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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Medriev" data-source="post: 4631564" data-attributes="member: 21864">Chapter 10 - Reunion and Reckoning (Part 5)Dulvarna surveyed the wide hall, taking in the two fireplaces – both filled with roaring flames – one on either side of the chamber. A short staircase flanked by statues of leering gargoyle-like monsters led up to an area furnished as a bedroom. Several grim-looking dwarves with grey skin and bristling orange beards glared at her but one grabbed her attention. He stood at the top of the steps wearing armour of black plate and carrying an enormous maul.“So you think to challenge the Grimmerzhul?” Murkelmor snarled. “It’s your last mistake, fools! I think I’ll sell the lot of you to mind flayers and count my gold while they feast on your brains.”“I hear they prefer dwarf,” said Lavren as he strode into the chamber past Dulvarna. The elf uttered a curse in elven and loosed a bolt of black energy at the nearest duergar but the dwarf ducked and the bolt struck the gargoyle statue behind him instead. Dulvarna moved left to meet the grim warrior there while Telkya came through the doors behind her. She chanted a prayer and held forth her amulet, loosing a beam of searing light that struck the duergar that Dulvarna now battled. Murkelmor reached into his beard and pulled forth a poisoned quill. He hurled it towards Dulvarna but she saw his movement and moved back from her enemy to let the quill pass between her and the dwarf. With a word of command the duergar Thane called flames to the head of his huge hammer and charged at Dulvarna. He raised the weapon over his head and brought it down only for the warrior woman to twist towards him and parry his blow with her blade.The other duergar warrior met Erlmoor in the doorway, lashing out with its hammer but the dragonborn parried and twisted the hammer downwards. An arrow drove into the duergar’s shoulder as Enlishia began firing and it staggered back from Erlmoor but the dragonborn would not let it retreat. He stepped forward and thrust his blade into the duergar’s shoulder close to where Enlishia’s arrow protruded and the dwarf fell back another step. A silver bolt from Litiraan’s wand seared over the dwarf’s head to strike the wall next to the gargoyle that Lavren had struck with his bolt of energy. The duergar growled his defiance and held his hammer before him.The remaining duergar within the chamber made her way to the top of the steps and then turned to face the chamber, chanting as she turned. Fiery rocks rained from the ceiling of the chamber, striking Dulvarna and Lavren and knocking them to the floor. Lavren rolled to his feet almost at once and drew his sword from his belt. He pointed it at the duergar woman and hurled a chair out of his way as he started forward. The thane moved to intercept him and he stabbed out with his blade, forcing the dwarf to parry. Beside him, Dulvarna slashed her blade into the arm of the duergar before her and drove the dwarf back. A bolt of light flew through the doors and struck the other duergar and then Dulvarna twisted to her right as the thane came at her. She raised her blade as his hammer came down and again she parried his mighty blow.Erlmoor parried a low blow from the duergar before him as an arrow from Enlishia’s bow flew past the dwarf’s shoulder. The dragonborn roared and surged forward, thrusting his blade forward into the duergar’s hip. The dwarf staggered and fell back but then, with a roar, his form began to expand as the duergar in the eastern hall had before him. A chair toppled behind the duergar as he expanded and then he stood before Erlmoor, the size of an ogre and wielding his large hammer ferociously. Again the duergar roared but then it was silenced as Litiraan hurled a silver bolt into its chest. Erlmoor rushed forward and the duergar raised it hammer again.From the top of the steps, the duergar woman began chanting again and as she did, noxious fumes rose from the floor of the chamber and engulfed Dulvarna and Lavren. The elf staggered and bent over as his eyes began to burn and the poison filled his lungs but Dulvarna was ready. She held her breath and covered her eyes with an arm as she held her sword high above her head. Lavren lashed out wildly with his sword and stumbled past the fallen chair in front of him while behind him, Dulvarna wiped her arm over her eyes     and lashed out high with her blade. As the duergar parried, she reversed the swing and brought the blade in low to cut into the side of the dwarf’s knee. The duergar roared as the leg buckled beneath him and then, he too began to expand into a bigger form. Dulvarna retreated from the now-huge duergar, keeping her blade up before her but then the huge hammer of the thane came down on her shoulder and she crumpled and fell to her left.</blockquote>

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