They attacked. The man pulled out a rod and pointed it at Dartan. The rod had six serpentine, twisting appendages, all of which animated and writhed towards him, lashing and whipping. The others gathered around the man, cutting and hacking. The fevered man seemed to enjoy every blow he took. In the end, he enjoyed it too much, and the distraction cost him his life. He died at the group's feet with a smile on his face.
"What's this?" Katya asked. They looked to find her over by the man's cluttered desk, rifling through a huge stack of yellowed parchment. She picked up a particularly interesting page and read aloud.
It has taken some time, but the Fire Node is completely cleared out. Now we begin searching for the elemental power gem somewhere inside, and when we find it, we place it within the Orb of Oblivion. I have sent The Second to oversee operations in the Temple. As an aboleth, he can better control the workers than The Third or I could. Hopefully, we'll be able to clear out the other nodes in no time, so we can summon the princes of the Evil Elements. The princes are:
Air: Yan-C-Bin
Water: Olhydra
Earth: Ogremoch
Fire: Imix
Imix is already present in his node, and awaits the opportunity to free Tharizdun with the others.
Most of the other pages were scrawlings of perverse stories and illustrations, involving torture, masochism, and drugs. Katya dropped them on the table. She brushed her palms together, as if to wash her hands and clear her mental palate. "All right! Where to now? The stairs?"
"I'm afraid not," Dartan said. He was looking up at the top of the stairs. A heavy iron door was closed over the entrance to the final level of the tower, and guarded with a monstrous lock. Katya did her worst to pick the lock, but nothing happened. "So- what now?"
"Well, do we really need to go up there?" Kyla asked. "We know to head to the Temple of Elemental Evil- that's where we're needed. Whatever's up there is just one more unnecessary opportunity to get us all killed." Everyone saw the wisdom in this, and prepared to leave the Inner Fane- and the Temple of All-Consumption- behind them. They walked down the stairs. They would never know how true Kyla's words would ring true, should they have reached the top level of the tower.
They descended the stairs, leaving behind them the challenges of the tower. The levels of the Inner Fane drifted up beyond them. Katya hummed a tune to herself. Dartan adjusted the straps on his armor. Jettok took strong pulls from a flask on his hip. Kyla held her symbol of Pelor in hand. They reached the second level and walked to the top of the stairway leading down. Vek felt an odd, implacable sense of deja vu. He dismissed it.
They walked down the stairs. Halfway down, the tyrannosaurs saw them and roared, attacking. "Damn, forgot about them," Dartan said. He pulled his sword. "Well, let's get to it. They stand between us and the door. Attack!" His words had the ring of leadership. The shouted words were still echoing from the walls when the blue half-dragon's head lowered and slammed its jaws around him. Grunting in pain, he was lifted up as the half-dragon tilted its head back- and swallowed him.
The group sat in stunned silence for half of a second, and then sprang into action. Spells were cast, swords were drawn. Toddek screamed vengeance for the loss of Dartan, then rushed forward with his meager sword. The immense half-dragons stood twenty-five feet tall. The blue one waded among them, looking to choose a fish from the school. Its eyes settled on Vek, and its head snatched forward. With a metal runching sound, Vek was borne upwards and then down the half-dragon's throat. Blood flowed from between its teeth. Contented, the half-dragon turned and walked away, even as Kyla, Katya and Jettok did their worst against it.
The black half-dragon approached, ready for its turn at the feed-trough. Kyla slashed it across the snout with her sickle, crying an oath to Pelor. The black grabbed her arm with its teeth and flicked its head. The woman flew across the tower's width to slam into the iron wall. She slumped to the floor, badly injured.
Meanwhile, the blue was having some difficulty ingesting its meal. It roared and gnashed its teeth helplessly. A long steel blade ripped through its belly from the inside, then made a long cut. Dartan feebly crawled from the creature's gut. He barely managed to stand. He was half-digested.
The black bit Katya in half. It swallowed her. Jettok screamed with fury and ran forward, hacking and slashing at the half-dragon's knees. It ate him too, with no trouble at all.
The blue turned to Dartan with a slashing claw and knocked him against the wall, ripped wide open. He fell to the ground and bled in silence. Kyla, bellowing justice for her sister's death, ran back into the fray. She died very heroically. The blue half-dragon screeched a keening wail. Its scaled skin turned pale and dry. Its eyes turned milk-white in its head. It toppled over, dead before it struck the ground. From its stomach-wound crawled Vek, dripping with acid and blood- but alive. He held his shield, Lillith, in his hand. The fanglike protrusions on the shield had sucked the blue's life from its insides.
Vek looked around. Toddek stood alone, trying desperately to hold the black half-dragon off. He yelled "Sir Vek, help me! I don't think I can-" he said no more as he was ripped into shreds by the creature's foot-long serrated teeth. Vek was alone. He stood, unbelieving, as the black half-dragon lazily stomped up to him. It regarded him cruelly from twenty-five feet up.
"I... I know what I want to reverse," Vek whispered as he stared up. The black's head rushed down at him, jaws open, teeth glinting. Something happened.
They descended the stairs, leaving behind them the challenges of the tower. The levels of the Inner Fane drifted up beyond them. Katya hummed a tune to herself. Dartan adjusted the straps on his armor. Jettok took strong pulls from a flask on his hip. Kyla held her symbol of Pelor in hand. They reached the second level and walked to the top of the stairway leading down. Vek felt an odd, implacable sense of deja vu. He gasped and put his hand on Dartan's shoulder, holding him back.
"Wait!"
More to come...
