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The Doomed Bastards: Reckoning (story complete)
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<blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 3936038" data-attributes="member: 143"><p>Heh, this one's fun. <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png" class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":]" title="Devious :]" data-shortname=":]" /> </p><p></p><p>Is it just me, or has the story hour forum been pretty quiet of late? I've been too busy writing to read much lately, but it seems like there's fewer of the "big names" I remember up on page 1 these days. And many of the threads that are up there a lot are all but dead save for bumps (e.g. Sepulchrave, Piratecat, Destan). </p><p></p><p>Every six months or so I download a bunch of threads to my flash drive (no EnWorld at work), and take them with me to read during slow stretches (esp. times when my own words are slow in coming). Any can't-miss threads that people want to recommend from the newer crop of authors? I generally avoid threads that don't have at least 50 or so author posts and 10,000+ views, as I want something that looks like it's going to be around for a while if I'm going to invest time in it. But I'll make exceptions for really good stuff.</p><p></p><p>Without further ado, today's chapter:</p><p></p><p>* * * * * </p><p></p><p></p><p>Chapter 312</p><p></p><p>DESPERATE MEASURES</p><p></p><p></p><p>Dar felt a sudden tug, and his magically slickened armor slid him out of the way just as the monster’s foot slammed into the ground, mere inches from his face. </p><p></p><p>He looked up and saw Allera holding onto his right ankle. She reached down to help him up, but before he could take her hand a dark shadow loomed over them. </p><p></p><p>“Look out!” </p><p></p><p>Dar sprang up, sweeping his arm across Allera’s body, knocking the healer back as the dung monster struck again. Pain exploded in his arm as the creature hit him hard in the shoulder, driving him hard into the ground. He felt a solid pressure against his torso, and for a moment he could not draw a breath. Then he was being lifted into the air, and he realized that the monster had grabbed onto him. </p><p></p><p>He struggled, but his right arm hung limp, broken in several places, and even with the <em>grease</em> spell on his armor he could not get enough leverage to break free. He’d lost his grip on <em>Valor</em> and had no idea what had happened to the sword. He heard shouts and the clash of metal on stone, and knew that the others were still attacking the creature, but details were lost in the haze of pain and twisting sensation that were dragging him down toward unconsciousness. </p><p></p><p>Suddenly the dung monster came into clear focus as that disorientation sloughed away. His arm tingled as Allera’s <em>mass cure</em> spell poured life back into him, but his situation hadn’t otherwise improved. The dung monster’s hand had melted around his body, securing its grip, and tendrils of its caustic substance were probing through the gaps in his armor, eating away at leather, clothing, and flesh. </p><p></p><p>The monster itself looked like a wax figure that had been left too close to the fire. Foul ooze had issued forth from the cracks in its torso, forming long runnels that buldged down over its legs. Its right leg was likewise a mess where Alexion and Marcus had savaged it, but that had helped it in the short run, for Dar could see that <em>Beatus Incendia</em> had gotten stuck in the morass of ooze, and the young cleric was struggling without much success to free the weapon from the monster’s grasp. On the far side of the creature, Zahera and Nelan were continuing their attacks, but that side of it showed much less damage, indicating their overall lack of success. </p><p></p><p>Dar looked up into the “face” of the monster. The representation of the Demon was frighteningly detailed, the one part of the creature’s form that had remained unblemished. For a moment, Dar thought he saw something... <em>alive</em> in the putrid brown orbs of its eyes, a mocking look that swirled and was gone. </p><p></p><p>He knew what was going to happen, and there didn’t seem to be anything he could do to stop it. But before the monster could do to him what it had done to Xenos, he felt a soft touch on his ankle, and looked down to see Alderis standing there, touching him. </p><p></p><p>The dung monster thrust its hand into its gut, but as it did Dar dissolved into mist, gusting effortlessly out of the creature’s grasp as the elf’s <em>gaseous form</em> took hold. The monster swept its other arm, the hand still incomplete as it continued to regenerate, though the fighter’s insubstantial form. The swing cut right through him, driving him back across the room like a wisp of smoke caught in a strong wind. Dar drifted to the ground, where he again took on solid form. </p><p></p><p>Alderis lifted his hand and fired a <em>cone of cold</em> point-blank into the dung monster’s face. The magical spell had absolutely no effect upon it, save to draw its attention. The creature smashed Alderis with a fist, knocking the elf flying across the room. He flew past Honoratius and landed in the far corridor, groaning but conscious thanks to his <em>stoneskin</em> spell. </p><p></p><p>Marcus had finally pulled <em>Beatus Incendia</em> free from the creature, and as he smashed it yet again into the creature’s knee the battered limb finally collapsed into a mass of foul ooze. The dung monster listed hard to its right, but as its weight settled its entire lower body dissolved into the blob-form that they had fought before. Its arms became long pseudopods of ooze, but the head alone retained its form, bloated and bulging but still clearly recognizable as the face of their Enemy. </p><p></p><p>The companions continued their attacks, but with the reversion of its form the dung monster’s body had regained its adhesive properties. Zahera and Nelan had their weapons torn from their grasp as they struck it, and Alexion was nearly dragged inside of the creature as his pick stabbed deep into its body. The monster extended its tendrils toward Alexion and Marcus, smacking both of them hard. Both were stuck fast, and were drawn toward the creature, which oozed forward to engulf them. </p><p></p><p>With a heavy tread Alderis’s shield guardian, recovered somewhat from the beating it had taken from the monster, charged back into the fray. It was about to attack, when a series of shouted commands in elvish brought it about. Instead of smashing the dung monster with its fists, it reached down and grabbed onto Alexion and Marcus, dragging them back from the creature’s grasp. The monster did not release its captives easily, however, its substance stretching as the construct pulled at them. Both men continued to struggle, and Marcus slashed <em>Beatus Incendia</em> across its body, opening a long gash that spat forth a gusher of foulness from it. </p><p></p><p>Dar had stumbled to his feet, rather the worse for wear from his narrow escape. He was covered in filth, and his clothes hung in tatters from his body, where the dung monster’s acidic secretions hadn’t eaten them away entirely. His armor was still intact for the moment, although the leather straps and fasteners that held it together had been seriously damaged. Allera rushed over to him, <em>Valor</em> cradled in her hands. As he took back the blade, she touched him, pouring healing energy into his body. </p><p></p><p>“Thanks, angel,” Dar said, as he rushed back into the battle. </p><p></p><p>The dung monster formed a new pseudopod and smashed it across the chest of Alderis’s shield guardian. The construct took the hit but refused to release its grip on Alexion and Marcus. It could not pull either man fully clear of the dung monster, but it did keep the creature from fully absorbing them. </p><p></p><p>Dar charged into the thing from behind. <em>Valor</em> flashed, and he cut a great swath through its form with a powerful cut from the blade. Filth splashed over him, but he kept cutting and hacking, tearing long gashes that oozed terrible fluid like blood. The monster reacted by surging at him, lunging at his arms and face with its tentacles. It seized one arm and nearly dragged him off his feet, but he merely shifted <em>Valor</em> to his other hand and kept cutting at it. With the creature focused on him, Alexion and Marcus were finally able to pull free, and they renewed their assault. Zahera, unable to recover her scimitar, fell back and recovered her bow, while Nelan retreated and fell to the ground, violently ill.</p><p></p><p>Ooze and sludge flew about in every direction, as Dar kept hacking and cutting. The monster drew back, but he merely stepped forward, deeper into it, unleashing a violent fury. Blood splattered the brown as the creature’s secretions dissolved his flesh, but Allera continued to pour healing energy into him, and new skin kept regrowing over the ruins of the old. </p><p></p><p>He no longer looked like anything human. </p><p></p><p>“Corath! DAR!”</p><p></p><p>The yell finally reached him, and he stopped. Around him, the remains of the dung monster were collapsing into a shapeless ooze that spread out over the floor. </p><p></p><p>Dar looked down. There were a few large lumps in that mass, which became visible as the creature came apart. A jagged piece of metal that had been the rim of a shield. The hilt of a holy sword, now just junk attached to half a foot of steel. An oblong object that became recognizable only when Dar prodded it with his boot, and he could see the ivory white of it, slicked with filth. There were more bones, most at least partially dissolved. </p><p></p><p>Dar vomited. Someone came toward him, but he held them back with a raised hand. </p><p></p><p>The fighter stepped forward awkwardly, stiffly. His wounds had been healed, but he was covered in wretched filth, and everything he had was either ruined or damaged. Even the wrappings on the hilt of <em>Valor</em> had been eaten away, although the blue steel remained unblemished. </p><p></p><p>He trudged forward through the slime. He was aware of eyes following him, but he did not pay them any heed. He made it to the edge of the river, where a muddy trickle had resumed. He stumbled forward, down the steep slope, and all but fell into that weak flow. The stream was slowly growing deeper, as the river widened whatever opening the dung monster had opened in Alderis’s collapse, but it still barely rose to his ankles. </p><p></p><p>The water was muddy, but Dar buried his hands and face in it, sloughing off some of the filth that still burned against his skin. </p><p></p><p>When he finally lifted his head, he dropped <em>Valor</em> into the water, letting it cleanse the foulness that covered the blade. </p><p></p><p>The others came up behind him; several of them clambered down to join him in washing the remnants of the battle off their bodies. Allera’s <em>holy aura</em> had faded, leaving them clad in shadows and gloom that their <em>everburning torches</em> could not quite dispel. He heard some of the others talking, but he was barely aware of the words. </p><p></p><p>Finally, he was, if not clean, at least purged of the worst of it. He leaned back, his sword bare in his hand. </p><p></p><p>“I’m getting too freaking old for this.”</p><p></p><p>That was when the demons attacked.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lazybones, post: 3936038, member: 143"] Heh, this one's fun. :] Is it just me, or has the story hour forum been pretty quiet of late? I've been too busy writing to read much lately, but it seems like there's fewer of the "big names" I remember up on page 1 these days. And many of the threads that are up there a lot are all but dead save for bumps (e.g. Sepulchrave, Piratecat, Destan). Every six months or so I download a bunch of threads to my flash drive (no EnWorld at work), and take them with me to read during slow stretches (esp. times when my own words are slow in coming). Any can't-miss threads that people want to recommend from the newer crop of authors? I generally avoid threads that don't have at least 50 or so author posts and 10,000+ views, as I want something that looks like it's going to be around for a while if I'm going to invest time in it. But I'll make exceptions for really good stuff. Without further ado, today's chapter: * * * * * Chapter 312 DESPERATE MEASURES Dar felt a sudden tug, and his magically slickened armor slid him out of the way just as the monster’s foot slammed into the ground, mere inches from his face. He looked up and saw Allera holding onto his right ankle. She reached down to help him up, but before he could take her hand a dark shadow loomed over them. “Look out!” Dar sprang up, sweeping his arm across Allera’s body, knocking the healer back as the dung monster struck again. Pain exploded in his arm as the creature hit him hard in the shoulder, driving him hard into the ground. He felt a solid pressure against his torso, and for a moment he could not draw a breath. Then he was being lifted into the air, and he realized that the monster had grabbed onto him. He struggled, but his right arm hung limp, broken in several places, and even with the [i]grease[/i] spell on his armor he could not get enough leverage to break free. He’d lost his grip on [i]Valor[/i] and had no idea what had happened to the sword. He heard shouts and the clash of metal on stone, and knew that the others were still attacking the creature, but details were lost in the haze of pain and twisting sensation that were dragging him down toward unconsciousness. Suddenly the dung monster came into clear focus as that disorientation sloughed away. His arm tingled as Allera’s [i]mass cure[/i] spell poured life back into him, but his situation hadn’t otherwise improved. The dung monster’s hand had melted around his body, securing its grip, and tendrils of its caustic substance were probing through the gaps in his armor, eating away at leather, clothing, and flesh. The monster itself looked like a wax figure that had been left too close to the fire. Foul ooze had issued forth from the cracks in its torso, forming long runnels that buldged down over its legs. Its right leg was likewise a mess where Alexion and Marcus had savaged it, but that had helped it in the short run, for Dar could see that [i]Beatus Incendia[/i] had gotten stuck in the morass of ooze, and the young cleric was struggling without much success to free the weapon from the monster’s grasp. On the far side of the creature, Zahera and Nelan were continuing their attacks, but that side of it showed much less damage, indicating their overall lack of success. Dar looked up into the “face” of the monster. The representation of the Demon was frighteningly detailed, the one part of the creature’s form that had remained unblemished. For a moment, Dar thought he saw something... [i]alive[/i] in the putrid brown orbs of its eyes, a mocking look that swirled and was gone. He knew what was going to happen, and there didn’t seem to be anything he could do to stop it. But before the monster could do to him what it had done to Xenos, he felt a soft touch on his ankle, and looked down to see Alderis standing there, touching him. The dung monster thrust its hand into its gut, but as it did Dar dissolved into mist, gusting effortlessly out of the creature’s grasp as the elf’s [i]gaseous form[/i] took hold. The monster swept its other arm, the hand still incomplete as it continued to regenerate, though the fighter’s insubstantial form. The swing cut right through him, driving him back across the room like a wisp of smoke caught in a strong wind. Dar drifted to the ground, where he again took on solid form. Alderis lifted his hand and fired a [i]cone of cold[/i] point-blank into the dung monster’s face. The magical spell had absolutely no effect upon it, save to draw its attention. The creature smashed Alderis with a fist, knocking the elf flying across the room. He flew past Honoratius and landed in the far corridor, groaning but conscious thanks to his [i]stoneskin[/i] spell. Marcus had finally pulled [i]Beatus Incendia[/i] free from the creature, and as he smashed it yet again into the creature’s knee the battered limb finally collapsed into a mass of foul ooze. The dung monster listed hard to its right, but as its weight settled its entire lower body dissolved into the blob-form that they had fought before. Its arms became long pseudopods of ooze, but the head alone retained its form, bloated and bulging but still clearly recognizable as the face of their Enemy. The companions continued their attacks, but with the reversion of its form the dung monster’s body had regained its adhesive properties. Zahera and Nelan had their weapons torn from their grasp as they struck it, and Alexion was nearly dragged inside of the creature as his pick stabbed deep into its body. The monster extended its tendrils toward Alexion and Marcus, smacking both of them hard. Both were stuck fast, and were drawn toward the creature, which oozed forward to engulf them. With a heavy tread Alderis’s shield guardian, recovered somewhat from the beating it had taken from the monster, charged back into the fray. It was about to attack, when a series of shouted commands in elvish brought it about. Instead of smashing the dung monster with its fists, it reached down and grabbed onto Alexion and Marcus, dragging them back from the creature’s grasp. The monster did not release its captives easily, however, its substance stretching as the construct pulled at them. Both men continued to struggle, and Marcus slashed [i]Beatus Incendia[/i] across its body, opening a long gash that spat forth a gusher of foulness from it. Dar had stumbled to his feet, rather the worse for wear from his narrow escape. He was covered in filth, and his clothes hung in tatters from his body, where the dung monster’s acidic secretions hadn’t eaten them away entirely. His armor was still intact for the moment, although the leather straps and fasteners that held it together had been seriously damaged. Allera rushed over to him, [i]Valor[/i] cradled in her hands. As he took back the blade, she touched him, pouring healing energy into his body. “Thanks, angel,” Dar said, as he rushed back into the battle. The dung monster formed a new pseudopod and smashed it across the chest of Alderis’s shield guardian. The construct took the hit but refused to release its grip on Alexion and Marcus. It could not pull either man fully clear of the dung monster, but it did keep the creature from fully absorbing them. Dar charged into the thing from behind. [i]Valor[/i] flashed, and he cut a great swath through its form with a powerful cut from the blade. Filth splashed over him, but he kept cutting and hacking, tearing long gashes that oozed terrible fluid like blood. The monster reacted by surging at him, lunging at his arms and face with its tentacles. It seized one arm and nearly dragged him off his feet, but he merely shifted [i]Valor[/i] to his other hand and kept cutting at it. With the creature focused on him, Alexion and Marcus were finally able to pull free, and they renewed their assault. Zahera, unable to recover her scimitar, fell back and recovered her bow, while Nelan retreated and fell to the ground, violently ill. Ooze and sludge flew about in every direction, as Dar kept hacking and cutting. The monster drew back, but he merely stepped forward, deeper into it, unleashing a violent fury. Blood splattered the brown as the creature’s secretions dissolved his flesh, but Allera continued to pour healing energy into him, and new skin kept regrowing over the ruins of the old. He no longer looked like anything human. “Corath! DAR!” The yell finally reached him, and he stopped. Around him, the remains of the dung monster were collapsing into a shapeless ooze that spread out over the floor. Dar looked down. There were a few large lumps in that mass, which became visible as the creature came apart. A jagged piece of metal that had been the rim of a shield. The hilt of a holy sword, now just junk attached to half a foot of steel. An oblong object that became recognizable only when Dar prodded it with his boot, and he could see the ivory white of it, slicked with filth. There were more bones, most at least partially dissolved. Dar vomited. Someone came toward him, but he held them back with a raised hand. The fighter stepped forward awkwardly, stiffly. His wounds had been healed, but he was covered in wretched filth, and everything he had was either ruined or damaged. Even the wrappings on the hilt of [i]Valor[/i] had been eaten away, although the blue steel remained unblemished. He trudged forward through the slime. He was aware of eyes following him, but he did not pay them any heed. He made it to the edge of the river, where a muddy trickle had resumed. He stumbled forward, down the steep slope, and all but fell into that weak flow. The stream was slowly growing deeper, as the river widened whatever opening the dung monster had opened in Alderis’s collapse, but it still barely rose to his ankles. The water was muddy, but Dar buried his hands and face in it, sloughing off some of the filth that still burned against his skin. When he finally lifted his head, he dropped [i]Valor[/i] into the water, letting it cleanse the foulness that covered the blade. The others came up behind him; several of them clambered down to join him in washing the remnants of the battle off their bodies. Allera’s [i]holy aura[/i] had faded, leaving them clad in shadows and gloom that their [i]everburning torches[/i] could not quite dispel. He heard some of the others talking, but he was barely aware of the words. Finally, he was, if not clean, at least purged of the worst of it. He leaned back, his sword bare in his hand. “I’m getting too freaking old for this.” That was when the demons attacked. [/QUOTE]
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