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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 3568903" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 182OLD FRIENDSThe entity that had once been Zafir Navev laughed, a cold, dry sound.  “My powers have increased since we last met,” the undead warlock said.  He stepped back, and brought up his other hand.  The ghast of the mad barbarian Marthek shot forward across the bridge like a crossbow bolt, followed by a shambling horde of zombies.  Shay stood there, her eyes wide, torn between Talen and defending against the foe.  Looking back, she saw her lover stir; alive, at least.  She wanted to go to him, but with their two toughest fighters taken out by the warlock’s blast, she was the strongest left to hold the line. Dar’s reaction was more prosaic.  “I’ll kill that gods-damned wizard!” the fighter roared.  It was clear as he pulled himself up, however, that the blast had hurt.  Combined with the wounds he’d suffered battling the undead earlier, he was in far from good condition. Allera did not have time to ponder decisions; the ghast seemed to fixate on her, and an eager light shone in its eyes as it charged across the bridge.  It navigated the bobbling planks with ease; apparently the former barbarian retained some of its natural agility even in undeath. Kalend drew his sword and stepped forward to defend the healer; the weapon shook in his hand.  Filcher took a quick look between the undead and his companions, and stepped back into the shadows along the river’s edge. “Back, creature!” Varo yelled.  The cleric was still on his back, but he had lifted his head, and held up his divine focus with one hand.  Violet waves of energy, only vaguely perceived by those alive, roiled out from him, rushing down the tunnel toward the bridge.  That surge of power smashed into the ghast, which staggered as if struck. The creature was possessed of a considerable innate strength, further reinforced by the dark powers that suffused Rappan Athuk, gathered by the ritual of the cult of Orcus, and the Sphere of Souls.  Varo’s expression tightened in concentration as he poured the full strength of his will into the rebuke, adding his own power to the will of his shadowed god.  The combination was just enough to overcome the ghast’s resistances, and it let out a sharp shriek as it came to a halt, just shy of the near end of the bridge.  It clenched its claws and teeth, ferocious, but unable to come further. Kalend took an uncertain step forward, but Shay forestalled him.  “Let them come to us,” the scout said, her eyes not on the zombies, but on the warlock just visible behind them on the far side of the bridge.  “We should cut the bridge!” Serah exclaimed.  “Then the undead behind us will kill us when they get here,” Shay said, surprised at how calm her voice was.  “We have to get through these.”“Call upon the Father, Serah,” Allera said, collecting herself now that she saw that she wasn’t about to be torn apart.  “Have faith.”The priestess nodded and lifted her holy symbol.  Bright light flared from the sigil of the torch, washing over the undead upon the bridge.  The ghast was not affected, but the divine radiance flared as it struck the first ranks of zombies.  Unlike the monsters they had faced in the chamber earlier, these were mundane creatures, created by Navev, and while a black aura flickered around them as the holy light touched their flesh, it was not enough to protect them.  Five zombies crumpled into ash, which was blown almost at once into the river by the breeze coming down the low tunnel.There was still over a dozen more of the slow-moving undead.  They were not as adept as Marthek had been, and with the sudden shift in weight on the bridge several staggered to the side.  A pair hit the rail and went over, vanishing under the water, not to emerge again. Serah lifted her holy symbol to face the second rank, but before she could try to turn them a second time, Navev struck again.  “Look out!” Shay yelled, turning to push Serah hard on the shoulder.  The eldritch blast still hit her, but it was a glancing blow rather than a full-on blast with the force that had felled Varo and the fighters.  Even so, the force of the warlock’s power knocked the cleric off her feet, to land hard on the stone a few paces away.  The bolt split as before, but Shay had faced Navev’s power before, and was ready for it.  She yanked her body out of the path of the forking blast an instant before it touched her, and the magical pulse dissolved as it shot out into empty space beyond her.  Allera quickly hurried over to the fallen priestess, who clutched her blasted side in pain, but clung to consciousness.  Dar returned to the fray with a violent and angry cry of battle.  He saw the ghast, recognized Varo’s rebuke, and headed for it, Valor held above his head in both hands.  But the zombies were getting across the bridge, and blocked his rush.  One was drawn off as Kalend stabbed it, opening a deep gash in its side that trailed blackened and rotting entrails.  The zombie pawed at the thief, but failed to injure him.  Dar barely paused as he took the first zombie’s head and one arm off its body with his first swing.  Three more zombies lunged at him, but after the souped-up zombies of the last battle, these seemed almost pathetically weak.  Dar cleared them all with a single violent sweep of attacks, then lifted his sword to point across the bridge. “You’re next, wizard!” he shouted. Navev replied by blasting him solidly in the chest with another eldritch blast.  The twisting beam of energy knocked Dar back another twenty feet, while the forking side-blasts hit Kalend and Allera, hurting both and knocking them roughly into the walls on either side of the passage.  Dar, lay there for a long moment, trying unsuccessfully to get up. “Ouch...”Talen was on his feet again, and he’d made his way back to the bridge alone, using the side of the tunnel for guidance.  He heard Dar charge back into the fray, and cursed his own blindness; he’d be more of a liability than a boon if he attempted the same.  But neither could he just stand there and wait for his companions to resolve the battle.  Thankfully he’d kept his grip on his sword; he wouldn’t have been able to find Beatus Incendia again easily if he’d dropped it.   He hesitated.  He turned back toward the dark tunnel behind them.  He couldn’t see, but he could hear, although it was the absence of sound that drew his attention and his worry.  The sound of the wooden barrier being attacked had stopped.  The undead horde was coming.</blockquote>

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