NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 1431264" data-attributes="member: 143">I think it's going to cause some serious problems right now!  <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/laugh.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":lol:" title="Laughing    :lol:" data-shortname=":lol:" /> * * * * * Chapter 118Dannel ran across the platform toward the dark doorway at full speed, Hodge and Zenna somewhere behind him.  Arun disappeared after the fleeing cleric, Mole only a step behind, and even as his mind formed the expectation he saw the door slam shut.  Damn it, people, how many times do you have to walk into an ambush! he thought even as he leapt forward, knowing that he would be too late.  At the last instant, though, impelled as much by instinct as by conscious thought, he stabbed his sword forward into the closing gap a spare instant before the heavy stone door clanged noisily against the metal.  Dannel imagined that he could sense the steel snapping under the force, but the masterwork blade held, and the door was pinned slightly open.  The elf, suspecting what the slamming door had in store for his friends, lowered his shoulder against the door to thrust it back open.  The stone yielded, or started to, but then, suddenly, it slammed back hard again against his sword with almost enough force to knock him down, followed a heartbeat later by a sharp wedge of water that poured through the narrow slot between the door and the jam like a knife, soaking him and sending a sharp jolt of cold through his body. “Arun!  Mole!” he yelled, knowing that they would not be able to hear him. Mole found the transition from a room that was mostly air and slightly water to the reverse to be an entirely unpleasant experience.  Her body, loaded with her clothes and pouches, wasn’t sure if it wanted to float or sink, and for a moment she felt disoriented, her breath burning in her chest as he lungs craved for the reassurance of fresh air.  She was barely able to keep enough presence of mind to retain her grip on her sword; yes, she’d need that—and with her magical boots boosting her, she kicked off of the floor and rose upward to where a small pocket of air remained between the water filling the chamber and the low ceiling.  She took a sweet breath as her head crested the surface, then the weight of her sodden garments pulled her back under. Then she remembered Arun.  She couldn’t see the dwarf, whose heavy armor meant that he would not be making any easy swims up for a breath of air.  But she could sense the shadowy figure that slid, even clad in plate, effortlessly through the changed environment toward the paladin.  Arun sensed the coming of the cleric as well, but his limbs moved leadenly through the water, unable to stop the cleric as it slid past him, touching him with a slimy hand as it passed.  Pain exploded from the touch, and red misted the waters around the dwarf as blood erupted from his nose and ears.  The dwarf dropped his now-useless hammer and tried to grab the cleric as it swam past, but he may have been trying to grapple a waterfall, as the kuo-toa slipped free from his grasp and slid away. Mole tried to follow its path, but quickly lost it in the murky blackness of the water.  We’re in trouble, she thought.A mere few paces distant, on the far side of the door, the rest of the companions tried unsuccessfully to aid their hard-pressed companions.  Dannel tried again unsuccessfully to force the door, only managing to fall as the continuing deluge of water turned the already slick stone of the platform into an almost impossible slide.  The elf pulled himself up by grabbing onto the hilt of his sword, still jutting awkwardly from the door jam, embedded in the rushing flow of water. “Out o’ the way!” came a booming dwarven voice.  Hodge rushed in, the water parting around him as he came, and with an angry roar he jammed the head of his axe into the narrow gap.  Barely keeping his place against the onrushing flow, he worked the blade deeper into the thin opening, until several inches of the steel were wedged into place.  “Open!” he yelled at the door, bracing himself and pulling, using the axe as a lever to force the door.  Dannel pulled himself up enough to grab onto the haft of the axe with the dwarf, the two of them pulling with all their might.  The door opened a finger’s span wider, releasing even more water in a torrent through the opening.  The elf and dwarf clung together to the handle of the axe, gasping for breaths as the water rushed over them, focusing all of their will upon their effort. Zenna, a few paces further back, was unable to do anything but watch, her own powers useless against this challenge.  Suddenly, though, an idea came to her, and she started forward toward the two working at the door.  She barely made it two paces, however, before she slipped on the wet stone, falling painfully to her knees.  Arun could feel the flow of water around him, and had a general idea of where the door was behind him.  His chest burned with the lack of air, but of greater concern was the evil cleric lurking in the waters nearby.  With his darkvision he could vaguely make out the presence of Maugh-Michto in the murky water, but even moreso the foul evil of the creature burned within his senses like a beacon.  There... coming, again.  The paladin tensed himself, unsure how he could battle an adversary adapted to this environment that alone would kill him even without outside intervention.  This time, however, the kuo-toa cleric stopped its rush short, instead thrusting a spear-like object at the dwarf’s neck.  Realizing what was coming, but again too slow against the press of water to react, Arun could only bring his hands up to claw at the heavy grasp of the pincer staff as it closed heavily around his throat.</blockquote>

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