Lazybones
Adventurer
Book VII, Part 51
Delem had counted upon the shock of his sudden appearance to give him the upper hand, as he called upon his innate magical powers to summon a powerful fireball.
But since they had lost their friend to the Abyss, the companions had been through a number of deadly trials, and their instincts were honed by hard experience. Cal had been as hard hit as any of them by Delem’s revelation as any of the others, with the possible exception of Dana. But even as Benzan shouted his warning, and the fireball formed in Delem’s hand, he fired off the dispel magic that he had readied. The countermagic sliced through the weaves of Delem’s casting like a knife cutting parchment, and the spell dissolved with a harsh sizzle. Delem’s eyes widened in sudden surprise.
But there was no time for more negotiation or discussion, as chaos erupted around them.
Shadowed forms leapt forward from the darkness around them. As they came fully into the light they were revealed as hobgoblin warriors. At least at first glance; as they came nearer the companions could see the clammy grayness of their skin, and the fiery pits that burned in their eyes.
Undead, then. Coming from behind and from the sides, there were perhaps a dozen in all.
With battle joined, Lok released Dana, after first pushing the distraught woman behind him into the center of their group. He charged the dais, his axe coming up into a ready position for his first attack.
The fiery demon, the palrethree, leapt forward to meet him. The flames wreathing its body flared up, promising hurt to anyone that would dare to attack it, but Lok simply barreled in and laid into it with a powerful stroke of his axe that cut deeply into its torso. The demon, clearly hurt, staggered, as hot ichor fell onto the stone to hiss and smoke.
On the opposite flank, Benzan faced a pair of undead hobgoblins that rushed in from the side with incredible speed, but even as he drew his sword he was distracted by the other demon. The little jovoc demon leapt down the steps of the dais, slashing at Benzan with its long three-clawed hands. The claws failed to penetrate the excellent protection of his mithral chainmail, and without thinking he slashed at the short creature with his blade.
Too late, he remembered.
His magically enhanced sword cut deeply into the creature’s body, drawing a high-pitched keen from its bloated mouth. He realized his mistake instantly as pain erupted through his body, radiating out from the exact spot where he’d struck the creature. Cries from his companions reinforced his mistake, as they too suffered the effects of the demon’s wound. What was worse, he could already see the gap in the demon’s flesh starting to close, the flow of black ichor ceasing as its unholy constitution started to restore its injured body.
“Benzan!” Cal cried. “Remember the plan!”
Gritting his teeth, Benzan turned and slashed at one of the hobgoblins, barely ducking the overhead slash of its sword. For being dead, it seemed to have no hindrance to its fighting ability, fighting with the same speed and skill it had possessed in life. Its companion used the distraction to come at Benzan from behind and thrust its sword into his side, digging through mail links to cause a minor wound.
In the rear of the group, Lariel fired his bow with amazing rapidity. The first undead hobgoblin fell while it was still barely at the edge of their light, a full ten paces away, and the second crumpled with two arrows jutting from its chest just two steps from the deadly elven archer. Still more came, four threatening him from all sides, but somehow he managed to avoid all of their attacks while darting backward, drawing them after him while continuing to ply his bow.
Of course, the mage armor he’d conjured up earlier helped a great deal, as did his incredible dexterity.
Cal, recognizing the danger posed by the demons—and by his former friend—lifted his hand and called upon the power of his ring. The jovoc demon suddenly jerked up into the air, flying quickly into a corner of the room until it hovered in a corner high above them.
“Lariel!” the gnome cried.
The arcane archer saw and planted his feet, drawing and firing. Electrically charged arrows darted through the air like lightning, slamming into the body of the pinned jovoc. Helplessly writhing, far enough away so that its aura of retribution could not harm them, the demon quailed and finally fell still, its ability to heal quickly not sufficient to aid it against death.
Their plan had removed one foe, but both Cal and Lariel paid a dear price. Lariel’s enemies swarmed on him, and even though he tried to dodge away, he took a pair of hits that tore through his defenses and left deep gashes across his body. Perhaps worse, they surrounded him, leaving him no way to use his bow without suffering further attacks from their blades.
Grimacing, the archer dropped his bow and drew his sword.
His mood would have been darker if he’d seen the first undead creature he’d dropped stirring, slowly getting up again.
Meanwhile, Delem pointed at the gnome, and shouted, “That’s my ring!” He called upon his magic once more, and this time Cal could do nothing to stop it as a raging inferno of red-hot flames sprang up in a wall right in the midst of the companions. Dana dove to the side, her natural agility taking her out of the wall of fire, although she still suffered from the heat radiating from the flames.
Cal, however, protected by the druidic amulet granted him by Zev in the Reaching Wood, stood within the flames, sweating but otherwise intact. And furthermore, the undead hobgoblins that had been coming toward him, lacking any such protection, were driven back. One was too slow to avoid the fire, and it fell in a burning heap, lost within the roaring flames.
“A poor tactical move, my friend!” Cal cried, and Delem screeched in anger.
The palrethee demon had suffered a heavy blow from Lok’s first attack, and it looked as though the demon stood little chance in the face of the genasi’s incredible battle skills. But demons rarely fought fair, and this specimen was no exception. Calling upon its innate abilities, it released a wave of cold fear that swept over the companions.
Lok, toughened by the discipline he’d learned since earning the title of dwarven defender, nonetheless could not stand against that evil magic. He fell back, stumbling on the steps behind him, while the demon, cackling an infernal laugh, lashed out at him with a clawed hand. The blow was not serious, drawing shallow gashes across Lok’s cheek, but the demon’s hand trailed liquid flames that clung to the genasi like alchemist’s fire, and as he fled, he burned.
The spellcasters resisted the effects of the demonfear, shrugging off its power with the strength of their disciplined minds.
For Benzan, however, it just wasn’t his day when it came to tests of will. The tiefling had held his own, even when a third undead hobgoblin came up to threaten him. His first foe, already injured by a deep thrust, went down when his second attack sank the full length of the sword into its chest. Twice slain, the hobgoblin crumpled. The other two flanked him and attacked again, but the tiefling spun into a sudden counter that took off one’s arm at the elbow. Their own attacks were potent, but once more his magical armor absorbed the force of the blows.
And that’s when the demonfear came over him. Trembling, he drew back, taking a glancing hit to the face in the process that spun him around. Blood from the gash in his forehead trailed down into his eyes, threatening to blind him, and for a moment everything swam out of focus around him.
Dana, ignoring the heat of the flames at her back, called upon the power of the goddess. Channeling that font of power, she directed some of her own strength into Lok and Benzan, bolstering them against the fear. Benzan seemed to recover, turning to deflect another sword-thrust just in time, but even with Dana’s bolstering Lok could not apparently shake free of the mind-altering power of the demon, and he all but fell down the steps, staggering away from the dais. One of the undead hobgoblins, unable to get to Cal, instead pursued the fleeing genasi.
The demon, still cackling despite the ichor that dripped down its body from the wound Lok had cut in it, turned from its foe and leapt forward from the dais, its claws outstretched toward Dana.
Lariel was being hard-pressed, as his foes swarmed on him and attacked from all directions. He’d managed to drop one with a swing that tore through the tendons of its leg, although it still twitched and tried to get up. The other three, however, were relentless in their attacks, and he’d taken another pair of hits that only his magical defenses and quick moves had kept from being fatal. Still, despite his skill with the sword, it looked as though only one outcome could end here, with four wounds already draining his lifesblood upon the stone.
Then, suddenly, the elf felt a sudden rush of energy fill him. His slowing movements became even faster than before, and it was as if the thrusting blades had suddenly started to move in slow motion, so quickly did he dart in between the attacks to avoid injury. His own sword lanced out and touched a hobgoblin on the throat—so quick it seemed like just a touch, but then the hobgoblin’s head leaned back, and back... and fell from its shoulders to the ground.
Sparing only a quick salute to Cal for the haste spell, Lariel fell to the task of hacking his undead foes to pieces.
Cal had advanced to the forward edge of the wall of fire, as the heat of the flames was starting to work through the defense provided by Zev’s amulet. Apparently the heat only radiated out in one direction, as the undead had advanced close to the rear side of the wall, careful to stay clear of the flames themselves. After helping Lariel, he turned back to the front of the room in time to see the palrethee demon tear into Dana, driving her back toward the raging wall of fire. Dana dodged one claw only to scream as the second tore deeply into her side, drawing lines of fire that continued to smolder even as she darted to the side. It laughed as it came at her again, too close for her to bring her spear around effectively. But she suddenly stopped, turning to face its rush. Even as it reached for her again with its claws, she called upon the strength of her patron and spoke two words that reverberated with power.
“Be. Gone.”
The demon shuddered as the dismissal spell wracked it, and it shrieked as it seemed to crumble in upon itself, dwindling to a point that vanished as if it had never been there at all.
“Enjoy your trip back to the Abyss, fiend,” she grunted, clutching the burning wound in her side.
Delem, shorn of his demonic allies, fell back to the dark tunnel, his earlier confidence replaced by a torn indecision. As he ran back into the darkness, disappearing from view, Dana’s cry trailed after him.
“Delem!”
The mystic wanderer was after him in a flash, her magical boots adding length to her stride so that she all but flew up the steps of the dais and into the dark passage. As she ran she drew out her magical torch, the light of its continual flame driving back the shadows.
“Dana, wait!” Benzan yelled. He cursed as the hobgoblins came at him again, trying to take advantage of even the momentary distraction, but with an angry curse he dropped one with a powerful stroke to the body that would have left a living foe gasping out its last breaths upon the floor. Even the undead creature was hard hit, although it was already trying to get up again.
“Go!” Cal cried, blasting the tiefling’s second foe with an acid arrow from his wand. Half of the undead hobgoblin’s face melted away as the vicious acid ate away at its decayed flesh, but it continued to attack, chopping with its sword like a cleaver. Benzan, however, was already running after Dana, and the blow narrowly missed him.
With the banishment of the palrethee back to its plane of origin the effects of its evil spell faded, and Lok turned on the undead creature that had been harrowing his retreat. He’d dropped his axe back on the dais, but he simply grabbed the creature, ignoring the blow from its mace that glanced harmlessly off his heavy plate armor. Flexing his superhuman muscles, the genasi roared and slammed the undead creature into a nearby pillar. The impact filled the chamber with a sick cracking sound, and the undead fell limply for a moment. But then it started to squirm, the corrupted lifeforce that drove it unwilling to vacate the ruined husk that housed it.
Lariel, on the far side of the room, had already come to the same conclusion. With Cal’s haste greatly enhancing the speed of his attacks, he’d dished out enough damage to fell a dozen living warriors. Several of his undead foes were crawling on the ground, their bodies ravaged by the elf’s sword beyond the point at which they could stand, but they continued to fight toward him, refusing to relinquish their assault. He continued to hack at them, but the ones he’d dropped earlier with his arrows were already stirring again, getting back up as the dark energies of this place restored the fragile shells of their corporeal forms.
“They’re regenerating!” he shouted in warning to the others. He spun out of the way of a clumsy thrust from a one-armed foe just in time to face the one he’d decapitated earlier, the headless hobgoblin staggering uncertainly but inexorably to its feet, already reaching for its dagger. Lariel continued past it, slashing deeply into its leg as he passed. The blow knocked it off its feet once more, but it barely hesitated before trying again to rise.
“The fire!” Cal yelled, even as a pair of the undead, braving the hot side of the wall of roaring flames, came around and leapt at the gnome. Cal simply darted back through the wall, accepting the wave of heat that made it through the defense of his druidic amulet. The undead warriors, foiled once more, were already circling back around the perimeter of the wall, their flesh blackening from the force of the heat.
Lariel and Lok instantly recognized Cal’s strategy, and without hesitation they moved to put it into play. Lok picked up the faintly struggling form of the foe he’d just smashed and ran back toward his companions. The hobgoblin had just managed to recover enough to start clawing at the genasi’s face when Lok hurled him forcefully into the roaring flames. A harsh, inhuman scream filled the chamber, and then abruptly died.
Lariel, meanwhile, had lured his foes to the “cold” edge of the wall. One of the few that could still move freely came at him with an overhead swing of his axe. The elf ducked and twisted toward his foe, suffering a gash to the back of his shoulder as the axe came down through his defenses, but then he was inside its reach, and with his superior speed used the hobgoblin’s own momentum to drive him forward into the wall of flames, joining its erstwhile comrade in oblivion.
The hobgoblins did not relent even in the face of certain destruction, but between Lok’s strength, Lariel’s agility, and Cal flinging acid arrows at a few stragglers, it was only a matter of moments before all of their foes were permanently destroyed.
As the roaring flames of the wall of fire faded, the energy of Delem’s spell spent, the three companions turned toward the dark tunnel. Lariel paused only to drink a healing potion, and recovered his bow while the other two moved to the dark opening.
“Come on,” Cal said.
Hastening, the three followed their companions into the darkness.
Delem had counted upon the shock of his sudden appearance to give him the upper hand, as he called upon his innate magical powers to summon a powerful fireball.
But since they had lost their friend to the Abyss, the companions had been through a number of deadly trials, and their instincts were honed by hard experience. Cal had been as hard hit as any of them by Delem’s revelation as any of the others, with the possible exception of Dana. But even as Benzan shouted his warning, and the fireball formed in Delem’s hand, he fired off the dispel magic that he had readied. The countermagic sliced through the weaves of Delem’s casting like a knife cutting parchment, and the spell dissolved with a harsh sizzle. Delem’s eyes widened in sudden surprise.
But there was no time for more negotiation or discussion, as chaos erupted around them.
Shadowed forms leapt forward from the darkness around them. As they came fully into the light they were revealed as hobgoblin warriors. At least at first glance; as they came nearer the companions could see the clammy grayness of their skin, and the fiery pits that burned in their eyes.
Undead, then. Coming from behind and from the sides, there were perhaps a dozen in all.
With battle joined, Lok released Dana, after first pushing the distraught woman behind him into the center of their group. He charged the dais, his axe coming up into a ready position for his first attack.
The fiery demon, the palrethree, leapt forward to meet him. The flames wreathing its body flared up, promising hurt to anyone that would dare to attack it, but Lok simply barreled in and laid into it with a powerful stroke of his axe that cut deeply into its torso. The demon, clearly hurt, staggered, as hot ichor fell onto the stone to hiss and smoke.
On the opposite flank, Benzan faced a pair of undead hobgoblins that rushed in from the side with incredible speed, but even as he drew his sword he was distracted by the other demon. The little jovoc demon leapt down the steps of the dais, slashing at Benzan with its long three-clawed hands. The claws failed to penetrate the excellent protection of his mithral chainmail, and without thinking he slashed at the short creature with his blade.
Too late, he remembered.
His magically enhanced sword cut deeply into the creature’s body, drawing a high-pitched keen from its bloated mouth. He realized his mistake instantly as pain erupted through his body, radiating out from the exact spot where he’d struck the creature. Cries from his companions reinforced his mistake, as they too suffered the effects of the demon’s wound. What was worse, he could already see the gap in the demon’s flesh starting to close, the flow of black ichor ceasing as its unholy constitution started to restore its injured body.
“Benzan!” Cal cried. “Remember the plan!”
Gritting his teeth, Benzan turned and slashed at one of the hobgoblins, barely ducking the overhead slash of its sword. For being dead, it seemed to have no hindrance to its fighting ability, fighting with the same speed and skill it had possessed in life. Its companion used the distraction to come at Benzan from behind and thrust its sword into his side, digging through mail links to cause a minor wound.
In the rear of the group, Lariel fired his bow with amazing rapidity. The first undead hobgoblin fell while it was still barely at the edge of their light, a full ten paces away, and the second crumpled with two arrows jutting from its chest just two steps from the deadly elven archer. Still more came, four threatening him from all sides, but somehow he managed to avoid all of their attacks while darting backward, drawing them after him while continuing to ply his bow.
Of course, the mage armor he’d conjured up earlier helped a great deal, as did his incredible dexterity.
Cal, recognizing the danger posed by the demons—and by his former friend—lifted his hand and called upon the power of his ring. The jovoc demon suddenly jerked up into the air, flying quickly into a corner of the room until it hovered in a corner high above them.
“Lariel!” the gnome cried.
The arcane archer saw and planted his feet, drawing and firing. Electrically charged arrows darted through the air like lightning, slamming into the body of the pinned jovoc. Helplessly writhing, far enough away so that its aura of retribution could not harm them, the demon quailed and finally fell still, its ability to heal quickly not sufficient to aid it against death.
Their plan had removed one foe, but both Cal and Lariel paid a dear price. Lariel’s enemies swarmed on him, and even though he tried to dodge away, he took a pair of hits that tore through his defenses and left deep gashes across his body. Perhaps worse, they surrounded him, leaving him no way to use his bow without suffering further attacks from their blades.
Grimacing, the archer dropped his bow and drew his sword.
His mood would have been darker if he’d seen the first undead creature he’d dropped stirring, slowly getting up again.
Meanwhile, Delem pointed at the gnome, and shouted, “That’s my ring!” He called upon his magic once more, and this time Cal could do nothing to stop it as a raging inferno of red-hot flames sprang up in a wall right in the midst of the companions. Dana dove to the side, her natural agility taking her out of the wall of fire, although she still suffered from the heat radiating from the flames.
Cal, however, protected by the druidic amulet granted him by Zev in the Reaching Wood, stood within the flames, sweating but otherwise intact. And furthermore, the undead hobgoblins that had been coming toward him, lacking any such protection, were driven back. One was too slow to avoid the fire, and it fell in a burning heap, lost within the roaring flames.
“A poor tactical move, my friend!” Cal cried, and Delem screeched in anger.
The palrethee demon had suffered a heavy blow from Lok’s first attack, and it looked as though the demon stood little chance in the face of the genasi’s incredible battle skills. But demons rarely fought fair, and this specimen was no exception. Calling upon its innate abilities, it released a wave of cold fear that swept over the companions.
Lok, toughened by the discipline he’d learned since earning the title of dwarven defender, nonetheless could not stand against that evil magic. He fell back, stumbling on the steps behind him, while the demon, cackling an infernal laugh, lashed out at him with a clawed hand. The blow was not serious, drawing shallow gashes across Lok’s cheek, but the demon’s hand trailed liquid flames that clung to the genasi like alchemist’s fire, and as he fled, he burned.
The spellcasters resisted the effects of the demonfear, shrugging off its power with the strength of their disciplined minds.
For Benzan, however, it just wasn’t his day when it came to tests of will. The tiefling had held his own, even when a third undead hobgoblin came up to threaten him. His first foe, already injured by a deep thrust, went down when his second attack sank the full length of the sword into its chest. Twice slain, the hobgoblin crumpled. The other two flanked him and attacked again, but the tiefling spun into a sudden counter that took off one’s arm at the elbow. Their own attacks were potent, but once more his magical armor absorbed the force of the blows.
And that’s when the demonfear came over him. Trembling, he drew back, taking a glancing hit to the face in the process that spun him around. Blood from the gash in his forehead trailed down into his eyes, threatening to blind him, and for a moment everything swam out of focus around him.
Dana, ignoring the heat of the flames at her back, called upon the power of the goddess. Channeling that font of power, she directed some of her own strength into Lok and Benzan, bolstering them against the fear. Benzan seemed to recover, turning to deflect another sword-thrust just in time, but even with Dana’s bolstering Lok could not apparently shake free of the mind-altering power of the demon, and he all but fell down the steps, staggering away from the dais. One of the undead hobgoblins, unable to get to Cal, instead pursued the fleeing genasi.
The demon, still cackling despite the ichor that dripped down its body from the wound Lok had cut in it, turned from its foe and leapt forward from the dais, its claws outstretched toward Dana.
Lariel was being hard-pressed, as his foes swarmed on him and attacked from all directions. He’d managed to drop one with a swing that tore through the tendons of its leg, although it still twitched and tried to get up. The other three, however, were relentless in their attacks, and he’d taken another pair of hits that only his magical defenses and quick moves had kept from being fatal. Still, despite his skill with the sword, it looked as though only one outcome could end here, with four wounds already draining his lifesblood upon the stone.
Then, suddenly, the elf felt a sudden rush of energy fill him. His slowing movements became even faster than before, and it was as if the thrusting blades had suddenly started to move in slow motion, so quickly did he dart in between the attacks to avoid injury. His own sword lanced out and touched a hobgoblin on the throat—so quick it seemed like just a touch, but then the hobgoblin’s head leaned back, and back... and fell from its shoulders to the ground.
Sparing only a quick salute to Cal for the haste spell, Lariel fell to the task of hacking his undead foes to pieces.
Cal had advanced to the forward edge of the wall of fire, as the heat of the flames was starting to work through the defense provided by Zev’s amulet. Apparently the heat only radiated out in one direction, as the undead had advanced close to the rear side of the wall, careful to stay clear of the flames themselves. After helping Lariel, he turned back to the front of the room in time to see the palrethee demon tear into Dana, driving her back toward the raging wall of fire. Dana dodged one claw only to scream as the second tore deeply into her side, drawing lines of fire that continued to smolder even as she darted to the side. It laughed as it came at her again, too close for her to bring her spear around effectively. But she suddenly stopped, turning to face its rush. Even as it reached for her again with its claws, she called upon the strength of her patron and spoke two words that reverberated with power.
“Be. Gone.”
The demon shuddered as the dismissal spell wracked it, and it shrieked as it seemed to crumble in upon itself, dwindling to a point that vanished as if it had never been there at all.
“Enjoy your trip back to the Abyss, fiend,” she grunted, clutching the burning wound in her side.
Delem, shorn of his demonic allies, fell back to the dark tunnel, his earlier confidence replaced by a torn indecision. As he ran back into the darkness, disappearing from view, Dana’s cry trailed after him.
“Delem!”
The mystic wanderer was after him in a flash, her magical boots adding length to her stride so that she all but flew up the steps of the dais and into the dark passage. As she ran she drew out her magical torch, the light of its continual flame driving back the shadows.
“Dana, wait!” Benzan yelled. He cursed as the hobgoblins came at him again, trying to take advantage of even the momentary distraction, but with an angry curse he dropped one with a powerful stroke to the body that would have left a living foe gasping out its last breaths upon the floor. Even the undead creature was hard hit, although it was already trying to get up again.
“Go!” Cal cried, blasting the tiefling’s second foe with an acid arrow from his wand. Half of the undead hobgoblin’s face melted away as the vicious acid ate away at its decayed flesh, but it continued to attack, chopping with its sword like a cleaver. Benzan, however, was already running after Dana, and the blow narrowly missed him.
With the banishment of the palrethee back to its plane of origin the effects of its evil spell faded, and Lok turned on the undead creature that had been harrowing his retreat. He’d dropped his axe back on the dais, but he simply grabbed the creature, ignoring the blow from its mace that glanced harmlessly off his heavy plate armor. Flexing his superhuman muscles, the genasi roared and slammed the undead creature into a nearby pillar. The impact filled the chamber with a sick cracking sound, and the undead fell limply for a moment. But then it started to squirm, the corrupted lifeforce that drove it unwilling to vacate the ruined husk that housed it.
Lariel, on the far side of the room, had already come to the same conclusion. With Cal’s haste greatly enhancing the speed of his attacks, he’d dished out enough damage to fell a dozen living warriors. Several of his undead foes were crawling on the ground, their bodies ravaged by the elf’s sword beyond the point at which they could stand, but they continued to fight toward him, refusing to relinquish their assault. He continued to hack at them, but the ones he’d dropped earlier with his arrows were already stirring again, getting back up as the dark energies of this place restored the fragile shells of their corporeal forms.
“They’re regenerating!” he shouted in warning to the others. He spun out of the way of a clumsy thrust from a one-armed foe just in time to face the one he’d decapitated earlier, the headless hobgoblin staggering uncertainly but inexorably to its feet, already reaching for its dagger. Lariel continued past it, slashing deeply into its leg as he passed. The blow knocked it off its feet once more, but it barely hesitated before trying again to rise.
“The fire!” Cal yelled, even as a pair of the undead, braving the hot side of the wall of roaring flames, came around and leapt at the gnome. Cal simply darted back through the wall, accepting the wave of heat that made it through the defense of his druidic amulet. The undead warriors, foiled once more, were already circling back around the perimeter of the wall, their flesh blackening from the force of the heat.
Lariel and Lok instantly recognized Cal’s strategy, and without hesitation they moved to put it into play. Lok picked up the faintly struggling form of the foe he’d just smashed and ran back toward his companions. The hobgoblin had just managed to recover enough to start clawing at the genasi’s face when Lok hurled him forcefully into the roaring flames. A harsh, inhuman scream filled the chamber, and then abruptly died.
Lariel, meanwhile, had lured his foes to the “cold” edge of the wall. One of the few that could still move freely came at him with an overhead swing of his axe. The elf ducked and twisted toward his foe, suffering a gash to the back of his shoulder as the axe came down through his defenses, but then he was inside its reach, and with his superior speed used the hobgoblin’s own momentum to drive him forward into the wall of flames, joining its erstwhile comrade in oblivion.
The hobgoblins did not relent even in the face of certain destruction, but between Lok’s strength, Lariel’s agility, and Cal flinging acid arrows at a few stragglers, it was only a matter of moments before all of their foes were permanently destroyed.
As the roaring flames of the wall of fire faded, the energy of Delem’s spell spent, the three companions turned toward the dark tunnel. Lariel paused only to drink a healing potion, and recovered his bow while the other two moved to the dark opening.
“Come on,” Cal said.
Hastening, the three followed their companions into the darkness.
