Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="GodOfCheese" data-source="post: 1590768" data-attributes="member: 19170">Milo's Plan and its Effects“Many of…”“…us have been…”“…extinguished.  Finish…”“…the spell.”Milo continues to chant, reading off the strange, leathery scroll in the flickering torchlight.  He waves his hand dismissively behind him, obviously not needing the distraction.  Zara notes this and smiles slightly.  Her knowledge of magic is limited, but she has seen Chloe use scrolls enough to know that Milo’s exaggerated care isn’t normal.  His concentration falters—the scroll’s magic must be greater than his ability.   She struggles with her bonds, wondering what she can do to distract him, and what the consequences might be if she does so successfully.  Her ears prick up a little at the thought that she might have just heard the noise of swordplay.Milo raises one hand, palm out, then closes his fist and makes a hasty “come-hither” gesture.  The other slug watches this but says nothing.  Milo’s hand then makes a scissor-like motion.********A dozen or so slugs back simultaneously away from Davron, weapons waving threateningly, but in obvious retreat.  Davron presses forward, but a warning word from Chloe and the opacity of the shadows inside slow his advance.  Distantly, Davron realizes that Chloe isn’t wearing her luminous amulet.  Crunching noises above distract him for a moment, but new-formed rents in the roofing material admit shafts of welcome illumination in the dark room.  Davron advances cautiously, followed by Chloe and (at a respectful distance) Andrew, who is methodically reloading his crossbow.The slug mob retreats into the shadows, their footsteps echoing on wooden planks, but not receding very far.  Davron snarls at the darkness, but stands fast, not pursuing.Chloe waves her hands in the air, drawing upon Pelor’s sparkling power.  She smiles, not having counted this granted spell among those she’d find useful.  Forgive me, Radiant One, I should not have despaired.   From the stylized, solar medallion in Chloe’s outstretched hand spreads a shaft of bright light.  The shaft opens out immediately until it emanates from every surface of Pelor’s Symbol, issuing unhindered even through the flesh of the priestess’s hand.  The slugs, now visible through a doorway, recoil slightly from the blinding daylight streaming from Chloe’s hand.  Temporarily dazzled, they shade their eyes and back away.Chloe, seeing their reactions, loses herself momentarily in her deity’s radiance.  A warmth spreads through her, from her heart out along her back, to the tips of her fingers and the small of her neck.  Taking a breath, she hears herself calling to them.  “Kneel!  Throw down your arms and beg redemption of the light!”  Her pale skin pinkens with inner warmth.  “Repent!  Repent your evil ways or scurry out into the shadows where you belong!”Effrem, atop the roof, blinks in surprise at Chloe’s unexpected proselytization, but the calm warrior in him refuses to pass up the opportunity afforded by her illumination.  He hustles with remarkable stealth and grace across the shaky surface and kicks off a shoddy scrap of wooden roof.  The grainy plank emits a puff of dust, bits of rot, and old, rubbery tar originally used to seal it, then reveals another area from which to attack his enemies.The archer kneels efficiently, and looses once into the opening without looking, relying only on his glimpse of the slugs’ locations before he moved to guide his arrow.  His aim is true, and below, a slug’s leather-clad chest sprouts the feathery shaft of Effrem’s memory.  Its skin radiates the green glitter of the arrow’s righteous wrath before the body collapses unbreathing upon the wooden floor.</blockquote>

Verification