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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Watcher" data-source="post: 5995181" data-attributes="member: 6688472">Kneel Mindslave!: Volume II"Just... two more." Red grunted. Worlds reflected on the origin of the sergent's name as the gunslinger put a foot onto the Cleric's chest. He prepared himself to pull out another arrow, trying to get a firm grip, hands slick with blood. Worlds looked away, though not because he minded seeing the Cleric in pain, in fact that was an unexpected benefit of working alongside these companions. Instead he inspected the fallen wizard, who had been alive only minutes before, and both pale halves of his familiar on the ground.He was young, and had certainly seen too few winters to experience battle, but Thay was renowned for wizards proving their worth and power at an early age. Those that were cruel and gifted rose in stature- those who didn't either fell by the wayside, or perished. This one would have died before too long Worlds thought, he was too frail to even use the magical gifts his study granted him to their full potential. His Thayan robes, the red ones that marked the famous wizards, were more pink then blood colored, and the blood that had run from his eyes in his final moments looked like tears. Maybe even the merciless red wizards were children once too... an unsettling thought.Worlds turned away from the boy he had killed as he heard a gasp and a snap. "Alright, now its more like one and a half to go. It looks like the arrowhead broke off inside you- now don't worry, I've seen this done before," Red said assuringly, pulling out a knife to dig for the lodged piece of arrow."Maybe if we stepped on the wound it would push the arrow out the other side?" Wren suggested helpfully, raising a boot in preparation. The Cleric's eyes went wide, and he shook his head back and forth as he bit down on the cloth that was stuffed in his mouth.Chronicle stood waiting, looking impatient, off into the deeper woods. Worlds walked up beside him, speaking low as the others wrested with their wounded companion."Are you wondering what Thayans are doing this far west?""Wondering more why they would waste their time raiding small wagons, or what a Thayan knight of that caliber was doing guarding a mere mageling." Chronicle said."Regardless of their poor decisions, they must have been using some kind of road to take the shipments back to their encampment. We should be able to find it while our sun-kissed friend is on the mend," Worlds smiled, looking back at Bahn. Chronicle didn't.The two spread out, searching to the sounds of muffled cleric screams. By the time the last arrow was out and Bahn had finished his prayers to At'ar to grant healing and mending of his many wounds, they had found a trail through the woods, two tracks of past wagon wheels having flattened the surrounding vegetation.The party walked along the wagon tracks, Worlds using his impeccable memory to memorize small details about their course in case a hasty retreat was in order. He knew one thing all the rumors about the red wizards agreed upon, they did not care for magical power that came from a different source from their own, be you sorcerer or psion. He wondered how they would react to Chronicle, who had a spellbook, but mixed it with a deadly martial prowess. Probably hatred. It was a wonder why the nation of Thay didn't have more allies...They walked along the faint wagon trail, Wren leading the way. His task kept him concentrating and silent for the most part, and none of the others spoke often, instead keeping their eyes on the trees around them. The forest was beautiful, trees tall and healthy with green grass between them, a welcome change from the heat and dust of Amn. Even the cold gaze of Chronicle seemed to soften as he walked amongst the ancient forest- from what Worlds knew of his past, it had been some time since he had come anywhere near a place older then he was.Red's voice startled them all after an hour of prolonged silence. "Clearing up ahead." Sure enough, the woods were thinning and the wagon trail seemed to point directly towards a small field. They approached slowly, carefully creeping up to the edge of the woods.And before them stood a tower. It was made of stone, seemingly pieced together haphazardly from rock in the area, the land around it brown churned earth. Sharp corners of rock sticking out of the tower gave it a decidedly ugly and unfinished look, and to Worlds revealed that it was most likely made quickly with magic. The field was full of rocks as well, overgrown with grass Wren noticed with delight, perfect for sneaking up close to the tower unseen. At the base of the tower were four men walking slowly in a large circle, patrolling the larger outcroppings of rocks around the tower for enemies, while in the second story was a man sitting at an open window keeping watch."They all seem to believe they have remained here undetected, which bodes well for our chances of clearing out the tower." Chronicle said, pulling out his spellbook for some last minute preparations."Yes, but I believe we have yet to encounter whomever made this tower- it certainly took considerable arcane skill to build a tower, even haphazardly, like this." Worlds worried out loud. He glanced at the lookout, who appeared to be carving something into the wooden frame of the window he was stationed at.Chronicle spoke again. "Well, I believe the best course of action is to get as close as possible, ambush the men who are patrolling, the sergent will shoot the lookout, and we should be able to gain access to the tower without them having time to bar the doors."No one could find fault with the idea, so they once again followed Wren as he carefully snuck out from rock to boulder. They were halfway across the field when the sentry sat up suddenly. "Down!" Wren hissed, and they all fell to the ground, but it was too late as the sentry put a hand to his mouth to call out a warning to the foot patrol.Red was ready though, and resting his rifle on a rock, fired at the sentry. The soldier cried out in surprise as the bullet flew a little too high and ricocheted off the stone wall behind him. The soldiers below drew their weapons, looking around wildly. Keeping their backs to the tower they began to walk backwards towards the heavy tower doors, eyes searching for their unseen assailants."Empty purse!" Red cursed as he struggled to reload his rifle. Wren looked at him with a mix of confusion and disgust."What?" Red asked, ramming another round into the gun."I'm the rogue, and even I don't say that." Wren said shaking his head."Well it's... look I grew up in Athkatla..." he sputtered as Wren twirled his kursarigama above his head and leapt into a charge with Bahn, Worlds and Chronicle.The man in the window grabbed his crossbow and fired, the bolt streaking across the field into Bahn's shoulder. He stumbled with a cry of anger and pain, and before Worlds looked back at the men closing in on them, saw the bolt was on fire even sunk into the cleric's shoulder.The four men spread out, one of them breaking into a charge past the companions to where Red was finishing reloading. Chronicle swept his glaive in a wide arc before bringing it crashing down on a large man's battle axe, the man grunting with the heavy impact. Wren used the chain connecting his weapons to trip another man, sending him sprawling into the grass.The last one had his longsword out and stared with hatred at Worlds before collapsing to the ground, blood pouring out of his eyes. A crossbow bolt flew past Worlds, slightly redirected away by the kinetic shield his abilities afforded him. Reaching out with his mind he grasped the longsword of his quickly dispatched opponent and threw it with unerring accuracy through the window, pinning the man to the stone wall behind him by his throat.The man with the battle-axe was oblivious to his companions quick misfortunes, and managed to cut Chronicle's shoulder, the elf grimacing as he reached out and grabbed the man by his inner arm, his flesh burning with the cold. Snarling, his arm went limp and his axe sagged as he struggled to hold it in one hand. Chronicle dropped his glaive and pulled out a thin wand of wood, tinged slightly blue. The man dived behind a rock, familiar with the destructive power wands held, as Chronicle smiled and waved the wand over his wound, the wound clotting and a gratifying sting telling him it was healed.The man had another second of confusion before his back arched, wracked in pain. A moment later Wren stood over his corpse, pulling his kamas out of the fighter's scorched flesh.Red backpedaled as the man thundered at him, practiced motions becoming clumsy. Falling back the rifle discharged, the man's full tilt run stopping as he plunged head first into the ground.Chronicle picked up his glaive and began to chant, weaving a spell around himself. Worlds waved at the tower, urging his companions forward as the heavy tower door slammed shut."Quickly! Before they have time to activate any wards!" Red, Worlds and Wren ran at the tower weaving and leaping over rocks. Reaching the door all three slammed against it, but the bar was already down, and they fell back like they had hit solid stone.Worlds barely had time to curse as a shadow passed over the three companions, and he looked up to see Chronicle flying though the air- soaring through the dead sentry's open window. For a minute the three companions just sat breathing heavily, shaking and pacing back and forth with the adrenaline of combat, now with no way to direct their excess energy.They heard screams inside; whomever had barred the door was paying a painful price for fulfilling their duty. The heavy bar clattered on the ground, the door opening to a grizzly scene of two headless corpses, the blood coating the sun elf's glaive sizzling with the magic he had imbued in it. The party breathed a collective sigh. "The interior of the tower is more extensive than expected." Chronicle said with a wave of his hand, Worlds getting his first look inside. The door opened to a stone passageway that ended with another set of double doors, smaller then the ones they had just forced open. On either side of the hallway were rooms, and as the party walked past they saw the quarters of the men they had just slain. The walls were far too rough, the jagged stone turning the hallway into a vicious maw full of teeth.Wren walked up to the door and checked it for traps, quickly stepping away from it after a few moments of close study."This might be someone else's expertise... tingling feeling is telling me there is a ward just waiting to go off."Chronicle glanced at Worlds who nodded. He stretched a hand towards the door, feeling for strands of arcane energy. He would have to remember the rogue was able to detect such things. Sure enough, a thin web of magical strands stretched over the frame that would explode outwards if the proper password wasn't given before entering. While it was made well enough, it was most likely the work of the mageling- it could be unravelled or forced open without injury.Probing for weakness, Worlds found a weakness in the strands, and slowly widened it until there was a gap over the lock of the door. Dismissing arcane energy was slightly more difficult for the psion, but in the end the strands fell limp and lifeless, visible only to those who could see such things.Wren approached again, and the tumblers in the lock clicked into place after a moments work. Wren pushed the door in, and only darkness came to greet them. Red activated a sunrod and threw it into the middle of the room, more details becoming visible as the light increased in intensity.The room was a large semi-circle maybe taking up half the ground floor of the tower. Chronicle noted it was certainly a wizards laboratory- scrolls and hundreds of individual material components covering tables, a half finished ritual circle on the floor. There wasn't time to take in any more, as the twelve foot tall faceless man turned his head toward them.He was massive, a figure sculpted from the earth itself. His head was almost featureless, a faint brow line the only indication of where his eyes might have been. His arms were the size of entire men, hands clenched in permanent fists. Even without facial expressions, he was a menacing figure.Red reached in to shut the door, but it was too late as the Golem rushed the party with thundering steps. Chronicle and Wren dived further into the room to avoid being in its path, and while Worlds was able to fall back into the hallway, Red wasn't so lucky.His gun went off, bullet sinking harmlessly into the clay this monstrosity was made from. A giant fist lashed out and slammed him against the rough stone wall, his light chain mail unable to protect him against the brute force the construct was made to dispense. Red's vision swam as his gun clattered to the ground, and for the second time that day Worlds reflected on the origin of the man's name as he darted into the laboratory.Before the Golem had time to finish the gunslinger however, Wren got its attention with a shout and the shattering of a flask he threw at it. Fire blossomed out over the back of the construct, as it turned to meet this new annoyance. The fire wreathing the Golem didn't seem to bother it in the slightest. "Fire won't hurt those made from clay," Chronicle said in a calm voice, even has he and the others backed up further into the lab, away from the twelve foot tall flaming construct who watched them without eyes."But... its alchemist's fire..." Wren said in protest, twirling his kurisagama more out of habit than hope it could do anything to stop the monstrosity before them.The companions burst into motion at once, knowing that their best chance for survival lay in acting in unison to bring down this mighty foe. The sun elf sprang to the right, his glaive making useless slashes in the brown clay, the devastating magic he wielded sputtering. Wren rolled to the left, wrapping his red glowing chain around the Golem's thick leg, pulling with all his might in hopes of putting it off balance. Worlds stayed against the back wall, light spilling out from him as an ear rending cone of sonic energy spilled forth from his glowing gaze.The Golem moved with what could only be magical speed and grace for a creature of its size. His left fist struck the sun elf before he could duck out of the way, and his right pulled on the chain, backhanding the rogue who fell like a stone. Worlds could do nothing but look on helplessly as the construct marched towards him, their best efforts all having no effect on this powerful opponent.Even with his mithril chain shirt and kinetic aura, Worlds's vision went black for a moment as the room spun suddenly, the Golem's massive fist hammering against him, sending the psion crashing onto a lab table, half finished potions and scrolls spilling everywhere. Looking up he made out the darkness of the Golem marching at him, its incredible bulk blocking the light from the sunrod.And then the sun came out.From the doorway golden light spilled in, and once again the eyeless Golem turned to greet this new foe. Standing at the entrance of the room was Bahn, morning star and holy symbol in hand, a blackened wound still gaping from the crossbow bolt. Worlds had to avert his gaze as the light intensified, and with a shout of praise to At'ar, the cleric began to grow in size, weapon's and armor changing with him until he stood as tall as the man of clay.The Golem charged again but this time his opponent was ready, and Bahn set his large shield to meet the blow- not giving an inch as the mountain of clay came down on him. His morning star now the size of a felled tree he swung mightily, Worlds only able to watch, his vision swimming as the Cleric traded blow for blow. The simple morning-star was able to do what all the others could not. Chunks of clay rained down as the Golem was whittled away, Bahn's swings so powerful that even this creature of magic and earth could not withstand them.The construct would fight until it was dust, and fight it did. A few hits hammered past the sun emblazoned shield, ringing on the cleric's breatplate almost as loud as the sonic wave Worlds had unleashed minutes before. With a snarl Bahn finally sunk his morning-star deep into the constructs head, now a cratered and marred lump, no longer the smooth surface of a faceless Golem.The clay figure toppled to the ground, the damage it had sustained too much for even the powerful magic it contained to hold it together. Bahn's ragged breathing echoed in the chamber, and as he shrank in size, he collapsed on the ground, the wounds he had sustained taking their toll in full. Worlds struggled to his feet, as did Chronicle, and they walked slowly over to the fallen Cleric. There was no expression on the sun elf's face as he pulled out the wand of blue wood and unleashed its magic on the cleric, his breathing becoming easier as the magic healed some internal injury.Worlds glanced with surprise at Chronicle; he had never seen help a human, or anyone, before."What?" asked Chronicle. He waved at the massive blocks of clay. "There could be more of them."</blockquote>

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