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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 3687921" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 227DARK GUARDIANSIt appeared that the wraiths could not simply pass through the floor, but that disadvantage seemed minor at best, as the undead creatures swarmed up through the tiny gaps to attack.  There were fully nine of the creatures, each far more powerful than a typical wraith, and far more deadly.   The one that had appeared first reacted with incredible speed, attacking even as the last of its substance drifted up out of the opening in the floor.  It swept forward and lunged at Dar, its insubstantial claws tearing through his armor as though it was not even there.  The fighter gasped as life was torn from his body, and the wraith seemed to pulse eagerly as it fed.  The creature did not linger beside him, and drew back with the same speed with which it had attacked, just far enough to force Dar to give chase if he wanted to harm it.  “There’s too many of them!” Shay yelled.  She started forward to engage another wraith that was rising up around another pillar, but Honoratius cut her off.  “Stand your ground!” the archmage shouted, summoning her magic with a blur of slender fingers and a brief incantation of power. A wall of force appeared across the room ahead of them, materializing scant feet ahead of a surprised Shaylara.  The wraith engaging Dar was on their side of the barrier, but the four other wraiths on that side pressed up against it, unable to pass through it.  They did not linger for more than a second or two before retreating to the nearest gap in the floor, dissolving back through it. Behind them, another four had almost fully emerged from the stone plate in the entry.  As the two younger elves spun and drew back to protect him, Alderis cast his own spell.  A blazing wall of fire appeared in the gap, right on the edge of the slab.  The wraiths drew back as the heat and light from the barrier washed over them, but such was their hatred and lust for the living that they surged forward through it, the flames burning great rents in their bodies as they passed the wall. Allera opened her mind and spread her hands, filling the chamber with a surge of positive energy.  The mass cure moderate wounds spell struck the wraiths with the force of a hammer, and the quartet split, with two flying straight for Alderis, the other pair making a beeline for Allera.  The healer blanched, but held her ground, calling for her magic again, knowing that it would not be in time. Dar had his hands full with his own opponent.  The wraith was a canny enemy, dodging away just enough to prevent a full attack, then knifing forward to deliver another devastating swipe of its claws.  Dar was tough, and his stamina was considerable, especially augmented by his magical amulet.  But each touch drew more of his strength out of him, and thus far his powerful swings with Valor had made no impact upon the wretched undead being’s substance, passing harmlessly through it.  Furthermore the forest of steel pillars made it difficult for him to maneuver, making it almost effortless for the wraith to evade him from one exchange to the next. For the moment, none of the fighter’s companions could come to his aid.  The four wraiths that had come through the wall of fire had been sorely injured by Alderis’s barrier and Allera’s healing pulse, but the dark energy that sustained them was potent, very potent indeed.  Nelan tried to turn them away, but the light of the Shining Father may as well have been the flicker of a candle for all the effect it had upon the dread wraiths.  It certainly did not distract them from their chosen foes.  Mehlaraine and Selanthas tried to shield Alderis from the two coming at them, but their weapons were better suited for fighting living, breathing enemies, rather than the undead.  Mehlaraine’s rapier passed harmlessly through the first, and while one of Selanthas’s shots tore through its substance, the wound was not enough to distract the creature from its target.  Both wraiths hit Alderis, and the elf seemed to shrink as they eagerly sucked upon his life force.  He started to float back away from them, but his focus on his spell flickered as he lost consciousness.  The wraiths pursued, eager to finish off this foe, to bring another ally on to their side. Allera fared slightly better, but mainly because her foes’ charge took them past Talen.  The knight lifted Beatus Incendia and smote the first wraith, the holy blade flaring as it tore through the dark creature’s substance.  It came apart, hissing slightly as it expired.  The other one continued on and lunged at Allera, but the healer fought off the tug of its claws upon her life force, and thrust her hand into its body, blasting it with a powerful healing spell.  The wraith exploded from within as blue light flared from her fingers, dissolving into nothing in less than a second. Dar staggered against one of the pillars, shaking his head in a vain effort to clear it.  His body was shaking, and he felt cold through to his bones.  The wraith, on the other hand, seemed stronger than before, and if anything, was getting faster. “Bastard,” Dar hissed between clenched teeth.  He wasn’t sure if he had the strength to chase after it any more, so he put his back to the pillar, and waited for it to come to him.  He did not have long to wait.  The wraith spun through the forest of pillars effortlessly, pouring between them like a waterfall.  Dar was ready for it, but once again Valor passed harmlessly through the wraith, and a feral hunger blazed in its eyes as it enfolded him in its swath.  Darkness closed around him.The two wraiths closed on Alderis, claws extended to finish the dying elf.  But at the last instant a globe of force appeared around him, forming an impenetrable barrier that kept the frustrated creatures at bay.  They swept around their intended victim, and spotted Honoratius hovering a short distance away, having saved the elf’s life with his resilient sphere.  Unfortunately, that now meant that he was the prime target of the wraiths, and they surged forward to take him out.  Meanwhile, the wraiths that Honoratius had foiled earlier with his wall of force began to issue from the floor on the far side of the wall of fire.  Having been denied once, they were not about to be cheated of their prizes a second time, and as soon as they were clear they surged through the barrier, accepting the pain of the raging flames as a price to be paid.  With nothing else standing between them and the vivid sources of life of their victims, the wraiths surged forward to the attack.</blockquote>

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