Wraith's Whispers - CoSQ (Update: 4/5/04)
Wraithdrit
First Post
That was one of those Muse moments where you KNOW you are stealing it from somewhere, but you can't for the life of you remember where its from. You just remember its funny. I do it all the time... I make a joke and people go, 'Oh hey, thats from that movie...' I usually respond with, 'Oh yeah, it was, wasn't it?' Heh.
Wraithdrit
First Post
Thanks,
Between the holidays, and now going to school full time while working full time, its hard to keep up the writing like I would like, but I am going to try. The more comments I get, the more I know people are reading, and the more I want to write. So, keep up the comments, and I'll end up writing more!
Between the holidays, and now going to school full time while working full time, its hard to keep up the writing like I would like, but I am going to try. The more comments I get, the more I know people are reading, and the more I want to write. So, keep up the comments, and I'll end up writing more!
Wraithdrit
First Post
Underdark
Lake of Shadows
Marpenoth 27th, 1372
Marcus looked up from the doorway to the shrine. He nodded quietly back to the others, though they already knew, thanks to Will’s telepathic link spell, that the magical glyph on the door had been disabled. Marcus slipped to one side, and Delorian stepped up and strained to push the door open. He started to see that beyond the door was a sheer wall of water. It seems the entire temple was filled with water.
Inside stood a statue of a mutant kuo-toa of some sort, presumably one known as the Claw. Sitting beside it on either side was a kuo-toa dressed plainly, with simple rope belts tied about their wastes. They quickly launched themselves through the water, and Delorian dove in to meet them.
Prior to crossing to the island, each member of the group of five heroes was the recipient of two spells by Varick, one that would allow them absolute freedom of movement in the water, and another that would allow them to breath. Delorian wasted no time testing them.
The first kuo-toa he met was lightning fast, dodge his blows, and blocking others with expert moves. Delorian instantly realized that it was trained in martial arts, just like him. While the rest of the heroes prepared to move in as well Marcus in through the door, running quickly to flank the attacker. The other kuo-toa swam through the water like a fish, quickly reaching the door. He flicked the door closed and planted himself on the other side.
Varick rushed forward, slamming into the door, but the kuo-toa behind him held it shut tight. Delorian spun toward the door, cracking his fist into the kuo-toa trying to hold it shut. Marcus swam around the first one as well, diving toward the one at the door, rapier first. The water darkened with blood and neither hero could stop the first kuo-toa from slipping to the door out of the room. He easily opened the door and cried out something in the water.
Together Varick and Malaghym finally managed to push the door open past the kuo-toa that was trying to block it. Will tossed small spiraling globes of energy into the water that burning the kuo-toa they struck. The melee was fast and furious, and soon more kuo-toa swam in through the door. They were fighting well, using the water to get height advantages when they could. The heroes quickly adapted, trying to do the same.
The melee took a sudden turn for the worse when the two new kuo-toa, armed with tridents, flanked Brother Varick. Their tridents both punched through his armor and his eyes rolled into the back of his head. He slumped in the ever-darkening water, and his telepathic link went silent. Malaghym spun and grabbed hold of the cleric and injected the healing energies of his spellfire.
Varick’s eyes shot open and swam out of the combat. Soon the kuo-toa all floated lifelessly in the bloody water, and the party quickly patched themselves up before moving on.
Moving through the next doorway, the group found itself in a foyer of sorts. A staircase, a pair of double doors, and a smaller door led out. They swung open the double doors, and found an immense temple like room. A hole in the floor was surrounded by four female kuo-toa, priestesses by the look of their attire. One spoke to them in the strange bubbly language of the kuo-toa.
“Hal-l-l-l-t ther-r-r-r-r-re. We mean you-ou-ou-ou no harm-rm-rm-rm.”
The party began spreading out slowly, watching all four of the priestesses. Will spoke up, “We are here seeking the one called the Claw.”
“We-e-e-e-e-e know-ow-ow-ow-ow why you are here-re-re-re-re-re. Leave now-ow-ow-ow-ow, while you still can-an-an-an-an.”
Will shook his head, “We can’t do that.”
“Do not be foo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-lish, mortal. You don’t know-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow what you are dealing with.” With that, two immense tentacles rose up out of the hole in the ground. The ends of the tentacles had wide flaps of skin on them.
They all thought it at once as their hearts sank… the devil-kraken!
Will shook his head one last time, “No can do.”
“Then you will die-ie-ie-ie-ie!” All four of the priestesses snapped their arms up and began casting. Delorian launched himself at one of them, and Malaghym moved up and stood as if wanting one of them to cast at him. They finished casting quickly, one right after the other. The first one pointed at Delorian. He felt a strange pulse of energy flow over him and released suddenly that he could not breath the water any more!
The second priestess pointed at Malaghym. The dark elf grinned as the spell energy soaked into. He channeled the energy into his reserves and made a mental note to thank her corpse later.
The third priestess, seeing the second fail to effect Malaghym, targeted him as well, after all he was the closest target, and would probably not be able to soak up two spells so quickly. Her gamble worked, and Malaghym’s spell of breathing and spell of movement both fizzled away into nothing.
The final priestess to cast was the high priestess, known by the kuo-toa as a Greater Whip. She targeted Will with a spell of dispelling. Will grinned as the ring of counterspells he wore flashed on his hand. The dispel magic and the counterspell discharged each other, leaving Will untouched by the dispelling magics.
Will answered with a small peas shaped ball of fire that burned sizzling trail through the water. It exploded into a huge ball of flame and steam burning each of the priestesses badly.
Varick quickly cast a spell of silencing on one edge of the hole, keeping the priestess all from casting at the magic pool.
The massive tentacles of the kraken slapped at Delorian. They hit, but just they tried to tighten their grip they would slip off. The freedom of movement spell was still active on the monk, and they prevent him from being grabbed.
The priestesses continued their attacks. One was in deadly combat with Delorian, but the monk was too fast and hit too hard, soon her lifeless body floated away through the water. One leapt out of the area of silence, swimming to a few feet from Will before releasing a ray of hot steam and fire at the mage. His elemental resistances kept him from too much harm.
Fearing the kraken more than anything the priestesses could do, Will quickly raised a wall of force just beyond Delorian, trapping the kraken on the other side. Its tentacles slapped against the wall of force then sank into the darkness below.
The fight raged on through the water, blood once again beginning to spread through the murky darkness. Malaghym and Delorian held their breath, each fighting one of the priestesses. Marcus moved in to lend a hand, while Will blasted forth a cone of icy cold. Varick muttered a prayer, and grew to nearly twice his size. He hefted his morningstar, ready to begin smashing his opponents.
Out of the gloomy water from above the temple area, a dark form swam down behind Delorian. It was a misshapen kuo-toa, with a ridge of spines along his back, and dark red eyes, the one they called The Claw. He had been watching Delorian, studying him, waiting for the opportunity to pounce. He lashed out with a dagger that barely glowed with an eerie green light. At the last moment Delorian dodged a swipe from the priestess he was fighting, caught sight of the incoming dagger and ducked beneath it. Half a second sooner, and the dagger would have plunged into the back of his neck.
Delorian spun, but did not attack. Marcus quickly got the priestesses attention with a quick stab of his rapier, and Delorian was able to concentrate on The Claw, waiting for his next move. The beastly kuo-toa held up one hand and seemed to draw energy from around him. He was using some sort of spell like ability, and Delorian was not about to let that happen. He shook his head quickly, unable to talk in the water, and leveled a quick jab into the kuo-toa’s wide lips. The Claw’s head snapped back and he paused a moment, blinking, as if trying to remember where he was.
Meanwhile the Greater Whip was still in a spellcasting duel with Will. She held up her hands, just out of reach of anyone, and called forth a massive column of steam and fire in the watery foyer. The fire and steam burned Will, even through his practiced use of elemental fire. The pain ripped through him, then his world turned upside down and inside out. The fire had triggered his contingency spell. Quickly he concentrated on where he wanted to go, the balcony above the fight would do well. He stumbled to his knees there and pulled out a potion. Somehow he managed to drink suck its contents down.
Malaghym swam around to behind and above her, his hands jetted forward and blueish energy ripped through the water. His spellfire burned the Greater Whip, but not before she managed to turn a bit out of the stream, minimizing the damage.
Varick stepped in while she was distracted, his massive form filling the foyer. He swung his now huge morningstar around in a wide arc and smashed the Greater Whip in head, cracking it like a melon. Blood quickly spread in the water around her as her corpse gently floated away.
The Claw, finding himself suddenly surrounded and nearly alone quickly swam upward, not realizing that Will was not hiding up in the balcony area. As he came into view, Will quickly cast a freezing sphere into the water. A huge chunk of ice surrounded The Claw and he was stuck within.
Varick smashed the last of the Lesser Whips with another righteous blow from his morningstar only to slammed from behind something. He spun around to see two massive tentacles. The Devil Kraken had gone around the outside of the building and was now attacking through the front door!
Varick spun on the tentacles, smashing one with his holy weapon. It quickly recoiled back. He thanked his goddess for the magic of the Freedom of Movement spell, for if it had not been in place he surely would have been grabbed by the tentacles and be deep in the lake, and the bowels of the Devil Kraken.
The rest of the heroes focused on The Claw. The slippery fish had managed to slip right out of the ice encasing him, but that only put him into the waiting hands Delorian, Will, Malaghym and Marcus. They quickly finished him off.
Varick smashed the second tentacle, sending it quickly pulling back as well.
Blood floated everywhere in the water, but for now the temple was silent.
***
The massive stone giant leader clapped Will as gently as he could on one shoulder, sending the mage stumbling forward. “You did good! Did real good!” The giant held the corpse of The Claw up by one foot in his other hand. The corpse dripped blood, gore, and water, its eyes rolled back in its head. Marcus could not help but compare it to some twisted mockery of a fisherman holding up his latest catch. Would the giant show others his trophy, like some sort of warped Underdark version of a fish story? He chuckled and shook his head.
Will straightened his tunic with a humpf and looked up at the giant, “I hope this will remedy your dispute with the Kuo-toa…”
The giant heaved the corpse back like a little rag doll and flung it out at the lake, “Eat this you stupid Devil Kraken! Har!” The giant seemed very pleased, and turned to look down at the frowning Will. “It will do just fine, little mage. Come, you all look tired and grumpy, we go up and have another feast, you rest and leave when you are rested.”
As the group retired to the giant caverns, the leader turned and looked at them as he walked. “Say, you know… you could do another favor… we pay you again. The lobster monster that lives in cave below… you could kill it. Do that, we give you five hundred gold.”
The party looked at each other and Will noted, “I did it with my Arcane Eye when I scouted the temple… it’s a chuul, and a large one at that. Nasty creatures up close, but we have the drop on it. I think we can dispatch it fairly easily.”
Varick frowned, “Its not why we came here… but it sounds like a menace to the area. Alright.”
The next morning the group, now rested from the hard fighting in the temple, executed a very quick plan to dispatch the chuul.
Will used his cloak to climb around and get to the entrance of the cave. It was split in two with a massive column down the center. He quickly cast a wall of force on the right hand side, trapping the chuul in. The space between the column and the left hand side was too small for it to fit, or so they thought.
From a hole above, Varick began to cast a spell of summoning, and the others fired their bows and crossbows down at the beast. Will blasted it with a series of powerful scorching rays. He poured spell energy into them, maximizing them to their fullest potential. The beast reacted quickly throwing itself at Will, squeezing its way through the smaller opening.
The mage backpedaled quickly, wondering where Varick’s elemental was. As if on cue, the watery form sprang into existence in the foot deep water that covered the cave floor. The chuul continued to charge toward Will, but he let fly another series of scorching rays. Finally the beast seemed to decide that discretion was the better part of valor. Horribly wounded it charged past Will and leapt into the water of the lake.
“Damn it!” Will scowled and pointed after it, “Don’t let it get away!”
Delorian appeared from a shadow beside the column and leapt into the water after the thing. He swam faster than many fish, his powerful legs propelling him quickly after the slower chuul. He could feel the water elemental looming in behind him as well. He thought to himself that it would not be necessary. He grabbed a hold of one of the chuuls armored plates and was looking for an opening to smash his fist into when several small globes of energy whizzed past him in the water and slammed into the thing. Delorian looked back, and through the darkness he could see Will standing at the water’s edge.
The chuul went limp. Disgusted, Delorian swam back to the surface. “I had it.”
Will shrugged, “I wanted to make sure.”
The elemental heaved the corpse up onto the beach then disappeared back to wherever it had come from. From above the giant leader clapped, “Most impressive!”
Underdark
A day’s travel beyond the Lake of Shadows
Marpenoth 29th, 1372, Middle of the Night
Delorian sat invisible atop the little hut that Varick had summoned. The cavern was pitch black, but that did not stop Delorian from watching the entrance and exit to the cave. He could not see but sixty feet, but no one should be able to see him atop the hut.
He thought about the traveling through the Underdark. It was tedious and slow going. Picking their way through smaller caves, climbing down large outcroppings, etc. He would be glad when they finally made the drow city.
His thoughts where cut short when the hut beneath him disappeared. He fell the fifteen feet down to the floor below, twisting in mid fall to land on his feet. The rest of the companions were rudely awakened from sleep when the cots that were a part of the hut were dispelled with the rest of the hut. From further in the Underdark a pair of large shadowy dogs came bounding down the passage, baying and howling as they came.
As if to add insult to injury, a massive column of flame erupted around the entire group, scorching them all with unholy flames. Someone had orchestrated an attack, and they all scrambled to counter it.
Delorian saw the others were awake, and knew that someone he could not see down there had dispelled the hut. He dove into a shadow, coming out sixty feet up the corridor. Some forty feet up the corridor he saw a group of drow. All four of them were covered in funeral wraps, black cloth swathing their entire form. The front two where two legged, and running down the passage after the mastiffs. The back two were driders.
Varick got his feet first, and quickly cast a spell to give him protection against anything more the unseen assailants would attack him with. Will was next on his feet; quickly he snatched up his component pouch and tossed out a few materials. He summoned up a massive wall of fire on the mastiffs, between them and their assailants. He hoped that bought them some time.
Delorian was still invisible, so when the first drow warrior went to rush past him toward the group, he cranked her with a quick forearm slam. She spun on him and lashed out with her dagger, missing.
Marcus got to his feet, shaking his head. He found his rapier and drew it and moved over to one side, squinting against the light of the wall of fire. From within it, a massive dog leapt toward him. He backpedaled and brought his rapier up to defend himself. The other mastiff leapt out at Varick, the unarmored priest had gotten his shield and morningstar out, and managed to block the dog’s attack.
One of the driders moved up to within twenty feet of Delorian, she reached up and ripped aside the cloth hiding her face. It was one of the two priestesses they had killed in the temple! Her eyes burned with hatred, her face was rotting, and a mask of anger. “You did this to me! I will have my vengeance on you, shade!”
Delorian’s heart felt like it was going to stop. Her cold stare gripped him with fear and remorse. He felt sorry for having helped to slay her. Perhaps he should get what he deserved, perhaps… No! He shook off the cold gaze and kept fighting, grim with determination to send her back to whatever hell she had risen from.
The hair on the back of Delorian’s neck stood on end. Something was wrong, something was very wrong, and he could not put a finger on it. A sharp pain, low in his back clued him into what it was he was feeling. A dagger had been plunged into his back, but worse, whomever was wielding it was twisting it fiercely through his flesh, making sure to do as much damage as possible.
A familiar halfling voice behind him cried out, “You bastards, you left me to die!” Delorian looked back to see the rotting face of Tanerus glaring up at him. The Tanerus he knew could never look so angry. The feral little man he knew was no more, replaced by an undead beast seeking his own sort of twisted vengeance.
The second drider dispelled the wall of fire, then moved up to behind the first one. The second of the drow warriors dodged past the melee in the passage, racing toward the spellcasters. She never got there.
Will dropped a serious of fiery explosions through the cavern and passage. Each one went only where he told it, and his precision with the firebrand spell was becoming legendary. When the smoke cleared, both the mastiffs had completely disappeared and both the drow warriors lay crumpled on the ground.
Varick, not able to see since the wall of fire had been dispelled, cast a quick daylight spell on himself. Malghym screamed out in pain as he was blinded. Delorian cursed a little but kept fighting. The closer of the two driders cried out in surprise as well.
His eyes shut tight, but knowing where the little halfling revenant had appeared, used his natural drow talents to summon a misty faerie fire that clung to everything, glowing softly. If the halfling tried to hide again, that should prevent him. Malaghym cussed in the drow dialect of elven and rubbed at his eyes, trying to make the spot go away.
The front priestess cast a spell of slaying, her hand glowing with dark energy. But she could not see to land it, and missed hitting Delorian with the spell. The other priestess muttered a mystical prayer as well, and the area between Will and Varick fell silent.
Tanerus was still flanking Delorian, and he lashed two more times, hitting once. Delorian was really starting to hurt. The tiny feral undead halfling was really finding especially deadly spots to bury his dagger.
Delorian finally spun on the halfling and growled, “You should have” He slammed a knee into the halfling, the blow powerful enough to send the little undead shadowdancer onto his back. “stayed” Delorian launched up into the air over the now prone target, “Dead!” He slammed down atop the halfling, his knee smashing ribs. The undead halfling coughed up disgusting black liquid, his eyes rolled back and then snapped forward and scrambled away from the monk.
Varick ran forward, the light of his daylight spell spreading through the passage. Delorian growled at the light, and the second drider threw up her hands as the light blinded her completely. Varick swung his morningstar down and smashed Tanerus’ head into a pulp. The halfling body slumped back to the ground, dead once again.
Marcus moved up, trying to aid Delorian. Fiery orbs streaked past the others slamming into the two priestess driders. Spellfire ripped down the hallway, slamming into the front drider.
Delorian spun back to the driders just in time to see the glowing, black hand of one of the priestesses slam into him. His heart felt as if something cold was gripping it, but his natural resistance to magic bled the spell off and it failed to harm him in anyway.
The back two of the priestess threw up her hands and called down a massive column of fire. It bathed the entire melee, but when the fire and smoke cleared the only one on the ground, that wasn’t there before, was the other drider. Such is the way of drow.
Delorian concentrated a moment, willing his body to heal. Wounds knitted, bruises faded, and the monk was somewhat better able to stand. Marcus and Delorian stood side by side, ready for the priestesses next move. A ray of scorching light ripped past them, searing a thick burn into the priestess’ chest. She leapt forward, lashing out at Delorian, “Vengeance will be mine!” She plunged her dagger into the monk’s chest and he cried out in pain. He lashed out with one fist, smashing her in the face, causing her to wince and pull back. In that moment that she was turned away slightly, he was able to slip behind Marcus and move away.
Varick covered his retreat, moving up to stand with Marcus. He held his morning star up and called upon Mystra’s aid. Healing energy poured out of him in a wave. Each of his companions felt their wounds knit, while the undead drider reared up in pain as the positive energy burned through her.
As she came back to all eight legs, she look wild eyed at them all, “You can kill me! It won’t matter! The Great Revenance is coming! You will never be able to stop us! Never! Your doom is sealed like that of your halfling friend! You will all die! You will all-“
Three rays of scorching fire smashed into her. The first one took her arm off at the shoulder, the second one burned a hole through her chest, and the final one burned her head clean off. The spider legs kicked a few more times, and then the entire massive, headless corpse slumped to the ground.
Lake of Shadows
Marpenoth 27th, 1372
Marcus looked up from the doorway to the shrine. He nodded quietly back to the others, though they already knew, thanks to Will’s telepathic link spell, that the magical glyph on the door had been disabled. Marcus slipped to one side, and Delorian stepped up and strained to push the door open. He started to see that beyond the door was a sheer wall of water. It seems the entire temple was filled with water.
Inside stood a statue of a mutant kuo-toa of some sort, presumably one known as the Claw. Sitting beside it on either side was a kuo-toa dressed plainly, with simple rope belts tied about their wastes. They quickly launched themselves through the water, and Delorian dove in to meet them.
Prior to crossing to the island, each member of the group of five heroes was the recipient of two spells by Varick, one that would allow them absolute freedom of movement in the water, and another that would allow them to breath. Delorian wasted no time testing them.
The first kuo-toa he met was lightning fast, dodge his blows, and blocking others with expert moves. Delorian instantly realized that it was trained in martial arts, just like him. While the rest of the heroes prepared to move in as well Marcus in through the door, running quickly to flank the attacker. The other kuo-toa swam through the water like a fish, quickly reaching the door. He flicked the door closed and planted himself on the other side.
Varick rushed forward, slamming into the door, but the kuo-toa behind him held it shut tight. Delorian spun toward the door, cracking his fist into the kuo-toa trying to hold it shut. Marcus swam around the first one as well, diving toward the one at the door, rapier first. The water darkened with blood and neither hero could stop the first kuo-toa from slipping to the door out of the room. He easily opened the door and cried out something in the water.
Together Varick and Malaghym finally managed to push the door open past the kuo-toa that was trying to block it. Will tossed small spiraling globes of energy into the water that burning the kuo-toa they struck. The melee was fast and furious, and soon more kuo-toa swam in through the door. They were fighting well, using the water to get height advantages when they could. The heroes quickly adapted, trying to do the same.
The melee took a sudden turn for the worse when the two new kuo-toa, armed with tridents, flanked Brother Varick. Their tridents both punched through his armor and his eyes rolled into the back of his head. He slumped in the ever-darkening water, and his telepathic link went silent. Malaghym spun and grabbed hold of the cleric and injected the healing energies of his spellfire.
Varick’s eyes shot open and swam out of the combat. Soon the kuo-toa all floated lifelessly in the bloody water, and the party quickly patched themselves up before moving on.
Moving through the next doorway, the group found itself in a foyer of sorts. A staircase, a pair of double doors, and a smaller door led out. They swung open the double doors, and found an immense temple like room. A hole in the floor was surrounded by four female kuo-toa, priestesses by the look of their attire. One spoke to them in the strange bubbly language of the kuo-toa.
“Hal-l-l-l-t ther-r-r-r-r-re. We mean you-ou-ou-ou no harm-rm-rm-rm.”
The party began spreading out slowly, watching all four of the priestesses. Will spoke up, “We are here seeking the one called the Claw.”
“We-e-e-e-e-e know-ow-ow-ow-ow why you are here-re-re-re-re-re. Leave now-ow-ow-ow-ow, while you still can-an-an-an-an.”
Will shook his head, “We can’t do that.”
“Do not be foo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-lish, mortal. You don’t know-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow what you are dealing with.” With that, two immense tentacles rose up out of the hole in the ground. The ends of the tentacles had wide flaps of skin on them.
They all thought it at once as their hearts sank… the devil-kraken!
Will shook his head one last time, “No can do.”
“Then you will die-ie-ie-ie-ie!” All four of the priestesses snapped their arms up and began casting. Delorian launched himself at one of them, and Malaghym moved up and stood as if wanting one of them to cast at him. They finished casting quickly, one right after the other. The first one pointed at Delorian. He felt a strange pulse of energy flow over him and released suddenly that he could not breath the water any more!
The second priestess pointed at Malaghym. The dark elf grinned as the spell energy soaked into. He channeled the energy into his reserves and made a mental note to thank her corpse later.
The third priestess, seeing the second fail to effect Malaghym, targeted him as well, after all he was the closest target, and would probably not be able to soak up two spells so quickly. Her gamble worked, and Malaghym’s spell of breathing and spell of movement both fizzled away into nothing.
The final priestess to cast was the high priestess, known by the kuo-toa as a Greater Whip. She targeted Will with a spell of dispelling. Will grinned as the ring of counterspells he wore flashed on his hand. The dispel magic and the counterspell discharged each other, leaving Will untouched by the dispelling magics.
Will answered with a small peas shaped ball of fire that burned sizzling trail through the water. It exploded into a huge ball of flame and steam burning each of the priestesses badly.
Varick quickly cast a spell of silencing on one edge of the hole, keeping the priestess all from casting at the magic pool.
The massive tentacles of the kraken slapped at Delorian. They hit, but just they tried to tighten their grip they would slip off. The freedom of movement spell was still active on the monk, and they prevent him from being grabbed.
The priestesses continued their attacks. One was in deadly combat with Delorian, but the monk was too fast and hit too hard, soon her lifeless body floated away through the water. One leapt out of the area of silence, swimming to a few feet from Will before releasing a ray of hot steam and fire at the mage. His elemental resistances kept him from too much harm.
Fearing the kraken more than anything the priestesses could do, Will quickly raised a wall of force just beyond Delorian, trapping the kraken on the other side. Its tentacles slapped against the wall of force then sank into the darkness below.
The fight raged on through the water, blood once again beginning to spread through the murky darkness. Malaghym and Delorian held their breath, each fighting one of the priestesses. Marcus moved in to lend a hand, while Will blasted forth a cone of icy cold. Varick muttered a prayer, and grew to nearly twice his size. He hefted his morningstar, ready to begin smashing his opponents.
Out of the gloomy water from above the temple area, a dark form swam down behind Delorian. It was a misshapen kuo-toa, with a ridge of spines along his back, and dark red eyes, the one they called The Claw. He had been watching Delorian, studying him, waiting for the opportunity to pounce. He lashed out with a dagger that barely glowed with an eerie green light. At the last moment Delorian dodged a swipe from the priestess he was fighting, caught sight of the incoming dagger and ducked beneath it. Half a second sooner, and the dagger would have plunged into the back of his neck.
Delorian spun, but did not attack. Marcus quickly got the priestesses attention with a quick stab of his rapier, and Delorian was able to concentrate on The Claw, waiting for his next move. The beastly kuo-toa held up one hand and seemed to draw energy from around him. He was using some sort of spell like ability, and Delorian was not about to let that happen. He shook his head quickly, unable to talk in the water, and leveled a quick jab into the kuo-toa’s wide lips. The Claw’s head snapped back and he paused a moment, blinking, as if trying to remember where he was.
Meanwhile the Greater Whip was still in a spellcasting duel with Will. She held up her hands, just out of reach of anyone, and called forth a massive column of steam and fire in the watery foyer. The fire and steam burned Will, even through his practiced use of elemental fire. The pain ripped through him, then his world turned upside down and inside out. The fire had triggered his contingency spell. Quickly he concentrated on where he wanted to go, the balcony above the fight would do well. He stumbled to his knees there and pulled out a potion. Somehow he managed to drink suck its contents down.
Malaghym swam around to behind and above her, his hands jetted forward and blueish energy ripped through the water. His spellfire burned the Greater Whip, but not before she managed to turn a bit out of the stream, minimizing the damage.
Varick stepped in while she was distracted, his massive form filling the foyer. He swung his now huge morningstar around in a wide arc and smashed the Greater Whip in head, cracking it like a melon. Blood quickly spread in the water around her as her corpse gently floated away.
The Claw, finding himself suddenly surrounded and nearly alone quickly swam upward, not realizing that Will was not hiding up in the balcony area. As he came into view, Will quickly cast a freezing sphere into the water. A huge chunk of ice surrounded The Claw and he was stuck within.
Varick smashed the last of the Lesser Whips with another righteous blow from his morningstar only to slammed from behind something. He spun around to see two massive tentacles. The Devil Kraken had gone around the outside of the building and was now attacking through the front door!
Varick spun on the tentacles, smashing one with his holy weapon. It quickly recoiled back. He thanked his goddess for the magic of the Freedom of Movement spell, for if it had not been in place he surely would have been grabbed by the tentacles and be deep in the lake, and the bowels of the Devil Kraken.
The rest of the heroes focused on The Claw. The slippery fish had managed to slip right out of the ice encasing him, but that only put him into the waiting hands Delorian, Will, Malaghym and Marcus. They quickly finished him off.
Varick smashed the second tentacle, sending it quickly pulling back as well.
Blood floated everywhere in the water, but for now the temple was silent.
***
The massive stone giant leader clapped Will as gently as he could on one shoulder, sending the mage stumbling forward. “You did good! Did real good!” The giant held the corpse of The Claw up by one foot in his other hand. The corpse dripped blood, gore, and water, its eyes rolled back in its head. Marcus could not help but compare it to some twisted mockery of a fisherman holding up his latest catch. Would the giant show others his trophy, like some sort of warped Underdark version of a fish story? He chuckled and shook his head.
Will straightened his tunic with a humpf and looked up at the giant, “I hope this will remedy your dispute with the Kuo-toa…”
The giant heaved the corpse back like a little rag doll and flung it out at the lake, “Eat this you stupid Devil Kraken! Har!” The giant seemed very pleased, and turned to look down at the frowning Will. “It will do just fine, little mage. Come, you all look tired and grumpy, we go up and have another feast, you rest and leave when you are rested.”
As the group retired to the giant caverns, the leader turned and looked at them as he walked. “Say, you know… you could do another favor… we pay you again. The lobster monster that lives in cave below… you could kill it. Do that, we give you five hundred gold.”
The party looked at each other and Will noted, “I did it with my Arcane Eye when I scouted the temple… it’s a chuul, and a large one at that. Nasty creatures up close, but we have the drop on it. I think we can dispatch it fairly easily.”
Varick frowned, “Its not why we came here… but it sounds like a menace to the area. Alright.”
The next morning the group, now rested from the hard fighting in the temple, executed a very quick plan to dispatch the chuul.
Will used his cloak to climb around and get to the entrance of the cave. It was split in two with a massive column down the center. He quickly cast a wall of force on the right hand side, trapping the chuul in. The space between the column and the left hand side was too small for it to fit, or so they thought.
From a hole above, Varick began to cast a spell of summoning, and the others fired their bows and crossbows down at the beast. Will blasted it with a series of powerful scorching rays. He poured spell energy into them, maximizing them to their fullest potential. The beast reacted quickly throwing itself at Will, squeezing its way through the smaller opening.
The mage backpedaled quickly, wondering where Varick’s elemental was. As if on cue, the watery form sprang into existence in the foot deep water that covered the cave floor. The chuul continued to charge toward Will, but he let fly another series of scorching rays. Finally the beast seemed to decide that discretion was the better part of valor. Horribly wounded it charged past Will and leapt into the water of the lake.
“Damn it!” Will scowled and pointed after it, “Don’t let it get away!”
Delorian appeared from a shadow beside the column and leapt into the water after the thing. He swam faster than many fish, his powerful legs propelling him quickly after the slower chuul. He could feel the water elemental looming in behind him as well. He thought to himself that it would not be necessary. He grabbed a hold of one of the chuuls armored plates and was looking for an opening to smash his fist into when several small globes of energy whizzed past him in the water and slammed into the thing. Delorian looked back, and through the darkness he could see Will standing at the water’s edge.
The chuul went limp. Disgusted, Delorian swam back to the surface. “I had it.”
Will shrugged, “I wanted to make sure.”
The elemental heaved the corpse up onto the beach then disappeared back to wherever it had come from. From above the giant leader clapped, “Most impressive!”
Underdark
A day’s travel beyond the Lake of Shadows
Marpenoth 29th, 1372, Middle of the Night
Delorian sat invisible atop the little hut that Varick had summoned. The cavern was pitch black, but that did not stop Delorian from watching the entrance and exit to the cave. He could not see but sixty feet, but no one should be able to see him atop the hut.
He thought about the traveling through the Underdark. It was tedious and slow going. Picking their way through smaller caves, climbing down large outcroppings, etc. He would be glad when they finally made the drow city.
His thoughts where cut short when the hut beneath him disappeared. He fell the fifteen feet down to the floor below, twisting in mid fall to land on his feet. The rest of the companions were rudely awakened from sleep when the cots that were a part of the hut were dispelled with the rest of the hut. From further in the Underdark a pair of large shadowy dogs came bounding down the passage, baying and howling as they came.
As if to add insult to injury, a massive column of flame erupted around the entire group, scorching them all with unholy flames. Someone had orchestrated an attack, and they all scrambled to counter it.
Delorian saw the others were awake, and knew that someone he could not see down there had dispelled the hut. He dove into a shadow, coming out sixty feet up the corridor. Some forty feet up the corridor he saw a group of drow. All four of them were covered in funeral wraps, black cloth swathing their entire form. The front two where two legged, and running down the passage after the mastiffs. The back two were driders.
Varick got his feet first, and quickly cast a spell to give him protection against anything more the unseen assailants would attack him with. Will was next on his feet; quickly he snatched up his component pouch and tossed out a few materials. He summoned up a massive wall of fire on the mastiffs, between them and their assailants. He hoped that bought them some time.
Delorian was still invisible, so when the first drow warrior went to rush past him toward the group, he cranked her with a quick forearm slam. She spun on him and lashed out with her dagger, missing.
Marcus got to his feet, shaking his head. He found his rapier and drew it and moved over to one side, squinting against the light of the wall of fire. From within it, a massive dog leapt toward him. He backpedaled and brought his rapier up to defend himself. The other mastiff leapt out at Varick, the unarmored priest had gotten his shield and morningstar out, and managed to block the dog’s attack.
One of the driders moved up to within twenty feet of Delorian, she reached up and ripped aside the cloth hiding her face. It was one of the two priestesses they had killed in the temple! Her eyes burned with hatred, her face was rotting, and a mask of anger. “You did this to me! I will have my vengeance on you, shade!”
Delorian’s heart felt like it was going to stop. Her cold stare gripped him with fear and remorse. He felt sorry for having helped to slay her. Perhaps he should get what he deserved, perhaps… No! He shook off the cold gaze and kept fighting, grim with determination to send her back to whatever hell she had risen from.
The hair on the back of Delorian’s neck stood on end. Something was wrong, something was very wrong, and he could not put a finger on it. A sharp pain, low in his back clued him into what it was he was feeling. A dagger had been plunged into his back, but worse, whomever was wielding it was twisting it fiercely through his flesh, making sure to do as much damage as possible.
A familiar halfling voice behind him cried out, “You bastards, you left me to die!” Delorian looked back to see the rotting face of Tanerus glaring up at him. The Tanerus he knew could never look so angry. The feral little man he knew was no more, replaced by an undead beast seeking his own sort of twisted vengeance.
The second drider dispelled the wall of fire, then moved up to behind the first one. The second of the drow warriors dodged past the melee in the passage, racing toward the spellcasters. She never got there.
Will dropped a serious of fiery explosions through the cavern and passage. Each one went only where he told it, and his precision with the firebrand spell was becoming legendary. When the smoke cleared, both the mastiffs had completely disappeared and both the drow warriors lay crumpled on the ground.
Varick, not able to see since the wall of fire had been dispelled, cast a quick daylight spell on himself. Malghym screamed out in pain as he was blinded. Delorian cursed a little but kept fighting. The closer of the two driders cried out in surprise as well.
His eyes shut tight, but knowing where the little halfling revenant had appeared, used his natural drow talents to summon a misty faerie fire that clung to everything, glowing softly. If the halfling tried to hide again, that should prevent him. Malaghym cussed in the drow dialect of elven and rubbed at his eyes, trying to make the spot go away.
The front priestess cast a spell of slaying, her hand glowing with dark energy. But she could not see to land it, and missed hitting Delorian with the spell. The other priestess muttered a mystical prayer as well, and the area between Will and Varick fell silent.
Tanerus was still flanking Delorian, and he lashed two more times, hitting once. Delorian was really starting to hurt. The tiny feral undead halfling was really finding especially deadly spots to bury his dagger.
Delorian finally spun on the halfling and growled, “You should have” He slammed a knee into the halfling, the blow powerful enough to send the little undead shadowdancer onto his back. “stayed” Delorian launched up into the air over the now prone target, “Dead!” He slammed down atop the halfling, his knee smashing ribs. The undead halfling coughed up disgusting black liquid, his eyes rolled back and then snapped forward and scrambled away from the monk.
Varick ran forward, the light of his daylight spell spreading through the passage. Delorian growled at the light, and the second drider threw up her hands as the light blinded her completely. Varick swung his morningstar down and smashed Tanerus’ head into a pulp. The halfling body slumped back to the ground, dead once again.
Marcus moved up, trying to aid Delorian. Fiery orbs streaked past the others slamming into the two priestess driders. Spellfire ripped down the hallway, slamming into the front drider.
Delorian spun back to the driders just in time to see the glowing, black hand of one of the priestesses slam into him. His heart felt as if something cold was gripping it, but his natural resistance to magic bled the spell off and it failed to harm him in anyway.
The back two of the priestess threw up her hands and called down a massive column of fire. It bathed the entire melee, but when the fire and smoke cleared the only one on the ground, that wasn’t there before, was the other drider. Such is the way of drow.
Delorian concentrated a moment, willing his body to heal. Wounds knitted, bruises faded, and the monk was somewhat better able to stand. Marcus and Delorian stood side by side, ready for the priestesses next move. A ray of scorching light ripped past them, searing a thick burn into the priestess’ chest. She leapt forward, lashing out at Delorian, “Vengeance will be mine!” She plunged her dagger into the monk’s chest and he cried out in pain. He lashed out with one fist, smashing her in the face, causing her to wince and pull back. In that moment that she was turned away slightly, he was able to slip behind Marcus and move away.
Varick covered his retreat, moving up to stand with Marcus. He held his morning star up and called upon Mystra’s aid. Healing energy poured out of him in a wave. Each of his companions felt their wounds knit, while the undead drider reared up in pain as the positive energy burned through her.
As she came back to all eight legs, she look wild eyed at them all, “You can kill me! It won’t matter! The Great Revenance is coming! You will never be able to stop us! Never! Your doom is sealed like that of your halfling friend! You will all die! You will all-“
Three rays of scorching fire smashed into her. The first one took her arm off at the shoulder, the second one burned a hole through her chest, and the final one burned her head clean off. The spider legs kicked a few more times, and then the entire massive, headless corpse slumped to the ground.
Jeremy
Explorer
Gotta love maximized scorching rays. My Thayvian uses them to great effect.
That must have been a lot of fun, finally getting to reveal what happened to Tanerus and getting to do a fun impromptu midnight raid on the team. Or whatever passes for midnight in the Underdark at least.
That must have been a lot of fun, finally getting to reveal what happened to Tanerus and getting to do a fun impromptu midnight raid on the team. Or whatever passes for midnight in the Underdark at least.
Wraithdrit
First Post
Yeah, they were really peeved about being dropped to floor. I loved it. They have modified their criteria on where they rest, nothing longer than 60 feet out before turns, so they won't have the same 'they can see us, but we can't see them' problem again. At least not with camping. I have one more write up to do before Monday's game. It was ... well, I'm getting ahead of myself. More to come soon.
Oh, and I am still kicking myself over that Revenant fight. The priestesses were both supposed to have Fire Resistance 30, and I completely forgot! Oh well. Live and learn.
Oh, and I am still kicking myself over that Revenant fight. The priestesses were both supposed to have Fire Resistance 30, and I completely forgot! Oh well. Live and learn.
Wraithdrit
First Post
Underdark
Somewhere between the Lake of Shadows and Maerimydra
Marpenoth 30th, 1372
The travel since the Lake of Shadows had been uneventful, but something was starting to tug at Delorian’s senses. Finally he put his finger on it. The darkness seemed more complete. It was if the veil between this world and the world of shadow was starting to thin. He had heard that such places existed in the Underdark, and was excited to experience it. The feeling seemed to give the shade an extra bounce in his step, and he was really beginning to enjoy it. Still he knew the others might be feeling the change as well and thought it best to go talk to them.
After shadowstepping back he asked, “You feeling it as well?”
Everyone nodded and Will spoke up, “We need to press on, but be extra cautious, this change concerns me.”
The group continued forward, and soon Delorian reappeared in their midst. “The passage opens up ahead. Some sort of large cliff face going up. There is a bell at the bottom as well.”
Cautiously the group went forward to examine the area. Delorian’s description did not do the massive cliff wall justice. It truly was a giant sheer cliff wall. Malaghym pointed up along one side and whispered, “There is an opening there, and the cliff continues up as far as I can see.”
Will drew the group back again. “I will scout the area with my arcane eye spell.” The mage cast the spell and was quiet for some time. Finally his eyes seemed to return to normal and he glanced around. “There are three openings. Two contain bands of winged creatures, dark skinned humanoids that are unknown to me. Each of those bands had a spellcaster of minor power with them. The third cave is immense, and the shadows there seem to move as if alive. There is a good chunk of treasure there, but I really don’t trust this area and that shadowy cavern is large enough to hold near anything.”
Varick offered quickly, “I have the spell of windwalking prepared. We could fly swiftly on the wind up past them all.”
Malaghym frowned, “Why not slay them?”
Delorian beat Varick to the words, “They are not in our way. We should leave whatever it is be.” He had no desire to fight anything that called the plane of shadow, or this semi nether version of it, home. He had hunted the shadows as a youth, and the creatures that lurked there were things of mortal nightmares.
The others soon agreed and the group moved swiftly to implement the plan. Varick cast his spell, and much like when they had crossed the Lake of Shadows, they all took on a ghostly form. A great wind seemed to blow them out of the passage and up along the cliff.
The great darkness within the large cavern shifted and the shadows momentarily coalesced into a large draconic head. It seemed to sniff the air a moment. Its eye’s narrow to slits, but then the wind was gone, and the huge beast lowered its head, fading again into nothing but shadow.
Beyond the cliff the party made up a little of its lost time, till finally the going had slowed to a point where it would be better to walk. Several large chasms and other dangerous obstacles were passed with ease during the duration of the powerful clerical spell.
Finally they stopped again for the night.
Morning found them once again moving through the dark caverns. After a time Delorian discovered that just ahead to one side, a lone drow figure once again was waiting for them. He moved back to the group and explained what he had seen. They decided to send Malaghym forward to talk.
As Malaghym got closer the figure summoned forth a shadowy darkness at his feet then called out for him to stop, speaking in the language of the drow.
Malaghym stopped and spoke quickly, “I only wish to pass.”
“Who are you?” the stranger asked.
“I am Malaghym.”
“I do not recognize the symbol of your house, what city are you from?”
Malaghym named his home far to the east beneath the steppes of Thay.
“You are a long way from home. Seen a band of surface dwellers?”
“No, can’t say that I have, are you looking for one?”
“Yes, a group is supposed to come this way.”
“Planning on killing them alone?” Malaghym glanced over the other man, wondering how he planned to do that with just a rapier.
The stranger half shrugged, “With as late as they are, they may have already gotten themselves killed. The dragon of the cliff probably ate them. Regardless, we have business to attend to, these surface dwellers and I. Any more than that you need not know.”
From further down the corridor Will, who had been telepathically linked with Malaghym, called out, “What kind of business?”
The stranger looked at Malaghym and frowned, “Hadn’t seen them, hmm?” Malaghym smiled and shrugged. The stranger called down to the others, “A mutual friend has sent me to warn you.”
The group cautiously moved forward, Delorian had already scouted down the passage beyond the lone swordsman and found no one waiting to spring an ambush. Will’s arcane sight saw no magical traps waiting to be sprung.
Will continued forward, “Who would that be, and what did they want to warn us about?”
The stranger stepped a bit from the shadows he was hiding in. “Tursa says that you are running behind. The events that have happened have all been forseen, and you are on track, but the delays are dangerous and could be costly. The weave corruption has spread to all of Maerimydra now. It grows at an increasingly faster rate. The White Banshee’s followers are closing in on figuring out the ritual for the Great Revenance.”
Will frowned, “Who is she getting these prophecies from?”
The stranger shrugged, “She did not tell me. I asked, and she just said the Oracle.”
“Where is she now?”
“She left after showing me where to wait for you. You have a good week’s worth of travel ahead of you before making Maerimydra. Today is the 1st of Uktar. Tursa says the research will be completed before the end of the month.”
Varick muttered a soft prayer under his breath. When it caught the attention of the others he said aloud. “The Feast of the Moon. The day after Uktar ends. The veil between here and the realms of the dead is said to be the weakest then.”
Will nodded, “So now we know exactly how much time we have, what we need to know more about is what is ahead of us. What can you tell us about the path to the city?”
“Nothing, I’m not from these parts. I will be returning to the surface to continue my work when I am done talking to you. Tursa mentioned that the city is in turmoil, other than that, I know not what is going on ahead of you.”
Marcus growled, “Figures.” He looked at the others, “How do we know we can trust this Tursa anyways?”
The stranger smiled, “You don’t. It’s the Underdark. Trust no one. That being said, Tursa seems to have the same goal as you, stopping the White Banshee.”
Will frowned, “Very well. We will take our leave of you then.”
The stranger nodded and grinned darkly, “Careful heroes.” He said the last word with almost disdain, Varick could see the evil just pulsing from the man. “The way ahead is treacherous indeed. It’s not just your lives at stake now, but the lives and souls of all you know and love. Good luck. You’ll need it.” He pulled out a small scroll, unrolled it, and began to read from it. With the spell of teleporting finished, the drow disappeared with a soft flash.
Underdark
Somewhere between the Wailing Cliff and Maerimydra
Uktar 3rd, 1372
Delorian appeared in the party’s midst. They were used to it by now. “We have a small area of water up ahead.” Marcus groaned. Delorian glanced at him then continued. “Looks like a small stream bed enters the path. There is a half of a statue in the stream bed.”
Malaghym looked puzzled, “Which half?”
“The lower half. Beyond that the caverns open back up and there is some sort of small pond. Between the pond and the stream is a large mushroom patch. A pair of female drow is cultivating it.”
Malaghym frowned, “What are two drow doing farming mushrooms out here?”
Delorian shrugged, “They are armed and armored.”
“Did you get a look at their shields?”
“Yes, it had a black field with a green outline of a spider with blue markings.”
“That’s the symbol of Maerimydra… something is not right, there is no way a pair of armed female drow would cultivate mushrooms. That’s slave labor. Work of goblins.”
Varick frowned. “I thought you said you were a mushroom farmer.”
Malaghym nodded, “I was. Someone has to own the slaves.” It was so matter of fact to the drow. He had no reason to deny something that was common and normal to his people, slavery.
Will interrupted, “Alright, so we move in on them. Delorian, see if you can get closer.” Quietly and quickly the mage cast the spell that allowed them all to talk telepathically.
Delorian pulled shadows around his form, disappearing from sight. He shadow stepped closer to the drow, and reported that their condition was unchanged. He did not that they seemed to almost be glassy eyed, as if not really mindful of what they were doing.
Will thought into the telepathic link, “They are probably charmed, be careful of the shrooms and the pond, no idea what is causing the charm.”
Delorian reported, “There is also a hole in the ceiling. The passage continues on here as well, so not sure what is beyond this cavern, as the cave bends to the side.”
Varick quickly offered, “I can dispel the charm, and maybe we can find out what happened to them.”
Marcus crept forward and spoke into the telepathic bond, “And maybe find out what lies ahead.”
Varick slid his way along the narrow ledge that led into the next cave. Halfway across his foot brushed a rock that tumbled down the small embankment and splashed into the stream.
Both drow instantly snapped their heads up. One of them yelled loudly in Undercommon, “Intruders! Intruders!”
Marcus moved up much faster, looking to cover Varick long enough for him to get off his dispel magic.
The further of the two drow warriors focused energy around her, creating an inky globe of darkness. She moved forward, her weapon freeing from its sheath.
Varick finally found a place where he could plant his feet and unleashed his dispel magic. Nothing seemed to happen.
Malaghym touched his house symbol and felt the air around him seem to grow thick. He floated, flying on the cushion of air. He flew past Varick and surveyed the room ahead.
The second drow warrior summoned a globe of darkness as well then moved forward to try and get closer.
Delorian had a feeling that the warning cry would soon bring attention, so he shadowstepped further into the cavern, along the far wall.
Will tried to move forward as well, hoping to get to a point where he could either parlay with the drow or blast them for wasting his time. His footing was not good along the ledge though, and slipped, crashing into the shallow stream, twisting an ankle. Ignoring the pain he splashed on.
Marcus stepped between Varick and the closest drow, and lifted his rapier in a defensive stance. He was ready for her to try and attack. One of the drow leapt over the gully and moved in toward him, but was till keeping her distance. Behind him, Marcus heard Varick praying. When he looked back, the priest had once again grown to an immense size. He wondered for a moment who would end up protecting whom.
Will finally rounded the small bend and found some footing in the stream. His hands flew up and he called forth a spell of dispelling. One of the globes of darkness winked out of existence, and the other drow seemed to blink and start shaking her head. Will quickly called out, “You and your companion were charmed! We are not here to hurt you!”
From the otherside of Varick as Marcus was stationed, the drow still under the effects of the charm leapt across the small stream and lashed out at Varick. Before the priest could react, her blade had cut him and she was back out of reach.
Varick lifted his morningstar to smash the fast moving drow, when something caught his eye on the other end of the chamber. From the shaft leading up out of the chamber a massive orb floated downward. In its center was a massive eyeball, ten smaller eyes flailed about on stalks atop its head. A huge mouth full of teeth, dripping with spit and whatever the thing last fed on was positioned just below the large central eye. The telepathic bond between them all lit up with one word that each of them was trying to warn the other with. Beholder!
The large central eye settled its gaze on the entire combat. The telepathic bond went silent. Malaghym plunged twenty feet down to the ground. Varick shrank back to his normal size and was blinded by the pure darkness of the Underdark with the loss of his darkvision enchantment. Marcus could feel his speed diminish, but was perfectly comfortable in the pitch black darkness. Will gaped at the aberration, all of his spell energies useless while its central eye focused on them. Only Delorian, invisible and behind and to one side of the creature, was unaffected by the eyes immense anti-magic effects. The beast opened its mouth and roared out in common, “Who dares defile my abode with their presence? You think to free my people? You will DIE!”
Varick backed up a half step and started trying to find the wall behind him. Marcus rolled into the gully trying to get out of line of sight of the monster.
The anti-magic effect had one side effect that the beholder probably did not like, but was fully aware of. The two drow were now definitely not charmed any more. One of the two, glancing between an unknown (the heroes) and a definite danger (the beholder) decided to flee as fast as possible.
Malaghym shifted to a better position on the ground. His eyes were studying the beholder, watching it. He seemed to be preparing for something.
Delorian licked his lips. He was the only one not within the area of the anti-magic effect, but if he exposed himself alone, the other deadly rays of the beholder would surely kill him quicker than he could defeat the massive beast. He too watched for some sort of opening.
Will leapt up out of the stream, he stayed facing the beholder but addressed his words to the one drow not charmed, “We are trying to save you. You need to help us defeat this thing, or it will only enslave you again!”
The drow looked confused, but had seen her companion flee. She backed up a few steps but otherwise did nothing, just trying to keep an eye on the beholder and all of the surface dwellers.
The beholder slowly moved forward and turned its gaze a bit to one side. The ray of anti-magic no longer bathed over the second drow and her charm slammed back into place. Two eyestalks looked to the other fleeing drow. “Get back here!” Twin rays blasted into her and the glassy eyed gaze once again sank into her eyes.
Varick moved slowly along the wall. He was trying to spread out, perhaps find the edge of the anti-magic effect. Unfortunately what he found instead was a charmed drow warrior. She lashed out at him in the darkness, slicing into him. He pressed on, and as he did, he felt all of his enchantments spring back to life. He grew to twice his size again, and the surprised drow yelped as she was shoved back out the way when the spells came back up.
The other drow joined her sister in battle and lashed out at the large cleric. His larger size, though easier to hit was tougher to wound, and the blade did not find purchase beneath his armor.
Will continued moving to the side. He was keenly aware that to get out of the anti-magic field would also put him in the area of the drow warriors. He splashed back down into the stream and finally felt his enchantments spring back to life. He threw his hands up, calling for his trio of maximized scorching rays. They blasted into the side of the beholder, causing it to scream in pain.
Marcus moved to cover Will from the warriors. One of the two warriors tried to dance around Varick, but this put her right back into the anti-magic area, and with the charm suppressed again she seemed unsure of what to do.
The beholder howled out in anger and spun its massive central eye back on Will. All of the combatants but Malaghym and Delorian, were once again plunged into the chaos that the lack of magic seemed to bring about.
Three different stalks spun toward Malaghym. Rays seared the rock near him. One of the rays cut large swathes of rock from in front of him as it arced its disintegrating touch toward him. The drow warrior had been laying in wait though, holding for the moment the anti-magic effect left him. He rolled away from the rays and came up with both hands crackling with spellfire. He threw them forward and energy ripped forth. Pain gripped the drow warrior, as the magically energy that had been almost too much to contain was finally released.
Luckily, it had its intended effect. The huge floating monster was rocked by the blast. It spun to one side and continued to cook in the blaze of magical energy. When the blast finally ended the beholder dropped with a sickening splash into the edge of the shallow pond. Its huge central eye rolled toward the cavern ceiling and a guttural sigh escaped its lips as it died.
The enchantments all leapt back to life, but the charm spells were instantly gone. Varick swung his massive weapon into position, ready to smite either of the drow women, should they want to provoke him.
One of them looked frantically about and began shifting her way toward the entrance the party had original entered from. “Get out of my way! Now!”
Will climbed up out of the river. “Before anyone goes anywhere, we need to talk.”
Marcus circled, trying to stay in front of the moving drow.
The other drow glanced the opposite direction frantically. “We don’t have time!”
Delorian stepped through the shadows halfway to the chambers entrance. If either of them tried to get away this direction, he was going to make sure it did not happen.
Malaghym flew up and took position in the cavern entrance, his arms crossed. He kind of enjoyed watching the two women squirm a bit.
Varick lowered his weapon and used his most calm, but stern voice. “We want to talk.” Malaghym snickered.
The first drow shook her head. “You don’t understand. Seekr’s friend will be here any moment!”
Will moved further off to the side, out of the way. “We can work together to get you out. Who is Seekr’s friend?” To Malaghym he telepathed, “Watch the hole the beholder came out of.”
Malaghym backed a bit more around the entrance corner and craned to see the opening in the chamber. From his vantage point he could easily see the opening without having to worry much about the two drow.
From the other direction movement and sound caught everyone’s attention. Around the corner that lead further into the Underdark came a robed humanoid figure. Its head was large, bulbous, and a pale pink color, and in place of a mouth and chin where several writhing tentacles. Again warning shouts went out over the telepathic bond, Seekr’s friend seemed to be an illithid, commonly known as a mind flayer for their ability to rip a man’s brain from his head, or scramble it with its psychic scream.
And scream it did. The tentacles writhed with a strange hissing sound and waves of psychic energy blasted into the group assembled. Delorian screamed, throwing his head back. His hands came up to grip his hair and he shook his head from side to side, trying to clear it. One of the two drow also screamed and dropped her weapon. She pawed at her eyes and head, shaking wildly, trying to clear the echoing scream from her mind.
From beyond the illithid a massive growl came, and a huge grayish-green skinned humanoid wielding a massive great axe came bounding over the small stream and racing toward Will. The thing had no eyes, but its expression was clear nonetheless. It was angry, and in some kind of berserking fury. The mage quickly backpedaled and through up his hands. He called forth a giant wall of pure force energy, leaving a small gap high within the wall incase he needed it.
The remain drow woman turned and ran as fast as she could toward the entrance of the cavern, she had managed to survive the blast of force from the illithid and had no interest in trying to survive it again.
Varick turned and took a few loping steps toward the illithid and swung his morningstar in a deadly attack. The blow would have connected, but at last moment, the illithid’s image seemed to displace off to one side. The holy morningstar smashed into the wall beside it, sending chips of stone flying.
Malaghym flew up and out into the cavern. He had not been in the first blast and he wanted to make sure and subsequent blasts were hard to center on himself. As he flew he pulled forth a magical harp the party had recovered from the shrine of the kuo-toa. He had the musical talent of a moss covered stone, but he did not want to play the harp. Instead he gripped it tight as flew and sucked the magical energy from it, rendering it useless for the time, but charging up his spellfire energies.
Marcus turned and ran toward the illithid as well. He too had shaken off the first blast, like Varick and the fleeing drow, but had no intention of letting the thing try and repeat its effort. Unfortunately he was too late.
Again the tentacles writhed, and the shrill hissing sounded from the mind flayer. Blasts of psychic energy rolled over Varick, Malaghym, Marcus, Delorian, and the already stunned drow. Marcus screamed and turned away, his hands going up to his head.
Malaghym saw the big berserker and recognized it as a grimlock. It turned on Varick, as if it could just sense that the invisible wall of force was there. The great axe swung with all the creatures might. Varick saw it coming though and blocked it with his shield. He instantly regretted it. His arm throbbed with pain. The impact did not damage the shield, but Varick was certain that if he was hit by that again he would not even be able to feel his shield arm. The thing was unbelievably strong.
The free drow continued to race away, fleeing out into the darkness of the Underdark beyond the entrance of the cavern.
Varick lifted his morningstar and called upon Mystra. A small silvery star appeared and began to circle around him. He looked at the grimlock and a small bolt of fire blasted into it.
From behind the wall of force, Will summoned up an enchanted floating sword. It hacked into the grimlock’s side. The berserker did not even seem to feel it. From above it, Malaghym pulled a balled up net and tossed it down. It easily entangled the grimlock, but again, it just did not seem to care.
The illithid moved up toward Varick, all four of its tentacles lashing out at him. Three of them hit him, and one gained purchase in his flesh. It started to burrow in, and try to take a hold on him. The priest twisted, and pulled, trying to get free, even as the grimlock tried to hack at him. His armor and shield held though. The grimlock was really big, but it was more angry and strong than accurate. Finally Varick pulled hard enough, and the tentacle slipped out of his flesh.
To one side of the grimlock, a large fire elemental sprang to life, summoned by Will. It slammed the grimlock twice with its flaming fists. Still the grimlock did not seem to care.
From above it, Malaghym poured his remaining spellfire into it. It just stood there and took it, not seeming to care, focusing on the cleric and attempting to bury its axe in him.
The illithid lifted one hand and pointed at Varick. In his mind he heard it speak arcane words. A small ray lashed out, lancing across Varick’s chest. He felt his strength being sapped by the ray. Still his huge size would make it hard for him to be grabbed by the tentacles, but the odds were quickly tipping against him. The longer he stood there, the more likely he was to be hit by the grimlock’s massive axe.
Varick slapped his morningstar into the side of the grimlock’s head. It was a solid blow that should have stunned it. Still it seemed to have no effect. The creature just did not seem to feel pain. Its body seemed battered though, and it seemed to only have the barest of life within it, even less so after the elemental slammed it again and the magical floating sword stabbed deep into it.
Malaghym could tell the thing was almost dead, so he flew down to within reach. His elven thin blade lashed out, stabbing deep into the back of the grimlock’s neck. He twisted it and pulled the blade out, ready to watch the barbarian fall. Its head cocked strangely to one side and it spun toward Malaghym.
The axe came around in a wide arc. Malaghym could not believe the thing was even moving. He could see the wound on the front of the things neck where his blade had passed through. He had severed its spine, punctured its windpipe, and still it fought on. Time slowed for a moment, and Malaghym thought he might have time to twist out of the way of the axe. Then in an instant it was over. The berserker followed through with the swing. Malaghym felt a bit of pain. It had managed to hit him in the stomach. He thought for a moment that he would need to use some of his spellfire energy to heal the wound. His sword hand came down to press over where the wound would be, but found only air. Surprised, Malaghym looked down at his severed midsection. Below him on the cavern floor his legs and hips lay in a swiftly widening pool of blood. His last thought was one of shock, before he fell to the ground, cut in half. Dead.
The grimlock was not content to just kill the dark elf though, it carried through with the blow and swung it wide up into the elemental. It smashed through the fiery form, splitting it in two and sending it quickly back to its own plane.
Will stood stunned. The grimlock had killed Malaghym in a single hit, and then had cleaved right into the elemental and banished it in the same strike. It should be dead, he thought. It had to be dead. Nothing could survive the wounds it had taken.
Too bad no one stopped to tell the grimlock that. It continued on its rampage, focusing its attention back on Varick. The priest knew he was fighting a losing fight now. Will screamed at him to get away from the others. He spun and shoved Marcus, who was still stumbling around holding his head, to the floor. Still stunned by the illithid’s blast, the rogue tumbled to the ground. Varick continued to backpedal, his large stride taking him easily away from the combat.
Black tentacles erupted up around the grimlock and the mind flayer. The barbarian ripped its way out of them, but was slowed enough that Varick had time to shove Delorian to the ground as well. If the barbarian was so enraged that it did not know when to die, then certainly it would not think to stop and hack at people on the ground. On its way toward Varick the grimlock stopped to hack at the drow female that was still standing stunned from the mind flayer’s blast. She crumpled into a bloody mess, dead instantly from the mighty blow.
Varick called out to Will in telepathy, “Take care of the mind flayer, I can outrun this mongrel!” He turned and ran down the passage, leading the berserker away.
Will turned to the mass of black tentacles, and the humanoid shape that struggled within it. He could see it was already gaining ground on making it loose of the tentacles, something was not about to let happen. He threw up his hands and called up a massive ring of fire around the illithid. The beast growled out in his mind, “This game is not over Will Farseeker. The end is only delayed!” With that a small glow appeared in the center of its head that spread to cover its entire form. The glow faded and the illithid was gone.
Will dropped the ground, sighing out in exhaustion, both physical and mental. Varick’s voice cut through his momentary rest. “The thing just decided to finally die… guess the fight left it when it found out was going to have to chase me to the surface before I was going to let it attack me again.”
Will looked across the battlefield. Malaghym lay dead, and Delorian and Marcus were writhing in pain still. “Come on back, hopefully these two ‘friends’ did not have any other friends about.”
Somewhere between the Lake of Shadows and Maerimydra
Marpenoth 30th, 1372
The travel since the Lake of Shadows had been uneventful, but something was starting to tug at Delorian’s senses. Finally he put his finger on it. The darkness seemed more complete. It was if the veil between this world and the world of shadow was starting to thin. He had heard that such places existed in the Underdark, and was excited to experience it. The feeling seemed to give the shade an extra bounce in his step, and he was really beginning to enjoy it. Still he knew the others might be feeling the change as well and thought it best to go talk to them.
After shadowstepping back he asked, “You feeling it as well?”
Everyone nodded and Will spoke up, “We need to press on, but be extra cautious, this change concerns me.”
The group continued forward, and soon Delorian reappeared in their midst. “The passage opens up ahead. Some sort of large cliff face going up. There is a bell at the bottom as well.”
Cautiously the group went forward to examine the area. Delorian’s description did not do the massive cliff wall justice. It truly was a giant sheer cliff wall. Malaghym pointed up along one side and whispered, “There is an opening there, and the cliff continues up as far as I can see.”
Will drew the group back again. “I will scout the area with my arcane eye spell.” The mage cast the spell and was quiet for some time. Finally his eyes seemed to return to normal and he glanced around. “There are three openings. Two contain bands of winged creatures, dark skinned humanoids that are unknown to me. Each of those bands had a spellcaster of minor power with them. The third cave is immense, and the shadows there seem to move as if alive. There is a good chunk of treasure there, but I really don’t trust this area and that shadowy cavern is large enough to hold near anything.”
Varick offered quickly, “I have the spell of windwalking prepared. We could fly swiftly on the wind up past them all.”
Malaghym frowned, “Why not slay them?”
Delorian beat Varick to the words, “They are not in our way. We should leave whatever it is be.” He had no desire to fight anything that called the plane of shadow, or this semi nether version of it, home. He had hunted the shadows as a youth, and the creatures that lurked there were things of mortal nightmares.
The others soon agreed and the group moved swiftly to implement the plan. Varick cast his spell, and much like when they had crossed the Lake of Shadows, they all took on a ghostly form. A great wind seemed to blow them out of the passage and up along the cliff.
The great darkness within the large cavern shifted and the shadows momentarily coalesced into a large draconic head. It seemed to sniff the air a moment. Its eye’s narrow to slits, but then the wind was gone, and the huge beast lowered its head, fading again into nothing but shadow.
Beyond the cliff the party made up a little of its lost time, till finally the going had slowed to a point where it would be better to walk. Several large chasms and other dangerous obstacles were passed with ease during the duration of the powerful clerical spell.
Finally they stopped again for the night.
Morning found them once again moving through the dark caverns. After a time Delorian discovered that just ahead to one side, a lone drow figure once again was waiting for them. He moved back to the group and explained what he had seen. They decided to send Malaghym forward to talk.
As Malaghym got closer the figure summoned forth a shadowy darkness at his feet then called out for him to stop, speaking in the language of the drow.
Malaghym stopped and spoke quickly, “I only wish to pass.”
“Who are you?” the stranger asked.
“I am Malaghym.”
“I do not recognize the symbol of your house, what city are you from?”
Malaghym named his home far to the east beneath the steppes of Thay.
“You are a long way from home. Seen a band of surface dwellers?”
“No, can’t say that I have, are you looking for one?”
“Yes, a group is supposed to come this way.”
“Planning on killing them alone?” Malaghym glanced over the other man, wondering how he planned to do that with just a rapier.
The stranger half shrugged, “With as late as they are, they may have already gotten themselves killed. The dragon of the cliff probably ate them. Regardless, we have business to attend to, these surface dwellers and I. Any more than that you need not know.”
From further down the corridor Will, who had been telepathically linked with Malaghym, called out, “What kind of business?”
The stranger looked at Malaghym and frowned, “Hadn’t seen them, hmm?” Malaghym smiled and shrugged. The stranger called down to the others, “A mutual friend has sent me to warn you.”
The group cautiously moved forward, Delorian had already scouted down the passage beyond the lone swordsman and found no one waiting to spring an ambush. Will’s arcane sight saw no magical traps waiting to be sprung.
Will continued forward, “Who would that be, and what did they want to warn us about?”
The stranger stepped a bit from the shadows he was hiding in. “Tursa says that you are running behind. The events that have happened have all been forseen, and you are on track, but the delays are dangerous and could be costly. The weave corruption has spread to all of Maerimydra now. It grows at an increasingly faster rate. The White Banshee’s followers are closing in on figuring out the ritual for the Great Revenance.”
Will frowned, “Who is she getting these prophecies from?”
The stranger shrugged, “She did not tell me. I asked, and she just said the Oracle.”
“Where is she now?”
“She left after showing me where to wait for you. You have a good week’s worth of travel ahead of you before making Maerimydra. Today is the 1st of Uktar. Tursa says the research will be completed before the end of the month.”
Varick muttered a soft prayer under his breath. When it caught the attention of the others he said aloud. “The Feast of the Moon. The day after Uktar ends. The veil between here and the realms of the dead is said to be the weakest then.”
Will nodded, “So now we know exactly how much time we have, what we need to know more about is what is ahead of us. What can you tell us about the path to the city?”
“Nothing, I’m not from these parts. I will be returning to the surface to continue my work when I am done talking to you. Tursa mentioned that the city is in turmoil, other than that, I know not what is going on ahead of you.”
Marcus growled, “Figures.” He looked at the others, “How do we know we can trust this Tursa anyways?”
The stranger smiled, “You don’t. It’s the Underdark. Trust no one. That being said, Tursa seems to have the same goal as you, stopping the White Banshee.”
Will frowned, “Very well. We will take our leave of you then.”
The stranger nodded and grinned darkly, “Careful heroes.” He said the last word with almost disdain, Varick could see the evil just pulsing from the man. “The way ahead is treacherous indeed. It’s not just your lives at stake now, but the lives and souls of all you know and love. Good luck. You’ll need it.” He pulled out a small scroll, unrolled it, and began to read from it. With the spell of teleporting finished, the drow disappeared with a soft flash.
Underdark
Somewhere between the Wailing Cliff and Maerimydra
Uktar 3rd, 1372
Delorian appeared in the party’s midst. They were used to it by now. “We have a small area of water up ahead.” Marcus groaned. Delorian glanced at him then continued. “Looks like a small stream bed enters the path. There is a half of a statue in the stream bed.”
Malaghym looked puzzled, “Which half?”
“The lower half. Beyond that the caverns open back up and there is some sort of small pond. Between the pond and the stream is a large mushroom patch. A pair of female drow is cultivating it.”
Malaghym frowned, “What are two drow doing farming mushrooms out here?”
Delorian shrugged, “They are armed and armored.”
“Did you get a look at their shields?”
“Yes, it had a black field with a green outline of a spider with blue markings.”
“That’s the symbol of Maerimydra… something is not right, there is no way a pair of armed female drow would cultivate mushrooms. That’s slave labor. Work of goblins.”
Varick frowned. “I thought you said you were a mushroom farmer.”
Malaghym nodded, “I was. Someone has to own the slaves.” It was so matter of fact to the drow. He had no reason to deny something that was common and normal to his people, slavery.
Will interrupted, “Alright, so we move in on them. Delorian, see if you can get closer.” Quietly and quickly the mage cast the spell that allowed them all to talk telepathically.
Delorian pulled shadows around his form, disappearing from sight. He shadow stepped closer to the drow, and reported that their condition was unchanged. He did not that they seemed to almost be glassy eyed, as if not really mindful of what they were doing.
Will thought into the telepathic link, “They are probably charmed, be careful of the shrooms and the pond, no idea what is causing the charm.”
Delorian reported, “There is also a hole in the ceiling. The passage continues on here as well, so not sure what is beyond this cavern, as the cave bends to the side.”
Varick quickly offered, “I can dispel the charm, and maybe we can find out what happened to them.”
Marcus crept forward and spoke into the telepathic bond, “And maybe find out what lies ahead.”
Varick slid his way along the narrow ledge that led into the next cave. Halfway across his foot brushed a rock that tumbled down the small embankment and splashed into the stream.
Both drow instantly snapped their heads up. One of them yelled loudly in Undercommon, “Intruders! Intruders!”
Marcus moved up much faster, looking to cover Varick long enough for him to get off his dispel magic.
The further of the two drow warriors focused energy around her, creating an inky globe of darkness. She moved forward, her weapon freeing from its sheath.
Varick finally found a place where he could plant his feet and unleashed his dispel magic. Nothing seemed to happen.
Malaghym touched his house symbol and felt the air around him seem to grow thick. He floated, flying on the cushion of air. He flew past Varick and surveyed the room ahead.
The second drow warrior summoned a globe of darkness as well then moved forward to try and get closer.
Delorian had a feeling that the warning cry would soon bring attention, so he shadowstepped further into the cavern, along the far wall.
Will tried to move forward as well, hoping to get to a point where he could either parlay with the drow or blast them for wasting his time. His footing was not good along the ledge though, and slipped, crashing into the shallow stream, twisting an ankle. Ignoring the pain he splashed on.
Marcus stepped between Varick and the closest drow, and lifted his rapier in a defensive stance. He was ready for her to try and attack. One of the drow leapt over the gully and moved in toward him, but was till keeping her distance. Behind him, Marcus heard Varick praying. When he looked back, the priest had once again grown to an immense size. He wondered for a moment who would end up protecting whom.
Will finally rounded the small bend and found some footing in the stream. His hands flew up and he called forth a spell of dispelling. One of the globes of darkness winked out of existence, and the other drow seemed to blink and start shaking her head. Will quickly called out, “You and your companion were charmed! We are not here to hurt you!”
From the otherside of Varick as Marcus was stationed, the drow still under the effects of the charm leapt across the small stream and lashed out at Varick. Before the priest could react, her blade had cut him and she was back out of reach.
Varick lifted his morningstar to smash the fast moving drow, when something caught his eye on the other end of the chamber. From the shaft leading up out of the chamber a massive orb floated downward. In its center was a massive eyeball, ten smaller eyes flailed about on stalks atop its head. A huge mouth full of teeth, dripping with spit and whatever the thing last fed on was positioned just below the large central eye. The telepathic bond between them all lit up with one word that each of them was trying to warn the other with. Beholder!
The large central eye settled its gaze on the entire combat. The telepathic bond went silent. Malaghym plunged twenty feet down to the ground. Varick shrank back to his normal size and was blinded by the pure darkness of the Underdark with the loss of his darkvision enchantment. Marcus could feel his speed diminish, but was perfectly comfortable in the pitch black darkness. Will gaped at the aberration, all of his spell energies useless while its central eye focused on them. Only Delorian, invisible and behind and to one side of the creature, was unaffected by the eyes immense anti-magic effects. The beast opened its mouth and roared out in common, “Who dares defile my abode with their presence? You think to free my people? You will DIE!”
Varick backed up a half step and started trying to find the wall behind him. Marcus rolled into the gully trying to get out of line of sight of the monster.
The anti-magic effect had one side effect that the beholder probably did not like, but was fully aware of. The two drow were now definitely not charmed any more. One of the two, glancing between an unknown (the heroes) and a definite danger (the beholder) decided to flee as fast as possible.
Malaghym shifted to a better position on the ground. His eyes were studying the beholder, watching it. He seemed to be preparing for something.
Delorian licked his lips. He was the only one not within the area of the anti-magic effect, but if he exposed himself alone, the other deadly rays of the beholder would surely kill him quicker than he could defeat the massive beast. He too watched for some sort of opening.
Will leapt up out of the stream, he stayed facing the beholder but addressed his words to the one drow not charmed, “We are trying to save you. You need to help us defeat this thing, or it will only enslave you again!”
The drow looked confused, but had seen her companion flee. She backed up a few steps but otherwise did nothing, just trying to keep an eye on the beholder and all of the surface dwellers.
The beholder slowly moved forward and turned its gaze a bit to one side. The ray of anti-magic no longer bathed over the second drow and her charm slammed back into place. Two eyestalks looked to the other fleeing drow. “Get back here!” Twin rays blasted into her and the glassy eyed gaze once again sank into her eyes.
Varick moved slowly along the wall. He was trying to spread out, perhaps find the edge of the anti-magic effect. Unfortunately what he found instead was a charmed drow warrior. She lashed out at him in the darkness, slicing into him. He pressed on, and as he did, he felt all of his enchantments spring back to life. He grew to twice his size again, and the surprised drow yelped as she was shoved back out the way when the spells came back up.
The other drow joined her sister in battle and lashed out at the large cleric. His larger size, though easier to hit was tougher to wound, and the blade did not find purchase beneath his armor.
Will continued moving to the side. He was keenly aware that to get out of the anti-magic field would also put him in the area of the drow warriors. He splashed back down into the stream and finally felt his enchantments spring back to life. He threw his hands up, calling for his trio of maximized scorching rays. They blasted into the side of the beholder, causing it to scream in pain.
Marcus moved to cover Will from the warriors. One of the two warriors tried to dance around Varick, but this put her right back into the anti-magic area, and with the charm suppressed again she seemed unsure of what to do.
The beholder howled out in anger and spun its massive central eye back on Will. All of the combatants but Malaghym and Delorian, were once again plunged into the chaos that the lack of magic seemed to bring about.
Three different stalks spun toward Malaghym. Rays seared the rock near him. One of the rays cut large swathes of rock from in front of him as it arced its disintegrating touch toward him. The drow warrior had been laying in wait though, holding for the moment the anti-magic effect left him. He rolled away from the rays and came up with both hands crackling with spellfire. He threw them forward and energy ripped forth. Pain gripped the drow warrior, as the magically energy that had been almost too much to contain was finally released.
Luckily, it had its intended effect. The huge floating monster was rocked by the blast. It spun to one side and continued to cook in the blaze of magical energy. When the blast finally ended the beholder dropped with a sickening splash into the edge of the shallow pond. Its huge central eye rolled toward the cavern ceiling and a guttural sigh escaped its lips as it died.
The enchantments all leapt back to life, but the charm spells were instantly gone. Varick swung his massive weapon into position, ready to smite either of the drow women, should they want to provoke him.
One of them looked frantically about and began shifting her way toward the entrance the party had original entered from. “Get out of my way! Now!”
Will climbed up out of the river. “Before anyone goes anywhere, we need to talk.”
Marcus circled, trying to stay in front of the moving drow.
The other drow glanced the opposite direction frantically. “We don’t have time!”
Delorian stepped through the shadows halfway to the chambers entrance. If either of them tried to get away this direction, he was going to make sure it did not happen.
Malaghym flew up and took position in the cavern entrance, his arms crossed. He kind of enjoyed watching the two women squirm a bit.
Varick lowered his weapon and used his most calm, but stern voice. “We want to talk.” Malaghym snickered.
The first drow shook her head. “You don’t understand. Seekr’s friend will be here any moment!”
Will moved further off to the side, out of the way. “We can work together to get you out. Who is Seekr’s friend?” To Malaghym he telepathed, “Watch the hole the beholder came out of.”
Malaghym backed a bit more around the entrance corner and craned to see the opening in the chamber. From his vantage point he could easily see the opening without having to worry much about the two drow.
From the other direction movement and sound caught everyone’s attention. Around the corner that lead further into the Underdark came a robed humanoid figure. Its head was large, bulbous, and a pale pink color, and in place of a mouth and chin where several writhing tentacles. Again warning shouts went out over the telepathic bond, Seekr’s friend seemed to be an illithid, commonly known as a mind flayer for their ability to rip a man’s brain from his head, or scramble it with its psychic scream.
And scream it did. The tentacles writhed with a strange hissing sound and waves of psychic energy blasted into the group assembled. Delorian screamed, throwing his head back. His hands came up to grip his hair and he shook his head from side to side, trying to clear it. One of the two drow also screamed and dropped her weapon. She pawed at her eyes and head, shaking wildly, trying to clear the echoing scream from her mind.
From beyond the illithid a massive growl came, and a huge grayish-green skinned humanoid wielding a massive great axe came bounding over the small stream and racing toward Will. The thing had no eyes, but its expression was clear nonetheless. It was angry, and in some kind of berserking fury. The mage quickly backpedaled and through up his hands. He called forth a giant wall of pure force energy, leaving a small gap high within the wall incase he needed it.
The remain drow woman turned and ran as fast as she could toward the entrance of the cavern, she had managed to survive the blast of force from the illithid and had no interest in trying to survive it again.
Varick turned and took a few loping steps toward the illithid and swung his morningstar in a deadly attack. The blow would have connected, but at last moment, the illithid’s image seemed to displace off to one side. The holy morningstar smashed into the wall beside it, sending chips of stone flying.
Malaghym flew up and out into the cavern. He had not been in the first blast and he wanted to make sure and subsequent blasts were hard to center on himself. As he flew he pulled forth a magical harp the party had recovered from the shrine of the kuo-toa. He had the musical talent of a moss covered stone, but he did not want to play the harp. Instead he gripped it tight as flew and sucked the magical energy from it, rendering it useless for the time, but charging up his spellfire energies.
Marcus turned and ran toward the illithid as well. He too had shaken off the first blast, like Varick and the fleeing drow, but had no intention of letting the thing try and repeat its effort. Unfortunately he was too late.
Again the tentacles writhed, and the shrill hissing sounded from the mind flayer. Blasts of psychic energy rolled over Varick, Malaghym, Marcus, Delorian, and the already stunned drow. Marcus screamed and turned away, his hands going up to his head.
Malaghym saw the big berserker and recognized it as a grimlock. It turned on Varick, as if it could just sense that the invisible wall of force was there. The great axe swung with all the creatures might. Varick saw it coming though and blocked it with his shield. He instantly regretted it. His arm throbbed with pain. The impact did not damage the shield, but Varick was certain that if he was hit by that again he would not even be able to feel his shield arm. The thing was unbelievably strong.
The free drow continued to race away, fleeing out into the darkness of the Underdark beyond the entrance of the cavern.
Varick lifted his morningstar and called upon Mystra. A small silvery star appeared and began to circle around him. He looked at the grimlock and a small bolt of fire blasted into it.
From behind the wall of force, Will summoned up an enchanted floating sword. It hacked into the grimlock’s side. The berserker did not even seem to feel it. From above it, Malaghym pulled a balled up net and tossed it down. It easily entangled the grimlock, but again, it just did not seem to care.
The illithid moved up toward Varick, all four of its tentacles lashing out at him. Three of them hit him, and one gained purchase in his flesh. It started to burrow in, and try to take a hold on him. The priest twisted, and pulled, trying to get free, even as the grimlock tried to hack at him. His armor and shield held though. The grimlock was really big, but it was more angry and strong than accurate. Finally Varick pulled hard enough, and the tentacle slipped out of his flesh.
To one side of the grimlock, a large fire elemental sprang to life, summoned by Will. It slammed the grimlock twice with its flaming fists. Still the grimlock did not seem to care.
From above it, Malaghym poured his remaining spellfire into it. It just stood there and took it, not seeming to care, focusing on the cleric and attempting to bury its axe in him.
The illithid lifted one hand and pointed at Varick. In his mind he heard it speak arcane words. A small ray lashed out, lancing across Varick’s chest. He felt his strength being sapped by the ray. Still his huge size would make it hard for him to be grabbed by the tentacles, but the odds were quickly tipping against him. The longer he stood there, the more likely he was to be hit by the grimlock’s massive axe.
Varick slapped his morningstar into the side of the grimlock’s head. It was a solid blow that should have stunned it. Still it seemed to have no effect. The creature just did not seem to feel pain. Its body seemed battered though, and it seemed to only have the barest of life within it, even less so after the elemental slammed it again and the magical floating sword stabbed deep into it.
Malaghym could tell the thing was almost dead, so he flew down to within reach. His elven thin blade lashed out, stabbing deep into the back of the grimlock’s neck. He twisted it and pulled the blade out, ready to watch the barbarian fall. Its head cocked strangely to one side and it spun toward Malaghym.
The axe came around in a wide arc. Malaghym could not believe the thing was even moving. He could see the wound on the front of the things neck where his blade had passed through. He had severed its spine, punctured its windpipe, and still it fought on. Time slowed for a moment, and Malaghym thought he might have time to twist out of the way of the axe. Then in an instant it was over. The berserker followed through with the swing. Malaghym felt a bit of pain. It had managed to hit him in the stomach. He thought for a moment that he would need to use some of his spellfire energy to heal the wound. His sword hand came down to press over where the wound would be, but found only air. Surprised, Malaghym looked down at his severed midsection. Below him on the cavern floor his legs and hips lay in a swiftly widening pool of blood. His last thought was one of shock, before he fell to the ground, cut in half. Dead.
The grimlock was not content to just kill the dark elf though, it carried through with the blow and swung it wide up into the elemental. It smashed through the fiery form, splitting it in two and sending it quickly back to its own plane.
Will stood stunned. The grimlock had killed Malaghym in a single hit, and then had cleaved right into the elemental and banished it in the same strike. It should be dead, he thought. It had to be dead. Nothing could survive the wounds it had taken.
Too bad no one stopped to tell the grimlock that. It continued on its rampage, focusing its attention back on Varick. The priest knew he was fighting a losing fight now. Will screamed at him to get away from the others. He spun and shoved Marcus, who was still stumbling around holding his head, to the floor. Still stunned by the illithid’s blast, the rogue tumbled to the ground. Varick continued to backpedal, his large stride taking him easily away from the combat.
Black tentacles erupted up around the grimlock and the mind flayer. The barbarian ripped its way out of them, but was slowed enough that Varick had time to shove Delorian to the ground as well. If the barbarian was so enraged that it did not know when to die, then certainly it would not think to stop and hack at people on the ground. On its way toward Varick the grimlock stopped to hack at the drow female that was still standing stunned from the mind flayer’s blast. She crumpled into a bloody mess, dead instantly from the mighty blow.
Varick called out to Will in telepathy, “Take care of the mind flayer, I can outrun this mongrel!” He turned and ran down the passage, leading the berserker away.
Will turned to the mass of black tentacles, and the humanoid shape that struggled within it. He could see it was already gaining ground on making it loose of the tentacles, something was not about to let happen. He threw up his hands and called up a massive ring of fire around the illithid. The beast growled out in his mind, “This game is not over Will Farseeker. The end is only delayed!” With that a small glow appeared in the center of its head that spread to cover its entire form. The glow faded and the illithid was gone.
Will dropped the ground, sighing out in exhaustion, both physical and mental. Varick’s voice cut through his momentary rest. “The thing just decided to finally die… guess the fight left it when it found out was going to have to chase me to the surface before I was going to let it attack me again.”
Will looked across the battlefield. Malaghym lay dead, and Delorian and Marcus were writhing in pain still. “Come on back, hopefully these two ‘friends’ did not have any other friends about.”
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