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="Sniktch" data-source="post: 478161" data-attributes="member: 7704">The sentries, pt. 2Yeah, it didn't go very well for the players.  I think its the first time it occured to them that their darkvision extends 60' while the dark elves have 120' (which I make FULL use of) - here's the next update on the battle:__________________________After felling the spider, Welby ran over to the lip and looked down, but all the action had passed from view already.  The tunnel sloped down at an extreme grade for about fifteen feet but then leveled out to a more manageable descent.  The halfling carefully climbed down to this point before running in pursuit of his companions.  He halted at the next drop, and although he could hear the sounds of combat below, he took the time to examine his surroundings before continuing.  Two details stuck out from a cursory inspection of the dead-end.  First, the hole in the floor was ringed with strands of burned spider web and a heavy iron ring had been sunk into the stone, perfect for tying a rope to.  Second, the ‘dead-end’ was a smooth wall of solid granite, which the halfling found oddly out of place in these caverns and tunnels of unworked stone.“What past wall?” he asked the panther-like shadow that rose from the stone floor, and it disappeared through the rock.  It returned brief seconds later and confirmed his suspicions, “Tunnel keeps going.”Welby nodded and filed the information away for future reference as Quinn and Artimas finally caught up.  The mage was excited about something.“Do you realize the spider you fought was actually an undead?” the necromancer asked.  “Just think, a whole new form of undead I’ve never had the chance to study!”“Uh, where Jack?” was the halfling’s reply.Artimas chuckled, “Oho!  Our brave warrior fell asleep when the first arrow hit him!  I made sure he wasn’t bleeding to death and left Igor to guard him.”Just then a cry for aid came echoing up the shaft.  “Grick’s down!  I need help!  Hurry!!”Quinn’s face went ashen and the halfling went into motion.  He pulled his spool of rope from his pack, looped the end through the iron ring, and jumped into the hole, rappelling rapidly to the bottom.  Quinn went down right behind him, and then Artimas followed, slowly floating downward.  The halfling let go of the rope and fell the last few feet, landing in front of a hideously deformed, skinless drow and stabbing it without hesitation.  Quinn crashed to the ground behind him and grabbed the unconscious monk’s leg, pulling him away from the fighting.  Artimas floated into view and saw another of the strange new undead spiders, then his excitement grew as he saw the skinless drow and immediately recognized it as undead also.  He drew upon his necromantic powers and hurled a spell of binding, freezing both of the lifeless monsters in their tracks.Malobar had only held the drow off alone for six seconds, but it had seemed an eternity and the elf was now barely standing, bleeding from several new wounds.  “It’s about time!” he exclaimed.  “Now grab Grick and let’s get out of here before the whole city falls on us!”  When he finished speaking the elf flew back up the shaft and started back in the direction of the surface, struggling to remain conscious against the pain of his many wounds.Quinn agreed.  “The elf is right!  We need to retreat!”  She turned back to Grick and laid her hands upon him.  The half-orc sat up as the healing energy flowed into his body, and Quinn helped him to his feet and boosted him up the rope before grabbing hold and following.  A howling gale of ice and wind suddenly arose in the area and smashed her into the wall, but she managed to keep hold of the rope and climbed out of sight.  Artimas also felt the fury of the storm of ice but luckily the halfling and half-orc were both out of the area.Welby snarled as the two dark elf warriors stepped in and speared him with their long hafted weapons.  He grabbed one of the glaives as it impaled him and spun to the side, snapping the weapon in half, then charged the drow while it fumbled to draw its sword.  He dealt the drow a nasty wound but had placed himself in a bad position as the other fighter moved into a flanking position and stabbed at him again.  The halfling felt logic and reason boiling away and a red haze filled his vision as his mouth began to froth and foam.Artimas was worried.  A few drow warriors he could handle but he realized that a wizard was lurking in the darkness, out of the range of their vision.  That and the helter skelter manner of their approach left them completely at the mercies of the cities’ well-prepared defenses.  He pulled a long bone from his spell component pouch and yelled “Welby, look out!” before chanting a string of arcane syllables and snapping the bone in half.  A cone of razor sharp slivers sprayed from the mage's hands, shredding the two motionless undead and badly wounding the two dark elves.  “Now let’s go!  We need to fall back!” he ordered the barbarian.“No run!” the halfling shouted back and surged forward, cutting both of the dark elves down with disemboweling strikes.  A crackling bolt of electricity flew out of the darkness as well as a volley of arrows but the halfling dodged through the barrage unharmed and ran forward into the darkness.Artimas was hit by the lightning and bit his lip with the sudden jerking convulsions that passed through his frame.  When his vision cleared he saw the halfling sprint from view and sighed in exasperation.  Anyone else, he thought, anyone else and I would just leave them and tell the others there was nothing I could do, but we need that little bastard.  “Welby’s not retreating!” he called up the hole.  “I’m going to go after him, but we need support.”Grick and Quinn sat at the top of the shaft while the priestess tended the half-orc’s many wounds.  Grick looked up with pain-glazed eyes when they heard Artimas’ shout and said, “You check on Malobar and Jack.  I go after them.”  The monk got back to his feet and upended his flask, draining its contents in a few fiery swallows.  As the liquor raced through his veins and chased the pain away he smiled and dropped back into the hole, while Quinn said a silent prayer for her friend’s safety and hurried back the way she’d come.</blockquote>

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