Nightbreeze
First Post
Muahahah, there shall be only one possible warlord!!!
Ahem...ok, I'm controlling myself now.
Ahem...ok, I'm controlling myself now.
The Doomed Bastards: Reckoning (story complete)
Lazybones
Adventurer
Chapter 248
THE FINAL TEMPLE
“All right,” Talen whispered. “This is it.”
Allera, Nelan, and Alderis began casting their spells, setting various protective wards over themselves and the other members of the party. Honoratius had already left them, but Letellia refreshed her mage armor, and then layered a shield upon it.
Dar crept up to the graven double doors. Talen shot him a warning glance, but the fighter merely took up a ready position near the portals, Valor gleaming blue off the light of their torches. Shay had already listened at the stone doors, but they already knew that they were very thick, and in any case, undead tended to be silent.
“Think they know we’re coming?” Dar whispered across to her.
Shay did not respond, but her hands tightened around the haft of her spear.
Getting here had been easy, almost too easy. They’d had to retrace their steps back up to the upper levels, but the dungeon had been oddly empty. Even the usual background fauna of dire rats and vermin had been absent. It was as if the entire place had been cleansed of life.
That was not entirely true, of course. They did encounter an umber hulk in the cavern of the purple worms, but the creature died before it could even get close enough to use its confusing gaze attack. Their long-distance firepower had been greatly augmented by the two arcanists in the group, and given warning, there were few creatures that could stand up against them. Perhaps the other mundane denizens of the dungeon recognized that this group was in no mood to trifle with wandering monsters, and remained hidden until they passed.
They had returned to the first level, and once more used divine magic to enable them to walk upon the river that gave access to the level housing the second temple. The last time they had come that way they had been driven to rescue Allera from the hands of the cult of Orcus. They had fought their way through ambushes laid by displacer beasts and minotaurs, but the battle in the temple had cost them the lives of the cleric Marcus Cornelius Valus and the arcanist Theodorus Vitus Zosimos.
Each of them felt a sudden surge of magical power, a tingle that accompanied a sense of speed and vitality. That was the signal for their attack, Alderis’s haste spell. They were all heavily protected by multiple magical effects, warded against death magic and surrounded by a magic circle against evil that emanated from Nelan. “All right, move out!” Talen hissed, drawing Beatus Incendia and invoking its flame.
Dar and Shay seized the doors and pulled, drawing the heavy stone slabs slowly open. A stale odor of decay greeted them, but other than that, the cavernous temple complex appeared to be empty. Nelan’s daylight drove back the darkness beyond, revealing the interior of the temple all of the way to the massive pentagram etched into the floor in the center of the chamber. They could just see the hazy outline of the stone statue and altar on a raised dais in the center of that unholy design.
“Forward,” Talen said. “Watch for another ambush.”
The companions moved slowly ahead, checking and double-checking every shadowy corner. Nelan’s brilliant magical light continued to reveal more of the room as they pushed ahead. They could see the scorch marks that still marked spots on the floor and walls where their fireballs had struck, on earlier visits. One corner on the edge of the pentagram still showed the damage where a glabrezu’s claws had clipped it; bits of stone were still scattered about under the deep gauges in the stone. Shay’s eyes lingered on that bit of destruction, and she shuddered, remembering how close they had come to disaster on that day.
As they approached the pentagram, they could start to see into the side-wings that extended out to either side of the central altar-space. Great stone pools, almost thirty feet across, were situated in each of those adjacent chambers. They held blood, kept hot and bubbling through some dark magic inherent in this place. Each was ringed by a low stone barrier, crusted with a thick layer of dried crimson. The temple as a whole was shaped like a huge cross, and while it lacked the incredible sense of vastness of the third temple, the second was actually a bit longer, almost three hundred feet from the entrance to the far wall.
They had almost reached the outer edge of the unholy circle when the each heard a faint but familiar-sounding clatter. Shay held up her hand in warning, and they all stopped.
“Here we go,” Dar muttered.
“Show yourselves, servants of the Demon!” Talen yelled. His voice echoed off the walls of the temple.
“There!” Mehlaraine said, gesturing with her rapier. The others saw the movement where the elven duelist indicated, as dark figures materialized in the shadows from the far side of the temple, beyond the stone altar and statue of Orcus. The lumbering forms became distinct as they entered the radius of their light. They were skeletons, but it was instantly obvious that their ancestry was not human. Each stood over seven feet tall, and while their bodies were humanoid, their skulls were huge and broad, and mounted with a pair of long, outstretched horns that tapered to sharp points. Their bones were a dull black, like iron, and the ground trembled at their coming.
Those among the companions who were veterans of Rappan Athuk recognized the creatures at once. “Black skeletons,” Allera said, her expression one of dismay. The monsters formed two long rows that stretched across the full width of the temple, fifteen of them in all.
Talen stepped forward, Beatus Incendia held high above his head, its light reflecting brilliantly off the exposed metal plates of his armor and his magical shield. “Hit them with everything you have!” the knight shouted, his stentorian rally cry echoing through the chamber, bolstering the morale of his companions.
Those companions complied with his command, unleashing a barrage of spells and weapons at the closing skeletons. A flame strike blasted down from Nelan, catching three of the skeletons in the burning column. A moment later a pair of explosions rocked the enemy line, as Alderis and Letellia hit them with fireballs from their wands. But the skeletons were widely spaced, their lines stretching across the entire ninety-foot width of the temple, and there was a limit to how many each could engulf in the forty-foot spread of each fireball. The two arcanists spaced their blasts expertly, bracketing the point of impact of Nelan’s flame strike. The ones in the center of the line were hit with a lot of flame, and as the smoke cleared several of the creatures staggered into view, their bones melting from the intense heat. But only one had fallen in that initial barrage, and those at the ends of the lines, approaching along the walls, were not affected at all.
Their archers fired several shafts into the enemy ranks, but the skeletons were virtually immune to even magical arrows, and the shots from Selanthas and Shay had little effect. Dar slid Valor into its scabbard and unlimbered his huge greatclub. The fighter would have charged to meet the enemy rush, but Talen forestalled him, indicating Alderis. The elf was casting again, preparing his repulsion spell, to kill the enemy charge before the skeletons could reach them. The undead lines were drawing nearer, but they had been over a hundred feet away when Nelan’s daylight had revealed them, and they were too far yet to get to them before Alderis could finish his spell.
It was at that moment that the pincers of the ambush snapped shut around them.
Shay was the only one to spot the slight shimmer in the air to their left, beyond one of the huge stone fonts in the deep side-chamber that flanked the great altar. But the scout did not have time to shout a warning as a bolt of twisting black energy flared from beyond the font, arcing across the chamber. It caught Letellia in the side, striking just behind the leading edge of her shield, and forked to hit both Nelan and Alderis. All three of them were caught up like rag dolls and hurled bodily back across the room, bouncing hard on the cold stone floor and rolling to a rough stop some twenty feet from where they had been standing.
The attack parted the cloak of invisibility that had concealed Zafir Navev, and the undead warlock stood there with a look of grim satisfaction on his features, tendrils of black energy rising from his fingers.
The eldritch blast had one saving grace for its victims; they were spared the second part of the ambush a moment later as the goblin cleric Tribitz stepped out from behind the pool on the opposite side of the chamber, in the other foyer. The goblin cleric looked gaunt and shriveled within his armor; clearly the days since it had last confronted the party in its sanctum had not been kind to the creature. But the monster that had betrayed its own people to gruesome deaths upon the altars of Orcus clearly had not lost any of its terrible power. It croaked an invocation to its dread god, and a flame strike came crashing down, blasting Dar, Talen, and Allera. Only Shay was able to escape the full power of the spell, diving aside as the deadly column poured down upon her friends. The others, caught unawares, were scoured mercilessly by the hungry flames and the unholy energies that infused them.
The cleric, heaving with a swell of religious ecstacy, pointed and uttered a command. A hezrou demon, brought to the Prime by Tribtiz’s planar ally spell, materialized on cue, its huge jaws slavering with anticipation as it loomed over the three prone spellcasters, the first course at the buffet.
Meanwhile, with nothing left to oppose them, the fourteen black minotaur skeletons charged forward, sweeping around the huge statue of Orcus to descend upon the burned and battered line, now in disarray, that faced them.
THE FINAL TEMPLE
“All right,” Talen whispered. “This is it.”
Allera, Nelan, and Alderis began casting their spells, setting various protective wards over themselves and the other members of the party. Honoratius had already left them, but Letellia refreshed her mage armor, and then layered a shield upon it.
Dar crept up to the graven double doors. Talen shot him a warning glance, but the fighter merely took up a ready position near the portals, Valor gleaming blue off the light of their torches. Shay had already listened at the stone doors, but they already knew that they were very thick, and in any case, undead tended to be silent.
“Think they know we’re coming?” Dar whispered across to her.
Shay did not respond, but her hands tightened around the haft of her spear.
Getting here had been easy, almost too easy. They’d had to retrace their steps back up to the upper levels, but the dungeon had been oddly empty. Even the usual background fauna of dire rats and vermin had been absent. It was as if the entire place had been cleansed of life.
That was not entirely true, of course. They did encounter an umber hulk in the cavern of the purple worms, but the creature died before it could even get close enough to use its confusing gaze attack. Their long-distance firepower had been greatly augmented by the two arcanists in the group, and given warning, there were few creatures that could stand up against them. Perhaps the other mundane denizens of the dungeon recognized that this group was in no mood to trifle with wandering monsters, and remained hidden until they passed.
They had returned to the first level, and once more used divine magic to enable them to walk upon the river that gave access to the level housing the second temple. The last time they had come that way they had been driven to rescue Allera from the hands of the cult of Orcus. They had fought their way through ambushes laid by displacer beasts and minotaurs, but the battle in the temple had cost them the lives of the cleric Marcus Cornelius Valus and the arcanist Theodorus Vitus Zosimos.
Each of them felt a sudden surge of magical power, a tingle that accompanied a sense of speed and vitality. That was the signal for their attack, Alderis’s haste spell. They were all heavily protected by multiple magical effects, warded against death magic and surrounded by a magic circle against evil that emanated from Nelan. “All right, move out!” Talen hissed, drawing Beatus Incendia and invoking its flame.
Dar and Shay seized the doors and pulled, drawing the heavy stone slabs slowly open. A stale odor of decay greeted them, but other than that, the cavernous temple complex appeared to be empty. Nelan’s daylight drove back the darkness beyond, revealing the interior of the temple all of the way to the massive pentagram etched into the floor in the center of the chamber. They could just see the hazy outline of the stone statue and altar on a raised dais in the center of that unholy design.
“Forward,” Talen said. “Watch for another ambush.”
The companions moved slowly ahead, checking and double-checking every shadowy corner. Nelan’s brilliant magical light continued to reveal more of the room as they pushed ahead. They could see the scorch marks that still marked spots on the floor and walls where their fireballs had struck, on earlier visits. One corner on the edge of the pentagram still showed the damage where a glabrezu’s claws had clipped it; bits of stone were still scattered about under the deep gauges in the stone. Shay’s eyes lingered on that bit of destruction, and she shuddered, remembering how close they had come to disaster on that day.
As they approached the pentagram, they could start to see into the side-wings that extended out to either side of the central altar-space. Great stone pools, almost thirty feet across, were situated in each of those adjacent chambers. They held blood, kept hot and bubbling through some dark magic inherent in this place. Each was ringed by a low stone barrier, crusted with a thick layer of dried crimson. The temple as a whole was shaped like a huge cross, and while it lacked the incredible sense of vastness of the third temple, the second was actually a bit longer, almost three hundred feet from the entrance to the far wall.
They had almost reached the outer edge of the unholy circle when the each heard a faint but familiar-sounding clatter. Shay held up her hand in warning, and they all stopped.
“Here we go,” Dar muttered.
“Show yourselves, servants of the Demon!” Talen yelled. His voice echoed off the walls of the temple.
“There!” Mehlaraine said, gesturing with her rapier. The others saw the movement where the elven duelist indicated, as dark figures materialized in the shadows from the far side of the temple, beyond the stone altar and statue of Orcus. The lumbering forms became distinct as they entered the radius of their light. They were skeletons, but it was instantly obvious that their ancestry was not human. Each stood over seven feet tall, and while their bodies were humanoid, their skulls were huge and broad, and mounted with a pair of long, outstretched horns that tapered to sharp points. Their bones were a dull black, like iron, and the ground trembled at their coming.
Those among the companions who were veterans of Rappan Athuk recognized the creatures at once. “Black skeletons,” Allera said, her expression one of dismay. The monsters formed two long rows that stretched across the full width of the temple, fifteen of them in all.
Talen stepped forward, Beatus Incendia held high above his head, its light reflecting brilliantly off the exposed metal plates of his armor and his magical shield. “Hit them with everything you have!” the knight shouted, his stentorian rally cry echoing through the chamber, bolstering the morale of his companions.
Those companions complied with his command, unleashing a barrage of spells and weapons at the closing skeletons. A flame strike blasted down from Nelan, catching three of the skeletons in the burning column. A moment later a pair of explosions rocked the enemy line, as Alderis and Letellia hit them with fireballs from their wands. But the skeletons were widely spaced, their lines stretching across the entire ninety-foot width of the temple, and there was a limit to how many each could engulf in the forty-foot spread of each fireball. The two arcanists spaced their blasts expertly, bracketing the point of impact of Nelan’s flame strike. The ones in the center of the line were hit with a lot of flame, and as the smoke cleared several of the creatures staggered into view, their bones melting from the intense heat. But only one had fallen in that initial barrage, and those at the ends of the lines, approaching along the walls, were not affected at all.
Their archers fired several shafts into the enemy ranks, but the skeletons were virtually immune to even magical arrows, and the shots from Selanthas and Shay had little effect. Dar slid Valor into its scabbard and unlimbered his huge greatclub. The fighter would have charged to meet the enemy rush, but Talen forestalled him, indicating Alderis. The elf was casting again, preparing his repulsion spell, to kill the enemy charge before the skeletons could reach them. The undead lines were drawing nearer, but they had been over a hundred feet away when Nelan’s daylight had revealed them, and they were too far yet to get to them before Alderis could finish his spell.
It was at that moment that the pincers of the ambush snapped shut around them.
Shay was the only one to spot the slight shimmer in the air to their left, beyond one of the huge stone fonts in the deep side-chamber that flanked the great altar. But the scout did not have time to shout a warning as a bolt of twisting black energy flared from beyond the font, arcing across the chamber. It caught Letellia in the side, striking just behind the leading edge of her shield, and forked to hit both Nelan and Alderis. All three of them were caught up like rag dolls and hurled bodily back across the room, bouncing hard on the cold stone floor and rolling to a rough stop some twenty feet from where they had been standing.
The attack parted the cloak of invisibility that had concealed Zafir Navev, and the undead warlock stood there with a look of grim satisfaction on his features, tendrils of black energy rising from his fingers.
The eldritch blast had one saving grace for its victims; they were spared the second part of the ambush a moment later as the goblin cleric Tribitz stepped out from behind the pool on the opposite side of the chamber, in the other foyer. The goblin cleric looked gaunt and shriveled within his armor; clearly the days since it had last confronted the party in its sanctum had not been kind to the creature. But the monster that had betrayed its own people to gruesome deaths upon the altars of Orcus clearly had not lost any of its terrible power. It croaked an invocation to its dread god, and a flame strike came crashing down, blasting Dar, Talen, and Allera. Only Shay was able to escape the full power of the spell, diving aside as the deadly column poured down upon her friends. The others, caught unawares, were scoured mercilessly by the hungry flames and the unholy energies that infused them.
The cleric, heaving with a swell of religious ecstacy, pointed and uttered a command. A hezrou demon, brought to the Prime by Tribtiz’s planar ally spell, materialized on cue, its huge jaws slavering with anticipation as it loomed over the three prone spellcasters, the first course at the buffet.
Meanwhile, with nothing left to oppose them, the fourteen black minotaur skeletons charged forward, sweeping around the huge statue of Orcus to descend upon the burned and battered line, now in disarray, that faced them.
Lazybones
Adventurer
Oh, don't worry; it gets worse.Ximix said:
* * * * *
Chapter 249
CARNAGE
Talen shouted commands to his troops, but his companions were veterans all, and they were already moving to face the new and deadly threats that confronted them.
Shay split off to the left, her magical boots augmenting her own considerable speed as she charged toward Navev. She was tensed, ready to avoid another eldritch blast, but the warlock seemed unconcerned, his expression almost bemused as she approached the far edge of the pool.
That smug expression did betray some surprise, however, as instead of heading around the font, she fell into a crouch and sprang over it. The basin was almost thirty feet across, but Shay’s leap carried her high over it, and the point of her spear was aimed directly at the dead warlock’s heart as she reached the apogee of her leap and came diving down toward him.
Mehlaraine and Selanthas went the other way, rushing to protect their fallen companions from the hezrou demon. The elf archer fired off a barrage of shots at the goblin cleric, scoring two direct hits despite the cover provided by the stone basin. Tribitz snarled but ignored the missiles that blasted him with electrical energy; it suffered, but its heavy armor protected it from serious damage.
Mehlaraine, meanwhile, charged forward to block the hezrou, the lithe elf completely dominated by the huge, hulking figure of the toad-demon.
Dar and Talen exchanged a look and formed a rough line to face the black skeleton charge. There was no way that the two of them could stop all of the creatures, and several simply lumbered past them, turning their unprotected flanks and heading for the others behind. But the two fighters made their presence felt, as a violent exchange of blows sounded loudly through the chamber. Talen smashed Beatus Incendia across the body of a fire-damaged skeleton, crushing a half-dozen ribs and driving the undead monster back through the sheer ferocity of his assault. The knight was immediately swarmed by another four skeletons, but his heavy armor, bolstered by the protective power of his magical amulet, protected him from the worst of it, and the only injury he suffered was from a goring attack that hit him on the side and dented his armor, but failed to penetrate. Still, he knew that a bruise was likely going to be far from the worst he was going to suffer in this engagement.
On the other hand, Dar, just ten paces away, was getting his ass kicked. He stepped under the first two-handed swing of a charging skeleton, its axe slicing the air so hard that he could feel the breeze as it passed. He drove his club down into the skeleton’s leg hard enough to shiver its massive thighbone, but the skeleton refused to go down, clinging to its unlife through sheer persistence. Several other skeletons came at him around it. He dodged back from the first swing, turning what would have been a terrible hit into a graze that still managed to open up a line of pain across his gut. That moment’s distraction cost him, however, as the other skeleton brought its axe down hard across his back. His new armor saved his life, but he could feel the hot blood splash out from the wound as the edge cut deep into his flesh. He felt an agony stab through his left side; something important inside had been savaged by that critical hit.
“Gaarrrgh!” he yelled, spinning around to deliver a full attack upon his tormenter. He laid two powerful blows into the skeleton’s body, sundering bones, and then as it started to topple he smote it across the pelvis, hitting it hard enough to detach both legs and knock them flying across the room. The skeleton collapsed into a pile of ebon bones, but there was another one right behind it, and before Dar could recover from his attack it lunged forward and smashed its skull directly into the fighter’s head. Stunned, Dar staggered back and spun around in a full circle, trying desperately to regain his bearings.
Allera had gotten a moment’s forebearance by the fighters’ stand. She hesitated for just a single heartbeat; she was needed everywhere, and there were deadly adversaries in every direction. But that moment of doubt passed quickly, and the calm cool that came from training and conviction took over. Even as a black skeleton came around the melee surrounding Talen and lumbered toward her she opened her mind and drew in a surge of positive energy. That flood of holy power she cast out from her, directing it into both her companions and her foes. The skeleton coming at her absorbed the full force of her mass cure critical wounds and was blasted into black shards of bone. She healed Dar and Talen, and struck down several of the skeletal minotaurs, taking down four more and seriously damaging another three. Finally, without even turning she directed the last vestige of the spell behind her, channeling it into the battered bodies of Nelan, Letellia, and Alderis, healing them of the damage they’d suffered from Navev’s eldritch blast.
Dar’s mind was cleared by the healing spell, as he turned to the two remaining skeletons facing him, he lifted his club with renewed vigor. “Good work, angel!” he shouted, ducking back to avoid another powerfully swung axe.
Mehlaraine lunged at the hezrou, distracting its attention from the vulnerable spellcasters lying sprawled out on the floor. Her stroke barely harmed it, but it focused its attention on her, a dark amusement flashing in its eyes. Alderis, recovering more swiftly than Nelan and Letellia, rolled to his feet. The abjurer used another of Banth’s transmutations, trying to petrify the demon. The elf penetrated the hezrou’s spell resistance, but the creature’s innate fortitude enabled it to resist the spell.
Nelan and Letellia were just getting to their feet when the demon opened its jaws wide, and uttered a word of blasphemy. At once Mehlaraine, Selanthas, and Letellia stiffened and fell to the ground, overcome by paralysis.
On the other side of the battlefield, Shay thrust her spear forward, snarling a challenge at Navev as she dropped toward the warlock. The revenant did not try to evade, and a moment of doubt entered the scout’s mind, just a heartbeat before her momentum and arc would have resulted in a powerful impact. But in mid-leap, there was nothing she could do except follow her attack through to the end.
Blood exploded from the pool beneath her, followed by a snarling, vicious form. The thing struck her on the left leg, interrupting her jump and knocking her flying. Dirty claws tore long cuts in her thigh, and the spear went flying as she spun in midair, coming head over heels before she hit, hard. She screamed as her right shoulder exploded in pain, as she caromed off the stone lip of the pool.
Dazed, she looked up to see the ghast Marthek leap at her, its garish visage soaked in blood, its long claws extended toward her throat.
Lazybones
Adventurer
Thanks, Edwin!edwinb said:
* * * * *
Chapter 250
FRYING PANS AND FIRES
Nelan staggered slightly and tried to regain his equilibrium as events raged out of control around him. The echoes of the hezrou demon’s blasphemy roared in his ears, but his spell resistance had protected him, and he remained capable of action. He saw Mehlaraine fall, and saw the demon reach eagerly for the paralyzed elf. Even as the confused haze around his senses continued to clear he stepped forward and boldly presented his holy symbol, calling upon the power of the Father. The demon shrieked as his banishment spell sent it back to the Abyss.
He looked around for the goblin cleric, but was distracted by movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned to see two of the black skeletons, which had bypassed both the fireballs and the melee in the center of the room.
They were coming straight for him, and picking up speed. The cleric looked around, and saw that most of his companions, at least those nearby, were on the ground, paralyzed and helpless.
Gritting his teeth, the aged priest stepped forward to meet the charging undead.
Tribitz had not been idle while its ally was stripped from his service. The priest, all too aware of the magical potency of its foes, hurled a well-placed greater dispel into the ranks of the enemy. The spell’s burst was not wide enough to affect all of its adversaries, especially with them scattered about by the warlock’s blasts, and the wards placed by Nelan and Allera were potent, difficult to dispel. But Tribitz’s magic was far from weak, and its casting successfully stripped away a number of the spells protecting their foes.
Including the death wards protecting Dar and Talen.
Talen heard Shay scream, and glanced over in time to see her taken out of the air by the ghast. The knight felt an icy dagger of fear stab into his chest at the sight, a sensation that was accompanied by a very real stab of pain as one of the remaining black skeletons smashed its axe hard across his breastplate. He’d let his guard down for only an instant, but the three skeletons still facing him were ready to take advantage.
Talen hesitated, torn between love and duty.
“GO!” Dar yelled. The fighter hurled himself at Talen’s foes, ignoring what had to be a painful slash to his right hip from one of his own adversaries as he broke away from them. The two damaged skeletons he’d left behind lumbered after him as he hit the one nearest Talen, crushing its spine into black powder and sending it hard to the ground. The other two turned on him, allowing the knight to disengage and rush to Shay’s aid. The two he’d been fighting before closed the square behind him, leaving him surrounded by four of the creatures.
“Maybe not the best plan,” the fighter muttered to himself, hitting another skeleton with a blow that cracked its right humerus, sending its axe and the attached arm flying away. The skeleton was not unduly inconvenienced by the loss of its weapon, slashing at him with its other clawed hand, and goring with its long horns. Dar avoided both, but felt a fresh pain explode in his side as one of the skeletons behind him scored another hit. He was rapidly losing the benefit of Allera’s earlier mass cure, and was finding it hard to breathe against the stabbing pains that shot through his torso at each movement.
“Allera!” he cried, unable to see the healer for all the chaos surrounding him.
The healer had her own problems. Dazed for a few moments by the blasphemy, she recovered to find herself hazarded by yet another black skeleton, one of the last stragglers from the initial charge. She dodged back from its reaching claws. One dug into her arm, leaving bloody red tracks where it scratched her, but she escaped its reach and opened her mind to the power of her healing magic once more.
Unfortunately for her, that was exactly what Zafir Navev had been waiting for. The warlock fired off another eldritch blast that slammed unerringly into the healer’s chest, knocking her off her feet from the force of the impact. She flew back and hit something hard. Her momentum was erased by the impact and she fell forward, breaking her nose as it smashed against the cold stone of the floor. Blood poured down her face and she felt dizzy, but she clung to consciousness with an iron grip born of sheer willpower.
Groaning, she turned and looked up to see the black skeleton she’d struck looming over her, its axe already coming down to finish her off.
Lazybones
Adventurer
Chapter 251
SWALLOWED IN BLOOD
Shay felt a cold chill seeping into her body from the painful cuts in her leg, even as the hot blood seared her exposed skin. Without her magical ring, she was vulnerable to the paralyzing effects of the undead monster’s touch. She fought off the spreading numbness with a desperate fury, but she still found herself fighting for her life against an implacable foe.
The ghast had been on her before she could recover enough to pull herself out of the pool of blood. The monster dragged her down, smothering her screams before a surging froth of salty crimson. Death had not stolen any of the barbarian’s insane strength, and its weight felt like a wagon had fallen upon her. Unable to escape, she tried to draw a weapon to attack it, but her small axe fumbled out of her grip, and her attempt to push the creature off of her was as futile as a mouse trying to outwrestle a cat.
Its claws closed around her neck, and as its nails dug into her skin, she felt the chilling numbness return, this time too strong to resist. The last thing she saw was the creature’s terrible face as it looked down at her in triumph, and then she was thrust under the surface of the pool, and everything drowned in a flood of red.
“Shay!”
Talen felt a surge of rage that choked off the fear he felt. He charged toward the pool and the ghast killing his lover, Beatus Incendia flaring in his hand like a beacon. He saw Navev gesture and tensed to accept the blast he knew was coming. But the bolt missed him, shooting wide to his left. Talen did not realize that Allera was the target of the eldritch blast, nor did he see it fork after it had impacted the healer, flaring back to hit Dar before it arced back to smash into the base of his spine. The blast knocked the knight off his feet, and he found himself twisting full around in mid-air before he hit the floor hard enough to knock the air from his lungs.
Gasping, he looked up to see the rim of the pool, suddenly close, blood trailing down the stone as it continued to slosh out from inside. He could not see Shay, but he could hear a sick splashing noise from within the basin, sounds of struggle that were growing rapidly weaker.
Nelan staggered back as the black skeleton struck him a solid blow with its axe. Somehow the small shield of Mailliw Catspar withstood the impact, although he felt as though his arm had been run over by a fully loaded cart. The priest lifted his hand. His mace was still at his side, but faith proved a more effective weapon as he hit the monster with a beam of searing light. The skeleton’s considerable resistances were of no proof against the holy power of the spell, and large swaths of bone matter simply dissolved as the light passed over it. Unfortunately for Nelan it was not enough to destroy the skeleton outright.
And as he looked beyond it, he caught sight of another danger that froze his blood; the goblin cleric was coming forward, cloaked in the full power of its dread master. Nelan did not need his detect magic spell to sense the dark energies that surrounded the enemy priest. Nor did he need any special insight to realize that this foe was more powerful than he.
But his fear was replaced by surprise as a wall of bright flames suddenly rose up before him, engulfing the skeleton and blocking his view of the cleric.
Allera opened her mouth to cry out, but no sound came out. She didn’t need to hear the swoosh of the axe coming down toward her to know it was deadly, however. The sight cut through the daze of her earlier impact, and she rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the blade that smashed into the floor hard enough to strike sparks. She felt something hard cut her arm, and felt a fresh flow of blood to add to her tally of wounds. She had plenty of healing spells left, but without the ability to speak, she could not draw upon the power of her magic.
First things first, then. Correctly surmising that the silence aura was centered on the skeleton, she continued her roll and came up into a crouch. The skeleton swept its head low, intending to impale her on its horns, but she leapt forward, diving between its legs. Something hard crashed across her back, and she nearly collapsed. But the healer drew upon a reserve of stern resolution, and rolled again to her feet, coming up into an awkward run. Behind her, she could feel the skeleton coming after her through the vibrations in the floor, even if she could not hear it. Letting out a silent yell, she put on a desperate burst of speed.
Not far away, Dar had no idea what was going on. The same eldritch blast that had taken down Allera had arced back to hit him in the back, knocking him hard into one of the skeletons in front of him. The blow had been oblique rather than head-on, and he’d shot off its knee like an armored missile, knocking both of them to the floor. The other skeletons were on him in an instant, and agony flared through his right leg as an axe hit it just above the knee. His greave kept him from losing the limb, but the metal buckled, and somehow through all the noise and chaos of battle he could clearly hear the bone snapping deep within the limb.
Well, he wouldn’t be going jogging anytime soon.
Knowing that getting up would be a futile endeavor, the fighter swung his club around in a wide arc around his prone form. He hit the skeleton that had struck him solidly in the ankle, shattering the joint there and breaking several bones. The skeleton staggered to the side and toppled when it landed on the broken stump; its skull exploded into a hundred pieces when it struck the floor. But that still left three facing him, and while all were damaged, they didn’t feel pain the way that their human adversary did. And with a broken leg keeping him on the ground, they had him at a great disadvantage.
The black skeleton that Nelan had been battling continued to attack, oblivious to the wall of fire that continued to damage it. But the skeleton was already coming apart, its bones melting before the incredible heat of the wall. Alderis had conjured the barrier so that most of its heat radiated in the opposite direction, so all Nelan felt was a slight surge of warmth.
A cloud of dark power exploded around him. The cleric staggered back, fighting off the worst of the unholy blight, but nevertheless feeling tingles of pain as the energies of the spell scoured his spirit. The evil spell lasted only a few heartbeats, and as it faded Nelan saw a small, dark form appear in the surging wall of flames. The goblin cleric strode through the barrier, unharmed by the fire.
“My Master will savor the sweet flavor of your soul, human priest,” it said, its voice rattling in its chest like a pebble trapped in a bottle. The goblin looked as though it might collapse at any moment, but the apparent frailty of its body was belied by the insane fire that burned in its eyes. The goblin came forward, an evil red glow forming around its right hand as it came.
Talen roared and sprang to his feet, his rage granting him the strength to overcome the weight of his armor and weapons. The knight rushed forward and leapt, not at Navev, but into the vile mess of blood within the stone basin. The ghast, covered in bright crimson, immersed to its waist in blood, turned to meet his charge. It extended its claws as it sprang toward Talen, but the knight had the advantage of reach this time, and the sword blazed down into the ghast’s shoulder, cutting deep into its body.
The blow would have killed a living man, but the ghast was a monstrosity beyond mortal ken. It surged at Talen with surprising speed, nearly knocking him over as it bowled into him. The sudden attack actually helped him in one way; as Talen fought to keep his footing in the viscous mess of the bowl an eldritch blast streaked past him, missing his head by scant inches. The ghast gave him no chance to recover, lunging at him with claw and bite. Talen felt the creature’s claws dig into his arm as it tore at the loosened edge of one of his greaves, but with Shay’s ring of freedom of movement on his finger, he was immune to the cloying paralysis of its touch. He drove his shield hard into the ghast’s chest, giving him enough clearance to strike with Beatus Incendia. The first stroke ripped a foot-long tear in the ghast’s side, and as it roared and surged forward again, he brought the blade up in a powerful and deadly arc, shearing its skull in twain from jaw to ear. The ghast expired immediately, collapsing into the blood with hardly a splash.
Talen was already moving, probing in the blood for Shay. The blood in the pool only came up to his waist, but the basin was so broad that there was ample space to hide a body. His shin bumped against something hard, and red steam hissed from the blood as he dropped Beatus Incendia into it and pulled at the limp form beneath him.
“Your brave sacrifice only delays the inevitable, foolish knight.”
Talen looked up to see Navev staring directly at him, a hand extended toward his chest. Then everything turned to black.
SWALLOWED IN BLOOD
Shay felt a cold chill seeping into her body from the painful cuts in her leg, even as the hot blood seared her exposed skin. Without her magical ring, she was vulnerable to the paralyzing effects of the undead monster’s touch. She fought off the spreading numbness with a desperate fury, but she still found herself fighting for her life against an implacable foe.
The ghast had been on her before she could recover enough to pull herself out of the pool of blood. The monster dragged her down, smothering her screams before a surging froth of salty crimson. Death had not stolen any of the barbarian’s insane strength, and its weight felt like a wagon had fallen upon her. Unable to escape, she tried to draw a weapon to attack it, but her small axe fumbled out of her grip, and her attempt to push the creature off of her was as futile as a mouse trying to outwrestle a cat.
Its claws closed around her neck, and as its nails dug into her skin, she felt the chilling numbness return, this time too strong to resist. The last thing she saw was the creature’s terrible face as it looked down at her in triumph, and then she was thrust under the surface of the pool, and everything drowned in a flood of red.
“Shay!”
Talen felt a surge of rage that choked off the fear he felt. He charged toward the pool and the ghast killing his lover, Beatus Incendia flaring in his hand like a beacon. He saw Navev gesture and tensed to accept the blast he knew was coming. But the bolt missed him, shooting wide to his left. Talen did not realize that Allera was the target of the eldritch blast, nor did he see it fork after it had impacted the healer, flaring back to hit Dar before it arced back to smash into the base of his spine. The blast knocked the knight off his feet, and he found himself twisting full around in mid-air before he hit the floor hard enough to knock the air from his lungs.
Gasping, he looked up to see the rim of the pool, suddenly close, blood trailing down the stone as it continued to slosh out from inside. He could not see Shay, but he could hear a sick splashing noise from within the basin, sounds of struggle that were growing rapidly weaker.
Nelan staggered back as the black skeleton struck him a solid blow with its axe. Somehow the small shield of Mailliw Catspar withstood the impact, although he felt as though his arm had been run over by a fully loaded cart. The priest lifted his hand. His mace was still at his side, but faith proved a more effective weapon as he hit the monster with a beam of searing light. The skeleton’s considerable resistances were of no proof against the holy power of the spell, and large swaths of bone matter simply dissolved as the light passed over it. Unfortunately for Nelan it was not enough to destroy the skeleton outright.
And as he looked beyond it, he caught sight of another danger that froze his blood; the goblin cleric was coming forward, cloaked in the full power of its dread master. Nelan did not need his detect magic spell to sense the dark energies that surrounded the enemy priest. Nor did he need any special insight to realize that this foe was more powerful than he.
But his fear was replaced by surprise as a wall of bright flames suddenly rose up before him, engulfing the skeleton and blocking his view of the cleric.
Allera opened her mouth to cry out, but no sound came out. She didn’t need to hear the swoosh of the axe coming down toward her to know it was deadly, however. The sight cut through the daze of her earlier impact, and she rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the blade that smashed into the floor hard enough to strike sparks. She felt something hard cut her arm, and felt a fresh flow of blood to add to her tally of wounds. She had plenty of healing spells left, but without the ability to speak, she could not draw upon the power of her magic.
First things first, then. Correctly surmising that the silence aura was centered on the skeleton, she continued her roll and came up into a crouch. The skeleton swept its head low, intending to impale her on its horns, but she leapt forward, diving between its legs. Something hard crashed across her back, and she nearly collapsed. But the healer drew upon a reserve of stern resolution, and rolled again to her feet, coming up into an awkward run. Behind her, she could feel the skeleton coming after her through the vibrations in the floor, even if she could not hear it. Letting out a silent yell, she put on a desperate burst of speed.
Not far away, Dar had no idea what was going on. The same eldritch blast that had taken down Allera had arced back to hit him in the back, knocking him hard into one of the skeletons in front of him. The blow had been oblique rather than head-on, and he’d shot off its knee like an armored missile, knocking both of them to the floor. The other skeletons were on him in an instant, and agony flared through his right leg as an axe hit it just above the knee. His greave kept him from losing the limb, but the metal buckled, and somehow through all the noise and chaos of battle he could clearly hear the bone snapping deep within the limb.
Well, he wouldn’t be going jogging anytime soon.
Knowing that getting up would be a futile endeavor, the fighter swung his club around in a wide arc around his prone form. He hit the skeleton that had struck him solidly in the ankle, shattering the joint there and breaking several bones. The skeleton staggered to the side and toppled when it landed on the broken stump; its skull exploded into a hundred pieces when it struck the floor. But that still left three facing him, and while all were damaged, they didn’t feel pain the way that their human adversary did. And with a broken leg keeping him on the ground, they had him at a great disadvantage.
The black skeleton that Nelan had been battling continued to attack, oblivious to the wall of fire that continued to damage it. But the skeleton was already coming apart, its bones melting before the incredible heat of the wall. Alderis had conjured the barrier so that most of its heat radiated in the opposite direction, so all Nelan felt was a slight surge of warmth.
A cloud of dark power exploded around him. The cleric staggered back, fighting off the worst of the unholy blight, but nevertheless feeling tingles of pain as the energies of the spell scoured his spirit. The evil spell lasted only a few heartbeats, and as it faded Nelan saw a small, dark form appear in the surging wall of flames. The goblin cleric strode through the barrier, unharmed by the fire.
“My Master will savor the sweet flavor of your soul, human priest,” it said, its voice rattling in its chest like a pebble trapped in a bottle. The goblin looked as though it might collapse at any moment, but the apparent frailty of its body was belied by the insane fire that burned in its eyes. The goblin came forward, an evil red glow forming around its right hand as it came.
Talen roared and sprang to his feet, his rage granting him the strength to overcome the weight of his armor and weapons. The knight rushed forward and leapt, not at Navev, but into the vile mess of blood within the stone basin. The ghast, covered in bright crimson, immersed to its waist in blood, turned to meet his charge. It extended its claws as it sprang toward Talen, but the knight had the advantage of reach this time, and the sword blazed down into the ghast’s shoulder, cutting deep into its body.
The blow would have killed a living man, but the ghast was a monstrosity beyond mortal ken. It surged at Talen with surprising speed, nearly knocking him over as it bowled into him. The sudden attack actually helped him in one way; as Talen fought to keep his footing in the viscous mess of the bowl an eldritch blast streaked past him, missing his head by scant inches. The ghast gave him no chance to recover, lunging at him with claw and bite. Talen felt the creature’s claws dig into his arm as it tore at the loosened edge of one of his greaves, but with Shay’s ring of freedom of movement on his finger, he was immune to the cloying paralysis of its touch. He drove his shield hard into the ghast’s chest, giving him enough clearance to strike with Beatus Incendia. The first stroke ripped a foot-long tear in the ghast’s side, and as it roared and surged forward again, he brought the blade up in a powerful and deadly arc, shearing its skull in twain from jaw to ear. The ghast expired immediately, collapsing into the blood with hardly a splash.
Talen was already moving, probing in the blood for Shay. The blood in the pool only came up to his waist, but the basin was so broad that there was ample space to hide a body. His shin bumped against something hard, and red steam hissed from the blood as he dropped Beatus Incendia into it and pulled at the limp form beneath him.
“Your brave sacrifice only delays the inevitable, foolish knight.”
Talen looked up to see Navev staring directly at him, a hand extended toward his chest. Then everything turned to black.
Richard Rawen
First Post
I had wanted to react with a litany of curse words. . . but with the ' Eric's Grandma Effect ' still covering these boards all I can do is put together a string of ascii characters . . .
I was thinking of going with Bold, Italicized And Underlined. Perhaps 24 pt.
...
GAH! What's the point, you guys know what I'm feeling anyways.
:\ 
Good buildup LB, looking forward to several forms of payback on the cast of villains.
Final type paybacks. Like vaporize their ashes or some such.
I was thinking of going with Bold, Italicized And Underlined. Perhaps 24 pt.
...
GAH! What's the point, you guys know what I'm feeling anyways.
:\ Good buildup LB, looking forward to several forms of payback on the cast of villains.
Final type paybacks. Like vaporize their ashes or some such.
Lazybones
Adventurer
Payback? Heh, you might want to skip this update.Richard Rawen said:
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
* * * * *
Chapter 252
THE TURNING
Dar managed to roll just enough to avoid the axe blade that came crashing down into the stone where his head had been an instant before. The sound was deafening. He tried to smash the skeleton’s knee with his club, but his stroke was ruined as something grabbed onto his left ankle and pulled, hard. He looked down to see the one-armed skeleton, dragging him up into reach of its horns. But before he could react to that alarming development, another skeleton came at him with an axe, and he was forced to brace his club to block. The club caught the haft of the axe just below the blade, stopping it scant inches from his face.
Then the skeleton holding his leg heaved again, and he found himself upside down, dangling a few feet above the stone floor.
“Oh, for the love of...”
The fighter didn’t get a chance to finish his statement, as something hard crashed into his back, knocking the air from his lungs. His club went flying from his grasp, clattering on the floor, just out of his reach.
Talen was flung back by the force of Navev’s eldritch blast, a wave of blood forming ahead of his body as he shot through the pool. Somehow, through some instinct or reflex born of desperate strength, he kept his grip on Shay, holding the paralyzed scout even as his legs hit the stone rim on the far side of the pool, and he was flipped over its edge to fall battered and bloody to the ground on the edge.
His body shaking with pain and effort, he looked up to see Shay hanging limply over the edge of the pool, face down in a spreading mess of blood. It had gotten darker; he’d lost Beatus Incendia somewhere along the way. He would not have been able to hold both her and the sword, he realized; he’d made his choice instinctively.
With the low stone barrier blocking his view again, he could not see Navev.
He reached out toward Shay; realized that there was nothing he could do for her. No, there was one thing. He grabbed onto her, dragging her motionless form to him, behind the shelter of the stone rim of the pool. He could not tell if she was breathing, and there was no time to check. The barrier offered scant protection, he knew. Navev would only need to walk a short distance before they would be revealed, and he could hit them with another of those deadly eldritch blasts. From what the others had said of the warlock, there was no limit to the number of times that he could hurl those invocations.
Or rather, only one limit that Talen could see.
The knight grabbed onto the stone rim of the pool and dragged himself to his feet. He reached down and grabbed the hilt of the sword at Shay’s hip, drawing her holy sword, the twin of Beatus Incendia, from its scabbard. Blood covered him from head to toe, dripping down his armor to form a growing pool at his feet.
Navev had not moved; the warlock stood there at the far edge of the pool, waiting for him.
“Let’s finish this, warlock,” Talen said.
The revenant nodded. “Yes, let’s,” he said. His hands came up, and another globe of dark energy formed between them.
Nelan recognized the red glow surrounding the goblin cleric’s hands as a harm spell. He tried to cast his heal spell to counter, but Tribitz was faster, lunging forward to touch the cleric’s armored leg. Nelan flinched, expecting the deluge of negative energy to devastate him.
Nothing happened. Nelan had forgotten his death ward; it protected him against any negative energy attacks. “The Father protects me,” he said, almost to himself.
“Your Father is a pathetic wretch, who has lingered beyond his time,” the cleric said, lifting its morningstar. Despite the small size of the weapon, it looked wicked, its head covered with jagged black spikes that radiated a cold malevolence.
Nelan cast his second and last searing light, but once more the goblin’s spell resistance protected it from harm, and the beam dissipated as it struck Tribitz’s chest. “You cannot harm me, while I am sheltered by my Master’s touch,” the goblin said, cackling as it smashed its mace into Nelan’s side. The cleric of the Father grunted in surprise and staggered several steps away from the blow; for all its apparent frailty, the goblin hit hard. And the weapon it was using was unholy, created to kill beings such as Nelan.
Nelan knew that he could not take many more of those hits. The goblin followed him, calmly, as he fell back, trying not to fall. “Yes. Now, you understand,” it said.
A ring of blue fire erupted around Dar. The fighter raised his arms to protect himself from the new attack, but all he felt was a soft healing glow that eased his hurts and poured new life into his battered body. And then he was falling; not far, but hard enough to remind him of the pain he’d just had healed as his shoulder was jammed into the hard floor.
Grimacing against the pain from his still-tender leg, the fighter pulled himself to his feet. The skeletons that had surrounded him were all destroyed, lying all about in heaps of shattered black bones. He didn’t need to look far to know the source of his salvation; Allera was not far away. She’d stopped running to cast her mass cure, but that gave the skeleton chasing her a chance to catch up.
“Allera, look out!” Dar yelled, already running—or the best he could do on his damaged leg—toward her. The healer turned even as the skeleton seized her up in its arms, yanking her up off her feet and crushing her against its body. There was no sound; the silence spell that Tribitz had put on the creature earlier was still in effect. But Dar could see Allera’s mouth open in a soundless scream, and he growled as he drew Valor from its scabbard.
Talen knew that he would never get to Navev before the undead warlock could blast him again. And with the power to knock him back with each discharge, how could he possibly get close enough to do any damage?
But there was nothing to be done for it except to try.
Navev waited just a few seconds, firing his eldritch blast as Talen rounded the circumference of the pool. The knight knew it was coming, and did not even bother lifting his shield, just lowered his head and charged forward into the attack.
The blast missed.
It was hard to say who was more surprised, the knight or the warlock. The streaking black bolt passed close enough to Talen to vaporize the tiny droplets of blood that streaked his helmet, but then it was past, almost before he could realize what had happened.
Talen’s momentum carried him forward, and before the warlock could react, he laid into it with his sword. The blade bit deep into the revenant’s body, the weapon’s holy fire searing its flesh, but its unnatural toughness protected it, and no blood spurted from the deep gash that the stroke opened in its side. Navev merely glanced up from a hit that would have punctured the lung of a living man, a dark malevolence shining in its eyes.
Talen lifted his weapon to strike again.
Navev stepped forward, and lifted its rod. The device was heavy, the black skull at its head giving it the shape and mass of a mace, but the warlock did not use it as a weapon. Instead it merely pressed the face of the skull against the front of Talen’s helmet, and invoked the dread power of its Master.
Talen stiffened, and with a soft groan he collapsed to the ground, his life force snuffed out in an instant.
