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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Medriev" data-source="post: 4733457" data-attributes="member: 21864">Chapter 22 - The Tower of Mysteries (Part 5)With a flash of light, the teleportation circle activated. Suddenly, the six companions were standing in a room, perhaps twenty feet by twenty feet, with two exits, one to the north and the other to the west. The walls of the chamber were covered with carvings that depicted human faces with each face wearing a blindfold or gag. No sooner had the companions appeared in the chamber than the blindfolded faces animated and began to chant while the eyes of the gagged faces glared at the newcomers with rage.Enlishia was the first to move from the circle, raising her bow and leaving the chamber through the northern exit. Beyond, she found herself in a wide, columned hall that seemed to circle the central chamber As she turned right to circle to the east, a hobgoblin-like creature with black, warty skin, scarred leather armour and a notched battleaxe, rounded the corner coming towards her.“Norkers!” she called out as she identified the creatures from a story that her father had once told her. “They will bite and gnaw so keep your distance.”The ranger raised her bow and loosed an arrow that flew past the norker and then in one fluid motion, nocked and loosed a second shaft. This one flew true and drove into the goblin’s shoulder, stopping it in its stride. As she raised her bow again, Enlishia saw another of the goblin creatures coming up the columned hallway from the south behind its companion.“There’s more than one,” she shouted back to others and as she did, Dulvarna emerged from the chamber with her sword in her hands.The warrior womon rushed forward to meet the first of the norkers as it started forward once again and then Telkya emerged from the chamber. Raising her symbol of Corellon, she uttered a prayer and unleashed towards the leading creature that struck the wall behind it. The creature snarled and came forward in a rush then to meet Dulvarna blade to blade. Suddenly, from a pillar to the left of Dulvarna, a bolt of lightning crackled out, missing the warrior woman by bare inches. She stepped back and the norker rushed on, trying to seize its chance.At the southern end of the hallway another norker appeared but Lavren had joined the group at the northern end and with a chanted curse, he loosed black, crackling energy into the nearest of the goblin creatures. Erlmoor came forth next and rushed to join Dulvarna in battle with the first Norker. He roared and sprayed acid from his mouth over both of the nearer creatures, driving them back a step and pushing their furious assault back for a few more previous moments. Litiraan emerged to stand beside Lavren, raising his wand and seeking a target for his spells but Erlmoor and Dulvarna blocked his sight as they raised their blades and parried the first blows from the norkers.A fourth norker rushed to join its companions in the eastern hallway and rushed to join the battle and as it did so, the lead goblin creature lashed out with its axe and nicked Dulvarna’s left arm. She fell back, bleeding but barely hurt and gave Enlishia the opening she needed. The ranger raised her bow and loosed first one and then a second arrow into the chest of the goblin. It staggered and fell back from the battle with the woman and the dragonborn but from behind, its companion rushed forward to aid it. The second norker swung out with its axe but Erlmoor saw its rushing attack and leapt back. The jagged blade nicked his right arm as he dodged out of reach, drawing blood but causing the dragonborn little hurt. He roared his defiance and Dulvarna joined in the battle cry as she swept her blade out wide. Aecris clove through the neck of the first norker and dropped it art her feet.Another norker rushed along the east wall of the hallway with a flail in its hand but Telkya saw it coming and loosed another bolt of light. This bolt flew true and seared through the chest of the norker before burning the wall behind it. The creature stopped, looked down at the gaping hole in its body and then pitched forward, face down on the floor. Telkya smiled for a moment but then, as if an unseen force sought to punish her for her triumph, a bolt of lightning lanced out from the pillar behind her and struck her back, throwing her to her left against the north wall of the corridor. Telkya looked back towards the pillar and as she did so, a dark mist seeped out and enveloped Lavren’s legs. The elf cried out as a sudden cold assailed him and staggered towards his betrothed. She looked at him pleadingly and he leapt clear of the mist but as though again directed by some unseen foe, the mist turned aside and drifted gently towards Litiraan.“Stay away from the pillars!” Lavren called out to Litiraan in particular but to his companions also.Cursing under his breath, he raised his wand and pointed it at the next norker that he could see rushing up the eastern hallway towards him. With an uttered curse he loosed more black, crackling energy at the norkers but this time his aim was awry and the bolt seared into the pillar next to the goblin creature he had been aiming at. Behind him, he heard Litiraan cry out as the mist sought to engulf him. He too, leapt clear within a heartbeat and rushed past Lavren to the eastern wall. There, he turned towards the advancing norkers and with a few words, he unleashed flame from his wand that engulfed the nearest of the creatures. The norkers cried out in pain and fell back for a moment but more were coming. Litiraan quickly counted half a dozen of the creatures massing before him in the hallway now and wondered if there was any end to the horde of creatures. Then a bolt of lightning lanced out from the pillar behind him and he was forced to duck as it struck the wall above him. Putting aside his thoughts, he raised his wand once more as three more norkers rushed up the hallway from the south.</blockquote>

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