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: 1732382" data-attributes="member: 143">Cool, we just passed 600 posts... 8th in currently active story hours.  Thanks for your feedback and support, readers!* * * * * Chapter 210“Kaurophon!” Dannel said.  “You knew what that thing was... how do we beat it?” “I presume you hack it to pieces,” the sorcerer said, speaking a word of magic and disappearing from view. “Not very helpful, eh?” Hodge said, setting his spear with hands that trembled slightly.  They could all see it, now, making a beeline though the plain, stepping over cysts that blocked its path as it rushed rapidly toward them. Zenna stood, grimacing as the motion sent a new surge of pain through her body, despite Arun’s earlier healing.  She rushed over to Hodge, laying her hands upon the head of his spear, aligning the weapon. “Thanks,” the dwarf said.  “Zenna, get back behind us,” Arun said.  “You won’t survive another one of those blasts.”  Nodding, Zenna retreated.  Mole had vanished—no, there she was, crouched in the lee of one of the nearer cysts, out of the direct line of sight of the oncoming retriever.  Kaurophon was likewise invisible, but she suspected he was somewhere close, probably laying additional magical protections upon himself.  Dannel drew out an arrow from his quiver; his last one.  Carefully he fitted it to his bow, and pulled the heavy string back until the fletchings brushed his cheek.  The demon was now just over a hundred and fifty feet distant, and closing fast.  The song filled him, and he knew even before he released that the shot would be perfect.  It sliced through the air, slamming squarely into the face of the demon.  The sound of the impact was a clear note, a clang that reached them over the ancient battlefield, but the damage, if any, was superficial.  The thing drew closer, and released a scintillating bolt of pure white from another of its eyes.  Dannel followed his own earlier advice and ducked, but the edge of the ray still grazed his side, and white crystals of frost formed along his shoulder and bicep as he spun around, dropping his now-useless bow.  “Draw it to us!” Morgan shouted, hurling a javelin.  At a hundred feet of distance, the cast was improbable at best, but he nearly struck it anyway, the head of the weapon sticking in the ground a pace from its body.  Arun’s throwing hammers were well out of range, but the paladin had taken up Hodge’s crossbow during its rush, and released a shot that clanged against its metallic body.  “Stand fast, warrior,” Kaurophon’s voice whispered in Morgan’s ear, and the knight felt energy flowing into him, fortifying his stamina.  “Here it comes!” Hodge yelled, as the demon launched into another frenzied rush, heading straight for Dannel.  Arun and Morgan surged to meet it, but its speed was such that it barreled right past them to lunge at the elf, lifting a leg to stab down at him.  Dannel threw himself to the side, but the leg still sliced through his cloak and tore at the mail-links protecting his torso.  The edge of the limb was serrated like a bent saw, and even though the elf’s roll helped him move through the worst effects of the blow, he was trailing blood as he regained his footing, Alakast held in a defensive position before him. Morgan and Arun each yelled a cry of battle as they rushed the demon.  Arun’s blow came first, but the dwarf put too much power into the swing, which unfortunately only glanced off of its armored body.  Morgan, recognizing the durability of the creature, focused on a spot that looked vulnerable—the joint where its head met its abdomen.  The holy sword clanged into it with violent force, and a seam opened, releasing a nasty, pungent gel that bubbled down about its frame.  The demon instantly turned upon Morgan, and fired a green beam into his chest.  The fallen cleric staggered and cried out, and looked down with horror as the splaying beam spread out across his torso.  And where it touched, his armor, and the skin beneath, started to turn gray and stiff.  Slowly turning him to stone.</blockquote>

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