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The Doomed Bastards: Reckoning (story complete)
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<blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 4288185" data-attributes="member: 143"><p>Chapter 58</p><p></p><p>FIRST INTERVENTION</p><p></p><p></p><p>A reverberation that was part sound, part echo of raw power, filled the small chamber as Ghazaran struck the red sphere with the dagger-key. The glowing orb withstood the impact, but as the cleric drew back a faint wisp of crimson fog trailed after him, oozing slowly out of a crack in the surface of the sphere. The red beam continued unabated through the shaft that led to the great vault that was the Ravager’s prison, but flickers of light began to play about the interior of the sphere. </p><p></p><p>Ghazaran stepped forward to continue his destruction of the sphere, but before he could strike it again another entered the chamber, exploding in a sudden flurry of motion from the round tunnel. Letellia darted to the side and spun to a stop as she emerged from that passage. Fresh blood, garish in the red light that filled the room, spread across her body, seeping through her robes. She had not been able to escape the red beam in her navigation of the tunnel, and while her <em>overland flight</em> spell had enabled her to move through it quickly, she had not escaped the painful effects of that deadly ray. She was pale, and had to be weak from the blood she was losing, but the silver staff in her hands did not quake as she focused her attentions on Ghazaran. </p><p></p><p>“I had hoped to confront Zhunxa here, but his lackey will do,” Letellia said, her voice tightly focused, the antipathy there barely contained. </p><p></p><p>“Chaos will not be denied,” the cleric said, uttering a word of <em>blasphemy</em>. But when the echoes that dread syllable faded, the sorceress stood there utterly unaffected. </p><p></p><p>“My soul is not so weak,” she said, lifting her staff. Ghazaran took a step toward her, as if to attack her, or draw close enough to deliver a touch spell. The dagger in his hand looked menacing, but Letellia knew enough to recognize that it was among the least dangerous of the cleric’s weapons. The sorceress drifted back and up, toward the domed ceiling. The chamber was not especially large, but the ceiling was high enough so that she could easily ascend out of his reach. An unarmored man might have been able to leap up and seize her, but it looked like a dubious feat for the armored cleric. </p><p></p><p>But Ghazaran’s threat had been a feint, for he suddenly reversed course and lunged again at the sphere, the dagger flashing in his hand. But Letellia merely gestured and invoked her magic, and a <em>wall of force</em> sprang into being, cutting the room in half, with her and the cleric on one side, and the glowing sphere on the other. The priest bounced off of the barrier, the mithral dagger scraping harmlessly off its surface. </p><p></p><p>“It ends here, cleric,” she said. She extended her staff, and bright tendrils of electrical energy began to flicker down its length. </p><p></p><p>“Yes, it ends here!” Ghazaran shrieked. Lowering the dagger, he drew his other hand from a pouch at his throat, his fingers clenching into a fist around something small in his hand. He fell into a crouch even as Letellia blasted him with a <em>chain lightning</em> spell, the magic empowered by her staff. But the cleric had already called upon his own magic, and even as the last syllable of his incantation were torn from his lips in a scream of pain, he smashed his fist into the floor with what had to be enough force to break bones in his hand. Letellia could feel the power that erupted from that contact, a power augmented by a sudden surge that she could feel but not identify. Something in that surge of power felt... <em>familiar</em>. </p><p></p><p>The power traveled outward through the surrounding stone, amplifying several times over as the energy from a shattered <em>Tear of the Gods</em> took Ghazaran’s <em>earthquake</em> spell and transformed it into something greater. The chamber buckled as that power seized it, and the magical stone buckled under its grip. The <em>wall of force</em> could not stop the ceiling on both sides of it from collapsing. Letellia darted back in alarm, but she could not escape the sudden deluge of falling stone. The last things she heard were the laughter of the cleric, and a noise that sounded like a million glass crystals being shattered all at once.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lazybones, post: 4288185, member: 143"] Chapter 58 FIRST INTERVENTION A reverberation that was part sound, part echo of raw power, filled the small chamber as Ghazaran struck the red sphere with the dagger-key. The glowing orb withstood the impact, but as the cleric drew back a faint wisp of crimson fog trailed after him, oozing slowly out of a crack in the surface of the sphere. The red beam continued unabated through the shaft that led to the great vault that was the Ravager’s prison, but flickers of light began to play about the interior of the sphere. Ghazaran stepped forward to continue his destruction of the sphere, but before he could strike it again another entered the chamber, exploding in a sudden flurry of motion from the round tunnel. Letellia darted to the side and spun to a stop as she emerged from that passage. Fresh blood, garish in the red light that filled the room, spread across her body, seeping through her robes. She had not been able to escape the red beam in her navigation of the tunnel, and while her [i]overland flight[/i] spell had enabled her to move through it quickly, she had not escaped the painful effects of that deadly ray. She was pale, and had to be weak from the blood she was losing, but the silver staff in her hands did not quake as she focused her attentions on Ghazaran. “I had hoped to confront Zhunxa here, but his lackey will do,” Letellia said, her voice tightly focused, the antipathy there barely contained. “Chaos will not be denied,” the cleric said, uttering a word of [i]blasphemy[/i]. But when the echoes that dread syllable faded, the sorceress stood there utterly unaffected. “My soul is not so weak,” she said, lifting her staff. Ghazaran took a step toward her, as if to attack her, or draw close enough to deliver a touch spell. The dagger in his hand looked menacing, but Letellia knew enough to recognize that it was among the least dangerous of the cleric’s weapons. The sorceress drifted back and up, toward the domed ceiling. The chamber was not especially large, but the ceiling was high enough so that she could easily ascend out of his reach. An unarmored man might have been able to leap up and seize her, but it looked like a dubious feat for the armored cleric. But Ghazaran’s threat had been a feint, for he suddenly reversed course and lunged again at the sphere, the dagger flashing in his hand. But Letellia merely gestured and invoked her magic, and a [i]wall of force[/i] sprang into being, cutting the room in half, with her and the cleric on one side, and the glowing sphere on the other. The priest bounced off of the barrier, the mithral dagger scraping harmlessly off its surface. “It ends here, cleric,” she said. She extended her staff, and bright tendrils of electrical energy began to flicker down its length. “Yes, it ends here!” Ghazaran shrieked. Lowering the dagger, he drew his other hand from a pouch at his throat, his fingers clenching into a fist around something small in his hand. He fell into a crouch even as Letellia blasted him with a [i]chain lightning[/i] spell, the magic empowered by her staff. But the cleric had already called upon his own magic, and even as the last syllable of his incantation were torn from his lips in a scream of pain, he smashed his fist into the floor with what had to be enough force to break bones in his hand. Letellia could feel the power that erupted from that contact, a power augmented by a sudden surge that she could feel but not identify. Something in that surge of power felt... [i]familiar[/i]. The power traveled outward through the surrounding stone, amplifying several times over as the energy from a shattered [i]Tear of the Gods[/i] took Ghazaran’s [i]earthquake[/i] spell and transformed it into something greater. The chamber buckled as that power seized it, and the magical stone buckled under its grip. The [i]wall of force[/i] could not stop the ceiling on both sides of it from collapsing. Letellia darted back in alarm, but she could not escape the sudden deluge of falling stone. The last things she heard were the laughter of the cleric, and a noise that sounded like a million glass crystals being shattered all at once. [/QUOTE]
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