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: 1648546" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 175A short while later, the companions stood once more at the entrance to the complex of tunnels and chambers at Vaprak’s Voice.  The bodies of the ettins that they had slain here the day before were gone, although dried blood still slaked the canyon floor, and the ruin of the portcullis had been removed.  Nothing now stood in their way to entry. “If you lend me the slippers again, I’ll go check on the guardroom above,” Mole suggested. “I’ll go,” Dannel replied, moving swiftly up the cliff face.  Finally he reached the narrow opening, and cautiously peered inside, finally inserting his entire head into the opening. “Wouldn’t catch me doin’ that,” Hodge said.  The elf quickly descended to rejoin them.  “Empty,” he reported. “Maybe they all ran off,” Mole offered hopefully.   The others all looked at her, and she shrugged. “Come on,” Arun said.  He was mounted upon his giant lizard, which he’d called back from its celestial home upon their breaking camp.  He still bore Morgan’s bastard sword, and he’d lent his magical shield to Hodge.  They’d left all their excess gear, along with Morgan’s armor and shield, in a sheltered niche in the stones near the mouth of the pipe.  The paladin led them into the dark crevice and into the complex beyond.  They tensed as they passed under the balcony of the guard post above, but Dannel’s report proved accurate, and no assault came upon them from that quarter.  The complex was eerily quiet as they pushed on to the hemispherical chamber with the odd chair-sculpture in the center.  Again the place was empty, with only trails of blood remaining as a reminder of the desperate struggle that had taken place here the day before. “They came from that direction, originally,” Dannel said, indicating the corridor in the far wall.  They headed that way, leaving the sliding double doors to their right alone after a wary glance. The corridor led them still deeper into the complex, opening again after approximately thirty paces into a rectangular chamber.  This one was clearly different from the last, however, in its décor; the most dominant feature was a quartet of tall pillars that rose up to nearly touch the vaulted ceiling above.  They had the look of white marble, carved into the shape of flowing liquid.  Each supported a large bulb of glass or crystal at its apex, within which constantly bubbling liquid could be seen.  This liquid drained down through some interior channel to the base of each pillar, where it poured in an endless stream into a small basin there.  The basins in turn had an opening that disgorged the liquid into channels that ran into the center of the room, where the substance gathered in a larger basin that was carved into the floor.  A soft but constant noise of gurgling liquid was the only sound in the place.  The same diffuse light from ceiling panels clearly lit the entirety of the chamber. “What in the hells...” Hodge muttered.“Remember, they offered us a drink before,” Dannel reminded them. “Nobody touch anything,” Arun said.  There were two of the sliding-door exits in the side walls, but even as he directed Clinger toward the one to their right, one of them slid open.  Zenna thought she heard something; a flap of wings and a faint titter that might have been laughter.    “Something comes,” the paladin said, drawing his mount back toward the center of the room, to give them both more room to maneuver.  “Zenna?” Mole asked.  “We have to wait,” the tiefling said.  “The spells will only last a matter of minutes, and we must be certain it’s them...”Their attention was drawn back to the corridor, where the pale light from above shone on long white bones.  Four creatures stepped awkwardly into the room.  They had a roughly humanoid shape, but with six arms apiece, and they looked... stretched, as if someone had taken a short human and tugged on his bones until he was seven feet tall.  Zenna’s thoughts immediately flashed back to the silver plate, and the six-armed figure depicted on the etched scene upon it. But her musings were interrupted, as the skeletons immediately moved to the attack.</blockquote>

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