NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JollyDoc" data-source="post: 4844936" data-attributes="member: 9546">NOWHERE TO RUNRaelak breathed a sigh of relief as the last remnants of the emberstorm finally passed.  For a brief moment there, he had thought that he might die within sight of the Acropolis.  Surely his shame among his ancestors in the afterlife would have been never ending.  Fortunately, he’d been able to bring at least a small amount of honor to his fathers by using the skills they had taught him and finding shelter within an old landshark drift.  “Come on dog,” he said as he climbed to the edge of the crater and shook the ash from his cloak.  The mangy mongrel padded after him, obedient as a heel hound despite the fact that Raelak had found him scavenging for scrub rats just two days past.  The Shoanti hadn’t named the animal.  That would be disrespectful.  The gods already named all creatures at the moment of their creation, and it would be presumptuous of him to second guess the divine.  He certainly had no illusions that he now owned the dog.  To Raelak, they were simply two travelers going in the same direction, and the mongrel had already proven very useful when they’d stumbled across that pack of bush tigers.  Still, he was looking forward to a little company while he explored the ancient ruin.  Technically, the Lyrune-Quah rite of passage was supposed to be a solo journey, but there was never any mention of animal companions.  Besides, the Moon Maidens had their wolves, didn’t they?  What they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them.  Raelak and the dog made their way up the low hill to the doors of the Acropolis.  Strangely, they were ajar.  Raelak crouched and examined the ground around them closely.“Well,” he said, “it looks like we may not be alone after all…,”__________________________________________________________Krojun crushed another tentacle beneath his earthbreaker, but not before it had ripped the leg from the Sklar-Quah thundercaller it had seized.  The man bled to death within seconds.  Across the pool, Asyra unspooled two of the chains from around her arms and spun them like scythes as she warded off a pair of tentacles that threatened to menace Sial.  Sial himself had produced a spiked chain from beneath his robes, and he gripped it as though he knew how to use it well.  With his other hand, he pulled out a black, stoppered vial and removed the cork with his teeth.“Asyra,” he growled, “it has become most inhospitable here.  We are leaving.  Any who wish to come with us, join me now!”“We’re not leaving!”  O’Reginald snapped.  “We came here for a reason, and we won’t let a giant squid stop us!”“As you wish,” Sial shrugged.  “If you survive, we shall soon meet again.”He upended the flask, quaffing its contents in one swallow, and then gripped Asyra’s arm.  In a matter of seconds, the pair simply faded away to nothingness.___________________________________________________________When Raelak reached the bottom of the stairs, he saw a roiling cloud of fog stretching across a dark pool.  Strange, serpentine shadows played within the mist, while shouts and the sound of clanging metal echoed from somewhere beyond it.“I don’t know what’s going on here, dog,” he said as he ruffled the mongrel’s fur, “but I won’t allow open defilement of this holy place.  Wait here.  I won’t be gone long.”The Lyrune-Quah brave then slipped away into the shadows to a nearby door.  He pushed a stellate symbol in its center, and it rose silently into the ceiling.  He peered around the corner and then quickly ducked inside.  He didn’t hear the dog began to growl low in its throat, nor see it suddenly double in size, nor notice the long, spike-like appendage that sprouted where its tail had been…___________________________________________________________A ball of fire rolled across the surface of the pool, immolating several of the grasping tentacles, but despite O’Reginald’s best effort, more of them continued to emerge from the water.  Both of the two remaining thundercallers were seized and lifted into the air as Krojun howled impotent rage.  Despite the fact that the Sklar-Quah had made no effort to help him and Valeris, and had even gone so far as to wager on their fates, Herc couldn’t stand by and simply watch them die.  He rushed forward, hacking an intervening tentacle in two as he went, and grabbed the legs of one of the thundercallers just as the Shoanti was about to be pulled out of reach.  The other Shoanti was not so fortunate, and the tentacles that held him sucked him beneath the water.  Krojun roared again, and pulverized the appendage that held the last of his men.  As the tentacle released him, Herc caught the semi-conscious thundercaller, heaved him over his shoulder, and quickly carried him to safety back in the room where Kat had found the insidious writings.__________________________________________________________Raelak jogged quickly down the length of the gallery he’d entered, then opened another door and came upon a strange chamber that held a pillar of emerald light which formed some sort of pattern on the ceiling.  He ignored the phenomenon for the moment, and also the large pair of double doors on the room’s north side, guessing they would only lead him into the midst of the fog bank.  Instead he opened another smaller door across the room, and hurried down a second gallery.  When he opened the door at the end of that hall, he stopped dead in his tracks.  Standing directly on the other side was a beautiful, yellow-haired tshamek woman, and, of all things, a Skoan-Quah boneslayer!“Hold, brother!”  Ahalak shouted as Raelak reflexively raised his bow.  “We are not your enemy today!  The tale is a long one, and I shall give it to you should we survive this day, but for now you must take me at my word…stand with us against this evil, and all will be made clear!”Raelak was still very confused, but he did indeed trust the word of a fellow Shoanti, even if it was a tshamek-loving Skoan-Quah.  As he glanced around the corner into the main chamber, however, he was both horrified and awe-struck.  A lone Sklar-Quah warrior stood at the edge of the dark pool, menaced on all sides by writhing, eye-covered tentacles.  The warrior was none other than Krojun Eats-What-He –Kills.  The Sklar-Quah’s legend stretched the breadth of the Cinderlands, and it was apparently well-deserved.  The tentacles ripped and tore at his flesh, yet the brave stood his ground, wielding his earthbreaker and klar as if they were extensions of his own body.  As Raelak watched, however, a second Sklar-Quah appeared from a side passage…a thundercaller from his tattoos.  The man was badly wounded, yet he did not let that stop him from rushing to Krojun’s aid.  Before he could reach his leader, however, one of the tentacles flicked at him like a striking viper, and caved in his chest before he could take three steps.Kat could see that the situation was growing more desperate by the moment.  Thinking quickly, she took the best tactic she could think of…buying time.  Weaving her magic more intricately than she’d ever tried before, she constructed a highly realistic, yet illusory stone wall around the near side of the pool to a height of over ten feet.  To her horror, however, the tentacles began ‘climbing’ the wall, and several even came right through it.  One of them twined around Shadfrar, one of the two remaining boneslayers.  The man died screaming.  Another seized O’Reginald, heaving him into the air, and driving the words of a spell from his lips as the air was forcibly expelled from his lungs.  At that precise moment, all of the open doors in the area abruptly slid closed at the same time, pinning several of the grasping tentacles beneath them.  Kat, Herc, Michael, Trinia, Ahalak, and Raelak found themselves in the long hallway between the main chamber and the room filled with Thassilonian writing.  O’Reginald took a deep breath, and spoke one word, transporting himself out of the tentacle’s grasp, and as far away as he could get, but the last thing he saw before he departed was Krojun taking the opportunity to dart to safety in one of the galleries on the far side of the chamber.  ____________________________________________________________Herc immediately began hacking at the tentacles that were trapped beneath the doors.  From several feet away, Raelak drew back the string to his bow, and as he did so, an arrow of pure light formed.  When he released it, it burned through one of the tentacles like a hot knife through butter.  Again and again he pulled and released, destroying tentacle after tentacle.  When the last one withdrew, Michael slapped the Sihedron rune on the door behind the group, and the company quickly fell back into the writing chamber to regroup and catch their collective breath.____________________________________________________________O’Reginald reappeared back on the main stairs that lead up to the Acropolis entrance…and immediately thought that he’d jumped from the frying pan and into the fire.  Standing before him was a gigantic bipedal, lupine creature that sported a stocky, flail-like tail.  Then, recognition dawned on the sorcerer’s face.“R…Ratbone??” he asked incredulously.The predatory creature nodded once, then suddenly leaped forward.  For a moment, O’Reginald thought he’d been mistaken, and now he’d pay for his mistake with his life.  An instant later, however, he was seized from behind as tentacles began emerging from the pool again.  Ratbone seized the appendage in his claws, and then bit cleanly through it with his powerful jaws.  O’Reginald dropped heavily to the floor, then quickly scrambled to his feet and began running up the stairs.  Behind him, he saw Ratbone wade into the pool, directly into the nest of tentacles, and continue to wreak havoc with the alien things.__________________________________________________________“We cannot stay here,” Raelak told Trinia and Ahalak.  Those…things…could find another way through at any moment.  I can lead us out, but I suggest we split up.  If we divide the attention of the demon arms, we might have a better chance of escape.”Trinia translated the Lyrune-Quah’s words for her allies, and they quickly agreed.  They hurried back into the hallway, and then divided.  Raelak, Kat, and Ahalak went left, while Herc, Michael and Trinia went right.  Raelak led his group back through the galleries, past the fountain of light.  He did not notice when Katarina paused there, and did not follow.  When he reached the end of the second gallery, he quickly opened the door…and stopped in his tracks.  A monstrous creature stood knee-deep in the pool, ripping and tearing at tentacles with feral savagery.“Dog?”  the Shoanti asked.Meanwhile, Herc led his friends through the opposite galleries, but when they reached the end of the second, they found Krojun already there, crouched and peering out the narrow windows into the central chamber beyond.  The Sklar-Quah warrior was bleeding profusely, and looked as if he was barely able to stay on his feet.  Cautiously, Herc drew a healing elixir from his belt and held it out to the Shoanti.  Snarling, Krojun slapped it away and barked something in his native tongue.“He says he’d rather die than feel the pity of tshamek,” Trinia said.Herc shrugged.  “Then tell him to stand aside,” the big merc said, and he shouldered past Krojun to the door.  When he reached it, he opened it quickly…and was immediately yanked through as a tentacle reached in and coiled around his waist.  _________________________________________________________Ratbone didn’t see Herc’s plight, for by that time he had fought through a small forest of tentacles and completely submerged himself within the pool.  He intended to find the source of the deadly appendages and deal with it in his customary fashion.  He hadn’t gone very far down before he saw it:  a massive mound of tentacles rose and fell, hinting at the breathing of a great slumbering beast.  Every so often, the tip of one the glistening filaments twitched to life, spontaneously growing a razor-like feeler, horrible eye, or other alien appendage.  The creature’s body was a looming clot of those same appendages, a twitching knot of wriggling matter.  Ratbone hesitated for a moment, not certain what he was looking at, but then he surged forward and slashed into the beast with one savage swipe of his claws.  It was as if he had struck a stone wall.  Barely a scratch marred the thing’s skin, and even that rapidly healed and vanished completely in the span of a three heartbeats.  ______________________________________________________Kat stood studying the map on the ceiling, looking for something…anything…she might have missed.  Then, she saw it.  There was another level to the Acropolis…one that lay directly beneath them!  The cone of light was a passage!  Immediately, she opened her mind to her companions, telling them of her discovery, but in that moment, she sensed the danger they were in.  Quickly, she hurried out of the room and back towards the main chamber._______________________________________________________Michael was grabbed next.  Before he knew what was happening, he was dangling by one leg over the pool, not far from the still struggling Herc.  Raelak still knelt in the doorway, firing over and over at the tentacles, destroying several, but not able to get a clear shot at those holding the tshamek.  Before he could, he was struck repeatedly by several of the flailing arms, and he was forced to retreat back to the relative safety of the gallery.  When he looked around to find Krojun, he saw that the Sklar-Quah was gone.  Meanwhile, Kat stepped out of the gallery across the chamber and quickly loosed a thunderous lance of sonic energy.  The tentacle that held Herc was blown into a dozen pieces and the mercenary fell heavily to the floor.  “Come on!”  Kat shouted, and Herc didn’t hesitate.  He scrambled to his feet and ran across the room, dodging tentacles on all sides.  Suddenly, the pool erupted in a geyser as Ratbone reemerged.  With one hand he slashed through the tentacle that held Michael, then caught the priest as he fell and tossed him towards the door where Kat stood.  Michael rolled to his feet and darted after Herc.  Kat cleared a path for Ratbone with another sound lance, allowing the druid to reach the gallery.  He shoved Kat in front of him and the pair hurried towards the map room.  Behind them, the tentacles writhed and slithered through the gallery door, pursuing with deadly speed.By the time Herc and Michael reached the cone of light, Trinia and Ahalak were already there.  Then, from the far side of the room, Raelak emerged, panting and bloody.  “In the hole!”  Kat cried as she ran in.  Herc looked dubious, but shrugged and leaped in, vanishing into the brilliant emerald light.  Michael started to follow, but suddenly a tentacle burst into the chamber and seized the priest’s leg.  He cried out in surprise, then swung his shield almost reflexively, bringing it down solidly on the appendage.  For an instant, its grip loosened, and Michael yanked himself free, then rolled across the floor and into the hole.  Ratbone grabbed the wriggling tentacle before it could lash out again, buying time for Trinia, Ahalak and Raelak to dive down the shaft.  “Wait!”  Kat shouted.  “Where’s O’Reginald?”“Right here!” the sorcerer said as he popped out of thin air.  Kat allowed herself a brief smile, then stepped into the beam of light.  O’Reginald quickly followed.  Ratbone allowed himself the brief indulgence of snapping the tentacle in two before he followed his companions into the unknown.</blockquote>

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