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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jon Potter" data-source="post: 1003476" data-attributes="member: 2323">[PLAIN][Realms #229] The Devourer II[/PLAIN]"Draelond, you do not need me for the bars," Ruze said, sheathing his weapons. He stepped up to the straining warrior and lay a hand on his back while clutching his holy symbol in the other. "You have the strength within you." Strength seemed to flow from the cleric's hand into Draelond and his armor fought to contain the sudden swell of his invigorated thews. He had been a big man before the divine vigor flowed through him, but now he positively bristled with muscles to a nearly inhuman state. "Try again, I know you can do it!"For his part, Vade could find nothing which his nimble fingers could manipulate to disable the trap. Most likely it was a one-shot trip mechanism that would either require resetting manually or was on a time-release. Either way, there was little he could do standing on this side of the bars. Draelond was blocking the opening, so there was little chance of using his sling without hitting the big guy, and while that would certainly bring a smile to Vade's lips, he wanted to try out his shiny green sling stone and he didn't want to waste it on slapstick. Instead, he went to squeeze between the bars, and although he was small and usually as slippery as the greased pig that made its appearance in every harvest fair from Awad to Haven, he couldn't negotiate the narrow space on his first try."I've done this before," he pouted. "Really."Draelond ignored the halfling and focused on bending the bars. Despite the fact that he now possessed the strength of a bull, he made little headway. The bars held firm.Undaunted by the failure of her companions, Ixin summoned the mana in her blood, curled her hands into the proper gestures and intoned the words of power. "Sopio!" she shouted, directing the spell of sleep at the Devourer. The spell energy washed over the creature, but neither it nor Ledare were affected.It drew the Janissary to its obscene mouth and sank its many teeth into her left thigh. Ledare grunted as burning pain roared through her body from the creature's bite, but she also felt a lessening of the monster's grip and forced her sword arm against the tentacle that held her while she simultaneously rammed her shield between herself and the sinuous limb. She twisted away and found herself momentarily out of the creature's grasp. She stepped back and reached for the flask of alchemist's fire she carried in her pouch."Ledare, we are with you!" Ruze shouted as he raised his hands in benediction. "My light shines upon you! Together we will slay this beast!" The cleric pointed at the Devourer with his right hand and a glowing crescent of force appeared above the creature's lumpen body. The replica of Shaharizod's Moonblade immediately slashed across its pustulent flesh and drew blood. The wound, however, was a minor one.Vade tried again to slip between the bars and again he failed.Likewise, Dralond was having little success bending the bars.Seeing this, Ixin reached for her crossbow. As she did so, her cloak unfurled and Martivir poked his round head out of his extra-dimensional pocket. As she pulled the lever that locked the bowstring into place she consulted her familiar. "Stay within the pouch my friend," she cautioned. "But do you have any ideas?" Before hooting that he did not, the owl vanished back into the safety of the Cloak. "Great," Ixin deadpanned, raised her crossbow and fired. The quarrel sailed passed Draelond's ear and off into the dark vastness of the cavern.The Devourer, unaware that it was coming under missile fire, and disappointed that its next meal had slipped free of its grasp, lashed out with its tentacle. The thorny growths on the tentacle pierced through the chainmail girding Ledare's abdomen, ripping into her flesh before the rest of the limb wrapped around her, and dragged her in close to the creature's body where the drooling maw waited eagerly.The Janissary threw the flask in her hand, trying to smash it against the thing's eye stalk, perhaps blinding it. Not surprisingly considering the pain she was in, her aim was off. The flask shattered harmlessly against a pile of refuse behind the creature.While Vade failed again to wriggle between the bars, Ruze directed the Spiritual Weapon to attack the tentacle that held Ledare, but it missed the furiously writhing limb.Draelond continued to strain ineffectually against the bars. He felt them give a fraction, but they would not yield to his incredible strength. He roared in frustration while Ixin fired another crossbow bolt passed his ear close enough for him to feel the wind of its passing. The sorcerer missed her target again.Perhaps realizing its error in trying to eat its dinner while she still struggled, the Devourer squeezed Ledare again rather than draw her to its wet mouth. She heard something straining in her chest though whether it was her armor or the ribs beneath she couldn't say and she tried to cry out from the pain. There was no air in her lungs to do so, however. With dark spots swimming in front of her eyes, she strained against the tentacle and once more managed to get herself a moment's reprieve. She dropped from the creature's grasp and backed away as quickly as she could, shield held on the defensive.Ruze directed the shimmering blade of force against the the main body of the Devourer in order to distract the thing from Ledare, but failed to land a blow. As soon as it missed, the weapon winked out of existence."Everything is going to be alright Ruze... isn't it?" Vade asked, abandoning his attempts to squeeze through the bars in favor of using his sling despite the obstruction. He let fly the emerald green sling stone that he'd picked up... somewhere. It flew passed Draelond, through the bars and smashed to the ground several feet from the Devourer where it promptly exploded in a burst of acid. Smoke rose from the disintegrating piles of refuse."Whoah!" the halfling exclaimed. "I didn't know they did that!""Ledare, come to me, so I may administer my Queen's aid!" Ruze yelled, already preparing to call upon divine healing. "Fear not the monster; we will dispatch it when it draws near!"Draelond strained but the bars still held."Drae, when the tentacle draws near and ensnares Ledare, chop the damned thing off!" Ruze ordered without even looking at the warrior. His attention was held by the Janissary's plight. She was backing towards the bars with her shield and sword held defensively, but the Devourer was drawing back its tentacle for another strike.Ixin looked at her crossbow and then turned her face to the bars. She drew upon the inner fires of her dragon blood and directed that potency at the Devourer. A palpable wave of fear emanated from Ixin's face which was drawn into a snarl of inhuman rage. "Hold creature!!" she roared, and her voice was that of a dragon. "You have been abandoned by your party!! There is nowhere to run!!" The Devourer resisted the fear with no visible effect.Vade, who had never seen Ixin use her natural ability to cause fear, nearly wet himself at the sight. He clutched tightly at Ruze's thigh."Vade, look to where we can reset the trap," the Battleguard commanded, prying the halfling's hands off his leg. "It's probably behind us somewhere as the trapped person would not be able to reset it." Vade nodded dumbly, but his eyes never left Ixin. For just a moment, he had seen a dragon's features superimposed over the woman's and he couldn't shake his unease.The Devourer's tentacle came in low and fast and would certainly have knocked the Janissary off her feet if she hadn't been especially vigilant about focusing on defense. As it was, she bashed it aside with her shield and maintained her pace until she clanged up against the bars and felt Ruze's hand press against her cheek. She immediately felt the damage to her ribs and the bite to her thigh both fully heal themselves."Stay at the bars, kitten," Ruze spoke into her ear. "I've more healing to give you yet."Vade searched around the small chamber as Ruze had directed, and Draelond readied himself to attack the tentacle when it came near. Ixin grabbed her morningstar in the hopes that she could do the same.The Devourer slurped hungrily forward and lashed out at Ledare. As soon as it came within range, Draelond's bastard sword sliced between the bars and dealt the limb a wicked slice, that, while it didn't actually sever the tentacle as Ruze had hoped, it ruined the creature's attack. Ixin couldn't find an opening to attack with Draelond, Ruze and Ledare all blocking the bars while Ledare took a half-hearted swing at the tentacle as it passed.They repeated the process and Ruze's healing touch eased nearly all of the Janissary's aches and pains, bringing her to within a hair's breadth of full health. This time when the Devourer struck at Ledare, Ravager did messily split the limb in twain ripping a scream of fear and pain from the beast. The misshapen lump of its body was still twenty feet away, and well out of reach of Ledare's sword, but before the creature could turn to flee, the Janissary's longsword was back in its scabbard and her hand-crossbow has aimed at its eye stalk. She squeezed off a shot as the aberration stumped off into the dark cavern, but the arrow flew wide."Quick, while that thing's gone," Ixin suggested, "let's get these bars out of the way!" They all heaved to, and although Ixin and Ruze were of little help in the confined area, Ledare was able to use her not-inconsiderable strength in concert with Draelond's and with a squeal of fatigued metal, two of the bars were parted enough so that any of them could pass through without difficulty."Is that monster gone?" Vade asked. The halfling had abandoned trying to find a trigger to bypass the trap given that it no longer presented an obstacle. He grabbed ahold of Ruze's hand and squeezed it for reassurance."For the moment," the cleric told him, patting him on the head. "But it's still in there somewhere." Vade gulped."And so is the power nexus," Ixin reminded. "And the portal. And your friend."Draelond flexed his enhanced muscles and balanced Ravager on his right shoulder. "So what do we do now, Ledare?" he asked and all eyes turned to regard her.</blockquote>

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