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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ziona" data-source="post: 317994" data-attributes="member: 484">Evil Rears It’s Ugly HeadThe heroes traveled in silence as they ventured down the long and winding path that lead to the fourth level of the dungeon.  Lox walked in the rear, still sulking over having had his Rod of Wonder taken away from him.  Rossal made sure to keep circulating the Rod between himself, Drexel, Glindil, and Ziona to prevent Lox from finding it.When they finally came upon a door, Dent called Lox to the front of the line.  Since the corridor was narrow, Lox found it was a great excuse for “bumping” into everyone on his way to check the door.  He patted and pilfered each pocket he was close to, looking for the Rod that was rightfully his.  To his dismay, the Rod did not seem to be in any of the pouches or pockets he checked.  Sighing, Lox approached the door with a grimace and took out his lockpicks.“It’s unlocked, silly,” said the halfling rolling his eyes.  It seemed to the group that he was unhappy having to shove his way through them to get back to where he was, but actually, he was glad to have the chance to double check pockets and pouches.  But, he still did not find the Rod.  When he arrived at his spot at the back of the line, he took a gander at the items he “found.”  “Let’s see,” he thought to himself. “A silver piece, some rations…bat droppings? Yuck…ooh…a ring…”The ring Lox pilfered had one ruby set in silver.  It looked as though it were missing two of the stones it once had in it.  He reached back into his pocket to see if the rubies came out when he snatched it, but found none.  “Oh well,” he thought.  “I’m sure whoever had it wouldn’t want it without all three stones.  I better hold onto it until I can get it fixed for them…won’t that be a nice surprise.”The halfling slid the ring onto his finger and trotted along to catch up with the group.As the companions entered the long, rectangular chamber, they noticed oily bubbles spouting to the surface of the water that filled the room.  “I’m not sure it would be wise to wade through this muck,” said Dent cautiously.“We won’t wade through it at all,” said Ziona, making her way to the front.  As she closed her eyes and began casting, her companions watched as the water level fell from three feet to one inch.  The only obstacle that stood in their way was a goopy organic mud that coated the floor.“Eeewwwwuuuu….I don’t wanna walk on that,” said Lox turning up his nose.“Worry not, lil’ buddy! I’ll getcha across that muck,” said Doc with enthusiasm.Doc grabbed Lox, put him on his shoulders, and began meandering around the room.“Hmmm…only problem is…I don’t see an exit.”The party began searching around the room for any sort of passageway or door that might be hidden, and after a short while, Venus came across an odd cut in the wall.  Convinced it was a door, he tried with all his might to push, pull, tug and bash at it.  “Stand aside,” said Drexel.  “If that is the way out, I believe I can open it.”Drexel motioned delicately with his hands and recited a few stringy words.  Then suddenly, the wall gave a pop and the small door was ajar.“Ha! I knew it was an opening,” said Venus.One by one, the companions exited the room.  Doc lowered Lox from his shoulders, and his face changed from being crimson to a light pink, until finally, he could breathe well again.“Next time, don’t grab the ol’ neck so hard, Roundy.”“Oops…sorry, Doc,” smirked the halfling.“I don’t like the looks of this one bit,” grumbled Dent.Before them stood a set of stone double doors with hideous carvings of demons, skulls and symbols of Gruumsh on it’s black surface.  As they approached the door, the life-like carvings seemed to watch their movements.“What do you suppose is behind those doors?” asked Venus.“I think evil is about to rear it’s ugly head!” proclaimed Doc.“Let’s find out,” said Lox as he scurried towards the door.  The mischievous halfling grabbed the door handles and gave a hard tug.  The double doors swung open easily, revealing the six-sided-star-shaped room within.  In the center of the room stood a series of four stair cases that all met in the middle, creating a platform at the top.  Beneath the platform was a pit of lava, which sent waves of heat throughout the room.  <img src="http://www.livingfaerun.com/boards/RA_Upper_Temple.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Lumbering about the room were over a dozen orcs, most of which wore tattered brown robes.  However, there were several more who wore grey robes, while the one orc atop the platform wore black.  Without hesitation, Dent knocked an arrow and began his assault.  Within a moments time, one of the grey robed orcs fell victim to three of Dent’s arrows, which protruded from it’s chest and head like needles in a pin cushion.Drexel reached his slender fingers into one of the pouches on his belt and pulled forth a smidgen of bat guano.  As the heated words of the spell rolled off his tongue, a tiny bead flew from his finger.  A low roar filled the room as Drexel’s Fireball detonated upon five unsuspecting orcs. Only one stumbled away, stunned and smoldering from the blast.  The others fell limply to the ground, smoke rising from their corpses.Rossal and Glindil flew from Ziona’s shoulders and simultaneously cast Magic Missile at the orc in the center of the stairs.  The dragons hit their mark, but were surprised to see their foe suddenly disappear from his perch.From out of nowhere, the orc in black appeared next to Drexel with a smirk on his face. “Surprise,” it said it garbled common.The orc was missing one of it’s eyes, which it wore on a rusted chain about it’s neck.  It’s slimy yellow teeth glistened in the warm glow of the lava pit as he smiled evilly at Drexel.Meanwhile, Venus was cleaving into the orcs that surrounded him.  Two of the brown robed orcs fell to his might, as he prepared to strike a third one.Next to him, Doc stood motionless as though he were imitating the stone statue of Gruumsh that stood against the far wall of the room.  Ziona rushed to his aid and cast Dispel Magic, which broke the Hold spell that had been cast upon him.As Lox stood watching the mayhem and chaos, he readied his magical short sword and thought about the exciting things he could be doing if they hadn’t taken away his Rod of Wonder.  It was because he was so lost in his thoughts that he barely noticed the Vrock demon that had come up behind him.  However, the halfling was snapped away from his thoughts when he felt the Vrock swoop it’s head down at him and bite into his tiny shoulder.“Aaaagggggghhhhhh!!!!”“Roundy!”Doc’s momentum was suddenly halted as an orc cast Hold Person upon him again.  Doc could do nothing as his tiny friend was being attacked.Not far from where Doc stood motionless, Drexel stepped next to Ziona.  He took out The Staff of Justice and looked at the black robed orc.“Surprise,” he said with a wink.Drexel used Dimension Door to whisk Ziona and himself to the other side of the room and out of the melee.  Unfortunately, the laughter of the one-eyed orc priest followed them as he appeared next to them.  As Drexel and Ziona leapt back, they noticed the eye on the orc’s necklace winked at them.  The creature’s evil laughter bubbled out at the companions as they recoiled in disgust.Ziona unsheathed her bastard sword and struck the orc, which put an abrupt end to it’s sinister giggle.  When she hit with her second strike, the creature had become quite angry.  Faithful as ever, Rossal and Glindil were at Ziona’s side with Magic Missiles which struck the orc as well.By this time the one-eyed orc was furious and began casting on the defensive.  However, the spell, which was directed at Drexel, seemed to have no effect.Meanwhile, across the room, Dent and Venus were trying in vain to fend off their orc attackers and make their way to Doc.  The brave duelist was completely defenseless, taking hit after hit by the evil, relentless orc priests.Dent, surrounded by three orcs, had taken out his back up battle axe and began hacking away at the beasts that outnumbered him.  The ranger was injured, but fought on without heeding his own wounds.  His thoughts were on helping Doc and Lox fend against their attackers.From behind the statue of Gruumsh, an orc in brown robes appeared and began pointing towards the combat that had erupted in the temple.  With him was an evil spectre, whose ghostly image appeared to be wearing the robes of a mage.  The spectre soared into the room, intent on destroying the intruders.  Drexel used his winged mask to fly fifty feet into the air in an attempt to thwart the specter’s attack.  Ziona managed to swipe at the spectre as it floated by in pursuit of the tiefling.By this time, the Soldier of Lathander had managed to defeat the orcs that dared stand in his way, but before he could get to Doc’s side, he watched as his ally fall to the ground under the crushing blow of another orc.  “DOC!”Glindil, hearing Venus cry out, and seeing their companion fall, flew as fast as she could to reach Doc.  She began healing him as the orcs began dispersing around the room to hack down the other intruders. Below Drexel, Ziona was in close combat with the one-eyed orc.  The evil priest scored a hit on the half-drow, and was happy to see reinforcements arrive.  The orcs that had felled Doc were now converging around Ziona.  She attacked the black-robed orc, but was outnumbered before long.Meanwhile,  Lox was still being attacked by the Vrock.  He used his magical short sword to slice and cut into the beast, but he feared he would never defeat it alone.  “Stupid merchant,” he moaned.  “Don’t have a good sword, don’t have my Rod of Wonder…”Then suddenly, Lox saw Rossal circling over the vulture-like demon’s head.  As the pseudodragon swooped down to sting the vrock, he dropped the Rod of Wonder next to Lox.“Now is the time to use the Rod, Lox,” communicated Rossal. “Be wise in your actions!”“My rod!”Lox picked the rod up from the ground and watched as Rossal’s poisonous sting went unnoticed by the vrock.  He pointed the Rod at his enemy and shouted,“ROD OF WONDER!!”Disappointed because nothing seemed to happen, Lox began shaking the Rod about.“Hey, I don’t think this is the right Rod, Rossal! What did you do to it? I think it’s broken.”However to the eyes of the vrock and surrounding orcs, Lox had just made himself invisible.  His attackers could hear him, but they couldn’t seem to find him.Rossal soared back over to Ziona, where he was truly beginning to fear for her safety.  He tried to sting the one-eyed orc, but his poison did not find purchase.  He spoke telepathically with Venus, alerting him to the danger that both Dent and Ziona were currently in, and how Lox had turned himself invisible.  Venus looked to Dent and saw that Haley was doing her part to help the ranger, who was fighting one-on-one with a grey robed orc.  Seeing that Ziona was in immediate danger, Venus made his decision.  He worked his way over to the half-drow, hacking into any orc that impeded his way.  When he arrived, Ziona had managed to cut down one of the orc priests, but still had three more to contend with.Above Ziona and Venus flew Drexel and the spectre.  Seeing that his ploy was a success, Drexel began focusing and concentrating his Spellfire abilities until the power roared from him and tore through the spectre. On the ground below, the vrock had become impatient and angry with it’s disappearing victim.  Just as Glindil had revived Doc, the vrock cast spores in the area, which affected several orc priests, Lox, and Doc while Glindil remained unaffected by the vrock’s magic. Doc stood up and drew his rapier.“Have at you, vile beast,” he said through a cough.However, Doc did not see the orc priests that had come up from behind him.  Before the duelist could strike his foe, two orcs were upon him.  In a moment it was done.  Doc Midnight was struck again and again by the evil orcs, who cried out that this was their sacrifice to Gruumsh.  Glindil shrieked and Lox shouted out as they watched Doc fall lifeless to the ground.  Blood poured freely from the wounds in his back and torso and it trickled from the corner of his mouth.Lox fell to his knees, tears streaming down his chubby cheeks.  Another friend was gone.  Even as the orcs swung their vile weapons at her, Glindil tried in vain to heal the man whose life she had just saved only moments ago.Evil had indeed reared it’s ugly head.The Adventure Continues…</blockquote>

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