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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 3765386" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 251SWALLOWED IN BLOODShay felt a cold chill seeping into her body from the painful cuts in her leg, even as the hot blood seared her exposed skin.  Without her magical ring, she was vulnerable to the paralyzing effects of the undead monster’s touch.  She fought off the spreading numbness with a desperate fury, but she still found herself fighting for her life against an implacable foe.  The ghast had been on her before she could recover enough to pull herself out of the pool of blood.  The monster dragged her down, smothering her screams before a surging froth of salty crimson.  Death had not stolen any of the barbarian’s insane strength, and its weight felt like a wagon had fallen upon her.  Unable to escape, she tried to draw a weapon to attack it, but her small axe fumbled out of her grip, and her attempt to push the creature off of her was as futile as a mouse trying to outwrestle a cat.  Its claws closed around her neck, and as its nails dug into her skin, she felt the chilling numbness return, this time too strong to resist.  The last thing she saw was the creature’s terrible face as it looked down at her in triumph, and then she was thrust under the surface of the pool, and everything drowned in a flood of red.  “Shay!” Talen felt a surge of rage that choked off the fear he felt.  He charged toward the pool and the ghast killing his lover, Beatus Incendia flaring in his hand like a beacon.  He saw Navev gesture and tensed to accept the blast he knew was coming.  But the bolt missed him, shooting wide to his left.  Talen did not realize that Allera was the target of the eldritch blast, nor did he see it fork after it had impacted the healer, flaring back to hit Dar before it arced back to smash into the base of his spine.  The blast knocked the knight off his feet, and he found himself twisting full around in mid-air before he hit the floor hard enough to knock the air from his lungs.  Gasping, he looked up to see the rim of the pool, suddenly close, blood trailing down the stone as it continued to slosh out from inside.  He could not see Shay, but he could hear a sick splashing noise from within the basin, sounds of struggle that were growing rapidly weaker.  Nelan staggered back as the black skeleton struck him a solid blow with its axe.  Somehow the small shield of Mailliw Catspar withstood the impact, although he felt as though his arm had been run over by a fully loaded cart.  The priest lifted his hand.  His mace was still at his side, but faith proved a more effective weapon as he hit the monster with a beam of searing light.  The skeleton’s considerable resistances were of no proof against the holy power of the spell, and large swaths of bone matter simply dissolved as the light passed over it.  Unfortunately for Nelan it was not enough to destroy the skeleton outright.  And as he looked beyond it, he caught sight of another danger that froze his blood; the goblin cleric was coming forward, cloaked in the full power of its dread master.  Nelan did not need his detect magic spell to sense the dark energies that surrounded the enemy priest.  Nor did he need any special insight to realize that this foe was more powerful than he. But his fear was replaced by surprise as a wall of bright flames suddenly rose up before him, engulfing the skeleton and blocking his view of the cleric. Allera opened her mouth to cry out, but no sound came out.  She didn’t need to hear the swoosh of the axe coming down toward her to know it was deadly, however.  The sight cut through the daze of her earlier impact, and she rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the blade that smashed into the floor hard enough to strike sparks.  She felt something hard cut her arm, and felt a fresh flow of blood to add to her tally of wounds.  She had plenty of healing spells left, but without the ability to speak, she could not draw upon the power of her magic.  First things first, then.  Correctly surmising that the silence aura was centered on the skeleton, she continued her roll and came up into a crouch.  The skeleton swept its head low, intending to impale her on its horns, but she leapt forward, diving between its legs.  Something hard crashed across her back, and she nearly collapsed.  But the healer drew upon a reserve of stern resolution, and rolled again to her feet, coming up into an awkward run.  Behind her, she could feel the skeleton coming after her through the vibrations in the floor, even if she could not hear it.  Letting out a silent yell, she put on a desperate burst of speed.  Not far away, Dar had no idea what was going on.  The same eldritch blast that had taken down Allera had arced back to hit him in the back, knocking him hard into one of the skeletons in front of him.  The blow had been oblique rather than head-on, and he’d shot off its knee like an armored missile, knocking both of them to the floor.  The other skeletons were on him in an instant, and agony flared through his right leg as an axe hit it just above the knee.  His greave kept him from losing the limb, but the metal buckled, and somehow through all the noise and chaos of battle he could clearly hear the bone snapping deep within the limb.  Well, he wouldn’t be going jogging anytime soon.  Knowing that getting up would be a futile endeavor, the fighter swung his club around in a wide arc around his prone form.  He hit the skeleton that had struck him solidly in the ankle, shattering the joint there and breaking several bones.  The skeleton staggered to the side and toppled when it landed on the broken stump; its skull exploded into a hundred pieces when it struck the floor.  But that still left three facing him, and while all were damaged, they didn’t feel pain the way that their human adversary did.  And with a broken leg keeping him on the ground, they had him at a great disadvantage.  The black skeleton that Nelan had been battling continued to attack, oblivious to the wall of fire that continued to damage it.  But the skeleton was already coming apart, its bones melting before the incredible heat of the wall.  Alderis had conjured the barrier so that most of its heat radiated in the opposite direction, so all Nelan felt was a slight surge of warmth.  A cloud of dark power exploded around him.  The cleric staggered back, fighting off the worst of the unholy blight, but nevertheless feeling tingles of pain as the energies of the spell scoured his spirit.  The evil spell lasted only a few heartbeats, and as it faded Nelan saw a small, dark form appear in the surging wall of flames.  The goblin cleric strode through the barrier, unharmed by the fire.“My Master will savor the sweet flavor of your soul, human priest,” it said, its voice rattling in its chest like a pebble trapped in a bottle.  The goblin looked as though it might collapse at any moment, but the apparent frailty of its body was belied by the insane fire that burned in its eyes.  The goblin came forward, an evil red glow forming around its right hand as it came. Talen roared and sprang to his feet, his rage granting him the strength to overcome the weight of his armor and weapons.  The knight rushed forward and leapt, not at Navev, but into the vile mess of blood within the stone basin.  The ghast, covered in bright crimson, immersed to its waist in blood, turned to meet his charge.  It extended its claws as it sprang toward Talen, but the knight had the advantage of reach this time, and the sword blazed down into the ghast’s shoulder, cutting deep into its body.The blow would have killed a living man, but the ghast was a monstrosity beyond mortal ken.  It surged at Talen with surprising speed, nearly knocking him over as it bowled into him.  The sudden attack actually helped him in one way; as Talen fought to keep his footing in the viscous mess of the bowl an eldritch blast streaked past him, missing his head by scant inches.  The ghast gave him no chance to recover, lunging at him with claw and bite.  Talen felt the creature’s claws dig into his arm as it tore at the loosened edge of one of his greaves, but with Shay’s ring of freedom of movement on his finger, he was immune to the cloying paralysis of its touch.  He drove his shield hard into the ghast’s chest, giving him enough clearance to strike with Beatus Incendia.  The first stroke ripped a foot-long tear in the ghast’s side, and as it roared and surged forward again, he brought the blade up in a powerful and deadly arc, shearing its skull in twain from jaw to ear.  The ghast expired immediately, collapsing into the blood with hardly a splash.  Talen was already moving, probing in the blood for Shay.  The blood in the pool only came up to his waist, but the basin was so broad that there was ample space to hide a body.  His shin bumped against something hard, and red steam hissed from the blood as he dropped Beatus Incendia into it and pulled at the limp form beneath him.  “Your brave sacrifice only delays the inevitable, foolish knight.”Talen looked up to see Navev staring directly at him, a hand extended toward his chest.  Then everything turned to black.</blockquote>

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