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Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 4154055" data-attributes="member: 143">Sometimes the bad guys are fun to write as well. Although the protagonists in this story have been anything but "good" for the most part.  <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 16LEVELS OF COMMITMENTThe mage sagged against the adjacent wall.  Garish red streaks covered his face, hands, clothes; all of them had the look of victims of torture.  Ghazaran was using another healing wand to treat Falah, who stood quiescent, breathing heavily.  The fighter’s neck and arms were covered with nasty wounds; large swathes of flesh looked to have been dissolved, revealing the muscles—and in one case a starkly white bone—beneath.  But new flesh crept out from the damaged old to cover the openings as positive blue energy poured into the wounded man’s body, and within less than the span of a minute he was whole once more.  The cleric glanced over at the Seer while he worked.  “Interesting.  The creature appeared to have the properties of an ochre jelly, but with the color and consistency of blood.” The Seer looked down at the smeared and sticky remains that covered the floor of the tunnel.  “This is foolish.  Our resources are being seriously depleted; we need to withdraw, rest.  The inherent auras of the Ways interferes with some of my magic, but if we withdraw to the temple dungeon, I can conjure an extradimensional sanctuary that will provide complete security.”Having finished with Falah, Ghazaran made a gesture, and the fighter took up a warding position at the mouth of the crossing passage where the blood jelly had attacked.  The creature had dropped onto Falah from above without warning, and only blind luck had caused him to step aside at the last moment, letting the bulk of the creature land on the floor instead of on his head.  The cleric put away his healing wand and drew out another.  “I will restore you again, if you are weary.”The Seer waved a hand dismissively.  “A dozen lesser restorations will not help; that magic only postpones the reckoning.  I am nearly out of spells, and the attacks upon us grow more frequent.”Ghazaran’s cool expression did not change.  “We are still on the correct course to our destination?”The Seer’s lips twisted into a sneer.  “I will take you to the Bloodwraith’s lair.  But it does us no good if we are too weak to overcome the Duke and his minions, when we arrive.”“Leave that to me,” Ghazaran said.  “And to him,” he said, indicating the vague form that remained in the mists, shadowing them.  The Seer could not fully repress a shudder.  Navev was the real reason they had gotten this far.  The mummy was virtually immune to the threats that populated the Bloodways, and in turn its invocations had proven devastating.  It had been the eldritch blasts from the undead warlock that had finally destroyed the blood jelly, as they had the gelatinous cube, the devouring mists, and the blood golems before.  The golems had been among the first, and the worst; the bloated slug-like things had emerged from th omnipresent mists and fallen on Zuur’ka without warning, killing the nycaloth almost before the rest of them could react.  The delay provided by Ghazaran’s planar ally had given them a chance to defend themselves, and none of them felt any remorse at the sacrifice, but the Seer had been quick to note how the loss had compromised the physical strength of their company.  He had encouraged retreat then, as well, but Ghazaran had been uncompromising in his commitment to their mission.  “How long have we been down here?” the Seer asked. Ghazaran looked thoughtful for a moment.  “Impossible to tell precisely, of course... but I would estimate perhaps six hours.”“Six hours?  It will soon be high sun in Camar.  Jasek and Parzad will complete their mission, and will not be able to return.  As I told you earlier, the Bloodways interfere with magical transportation.”“It is of no concern.  I directed a sending to Parzad before we entered the complex.  They will wait for my communication before they break the tokens that I gave them.”“What?  That is a significant, and in my mind a foolish and unnecessary risk.  The Camarians are not fools.  They will seek out those that invaded their sanctum, and they may have the magical means to penetrate the wards that protect our pair.  Jasek is resourceful, but even he cannot hide from a senior mage or high priest.”“All the more reason to complete our mission quickly.  How far are we from the Bloodwraith’s lair?”The two men shared a hard stare for several moments.  Finally, the Seer said, “Another hour, perhaps.  Assuming that we are not attacked again, en route.”“Then perhaps we should be on our way,” the cleric said.  He gestured to Falah and Navev.  The three of them moved into the intersection, and waited for the Seer to indicate their direction of travel. The mage pushed off from the wall, and indicated the right tunnel.  The four of them continued on, and were swallowed up by the red mists within a few steps, as though they had never existed at all.</blockquote>

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