Shackled City Epic: "Vengeance" (story concluded)
- Thread starter Lazybones
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Lazybones
Adventurer
Chapter 393
“Take cover!” Cal urged, as the companions hid in the deep shadows along the chamber walls. Dana, still lost in her summoning, was heedless to the danger, but Benzan paused to make her once more invisible with his wand, before refreshing the magic upon himself as well.
Dannel ran vertically down the wall before leaping into a shadowed nest between two uneven slabs of stone. Even as he landed lightly in his chosen position, the companions became aware of a dim buzzing noise that rapidly grew louder. Something flashed above them quickly and then was gone, fading as quickly as it had come.
“What was that?” Hodge said.
“Half-orc mercenaries, mounted on spider eaters,” Dannel said. “There were only two, but I caught sight of others on the far side of the ruin. Apparently they conduct regular patrols over the area.”
“They’re going to make it harder to get further in,” Lok commented.
“Once Dana is done, we’ll go straight for the spire,” Cal said. “I’ll handle any conversation; remember that I can understand any spoken language.”
“With all due respect, bluffing isn’t exactly your strong point,” Benzan noted.
“While I will concede that your tongue can be silver, my friend, your foot is so often in your mouth that it interferes with your ability to…”
“Um, maybe Dana should do the talking,” Lok said diplomatically. “She always seems to get what she wants.”
“You know,” Benzan replied, “After all these years, I still can’t tell when you’re needling me…”
Hodge sidled up to Arun, while the others were quietly debating. “I thought they ‘ad everythin’ planned out in advance?” the dwarf whispered.
Arun shrugged. “As always, when the enemy appears, the plan usually explodes. Just pick a bad guy and start hacking.”
Hodge nodded. “Aye, that be some advice I can follow.”
A flare of silver light interrupted their quiet conversations and drew their attention back around to Dana. The priestess was visible once again, kneeling on a bare patch of stone, her lips still moving in nearly silent prayer as she invoked the power of her patron to open a conduit between their plane and the higher realms of Good. The light opened into a vertical slash that broadened until a tall figure stepped through, at which point it quickly dimmed and vanished.
The newcomer was a perfectly-proportioned, hairless woman with pale green skin, and shimmering white wings folded across her back. She overshadowed all of them at nearly nine feet tall, and wore glistening, form-fitting attire formed of silvery scales that seemed more like a second skin than a suit of armor. The hilt of a greatsword protruded over her left shoulder, and as she looked down at them, each of the companions felt a sense of awe and wonder.
“I have come, priestess,” the planetar said, her voice melodic and soothing, but with a hint of steel to it. Naturally she could easily see through Cal’s veil; no mere glamour or figment would suffice to betray one such as this.
“You honor me with your service,” Dana said, rising to her feet, smiling at the celestial. “We are engaged in a deadly struggle against a potent force for evil…”
“I know of your enemies,” the planetar responded. “You may address me as Tzadkiel, the Bringer of Justice.”
Dana drew out a dazzling blue sapphire that seemed to glow with a faint inner light. “Per the terms of the Compact, I offer for your service this stone, infused with my own…”
“The Compact requires that I accept payment for my service on this plane,” the celestial interrupted, cutting her off again. “I set my price at one piece of copper, of any of the currency forms of this world.”
Dana looked confused for a moment.
“My price is one copper piece,” the planetar repeated, and something powerful shone in her eyes; had she been a mortal creature, a viewer would have called it a barely-contained rage. In the planetar, it was something stronger, and even the veterans in the group quailed somewhat at its intensity. “Do you accept the bargain?”
“Here, I’ve got one,” Mole said, materializing beside Dana, offering her a copper coin. “It’s my good luck piece.”
Dana took the coin and handed it to the planetar. “The bargain is struck,” the celestial intoned, drawing out the massive sword slung across her back.
“Yer know, I be startin’ to see the advantage o’ bringin’ a cleric along on these outin’s,” Hodge whispered to Arun.
The paladin did not reply; his thoughts were on what might have been, had a certain young woman been allowed to grow into her full potential.
The planetar took the lead, heading immediately toward the far exit. “We are going for a more stealthy approach,” Cal suggested, hurrying to keep up with her long strides.
The planetar looked down at the gnome, who looked insignificant in the lee of the angelic entity. “I will defer to you, then, but do not linger long; the Cagewrights have not been idle, and once more events build to a head.” Without additional preamble, she vanished, accompanied by a rush of air as she lifted into air on her powerful wings.
“It would be so much easier if they would just tell us what they know, damn it,” Benzan said.
“Part of it is the Compact, and believe me, you should be grateful they take it so seriously,” Dana replied. “It is one of the things keeping Faerûn from being turned into another Oinos, or Acheron, wasteland battlefields for outsider factions. But more than that, often times they seem mysterious and cryptic because they just don’t know the answers. Celestials may seem powerful, and they are, but they are not omniscient.”
“But they serve the gods directly,” Arun said.
“Yes. And do the soldiers of a king know all that their liege does?”
The paladin frowned at the analogy, but didn’t say anything further as they gathered their gear and pressed deeper into the ruin.
The exit led through another ruined chamber, then opened onto a broad avenue that gave them a renewed view of the great shattered stone, even more impressive now that they were closer. The fog had grown thicker here, cloying around the walls, masking the farther outlines of the ruin behind a murky haze.
“Stay close,” Cal suggested.
No sooner than they had all emerged from the chamber into the courtyard, they heard a loud baying that seemed to echo from everywhere at once. Two forms materialized out of the fog, massive dire wolves that slavered as they growled at the intruders. Behind it they could see an even larger form take on distinctive shape as it stepped out of the shadow of the spire, resolving into a massive hill giant. Above them came the blare of a horn, followed quickly by the familiar buzz that heralded the return of the mercenaries upon their spider eater mounts.
“Looks like we’ve found the welcoming committee,” Benzan said.
“Take cover!” Cal urged, as the companions hid in the deep shadows along the chamber walls. Dana, still lost in her summoning, was heedless to the danger, but Benzan paused to make her once more invisible with his wand, before refreshing the magic upon himself as well.
Dannel ran vertically down the wall before leaping into a shadowed nest between two uneven slabs of stone. Even as he landed lightly in his chosen position, the companions became aware of a dim buzzing noise that rapidly grew louder. Something flashed above them quickly and then was gone, fading as quickly as it had come.
“What was that?” Hodge said.
“Half-orc mercenaries, mounted on spider eaters,” Dannel said. “There were only two, but I caught sight of others on the far side of the ruin. Apparently they conduct regular patrols over the area.”
“They’re going to make it harder to get further in,” Lok commented.
“Once Dana is done, we’ll go straight for the spire,” Cal said. “I’ll handle any conversation; remember that I can understand any spoken language.”
“With all due respect, bluffing isn’t exactly your strong point,” Benzan noted.
“While I will concede that your tongue can be silver, my friend, your foot is so often in your mouth that it interferes with your ability to…”
“Um, maybe Dana should do the talking,” Lok said diplomatically. “She always seems to get what she wants.”
“You know,” Benzan replied, “After all these years, I still can’t tell when you’re needling me…”
Hodge sidled up to Arun, while the others were quietly debating. “I thought they ‘ad everythin’ planned out in advance?” the dwarf whispered.
Arun shrugged. “As always, when the enemy appears, the plan usually explodes. Just pick a bad guy and start hacking.”
Hodge nodded. “Aye, that be some advice I can follow.”
A flare of silver light interrupted their quiet conversations and drew their attention back around to Dana. The priestess was visible once again, kneeling on a bare patch of stone, her lips still moving in nearly silent prayer as she invoked the power of her patron to open a conduit between their plane and the higher realms of Good. The light opened into a vertical slash that broadened until a tall figure stepped through, at which point it quickly dimmed and vanished.
The newcomer was a perfectly-proportioned, hairless woman with pale green skin, and shimmering white wings folded across her back. She overshadowed all of them at nearly nine feet tall, and wore glistening, form-fitting attire formed of silvery scales that seemed more like a second skin than a suit of armor. The hilt of a greatsword protruded over her left shoulder, and as she looked down at them, each of the companions felt a sense of awe and wonder.
“I have come, priestess,” the planetar said, her voice melodic and soothing, but with a hint of steel to it. Naturally she could easily see through Cal’s veil; no mere glamour or figment would suffice to betray one such as this.
“You honor me with your service,” Dana said, rising to her feet, smiling at the celestial. “We are engaged in a deadly struggle against a potent force for evil…”
“I know of your enemies,” the planetar responded. “You may address me as Tzadkiel, the Bringer of Justice.”
Dana drew out a dazzling blue sapphire that seemed to glow with a faint inner light. “Per the terms of the Compact, I offer for your service this stone, infused with my own…”
“The Compact requires that I accept payment for my service on this plane,” the celestial interrupted, cutting her off again. “I set my price at one piece of copper, of any of the currency forms of this world.”
Dana looked confused for a moment.
“My price is one copper piece,” the planetar repeated, and something powerful shone in her eyes; had she been a mortal creature, a viewer would have called it a barely-contained rage. In the planetar, it was something stronger, and even the veterans in the group quailed somewhat at its intensity. “Do you accept the bargain?”
“Here, I’ve got one,” Mole said, materializing beside Dana, offering her a copper coin. “It’s my good luck piece.”
Dana took the coin and handed it to the planetar. “The bargain is struck,” the celestial intoned, drawing out the massive sword slung across her back.
“Yer know, I be startin’ to see the advantage o’ bringin’ a cleric along on these outin’s,” Hodge whispered to Arun.
The paladin did not reply; his thoughts were on what might have been, had a certain young woman been allowed to grow into her full potential.
The planetar took the lead, heading immediately toward the far exit. “We are going for a more stealthy approach,” Cal suggested, hurrying to keep up with her long strides.
The planetar looked down at the gnome, who looked insignificant in the lee of the angelic entity. “I will defer to you, then, but do not linger long; the Cagewrights have not been idle, and once more events build to a head.” Without additional preamble, she vanished, accompanied by a rush of air as she lifted into air on her powerful wings.
“It would be so much easier if they would just tell us what they know, damn it,” Benzan said.
“Part of it is the Compact, and believe me, you should be grateful they take it so seriously,” Dana replied. “It is one of the things keeping Faerûn from being turned into another Oinos, or Acheron, wasteland battlefields for outsider factions. But more than that, often times they seem mysterious and cryptic because they just don’t know the answers. Celestials may seem powerful, and they are, but they are not omniscient.”
“But they serve the gods directly,” Arun said.
“Yes. And do the soldiers of a king know all that their liege does?”
The paladin frowned at the analogy, but didn’t say anything further as they gathered their gear and pressed deeper into the ruin.
The exit led through another ruined chamber, then opened onto a broad avenue that gave them a renewed view of the great shattered stone, even more impressive now that they were closer. The fog had grown thicker here, cloying around the walls, masking the farther outlines of the ruin behind a murky haze.
“Stay close,” Cal suggested.
No sooner than they had all emerged from the chamber into the courtyard, they heard a loud baying that seemed to echo from everywhere at once. Two forms materialized out of the fog, massive dire wolves that slavered as they growled at the intruders. Behind it they could see an even larger form take on distinctive shape as it stepped out of the shadow of the spire, resolving into a massive hill giant. Above them came the blare of a horn, followed quickly by the familiar buzz that heralded the return of the mercenaries upon their spider eater mounts.
“Looks like we’ve found the welcoming committee,” Benzan said.
Richard Rawen
First Post
I especially like the commentary about the battleground realms of the Outsiders... it's a perspective that many High Level campaigns leave out: consequences for going too far... even too far 'good'.
Lazybones
Adventurer
The Compact is a mechanism that I've used in my other writings, and it fits well (IMO) with the concepts laid out in the D&D rules. One of my high level Neverwinter Nights modules has players make a visit to Oinos, the first level of Hades, where the Blood War is fought; it's a place that has seen reference before in the Travels story. I'll be exploring more of these sorts of issues as the heroes delve into the higher levels of spellcasting. While the Adventure Path is designed to take characters to 20th level, now that the group has gained in numbers the rate of earned experience has slowed a bit. While I have a number of ideas for the ultimate fate of the group, there are a few ideas twisting around in my mind.Richard Rawen said:
Oh, and I've got some pretty good cliffhangers on tap for the next few Fridays. Expect some unexpected twists.
* * * * *
Chapter 394
Cal quickly stepped forward, ignoring the growls from the dire wolves. Probably the smell was the only thing keeping them back, he thought. No animal wanted to sink its jaws into the gooey mess of a demodand’s hide. The giant regarded him warily, but it kept its huge greatsword—adamantine, he noted, the Cagewrights equipped their minions well—rested easily upon its shoulder. “Master cleric send us,” Cal said, doing a fairly good imitation of a demodand’s rasping voice. “He said we join others below. He said show you this mark.”
The Cal-demodand held out the wax seal he’d made the night before, impressed with an enlarged version of the Cagewright icon that appeared on the rings they’d collected thus far. The rings themselves were stored safely in a secure box, warded against scrying, in Jenya’s possession back at the Lucky Monkey.
“Think they’ll buy it?” Hodge whispered.
Dannel shrugged. “If we don’t kill them now, we might have to do it on the way out.”
“As always, yer a load o’ sunshine, elf.”
But the giant merely grunted and pointed a meaty thumb over its shoulder toward the spire.
The “demodands” made their way to the narrow opening in the near face of the spire. The split in the stone extended all the way to ground level, so technically there were three massive stone pillars, rising up hundreds of feet above them. Darkness swallowed them up as they progressed single-file into the crevasse. They wound their way deeper into the shadows, until they came across a fork, with both side passages appearing to extend back to the exterior of the spire.
“I don’t see anything,” Benzan said.
“There is a tunnel that slopes down into the rock, immediately to your left,” came the voice of the planetar. None of them had heard the creature return.
“An illusory wall,” Cal quickly said, confirming that there was an opening in the black stone.
“Truth cannot be hidden from the eyes of justice,” the celestial intoned.
“Yeah, whatever,” Benzan said, disappearing through the wall into the blackness beyond.
The tiefling led them into a tunnel that sloped decisively down into a tight spiral that took them quickly beneath the surface, into the granite foundations of the bluff. They’d circled back around to their initial route—and descended a good forty or fifty feet in the bargain—before the tunnel straightened and deposited them into a chamber.
The air was stale and musty, and thick square pillars five feet across crowded the room, making the place seem smaller than it was. Even though the ceiling was a comfortable fifteen feet above them, the chamber still felt tight and oppressive. Wary, they passed a pair of flanking pillars before the room opened onto a broad central area maybe thirty feet square. The light of the warriors’ enchanted weapons glinted off of bright gold, a massive altar set atop a low stone dais in the center of the room, carved with obscene depictions in cold metal, and surmounted by a twisting representation of a serpent that covered the lid and rose from each end to a pair of heads that faced each other with open jaws equipped with sharp fangs. The weathered floorstones on each side of the altar bore the mark of the Cagewrights, the Carcerian Eye.
“Evil dwells in this place,” the invisible celestial said.
“Well, duh,” Benzan said.
Most of them were still crowded in the entry, back behind the pillars, when a hiss drew their attention to the altar. A slender figure clad in a clinging black cowl and trailing cloak rose up into view behind the golden object, terrible syllables flowing from its lips. He shifted with the familiar telltale of magical displacement, and a warding translucent shield hung in the air before him.
“Spellcaster!” Benzan warned, even as the companions felt a surge of energy pass through them. But that wasn’t the end of it, for the magic-user’s appearance triggered movement from the floor to either side of the altar. The room was filled with a rumbling sound as the two Carcerian Eyes rose up out of the ground… set into the chest of a pair of stone golems, their bodies flat across the front, and shaped to perfectly fit the man-shaped depressions that had been carved into the floor to hide them until an enemy appeared to threaten the evil masters of this place.
Solarious
Explorer
Interesting to see your notes on the existance of the Compact and it's relevance to insering a mild amount of reality to DnD. Now in Eberron, there is no such thing as the Compact, which is reflected in the fact that two planar invasions have already shattered two great empires to itty bitty pieces. Oh, how I love ruin and decay! ![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
It is even more wonderful since they aren't really defeated, and continue to poke into the affairs of the mortal. Of course, one immortal force is completely insane (think the Far Realms... that's where they come from), and the other is an insidious force that seeps into the fabric of normal life like a persistant poison, using psionic powers to subvert and eventually take over the world. The second force is especially fun to run, especially since the normal tactics tend to be quite ineffective against them.
But enough about Eberron, back to the plight of our heroes. You added in two Stone Golems... that should take in their attention quite nicely as our contagious-paralysis gets into position to entertain visitors... I don't recall Sheild and Displacement being clerical spells, but you already put in the Golems, why not switch things around? Also... about that altar...
*cue evil laughter*
It is even more wonderful since they aren't really defeated, and continue to poke into the affairs of the mortal. Of course, one immortal force is completely insane (think the Far Realms... that's where they come from), and the other is an insidious force that seeps into the fabric of normal life like a persistant poison, using psionic powers to subvert and eventually take over the world. The second force is especially fun to run, especially since the normal tactics tend to be quite ineffective against them.But enough about Eberron, back to the plight of our heroes. You added in two Stone Golems... that should take in their attention quite nicely as our contagious-paralysis gets into position to entertain visitors...
I don't recall Sheild and Displacement being clerical spells, but you already put in the Golems, why not switch things around? Also... about that altar...*cue evil laughter*
Lazybones
Adventurer
Nahazir is a sorcerer in the module. The golems are from Lord Vhalantru's citadel of Oblivion; the heroes retreated after killing the beholder and the Cagewrights were able to relocate the golems to Shatterhorn in the interim. A few stone shapes from Embril to shape the floor, and voila!, instant golem trap.Solarious said:But enough about Eberron, back to the plight of our heroes. You added in two Stone Golems... that should take in their attention quite nicely as our contagious-paralysis gets into position to entertain visitors...
*cue evil laughter*
Story update this evening.
Solarious
Explorer
I could have sworn that Nahazir was a cleric. Oh well, my bad.
So the golems were from Oblivion? How'd they get them out of the place?
Spell Immunity is as much as a blessing as a curse in that respect. Eh, they got lots of magical firepower, I'm sure the found a way.
This also means Ms. I Have A Beholder's Eye Embedded In My Forehead is around. Glee.
So the golems were from Oblivion? How'd they get them out of the place?
Spell Immunity is as much as a blessing as a curse in that respect. Eh, they got lots of magical firepower, I'm sure the found a way.This also means Ms. I Have A Beholder's Eye Embedded In My Forehead is around. Glee.
Lazybones
Adventurer
Never really worked out the details, but a few possibilities come to mind (spoilers removed): [someone] could have had each step into a portable hole and crouch down, then pick it up and teleport to Shatterhorn (two trips); or maybe [someone's] friend [someone] could have wished them there (I would allow that to work despite the golem's spell immunity). Heck, maybe they walked (would have to compare a golem's overland speed to the time since Lords of Oblivion; since they don't get tired and don't need air, they could have even crossed the Shining Sea walking across its floor, given enough time). Like you said, given the resources of the Cagewrights, there's not a lot they can't do given the opportunity.Solarious said:So the golems were from Oblivion? How'd they get them out of the place?
No comment.This also means Ms. I Have A Beholder's Eye Embedded In My Forehead is around. Glee.
* * * * *
Chapter 395
The cowled spellcaster’s slow spell did not have its full intended effect upon the companions. Bolstered by the protective aura emitted by Dana’s planetar ally, and their own considerable collection of magical augmentations, nearly all of them were able to resist the spell, with only Mole and Hodge succumbing to the lethargic grip of the magic upon their bodies.
But the golems were another matter, and the warriors quickly spread out to confront the hulking constructs before they could fully rise and assault the companions. The golems were considerably resistant to even their magical weapons, however, and while Lok delivered a powerful blow to the side of one that sent chips of stone flying, it clearly didn’t do more than inflict minor damage upon it.
Dannel lifted his bow, a white-fletched arrow fitted to the string. “Wizard first?” he said as an aside to Benzan.
The tiefling had likewise drawn and aimed, but held his shot for a moment. “Cal!” he shouted.
“On it!” the gnome said, defensively casting a dispel magic that sliced through the magical defenses of the enemy caster, disrupting both his shield and the displacement.
That was the cue for both archers, who released upon the same instant, both missiles knifing scant inches above the altar to sink heavily into the shoulders of the enemy. The caster let out a scathing hiss as he staggered back, the holy arrows driving pure goodness through his torso like a purging flame. His situation grew rather more desperate a moment later as the planetar invoked a holy smite that ripped mercilessly through him. Falling back to the cover of the dark exit on the far side of the chamber, he tried to teleport away.
He barely got his mouth open before another pair of arrows sank to the feathers in his back, and he crumpled in a heap in the doorway.
But the golems were up now, and inflicting considerable damage with pounding blows from their massive fists. Those impacts battered the warriors like sledgehammers, and both Lok and Arun were driven back under the force of their attacks. Hodge went to Arun’s aid, but the slowed dwarf was ineffective due to the cloying magic that reduced his usually impressive charge to a lumbering stagger.
But the golems quickly came under heavy attack from the companions. The planetar lifted herself into the air with powerful beats of her wings, driving her sword down into the head of one of the golems with a fierce power attack that smashed its granite cranium into fist-sized fragments. Unfortunately the absence of its head did not seem to hinder it, and it caught the angel with a potent punch that knocked her back roughly across the chamber. But the celestial’s assault provided Lok with an opening; loosing his shield, taking his axe into both hands, he unleashed his own series of mighty attacks against the golem’s legs. Stone chips flew, and although the golem outweighed the genasi many times over it was the construct that staggered back, unsteady on its seriously damaged lower limbs.
On the opposite flank, Arun recovered and launched his own renewed assault upon his foe. He took another blow on his shield, deflecting the golem’s attack upward while he brought his own holy blade up into its elbow from below. The golem was immune to the blessings infused in the blade, but the paladin’s strength was enough to crush the rock joint, and as the construct drew back it gave way, the lower half of its arm falling free to the ground with a loud crash.
In the rear of the company, Dana found her way to the melee blocked by the others before her in the narrow space between the flanking entry pillars. Upon seeing the golem’s she’d drawn out her new weapon, the adamantine nunchaku taken from the corpse of Ardeth Webb. She moved around the pillars, intending to flank the constructs, but as she passed a dark alcove something stirred and leapt out at her. It was a foul skeletal creature, some sort of undead, its ribs occupied by tendrils of ugly, bloated flesh, one of which ascended along its spine, through its empty skull, and out of its mouth like some horrific serpentine tongue. Her reflexes were adept but the thing moved with surprising speed, slamming her with a powerful blow that nearly knocked her off her feet.
“Undead!” she shouted, to warn her companions of this new threat. The creature did not pause to give her time to recover, coming at her again with its bony fists raised again to strike. She snapped her weapon around, slamming it into the skeleton’s side, but the blow hardly seemed to faze it as it punched her solidly again. For lacking muscles, the thing was incredibly strong. As if that wasn’t bad enough, its “tongue” lashed out, extending to almost five feet in length, and stabbed into her shoulder before snapping back. The injury was not serious, but Dana could feel her body stiffening as a numb coldness spread throughout her.
No! she thought, but could not do more before the mohrg’s paralysis took her, and she fell helpless to the ground at its feet.
Dannel drew the feathers of his latest arrow back to his ear, releasing the shaft to fly point-blank into Arun’s golem adversary. The missiles he and Benzan had been firing appeared to do little damage, but the veteran adventurers knew that each little tally brought them closer to overcoming the foe. They heard Dana’s cry, and the elf spared his companion an instant’s attention. “Go!” he said, before drawing another long shaft from his magical quiver.
Benzan was off instantly, darting back around the pillar toward the source of his wife’s voice. Cal, who’d been holding back, conjuring minor enchantments to aid his companions, likewise heard and was already moving to assist. The two rounded the corner a mere second apart, to see the mohrg standing over Dana’s motionless form.
Cal drew out a wand in a flash and spoke the word of command that caused a fat gob of green acid to shoot out at the undead monstrosity. The acid struck the mohrg on the side of its skull, burning away the bone, revealing only empty space inside. And then Benzan was rushing past the gnome, discarding his bow as he drew his sword and charged.
The mohrg leapt eagerly forward to meet him.
The golems were continuing to dish out damage to the warriors, but it was clear that the paladin and genasi could simply absorb more punishment than the constructs. Aided by Dannel’s continuing barrage, and Hodge’s support, Arun had created great cracks in the golem’s torso through powerful ringing blows from his holy sword. The golem had released a spell power upon them, but the paladin resisted the slowing magic once more, and Hodge, already affected by the sorcerer’s earlier magic, could not be further hindered by another application of the effect. The hesitation cost it, as the two dwarves laid into its legs from opposite directions, finally toppling as its knees were sundered, crumbling into inanimate debris as it hit the floor.
Less than five seconds passed before the other golem likewise fell to the combined assault of Lok and the planetar. The golem mindlessly split its attacks between its two foes, and while it landed several more devastating blows it likewise absorbed damage that it simply could not withstand. Lok finally put it down with a two-handed overhead stroke of his axe that cracked the sigil plate installed in its chest. The crack widened with the golem’s struggles to continue its assault, and finally it split down the middle, disintegrating like the first into component rubble that offered no further threat.
Meanwhile, off to the side, in one of the galleries formed by the flanking row of pillars, the battle raged on. Benzan and the mohrg met in a violent exchange, with the mohrg’s potent blow glancing off of the tiefling’s shoulder. Its long tongue snapped out and nipped the tiefling’s neck, but Benzan fought off the cold clinging touch of its paralysis. He in turn delivered a powerful blow with his sword that knocked it roughly back, crushing several of its ribs and scoring the bloated knot of purple flesh that filled its chest cavity.
He should have pressed it, ensured that it was destroyed, but he bent quickly to check on Dana. The gesture took only a second, but it was a costly one, for as he touched his wife’s skin the icy chill that held her paralyzed spread into his fingers and through his arm.
And this time, he was unable to resist succumbing to the paralysis.
The mohrg, quickly recovering, stepped forward to deliver a coup de grace against its helpless foe.
Lazybones
Adventurer
Okay, I've come up with the perfect solution for the golem problem:
First [someone's] friend burns a wish to create a portable hole filled with 5,000gp worth of kegs of highest-quality beer (since wish can create an item up to 25k gp value). You take the beer out, then you use the portable hole to teleport the golems. You get the added benefit of keeping the morale of the remaining Cagewrights high.
Man, I can't believe I'm not a published writer.
Okay, cliffhanger time:
* * * * *
Chapter 396
Unable to defend himself, Benzan was helpless before the mohrg. The undead creature lifted a hand to deliver a crushing blow to the back of his neck…
But before the blow could land, a pale green beam lanced into it. The mohrg let out a subvocalized shriek, a thin tinny quiver in the air that was its only protest before it was disintegrated by Cal’s spell.
The gnome came forward, alert for any other threats, until he stood next to the paralyzed couple. “Well, I’d hoped not to have to use that spell up so soon.”
Benzan could barely move his eyes, yet somehow he managed to express a lot in the look he shot the gnome.
Cal failed to see Mole, standing in the shadows a few feet away. Slowed by the sorcerer’s spell, she hadn’t been able to effectively contribute to the battle; both the golems and the mohrg were all but immune to any damage she could unleash with her weapons.
Or that, at least, was what she told herself, as she stood there, covered by the darkness, trembling slightly.
“That was too easy,” Cal said, directing Lok and Arun to move their two paralyzed companions into a sheltered alcove far from the chamber’s two visible exits. Having seen Benzan affected by touching Dana’s skin, he warned them not to contact their friends’ bare flesh with their own. None of them had magic to dispel the paralysis, however, so they had no choice but to wait for the effect to fade. At least the slow effect was quicker to vanish, and soon Hodge and Mole were unencumbered by that magical hindrance.
“Easy?” Hodge said, incredulous.
“I would have expected a stronger initial defense,” Lok agreed, although he favored his jaw, rubbing the bruised skin where a glancing blow had almost taken his head despite the protection of his adamantine helm. Cal drew out one of his healing wands, offering its benefit to the battered warriors.
“The taint in this place is unacceptable,” the planetar said, hefting her huge sword as she turned to the ugly golden altar. But she hesitated, and Cal too suddenly looked up, as though he’d heard something disagreeable whispered nearby.
“We are being watched,” he said quietly.
The planetar dispelled the invisible magical sensor, but none of them felt all that reassured by the knowledge that their enemies knew they were here.
“Mole?” Cal asked.
“I’m here,” the younger gnome replied, stepping from the shadows.
“Keep an eye on the exit tunnel,” Cal said, “In case the guards above heard the ruckus down here, and come down to investigate.”
The rogue nodded, although she looked distracted as she walked over to the far entry.
“I do not think that be a good idea,” Hodge said, as the planetar stepped up to the altar, lifting her sword with clear intent. The celestial positioned herself so that her body would shield the companions from any debris, then she smote the unholy object with the full force of her divinely-granted strength.
There was a flash of light, bright enough to dazzle them for an instant. When they could see clearly again, the celestial was gone.
“Wha? Where’d it go?” Hodge said.
“Some sort of trap,” Dannel said, scanning every corner of the room with an arrow nocked and ready to fire at in instant’s warning.
Arun had moved to the altar, but Cal cautioned him. “No one touch it,” he warned. “If Dana’s ally was transported somewhere, she can more than handle himself, but we cannot afford to be separated, not here.”
The companions watched nervously as the seconds passed, feeling as if time had suddenly slowed down, waiting for the attack that they knew could come without any warning. But nothing stirred in either passage, and after a few minutes Dana started to shift, groaning as her body reestablished control over itself.
“Tzadkiel,” was the first word she said, when she could speak.
“We do not know,” Cal replied. “The spell upon the altar is potent, and reeks with abjuration and transmutation—that much I could discern, anyway. It may have transported her away.”
“I… perhaps I have erred in bringing these warriors of light to our cause…”
“They serve willingly, against the forces of darkness,” Arun reassured her. “Do not second-guess yourself, priestess.”
“Let’s get out of this damned place,” Benzan said, accepting Lok’s help as the paralysis began to fade from him as well, and he leaned against the pillar behind him. Dannel returned the tiefling’s bow, which he accepted with a nod of thanks.
“We must assume that our enemies know we are here, and are preparing a more vigorous defense deeper in the complex,” Cal said.
“So it’s business as usual,” Benzan said, moving gingerly as feeling came back to his limbs, before taking his position at the lead of their company, facing the far exit. The tiefling reached down to the wand in his belt, grasping it and muttering the word of command that wreathed himself in magical invisibility.
“Let’s go,” he said. The companions started out with Benzan ahead, and Mole bringing up the rear.
The corridor proceeded only a short distance, perhaps a few dozen paces, before opening again into another larger room. The stale scent of musty air and ancient decay hung thicker in this place, which had the aura of some long-undisturbed crypt. More thick pillars supported the ceiling, and like the first room gave the place a crowded feel to it. The chamber seemed to merge into a long hall that continued ahead as far as their light sources penetrated.
They spread out as they entered the room, wary of any signs of an ambush. The only thing of note was a stone object on the center of the floor before them. Arun shone the light from his sword upon it as he stepped forward into the chamber, showing it to be a stone arm, perhaps the remains of some ancient statue that had once stood here.
“This goes on quite a ways,” Benzan’s voice came from the direction of the hall. “It looks like it might bend to the right some distance down, but I don’t see or hear anything else from that direction.”
“Spread out, keep a close eye for hidden doors, traps, or anything else unusual,” Cal suggested. “Arun, with Tzadkiel gone, can you occasionally sense for the presence of evil auras?”
Arun nodded. Meanwhile Mole, the last to enter the room, walked over to the stone arm. “Hey, there’s an iron ring on its finger,” she said, bending down.
“No, don’t!” Cal warned, but he was too late as his niece’s fingers brushed the metal band. At that instant the four nearest pillars, at the corners of the room, exploded outward, showering them with pulverized fragments of plaster from the false pillars. Even before they could clearly see, they sensed movement where the pillars had stood.
“Enemies!” Lok warned, falling into a ready stance.
The cloud of plaster dust cleared, giving them a clear view of what faced them. The locations vacated by the pillars was now occupied by four humanoid enemies, clad in chain shirts, and armed with small swords and bows. Somehow the four had been preserved, encased in the false pillars, waiting to do battle against those who would intrude upon the sanctity of this place.
But that wasn’t the worst of it. For as the eyes of the companions rose to the faces of their enemies, they saw fierce, terrible visages, topped with a writhing mess of tangled hair.
No, not hair. Snakes.
Even as realization dawned upon them, several of the companions met the gaze of the medusae, and Cal, Mole, Benzan, and Dannel were all turned to stone.
First [someone's] friend burns a wish to create a portable hole filled with 5,000gp worth of kegs of highest-quality beer (since wish can create an item up to 25k gp value). You take the beer out, then you use the portable hole to teleport the golems. You get the added benefit of keeping the morale of the remaining Cagewrights high.
Man, I can't believe I'm not a published writer.
Okay, cliffhanger time:
* * * * *
Chapter 396
Unable to defend himself, Benzan was helpless before the mohrg. The undead creature lifted a hand to deliver a crushing blow to the back of his neck…
But before the blow could land, a pale green beam lanced into it. The mohrg let out a subvocalized shriek, a thin tinny quiver in the air that was its only protest before it was disintegrated by Cal’s spell.
The gnome came forward, alert for any other threats, until he stood next to the paralyzed couple. “Well, I’d hoped not to have to use that spell up so soon.”
Benzan could barely move his eyes, yet somehow he managed to express a lot in the look he shot the gnome.
Cal failed to see Mole, standing in the shadows a few feet away. Slowed by the sorcerer’s spell, she hadn’t been able to effectively contribute to the battle; both the golems and the mohrg were all but immune to any damage she could unleash with her weapons.
Or that, at least, was what she told herself, as she stood there, covered by the darkness, trembling slightly.
“That was too easy,” Cal said, directing Lok and Arun to move their two paralyzed companions into a sheltered alcove far from the chamber’s two visible exits. Having seen Benzan affected by touching Dana’s skin, he warned them not to contact their friends’ bare flesh with their own. None of them had magic to dispel the paralysis, however, so they had no choice but to wait for the effect to fade. At least the slow effect was quicker to vanish, and soon Hodge and Mole were unencumbered by that magical hindrance.
“Easy?” Hodge said, incredulous.
“I would have expected a stronger initial defense,” Lok agreed, although he favored his jaw, rubbing the bruised skin where a glancing blow had almost taken his head despite the protection of his adamantine helm. Cal drew out one of his healing wands, offering its benefit to the battered warriors.
“The taint in this place is unacceptable,” the planetar said, hefting her huge sword as she turned to the ugly golden altar. But she hesitated, and Cal too suddenly looked up, as though he’d heard something disagreeable whispered nearby.
“We are being watched,” he said quietly.
The planetar dispelled the invisible magical sensor, but none of them felt all that reassured by the knowledge that their enemies knew they were here.
“Mole?” Cal asked.
“I’m here,” the younger gnome replied, stepping from the shadows.
“Keep an eye on the exit tunnel,” Cal said, “In case the guards above heard the ruckus down here, and come down to investigate.”
The rogue nodded, although she looked distracted as she walked over to the far entry.
“I do not think that be a good idea,” Hodge said, as the planetar stepped up to the altar, lifting her sword with clear intent. The celestial positioned herself so that her body would shield the companions from any debris, then she smote the unholy object with the full force of her divinely-granted strength.
There was a flash of light, bright enough to dazzle them for an instant. When they could see clearly again, the celestial was gone.
“Wha? Where’d it go?” Hodge said.
“Some sort of trap,” Dannel said, scanning every corner of the room with an arrow nocked and ready to fire at in instant’s warning.
Arun had moved to the altar, but Cal cautioned him. “No one touch it,” he warned. “If Dana’s ally was transported somewhere, she can more than handle himself, but we cannot afford to be separated, not here.”
The companions watched nervously as the seconds passed, feeling as if time had suddenly slowed down, waiting for the attack that they knew could come without any warning. But nothing stirred in either passage, and after a few minutes Dana started to shift, groaning as her body reestablished control over itself.
“Tzadkiel,” was the first word she said, when she could speak.
“We do not know,” Cal replied. “The spell upon the altar is potent, and reeks with abjuration and transmutation—that much I could discern, anyway. It may have transported her away.”
“I… perhaps I have erred in bringing these warriors of light to our cause…”
“They serve willingly, against the forces of darkness,” Arun reassured her. “Do not second-guess yourself, priestess.”
“Let’s get out of this damned place,” Benzan said, accepting Lok’s help as the paralysis began to fade from him as well, and he leaned against the pillar behind him. Dannel returned the tiefling’s bow, which he accepted with a nod of thanks.
“We must assume that our enemies know we are here, and are preparing a more vigorous defense deeper in the complex,” Cal said.
“So it’s business as usual,” Benzan said, moving gingerly as feeling came back to his limbs, before taking his position at the lead of their company, facing the far exit. The tiefling reached down to the wand in his belt, grasping it and muttering the word of command that wreathed himself in magical invisibility.
“Let’s go,” he said. The companions started out with Benzan ahead, and Mole bringing up the rear.
The corridor proceeded only a short distance, perhaps a few dozen paces, before opening again into another larger room. The stale scent of musty air and ancient decay hung thicker in this place, which had the aura of some long-undisturbed crypt. More thick pillars supported the ceiling, and like the first room gave the place a crowded feel to it. The chamber seemed to merge into a long hall that continued ahead as far as their light sources penetrated.
They spread out as they entered the room, wary of any signs of an ambush. The only thing of note was a stone object on the center of the floor before them. Arun shone the light from his sword upon it as he stepped forward into the chamber, showing it to be a stone arm, perhaps the remains of some ancient statue that had once stood here.
“This goes on quite a ways,” Benzan’s voice came from the direction of the hall. “It looks like it might bend to the right some distance down, but I don’t see or hear anything else from that direction.”
“Spread out, keep a close eye for hidden doors, traps, or anything else unusual,” Cal suggested. “Arun, with Tzadkiel gone, can you occasionally sense for the presence of evil auras?”
Arun nodded. Meanwhile Mole, the last to enter the room, walked over to the stone arm. “Hey, there’s an iron ring on its finger,” she said, bending down.
“No, don’t!” Cal warned, but he was too late as his niece’s fingers brushed the metal band. At that instant the four nearest pillars, at the corners of the room, exploded outward, showering them with pulverized fragments of plaster from the false pillars. Even before they could clearly see, they sensed movement where the pillars had stood.
“Enemies!” Lok warned, falling into a ready stance.
The cloud of plaster dust cleared, giving them a clear view of what faced them. The locations vacated by the pillars was now occupied by four humanoid enemies, clad in chain shirts, and armed with small swords and bows. Somehow the four had been preserved, encased in the false pillars, waiting to do battle against those who would intrude upon the sanctity of this place.
But that wasn’t the worst of it. For as the eyes of the companions rose to the faces of their enemies, they saw fierce, terrible visages, topped with a writhing mess of tangled hair.
No, not hair. Snakes.
Even as realization dawned upon them, several of the companions met the gaze of the medusae, and Cal, Mole, Benzan, and Dannel were all turned to stone.
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