Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Wulf Ratbane" data-source="post: 297056" data-attributes="member: 94">LORD OF THE IRON FORTRESS-- Part IV (cont.)They gave the steel predators-- and their hobgoblin protector, if such he was-- one day to prepare for their return. When they scried the lair for their return trip, however, they were surprised to see a human standing guard in the cats’ cavern lair-- a human in robes, wreathed in flame.“Some kind o’ sorcerer?” suggested Wulf.“Whatever he is, he’s about to taste boot leather,” Keldas boasted.Wulf raised an eyebrow and looked the elven mage up and down. “Reckon yer mean to say he’s about to taste silk slipper, don’t yer?” Dorn chuckled.“I knew you were going to chap my ass about these slippers of spider climbing when I picked them up,” Keldas grumbled. “I should have known better…”“Aye, that yer shoulda.” Wulf agreed. He rolled out the portable hole and lifted Karak’s helm of teleportation off his head, handing it to Dorn. “But yer can make good in a second here. Yer ready?”Dorn nodded. “Get in the hole, paladin.” “Why is it always me who has to go in the hole?” Karak complained.“Cause yer over six feet tall an’ fourteen stone an’ yer wearin’ full plate. Yer weigh a ferkin’ ton, jackass.”Dorn nodded in agreement. “I’d rather have Wulf out here with me anyway. Quit bein’ a Nervous Nancy and get in the hole.”Alliane patiently beckoned Karak into the hole alongside her, and he grudingly hopped in once again. Keldas cast mass haste, and Wulf quickly rolled up the hole and tucked it into his belt. He nodded to Dorn and stepped close, with Keldas on the other side. “Ready!”Dorn activated the helm and they teleported through. Keldas acted first-- as he always seemed to do-- and cast Power Word, Stun on the flaming sorcerer. “Say goodnight,” he chuckled smugly.Much to everyone’s surprise the spell had no effect. “Spell resistance!” Keldas shouted.Dorn was unimpressed and started casting. Wulf thought he recognized a flame strike on the way, and while their enemies were busy with that, he stepped to one side and unrolled the hole, reaching in to boost the lady Alliane out of the extra-dimensional space. Wulf ignored the flash of flame and the back-blast of hot air, but looked up as the sound of Dorn’s swearing overpowered the roaring column of fire.“I didn’t get him, neither…” he grumbled. The sorcerer was unscathed. But Dorn’s flame strike had certainly gotten the attention of the steel predators. Wulf wasn’t sure, but beneath the fresh black scorch marks he thought he saw the signs of wounds inflicted on their last encounter. This might be easier than I expected, he thought, just before the predators charged the group and disabused him of that notion. The huge predator, the one Wulf reckoned was their den mother, bore down on him like a steam drill before screeching to a halt in front of him. She almost seemed to grin as she gingerly reached down and used her teeth to pick up the portable hole-- with Karak still in it.“Oh, yer sneaky bit---“ Wulf started to say, just before one of the smaller predators slammed into him. He just had time to draw his bone dagger before the thing pulled him close and started raking away at his tender bits.Keldas stepped away from the fray and summoned a dire bear to help Wulf. The bear reared up and slammed its bulk down on the predator that was grappling with Wulf.“Right,” Wulf grunted. “Ferkit, why doesn’t everybody just pile on…”The sorcerer at the end of the room finally acted. Keldas recognized the incoming spell with perfect clarity--  it was a feeblemind aimed at Dorn!-- and reacted with blazing speed to counterspell it, but to no avail. The sorcerer’s magic was more than Keldas could overcome.Dorn shook his head, though, and his eyes were still clear. “No problem, no problem, I’m fine…”The sorcerer responded to this by sending a lightning bolt screaming down the cavern. The blast caught everyone--  especially Wulf, who was buried under a mountain of bear-flesh and steel claws and unable to dodge out of the way. Right… Another two or three of those and I’m in trouble...Dorn cast two flame strikes onto the predators, while Wulf stabbed away at his own opponent, plunging the dagger into it two or three times and trying to force his way out of its grip. It was no use. He was caught, and the predator ripped into him again with teeth and claws. Two more lightning bolts thundered through Wulf. I’m in trouble.Alliane pitched in with a flame strike to get the den mother’s attention. It seemed to work--  the predator dropped the crumpled portable hole onto the ground and leaned forward to grab Dorn in her jaws. Dorn had been in this situation before and he knew he had no chance of breaking free. He activated the helm and teleported over to Wulf. Stretching his hand into the mass of grappling bodies, he cast heal on Wulf, who immediately felt like a new man. Wulf stabbed and struggled free of the press and took up a defensive stance next to Dorn. “Thanks, mate.”Alliane cast a divine storm and centered it right on the den mother. Now she really had its attention. The huge predator grabbed Alliane in its jaws, clearly intent on hoisting her through her own divine storm. Alliane lost concentration and the whirling blades winked out. Disappointed, the huge predator bit Alliane clean in half and tossed aside her remains with a shake of its head.</blockquote>

Verification