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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 1920613" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 289For a split second, Dannel Ardan seemed to hang there in the air, as time froze in a single dramatic moment.  Then gravity overcame the momentum of the dracolich’s throw, and the helpless elf plummeted down toward his death far below. Zenna could do nothing but stare as the man she loved—yes, still loved!—fell.  But then, a flash of movement shattered that terrible moment.  It was the druid, Shensen, leaping into the chasm, diving off the edge of the catwalk as if she were plunging into a lake, rather than the black depths of darkness and whatever lay below.  She fell toward Dannel like a dart, and as they reached the edges of her darkvision first he, than her, disappeared as suddenly as if they’d been plunged into a pool of black ink. And then she could only pray that whatever Shensen planned through that desperate maneuver would work, as the harsh reality of the ongoing battle with Vittris Bale dragged her back into the moment. The dracolich roared a terrible challenge at them as their attacks continued to lash out at it without effect.  For a second time Beorna’s animated divine sword clashed harmlessly off its body, and a bolt from Hodge’s heavy bow was likewise ineffective.  But Mole finally made her presence known as she ran forward along the curve of the wall, careful to avoid staring directly at the drake, and hurled a sealed clay flask up at the wall where it was perched above them.  The flask shattered on impact, releasing a blossoming orange flower of alchemist’s fire that splattered in burning gobs onto the dragon’s legs.  Bale lunged down again, this time intent upon seizing Arun.  But the dwarf had readied himself for just such a strike, and as the dracolich’s jaws snapped down the dwarf sliced out with his sword, cleaving through the undead creature’s already-damaged lower jaw.  Bone fragments shattered with the impact, and although it still slammed into Arun with the force of a battering ram, driving him back several steps, it seemed clear that the dwarf had come out better in the exchange.  As the creature’s head reared back up on its long neck, the lower part of its skull came away, falling to the ground fifteen feet below, shattering on the hard stone.  But the dracolich fought on, and it stepped back another pace as Beorna joined Arun.  The paladin hurled one of his light hammers up at the creature, but the weapon bounced harmlessly off one of its ribs without causing damage. “How in the hells are we supposed to stop it!” Hodge exclaimed, cursing as he worked the winch of his heavy crossbow.  “Just keep attacking!” Zenna urged, though the same exact thought had been whispering in her own mind, warring with her dread over Dannel’s fate, both threatening to overcome her will and send her fleeing down the tunnel toward escape. But she overcame her fear, and stood her ground.  She launched her second—and final—fireball at the creature, but was not surprised to see it unaffected when the flames and smoke cleared.  She cursed her limited spellbook; the most powerful spells in it were useless against an undead foe, but she had not had the time or the resources to add to her store of magic.  At times it felt like they had all been running a race over the last few months, with one crisis after another sucking them up into a vortex of never-ending struggle against evil.  Would that struggle end here?  The dwarves were tough fighters, but their ability to hurt a distant foe was far less than their effectiveness at close quarters, and it seemed that the dracolich had recognized that fact. Vittris Bale, however, could deal death at range, and its ruined jaw was not an impediment to the effectiveness of its breath weapon.  Once more the roiling cloud of white vapors spilled out over them, engulfing all three dwarves and Zenna.  Zenna tried to hold her breath, but she could feel her skin burning as the cloud poured over her, and realized with horror that this second blast had overloaded the remaining power of her protection from elements spell.  The next one was going to hurt, if they gave the dracolich the chance to recharge its breath for another attack.  But given that it had taken everything they could throw at it, how were they going to stop it?</blockquote>

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