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Lazybones's Keep on the Shadowfell/Thunderspire Labyrinth
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<blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 4819605" data-attributes="member: 143"><p>Chapter 45</p><p></p><p></p><p>Even in the desperation of their fight against the tentacle-monster, Vhael monitored what was going on around him with the experienced senses of a veteran of hundreds of fights. While he didn’t see Terrlen being strangled behind him, or hear the guide’s raspy cries over the noise of battle, he did see Carzen and Surina engage the ghoul, and spotted the attack on Gez that knocked him down and sent him fleeing down the passage. He’d never seen a choker, but recognized from written accounts the small but wiry creature that crawled out of a crack in the ceiling and crept after the soldier, clinging to the ceiling like a spider. </p><p></p><p>Vhael chopped at the tentacle holding Gral, damaging it enough to release its grip upon the wizard. “Gral, there!” he shouted, indicating with a snap of his head the danger. </p><p></p><p>The dwarf didn’t hesitate, lifting his staff and unleashing a powerful blast of frost that streaked across the room and solidly impacted the choker. The <em>chill strike</em> scored a direct hit, and the choker fell from its perch, landing in a tangled heap on the floor at the mouth of the passage.</p><p></p><p>But the wizard paid for his intervention, as a tentacle erupted from the ground under him, knocking him roughly back, twining around his legs and slamming his head onto the floor tiles hard enough to send sparks shooting through his vision. </p><p></p><p>“Damn beastie!” he cursed, fighting to stay conscious as the tentacle crushed his legs together like a vise. His staff had fallen away, and his magic flitted at the edges of his perceptions, out of reach of his battered mind. </p><p></p><p>Carzen continued to give ground before the furious assault of the ghoul. Its claws had torn runnels in the front of his shield and and ripped several scales off the front of his armored torso, but as of yet he had not been hurt. That nearly changed as the creature seized his shield and pulled it aside, sweeping at his face with his other claw. Carzen was ready for the attack, though, and snapped his sword up, slicing off three of the ghoul’s fingers. The creature let out a hideous sound, and Carzen thought that he was seriously screwed. </p><p></p><p>Then flames exploded around the ghoul’s back, for a moment framing the creature in a halo of bright red fire. The monster’s angry shriek became something darker, agonized, and it turned toward the source of its suffering. </p><p></p><p>That left Carzen with the perfect opening to strike the ghoul’s head from its shoulders. </p><p></p><p>Surina had already gone to the help of Gral and Vhael, who were being pounded on hard by the tentacle monster. Carzen looked around for Gez, but saw no sign of the soldier. He did see a small creepy-looking thing that darted away toward a nearby pillar, and as he turned around to look behind him, he saw something that truly unnerved him. </p><p></p><p>The tentacle monster had unleashed a considerable amount of damage upon the companions, but it in turn was taking a lot of punishment itself. Several tentacles lay severed or broken upon the shattered tiles, and while others had emerged from the ground to replace them, the weren’t striking with the same intensity that had characterized the creature’s initial attacks. One turned and lashed out at Surina as the warlock approached, but she transformed it into a blackened husk with a point-blank <em>eldritch blast</em>. The one holding Gral had started to drag him toward the hole where presumably the creature waited below, but Vhael intercepted it, severing the tentacle with a single chop of his greatsword. The dragonborn helped the battered wizard to his feet, waiting for another attack, but it appeared that the tentacle-monster had had enough. The last few tentacles slid back into the hole in the floor, which sagged slightly and then settled. </p><p></p><p>“Gez!” Vhael shouted. Glancing over at Carzen, the dragonborn followed the fighter’s gaze all the way back behind him. Gral and Surina, perhaps sensing something, did the same. </p><p></p><p>What they saw was Terrlen Darkseeker, now transformed into the furry, muscled form of a humanoid wolf, tearing apart the choker that had grabbed him. The werewolf, sensing their gazes, looked up from his kill, and roared a challenge through bloody jaws. </p><p></p><p>At that moment, a small horde of gnolls and hyenas burst into the room through the two passages on the far side of the chamber.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lazybones, post: 4819605, member: 143"] Chapter 45 Even in the desperation of their fight against the tentacle-monster, Vhael monitored what was going on around him with the experienced senses of a veteran of hundreds of fights. While he didn’t see Terrlen being strangled behind him, or hear the guide’s raspy cries over the noise of battle, he did see Carzen and Surina engage the ghoul, and spotted the attack on Gez that knocked him down and sent him fleeing down the passage. He’d never seen a choker, but recognized from written accounts the small but wiry creature that crawled out of a crack in the ceiling and crept after the soldier, clinging to the ceiling like a spider. Vhael chopped at the tentacle holding Gral, damaging it enough to release its grip upon the wizard. “Gral, there!” he shouted, indicating with a snap of his head the danger. The dwarf didn’t hesitate, lifting his staff and unleashing a powerful blast of frost that streaked across the room and solidly impacted the choker. The [i]chill strike[/i] scored a direct hit, and the choker fell from its perch, landing in a tangled heap on the floor at the mouth of the passage. But the wizard paid for his intervention, as a tentacle erupted from the ground under him, knocking him roughly back, twining around his legs and slamming his head onto the floor tiles hard enough to send sparks shooting through his vision. “Damn beastie!” he cursed, fighting to stay conscious as the tentacle crushed his legs together like a vise. His staff had fallen away, and his magic flitted at the edges of his perceptions, out of reach of his battered mind. Carzen continued to give ground before the furious assault of the ghoul. Its claws had torn runnels in the front of his shield and and ripped several scales off the front of his armored torso, but as of yet he had not been hurt. That nearly changed as the creature seized his shield and pulled it aside, sweeping at his face with his other claw. Carzen was ready for the attack, though, and snapped his sword up, slicing off three of the ghoul’s fingers. The creature let out a hideous sound, and Carzen thought that he was seriously screwed. Then flames exploded around the ghoul’s back, for a moment framing the creature in a halo of bright red fire. The monster’s angry shriek became something darker, agonized, and it turned toward the source of its suffering. That left Carzen with the perfect opening to strike the ghoul’s head from its shoulders. Surina had already gone to the help of Gral and Vhael, who were being pounded on hard by the tentacle monster. Carzen looked around for Gez, but saw no sign of the soldier. He did see a small creepy-looking thing that darted away toward a nearby pillar, and as he turned around to look behind him, he saw something that truly unnerved him. The tentacle monster had unleashed a considerable amount of damage upon the companions, but it in turn was taking a lot of punishment itself. Several tentacles lay severed or broken upon the shattered tiles, and while others had emerged from the ground to replace them, the weren’t striking with the same intensity that had characterized the creature’s initial attacks. One turned and lashed out at Surina as the warlock approached, but she transformed it into a blackened husk with a point-blank [i]eldritch blast[/i]. The one holding Gral had started to drag him toward the hole where presumably the creature waited below, but Vhael intercepted it, severing the tentacle with a single chop of his greatsword. The dragonborn helped the battered wizard to his feet, waiting for another attack, but it appeared that the tentacle-monster had had enough. The last few tentacles slid back into the hole in the floor, which sagged slightly and then settled. “Gez!” Vhael shouted. Glancing over at Carzen, the dragonborn followed the fighter’s gaze all the way back behind him. Gral and Surina, perhaps sensing something, did the same. What they saw was Terrlen Darkseeker, now transformed into the furry, muscled form of a humanoid wolf, tearing apart the choker that had grabbed him. The werewolf, sensing their gazes, looked up from his kill, and roared a challenge through bloody jaws. At that moment, a small horde of gnolls and hyenas burst into the room through the two passages on the far side of the chamber. [/QUOTE]
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