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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 3685684" data-attributes="member: 143">Per the book they are virtually unkillable, as they treat all damage as subdual except for epic weapons and artifacts. While Valor may go epic if its owner does, at the moment it does not meet that threshold.I allowed the dagger to finish off the spawn, because a) the red-gem dagger has the wounding property, and b) the mithral daggers (we've seen several in the story thus far) are linked directly to the Ravager's prison. The connection will likely be expanded on later in the story. I've recently started writing again after a brief hiatus while work was busy. I'm still well ahead. The story's been feeling a bit repetitive (as others have noted, especially via the battle scenes), and that was one reason why I elected to rotate in some new characters from time to time. Fear not, we haven't seen the last of Varo (though it may be a while before he makes a reappearance).* * * * * Chapter 226DOWN THE WELLThey descended into the Well. There had been a brief conversation about how to proceed.  They had expended considerable resources, including considerable quantities of their blood, in defeating the ravager.  But after speaking quietly with Honoratius, Talen elected to push forward, and investigate the Well.  Although retreat and recovery of spells might have been the more prudent course, each of them felt a sense of urgency in the backs of their minds, a ticking clock that warned of more events like the Night of the Dead in Camar’s future, if they lingered overlong. They made it down through the valley to the Well without incident.  Talen, Shay, and Allera had come this way once before, when they had sneaked into Rappan Athuk to seek out Velan Tiros.  They had been too late, that time.  The dark stone circle of the Well, ten feet across, gaped black and open before them.  Shay investigated the perimeter, running her fingers through deep gouges in the stone. “Thing made quite an entrance,” Dar said.  “There were scratches like this before, when we came last time,” Shay said.  “They were very old.”  She pointed out a pair that were fairly close, the fresh ones obvious from the sharp edges of the cuts. “So those creatures have come up to the surface before,” Mehlaraine said.  “Perhaps there is a lair of them somewhere far below.”“They are not creatures of the Demon,” Honoratius reminded them. “Just one of those monsters nearly destroyed the town of Highbluff,” Talen said.  “They pose a threat that we cannot simply ignore.”Shay rigged up a couple of ropes, driving pitons into the solid stones at the base of the Well.  Even as she tossed the lines down into the shaft, however, the elves simply rose up into the air using their still-effective overland flight spells, and hovered over the opening.  Mehlaraine said something in elvish, and her slender sword began to glow. “We will investigate,” Alderis said.  “If there is danger, we can withdraw quickly.”Talen nodded.  “Be careful.  When we came this way last time, there was only a deep pool at the bottom, and a couple of very narrow tunnels leading into the complex.  The creature’s movements have likely changed the situation.”The elves descended into the pit, while the others gathered around the perimeter of the Well to watch.  They could see the globe of light surrounding Mehlaraine, descending deeper and deeper into the black shaft.  “Damn, that’s deep,” Dar said.  The fighter had recovered his club, and he was absently working to repair its leather throng as he watched.  “Quiet,” Talen said.The elves had descended so far that it was difficult to make out details of what they were doing.  But at least they were not being attacked.  After another minute, they saw the trio ascending rapidly, and within a few more seconds they were hovering before them in the Well’s mouth. “What did you see?” Talen asked. “It appears that the creature came up from below,” Alderis reported.  “The pool is gone, and the water is draining through a large hole at the bottom.  It appears that there was a hatch buried under the mud beneath the pool; the threshold is largely intact, and is made of mithral.”“What’s below?” Shay asked. “We did not scout far, but it appears that there is a significant cavern, possibly a larger complex.”They looked to Talen, who pondered the information for a moment longer.  “All right,” he said.  “Let’s go check it out.”The elves led the way, flying down the shaft once more, while the others used the ropes.  Honoratius cast a spell, and rose up into the air, descending the shaft alongside the climbers.  Getting down was not difficult, although as Dar was quick to point out, the climb up would involve a lot more effort.  The made it to the bottom without incident, and gathered at the opening.  Mud from the pool slicked everything, making footing treacherous, but the water that continued to trickle down through the opening had washed enough clear to reveal the silvery shine of mithral.  The opening was eight feet across, and from the depth of the mithral ring, the hatch had likely been four or five feet thick.  Only one of the hinges of the missing portal was still intact, and Honoratius bent over it, her boots floating just an inch above the slippery mire.  “I wonder where the door is,” Dar asked. “Likely buried somewhere below,” Selanthas said.  “There is a large pool below, and a great deal of mud.” “We would have never known that this was here,” Shay said.  “When we came down last time, this was all under at least ten feet of water.”  She pointed to the narrow tunnel openings up above them.  “Looks like didn’t want those bastards getting out,” Dar said, examining the inside of the mithral shaft.  “Gods, this has to be a ton of mithral here, a freaking fortune.”“Commander,” Honoratius said. Talen turned to her.  “What is it, archmage?”Honoratius pointed to the ruined hinge.  “The metal is growing back.”Everyone turned toward her.  “What?” Talen asked.  “You mean it’s regenerating?”“Yes.  Very slowly.  I would guess that the hatch that sealed the opening is reconstituting itself.” “How long?”“Assuming a constant rate of growth, I would estimate about three hours.”Talen looked back down the shaft.  “Well?” Dar asked.  “We go down and see what’s what, or we head back and wait for the next one of those things to claw its way free?”“I wouldn’t want to get trapped in there,” Shay warned. “My magic should be able to defeat the hatch, if it comes to it, but it is possible that there might be wards that would counter my talents, when the barrier is complete,” Honoratius said.  “Clearly whoever constructed this anticipated a breach, and placed considerable countermeasures in place.”“On the other hand, we might not get a chance like this again,” Allera said. “All right,” Talen said.  “We go in, but I want a close check on time.  Allera, take one of the backup lanterns from Shay’s bag, and set a slow-burning wick.  After two hours, at the most, we cut out.  Archmage, how much longer will you be able to remain with us today?”“Approximately two hours and fifteen minutes.”“All right.  By then, we’re out of here, everyone understand?  Shay, we’re going to need more ropes.”The scout was already drawing out more coils of light silk rope, knotted for easier climbing, from her bag of holding.  Within a few minutes, they had descended into the cavern below, the elves flying ahead to ward against any threats.   The cavern was large, as the elves had said.  The ropes dropped them to a mud-slicked promontory of rock that rose up of the new lake that had formed covering the floor.  The rock shelf formed a ramp of sorts that sloped down to an apparent exit to the north.  There was no sign of the mithral hatch; likely it had fallen into the pool and been buried, as Selanthas had suggested. “The stone here, it is odd,” Mehlaraine noted, as she floated across the cavern toward the exit.  Honoratius drifted over to join her, and examined the rock.  It was a deep gray, but mottled through with striations of yellow, blue, and red crystal, which flickered slightly in their light.  “There is a powerful and ancient magic here,” Honoratius said.  “Wonderful,” Dar said, as he sloshed and slipped through the mud toward the opening, the others trailing behind.  Shay had taken out another rope to connect those walking, a caution against the treacherous footing.  By the time they made it to the end of the ramp, they were all covered in mud from the waist down.  Dar continued to mutter to himself, his comments including references to “freaking elves” and “gods-damned wizards.”  Had he known how sharp the ears of the elves floating above were, he might have been more circumspect; on the other hand, being who he was, he might not. Shay bent down to examine the floor at the end of the ramp.  “This plate doesn’t match up exactly with the surrounding floor,” she said, indicating the creases that indicated a roughly twenty-foot square slab of stone. “Trap?” Talen asked. “I don’t know.  But it’s not right.”The elves drifted forward.  “The space ahead is more regularly defined than the cavern,” Selathas said. “What in the hells does that mean?” Dar asked. “Deliberately worked,” Allera said. “Well, why the hell doesn’t he just say that?”They moved ahead, wary of the stone plate, but the ground did not shift under them, nor did any other danger manifest as they passed into a large rectangular chamber.  This place’s most prominent feature was row upon row of metal pillars, each about five feet apart from the others.  There was an obvious path through the middle of the room, marked by pillars that had been bent, or in at least one case completed destroyed, the gap in the forest of pillars surrounded by fragments of shattered metal.  “Well, we know it came this way, at least,” Shay said. Dar walked up to one of the pillars and tapped it with his gauntlet.  “Steel,” he said.  “Good quality.”  “Not good enough, it would seem,” Nelan commented. “Who could have built this place?” Mehlaraine said.  “It bears the hallmark of an ordered mind,” Honoratius said, but she did not elaborate. “Let’s keep moving,” Talen said.  “Watch out for traps.  Shay?”The scout started forward, but she had gotten barely three steps forward when Selanthas shouted a warning.  They followed the archer’s pointed finger to the space in the floor where one of the pillars had been destroyed.  Rising out of the gap in the floor where the pillar had been was a dark black figure, a cohesive cloud of shadow.  As it emerged from the floor it spread broadly, until it was as large as an ogre, and they could see the twin points of malevolent red light that shone within its “head”, staring at them with an undisguised hunger. More of them were already beginning to seep out from the floor, either around the bases of the damaged pillars or from the cracks in the slab behind them.  Within seconds they would be surrounded. “Dread wraiths!” Nelan cried, and then there was no time for speech, as the undead monsters swarmed upon them.</blockquote>

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