Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Droid101" data-source="post: 1793329" data-attributes="member: 942">Eltharion immediately jumped back, running toward the floating scimitar.  Grog slammed his katana into the creature’s leg.  His blade was practially stopped by the unnatural shadowy force, cutting in just barely.  Ogrim stomped his feet down and entered the dwarven defensive stance.  He chopped out at the thing three times; his axe affecting it fully.  Cold negative shadow energy spilled out from the thing’s wounds.Bink stepped back as well, looking at Eltharion, then at the floating sickle.  He cast haste and then mage hand, lifting the sickle and bringing it to Eltharion from across the room.  Eltharion quickly grasped it and the scimitar, spinning them around masterfully, approaching the huge monster.The thing attacked.  Its eyes, cold pools of negative energy, flared up as it grabbed onto Grog’s katana.  It pulled the weapon out of Grog’s hands and snapped it cleanly in half, tossing the two pieces away.Grog boiled over.  His eyes went bloodshot and his blood started pumping at an alarming rate.Eltharion ducked and weaved past a shadowy fist and struck.  The light coming from the sickle was blinding.  It was as bright as day in the large room, now that Eltharion was wielding the sickle.  The light diminished the negative energy around the creature, but didn’t kill it.  Eltharion slashed in with both the sickle and scimitar.  The sickle passed right through the creature.  The scimitar, however, didn’t; it struck the monster, shadowy smoke seeping from the deep wound.Bink cast two fast lightning bolts at the monster, one of them dissipating harmlessly, the other one burning into the evil creature.Grog pulled out his +5 dagger that he’d been carrying around for so long and never used.  He grabbed it with both hands (since it was sized for a normal person) and stabbed into the monster’s leg hard… too hard.  The spittle was flying and he was angry.  With a loud roar he struck the beast and slashed a long cut down its leg.  If the nightwalker could scream, it would.  Ogrim followed suit by striking the thing another three times with well-placed axe blows.The thing took a step back, pointing a finger at Ogrim.  A thin line of pulsating negative energy struck him; he felt his life being drained away, but he gritted his teeth and warded off the effect.Eltharion held up the sickle, trying to blind the beast with it, while he struck low with the scimitar.  He cut into the thing’s three times.  The beast was slowing down.Bink launched a volley of ten magic missiles, all of them striking home, pelting the creature with massive damage.Grog, roaring and crazy, jammed his dagger into the beast over and over, missing once out of his three strikes.  The two that hit were extremely powerful blows, sending the creature staggering back another step.  Ogrim chopped down into the thing’s foot, then its shin.“We’re overwhelming it!” Eltharion yelled.The beast looked down at Eltharion, the pools of evil that were its eyes were so terrible that Eltharion could not move.  The beast then cast haste and cone of cold; razor sharp shards of ice ripping through Ogrim and Grog, but both remain standing.Eltharion was frozen in fear, but Bink was not.  Bink launched another ten magic missiles, five of them dissipating, but the other five pummeling the creature heavily.  Grog and Ogrim layed into the thing with another round of furious attacks, and it was all but finished.  Ogrim’s final attack with his Orc-Killer sent the thing staggering backward.  It fell, but before it hit the ground, a flash of negative energy poured over everyone, and the thing exploded into misty shadow-stuff.  The battle was won.The room quickly faded back into the magic-item hallway.  They were standing in the middle of the hall, The Sun and The Moon room’s doorways were open, and both pedestals were empty.  Eltharion twisted the weapons around, inspecting them more closely.“Hey, nice blades.  Now we know why they didn’t take those when they grabbed everything else.  Didn’t want to have to fight that monster,” Bink said.The scimitar was extremely ornate.  The blade was made out of a strange material, it almost looked like stone, but was extremely strong.  The tip of the blade had a half-moon engraved in it.  The pommel also looked like his hand was surrounded by a half-moon shape.  It emitted a faint green glow.The sickle was equally ornate.  Difficult to look directly at while it was wielded, as it emitted such a bright light.  Eltharion set it down and looked closely.  A flaming sun design was on the middle of the blade, and the pommel had the same design.Eltharion sheathed the blades and went into each room, reading the plaques.The Sun and The Moon:  These blades were forged by Meiliki herself to be used by her greatest champion.“Nice…” Eltharion mused to himself.Grog picked up the pieces of his katana, grumbling quietly.  “We’ll get it fixed for you, don’t worry,” Bink’s words made Grog smile a toothy maw.The Heroes gathered themselves, Eltharion healed everyone who needed it and they moved on to the next door.Hall of Salménmalón the LearnédThe room is cluttered.  Open books are all over the floor and desk.  Each one describes some obscure magical spell or arcane writing.“You’d think he was preparing a lecture…” Bink looked around in the spectrum of magic.  He saw nothing.  They moved on.Hall of VelkvirIn place of a desk, there is a large glass case.  Inside is a perfectly preserved body of an aging man.  A book case is on either side of the glass.“You think, you think that’s him?” Eltharion asked.“Maybe it’s a spare body…” Bink wondered.  He looked into the case closely.  The man was wearing pretty ordinary looking robes.  Bink saw magic present, covering the glass and coming from the body itself.“I’ll take care of it,” Ogrim slammed his axe down into the glass, but it bounced off harmlessly.“I don’t think we can, or need to, do anything to this.  We’ll have our chance at him later,” Bink reasoned.  They moved on to the next room.MurasaméThis room, like all the other item rooms, has a pedestal in the center.  Atop this one is a sheathed katana.  Two skeletons lay next to the pedestal, both of them have their hands on the sword.  They read the plaque.This exotic blade was possessed by a samurai warrior from a neighboring continent.  He was on a mission to uncover the secrets of and map out this continent.  Only those with a true warrior’s spirit and an iron constitution can ever wield this blade.“Be careful…” Bink says, but Grog is already walking toward it, his eyes gleaming.“Don’t touch it,” Eltharion starts, but Grog interrupts.“This is my destiny… I can feel it…”“Grog, this is an orc’s, and this is an ogre’s skeleton.  Not that old, either…” Eltharion says.“I can feel it…” Grog paused, then closed his eyes and grabbed the hilt of the sword.  Nothing happened.He pulled the blade out of the skeletal hands and held it up over his head.You are the brave one?  A message in Grog’s head, coming from the blade.“Yes,” Grog answered aloud.  Everyone else looked at eachother, perplexed.“Yes what?” Bink asked.Then wield me and prove it.  A stream of thoughts came rushing into Grog’s head, and he felt aware.  He felt brave.  He felt closer to his friends than ever.“I said, yes…” Bink repeated, but was cut off.“Let’s go,” Grog said, attaching the sheath of the fine blade to his back.  He put his broken katana on top of the pedestal.Ogrim, Eltharion and Bink looked at each other and shrugged, moving on to the last door.Hellcast:  This crossbow, said to be created on the Hellforge by Hephasto himself, rains devastating fire down upon its enemies.The pedestal is empty.  They go back out into the hallway.  Another set of golden doors is at the end of the hall.“Looks like you can enter from both sides.  Let’s go out this way and see what else they have down here,” Bink says.  Ogrim pushes open the huge golden doors, and they glide open easily.They are once again in a dimly-lit corridor, only candles on either wall providing any light.  They follow the passage and see a door, and a staircase leading up.  They choose the stairs, and find themselves on a balcony of sorts.  The center of the huge room has a large pile of carrion, feces, bones, and rotting flesh.  Hanging from the top of the chamber is a large chandelier of bones and skulls, lit up with candles.  The smell is terrible.The balcony surrounds this pile of flesh, and they see six doorways leading away from the center.  There is also an open passageway, that they can see it lit with candles like the other paths.“I think that open pathway is where we would have gone if we chose the other way, back when we first got in here,” Bink surmises.  They approach one of the doors.  Ogrim opens it a crack and peers in.“And this is how to properly mouth the spell.  You must let your tongue glide across the top of your mouth, take it from me, I am Salménmalón the Learnéd, and … you!” a rotting, robe-covered man stands at the front of a large stadium shaped lecture hall.  Ogrim was looking down from the top.  Many of the seats were filled with equally rotting people.  Most of them get out of their seats and start shuffling toward the Heroes, groaning softly.“You are late for class again!  Time for detention!” the rotted man gurgled, seemingly delighted.  Ogrim slammed the door, and the party ran toward the open passage.The pile of flesh then animated.  A huge tentacle of bone and flesh rose up, striking out at Eltharion, who led the pack.  It hit him squarely in the chest, sending him sprawling.  He hopped up and kept running.The undead teacher then materialized in their midst.  Eltharion, Ogrim and Bink were able to get into the passage, but Grog was not.  He jumped and grabbed onto the teacher, pinning him to the ground.“Run!  I’ll catch up!” Grog yelled as he headbutted the teacher again and again.“You’re going to be expelled if you keep that up!” the eccentric undead creature stated.Grog pushed the teacher off the balcony and down into the pile of flesh.  Grog didn’t wait around to see him hit the ground.  He was off and running.The group reached the stairs and stopped, waiting for Grog.  Ten seconds later, he arrived.“Let’s go!” Eltharion yelled.“Patience…” Bink gathered everyone in close and cast teleport.  The world faded into a milky nothingness, and faded back in.  They were in the laboratory in castle Brunswick.“Whew…” Eltharion sat down on a nearby chair.“What a day…” Bink said.“I’m gettin’ a drink,” Ogrim grunts.“Me too,” Grog follows.Bink goes and finds Adlai, Blaze, Damaré and Jezda.  He tells them what happened, and to start getting ready.  They’d be leaving for the southern forest tomorrow.Adlai decides to scry the king, and Bink follows.  Adlai casts the spell, and both of them watch the mirror.  The image that shows up is a bit confusing.Wallace is standing in a grassy field.  A blonde human female is approaching him.  She is wearing dark robes and holds out a glowing amulet.  They stand facing each other without words for several minutes.“Fine, I agree to your terms.  You may cast one spell upon me, if you promise to leave the other towns in this region alone, and calloff the dragon,” Wallace says proudly.“I’m glad we have an understanding.  This won’t hurt a bit,” and the woman begins to cast a spell, holding out the amulet.“Isn’t that spell magic jar?” Bink asks.“Looks like it.  But that can’t affect Wallace, he’s a deity,” Adlai puts in.A bright flash blocks their view.  After the light subsides, the scrying spell ends.“What, what happened?” Bink asks.“I don’t know.  The spell should last for an hour, at least,” Adlai responds.“Hm, not good.  I’ll tell everyone that we’re leaving early in the morning.  Need to see what happened as soon as possible,” Bink says.  “Was that lady Velkvir?”“Pretty simple for a lich of that power to take over a new body to use every once in a while, and pretty common, too,” Adlai replies.The Heroes make their preparations (or drink) for the next day.“Jezda and I will go on horseback.  We should try to warn the other towns in the forest area about the dragon and lich before it attacks them.  You guys should go straight to Wallace,” Damaré offers.  Everyone agrees.“Ready?” Bink asks.  Blaze, Ogrim, Grog, and Eltharion nod, grasping their weapons in preparation.A lady lich?  Is Velkvir really that neurotic?  What ended the scry spell?  Find out the answers, next update!</blockquote>

Verification