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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 1906758" data-attributes="member: 143">I just observed that the story thread's gone over thirty thousand views. Thanks to my readers for making this one of the more popular ongoing story hours here at ENWorld!* * * * * Chapter 283The raging cadence of the battle in the large chamber behind her grew strangely quiet as Mole somersaulted across the threshold, landing in an easy crouch in the lee of the half-open door in the corridor beyond.  She’d half-expected to find the wizard there waiting for her, but the loremaster had retreated to the intersection of the three corridors.  He was surrounded by a shifting dance of mirror images, and although he was half-turned away from her, some sixth sense must have warned him of her presence, for he turned toward her as she appeared. “Ah, the little rogue has come to chase me down again.  What, no little animal helper, this time?”“You’re not the first to underestimate me, Abradius.  And my friends will be along in a few moments, once they’ve finished mopping up your ugly pals back there.”The wizard sneered.  “Come then, little one.  Shall we dance?”Abradius launched some sort of spell, but she must have resisted it, for nothing happened.  She was already moving toward him, leaping in a slashing cartwheel that culminated in a springing leap, her dagger flashing out toward his throat.  The loremaster had seen that move before, but he didn’t move, and too late Mole realized her mistake as she passed through an image, which popped as she impacted it. “Nice try, little fool!” he said, reaching out and grabbing her on the shoulder.  Mole cried out and staggered back, breaking the contact too late to escape the draw on her life force as the wizard’s vampiric touch worked its deadly effect upon her again. She tumbled back out of reach, her side feeling like it was on fire.  The wizard regarded her with a confident smile.  “The taste of your life... quite satisfying.  Perhaps I will keep you alive once I have dealt with the others, penned in a little cage in my laboratory, where I may... sample... you at my whim...”“Save the pep talk, wizard.  Time is running out for you...”“Yes, yes, your friends, I know.”  Without taking his eyes off her, he gestured vaguely toward the door.  “Have you considered, perhaps, that they may have their hands quite full?  You see, I’ve known Xail far longer than you have, my little sweet... and he has quite a few surprises in store...”A loud crash and a chittering roar, accompanied by inarticulate cries from her friends, sounded from beyond the door.  Mole took advantage of the momentary distraction to reach again into her bag of tricks, but before she could take out the animal-ball, a sea of black tentacles erupted from the floor and walls.  Abradius, in the middle of a spell, was taken by surprise, and four of the tentacles lashed around him, tangling his arms and body and lifting him a foot into the air.  The wizard cursed, but he was clearly not strong enough to break free on his own from the ensnaring spell. A tentacle tried to grasp Mole’s body, but she easily slipped free and darted back out of their range.  “Well, well,” she said with a nasty grin, as she unloaded her crossbow and calmly loaded a bolt into the mechanism.  Abradius twisted enough to face her.  “Enjoy your temporary victory,” he snarled.  “You have made an enemy today...”“For a few seconds, anyway,” Mole interjected, as she lifted her loaded weapon and took aim. “The guardian will destroy you!  The pillars will not reveal their secrets to you!”  Mole tightened her grip on the trigger of her bow, but even as the bowstring snapped taut, the wizard spoke a word of power, and vanished from the grasp of the tentacles.  Mole looked for her bolt, but did not see it in the obscuring tangle of writhing tendrils. “Well, maybe I gave him something to think about, anyway,” she said, looking unsuccessfully for a viable route through the tentacles.  There didn’t seem to be one, but on the other hand, the sounds of the battle in the far room seemed to have eased off some.  That could have meant one of two things, and as curiosity and concern overcame caution she was about to brave the spell when a voice came to her through the doorway. “Mole?  Are you all right?”“Just fine, Dannel!” she yelled back.  Belatedly, she looked around, in case the loud noise drew anything yucky to investigate, but the corridor behind her was quiet, as was the rest of the place other than the squishy sound made by the tentacles.  Even so, the wizard’s final words made the place suddenly seem even more spooky, so she summoned another creature—a wolverine, this time, she observed with delight—to keep her company.  “Just wait until the spell runs its course!” Zenna yelled to her.  “Okay!” Mole yelled back.  She looked around.  In the odd blue light, everything looked... bad. For once absent of curiosity to do some exploring, she sat down against the wall, and rubbed the wolverine under its chin.  “So, know any good stories?”</blockquote>

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