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Message: <blockquote data-quote="simmo" data-source="post: 1446584" data-attributes="member: 9744">chapter 5 Knights in White SatinAndrew leapt after the knight who was climbing down the ladder to raise the alarm. If not for the magical silence, the Indep would have heard the young knight taking in great gulps of air as he rushed to get down in a blind panic. Andrew grabbed hold of the sides of the ladder with his hands and heels and slid down the sides, instead of using the rungs of the ladder. His booted feet came in to contact with the hands of the knight with such a force that the young man let go with a silent yelp of pain and fell.Andrew continued to slide down the ladder after his brief interruption. When he got to the bottom he could hear the young knight crying out in pain from his broken fingers and legs. The Indep glanced around to see if the knight was still a threat, but saw no weapons lying nearby. Instead he stepped over the prone body and sprinted outside to join the others. The young man stopped shouting after awhile and eventually passed out.As he exited the tower he saw a huge wall of flame burst in to existence all along the front of the large stone building. The double doors were made of wood and began to smoulder, but the building did not immediately catch fire. Andrew noted that as he ran that he could not feel heat coming from the wall of flame, but he could certainly see the effects that the fire was having on the other side.When the Indep reached the others he could hear that Cade was belting out a song at the top of his lungs. He could make out the words "Letters I’ve written, Never meaning to send". The song drowned out the howls from the yeth hounds and the black hounds seemed demoralised by the halflings impressive performance. The black shadow hounds, with their human like faces and red glowing eyes never stood a chance against the might of stone and celestial power. Caleb struck at them with his great maul called Aggemam the Destroyer. The hound archon and half-celestial paladin fought side by side, two beacons of light that drove back the darkness and banished it from the canyon forever. Had more of the hounds made it out alive then the tide of battle may have turned, but the dwarven scholar had taken care of that problem with a single ball of flame. After Caleb had smashed the skull of one of the hounds, he dropped his full weight through his elbow unto the dying shadow creature.During the brief fight the mephits were shouting words of encouragement to their master. One of the mephits began to comment on the fight as if it was a prize championship match and this annoyed Serena greatly. The mephits had been sent to her position to keep an eye out for reinforcements as well as to guard the seer. However, Serena saw them more as a annoyance than capable of providing any help. When one of them got too close she slashed at it with her dagger to keep the thieving vermin away and they immediately began to taunt her.“A surprise contender has come in to the ring, none other than Serena Allman, Chosen of Tomeri, goddess of Love and Wisdom.” The mineral mephit clutched its side where the seer's dagger had chipped its ribs.“I say, this certainly does not look like love and wisdom to me.” The earth mephit commented, laughing at the mineral mephits misfortune.“It certainly isn't,” the mineral mephit agreed.“But wait, the ooze mephit has found a chair and he's going for her.” The earth mephit cried out and waved his arms wildly as if warding off an attack, but the alert seer saw through the creature's trickery.“What are you talking about, the ooze mephit has fled already!” The mineral mephit shouted as it fled from the seer's angry seer's and sharp dagger.Whilst the others were busy dispatching the yeth hounds, Littleby crafted an enchantment of protection over himself against fire and flew over the building to the back. He took one look down the chimney and saw that there was indeed a fire at the bottom. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and leapt down the chimney relying on his enchantments of flight and protection to see him through to safety.Once his feet touched the burning coals at the bottom, he jumped out of the fire at the base of the chimney stack. He opened his eyes and found himself in a large room with metal pipes that connected several furnaces together and fed each with liquid fuel. The dwarven scholar saw that despite the fact that each of the furnaces contained coals, they were fed by pipes that reached from the front of the building. Tables lay nearby that were stained with dark fluids and smelled of oils and alcohols. Racks stood nearby with vials of different colours and it looked as though the work was recently abandoned.Littleby felt somewhat exposed inside the enemy compound by himself and spoke the arcane words that created a bubble of force around himself. As he was about to exit the room through the only door down the corridor he felt his flight spell almost fail. He heard a chugging sound and felt as though he was about to fall, but then continued on as normal. Muttering about the poor craftsmanship of the flight enchantment he moved forward.The Dwarven scholar slowly made his way along the corridor, passing barracks on one side and storage rooms on the other. In front of him he could see a number of black armoured knight constructing a barricade of metal tables and laboratory equipment. Up to that point Littleby had never heard the sound of modrons screaming in mortal terror and it chilled him to the bone. The air stank of modron vitals, a fetid metallic smell that was almost overpowering. The air was also laced with the strong scent of oils and alcohols that appeared to emanate from metal barrels and vats scattered around the workshop.The knights made a point of not moving the barrels or vats towards their improvised barricade and Littleby could hear the sound of tiny metal filings, gears and springs crunching beneath their feet as they walked under the dissected modrons that hung from the ceiling. A number of the modrons were still moving and their wails of pain echoed feebly off the ceiling. The presses, grinding wheels and metal tables were stained with dark fluids that the dwarven scholar presumed was modron blood.One of the knights spotted the dwarf inside his sphere of protection slowly drifting towards them. The leader who was not wearing armour was alerted and Littleby tried to stall for time so that he could come up with a plan.“I can assure you that you are completely outnumbered, any resistance is futile." The dwarven scholar watched with interest as one of the knights was ordered to roll a metal barrel in his direction but thought nothing of it. "Surrender and you may... uh... survive the conflict. Although I can't guarantee that the earth genasi will spare you.”It was then that Littleby saw that the leader had been moving her hands, tracing out the patterns of an arcane gesture. He recognised it as the same spell that he'd used against the yeth hound kennels, but she was not intending on using it on him. Instead she launched the rapidly growing ball of flame at the rolling metal barrel. It impacted the barrel just as it reached the edge of the bubble of protection and resulted in an immense explosion that partially demolished the walls on either side and sent Littleby flying backwards through the furnace room, through the smokestack and all the way out off the building. The dwarven scholar felt as though he'd been shot from a ballista with an explosive force and during that moment of violence he had a revelation about the metal tubes with stubby ends onboard the flying ship the Princess Profiteer.By the time that Littleby had regained his senses the chimney had collapsed and there was a gaping hole at the back of the building. Andrew had been keeping watch at the front of the building, taking cover behind some rubble and trying to spy on the defenders inside past the flames licking at the front of the building. He caught glimpses of the improvised barrier that the defenders were erecting and could faintly hear the screams of the terrified modrons. Andrew saw a flicker of movement near the doors and thought that they might be planning to shoot through the wall of flames. However, when he saw that they were stacking up the barrels it took him only a heartbeat before he shouted 'Sweet Tomeri!' over the mind-link and sprinted away as fast as his legs could carry him.</blockquote>

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