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: 1689079" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 191  Dannel immediately fired an arrow at one of the demons, but Zenna’s align weapon spell had already faded, and the missile, while accurate, failed to pierce the babau’s tough hide.  The attack certainly drew its attention, however, and the demon turned and charged toward the companions, leaving its two fellows the task of tearing the hapless robed man to pieces.The robed man proved himself not totally helpless, however, as he pointed a wand at one of the demons attacking him and spoke a word of magic.  Teal-colored bolts of liquid energy spat from the wand into the chest of the demon, blasting black pits into its ugly gray flesh.  The demon roared in pain and rage, and redoubled its assault, digging great bleeding gashes in the man’s sides with its claws.   Morgan rushed to his aid, brandishing Alakast above his head as if the staff were a two-handed sword.  The sand slowed his steps, but his charge still carried him close enough for him to swing the staff into the back of the demon that the magic-user had just injured.  Alakast struck with the force of a sledgehammer, and the demon collapsed, its spine snapped, to vanish in a cloud of sickly black vapors. Arun and Hodge trudged through the sand to reach the charging demon before it could reach Dannel and Zenna.  Their short dwarven legs had particular difficulty in the sliding sand, but the demon saw them coming and veered to meet them, snarling out a challenge.  Hodge lifted his axe, but hesitated; his weapon had been damaged in their last confrontation with babau, and Arun’s hammer destroyed.  Dare he risk his prized axe again? But Arun demonstrated no such quandary, meeting the demon with a powerful swing of Alek’s holy sword.  The blade clove deeply into its shoulder, and its left arm fell limp, the tendons and muscles anchoring it torn asunder by the power of the blow.  Still it hacked at the dwarf with its other claw and its vicious bite, managing a glancing hit against the paladin’s helmet with its claw that staggered him briefly.  Arun’s determination finally made up Hodge’s mind, and he charged at it from its wounded side, swinging his axe.  The danger posed by its caustic skin coating was moot in this case, however, as the demon dodged back, and the stroke missed entirely. Dannel, realizing that his arrows were useless, sang a battle song to inspire his companions.  Zenna, with most of her spells depleted, likewise lacked an effective counter, so she started toward the melee between Morgan, the last demon, and the injured spellcaster, to lend healing aid if needed.  Mole, of course, had disappeared somewhere. The third demon ignored the foe that had struck down its ally so easily, and in an almost blind fury assailed the robed man in a last attempt to bring him down.  The man cried out as the claws dug deeply, but then it was driven back by another blow from Alakast, and Morgan stepped in to defend the grievously injured magic-user.  The man staggered backwards and nearly fell, and Zenna quickly rushed to his aid, burning one of her last remaining spells to fuel a cure light wounds.  The man looked up at her, nodding gratefully. The demons fought to the last, but facing Morgan and Arun, each armed with a weapon deadly to their kind, both creatures soon joined their ally, their bodies dissolving upon their death. “Summoned creatures,” Zenna said to herself, seeing them disappear.  “Yes,” the injured man said.  He pulled himself up, grimacing as his wounds protested the treatment.  “It would seem that you have enemies here.”“Who are you?”  This from Morgan, who after scanning the horizon for more threats, returned to them, Alakast shining in the bright afternoon light. “I am Kaurophon,” he told them.  “And I will tell you my tale in full, heroes.”“You’d better tell it in the vault,” Arun said.  “The wind’s starting to pick up.”The seven returned to the shelter, while the gusting winds obliterated all signs that they had ever been there at all, save for the rocky cairn close in the lee of the looming stone structure.</blockquote>

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