The Doomed Bastards: Reckoning (story complete)

[Lazybones]

Wait, this is Rappan Athuk...don't you mean fiendish, pseudonatural goblins, or something like that?

They've all probably got around six(teen) PC class levels ... each.

Well, they're not supernatural, but they are damned tough. I won't spoil anything here, but yes, pretty much almost every goblin in RA has class levels, and superior gear to boot.

Today's post is especially long, and involves a few interesting interplays among the characters. Enjoy, have a great Thanksgiving, and I'll be back with another cliffhanger on Friday.

* * * * *

Chapter 46

THE GOBLINS OF RAPPAN ATHUK


Dar and Talen lifted their weapons into ready positions, providing protection for the spellcasters behind them. The goblins moved with an odd sense of grace, sweeping out left and right from the door into a semicircle facing the companions. They were armed with a variety of weapons, small handaxes and javelins and bows, with tools and daggers stuck through their belts. Each was clad in studded leather armor that covered their torsos, with long leather flaps offering additional protection to their arms and legs. Beady eyes stared out at them under leather caps with long brims.

Within six seconds of the opening of the door, there were sixteen of the creatures facing them in a wary ring, weapons poised. After the initial warning, not a single one of the creatures had spoken.

“It would appear that we are surrounded,” Aelos said.

“Do either of you speak the goblin language?” Talen whispered. Varo shook his head. “Damn it, Shay and Krogan were the experts in this sort of thing,” the captain added.

“Bah, they’re goblins!” Dar exclaimed. “Booga booga!” he said, making a threatening step toward the nearest edge of the line, his club lifted up high in his hand. The goblins tensed, but did not give any ground. “Let’s just kick the little bastards’ asses and be on our way.”

“They aren’t attacking us,” Allera said. “Maybe we can avoid a fight, just this once?”

“Bah, they’re cowards, but they’ll attack us when our backs are turned, sure enough,” the mercenary returned.

Varo, however, had been observing the creatures carefully. Standing just over three feet tall, and barely a third of an average human’s weight, it was easy to be as dismissive of them as Dar had just been. The cleric was no stranger to goblinkind, having encountered numerous examples of the species in his time, but these were more coordinated and better disciplined than any he had ever seen. His eyes lingered on one that appeared to be clad in better-quality armor than the others. It was a fine distinction; all of their gear looked to be of exceptional make.

Allera came forward, stepping between Talen and Dar. “Do any of you speak the common tongue?” she asked.

A few goblins shifted their eyes, slightly, but it was sublte enough that she would have missed it had he not been looking for it. She saw what Varo had seen, that these goblins were... different. Trouble.

After a moment, the goblin that Varo had identified as the leader stepped forward. “You are new to the tunnels,” it said. Its accent was thick, but its words were clearly understandable.

“We are not here by choice,” Allera said.

“You are servants of the priests of the demon god?”

“No. They are our enemies.”

The goblin nodded. “And your purpose here now?”

“None of your gods-damned business, gobbo,” Dar said.

“Must you antagonize them?” Varo whispered.

“We are returning to the main cavern,” Allera said, indicating the tunnel. “There are giant spiders that cling to the walls; be alert for them.”

The goblin did not seem impressed. “We know of the spiders. Our business is with the river trolls.”

“Ha! Hope you brought a shovel,” Dar said.

The goblin’s eyes narrowed. “What does this mean?”

Allera stifled a sigh. “We had an encounter with the trolls when we entered this area. The trolls challenged us, to their misfortune. We had to kill one of them.”

The goblin nodded again, and said something in its own language. A stir went through the gathered goblins.

“Yeah, that’s right,” Dar said, interpreting their response as awed respect. None of the goblins changed position, however, or eased their weapons from their ready positions.

Varo looked at the tools in the goblin leader’s belt. “You are miners?”

The goblin nodded.

Allera said, “We found some gold ore in the troll lair, but it was too much for us to carry. It should still be there, on the far side of the island. A conflict between us would be of no advantage to either side, and might prove to be... unpleasant. If that is what you came for, then let us go our separate ways in peace, and save our strength for the rats and spiders.”

“I’m telling you, this is a mistake,” Dar whispered—clearly loud enough for the goblins to hear him. “The little bastards will turn on us the moment our guard is down.”

“Shut up,” Talen said.

“Agreed,” the goblin said. It made a small gesture to its troops, and the goblins just melted away, darting into the small exit tunnel. A few lingered behind, bows trained on the companions, and then they too were gone, leaving them alone.

“We haven’t seen the last of them,” Dar promised.

“Look, mercenary,” Talen said, turning on the fighter until they stood eye-to-eye. “I don’t give a crap what you think, or even if you are capable of that ability at all.”

“Listen, you...”

“No, YOU listen! You were the one that suggested we stick together, as I recall. Strength in numbers and all that. There are five of us left, and in case you haven’t noticed, that number keeps dropping. We cannot afford any battles that are not necessary. Maybe you’re right; maybe we could have taken those goblins without breaking a sweat. But did you stop to think that those little creatures have stayed alive in this hellhole, that they live here? Maybe there’s a thousand of the bastards in the next cavern over, or on the other side of that door. We don’t know how big a threat they were, we can only go by what we saw. Allera’s an expert at negotiations, that’s why I let her take the lead.”

“They were soldiers,” Varo said simply. Dar started to say something, but Talen overrode him again.

“Look. If you want to disagree with me—privately—insult me, or make your little jokes, fine. I find that ignoring you whenever you open your mouth is fairly easy. But let me make one thing abundantly clear. If you want to stay with this group, you won’t ever question my authority when confronting an enemy, or even a potential enemy, again.”

“We are five against hundreds, or thousands, who would see us dead,” Aelos said, his tone conciliatory. “Please listen to wisdom, fighter.”

Dar was still looking at Talen. Dar’s eyes smoldered, and for a tense moment there was a promise of blood in the air between the two men. Talen did not give way, holding the other man’s stare with his own.

“All right, this foolishness has gone on long enough,” Allera said, forcing herself between them, pushing both men back a half step. “Will you look at yourselves? We’re deep within the deadliest dungeon in the world, surrounded by foes, while you two... men are looking to beat each other up over who has the biggest... sword!”

Allera barely came up to their chins, and the healer looked almost fragile in comparison to the heavily armed and armored fighters. But it was the two men who looked sheepish, although they did not back down.

“Talen,” she said, turning to the captain. “We need your leadership. Shay... she’s gone, Talen. Along with Argus. Krogan. Gresham. K’varon. Davros. Loren. Brennan.” The captain stood stone-faced as she recited the names, but he didn’t turn away from her stare. She put her hand on his arm. “We need you, Talen. The living need you to stay strong.”

She turned to Dar. The fighter smirked, and it looked like it took a mustering of will for Allera to keep her cool composure. “Dar. We need you, it’s true. But you need us as well.” He opened his mouth to say something, but she continued roughshod over him before he could speak. “No, don’t offer a crack, or a comment, just shut the hells up for a moment. I know that you’re attitude is a cover for what we’re all feeling. This place scares the crap out of me, and if it doesn’t scare the crap out of you, then you’re either an idiot or insane. I don’t think you’re insane, but you’re going to end up that way if you don’t ease up, and accept that we need to work together to survive this place.”

Dar closed his mouth, and looked into the healer’s eyes for a long second. He glanced at Varo; the priest’s expression was as inscrutable as ever.

The fighter turned away without speaking.

“Let’s get out of here,” Talen said, turning and walking over to the tunnel. “You said they’d be waiting to ambush us, mercenary... so you can go first, just in case you were right.”

But there were no signs of the goblins in the large cavern; it was as if the creatures had vanished into thin air. Likewise, they saw none of the giant spiders, although the crannied ceiling above could have hidden dozens of the creatures beyond the range of their light. None of them felt much like lingering, so combining caution with speed they made their way to the small tunnel where the giant footprints they’d found yesterday terminated. The hole in the wall gave way to a twisting tunnel that was large enough to accomdate them, although it would mean crawling once again.

“Another tight squeeze,” Talen said. “I don’t see how a giant could have fit through here.”

“An ogre might have, if it really, really wanted to get to the other side,” Varo said.

“Trust in the words of the Father,” Aelos said. “We must have faith.”

“I trust in this,” Dar said, tapping his club. But the weapon was too large for the tight tunnel, so he slung it across his back, and drew out his punching dagger. “I’ll need light,” he said.

Varo touched the tip of the weapon, and cast a light orison upon it. The blade began to glow softly, until it shed as much light as a torch.

“All right, let’s get this over with,” Dar said, bending low and crawling into the tunnel.

“You might be more successful if you leave your pack,” Varo suggested.

“I can manage it,” Dar’s voice came back out to them, followed by a muffled curse.

Varo looked at Talen and shrugged, “Stubborn,” he said.

“As long as he only gets himself killed,” Talen growled, as he bent low and followed the fighter into the tunnel.

“Go ahead,” Varo said to Allera and Aelos. “I will bring up the rear, just in case Dar’s paranoia regarding our little goblin friends turns out to be justified.”

The healer and cleric nodded, and crawled after the two warriors. Varo hesitated a moment longer, looking around the cavern a last time as the shadows crept nearer with Aelos’s receeding light. Then, as if satisfied with something, he nodded and followed the others into the tight confines of the tunnel.

The tunnel was navigable but tight, ranging from four to five feet high in most places, with the occasional tight squeeze. Varo saw several places where the space had been widened deliberately; that might be confirmation that large creatures had forced their way through recently. Or it might just be an accident of the tunnel; the cleric was not an expert in such things.

Up ahead he could see the others gathered in a slight widening of the tunnel. No, not a widening; the tunnel split, with branches heading off to the left and right.

“The right fork goes up, steep but navigable,” Talen was saying. “The other way, it looks like another fork a little ways on. So three choices.”

“Any indications as to which might be the giants’ path?” Aelos asked. “Or the ‘benevolent squalor’?”

“This whole place is squalor,” Dar said. “Let me check out these other forks, see if I can see where they end up.”

“We should stay together,” Allera said.

“I’m not going far, princess,” the fighter’s voice came back. They could see the fighter clearly in the circle of light cast by his glowing weapon as he shuffled over to the far fork, about fifteen feet away.

“Anything?” Talen asked.

“They both go on for quite a ways,” he said. “There’s a lot of webs... Damn it!”

“What is it?” Allera asked.

“Wererat!” the fighter hissed. He started to fall back, but his bulging pack got caught on the low roof, hanging him up. They could hear familiar sounds that were amplified in the confined space, the sounds of bowstrings twanging. The shots were coming from both sides of the fork, focusing on the fighter cramped into the space where the passages met. An arrow glanced off of one of Dar’s greaves, caroming off the tunnel wall behind him.

“Dar, get out of there!” Varo shouted.

“I’ll poke you sons of bitches!” the fighter snarled, but his violent struggles were not helping him extricate himself from his situation. Talen started after him, his own sword shining brightly in his hand. Dar turned and yanked his pack clear of the protruding stone that it was caught on, so he did not see the new threat coming toward him. But Talen could, spotting the onrushing creature beyond Dar’s shoulder.

“Spiders!” he yelled.

“We need to help him!” Allera said. But Varo paused, and turned back toward the tunnel mouth behind them.

“What is it?” Aelos said. He thrust his staff into the passage.

The light shone brightly on the eyes of the giant spider scurrying down the tunnel toward them, and flared on the green drops of venom that dripped from its fangs. The creature moved easily down the tunnel, almost filling it with its bulk, but they could still make out the shadowy forms of several other spiders immediately behind it, eager to join in the feast.

 

[javcs]

Hah!
I was (sort of) right!

My money's on the goblins, wererats, and spiders being in league with one another.
Either that or there's a subterranean war going on. That might be occuring anyways, though.

 

[Lazybones]

Chapter 47

TIGHT SPACES


There was no time to summon help, so Varo just held his ground and waited. The spider seemed to have no difficulties with the tight confines of the passage, and shot forward as if hurled by an onager. It was a frightening, overwhelming sight, but the cleric’s expression remained calm.

As the spider reached him, he lifted his mace in a warding position. The spider shifted and stabbed its fangs down heavily on the haft of the weapon. One fang gashed Varo’s hand, and he felt a burning pain as venom splashed over the wound.

But Varo was made of stern stuff. He touched the center of the spider’s head with his other hand, releasing the power of Dagos into the creature. The spider’s body spasmed as the energies of an inflict wounds spell ravaged it, and after a few seconds, it collapsed.

There were several more hot on the heels of the first, but they were slowed by the difficulty in getting past the dead body of their companion.

Dar turned back to meet the spider’s charge. The tunnel was far too crowded to use his primary weapons, but as the first lunged to bite he punched his dagger into its head. The spider was driven back by the force of the blow, and it crumpled in a bloody heap.

A second spider erupted out of the other fork with surprising speed, catching the fighter off guard. It barreled into him, driving him up against the side of the tunnel, seizing his shoulder in its jaws and stabbing its fangs deep through his armor into his flesh.

“Dar!” Talen yelled, moving as fast as he could manage to the fighter’s aid.

But even with a spider as large as he was holding onto him, the mercenary was far from finished. “Get off me, bitch!” he yelled, his blade shining as he yanked it free and stabbed it repeatedly into the second spider’s body. The creature died messily, and Dar thrust it off him, spouting obscenities as blood oozed from the deep punctures in his shoulder.

Allera, caught in the middle between the two battling groups, yelled, “Talen... there’s more behind us!” The captain turned, and spat a curse. “Fall back on the last tunnel!” he cried. “Dar... retreat!”

But the fighter was already engaged in killing a third spider that was trying to slide past the body of the first one. The tunnel was already crowded with bodies and slick with blood, and the stink of the dead creatures was nearly overpowering.

Dar glanced over his shoulder at Talen. “Go on... I’ll be right behind you.”

Talen nodded and retreated back toward the clerics. As he reached Allera, he said, “The mercenary’s hurt... keep an eye out for him, but let out a yell if something gets past him.”

The healer nodded, and squeezed past the captain, moving down the narrow tunnel.

Talen returned to find Varo and Aelos facing a spider that was having difficulty getting past the heaped corpses of two of its fellows. Aelos was trying to keep it at bay with his staff, but it was stronger than he, and its eight legs gave it a superior leverage. Varo nodded calmly to the captain as he rushed forward to join them, as if they were casual acquaintances meeting on the street.

Talen did not hesitate, thrusting his sword deep into the spider’s head. The creature expired, sliding to the ground in a sticky mess.

“There are more behind,” Varo said, pointing at the three dead spiders. “But they are having difficulty getting past the blockage.”

“That won’t hold them for long,” Talen said.

“Dar?”

“He’s holding his own at the other end. The spiders are working with wererats, it would seem.”

The priest of Dagos nodded. “They were waiting for us, in ambush. It suggests a greater intelligence behind them.”

“What about the last tunnel?” Aelos said, poking his staff toward the ascending shaft behind them.

“Well, at least nothing is trying to kill us from that direction,” Talen said. “We’ll wait for the mercenary.”

Another spider began to cram itself through the narrow space around the piled corpses, but Talen was able to kill it before it could get free enough to strike. The tightly packed bodies made an almost solid barrier, now, but he could hear more of the creatures skittering about in the space beyond.

Allera came back up the tunnel, followed by Dar. The fighter’s dagger was covered in blood, giving an evil red cast to the light that continued to shine from the blade, but the wounds in his shoulder had closed, and he looked hale enough under the blood and spider guts that covered his armor. “What word?” Talen asked.

“There’s still more of them, but they are blocked for now,” the fighter said. “I killed another two, which may give the others pause.”

“They are mindless vermin,” Allera said.

“Perhaps, but I suspect that there is a mind behind them,” Varo amended. “If we are going to go, we should get going.”

Talen nodded. “I will take the lead. Aelos, light the way for me, if you can manage it. Allera, help him. Then Varo, and Dar, in the rear.”

“Thinking they might follow us up?” the fighter asked.

“I wouldn’t wager against it... and if this tunnel doesn’t end up going anywhere, we’ll have to fight our way back down.”

“Lead on then, general.”

Talen sheathed his sword and crawled up into the tunnel.

The ascent was steep, but the narrowness of the walls and the roughness of the stone made the climb easier than it otherwise might have been. They quickly found more signs that large creatures had come this way, including several spaces where handholds had been hacked into the stone through brute force. Dar, bringing up the rear, his dagger tucked into his belt so it could continue to shed light, reported that he could hear the sounds of spiders below them, but that nothing seemed to be pursuing them up the shaft thus far. The news did not cause them to lower their guard, however.

The passage twisted and turned back on itself, continuously ascending. At no point was it so difficult as to require rope, but they still had to help each other over several spots, with the aged priest Aelos having the most difficulty.

Finally the tunnel leveled out into a gentle rise that opened onto what looked like another larger cavern ahead. Gesturing to the others to be alert, Talen crawled forward to take a look.

He had barely stuck his head out of the tunnel when a pair of massive hands locked around his neck, dragging him forward. The fighter tried to draw his sword, but his fingers had barely closed around the hilt when he was flung bodily into the center of the open space. Landing hard on the flat stone, a little stunned by the rough treatment, he nevertheless was able to quickly stagger to his feet and whip his magical weapon from its scabbard.

The bright glow of the sword revealed a half-dozen ogres standing in a ring around him, looking down at him with hungry expressions.

 

[Rhun]

Everytime that I start to think that the DBs have caught a break, they end up in a much worse situation.

Great work, LB. Can't wait to see how this goes.

 

[Richard Rawen]

Loving the action, and the conflict. You keep dropping just enough hints about Varo's involvement to keep me wondering, though I do not see how he could have arranged this, nor do I particularly understand why.

Then again, I wouldn't want to get it... it's much more fun wondering =-)

Great writing as usual LB, thanks for keeping my addiction well fed through the holidays

 

[Lazybones]

Thanks for the kudos, guys, as always your posts are greatly appreciated.

This week I will post on a M-Tu-Th-F schedule.

* * * * *

Chapter 48

PUNCHING BAG


“Oh, crap...” Talen said.

The nearest ogre reached for him. The fighter showed the creature the error of that strategy, as his blade snicked across his forearm, opening a deep bleeding gash. The ogre snarled and drew back, but its fellows took the opportunity to unleash a world of hurt upon the surrounded fighter.

Pain exploded in his back as a club smashed across his shoulder blades. He staggered forward and nearly fell, only to see another club coming straight for his face. He hurled himself aside, narrowly avoding the powerful swing, only to be hit again by a third ogre that slammed its weapon into his left arm. Talen heard a loud snap, and the arm went limp. He was too overwhelmed to feel pain, but he knew that it was coming, bringing with it an avalanche of agony.

Assuming he lived long enough to feel it.

Aelos crawled forward and emerged from the tunnel in time to see the ogre standing beside the opening hurl Talen out into the room. There were ogres everywhere, but the cleric bravely fired a beam of searing light into the face of the first as it turned back toward him. The ogre roared in pain as the holy energies blasted it, but it had more than enough fight in it to reach down and seize the cleric, dragging him out into the room. It rolled him toward another ogre, which lifted its club to crush the hapless priest’s skull.

Allera emerged from the tunnel mouth to witness a scene of utter chaos and destruction, with her companions on the receiving end. Her breath froze in her throat as she saw an ogre slam the head of its club down toward Aelos’s head. The cleric barely rolled out of the way, although the club crushed his right hand, the one holding his staff, and he screamed in agony as the bones in his hand were pulverized. Reaching out with his left hand, the cleric grabbed onto the ogre’s ankle. Allera was surprised to see the ogre cry out and stagger backward, and became even more surprised when it fell to the ground.

But there were more immediate concerns to deal with, including the ogre that loomed over her. As it turned to face her, she could see the burns on its face from Aelos’s searing light. But even worse, behind it she saw Talen getting smothered by a ring of at least six other ogres. As she watched, unable to intervene, an ogre smashed him in the arm, spinning him around into the waiting blow of another. The fighter cried out, and collapsed in a mangled heap.

Allera had known fear many times since coming to Rappan Athuk, but overlying those surges of panic and terror lay a much deeper commitment. She was a healer, and those she cared about were suffering. Her power came at her call, filled her. Not even looking at the ogre standing above her, she started walking toward Talen.

The ogre lifted its club to crush the woman, but before it could strike, it hesitated. It looked at her as she passed, a bewildered look on its face.

It was still looking after her when Dar exploded from the tunnel, and stabbed his punching dagger deep into its back.

The main group of ogres, cruel and evil things, laughed at the bloodied mess of battered flesh and broken bones that lay on the ground between them. But they were also practical creatures as well, and several of them were quick to reach for the downed fighter, eager to get dibs both on loot, and choice bits of human flesh.

But as the first grabbed onto Talen’s ankle, it felt a strange confusion fall over it. It looked up at another ogre that was picking up the downed man’s glowing sword.

A rage filled it. The second ogre looked at its kin in surprise, which became confused alarm as the first lifted its club, and brought it down on the other’s head in a powerful two-handed blow.

The ring of ogres exploded into chaos as the ogres started fighting amongst themselves, hurling powerful body-crushing blows back and forth. Even those that had not succumbed to Varo’s confusion were drawn in to the melee, which quickly absorbed the full attention of all six of the ogres.

Varo had become visible with the casting of his spell, but the ogre guarding the tunnel entrance had its own problems. It bashed Dar with its club, but the blow seemed to only drive him to a greater intensity. Taking up his own club, the fighter smashed the ogre’s left knee, knocking it to the ground. The ogre screamed and tried to get up, only to take another hit to the side of its skull that put it down for good.

Dar looked up to see Allera walk calmly into the middle of the raging melee in the middle of the room.

“What in the hells is she doing!” he said to nobody in particular, rushing after her.

One of the ogres broke away from the melee in the center of the room, its face bloody where a blow had broken its nose. It ignored the slender woman walking by, focusing instead on the charging warrior carrying a club almost as big as its own. Varo’s spell clouded its mind with rage, and it rushed to meet its foe, lifting its club to strike.

Allera dodged between a pair of raging ogres that were raining down blows on each other. Another saw her and attacked, the confusion overwhelming the protective power of her sanctuary spell. She leapt forward, taking a glancing hit that nevertheless sent an explosion of pain through her side. Two ribs broken, she thought reflexively. She looked up and saw the ogre coming forward to finish the job, only to stagger back as another one brought its club down across its shoulders, knocking it to its knees.

Allera crawled forward to where Talen lay, forgotten in the chaos of the melee. A quick check revealed that the fighter still breathed, but was very close to death. She did not hold anything back, opening a torrent of healing power into him. The fighter stiffened, sucked in a breath, and opened his eyes wide. They focused on Allera, then shifted to the space over her shoulder.

“Allera... look out!”

The charging ogre smashed Dar in the chest with enough force that the fighter thought he could feel his insides being shuffled around to new positions. He staggered past the creature, his own counterattack ruined and feeble, barely enough to draw a grunt from the giant. The ogre lifted its club to finish off the battered human. Trying to draw a breath into his battered lungs, Dar brought the club up in what was an admittedly hopeless attempt to parry.

But the blow did not land. Looking up, the fighter saw a glowing torch smash into the ogre from behind. The ogre, more irritated than injured, turned around. It saw the real threat too late to respond.

“Embrace the oblivion of Dagos,” Varo said, touching the ogre’s side, releasing an inflict serious wounds into it.

As the ogre fell, Varo came to help Dar, who looked ready to charge into the melee, despite the fact that he seemed only a few steps from collapsing himself. There were still four ogres left standing, one of them waving around Talen’s magical sword. “Let the spell finish its work,” the cleric said, touching the gold icon at his throat as he cast a healing spell to aid the battered fighter. “The ogres are confused right now, but will attack anything that provokes them.”

“But Allera went into there.”

“Yes, after the captain. She is tougher than she looks, and in any case you will do her no help by getting put down as soon as you enter the nearest ogre’s reach.”

“Damn it,” Dar said, breaking away from Varo, even as the cleric’s cure serious wounds took effect. Lifting his club, he rushed toward the nearest ogre.

As he ran, he felt a familiar soothing energy pulse through him. The healer was nowhere to be seen, but the feeling was unmistakable, easing his wounds, touching him in a way that Varo’s more bracing healing had not. He came up behind the ogre holding Talen’s sword. The creature was wrestling with another ogre for the weapon, so it did not see the fighter until it was too late. Putting all his strength behind the swing, he brought his club around in an arc that intersected with the base of the ogre’s spine. With a loud snap as its back was broken, the ogre screamed and toppled, dragging the other one down with it.

With the ogres out of the way, Dar could see Talen standing beyond them, his dagger stained bright red with ogre blood that covered his arm up to his elbow. The captain looked wild and battered, swaying back and forth. He stood astride Allera, who was conscious, despite the fact that the left side of her face was covered with blood.

“What took you so long?” the captain said, his words thick and slurred. Allera touched his leg, ignoring her own grievous wounds as she poured more positive energy into Talen’s battered frame. He’d taken a total of seven hits from the ogres, enough to kill him several times over, and only Allera’s presence had kept him standing.

That and the confusion that still muddled the minds of the surviving ogres. Even as Dar finished off the one that had been dragged down to the ground in the death-grip of its fellow, the last two remaining beasts seemed to realize that there was a greater threat present here than each other. They turned from attacking each other to attack Talen and Dar with their clubs. Dar felt all of the pain of his wounds explode back alive again as the ogre smashed him in almost the exact same spot as its comrade had a few seconds before. Talen, infused with new life by Allera’s touch, likewise was staggered as the other ogre’s club clipped his body, smashing ribs that had been healed and broken at least twice already. Somehow, defying the basic realities of the human body, he remained standing. But both men were in little shape to effectively counterattack.

Yet somehow, they did. Dar thrust his club up into the ogre’s groin, drawing a fearsome cry of rage and pain from it. Talen’s dagger was almost pitiful against the sheer size of the ogre, but when he buried it to the hilt in the ogre’s thigh, it certainly noticed.

All four of the combatants, the two remaining ogres and the human fighters, were all barely standing now, covered in bloody wounds and ugly bruises, and in even worse shape inside. Talen’s foe lifted a meaty paw to grab the fighter’s head, but before it could get a grip, Aelos’s spiritual weapon smashed into its head. The divine weapon struck with the force of a real club, and the ogre fell back, collapsing with a ground-shaking impact as all six hundred pounds of it hit the floor.

Dar had no such assistance as he and the ogre came at each other for a final time. Dar struck just a heartbeat ahead of his foe, hitting its elbow with his club, and sending its club flying as the bones of its arm shattered. The ogre went down, but as it did its other forearm smacked hard into the fighter’s face. Dar tried to keep his footing, but his body had taken just too much abuse. As the last ogre fell, he staggered a few steps away, looked up at Varo, and collapsed into unconsciousness.

 

[Richard Rawen]

WOW . . . I would have loved to have participated in that fight . . . from the players perspective that is
Makes "pro" wrestling sound like a sandlot scuffle, another great fight LB!

 

[Lazybones]

WOW . . . I would have loved to have participated in that fight . . . from the players perspective that is
Makes "pro" wrestling sound like a sandlot scuffle, another great fight LB!

Heh, that was one of those scenes where I felt physically tired after writing it.

* * * * *

Chapter 49

TO THE VICTOR...


Dar wasn’t out for long, and his transition back to awareness was anything but pleasant.

“Damn it... ow! Gods, that hurts!”

“Keep yourself still. You have been grievously injured, and I must make adjustments to your body to maximize the effectiveness of my art. If you will wait for just a few moments, the healing will take its course, and the pain will ease.”

Blinking, Dar looked up at Varo, who was kneeling beside him. The dead bodies of ogres were sprawled all around, forming a low rampart around them.

“Not who you hoped to see, perhaps?” Varo asked quietly. “She is helping Talen; the captain was in little better shape than you. But it looks like all of us will survive yet another of Rappan Athuk’s little trials—this time.”

“Aelos?” Dar said, trying to pull himself up into a sitting position, and regretting it almost at once. Varo’s healing magic worked, but it lacked the sheer... impact of Allera’s touch.

“Drink this,” Varo said, offering him a potion—one of the ones they’d found in the ghoul cache on the level above. Dar drained the liquid in a single gulp; it tasted terrible, but the familiar effects of magical healing followed almost at once. “The priest of the Father suffered a severely broken hand, but it was nothing that couldn’t be fixed. The Most Exalted Lord has already attended to his servant’s injuries, I believe. Aelos is currently keeping an eye out for any other attackers that might have been drawn to the nosie of the fight.”

“How many, altogether?” Dar said, letting the cleric help him up. He could see Talen and Allera about ten feet away, the healer offering similar assistance to the injured captain. As if feeling the weight of his stare, she glanced up at him briefly, then turned to continue helping the battered soldier.

“Eight. The dungeon is replete with the creatures, it would seem.”

“What did you do to them?”

“The spell is called confusion,” Varo said.

“Why didn’t you use it on the first batch of ogres we fought? Might have come in handy.”

“I lacked the ability to channel that much of Dagos’s power, when we entered Rappan Athuk,” the cleric explained. “Like you, my skills and abilities have grown since we have been in this place.”

“A proving ground, I think you called it,” Dar said, his tone suddenly wary. But he was distracted by the sound of someone approaching.

“Are you all right?” Allera said, coming over to them. She had healed her own injuries, but traces of hastily-wiped blood were still visible on her cheek and and neck.

“A little the worse for wear, but I’ll live.”

“If you’ll execuse me, I wish to attend to something before we depart,” Varo said, turning and walking away from them.

“There is something disquieting about that man,” Allera said, watching him leave.

“He’s an odd one, no doubt, but he’s good in a fight,” Dar said. He slid off his pack, grimacing as the movement awakened new pains in his body. She started toward him as soon as he betrayed feeling pain, but he waved her off with a hand. “I’m fine,” he insisted. “Varo may not be as gentle as you are, but he gets the job done.”

She looked at him critically. “By the gods, you do seem to be able to take a beating.”

“I get plenty of practice,” Dar said, cracking his back. “How’s the captain?”

They looked over at where Talen was recovering his sword from where one of the ogres had dropped it. Allera had healed him, but he still looked like a mess, with his clothes torn and soiled, his shifting black armor dull with accumulated blood and dirt. He looked like a man who’d been crawling around through tunnels, battled giant spiders, and then been pounded several times to within an inch of his life by a mob of bloodthirsty giants.

“He will be fine... physically, at least,” Allera said, softly.

“What you did... it was crazy,” Dar said. “Walking into the melee like that.”

She turned back to him. “Talen was down. I did what I had to do,” she said. “I don’t suppose you would understand that.”

They shared a look that lasted for several seconds, then Dar bent down and recovered his pack. “No, I suppose not,” he finally said.

He walked over to where Varo had been checking the bodies of the ogres. Each of them had carried a bulging sack which he was in the process of searching as the fighter walked up. “Anything good?” Dar asked.

The cleric held up a wheel of cheese that the fighter could clearly smell from five feet away, even over the stench of dead ogres. “Depends on how you define ‘good’, for the most part,” the cleric said. “But I have detected several magical auras, and considerable mundane treasures that might interest you, assuming that you can find additional space to carry them.” He looked meaningfully at the fighter’s bulging pack, already laden with extra weapons and a considerable weight of gold ore.

“You let me worry about that, my friend,” the fighter said, grabbing the nearest sack.

“We should get moving,” Talen said, coming over to them. “Those spiders, or the wererats, may follow us up here at any moment.”

“There are several passages that look like they might lead elsewhere,” Aelos said, joining them from where he’d been investigating the far side of the cavern. “They are tight, but at least it looks like more crawling isn’t necessary for once.” The cleric looked pale, but his right hand seemed to be more or less intact.

“This won’t take long,” Dar said, admiring a small-sized silver helmet with a garnet set upon the brow. That ended up in his pack, which was already bulging with more material than it had been intended to carry.

“It is not a trivial exercise, captain,” Varo added. “We have already found numerous magical items in the dungeon that have greatly added to our capabilities. If these ogres had any items that may enhance our chances for survival, it would be foolish to leave them.”

“All right then, but quickly,” Talen said, recognizing the logic of the cleric’s statement.

In and among some disgusting miscellany—including the corpses of at least two adventurers—they found an assortment of valuable items. Varo’s detect magic allowed them to sort out the items that possessed magical auras. Those included a longsword, half a dozen arrows in a leather quiver, three potions in crystal vials, a short, battered crowbar of lusterless gray metal, an arcane scroll in an ivory case, a spellbook that was almost entirely ruined by fire, a set of boots with a bright green trim, and a clerical mantle that bore the sigil of Orcus.

“Wow, there’s a lot of stuff here,” Dar said, once it had all been gathered together. The fighter had helped himself to several other jeweled items and some gold pieces, but there was still a fairly large heap of less valuable items, including some masterwork weapons and armor, that they could not carry with them.

“Ill-gotten wealth,” Aelos said. But he accepted three small metal flasks from Varo.

“I believe that these contain blessed water,” Varo said. “It would seem to be most appropriate that you carry them.”

Aelos nodded and put the flasks in his pouch.

Dar drew the longsword and admired its flawless blade. “Elven make, if I don’t miss my guess,” he said. He tested the blade with a bit of leather throng, and found it to be razor-sharp. He started to fit the scabbard to his swordbelt, but hesitated. For a moment, he looked down at the sword already there, part of its blade visible through the battered and ancient scabbard. He’d lost the sword that had originally come with that scabbard, absorbed by the dung monster. The marshal’s sword, Valor, was ill-suited to him; Varo had told him that the weapon was aligned to Law, and each time he had used it, it had taken something from him, drawing a piece of his own essence into it.

Dar shook his head as if to clear it. It was just a sword. And in any case, he was finding that he preferred the big club he’d been using, and he had a few other weapons still in reserve.

Before he had to use Valor again.

“You need a secondary weapon, captain,” he said, coming over to Talen. “That dagger won’t do you well enough, if you lose your blade again. And there might be situations where you don’t need that beacon of a blade alerting every foe within a league that we’re coming.”

The captain’s expression betrayed suspicion for a moment, but then he nodded. “Thanks,” he said, taking the elven blade.

The group was rapidly preparing to depart. None of them could use the arcane items, so Varo took them for safekeeping. The cleric also took the other assorted items that radiated magic, at least until they had more time to probe their function later. Allera had found a ceramic pot containing antitoxin, which she’d added to her own healing kit. Also notable were some flasks that sloshed with lamp oil.

“Those will be useful if we encounter those trolls again,” Talen said, dividing the flasks out between them.

Dar took the quiver with the magical arrows, and found that the space inside the leather case was far roomier than what it looked able to hold from the outside, with slots that could hold hundreds of arrows.

“Magic,” he said, slinging the case over his shoulder without further reflection. His gaze lingered on the heap of discarded treasure, which contained armor and weapons that would have been worth a month’s pay, if not more. The others had already gathered by the mouth of one of the narrow passages on the far side of the room.

“You’re already carrying a small fortune, mercenary,” Talen said. “Let’s get going.”

They chose the larger of the two crevices, which split into two passages at its end. Talen led them into the left fork, which appeared to be slightly wider, but as they pressed onward it rapidly narrowed into a tight squeeze that forced them to move ahead in single file, their bodies turned sideways. Dar, bringing up the rear, had to take off his pack and drag it after him. The uneven ceiling was a good eight feet above them, so Aelos was able to hold his staff aloft, clearly illuminating the way ahead. Not that they could see that far; the rough passage twisted and turned, limiting how far ahead they could see. As they pressed onward, they could smell an ugly odor on the air that grew stronger as they continued, until it overpowered even the stench of death and blood that clung to each of them. It was the heady smell of rot and decay, a smell that Varo and Dar were familiar with from the ghoul chamber in the complex above.

Talen looked back at Aelos, who was just behind him. The cleric nodded and lifted his staff high, grasping his holy symbol with his other hand. The captain, holding his new elvish sword, turned and continued to probe forward.

“This is getting tight,” Dar huffed, as his armored torso snagged where the gap between the irregular stone walls of the passage narrowed to barely two feet. “If something jumps us in here, we’re screwed.”

Allera, just ahead, looked back at him, and lifted her finger to her lips.

“Talen says there’s another larger cavern up ahead,” Varo’s voice came back to them. “Be ready...”

As Talen entered the chamber, Aelos’s light revealed it to be another irregular cavern. The place was shaped like a giant “X”, with narrowing arms that included numerous tight crevices like the one they had just traveled. The cavern was more spacious at the center of the “X”, although the contents of the room made it seem smaller than it was.

The place was crowded with heaps of refuse. The identity of the contents of the noisome heaps were evident from the foul odors that dominated this place. Scattered among the heaps of rotting organic material, the light glinted off of half-buried metal, or the dirty white of old bones. Small insects were everywhere, and Talen’s boots crackled on the carapaces of tiny beetles as he left the passage.

“This place smells similar to a chamber we encountered above,” Varo said, as he followed Aelos warily out of the passage. “The denizen of that place was an indestructible creature that we called the ‘dung monster’. I would recommend that we...”

But before he could offer his suggestion, the nearest rubbish heap stirred. A long tendril emerged from the mass, twisting around Talen and lifting him off his feet before he or his companions could react.

 

[Brogarn]

EEP! Trash monster from Star Wars!!

 

[jfaller]

“A proving ground, I think you called it,” Dar said, his tone suddenly wary.

Hmmmm.... Is this why Varo is impeding escape? Are we getting a little more insight into the enigmatic cleric of Dagos? He creeps me out. I feel as if there's this nasty oily slimy snake just below his calm exterior, waiting for the right moment to strike. I'd love to be wrong of course and have him turn out to just be "missunderstood", struggling to do the "right" thing.

But I seriously have my doubts.