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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 1376668" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 106“What in the blasted... what happened?” Arun said, shaking his head to clear it as Dannel continued to use his healing wand upon the injured paladin.  It’s a good thing we weren’t all standing in front of those doors when that glyph hit, the elf thought to himself.  From the damage he’d seen Mole and Arun absorb, he doubted that he and Zenna would have even survived the full force of the blast. “We’ve got trouble,” the elf said simply.  “Best prepare for a fight.”The dwarf nodded, and invoked the power of his patron, calling upon the divine power of his god to further heal his wounds and restore the strength he would need in the upcoming confrontation.  “Here they come, sounds like a lot o’ ‘em,” Hodge warned, moving into position beside one of the side passages.  They could all here it, the sounds of angry goggling coming from the stirred garrison of the outpost. “Zenna,” Dannel said, glancing over at his shoulder to where the tiefling continued to help Mole, using her potent healing wand now to channel more life-giving positive energy into her.  The rogue was slow to get up, her body literally shaky after the force of the sonic blast that had nearly killed her, but Dannel knew that they didn’t have time to readjust to the situation.  “We are ready,” Zenna replied, getting to her feet. “Use that wand to heal Arun,” the elf commanded, moving to join Hodge.  The dwarf looked up and saw him coming, and nodded as the sound of footsteps splashing through the puddles in the corridor reached them.  The dwarf roared as the first kuo-toa stepped into view, the fish-creature clad in a web-harness and sporting a tiny crossbow in one hand, and a steel rapier in the other.  Hodge chopped at it with Betsy, but the kuo-toa, surprisingly quick for a creature of its gangliness and awkward form, darted nimbly to the side, avoiding the stroke.  A second creature exploded from the passage behind it, tumbling past the dwarf and taking up a position beyond him, threatening his flank.  It lifted its rapier to strike, but let out a sudden cry as Dannel fired an arrow into it at point-blank range, the shaft sinking deep with a meaty plop into its side.  “More coming!” he warned, drawing out another shaft from his quiver even as the injured kuo-toa shifted to face him.  True to his warning, more of the fish-men continued to pour out of the passageway, moving swiftly to attack the intruders.  Two more joined in assaulting the hard-pressed Hodge, who was soon sporting a pair of deep punctures that spilled red blood down his arm and torso.  The dwarf’s light armor was insufficient to deflect the thrusts from the sharp rapiers carried by the kuo-toa, and they fought together with merciless efficiency, flanking him to open up devastating sneak attacks that found the holes in his defenses.  He refused to give way, however, cutting deep into the torso of one of his attackers with Betsy.  Several other kuo-toa swept around the dwarf and came at Dannel, who dropped his first foe with a second arrow but then had to draw his sword as three others pressed him in close combat, tumbling forward to lunge at him with their rapiers.  Giving ground he avoided being flanked in that initial rush, but there was only so far he could go, with the heavy stone doors—and his injured companions—behind him.  The sound of metal ringing on metal filled the corridor as his longsword clashed off one thrusting rapier after another, the elf barely keeping himself intact as he fought off his foes.  Hodge and Dannel barely withstood that initial rush, but it was enough to give their friends time to join in the fray.  Arun, his injuries mostly restored by the various healing spells expended upon him, most notably a charge from Zenna’s wand of cure serious wounds, charged boldly into the fray.  Seeing Hodge in more serious trouble than Dannel, at least for the moment, he moved to help the surrounded dwarf, launching himself at the one flanking him from behind.  His hammer, backed by his own considerable strength and the divine favor of Moradin, came up in a potent sweep that crushed into the kuo-toa from the backside, driving it roughly away from Hodge.  The kuo-toa fell but bounced up again almost as quickly, hurling itself at the paladin with a lunge aimed at the open slit in the front of his helm.  Arun ducked the blow, which slid harmlessly off of the hard steel of his helmet, and responded with a crushing strike that caved in one side of the fish-man’s body, knocking it once more to the ground.  That time it didn’t get back up.Mole, despite still feeling a bit unsteady, drew her own sword and rushed forward into the melee.  Dannel’s foes had finally managed to flank him, and one stabbed him deep in the hip as it tumbled past, forcing him to half-fall against the nearby wall, only narrowly parrying another thrust from another attacker.  It was clear that the elf would not be able to stand against these foes for long.  But Mole turned the flanker into the flankee, as she came up behind the kuo-toa, and thrust her small sword to the hilt into its back.  The kuo-toa stiffened, and fell, a vital organ pierced by the canny rogue’s attack.  Zenna, meanwhile, had turned from healing Arun to call up a magical shield, to complement the mage armor she’d conjured earlier.  She then targeted one of Dannel’s foes with a daze spell, but the kuo-toa shook off the effect.  Drawing out her wand of burning hands, she moved closer to the melee, looking for a clear angle where she could use it without roasting her friends. She didn’t see the final guard, who’d emerged from the passage unable to find a clear space to fit into the raging melee.  It spotted her, though, clearly a magic-user from the translucent shield of blue energy that hung in the air in front of her, and lifted its small bow to fire.  The dart flew truly through the crowded battleground in the corridor, but was turned at the last instant by Zenna’s magical defenses.  “I was wonderin’ when you’d see fit to join the fun!” Hodge roared to Arun, slamming his axe into the side of the kuo-toa he’d already wounded, dropping it to the ground in a bloody mess.  His remaining attacker didn’t retreat, though, and the one that had shot at Zenna moved quickly forward to fill the gap, the two thrusting at the dwarf with their rapiers anew.  Hodge managed to block the first with his shield, but the second avoided that barrier and stabbed deep into his side, penetrating through the steel links of his chain shirt.  The dwarf groaned and sagged backward against the wall, the two kuo-toa pressing him hard. Arun saw that his ally was in trouble, and quickly moved to help him.  He aimed a mighty blow at one of the kuo-toa battling Hodge that missed, but drew the attention of the foe toward him.  Dannel narrowly dodged another vicious cut from a kuo-toa blade, and slashed at it with a weak slash that only resulted in a light cut along its arm.  Even though Mole’s presence had removed the danger of being flanked, the two kuo-toa were still dangerous adversaries, a fact that was proven as the second attacker stabbed him hard in the shoulder.  Dannel growled and yanked himself free from the wicked tip of the kuo-toa blade, will alone now keeping him standing.  Zenna, calling upon her magic, fired a blast of liquid flame into the head of one of the two creatures attacking the elf.  The scorching ray roasted it in the heartbeats that the flames splashed over the kuo-toa, and when the bright ray faded into wisps of smoke, the fish-man fell, dead.  Mole rushed forward to engage the other remaining creature, which began to draw back, realizing that it was outmatched.  The two dwarves continued to fight in unison against the two remaining guards on the far flank, holding their ground despite their injuries.  Hodge was now covered in trails of his own blood that had run down under his armor to his breeches, and continued to fight on despite the red droplets that sprayed from him with each sudden movement.  It was clear that he was weakening, however, and his adversary continued to try and find a way through his weaving axe and shield for a lethal finishing strike.  Its fellow, which had turned to face Arun, similarly pressed its assault, but while it managed to dodge another potent blow from the paladin’s hammer, its own attacks were blunted by the strong layers of the dwarf’s magical plate armor. As the sound of metal clanging on metal, mingled with the cries of the adventurers and the goggling of the fish-men, filled the corridor, Zenna suddenly became aware of another sound, the noise of stone grinding on stone...Her eyes widened in horror as she turned around to see the great stone portals behind them slowly opening, the slimy hands of more kuo-toa already visible around the edge of the jam as the gap between them grew steadily wider.</blockquote>

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