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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lars Frehse" data-source="post: 257323" data-attributes="member: 1674">Fight for the Serpent Amphora part2 of 4Desperate, the adventurers prepared for the hag’s attack, when suddenly the wan light of the area turned a deep purple. It was exactly the color they remembered from their vision of Chardun in Trela.The hag now looked around in confused surprise and fear, as if searching the surroundings for an invisible foe. Then, with a clap of thunder, two devils appeared out of nowwhere. They were as tall as the hag and covered with hideous scales. Each of them was holding a giant whip in it’s hand and as they were flying with their huge wings, their snakelike tails were wiggling in the air. One devil engaged the hag and the other one dived down, hunting the scattering asaathi and ratmen.The hag flew up into the clouds, the devil in hot pursuits, and the rest of the battle between them was hidden from the viewers on the ground, since it all seemed to happen within the clouds. The battle and the clouds, however, soon moved rapidly westwards, back to where they had come from.Torn, who was among the Asaathi at that moment summoned all his will to get out of the murderous frenzy he had been in and ran towards his friends who were standing close to the waterfall, carefully avoiding the devil on the ground who was laughing madly as he slaughtered the Asaathi. Then, Jan and Trepat noticed two ratmen who left the cliff through a small, previously unnoticed crevace. They were both moving towards the rope that lead to the top of the cliff, and while the smaller, unarmed one positioned itself at the bottom of the rope, the other one climbed up. Trepat noticed that the climbing ratman was wearing a canvas bag through which he could see the form of the amphora.Trepat called his friends, pointing to the Amphora, and told Nebrot, his speaking raven, to harass the climbing ratman. Meanwhile, the rat at the bottom of the rope had finished a spell that surrounded it with a multicolored energy shield.As the adventurers were running towards the rope, Nebrot flew ahead and started picking at the climbing ratman. The climber was now unable to climb on, since he had to use one of his clawlike hands to fend off the raven while he needed the other one to stay in place- not only were the rain and the wind making it hard to climb, but the wet rope was also very slippery already.The spellcasting rat at the bottom cast a spell which Trepat recognized- it was a magic missile, and she directed the force of the arcane energy at the raven that had been attacking her partner, killing it instantly.As the raven plummeted to the ground, Trepat felt the pain of the death of his companion with every cell of his body. He fell on his knees in the mud, screaming out loud. For a few seconds, the pain was overbearing. Then, as soon as he was able to see again, he got up again, pulled his sword and ran towards the wizard all the while screaming in anguish and rage.His friends were there, before him, though, and Torn went up and climbed after the ratman as his friends battled the spellcaster. She, in turn cast a spell and tried to touch Jan, but she lost her footing in the mud and fell down. Without hesitation, Jan thrust his sword down, cutting through her neck.For Trepat that wasn’t enough. Enraged over the loss of his friend, he kept on hacking at the wet corpse that was laying in a puddle in which her blood and the rain were quickly mixing up.Meanwhile, Torn was closing in on the escaping ratman. Further down the rope was Niklas, trying to close up, but failing to do so. By the time the ratman had reached the top of the cliff, Torn was already right behind, and before his enemy could cut the rope, he was already on his feet, facing him.The ratman pushed Torn, trying to toss him down the cliff into his certain death, but in spite of the muddy earth on which he was standing, he was able to keep his ground and step sidewise, getting away from the onehundred feet deep drop behind him.Both pulled their weapons now, and with a surprisingly quick attack, the ratman had slashed at Torn’s arm, drawing blood. There was thunder, and the half-orc slashed at his opponent, but the ratman had sidestepped and was now attacking with his scimitar, again wounding Torn.The situation was getting dire now. The rain was washing his two bleeding wounds and the ratman was looking at him with cool calculation in his eyes. They were circling each other, as Torn saw Niklas’ hands on the edge of the cliff- he too had reached the top by now. Following the half-orc’s glance, the ratman now saw his hands, too, but the slight turn of his head offered Torn enough of an opening for one desperate lunge.His axe hit the ratman right in the jaws, splitting it, and as the rodent was spitting blood, Torn finished him with another axestrike at his skull.After Niklas had helped him stop his bleedings, they picked up the amphora and climbed back down. By now, the rat-wizard had been hacked to pieces and Jan was comforting Trepat, who sat next to his raven in the mud.Ben cured their wounds, and they searched the camp. It indeed looked like all the inhabitants had ran away. Behind the waterfall, there was a damp cave that was full of wet furs which smelled like a wet dog. There were several niches which were filled with scraps of cloth, fur and foliage and one larger nest that had probably belonged to the leader.They plundered it, finding gold and silver and an arcane scroll in a chest. When they were done, they saw that the rain had passed westwards with the hag, and now the sun was shining through rips and openings in the blanket of clouds. It looked like it could be a beautiful evening again.They changed into dry clothings and then they gathered dry wood from within the huts. With it, they built a small pyre and gave the raven a hero’s funeral.Then, they returned to their horses and set off to ride back home, since they wanted to get some space between themselves and the encampment before they would settle down for the night’s rest.During the next days, they saw gigantic beetles, spider and other monstrous vermin, but since they were careful, they avoided those. At one point, they almost ran into a group of goblins, but deciding it was wiser to make no contact on their way out of blood stepped, they rode in a wide arch, remaining undetected by the titanspawn, as well.At nights, they had to deal with giant centipedes and other oversized nasties, but fortunately, they encountered no undead or ratmen. Then, after four days, they had reached the river again, and in the evening they were back in Trela.</blockquote>

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