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The Doomed Bastards: Reckoning (story complete)
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<blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 4403821" data-attributes="member: 143"><p>Chapter 81</p><p></p><p>COLLISION</p><p></p><p></p><p>The Ravager descended toward the town square, drawn by the flickering tendrils of life energy that radiated out from the gathered townspeople, soldiers, and spellcasters who were packed into that confined space. The creature had drawn its wings back close against its body now, and it glided like a quarrel shot by a ballista, straight toward the lush fodder that had drawn it up out of the underworld, back to the sunlit surface where life blossomed everywhere, ready to be taken to feed the thing’s unnatural and never-ceasing hunger. </p><p></p><p>It barely seemed to notice the dark figures that rose up out of the town to block its way. To its senses, attenuated to the ebb and flux of life energy, these two were like black abscesses, empty spots in a living world. They were in its path, but the idea that two tiny specks like these could stop a being like the Ravager seemed rather unlikely. </p><p></p><p>Talen, burdened with a bulging sack of old canvas, looked at Shay. “The beast is distracted; get its attention. Don’t miss.”</p><p></p><p>His vampiric consort snorted. “I never miss,” she said, lifting a compact but powerful bow, and drawing a red-fletched arrow to her cheek in a practiced motion. </p><p></p><p>Her shot lived up to her words, slicing through the night to impact the Ravager squarely in the center of its protruding forehead. The arrow failed to penetrate that bony ridge, but the impact triggered the spells laid upon the missile, and a bright <em>fireball</em> exploded around the Ravager’s head. The eruption drew an annoyed shriek from the creature, but disrupted its flight for only a moment. It recovered quickly, and adjusted its course slightly to take it directly through the pair that had deigned to hurt it, if only slightly. </p><p></p><p>“Come to father, you big bastard,” Talen said, lifting his sack. Shay drifted back and to the side, leaving Talen to face the creature’s rush alone. Like Letellia before, the vampire lord made no move to dodge or evade; he merely lifted the bulky sack in front of him. </p><p></p><p>This time the Ravager did not open its jaws to swallow him; rather it looked as though it would merely go <em>through</em> him to its destination. </p><p></p><p>And then, in the scant instant before the Ravager struck, Talen thrust his hand against the bottom of the sack, inverting it. </p><p></p><p>Fifteen hundred pounds of alchemical goo erupted from the interior of the <em>bag of holding</em>. The mixture, painstakingly prepared by duergar alchemists, flew out in a dense gob that almost immediately began to spread as gravity drew it down and away from Talen. It struck the Ravager near the joint where the leading edge of its left wing met its body, and stuck there, while the long trailing edge slapped down across its body, forming a new anchor each time the substance touched it. The mixture, known to surface alchemists as <em>tanglefoot</em>, continued to play out in longer strands as the creature’s movement and the flaring wind of its passage spread it across more and more of the creature’s body, with long tendrils starting to form in its wake, trailing behind it. </p><p></p><p>There was no chance of Talen evading impact; he struck it solidly on the belly, and almost immediately got tangled in one of those long strands. He started to fall away from it, but as he passed toward the rear of the creature he hit one of its hind legs, and another strand of the spreading goo. He would have thus followed it to the end of its flight, save for the fact of what he was. Within a few seconds his body began to dissolve, and in <em>gaseous form</em> he parted from the Ravager, trailing back behind it in the air. </p><p></p><p>The Ravager was strong, immensely strong, and given time it could have easily won free of the entangling mixture, which was already starting to harden in the brisk rush of air. But there was just too much of it to avoid in the moment, and within a few seconds the stuff had engulfed its entire left side as though it had been a large bug falling though a spiderweb. As its wing became fouled its flight became erratic, complicated by the increased drag caused by the dozens of trailing filaments. </p><p></p><p>The Ravager plummeted, its momentum carrying it low over the town. As it passed above the square, the flickering light surrounding the gathered citizens finally flared one last time and died. </p><p></p><p>And with it, almost all of the gathered people there disappeared. All save a handful, including an elven archmage, who sagged against the support of a graven black staff, and a human healer who fell to her knees, driven past exhaustion by the effort of channeling positive energy into the illusory constructs created by the power of Sultheros, his <em>staff of the magi</em>, and the ritual crafted by the lich Amurru. Maricela looked barely better off, kept standing only with Kiron’s support, and the other three clerics of Soleus who had been supporting Allera collapsed as the ritual did, slumping to the ground, unconscious. </p><p></p><p>The Ravager issued a sharp, bestial cry, but whether it was anger at its current circumstances, or out of some awareness of having been tricked, was unknowable. It struggled one last time to free itself, twisting awkwardly in midair. It barely cleared the outer wall of Highbluff Castle, knocking bricks and bits of stone flying as its wing clipped one of the towers jutting above the wall. It then slammed into the top of the keep. The creature, far heavier than any rock that could have been thrown by a trebuchet crafted by the hands of man, crashed through the roof of the keep, vanishing within in a cacophonous noise that echoed over the town. Its disappearance was accompanied by a plume of dust and debris that briefly obscured the entire fortress from view. </p><p></p><p>As the swirling detritus in the air began to ebb, Corath Dar became visible, floating through the air by means of a <em>fly</em> spell cast by the elven apprentice, Callyse. In his wake, Mehlaraine, likewise empowered, approached behind him. They headed toward the great opening in the roof of the castle keep, moving swiftly but warily. But before they could reach their destination, Letellia dove down from above. Another <em>dimension door</em> had hastened her pursuit of the Ravager, and as she reached the gaping hole she raised her staff and channeled another stream of liquid lightning down into the building. She started down into the ruined structure, but Dar forestalled her with a shout. </p><p></p><p>“Letellia!” </p><p></p><p>She paused only long enough to yell back. “We must strike before it can recover!” she cried, then vanished from view in a swirl of blue robes and curls of dust in the air. </p><p></p><p>“Damn it!” Dar yelled, surging after her. Before he could reach the opening, however, there was a howl of wind around him, and he was buffeted by the rapid passage of Dra Mak Mor’s pseudonatural elementals. They vanished into the keep in a violent flurry. Dar started after them, ignoring Mehlaraine’s shouts behind him, but as he neared the gap he could already hear the crumbling sounds from below. Before he could do anything else, the entire front half of the keep collapsed in upon itself. Another plume of dust washed over both warriors, blinding them, as Letellia and the Ravager were buried together under the weight of the keep.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lazybones, post: 4403821, member: 143"] Chapter 81 COLLISION The Ravager descended toward the town square, drawn by the flickering tendrils of life energy that radiated out from the gathered townspeople, soldiers, and spellcasters who were packed into that confined space. The creature had drawn its wings back close against its body now, and it glided like a quarrel shot by a ballista, straight toward the lush fodder that had drawn it up out of the underworld, back to the sunlit surface where life blossomed everywhere, ready to be taken to feed the thing’s unnatural and never-ceasing hunger. It barely seemed to notice the dark figures that rose up out of the town to block its way. To its senses, attenuated to the ebb and flux of life energy, these two were like black abscesses, empty spots in a living world. They were in its path, but the idea that two tiny specks like these could stop a being like the Ravager seemed rather unlikely. Talen, burdened with a bulging sack of old canvas, looked at Shay. “The beast is distracted; get its attention. Don’t miss.” His vampiric consort snorted. “I never miss,” she said, lifting a compact but powerful bow, and drawing a red-fletched arrow to her cheek in a practiced motion. Her shot lived up to her words, slicing through the night to impact the Ravager squarely in the center of its protruding forehead. The arrow failed to penetrate that bony ridge, but the impact triggered the spells laid upon the missile, and a bright [i]fireball[/i] exploded around the Ravager’s head. The eruption drew an annoyed shriek from the creature, but disrupted its flight for only a moment. It recovered quickly, and adjusted its course slightly to take it directly through the pair that had deigned to hurt it, if only slightly. “Come to father, you big bastard,” Talen said, lifting his sack. Shay drifted back and to the side, leaving Talen to face the creature’s rush alone. Like Letellia before, the vampire lord made no move to dodge or evade; he merely lifted the bulky sack in front of him. This time the Ravager did not open its jaws to swallow him; rather it looked as though it would merely go [i]through[/i] him to its destination. And then, in the scant instant before the Ravager struck, Talen thrust his hand against the bottom of the sack, inverting it. Fifteen hundred pounds of alchemical goo erupted from the interior of the [i]bag of holding[/i]. The mixture, painstakingly prepared by duergar alchemists, flew out in a dense gob that almost immediately began to spread as gravity drew it down and away from Talen. It struck the Ravager near the joint where the leading edge of its left wing met its body, and stuck there, while the long trailing edge slapped down across its body, forming a new anchor each time the substance touched it. The mixture, known to surface alchemists as [i]tanglefoot[/i], continued to play out in longer strands as the creature’s movement and the flaring wind of its passage spread it across more and more of the creature’s body, with long tendrils starting to form in its wake, trailing behind it. There was no chance of Talen evading impact; he struck it solidly on the belly, and almost immediately got tangled in one of those long strands. He started to fall away from it, but as he passed toward the rear of the creature he hit one of its hind legs, and another strand of the spreading goo. He would have thus followed it to the end of its flight, save for the fact of what he was. Within a few seconds his body began to dissolve, and in [i]gaseous form[/i] he parted from the Ravager, trailing back behind it in the air. The Ravager was strong, immensely strong, and given time it could have easily won free of the entangling mixture, which was already starting to harden in the brisk rush of air. But there was just too much of it to avoid in the moment, and within a few seconds the stuff had engulfed its entire left side as though it had been a large bug falling though a spiderweb. As its wing became fouled its flight became erratic, complicated by the increased drag caused by the dozens of trailing filaments. The Ravager plummeted, its momentum carrying it low over the town. As it passed above the square, the flickering light surrounding the gathered citizens finally flared one last time and died. And with it, almost all of the gathered people there disappeared. All save a handful, including an elven archmage, who sagged against the support of a graven black staff, and a human healer who fell to her knees, driven past exhaustion by the effort of channeling positive energy into the illusory constructs created by the power of Sultheros, his [i]staff of the magi[/i], and the ritual crafted by the lich Amurru. Maricela looked barely better off, kept standing only with Kiron’s support, and the other three clerics of Soleus who had been supporting Allera collapsed as the ritual did, slumping to the ground, unconscious. The Ravager issued a sharp, bestial cry, but whether it was anger at its current circumstances, or out of some awareness of having been tricked, was unknowable. It struggled one last time to free itself, twisting awkwardly in midair. It barely cleared the outer wall of Highbluff Castle, knocking bricks and bits of stone flying as its wing clipped one of the towers jutting above the wall. It then slammed into the top of the keep. The creature, far heavier than any rock that could have been thrown by a trebuchet crafted by the hands of man, crashed through the roof of the keep, vanishing within in a cacophonous noise that echoed over the town. Its disappearance was accompanied by a plume of dust and debris that briefly obscured the entire fortress from view. As the swirling detritus in the air began to ebb, Corath Dar became visible, floating through the air by means of a [i]fly[/i] spell cast by the elven apprentice, Callyse. In his wake, Mehlaraine, likewise empowered, approached behind him. They headed toward the great opening in the roof of the castle keep, moving swiftly but warily. But before they could reach their destination, Letellia dove down from above. Another [i]dimension door[/i] had hastened her pursuit of the Ravager, and as she reached the gaping hole she raised her staff and channeled another stream of liquid lightning down into the building. She started down into the ruined structure, but Dar forestalled her with a shout. “Letellia!” She paused only long enough to yell back. “We must strike before it can recover!” she cried, then vanished from view in a swirl of blue robes and curls of dust in the air. “Damn it!” Dar yelled, surging after her. Before he could reach the opening, however, there was a howl of wind around him, and he was buffeted by the rapid passage of Dra Mak Mor’s pseudonatural elementals. They vanished into the keep in a violent flurry. Dar started after them, ignoring Mehlaraine’s shouts behind him, but as he neared the gap he could already hear the crumbling sounds from below. Before he could do anything else, the entire front half of the keep collapsed in upon itself. Another plume of dust washed over both warriors, blinding them, as Letellia and the Ravager were buried together under the weight of the keep. [/QUOTE]
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