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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rel" data-source="post: 1680495" data-attributes="member: 99">Speaks’ panting breath formed small clouds in the frigid air that were carried away on the night breeze that seemed to cut into his flesh through the protection of his robes and armor.  He cursed out loud in three different languages though there was nobody around to hear them.  His fellow companions didn’t speak the languages of Earth and Fire creatures anyway.It was clear now that the giant’s path was too unpredictable for him to successfully lay a Snare and following any further in his wounded condition was simply asking for trouble.  Frustrated, he reached out for the Wild around him and assumed eagle form.  As he winged his way northward to the sinkhole he tried to piece together the chaos of the battle he had just participated in…They had spent several days encamped at the bottom of the sinkhole.  It only made sense as winter had taken a firm grip of the surface world of the Black Peaks and thick snow stretched out in every direction from the top of the deep hole they had battled the Shocker Lizards and treacherous Spider Folk in.  While glad to be free of the confining monotony of the Delver Tunnel, they needed some time.  All were seriously wounded from the battle, their food supplies were low (not counting the slain lizards) and Lazarius insisted that the tome from which he prepared his spells was badly in need of updating.They set up camp in the mouth of the Delver Tunnel but were mistrustful of another attack by the Spider Folk.  Speaks solved this problem by conjuring a Wood Wose and instructing it to start removing stones from his Bag of Endless Rocks and piling them some fifty feet back up the tunnel.  As the pile grew higher and higher, Speaks would periodically Stone Shape these rocks into a continuous wall.  It took nearly two days but the wall finally reached the top of the large tunnel and they were sealed off from they way they had come.Meanwhile Marcus tended to the wounds of his companions until their encounter with the Shocker Lizards became only one more painful memory.  Once healed, Marius and Cathal joined Speaks on some short forays into the surrounding mountains to hunt for game.  Though they came from opposite ends of the world, both the Imperial and the Barbarian were skilled at woodcraft and they managed to bring down a deer and a brace of the large rabbits that inhabited the low valley thickets of the Black Peaks.  Once they managed to throw enough wood down into the depths of the sinkhole they set about preserving enough of the meat to carry them further on their journey north along the spine of the Black Peaks.Marius reckoned that they had covered at least 200 miles as they had traveled in the tunnels beneath the mountains.  They still had no way of knowing exactly where Ilrath was but Lazarius promised that he would soon be able to fix that problem.  He had been diligently copying a scroll that he had been carrying for months and told them that they would soon be able to pinpoint Ilrath’s location and move to it far more rapidly than their progress had been so far.  He was just capping his quill and calling it a night when they were attacked.The first they knew of anything being amiss was when they heard a rhythmic “whoomping” noise.  They rushed to the mouth of the tunnel and looked up to where the top of the sinkhole ringed a circle of night sky some hundred feet above them.  They saw a winged serpentine shape blotting out the stars and then everything exploded in flames.  The heat of the flames was not life threatening to most of the group but Scipio was badly burned and Speaks firmly commanded him to stay put until they could find out who or what was attacking them.  They recovered quickly and rushed out to find themselves confronted by a wide variety of fearsome enemies.Marcus found himself face to face with what he could only describe as a dragon.  Atop its back was a thick bodied semblance of a man far larger than any of them had ever seen.  A giant wielding an enormous club.  Another such giant floated to the ground without benefit of wings or mount using what must have been some sort of magic.  The large chamber at the bottom of the sinkhole began to feel crowded.Marius and Cathal rushed to try and flank the giant that was floating to the floor of the chamber as Marcus swung his mace at the steed of the other.  Speaks used his magic to conjure a column of flame that engulfed rider and mount alike.  Lazarius fired off a Lightning Bolt that wounded the other giant before he touched the ground.The enemies returned this hostility.  The giant mounted on the winged serpent dismounted and began to lay about him with the tree trunk he wielded.  The other did the same as soon as his feet were on the ground.  The dragon thing got its jaws around Marcus and followed up with an attack from its tail which was discovered to have a stinger at the tip, not unlike that of the Scorpion Men they had encountered some weeks ago.Without warning another pillar of fire descended upon Speaks who struggled to see where it could have come from.  Above he saw a pair of birds gliding deeper down into the sinkhole.  Herons.Marcus gritted his teeth as he felt the poison pump into his body from the tail of the dragon but he was hale and hearty and fought off its effects for the time being.  His muscled arm gripped his mace tightly and he brought it down squarely on the center of the creature’s head.  Bone exploded and blood flew as the creature slumped to the ground as if poleaxed.  (timely crit here for near maximum damage)Marius and Cathal continued to circle and stab at the giant they faced putting their weapons precisely into its innards.  It landed a club blow on Cathal that jarred the Brigante’s bones but he kept his feet.  The other giant moved to attack Speaks, pursuing him across the jagged floor of the sinkhole.Speaks backpedaled before the oncoming giant and called out to his companions, “Kill the birds!”  Lazarius looked skyward and found a target, engulfing it in a ball of lightning.  He grinned at his success but his satisfaction was cut short as a large, blue female form materialized in front of him and a Cone of Cold burst from her outstretched hands to engulf Lazarius and Speaks.Marcus pursued the giant that had gone after Speaks and caught a club blow on his shield as he closed the distance.  He managed to land his mace on its thigh and gain its attention.  Speaks took advantage of this brief reprieve and moved against the wall of the chamber where he unleashed a new magic for the first time.The area around the new, blue combatant and also encompassing one of the herons that descended from above began to swirl with powerful winds.  Even the large, horned woman struggled to keep from falling down and the bird was flung against the walls of the hole.Speaks lost track of what was happening in the battle for a few moments as he scrambled to heal the massive wounds he had taken thus far.  Just as he started to feel as though he might survive, a figure struggled out of the whirlwind that sheltered him and he looked into the face of one of the Druids.  In the man’s hands was a gleaming sickle and on his face was a cruel grin.  “Did you think our threats were idle?  Well now you’re going to pay for disregarding our warnings.  Just like your father.”Speaks paled at the mention of his father and his mind flooded with questions and answers.  He momentarily froze in the face of his adversary who came forward to silence Speaks and end his quest for answers.  The Keeper of the Night never saw the mountain of feline flesh that plowed into him and ended his life in a flurry of teeth and claws.Still slightly stunned at what had just been revealed to him, Speaks tried to clear his head and assess the progress of the battle.One of the giants was down and the other was fleeing the same way he had come in, slowly rising skyward out of reach of the blades of Marius and Cathal.  The blue skinned giantess was down on the ground amid the swirling whirlwind, apparently the target of Lazarius’ magic and Marcus’s mace.  The dragon lay dead and the other heron or the Druid he could become was nowhere to be seen.Speaks knew that if he were going to get any further answers this night they were going to have to come from that fleeing giant.  He used more healing magic on himself as the giant rose further, finally gaining the top of the sinkhole and moving out of sight.  Speaks’ form drew inward and an eagle shot out of the sinkhole alone into the night, leaving behind his battered and confused companions…</blockquote>

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