Sagiro's Story Hour Returns (new thread started on 5/18/08)
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Sagiro
Rodent of Uncertain Parentage
Sure! Here's what Brechen asked of Morningstar:Kosh said:
Already you walk a path not often tread by your sisters. For the soul of your friend, you must promise this before Brechen and before your Goddess Ell:
Your feet shall not stray from the road before you, though the shadows fade and darkness wanes. Some will follow, and others will vilify, and betimes you will be stretched to the breaking point. But even if the future tears you apart, you must stay the course. You will turn your eyes to the light when it comes, and not turn away though it burns you. For you are a child of darkness, and you are a Child of Light. Swear this, for the journey of Isabel Horn’s soul, from the Endless Shore to the land of mortals. What say you?
-Sagiro
Sagiro
Rodent of Uncertain Parentage
Sagiro’s Story Hour, Part 164
With Octesian’s departure, his minions now quickly start dropping out of Ava Dormo, though Ernie makes sure some of them get a painful sendoff. Morningstar thinks herself over to Swan for a quick debriefing.
“I need you to stay on guard,” she says. “We must return to the battle in the waking world, but Octesian could come back, or more enemies could show up. How many have we lost?”
Swan looks around briefly.
“Some scores who had their Dream bodies killed will have returned to their temples,” Swan answers. “And… fourteen of our sisters were truly killed, by Octesian. I’m sorry, Morningstar. But they fought bravely, and died in the name of Ell, and for their kingdom.”
She gestures at the ground, where fourteen corpses lay scattered.
Ernie has flown right up to the stone tower, which seems much as it did when they arrived. Its smooth face is unblemished from being battered by the green bolts from the ballista, and there is still no sign of door or window.
“Time to go?” asks Step, flying up to join Morningstar.
“Time to go,” she agrees. “Flicker! Ernie! Grey Wolf! I’m dropping us back out. I’m getting reports from Dranko over the Rary’s that he and Kibi have found some signs of enemy spellcasters.”
“No rest for weary halflings then,” mutters Flicker.
A moment later the five of them are coming out of their trances back in the secure shelter.
“We’ve got to get moving,” says Morningstar.
Linked with Aravis via Pewter over the Rary’s, she asks the wizard how things are going in the Crosser’s Maze.
“You haven’t reported in a while. Everything ok?”
“Yes, I think,” thinks Aravis. “In fact, I believe I have things under enough control that I could come with you. If I understand things correctly, I should be able to split my consciousness for a few minutes; part of my brain will continue with the Maze, while the rest of me acts as artillery to help the battle. And don’t worry… if anything goes awry, I’ve got a teleport to get me back here.”
Aravis comes out of his trance.
“Let’s fly.”
A moment later the whole lot of them leave the shelter behind and beneath them, flying through the increasing haze and drizzle to join Dranko and Kibi. Only Skorg stays behind.
“…to… uh… guard the place. For when you get back.”
* *
Kibi and Dranko race towards the spot where the spells had flashed, and the lone figure is flying. Dranko just starts to make out the details of the flying person – he sees the green-and-gold robes of a priest of Pikon – when two globes of energy come streaking out of the mist (from two different directions) toward that person. One is a green acidic-looking blob and the other looks like a ball of lightning. Both strike the Pikonish figure in a torrid explosion of acid and electricity.
The targeted figure falls out of the sky and crashes through the trees below.
Dranko and Kibi spot two different enemy spellcasters in the vicinity of the fallen man. One of them lets loose with magic missiles – five of them – which strike Kibi from a direction not blocked by his shield. Dranko swoops down on the other one and lashes out twice with his whip – only to find that his flying target is also displaced. Both attacks miss.
Kibi fires magic missiles of his own back at his attacker, but the enemy caster’s shield is properly aligned, and the missiles are harmlessly deflected. Dranko’s caster launches a fireball at Kibi, but all of the damage is absorbed by his triggered energy buffer (now attuned to fire damage).
The first enemy mage targets Dranko with a slow spell, but Dranko shrugs off the effects. Dranko pulls out a sling stone, casts silence on it, and flies directly at his attacker. Kibi blasts the second enemy mage with a coldfire. Flames burst in midair, followed by a quick cold hiss. The second mage flees from Dranko (earning an opportunistic whipping from Dranko), and once out of range of the silence, casts a spell and vanishes. The first mage flies down beneath the trees, effectively disappearing in the misty rain.
And the Dranko catches a glimpse of red from below, in a patch of forest where the trees are sparse. He does a double take, looks again… yes! It’s a woman in red plate mail. Meledien!
“It’s the bitch!” Dranko cries to Kibi. “Meledien. I’m going after her!”
“We should wait for the others,” Kibi cautions. “Those two spellcasters are still around somewhere, and Meledien is no pushover.”
But Dranko cannot be dissuaded.
“They’ll be here in half a minute or less,” he says. “I know what I’m doing. Cover me.”
Kibi sighs. The two of them swoop down into the forest, where a furious battle is taking place amidst the larger war. A woman in red armor fights along with several elite soldiers, whose black armor is studded with red-tipped spikes. A number of weaker enemy soldiers have rallied to their leader, and the lot of them is engaged in a frantic melee against a couple dozen Charagan soldiers. The ground is covered with bodies, and some carrion birds have not waited to start feasting. There is a light mist beneath the treetops, which along with the drizzle is making visibility very poor.
Dranko makes a beeline for the woman he thinks is Meledien – but as he approaches, it comes to his mind that she is taller than he remembers Meledien being, by about six inches. Inwardly he screams in frustration – but Meledien or not, red armor means trouble. Hoping that she can’t see him while he’s improvedly invisible, Dranko takes a moment to position himself for a full attack, and then strikes twice with his whip. He finds the chinks in the armor; the woman turns around to look, but sees nothing. Dranko smiles, even though he’s enduring a constant stream of “don’t start attacking… wait for us…” from Morningstar over the Rary’s.
Kibi uses his Staff of Conjuring and starts brewing up a celestial dire bear.
Suddenly Dranko feels a distortion around him, and the spells cast upon his person start to unravel. Someone has cast dispel magic on him, and in an eyeblink he is divested of his improved invisibility, see invisibility, bull’s strength, cat’s grace, fly, endurance, protection from evil, endure elements, and silence. Only his protection from elements: electricity remains intact.
“If you had just waited,” thinks Morningstar.
“The last thing I need right now is a Rary’s I-Told-You-So,” thinks Dranko.
The woman spots Dranko descending down to ground level and strides over to him. She has the same black coruscating longsword that seems to be standard-issue for these red-armored types, and she opens up a gash in Dranko’s side with it. A crimson helmet hides her face, but Dranko hears a feminine chuckle from inside. It doesn’t sound like Meledien either… damn!
A huge white-glowing bear appears right next to the woman. She whips around just in time get a good look at its claws as it mauls her, rending gashes into the armor with its sharp claws. But alas, even as it deals its damage, its claws and arms and body come into contact with the armor. There is a horrible hissing sound and the bear falls backward in surprised agony. It slumps to the ground, unconscious.
At almost the same instant, a number of thick rubbery tentacles erupt from the forest floor some 40 feet way, where many of the enemy soldiers had been gathered. Kibi looks on with approval as his Evard’s Black Tentcales start grappling the hapless footmen.
Dranko lashes out with his whip, striking damaging blows two more times on the woman. She turns to face him, sword raised.
Dranko gestures hopefully at the bear. “Don’t you think that’s a better target? It’s still breathing.”
“So are you,” she points out. He sword lashes out in a flurry of slashes, two of which open new gaping wounds on Dranko’s body.
“But not for much longer,” she adds.
A crackling orb of electricity comes flying from the trees and slams into Dranko only seconds after the woman’s sword. The damage is all absorbed, and Dranko prays silent thanks to Delioch that at least his Protection spell survived the earlier dispelling. He could very well be dead otherwise.
And just as Dranko starts a desperate retreat away from his attacker, at last the remainder of the Company arrives, and the battle is joined in earnest.
…to be continued…
With Octesian’s departure, his minions now quickly start dropping out of Ava Dormo, though Ernie makes sure some of them get a painful sendoff. Morningstar thinks herself over to Swan for a quick debriefing.
“I need you to stay on guard,” she says. “We must return to the battle in the waking world, but Octesian could come back, or more enemies could show up. How many have we lost?”
Swan looks around briefly.
“Some scores who had their Dream bodies killed will have returned to their temples,” Swan answers. “And… fourteen of our sisters were truly killed, by Octesian. I’m sorry, Morningstar. But they fought bravely, and died in the name of Ell, and for their kingdom.”
She gestures at the ground, where fourteen corpses lay scattered.
Ernie has flown right up to the stone tower, which seems much as it did when they arrived. Its smooth face is unblemished from being battered by the green bolts from the ballista, and there is still no sign of door or window.
“Time to go?” asks Step, flying up to join Morningstar.
“Time to go,” she agrees. “Flicker! Ernie! Grey Wolf! I’m dropping us back out. I’m getting reports from Dranko over the Rary’s that he and Kibi have found some signs of enemy spellcasters.”
“No rest for weary halflings then,” mutters Flicker.
A moment later the five of them are coming out of their trances back in the secure shelter.
“We’ve got to get moving,” says Morningstar.
Linked with Aravis via Pewter over the Rary’s, she asks the wizard how things are going in the Crosser’s Maze.
“You haven’t reported in a while. Everything ok?”
“Yes, I think,” thinks Aravis. “In fact, I believe I have things under enough control that I could come with you. If I understand things correctly, I should be able to split my consciousness for a few minutes; part of my brain will continue with the Maze, while the rest of me acts as artillery to help the battle. And don’t worry… if anything goes awry, I’ve got a teleport to get me back here.”
Aravis comes out of his trance.
“Let’s fly.”
A moment later the whole lot of them leave the shelter behind and beneath them, flying through the increasing haze and drizzle to join Dranko and Kibi. Only Skorg stays behind.
“…to… uh… guard the place. For when you get back.”
* *
Kibi and Dranko race towards the spot where the spells had flashed, and the lone figure is flying. Dranko just starts to make out the details of the flying person – he sees the green-and-gold robes of a priest of Pikon – when two globes of energy come streaking out of the mist (from two different directions) toward that person. One is a green acidic-looking blob and the other looks like a ball of lightning. Both strike the Pikonish figure in a torrid explosion of acid and electricity.
The targeted figure falls out of the sky and crashes through the trees below.
Dranko and Kibi spot two different enemy spellcasters in the vicinity of the fallen man. One of them lets loose with magic missiles – five of them – which strike Kibi from a direction not blocked by his shield. Dranko swoops down on the other one and lashes out twice with his whip – only to find that his flying target is also displaced. Both attacks miss.
Kibi fires magic missiles of his own back at his attacker, but the enemy caster’s shield is properly aligned, and the missiles are harmlessly deflected. Dranko’s caster launches a fireball at Kibi, but all of the damage is absorbed by his triggered energy buffer (now attuned to fire damage).
The first enemy mage targets Dranko with a slow spell, but Dranko shrugs off the effects. Dranko pulls out a sling stone, casts silence on it, and flies directly at his attacker. Kibi blasts the second enemy mage with a coldfire. Flames burst in midair, followed by a quick cold hiss. The second mage flees from Dranko (earning an opportunistic whipping from Dranko), and once out of range of the silence, casts a spell and vanishes. The first mage flies down beneath the trees, effectively disappearing in the misty rain.
And the Dranko catches a glimpse of red from below, in a patch of forest where the trees are sparse. He does a double take, looks again… yes! It’s a woman in red plate mail. Meledien!
“It’s the bitch!” Dranko cries to Kibi. “Meledien. I’m going after her!”
“We should wait for the others,” Kibi cautions. “Those two spellcasters are still around somewhere, and Meledien is no pushover.”
But Dranko cannot be dissuaded.
“They’ll be here in half a minute or less,” he says. “I know what I’m doing. Cover me.”
Kibi sighs. The two of them swoop down into the forest, where a furious battle is taking place amidst the larger war. A woman in red armor fights along with several elite soldiers, whose black armor is studded with red-tipped spikes. A number of weaker enemy soldiers have rallied to their leader, and the lot of them is engaged in a frantic melee against a couple dozen Charagan soldiers. The ground is covered with bodies, and some carrion birds have not waited to start feasting. There is a light mist beneath the treetops, which along with the drizzle is making visibility very poor.
Dranko makes a beeline for the woman he thinks is Meledien – but as he approaches, it comes to his mind that she is taller than he remembers Meledien being, by about six inches. Inwardly he screams in frustration – but Meledien or not, red armor means trouble. Hoping that she can’t see him while he’s improvedly invisible, Dranko takes a moment to position himself for a full attack, and then strikes twice with his whip. He finds the chinks in the armor; the woman turns around to look, but sees nothing. Dranko smiles, even though he’s enduring a constant stream of “don’t start attacking… wait for us…” from Morningstar over the Rary’s.
Kibi uses his Staff of Conjuring and starts brewing up a celestial dire bear.
Suddenly Dranko feels a distortion around him, and the spells cast upon his person start to unravel. Someone has cast dispel magic on him, and in an eyeblink he is divested of his improved invisibility, see invisibility, bull’s strength, cat’s grace, fly, endurance, protection from evil, endure elements, and silence. Only his protection from elements: electricity remains intact.
“If you had just waited,” thinks Morningstar.
“The last thing I need right now is a Rary’s I-Told-You-So,” thinks Dranko.
The woman spots Dranko descending down to ground level and strides over to him. She has the same black coruscating longsword that seems to be standard-issue for these red-armored types, and she opens up a gash in Dranko’s side with it. A crimson helmet hides her face, but Dranko hears a feminine chuckle from inside. It doesn’t sound like Meledien either… damn!
A huge white-glowing bear appears right next to the woman. She whips around just in time get a good look at its claws as it mauls her, rending gashes into the armor with its sharp claws. But alas, even as it deals its damage, its claws and arms and body come into contact with the armor. There is a horrible hissing sound and the bear falls backward in surprised agony. It slumps to the ground, unconscious.
At almost the same instant, a number of thick rubbery tentacles erupt from the forest floor some 40 feet way, where many of the enemy soldiers had been gathered. Kibi looks on with approval as his Evard’s Black Tentcales start grappling the hapless footmen.
Dranko lashes out with his whip, striking damaging blows two more times on the woman. She turns to face him, sword raised.
Dranko gestures hopefully at the bear. “Don’t you think that’s a better target? It’s still breathing.”
“So are you,” she points out. He sword lashes out in a flurry of slashes, two of which open new gaping wounds on Dranko’s body.
“But not for much longer,” she adds.
A crackling orb of electricity comes flying from the trees and slams into Dranko only seconds after the woman’s sword. The damage is all absorbed, and Dranko prays silent thanks to Delioch that at least his Protection spell survived the earlier dispelling. He could very well be dead otherwise.
And just as Dranko starts a desperate retreat away from his attacker, at last the remainder of the Company arrives, and the battle is joined in earnest.
…to be continued…
Tor Bladebearer
First Post
So does that mean we've finally completed repaying our debt to Brechen?
Abernathy: Shuffled off this mortal coil and went to join the choir eternal.
Tor: Prevented great-great-great-great-great-great-great grand-dad from eating my soul.
Kay: Rescued the Yrimpa.
Dranko: Redemption of Califax.
Morningstar: Defeated Octesian.
Can't recall what Ernie & Flicker had, but I seem to recall that they were fulfilled also...
Abernathy: Shuffled off this mortal coil and went to join the choir eternal.
Tor: Prevented great-great-great-great-great-great-great grand-dad from eating my soul.
Kay: Rescued the Yrimpa.
Dranko: Redemption of Califax.
Morningstar: Defeated Octesian.
Can't recall what Ernie & Flicker had, but I seem to recall that they were fulfilled also...
Piratecat
Sesquipedalian
Sagiro said:
Stupid-stupid-stupid. This is the major tactical mistake I was referring to before; if I had stayed on these dratted wizards, the fight might have been much different. Lord knows that it would have occurred with all of my enhancement spells intact! *sob* Instead, they're going to make life fairly miserable for a lot of people, and I learn the hard way not to underestimate my foes.
Man, I hate having to apologize to Morningstar for doing somethin stupid.
Tor, Ernie's promise was to keep himself safe. Flicker's was to concentrate on rogue instead of fighter, I think. I don't believe either have been fulfilled.
Last edited:
thatdarncat
Overlord of Chat
Tor Bladebearer said:
Ummmmmm care to fill us in?
What's Tor been upto?
KidCthulhu
First Post
Ernie has not yet fulfilled his promice. In fact, he rather gratuitously broke it by getting killed, thus incurring further promises, this time directly to Yondalla.
I had to get the stupid promise. "Ernie, don't you get hurt." It's like telling a kid he can go in swimming but he can't get his feet wet. Grumble, grumble...
I had to get the stupid promise. "Ernie, don't you get hurt." It's like telling a kid he can go in swimming but he can't get his feet wet. Grumble, grumble...
Zad
First Post
So Sagiro.
Dear sweet friend Sagiro. Who's story hour I love. (Yes, I want something.)
What are the odds of us sweet talking you into updating the post title (of the original post) with the last date you updated it? I personally find this new trend in story hours to be of immense help in keeping up with my favorite writers.
Dear sweet friend Sagiro. Who's story hour I love. (Yes, I want something.)
What are the odds of us sweet talking you into updating the post title (of the original post) with the last date you updated it? I personally find this new trend in story hours to be of immense help in keeping up with my favorite writers.
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