Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 3760287" data-attributes="member: 143">Thanks, Edwin! * * * * * Chapter 250FRYING PANS AND FIRESNelan staggered slightly and tried to regain his equilibrium as events raged out of control around him.  The echoes of the hezrou demon’s blasphemy roared in his ears, but his spell resistance had protected him, and he remained capable of action.  He saw Mehlaraine fall, and saw the demon reach eagerly for the paralyzed elf.  Even as the confused haze around his senses continued to clear he stepped forward and boldly presented his holy symbol, calling upon the power of the Father.  The demon shrieked as his banishment spell sent it back to the Abyss. He looked around for the goblin cleric, but was distracted by movement out of the corner of his eye.  He turned to see two of the black skeletons, which had bypassed both the fireballs and the melee in the center of the room. They were coming straight for him, and picking up speed.  The cleric looked around, and saw that most of his companions, at least those nearby, were on the ground, paralyzed and helpless. Gritting his teeth, the aged priest stepped forward to meet the charging undead. Tribitz had not been idle while its ally was stripped from his service.  The priest, all too aware of the magical potency of its foes, hurled a well-placed greater dispel into the ranks of the enemy.  The spell’s burst was not wide enough to affect all of its adversaries, especially with them scattered about by the warlock’s blasts, and the wards placed by Nelan and Allera were potent, difficult to dispel.  But Tribitz’s magic was far from weak, and its casting successfully stripped away a number of the spells protecting their foes.Including the death wards protecting Dar and Talen.  Talen heard Shay scream, and glanced over in time to see her taken out of the air by the ghast.  The knight felt an icy dagger of fear stab into his chest at the sight, a sensation that was accompanied by a very real stab of pain as one of the remaining black skeletons smashed its axe hard across his breastplate.  He’d let his guard down for only an instant, but the three skeletons still facing him were ready to take advantage.  Talen hesitated, torn between love and duty. “GO!” Dar yelled.  The fighter hurled himself at Talen’s foes, ignoring what had to be a painful slash to his right hip from one of his own adversaries as he broke away from them.  The two damaged skeletons he’d left behind lumbered after him as he hit the one nearest Talen, crushing its spine into black powder and sending it hard to the ground.  The other two turned on him, allowing the knight to disengage and rush to Shay’s aid.  The two he’d been fighting before closed the square behind him, leaving him surrounded by four of the creatures. “Maybe not the best plan,” the fighter muttered to himself, hitting another skeleton with a blow that cracked its right humerus, sending its axe and the attached arm flying away.  The skeleton was not unduly inconvenienced by the loss of its weapon, slashing at him with its other clawed hand, and goring with its long horns.  Dar avoided both, but felt a fresh pain explode in his side as one of the skeletons behind him scored another hit.  He was rapidly losing the benefit of Allera’s earlier mass cure, and was finding it hard to breathe against the stabbing pains that shot through his torso at each movement. “Allera!” he cried, unable to see the healer for all the chaos surrounding him. The healer had her own problems.  Dazed for a few moments by the blasphemy, she recovered to find herself hazarded by yet another black skeleton, one of the last stragglers from the initial charge.  She dodged back from its reaching claws.  One dug into her arm, leaving bloody red tracks where it scratched her, but she escaped its reach and opened her mind to the power of her healing magic once more. Unfortunately for her, that was exactly what Zafir Navev had been waiting for.  The warlock fired off another eldritch blast that slammed unerringly into the healer’s chest, knocking her off her feet from the force of the impact.  She flew back and hit something hard.  Her momentum was erased by the impact and she fell forward, breaking her nose as it smashed against the cold stone of the floor.  Blood poured down her face and she felt dizzy, but she clung to consciousness with an iron grip born of sheer willpower.  Groaning, she turned and looked up to see the black skeleton she’d struck looming over her, its axe already coming down to finish her off.</blockquote>

Verification