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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 392572" data-attributes="member: 1210">Krunkshank’s face goes white as Anvar steps right through the wall of stone.  Vito’s prayers summon up a thoqqua.  The party is retreating already, but too slowly.  Horbin blasts off a searing light while Krunkshank casts heat metal on their former companion.“Flee, you fools...” Anvar chokes out, and drops down into the floor, out of view.  The party tries to flee, but they just aren’t moving fast enough.  The shock of seeing their old allies, corrupted by strange metal and machinery- it’s taken the wind out of all of them.  They’re almost in shock.  They’re falling back, with Horbin and Krunkshank both pausing to heal themselves a little, when Anvar re-emerges from the ground and casts a powerful spell at them- a rain of lava pours from the ceiling, burning and hammering the entire group!  Screams, the hissing of burning flesh, the tremendous thundering of pyroclastic rocks bouncing all around them- Droidi breathes on Anvar, a billowing cloud of acidic vapors, and then tumbles back.  Horbin entreats Dexter for aid and a circle of healing spreads among the party.  Krunkshank throws off another searing light, noting that, although Anvar’s metal parts are glowing red hot from the heat metal spell, Anvar himself seems unharmed.  He must have protected himself while he was underground, the elementalist thinks, then winces as his former friend bursts into bright flames and whips out his longsword.  Vito has already left the cave, and Droidi tries to follow.  The climb up and out of the cave seems much longer than on the way in, and his fingers scrabble for purchase.Another blast of searing light shoots from Horbin while Krunkshank readies a counterspell.  Then the clockwork servitor whips his blade into Krunkshank, slashing at him several times.  The battle rages back and forth, with Krunkshank and Horbin blasting spells and swinging weapons while Anvar hacks back at them, stopping briefly to heal himself.  Finally, the two heroes flanking him manage to drop Anvar.  With a sick thunk, Krunkshank’s axe splits Anvar’s head in two as he blasts at them with a last flaming spell.  The party is gasping for breath; their healing spells are virtually exhausted, they’re wounded, they’re exhausted... and they’ve won.Or so they think.But Titus has not been idle this whole time.  The wall of stone has been suffering the effects of a steady stream of slug thrower attacks the whole time the party has been battling Anvar, and just as he falls, so too does the wall.  Titus, the clockwork master-the clockwork servitor- steps over the rubble.  A volley of magic missiles shoots into Krunkshank, who staggers back, crying out in pain, and dives for cover.  “Get up here!” screams Droidi from the cave mouth.Horbin is trying to heal himself enough to stand up to Titus, and shouts back, “Get down here!”  Droidi curses and starts to climb back down into the cave.  And Krunkshank rolls out from behind his rock and flame strikes the clockwork master, following it up with a fireball.  Horbin whips out his sling, mutters, “Crap,” and shoots a bullet at Titus, missing badly.  A lightning bolt surges out, staggering both Horbin and Krunkshank, and the elementalist responds with another fireball.  Red-orange fire blossoms like a rose in the cave, And as soon as he can see through the heat haze Horbin tries to hold Titus- but with all the mechanical stuff in him, is he still a person?  The spell fails.  Screaming a war cry, Krunkshank charges with his axe, but Titus is well-protected.  He fails to penetrate the clockwork servitor’s defenses.  Titus draws his rapier and pokes at the elementalist, but Krunkshank’s a dwarf; he wears heavy armor, and it’s enough to turn the point.  Then, enraged by having had to slay his own friend Anvar, Krunkshank manages to land not one but two solid blows against Titus, driving him back a step.  A moment later, a flaming sphere appears and then a flickering flame seems to spring into Titus, thrown by Droidi.  The half-dragon’s keeping his distance this time, but Horbin isn’t; he tosses his sling aside and draws out his holy mace, then charges.  At the last instant, his toe catches on an outcropping of rock and he stumbles, badly missing.   A jet of scalding steam pours from Titus’ hand as he speaks magic words, and Krunkshank grunts and staggers, his face badly burnt.  Horbin moves up, blinking the hot water from his eyes, and is forced to go through the flaming sphere in order to flank in the passage that Krunkshank and Titus are battling in.  He swings his mace and misses.  Krunkshank lands two more telling blows, however, and Titus tumbles away and whips out a potion, obviously badly wounded.  “No you don’t!” cries Horbin, and casts random action on his friend turned foe.  But again, the mind of Titus is no longer in charge.  The spell fails.But Droidi’s flaming sphere is close enough to Titus for Krunkshank’s purposes.  He channels fire, screaming from the strain, and a great flaming serpent rises from the sphere and lashes out, catching Titus in its coils and dragging him back to the sphere.  Droidi springs forward, viciously biting and clawing at him.  The clockwork servitor tries to squirm free, and then goes limp, slain by the fiery constrictor.Now they’ve won.“Dexter’s nadlies,” breathes Horbin.“You can say that again,” answers Krunkshank, panting...A few notes about this fight: the whole thing (starting with the gear hounds and ending with Titus) took 21 rounds.  If the pcs hadn’t separated Titus and Anvar I doubt whether they would have all survived.  Heck, it might’ve been a TPK!  But, thanks to Krunkshank’s wall of stone, they not only got to fight them essentially one at a time but also exhausted Titus’ slug thrower ammo.It’ll be a while before I get another chance to update this, <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f641.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":(" title="Frown    :("  data-smilie="3"data-shortname=":(" /> so I don’t know when or if I’ll tell the tale of our heroes finding out what’s up with Captain Clambake, the Return of the Wraith, and, of course, the lich.  But when I get the chance, I’ll certainly try to do it!  There are stories yet to be told- the tomb of the Last King of Dorla, the magic of the ancients... Hopefully I’ll get the chance!</blockquote>

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