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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 7067055" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 13Glori had her bow ready and fired off a shot at the first of the monsters that dove at her.  But her aim was hasty and the arrow narrowly missed.  She let out a startled cry as her target swept down at her, its claws snapping for purchase as it brushed past her head.Bredan tried to move to her aid but was intercepted by a pair of the things.  He didn’t think, just moved into a ready stance and chopped down with his sword.  The heavy blade tore through the first creature’s wing and into its body, cleaving it almost in two.  The thing let out a squeak and collapsed to the ground, still twitching.The other one tried to take advantage of its comrade’s sacrifice, diving toward Bredan’s face.  But he reacted as if the attack had been a high swing, ducking under it and spinning around to bring his sword up into a defensive stance.  The creature flapped its wings madly and reoriented itself before coming at him again.Kosk and Quellan met more of the things together.  Quellan struck one with his mace and knocked another aside with his shield.  Kosk merely waited until his foe was extending its claws to seize hold of his robe, then at the last instant he drove his staff up under its neck.  The monster flopped over and landed on its back, still struggling until the monk stomped on it with a sandaled foot.Glori let out a shriek and yelled, “Get it off me!”  As she spun around, trying to reach around with her bow, the others could see the creature clinging to her back.Bredan’s second foe was fluttering around in the branches of the oak trees, staying out of reach of his sword, but the smith came immediately to the bard’s aid.  She saw him and stopped spinning, but as he lifted his sword he hesitated, perhaps aware that he could end up doing more harm than good if he missed his target.Before he could think of something else to do Quellan stepped between them.  The half-orc reached out and seized hold of the creature on Glori’s back.  They could all hear the thing’s bones snapping as the priest’s meaty fingers tightened around its body.  But it refused to release its grip until Quellan literally tore it free, the sharp tip of its snout glistening red with Glori’s blood.Bredan started to ask if she was all right, but she interrupted with a pointed finger and a shout of warning.  The creature that the smith had been fighting had taken advantage of his distraction and dove at his back.  He spun around and raised his sword.  He wasn’t fast enough to chop it out of the air like he had the first, but he managed to clip one wing with the crossguard of his sword.  The creature bounced off his arm and fluttered to the ground.  Unable to fly, it kept trying to get close enough to hook its hooked claw-feet around one of his legs.  With a look of distaste Bredan pinned it to the ground with his sword, waiting until it stopped moving before he stepped on its intact wing and yanked his blade free.“Hold still, lad,” Kosk said as he came up behind Quellan.  Glori turned and her eyes widened as she saw another of the things clinging to the back of the cleric’s left shoulder.  Quellan didn’t betray any reaction as the monk crushed the bloodsucking monster with a blow from his staff.  Once it was dead the cleric reached back and pulled it free, grimacing as the proboscis tore his skin on the way out.Bredan looked around to make sure there were no more of them before he moved to Glori’s side.  “Are you okay?”“Yeah,” she said, though she shivered.  “What were those things?”“My people call them strix,” Kosk said.  “Stirges, I think is the common name.  They are pretty common in the underground realms.”“Stirges,” Glori said with disgust.  “Hideous things.”“It looks like it got a bite out of you,” Bredan said, checking her back.“It would have gotten a lot more if it had the chance,” Glori said.  She turned to Quellan.  The half-orc was wiping his bloody hand on a piece of cloth, but he looked a bit disconcerted at her words.  “I’m sorry I panicked,” she said.  “I bet that one wouldn’t have gotten you if you hadn’t come to help me.”“No one was seriously harmed,” Quellan said.  “To be on the safe side, I should heal your wound so that it does not become infected.”“Only if you let me fix yours,” she said.  She started to put her bow down and reached for her lyre, only to spin back around as they heard the sound of wood snapping.  All three of them turned and lifted their weapons only to see Kosk probing into the fallen tree with his staff.“No more of them,” the dwarf said, seemingly unaware or unconcerned with the alarm he’d caused.  “But this is interesting.”The others came forward, their wounds momentarily forgotten now that they could examine what had lured them here in the first place.  There was a corpse half-buried in the exposed and sagging roots of the fallen tree.  He—if it had been a he—had clearly been there a long time.“He was a warrior,” Bredan said, kneeling to examine the mail links that were visible through the gaps in the mud and growth that covered the remains.  But the armor was completely ruined, as was the axe blade and rusted dagger he pried up out of the ground nearby.“He had this,” Kosk said.  He held up a silver brooch, a circular cloak pin shaped to resemble three serpents wound together in an endless loop.  The silver was still bright and untarnished.  Clearly that had been what they’d seen in the stray beam of sunlight.Glori looked at the brooch in the dwarf’s hand, clearly interested.  “What are those gems in the snakes’ eyes?  Tiny emeralds?”“Too light in color,” Kosk noted.  “Peridots, I’d guess.”Glori looked at him in surprise, then returned her attention to the brooch.  “It’s not tarnished at all.  Magic?”That last was directed at the group in general, but Kosk said, “Maybe.”  For a moment he regarded the find with interest, but then suddenly he thrust it at Glori.  “Take it.  We can look at it later, once we’re well away from this place.  There might be more of those things out hunting, and they could come back at any time.”That suggestion got them moving again.  Quellan and Glori each healed the other’s injuries.  Bredan watched them work their spells.  He was already familiar with the magic of Glori’s lyre, though watching it being worked still continued to amaze him.  The cleric’s magic was more conventional; he just held his holy symbol and chanted a prayer before touching two of his huge fingers to the bard’s back.  A blue glow briefly suffused the area around the puncture wound before it faded to reveal unmarked skin.  Glori noticed him watching and winked at him before pulling her coat back on.“Do you think we’re getting close?” Bredan asked Kosk.“We’re not getting any closer standing here,” the monk replied.  He trudged across the clearing under the trees and continued in that brisk pace he had that ate up strides as quickly as his longer-legged companions.“Is he always like this?” Bredan asked.“Pretty much,” Quellan said.“Look at it this way,” Glori said, pinning the brooch to her coat.  “We beat some monsters and found some treasure.  We’re already halfway to becoming heroes.”  With a final smile at Quellan, she marched after the fast-receding dwarf.The young smith and the cleric shared a look.  “Pretty much,” Bredan said to the unanswered question.  They shared a laugh that quickly faded as they gave the gory scene of their first encounter one last look before they hurried to catch up with their companions.</blockquote>

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