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: 2836541" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 592“And now, paladin, it’s time for pain.”The genasi’s left sai came up, but before she could slide it into a vulnerable spot, Arun’s mailed fist shot out, catching the duelist solidly in the face.  The blow, backed by a smite evil and by the righteous power of order’s wrath, knocked the much lighter woman onto her back.  She was fast, very fast, to recover; snapping her legs up as she flipped onto her feet less than a second after she’d hit.  But Arun, ignoring the tug of the whip still snared around his throat, followed her, and as she got up he snapped his fist around her throat.  The duelist, blood pouring down her terrible face from her broken nose, stabbed him mercilessly with her wounding sai as the paladin got a firm grip and squeezed.  A hissing noise came from the genasi as her air supply was cut off, but she was quick to recover, bringing her legs up, and kicking off the paladin’s armored chest.  The two combatants separated, with Arun staggering back, and the genasi cartwheeling back into a ready—but now wary—stance a few paces back. Beorna could not stop the lamia from stabbing her, but she invoked the power of a protective ward upon herself.  But even she was not willing to trust entirely to Helm to save her; as the sorceress thrust, she snapped her head forward, head-butting the oncoming blade.  She screamed as the dagger—poisoned, she realized—tore a long gash along her temple, laying her scalp open to the bone.  But the weapon failed to penetrate her thick skull, and she lived, for now. The lamia drew back with a hiss of frustration, and immediately began spellcasting. “She’s helpless… Get the wizard, you fool!” the succubus shouted, wrestling with the weight of the paladin on the other end of her whip. Cal’s mind raced as he faced off against the fey spellcaster.  He knew that he could probably overcome her counterspelling if he persisted, but he also knew that even Arun would not hold out long against the other four women for long.  For the moment he seemed to have escaped their notice, but he knew that an attack would quickly draw their attention to him—and he doubted that greater invisibility alone would shield him from detection. The succubus’s shouted warning destroyed anything remaining doubts.  So the gnome reached back to his magical haversack, and drew out his lute.  The instrument felt somewhat foreign in his hands; it had been some time since he had played.  He’d almost forgotten the way that the notes felt when his fingers plucked the strings, but after the first few chords, the chaos of the melee fell away from him, and he felt the music surround him, filling him with the memories of more pleasant times. His fingers danced across the strings, playing a song of camaraderie and true faith.  The harmonies cut through the false whispers of the fey creature, destroying her suggestion, restoring their freedom of action.  They were quick to respond, grabbing up their weapons.  “They are free!” the succubus warned.  The fey creature lowered her head, her wings drooping as if weighed down with a sudden sadness.  But when she spoke, her whispers became a soft prologue of dread, and the lilting tenors of before became a promise of destruction as she hit them with a wave of crushing despair.  Again Cal tried to rally them, intensifying his playing, but this time he was less successful, and most of them could feel the weight of the dark emotions buried in the spell seep into them, stealing their resolve. But it was not enough to stop them.  The Voice invoked divine power and stepped forward, ready to engage the genasi duelist, while Lok took up his axe and started toward the lamia.  But before either of them could reach their objectives, the tiefling thrall summoned a blade barrier, cutting the room, and its inhabitants, in two.  The lamia bolstered this with another wall, this time a coruscating wall of fire, the surging plane overlapping with the storm of spinning blades, the surging red tongues flaring with violated energy that made the fire seem almost alive, and malevolent.And unfortunately, leaving Arun, Beorna, and Mole alone with the five servitors of Graz’zt on the far side.</blockquote>

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