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: 4218807" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 39THE STANDThe door creaked open wider, slowly, with a noise like the scream of a thousand dying animals. The golems must have bent the door on its hinges in their initial forcing of it, but even solid mithral could not withstand their combined strength.  A dozen stone hands were now visible around the periphery of the door, forcing it wider. The companions drew back.  “Now where do we go, O fearless leader?” the Seer said to Ghazaran.  “Or have you forgotten the hall of spinning blades?”Ghazaran’s expression cracked, just slightly, betraying a hint of uncharacteristic anger.  As if to echo that unexpected burst of emotion, Parzad shifted into position behind the wizard.  But before the cleric could respond, Aerim, still somewhat battered from the punishment he’d absorbed from the golems, stepped forward to face the door.  The Duke scanned the corridor peering up at the vaulted ceiling, making a full circuit with his eyes down the walls, finally stopping at his feet.  He nodded to himself.  Taking up his great blade, he drew it hard across the floor in front of him.  Sparks rose up as the metal deeply etched the stone.  The magical rock quickly healed the damage done to it, but Aerim was no longer looking, his attention was focused upon the door.  “Here we stand,” he said, simply. The opening in the doorway was now a good five feet across; as they watched, a golem thrust itself into the gap, using its body as a wedge to force the opening wider.  The hinges protested alarmingly, and then there was a series of loud pops, like a hammer striking an anvil.  The door fell open, slamming to the ground with an echoing crash. Behind it was an awful lot of stone warriors. “My magic will be of no use against these,” the Seer warned, from the rear of the group.  Ghazaran had come forward, and he touched Aerim, healing his wounds.  Falah had taken up a position at the Duke’s side, slightly behind him.  He’d put away his khopesh, instead arming himself with the scimitar they’d found guarded by the prismatic spheres in the gallery above.  He had not yet used the weapon, but the Seer had pronounced it possessed of a potent magic, and in these close quarters it was less likely to interfere with the Duke’s greatsword. Ozmad added his own support, infusing the Duke with a bear’s endurance spell.  The elf withdrew calmly as the first of the golems surged forward into the passage.  The things were so big that only one of them could fit easily into the corridor at a time, although the others pressed in behind, waiting for an opportunity to join in the fray. Aerim merely waited behind his now-invisible line.  As the golem came within reach, he fell into a defensive stance, his sword held straight up like a lance.  The long blade did not so much as quiver. The golem had reach, but even as it struck Aerim pivoted and smashed his sword across its body, striking a stylized stone greave with enough force to drive a crack through its entire arm.  In turn he took a glancing blow that nearly knocked him off balance, but Falah was there to steady him.  Aerim sprang forward off the fighter, driving his sword in a violent series of attacks that left massive cracks crossing the golem’s frame.  The construct countered with another blow that rang hard off Aerim’s left shoulder, but the Duke did not yield before its assault.  As it swung its other arm around to follow up he hit it again, striking its arm near the first crack, and finishing the work of destroying the limb.  The golem’s entire arm flew forward, bouncing off the wall and skittering to a halt at Jasek’s feet.  The golem did not long survive the loss; Aerim’s next hit was a powerful thrust that drove into the meeting point of two of the long cracks covering its torso, and as the sword penetrated the thing it began to collapse in a rain of debris. Even as the golem disintegrated, two more of the guardians pressed forward, crushed together in the narrow confines of the passage, seeking to overwhelm the Duke through sheer mass and inertia.  Aerim just had enough time to resume his stance, and as the pair met him he drove forward, smashing his sword down into the leg of the one on his left.  The other lowered both fists and thrust forward, but Falah had his flank, and while the blow from his scimitar did little in the way of damage, it diverted the golem enough to spoil its attack.  The fighters’ rough breaths had started to form white plumes in front of their mouths. Behind the attacking pair, more chilling tentacles had emerged from the walls and floor, wrapping around the arms and legs of the golems lined up around the ruined door.  The golems made no move to evade, intent upon their goal. Aerim and Falah were forced back slowly, each step hard won by powerful blows given and absorbed.  Falah’s jaw was a broken mess where a glancing hit had crushed the side of his helmet against his face; blood poured down his chest, and sprayed out as he fought for breath.  Aerim was absorbing even more punishment, but Gharazan and Ozmad had both come up behind him, and as he fell back, they were there to infuse him with healing power and magical defenses.  Ozmad protected him with another ward, a displacement spell that caused his outline to shift and distort.  Thus bolstered, Aerim surged back forward into the fray, ducking under a sweeping arm and laying into the more damaged golem with a series of violent blows.  Even in the confined space, confronted by two foes that greatly overpowered him in size and strength, Aerim fought like a banshee, wielding his huge sword as through it was a wooden switch.  A second golem crumbled, forming a low mound of debris that spread across the width of the passage. But the golems kept coming.  They were fast, too fast, and as the companions gave ground, they tore free of Navev’s chilling tentacles and came on.  Each of the golems was covered now with a rime of frost, and bits of ice cracked off their bodies as they moved.  The rest of the companions were able to offer little aid to the fighters holding back the stone tide.  Parzad had taken a glowing crystal out of his pouch, and there was a look of solid concentration on his flat features, but there was no obvious result to his efforts.  The Seer remained at the rear of the group, tentative, as though debating whether to hazard the corridor of spinning blades once more.  Jasek had his sword out, but he obviously knew that his skills would be of limited use should Aerim or Falah fall.  Falah was moving lethargically, his reflexes slowing in a way that went beyond mere fatigue.  The golems were doing something to the defenders; Jasek began to show it as well, the thief sagging as he leaned against the tunnel wall.  Of those in the front, only Aerim seemed unaffected, as he met the next golem in a violent exchange of sword and stone.  He won that exchange, and the golem fell back into the one behind it, coming apart as cracks crawled and expanded across its body.  The Duke started to lift his sword back into his defensive stance, but the next golem in line came on too quickly, thrusting through the crumbling remains of its fellow.  The litter of stone debris covering the floor did not hinder it, and clouds of dust rose up under its tread as it stepped forward and delivered a truly massive blow upon Aerim.  The Duke was knocked back, and his sword clattered loudly upon the floor as it fell from his suddenly limp hands.  He landed in a crouch, his left arm dangling uselessly from his side, broken, his lips twisted into a rictus.  The golem surged forward to exploit its advantage.  Falah stepped into its path to stop it, but the construct caught him with a solid backhand across the front of his face.  His helmet saved his brains from being splashed across the wall, but the blow launched him flying off his feet.  Spinning backward, he flipped heels over head and caromed off the wall before landing face-down in a heap upon the floor.  Despite being in obvious agony, and ignoring his broken arm, Duke Aerim reached out his good hand for his sword.  But before he could reach it, the golem’s huge foot landed on the blade, pinning it against the floor under two thousand pounds of stone.  The granite warrior loomed over him, its fists coming up to finish what it had started.</blockquote>

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