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Shackled City Epic: "Vengeance" (story concluded)
- Thread starter Lazybones
- Start date
Neverwinter Knight
First Post
I'm curious, which NPCs will bite the dust here - this might be crucial for the future of Lazybones' Cauldron.
Broccli_Head
Explorer
Neverwinter Knight said:
I'm just gonna say how STUPID those villains are. Why tip your hand and risk giving away your position by sending an assassin team when you are on the verge of triumph?
Just open the gate already you stupid villains!!!!!!
Neverwinter Knight
First Post
Same reason the BBEGs don't kill Bond right away. After all, I think deep, deep down, they want their plans to fail...Broccli_Head said:
Just kidding, but this might be explained by LB's next update. Having read the modules, I'll not comment on things in advance.
For Zenna's sake, I hope the companions get there first!!! :\Broccli_Head said:
Lazybones
Adventurer
As Neverwinter Knight has already commented, this plot development is explained in the modules; for now I'll just say that it's not an "authorized" attack. As we'll see in this update, the head assassin isn't really "all there," if you know what I mean.Broccli_Head said:
* * * * *
Chapter 326
The fireball lasted only an instant, but in that explosion of fire the Grand Library of the Cusp of Sunrise was transformed. Fine furnishings were blackened as the flames overturned small tables and turned expensively trimmed chairs into ash. Tapestries and paintings were likewise charred, along with thousands of gold pieces worth of books, décor, and statuary.
The focal point of the spell had been the head of the steps that led into the foyer, at the feet of Zachary Aslaxin. The nobleman had been blasted roughly back into the adjoining entry, while those around had likewise been killed or seriously wounded. Keygan Ghelve lay crumpled against the base of a bookcase, his skull showing white where his flesh had been blasted away by the blast, while Tygot Mispas was just a blackened lump a few feet away. Kristof Jurgensen and Skie Aldersun were both down, either dead or well on their way, and everyone else within the radius of the blast had been seriously injured. Jeyna Urikas, her fine robe an utter ruin, her hair burned half away from the charred flesh of her skull, looked around bewildered at the destruction that had been a gathering of vital people just a few seconds before. But her indecision lasted only a moment. Invoking the full power of Helm that she commanded, she unleashed a mass cure critical wounds spell that poured life back into the battered survivors of the fiery blast.
But even that potent spell could not help Ghelve, Mispas, and Jurgensen.
Even as Jenya countered the destructive power of the fireball with her magic, it became clear that the magical attack was just the opening round in an all-out assault upon the gathering. Arun had draw his holy sword at Dannel’s first warning, and even as the explosion of flame erupted throughout the room he was charging toward the origin point of the spell—oddly, it looked as though it had begun a good eight or nine feet above the tiled marble floor. But before he could reach the invisible spellcaster, he grunted as something hard slammed into his side. He turned as a foe materialized there, his invisibility disrupted by his attack. The enemy was a grim, feral-looking dwarf, coming barely to Arun’s shoulder. The dwarf was clad in light armor, chain links over black leathers, and the skin visible under the black half-helm he wore was bluish in color, clashing with wide eyes that were an opaque milky-white. He carried a battle-axe in both hands, and even as Arun shifted to face him he lifted the weapon to strike again.
“Derro!” Arun hissed, recognizing the race of their adversaries. The derro were well-known to the gold dwarves, members of an insane, degenerate subrace of dwarvenkind that subsisted deep within the bowels of the Underdark. This one was clearly a veteran warrior, hurling himself at the paladin in a furious rage. Hodge moved to assist his friend, but quickly came under attack from a second derro, who appeared in the wake of a crippling assault that dug deep into the miner-turned-defender’s armored thigh.
Beorna had likewise drawn her holy sword, its brilliance fighting through the haze of smoke that lingered in the aftermath of the fireball. But she did not immediately rush to the attack; instead, she drew upon the power of Helm, casting an invisibility purge to reveal their enemies to them.
Two more derro warriors appeared, one in the midst of raising his axe to strike down Aeberrin Vanderboren. The couple had been on the edges of the gathering and had avoided the worst of the fireball, but even though the noblewoman was nearly double the derro’s height, she had no defense against his deadly axe. But even as the creature gibbered an eager cry for blood, her husband Permiach darted between them, knocking her backward out of the deadly path of the axe. He paid for his sacrifice, however, as the blade cut deeply into his side, knocking him prone in a mess of blood that poured from his side in a deadly cascade.
Aeberrin screamed, but before the derro could press his advantage the flame-blackened form of Omar Tiskensen appeared through the haze. The priest of Tempus held his greatsword high above his head, screaming an invocation to his patron as he smote the skittering dwarfkin. The blow would have cloven a cow in twain, but the derro was far tougher than he looked, rolling with the force of the stroke and coming around into a ready stance, prepared to counter.
The last warrior had rushed toward Ankhin Taskerhill, whose eyes widened in terror at the rapid approach of the diminutive warrior. But before the derro could reach its prey, Meerthan Eliothorn stepped to the nobleman’s side. The half-elf was accompanied by Maavu Arlintal, who held the stricken form of Skie Aldersun in his arms. Maavu held onto Meerthan’s shoulder as the half-elf touched the noble lord, speaking a word of magic. Reality shifted around them, and all four of them vanished from the chamber.
The derro warrior snarled, and looked around for other prey.
Beorna’s spell had revealed one other enemy, the one that each of the heroes had looked for since Dannel had shouted his warning. That last was the derro sorcerer who had hurled the fireball, and whose spells had both transported the warriors here and bolstered their fighting ability. He was flying above the chamber floor, continuing to ascend in a slow spiral, and as he became visible he cackled madly. His white hair and beard jutting out from his blue-tinged skin in a disordered riot, and he held a long ivory rod in one hand, sweeping it over the battleground below as if willing his enemies to cease annoying him by dropping dead on the instant.
The sorcerer’s eyes fixed on Tiskensen as the cleric and his derro adversary hacked at each other. “Priest of War God!” the sorcerer screeched, his voice as painful as fingernails being drawn across a slate. “Your master calls you to him!” Lifting the rod above his head in benediction with his left hand, he extended a stubby finger from his right at the cleric, and blasted him with a thin green ray of bright energy.
Omar Tiskensen had just enough time to look up before the ray disintegrated him.
The sound of his empty armor striking the hard floor sounded unnaturally loud in the cavernous interior of the chamber.
Broccli_Head
Explorer
Lazybones said:
I thought priests had good fort saves. Guess this one didn't
Lazybones
Adventurer
Well, he was a 7th level cleric, saving vs. DC25. So the odds were definitely against him (at best, he probably had a +9 or +10).Broccli_Head said:I thought priests had good fort saves. Guess this one didn't
* * * * *
Chapter 327
With several of the gathered notables already dead, and a powerful spellcaster flying above them unleashing more spells, the surprise assault perpetuated by the mad derro had already achieved some degree of success.
But the companions, though bloodied, were quick to reply. Dannel had strung his bow with a practiced motion, and now drew the first long shaft back to his cheek as he sighted in upon the derro savant. His first shot missed, turned by the layered magical defenses protecting the sorcerer, but the elf did not hesitate, keeping up a rapid-fire barrage of shots as quickly as he could fit the arrows to his string and draw. Within six seconds the derro bore two wounds, although his shields had kept the impacts from being anything more than grazing hits.
But the sorcerer only laughed, plucking the arrows from his body to drop to the ground below. He waved his hand at the elf, calling upon his magic once more in a dread invocation of power. Dannel staggered as the spell took hold of him, his next arrow falling from his hands as his eyes widened in horror.
“Annoying archer... you remind me of a tunnel slug... in fact, I think I prefer you as one!”
Dannel cried out as his body began to shrink and distend, and within a few heartbeats, the nimble elven archer had been replaced by a foot-long gray slug, splayed out over the burned carpet in a slick of greasy slime.
The rest of the companions could not come to his aid, as they had their hands full with the derro warriors. The diminutive demi-dwarves proved quite tenacious, ignoring wounds that should have crippled them, shouting gibberish as they redoubled their berserk, all-out attacks. Arun kept hitting his foe, but the derro barbarian just simply refused to go down, even with torrents of blood pouring down his body from the rents that the paladin’s holy blade had torn in his chain armor and the flesh beneath. Hodge held his ground on the holy knight’s flank, but he too was hard pressed, favoring his left side where the derro’s axe had crunched through his armor. Hodge had opened the battle with violent power attacks, but as they proved ineffective against his dexterous foe he’d switched to a more deliberative approach, standing his ground and exploiting the openings left by his adversary’s raging assault.
With Omar Tiskensen’s disintegration, the derro that had faced him cackled maniacally and turned back to finish Premiach Vanderboren. The nobleman was unconscious, blood still oozing from the deep gash in his side onto the ruined carpet. His wife Aeberrin held him in her arms, and when the derro turned to face her, lifting his axe, she held herself over his body, offering him protection in what could only be a futile gesture.
But before the derro could strike, a fleet form tumbled up on the warrior from behind, leaping into a high flip that culminated with a rapier stabbing deep into the barbarian’s shoulder.
“Why don’t you pick on someone your own size, creep!” Mole said, kicking off from the derro’s shoulder and landing easily on her feet a pace back from him.
The derro turned, more enraged than hurt by the attack.
“Uh oh,” Mole said, as the dwarfkin rushed at her, his axe sweeping out in a blur.
Beorna had been temporarily forgotten, in the midst of the battle, and she drew upon the fullness of Helm’s might, infusing herself with the divine power of her patron. She looked up at the sorcerer, and as he polymorphed Dannel she prepared a dispel that would hopefully negate some of his defenses. But before she could act, a familiar cry drew her around. The last derro warrior, frustrated by the escape of Meerthan and the others, had turned to the nearest vulnerable enemies: Jenya and Ophellha. The High Priestess was strong in the power of Helm, but on this day she was not clad in heavy armor, nor did she carry any weapon. Most of her spells were designed to heal and protect, rather than to destroy enemies. But her expression remained calm as the derro screamed and ran at her, and she did not turn to flee, protecting the elven noblewoman with her slender body. She hurled a powerful enchantment at the derro, intending to immobilize him, but the creature’s insanity protected it like a shield, and the spell dissipated harmlessly. She staggered as the derro’s axe clove through her layered robes, opening a cruel gash in her side that grazed the ribs beneath.
Beorna’s roar of rage overshadowed the high-pitched screech of the derro, and she slammed into him from the side with the force of a battering ram. Her holy blade glanced hard off his partial helm, but even though the blow should have stunned him, the derro hardly hesitated before turning and laying into the templar with his axe.
The derro savant exulted in the chaos that swirled through the chamber below him. The smell of roasted flesh and fresh blood filled the once-pristine interior of the Great Library. Even in his insanity he knew that his potent rays would have little chance of affected the tough dwarves, but he aided his warriors by firing an empowered ray of enfeeblement that stabbed into Arun’s chest, draining his strength. His critically injured adversary took advantage of the paladin’s sudden weakness, leaping at him with a series of crushing blows, two of which penetrated his armor and cut painfully into his flesh.
Arun took the hits, and then, grunting against the pain that stabbed through his body, he lifted his sword and drove it through the chest of the derro warrior.
Beorna’s intervention had given Jenya a chance to shepherd Ophellha to the chamber exit. The high priestess looked down at Zachary Aslaxin, lying the foyer, but one look at the roasted corpse was enough to tell her that there was nothing that could be done for him, at least not right now. “Go!” she said to the elf woman, all but pushing her forward toward the front exit before she turned back toward the raging battle. She looked frightful, pale with her white robes soaked with her own blood, but a solemn calm seemed to descend about her as she filled herself with the divine power of Helm once again.
The companions had taken a beating, but once more healing energy suffused them as Jenya filled the room with a mass cure serious wounds spell. The derro, without any such benefit, were being quickly worn down. Arun’s foe had been downed, and as he turned to help Hodge the two dwarves quickly finished the second warrior was well. Beorna’s adversary could not match her in sheer determination, and even Mole had managed to hold her own, although blood marked her dark clothes in several places as she darted and tumbled around the derro, thus far avoiding the critical blow that would have finished her nimble evasions for good. She wasn’t even bothering to attack, instead buying time as she harried the frustrated warrior. Her stratagem worked; as Jenya’s healing filled the room Premiach was able to rise, and the two Vanderborens rushed for the exit.
The savant shrieked as his victims sought escape. He focused on the high priestess, standing there defying him in the entry to the foyer. A wise assassin might have chosen to retreat at that moment, as his fighters went down around him.
But Kravichak was, of course, insane.
The savant laughed as he blasted Jenya with the coruscating green ray of his disintegrate spell. But Jenya, protected by Helm, simply absorbed the hit, defying destruction even as her body shook with the grim power of the spell. And she was quick to counter, calling upon a greater dispel that slammed through the savant’s magic with the force of a sledgehammer. Kravichak’s shield collapsed, and as his fly spell faltered he plummeted twenty feet straight down to a hard landing on the marble floor.
The sorcerer drew himself up to his knees to see Arun and Hodge looking down at him. “Help Mole,” the paladin said to his friend. “I’ll deal with this one.”
The derro laughed, although his white eyes blinked back moisture as the light of Arun’s holy sword stabbed into them. “The Cagewrights will destroy you!” he hissed. “They are as gods, and will not be denied their prize!”
“Perhaps, perhaps not,” Arun said, lifting his blade. “But you, at least, are at an end.”
With a maniacal scream, Kravichak conjured a final fireball, centered on himself.
Neverwinter Knight
First Post
I absolutely HATE disintegration! There is no meaner way to die. I forgot, Lazybones, did that one have a rod of disintegration, or was it the spell? If rod, the heros have gained a powerful weapon...Lazybones said:
Loved the updates, btw !!!
Broccli_Head
Explorer
Lazybones said:
Mmmm...fried slug anyone?
Black Bard
First Post
Great updates, Lazy!
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