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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 1915159" data-attributes="member: 143">288 has a better cliffhanger for a Friday post... so here's another post: * * * * * Chapter 288At a cry from Shensen, the summoned dire bats dove into the darkness where the dracolich had disappeared.  “We don’t have long,” the druid said, running over to lay a healing spell upon Hodge, then immediately launching into another casting.“We’ll be ready,” Beorna said.  She’d burned most of her spell slots for the various protections and wards they’d prepared, but she used one of her reserve spells to fuel a cure critical wounds spell for Arun, kneeling beside him.  The paladin, in turn, healed her, laying hands upon her face... it was an odd, tender gesture, made strange by the fact that Arun seemed a child in the grasp of the enlarged templar.  Mole had shaken off the effects of the dracolich’s paralyzing gaze, and despite the danger she moved immediately once more to the lip of the catwalk, staring out into the darkness with a look that combined excitement and terror.Zenna commanded the mephit to also delve into the chasm, and with a dark look and a chittering protest he complied, his tiny wings flapping as his flame-wreathed figure descended into the darkness.  The companions watched as the creature descended, a bright point in a well of shadows. A loud screech echoed up from below.  The companions shared a look.  “Well, that’s the giant bats, I’d imagine,” Mole said.  “Oh, the mephit disappeared!” she added, a moment later.  “The summoning spell only brings the creature here for a short time,” Zenna acknowledged. The loose hairs framing Mole’s face fluttered wildly upward as another powerful gust rose up from below.  “I think he’s coming back!” she said.  “Prepare yourselves!” Beorna cautioned.  Her divine power spell had faded, and while she’d prepared a second one, she had just used its power to heal Arun.  She laid another healing spell upon the paladin, restoring him nearly to full health, before stepping back, her sword raised in a guard position. “Mole, get back!” Zenna warned, casting her second haste spell to renew the waning magic on her companions. Shensen completed a summoning of her own, and a sleek, muscular griffon appeared on the catwalk beside her.  She spoke to the creature, and with a powerful spring it leapt into the air, its wings beating fiercely as it let out a harsh avian screech that echoed throughout the cavern. A dark shadow swept up out of the darkness.  Vittris Bale ascended in a rush, half-flying, half-running up the smooth wall of the bore, the Soul Pillars and the darkness obscuring its form, transforming it into a malevolent shadow that was almost more menacing than the natural appearance of the creature.  The darkness seemed to cling to it as it entered the pale radius of their light, and with her darkvision Zenna could just discern that it had restored its magical defenses, including a jumble of mirror images that darted in and around its form. “Shensen!” she cried. “I’m on it!” the druid responded.  The griffon dove toward the dragon as it rose up, but Vittris Bale turned its head up and unleashed a blast of corrosive gas that engulfed the summoned creature.  The griffon, buffeted by the force of the undead drake’s tempest breath, was hurled roughly back.  Its wings scored by the acidic vapors, it dropped out of sight below, still trying to recover.  The companions were already attacking, launching missiles and spells at the dracolich.  Shensen hurled her own dispel at it, and was mostly successful, as the mirror images and shield vanished.  But the faint haze of its mage armor remained intact, and the spider climb spell it had cast was clearly still potent as well, as it clambered yet higher along the far wall, carrying itself to a position well above them before it pushed off, spreading wings that could no longer catch the wind out of reflexive habit as it swept across the room toward them. Arrows and bolts glanced harmlessly off its body as it flew toward them.  Despite being battered in the initial confrontation, with great rents hacked in its form by the holy weapons of the dwarves, the creature was still imposing, magnificent in its sheer destructive potential.  It flew through a fireball from Zenna unharmed, its spell resistance shielding it from the vivid blast of flames.  Its flight was taking it directly toward Dannel, out on the left wing of the catwalk, but the elf stood his ground, calmly drawing another arrow, aiming, and releasing in a single practiced motion.  The missile slammed into the undulating column of the dracolich’s spine, penetrating its defenses to blast away a fist-sized chip of ancient bone from its frame.  But the wound was just another minor mark on its tally, and it did not stop Vittris Bale from its target.  The dracolich spread its wings and slammed hard into the wall fifteen feet above Dannel, its skeletal claws splaying out to grasp the frozen stone, the magic of its spider climb spell taking hold to affix the mighty creature in place.  Even as Dannel turned the dracolich’s sinuous neck snapped down, and while Dannel tried to hurl himself aside, Bale’s jaws clamped down on his torso, dragging him roughly into the air. “Dannel!” Zenna cried, a cold terror gripping her chest even as the methodical part of her brain recognized the way that the elf stiffened, paralyzed by the creature’s touch, unable to fight back or free himself.  She dared not hurl another fireball at it, not with Dannel so vulnerable in its grasp, and in desperation launched a pair of scorching rays at it, praying that they would penetrate its resistance and harm it, and save the elf. But both streams of fire flared out when they struck the ancient drake.  The dwarves tried to help, although the dracolich had cannily positioned itself just out of even Beorna’s extended reach.  The templar conjured a glowing spiritual weapon, a sword of white flame that rose to attack the dracolich, but its initial swing failed to penetrate its defenses.  Arun rushed directly beneath it, daring it to attack him, but he was too late to seize Dannel as the creature lifted him higher in its massive jaws. And then, as the companions watched in horror, unable to stop it, Vittris Bale tossed the paralyzed elf out into the chasm.</blockquote>

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