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: 2833173" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 591Seeing Beorna incapacitated seemed to shake Arun out of his lethargy; with a dwarvish invocation of battle the paladin hefted his holy warhammer and rushed toward their foes.  The tiefling cleric hurled another spell at him, but this time the paladin’s spell resistance held, and he shook off whatever fell effect was inherent in the hostile magic.  But before he could reach the spellcasters, the water genasi darted forward to intercept him.  The woman moved with an incredible speed and grace, and bore a pair of silver sais that spun around her hands as she moved, as though they themselves were alive.  Without armor, though, and obviously giving up a lot in strength and weight to the dwarf, it looked like a one-sided clash. Arun did not hesitate, stepping into a smite that should have crushed this foe in a single colossal impact.  But the genasi woman darted smoothly inside the paladin’s reach, catching the haft of the hammer with one of her sais, and directing it harmlessly around her back.  She slid past the surprised dwarf, and almost casually punched her other weapon into Arun’s side as she passed.  Arun tried to spin around to catch her, a move that was itself impressive as the charging dwarf arrested his momentum and brought his hammer around in a quick backswing.  But the woman was gone; she’d matched his movement, knifing across his back as he turned, and coming up on his far side.  The sai in her left hand was slick with bright red blood down most of its length. Cal’s instincts had kicked in the moment he’d realized that this was an ambush, and even as the five women had appeared he’d covered himself in greater invisibility.  The lulling whispers of the fey creature’s mass suggestion had tugged powerfully at him, and he nearly succumbed to its lure.  He had to marshal the full force of his own considerable will to overcome that lure, but he saw that most of his friends were not so fortunate.  As Beorna and Arun rushed forward, he tried to neutralize the enchantment with a greater dispel.  But he found that the creature’s magic was incredibly potent.  The spell itself was obvious within the weave; it was well within his own potential, and he sensed that its caster’s power did not exceed his own.  But somehow, his efforts dissipated against the tendrils of energy that fueled the suggestion, and his own magic could not overcome the bindings that held his friends in their sway. Then he looked up, and saw the gaze of the fey woman fixed upon his, and he knew. She’s countering me!Beorna lay immobile upon the floor, held helpless within the iron bands.  She quivered with effort as she tried to break the restraints, but even with the divine strength granted by her patron, they were just too much for her to sunder.The lamia slunk forward toward the imprisoned cleric, an evil look on her face as she slid a long dagger from a black leather sheath at her side.  The templar could do nothing but watch as the creature knelt beside her, drawing off her helmet and tossing it aside.  As she leaned down to deliver a coup de grace, Beorna spat in her face. With a smile, the lamia stabbed her knife toward the templar’s left eye. Arun was not in a position to intervene.  Belatedly realizing how dangerous his opponent was, the paladin had abandoned power attacks and shifted to a more balanced assault.  The genasi matched him pace for pace, but now her face was furrowed with concentration as she tried to dodge the deadly rain of blows from the dwarf’s hammer.  She dodged a quick swipe but failed to antipate a sudden reversal as Arun jammed the haft of the weapon toward her face.  She spun back out of the way, but the paladin’s mailed fist clipped her shoulder, knocking her briefly off-balance.  But before the paladin could exploit his momentary advantage, a sudden crack announced a new threat, followed by an immediate explosion of pain as the succubus’s barbed whip lashed around his throat.  The barbs dug through his gorget as though the armor was not even there, piercing his skin, nearly overwhelming him with waves of agony that radiated outward through his body.  The genasi duelist smiled and came at him again.  He lifted his hammer to defend himself, but she easily avoided the ungainly sweep of the weapon, stepping once again inside his reach.  Her right sai caught the haft just above his fist, and she stabbed the other into the dwarf’s elbow joint.  Arun’s hand spasmed as the wounding weapon drained him again, and with a snap of her off-hand, the holy hammer went flying off to the side, far out of reach.  The genasi leaned in close, close enough for him to feel her breath through the slot in his helmet.  “And now, paladin, it’s time for pain.”</blockquote>

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