Shackled City Epic: "Vengeance" (story concluded)
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![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
Black Bard
First Post
I like Morgan too... And I must say that I`m not worried about his possible demise... All in all, he`s not a Helmite cleric anymore!!!
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Lazybones
Adventurer
Chapter 224
“I knew that he could not be trusted,” Morgan said, while Zenna cast a cantrip to scan the area around them for magical auras.
“Now that we got ‘im this far, ‘e’s takin’ the gold fer ‘imself,” Hodge said.
“Gold?” Mole asked.
“Yer knows what I mean.”
“I’m detecting something,” Zenna said, drawing their attention toward the tunnel ahead.
A figure appeared, materializing from the darkness as he dismissed his invisibility. It was the familiar figure of Kaurophon, and he regarded them with a calm expression upon his face, despite the intensity of the attention directed at him by his companions.
“Where did you go?” Morgan demanded.
“I heard the noise, and went up to investigate,” the sorcerer replied.
“Without us? Figured you’d take a quick look, see if you still needed us to help you pass the Test, eh?”
Kaurophon shook his head. “I am here,” he said. “Still you doubt my sincerity? I suppose I cannot blame you, you being what you are, and I being what I am. But does not your own creed proclaim the worth of deeds? Did you not overcome that dragon, the giant, and the rakshasa? Or perhaps, in the intensity of the fray, you did not observe the flames engulfing the drake, or the magical enhancements slide off of the giant, or the rakshasa’s spells foiled, allowing you to ply your blade without interference.”
“I value deeds,” Morgan said, “But I also know that what looks like sacrifice can in fact be self-serving. I ‘observed’, for instance, the fact that you turn yourself invisible at the start of almost every battle, and when we are all bruised and bleeding, more often than not you are still fully intact.”
“Ah, so it is my blood that you want, then?” he said. He pulled back his robes from his legs, revealing gray limbs scarred with acid burns, healed now, but still bearing the marks of the dragon’s breath. “I bled my blood, knight of Helm. Or do you want more? Shall I lay open my veins for you? Will you trust me more, when I am lying dead at your feet?”
“I do not think I shall trust you even then,” Morgan snarled.
“This is getting us nowhere,” Arun said, stepping in between them. “In the future, leave the scouting to our scout,” the dwarf said firmly to the sorcerer. “We will have more need of your magic ahead, I suspect.”
Kaurophon nodded, and stepped to the side of the tunnel.
“Well, since you did scout, what did you see up ahead?” Mole asked.
“There is a chamber up ahead, at the top of the tunnel,” Kaurophon replied. “A spacious hemisphere, with a large stone throne situated in the center. There is a large creature in the room, apparently engaged in smashing the walls of the room.”
“What manner o’ creature?” Hodge said, his eyes narrowing.
“I could not identify it clearly, as the throne blocked my view of it, and I deemed it more practical to come back here and notify you, rather than risking engaging the thing upon my own. But it had the shape of an elemental or golem, rather than a living being, and it seemed quite mindlessly set upon its task.”
“Maybe we can get around it without a fight,” Mole suggested.
“Bets?” Hodge asked.
“All right, let’s get going then,” Morgan said. “Don’t wander off,” he added, with a glare at Kaurophon.
“Hold a moment, Arun,” Zenna said. She cast a potent healing spell upon him, but even though the paladin nodded gratefully, she could see that he was still hurting. For that matter, she herself didn’t feel all that steady on her own feet, although the pain from the blows she’d taken from the rakshasa had faded to a dull ache. They’d only had one encounter in the skull thus far, and already her healing magic was nearly depleted.
But both of them kept up as the company moved cautiously up the tunnel. The pounding noise grew louder until they saw the corridor widen into a chamber up ahead.
“There it is,” Kaurophon breathed.
They could all see it, a huge, hulking form, partly shielded by the massive stone throne in the center of the room. It was mindlessly engrossed in delivering punishing blows to the far wall of the chamber, each one filling the place with an echoing noise that was still fading when the next one started. Near it, Zenna marked a shadow that looked like it might be an exit, the only one evident in the room. The floor of the chamber was covered in a ruin of broken pottery and some uneven lumps that could have been anything.
“What is it?” Mole asked, hopping up to try to get a better view.
“It’s a clay golem,” Morgan said. “I have seen one, once before, in the Sanctum of Helm in Almraiven.”
“The creation of a powerful cleric,” Kaurophon said, nodding. “But this one has slipped beyond the control of whomever built it.”
“Once they go berserk, there’s no way to stop them short of destroying them,” Morgan said.
“Weaknesses?” Arun asked.
The knight shook his head. “Few. Resistant to weapons, all but immune to magic, and furthermore, the wounds caused by them are very, very difficult to heal.”
“Wonderful,” Arun said. “Well, any ideas?”
“I could try to distract it,” Mole began...
But whatever strategy she’d been about to suggest was made moot, as Hodge, moving up to get a better look, stepped upon a stray shard of pottery, which crunched loudly under his boot.
The golem instantly turned from the wall, and started lumbering toward them.
“I knew that he could not be trusted,” Morgan said, while Zenna cast a cantrip to scan the area around them for magical auras.
“Now that we got ‘im this far, ‘e’s takin’ the gold fer ‘imself,” Hodge said.
“Gold?” Mole asked.
“Yer knows what I mean.”
“I’m detecting something,” Zenna said, drawing their attention toward the tunnel ahead.
A figure appeared, materializing from the darkness as he dismissed his invisibility. It was the familiar figure of Kaurophon, and he regarded them with a calm expression upon his face, despite the intensity of the attention directed at him by his companions.
“Where did you go?” Morgan demanded.
“I heard the noise, and went up to investigate,” the sorcerer replied.
“Without us? Figured you’d take a quick look, see if you still needed us to help you pass the Test, eh?”
Kaurophon shook his head. “I am here,” he said. “Still you doubt my sincerity? I suppose I cannot blame you, you being what you are, and I being what I am. But does not your own creed proclaim the worth of deeds? Did you not overcome that dragon, the giant, and the rakshasa? Or perhaps, in the intensity of the fray, you did not observe the flames engulfing the drake, or the magical enhancements slide off of the giant, or the rakshasa’s spells foiled, allowing you to ply your blade without interference.”
“I value deeds,” Morgan said, “But I also know that what looks like sacrifice can in fact be self-serving. I ‘observed’, for instance, the fact that you turn yourself invisible at the start of almost every battle, and when we are all bruised and bleeding, more often than not you are still fully intact.”
“Ah, so it is my blood that you want, then?” he said. He pulled back his robes from his legs, revealing gray limbs scarred with acid burns, healed now, but still bearing the marks of the dragon’s breath. “I bled my blood, knight of Helm. Or do you want more? Shall I lay open my veins for you? Will you trust me more, when I am lying dead at your feet?”
“I do not think I shall trust you even then,” Morgan snarled.
“This is getting us nowhere,” Arun said, stepping in between them. “In the future, leave the scouting to our scout,” the dwarf said firmly to the sorcerer. “We will have more need of your magic ahead, I suspect.”
Kaurophon nodded, and stepped to the side of the tunnel.
“Well, since you did scout, what did you see up ahead?” Mole asked.
“There is a chamber up ahead, at the top of the tunnel,” Kaurophon replied. “A spacious hemisphere, with a large stone throne situated in the center. There is a large creature in the room, apparently engaged in smashing the walls of the room.”
“What manner o’ creature?” Hodge said, his eyes narrowing.
“I could not identify it clearly, as the throne blocked my view of it, and I deemed it more practical to come back here and notify you, rather than risking engaging the thing upon my own. But it had the shape of an elemental or golem, rather than a living being, and it seemed quite mindlessly set upon its task.”
“Maybe we can get around it without a fight,” Mole suggested.
“Bets?” Hodge asked.
“All right, let’s get going then,” Morgan said. “Don’t wander off,” he added, with a glare at Kaurophon.
“Hold a moment, Arun,” Zenna said. She cast a potent healing spell upon him, but even though the paladin nodded gratefully, she could see that he was still hurting. For that matter, she herself didn’t feel all that steady on her own feet, although the pain from the blows she’d taken from the rakshasa had faded to a dull ache. They’d only had one encounter in the skull thus far, and already her healing magic was nearly depleted.
But both of them kept up as the company moved cautiously up the tunnel. The pounding noise grew louder until they saw the corridor widen into a chamber up ahead.
“There it is,” Kaurophon breathed.
They could all see it, a huge, hulking form, partly shielded by the massive stone throne in the center of the room. It was mindlessly engrossed in delivering punishing blows to the far wall of the chamber, each one filling the place with an echoing noise that was still fading when the next one started. Near it, Zenna marked a shadow that looked like it might be an exit, the only one evident in the room. The floor of the chamber was covered in a ruin of broken pottery and some uneven lumps that could have been anything.
“What is it?” Mole asked, hopping up to try to get a better view.
“It’s a clay golem,” Morgan said. “I have seen one, once before, in the Sanctum of Helm in Almraiven.”
“The creation of a powerful cleric,” Kaurophon said, nodding. “But this one has slipped beyond the control of whomever built it.”
“Once they go berserk, there’s no way to stop them short of destroying them,” Morgan said.
“Weaknesses?” Arun asked.
The knight shook his head. “Few. Resistant to weapons, all but immune to magic, and furthermore, the wounds caused by them are very, very difficult to heal.”
“Wonderful,” Arun said. “Well, any ideas?”
“I could try to distract it,” Mole began...
But whatever strategy she’d been about to suggest was made moot, as Hodge, moving up to get a better look, stepped upon a stray shard of pottery, which crunched loudly under his boot.
The golem instantly turned from the wall, and started lumbering toward them.
Lazybones
Adventurer
Thanks for the bump!
* * * * *
Chapter 225
“Spread out!” Arun shouted, as the warriors moved forward into the room to meet the charging golem. The golem moved slowly, ponderously, enabling the companions to meet its charge on their own terms. Energy infused them as Kaurophon ensorcelled them with the potency of a haste spell.
With the reach granted by his spear Hodge was able to strike first. The magical spearhead sank into the thick clay of its body, but the thing kept right on coming, and a moment later the weapon passed harmlessly out of its torso, trailing a few sundered clods that fell to the ground. The golem swung a massive fist around, catching the dwarf with a solid blow to the shoulder that spun him roughly around with the force of the impact.
But Hodge’s allies were quick to join the fray, attacking the golem from all sides before it could pummel the dwarf into submission. Seeing Morgan’s earlier words proven in the relative ineffectiveness of Hodge’s attack, Arun and Morgan both launched powerful attacks with their holy blades. But whatever the motivation of the golem’s initial creator, the creature itself bore no taint, and the swords were merely normal implements against it. More clods of clay fell from its body to splatter on the ground, but they were only a small part of its form. Dannel struck at it with Alakast as it turned to face the two holy knights, but the blow did not even faze it, and it lashed out with its meaty fists. Arun, his reflexes enhanced by Kaurophon’s spell, dodged enough to avoid a stroke that merely clanged against his armor, but Morgan was hit with enough force to drive the priest back two steps, coughing as he fought to regain the wind that had been knocked from his lungs.
“They can barely hurt it... we have to do something!” Zenna urged. For once, Kaurophon had remained visible, standing beside her in the entrance of the chamber. Her own remaining spells would be of no use directly against it, and she did not have any other spells that could assist her friends.
“If the dwarf had not blundered, drawing its attention, I may have been able to lay a few more wards upon the fighters,” the sorcerer replied, his voice its usual even calm. “But as it is, there is naught more to do than wait, and hope that they are up to the task.”
Zenna turned on him. “I won’t accept that. You have more resources than you let on... and if that thing defeats us... well, you don’t know what trials lie further on; you may never see the Test of the Smoking Eye beaten!”
He looked at her, a long, weighing look. Finally, he turned back toward the battle—Morgan had just taken another punishing hit, and now looked nearly ready to fall. Mole darted into the melee, trying to draw the golem’s attention away from the stricken cleric, but the construct was immune to her sneak attacks, and it paid her no heed.
“Your logic is inescapable,” the sorcerer said, as he drew a scroll out of his pouch—a bag of holding, Zenna suspected—and read the spell stored upon the parchment.
A bright green ray darted from Kaurophon’s fingertips as the writing on the scroll flared in an echo of color. Zenna sucked in a surprised breath; if that spell was what she thought it was, it was a potent enchantment indeed. The ray struck the golem in the chest, and it seemed to stiffen, tiny cracks of green flowing through its body. But that was it; no dramatic explosion, no collapse, not even a visible wound.
“Attack it, now, fools!” Kaurophon exclaimed.
The ring of warriors complied. Dannel’s slam again was useless, but this time Hodge’s thrust rang on something hard, and a gob of clay the size of his head came free when he drew back the spear. Arun carved an equal segment from its thigh with a stroke of his sword.
But it was Morgan who came rushing in, all pretense at defense abandoned, his sword, held above his head with both hands tight around the haft. The golem lifted its arms to smite this human that looked puny in contrast to it, but before it could strike the sword descended in a gleaming arc, driving down into the construct’s chest, cleaving apart not only the packed clay of its body but the fundamental magic that held it together. The thing let out a sound, like a sigh, and then it seemed to split down the middle, falling into piles of shattered clods that lay still upon the floor.
* * * * *
Chapter 225
“Spread out!” Arun shouted, as the warriors moved forward into the room to meet the charging golem. The golem moved slowly, ponderously, enabling the companions to meet its charge on their own terms. Energy infused them as Kaurophon ensorcelled them with the potency of a haste spell.
With the reach granted by his spear Hodge was able to strike first. The magical spearhead sank into the thick clay of its body, but the thing kept right on coming, and a moment later the weapon passed harmlessly out of its torso, trailing a few sundered clods that fell to the ground. The golem swung a massive fist around, catching the dwarf with a solid blow to the shoulder that spun him roughly around with the force of the impact.
But Hodge’s allies were quick to join the fray, attacking the golem from all sides before it could pummel the dwarf into submission. Seeing Morgan’s earlier words proven in the relative ineffectiveness of Hodge’s attack, Arun and Morgan both launched powerful attacks with their holy blades. But whatever the motivation of the golem’s initial creator, the creature itself bore no taint, and the swords were merely normal implements against it. More clods of clay fell from its body to splatter on the ground, but they were only a small part of its form. Dannel struck at it with Alakast as it turned to face the two holy knights, but the blow did not even faze it, and it lashed out with its meaty fists. Arun, his reflexes enhanced by Kaurophon’s spell, dodged enough to avoid a stroke that merely clanged against his armor, but Morgan was hit with enough force to drive the priest back two steps, coughing as he fought to regain the wind that had been knocked from his lungs.
“They can barely hurt it... we have to do something!” Zenna urged. For once, Kaurophon had remained visible, standing beside her in the entrance of the chamber. Her own remaining spells would be of no use directly against it, and she did not have any other spells that could assist her friends.
“If the dwarf had not blundered, drawing its attention, I may have been able to lay a few more wards upon the fighters,” the sorcerer replied, his voice its usual even calm. “But as it is, there is naught more to do than wait, and hope that they are up to the task.”
Zenna turned on him. “I won’t accept that. You have more resources than you let on... and if that thing defeats us... well, you don’t know what trials lie further on; you may never see the Test of the Smoking Eye beaten!”
He looked at her, a long, weighing look. Finally, he turned back toward the battle—Morgan had just taken another punishing hit, and now looked nearly ready to fall. Mole darted into the melee, trying to draw the golem’s attention away from the stricken cleric, but the construct was immune to her sneak attacks, and it paid her no heed.
“Your logic is inescapable,” the sorcerer said, as he drew a scroll out of his pouch—a bag of holding, Zenna suspected—and read the spell stored upon the parchment.
A bright green ray darted from Kaurophon’s fingertips as the writing on the scroll flared in an echo of color. Zenna sucked in a surprised breath; if that spell was what she thought it was, it was a potent enchantment indeed. The ray struck the golem in the chest, and it seemed to stiffen, tiny cracks of green flowing through its body. But that was it; no dramatic explosion, no collapse, not even a visible wound.
“Attack it, now, fools!” Kaurophon exclaimed.
The ring of warriors complied. Dannel’s slam again was useless, but this time Hodge’s thrust rang on something hard, and a gob of clay the size of his head came free when he drew back the spear. Arun carved an equal segment from its thigh with a stroke of his sword.
But it was Morgan who came rushing in, all pretense at defense abandoned, his sword, held above his head with both hands tight around the haft. The golem lifted its arms to smite this human that looked puny in contrast to it, but before it could strike the sword descended in a gleaming arc, driving down into the construct’s chest, cleaving apart not only the packed clay of its body but the fundamental magic that held it together. The thing let out a sound, like a sigh, and then it seemed to split down the middle, falling into piles of shattered clods that lay still upon the floor.
Black Bard
First Post
Count me in this army, man!!! Morgan rocks!!!Polynike said:
Lazybones
Adventurer
Well, I was putting off getting Doom 3 until I'd finished Far Cry, but I suppose I'd better get some anti-demon practice in, just to be on the safe side...Polynike said:
* * * * *
Chapter 226
“But we cannot stop now! We are close, I can feel it!”
Kaurophon’s urging met mostly sullen looks from his companions. Morgan didn’t even bother to get up, sitting on the floor wearily with his back up against the amorphous stone throne in the center of the room, facing the rubble that had been the insane golem.
“We’re battered, sorcerer,” Arun said. “We need to rest, and restore our healing powers.”
“But you said that the injuries from the golem were untreatable...” Kaurophon persisted. The earlier words from the knight of Helm seemed to be borne out, as Zenna had tried a few healing osirons upon Hodge and Morgan—just about all the divine magic she had left—upon the conclusion of the battle, and while the spells soothed the earlier wounds the two had suffered, the pain from the injuries they’d taken from the golem lingered, unaffected by her magic.
“We rest,” Arun said, turning away and decisively ending the conversation.
For a moment Kaurophon looked like he would say something else, but finally he lowered his arms to his sides and released a tight breath.
“Look, you want to go on ahead, feel free,” Dannel told him. Morgan looked up at that, and Zenna saw his hand steal to the hilt of the sword lying beside him. It was almost a reflex, now, she thought. “You have the power to turn invisible, to transport yourself through a dimension door... we can’t stop you. But remember that every test thus far has been accompanied by a deadly adversary, and there’s no reason to assume that this one, if it is the final test, will be any different. There’s no sense at all in rushing blindly ahead now, to be destroyed because we grew impatient at the end.”
Kaurophon nodded. “Your words ring with truth. Very well, we shall restore our strength... I only hope that our delay does not give another rival a chance at completing the Test.”
With that final shot, which none of them bothered to respond to, he moved to another part of the room and started drawing his bedding from his bag of holding. But Zenna, who was watching him closely, saw that his eyes had lingered on the dark exit on the far side of the room. When she looked away her gaze met Dannel’s briefly, and the elf nodded. He’d seen it too, and a silent communication passed between them, to continue their vigilance on their guide.
They rested their bodies, but the sense of anticipation they all felt combined with the cumulative weight that Occipitus had upon them to give their minds and souls little real respite. Zenna fell into a deep, dreamless sleep, waking later feeling more tired than before. There was no sense of time here, and she’d almost stopped associating periods of time with day or night in her mind. There was just motion, and rest. No real sense of security, not anywhere, here.
But she went about her business, focusing her tired mind upon the discipline required to study her spellbook and complete her meditations. They’d eaten the last of the food she’d conjured before their rest, and she debated whether to prepare another creation spell, or focus instead on more healing magic.
Finally she went ahead and created more food for all of them. They were all ragged and weak from their trials here, and she thought they would all need their strength to face whatever lay ahead.
She and Arun performed what healing they could manage, leaving as much as possible in reserve for the upcoming test. The wounds suffered by Morgan and Hodge in the battle against the golem still refused to respond to their treatments, but both warriors simply accepted the pain, gathering their weapons and strapping themselves back into their armor without complaint. Well, without much complaint, anyway; at least Hodge kept his grumbling to a relatively low murmur, so that Zenna could not make out the specific curses that he was using.
Once they had all prepared themselves, and Mole had packed away the rest of the food in her magical bag, they continued forward.
The dark tunnel quickly gave way to a steep set of stairs that curved back in upon itself, rising up higher into the skull. Zenna calculated that they had to be at least halfway up to the summit of the great mound, but at least the throbbing in her legs had subsided to a dull ache that she could almost ignore. Finally the stair turned back once more and deposited them into a large cavern.
The place had a rough, unfinished look to it, although its shape was altogether too uncluttered to be a wholly natural construction. Nearly a dozen small tunnels branched off of the main chamber, twisting rapidly into shadow. The place was dominated by a startling sight; a blazing nexus of black flames, a conflagration that burned without an obvious source of fuel, a good three paces across and at least that high. The black fire gave off an eerie light that cast an unnatural radiance on the cavern walls, and somehow, it did not seem to cast shadows. Instead the light appeared to be absorbed by every surface it touched, giving it a unhealthy sheen. Zenna tore her gaze away from the nexus and stared at her companions, seeing their faces appear sunken and hollow, the light transforming their healthy visages into ghoulish, necrotic flesh.
Dannel looked at her and cried out, his song conjuring a bright nimbus of light around the white shaft of Alakast. The light flickered and faltered against the unceasing radiance of the nexus, but was bolstered by the twin lights of the holy blades wielded by Morgan and Arun, as they drew their swords and held them boldly aloft.
“This be not natural!” Hodge exclaimed.
“I thought I was the one who stated the obvious,” Dannel replied, trying unsuccessfully to keep the tension from his voice.
Zenna’s gaze returned to the nexus. She could sense the strands of power that flowed into and out of the flames, and as she stared into the swirling black conflagration, she thought she saw something there, an outline within the black...
But before she could clearly identify whatever it was, her focus was broken as a hollow burst of sound and energy erupted before the nexus. The disruption was gone in a heartbeat, but in its wake a pair of giant wasps had appeared out of nowhere, seven-foot bodies hovering on flashing wings.
Wherever they had come from, the wasps instantly buzzed forward to attack.
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