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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jon Potter" data-source="post: 1868000" data-attributes="member: 2323">[PLAIN][Realms #191] The Guardian of Fire[/PLAIN]The second trip down to the chamber below went a little differently than the first. For one thing, Ixin was in a hurry, and she scuttled down the shaft and moved along the ceiling toward the edge of the room. For another, she was trailing a length of rope that was tied to her belt as she went. And for a third, both she and the rope were dripping wet - insurance against the elemental's fiery touch.Predictably, it rose up within the twenty-foot firepit and took a swing at Ixin; the mage was an easy target hanging awkwardly from the ceiling and she could do nothing to avoid the attack. It flaming fist slammed into her with appalling strength and knocked her easily from her perch. She tumbled, unfurled her wings and glided lightly to the ground beside the fire. As she had supposed, she was in no danger from the elemental's heat, but its strength was none the less considerable and she knew full well that she'd never be able to stand another blow like that one."Stick to the plan," she hissed to herself, as she opened up her cloak and reached into the largish pocket reserved for Martivir. From it, she pulled a gasping and sputtering halfling."No air!" he choked as he scrambled out of the impossibly small pocket. "How does Marty stand it in there?""Not now, Vade!" Ixin growled as she turned to look up at the elemental towering above her. Behind it, she could see Karak come drifting down out of the shaft with Morier and Ledare clasped in his arms - which were rippling with muscles, thanks to the scroll of Bull's Strength that Vade had used on the dwarf. He had the other end of Ixin's rope looped around his belt and thanks to his Ring of Feather Falling was moving downward at a leisurely pace.She tugged on the rope as Vade activated the Ring of Invisibility and disappeared beside her. The rope snapped taut beside the elemental's head and it turned to regard the drifting dwarf and his steel-plated burden. It swung out at him, but its flaming fist passed harmlessly above his head, and a moment later, he'd clanked down near Ixin.Morier stepped lightly away from him, his greatsword held awkwardly in one hand as he moved the other in the proper arcane gestures. Ledare managed to lose her footing and she fell to one knee as Karak turned with his axe in hand to face the fire elemental."As Shaharizod is me witness, I vow this: with Her strength, I will hold an' me blade will Strike True," Karak intoned, steam rising from his water-soaked beard as the elemental loomed above him.Unseen behind the glowing monster, Feln slipped out of the shaft, holding onto the smallest of cracks by his fingertips alone. He dangled there long enough to swing his legs back and forth, building up enough momentum to propel himself through the air away from the firepit. He somersaulted through the air and landed like a cat on the opposite side of the pit.  A sharp pain shot up his right leg from the fall, but he managed to avoid any broken bones by shear skill.Ledare got to her feet and readied her sword beside Karak and Morier at the same time that Ixin's familiar, Martivir, came spiraling silently out of the shaft above and came straight for Ixin."Hey, Hot Stuff! Over here!" a disembodied voice called from a few dozen feet to the others' right. An instant later, Vade appeared in that spot, his body twisted awkwardly from the throw he'd just executed. The waterskin that he'd especially prepared, arced through the air and slammed into the elemental's left shoulder where it exploded with an obscene seething sound. A cloud of steam rose up at once and the elemental whirled toward Vade, seeking its tormentor.Vade did his best to dodge, but its fist managed to barely clip him regardless. The thing's strength was enough to drive Vade backward, but unlike Ixin, Vade wasn't immune to fire, and he sustained some nasty burns on his arm as well. His shirt threatened to catch on fire, but with a quick jerk of his arm he extinguished the glowing embers.Vade's sacrifice was all the more distraction that Karak and Morier required. The dwarf struck with his waraxe, guided by Shaharizod's hand and powered by all the strength he had in his compact frame. It split the flames that made up the thing's torso, and an instant later, Morier was doing the same. With a shout of "Fidus attingo!" the eldritch warrior drove his electrified greatsword into the elemental's back.It roared in pain, and its voice was like a forest fire.Feln was struck momentarily by the thing's cry of pain, but an instant later he had disappeared into the shadows on his way to the only obvious door way leading out of the hot chamber.Martivir landed on the hot floor beside Ixin and waited patiently for the mage to strip off the Slippers of Spider Climbing. It hooted to her and Ixin spared him a small chuckle. "I agree," told him as she carefully put the delicate footwear into the owl's beak. "But that's a pretty big 'if'. Now, go! Get these to Grisham!" The bird took to the air as Ixin flexed her own wings and rose at once to her feet, a spell already on her lips.Ledare stepped up as the elemental was turning back to face them and she drove Ravager savagely into the main conflagration of its body, drawing another unsettling cry of pain from the thing. Vade seized the distraction to activate his Ring and turn Invisible once more. The elemental's arms both lashed outward seeking Karak and Ledare. For the third time that day, the Janissary's magical shield spared her from injury, but Karak bore the full brunt of its attack across his chest. Searing pain filled the dwarf's body and his beard burst into flames."Oh, ye great flamin' bastard!" Karak roared as he patted out the flames and swung his axe ineffectually. "Ye'll pay for that, ye will! Nobody sets my beard on fire and lives!"Morier's sword too seemed unable to match its earlier success, and instead parted air beside the elemental even as Ixin sent a pair of Magic Missiles arcing over the albino's head. They slashed into the monster's fiery body, making it hiss in pain.Ledare stepped up and drove her bastard sword into the thing's side. It retaliated in kind, roughly slamming her with one of its huge fists. She grunted with pain and alarm as she saw that her cloak had caught on fire. A moment later, however, Karak's waraxe had put an end to the flaming monster.As its remnants sank down into the firepit, Grisham finally poked his head out of the shaft above, scuttling along with the Slippers of Spider Climbing."About time, ye showed up, woodsman!" Karak called up to him. "Fun's all over with now!" Grisham snorted derisively and continued to pick his way toward the floor."And no casualties," Ixin said as she looked the group over. Vade reappeared nearby and he had a troubled look on his face."Has anybody seen my buddy, Feln?" he asked and an moment later, the half-orc's scream pierced the air.</blockquote>

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