The Doomed Bastards: Reckoning (story complete)
- Thread starter Lazybones
- Start date
So who do you guys think this wounded cretin was that got away and warned the head priest?
I have a generally very bad feeling about what's going to take place in this next room. Don't know why, but I fear for Allera...
Maybe we get to see a little more of the crazy elf now? Oh, and let's not forget our friend Nadroj, the spectre. Add him to the mix and the Doomed Bastards are truly that, doomed.
I have a generally very bad feeling about what's going to take place in this next room. Don't know why, but I fear for Allera...
Maybe we get to see a little more of the crazy elf now? Oh, and let's not forget our friend Nadroj, the spectre. Add him to the mix and the Doomed Bastards are truly that, doomed.
The spectre has apparent ulterior motives, so hopefully that forestalls a bit of "doom" for the "doomed" if you know what I mean.
Are we sure that the head priest has the elf in his capture? I mean, it's probably a good bet, but I don't trust LB not to throw something unexpected out there and it's yet to be solidified that it is indeed the elf.
BTW, I'm guessing the spectre's name in life was Jordan?
I'm also guessing Varo's plans up until now are to at the very least disrupt the cultists' plans since his god is warring with theirs.
Good work on adding twists, turns and a nice background story to an otherwise hack'n'slash dungeon, LB.
Are we sure that the head priest has the elf in his capture? I mean, it's probably a good bet, but I don't trust LB not to throw something unexpected out there and it's yet to be solidified that it is indeed the elf.
BTW, I'm guessing the spectre's name in life was Jordan?
I'm also guessing Varo's plans up until now are to at the very least disrupt the cultists' plans since his god is warring with theirs.
Good work on adding twists, turns and a nice background story to an otherwise hack'n'slash dungeon, LB.
Lazybones
Adventurer
Good questions, everyone; most of them will be answered in time.
Still, I imagine you're all more interested in the update than my theories about character naming, so here you go. The battle for the temple will conclude next week.
* * * * *
Chapter 56
BATTLE FOR THE FIRST TEMPLE
The defenders of the temple had not spent their few moments of advanced warning idly. A row of a dozen clerics faced the doors in a broad half-circle. They were clearly prepared for battle, carrying steel shields and with chainmail visible under their robes. The majority of them lifted their maces and charged as soon as the doors opened, while five held their ground, casting spells.
The naked man with the terrible wounds was among the latter, working foul magic.
Behind the first line of defenders, the central platform rose up twenty feet above the cavern floor, supported by four steep staircases of carved stone. The platform was supported above a pool of bubbling lava, which shed a ruddy glow over the entire chamber, the only source of light in the place. There was a man suspended below the platform, hanging over the lava pit from ropes lashed to his wrists and ankles. Another man stood atop the platform, his robe drawn back to reveal armor of black plate, and a shield shaped in the horned skull sigil of Orcus. Beyond the platform, through the gaps between the staircases, they could just see a massive statue set upon a low platform on the far side of the room, but any details were impossible to discern at this distance.
The summoned apes ambled forward to meet the onrushing wave of clerics. The powerful aura of dispel good that infused the entire temple did not help the acolytes against Varo’s creatures, which were as deeply seeped in taint as the priests themselves. With their long arms, the apes struck before the clerics could bring their maces into play, unleashing powerful blows with their muscled fists. One grabbed a cleric by the throat and ripped off his arm with a powerful bite, dropping the screaming man to the ground with a roar of triumph. The other clerics attacked the apes with their maces, but the fiendish creatures were heavily resistant to mundane attacks, and took little damage.
Dar and Talen rushed in on the heels of the apes, spreading to either side to attack the ends of the semicircle of defenders. An acolyte smashed Dar on the shoulder with his mace, only to take a blow from the club that smashed in his shield, breaking the arm that held it. The cleric cried out in pain but somehow managed to keep fighting. Talen too exchanged blows with a priest, neither gaining a clear advantage in the initial flurry of strikes.
A potent explosion of dark energies engulfed the invaders. The unholy blight lasted only a second, and although Talen was somewhat discomfited by it, by and large the spell had much less effect upon the Doomed Bastards and their summoned allies than its caster had intended.
A loud screech filled the chamber, and drew the attention of everyone upward. The powerful vulpine figure of a vrock demon appeared, surrounded by a haze of shifting mirror images. It spread its wings to control its dive as it descended upon one of the apes. As the adjacent clerics hastily drew back, the ape lifted a claw to strike at the descending foe. The ape was a powerful foe, but the demon was both bigger and stronger, and it shrugged off the blow as it in turn tore into the ape with its claws and bite. At the same time, the demon released a cloud of toxic spores from its skin that seeped into the hapless ape’s body, burrowing painfully into its flesh.
The situation grew more dire as the underpriests hurled their spells at the attackers. Talen resisted the icy chill of their magic, but Dar’s will proved not as strong, and he froze, held by divine magic. His wounded foe, smiling evilly at the sudden turn of events, stepped forward and yanked Dar’s helmet off his head with his good hand. As the fighter struggled to fight off the fell paralysis, the priest spat in his face, then lifted his mace to deliver a killing blow.
Allera emerged from the doorway and ran forward to help Dar. The cleric saw her coming, but focused on finishing the dangerous fighter before dealing with another foe. One of the senior clerics saw her as well and tried to silence her, but the strong-willed healer easily fought off the effects of the spell.
Allera saw that she would not get to the evil cleric in time to stop him, so she threw herself between them, lifting her arm to deflect the descending mace. The blow struck her hard, a critical hit that shattered the bone. She cried out and fell back, dragging Dar down with her.
“You filthy little bitch,” the cleric said, lifting his mace to strike again. “I’ll kill both of you!”
Ignoring both the cleric and the piercing agony of her own wound, the healer touched Dar’s face with her good hand, channeling healing energy into him, disrupting the underpriest’s paralysis.
The cleric’s mace came down, but Dar’s hand came up to meet it, snapping around the man’s wrist. The fighter squeezed his fist tight and twisted, and the priest’s bones popped as Dar broke his wrist. He cried out and tried to call upon his divine magic, but the words of the spell caught in his throat, overwhelmed by pain.
“Eat crap and die, demon lover,” he said, smashing his punching dagger into the man’s gut, crunching through his armor as though it were sackcloth. As the man collapsed, he turned to Allera, lying on the ground beside him. “Are you all right?” he asked her.
“More... coming!” she hissed, holding her broken arm. Dar looked up to see that she was right; two more of the acolytes were coming his way, accompanied by one of the more senior priests. Dar could tell from one look at the man, and the faintly glowing morningstar he carried, that this guy was going to be trouble.
He reached down and picked up his club, and stepped forward to block Allera from the approaching foes.
The vrock had torn deep gouges into the body of the struggling ape, which continued to resist. Its own counterattacks were hindered by the mirror images that still warded the demon, although it was unlikely that its attacks could have hurt the demon in any case. With a roar, the demon reached down and grabbed the ape’s arms with its claws, wrenching down with a sick pop that tore both limbs from their sockets. The ape, punished beyond even its ability to absorb damage, collapsed and began to dissolve.
The second ape had been doing more damage than it had been taking, laying into the acolytes with abandon. A second Orcus-worshipper lay on the ground, struggling feebly as blood poured out of the gashes in his neck. The clerics, in turn, had only managed a few minor hits that didn’t seem to faze the fiendish animal in the least.
But then two of the underpriests stepped forward. One distracted the ape with a feint that glanced off its muscled arm, drawing a counterattack that glanced off his shield. That let the second one step within the ape’s reach. His morningstar came crashing down into the ape’s face, backed by the cleric’s divinely-augmented strength. The critical hit was devastating, the spikes on the end of the weapon piercing the ape’s skull, and transfixing its brain. The creature flopped back, almost crushing an acolyte that didn’t get out of the way quickly enough, and expired.
Talen had not been idly sparring during those few critical seconds of the battle. His defenses had been augmented with the shield that they’d won from the otyugh, repaired with some temporary leather straps torn from a ruined greave. He let his enemy come in with another attack, neatly sidestepping before countering with a sweeping cut that tore through the armor under the man’s arm. The cleric screamed and spun to counterattack, but the captain had been waiting for that, and as he caught the foe’s mace on his shield, Talen stabbed the end of his blade into the man’s throat. The acolyte dropped his mace and clutched at the wound, which spurted a bright torrent of blood through his fingers as he fell.
Talen turned just in time to see the vrock take down the ape. The demon scanned the battlefield briefly before settling its attention on him.
“Oh, crap.”
Yeah, I thought the whole "reverse names" thing was overdone in this module. I've used that mechanism myself, but it's best used sparingly and when it's not immediately obvious, IMO. There are also several NPCs with historical names that I didn't really like (it reminds me of my gaming years in my teens, when my friends and I would plagiarize cool-sounding names from books and movies, instead of coming up with original ones). I generally deferred to the module for the most part, but you'll find a few spots coming up where I tweaked things slightly with regards to this issue.Brogarn said:BTW, I'm guessing the spectre's name in life was Jordan?
Still, I imagine you're all more interested in the update than my theories about character naming, so here you go. The battle for the temple will conclude next week.
* * * * *
Chapter 56
BATTLE FOR THE FIRST TEMPLE
The defenders of the temple had not spent their few moments of advanced warning idly. A row of a dozen clerics faced the doors in a broad half-circle. They were clearly prepared for battle, carrying steel shields and with chainmail visible under their robes. The majority of them lifted their maces and charged as soon as the doors opened, while five held their ground, casting spells.
The naked man with the terrible wounds was among the latter, working foul magic.
Behind the first line of defenders, the central platform rose up twenty feet above the cavern floor, supported by four steep staircases of carved stone. The platform was supported above a pool of bubbling lava, which shed a ruddy glow over the entire chamber, the only source of light in the place. There was a man suspended below the platform, hanging over the lava pit from ropes lashed to his wrists and ankles. Another man stood atop the platform, his robe drawn back to reveal armor of black plate, and a shield shaped in the horned skull sigil of Orcus. Beyond the platform, through the gaps between the staircases, they could just see a massive statue set upon a low platform on the far side of the room, but any details were impossible to discern at this distance.
The summoned apes ambled forward to meet the onrushing wave of clerics. The powerful aura of dispel good that infused the entire temple did not help the acolytes against Varo’s creatures, which were as deeply seeped in taint as the priests themselves. With their long arms, the apes struck before the clerics could bring their maces into play, unleashing powerful blows with their muscled fists. One grabbed a cleric by the throat and ripped off his arm with a powerful bite, dropping the screaming man to the ground with a roar of triumph. The other clerics attacked the apes with their maces, but the fiendish creatures were heavily resistant to mundane attacks, and took little damage.
Dar and Talen rushed in on the heels of the apes, spreading to either side to attack the ends of the semicircle of defenders. An acolyte smashed Dar on the shoulder with his mace, only to take a blow from the club that smashed in his shield, breaking the arm that held it. The cleric cried out in pain but somehow managed to keep fighting. Talen too exchanged blows with a priest, neither gaining a clear advantage in the initial flurry of strikes.
A potent explosion of dark energies engulfed the invaders. The unholy blight lasted only a second, and although Talen was somewhat discomfited by it, by and large the spell had much less effect upon the Doomed Bastards and their summoned allies than its caster had intended.
A loud screech filled the chamber, and drew the attention of everyone upward. The powerful vulpine figure of a vrock demon appeared, surrounded by a haze of shifting mirror images. It spread its wings to control its dive as it descended upon one of the apes. As the adjacent clerics hastily drew back, the ape lifted a claw to strike at the descending foe. The ape was a powerful foe, but the demon was both bigger and stronger, and it shrugged off the blow as it in turn tore into the ape with its claws and bite. At the same time, the demon released a cloud of toxic spores from its skin that seeped into the hapless ape’s body, burrowing painfully into its flesh.
The situation grew more dire as the underpriests hurled their spells at the attackers. Talen resisted the icy chill of their magic, but Dar’s will proved not as strong, and he froze, held by divine magic. His wounded foe, smiling evilly at the sudden turn of events, stepped forward and yanked Dar’s helmet off his head with his good hand. As the fighter struggled to fight off the fell paralysis, the priest spat in his face, then lifted his mace to deliver a killing blow.
Allera emerged from the doorway and ran forward to help Dar. The cleric saw her coming, but focused on finishing the dangerous fighter before dealing with another foe. One of the senior clerics saw her as well and tried to silence her, but the strong-willed healer easily fought off the effects of the spell.
Allera saw that she would not get to the evil cleric in time to stop him, so she threw herself between them, lifting her arm to deflect the descending mace. The blow struck her hard, a critical hit that shattered the bone. She cried out and fell back, dragging Dar down with her.
“You filthy little bitch,” the cleric said, lifting his mace to strike again. “I’ll kill both of you!”
Ignoring both the cleric and the piercing agony of her own wound, the healer touched Dar’s face with her good hand, channeling healing energy into him, disrupting the underpriest’s paralysis.
The cleric’s mace came down, but Dar’s hand came up to meet it, snapping around the man’s wrist. The fighter squeezed his fist tight and twisted, and the priest’s bones popped as Dar broke his wrist. He cried out and tried to call upon his divine magic, but the words of the spell caught in his throat, overwhelmed by pain.
“Eat crap and die, demon lover,” he said, smashing his punching dagger into the man’s gut, crunching through his armor as though it were sackcloth. As the man collapsed, he turned to Allera, lying on the ground beside him. “Are you all right?” he asked her.
“More... coming!” she hissed, holding her broken arm. Dar looked up to see that she was right; two more of the acolytes were coming his way, accompanied by one of the more senior priests. Dar could tell from one look at the man, and the faintly glowing morningstar he carried, that this guy was going to be trouble.
He reached down and picked up his club, and stepped forward to block Allera from the approaching foes.
The vrock had torn deep gouges into the body of the struggling ape, which continued to resist. Its own counterattacks were hindered by the mirror images that still warded the demon, although it was unlikely that its attacks could have hurt the demon in any case. With a roar, the demon reached down and grabbed the ape’s arms with its claws, wrenching down with a sick pop that tore both limbs from their sockets. The ape, punished beyond even its ability to absorb damage, collapsed and began to dissolve.
The second ape had been doing more damage than it had been taking, laying into the acolytes with abandon. A second Orcus-worshipper lay on the ground, struggling feebly as blood poured out of the gashes in his neck. The clerics, in turn, had only managed a few minor hits that didn’t seem to faze the fiendish animal in the least.
But then two of the underpriests stepped forward. One distracted the ape with a feint that glanced off its muscled arm, drawing a counterattack that glanced off his shield. That let the second one step within the ape’s reach. His morningstar came crashing down into the ape’s face, backed by the cleric’s divinely-augmented strength. The critical hit was devastating, the spikes on the end of the weapon piercing the ape’s skull, and transfixing its brain. The creature flopped back, almost crushing an acolyte that didn’t get out of the way quickly enough, and expired.
Talen had not been idly sparring during those few critical seconds of the battle. His defenses had been augmented with the shield that they’d won from the otyugh, repaired with some temporary leather straps torn from a ruined greave. He let his enemy come in with another attack, neatly sidestepping before countering with a sweeping cut that tore through the armor under the man’s arm. The cleric screamed and spun to counterattack, but the captain had been waiting for that, and as he caught the foe’s mace on his shield, Talen stabbed the end of his blade into the man’s throat. The acolyte dropped his mace and clutched at the wound, which spurted a bright torrent of blood through his fingers as he fell.
Talen turned just in time to see the vrock take down the ape. The demon scanned the battlefield briefly before settling its attention on him.
“Oh, crap.”
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Neverwinter Knight
First Post
I wonder how Talen will carry himself against that vrock. Without help from Dar he won't last long... If Varo has another of the summon spells ready, the apes really worked out well against the non-demonic enemies.
"Oh Crap" indeed!
Talen, we hardly knew thee...
"Dar and Allera, sitting in a tree, K I S S I N G...." A reason for Dar to be more than a mercenary. I like it.
We haven't seen Varo yet, besides the summoning that is. He surely can't have just been sitting around all this while. He's a force to be reckoned with, the Doomed Bastards aren't done yet.
Talen, we hardly knew thee...
"Dar and Allera, sitting in a tree, K I S S I N G...." A reason for Dar to be more than a mercenary. I like it.
We haven't seen Varo yet, besides the summoning that is. He surely can't have just been sitting around all this while. He's a force to be reckoned with, the Doomed Bastards aren't done yet.
Richard Rawen
First Post
"Dismissal" please? Oi, it will be a great victory if they can simply do this much damage and retreat without further injuries...
heh -yeah right, what am I thinkin? They're DOOMED!
heh -yeah right, what am I thinkin? They're DOOMED!
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