Wulf Ratbane
Adventurer
This is a huge update... Should I post it in parts?
Jeez, what a FIGHT!
Wulf
Jeez, what a FIGHT!
Wulf
Wulf's Collected Story Hour -- FINAL UPDATE 12/25
- Thread starter Wulf Ratbane
- Start date
Taren Seeker
First Post
Wulf Ratbane said:
Oh, for...
&!@#*($!!
Now you're just messing with us.
Just post it. POST IT ALL!
Wulf Ratbane
Adventurer
LORD OF THE IRON FORTRESS-- Part VII (cont.)
Wulf was jostled out of the way as Keldas and the dragon plowed into the room. An unexpected move, Wulf thought, but the element of surprise was already lost to Imperagon and his allies. Imperagon cast a spell and a ghostly warhammer appeared in the air above Keldas.
“Oooh! Watch out,” Keldas sneered. “He’s a low-level cleric!”
True enough, Wulf thought. Is that the best he’s got?
Wulf could hear Shorty’s incantations behind him. The hair on the back of his neck stood up, in anticipation of the chain lightning that would blast their enemies apart—but nothing happened. Shorty’s spell fizzled, countered by some unholy aura that protected all their enemies. He tried again, but his second spell fared no better.
Shorty cut loose with a blast of profanity that turned even Wulf’s ears red. “This sucks! I’m useless! I’m teleporting home!”
“Nooooo!” Keldas shouted. His eye was on the prize: the staff carried by the old woman.
From somewhere ahead Keldas heard an infernal cackle and the sound of spellcasting. An invisible devil—clearly, a very powerful devil at that—cut loose with a meteor swarm, with Shorty at ground zero. Shorty’s skin flared, red and scaly, and he counted himself lucky that he’d prepared a dragonskin spell earlier.
“Impressive,” said the fallen archon. “Now try this.”
Shorty resisted the destruction spell—barely.
“And this…”
Shorty lit up like a lightning rod at the center of a chain lightning.
“They’ve got a hard-on for Shorty today…” Wulf couldn’t defend the halfling against spells. There was nothing he could do but hold the door.
Two steel predators crept up in front of Wulf and roared. Shorty was completely shredded by the sonic blast. Dead and gone—but at least the roaring drowned out the tiny whimper.
Keldas knew he’d be next. He cast power word stun on the old woman, to no effect, followed by maze, with similar, unsatisfactory results.
“We can’t get spells through!” he groaned.
The old woman flashed a toothy grin and blasted Keldas with a spell from the staff. Wulf didn’t recognize the spell, but he could recognize the effects from the vapid stare on Keldas’ face. A fate worse than death: feeblemind.
With rocks from the giants raining down around them, Wulf grabbed Shorty’s remains, Diessa cast plane shift, and they all returned home. Well, almost home.
Wulf and Diessa compared notes. At a conservative estimate, they were several hundreds of miles from the Forge, with no easy way to teleport home besides the paladin’s helm.
Wulf unrolled the portable hole.
“Not again,” said Karak.
“It’s all right,” Wulf said. “Keldas, get in the hole!”
With all the happy obedience of a lobotomized puppy, Keldas obliged. Wulf tossed Shorty’s remains in after him.
Wulf stared at the dragon. “Yer turn, boy.”
The dragon transformed and hopped into the hole. He stood looking at Shorty’s remains, and seemed genuinely touched.
They rolled up the hole, and Karak teleported back to the Forge with the two dwarves. The Old Man was waiting for them.
“You’ve failed again?” he asked.
“Sarcasm noted,” Wulf said. “Just get busy with the feeb-healin’ and peck-ressurectin’.”
Karak sat down with a pathetic sigh.
“And get somebody to fix his bleedin’ sword!”
Wulf stomped off to make his own preparations.
***
Soon enough, as usual, they were ready to try again. Imperagon had beefed up his front gate security: Two giants, a golem, and—if the dragon was to be believed—some kind of invisible bird now guarded the front door.
One of the giants turned to run for help and was immediately disintegrated by Keldas. Playing tit-for-tat, the bird somehow attempted to disintegrate Keldas, but the unusually hearty elf resisted its effects. The battle was soon in full swing; with Shorty and Keldas lending magical support, Wulf and Karak took care of the golem and the dragon tangled with the invisible bird.
Two concussions and an inertial barrier later, they realized the bird was some kind of psion. Little help against the jaws of the dragon, however. Soon enough, Imperagon’s guards were dispatched, and they stepped to the front doors.
They were locked—and the password had apparently been changed.
“Yeah,” Wulf said. “That’ll stop me.” Taranak blazed to life in Wulf’s hands and he started hacking his way through the front doors. After a moment of disbelief, Karak stepped up to lend a hand with his reforged sword.
“Remind me,” said Shorty. “Why are doing this, again? Other than HIS quest?” He pointed an accusatory finger at the paladin.
“Well, there are some dwarven souls trapped here,” said Keldas, clearly struggling with it himself.
“Oh, so NOW there’s a point,” said Shorty.
Wulf was through the doors and in the sudden silence overheard their conversation. “Ey! Don’t look at me. I’m here for adamantium, and if I’m not mistaken, there’s the little matter of yer staff…”
Wulf booted his way through the remains of the doors and led the charge up the stairs. The dragon bounded alongside, his keen eyes, ears, and nose on the look-out for invisible enemies. “Mephit,” he announced. “Running off to warn them, no doubt…”
“This is suicide… again,” groused Shorty.
“It’s all right, I got a plan,” Wulf said.
“Now?” asked the dragon.
“Not yet. When yer see two out o’ three bad-asses,” Wulf said. He handed a scroll to the dragon.
“Wait a second, what’s up?” asked Karak.
“Anti-magic shell.” Wulf shrugged.
“But that will remove all his protections…”
Wulf tried hard to contain his exasperation, hoping there was a chance that logic would persuade the paladin. “Yer see anybody else standin’ here as good in the buff as yer dragon?”
“Keep that thing away from me,” Shorty said.
“Seconded,” said Keldas.
“I don’t mind,” said the dragon. “It’s a chance…”
Karak was unconvinced.
“He’s a friggin’ dragon,” said Wulf. “Not a horse. Not a boy. Grow a pair already.”
“Maybe he should read it now, then,” said Karak. He was slowly warming to the idea.
“Two out o’ three,” said Wulf. “Old woman and Imperagon,”
“Imperagon’s a low-level cleric,” Keldas reminded him.
“… Trumpet archon and pit fiend,” Wulf continued. “Yer get the idea, right?”
Diessa was wasting no time with conversation. She cast freedom of movement on Wulf and silence on a small stone. That would reduce the impact of the steel predators. She gestured to the door.
The spellcasters backed up and Wulf booted the door. A gelugon stood ready on the balcony, towering over the doorway, but he was too slow to handle Wulf. Taranak blossomed in his right hand and his chaos mace found its way into his other. His helm of protection from evil would protect him, but with a rousing cry of “Ferkit!” Wulf was committed to action. Mere seconds later the gelugon was nearly out of the fight. Wulf’s wide stance left no doubt that they’d have to go through him if they wanted to hassle his friends behind him.
Diessa cast recitation and invisibility purge while giants from the floor below the balcony hurled rocks. Wulf held his ground until he heard the dragon reading the scroll behind him. Wulf crossed his fingers, well aware that there was some chance the dragon would flub the powerful magic. Soon, however, he felt his magic items wane, and he stepped aside long enough for the dragon to slink through the door and charge the old woman.
The pit fiend appeared, and proving himself a creature of habit, he sent another meteor swarm Shorty’s way. Once again, red dragonskin made the difference between life and death for the little sorcerer.
Now wrapped in an anti-magic field and faced with the powerful jaws of a dragon, the old woman took the better part of valor, tucked up her skirts, and raced for the back of the room. The trumpet archon scoffed at this turn of events, and it soon became clear that he had his own agenda. He cast greater dispelling on Karak and started making his way along the balcony to get to grips with his hated foe.
Shorty cast slow on a group of villains that had assembled in front of the door. Among the predator, gelugon, the duergar monk, and the smoke mephit, only the mephit seemed affected.
Keldas was puzzling over the insane amount of spell resistance that all of Imperagon’s allies seemed to share, and he finally figured out that it was due to an unholy aura that protected them all. He had little time to act on his knowledge, however, as the gelugon suddenly disappeared from Wulf’s reach and teleported itself into the room behind him. Shorty, Keldas, and Diessa were all within reach of its wicked claws.
Imperagon appeared suddenly as he stepped within range of the invisibility purge and he took a swipe at Wulf. “Bring it!” Wulf grinned as he easily dodged the blow. Wulf’s attention was diverted from the huge fire elemental that suddenly appeared on the balcony. Unable to attack Wulf directly due to his protection from evil, the creature took a swipe over his head at Karak. Wulf felt the heat wave pass over his head but didn’t give the creature a second thought.
Helkitren, Lord of the Salamanders, stepped out from the room below and showered the group with lightning.
That bastard is three or four adventures overdue for his ass-kickin’, Wulf thought. What with Imperagon, Helkitren, and the sight of the dragon down below, absolutely freaking out on one of the giants with jaws, claws, and wings, Wulf didn’t see the steel predators leaping at him. The first dragged him down with its jaws and the second clamped down on Taranak. Its teeth glanced harmlessly off the shaft.
“Greater magic weapon…” Wulf growled. “No go.”
The female duergar stepped up to Wulf and rained blows on him with fists and feet. “That would work better with an axe,” Wulf said, still struggling in the jaws of the steel predator. “Gimme just one second, I’ll show yer…”
“Enough boasting,” said the archon. He cast destruction, and once again Wulf felt the now-familiar calling of Haela Bright-axe. Bad luck now could kill him.
I’ll take my chances, he thought. He brushed away thoughts of Haela and steeled himself against the spell. It hurt—but he wasn’t dead.
Beneath the claws of the gelugon, Keldas bent his concentration on dispelling the unholy aura. Twice he tried greater dispelling, twice he failed. Shorty, too, failed with his own greater dispelling. He wasn’t willing to waste a second action, however; he cast confusion into the room—but it was countered by the unholy aura! The gelugon chuckled and created a wall of ice to separate the three spellcasters from Wulf, Karak, and the dragon.
It began to dawn on the group that they were losing… again.
Karak stepped up to lend aid to Wulf, landing blow after blow and wounding the steel predator just enough for Wulf to finish it off and regain his feet. Wulf’s mace swept out and landed two powerful blows into Imperagon’s ribs. Imperagon staggered back and Wulf took a quick step of his own back through the doorway, putting the wall of ice at his back.
Diessa cast dispel evil and with one touch, the gelugon’s wall of ice was gone. They could see into the room again, but it wasn’t a pretty sight: The giants had surrounded the dragon and were dismantling it limb from limb. Its duty unfulfilled, the dragon was forced to flee—and was nearly killed in the fleeing.
“To the side door!” shouted Karak. A door to their left led off the balcony and (if they were lucky) should join up with the others in the back room. The dragon limped and bounded towards the door, well aware that the slinking mephit was on its heels. The dragon knew it was near enough death that the mephit might actually finish it off. But it was the evil archon on the balcony that was the prime concern.
All of Karak’s focus was suddenly on his dragon and he just barely pulled his sword out of the snapping jaws of the last predator. Their enemies, sensing weakness, converged on the paladin. The duergar monk tumbled past Wulf, hoping to strike Karak with a stunning blow, but the paladin’s growing determination was not to be deterred so simply. Imperagon stepped over to block the paladin’s path. Summoning his will, Karak twice tried to smite Imperagon, but his determination had given way to desperation, and he missed wildly. Imperagon’s own hammer struck true, however, and Karak was pressed back. He could only watch in frustration as the giants hurled boulders at the retreating dragon, determined to bring it down. By the narrowest of margins, the dragon somehow cheated death and escaped into the side door—with the archon in hot pursuit.
Back in the room behind them, Keldas attempted to disintegrate the gelugon, and failing that, followed with a power word stun. This time, at last, his magic was true. And while the gelugon stood reeling, Shorty was finally able to dispel the unholy aura!
A second gelugon, summoned by the old woman—more precisely, summoned by Keldas’ staff—suddenly appeared in their midst, cackled wildly, and created a new unholy aura. A third gelugon created a wall of ice across the main doorway. They were right back in the frying pan. The laughter of their foes was drowned out by Wulf’s howl of frustration. “Sons o’ bitches!” Wulf stepped back into the room and, in one swift stroke, crushed the skull of the stunned gelugon.
The old woman was non-plussed. A fireball streaked from the tip of Keldas’ staff and detonated in the room, blasting friend and foe alike. Among her allies, only the duergar monk was harmed—and neither the old woman nor Wulf and his allies gave her a second thought as she fled the battlefield.
There was no doubt that Keldas was the more experienced caster as he managed to fire off spell after spell. However, though he seemed able to overcome the unholy aura, he couldn’t seem to best his enemies’ natural resistance. The second gelugon easily resisted both a polymorph any object and a hold monster.
Karak raced across the back room and threw wide the door into the hallway where his dragon had retreated. He cast heal mount and the dragon was back in the fight. Unfortunately, Karak had wounds of his own to worry about, and the archon was eager for his blood. The archon’s trumpet transformed into a huge sword.
Wulf suddenly burst past Karak into the hallway, and together with the dragon assailed the archon. The creature’s defenses were nigh impenetrable—its natural armor, its supernatural reflexes, and its skill at arms were too much. The archon sneered at Karak and turned to stab its sword into the dragon’s chest.
Back on the balcony, their foes suddenly realized that the battle lines had completely shifted. Helkitren fireballed the wall of ice and a giant and a steel predator charged through. The pit fiend stepped through a dimension door and attempted an aura of fear, but the group had come together around Karak and the paladin’s courageousness carried them all through.
Karak cast Holy Sword on his weapon. Clearly, he was pissed.
He stepped up to strike the archon, one! two! three blows!—or was it four? Truthfully, Wulf lost count in the deafening whiff-whiff-whiff of unsuccessful strikes.
Shorty cast cone of cold at the enemies pouring into the room. His first attempt, in a nod to the traditional uselessness of halflings, failed utterly to beat the spell resistance of their foes. But the second attempt! A wave of cold washed over the giant and the predator in the room, killing the giant dead and wounding the predator severely. The spell picked up momentum as it passed through the chilling breach in the wall of ice, and spilled out again onto the balcony, where it blasted the fire elemental, Helkitren, and Imperagon.
“To hell with this!” shouted Helkitren, his wiry beard still steaming. “Imperagon, the deal is broken!” And with a puff of sulfur, the salamander was gone!
“Well done, Shorty!” shouted Keldas. “One down is good enough for me-- retreat!”
Keldas heard a low dwarven growl from the next room. “We are not leaving without your staff.”
“I have almost no sp—“
“WE ARE NOT LEAVING WITHOUT YOUR STAFF.”
“You may not leave at all, mortal!” screeched a gelugon, as yet another wall of ice sprang up—this time, inside the room and across the side door. Wulf, Karak, and the dragon were once again separated from the spellcasters.
A second gelugon entered the room and hissed at Shorty. “I suggest you drop all your magical protections…” Shorty’s will was weak, but among his various spells, only his mage armor could be dismissed at will.
On the other side of the wall of ice, the hallway was blasted with heat as the huge fire elemental flowed towards them. It moved past Wulf, still ignoring him, and put a fiery fist into the face of the dragon.
“Enough of this bullsh--,” Wulf grumbled. He dashed down the hallway, past the archon and the elemental, and hurled himself off the balcony. He flipped, rolled to his feet, and continued his headong charge right into the old woman. Taranak flashed eagerly as he swung it overhead, right down the center of the old woman’s forehead. Her wide-eyed, startled look gave way to an evil sneer as Wulf’s blow struck empty air.
“Displacement,” he said. “Oh, yer sneaky whore…”
Back in the hallway Karak had his hands full with the archon, who had finally decided to focus his attacks on the paladin. The dragon did his best, breathing lightning across the archon, elemental, and even the mephit, but for the most part their other-wordly foes were unimpressed. Keldas struck and struck again at the archon with his holy sword, missing repeatedly. With a burst of hasted action, he finally struck true, and the sword bit deeply into the evil heart of the archon.
The spellcasters were not having a good day. Imperagon walked into the room and breathed fire across them, the pit fiend cast a fireball, and the predator was snapping relentlessly at Diessa’s warhammer. Keldas managed to summon a dire bear to deal with the predator, while Shorty’s fingertips flashed with two prismatic sprays in a row. Unfortunately, among the various rays that struck, their infernal enemies had little trouble with fire, electricity, and poison. The gelugon responded with a cone of cold that struck them all—including the steel predator. The second gelugon did the same, striking even Imperagon. The gelugon’s gaffes were little consolation: when the frost and steam cleared, Diessa lay dead.
On the floor below, Wulf fought alone against the old woman. She skipped back several paces and cast a charm monster on Wulf, and he was tempted once again to call for Haela’s luck. Not today, he thought. By his own will, the spell failed.
The old woman saw the determination in Wulf’s eyes and thought better of the direct approach. She conjured a crackling blue fire shield to protect her. Wulf charged up and pushed her roughly against the wall. If he was going to strike through her displacement, he needed time to bring all his weapons to bear.
Another giant had entered the hall with Karak and the dragon. Sensing that the archon was a lost cause, the dragon unleashed its fury on the giant. His jaws struck a telling blow, followed by two claws and a rake with its wingtips. Feeling a rising confidence, his tail lashed out behind and struck the archon!
“I’ll deal with you in a moment, little gnat…” said the archon, pressing the attack on Karak. Dim explosions rattled the wall of ice behind him and the paladin knew that things were not going well for Keldas and Shorty.
Imperagon cast a fireball on the pair of them, while the predator wrestled viciously with the dire bear. Keldas could tell that the bear would not long survive, and neither he nor Shorty could contend with a steel predator. “We’ve done our best,” he said. Grabbing Shorty and Diessa’s remains, Keldas cast plane shift, and they were gone.
Fighting defensively, Karak drew on his divine powers to heal himself with one hand even as his other hand wielded holy vengeance. As the giant leaned in to attack him, Karak struck its head clean off its shoulders. So powerful was the blow that it carried straight through into the archon, powering past its defenses and biting deeply into its side once again. There was little time for Karak to enjoy the grim satisfaction, as the gelugons began teleporting into his hallway, looking for new prey. The pit fiend followed close behind, announcing its arrival with a wall of fire that surrounded Karak and the dragon.
“Change back,” Karak said. “We need to go!”
“But… the others?”
“They must already have left,” said Karak.
“Wulf?”
“I am sure he got out ok,” Karak lied. The paladin grabbed his boy, activated his helm of teleportation, and fled-- abandoning Wulf to his fate.
***
The old woman ran from Wulf once again, clearly knowing the odds were on her side as long as she kept the dwarf off his game. She tried charm monster again, and failing once again, conjured up a hemispherical wall of force to trap him once and for all.
“Cool your heels a bit, dwarf,”
Wulf nodded. Taranak and his mace were quickly and coolly stashed on his belt and Wulf reached over his back to draw something from his magic haversack. He brought his arms down and leveled a cocked and loaded crossbow at the old woman. A look of fear and recognition filled her eyes.
“That’s right,” Wulf said. He crimped the toe of his boot against the inside of the wall of force so he’d know instantly when it vanished. “I’m on to yer game. Nobody resists a maze, rakshasa.”
The pair of gelugons and the pit fiend arrived to surround Wulf, but he never took his eye or his aim off the old woman. Still, it was looking pretty bad. Wulf held the crossbow under one arm and grabbed a scroll of plane shift off his belt. He unrolled the scroll and scanned its contents.
Complete jibberish. “Dammit.”
The pit fiend stepped forward to demand his surrender. Wulf feigned deafness. “Eh? Can’t hear you through this wall!”
“Lower your weapons and perhaps we can come to an… arrangement.” Fiery spittle dropped from its jaws and fell hissing to the floor.
“What?” Wulf asked. “You mean… this?” He held out the useless scroll and grinned.
An ass to the last, Wulf thought. He gave himself a little thumbs up.
Wulf was jostled out of the way as Keldas and the dragon plowed into the room. An unexpected move, Wulf thought, but the element of surprise was already lost to Imperagon and his allies. Imperagon cast a spell and a ghostly warhammer appeared in the air above Keldas.
“Oooh! Watch out,” Keldas sneered. “He’s a low-level cleric!”
True enough, Wulf thought. Is that the best he’s got?
Wulf could hear Shorty’s incantations behind him. The hair on the back of his neck stood up, in anticipation of the chain lightning that would blast their enemies apart—but nothing happened. Shorty’s spell fizzled, countered by some unholy aura that protected all their enemies. He tried again, but his second spell fared no better.
Shorty cut loose with a blast of profanity that turned even Wulf’s ears red. “This sucks! I’m useless! I’m teleporting home!”
“Nooooo!” Keldas shouted. His eye was on the prize: the staff carried by the old woman.
From somewhere ahead Keldas heard an infernal cackle and the sound of spellcasting. An invisible devil—clearly, a very powerful devil at that—cut loose with a meteor swarm, with Shorty at ground zero. Shorty’s skin flared, red and scaly, and he counted himself lucky that he’d prepared a dragonskin spell earlier.
“Impressive,” said the fallen archon. “Now try this.”
Shorty resisted the destruction spell—barely.
“And this…”
Shorty lit up like a lightning rod at the center of a chain lightning.
“They’ve got a hard-on for Shorty today…” Wulf couldn’t defend the halfling against spells. There was nothing he could do but hold the door.
Two steel predators crept up in front of Wulf and roared. Shorty was completely shredded by the sonic blast. Dead and gone—but at least the roaring drowned out the tiny whimper.
Keldas knew he’d be next. He cast power word stun on the old woman, to no effect, followed by maze, with similar, unsatisfactory results.
“We can’t get spells through!” he groaned.
The old woman flashed a toothy grin and blasted Keldas with a spell from the staff. Wulf didn’t recognize the spell, but he could recognize the effects from the vapid stare on Keldas’ face. A fate worse than death: feeblemind.
With rocks from the giants raining down around them, Wulf grabbed Shorty’s remains, Diessa cast plane shift, and they all returned home. Well, almost home.
Wulf and Diessa compared notes. At a conservative estimate, they were several hundreds of miles from the Forge, with no easy way to teleport home besides the paladin’s helm.
Wulf unrolled the portable hole.
“Not again,” said Karak.
“It’s all right,” Wulf said. “Keldas, get in the hole!”
With all the happy obedience of a lobotomized puppy, Keldas obliged. Wulf tossed Shorty’s remains in after him.
Wulf stared at the dragon. “Yer turn, boy.”
The dragon transformed and hopped into the hole. He stood looking at Shorty’s remains, and seemed genuinely touched.
They rolled up the hole, and Karak teleported back to the Forge with the two dwarves. The Old Man was waiting for them.
“You’ve failed again?” he asked.
“Sarcasm noted,” Wulf said. “Just get busy with the feeb-healin’ and peck-ressurectin’.”
Karak sat down with a pathetic sigh.
“And get somebody to fix his bleedin’ sword!”
Wulf stomped off to make his own preparations.
***
Soon enough, as usual, they were ready to try again. Imperagon had beefed up his front gate security: Two giants, a golem, and—if the dragon was to be believed—some kind of invisible bird now guarded the front door.
One of the giants turned to run for help and was immediately disintegrated by Keldas. Playing tit-for-tat, the bird somehow attempted to disintegrate Keldas, but the unusually hearty elf resisted its effects. The battle was soon in full swing; with Shorty and Keldas lending magical support, Wulf and Karak took care of the golem and the dragon tangled with the invisible bird.
Two concussions and an inertial barrier later, they realized the bird was some kind of psion. Little help against the jaws of the dragon, however. Soon enough, Imperagon’s guards were dispatched, and they stepped to the front doors.
They were locked—and the password had apparently been changed.
“Yeah,” Wulf said. “That’ll stop me.” Taranak blazed to life in Wulf’s hands and he started hacking his way through the front doors. After a moment of disbelief, Karak stepped up to lend a hand with his reforged sword.
“Remind me,” said Shorty. “Why are doing this, again? Other than HIS quest?” He pointed an accusatory finger at the paladin.
“Well, there are some dwarven souls trapped here,” said Keldas, clearly struggling with it himself.
“Oh, so NOW there’s a point,” said Shorty.
Wulf was through the doors and in the sudden silence overheard their conversation. “Ey! Don’t look at me. I’m here for adamantium, and if I’m not mistaken, there’s the little matter of yer staff…”
Wulf booted his way through the remains of the doors and led the charge up the stairs. The dragon bounded alongside, his keen eyes, ears, and nose on the look-out for invisible enemies. “Mephit,” he announced. “Running off to warn them, no doubt…”
“This is suicide… again,” groused Shorty.
“It’s all right, I got a plan,” Wulf said.
“Now?” asked the dragon.
“Not yet. When yer see two out o’ three bad-asses,” Wulf said. He handed a scroll to the dragon.
“Wait a second, what’s up?” asked Karak.
“Anti-magic shell.” Wulf shrugged.
“But that will remove all his protections…”
Wulf tried hard to contain his exasperation, hoping there was a chance that logic would persuade the paladin. “Yer see anybody else standin’ here as good in the buff as yer dragon?”
“Keep that thing away from me,” Shorty said.
“Seconded,” said Keldas.
“I don’t mind,” said the dragon. “It’s a chance…”
Karak was unconvinced.
“He’s a friggin’ dragon,” said Wulf. “Not a horse. Not a boy. Grow a pair already.”
“Maybe he should read it now, then,” said Karak. He was slowly warming to the idea.
“Two out o’ three,” said Wulf. “Old woman and Imperagon,”
“Imperagon’s a low-level cleric,” Keldas reminded him.
“… Trumpet archon and pit fiend,” Wulf continued. “Yer get the idea, right?”
Diessa was wasting no time with conversation. She cast freedom of movement on Wulf and silence on a small stone. That would reduce the impact of the steel predators. She gestured to the door.
The spellcasters backed up and Wulf booted the door. A gelugon stood ready on the balcony, towering over the doorway, but he was too slow to handle Wulf. Taranak blossomed in his right hand and his chaos mace found its way into his other. His helm of protection from evil would protect him, but with a rousing cry of “Ferkit!” Wulf was committed to action. Mere seconds later the gelugon was nearly out of the fight. Wulf’s wide stance left no doubt that they’d have to go through him if they wanted to hassle his friends behind him.
Diessa cast recitation and invisibility purge while giants from the floor below the balcony hurled rocks. Wulf held his ground until he heard the dragon reading the scroll behind him. Wulf crossed his fingers, well aware that there was some chance the dragon would flub the powerful magic. Soon, however, he felt his magic items wane, and he stepped aside long enough for the dragon to slink through the door and charge the old woman.
The pit fiend appeared, and proving himself a creature of habit, he sent another meteor swarm Shorty’s way. Once again, red dragonskin made the difference between life and death for the little sorcerer.
Now wrapped in an anti-magic field and faced with the powerful jaws of a dragon, the old woman took the better part of valor, tucked up her skirts, and raced for the back of the room. The trumpet archon scoffed at this turn of events, and it soon became clear that he had his own agenda. He cast greater dispelling on Karak and started making his way along the balcony to get to grips with his hated foe.
Shorty cast slow on a group of villains that had assembled in front of the door. Among the predator, gelugon, the duergar monk, and the smoke mephit, only the mephit seemed affected.
Keldas was puzzling over the insane amount of spell resistance that all of Imperagon’s allies seemed to share, and he finally figured out that it was due to an unholy aura that protected them all. He had little time to act on his knowledge, however, as the gelugon suddenly disappeared from Wulf’s reach and teleported itself into the room behind him. Shorty, Keldas, and Diessa were all within reach of its wicked claws.
Imperagon appeared suddenly as he stepped within range of the invisibility purge and he took a swipe at Wulf. “Bring it!” Wulf grinned as he easily dodged the blow. Wulf’s attention was diverted from the huge fire elemental that suddenly appeared on the balcony. Unable to attack Wulf directly due to his protection from evil, the creature took a swipe over his head at Karak. Wulf felt the heat wave pass over his head but didn’t give the creature a second thought.
Helkitren, Lord of the Salamanders, stepped out from the room below and showered the group with lightning.
That bastard is three or four adventures overdue for his ass-kickin’, Wulf thought. What with Imperagon, Helkitren, and the sight of the dragon down below, absolutely freaking out on one of the giants with jaws, claws, and wings, Wulf didn’t see the steel predators leaping at him. The first dragged him down with its jaws and the second clamped down on Taranak. Its teeth glanced harmlessly off the shaft.
“Greater magic weapon…” Wulf growled. “No go.”
The female duergar stepped up to Wulf and rained blows on him with fists and feet. “That would work better with an axe,” Wulf said, still struggling in the jaws of the steel predator. “Gimme just one second, I’ll show yer…”
“Enough boasting,” said the archon. He cast destruction, and once again Wulf felt the now-familiar calling of Haela Bright-axe. Bad luck now could kill him.
I’ll take my chances, he thought. He brushed away thoughts of Haela and steeled himself against the spell. It hurt—but he wasn’t dead.
Beneath the claws of the gelugon, Keldas bent his concentration on dispelling the unholy aura. Twice he tried greater dispelling, twice he failed. Shorty, too, failed with his own greater dispelling. He wasn’t willing to waste a second action, however; he cast confusion into the room—but it was countered by the unholy aura! The gelugon chuckled and created a wall of ice to separate the three spellcasters from Wulf, Karak, and the dragon.
It began to dawn on the group that they were losing… again.
Karak stepped up to lend aid to Wulf, landing blow after blow and wounding the steel predator just enough for Wulf to finish it off and regain his feet. Wulf’s mace swept out and landed two powerful blows into Imperagon’s ribs. Imperagon staggered back and Wulf took a quick step of his own back through the doorway, putting the wall of ice at his back.
Diessa cast dispel evil and with one touch, the gelugon’s wall of ice was gone. They could see into the room again, but it wasn’t a pretty sight: The giants had surrounded the dragon and were dismantling it limb from limb. Its duty unfulfilled, the dragon was forced to flee—and was nearly killed in the fleeing.
“To the side door!” shouted Karak. A door to their left led off the balcony and (if they were lucky) should join up with the others in the back room. The dragon limped and bounded towards the door, well aware that the slinking mephit was on its heels. The dragon knew it was near enough death that the mephit might actually finish it off. But it was the evil archon on the balcony that was the prime concern.
All of Karak’s focus was suddenly on his dragon and he just barely pulled his sword out of the snapping jaws of the last predator. Their enemies, sensing weakness, converged on the paladin. The duergar monk tumbled past Wulf, hoping to strike Karak with a stunning blow, but the paladin’s growing determination was not to be deterred so simply. Imperagon stepped over to block the paladin’s path. Summoning his will, Karak twice tried to smite Imperagon, but his determination had given way to desperation, and he missed wildly. Imperagon’s own hammer struck true, however, and Karak was pressed back. He could only watch in frustration as the giants hurled boulders at the retreating dragon, determined to bring it down. By the narrowest of margins, the dragon somehow cheated death and escaped into the side door—with the archon in hot pursuit.
Back in the room behind them, Keldas attempted to disintegrate the gelugon, and failing that, followed with a power word stun. This time, at last, his magic was true. And while the gelugon stood reeling, Shorty was finally able to dispel the unholy aura!
A second gelugon, summoned by the old woman—more precisely, summoned by Keldas’ staff—suddenly appeared in their midst, cackled wildly, and created a new unholy aura. A third gelugon created a wall of ice across the main doorway. They were right back in the frying pan. The laughter of their foes was drowned out by Wulf’s howl of frustration. “Sons o’ bitches!” Wulf stepped back into the room and, in one swift stroke, crushed the skull of the stunned gelugon.
The old woman was non-plussed. A fireball streaked from the tip of Keldas’ staff and detonated in the room, blasting friend and foe alike. Among her allies, only the duergar monk was harmed—and neither the old woman nor Wulf and his allies gave her a second thought as she fled the battlefield.
There was no doubt that Keldas was the more experienced caster as he managed to fire off spell after spell. However, though he seemed able to overcome the unholy aura, he couldn’t seem to best his enemies’ natural resistance. The second gelugon easily resisted both a polymorph any object and a hold monster.
Karak raced across the back room and threw wide the door into the hallway where his dragon had retreated. He cast heal mount and the dragon was back in the fight. Unfortunately, Karak had wounds of his own to worry about, and the archon was eager for his blood. The archon’s trumpet transformed into a huge sword.
Wulf suddenly burst past Karak into the hallway, and together with the dragon assailed the archon. The creature’s defenses were nigh impenetrable—its natural armor, its supernatural reflexes, and its skill at arms were too much. The archon sneered at Karak and turned to stab its sword into the dragon’s chest.
Back on the balcony, their foes suddenly realized that the battle lines had completely shifted. Helkitren fireballed the wall of ice and a giant and a steel predator charged through. The pit fiend stepped through a dimension door and attempted an aura of fear, but the group had come together around Karak and the paladin’s courageousness carried them all through.
Karak cast Holy Sword on his weapon. Clearly, he was pissed.
He stepped up to strike the archon, one! two! three blows!—or was it four? Truthfully, Wulf lost count in the deafening whiff-whiff-whiff of unsuccessful strikes.
Shorty cast cone of cold at the enemies pouring into the room. His first attempt, in a nod to the traditional uselessness of halflings, failed utterly to beat the spell resistance of their foes. But the second attempt! A wave of cold washed over the giant and the predator in the room, killing the giant dead and wounding the predator severely. The spell picked up momentum as it passed through the chilling breach in the wall of ice, and spilled out again onto the balcony, where it blasted the fire elemental, Helkitren, and Imperagon.
“To hell with this!” shouted Helkitren, his wiry beard still steaming. “Imperagon, the deal is broken!” And with a puff of sulfur, the salamander was gone!
“Well done, Shorty!” shouted Keldas. “One down is good enough for me-- retreat!”
Keldas heard a low dwarven growl from the next room. “We are not leaving without your staff.”
“I have almost no sp—“
“WE ARE NOT LEAVING WITHOUT YOUR STAFF.”
“You may not leave at all, mortal!” screeched a gelugon, as yet another wall of ice sprang up—this time, inside the room and across the side door. Wulf, Karak, and the dragon were once again separated from the spellcasters.
A second gelugon entered the room and hissed at Shorty. “I suggest you drop all your magical protections…” Shorty’s will was weak, but among his various spells, only his mage armor could be dismissed at will.
On the other side of the wall of ice, the hallway was blasted with heat as the huge fire elemental flowed towards them. It moved past Wulf, still ignoring him, and put a fiery fist into the face of the dragon.
“Enough of this bullsh--,” Wulf grumbled. He dashed down the hallway, past the archon and the elemental, and hurled himself off the balcony. He flipped, rolled to his feet, and continued his headong charge right into the old woman. Taranak flashed eagerly as he swung it overhead, right down the center of the old woman’s forehead. Her wide-eyed, startled look gave way to an evil sneer as Wulf’s blow struck empty air.
“Displacement,” he said. “Oh, yer sneaky whore…”
Back in the hallway Karak had his hands full with the archon, who had finally decided to focus his attacks on the paladin. The dragon did his best, breathing lightning across the archon, elemental, and even the mephit, but for the most part their other-wordly foes were unimpressed. Keldas struck and struck again at the archon with his holy sword, missing repeatedly. With a burst of hasted action, he finally struck true, and the sword bit deeply into the evil heart of the archon.
The spellcasters were not having a good day. Imperagon walked into the room and breathed fire across them, the pit fiend cast a fireball, and the predator was snapping relentlessly at Diessa’s warhammer. Keldas managed to summon a dire bear to deal with the predator, while Shorty’s fingertips flashed with two prismatic sprays in a row. Unfortunately, among the various rays that struck, their infernal enemies had little trouble with fire, electricity, and poison. The gelugon responded with a cone of cold that struck them all—including the steel predator. The second gelugon did the same, striking even Imperagon. The gelugon’s gaffes were little consolation: when the frost and steam cleared, Diessa lay dead.
On the floor below, Wulf fought alone against the old woman. She skipped back several paces and cast a charm monster on Wulf, and he was tempted once again to call for Haela’s luck. Not today, he thought. By his own will, the spell failed.
The old woman saw the determination in Wulf’s eyes and thought better of the direct approach. She conjured a crackling blue fire shield to protect her. Wulf charged up and pushed her roughly against the wall. If he was going to strike through her displacement, he needed time to bring all his weapons to bear.
Another giant had entered the hall with Karak and the dragon. Sensing that the archon was a lost cause, the dragon unleashed its fury on the giant. His jaws struck a telling blow, followed by two claws and a rake with its wingtips. Feeling a rising confidence, his tail lashed out behind and struck the archon!
“I’ll deal with you in a moment, little gnat…” said the archon, pressing the attack on Karak. Dim explosions rattled the wall of ice behind him and the paladin knew that things were not going well for Keldas and Shorty.
Imperagon cast a fireball on the pair of them, while the predator wrestled viciously with the dire bear. Keldas could tell that the bear would not long survive, and neither he nor Shorty could contend with a steel predator. “We’ve done our best,” he said. Grabbing Shorty and Diessa’s remains, Keldas cast plane shift, and they were gone.
Fighting defensively, Karak drew on his divine powers to heal himself with one hand even as his other hand wielded holy vengeance. As the giant leaned in to attack him, Karak struck its head clean off its shoulders. So powerful was the blow that it carried straight through into the archon, powering past its defenses and biting deeply into its side once again. There was little time for Karak to enjoy the grim satisfaction, as the gelugons began teleporting into his hallway, looking for new prey. The pit fiend followed close behind, announcing its arrival with a wall of fire that surrounded Karak and the dragon.
“Change back,” Karak said. “We need to go!”
“But… the others?”
“They must already have left,” said Karak.
“Wulf?”
“I am sure he got out ok,” Karak lied. The paladin grabbed his boy, activated his helm of teleportation, and fled-- abandoning Wulf to his fate.
***
The old woman ran from Wulf once again, clearly knowing the odds were on her side as long as she kept the dwarf off his game. She tried charm monster again, and failing once again, conjured up a hemispherical wall of force to trap him once and for all.
“Cool your heels a bit, dwarf,”
Wulf nodded. Taranak and his mace were quickly and coolly stashed on his belt and Wulf reached over his back to draw something from his magic haversack. He brought his arms down and leveled a cocked and loaded crossbow at the old woman. A look of fear and recognition filled her eyes.
“That’s right,” Wulf said. He crimped the toe of his boot against the inside of the wall of force so he’d know instantly when it vanished. “I’m on to yer game. Nobody resists a maze, rakshasa.”
The pair of gelugons and the pit fiend arrived to surround Wulf, but he never took his eye or his aim off the old woman. Still, it was looking pretty bad. Wulf held the crossbow under one arm and grabbed a scroll of plane shift off his belt. He unrolled the scroll and scanned its contents.
Complete jibberish. “Dammit.”
The pit fiend stepped forward to demand his surrender. Wulf feigned deafness. “Eh? Can’t hear you through this wall!”
“Lower your weapons and perhaps we can come to an… arrangement.” Fiery spittle dropped from its jaws and fell hissing to the floor.
“What?” Wulf asked. “You mean… this?” He held out the useless scroll and grinned.
An ass to the last, Wulf thought. He gave himself a little thumbs up.
Taren Seeker
First Post
Holy crap.
That kicked much ass. That's also probably the cruelest cliffhanger yet, just beautiful. Oh, and:
A-ferking-men. Hail to the King under the Mountain!
*thumbs up*
That kicked much ass. That's also probably the cruelest cliffhanger yet, just beautiful. Oh, and:
A-ferking-men. Hail to the King under the Mountain!
*thumbs up*
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LightPhoenix
First Post
That did indeed kick so much ass.
Thorntangle
First Post
Sounds like this one took a couple of days to run. Could this be the end? Nah, somehow I don't think so.
Wulf Ratbane
Adventurer
jonrog1 said:
Not to mention keeping an eye on the peck-- err, paladin, whatever-- in constant vigilance of the ever-looming cheat.
Wulf
shilsen
Adventurer
Holy ferkin'...! Damn good fight. So how long did it take in real time to run? And when's the next update 
?
Minor nitpick - I believe the rakshasa would be affected by a maze spell. The spell immunity ability is essentially 100% effective SR. Maze is unaffected by SR, so it would affect the target just fine.
?Minor nitpick - I believe the rakshasa would be affected by a maze spell. The spell immunity ability is essentially 100% effective SR. Maze is unaffected by SR, so it would affect the target just fine.
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