[Realms #349] Bad News, Bear
"Damned creatures!" Ayremac shouted as he brought his shield around, dividing his attention between the frenzied thing he'd been fighting and the newly-arrived foe. "Karak! Gather your strength and take one of the buggers off of me!"
"Aye, lad," Karak sighed, hauling his weapon up only with effort. "I'll be over there in a jiffy, but I seemed to be a mite tired again. I do nae understand it; I should be thrivin' here underground."
Morier took a step to the right, putting himself and Karak on opposite sides of the slime-covered creature attacking Ayremac. Ravager was low and he brought it up as he moved in a savage two-handed blow that laid open the gangly monstrosity's torso in a spray of gore. The thing let out a gurgling sound and toppled backward, nearly falling on Karak as it died.
Shamalin saw none of this; she only saw Huzair slumped and bleeding on the floor fifteen feet away and she was in motion. He looked pretty grim, and this was what - the third time in as many weeks that he has been on death's edge? "Varan azipo monda kau gokta met, teno," she said to the golden bear as she started moving. "Ekfebet aranouylipot maha nili mavano!"
She was fairly certain that among her current companions, only Ayremac would understand Celestial. Her eyes flicked uncertainly in the holy warrior's direction. How odd that the creature's acid did absolutely nothing to Ayremac, and yet looked to be eating it's way through Huzair. She marveled again that there was a great deal about her old friend that she did not know. But this was not the time for such thoughts.
"Ena escobar," the bear replied in a gruff baritone as she passed. "Givo mana maha nili." But it didn't draw its attention away from the creature it was attacking, as it used its divine power to Smite the Evil thing. The bear's claw opened a minor gash across the fiend's back as it tried to opportunistically attack Shamalin, spoiling the attempt.
The cleric stepped up and channeled a Cure Moderate Wounds spell into Huzair. The mage's eyes fluttered open and he slurred, "Tell Morier, buff before you enter battle."
"You can tell him yourself after this is all over," the cleric replied as she began praying for another miracle. She didn't see the second creature as it half-ran, half-flew at her from the side. It landed hard against her back, forcing her to brace against the floor to prevent her landing on top of her patient. Its tusks clattered ineffectually against her heavy armor.
"Take this, bastard!" Ayremac roared, slamming his morningstar against the head of the thing still on him. The weapon, Aligned as it was to Good, dealt the monster nothing but punishment. But the look in its many eyes told the Officer of Umba that it could take a great many more hits like that and keep on coming.
To prove the point it struck at him seemingly from all sides. The sudden flurry caught him unprepared and he cried out in alarm as he felt himself being overbalanced. He fell prone and the thing rode him down, slashing at him repeatedly with its many barbed claws. He was unconscious and bleeding out even as he hit the ground.
Karak came at it, stepping forward and swinging his waraxe double-handed. The dwarf was fatigued, however, and was attacking with power behind the blows rather than accuracy and so he failed to injure the thing at all.
Lela saw Ayremac drop and let out a little yelp of surprise. She also saw the fact that the creature on top of the holy warrior was healing its wounds nearly as quickly as it suffered them. She cast Decomposition and cursed as the creature resisted the spell.
Morier made a tactical adjustment, taking an opportunistic blow to his leg for doing so, but managed to get into a flanking position with Karak again. He brought Ravager in again, impacting against the thing's short little neck, but the creature was resistant to injury and it shrugged off most of the attack like it was nothing.
Shamalin's celestial bear lurched to her defense, as she'd instructed it to, swiping the disfigured creature that was riding the cleric's back. Its paw slammed solidly against the monster's side, knocking it off its perch, but causing it absolutely no damage.
Shamalin cried out to Flor, and, raising her shield to protect herself from the thing beside her, called into being a Magic Circle Against Evil. As the holy protection descended on herself and Huzair and the bear, the creature fighting them recoiled in pain and revulsion. It flapped its fan-like wings and lurched awkwardly toward Morier and the others. Both Huzair and the golden bear attacked it as it fled, but Shamalin, who hadn't even bothered to unscabbard her longsword merely watched it go. It snapped at the albino as it closed, but caught only empty air with the attack.
The creature perched on Ayremac's chest suddenly stiffened, letting out a yelp of fear and turned to fee from Lela, the glittering residue of Confusion Dust still lingering on its disturbingly-twisted face. Its legs were ill-suited to move it, and it lacked the wings of its counterpart, so it was slow. It moved up to the edge of Shamalin's Circle and then moved to skirt it. Huzair's Magic Missiles fizzled out against its spell resistance.
Karak bent and laid a hand on Ayremac, stabilizing him even as he reluctantly put down his waraxe and picked up the fallen man's morningstar. "I'm hopin' ye do nae mind if I borrow this," he said to Ayremac's unconscious body.
Lela cast Cat's Grace and felt her limbs grow more dextrous as she readied her shortbow.
Morier slashed at the second creature since it was now the only thing in range of his weapon and again Ravager bit into its target. As before, however, the wound seemed much reduced from what it should have been. The thing retaliated against the eldritch warrior, goring him with its tusks and slashing at his shins with its cloven hooves.
Shamalin's golden bear lumbered forward, striking at the confused monster, but its attacks were useless against the little creature's tough hide. The monster, luckily was concerned only with fleeing and did not pause to test its own attacks against the bear. It continued on out into the corridor.
Shamalin, who was herself the focus of the Magic Circle Against Evil, could not advance or risk disrupting the spell, instead she channeled a Cure Light Wounds spell into Huzair, bringing the mage to within a cat's whisker of full health.
Karak came at the thing fighting with Morier, Ayremac's mornignstar glowing brightly in the dwarf's two hands. The weapon was lighter than his axe - too light as it turned out. He missed, smashing the air several feet to the creature's right.
Lela fired an arrow from her shortbow into the creature, but it stuck in its fur like an over-sized toothpick doing no apparent damage. Ravager failed entirely to connect with the creature and the albino cursed.
The golden bear lurched out into the corridor and made one last swipe at the fleeing fiend before the spell binding it to the Prime ran its course and the animal returned to Mount Celestia. Shamalin moved closer to the continuing battle, careful not to actually force the remaining fiend into the area of her Magic Circle and called down a Doom on the monster. Despite that, however, it managed to jab its tusks into Morier's ribs again.
Huzair tried again to target the thing with a Magic Missile spell and this time managed to bypass its spell resistance. Two bolts of force slammed into the creature's shoulder and it let out a disgruntled cry. The next instant, as Karak slammed Ayremac's morningstar into its right arm, that cry became an ear-splitting shriek of pain. A moment later, Morier's jagged sword put an end to that sound by taking the thing's head messily from its shoulders.
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
