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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cafu" data-source="post: 6299967" data-attributes="member: 6692807">As the badly burned warrior was moving forward, I could see the black miasma following us out of the hole we had made in the wall. Victor still looked quite ill as he strode forward, albeit not quite on death’s door. Effortlessly, he smashed the door with his falchion and it splintered almost immediately. There was no sign of Kreven in the balcony room, but before anyone could prevent it, John slipped out and rushed down the stairs. This time he closed the door leading into the lower room.   Everyone else moved through the new doorway and Drudge let out a groan of frustration as we all looked at a grinning John. Victor again looked wordlessly at the rogue and strode forward to cut a hole in the door. John was the first to slip through the door again but this time he was pursued by Longhelim who tackled him to the floor. John, of course, was on his way to the next door. The prisoners, who were still being pulled out of the prison below, were looking at us until Felix and I began screaming at them: “Move! Move! You’ve got to get out now! Death is coming!” They didn’t know what we were talking about but our urgency connected and there was flurry of activity as the escapees began to scramble frenziedly up the rope and through the hole, while others began running out of the door. In despair, I saw that there were still hundreds of them below. There was no way all of them would get out before the black miasma came and covered them all. There was nothing that could be done; helping to the last moment we all began pulling people up but then came a time when had to run. I was determined not to think about the consequences for those left behind and put it down to yet more crimes committed by Leska and her perverted Empire. Before we left, quickly we shouted: “An old man! In robes! Which way did he go?” Wordlessly, one of men pointed towards the door. Hurriedly, we joined the stream of prisoners moving through the corridor. They also sensed our urgency and ran as if all the devils of hell were after them; which they probably were. We could already see the black miasma rolling down the stairs. Slippery John was still wriggling in Longhelim’s grasp as we moved past them; I was running as fast as I could but I was still nowhere near as fast as Drudge; Longhelim then let the rogue go as he joined the stream of prisoners himself, although he was slowed by his armour. Full plate armour is not great for running either. The last person in our group was Felix, who was readying his holy symbol: “Go!” he shouted. “I’m going to try to stop this stuff. It may react to the holy power of Farlanghn!” I wasn’t sure that was going to work but was too busy running to indulge in a theoretical discussion on divine magic. Felix wasn’t stupid; he would try until it became unsafe for him and then he would scarper with the rest of us. So it proved. Running through the entrance, I managed to join the throng of prisoners milling outside; I could see Drudge already there as well as John; he seemed to be looking for someone and he was not looking in the direction of the fortress; more to the horizon. Longhelim came running out, followed finally by Felix; they and everyone else ran forward as fast as we could; not a moment too soon as there was a dreadful explosion from behind us and as I turned my head around, I could literally see that the black miasma erupting from the door, enveloping the fortress and then seemingly almost suck the whole into itself while evaporating with the dreadful sound of a thousand screams of agony together with the unearthly sound of stone being crushed to powder in a moment. It was a sound of such horror, agony and despair that I hoped I would never hear again. Everyone stared at this spectacle stunned speechless. No one had seen such utter destruction on such a scale before. It was breathtaking. After a while, the dust settled and everyone was looking at each other in slight bewilderment, as if unable to believe that they were still alive. I could not imagine what the prisoners must have gone through; thrown into a hole; struck by bouts of intense agony totally randomly; being unable to track time; not knowing how long they had been gone; and growing steadily weaker and weaker. I shuddered; that was the fate that may well have overtaken me if I had stayed in Gate Pass. Longhelim looked around him; we could see that despite all that had happened, we had still managed to rescue a goodly number of prisoners; it would never be enough but we had to deal with reality. The paladin began to shout: “Listen! Listen up! The Ragesian army is on its way back here. It was drawn out by a decoy maneuver and when they realise that it was a diversion, they will be out for blood; especially when it becomes apparent that they failed in their charge. Leska will have their commanders tortured to death as soon as she finds out! And decimate the troops! If they’re lucky!  If they re-capture us, she may just commute that sentence. So, we have to get out of here now!” If there was one thing Longhelim could have said that would make the crowd pay attention, it was the prospect of being re-captured by the Ragesians. It concentrated their mind wonderfully and it took them only a few moments to get organized. We moved quickly for a little time until Longhelim called a halt. Then he gathered us around him and said: “These people are still very weak; we may be able to outrun the Ragesian army but we won’t be able to outrun their forward elements and in the state that we are all in, that is all that they will need to deal with us. We’re all still very weak.” Felix said: “Let’s get in touch with Pilus; he should be able to tell us exactly how far away the army is and how long we’ve got to plan.” Slightly sheepishly, as if he had forgotten about him, Longhelim took out the strange mask; Pilus’s voice could be heard immediately: “Where are you? You’ve really stirred up a hornet’s nest! Every Ragesian under the sun is running back to the fortress! Whatever it is that you’re planning to do, you’d better to it fast! They will be on you very soon.” “How long?” “You’ve got about an hour until the first group reach you.” “Thanks Pilus!” Longhelim then turned to us: “We can get away with the power of the Torch; I have two more uses left for the day; but……I can only take us. Using the ability to transport a whole group requires a soul for the Torch; and one of some power as well.” Felix grimaced: “As awful as this is, we can ask; I don’t know if anyone among the crowd can do it but we can ask.” So Longhelim shouted at the crowd: “Listen up! The Ragesians are coming! They will be here in an hour or so! I can get us out of here by using the Torch of the Burning Sky; but…..I stole this from the Ragesians; and since Coaltongue made this out of a Devil’s thigh bone, it needs a sacrifice before I can get us out here. Will one good man give his soul for the lives of many? Will one person save hundreds!” Volunteers did come forward; not surprisingly, most of them were from the Sons of the Resistance; unfortunately, when they were vetted for suitability by the Torch, none of them were of enough Power to trigger the ability needed. I mused: “Agony must have drained them of so much energy; we will be hard pressed to find any Souls suitable for what we need. So, we’ll just have to do it differently; we’ll have to go use the Torch to get a suitable soul ourselves and then come back and use it here.” Longehelim stared at me: “Of course! We can still use the Torch twice a day; once to get there and once to come back here!” I continued: “I suggest we go back to Simeon’s camp. They’re bound to have prisoners there; they were fighting a battle after all.” The paladin made an instant decision: “We’ll do it!” He called to the closest of the escapees and explained the plans; then we all gathered around him and after the usual tunnel of fire, we appeared in the Seaquen encampment, just behind our lines. We were not spotted initially as all the focus was towards the enemy in front but almost immediately there was a shout and guards converged upon us. We were recognized immediately and taken to Simeon and Kiernan, who looked upon us expectantly: “We saw and heard the huge explosion; please tell us that the Obelisk is gone.” Longhelim nodded and began a report: “Yes, the Obelisk is gone but unfortunately Kreven escaped…….” Quickly he went through the course of events, finishing: “…..so we need a prisoner to return with the spell casting escapees. They may not all stay but some will and we think that they will be a great asset to the Resistance.” Simeon and Kiernan looked at him blankly: “Prisoners?” They looked at each other and Kiernan shook his head and said: “I don’t think we have any; we didn’t give instructions to take prisoners; we didn’t think to. After all, this is a diversionary raid to give you time destroy the Obelisk.” Longhelim stared at them: “But you always take prisoners on military raids; it’s a golden opportunity to gather information about enemy strengths and weaknesses, logistics, disposition, officers and their personalities……..never mind; so, just to be clear, there are no prisoners?” Simeon and Kiernan shook their heads. Then the dwarven magician brightened up: “However, I do have a spell which may help. I can cast a spell to give an animal, such as a horse, conscious thought; this may be sufficient for the Torch.” Longhelim looked at me. I shrugged: “Theoretically, that should work but who knows? If we don’t have any prisoners, we may as well try it and see if it is acceptable to the Torch.” Commands were barked out and a horse was brought forward; Kiernan cast his spell as I watched with interest; I realised what he had done; I had heard of the spell he was attempting to cast but what I had not realised was that he was in fact substituting a powerful arcane spell for a less powerful spell from a different discipline; namely the druidic. I could follow the magic he was casting quite easily now and made a mental note to add it to my book when I had the time. The spell finished but I could not see any difference to the creature, though I would be the first to admit my ignorance about horses. Longhelim approached it, waited briefly and then nodded: “Good. This is going to work; we have to get back to the casters; there is little time left. We’ll be back very soon.” The sequence of events followed as planned this time. We managed to get back to the former victims of Agony and sacrificed the horse; the power of the Torch was activated and everyone hurried through; Drudge was the last rear guard and as he stepped through, told us that advance elements of the Ragesians were literally within yards of the teleportation event when it ceased. The battle was still raging around the Needle but as soon as we arrived, the orders were given for a fighting retreat and for Sheena Larkins to provide another powerful piece of transport magic which would allow the army to retreat. For the time being the refugees from the Scourge would accompany us back to Seaquen where they would then make their own decisions as to their future. Thankfully, again, we managed to achieve this as planned. There was a lull in the fighting and our forces withdrew; I didn’t ask about casualties. I didn’t really want to know; on an intellectual level, I was aware that the Resistance was willing to sacrifice the whole of the raiding force to destroy the Obelisk and in the grand scheme of things, it would be perceived as a great success, but I found that difficult to reconcile with the screams and moans of the wounded and the dying.</blockquote>

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