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="Eccles" data-source="post: 4155862" data-attributes="member: 5675">Having been rejoined by Bob, we found ourselves standing before Lashonna’s estate – the gates appeared locked but unguarded. The lock was clearly enchanted when looked at through my Clair de Lunettes, and this was confirmed by Flynne when he checked it over. Despite the power of the enchantment on the gate, Flynne seemed almost contemptuous when he disarmed and unlocked it. We picked our way along the winding track to the mansion some 500 yards away, noticing a small graveyard a short distance off to our left within the grounds. Janga cast a spell of Find the Path upon Flynne, who turned like a compass to face the graveyard. Moments later we found ourselves picking between the gravestones to face a towering angel statue. Fez and Flynne checked the area, and whilst Fez was at the rear of the angel’s pedestal pointing out the signs of scratch marks showing that it would move aside, Flynne was reaching up and idly pulling on the statue’s hand.The angel’s eyes erupted with crackling lightning, which lanced down on the spot Flynne was standing on. Or had been standing on – his phenomenal elven reactions had already sent him leaping to one side. The angel then slipped aside to reveal a stairway heading into the bowels of the earth..oOo.Heading down some thirty feet below the ground on the circling stairwell, we reached a short corridor which ended with a metal door. Flynne was quick to search and then unlock it, and we looked beyond to see a well furnished guard room; weapon racks and a lit fireplace. There were no exits to the room, but there were four large stone columns spaced evenly around it.Flynne slinked in, and Fez stomped after him. Almost immediately, an extremely pale faced man slipped out from behind one of the columns, calling out “Lashonna, I do this for you!”I had no sooner begun to recognise him as someone I had seen at Prince Zeech’s party, than he had begun to attack Fez with a glittering bastard sword. He missed a lot – his sword slipping off Fez’s heavy armour or simply being sidestepped by the battle-wise barbarian. Flynne stepped back into view and fired repeatedly at the bastard sword wielding vampire, which snarled in pain at the holy arrows slamming into its flesh. Three vampires stepped out from behind the other pillars and began to pummel the archer.Bob fired his small bow, loaded with his own holy arrows; they struck home with pinpoint accuracy, and the tall vampire collapsed in a heap. As Flynne started to shoot at the vampires around him, one of them collapsed in the teeth of the holy energies, and the others both snarled at Fez, beckoning. I saw the flash of magic between then, but the barbarian completely ignored it and started to chase them around the room. One was slaughtered in a moment, and the other fled before being pinned to the wall by Bob’s small arrows and then transfixed by Flynne’s shooting. .oOo.Having located a secret Door, Flynne led us downwards once more, leading to a square room, in the centre of which was a metal drain cover. There was a nearly overpowering stench of mud, blood and decay. Flynne strode into the room, and misty tendrils coalesced and wrapped around him. Screaming, he was hoisted towards the ceiling by the magical creatures, and his body began to sag and turn grey. Clouds of fog erupted around us, which itched our throats and would probably have caused us considerable damage had we not been warded carefully. Bob’s arrows flew through the targets, and then Fez (in a Frankenstein form of towering might in his flesh golem form) pounded into the room. Although we couldn’t see him in the fog, we could hear his almost bestial yell of surprise, followed by a loud crashing noise as something immensely heavy fell to the floor.There was a flash of light within the fog, but more fog erupted around us, condensing as more tendrils which lashed out around us. Something wrapped around my neck, lifting me into the air.I could see Bob and Janga also hoisted into the air by the spectral forces, their legs kicking as they struggled to be free. Despite his precarious position, Janga managed to cast a spell, and Bob and I were released, drawing a wand as I stood from the floor and sending a wash of flame over one of the tendrils. Beyond, there were flickers of lightning in the fog. From near me, Bob fired arrow after arrow blindly into the fog.To my immense alarm, something roared strangely, muffled by the fog in the room. There was a pounding noise, Janga cast a spell and something else thumped to the floor within the fog. Cursing myself for a fool, I produced another wand, one with the power to control the undead. Triggering it, I was disappointed when nothing whatsoever happened. Other than a sheaf of arrows hurtling back out of the fog as though summoned by my spell. Yelling in alarm, I dropped to the ground as Bob began to return fire into the mists. Amidst a feral roar, there was a vast pounding sound, and the fog faded abruptly. Flynne was grey from the effects of the tendrils sinister draining powers, and Fez looked – he looked like a massive earth elemental, but he had a number of scorch marks across his stony hide. .oOo.Pausing only for healing magic from Janga, we looked around. There was a door on the other side of the room and the metal grille in the floor.Sticking his head through the stone floor, Fez looked under the grille, grinding out the news that there was a drop into body-filled slime with tunnels on either side.Leaving the dreadful idea of ‘body filled slime’ well alone, we pushed open the door, stepping into a statue-filled large octagonal room. To the left, the room rose to join a second large octagon, in which blue and green semi-precious stones formed a huge circle. Yet another area lay beyond, containing a massive lifting arm. Central in the statue-filled room was a massive statue, working around it stood 8 liches. We went to work on them in turn.Bob and Flynne fired a stream of arrows into the closest, destroying it before it had done anything more than turn around. I then called up a ring of fire, which surrounded the undead, before Fez leapt in, hacking with celestial might to destroy two of them in a single celestial hack.Fleeing, the five remaining liches dashed into the centre of the magic circle, which seemed to heal them somewhat, and they gestures menacingly at us. Janga gestured, and a flash from his magical ring flung a heavy stone statue into the circle. It passed through the edges with a flash, and glanced off one of the liches, making it stagger.Flynne shot one repeatedly, and it fell, leaving only 4 standing. Bob’s archery, whilst just as accurate, didn’t drop his target. Casting two spells in rapid succession with the aid of a magic item in my belt, I silenced the area they were standing in and then ringed the four liches with another ring of fire. The next we heard was a chanting sound, and glimpses of the liches beyond the fire wall showed they had dashed through, getting burned. Dark lines lanced out through the fire, two missing Bob destroying a substantial area of the wall, and a third struck the wall behind Flynne; though he wasn’t quick enough to duck one. He gritted his teeth and shook off the worst of the spell’s damage.Grabbing Fez, Janga cast a spell. They disappeared completely, and I looked around wildly to spot them. They were both standing in the centre of the magic circle, looking dazed and confused, amidst the inferno of my fire wall. Whilst Bob and Flynne shot, and destroyed one of the 4 liches, I dropped another wall of fire (using the Staff of the Magi this time, which destroyed them all. In the centre of the circle, there was a vast gout of fire, and I could see there was a deep pit opening up. A speck in the depths of the pit hurtled towards us with a roaring noise, and then a dreadful something burst out of it. Wreathed in flames, clutching a dreadful whip and shielded with tremendous bat wings, the Pit Fiend roared, and simply strode over Fez and Janga, contemptuous of their stunned forms. It pushed through the ring of fire and burst out of the Magic Circle, closing on Bob, Flynne and myself. Fire burst amongst us, but we leapt aside – though Bob was burned by it somewhat. Then the Fiend bellowed a word of power, which washed over us without any appreciable effect as well, other than us all practically sweating lead shot.Even as Bob and Flynne peppered the beast with arrows, I dashed forwards, singing as Zollchin the Sublime Chord had taught me to empower and enhance my spell. I touched the massive beast, singing my hand as I did so, but carried on singing.I turned back to my comrades, feeling the hatred of the Pit Fiend’s gaze upon me, and the air from its panting breath. Its wings wreathed tight, as in time with my voice the beast’s cloven hooves leapt from the floor, and crashed to the floor two feet to my left.Still singing, I bowed to my two archer companions, as the Pit Fiend’s right hoof tapped the floor behind me and stepped back in line.I grinned, and backed from the Pit Fiend, conducting all the while as its fists balled in disgust and slammed its hands to its waist; the long almost sentient whip curling around its wrist as it did so.The beast bent its knees, burning eyes drilling into mine with a promise of certain vengeance, and thrust its waist horrifyingly towards us.Before it could continue to thrust in time with the singing, Fez burst free of the magic circle and hacked the beast down in three easy strokes.It was something of a relief.For us and the Pit Fiend.</blockquote>

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