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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 3603913" data-attributes="member: 143">Well, knowing them, it won't last for long...  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> * * * * * Chapter 194HERZORD’S COMMANDThe aftermath of the battle was handled with grim efficiency.  Herzord knew how to command, but even more obvious was the skill and experience of his warriors.  First, they made sure of each of the four trolls, cutting their throats and stabbing their narrow swords through their eyes into their wretched brains.  Even before the last troll stopped twitching, the goblin warriors were taking out oil flasks, the contents of which were doused liberally over the corpses.  Those were ignited at once, then monitored to make sure that the flames consumed fully each troll, or at least those parts of it that could possibly grow back.  It all took about a minute.  With a few gestures Herzord assigned scouts to watch the chamber’s exits, a corridor that exited to the west and the spiral stair that descended presumably to another level.  Filcher and a pair of goblin escorts vanished down the stairs. “What’s down there?” Talen asked. “The slave pits,” Herzord replied.  “The torture cells and the temple are that way,” he added, indicating the west passage.  “But it would be foolish to leave a garrison behind us, and if possible, we should free any captives held down there.”“It’s not likely that anyone failed to hear us coming,” Dar said.  “These bastards made a lot of noise dying.”Varo came up behind Talen.  “What is it, Varo?” the knight asked. “This place, it is a locus of great power,” the cleric replied.  “Evil is bleeding off from the very walls.  The aura will hinder our abilities, and bolster the foe.  I thought you should know.”“Always the bringer of bright tidings,” Dar grumbled. “All right.  As soon as the wounded are treated, we’ll move out,” Talen said. Allera and Serah, along with a goblin priest of Dagos that Herzord had brought with them, were already working on the injured.  While several of their group had been critically hurt in the brief but violent battle, only one goblin, the one that the first troll had cut in half, was beyond help.  Even the goblin that the troll had fallen onto had been pulled out, albeit with broken bones and internal bleeding.  But Allera’s healing wand had taken care of that, and the goblin was soon able to take its place in the line. “Your power is impressive,” Herzord commented.  The hobgoblin eschewed the offered healing, instead downing a curative potion from the pouch at his belt.  Serah used her wand to heal the injuries that Dar and Shay had suffered in the battle, while Allera set and restored Talen’s broken arm.  By the time they were ready to go, Filcher had already returned, and came over to deliver a report to Herzord. “The pits are deserted,” the goblin said, in its own language.  “No guards, and no prisoners.  It looks like the place was cleared out fairly recently.”“What’d he say?” Dar asked. “The pits are empty,” Shay said.  She looked at Talen, who nodded; he could make a few guesses about what had happened to the prisoners. “The priests, then,” the knight said.  “Agreed,” Herzord said.  He turned to his troops, but before he could issue any commands, two goblins returned from the west passage. “Enemies coming!” one of the scouts hissed.  The goblin flashed something with its fingers, which presumably indicated something about the numbers and nature of the foe.  None of the companions could understand the significance, but they could easily read the alarm on the creature’s face. “Ready ambush!” the hobgoblin leader ordered.  But even as his troops moved into flanking positions around the tunnel entry, there was a sudden gust of chilled air through the chamber, their only warning before an ice storm came crashing down upon them. Hailstones the size of a fist rained down on the company from Camar and their goblinoid allies, accompanied by a bitter surge of cold that cut through clothes and armor to steal the warmth from the flesh beneath.  Several of the goblin scouts went down, blue and shivering, and none of them escaped damage from the penetrating barrage. “Fall back!” Herzord yelled in Common, shouting to be heard over the sound of the ongoing ice storm.  But Talen saw that the goblins were holding position, flanking the entry, and he understood; Herzord was trying to set up an ambush, to draw the enemy in to be encircled. Unfortunately, not everyone grasped the plan.  “Screw that, we need to take out the wizard!” Dar shouted.  Instead of retreating, he charged across the room, ignoring the hailstones that continued to plink off of his armor, before vanishing into the dark corridor. “You idiot,” Talen muttered, his words lost within the roar of the magical storm.  But faced with the choice of abandoning Dar to his fate or following his lead, the knight was left without much of a decision.  Then he saw that Shay was following him, and Kalend, and then he had no choice left at all.  “At them!” the knight cried, lifting Beatus Incendia above his head, the holy steel flaring as the ice storm died. He only managed a few steps, however, before a blast of cold flared out from the corridor, blinding him in the swirling energies of a cone of cold.  Even on the edges of the blast, Talen could feel the heat being sucked out of his body, and he staggered back, raising his arms to protect his face from the swirling gusts of ice lingering in the air.</blockquote>

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