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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 3156484" data-attributes="member: 143">Thanks for the posts. I'll update the Rogues' Gallery thread with the stats for the newcomers shortly after I update...* * * * * Chapter 34THE BEST LAID PLANSThe coin went skittering into the room, filling the place with a warm glow of magical light.  Krogan and Shay fired their bows in rapid succession, their missiles knifing into the evil cleric.  One penetrated his robes but hit something hard underneath, glancing away.  The second caught the man in the shoulder, sending him staggering back a step, a look of fury on his face.  “Slay them!  Slay them!” he shouted.  The warriors came surging forward, and Shay and Krogan stepped forward and to the side, flanking the entrance, letting them in.  Talen was in the lead, but as he charged into the room, the cleric leader presented his holy symbol, a small metal object shaped like a ram’s head.  The captain froze in mid step, falling forward to clatter heavily to the ground.  “Talen!” Shay yelled, dropping her bow.  She’d left her spear behind, to avoid getting it snagged in the narrow corridor, but she drew her shortsword and moved forward to shield the captain from the two clerics that were rushing forward to finish him off. The last one was casting a spell, moving his ugly green hands in a complicated series of gestures But before either side could reach him, Dar exploded out of the passage with the force of a boulder from a trebuchet.  As he emerged, his war club came up and around, intersecting with the face of one of the clerics with the full force of his momentum and strength behind it.  The cleric was knocked back, his head crumpled into a ruined mess.  The second cleric lifted his morningstar, but Dar continued his swing, and as he spun around, he slammed the club into the man’s hip.  The orc screamed and went down, clutching at his side as shards of shattered bone shredded his organs from within.  The last cleric finished his spell, invoking the dread power of his evil patron.  Argus burst from the passage and ran toward him, his longsword held out before him like a spear.  The acolyte completed his magic, protecting himself from good, but it didn’t help him much as the fighter thrust half of the length of his sword into the orc’s gut, driving him back against the wall.  The cleric, critically hurt, reached out and touched Argus on the side of his face.  The fighter yelled in pain as bloody red wounds appeared where the cleric’s fingers brushed his cheek.  He staggered back, leaving the orc clutching his bloody stomach, smiling through lips flecked with his own blood.  The creature was clearly dying, but he staggered forward to deliver another deadly touch attack upon the fighter, not caring whether he died, as long as he took a foe with him. That plan came to an abrupt end as Krogan’s adamantine urgosh came flying end-over-end at him.  The axe-head of the weapon struck the cleric solidly in the center of his forehead, and he crumpled backward, his head split near in two. The leader of the clerics regarded Dar with a hateful look as the fighter stepped over the bodies of his acolytes.  “The Great Master will claim your souls,” he hissed.  “Maybe, but he’ll get yours first, porky,” Dar said.  He lifted his club and came at the evil priest, wary of a desperate counterattack.  The cleric did not lift his morningstar, however, instead reaching out suddenly with his other hand.  Dar, having seen Varo unleash numerous touch attacks, expected something like that, but even though he drew back he could not avoid the orc’s hand as it brushed his arm, that brief touch enough to let it pour a surge of negative energy into him.  Dar grimaced and weathered the rush of agony that tore through the limb.  “You’ll have to do better than that,” he grunted, smashing the head of the club into the cleric’s gut.  The servant of Orcus was knocked back a step, bending over as the air was blasted from his lungs by the force of the impact.  The evil priest snarled and lifted a hand to strike again, but before he could act, Dar brought the club around again, smashing the cleric just above his left ear.  The orc went down like a sack of bricks, and he didn’t get up.  Dar lowered the club, and rubbed at his arm.  “Damned clerics.”  He turned to see Talen, who was being helped up by Shaylara, and who didn’t look happy. “I thought we agreed we were going to take one alive,” he said. Dar looked down at the string of bodies between him and the passage mouth.  He pointed to the one he’d side-swiped.  “I didn’t hit that one that hard... he should have lived.”Allera came from where she’d been helping Argus, and knelt beside the dead cleric.  She examined his injuries, and ran her hands above his face and chest.   “This creature took his own life,” she said, looking up at Talen. “It would seem that whatever secrets he possessed, he did not want to share them with us,” Varo commented. Krogan had recovered his urgosh, and had moved to check the two doors from the room.  “All quiet,” he said. Dar checked the body of the cleric leader he had killed.  The orc’s equipment was of superior manufacture, including two weapons, a morningstar and a light mace that both were of obvious masterwork quality.  Probably magical as well; he’d have to have Varo confirm that later.  He took both weapons, sticking them through the straps of his backpack.  When he stood back up, he saw Allera watching him. “What?  Don’t tell me you guys don’t loot bodies.”“You are injured,” the woman said.  “That orc cleric hit you with an inflict wounds spell.”“I didn’t know the name of it, but yeah, it hurt like somebody had stuck a knife in my arm.”She came up to him.  “Give me your hand.”With a grin that was not quite a leer, he held it out to her.  Ignoring him, she grasped the arm at the wrist and elbow.Dar shuddered as a cold rush swept through him, as though he’d been doused in ice water.  That was replaced almost immediately by a soft warmth that flowed out from his arm, suffusing him with a sense of well-being.  It was nothing like what Varo’s spells and wands had felt like, and he found himself filled with regret as the sensations faded.  “Um... wow.”She looked at him with a cocked eyebrow.  “You’re welcome.”  Releasing him, she walked over where Talen, Shaylara, and Krogan had gathered by one of the doors. “I don’t make out any signs that anybody came this way recently,” Shaylara was saying. “I still don’t like the idea of us resting here, until we’ve cleared the area,” Talen said.  “We’ll take a quick look, but don’t go starting a fight if one can be avoided.”  He was looking at Dar as he said the last sentence. “This guy’s worse than the marshal,” Dar said in an aside to Varo, as the cleric walked past him.  “Just remember, we share a common enemy,” the cleric replied. The door they chose led into a small triangular room with one other exit.  They quickly found that the rooms they’d entered were part of a small complex of interlocking rooms, alternating between small triangular rooms and larger six-sided chambers.  Most of the rooms were empty save for dirt, refuse, and occasional debris that might have once been furnishings.  One of the room had a wall that was dotted with small tunnel openings; almost as soon as they’d entered, a dozen giant rats had come surging out to attack.  The companions slew five of the creatures in as many seconds, and the rest fled, chittering loudly as they vanished into the dark holes. “I vote we don’t camp in this room,” Dar said. Pressing on, they finally came to a last hexagonal chamber.  This one was thick with debris around the perimeter, but the center of the room had been cleared to leave space for a large pentagram that had been etched into the floor.  Floating in the middle of the pentagram, hovering a few feet off the floor, was a faintly glowing skull. “What in name of the Father...” Talen breathed. “I would presume that this is the reason for the clerics’ visit,” Varo said.  “I would strongly caution against you breaking the circle.”“Noted,” Shaylara said, keeping her distance from the edge of the inscribed pattern. “What is it?” Argus asked.  Aelos opened his mouth to speak, but before he could respond, the glow around the skull flickered, and they each heard a voice speak in their minds.  I am the Oracle, possessor of all knowledge. You may ask one question of me.  Ask what you wish, and if you can meet the price, you shall learn the answer you seek.“Well now,” Dar said.</blockquote>

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