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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JollyDoc" data-source="post: 6699965" data-attributes="member: 9546">"Hands Off My Sword!"5 Lamashan, 4715 Beyond the door was a large barracks, but all of the bedrolls scattered throughout the room were unoccupied. A short stair on one wall led to a smaller barracks, and that was anything but empty. No fewer than ten Withered Blossom Warriors were rushing for the stairs, bows in hand. As they massed together, Zula leveled a sonic boom into their midst, stunning half of them. This made it easy for Lucian to put one down with a volley from his own bow, and for Boris to deliver a coup de grace to another. Suddenly, a massive warrior appeared out of nowhere, flying through the air. He was easily over 12-feet tall, clad in the full armor of a samurai. His skin was jet-black, and his hair fire-red. He clutched a massive katana in one hand, but the other was outstretched, and a blast of frigid cold spewed forth from it, enveloping all of the heroes. Fortunately, most of them still carried Suishen's protection from extreme cold, but Gnome-Brr Phive was not so lucky. The giant then pointed one finger at Mazael."You!" his voice boomed. "Face me!""No problem," the war-priest snarled. He stepped forward and brought Suishen around in a horizontal slash, opening the giant's belly. The giant's eyes went wide in disbelief as he stumbled back. Then, a large, white-fletched arrow blossomed between his eyes and he fell over completely. As he did so, his form melted and shifted into a purple-skinned creature with two small horns in its forehead."Oni," Lucian says, tapping the White Peacock Crown on his head. "Never lies."Boris, still in the middle of the barracks, found himself surrounded by the remaining hobgoblin warriors. They flanked him, and swung with their morningstars, beating him viciously. He managed to get in a few good pokes, but he knew he couldn't stand toe-to-toe against so many. As it turned out, he didn't have to for long. Mazael came to his aid, hacking down two of the soldiers. Lucian took out another four with well-placed shots, leaving the last two for Boris. He made quick work of them, then began looking around for Gnome-Brr Phive."Cleric!" he shrieked, clutching his bleeding wounds._________________________________________________________Beyond the commander's quarters in the barracks, a wall opened into a broad natural cavern, through which could be heard the sound of roaring water. A stone walkway plunged into the heart of a large cave that was itself a roaring shaft of water, so that the steep and narrow stone pathway descended like a corkscrew along the edges, with a waterfall plunging through the center. The companions were forced to walk single-file down the twisting shaft. Even flying, they had to stick to the stairs, as the force of the falls was too strong to move through. They had travelled down more than one-hundred feet when the ambush came. Before Mazael, at the front of the group, and behind Zula, at the rear, four of the tattooed and pierced hobgoblin females materialized, floating in mid-air. One near Mazael slashed out with a dagger and severed the leather cord holding Suishen secured to his wrist. Snarling, the war-priest thrust the flaming katana through her gut, then shoved her into the waterfall where she vanished, swept away by the deluge. Zula began a sing-song chant of discordant sounds and words that sent another of the sisters fleeing, retching violently from the cacophonous call. The third, however, darted forward and wrenched Suishen from Mazael's grip. Grinning, she turned and tossed the sword into the waterfall. "Bitch!" Mazael howled, and then he turned and leaped into the falls himself.At the back of the group, Lucian tried to get a bead with his bow on one of the sisters in the narrow confines of the shaft. He managed to get off one shot, but she batted away the arrow, and then lunged for him and swatted the bow from his hands. Fortunately, it landed several feet away, still on the path, and he dove for it before it fell. When he turned back, he saw the sister coming for him again. He didn't have time to ready his bow, so he thrust out one gnarled hand and spoke a prayer. A searing blast of light sprang from his palm and struck the woman, driving her back into the wall of the shaft. She tried to rise again, but a barrage of arcane bolts from Piotr put her down permanently. Zula turned towards the last of the sisters, just as the hobgoblin was moving her direction. Zula stomped her foot, sending a sonic shockwave into the woman, leaving her staggered and disoriented. Boris leaped gleefully towards her, his wakizashi's a blur in his hands. In the wake of his attack, she slumped bonelessly to the stairs, bleeding from several lethal wounds. "Now that's done with," Gnome-Brr Phive said, "I think that war-priest fella's gonna be hurtin' when he hits the bottom of them falls. Looks like it's time fer work."And with that, he too stepped into the falls._____________________________________________________________Mazael hit the surface of the lake at the bottom of the waterfall shaft with bone-breaking impact, plunging down into the icy darkness. He sank slowly, his armor and gear dragging him towards the bottom. As his eyes grew slowly accustomed to the gloom, he thought he saw a faint glow far below him. As he continued to sink, the light grew stronger, until he could make out the distinctive shape of a sword, fire dancing along the length of its blade. He was just about to allow himself a weary smile, when he heard a loud splash above him. Then, a flicker of movement caught his eye from somewhere off to the side...something big... When Phive hit the lake, it was only slightly softer than Mazael's experience, mostly due to the gnome's small size. He didn't have much time to catch his breath, however. He could see Mazael several dozen yards below him, but he also saw three massive shapes bearing down on the war-priest.   Not quite sea serpent nor dragon, the beasts were covered with shiny blue-green scales, and their arms seemed to serve as both wings and flippers. One of them looked up at the noise from Phive hitting the water, and began swimming towards him. All of them opened their jaws as they closed, and from within their maws crackled balls of electricity. They spat them at Phive and Mazael, and when the spheres of lightning hit the two companions they burned all the more due to the conductivity of the water.The remaining Scions hurried down the stairs of the shaft as quickly as they could, emerging from a small opening in the side of the lake cavern. The surface of the lake was broken by jagged boulders that formed makeshift steppingstones to an arched doorway on the far side. Hundreds of screaming, leering faces covered the walls of the chamber. Lucian was first to emerge, just in time to see Gnome-Brr Phive erupt from the water astride his flying broom, his clothes steaming and smoking. A moment later, Mazael appeared in a flash of light hovering in mid-air over the lake, Suishen once more gripped in his hands. Below the surface, all of the companions could see the three drakes racing towards them."That's not the least of our problems," Zula said as she emerged from the passage, and pointed towards the far side of the lake. The others followed her gaze and saw what she meant. Three more of the hobgoblin sisters had appeared in the far archway, and had begun leaping out onto the boulders, heading towards the companions.Boris looked up just as one of the sisters touched down on a stepping stone. The moment she did so, the carved faces that covered every wall of the cavern began to scream. All of the companions grabbed their ears as the confusing cacophony filled their heads...all except for Boris. He just stood their, his head cocked to one side, babbling incoherently. One of the sea drakes breached the surface, followed closely by another. Lucian, still trying to ignore the wailing that filled his ears, managed to fire off a shot at the first one. Mazael was waiting for the other. As it leaped into the air, he brought Suishen down upon its neck, cleaving through scale, sinew and bone with one mighty chop. The creature's head flew from its body, the two parts landing with loud splashes before sinking back beneath the water in a widening pool of red. The two remaining drakes once again spat balls of crackling electricity into the air. They struck Zula, and then arced to both Piotr and Lucian. Piotr, his hair still standing on end, hurled a fireball back at the nearest of the beasts, setting it ablaze and leaving its charred remains floating stiffly on the surface. The last of the drakes turned towards Lucian, lifting its bulk out of the water upon its stubby wings, but before it could clear the lake, the oracle fired five more arrows into its hide, and it crashed back down again.Mazael rushed through the air to meet the oncoming sisters, determined that he would not lose Suishen again. As the closest of them leaped into the air to meet him, he brought the katana down in an overhand chop and severed her arm at the shoulder. Another jumped at him, but Lucian brought her down in mid-leap with a flurry of arrows. The last sister managed to get in close, and despite his best efforts, slapped Suishen from Mazael's hands. Snarling, but not missing a beat, the war-priest drew a second, mundane sword from his back and slashed it across the hobgoblin's windpipe. Her eyes bulged as she choked to death on her own blood. Sighing, Mazael sheathed the sword, then dove into the lake to retrieve Suishen once more.</blockquote>

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