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Lazybones's Keep on the Shadowfell/Thunderspire Labyrinth
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<blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 4860364" data-attributes="member: 143"><p>Chapter 59</p><p></p><p></p><p>Carzen continued his dance with the two evistros, barely keeping them off him with his shield and sword, but having to fight every few seconds against a renewed rush. </p><p></p><p>The demon on his right already bore several wounds from his sword, but gashes that would have cut to the bone on a human had merely opened shallow cuts in the evistro’s hide. The thing was unnaturally tough, and it seemed to fight in unspoken concert with its companion, the two coming in together to force Carzen to split his attentions between them. Despite the protection offered by his armor, his skin blazed from several small wounds caused by their claws; the long points were able to dig under the steel scales, opening wounds that would get much worse if they were able to seize hold of him for more than a second. </p><p></p><p>Thus far he hadn’t given them the chance, but as worn down as he was, he knew he couldn’t sustain the fight for much longer. </p><p></p><p>Gez’s initial attempts to help him had been ineffective, but as Carzen repulsed the wounded demon yet again the soldier slipped in and drove his small sword into the demon’s red hide, right under the ridged line across its back where the bones of its shoulders protruded out. His thrust did not penetrate far, but he finally got the demon’s attention, and it swiveled to face him, death promised in its eyes. It lunged at Gez before he could escape, and it would have killed him right then and there, but for Carzen. </p><p></p><p>The fighter had marked the demon, waiting for just such an opening. Ignoring the other demon, which was grabbing at his shield, trying to tear it away, he drove forward and slid his sword into the evistro’s back. He felt the resistance of its thick hide but pushed against it with every bit of strength he could muster. The sword slid home, and the demon stiffened as the fine steel drove mercilessly through its body. Carzen let out a yell as he drove it forward, finally slamming it into the wall. Yanking his sword out, the demon crumpled. </p><p></p><p>The other demon had followed him all the way, and he felt pain tear into him as it got through his guard, seizing his shoulder with its claws. Before it could get a good hold he pivoted and slammed his sword down, slashing the demon across the face. It fell back, hurt but not out of the fight. </p><p></p><p>“You want some more of this!” Carzen roared, holding up the sword above his head. “Come and get it then, you stinking bastard!” </p><p></p><p>The demon obliged, attacking with a renewed fury that caught even Carzen off guard. He was forced back, the demon’s slavering jaws snapping at his face. Blood coursed down its face, and flaps of skin hung from the vicious cut Carzen had inflicted on it, including a big piece of its nose. But it had gotten stronger, if anything, forcing him back against the wall even as he had done the same to the demon’s comrade just moments before. </p><p></p><p>Just a few paces away, the fighter’s companions were having a tough time of their own. Gral had gotten a magical <em>shield</em> up that had held against his foe’s initial rush, but the evistro had ignored the freezing blast that the wizard had sprayed across its torso, leaping past him before springing up onto his back. The demon was furiously trying to rip the dwarf’s head off, but Gral refused to either go down or let it get a solid hold on him. The two spun around, the demon’s claws flicking blood with each ripping tear. For a moment it looked like the dwarf was finished, but then he planted a foot and drove his staff up into the demon’s body. A concussive blast of sonic energy lifted the demon up bodily into the air, and it tumbled over backwards before landing on the ground a few paces away, still dazed from the impact of the <em>thunderwave</em>. </p><p></p><p>Gral, his beard smeared with blood, looked up to see the barlgura on top of Surina, ripping and tearing. The warlock was still fighting, but she’d taken an incredible battering, and her struggles were growing weaker. An evistro loomed in the shadow of the pillars behind it, moving through the grasping arms that failed to so much as brush its skin. </p><p></p><p>Vhael was still fighting his own evistro, which had gotten a hold of his leg, and was trying to bite through the chainmail links protecting the limb. “Gral!” he shouted, unable to come to Surina’s aid himself. </p><p></p><p>Ignoring the demon that sprang back up to its feet in front of him, Gral drew upon his magic. As it always did, the chill touch of the magic pulsed like ice through his veins, but he drew more of it, channeling it into a spell he’d only just mastered. </p><p></p><p>A blast of frost filled the room, coalescing into a whirl of power that gathered into substance as it approached its target. Ridges of ice materialized, forming into a crude but huge hand that snapped shut around the barlgura, yanking it off of Surina. The demon roared as the icy cold of the magical fist tightened around it, pinning it despite its considerable strength. </p><p></p><p>Vhael couldn’t bring his sword into play with his foe at such close quarters. He dropped the weapon and roared a draconic challenge as he tore the demon free of his leg, lifting the flailing creature high above his head. The warlord roared again, a sound that filled his allies with determination that was punctuated by action as he drove forward, slamming the evistro down into the floor, head first. The demon’s skull cracked like a melon, spreading the putrid contents in a wide arc upon the stone. </p><p></p><p>Taking up his sword again, the dragonborn stepped forward like the grim avatar of Death itself. </p><p></p><p>The dragonborn’s example had reenergized his companions. Carzen and Gez, working together, put down the remaining foe on their side of the melee. The fighter reached Gral in time to help drive back the demon clawing at him. The last evistro tried to take the fighter from the flank before he could shift his defenses, but Surina hit it with a blast of fire, knocking it screaming into the wall. Taking advantage of the barlgura’s temporary entanglement, she crawled free, falling back to where Carzen and Gral were holding their position. </p><p></p><p>Vhael moved forward to confront the barlgura as it started to tear free from the grasp of Gral’s spell. The pillars behind it continued their attack, launching another spray of acid toward the dragonborn, but he stepped to the side, letting the demon’s bulk absorb most of the blast. The barlgura rounded on him furiously, but Vhael was not about to yield the advantage to it. Sword and claws met, and it was the demon that fell back, blood oozing from a deep gash in its side. Still the fiend came in again, and the pair exchanged hurts, the demon’s claws striking hard enough to bruise even through the warlord’s enchanted mail. The warlord’s counter was only partially successful this time, his sword only drawing a shallow cut along the thick hide protecting its fat neck. Vhael was reaching the limits of his endurance, weakening as blood continued to ooze from his many wounds, but the warlord refused to give ground. As the demon drew back and gathered itself for another rush, he let his guard drop slightly, the end of the heavy sword sagging down, as if he could no longer keep it raised. The barlgura responded by springing into the air, claws extended. Vhael stepped back and fell into a crouch, propping the hilt of his sword upon the floor, holding the blood-slicked steel almost vertical with a taloned hand. The demon, realizing it had been tricked but unable to change its momentum, slammed into him, putting all its strength into a heavy buffet from both claws that knocked Vhael sprawling. The dragonborn, laid out upon the floor, struggled to get up, and finally slumped over, conscious but unable to do more than gasp weakly for air. </p><p></p><p>The demon, on the other hand, would never do even that again, as it laid upon the floor next to him, Vhael’s sword piercing its chest, two feet of bloody steel jutting from its back. </p><p></p><p>The sounds of battle had come to an end; during the brief confrontation between Vhael and the barlgura the companions had finished off the last of the evistros. Surina was on her feet, but she looked barely better off than Vhael, blood trailing down her body from the wounds she’d suffered in the battle. She bent to recover the golden bell, careful to give the nearby pillar a wide berth. </p><p></p><p>“Help me up,” Vhael said, as Gral, Carzen, and Gez came over to join them.</p><p></p><p>“Those cuts need treating,” Carzen said, but Vhael shook his head. “Gral can put his needle to work as soon as we get out of here, but I’ll not linger by those pillars.” As if to punctuate his words, the trapped faces began screaming again, setting them all on edge. </p><p></p><p>“So we got the last of them,” Carzen said, as he assisted the dwarf in getting the warlord back to his feet. Carzen’s own wounds burned, but he ignored them; just looking at the two battered dragonborn made him feel better by comparison. “What now?”</p><p></p><p>The five exchanged a long look, but for now, Vhael did not answer. Staying close together, moving slowly and trailing blood behind them with each step, the companions made their way back to the central hall.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lazybones, post: 4860364, member: 143"] Chapter 59 Carzen continued his dance with the two evistros, barely keeping them off him with his shield and sword, but having to fight every few seconds against a renewed rush. The demon on his right already bore several wounds from his sword, but gashes that would have cut to the bone on a human had merely opened shallow cuts in the evistro’s hide. The thing was unnaturally tough, and it seemed to fight in unspoken concert with its companion, the two coming in together to force Carzen to split his attentions between them. Despite the protection offered by his armor, his skin blazed from several small wounds caused by their claws; the long points were able to dig under the steel scales, opening wounds that would get much worse if they were able to seize hold of him for more than a second. Thus far he hadn’t given them the chance, but as worn down as he was, he knew he couldn’t sustain the fight for much longer. Gez’s initial attempts to help him had been ineffective, but as Carzen repulsed the wounded demon yet again the soldier slipped in and drove his small sword into the demon’s red hide, right under the ridged line across its back where the bones of its shoulders protruded out. His thrust did not penetrate far, but he finally got the demon’s attention, and it swiveled to face him, death promised in its eyes. It lunged at Gez before he could escape, and it would have killed him right then and there, but for Carzen. The fighter had marked the demon, waiting for just such an opening. Ignoring the other demon, which was grabbing at his shield, trying to tear it away, he drove forward and slid his sword into the evistro’s back. He felt the resistance of its thick hide but pushed against it with every bit of strength he could muster. The sword slid home, and the demon stiffened as the fine steel drove mercilessly through its body. Carzen let out a yell as he drove it forward, finally slamming it into the wall. Yanking his sword out, the demon crumpled. The other demon had followed him all the way, and he felt pain tear into him as it got through his guard, seizing his shoulder with its claws. Before it could get a good hold he pivoted and slammed his sword down, slashing the demon across the face. It fell back, hurt but not out of the fight. “You want some more of this!” Carzen roared, holding up the sword above his head. “Come and get it then, you stinking bastard!” The demon obliged, attacking with a renewed fury that caught even Carzen off guard. He was forced back, the demon’s slavering jaws snapping at his face. Blood coursed down its face, and flaps of skin hung from the vicious cut Carzen had inflicted on it, including a big piece of its nose. But it had gotten stronger, if anything, forcing him back against the wall even as he had done the same to the demon’s comrade just moments before. Just a few paces away, the fighter’s companions were having a tough time of their own. Gral had gotten a magical [i]shield[/i] up that had held against his foe’s initial rush, but the evistro had ignored the freezing blast that the wizard had sprayed across its torso, leaping past him before springing up onto his back. The demon was furiously trying to rip the dwarf’s head off, but Gral refused to either go down or let it get a solid hold on him. The two spun around, the demon’s claws flicking blood with each ripping tear. For a moment it looked like the dwarf was finished, but then he planted a foot and drove his staff up into the demon’s body. A concussive blast of sonic energy lifted the demon up bodily into the air, and it tumbled over backwards before landing on the ground a few paces away, still dazed from the impact of the [i]thunderwave[/i]. Gral, his beard smeared with blood, looked up to see the barlgura on top of Surina, ripping and tearing. The warlock was still fighting, but she’d taken an incredible battering, and her struggles were growing weaker. An evistro loomed in the shadow of the pillars behind it, moving through the grasping arms that failed to so much as brush its skin. Vhael was still fighting his own evistro, which had gotten a hold of his leg, and was trying to bite through the chainmail links protecting the limb. “Gral!” he shouted, unable to come to Surina’s aid himself. Ignoring the demon that sprang back up to its feet in front of him, Gral drew upon his magic. As it always did, the chill touch of the magic pulsed like ice through his veins, but he drew more of it, channeling it into a spell he’d only just mastered. A blast of frost filled the room, coalescing into a whirl of power that gathered into substance as it approached its target. Ridges of ice materialized, forming into a crude but huge hand that snapped shut around the barlgura, yanking it off of Surina. The demon roared as the icy cold of the magical fist tightened around it, pinning it despite its considerable strength. Vhael couldn’t bring his sword into play with his foe at such close quarters. He dropped the weapon and roared a draconic challenge as he tore the demon free of his leg, lifting the flailing creature high above his head. The warlord roared again, a sound that filled his allies with determination that was punctuated by action as he drove forward, slamming the evistro down into the floor, head first. The demon’s skull cracked like a melon, spreading the putrid contents in a wide arc upon the stone. Taking up his sword again, the dragonborn stepped forward like the grim avatar of Death itself. The dragonborn’s example had reenergized his companions. Carzen and Gez, working together, put down the remaining foe on their side of the melee. The fighter reached Gral in time to help drive back the demon clawing at him. The last evistro tried to take the fighter from the flank before he could shift his defenses, but Surina hit it with a blast of fire, knocking it screaming into the wall. Taking advantage of the barlgura’s temporary entanglement, she crawled free, falling back to where Carzen and Gral were holding their position. Vhael moved forward to confront the barlgura as it started to tear free from the grasp of Gral’s spell. The pillars behind it continued their attack, launching another spray of acid toward the dragonborn, but he stepped to the side, letting the demon’s bulk absorb most of the blast. The barlgura rounded on him furiously, but Vhael was not about to yield the advantage to it. Sword and claws met, and it was the demon that fell back, blood oozing from a deep gash in its side. Still the fiend came in again, and the pair exchanged hurts, the demon’s claws striking hard enough to bruise even through the warlord’s enchanted mail. The warlord’s counter was only partially successful this time, his sword only drawing a shallow cut along the thick hide protecting its fat neck. Vhael was reaching the limits of his endurance, weakening as blood continued to ooze from his many wounds, but the warlord refused to give ground. As the demon drew back and gathered itself for another rush, he let his guard drop slightly, the end of the heavy sword sagging down, as if he could no longer keep it raised. The barlgura responded by springing into the air, claws extended. Vhael stepped back and fell into a crouch, propping the hilt of his sword upon the floor, holding the blood-slicked steel almost vertical with a taloned hand. The demon, realizing it had been tricked but unable to change its momentum, slammed into him, putting all its strength into a heavy buffet from both claws that knocked Vhael sprawling. The dragonborn, laid out upon the floor, struggled to get up, and finally slumped over, conscious but unable to do more than gasp weakly for air. The demon, on the other hand, would never do even that again, as it laid upon the floor next to him, Vhael’s sword piercing its chest, two feet of bloody steel jutting from its back. The sounds of battle had come to an end; during the brief confrontation between Vhael and the barlgura the companions had finished off the last of the evistros. Surina was on her feet, but she looked barely better off than Vhael, blood trailing down her body from the wounds she’d suffered in the battle. She bent to recover the golden bell, careful to give the nearby pillar a wide berth. “Help me up,” Vhael said, as Gral, Carzen, and Gez came over to join them. “Those cuts need treating,” Carzen said, but Vhael shook his head. “Gral can put his needle to work as soon as we get out of here, but I’ll not linger by those pillars.” As if to punctuate his words, the trapped faces began screaming again, setting them all on edge. “So we got the last of them,” Carzen said, as he assisted the dwarf in getting the warlord back to his feet. Carzen’s own wounds burned, but he ignored them; just looking at the two battered dragonborn made him feel better by comparison. “What now?” The five exchanged a long look, but for now, Vhael did not answer. Staying close together, moving slowly and trailing blood behind them with each step, the companions made their way back to the central hall. [/QUOTE]
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