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Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 1990564" data-attributes="member: 143">Heh; famous last words... <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />* * * * * Chapter 316“Attack!” Beorna croaked, lifting her sword with difficulty as she fought through the lingering aftereffects of the grim ritual that had transformed the already monstrous beholder into something...more.The companions readied weapons and spells, and Arun and Beorna half-charged, half-staggered forward to meet the monstrous aberration before it could unleash its deadly attacks.  Their wards were gone, and their magical weapons made temporarily useless, by the cone of antimagic that was emitted from its central eye.  The dwarves still had their strength, and their swords were still sharp, but Vhalantru was ready for them, and before the pair of holy warriors could close to strike, it rose up into the air, hovering twenty feet above them.  Its jaws opened and it spat a globule of green goop at Beorna, the noxious substance splashing across her chest.  The templar shuddered as the paralytic effects of the spittle coursed through her body.  The dwarven woman was possessed of an incredible fortitude, but this time it just wasn’t enough.  She managed an agonized cry of frustration as the unholy toxin took hold of her, her muscles freezing in a fierce but futile martial stance. Missiles sliced through the air around the beholder, as the rest of the companions added their support to their companions.  While Dannel’s song was magical in nature, and thus unable to add to his arrows’ effectiveness, his skill was unaffected by the beholder’s power.  His first shot sank with a solid thunk into its obese body, but he belatedly realized, as he reached for another arrow, that his efficient quiver likewise could not work in the anti-magic field. He had no more ammunition. “Here, Dannel!” Fario said, indicating his own quiver as he fired a shot that scored a direct hit on the beholder.  Fellian and Mole’s shots missed, however, glancing off its hide, its leathery skin augmented further by the transformation it had undergone.  Hodge ducked behind the threshold of the open door, fumbling with his winch as he tried to wind his crossbow with shaking fingers. “Right... now... take... a dragon...” he muttered. Zenna held her ground, studying the creature, knowing that she had to find a way to regain her magical powers.  She knew that the antimagic field came from the central eye, and suspected that it was emitted in a cone.  She could retreat back into the hall, but any help she summoned would be neutralized the moment it entered the field.  So there was only one option. Tightening her jaw, and trying to ignore the flutter of panic in her gut, she ran forward into the room. The beholder continued to rise slowly higher into the air, and was now a good forty feet above them, nearing the apex of the dome above.  It rotated as it climbed, keeping its central eye fixed on them, its smaller eyes twisting on their narrow stalks.  It cannot use its other powers in the antimagic field, Zenna realized, looking up now almost directly at the creature.  She started toward the far wall; according to her calculation it should not be able to cover the entire room unless it rose all the way to the ceiling, and even then if it covered her, her friends in the entryway should be out of the radius of the effect. But then, to her surprise, it closed its heavy lid over the central eye.  Zenna could feel the familiar tingle of her wards returning, and wondered what it was doing. Why would it... But even as she began the thought, she knew the answer. “Watch out for its eye-stalks!” she warned. Even as her shout echoed through the dome, a pale gray beam sliced down from the beholder, splashing across her body.  She felt the cold touch of negative power penetrate to her soul, a power with the ability to suck the life right out of her body. Fortunately, when Vhalantru had closed its central eye, her death ward had taken hold once more. But her friends did not share her protections.  Even as the beholder targeted her, its other eyestalks were seeking out the foes that had hurt it.  Zenna saw them twist and the focus on the far side of the room, where Dannel had stepped up beside Fario, and was loading his bow with an arrow from the Strider’s quiver.  Both lifted their longbows in unison, but as the tracking eyes fixed on their targets, Zenna knew that they were too late.  “No!” A green ray sliced down from above, stabbing into Fario’s chest.  The half-elf didn’t even have a chance to scream as the ray surrounded him with a bright emerald glow, disintegrating him.  Even as Fario’s gear clattered to the ground, a second ray blasted into Dannel.  The elven archer stiffened, and Zenna could do nothing but watch as the elf was turned to stone.</blockquote>

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