Shackled City Epic: "Vengeance" (story concluded)

[Lazybones]

Chapter 219

“I am not certain that we should have let him go,” Morgan said, as they watched him depart.

“He will not hinder us further,” Zenna said with confidence. “I won’t say the same though for the two he mentioned, however.”

“A giant I understand,” Hodge said. “But what be this ‘rak-shaw’?”

“Rakshasa are feline humanoids, magical outsiders, masters of deceit and illusion,” Kaurophon said. “They are resistant to most weapons and spells. Very smart. Very dangerous.”

“Why’d I know I warn’t gunna like it, a’fore I asked,” the dwarf grumbled.

“If they’ve found the way to the final Test, we must stop them!” the sorcerer persisted.

Mole had examined the bubbling ulcer pool. “Well, there’s a dark opening back there that could be a tunnel,” she reported. “But that’s stuff’s caustic all right... we swim, we’re going to pay a price.”

“We’ve paid the price already,” Morgan said. “And we’re still paying it.”

There was an awkward moment of silence. Zenna wondered how firm the knight’s grip on sanity was. But then she laughed inwardly. How crazy were all of them, given what they had done and seen since coming here?

Arun broke the pause by walking over to the edge of the pool. “I’m going in,” he said, and without waiting for a response stepped into the pool. The weight of his armor pulled him down under the edge of the fluid quickly, and all they could see was the dark shadow of his form as it moved swiftly to the dark opening and disappeared from sight.

The dwarf’s example fortified them against their own fears, and ten minutes later found themselves in a long, twisting tunnel that rose steadily upward. The caustic fluid in the ulcer pool had seared their skin, as Mole had predicted, but they hadn’t spent enough time in it to do serious damage. Zenna conjured up enough water for them to at least wash off some of the acidic gunk that clung to them on escaping the pool. Still, as she looked around, she thought that they resembled horrible ghouls, drenched in the blood of their victims, clad in the rags of what had once been noble garments.

Okay, get a hold, girl, and lighten up a bit, she thought, hugging her arms close against her body. But it was impossible to banish dark thoughts in this place, especially here, knowing where they were.

They started up, the light from the lantern illuminating their way. The corridor twisted back on itself in a great spiral, and soon Zenna’s thighs were burning with the effort of the ascent. They were all tired, but none called for a rest, eager at least to be done with the trial ahead of them. Kaurophon seemed reenergized, and the passion that burned in his eyes was at least a bit contagious, as they began to hope that perhaps the end of the Test of the Smoking Eye was drawing near.

Dannel had moved to take the lead once again, moving along the inner wall of the spiral, a shadow at the edge of the ray of light cast by the lantern. The heavy iron of the lamp weighed heavily against Zenna’s arms, but by now, it almost felt like a part of her, just an inconvenient extension of her arms. The light suddenly shone across Dannel’s back, and belatedly she realized that he’s stopped, that all of them had.

“Ahead,” the elf whispered, his voice just loud enough to carry to those behind him.

Zenna could see a flicker of light, and a long, vague shadow splayed against the curving wall to their left. She thought she heard voices, and a moment later a sound of metal grinding against metal, a sound she knew all too well from time spent accompanying armored men.

Dannel started moving back toward them. “Now we just need a plan...” Arun began.

“Mawr!”

The loud feline cry echoed down the corridor from around the bend. The amorphous shadow shifted, grew suddenly huge, and the clank of metal became a cacophony. Zenna heard soft words, and although she did not understand the language used, she knew instantly what they signified. She glanced over at Kaurophon, and saw that he, too, recognized them.

“Spellcasting!” she warned.

“They know we’re here,” Dannel said, unnecessarily.

“Well, let’s be about this, then,” Arun said, lifting his sword and stepping forward.

“Wait!” Zenna hissed. “What about the plan?”

“You’re just giving them more time to prepare,” Morgan said, his own sword shedding a bright wedge of light across the curving walls of the tunnel as he drew it from its scabbard.

“We can deal with their spells!” she insisted, fixing Kaurophon with a stare, until the sorcerer nodded, reluctantly she thought. “But these foes are too great for us to simply rush in and hope for the best!”

“What would you suggest?” Morgan said scathingly. “That we cower here until they are content to come down here and attack?”

“Damn it...”

“Um... guys?” Mole interjected. “I think they’re coming...”

The tunnel shook, pulsing with the heavy footsteps of an approaching foe descending toward them.

 

[Polynike]

Bump

 

[Lazybones]

It's rumble time!

* * * * *

Chapter 220

The giant rounded the corner first. Even though she knew what was coming, Zenna felt a stab of anxiety despite herself.

This creature made the hill giants and ettins they’d faced earlier seem puny by comparison. It was only—only!—about twelve feet tall, but by the way the corridor shook with its steps it had to weigh many thousands of pounds. Unlike the ungainly forms of the hill giants its body was broad and powerful, and it wore actual armor, black steel half-plate that covered its body like a second skin. It carried a huge sword half again as tall as she was, and its visage was fierce, its bright red hair flowing around its skull like a burning flame. Even without a detect magic, Zenna could sense the power radiating from it, recognized the signs in the way it carried itself, the unnatural speed with which it moved toward them.

The warriors stepped forward to meet it, forming a line to block the corridor against its rush. Zenna knew that her scorching ray would have no effect upon it, and she’d already conjured her wards and protections. Dannel had her crossbow, and the elf snapped off a shot at the giant’s first appearance, the quarrel sticking almost pathetically in its arm, little more than a splinter. The other missiles that struck it—a javelin, a hammer, another bolt from Mole—either bounced off its armor or grazed its skin, doing little in the way of real damage.

And then there was no time for anything else, as it charged straight at them.

Zenna glanced over at Kaurophon, not surprised to see that the sorcerer had taken shelter again in invisibility. A good idea, she thought, but before she could cast the spell, the giant struck their line with a loud crash of clashing arms. Hodge’s spear, set against its charge, stabbed through the plates covering its side, finally drawing blood, but the force of its rush knocked the dwarf backward roughly. Zenna saw a pale nimbus flare about the giant, and immediately saw its movements slow slightly, and she knew that Kaurophon had kept his unspoken promise to slice away the spells that bolstered the giant’s power.

But the loss of its magical enhancements seemed not to hinder it in the least as it continued its charge. Morgan stepped forward to bar its path, but the giant simply strode through the knight, his holy sword glancing harmlessly off one of the giant’s greaves as it knocked him prone with enough force to blast the air from his lungs.

And then, before she could react, he was right there, looming over her, his huge sword already beginning its inescapable downward path. She could not even manage a scream as the sword clove through her, striking the ground with enough force to tear a huge gash in the soft stone.

 

[Padril]

She could not even manage a scream as the sword clove through her, striking the ground with enough force to tear a huge gash in the soft stone.

Looks like Zenna has just discovered the radical loose 50% of your body weight in 6 seconds diet

I thought Morgan was finally going to reveal his red shirt but it looks like he lent it to Zenna.

 

[Polynike]

is she dead pls pls pls make her be dead

 

[Lazybones]

Boy, I had no idea there was such Zenna-hate out there.

* * * * *

Chapter 221

The sight of the giant slamming his huge sword through her shook Zenna into action. Even as the mirror image of herself vanished, she staggered back, trying to grab the trigger words to the spells bouncing about in her startled mind.

Her allies were already attacking the giant, trying to draw its attention from her. Dannel drove Alakast into the base of its spine, but the giant was not an outsider, and the impact did not seem to faze it through the thick layers of plate and leather covering its body. But it could ignore Arun so carelessly, as the dwarf hewed at a massive leg like a lumberjack assaulting a stubborn bole. His holy sword shone brightly as his stroke rang off the giant’s greave, splitting the black iron and slicing open a foot-long gash in the meaty thigh underneath. The giant roared in pain, and turned from the shifting images that remained around Zenna to sweep his massive sword around toward Arun. The sword caught Arun in the side, and while the mithral armor held, saving the paladin from being hewn in twain, it was clear from the way he favored his side that ribs had been bruised if not broken by the terrible impact. The giant did not hesitate to follow up his advantage, lifting his sword for another powerful overhead strike, and it was only by throwing himself to the side at the last minute that Arun avoided a second hit that might have taken him out of the fight for good. Again the sword ripped into the ground, and a tremor shook the tunnel, ignored by the combatants intent upon the desperate melee.

Let alone for a handful of seconds, Zenna’s mental discipline reasserted itself and she completed her spell. “Drop!” she commanded it, the word echoing off the narrow confines of the tunnel, worming into the subconscious of the giant. It had a strong will, Zenna could feel, but her magical studies had focused upon enchantments, and her own strength of mind was not inconsiderable. The giant shook his head, but his fist loosened its grip, and the heavy sword clattered to the ground.

A small form darted into the melee, unnoticed by almost everyone until it hopped up onto the giant’s knee, balancing for a moment upon his kneeplate before lunging up and grabbing onto one of the thin plates that surrounded his hips in a broad skirt. Mole hung onto the plate with one hand, her knife bare in the other as she swung up into the crevice between its legs, disappearing from view for a moment as she darted in between the long slats.

The giant roared, a fierce, angry sound that filled the corridor. It slapped down violently at the gnome as she reappeared from between vertical plates of armor, her knife dripping blood drawn from a quite private location on the giant’s anatomy. Mole went flying, impacted roughly by the edge of the giant’s palm, but she was able to roll with the impact and tumbled in a series of somersaults that carried her almost to the side of the tunnel fifteen feet away.

Morgan had pulled himself to his feet, and now ran at the giant, drawing its attention with a loud cry of battle. It grunted as the knight’s sword drove through its armor and tore into its gut, the glowing steel flaring sparks as it tore the black steel of its mail. The giant drew back a step, freeing itself from the sword, but instead of bending to recover his weapon he simply reached out and closed his fist over the knight’s arm, crushing it in his incredible grip and lifting him off his feet. Arun was already maneuvering for another attack, but with a snap of his wrist the giant hurled his captive roughly to the side, slamming Morgan into the dwarven paladin and knocking them both down in a sprawl of arms and legs.

Zenna saw the giant’s movements subtly accelerate, and realized that the rakshasa had replaced his magical enhancement upon the seemingly invincible ebon warrior. The feline humanoid had not yet shown himself, and Zenna assumed that he, too, was likely nearby, cloaked in invisibility.

She was about to belatedly follow the same course herself when a rumbling noise from behind drew her attention around. Her eyes widened as she saw a massive wave coming toward them; the stone floor, walls, and even ceiling were... flowing toward them in a potent pulse, like ripples in a rug that someone had grasped at the end and roughly shaken.

Then the wave struck, and all conscious thought was replaced by chaos as everything was flying out of control all around her.

 

[Black Bard]

Great writing, Lazy!!!

And, man, I like Zenna!!! (of course, I voted on her in the poll... )

 

[Lazybones]

Chapter 222

The world was flying around her... no, she was flying, picked up by the peristaltic wave rippling down the corridor and tossed roughly forward. Her eyes widened in surprise as she went flying past the giant, who size and bulk allowed him to weather the pulse as it passed, narrowly missing an armored elbow that jutted out into her path. Then she was falling again, and she barely managed to get her feet out under her again before she hit the ground in the wake of the wave, and rolled, coming to a stop a good fifteen feet from where she’s started, now on the opposite side of the giant from where she’s started.

She looked around in confusion. The shape of the battlefield had changed. The wave had passed, but everyone had been shaken by its passage, and almost everyone was down, a few feet or further from where they had started. The giant was up, and looking for his sword, which had been jostled now almost ten feet away from it. Arun was standing as well, and as the giant started toward its weapon the dwarf charged him again, his sword forming a bright arc of light in his hands as he came.

But the giant, his reflexes enhanced by the haste spell, was ready for him. He turned to face the dwarf, and met his charge with a fist that slammed into the side of his helm with enough force to dent the metal. Arun staggered, seriously injured by the blow, but stubbornly refused to stop, stepping forward and tearing another gash in the giant’s leg with a powerful sweep of his sword. Blood was now pouring down the mangled limb from the two deep cuts, but Arun in turn paid the price for his attack as the giant’s other fist came around and slammed with a meaty thunk into his face. The dwarf went down like a sack of potatoes, struck unconscious by the sheer force of the blow.

The giant turned back toward its sword. The other companions were already rising on unsteady feet, trying to shake off the effects of the tunnel wave, and quickly leapt to the attack. Zenna cast another spell, firing off a color spray into the giant’s face, but luck was not with her this time, and the huge warrior shrugged off the effect. He ignored a feeble thrust from Hodge’s spear, which glanced harmlessly off of his breastplate, and bent to reach for the hilt of his sword.

Once again a tiny figure shot out from the shadows. Mole leapt up onto the giant’s outstretched arm, and even as the giant reared back in surprise, ran up the extended limb to its shoulder. The giant tried to swat at her with its other hand, but the nimble gnome darted forward and under the stroke, and as she ran across the top edge of his breastplate, she flicked her knife into his left eye.

The giant screamed in pain, and staggered violently, dropping Mole to the ground to roll out of the dangerous and chaotic stomping of his feet as he clutched at the hilt of the knife jutting from the ruin of his eye. The giant never even saw Dannel and Morgan run forward, but it felt the consequences as first Dannel drove Alakast into his already blood-slicked knee with enough force to shatter the bone beneath the joint. Then Morgan stepped forward, and with a shouted cry to his god slid four feet of holy steel up through the gap at the base of his breastplate into his chest cavity and the soft organs beneath.

The sound that the giant made when he fell was catastrophic, echoing up and down the tunnel.

Zenna watched the giant fell, but even as she felt a thrill of excitement flush through her, knew that another dangerous enemy still lurked for them. But even as she started to turn around pain exploded through her head, and she staggered, lights flaring in glorious bursts across her vision. Danger! screamed a voice in her head, but she was unable to clear her mind in time to react before a second impact caught her solidly, and she toppled forward. The tunnel floor rose up to meet her again, this time embracing her in merciful unconsciousness by the time she struck the stone.

 

[Polynike]

what a hell of a fight Lazy. Damn mirror image, brings back memories from Baldurs Gate 1 and 2. i cant stand Zenna guys Morgan and Arun rules. Arun, well say no more ass kicker from the start and Morgan, the guy has been knocked down more times than a housein the florida keys during hurricane season and still gets up to dish out some serious "butt kicking for goodness!!".
Dont kill him off pls Lazy let Mole or Zenna go first.

 

[Lazybones]

As for Morgan's fate... servants of Helm haven't fared too well in this story thus far, but his character has grown on me as well (when I first introduced him in Book 1, I had no idea where he was going to go). On the other hand, I haven't killed anybody off in a while, and my long-term readers know how much restraint that takes. The ending to this Book is already written, and we'll get to it before too long, but I'll just say this: not everyone in the current group makes it back to Faerun...



* * * * *


Chapter 223

Dannel turned in time to see Zenna struck, and his cry drew the attention of the others around. He could not help her as she crumpled unconscious—gods, let her be only unconscious! he thought—but at least he could do something about the figure that became visible behind her.

It looked like a cross between a tiger and a man, with a fierce feline visage complete to a powerful set of jaws full of sharp teeth. An intense intellect shone in its eyes, but there was also a corruption there, a passion for dark things and raw power. It held a lantern similar to Zenna’s, its edge smeared with blood from where it had struck Zenna down with the improvised weapon.

“You may have struck him down,” it hissed at them, “But you will not stop me from achieving my goal!”

Its response was an angry roar of battle as Morgan charged toward the rakshasa. The tiger-man stood his ground, but as the holy sword struck a light flared around it, indicating that it had magical wards upon its person. Even so, the knight’s blow penetrated and should have cut deep... only the rakshasa’s hide absorbed most of the force of the stroke, and only a faint blackened streak from the holy energy of the sword marked its fur as it spun back and recovered its equilibrium.

“You cannot defeat me... flee this place, weak human!”

The words carried the force of a suggestion spell, but Morgan had been driven beyond the point where even magical compulsion could sway him, and he came on again in an all-out assault. This time the holy sword drew blood, though the wound still did not look serious, but the rakshasa’s confidence seemed shaken by the fierceness of this attack, and the rage that burned like a fire in the eyes of the man who swung that blazing sword with total abandon.

Hodge and Dannel, meanwhile, had rushed to the assistance of Arun and Zenna, respectively. Hodge was no cleric, but he knew that Arun had been carrying one of their last remaining healing potions, and he quickly found it in the paladin’s pouch, trickling the precious fluid down his friend’s throat. Dannel relied upon the power in his bard song to achieve the same result, drawing Zenna slowly back into consciousness with the healing power infused in the melody.

But even as Hodge started to help Arun back to his feet, the dwarven cohort saw another wave rippling up the tunnel toward them. “Watch out, ‘ere come another one!” he shouted, trying to stabilize Arun before the surge running up through the ground reached them.

This wave was not as forceful as the first, but it still wrought havoc in its wake. The dwarves, holding to each other, kept their footing, but Dannel found himself torn from Zenna, the elf knocked roughly to his back while Zenna was thrust semi-conscious twenty feet down the passage. Both the rakshasa and Morgan were likewise knocked roughly prone, but Mole, who’d been moving around to flank the melee between the two, did a back-flip that carried her over the cresting surge to land lightly on her feet.

The rakshasa and knight both clambered awkwardly to their feet, each staring at the other in a gaze that shared an equal portion of hatred on both sides. The tunnel-wave had separated them, and before Morgan could charge forward again, the rakshasa spoke a word of power and disappeared...

Or rather, started to disappear, for a moment after he flickered out of sight, he suddenly materialized again, a look of confusion on his face.

Arun thrust his sword into Hodge’s fist. “Go, join the attack!” he yelled.

“Yer can barely stand!”

“Go!” the paladin retreated, thrusting the other dwarf forward to punctuate his statement. Hodge obeyed, glancing back once before turning and rushing to catch up to the ongoing battle, the holy sword blazing brightly in his hand.

The rakshasa spotted both Hodge and Mole moving to join the battle, and while it could not see the enemy mage who was counter-spelling its own magic, it knew it was outmatched by these foes. Thus far its potent resistances had protected it from serious harm, but the holy weapon carried by its foe hurt it, and it knew that its defenses could not protect it for long.

It avoided the knight’s initial rush, abetted by the fact that Morgan was still launching an all-out attack, powerful swings lacking any finesse whatsoever in an effort to cut through the tough outsider’s resistance to physical attacks. It retreated and drew out a scroll, but before it could begin reading the magical words scribed upon it, a third wave rolled down the tunnel. Once again the combatants were knocked prone, driven a few paces down the length of the twisting passageway by the force of the pulse.

Zenna had regained awareness, and clung precariously to it despite the battering she was taking from the tunnel waves. She found that staying prone helped her to weather them better, and she called upon her clerical powers to channel positive energy through her body, clearing the stabbing pain from her head and steadying her grip on consciousness.

The rakshasa stood once more, but was forced to retreat again as Mole flanked it, trying to drive it back toward Morgan. It slipped around her, ignoring the ineffectual blow from her mace, and once clear began reading the scroll again.

But once again, a dispel sliced into the fragile lattice of gathering magical power, and the rakshasa snarled in frustration as the assault disrupted the strands of energy that would have carried it from this place, to escape.

With an angry cry it lifted its weapon, the magical lantern that served effectively as a flail, and rushed at Morgan. The two weapons clanged off of each other in a noisy cacophony. Another pulse rippled through the tunnel around them, but this time it was weaker, and they only fell back a moment to steady themselves before the two combatants met again in another violent exchange. Morgan took a solid hit across the shoulder that drove him back a step, but in turn the rakshasa suffered a cut across its body that was a real injury, now, bright red blood pouring from the cut to clot in its mottled fur.

Then Mole and Hodge arrived belatedly, and surrounded, the feline outsider was quickly overwhelmed.

The companions gathered again, fighting to keep their footing as the pulsing waves continued to roil through the corridor at regular intervals, each just a few seconds after the other.

“We can’t stay here!” Morgan exclaimed. He’d taken up the rakshasa’s magical lantern, which appeared to be similar to the one that Zenna carried, its shaft of light paralleling hers in pointing up the tunnel ahead.

“We’re not ready for another battle!” Dannel noted, gesturing to Zenna and Arun, both of whom bore serious injuries despite the healing they’d received.

“I can fight, if need be,” Arun said, taking his sword back from Hodge. He’d used up some of his daily reservoir of divine magic to steady himself, although he still looked battered.

“Forward, then!” Morgan said, cursing as another pulse knocked him roughly to his knees.

Alternating staggering with running as the waves passed, the companions rushed up the tunnel. The peristaltic pulses slowly began to fade, but it was a good twenty or thirty minutes before they were finally able to slump to a more stabled ground, exhausted.

“Hey, I think I still see the rakshasa,” Mole said. As her companions hastily drew weapons and looked back down the corridor in alarm, she quickly amended, “No, I mean the body. I think the tunnel waves pushed it up after us.”

Morgan sheathed his sword with a grunt. “If that was an attempt at humor, little one, I think we can do without.”

“Hey, that wasn’t a joke, honest! But hey, have you heard the one where an elf wizard, a dwarf fighter, and a halfling rogue all walk into a bar...”

“Hsst,” Dannel interrupted. “Do you hear that?”

They all drew quiet—even Mole, reluctantly—and listened. The noise was only dimly audible, an irregular pounding noise that drifted down from around the bend of the tunnel up ahead.

“That doesn’t sound promising,” Arun noted.

“Prolly some’pin else that wants to kill us,” Hodge grumbled.

Zenna noticed something else. “Where’s Kaurophon?”