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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Medriev" data-source="post: 4802396" data-attributes="member: 21864">Chapter 8 - Ambush of the Outcasts (Part 5)The dark one at the southern door lashed its blade across the top of Litiraan’s chest and forced the elf back a step but he ignored the injury and came back at his enemy. As he did, he glanced to his right and saw another bolt of flame sear from one of the mirrors in the corridor outside and strike Telkya, spinning her into the right hand wall of the passage. With a guttural snarl, he rushed at the dark one slashing left and right as the creature parried desperately. Telkya recovered quickly and rushed past her brother to stand beside Lavren on the far side of the doors. She uttered a prayer and hurled a bolt of golden fire that seared past the dark one and struck the far wall of the chamber beyond the cambion that faught Dulvarna and Erlmoor. Behind Litiraan, Enlishia raised her bow and loosed an arrow that drove into the throat of the dark one and it exploded into a cloud of darkness that engulfed Litiraan.“We have to get out of this corridor,” Enlishia announced and she rushed past Litiraan through the doorway into the chamber beyond.Erlmoor saw the dark one explode in the southern doorway and roared a prayer at the top of his voice. As his blade glowed brightly, he feinted to the left and then reversed his swing to drive his blade into the cambion’s left hip. It struck with a loud crack of thunder, smashing the half-devil’s hip and throwing it to the ground at Dulvarna’s feet. It rose quickly but unsteadily and lashed out wildly with its blade, catching Erlmoor unaware and droving the sword into his side. He fell to the right into the stone of the doorway as fire seared into his abdomen. As he looked up, though, he saw Lavren rush into the chamber and turn his wand toward the cambion. The elf uttered a curse in elven and black, crackling energy seared into the half-devil’s back. It lurched forward and Dulvarna rushed to meet it, plunging her blade into its belly. The cambion fell back, mortally wounded, with one hand holding its abdomen where its entrails were exposed. It snarled at its enemies and tried to raise its blade but as it did, Litiraan staggered into the chamber having apparently been hit by another bolt of flame from the mirrors. The elf raised his wand and loosed a silver bolt that flew past the cambion, inches from its back and struck the wall beside it. The half-devil looked around desperately, realising that it was surrounded as a golden bolt of fire from Telkya’s amulet struck the wall above its head. The creature let go of its blood-soaked belly and raised its blade just as Erlmoor swept out with his sword and beheaded it where it stood. The dragonborn looked down at his fallen enemy with weary eyes and then dropped his own blade. Weakly, he reached a hand to the wound in his side and then collapsed on top of the cambion.“Something else lurks in here,” said Enlishia as she looked towards the northern doors.The ranger rushed past the others and, shouldering her bow, reached out with both hands to pull open the doors. She looked inside and then stood back, aghast. There, before her, a skull floated in the air above a crystal orb on a wooden stand. Flames of unnatural colour surrounded the skull, casting light like a torch. The skull turned toward her as it realised the intrusion and shrieked – the same sound that the companions had heard when first they had entered the outer corridor.Lavren heard the shriek of the skull and rushed past Enlishia into the northern chamber. He turned to face the creature, cursing it in elven as he did, and then loosed black, crackling energy toward it. The skull moved in flight with surprising agility and the bolt flew past the creature to strike the wall behind it.“A flameskull,” Lavren called out, recognising the creature from elven lore he had read as a boy. “An ancient undead creature created by rituals lost to man and elf.”Dulvarna heard her friend call out and gestured for Telkya to tend to Erlmoor. Then she raised her blade and rushed into the northern chamber after Lavren. As she reached the creature, it lurched back beyond the reach of her blade and opened its mouth to disgorge a bolt of flame. The searing bolt struck the warrior woman in the chest and hurled her back into the wall behind her. The creature seemed to snarl and then lurched to the right as Litiraan rushed into the room and hurled a silver bolt of magical force at it. Then Erlmoor appeared beside Dulvarna and she drew strength from the return of the dragonborn, pushing herself away from the wall and raising her blade to attack the skull once more.Enlishia rushed into the chamber behind the others and raised her bow as she came. She loosed an arrow that flew forth and drove into the side of the skull. It shrieked again and she fired again but this time the arrow flew past the creature and clattered into the far wall. A blast of black energy from Lavren’s wand followed, also striking the wall, and then Dulvarna charged at the skull with her blade before her. She lashed out at the skull and nicked its crown before it could move away. It moved to its left and opened its mouth to loose another bolt of flame but as it did, Dulvarna struck at it again, chipping bone from the side of the skull. The flame seared out but as the skull lurched from the warrior woman’s second blow, the fire flew past Dulvarna and struck the wall behind her.Litiraan loosed another silver bolt that flew past the skull and struck stone and then Telkya appeared in the doorway behind Erlmoor. She hurled a bolt of golden fire that struck the wall above the flameskull. Erlmoor rushed forward, circling around the crystal ball stand to meet the skull on the other side. His blade sang out but the skull flew back beyond his reach and again it seemed to snarl. An arrow from Enlishia’s bow streaked past the creature and shattered against the far wall but then the ranger fired again and this time, the shaft drove into the skull just above its left eye socket. Lavren moved back toward the doorway to protect Telkya and hurled black energy as he did. The bolt struck the stone wall above the skull and he cursed. The creature shrieked again and Dulvarna rushed at it.The warrior woman’s blade sang out and again the skull moved but still she nicked bone from the flame covered back of the creature. It lurched in the air and opened its mouth to loose more flame. As it did, both Erlmoor and Dulvarna leapt forward. It lurched away from Dulvarna toward the dragonborn and the paladin’s met it with a huge overhead swing. It clove through the skull down to the jawbone and shattered the creature into a dozen pieces. The flames died instantly and the now inert bone clattered to the chamber floor.Next.....Beasts and Mazes</blockquote>

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