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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jon Potter" data-source="post: 3944686" data-attributes="member: 2323">[PLAIN][Realms #419] The Great White Worm[/PLAIN]The news of a land shark in the vicinity was not welcome. But there was nothing for it save to press on. The deva had warned that the Moonsteps were only visible under the light from a full moon, and tonight was the last for a fortnight that one of Shaharizod's Mirrors would be full. So on they pressed.Anania ranged ahead, blazing a trail toward their goal that wove amidst strange hard-edged polygons of lichen-covered rock. Karak stopped briefly to puzzle over the formations, but could find the mark of a chisel nowhere upon them and decided that they must have been the result of some magic. Everywhere, they would spot stripes of disturbed earth that wove between the rock formations, testament to the burrowing horror that called this tundra home.As evening approached, the elf scout returned once more from her vanguard position this time to announce that they had arrived at a lake - the shores of which held a fallen ruin. Toppled columns of stone split and re-split by constant exposure to ice and wind lay half-hidden in the rushes. Here and there along the shore, the group could spy time-worn stones buried in the frozen earth, a silent reminder of paved roads that were no more. A narrow wedge of dark stone that curved up from the scrub was all that remained of a shattered dome that had once dominated the center of the ruin.They explored the place hastily, finding a circular stone beneath the ruined dome marked with the symbol of the double moons. All the while, they were mindful of the danger presented by the bulette should it happen upon them unawares.Of course, the burrowing predator turned out not to be a bulette.Merruna, the Handmaiden rose early into the night sky, her silver radiance striking the stone disk in the center of the ruin and causing it to first shimmer and then vanish entirely. A shaft was revealed with a set of narrow stone steps cut into its sides that corkscrewed down toward a glow far below. It was as if another moon's light answered Merruna's from the depths of the shaft, but it was a light reflected on a water's surface, that flickered and winked from the dark below."I guess this is it then," Ayremac said, peering into the shaft."Ya think?" Morier jibed, earning a scowl from the holy warrior.Shamalin ignored the two and went to work casting her Sending, reaching out across the planes to seek Huzair's mind. She found it, brushing against his thoughts over what was undoubtedly a very long distance. "Huzair," the cleric said over the link. "Follow the pull you feel to the portal, then step through." She cleared her mind in preparation for casting Portal Beacon when the wizard answered her."Shamalin, I think I have found a way to find Dridana's heart," Huzair's voice spoke straight into her skull. "Have everyone come through the portal to me. I've met some Mercane traders."Then the link went dead and Anania shouted a warning. A moment later the others felt it as well, a subtle vibration in the frozen ground that intensified rapidly. A moment after that, the ground a dozen paces away exploded upward in a shower of ice and stone debris, propelled skyward by a huge, sinuous worm. The long, blue-white creature had huge mandibles and a strange nodule atop its head from which it generated a horrible trilling sound.The sound, knifed through the group's heads like a blade of ice stabbed through the ear. All felt the urge to freeze in place, but only Ayremac and Morier succumbed to the compulsion, their muscles locking into rigor as the worm towered above them.Anania had threaded an arrow into her bow and darted backward out of the worm's reach and now she brought up the weapon and sighted down. It was a single fluid motion; the bow cane up and the arrow went flying, stabbing deeply into the joint where the worm's left mandible met its head. It was a solid hit and well placed, but against the creature's enormous bulk it seemed like a splinter.Karak spoke a word and his waraxe glittered eagerly with ice crystals. Roaring a battle cry in dwarfish he charged at the worm with murderous intent. Gripping the axe double handed, he hewed into the worm's pale flesh with abandon, hacking open a messy gash that was wider that Karak himself was tall. The worm shrieked as its lifeblood began pouring coldly to the frozen ground. It fixed its attention onto the dwarf below, abandoning its cacophonous trilling, intent on ridding itself of this metal-clad threat.Shamalin clutched her holy symbol and spoke a brief prayer to Flor hoping that her magic would be enough to Cause Fear in her enemy. Her spell, however, slid off the great beast, too weak to effect so powerful a creature.If the worm noticed the cleric's spellcasting it gave no indication and darted its head in toward Karak, seizing the dwarf's left arm in a grip like frozen steel. He heard a squeal of metal as the thing's enormous teeth sought to crush his vambrace, and felt his flesh savaged by the teeth that managed to puncture the metal protection. A horrible cold accompanied the attack, a glacial chill that seemed to sink into Karak's very core. He managed through the magic of his Ring of Freedom alone to pull his arm loose of the thing's grip before the worm could haul him skyward.Ixin stepped forward while the worm was distracted and interposed herself between the creature and Ayremac. She sucked in a lung full of of cold air, feeling it stoke the fires of her draconis fundumentum. Leaning forward and smiling, she belched a cone of flame onto the worm. It seemed to sense the fire and managed to dodge away, but it still suffered badly from the antithetical element. It shrieked again as steam rose from its burned flesh into the polar air."Karak, grab Morier," the sorcerer screamed over the thing's wails of pain. "We need to get him and Ayremac to safety!"An arrow from Anania's bow arched uselessly into the distance as the archer continued to circle the worm firing at it from various positions as she sought a weak spot where her missiles could do some real damage.Karak, held his ground, undaunted by the creature's attack, and uninterested in Ixin's shouts to retreat. He was more cautious in his approach, however, putting somewhat less power behind his attack in favor of greater accuracy. His weapon struck again, opening another gash perpendicular to the first. The worm roared in protest, rearing up in time to get hit squarely in the head by a jet of water.Shamalin held Waveblade - which was currently only the size of a large dirk - pointed at the worm, directing onto the beast the geyser the weapon produced.  When the magical effect passed a moment later, the worm looked battered by the attack and diluted blood dripped from its head as it wheeled around to turn its maw toward the cleric.A freezing vortex of ice and air vomited forth from the worm's mouth engulfing both Shamalin and the immobilized Morier in a cloud of frozen death. Shamalin tried to raise her shield to protect herself, but Morier was still immobilized by the worm's trilling and could do nothing but stand there as the breath weapon washed over them. When the cloud of ice and frost cleared, the eldritch warrior was covered with a thin patina of ice crystals. Shamalin had fallen onto her back and lay stiff and unmoving on the ground.Ixin made to grab ahold of Ayremac, but the holy warrior brushed aside her hand. "I am fine," he told her as he shook the last vestiges of the stunning effect from his head. The drakeling needed no further encouragement and went to help Morier.Anania sent a feathered shaft into the side of worm's head, burying it soundly into the soft flesh just  below the worm's sunken eye. It writhed in agony and reeled back, but a second arrow found a place in its throat, sinking with a spurt of blood into the meat there.Ayremac took only a moment to survey the situation - Karak's left arm was slick with his own blood, Morier was turning blue from the cold, and Shamalin was down - then he touched the symbol of Umba worked into his breastplate and invoked Sacred Healing. At once, Karak felt the warmth of magical healing wash over him, distracting him just enough that with his next swing, he overbalanced himself and nearly fell flat on his face.If the worm had been doing anything other than retreating at that moment, Karak would have made a prime target. As it was, however, the creature had had enough abuse. What it had thought would be a tasty meal had turned out to be much more bother than it was worth. The worm withdrew with all haste down into its hole, vanishing almost as abruptly as it had appeared.Ixin grabbed Morier about the waist and slung him over her left shoulder. "Come on!" she shouted moving toward the Moonsteps. "Let's get to the portal before that thing comes back."</blockquote>

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