes into the devil with his axe on the way down, cutting deep into one of its leathery wings.

Grog and Eltharion get on either side of the balcony and leap off as well, both of them also scoring wounding hits on the fiend.

“You ‘ave to be the most pathetic excuse for a devil I’ve eva seen. You ally yourself up with a dwarf and ‘ope to win?” Bloodthorne chuckles. The pit fiend roars in anger.

That gives Bloodthorne the opening he needs. He thrusts up with one of his enchanted longswords, digging it deep into the fiend’s neck. It roars out in pain, and launches a combination of attacks at Bloodthorne. Its claws rake deep into Bloodthorne’s decayed flesh, and its wings bludgeon his old bones. And a final bite tops it all off, or rather, bites Bloodthorne’s top off. Bloodthorne’s head is nearly separated from his shoulders, and his body falls limp to the floor.

“NO!” Grog yells out, his rage has been building since the first explosion. His muscles bulge, his eyes go bloodshot, and the veins on his forehead become all the more prominent. He grits his pointed teeth and swings his katana over his head with all his might. The powerful attacks hit home, leaving huge gashes all over the fiend’s legs and stomach.

Eltharion lets fly from the other side, slicing his Moon-scimitar and Sun-sickle at blinding speed. After a whirlwind of seven attacks, the pit fiend stumbles backward.

“We’ll meet again…” the fiend teleports away again, and the female duergar follows suit, vanishing from view.

Grog collapses to the ground, and Ogrim leans heavily on his axe. Eltharion looks at Bloodthorne and The Necromancer’s bodies.

“Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea…” Eltharion mumbles.

“The cold iron floor feels good on all those burns…” Grog tries to make light of the situation, pressing his face against the metal.

“How are we supposed to get off this cube, when The Necromancer was the only one who could teleport us?” Ogrim asks.

“Maybe the ant-guys can teleport us home,” Eltharion reasons.

Ogrim carries The Necromancer’s body over and puts it next to Bloodthorne’s.

“I guess we should start walking…” Grog says, slowly getting up.

“Walkin’ where now?” Bloodthorne’s voice pipes up.

“Hey, you’re alive!” Grog exclaims.

“ ‘course I am,” Bloodthorne hobbles to his feet, the terrible wounds all over his undead body slowly healing.

“That’s good news. So, can you be killed at all?” Grog asks.

“Not a chance! Not before we steal that big sword of theirs!” Bloodthorne flies down to the exit door that leads to the forge. He opens it and flies on in. His undead body immune to the heat.

He flies through, but doesn’t see all the workers that The Necromancer did. All the anvils are empty, and only the raging fires provide any kind of noise. He flies around until he finds the foundry, and flies on in.

Four huge pillars of flame surround the large floating scimitar. Bloodthorne flies on in and grabs the blade, then flies on out. The pillars of flame start to move and spout small appendages. However, Bloodthorne is long gone by the time they animate fully.

“ ‘ere it is. Now, let’s get back to those ants,” Bloodthorne says. He leads them through the forge, and back out quickly, Eltharion protecting them from fire once again before they go. They get out and exit the fortress. They start the long walk back, Ogrim carrying The Necromancer’s body.

“Anybody know which way it is?” Eltharion asks.

“The ant thing teleported us here, we never walked,” Grog responds.

“I’ll see what I can see,” Bloodthorne flies up several hundred feet, looking around for the large hive-like metal complex of the formians.

“I don’t see anything on this side of the cube that looks like the ant’s place,” Bloodthorne says when he returns to them.

“Great. Well, let’s walk to the closest edge and check out that side, see if it’s there,” Eltharion says. The Heroes begin to walk.

Will the Heroes find the formians? Will the formians be able to get them home? Will they be stuck on this strange cube-filled plane for the rest of eternity!? Find out next time!

 

[Droid101]

“How long have we been walking…?” Eltharion asks, his legs and feet aching from the long march.

“Almost 12 hours,” Ogrim answers matter-of-factly.

“C’mon, we’re almost there, I can tell,” Bloodthorne says, his magical cape enabling him to float along next to them. Not that he’d tire, anyway, being undead.

Eltharion was tired and Grog was getting there. Ogrim’s training had prepared him for such long exertions, so he was still fine.

“Are we even close to the next side?” Eltharion asks.

“Not really,” Bloodthorne flies up high to check the surroundings, but finds nothing of note.

“Let’s go to that pile of metal and rest…” Eltharion suggests.

“Why doesn’t it get dark here at night?” Grog inquires.

“They don’t have a sun on this plane. It’s just eternally gray,” Eltharion answers.

Eltharion collapses in a heap and rolls under a piece of iron shrapnel, for cover. Grog lays down as well, putting his blanket out underneath himself.

“We’ll take some rest, but then we move out, and press on harder than today,” Ogrim states. He sets down as well.

“I’ll fly around and see if I can find the ants,” Bloodthorne says, taking to the air.

The next morning, Eltharion is awoken by a violent shaking.

“I found it. We cross the corner and it’s right on the edge,” Bloodthorne says.

“Good, how far?” Eltharion asks.

“Probably another 12 ‘ours for you slow-blokes,” Bloodthorne responds.

“Great…” Eltharion sighs.

“Let’s move,” Ogrim hefts The Necromancer’s heavily burned body, and they start walking.

Sure enough, after 12 long, boring, dreary and gray hours of walking along the hard, unforgiving iron, they reach the formian complex.

“Ohh, I could kiss you!” Grog runs at one of the worker formians, who doesn’t know how to react to Grog’s awkward hug.

You have returned. Are the metal cats defeated? Their formian guide soon shows himself from the complex of iron tunnels.

“Yes, we finished off their leader, stole their artifact, and crippled their operation completely,” Ogrim answers.

Good. What do you need from us?

“Well, our spellcasters both perished in the battles, so we have no way to get back to the cube that has the portal that leads back to our land,” Eltharion says.

“It’s that cube, there,” Ogrim points to the small cube off in the distance, merely a point in the gray sky. “Can you teleport us there?”

I have never been to that cube before. I cannot teleport you there. I have only been to this cube, and one other.

“Great…” Eltharion sits down on the cold metal ground.

“We have no choice then. After we rest, can you teleport us to that cube? Unless you know of a portal on this one,” Ogrim asks.

We are not aware of any portals on this cube. I shall do as you ask, for helping with the metal cats.

“Thanks,” Eltharion says dejectedly. The Heroes find their metal cubby-holes and take some rest from their long walk.

When they’re finally ready, they gather outside the complex.

“Do you want to carry those? I ‘ave a magical bag,” Bloodthorne says, referring to the bodies of The Necromancer and Blaze.

“Let’s put Nekky and Blaze in there,” Eltharion helps push them into the small bag, which holds them in their entirety.

“If he was alive, he’d say ‘Don’t call me that’,” Grog laments.

“We’ll bring them back soon enough, don’t worry,” Eltharion comforts Grog.

Let us go. Good luck to you.

The formian gathers the Heroes in close, and in a flash they are surrounded by metal buildings of all kinds. The formian nods, and teleports away.

“Looks like a city,” Grog says, looking around.

Iron buildings jut up all around them. A marketplace with tents, carts, exotic fruits, vegetables, and other such things is down a street. There is nobody behind any of the carts, however. Nobody looking at wares. Nobody looking out any windows. Nobody anywhere.

“Looks deserted,” Eltharion replies to Grog’s remark after a slight delay.

A voice is heard chanting from around a corner. The voice is old and wise, and thick with accent (think really old Jamaican man).

“De end is nea! Da heavens be fallin’, don cha know. Run fer ya lives now den,” a form comes into view from around the corner. It’s a six foot tall gnoll. His form is old and hunched over. If he stood upright, he’d be at least seven feet tall, maybe more. The fur covering his body is mottled and graying. His movements are slow and methodical. His muscles are emaciated from age and lack of exercize. His eyes, however, gleam with a wisdom and intelligence, and something else. Deep blue orbs seem highly contrasted to his decrepid and ancient body.

“The heavens?” Grog pipes up, looking toward the sky. “Oh wait, I think he’s right.”

Ogrim, Eltharion and Bloodthorne look up as well. Another huge cube looms in the sky, extremely close to this one. It looks like it’s slowly advancing toward this one…

“That big ol’ thing is gonna crash into us,” Bloodthorne states the obvious.

“No wonder the town is deserted. Nobody will survive that,” Eltharion says with a dread in his voice. “Hey, old man, can you help us get out of here?? Why are you still here if the sky is falling??”

“Nowea else to be goin, now den. I can’t be goin’ back to my village, they be da ones who be banishin’ me to dis place from da beginin’,” the old gnoll answers rather cryptically; his tattered robes hang from his body loosely. He waves a crooked staff with several skulls attached to it by small lengths of rope. They clank together to make a rather distinctive knocking sound.

“Okay, think fast. You were banished here from where?” Eltharion looks up at the sky, the cube seeming to approach faster and faster.

“I came from Aldo-Valencha,” the gnoll answers.

“Aldor-Valencia… that’s where we are from!” Eltharion is excited, but frantic at the same time. “Where exactly did you get banished to? Can you go back?”

“I can be goin’ back through the portal, but den I gotta challenge da chief o da tribe to a honor match, which…” the gnoll is cut off.

“We’ll deal with that when we get there, just lead us to the portal, and we’ll make sure nobody harms you, deal?” Eltharion is talking faster and faster as the cube looms closer and closer.

“All right den, but now I gotta be rememberin’ where da portal be… lemme tink a bit…” the gnoll looks around, and starts walking slowly, using his crooked staff for support.

“This is the way? Are you positive??” Eltharion asks.

“Yes yes, you be followin’ me now den, we’ll be findin’ it,” the gnoll responds. He continues walking down an iron alley. It becomes something of a labyrinth of twists and turns.

They come to a fork. Two identical iron passageways.

The Heroes look up. They can see small figures on the tip of the cube that is barreling down at them. Looks almost like a boarding party, ready to leap aboard a captured ship…

“Come on, which was is it old man!” Eltharion asks frantically.

“Hold on, I’m tinkin’ about it… it’s dis way, I tink,” the gnoll replies, and they start down the left passage.

After about 30 seconds, the old gnoll stops.

“It was de oda way,” the gnoll turns around and goes back, taking the right path instead.

“We don’t have time for any more mishaps!!” Eltharion exclaims.

Another few twists and turns, and they come to yet another forked path.

“Oh no…” Grog mutters.

“Um, dis way. I be sure of it,” the gnoll takes them down the left path.

“You better be right…” Eltharion looks up, almost able to make out the creatures that are on the tip of the other cube. Humanoids of some kind…

“Da portal!” they turn a final corner, and see a greenish glowing portal.

Eltharion and Ogrim push the old man through, and jump through themselves. Grog follows quickly behind.

Bloodthorne stays on the other side for a moment.

“I wonder if it could put me out of my… ah nevermind, I’d just wake up with metal in me ‘ead…” Bloodthorne watches as the tip of the other cube slams into the one he’s on. The ground shakes violently, and send Bloodthorne to one knee. He floats up and flies into the portal as the metal starts to bend, twist, and curl up, like a massive tidal wave of iron shrapnel and debris.

Grog, Eltharion, Ogrim, and the old gnoll are sprawled out on a soft tuft of grass. The dew from the night is cool and moist. Bloodthorne emerges from the portal and looks around.

It is night time, they sky filled with a myriad of stars. The moon is bright. The trees sway with a soft breeze.

They were home.

“Oh man, I never thought grass could feel so good…” Eltharion says.

“I’m never sleeping on metal again…” Grog states.

“So, what’s yer name, gnoll?” Ogrim sits up.

“I be Viknen Shadowdweller,” the gnoll responds.

“So why were you banished in the first place?” Eltharion asks.

“Da tribe I be in said dey was wary of me to be usin’ da black magics. I kept on a usin’ it, so dey put me tru da portal, and say I can’t be comin’ back,” Viknen explains. “It was eder dat, or I gotta be fightin’ a battle against da chief for da right to be stayin’.”

“Why don’t you just run away? Or use your magic to win the fight?” Eltharion asks.

“Dat don’t be de honorable ting to do, mon,” Viknen responds.

“So what are we gonna do when the tribe finds us here?” Grog asks.

“I be allowed to name a champion to be fightin’ for me honor. Dat or I’ll be fightin’ him myself,” Viknen’s old voice quavers slightly.

“I’ll fight for your honor, you did save our lives,” Grog says.

“Tank you good gobin, you’s quite a good person,” Viknen says.

Some low chanting can be heard from all around them.

“Wek don vats kin log ta dis veda?” the biggest gnoll the party has ever seen steps out from behind a tree. Several other gnolls with spears surround the Heroes.

The big gnoll is wearing a loin cloth and little else. His thick brown hides don’t hide his massively muscled arms and legs. He stands eight feet tall, and his canines the largest of the group.

“Ven ta kand vis la goth del ma naza,” Viknen responds. “Dey be askin’ me to fight now, or be namin’ a champion. I named da goblin. You gotta be givin’ up your weapon before da fight.”

Grog nods, and hands his katana to Eltharion.

Let no harm come to the brave one… A soothing voice emanates from the blade into Eltharion’s head as soon as he grasps it.

“Don’t worry…” Eltharion responds. Ogrim and Bloodthorne look at him funny.

Grog steps up to the huge gnoll. Ogrim, Eltharion, Bloodthorne, Viknen and the other gnolls form a circle around them.

Grog yells as loud as he can. He puffs out his chest and his rage bulges out his muscles even futher.

The gnoll barks right back, a loud and fiercome call. His muscles bulge as well, and his eyes go bloodshot, like Grog’s.

Can a barbarian goblin defeat a frenzied berserker gnoll that is over twice as tall as him? Will the Heroes have to step in? Find out the exciting conclusion, next time!

 

[Hairy Minotaur]

I'm gonna guess the answer lies in "black magics"?