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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Wulf Ratbane" data-source="post: 274153" data-attributes="member: 94">LORD OF THE IRON FORTRESS-- Part IVWhile they walked towards the formian lair, Wulf chatted with the ants to get a better feel for the metallic cat situation.“How many yer killed?”“A handful,” came the reply, though Wulf was left wondering what exactly a handful meant to a horse-sized ant.“How many yer ever seen in one place at one time?”“Two.”Wulf raised an eyebrow. “Well, that’s somethin’, then. We can take two.”They rested briefly with the formians-- long enough to trade out Shorty (who was due for a rest, along with Loyal) and to meet up again with Dorn, newly arrived from the prime and fully updated by the Old Man.Wulf shook his hand. He was clearly glad to see him. “What yer been up to?” “Crafting wands… Doin’ the temple thing...”“Hmm,” Wulf grunted. “Well, right. Let’s take care of this cat business then.”The formians directed them to the steel cats’ lair, and before long they found it: a faint path that eventually disappeared into the earth between two steep canyon walls. It was about 80 feet from the top of the walls to the cave mouth at the bottom. The group turned to look at Wulf, apparently under the impression that he was qualified (and expected) to do some sort of scouting. “Get in there and do it,” Dorn said. “You can take ‘em, right?”“Well, all right,” he started, looking at Keldas. “Invisibility, please.”Wulf winked out of sight, and Dorn felt a tap on his shoulder. “Silence, please.”Wulf turned and pointed to the paladin. “Gimme yer shield.”Karak ignored him. “Gimme the goddam shield.”Karak continued to ignore him-- then jumped with surprise when Wulf wrenched the large Lion’s Head shield from his arm. Obviously, the invisibility and silence were working just fine. Even so, Wulf wasn’t taking any chances. He crept into the cave, every bit as quietly and stealthily as he could manage. The tunnel ran back about sixty feet before it horse-shoed and opened into a larger cave. Wulf crouched quietly by the opening, eyeing the occupants of the lair: three regular-sized steel cats and one enormous friggin’ den mother. He sat and thought for a moment, remembering the way the cats had easily mauled him back in Rigus. True enough, this time Taranak and his trusty bone dagger were enhanced by Dorn with greater magic weapon, but he wasn’t confident that if he was grappled again, he could overcome even one of the cats, let alone three, before he was ripped to pieces.Outside the cave, Keldas stood over Dorn’s shoulder. “You’re scrying him, right?”Dorn’s scrying sensor followed Wulf closely. He had taken flight with his wings of flying and sailed up to the top of the cavern. He hovered over the largest of the creatures, trying to decide whether or not to pounce on it, when the largest creature suddenly lifted its smooth, steel, eyeless head and sniffed about. It could sense that something was up.“Yes, I’m scrying him,” Dorn answered, “and getting a good chuckle out of it, too...”One of the smaller steel cats suddenly got up and padded out of the cave. Wulf followed after it, furling his wings at the last minute to follow it into the narrow corridor. Wulf lost sight of it briefly as the creature rounded the bend. He was being careful to stay at least fifteen feet behind it, lest the radius of his silence spell suddenly overlap the creature and give him away.There was little need for his precautions. As he rounded the corner, the creature sprung at him from a narrow crevice. It struck him with unerring accuracy.Blindsight, Wulf thought. Ferkin figures. He swung his axe into the hide of the creature, and it bit deep. Wulf was expecting help at any moment from his friends outside, but it would have to wait. From the middle of nowhere a shadowy figure suddenly appeared, flanked by two dire tigers. The creature barked out an order and Wulf recognized the hobgoblin tongue. “Attack!” He punctuated his command by firing his bow at Alliane,  who hovered far above. The arrow struck her breastplate with such force that it nearly disappeared under her armor. Despite her grave wound, and eschewing her spells completely, Alliane drew her mace and charged the hobgoblin, dive-bombing him from above. She struck him a near-fatal blow and he staggered back a few steps.The hobgoblin acted to shift the tide of battle. He drew a bead from within his vest and cast it down between his dire tiger pets. Immediately, the creatures grew to immense proportions. Wulf estimated them at twenty feet wide and sixty feet long-- or, measured in the common parlance of dwarven engineers, “Ferkin’ immense!”The lead dire tiger now completely filled the width of the narrow valley leading to the cave, so Karak and Dorn rushed in before it could completely block it off. Dorn skidded to a halt as silence washed over him, then hopped back a couple of feet. Unfortunately, it put Karak up against his back with nowhere to run. Dorn could see Wulf standing several  feet away now, doing his best to hold back three of the steel cats. Suddenly, the enormous den mother appeared around the corner. Wulf sidestepped, putting putting the other steel cats between them, all the while hacking away with his axe for all he was worth. “This is real bad…” he observed silently.</blockquote>

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