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<blockquote data-quote="Jon Potter" data-source="post: 4213295" data-attributes="member: 2323"><p><strong>[PLAIN][Realms #436] And the Streets Ran Red[/PLAIN]</strong></p><p></p><p>Gagging back another wave of bile with his fist, Ayremac staggered back out of the <em>Stinking Cloud</em>. "Huzair," he choked, looking around fruitlessly for the wizard. "Can you <em>Blink</em> through?"</p><p></p><p>"I was thinking the same thing," the Invisible mage said as he activated the <em>Ring of Blinking</em>. The stuttering effect did nothing for his stomach and he spewed a mouthful of his breakfast onto the ethereal plane.</p><p></p><p>"Keep your eye on him, but don't engage him!!" Ayremac commanded. Of course to Huzair it sounded like: "Keep * eye * him, * don't * him!!" Not that it would have made a difference to the wizard's strategy if he'd been able to hear the full message.</p><p></p><p>He already had a plan.</p><p></p><p>Which was more than could be said for most everyone else.</p><p></p><p>"We need to get out of here!" Ayremac groaned as his stomach spasmed again, causing his teeth to clench in anticipation. He swallowed it down, however and looked desperately around at the others. Ahlear was out of the <em>Cloud</em>, but he looked to be in little better shape that Ayremac. Morier seemed to be in shock; the albino was staring at his blood-slicked left hand with a kind of morbid fascination. Shamalin and Anania were at the rear of the place and seemed to have a door open - one that led outside judging by the amount of light coming in from that point.</p><p></p><p>"Shamalin?" Ayremac called, pressing his hand flat against the mail covering his belly. "Is there another way out?"</p><p></p><p>"Windows!" the cleric called back. "Very narrow windows!" The holy warrior grimaced at that knowing in his gut that, given the way he felt, there was no way...</p><p></p><p>"I don't think I will be able to escape out a window!" he grumbled bitterly even as the sound of breaking glass reached his ears from that direction.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Anania had picked up a heavy brass stamp from the narrow desk in the small chamber and used it to break out the pane of glass in one of the narrow windows. And they were very narrow indeed, Shamalin saw as she got closer. Without the heavy plate armor she felt sure that she'd be able to slip through without touching the frame, but her breastplate alone looked bigger than the patch of blue sky she could see over Anania's shoulder. Chill air flooded the chamber, whipping the elf maid's hair and washing the stink of foul magicks from Shamalin's nostrils, but it brought with it the screams of townsfolk from the front of the temple.</p><p></p><p>Anania jumped up - seeming to Shamalin to almost float to the windowsill where she perched momentarily, half-in and half-out of the building. She looked at the cleric calmly. "Your armor will make this a tight squeeze for you," she said. "Shall I stay and provide assistance?"</p><p></p><p>Shamalin felt heat color her cheeks despite the Readying breeze blowing in on her. "No," she said and began casting a spell. Anania was gone before the cleric had even said, "Monitum ex-"</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>"Morier..." Ayremac groaned, laying a hand on the albino's arm. "Open us a door with Stoneblade." Morier looked at the Officer and then down at the sword hanging forgotten in his own right hand.</p><p></p><p>"Stoneblade," Morier began. "This isn't Stoneblade." Ayremac shook his head in disgust then looked at Ahlear.</p><p></p><p>"We need the Elemental Swords," he said. "Can you get them?" Ahlear nodded and opened the clasp on his saddlebag.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Huzair <em>Blinked</em> through the wall several feet from the door and fell <em>Invisibly</em> into the street six feet below. He landed in some muddy snow beside the stairs up to the front doors and lay there sputtering and cursing to himself, before deactivating the <em>Ring of Blinking</em>. His vantage point did offer him a disturbingly clear view of the street in front of the temple. He could see a swath of charred and smoking earth sixty feet long and sixty feet wide at the far end that was peppered with the blackened husks of townsfolk. A pair of buildings on the far side of the street were on fire, and Doctor Akerman stood shakily before them, his own flesh and clothes smoldering despite the fact that he seemed to be both <em>Blurred</em> and <em>Displaced</em> and surrounded by a half-dozen <em>Mirror Images</em> that were similarly <em>Blurred</em> and <em>Displaced</em>.</p><p></p><p>As Huzair watched, Akerman dropped an <em>Evard's Black Tentacles</em> on Alechtus and the two or three commoners who remained near the man. Instantly the ground erupted with long rubbery tendrils of solid magic that whipped the air and dragged the townsfolk into their clutches where they thrashed and wailed. It had absolutely no effect on Alechtus. He marched forward through the grasping tentacles as if through a field of tall grass, the black ropey things sliding off him as if he were greased. The effect this sight had on Doctor Akerman was not good.</p><p></p><p>"So the Sanctifiers have hired a wizard this time, huh?" Alecthus was saying as he stalked toward Akerman. He held up his bastard sword and shook it saying, "Well, I've got my own wizard, now! And she's taught me the secret of how to best you!" Then he was upon the older man, his sword describing an arc of death in the sun, but the attack was foiled by Akerman's <em>Displacement</em> and the weapon connected with nothing save empty air.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>All this Shamalin also saw through the magic of <em>Clairvoyance</em>, and she knew that despite Doctor Akerman's many impressive magic protections, it was only a matter of time before Alechtus' sword found its mark. Then she heard a familiar voice boom from the temple proper, "THE SCION OF STONE AWAKES!"</p><p></p><p>She hurried at once to rejoin the others.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>"THIS IS NEITHER EARTH NOR STONE, FLESHLING!" Stoneblade was booming. "THERE IS CLAY HERE, TO BE SURE, BUT THE MAJORITY IS STICKS! IT IS BENEATH BY POWER!" Morier scowled at the gray blade, regaining by the moment his faculties.</p><p></p><p>"Beneath you or beyond you?" the eldritch warrior asked and the sword twisted angrily in his grasp.</p><p></p><p>"NO MERE STICK IS THE BETTER OF STONEBLADE!" the sword roared. "TURN YOUR BACK TO HACKING THROUGH THE WALL AND THROUGH THE WALL WE SHALL GO! MY MAGICAL MIGHT IS NOT FOR INFERIOR MATERIALS SUCH AS THESE!" Morier snorted and lowered the sword.</p><p></p><p>"What about you," Ayremac asked Windblade weakly. "Can you clear this cloud?" The nearly invisible longsword darted upward in Ayremac's grasp - despite of the hand on its grip rather than because of it.</p><p></p><p>"I am Windblade, Scion of Air," the sword sighed. "It shall be done!" And the blade of the weapon seemed then to twist and writhe as if it were the center of a violent maelstrom and they all felt a stirring in the temple as wind pressed at their backs urging the <em>Stinking Cloud</em> out through the narrow cracks around the doors.</p><p></p><p>Ahlear held out his saddlebag to Shamalin as she came forward, cloak whipping suddenly to point her way toward the doors. She moved toward him and thrust her hand into the open mouth drawing forth a shortsword-sized Waveblade. "THE SCION OF WATER AWAKES!" the sword thundered, its voice like waves crashing against rocks.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Outside, Huzair got to his feet and, still <em>Invisible</em>, spared a glance back up at the front doors to the temple. He saw the <em>Stinking Cloud</em> blown away by a fierce wind from within the building, a wind that whistled and shrieked around the door casing. He also saw what it was that was holding the door closed; Alechtus had rammed a pair of curved swords through the handles, their leather scabbard straps were tangled messily around the handles forming a crude but effective lock. But one that he could easily open from this side. Huzair recognized the lion's head design worked into the pommels of the swords; they'd belonged lately to Ixin. Alechtus had evidently taken them off the drakeling's body after he'd murdered her.</p><p></p><p>Seeing them now used for nothing more than a jury-rigged lock seemed very insulting to the sorceress' memory.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jon Potter, post: 4213295, member: 2323"] [b][PLAIN][Realms #436] And the Streets Ran Red[/PLAIN][/b] Gagging back another wave of bile with his fist, Ayremac staggered back out of the [i]Stinking Cloud[/i]. "Huzair," he choked, looking around fruitlessly for the wizard. "Can you [i]Blink[/i] through?" "I was thinking the same thing," the Invisible mage said as he activated the [i]Ring of Blinking[/i]. The stuttering effect did nothing for his stomach and he spewed a mouthful of his breakfast onto the ethereal plane. "Keep your eye on him, but don't engage him!!" Ayremac commanded. Of course to Huzair it sounded like: "Keep * eye * him, * don't * him!!" Not that it would have made a difference to the wizard's strategy if he'd been able to hear the full message. He already had a plan. Which was more than could be said for most everyone else. "We need to get out of here!" Ayremac groaned as his stomach spasmed again, causing his teeth to clench in anticipation. He swallowed it down, however and looked desperately around at the others. Ahlear was out of the [i]Cloud[/i], but he looked to be in little better shape that Ayremac. Morier seemed to be in shock; the albino was staring at his blood-slicked left hand with a kind of morbid fascination. Shamalin and Anania were at the rear of the place and seemed to have a door open - one that led outside judging by the amount of light coming in from that point. "Shamalin?" Ayremac called, pressing his hand flat against the mail covering his belly. "Is there another way out?" "Windows!" the cleric called back. "Very narrow windows!" The holy warrior grimaced at that knowing in his gut that, given the way he felt, there was no way... "I don't think I will be able to escape out a window!" he grumbled bitterly even as the sound of breaking glass reached his ears from that direction. Anania had picked up a heavy brass stamp from the narrow desk in the small chamber and used it to break out the pane of glass in one of the narrow windows. And they were very narrow indeed, Shamalin saw as she got closer. Without the heavy plate armor she felt sure that she'd be able to slip through without touching the frame, but her breastplate alone looked bigger than the patch of blue sky she could see over Anania's shoulder. Chill air flooded the chamber, whipping the elf maid's hair and washing the stink of foul magicks from Shamalin's nostrils, but it brought with it the screams of townsfolk from the front of the temple. Anania jumped up - seeming to Shamalin to almost float to the windowsill where she perched momentarily, half-in and half-out of the building. She looked at the cleric calmly. "Your armor will make this a tight squeeze for you," she said. "Shall I stay and provide assistance?" Shamalin felt heat color her cheeks despite the Readying breeze blowing in on her. "No," she said and began casting a spell. Anania was gone before the cleric had even said, "Monitum ex-" "Morier..." Ayremac groaned, laying a hand on the albino's arm. "Open us a door with Stoneblade." Morier looked at the Officer and then down at the sword hanging forgotten in his own right hand. "Stoneblade," Morier began. "This isn't Stoneblade." Ayremac shook his head in disgust then looked at Ahlear. "We need the Elemental Swords," he said. "Can you get them?" Ahlear nodded and opened the clasp on his saddlebag. Huzair [i]Blinked[/i] through the wall several feet from the door and fell [i]Invisibly[/i] into the street six feet below. He landed in some muddy snow beside the stairs up to the front doors and lay there sputtering and cursing to himself, before deactivating the [i]Ring of Blinking[/i]. His vantage point did offer him a disturbingly clear view of the street in front of the temple. He could see a swath of charred and smoking earth sixty feet long and sixty feet wide at the far end that was peppered with the blackened husks of townsfolk. A pair of buildings on the far side of the street were on fire, and Doctor Akerman stood shakily before them, his own flesh and clothes smoldering despite the fact that he seemed to be both [i]Blurred[/i] and [i]Displaced[/i] and surrounded by a half-dozen [i]Mirror Images[/i] that were similarly [i]Blurred[/i] and [i]Displaced[/i]. As Huzair watched, Akerman dropped an [i]Evard's Black Tentacles[/i] on Alechtus and the two or three commoners who remained near the man. Instantly the ground erupted with long rubbery tendrils of solid magic that whipped the air and dragged the townsfolk into their clutches where they thrashed and wailed. It had absolutely no effect on Alechtus. He marched forward through the grasping tentacles as if through a field of tall grass, the black ropey things sliding off him as if he were greased. The effect this sight had on Doctor Akerman was not good. "So the Sanctifiers have hired a wizard this time, huh?" Alecthus was saying as he stalked toward Akerman. He held up his bastard sword and shook it saying, "Well, I've got my own wizard, now! And she's taught me the secret of how to best you!" Then he was upon the older man, his sword describing an arc of death in the sun, but the attack was foiled by Akerman's [i]Displacement[/i] and the weapon connected with nothing save empty air. All this Shamalin also saw through the magic of [i]Clairvoyance[/i], and she knew that despite Doctor Akerman's many impressive magic protections, it was only a matter of time before Alechtus' sword found its mark. Then she heard a familiar voice boom from the temple proper, "THE SCION OF STONE AWAKES!" She hurried at once to rejoin the others. "THIS IS NEITHER EARTH NOR STONE, FLESHLING!" Stoneblade was booming. "THERE IS CLAY HERE, TO BE SURE, BUT THE MAJORITY IS STICKS! IT IS BENEATH BY POWER!" Morier scowled at the gray blade, regaining by the moment his faculties. "Beneath you or beyond you?" the eldritch warrior asked and the sword twisted angrily in his grasp. "NO MERE STICK IS THE BETTER OF STONEBLADE!" the sword roared. "TURN YOUR BACK TO HACKING THROUGH THE WALL AND THROUGH THE WALL WE SHALL GO! MY MAGICAL MIGHT IS NOT FOR INFERIOR MATERIALS SUCH AS THESE!" Morier snorted and lowered the sword. "What about you," Ayremac asked Windblade weakly. "Can you clear this cloud?" The nearly invisible longsword darted upward in Ayremac's grasp - despite of the hand on its grip rather than because of it. "I am Windblade, Scion of Air," the sword sighed. "It shall be done!" And the blade of the weapon seemed then to twist and writhe as if it were the center of a violent maelstrom and they all felt a stirring in the temple as wind pressed at their backs urging the [i]Stinking Cloud[/i] out through the narrow cracks around the doors. Ahlear held out his saddlebag to Shamalin as she came forward, cloak whipping suddenly to point her way toward the doors. She moved toward him and thrust her hand into the open mouth drawing forth a shortsword-sized Waveblade. "THE SCION OF WATER AWAKES!" the sword thundered, its voice like waves crashing against rocks. Outside, Huzair got to his feet and, still [i]Invisible[/i], spared a glance back up at the front doors to the temple. He saw the [i]Stinking Cloud[/i] blown away by a fierce wind from within the building, a wind that whistled and shrieked around the door casing. He also saw what it was that was holding the door closed; Alechtus had rammed a pair of curved swords through the handles, their leather scabbard straps were tangled messily around the handles forming a crude but effective lock. But one that he could easily open from this side. Huzair recognized the lion's head design worked into the pommels of the swords; they'd belonged lately to Ixin. Alechtus had evidently taken them off the drakeling's body after he'd murdered her. Seeing them now used for nothing more than a jury-rigged lock seemed very insulting to the sorceress' memory. [/QUOTE]
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