Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 1497463" data-attributes="member: 1210">Webs of Glowing EmeraldExperienced adventurers that they are, our heroes expect trouble from the glowing webs.  So a small contingent drops down to below the bottom of the webs- the tower seems hollow other than the webs, according to Orbius’ amazing powers of discernment.  Below the webs hangs a cube of metal- “The riddle-box spoken of on the obelisk,” Orbius surmises.The group agrees to split their forces.  Lester, the Eye and Drelvin will go below, to where the riddle-box hangs, and will stone shape an entrance in the side of the tower.  Meanwhile, up above, Patyn, Horbin, Thrush and Sybele will cause a ruckus and try to draw out whatever lurks within the webs.  They put their plan into action.  The L stone shapes a hole just big enough to peek through, seeming to become more animated as the need for action and adventure courses through his revivified veins.  He looks through.  “There’s the box,” he whispers.  “And below it’s another winter-wight!”The winter-wight in question hangs from the underside of the box; its icy form seems content to walk upside-down on the bottom of the riddle-box as casually as if it were standing on normal ground.  The baleful black flames that dance around the winter-wight’s skull testify to its deadliness.  The metal cube upon which it stands hangs by a single thick, rope-like strand of webbing from the underside of the layer of webbing.The winter-wight turns to regard the hole Lester shaped, small though it is.  “Uh-oh!” the L exclaims.  The winter-wight jumps from the bottom of the cube towards the inside wall of the tower, sailing out of view.“Uh-oh,” Drelvin groans.The three dimension door upwards, directly to the rest of the group, who have entered the tower (for the most part) and are watching in horrified fascination as the webs vibrate quickly.“Something’s coming up,” calls Sybele.  She’s already got an arrow nocked.  Then they start bursting up from below- spider-like things, bloated on terror and broken dreams.  Seemingly made of shadows and dark green evil, the things tear at our heroes.But the singing arrows of Sybele and Drelvin, the incredible blasts of Lester and Orbius and Horbin, the mighty swordsmanship of Patyn and Thrush- these things are like a wall the shadow spiders cannot penetrate.  Again and again, more of the huge things rise from the webs, until more than a baker’s dozen have been put down.  “Careful!” Orbius cries.  “Don’t do too much damage to the web or we’ll lose the box!”“And there’s a winter-wight coming,” Drelvin adds, his lips quirked in a grimace as he shoots down yet another spider.  As if he were a prophet, the air suddenly grows painfully cold as the winter-wight emerges from the webs and blasts the group with a cone of cold.  Only Thrush and Patyn are caught in it, but they both cry out as the ice cold frost drives deep into their bones.Horbin gulps as he sees the undead thing ascend, clambering up the side of the tower quite easily.  He casts a righteous might in preparation for a deadly melee.The winter-wight, still creeping up the wall, unleashes another cone of cold, catching the entire group this time.  It cackles gleefully, an odd sound in the otherwise almost-silent environment.  But the chill that smashes into our heroes is no laughing matter.  “Undead, begone!” cries Horbin the Holy, and he channels searing holy energy, attempting to turn it back.  His faith is strong, but the winter-wight’s power is great.  It is too close to the Negative Energy Plane to drive off here.  Then Thrush and Patyn charge in on both sides, slamming their weapons into the monster, hacking at it fiercely.  The winter-wight is still standing on the inside of the tower while our heroes buzz about it, striking mighty blows at it, but suddenly the icy undead leaps from the tower’s periphery at Horbin!  Grabbing the cleric, it tries to set him alight with its black flames!  Horbin screams in pain and terror and struggles free of the thing’s grasp, thanks only to his enlarged stature.  He shakes it free and hits it with a quickened searing light as it starts to fall, then Drelvin launches a volley of precise arrows at it, shattering the winter-wight into fragments.  Our heroes watch the shards fall into the Void below.“Let’s get that box,” suggests Horbin.  Next Time: The riddle-box!</blockquote>

Verification