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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Medriev" data-source="post: 4657523" data-attributes="member: 21864">Chapter 13 - The Well of Demons (Part 2)Telkya reached out her hand and loosed another bolt of light that struck the choker clinging to the ceiling above the north wall. It seemed to loosen its grip on the ceiling and on Enlishia for a moment and almost fell. Lavren loosed a bolt of black energy but it flew wide of the choker and struck the stone ceiling next to it. Both elves cursed together and then began their prayers and spells to attack the choker again.The ghoul leapt at Dulvarna as the tentacle tightened its grip with claws tearing at her face and neck. She felt a chill spread from the wound and suddenly her legs became weak as though the cold of the grave had sapped her strength. The tentacle dragged her a few feet towards it and the mouths tore painfully at her flesh. Beside her, Enlishia tried to duck out of the choker’s tentacle but found that she was held fast and so she raised her bow and fired at the choker on the ceiling. The choker jerked her towards it and she loosed her first arrow against the floor at her feet. Her second flew upwards but struck the wall next to the choker. Enlishia cursed silently and gasped as the creature tightened its grip.Erlmoor tried to free himself from the tentacle around his neck too but found he too was held firmly. Instead he twisted back towards the ghoul and lashed out at the ghoul. The undead creature leapt back beyond the reach of the dragonborn’s blade and Erlmoor cursed silently himself as the choker dragged him back towards it.     Litiraan turned around as the tentacles burst from the floor and seized Dulvarna and he recognised the creature at once. It was a phalagar, a burrowing predator that grasped and crushed its enemies in the deeper darkness beneath Faerun. He drew his blade and stabbed at it desperately while retreating towards the passage which had led them to the chamber. As he drew back he saw Dulvarna duck down and wriggle out of the grasp of the tentacle while raising her blade. She lashed out with the sword but the tentacles rose and writhed out of her reach. No sooner had they done this than tentacles lashed out in all directions, searching for prey. It seized Litiraan around the waist and then grabbed Dulvarna and Erlmoor as well, the tiny toothed mouths tearing at the flesh of their victims. Litiraan looked around at his companions then and wondered whether for the first time in a long while whether they were beaten and would die here.Telkya loosed a bolt of light from her hand and this time, the divine energy seared through the choker’s chest, finding what passed for a heart within the creature and dropped it to the chamber floor. She looked around for the now familiar smile from Lavren but as she did he vanished into a cloud of light motes. He reappeared next to one of the central pillars, cursing the ghoul and loosing black energy from his wand. The blast burst through the ghoul from back to front, narrowly missing Dulvarna and shattering the ghoul into dust and bone. Suddenly free, Enlishia loosed an arrow towards the tentacles of the phalagar Though the choker was throttling him, Erlmoor managed at last to roar and as he did so, he sprayed acid onto the tentacles of the phalagar and up to the choker on the ceiling. The nearest tentacles of the phalagar recoiled as the acid burned them but the choker scampered away from the acid, trying to drag Erlmoor with it. The paladin resisted and prayed quietly until his blade glowed brightly and he lashed out at the tentacle that held him. He felt strength flow up his blade and to his right he saw a glow rise up Dulvarna’s form and restore some of her strength as well. He thanked Lathander and then began a new prayer to the Morninglord for deliverance from the terrible predators of Underdark that they now battled.Litiraan tried desperately to wriggle free of the tentacle that held him but he found that he was held firm and resorted to slashing at the limb with his sword. He cut into the flesh but still it held him firmly and even began to drag him back towards the phalagar itself but looking up, he saw Dulvarna duck free of the tentacle that held her again. She weaved her blade back and forth as though feinting left and right toward the tentacles and then she dived forward, driving her blade into one of the flailing limbs. It recoiled and as it did so, the remaining choker turned its small head towards Dulvarna, its eyes drawn by the sudden movement. It lashed out with the other of its long limbs but Dulvarna leapt back beyond its reach. The phalagar lashed out again then and seized Dulvarna with one of its wounded tentacles. She cursed her ill luck and then began to try and wriggle free once more.    Telkya uttered a prayer and from her hand leapt another beam of light that seared into the choker. The creature shrank back and as it did so, Lavren uttered a curse and loosed his own bolt, this one of black, crackling energy. The eldritch blast burned into the choker’s shoulder and it shrieked loudly in an alarm call that would have sent others of its kind fleeing into the dark passages of the Underdark if any of its companions remained. Enlishia lifted her bow and loosed an arrow into the choker drawing another shriek from its wounded form. She fired again but the arrow clattered against the ceiling and fell to the floor and this time the choker cackled maniacally as though mocking the ranger.</blockquote>

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