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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 1261298" data-attributes="member: 1210">Of Sound Mind (Finale)The town was alive when they returned.  All the villagers were outside, awaiting them with a variety of farm tools and kitchen utensils in hand.  Their glassy eyes looked had taken on a measure of violent insanity and it was obvious that the Gem had ordered them to tear all party members to little pieces.  The Gem was telling them were the party went but it would not let them see through shadow and stealth.  The brave heroes snuck past the outer guards, through the streets of Bellhold, and into the town square.  No one saw them until they reached the Bell Tower.Perhaps the villagers could not fully see them, but they seemed to sense them in every other way.  Dozens began to pour upon them and Federico began to put his plan into action.  Boldly, he charged forward and made himself known.  He pressed his back against the Bell Tower wall when the blows came against him and tumbled his way to the Bell Tower door when he saw an opening.  Praying to some lost kobold god, Federico quickly grabbed the door handle and it opened without hesitation.  Again, he miraculously tumbled through multiple blows that were too slow to find their mark.  Waiting inside were 5 villagers that clearly expected him.  Without a moment to spare, Federico pumped his little legs up the first of four floors that led up to the Bell with crazed townsfolk in tow.  Thelonious and Captain Cave-Dwarf did their best to make use of Federico’s brave maneuverings but they were spotted in a narrow alleyway behind the Bell Tower.  The gem led the villagers around both exists to the alley and they charged the Captain when he stumbled out of cover and into plain sight.  With a heroic roar, he charged forward towards the Bell Tower with axe in hand.  Thelonious was forced to expose himself lest the villagers center their attention on the Gem-bearer.  The two worked in deadly tandem with Cave Dwarf charging ahead and bowling over a villager with his axe, then Thelonious dropping the next closest with his bow before rushing to join up with Cave Dwarf.  They did this 3 times and killed 6 villagers before reaching the backside of the Bell Tower.Federico’s exhaustion nearly overtook him when he reached the second floor window.  The sounds of battle echoed from below and he new that Captain Cave-Dwarf and Thelonious could never make it around to the front door.  Mustering what little strength he possessed, he bashed the window ajar and cried out from above.  “Oh no!  Don’t go around to the front.  Come up through this window.  It’s the only way!”Cave-Dwarf ascended first relatively unhampered.  He had a mere 15 feet to go to get to the window’s ledge but his strength left him after 10ft and there he hung in perfect position for a villager’s long and deadly farm tool.  Thelonious held them off as best he could until it was obvious that the Captain could not make the climb.  He pushed forward the closest villager, knocking her into a crowd, and sprinted for the wall.  His arms nearly gave from wear when he reached the ledge and pulled himself in.  Below, 5 villagers angrily swatted at the Captain with all their might.Captain Cave-Dwarf hung about 4' from the ledge now and about 7' off the ground.  Thelonious could not quite reach him with his arm and was forced to dangle himself outside and lower his bow for extra reach.  With one very winded pull, he hoisted Captain Cave-Dwarf into the Bell Tower right as the villagers descended upon them.“Run, Captain, I can hold them off!”  The blood dripping through his chest bandage suggested otherwise, yet Thelonious’ face was unyielding.  Captain Cave-Dwarf charged onward an upward while the town’s chef attacked Thelonious with a meat cleaver.Federico made it to the top first.  The open stairway became closed off on the final turn to the top floor.  Sadly, the door was locked and his small frame could not make it budge, and there was no way to climb around onto the top floor.  Captain Cave-Dwarf arrived moments later and threw his weight against the heavy oak door.  Once, twice, then three times did the throw himself against it until the lock finally buckled beneath this stout frame.  Below, both could hear the heated war cries of Thelonious and the sound of an axe striking bone.“Hurry, my friends, hurry lest this old woman beat me to death with her rolling pin!”  A loud thump from below seemed to indicate that grandmother carried a very heavy pin indeed.  Fighting his most in-born instincts of hatred for himself and the need to retaliate, Thelonious moved behind a corner and braced himself against the growing onslaught.  Grandmother’s rolling pin continued to thunder off his buckler while the occasional cooking knife whizzed by.Above the fray, Federico and Captain Cave-Dwarf learned a harsh lesson from the Bell.  In their rush of excitement and fear, Captain Cave-Dwarf threw the gem to the ground and pulled the four-story long rope that rang the Bell.“DOOOOOOONNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!”Captain Cave-Dwarf and Federico fell to the ground and their cries of pain never pierced the loud, deafening echo of the bell.  The Captain clutched his ears and felt warm liquid slithered through his hairy fingers.  I canna make that mistake again, he thought.  I canna survive another ring like that!  Federico was now on the floor attempting to sing a triumphant song that would revitalizes their spirits, if not their bodies.  In a moment of sheer desperation, Captain Cave-Dwarf flung himself outwards, hovering above everything and everyone for just a moment, then quickly plunging downward under the inevitable pull of gravity.  His timing was impeccable and he reached out his hands at the right time and grabbed the Bell’s rope before descending past the third floor landing.“DOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!”The Captain’s weight jerked the Bell’s rope downward, ringing the bell and nearly dropping him into unconsciousness.  His vision returned before his grip slackened.  Dazed and bewildered, the Captain swung himself over the nearest railing and poised himself for another pull.  Somewhere above, Federico’s song drifted above the echo of the Bell.  The Captain bravely pulled the Bell rope again.“DOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!”t was too much for him to stand.  Ears bleeding, hands desperately trying to keep his brain in his skull, Captain Cave-Dwarf collapsed on the third floor.“Uh, you’d better come up here!” shrieked Federico.  “I can’t move anymore and I think our fair Captain has fallen!  You must finish the gem off before it heals itself!”  As he gazed at the glowing Gem in front on him, Federico’s could see his reflecting begin to form while the cracks and chips slowly repaired themselves.Thelonious ran as fast as he could while dodging the various incoming missiles sent by the angry townsfolk.  He reached the top and surveyed the situation.  Federico hovered on the verge of consciousness while Captain Cave-Dwarf’s body lay sprawled on the 3rd floor railing.  Before the remaining villagers could reach him, Thelonious attempted to double back on the villagers by climbing down to where the Captain lay.“Where are you going?” yipped Federico as the villagers poured into the Bell room.“I’ll ring the Bell from the bottom!” shouted Thelonious.  “It’s the only way to do it safely!”“You don’t have time!  The gem is healing itself!  Stuff your ears and ring it NOW!”Thelonious was now on the 3rd floor and he could see several angry villagers staring at him from above.  He quickly ripped off two small pieces of his cloak and jammed them into his ears.  The villagers were now upon him.  Before they could strike, he rang the Bell for the fourth time.“DOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!”Thelonious dropped to his knees, unable to stand while the Bell echoed through the tower.  The villagers around him dropped as well.  The ones closest to him dropped to their knees, then fell, but more moved in to replace their fallen comrades.  Thelonious, in his prone position, saw a large cleaver raised above him.“DOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!”He rang the Bell inches before the knife struck his back.  That particular villager now dropped his knife and stepped backwards, hitting the railing with his back and falling head over heels to his death.  Thelonious clung to his life like a drowning man might cling to a floating board in the middle of a titanic storm.  He could feel it in his hands and he could feel it slipping away, quickly losing his grip against the sonic onslaught.  Some part of him understood that Federico was no longer singing.Thelonious had no way of knowing if he was close to breaking the Gem, no way of knowing if the villagers had torn Federico limb from limb, and no way of knowing if this would be his last pull.  He was too dizzy to climb down, too faint to walk down the stairs, and too tired to fight.  He mustered every last ounce of courage and did what needed to be done.“DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!”Thelonious fell backwards as if pushed by some unseen hand and was dimly aware of the villagers falling around him when he took his final waking breath.  They had fought long and hard, past fatigue, past fear, and past an entire village of possessed townsfolk, but it would all end here.  This was Thelonious’ final thought.</blockquote>

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