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: 2787821" data-attributes="member: 143">Heh, I initially was just going to skip Cal, and just say that he spent a boring tenday doing spell research, but I kept getting nasty ideas...  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" /> But for now, Dana's got her own nastiness to get through:* * * * * Chapter 512Dana!  I’ll get you out of there… I’ll break the icon …Dana coughed as the acrid fumes of the cloudkill burned her lungs, dodging madly as the mezzoloths swarmed upon her, stabbing at her with their tridents.  Already several gashes covered her arms and legs, but thus far she’d avoided a serious injury.  There was no way that that could continue, though, she knew, but even so she sent a strong response back through the link. NO!  If we lose Darr, we may never find Barrat Ghur!She could feel the frustration that came back through the link, but her cohort respected her will, did not sunder the small icon that she’d given to him, prepared with a refuge spell as a last-ditch escape mechanism.  The cloudkill did not hinder the ‘loths in the slightest, as they were immune to toxins.  But it did at least grant her some cover, obscuring her from the yugoloth leader and from those of the mezzoloths that weren’t right upon her, stabbing with their tridents.  Casting defensively, she drew down a flame strike that slammed down into their ranks.  The ‘loths were heavily resistant to fire, but the divine energies in the blast ripped through their spell resistance and into their corrupt bodies.  Several of the mezzoloths were incinerated by the power of the spell, and the flames tore into the rank of attackers in front of her, drawing chittering cries of pain as the blast seared them from behind. “Don’t like that, do you?” she cried.  Driven to fury, the ring of attackers thrust at her with renewed vigor, but in the confusion of smoke and swirling vapors only one attack hit, opening another shallow gash across her bicep.  A few of the ‘loths tried to return the favor she’d offered with her spell to summon balls of fire that they hurled at her, the fist-sized gobs of flame streaking brightly through the fog to splash across her cloak.  But Dana had taken the precaution of protecting herself against several types of elemental energy before she’d stepped foot inside the Cutter’s Folly, and the little blasts of flame inflicted no harm upon her.  She took advantage of the disruption caused by her spell to infuse herself with divine power.  That cost her another pair of gashes, but they were offset by the surge of vitality that flowed into her through the spell.  She drew out her adamantine nunchaku, and stared out at the ring of glowing red eyes that surrounded her out in the fog.  The toxin was starting to affect her, but her fortitude was such that she could ignore its effects, at least for a few moments.  The cloudkill had spread to fill the entire chamber, the vapors rising up to the rafters above, so there was no easy escape, save for transporting herself out of here.  But to do that would be to yield Mocker Darr, and her best chance of finding Benzan. That, she would not do. “Let’s dance then, you fiendish bastards,” she snarled, snapping out the nunchaku, crushing the skull of the nearest mezzoloth with a powerful blow of the adamantine weapon.  Another came forward to take its place, its body blackened from Dana’s flame strike. A massive clang filled the room, the sound only slightly muted by the cloying toxic fog.  Dana didn’t turn, but a few of the mezzoloths glanced in the direction of the door, built to withstand a siege. Dana grimaced and fought on.  The mezzoloths were starting to score more hits, now, with her flanked and slowly weakening from the cloudkill.  A few more hurled dispels at her, trying to bring down her defensive wards, but their efforts were futile against the power of her magic.   The clanging noise continued, growing in intensity.  A dark shadow materialized out of the fog, taller and leaner than the bulbous mezzoloths.  Dana did not see it immediately, but she felt the touch of a spell, as a cold voice sounded in her mind. Lay down your arms, and cease this foolish struggle, and we can talk, it said.  We can provide you with the information you seek…For the barest instant, she hesitated.  But finally, in reply, she laughed.  “Nice try, fiend! Your feeble suggestion is of no avail against me!” The ultroloth, however, merely lifted a black hand, drawing upon the power of its magic once more.  Dana, alerted to its threat by its initial attack, immediately hurled another flame strike that descended upon it in a twisting blaze of raging fire.  The ‘loth withstood the blast—although several mezzoloths around it were incinerated—but it took the hint, withdrawing back into the mists. But a moment later, pain exploded through her back.  A mezzoloth had waited for her attention to shift away, and took advantage of her casting to drive its trident forward, impaling the jagged spines solidly into her back.  She staggered forward and fell to her knees, the insectoid fiends surging forward to finish her.</blockquote>

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