NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 3799958" data-attributes="member: 143">Unfortunately for the Doomed Bastards, the other side has mages as well.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> * * * * * Chapter 264THE LAIR OF THE SEERWarily the companions approached the statue of Orcus.  The granite construct loomed over them, its dark eyes malevolent, but it remained inanimate. “There’s an opening behind it,” Mehlaraine noted.  Spreading out, they approached the rear wall.  They could see the gap that Shay had mentioned, a secret door that now stood partially open, revealing a dimly lit chamber beyond.  “Why’d he leave it open?” Dar growled. “He wants us to follow him,” Selanthas said.  “Into a trap, no doubt.”“No doubt,” Dar said.  “Well, let’s oblige the prick.”Honoratius lifted a hand to forestall him.  “Mayhap we can trigger the trap without immediate personal jeopardy.”“That would be a first,” Allera said, under her breath.The archmage cast a spell, an incantation that culminated in a rumbling noise as a roughly-man shaped earth elemental rose up out of the ground.  The elemental wasn’t very large for its kind, standing almost eight feet in height, but when it shifted its squat legs the ground shook with its weight. Honoratius spoke with it, the gruff syllables of the Terran language sounding incongruous coming from Letellia’s mouth.  The elemental moved to obey, stomping over to the secret door.  It opened it fully, nearly crushing it back against the wall, the portal’s concealed hinges snapping before the creature’s strength. Standing in the doorway, the elemental made a perfect target, and it wasn’t much of a surprise when a bolt of lightning shot out from the room beyond and smashed into the elemental’s body.  The blast tore through the summoned creature and kept going, smashing into the back of the statue of Orcus.  The hulking image of the demon absorbed the blast more stoically than the elemental, which crumbled into a pile of useless rock.  Within seconds, even that was gone. “Well, we know they’re in there,” Dar said. Alderis and Honoratius each fired a bead from their wands of fireball into the room beyond the secret door.  From their current angle, they could not see any specific targets, but from the way that the flames rushed back out through the opening, the blasts likely filled or nearly filled the space beyond.  Alderis looked at his wand and frowned.  “My device is out of charges.”“You mean my device,” Honoratius said.  “I constructed it, seven years ago.”The companions waited, focusing on the open doorway, but no further attacks materialized from within.  “They’re waiting for us to go in after them,” Selanthas said, testing the tension of his bowstring. “Enough talk, then, let’s get to doing—” Dar began, but he was cut off by a cry from the chamber beyond the door.  “Shay!  Help... help me!”“Talen!” Shay cried.  Like a coiled spring suddenly released, she shot forward toward the door.  “Shay, no!” Dar yelled, lunging after her.  Allera was even faster than he, rushing forward after the scout. The three of them leapt through the doorway.  The others were just a step behind, but as soon as Dar cleared the opening, a glowing field of energy appeared within it, sealing the room off.  Nelan pounded on it, but the wall of force was impervious to his efforts. There was a slight hiss of power, and two more statues of Orcus suddenly appeared on the temple side of the wall, flanking the door.  These statues were smaller, each standing a mere six feet high, but they were otherwise duplicates of the massive one opposite the secret door, down to the skull-headed wands they bore. Only these statues were not inanimate, a fact that the companions discovered at once as they suddenly lifted their weapons and attacked. On the far side of the wall of force, Dar, Allera, and Shay found themselves in a low, long vault.  Alcoves flanked them to either side, occupied by wizened corpses swathed in preservative cloths.  The mummies appeared to be mere carcasses, and they crackled as they burned, the desiccated husks consumed by fires started by the arcanists’ fireballs earlier.  The room was thick with smoke, and full of a musky stench.  Shay had charged a good ten paces forward before she’d come to an abrupt stop, staring ahead in horror.  Standing by Allera just inside the doorway, Dar could see that they were not alone.  The cleric was there, reduced now to his normal size, his black scythe raised in one hand.  Beyond him, Dar could just make out a shadowy figure in a raised alcove on the far side of the vault; he was almost certainly the wizard who had fired off the lightning bolt earlier.  Shifting mirror images obscured his position.  Dar made a mental note to make killing him a priority. But the sight that drew his attention, and which had stopped Shay, was the face of their erstwhile companion.  Dar had known who the cleric’s warrior ally was, but that knowledge was not the same as seeing the man standing there, his helm now removed.  His skin was a pale, unnatural gray, but otherwise he was the same Talen Karedes that they had known.  “Talen...” Shay managed to say. “I am sorry,” he said, as the evil high priest of Orcus laughed a bitter, terrible laugh. “Not as sorry as you’re going to be,” Dar growled, lifting Valor and surging forward. “Dar, wait!” Allera warned, but it was too late. The cleric of Orcus raised his hand.  “HALT!” The word echoed through the chamber, reverberating off the walls.  Dar froze, and Shay, already caught in the spell of her lover’s terrible gaze, likewise stiffened as the magic of the greater command echoed through the vault. The cleric turned to Talen.  “Take her,” he said, waving his hand idly like a king granting a boon. The undead knight’s expression betrayed the conflict raging in him, but he stepped forward, nevertheless.  Shay stood there, trembling.  Her clothes were soaked in blood, the detritus from the destroyed blood golems.  Allera had resisted the cleric’s spell, and she lunged forward.  “Stay back!” she shouted, a blue glow materializing around her hands.But before the healer could reach either Talen or Shay, the Seer unleashed another bolt of lightning.  This one struck Allera in the chest, knocking her roughly back, blasting a blackened hole in the center of her armor.  Flares of electrical energy radiated out and hit both Shay and Dar, but all they could do was stand there, held in place by Hesperix’s magic.  Allera landed face-down on the stone floor, groaning.  Dar reached for her, but while he was not completely paralyzed, he could not order his feet to move even a small step. “You’re a dead man, wizard,” he growled, frustrated. “Take her, now!” the cleric urged once more.  Talen, moving in fitful jerks, came to stand before Shay. “Talen,” the scout said, the word a sob of pain. “I... I can’t... I’m sorry, Shay,” Talen replied.  He opened his jaws wide, revealing sharp incisors.  “Don’t do it,” Dar said.But whatever war battled within the undead knight seemed to have a foreordained conclusion.  He embraced Shay, crushing her body against his as his jaws closed on her neck, piercing her flesh.  The scout, dominated by his will, let out a soft groan, but could not otherwise resist.</blockquote>

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