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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Eryiedes" data-source="post: 5164931" data-attributes="member: 88686">As the group dressed their wounds, Quinn took a moment to size up their captive.The goblin knelt with Gorshak to one side and Travis to the other with his head held down.Shaster collected to various loot that was to be found on their attackers and collected by them in the room....of which there wasn't much but one item caught the deva's attention in particular.An ancient, tarnushed amulet in the form of a platinum dragon....a holy symbol of Bahamut and boon to those who would do battle in his name.Holding it up to the others he beamed with pride upon doning it.Gorshak: "It's too "small" for me."Travis: "It's you for sure, Blue."Mardok looked to the remains of the amulet he took from Agrid the Minced; "Wanna trade?"Shaster returned with the goblin's purses; "Somebody has been paying these foul creatures well."Verithax: "HEY, that's-" as soon as he squeaked up, the entire party looks at him and are in an obvious foul mood at the shrill timbre of his voice.Next, the goblin is seen completely bound and gagged, floating on a disc of magical energy as a lit lantern sits  uncomfortablely in his lap.Gorshak: "That's handy...what do you call it?"Quinn: "A simple conjuration a friend had taught me....learned it in turn from a man named Tenser."Travis examined the digsite in earnest; "No way out of here."Quinn turned to Verithax the Venerable, with confidence boosted, and asked him what else awaited them in the depths of the keep.After yanking the goblin's gag, it snickered in an unholy fashion and chortled at the deva's apparent confusion at his reaction to the query.Verithax: "Death is the ONLY thing that awaits you here!"Travis taps the goblin in the head with the flat of his sword as a gentle reminder to "be polite"Quinn only smiles to the goblin's taunting which brings confusion to the Sharpshooter's face; "Look....this can go two ways."...."The first is you answer my questions, we knock you out and leave you here."...."The other is I give you to the "Kinslayer" and the two of you can work out your differences the old fashioned way....so choose."He looks to Mardok for a moment, having just finished binding his injuries, and meets his gaze.Verithax: "Balgron!"..."The keep, the clans, the digging....it's ALL Balgron's....he's our chieftan, strongest of the strong...if anything lives or dies in the Shadowfell it's by his will alone."Quinn: "I find that hard to believe."Verithax: "We live or die by his will, but I know he serves another....one of greater dark power....K-Kai-K-K-...KALAREL...that's it, her name was Kalarel!"Mardok: "You live or die by MY will so be QUICK about it....I'm getting impatient."Travis taps the errant goblin again on his crown with the flat of his leafsword; "You heard him stinky britches."Verithax: "I-I will tell you anything you want to know....just don't kill me!"The once fierce goblin archer (now reduced to tears) can only cower prostrate before his captors and beg for their mercy.Travis: "Really, did you ALSO shed these "tears" as you cutdown the innocent folk of the Northfold?" he reaches to the goblin's purse and tears it from his belt only to throw it in his face, spilling stolen coins across the torn up stone floor.Quinn: "What else do you know?" as he gestures for Travis calm himself.Verithax: "These lands....the keep....everything is Balgron's but there are some places in this cursed keep even we goblin's dare not tread."Mardok manipulated the goblin's head so he peered down into the darkened cavern that split from the main passage that they had bypassed earlier; "What lies this dark?"Verithax: "I do not work in that portion yet....I am too delicate for that."The comment manages to illicit a double take from the majority of the party.Verithax: "I swear...I do NOT know what lies down there....it's one of those places I told you we do not tread unless its in numbers."Shaster:"Yet you've no idea what's down there?"Verithax: "We only find the bodies...sometimes not even that...the rats get to them first."Mardok: "DON'T TEMPT ME!"The goblin tries to cower but can only withdraw so much before risking falling off the magical levitating surface he is currently perched upon.Verithax: "I SWEAR I HAVE TOLD YOU THE TRUTH!!!"Quinn looks at the goblin thoughtfully for the briefest of moments then turns towards the rest of the heros; "I sence no deception in him."Mardok steps up to the captive who begins to tremble once more at his approach but instead of killing him (much to Verithax's shock) he merely replaces the Sharpshooters gag; "Hope you're not afraid of the dark?"The barbarian took Travis' torch and began down the roughly cut steps with the helpless goblin second and Travis directly behind him.Shaster, Gorshak and Quinn took up flanking positions even as the light from the lantern began to dim from distance.Travis: "Watch your step."Before them, the decending roughly hewn corridor gave way to a natural cavern.The cieling drips with dozens of stalactites, and the floor rises unevenly with loose rocks and stalagmites.Rocks and debris become thicker to the east and west, and both directions offer only limited unobstructed terrain.As the barbarian entered the darkened carvern, his attention was focused on the darkness in the distance instead of his immediate surroundings or he would have noticed his attackers sooner.Nearly a dozen fattened oversized Dungeon Rats charged up at him from all sides from the hollows beyond, their eye's gleaming with hunger and bulging with malevolance as they gnashed their elongated teeth at the prospect of warm orc flesh.The goblin captive began to scream and fidgit but since he was levitating, the rats seemed to ignore him and charged directly at Mardok instead.They reacted with suprising speed but many as they were, only a single rat was yanked from his leg as it gnawed on him ravenously.Letting loose with a half orc war cry, he cleaved his great axe through the first wave of attackers with relative ease leaving only the one who injured him unscathed.Driven by bloodlust he begins to rampage upon anything in his path as he charges swiftly into the incoming rats but the difficult terrain of the cavern favors the attackers and not the defenders and the barabarian's display is for naught as his Howls echo through the cavern.Once more the Original Rat takes a chunk from his hand, causing Mardok to drop it into the swarm that forms before him.Shaster unleashes the Primal Elemental Forces of flame at the swarm before the barbarian sending ash and flame into friend and foe alike.Holding the symbol of Bahamut before him, Quinn watched as his intentions manifest as a Lance of light that streaks out from the dragon idol's eyes and frys the Original Rat instantly....little more than ash remains.The paladin steps forth, brushing aside a stalactite and stalagmite alike; "You dirty rats!"..."You will pay dearly now!"From the darkness, a huge rat, much larger than the rest, leapt from out from the darkness at shaster and took a chunk from the Seeker's bow arm....the reaction is abrupt enough to dislodge the King Kat from the razorclaw shifter.Travis steps forward and tries to step on the unnaturally large rat but poor terrain and lighting shield the King Rat from the Warlord's wrath, who nearly falls to the ground as a result of his clumbsy attempt.Travis: "I lost it...where did it go!?!" as he looked around his feet frantically (just in the nick of time) the giant dungeon rat leapt from the darkness at him hot on Morgan's heels.Mardok turns and throws his axe into the King Rat before it can reach either Shaster or Travis.Invigorated by the thrill of the kill, the barbarian fails to notice a giant dark shape that approaches rapidly at him, even over the broken terrain of the cavern.Shaster pointed to the massive gelatinous form before it was partially visible...moving with nearly impossible speed towards them, noticing how even the Dungeon Rats have fled the cave now that this new apex predator had entered the fray.The beasts crimson colored gelationous form undulated towards Mardok with menacing intent.The Seeker unleashed an arrow that trailed with wispy fingers of icy fog towards the Ochre Jelly but the shaft was swallowed by the darkness of the room followed by it's echoed impact on a far unseen wall.Quinn still flushed from the first use of the Medallion of Battle, focused its power on the Jelly before him but the light from his Lance of Faith was the only benefit to the combat.Quinn: "BACK ABOMINATION!"Travis: "I've never seen anything like it before."Gorshak: "I hope you brought toast..." and even as Gorshak raised his sword, a translucent shield of golden energy began to form near Mardok, protecting him from this ageless evil.The same could not be said for the blow he landed, which had no apparent effect on the jelly's large gelatinous body.Gorshak: "DEMON!!!"..."You'll NOT escape my blade!" came the challenge as he shook his fist defiantly at the Ochre menace.Travis seeing the beast distracted gestures to Mardok as he positions himself, the gesture consisting of bringing his fist into his palm.Mardok wheels spinning his great axe and buries it deep into the body of the Ochre attacker as a responce to his command.The Jelly lashed out at Mardok but the half orc opponent was nearly as nimble and mobile in darkess as the ancient evil before them and its tentapod destroyed the stalactite behind him with a casual swing.The display of raw strenght displayed by the Ochre Jelly was enough to render the captive goblin unconcious.Mardok completes a Furious Howling Assault upon the Jelly and sends huge chunks of gelatious crimson splatter all about the cave as his strike cleaves its body in two, failing to notice how its acidic body scorches and burn anything it touches.Thinking himself triumphant he begins to yell out in victory but instead has it end in suprise as the two pieces of the Jellies body begin to move independant of each other....one of them oozing towards Gorshak and the other piece towards Mardok.Shaster: "Why won't it DIE!?!" well then, why not turn its own strenght against itself...and notching a new arrow, promising strong willed tempestuous spirits that they will have a chance to be free and sinks the shaft into the closest jelly mass.Almost instantly, like a "soda bicarb reaction", the Jelly swells for an instant (as primal chaos erupts within the Jellies body) and as it ruptures, releasing these spirits...the wounded Jelly lashes out brutally at its counterpart in an attempt to strike at the tempest that leaks froms its bubbling acidic body.Quinn attempts once more to focus his intent through his newly acquired medallion, but the radiant energy has no effect on the ageless horror.Bubbling and lashing forth in anger the Jelly halves do little  more than create more debris as they swing at the heros blindly.Striking out once more without reprieve or mercy, Gorshak is rewarded by Kord with a gift of divine vigor for his faith, and a freshly wounded Jelly as the blade slices through the remaining mass, causing it to shudder from the wound.Gorshak: "So you DO know pain, demon!"Travis points out a vunerable point to Mardok but his location in the combat ensures he is unable to capitalize on this information as the Formless foe flows across the debris towards the half orc opponenet.Shaster sends a Buzzing Swarm in the wake of his arrow straight into the smaller mass and its body begins to bubble and pop as phantasmal insects buzz to the surface and dissipate.Shaster: "Won't this thing ever die?"Now angered by his past failures, the deva focus' his intent and bathes the larger mass with radiant light as his Lance of Faith cooks and sears the Jelly leaving blackened flaked portions alongs its exterior that bubbled forth with boiling hot, acidic goo and made whistling popping similar to a wet log that had finally had the moisture heat out of its core in the centre of a bonfire.The goliath brought his khopesh down into the mass of Ochre that flowed passed his feet and it squealed out swinging defiantly striking the paladin, leaving a burnt acidic patch on his armor and near rock-like flesh.Gorshak: "No escape for you now abomination!"Travis notices that the Jellies wounded quarter is towards the barbarian and he gesture once more for a quick and decisive strike on his behalf.The half orcs great axe dislodged large chunks of the Jellies body with the force of the strike...pieces of which were potent enough in death to melt the various fresh Dungeon Rat corpses that litter the floor.Spinning from the sucessful swing he Presses his attack and is rewarded with a hit that sends the reduced mass of the Jelly before him flying away from him with a wet, sizziling splat.Taking a moment to reaccess the situation, the razorclaw shifter awaits to see which remaining Jelly mass is more dangerous before commiting to the attack.Quinn continues to pour the "heat" onto the scorched Ochre Jelly as radiant energy flowed from the magical medallion and continued to boil and evaporate it as it tried to flow away from the deva.Shaster drew his next shot and in doing so nearly tripped over the unconcious goblin as he lay on the cavern floor.Shaster: "I think you lost sonething?" he quipped as he released the arrow into the same mass and noticed how the effect of the spectral insects bubbling forth from the Jellies melting form reminded him of popcorn.The larger mass flowed towards the half orc and slamed him as it bubbled by.The barbarian winced in pain as the flesh on his arm began to melt from the glancing blow.Gorshak wind up to swing at the Jelly before him but his khopesh stops shy of contact when it hits a stalactite and not the Jellies body.Seeing the Jelly preparing to take advantage of Gorshak's position, he call out to him to continue his assault on the amorphous foe before it can escape.Unleashing the full force of his goliath fury, he takes note that his foe's condition seems to indicate imminant defeat as a result of his devastating attack and the Ochre Jelly's remains begin to settle amongst the debris into the caverns excavations.Mardok allows water to flow from the cieling to his "melting" wound and within moments, the caustic Jelly has rinced away, causing the injury to desist.Some Inspiring words from Travis to his half orc companion help him to overcome his grievous injury.Quinn: "What in the name of the gods was that thing?"Travis: "Hopefully single." TO BE CONTINUED.....</blockquote>

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