As Velendo and Tao disappear into the necropede’s gullet, the Defenders leap into action. TomTom, who is virtually useless against undead,
schisms his mind and runs over to manifest
inertial barrier on Mara as well. She smells hot metal as he does so, as for just a few seconds the smell of his psionics masks the reeking taint of dried blood and rotting flesh.
Inside the creature’s maw, Tao strains every muscle she has, and barely manages to pull herself free. It isn’t easy, and the clutching undead arms almost drag her back inside, but she rolls clear and makes it to her feet. Near her, Malachite levitates downwards and sprints towards the monster, determined to help Velendo.
Unfortunately, the beast sees Malachite with hundreds of half-rotten eyes, and smells the irresistible odor of flesh. It rises slightly, twists its snout, and swallows him whole.
Inside its throat, Malachite ignores the dozens of clawed hands trying to pull him apart. Instead, he focuses his eyes on what little he can see of Velendo as he concentrates, focusing his will through the lens of his faith. He releases another
positive energy burst. In the glare of the emerald light he feels arms searing away into stumps and watches ghoulish eyes boiling in their sockets within the worm’s rotting throat.
From outside, the Defenders watch as the necropede shudders, emerald light pouring from rents in its skin. The positive energy streams past them, destroying even more ghouls back in the graveyard behind them. For a second or two, the air smells clean.
“I’m coming, Blessed One!” Malachite calls to Velendo, and forces his way farther down the creature’s throat.
Outside, Mara’s eyes light up with a clever idea. She can’t get close to it without being swallowed, but…. She digs in her pouch and pulls out a tiny token shaped like a perfect tree. With a flawless throw, she sinks it right into the monster’s mouth. It tumbles past Malachite. Velendo, paralyzed, can only watch as it is lands near him and is grasped by an undead hand. The token is blindly passed, hand to hand, past him down the long slimy throat into the depths of the worm itself. Velendo notes, out of the corner of his eye, that the
Quaal’s Tree Token is already starting to grow roots.
Raevynn tries to cast
gutroot on the monster, with no effect, and Agar casts a
rope trick for people to use as a sanctuary. He clambers into it himself and dangles out upside down, casting spells from a nice safe place. He still remembers his recent death, and would rather not repeat the experience.
Tao gets to her feet next to the necropede. As she does, though, the worm starts to slither, and the hill around it begins to collapse. Mara and TomTom jump back, but Tao doesn’t have time, and she falls downwards along with sliding dirt and rocks. She doesn’t fall far before her
ring of feather falling kicks in, and she gets the first horrified look at what’s below her. The worm is slithering upwards, and clinging to its outsides are scores more ghouls, mostly dwarven. They’re using it as transportation to the surface… and Tao’s falling right on top of them.
The worm surfaces and ghouls drop from it with slavering glee. Tao is still balanced on its back, swinging her swords around her as she clears herself a place to fight, plunging her weapon into the beast itself. Mara opens her mouth in a prayer as she dismounts Luminor….
And finds her head snapped backwards. Someone – something – riding on the back of the worm has shot a bone arrow at her, shot it with such precision that it flew into her mouth and punctured the back of her throat and the back of her skull without touching any of her teeth. She begins to choke on her own blood as she fights off the darkness. All she can hear around her is the gurgling screams of the hungry undead.
to be continued….
- DM's Note: One arrow, 85+ points of damage! She liived through it, partially due to the inertial barrier, but she (and Velendo, and Malachite, and Tao) are in a bad spot right now. And who's the archer, and what's up with the ghoulish worm, and what about that tree? Next update Sunday!
