NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 3142514" data-attributes="member: 143">There are times when it's almost too much to bear, knowing what's coming ahead.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />  *cue evil laughter** * * * * Chapter 28TOUGH DECISIONSWith a start, Tiros was thrust back into consciousness.  This time, he was aware of his surroundings, although it was as if someone had hung a cloth of thin gauze over his eyes; everything was fuzzy, indistinct.  He was lying on his back, and he could not move, not even to turn his head.  His breath still rattled in his throat, but at least he could breathe; he was alive. The voices that he’d heard earlier were still there, talking quietly a short distance away.  Dar and Varo.  “We should go back, once you’ve restored the marshal,” Dar was saying.  “We’re close to the surface, if natural sunlight could make its way into that cavern.”“And how do you presume we make it out, without rope, or climbing tools?”“Think of a way.  Maybe the marshal will have some ideas.  Maybe we can build something, with those construction supplies in that other room... a scaffold?”“It might work, if that cavern were not populated by the violet fungi, the patches of yellow mold, or the shriekers, which will bring every wandering monster within a mile down upon us.  I would not even be surprised if the Duke’s men could hear them, above.”There was a clatter of metal on stone; it sounded like Dar had thrown something across the room.  “Well at least I’m trying.  Do you want to get out of here, or not?”“Believe me, I want to get out of here as much as you—”“What...”  Through a supreme effort, Tiros managed to speak.  The one word was all he managed to get out before his weakened body forced him to focus on breathing, but Varo had heard him.  A moment later, both the cleric and the fighter—or at least he assumed it was them; they were barely outlines to his damaged vision—appeared above him.  “You really want to live, I’ll give you that, marshal,” Dar said.  “Can you take water?” Varo asked.  When Tiros nodded, the cleric helped prop him up, lowering a nearly-empty skin to his lips.  The cold liquid made Tiros start coughing again, but it was worth it; the stuff soothed his ravaged throat, and seemed to clear away the worst of the fog that clouded his senses. The marshal looked around, but still couldn’t see clearly enough to discern their surroundings.  “Where... where are we?” he managed to ask. “Jammed deep up the bunghole of a freaking demon prince, that’s where we are,” Dar said. “We’re back in the locked storeroom,” Varo said.  “It seemed like the most secure location on the level.  We’ve cleared everything else.”“Not everything,” Dar said.  “There’s still the black door.”“You must trust me when I tell you that the only thing that lies in that direction is death,” Varo replied. “Bah.  Death lies behind every damned door in this place.  You’ve been less than forthcoming, priest.”“Without my powers, you would both be dead, several times over,” Varo said.  “If you find my companionship too trying, you are welcome to set out on your own, mercenary.”Dar scowled, but didn’t say anything more. “No... other... exits?” Tiros asked. “Nothing that we could find,” Varo replied.  “But to be honest, we haven’t done much other than recover from the fungus cavern.  We narrowly managed to get you out of there; Dar got a whiff of the mold spores that took you down, and was hit by one of the violet fungi tentacles as well.  We managed to drag you out of there just in time, before they could overwhelm us; they followed for a short distance, but couldn’t get through the door to the outer passage.”Dar smirked, although Tiros thought that his features were somewhat haggard.  “I guess I’m just made of sterner stuff than you, marshal.”Tiros nodded.  Exhaustion surged back over him; just the brief exchange had stolen all his strength.  Varo saw it.  “Just rest.  We seem to be secure here for the moment; once I rest again I will do my best to restore you and Dar.”“And then what?” the fighter asked. Tiros managed to cling to consciousness for a few more seconds.  “And then, we keep going,” he said.  “That’s all we can do.”And then he was asleep.</blockquote>

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