Wulf Ratbane
Adventurer
THE SPEAKER IN DREAMS (Part X, FINALE)
Though they'd ended up with less than they started with, and though three of them had endured an unpleasant journey to the afterlife, they finally felt that they'd accomplished something. And for a change, the next stop on their agenda wasn't another stab in the dark: There was a huge column of fire emanating from the ruined dome of the Temple of Pelor-- an open gate to the Nine Hells.
It's good for a hero to have his path laid out so clearly.
Once again they prepared themselves for battle. Magic Circle of Protection was a must, of course, and not knowing what spellcasting foes they'd face, Wulf advised Alliane not to skimp on them, either. "Best thing yer can pray for now, if yer want my advice. Well, that an' Bull's Strength."
This time, though knowing full well it would make little difference, they headed out during the daytime. It wasn't so much that they expected the fiends' powers to be at all lessened in the sunlight, just that no one particularly relished the thought of meeting them in the dark.
They approached through the narrow, twisting alleys and were pleased to find that the blue abishai was not patrolling the skies, as usual. Wulf and the halfling crept up in advance of the party and looked out onto the courtyard where the temple stood. Two city guards were standing on the steps leading into the temple, looking frightened, anxious, and as if they'd rather be anyplace else at the moment.
Without warning, the front doors of the temple opened up and the abishai came flying out. A disembodied voice nearby ordered the two guards to move out and attack. Wulf crept back a couple of buildings and pulled his cloak tight.
The abishai flew over the two scouts and went right for Keldas, Halma, and Alliane. The two guards came running on, past the halfling, who was hiding and unwilling to give up his cover. Wulf let the first guard run past him, then sprung out of the shadows. His thick woolen sock, the end full of pennies, came rolling out of his belt and whistling down on the guard's cap, knocking him out instantly. The other guard skidded to a stop and turned to face Wulf. Wulf dropped his makeshift sap and advanced, drawing his axes.
"Anybody don't want to get killed, better clear on out the back..."
The guard didn't need to be told twice. Wulf was more than he'd be willing to handle even if he hadn't been forcibly pressed into service by infernal forces. He disappeared around the corner and Wulf didn't give him a second thought.
Wulf turned his attention to the skies and the abishai hovering there. "Come on down, yer bastard, an' play a while." The abishai seemed to laugh, then screeched loudly. A rip opened in the sky and soon a green abishai hovered in the sky at the rooftops. "Ach, that's not good..."
Halma wasn't wasting any time. He'd already hauled himself up a drainpipe and was racing across the rooftops to slam into the abishai, sword swinging, while Keldas zipped a Melf's Acid Arrow as well. The blue abishai retreated to the sky while Alliane moved forward to bring her magic circle around her allies. Soon the halfling came pit-patting back to the party, wondering what they were supposed to do next. Wulf was still out ahead of the party, and got out his sling, though he had little hope of a simple stone having any effect on a fiend. He was surprised to find just the opposite, and the abishai moved further out of reach.
Suddenly, a huge wall of ice sprang up across the narrow alley, cutting Wulf off from the rest of the party-- and the protection of Alliane's magic circle. The blue abishai swooped in for the kill, and Wulf drew his axes to defend himself. The walls of ice were just about level with the rooftops, so Keldas flew to the top of a building and secured a rope for his allies, dropping it down to the street below. Halma easily leapt from building to building, crossed the wall of ice, and jumped down to help Wulf, smashing into the blue abishai as he dropped. His longsword drove deep into the creature from the force of his fall, and though Halma was wounded in the heroic attack, the abishai crumpled beneath him.
The green abishai retreated for a moment, then screeched, summoning a black abishai. That's something, thought Wulf. At least they're getting weaker each time...
More and more walls of ice sprang out of nowhere, and Wulf looked around desperately for the invisible sorceror who was casting them-- for certainly, only a sorceror could cast so many of the same spell repeatedly. Alliane had managed to climb to the rooftops as well and stood on the roof above Wulf and Halma, but her magic circle was too high above them to be of any help. The green abishai waited for another wall of ice to seperate Wulf and Halma, then swooped down to attack Halma. Its attacks seemed to drain the strength out of the barbarian, despite his rage.
The black abishai flew off to have a little fun with the halfling, who was desperately trying to climb the rope. As soon as Alliane was out of range, the abishai attacked, catching the halfling halfway up the rope, clawing and stinging him repeatedly. The rope swung back and forth while the abishai batted him around like a kitten playing with a piece of string. The little rogue managed to hold onto the rope, but couldn't seem to decide whether to keep climbing, or drop off and run for it. He held on with one hand and feebly waved his dagger at the abishai; unimpressed, the fiend swept in to attack him again. From atop the building Keldas shouted down, "Climb, you idiot! Get back inside the circle!"
The halfling climbed as fast as he could and made it to the roof, just in time for another wall of ice to spring up across the roof, blocking the halfling's approach to the other side of the building, where Alliane-- and safety-- waited. Wulf cursed the invisible sorceror, "Show yerself and fight, yer coward!" His taunts were rewarded shortly when the bone devil finally appeared. The fiend had sectioned Wulf off in a tiny arena of ice. Hovering over him, it began to sting him with its poisoned tail. "Ha! Bring it, yer prick! I can drink hemlock fer tea!"
Well, that much was certainly true, the poison didn't do much-- but poison or no, the damn thing was still putting holes in him like a miner's pick. He wasn't going to last long at that rate, and the fiends weren't pulling any punches, no matter how much they appeared to be toying with the group. The black abishai let out a shriek, but instead of the expected white abishai, another blue one appeared. So much for that theory...
Up on the roof, the halfling was scrambling back and forth looking for a way through the ice wall. He went fishing for greek fire, as usual, but Halma shouted up at him, "Jump, peck! Jump!" The halfling eyed the distance across the rooftops and balked, but the repeated cries from his comrades (and the black abishai closing in) finally got him moving. He started tumbling and cartwheeling across the rooftops, making it across two different gaps in a rambling "run" that brought him all the way around the wall of ice to stand on the roof across from Alliane, looking down at his companions in the street below.
Wulf knew he couldn't handle any more of the bone devil, so he took his chances and made a run for it, too, springing up to catch a drainpipe and start scrambling up a wall-- the same building where Alliane waited on the roof. The bone devil swiped at him as he moved away, but missed; but in his haste Wulf slipped and fell when he was halfway up the wall. He tumbled back to the street below and cracked his head, knocking himself out. Better than getting stung again, I suppose...
Keldas grabbed Alliane and flew her down to the street before the bone devil could move. Inching up close to the wall of ice, she could just overlap Wulf without pressing her barrier against any devils. Halma moved towards the bone devil to keep him away from Wulf. The halfling jumped down into the circle and waited to see what would happen next.
Wulf slowly sat up, still staggered from the fall. He could make out the dim shadows of his allies on the other side of the wall, but could clearly hear them hollering for him to cut through the wall to safety. With Taranak blazing in his hand, it was a simple effort to cut through the wall of ice, but even that light activity sent him reeling and he collapsed to the floor again, dying. Here's hoping he doesn't just make a new wall in the same spot...
Halma scurried through the hole in the wall and winced as the icy chill cut through him. "Drag Wulf through that-- he'll die." On the other hand, Alliane couldn't step close enough to heal him without shattering her circle of protection against the devils. The heroes fished around in their packs and forced a healing potion down Wulf's throat, then hauled him through the icy barrier.
They were standing now almost in the courtyard of the temple. The bone devil and two abishai swooped down and waited outside the circle of protection. Wulf thought to himself: It would only take three of them to pin them down so that they couldn't move. After that, it was just a matter of waiting for the circle of protection to fall. Wulf looked up at his companions, all huddled close to Alliane for protection. "Been a good run, right?"
Keldas spoke sternly. "We're not done yet."
"Do the math, genius. We can't move." Wulf drew a little circle in the ground, punctuating it with three evenly spaced dots. "We're pinned down, see? We're gonna die." Sure enough the devils were capering happily outside the circle.
Keldas sighed and started to transform again. "Never got past planar geometry, huh?" The umber hulk appeared, flexed its huge claws, and started digging... straight down.
"Uhhh... well, right. Yer got me on that one."
The umber hulk clawed their way down a good distance. Alliane cast another circle of protection on Halma. "Wait right here, keep them corked out, then follow us as soon as you can!"
They kept digging until they splashed down into the sewers, then started running. Halma caught up to them soon enough. "Not following..."
Keldas took charge. "Very good. Let's get out of here..."
-----
They healed up, regrouped, and came up with a better plan. They were liking this Umber Hulk business very much indeed.
"We'll dig our way right up into the temple... Surprise them from below."
"Aye... right. But that bone devil's gonna be a pain again. Somebody's got to take him out. Yer give me Displacement and Improved Invisibility, I'll handle it for yer."
The halfling liked the sound of that. "Hey hey hey, if we're talking invisible, I'm a better rogue than you." He brandished his little daggers. "It should be me."
"But yer not a better man than me, peck, an' yer never will be. Yer willin' to stick to the devil one way or another, an' take the fight to him without stoppin', without runnin', without whinin', till one or both of yer is dead? Will yer swear to that? Cause yer know I will."
The halfling puffed out his chest. "Yeah, I'll do it. No big deal. You can trust me."
Keldas spoke up. "Wulf can do it."
They'd gotten another powerful scroll from the very old man-- more ancient knowledge from the followers of Pelor. Alliane could read the scroll, re-consecrating the temple, but the spellcasting process would take nearly a full day.
"We'll just have to clear the place out first, then."
They started digging for the temple, trusting on Wulf's innate sense of direction to get them on target. "Right. Here." They started digging upwards and came out in a small storage room. Wulf and the halfling peeked out of the door. "Looks like the temple, all right. Let's have that Invisibility."
They were in a short hallway with two doors. They heard nothing at the first door, so they moved on down to the second one. They could hear priests talking inside. Wulf nodded to the halfling and they rushed into the room. They caught the priests flat-footed-- and with the expert tactics only a couple of ambidextrous two-weapon rogues could dream up ("Stab 'em real quick, about a dozen times each...")-- well, that's pretty much all there was to that. Halma burst into the room and couldn't find much of a trace of what they'd been fighting.
But they'd made quite a ruckus. The first door opened and a priest crushed poor Alliane with his flail. Keldas shoved her out of the way and started snapping with his claws, forcing the priest back until Halma came dashing in to finish him off. Alliane was caught off guard, but she'd survive. She got her Magic Circle ready without further hesitation.
They moved on and entered the dome. The blast of fire was quite a sight to see-- emanating from a pit in the center of the dome that was at least 10 feet deep, though it was hard to tell from blast. Wulf moved cautiously into the empty room, confident in his invisibility, and was quite surprised when a wall of ice sprang up from behind him, cutting him off from the rest of the party. He kept moving, just in case they were using Detect Magic to try to pinpoint him.
The rest of the group sprang into action, running back down the hall they'd come down, and taking a door that they'd correctly surmised led to the outside. They were doing an end run around the dome, intending to come in the front doors. Halma was the first one on the scene, and burst into the dome only to take some minor (but painful) magic from a little goblin-like imp. Keldas and Alliane were the next two to enter the dome, but before they could get fully into the room, another wall of ice sprang up across the dome, cutting them off, too. Keldas started to transform again so that he could cast spells or fly over the wall.
Halma started fighting the imp, backed up by Wulf, but it was not long before the bone devil appeared and began attacking. Apparently satisfied that he had seperated the party, he started in on Halma. Keldas, hasted, flew over the wall to cast Displacement on Wulf. The little imp had retreated, flying and invisible, and Wulf dove into the bone devil with gusto, wounding it badly and driving it off, where it hid invisibly again.
The halfling had burned his way through the wall of ice and moved up to join Wulf by the column of fire. Suddenly, the bone devil swooped at him from the sky, trying to knock the peck into the column of fire. The halfling's uncanny senses warned him just in time, and the devil missed by inches.
Wulf turned to face the devil, who was hovering in front of him in the column of fire. The bone devil was smug, sticking to the protection of the column of flame. Wulf could already feel the intense heat coming off it.
"Ferkit." He swung his axes through the fire to connect with the bone devil. Sure enough, the blazing column burned like fire, too. His hands were singed, and the bone devil ignored him, assuming the lesson was learned. But Wulf grit his teeth and kept right on, hacking away at his enemy despite the fact that the burns and blisters on his arms worsened each time. The devil had decided to make a stand, but eventually he screeched and collapsed into the pit. Nobody was in any hurry to follow him down and "make sure."
The imp had taken the better part of valor and disappeared.
-----
They crossed the dome to the opposite side, where the architecture mirrored the side they'd entered from. Finding all the rooms empty, they climbed the stairs to the next floor. A single door awaited them, and when Wulf suddenly winked into existence again, heralding an Invisibility Purge, they surmised they'd found another enclave of priests.
They rushed the door en masse, Wulf, Halma, and the halfling, but they found the priests ready for them, with their backs to the wall and their spells ready. Wulf was stopped in his tracks, his willpower unable to shake off the effects of their spells. Keldas moved into the room to lend support, and Alliane hung near the back, just close enough to overlap her magic circle.
Halma and the halfling hacked away at one of the priests, felling him together, though he was clearly still alive when he dropped. Good, thought Wulf, a prisoner. The other priest stepped away from his assailants, reached down with a glowing hand, and grimly sucked the life force out of his own fallen ally-- swelling his own powers considerably. While the heroes stood open-mouthed at this turn of events, the priest stepped forward and laid his hand on the halfling's head. "Hextor, SLAY your enemies!"
The halfling dropped dead.
Moments later, Halma sent the priest to join him, but the deed was done.
Wulf stepped up and looked down on the body. "Oh, that's too bad." He bent down and hacked the ears off the halfling before Keldas could stop him.
"Why did you do that?"
"Well, yer need some flesh if yer want the priest to help him, right?"
"Well, yes, but the temple is empty now, we could have just carried his body back intact."
"Oh. Right." Wulf tucked the ears into his pouch. "Sorry 'bout that."
-----
They checked the rest of the temple and found it empty. Moving downstairs, they set Alliane up at the back of the dome to begin the casting. The rest of them staked out the three entrances to the dome. Wulf and Keldas each guarded a side door. Halma guarded the front doors. "Anybody come through, I kill him!"
Unfurling the scroll, Alliane began the long casting process to reconsecrate the temple.
She was not far into the casting when there was a knock on the front doors. Halma readied his long sword. The old rat-man, Turvin, stuck his twitching nose through the doors, and Halma let him have it.
Picked a bad time to come back, yer rat bastard.
The old man was sent staggering back out of the temple. "Well, I was going to suggest you surrender, but you've changed my mind." He gestured to his rat-men. "Kill them all."
Halma stood his ground at the door. Wulf desperately wanted to rush up and help him, but didn't dare leave his own post. The greasy rat-men slipped by Halma easily and moved into the room. Keldas was forced to move back to protect Alliane, just in case, but still Wulf held his post.
It was the next wave of attackers that finally moved him. An ogre waded into the fray, crossing the front steps of the temple in a single pace. He battered at Halma until the young barbarian was forced to fall back. Severely wounded, Halma staggered back towards Wulf, who came forward to intercept the ogre. Wulf moved out just in time to see two of the little goblin imps appear and start casting spells. The evil foes gathered up into a wedge and drove the two fighters back. At the front of their wedge, the ogre-- or rather, as they were about to discover, the ogre-mage-- let loose a cone of cold that nearly killed Halma, and severely wounded Wulf, who was caught off-guard and unable to dodge.
They strongly considered running, but Alliane kept right on reading, and Keldas shouted, "We're not going ANYWHERE!" Though he was wounded just enough that, in all likelihood, he'd be instantly killed by a single swat from the ogre, Keldas rushed up toe-to-toe with the creature and let fly with a Burning Hands spell. The ogre-mage liked that none too well, and the arc of flame caught and killed Turvin and one of his rat-men. Bonus!
Wulf took the opportunity to weave his way through the remaining enemies to the ogre's back, slashing at him with Taranak held in both hands. It proved just enough to drop the mighty foe, and Halma was able to stride forward and take out the last rat-man. Keldas let fly with Acid Arrows for the imps. They fled invisibly, but the acid stuck with them, eating away at them through the initial wound. The group was satisfied to see both of them drop dead moments later.
Alliane was still reading the scroll. The rite went on.
Alliane had no healing left, and they couldn't even afford to interrupt her even if she had. They were all within arm's reach of Death.
Wulf helped Halma over to the side door. "I'm better off'n yer are, I'll take the front. Keldas, get back to yer spot."
More time passed, when there came a polite knock on the front doors. Wulf shrugged and answered from within. "Aye?"
"I am sent with this message: The Baron requests a meeting with you!"
Wulf thought fast. This called for... diplomacy.
"Tell his Grace that we humbly accept his invitation, and will call upon him on the morrow!"
There was a long pause on the other side of the door. "Uhhhh... Okay."
Wulf turned to smile at his friends and give them the thumbs-up. "That settles that. Keep readin', lady!"
-----
They returned victorious to the old priest. His temple reconsecrated, he was more than willing to raise the halfling back to life. "Do you vouch for your friend, the halfling?"
Alliane, Keldas, and Halma nodded.
Wulf frowned. "Trust me. Yer makin' a big mistake."
In the end, over Wulf's objections, the halfling was brought back-- a little the worse for wear. Unlike Halma, who had nothing but fond memories of his time in the afterlife, the halfling seemed none too eager to discuss his soul's journey.
True to their word, on the morrow, they went to visit the Baron. Once again, the plan was to tunnel their way into his manor house, enter through the floor of a storeroom, then take their time finding the Baron-- and, hopefully, the Speaker in Dreams who had yet to reveal himself.
The tunnelling didn't go as smoothly as before. They criss-crossed themselves so often that Wulf half-suspected they'd collapse the whole city on top of themselves. Finally, trusting to his instincts, Wulf advised Keldas to start tunnelling up. "Should be the store-room right there."
In fact, they tunnelled up rather un-ceremoniously into the Baron's throne room-- and they were obviously waiting for them.
The Baron stood proudly, flanked on either side by a burly warrior. Nearby was a beautiful young girl, not a day over sixteen, smiling coyly and re-arranging her hair under her red beret. Lurking in the back was a stooped figure in a cowl. Wulf's mind was racing a mile a minute.
Wulf had also noticed that one of the Baron's guards had Halma's greatsword. Halma's father's greatsword. Halma's treasured beyond all belief greatsword. The hilt was clearly visible, though, and Wulf knew that if Halma saw it, there'd be no stopping him. Wulf wanted very much to start this fight on his own terms, when he was ready.
"Ahhh... We're here! Good morning!" He was desperate for a diversion, to keep Halma occupied, but he found himself unexpectedly blather-less. "Ummm...."
The Baron smiled at them. "Very pleased to meet you, dwarf. You've caused me a lot of trouble, you know." He nodded to Keldas. "And you, too, wizard."
He let his gaze fall on the halfling. "Good to see you again, Tomaloc."
What?
"I'm rather disappointed to note that, as of now, Shuma is still among the living. Have you decided against our bargain?"
"WHAT!?" Wulf fixed the halfling square in his gaze. Halma, Keldas, and Alliane were standing around the hole, looking dumbfounded.
"Oh, calm down. It's no big deal. I asked them if they could train me as an assassin, and they told me ok, but I had to kill Shuma, but I decided not to do it, so let's just move on, ok?"
"YER CAME HERE WITHOUT TELLIN' US AND STARTED MAKIN' DEALS WITH THESE EVIL PRICKS?!" Wulf's hands were balled into fists of rage-- and yet, well away from his weapons.
Still, the halfling backed up a step. He'd seen how fast the dwarf could draw a weapon. "Look, I decided against it, ok? So I don't see why you have to get all worked up over it."
Wulf took a step towards the halfling, ready to throttle him. The Baron simply looked bemused-- until the last moment. Wulf suddenly turned, two socks full of pennies unrolling from his fists and slamming down onto Wulf's chosen target.
Not the halfling. Not the Baron. Not the guards.
Wulf knocked the living crap out of the beautiful sixteen year old girl.
His two makeshift saps split wide open, sending pennies flying all over, but before the first coin had hit the ground he'd already drawn his hand-axe and given her a solid chop across the shoulder with that, too-- just for good measure. He dropped her like an ox. (Like a shapely, squeezable, sixteen-year-old ox!)
"Halma! That bastard's got yer sword!"
That had the desired effect. Everybody started grabbing for weapons, but Halma had already flown into a rage and rushed the guards. The Baron staggered back out of the way.
Never one to be outdone, the halfling watched the young girl collapse then sought out his own apparently helpless foe. He cartwheeled his way through the combatants and stopped next to the stooped, cowled figure. He caught the old man completely off guard, and drove his daggers home to devastating effect.
But the... thing... didn't drop.
The stooped figure straightened up and dropped his cowl. Wulf looked into a tentacled visage he'd only heard tales of as a youth-- and none of them pleasant. Its bulbous eyes flashed with ire just before it unleashed a mind blast onto the tightly packed group.
"Kill it! Kill it, kill it, kill it or we're all going to dieeeeeeeeeeeeeee......." The mind blast washed over them and Wulf stood drooling. Halma was out, too. And Alliane.
The halfling drank in the realization that he was facing a mind flayer, and looked more than half ready to dive back into the hole. The guards were already hacking at the two stunned warriors, and now that the mind flayer was ready for him, he didn't relish the thought of trying to take it down with his daggers. He hesitated...
Keldas waded through the combat, trusting in the hulk's carapace to deflect any blows, and clawed at the illithid. With its attention now diverted, the halfling found the spine to strike once again, wounding it deeply.
The illithid stepped away, activating some arcane power. Reality seemed to split in half, and Wulf gazed through a portal onto stars he'd never seen before-- and never hoped to see again.
Just like that, the illithid was gone.
Keldas and the halfling worked together to finish off the two guards. The Baron stood dumbfounded at the back of the room and was still standing there when Wulf regained his senses.
The Baron dropped his sword and sat down heavily into his chair. "Wha-- where am I?"
"Sit down an' shut up, yer bastard. I'll deal with yer in a second. But for now, let's see about lassie he---YAAAAAA!" Wulf had whisked the beret off the young girl's head, and when he did so, a tangle of snakes fell out from under it. The medusa's head was hacked off before most of the others had even come to the same realization.
Keldas nodded. "Nice work. How did you know she was a medusa?"
"Didn't! Figured she was just a sorceror or summat... Take somebody out quick, yer know? Establish my authority." Wulf wiped his blade off. "Got lucky, basically."
Wulf picked up the Baron's sword and inspected the masterwork blade as he approached the throne.
"First," he looked at the Baron. "We'll talk reward. And then," he tapped the blade in his hand...
"We'll talk to the halfling."
Though they'd ended up with less than they started with, and though three of them had endured an unpleasant journey to the afterlife, they finally felt that they'd accomplished something. And for a change, the next stop on their agenda wasn't another stab in the dark: There was a huge column of fire emanating from the ruined dome of the Temple of Pelor-- an open gate to the Nine Hells.
It's good for a hero to have his path laid out so clearly.
Once again they prepared themselves for battle. Magic Circle of Protection was a must, of course, and not knowing what spellcasting foes they'd face, Wulf advised Alliane not to skimp on them, either. "Best thing yer can pray for now, if yer want my advice. Well, that an' Bull's Strength."
This time, though knowing full well it would make little difference, they headed out during the daytime. It wasn't so much that they expected the fiends' powers to be at all lessened in the sunlight, just that no one particularly relished the thought of meeting them in the dark.
They approached through the narrow, twisting alleys and were pleased to find that the blue abishai was not patrolling the skies, as usual. Wulf and the halfling crept up in advance of the party and looked out onto the courtyard where the temple stood. Two city guards were standing on the steps leading into the temple, looking frightened, anxious, and as if they'd rather be anyplace else at the moment.
Without warning, the front doors of the temple opened up and the abishai came flying out. A disembodied voice nearby ordered the two guards to move out and attack. Wulf crept back a couple of buildings and pulled his cloak tight.
The abishai flew over the two scouts and went right for Keldas, Halma, and Alliane. The two guards came running on, past the halfling, who was hiding and unwilling to give up his cover. Wulf let the first guard run past him, then sprung out of the shadows. His thick woolen sock, the end full of pennies, came rolling out of his belt and whistling down on the guard's cap, knocking him out instantly. The other guard skidded to a stop and turned to face Wulf. Wulf dropped his makeshift sap and advanced, drawing his axes.
"Anybody don't want to get killed, better clear on out the back..."
The guard didn't need to be told twice. Wulf was more than he'd be willing to handle even if he hadn't been forcibly pressed into service by infernal forces. He disappeared around the corner and Wulf didn't give him a second thought.
Wulf turned his attention to the skies and the abishai hovering there. "Come on down, yer bastard, an' play a while." The abishai seemed to laugh, then screeched loudly. A rip opened in the sky and soon a green abishai hovered in the sky at the rooftops. "Ach, that's not good..."
Halma wasn't wasting any time. He'd already hauled himself up a drainpipe and was racing across the rooftops to slam into the abishai, sword swinging, while Keldas zipped a Melf's Acid Arrow as well. The blue abishai retreated to the sky while Alliane moved forward to bring her magic circle around her allies. Soon the halfling came pit-patting back to the party, wondering what they were supposed to do next. Wulf was still out ahead of the party, and got out his sling, though he had little hope of a simple stone having any effect on a fiend. He was surprised to find just the opposite, and the abishai moved further out of reach.
Suddenly, a huge wall of ice sprang up across the narrow alley, cutting Wulf off from the rest of the party-- and the protection of Alliane's magic circle. The blue abishai swooped in for the kill, and Wulf drew his axes to defend himself. The walls of ice were just about level with the rooftops, so Keldas flew to the top of a building and secured a rope for his allies, dropping it down to the street below. Halma easily leapt from building to building, crossed the wall of ice, and jumped down to help Wulf, smashing into the blue abishai as he dropped. His longsword drove deep into the creature from the force of his fall, and though Halma was wounded in the heroic attack, the abishai crumpled beneath him.
The green abishai retreated for a moment, then screeched, summoning a black abishai. That's something, thought Wulf. At least they're getting weaker each time...
More and more walls of ice sprang out of nowhere, and Wulf looked around desperately for the invisible sorceror who was casting them-- for certainly, only a sorceror could cast so many of the same spell repeatedly. Alliane had managed to climb to the rooftops as well and stood on the roof above Wulf and Halma, but her magic circle was too high above them to be of any help. The green abishai waited for another wall of ice to seperate Wulf and Halma, then swooped down to attack Halma. Its attacks seemed to drain the strength out of the barbarian, despite his rage.
The black abishai flew off to have a little fun with the halfling, who was desperately trying to climb the rope. As soon as Alliane was out of range, the abishai attacked, catching the halfling halfway up the rope, clawing and stinging him repeatedly. The rope swung back and forth while the abishai batted him around like a kitten playing with a piece of string. The little rogue managed to hold onto the rope, but couldn't seem to decide whether to keep climbing, or drop off and run for it. He held on with one hand and feebly waved his dagger at the abishai; unimpressed, the fiend swept in to attack him again. From atop the building Keldas shouted down, "Climb, you idiot! Get back inside the circle!"
The halfling climbed as fast as he could and made it to the roof, just in time for another wall of ice to spring up across the roof, blocking the halfling's approach to the other side of the building, where Alliane-- and safety-- waited. Wulf cursed the invisible sorceror, "Show yerself and fight, yer coward!" His taunts were rewarded shortly when the bone devil finally appeared. The fiend had sectioned Wulf off in a tiny arena of ice. Hovering over him, it began to sting him with its poisoned tail. "Ha! Bring it, yer prick! I can drink hemlock fer tea!"
Well, that much was certainly true, the poison didn't do much-- but poison or no, the damn thing was still putting holes in him like a miner's pick. He wasn't going to last long at that rate, and the fiends weren't pulling any punches, no matter how much they appeared to be toying with the group. The black abishai let out a shriek, but instead of the expected white abishai, another blue one appeared. So much for that theory...
Up on the roof, the halfling was scrambling back and forth looking for a way through the ice wall. He went fishing for greek fire, as usual, but Halma shouted up at him, "Jump, peck! Jump!" The halfling eyed the distance across the rooftops and balked, but the repeated cries from his comrades (and the black abishai closing in) finally got him moving. He started tumbling and cartwheeling across the rooftops, making it across two different gaps in a rambling "run" that brought him all the way around the wall of ice to stand on the roof across from Alliane, looking down at his companions in the street below.
Wulf knew he couldn't handle any more of the bone devil, so he took his chances and made a run for it, too, springing up to catch a drainpipe and start scrambling up a wall-- the same building where Alliane waited on the roof. The bone devil swiped at him as he moved away, but missed; but in his haste Wulf slipped and fell when he was halfway up the wall. He tumbled back to the street below and cracked his head, knocking himself out. Better than getting stung again, I suppose...
Keldas grabbed Alliane and flew her down to the street before the bone devil could move. Inching up close to the wall of ice, she could just overlap Wulf without pressing her barrier against any devils. Halma moved towards the bone devil to keep him away from Wulf. The halfling jumped down into the circle and waited to see what would happen next.
Wulf slowly sat up, still staggered from the fall. He could make out the dim shadows of his allies on the other side of the wall, but could clearly hear them hollering for him to cut through the wall to safety. With Taranak blazing in his hand, it was a simple effort to cut through the wall of ice, but even that light activity sent him reeling and he collapsed to the floor again, dying. Here's hoping he doesn't just make a new wall in the same spot...
Halma scurried through the hole in the wall and winced as the icy chill cut through him. "Drag Wulf through that-- he'll die." On the other hand, Alliane couldn't step close enough to heal him without shattering her circle of protection against the devils. The heroes fished around in their packs and forced a healing potion down Wulf's throat, then hauled him through the icy barrier.
They were standing now almost in the courtyard of the temple. The bone devil and two abishai swooped down and waited outside the circle of protection. Wulf thought to himself: It would only take three of them to pin them down so that they couldn't move. After that, it was just a matter of waiting for the circle of protection to fall. Wulf looked up at his companions, all huddled close to Alliane for protection. "Been a good run, right?"
Keldas spoke sternly. "We're not done yet."
"Do the math, genius. We can't move." Wulf drew a little circle in the ground, punctuating it with three evenly spaced dots. "We're pinned down, see? We're gonna die." Sure enough the devils were capering happily outside the circle.
Keldas sighed and started to transform again. "Never got past planar geometry, huh?" The umber hulk appeared, flexed its huge claws, and started digging... straight down.
"Uhhh... well, right. Yer got me on that one."
The umber hulk clawed their way down a good distance. Alliane cast another circle of protection on Halma. "Wait right here, keep them corked out, then follow us as soon as you can!"
They kept digging until they splashed down into the sewers, then started running. Halma caught up to them soon enough. "Not following..."
Keldas took charge. "Very good. Let's get out of here..."
-----
They healed up, regrouped, and came up with a better plan. They were liking this Umber Hulk business very much indeed.
"We'll dig our way right up into the temple... Surprise them from below."
"Aye... right. But that bone devil's gonna be a pain again. Somebody's got to take him out. Yer give me Displacement and Improved Invisibility, I'll handle it for yer."
The halfling liked the sound of that. "Hey hey hey, if we're talking invisible, I'm a better rogue than you." He brandished his little daggers. "It should be me."
"But yer not a better man than me, peck, an' yer never will be. Yer willin' to stick to the devil one way or another, an' take the fight to him without stoppin', without runnin', without whinin', till one or both of yer is dead? Will yer swear to that? Cause yer know I will."
The halfling puffed out his chest. "Yeah, I'll do it. No big deal. You can trust me."
Keldas spoke up. "Wulf can do it."
They'd gotten another powerful scroll from the very old man-- more ancient knowledge from the followers of Pelor. Alliane could read the scroll, re-consecrating the temple, but the spellcasting process would take nearly a full day.
"We'll just have to clear the place out first, then."
They started digging for the temple, trusting on Wulf's innate sense of direction to get them on target. "Right. Here." They started digging upwards and came out in a small storage room. Wulf and the halfling peeked out of the door. "Looks like the temple, all right. Let's have that Invisibility."
They were in a short hallway with two doors. They heard nothing at the first door, so they moved on down to the second one. They could hear priests talking inside. Wulf nodded to the halfling and they rushed into the room. They caught the priests flat-footed-- and with the expert tactics only a couple of ambidextrous two-weapon rogues could dream up ("Stab 'em real quick, about a dozen times each...")-- well, that's pretty much all there was to that. Halma burst into the room and couldn't find much of a trace of what they'd been fighting.
But they'd made quite a ruckus. The first door opened and a priest crushed poor Alliane with his flail. Keldas shoved her out of the way and started snapping with his claws, forcing the priest back until Halma came dashing in to finish him off. Alliane was caught off guard, but she'd survive. She got her Magic Circle ready without further hesitation.
They moved on and entered the dome. The blast of fire was quite a sight to see-- emanating from a pit in the center of the dome that was at least 10 feet deep, though it was hard to tell from blast. Wulf moved cautiously into the empty room, confident in his invisibility, and was quite surprised when a wall of ice sprang up from behind him, cutting him off from the rest of the party. He kept moving, just in case they were using Detect Magic to try to pinpoint him.
The rest of the group sprang into action, running back down the hall they'd come down, and taking a door that they'd correctly surmised led to the outside. They were doing an end run around the dome, intending to come in the front doors. Halma was the first one on the scene, and burst into the dome only to take some minor (but painful) magic from a little goblin-like imp. Keldas and Alliane were the next two to enter the dome, but before they could get fully into the room, another wall of ice sprang up across the dome, cutting them off, too. Keldas started to transform again so that he could cast spells or fly over the wall.
Halma started fighting the imp, backed up by Wulf, but it was not long before the bone devil appeared and began attacking. Apparently satisfied that he had seperated the party, he started in on Halma. Keldas, hasted, flew over the wall to cast Displacement on Wulf. The little imp had retreated, flying and invisible, and Wulf dove into the bone devil with gusto, wounding it badly and driving it off, where it hid invisibly again.
The halfling had burned his way through the wall of ice and moved up to join Wulf by the column of fire. Suddenly, the bone devil swooped at him from the sky, trying to knock the peck into the column of fire. The halfling's uncanny senses warned him just in time, and the devil missed by inches.
Wulf turned to face the devil, who was hovering in front of him in the column of fire. The bone devil was smug, sticking to the protection of the column of flame. Wulf could already feel the intense heat coming off it.
"Ferkit." He swung his axes through the fire to connect with the bone devil. Sure enough, the blazing column burned like fire, too. His hands were singed, and the bone devil ignored him, assuming the lesson was learned. But Wulf grit his teeth and kept right on, hacking away at his enemy despite the fact that the burns and blisters on his arms worsened each time. The devil had decided to make a stand, but eventually he screeched and collapsed into the pit. Nobody was in any hurry to follow him down and "make sure."
The imp had taken the better part of valor and disappeared.
-----
They crossed the dome to the opposite side, where the architecture mirrored the side they'd entered from. Finding all the rooms empty, they climbed the stairs to the next floor. A single door awaited them, and when Wulf suddenly winked into existence again, heralding an Invisibility Purge, they surmised they'd found another enclave of priests.
They rushed the door en masse, Wulf, Halma, and the halfling, but they found the priests ready for them, with their backs to the wall and their spells ready. Wulf was stopped in his tracks, his willpower unable to shake off the effects of their spells. Keldas moved into the room to lend support, and Alliane hung near the back, just close enough to overlap her magic circle.
Halma and the halfling hacked away at one of the priests, felling him together, though he was clearly still alive when he dropped. Good, thought Wulf, a prisoner. The other priest stepped away from his assailants, reached down with a glowing hand, and grimly sucked the life force out of his own fallen ally-- swelling his own powers considerably. While the heroes stood open-mouthed at this turn of events, the priest stepped forward and laid his hand on the halfling's head. "Hextor, SLAY your enemies!"
The halfling dropped dead.
Moments later, Halma sent the priest to join him, but the deed was done.
Wulf stepped up and looked down on the body. "Oh, that's too bad." He bent down and hacked the ears off the halfling before Keldas could stop him.
"Why did you do that?"
"Well, yer need some flesh if yer want the priest to help him, right?"
"Well, yes, but the temple is empty now, we could have just carried his body back intact."
"Oh. Right." Wulf tucked the ears into his pouch. "Sorry 'bout that."
-----
They checked the rest of the temple and found it empty. Moving downstairs, they set Alliane up at the back of the dome to begin the casting. The rest of them staked out the three entrances to the dome. Wulf and Keldas each guarded a side door. Halma guarded the front doors. "Anybody come through, I kill him!"
Unfurling the scroll, Alliane began the long casting process to reconsecrate the temple.
She was not far into the casting when there was a knock on the front doors. Halma readied his long sword. The old rat-man, Turvin, stuck his twitching nose through the doors, and Halma let him have it.
Picked a bad time to come back, yer rat bastard.
The old man was sent staggering back out of the temple. "Well, I was going to suggest you surrender, but you've changed my mind." He gestured to his rat-men. "Kill them all."
Halma stood his ground at the door. Wulf desperately wanted to rush up and help him, but didn't dare leave his own post. The greasy rat-men slipped by Halma easily and moved into the room. Keldas was forced to move back to protect Alliane, just in case, but still Wulf held his post.
It was the next wave of attackers that finally moved him. An ogre waded into the fray, crossing the front steps of the temple in a single pace. He battered at Halma until the young barbarian was forced to fall back. Severely wounded, Halma staggered back towards Wulf, who came forward to intercept the ogre. Wulf moved out just in time to see two of the little goblin imps appear and start casting spells. The evil foes gathered up into a wedge and drove the two fighters back. At the front of their wedge, the ogre-- or rather, as they were about to discover, the ogre-mage-- let loose a cone of cold that nearly killed Halma, and severely wounded Wulf, who was caught off-guard and unable to dodge.
They strongly considered running, but Alliane kept right on reading, and Keldas shouted, "We're not going ANYWHERE!" Though he was wounded just enough that, in all likelihood, he'd be instantly killed by a single swat from the ogre, Keldas rushed up toe-to-toe with the creature and let fly with a Burning Hands spell. The ogre-mage liked that none too well, and the arc of flame caught and killed Turvin and one of his rat-men. Bonus!
Wulf took the opportunity to weave his way through the remaining enemies to the ogre's back, slashing at him with Taranak held in both hands. It proved just enough to drop the mighty foe, and Halma was able to stride forward and take out the last rat-man. Keldas let fly with Acid Arrows for the imps. They fled invisibly, but the acid stuck with them, eating away at them through the initial wound. The group was satisfied to see both of them drop dead moments later.
Alliane was still reading the scroll. The rite went on.
Alliane had no healing left, and they couldn't even afford to interrupt her even if she had. They were all within arm's reach of Death.
Wulf helped Halma over to the side door. "I'm better off'n yer are, I'll take the front. Keldas, get back to yer spot."
More time passed, when there came a polite knock on the front doors. Wulf shrugged and answered from within. "Aye?"
"I am sent with this message: The Baron requests a meeting with you!"
Wulf thought fast. This called for... diplomacy.
"Tell his Grace that we humbly accept his invitation, and will call upon him on the morrow!"
There was a long pause on the other side of the door. "Uhhhh... Okay."
Wulf turned to smile at his friends and give them the thumbs-up. "That settles that. Keep readin', lady!"
-----
They returned victorious to the old priest. His temple reconsecrated, he was more than willing to raise the halfling back to life. "Do you vouch for your friend, the halfling?"
Alliane, Keldas, and Halma nodded.
Wulf frowned. "Trust me. Yer makin' a big mistake."
In the end, over Wulf's objections, the halfling was brought back-- a little the worse for wear. Unlike Halma, who had nothing but fond memories of his time in the afterlife, the halfling seemed none too eager to discuss his soul's journey.
True to their word, on the morrow, they went to visit the Baron. Once again, the plan was to tunnel their way into his manor house, enter through the floor of a storeroom, then take their time finding the Baron-- and, hopefully, the Speaker in Dreams who had yet to reveal himself.
The tunnelling didn't go as smoothly as before. They criss-crossed themselves so often that Wulf half-suspected they'd collapse the whole city on top of themselves. Finally, trusting to his instincts, Wulf advised Keldas to start tunnelling up. "Should be the store-room right there."
In fact, they tunnelled up rather un-ceremoniously into the Baron's throne room-- and they were obviously waiting for them.
The Baron stood proudly, flanked on either side by a burly warrior. Nearby was a beautiful young girl, not a day over sixteen, smiling coyly and re-arranging her hair under her red beret. Lurking in the back was a stooped figure in a cowl. Wulf's mind was racing a mile a minute.
Wulf had also noticed that one of the Baron's guards had Halma's greatsword. Halma's father's greatsword. Halma's treasured beyond all belief greatsword. The hilt was clearly visible, though, and Wulf knew that if Halma saw it, there'd be no stopping him. Wulf wanted very much to start this fight on his own terms, when he was ready.
"Ahhh... We're here! Good morning!" He was desperate for a diversion, to keep Halma occupied, but he found himself unexpectedly blather-less. "Ummm...."
The Baron smiled at them. "Very pleased to meet you, dwarf. You've caused me a lot of trouble, you know." He nodded to Keldas. "And you, too, wizard."
He let his gaze fall on the halfling. "Good to see you again, Tomaloc."
What?
"I'm rather disappointed to note that, as of now, Shuma is still among the living. Have you decided against our bargain?"
"WHAT!?" Wulf fixed the halfling square in his gaze. Halma, Keldas, and Alliane were standing around the hole, looking dumbfounded.
"Oh, calm down. It's no big deal. I asked them if they could train me as an assassin, and they told me ok, but I had to kill Shuma, but I decided not to do it, so let's just move on, ok?"
"YER CAME HERE WITHOUT TELLIN' US AND STARTED MAKIN' DEALS WITH THESE EVIL PRICKS?!" Wulf's hands were balled into fists of rage-- and yet, well away from his weapons.
Still, the halfling backed up a step. He'd seen how fast the dwarf could draw a weapon. "Look, I decided against it, ok? So I don't see why you have to get all worked up over it."
Wulf took a step towards the halfling, ready to throttle him. The Baron simply looked bemused-- until the last moment. Wulf suddenly turned, two socks full of pennies unrolling from his fists and slamming down onto Wulf's chosen target.
Not the halfling. Not the Baron. Not the guards.
Wulf knocked the living crap out of the beautiful sixteen year old girl.
His two makeshift saps split wide open, sending pennies flying all over, but before the first coin had hit the ground he'd already drawn his hand-axe and given her a solid chop across the shoulder with that, too-- just for good measure. He dropped her like an ox. (Like a shapely, squeezable, sixteen-year-old ox!)
"Halma! That bastard's got yer sword!"
That had the desired effect. Everybody started grabbing for weapons, but Halma had already flown into a rage and rushed the guards. The Baron staggered back out of the way.
Never one to be outdone, the halfling watched the young girl collapse then sought out his own apparently helpless foe. He cartwheeled his way through the combatants and stopped next to the stooped, cowled figure. He caught the old man completely off guard, and drove his daggers home to devastating effect.
But the... thing... didn't drop.
The stooped figure straightened up and dropped his cowl. Wulf looked into a tentacled visage he'd only heard tales of as a youth-- and none of them pleasant. Its bulbous eyes flashed with ire just before it unleashed a mind blast onto the tightly packed group.
"Kill it! Kill it, kill it, kill it or we're all going to dieeeeeeeeeeeeeee......." The mind blast washed over them and Wulf stood drooling. Halma was out, too. And Alliane.
The halfling drank in the realization that he was facing a mind flayer, and looked more than half ready to dive back into the hole. The guards were already hacking at the two stunned warriors, and now that the mind flayer was ready for him, he didn't relish the thought of trying to take it down with his daggers. He hesitated...
Keldas waded through the combat, trusting in the hulk's carapace to deflect any blows, and clawed at the illithid. With its attention now diverted, the halfling found the spine to strike once again, wounding it deeply.
The illithid stepped away, activating some arcane power. Reality seemed to split in half, and Wulf gazed through a portal onto stars he'd never seen before-- and never hoped to see again.
Just like that, the illithid was gone.
Keldas and the halfling worked together to finish off the two guards. The Baron stood dumbfounded at the back of the room and was still standing there when Wulf regained his senses.
The Baron dropped his sword and sat down heavily into his chair. "Wha-- where am I?"
"Sit down an' shut up, yer bastard. I'll deal with yer in a second. But for now, let's see about lassie he---YAAAAAA!" Wulf had whisked the beret off the young girl's head, and when he did so, a tangle of snakes fell out from under it. The medusa's head was hacked off before most of the others had even come to the same realization.
Keldas nodded. "Nice work. How did you know she was a medusa?"
"Didn't! Figured she was just a sorceror or summat... Take somebody out quick, yer know? Establish my authority." Wulf wiped his blade off. "Got lucky, basically."
Wulf picked up the Baron's sword and inspected the masterwork blade as he approached the throne.
"First," he looked at the Baron. "We'll talk reward. And then," he tapped the blade in his hand...
"We'll talk to the halfling."
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