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The Doomed Bastards: Reckoning (story complete)
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<blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 3812467" data-attributes="member: 143"><p>The vacation begins Saturday; I'll be back on the 14th. I am going to make an effort to not even <em>look</em> at the Internet until I get back. </p><p></p><p>There are three more posts in book 4, after this one. I may post all 3 tomorrow, haven't decided. </p><p></p><p>Things get pretty crazy in Book 5. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /> </p><p></p><p>* * * * * </p><p></p><p>Chapter 268</p><p></p><p>HELL HATH NO FURY</p><p></p><p></p><p>Hesperix reveled in the power of the True God. </p><p></p><p>The cleric had recovered from his defeat in the Talon, and was now just moments from complete victory over these enemies of his Master. Isolated here in the Talon, lost in reverie after his undoing at the hands of Theron, he had not been aware of most of the dramatic events of recent weeks. He knew little specifically about these powerful intruders, save the little that Navev had revealed about them. But he did know that Zehn, Gudmund, and Theron had been brought low, and he knew viscerally that the world as he knew it was on a cusp, one where the power of those closest to the Master had the potential to become almost like gods themselves. </p><p></p><p>His gambit had paid off. By luring the intruders into the private sanctum of the Seer, he had forced the mage’s hand. The Seer, while corrupt to his core, and as suffused with evil as Hesperix, was unpredictable in his allegiances and bore no love for the nominal commander of the Talon. But the mage—reluctantly, perhaps—had used his golems and his magical powers to divide and disrupt the invaders, giving Hesperix a chance to destroy them one by one. </p><p></p><p>His undead thrall staggered to his feet, the vampire’s fast healing allowing him to recover from the grievous wound. Hesperix himself was in excellent shape, thanks to a <em>heal</em> spell he’d cast on fleeing from the temple. <em>Dacris</em> had taken out the fighter that had nearly defeated the vampire, and while the man lying at his feet would almost certainly die without further assistance, the cleric raised his weapon to make certain. </p><p></p><p>But before he could strike, the woman scout shot into him, screaming with a wild fury as she struck him hard, driving both back several steps toward the rear of the chamber. She slashed a blazing sword at him like a cleaver, hacking at him with neither finesse nor inhibition. Hesperix cut reflexively with <em>Dacris</em>, and the head of the weapon, formed of dark energy, infused with unholy power, passed through her armor and clothing and bit deep into her left shoulder. The wound was a critical one, and the woman’s arm fell limp, the connections between it and her body mangled by the stroke. </p><p></p><p>But his foe was consumed with fury, and she seemed barely to notice the terrible wound as she slashed up at his head with the sword. Hesperix staggered back, trying to bring up the haft of the scythe to block. The blow glanced off of his left bracer and caromed off of the skullcap that protected his head. The light helm saved his life, but the edge of the sword, razor-sharp, cracked the metal and scored his flesh, searing it with the purging fire of the Shining Father. For the priest of Orcus, it was like being branded with a spar that pierced his flesh and laid light directly upon the festering corruption of his soul. </p><p></p><p>Hesperix countered with the powers granted him by his patron. He hurled his most powerful remaining spell at the woman, but the <em>slay living</em> spell rolled harmlessly off a ward protecting her life force. He thrust at her with <em>Dacris</em>, giving ground as he retreated toward the alcove in the rear of the chamber, but she continued to harry him at every step, the holy sword forming a blinding arc of deadly steel around her. One of those strokes bit into the cleric’s side, piercing his chainmail armor and burning flesh, muscle, and liver. </p><p></p><p>“Talen! Seer! Aid me!” the cleric cried. </p><p></p><p>But the odds of the battle, just moments ago decidedly favoring the defenders of the Talon, had shifted once again. </p><p></p><p>Even as Shay leapt to challenge Hesperix, Allera rushed toward Dar. Heedless of the golems lumbering at her back, she drew upon her healing magic for a <em>mass cure serious wounds</em> spell. </p><p></p><p>She was not surprised when she again felt the burning needle of the unseen wizard’s counterspell. But this time she was ready for it, and met it with a surge of her own considerable will. The enemy’s riposte was turned against that shield, and the spell’s life-giving energy poured into her body. She barely felt the blow against her right arm, although the golem’s stone mace hit her with enough force to break the bone. Her attention was focused entirely on Dar. When the unconscious fighter stirred, groaning, it felt like a great weight had been lifted from her. </p><p></p><p>But then her gaze traveled up from the prone warrior, to the slight distortion that wavered in the air just beyond him. </p><p></p><p>“It will not avail you, healer,” came a dark voice from that empty space. Then, the soft sounds of spellcasting. </p><p></p><p>Everything happened at once. To her left, she was aware of Talen falling to the ground, his flesh melting away from his bones as blue fire scourged him. He collapsed, and what was left of him dissolved into a fine silver mist that rose up toward the shadowed ceiling of the vault. </p><p></p><p>Behind her, the golems. The second creature moved around the first, lifting its mace to crush her skull. </p><p></p><p>To her right, there was a shimmer and a distortion. Letellia, Mehlaraine, Selanthas, and Nelan suddenly materialized. The sorceress, only barely lucid, was held upright in the firm grip of the aged cleric. As her <em>dimension door</em> spell concluded, she slipped out of consciousness again, and the cleric drew her back, away from the chaos of the battle. </p><p></p><p>The elves leapt into action at once. Selanthas had an arrow drawn and ready, and he targeted the golem that had was taking a swing at Allera’s head. The elf’s powerful shot smashed through the golem’s wrist, shattering it and sending both its hand and the stone mace flying. The loss did not trouble the construct the way it would a mortal creature, and it merely turned toward the elf, lifting its other hand to attack. </p><p></p><p>Mehlaraine surged forward toward the invisible wizard, letting her keen senses guide her. The Seer aborted whatever spell he’d been preparing to cast, and instead summoned a <em>dimension door</em> that whisked him out of the room a scant instant before the elf’s slender sword slashed through the air where he’d been standing. </p><p></p><p>Hesperix was coming to realize that he was alone; none of his allies were coming to his aid. Blood already flecked his lips; he was bleeding internally. The priest had a handful of higher-order spells left in his reservoir, but nothing more potent than the fourth valence, and this foe was immune to both his <em>death touch</em> and any spontaneous <em>inflicts</em> that he might have summoned. He had tried to <em>dispel</em> her protections, but whoever had placed the wards was stronger than he, and he had only earned another vicious hit that had crunched hard against his side, shivering a rib. Against the tally of his current wounds, the new pain was barely noticeable. </p><p></p><p>“So be it,” the cleric hissed. He lifted <em>Dacris</em> and prepared to launch a full attack at the enemy scout. She was hurt, too, and despite the rage that fueled her, there was only so much that mortal flesh could withstand. </p><p></p><p>But the woman was no longer there. After delivering her last stroke, even as the cleric lifted his weapon, she suddenly sprang back, landing ten feet back at the edge of the alcove. Hesperix was left alone in the darkened niche, with only hard stone at his back. </p><p></p><p>“Damn you all to—”</p><p></p><p>The priest’s shriek was cut off as a long arrow slammed into his chest, piercing his armor and penetrating deep into his left lung. Hesperix looked down at the feathered shaft jutting from his body, then up to meet the stare of the woman, who stood there staring at him, the light from her holy sword highlighting the angles of her face, and the dark orbs of her eyes. </p><p></p><p>For all his evil, Hesperix shuddered at what he saw in those eyes. </p><p></p><p>Selanthas fired another arrow, a second shot aimed straight at the dying cleric’s heart. But an instant before it would have struck, there was a shimmering in the air, and Hesperix vanished. The arrow shattered on the stone wall behind him. </p><p></p><p>Shay turned around slowly. The battle was over; Nelan and Mehlaraine had finished off the golem statues, and Allera was helping Dar to his feet, pouring healing into him as she did so. Letellia had recovered, and as Shay watched the sorceress opened another <em>dimension door</em>, transporting herself into the <em>forcecage</em> to recover the waiting Alderis. </p><p></p><p>But Shay only noted those happenings with some distant, detached part of her mind. Her attention was focused on the dark smear on the floor, with a bloody shortsword lying next to it, where Talen had fallen.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lazybones, post: 3812467, member: 143"] The vacation begins Saturday; I'll be back on the 14th. I am going to make an effort to not even [i]look[/i] at the Internet until I get back. There are three more posts in book 4, after this one. I may post all 3 tomorrow, haven't decided. Things get pretty crazy in Book 5. :) * * * * * Chapter 268 HELL HATH NO FURY Hesperix reveled in the power of the True God. The cleric had recovered from his defeat in the Talon, and was now just moments from complete victory over these enemies of his Master. Isolated here in the Talon, lost in reverie after his undoing at the hands of Theron, he had not been aware of most of the dramatic events of recent weeks. He knew little specifically about these powerful intruders, save the little that Navev had revealed about them. But he did know that Zehn, Gudmund, and Theron had been brought low, and he knew viscerally that the world as he knew it was on a cusp, one where the power of those closest to the Master had the potential to become almost like gods themselves. His gambit had paid off. By luring the intruders into the private sanctum of the Seer, he had forced the mage’s hand. The Seer, while corrupt to his core, and as suffused with evil as Hesperix, was unpredictable in his allegiances and bore no love for the nominal commander of the Talon. But the mage—reluctantly, perhaps—had used his golems and his magical powers to divide and disrupt the invaders, giving Hesperix a chance to destroy them one by one. His undead thrall staggered to his feet, the vampire’s fast healing allowing him to recover from the grievous wound. Hesperix himself was in excellent shape, thanks to a [i]heal[/i] spell he’d cast on fleeing from the temple. [i]Dacris[/i] had taken out the fighter that had nearly defeated the vampire, and while the man lying at his feet would almost certainly die without further assistance, the cleric raised his weapon to make certain. But before he could strike, the woman scout shot into him, screaming with a wild fury as she struck him hard, driving both back several steps toward the rear of the chamber. She slashed a blazing sword at him like a cleaver, hacking at him with neither finesse nor inhibition. Hesperix cut reflexively with [i]Dacris[/i], and the head of the weapon, formed of dark energy, infused with unholy power, passed through her armor and clothing and bit deep into her left shoulder. The wound was a critical one, and the woman’s arm fell limp, the connections between it and her body mangled by the stroke. But his foe was consumed with fury, and she seemed barely to notice the terrible wound as she slashed up at his head with the sword. Hesperix staggered back, trying to bring up the haft of the scythe to block. The blow glanced off of his left bracer and caromed off of the skullcap that protected his head. The light helm saved his life, but the edge of the sword, razor-sharp, cracked the metal and scored his flesh, searing it with the purging fire of the Shining Father. For the priest of Orcus, it was like being branded with a spar that pierced his flesh and laid light directly upon the festering corruption of his soul. Hesperix countered with the powers granted him by his patron. He hurled his most powerful remaining spell at the woman, but the [i]slay living[/i] spell rolled harmlessly off a ward protecting her life force. He thrust at her with [i]Dacris[/i], giving ground as he retreated toward the alcove in the rear of the chamber, but she continued to harry him at every step, the holy sword forming a blinding arc of deadly steel around her. One of those strokes bit into the cleric’s side, piercing his chainmail armor and burning flesh, muscle, and liver. “Talen! Seer! Aid me!” the cleric cried. But the odds of the battle, just moments ago decidedly favoring the defenders of the Talon, had shifted once again. Even as Shay leapt to challenge Hesperix, Allera rushed toward Dar. Heedless of the golems lumbering at her back, she drew upon her healing magic for a [i]mass cure serious wounds[/i] spell. She was not surprised when she again felt the burning needle of the unseen wizard’s counterspell. But this time she was ready for it, and met it with a surge of her own considerable will. The enemy’s riposte was turned against that shield, and the spell’s life-giving energy poured into her body. She barely felt the blow against her right arm, although the golem’s stone mace hit her with enough force to break the bone. Her attention was focused entirely on Dar. When the unconscious fighter stirred, groaning, it felt like a great weight had been lifted from her. But then her gaze traveled up from the prone warrior, to the slight distortion that wavered in the air just beyond him. “It will not avail you, healer,” came a dark voice from that empty space. Then, the soft sounds of spellcasting. Everything happened at once. To her left, she was aware of Talen falling to the ground, his flesh melting away from his bones as blue fire scourged him. He collapsed, and what was left of him dissolved into a fine silver mist that rose up toward the shadowed ceiling of the vault. Behind her, the golems. The second creature moved around the first, lifting its mace to crush her skull. To her right, there was a shimmer and a distortion. Letellia, Mehlaraine, Selanthas, and Nelan suddenly materialized. The sorceress, only barely lucid, was held upright in the firm grip of the aged cleric. As her [i]dimension door[/i] spell concluded, she slipped out of consciousness again, and the cleric drew her back, away from the chaos of the battle. The elves leapt into action at once. Selanthas had an arrow drawn and ready, and he targeted the golem that had was taking a swing at Allera’s head. The elf’s powerful shot smashed through the golem’s wrist, shattering it and sending both its hand and the stone mace flying. The loss did not trouble the construct the way it would a mortal creature, and it merely turned toward the elf, lifting its other hand to attack. Mehlaraine surged forward toward the invisible wizard, letting her keen senses guide her. The Seer aborted whatever spell he’d been preparing to cast, and instead summoned a [i]dimension door[/i] that whisked him out of the room a scant instant before the elf’s slender sword slashed through the air where he’d been standing. Hesperix was coming to realize that he was alone; none of his allies were coming to his aid. Blood already flecked his lips; he was bleeding internally. The priest had a handful of higher-order spells left in his reservoir, but nothing more potent than the fourth valence, and this foe was immune to both his [i]death touch[/i] and any spontaneous [i]inflicts[/i] that he might have summoned. He had tried to [i]dispel[/i] her protections, but whoever had placed the wards was stronger than he, and he had only earned another vicious hit that had crunched hard against his side, shivering a rib. Against the tally of his current wounds, the new pain was barely noticeable. “So be it,” the cleric hissed. He lifted [i]Dacris[/i] and prepared to launch a full attack at the enemy scout. She was hurt, too, and despite the rage that fueled her, there was only so much that mortal flesh could withstand. But the woman was no longer there. After delivering her last stroke, even as the cleric lifted his weapon, she suddenly sprang back, landing ten feet back at the edge of the alcove. Hesperix was left alone in the darkened niche, with only hard stone at his back. “Damn you all to—” The priest’s shriek was cut off as a long arrow slammed into his chest, piercing his armor and penetrating deep into his left lung. Hesperix looked down at the feathered shaft jutting from his body, then up to meet the stare of the woman, who stood there staring at him, the light from her holy sword highlighting the angles of her face, and the dark orbs of her eyes. For all his evil, Hesperix shuddered at what he saw in those eyes. Selanthas fired another arrow, a second shot aimed straight at the dying cleric’s heart. But an instant before it would have struck, there was a shimmering in the air, and Hesperix vanished. The arrow shattered on the stone wall behind him. Shay turned around slowly. The battle was over; Nelan and Mehlaraine had finished off the golem statues, and Allera was helping Dar to his feet, pouring healing into him as she did so. Letellia had recovered, and as Shay watched the sorceress opened another [i]dimension door[/i], transporting herself into the [i]forcecage[/i] to recover the waiting Alderis. But Shay only noted those happenings with some distant, detached part of her mind. Her attention was focused on the dark smear on the floor, with a bloody shortsword lying next to it, where Talen had fallen. [/QUOTE]
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