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<blockquote data-quote="Wulf Ratbane" data-source="post: 971" data-attributes="member: 94"><p><strong>THE HEART OF NIGHTFANG SPIRE (Part VI)</strong></p><p></p><p><em>They long for death, but it cometh not; </em></p><p><em> and dig for it more than for hid treasures; </em></p><p> <em>And rejoice exceedingly, and are glad,</em></p><p><em> when they can find the grave.</em></p><p></p><p>The paladin caught wind of their conversation and hurried to Wulf's side, eager to be helpful. "Don't worry, I'll get it for you." </p><p></p><p>Before Wulf could satisfy himself with images of the assmar dashing into the room, only to be roasted in fiery tendrils, the paladin had activated his magic helm. He disappeared in a flash, and just as quickly, he returned, axe in hand. He was only mildly scorched. All things considered, it was incredibly anticlimactic.</p><p></p><p>Wulf sniffed. "Easy enough for yer."</p><p></p><p>The paladin beamed. "Of course!"</p><p></p><p>"Good..." Wulf snatched up <em>Taranak</em>. "Then yer won't be expectin' my undyin' gratitude."</p><p></p><p>The paladin opened his mouth to speak but was drowned out by the sound of Keldas' steel-tipped talons digging through the rock walls. Sure enough, they found a passage beyond the elemental, linking two identical rooms on opposite sides of the tower. Wulf's map and Keldas' digging revealed that there were two large sections of tower where hidden rooms could lie. After the first section turned out to be a large solid section of stone, Wulf did some quick math and surmised that they were supporting the combined weight of all the floors above them. There were no hidden rooms-- there was nothing but solid, load-bearing rock. He barely stopped Keldas before the eager mage had tunneled through the second support.</p><p></p><p>That left them with only two very obvious options: in each of the two rooms remaining there was a large open pit, a shaft that descended farther than Wulf's eyes could see. Wulf took a listen-- and couldn't help but catch a whiff at the same time. There were gorillons down there. Lots of them. </p><p></p><p>Wulf gave voice to what they were all thinking. "We're not up for this, not without Halma. Let's go back and see the Old Man, stock up with supplies."</p><p></p><p>Keldas and Karak grabbed Wulf, Dorn, and Alliane, and together they teleported home. </p><p></p><p>-------------------------</p><p></p><p>Wulf's first duty was to stop in for a chat with the Old Man. Once again, he was looking for some clerical supplies: holy water, potions of healing, some minor wands. And most importantly, he was looking for a discount.</p><p></p><p>He fixed the Old Man with a stare. "Now, I know yer got to pay for all this tackle somehow... So I'll cover yer expenses and throw a little in the collection plate to make it worth yer while. How much of a discount are we talkin'? Fifty? Fifty seems about right."</p><p></p><p>"How about... zero?"</p><p></p><p>"What!?"</p><p></p><p>"Are you trying to tell me that holy water isn't worth the money you pay for it? Or healing potions?"</p><p></p><p>"Wha... wha..." Wulf was red-faced and blustering. "What the hell do yer think I'm doing here? I cleaned out your damned Forge, now I'm off fightin' ancient bloody vampires, layin' our lives on the line... The least yer can do is give us a discount..."</p><p></p><p>"What, are you <em>destitute</em> or something?"</p><p></p><p>"What about the <em>thirteen ferkin' thousand</em> gold pieces I gave you? Ferkin' peck spends his share on armor and weapons and other goodies, and I look like an ass for handing all mine over to a blasted priest! Did yer forget about that? Cause it's time for a little payback and so far I haven't seen sh..."</p><p></p><p>"Look around. We're bringing dwarves back into these halls and rebuilding. These halls... this Forge... could be great again..."</p><p></p><p>"What good does that do <em>me</em>?"</p><p></p><p>"Well, you'd be one of the Lords of the Hall, of course..."</p><p></p><p>Wulf stopped. He blinked. The Old Man had said, "One of the Lords of the Hall" but Wulf had heard, "King Under the Mountain."</p><p></p><p>"Oh. Oh, yes..."</p><p></p><p>Wulf turned and walked out without another word. He was already trying to figure out how he could parlay his experience in brow-beating his companions into the necessary skills to command an entire kingdom.</p><p></p><p>-------------------------</p><p></p><p>Wulf stopped briefly to chat with Keldas, who was perverting some of Wulf's dwarven kinsman with his unmanly elven magic. "What'cher workin' on?"</p><p></p><p>"The usual. A few utility scrolls."</p><p></p><p>"Make us a teleport scroll."</p><p></p><p>"I don't need a scroll for that, I can just memorize it."</p><p></p><p>"Aye, but I'd rather yer memorized summat more usef... ach, to hell with it. Not like yer got anything more useful, anyway."</p><p></p><p>"No, no, nevermind. I'll humor you this time." Keldas signalled to one of his dwarven apprentices to start gathering the necessary materials.</p><p></p><p>-------------------------</p><p></p><p>The Old Man had been sorry to hear about Halma, but he assured the group that the boy had gone to his just rewards, and in any case, there was little time for grieving. He introduced them to two acquaintances of his: Loyal Vanderbrand, an elven archer; and Shorty Tumpytoes, a halfling sorceror. Wulf looked down in disgust, as if he'd stepped in something, while the halfling tugged repeatedly on his cloak, eager to introduce himself. </p><p></p><p>Wulf looked him up and down (mostly down), leaving the halfling with the unsettling impression that he wasn't so much a <em>companion</em> as a <em>mannequin</em> on which someone had thoughtfully hung a few magic items for the dwarf to pluck.</p><p></p><p>"Nice ring yer got there."</p><p></p><p>The halfling beamed. "Yes, it's a <em>Ring of Invisibility</em>."</p><p></p><p>Wulf had been affecting an air of disinterest in their new companions, but he nearly jumped out of his skin with excitement. "Is that so? Better hope yer don't accidentally drop dead within arms reach of me, then, cause I could <em>really</em> make murder with one of those..."</p><p></p><p>"Ahh... err... It's actually a <em>Ring of Wizardry</em>. See?" The halfling worked the ring on and off his finger a few times. "Nothing to see here... or not see... ahh..."</p><p></p><p>"And what is it yer do, exactly?"</p><p></p><p>"Big, flashy spells that hurt bad people... basically."</p><p></p><p>Wulf grinned. "I like this one." He turned to the elf. "And...?"</p><p></p><p>Loyal was incredibly stoic for an elf, a man of few words. "Arcane archer."</p><p></p><p>Wulf grabbed Shorty in one hand and the paladin in the other. "Let's see how this works out, then. Fire up that helm, assmar!"</p><p></p><p>-------------------------</p><p></p><p>They returned to the tower, directly back to the room with the large shaft heading down. They checked out both shafts, one on each side of the tower, sniffing, listening, and trying to pierce the darkness below. </p><p></p><p>Wulf pointed to the shaft before them. "I think this one's got less gorilla traffic. Any objections to going this way? No? Right."</p><p></p><p>They dropped a sunrod to the bottom of the shaft. It was a long way to the bottom, and they only had about 100 feet of rope-- not enough to make it all the way. Despite the fact that it was a good 20 or 30 feet from the floor to where the bottom of the rope would hang, Dorn insisted that they leave the rope tied to the shaft, "as an escape route."</p><p></p><p>"I can't fly up this shaft," he reasoned. "It's too small for the wings. Without the rope, we're trapped."</p><p></p><p>"If yer can't climb, and yer can't fly, yer not even going to be able to reach the rope. And we're not leavin' it hangin' for somebody to discover." He quickly added, "Or boobytrap."</p><p></p><p>Reluctantly, eventually, they all made it to the bottom of the shaft, where a large pile of bones, dung, and other offal awaited them. But otherwise, no gorillons.</p><p></p><p>They followed the long hall as it wound its way under the tower. Wulf knew they were well under the surface of the ground at this point, but he wasn't any more at ease. He was still smarting from the chute-traps, and he was taking no chances. So they couldn't dump him out the side of the tower? Fine. But he was having horrible nightmares of being dumped into a steam fissure or volcanic vent. He still had Dorn holding onto his little leash.</p><p></p><p>Eventually the path ended and a huge cavern opened up before them. The floor ended at the edge of a large pit. A small shelf jutted out from the wall. It was <em>possible</em> to inch your way along that ledge and cross the cavern. But Wulf wasn't about to volunteer. </p><p></p><p>He got down and leaned over the edge of the pit. His darkvision picked up lots of moving shapes. Zombies. More than he could count.</p><p></p><p><em>We could have probably dropped Halma down there and he could have cut his way through the whole bloody bunch.</em></p><p></p><p>But again, Wulf wasn't about to volunteer. Eventually, the silence behind him forced the issue.</p><p></p><p>Wulf turned to Dorn. "Well, give me the wings. Be ready."</p><p></p><p>Shorty cast <em>Levitate</em>, and Keldas cast <em>Fly</em>. </p><p></p><p>There was a tall pillar of rock about two-thirds of the way across the cavern, and on the pillar was a large statue of a dragon. Wulf kept a lookout while they shuttled the entire party across the cavern to the ledge on the other side. When everyone was in position, Wulf flew over to take a closer look at the statue. </p><p></p><p>There was something in its mouth.</p><p></p><p>Wulf had merely begun to <em>think</em> about searching the statue for the inevitable trap, when his senses alerted him to danger. He ducked behind the statue just as a huge fireball exploded around him. He was unscathed, but angry. </p><p></p><p>"What? The traps here can read minds, now?" Wulf shook his fist. "That's the only way you'll be faster than me!"</p><p></p><p>While Wulf railed at the heavens, the rest of the party was pointing down a side corridor that they'd overlooked. A large gang of mohrg was shuffling towards them, and something near the back had hurled the fireball. Wulf was the only one who had a chance of spotting it in the dark. He raced forwards as another fireball went whistling past him to explode near the ledge where the rest of the party was huddled. Dorn and Alliane were injured, but poor Shorty took the brunt of the blast. Hovering there in mid-air, he was an obvious target, and a sitting duck. </p><p></p><p>The little sorceror wanted desperately to return a little heat their way, but he knew he'd be dead if he took another blast. He quickly retreated, landing on the ledge and running around a bend in the wall to huddle next to the two clerics. He needed healing, badly.</p><p></p><p>Wulf and the paladin moved forward together to flush out the enemy. They could see a mohrg at the back of the pack, pulling tiny beads off its necklace and hurling them at the party. </p><p></p><p><em>So!</em></p><p></p><p>Keldas had sprinted forward to get away from the rest of the party and present a less tempting target; and unfortunately for the mohrg, it worked. He dropped an <em>Evard's Black Tentacles</em> right onto the ledge where the mohrg were forming into a fighting wedge. The vicious tentacles lashed out, entangling almost every mohrg in the pack. One mohrg dodged the first tentacle, but as it shuffled forward to escape the area of effect, tentacle after tentacle lashed at its back, eventually bringing it down.</p><p></p><p>There was a method to its madness. Otherwise occupied, the tentacles could not react in time to stop the mohrg "leader," who shuffled forward with its <em>Necklace of Fireballs</em>. Now it could see the entire group, including Shorty, Dorn, and Alliane around the bend. They'd patched up the halfling but now it was Alliane who was in danger.</p><p></p><p>Wulf and Karak swooped down on the mohrg leader; Wulf charging in, Karak readying himself to strike should the mohrg attempt to throw another bead of fire. The creature grasped one of its remaining beads, and as the paladin drew back his weapon to disrupt the missile, the mohrg grinned and crushed the bead against its chest.</p><p></p><p><em>Against the remaining beads on the necklace. Yer clever little prick, yer.</em></p><p></p><p>The blast spread out in a huge fireball. Wulf bobbed and weaved behind Karak, who weathered the blast only through the good graces of the gods.</p><p></p><p>Their foes dispatched (or at least, still being beaten senseless by the black tentacles) they patched themselves up and turned their attention to the statue once again. Wulf could clearly see a jagged piece of metal resting in the mouth of the statue. It looked like another piece of the sundered key to Gulthias' inner sanctum. Wulf didn't even bother to take a second look.</p><p></p><p>"Trap."</p><p></p><p>They all looked at him expectantly.</p><p></p><p>"If yer waitin' for me to disarm it, yer out of luck. It's magical."</p><p></p><p>They continued to stare.</p><p></p><p>Wulf sighed and made a snatch for the key, but he was stopped by a horrific jolt of electricity. Certainly not fatal. He could probably take another jolt... unless of course the first one was just a warm-up.</p><p></p><p>"Ach, right. I'm done. Get it yerself."</p><p></p><p>Karak sailed over to the spire and hovered in front of the statue. "Well, if it's electricity we're dealing with, I think I can resist it a little better..."</p><p></p><p>"Aye, don't let us mere mortals stand in yer way, assmar."</p><p></p><p>Karak snatched the key, taking his own jolt in the process. If he was better able to resist the electricity, it didn't show-- but, he <em>did</em> come away with the key fragment.</p><p></p><p>They moved on through the tunnels-- skipping the tunnel where the mohrg had emerged, as it would be full of raging tentacles for hours. Instead they headed the opposite direction, coming at last to a large hallway. The hallway continued around a corner, but off to the south there were two double doors.</p><p></p><p>Wulf waved the group along. "Let's not open any doors or leave any unsecured..."</p><p></p><p>Keldas was already standing before the doors, and before Wulf could stop him, Keldas gave them a push. They opened easily and silently. Keldas gestured inside at the swirling mists. "See? Nothing to worry about. Now we can move on."</p><p></p><p>Wulf muttered to himself. "...bitch."</p><p></p><p>Around the corner they went until the hallway stopped at another door. Pressing his ear against it, Wulf could hear the low grunting of gorillons. He motioned the party back around the corner, where they prepped for battle.</p><p></p><p>Gathering once more at the door, Wulf kicked it open, and the party let fly with everything they had. Wulf held the middle of the doorway, with the paladin on one side and Dorn on the other. Shorty and Loyal stood just behind them, lending ranged support to the attack, while Keldas kept them all juiced up with his various transmutations.</p><p></p><p>They struck hard and fast, but even so, it was rough going, and when the gorillons finally fled, slamming the door behind them, the party was in no shape to pursue. They had to stop for a few moments-- a few precious moments while their offensive spells wore off-- and heal up.</p><p></p><p>As quickly as possible, they moved on, stopping in front of the door for more timely spells. The door opened into another good-sized room, about 20' x 30'-- but it was abandoned. There was another door on the opposite side. Moving cautiously forward, wasting more precious time, they booted the next door. Again, an empty room. </p><p></p><p>They knew they couldn't afford to dawdle, so they hustled across. They had barely formed up in front of the next door when it was yanked open and the gorillons came at them. Though he fancied himself a front line fighter, the paladin was quickly rended near to death, and retreated to the back of the room to touch himself in his special way. Standing in the center of the doorway, Wulf saw the gorillons angling to attack Dorn, their huge arms clawing past him to get at the priest. Acting instinctively, Wulf grabbed Dorn and shoved him aside, switching places with him just in time to bear the brunt of the attack.</p><p></p><p>Unfortunately, by switching places with him, Dorn was left in the center of the doorway, without the cover he'd enjoyed from the doorjamb. In a flash, he too was shredded and dropped to the floor. </p><p></p><p>Now standing alone in the doorway, Wulf took a step to the side to block their approach, and shouted to Keldas. "Bring it! Bring it all, don't worry about me!"</p><p></p><p>Keldas stepped up just behind Wulf. At the last second, Wulf dodged aside, bending nearly backwards so that Keldas could let forth a belch of acid onto their enemies. It had worked wonders before, on the wolves, but the gorillons were just too tough-- and now, they were pissed. Wulf widened his stance and gripped his weapons. "Yer want him, yer got to come through me!"</p><p></p><p>One of the gorillons stepped up toe to toe with Wulf-- and simply reached OVER him. Keldas was grabbed in both hands and literally torn in half like an old scroll. </p><p></p><p>"Godammit!"</p><p></p><p>Wulf could hear Loyal and Shorty's plaintive cries behind him... "We're going to die!" and "Not like this!" and most peculiarly, "<em>Not again!</em>"</p><p></p><p>Wulf grabbed Dorn's bleeding body in one hand and the largest chunk of Keldas in the other, backpedalling as fast as he could. He gradually became aware of Karak shouting in his ear. "What are we going to do?"</p><p></p><p>Wulf shoved Dorn into Karak's arms and pointed at Alliane and Loyal-- two slender elves. "Take them home-- NOW!"</p><p></p><p>"Are you sure?"</p><p></p><p>"Yeah," shouted Shorty, who realized he'd been selected to stay behind. "Are you sure?"</p><p></p><p>The paladin hesitated only a moment, then activated his helm and they were gone.</p><p></p><p>The gorillons were advancing on them, but Wulf paid them no heed, instead rummaging through Keldas' corpse. Shorty stood nearby, wondering if he was somehow expected to hold off the advancing gorillons while Wulf looted his fallen comrade. Shorty closed his eyes and felt the gorillon looming over him, its hot breath on his face. He opened an eye for one last peek.</p><p></p><p>He was face to face with Wulf, red-faced and shouting, holding Keldas bloody corpse on his hip and pressing a scroll into Shorty's hands.</p><p></p><p>"REEEEEEAAAAAAAD!"</p><p></p><p>And in a wink, they were teleported home to safety.</p><p></p><p>-------------------------</p><p></p><p>It's been said by other, more poetic writers, that the effects of <em>Resurrection</em> leave one in a state of heavenly bliss, in the happy afterglow of the soul's effortless flight to the outer realms. In fact it's said that oftentimes, the soul is so overcome with joy that it chooses not to return to the land of the living.</p><p></p><p>But there was none of that for Keldas; no questions of whether he was coming back or not, none of that mincing about "with his feet not quite touching the ground." (Well, no more than usual, anyway.)</p><p></p><p>Instead, as the Old Man finished ressurrecting him (for the second time, mind you) he bolted up, straight as a rod. "It is ass-kicking time." He trotted over to the pile of his belongings and began suiting up. He looked around at the others. "You coming or not?"</p><p></p><p>-------------------------</p><p></p><p>Fully rested and prepared with a slew of ass-kicking goodness, they prepped themselves with spells and returned. Wulf was enjoying the benefits of <em>Improved Invisibility</em> once again, which pretty much ensured that he would mulch anything foolish enough to come within arms' reach. He paid little attention to the preparations that the others enjoyed, salivating as he was at the prospect of slaughter.</p><p></p><p>They worked their way back to the gorillon nest, find only empty rooms, until they came at last to a door they had not managed to breach on their last assault. Wulf took a wide stance in the center of the door and smashed it open with a steel-soled boot. </p><p></p><p>Before he could come to grips with a single opponent, spells were flying past him into the room. Shorty's lightning blasted through the doorway (with no concern for Wulf), as was the case with Keldas' acid belch. </p><p></p><p>But the topper was from Dorn, who'd apparently decided to focus on Haela's <em>War</em> aspect for the day, instead of <em>Luck</em>. He conjured up a spinning maelstrom of blades and dropped it right into the center of the gorillon lair-- their men, their women, their children and elders.</p><p></p><p>Never before had they unleashed so much devastation across so many foes at one time.</p><p></p><p>The gorillon "chieftain" led out a wailing cry. "Evil surface-dwellers return to murder us!"</p><p></p><p>Wulf was slightly angry that he couldn't get through the bladestorm to attack his foes, but even so, he couldn't help grinning. </p><p></p><p>"Look out, boys! They're unleashing their secret weapons: doubt and guilt! Oooh!"</p><p></p><p>He laughed as the blades whirled, and chunky, charred, oozy, ozone-scented bits of gorilla splattered the walls. A large group of gorillon younglings fled down a wide passage at the end of their lair. Dorn dropped his concentration and the bladestorm vanished. </p><p></p><p>Wulf was off like a shot, chasing down the survivors. It was butchery, but it was glorious-- just like the old days, hunting goblins back in his clan's tunnels. His axe rose and fell invisibly, relentlessly, keeping time to the sound of his comrades finishing off the wounded gorillon adults. Unburdened by conscience, Wulf stalked among the scattered, frightened young, slaughtering them to the last.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Wulf Ratbane, post: 971, member: 94"] [b]THE HEART OF NIGHTFANG SPIRE (Part VI)[/b] [i]They long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures; And rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave.[/i] The paladin caught wind of their conversation and hurried to Wulf's side, eager to be helpful. "Don't worry, I'll get it for you." Before Wulf could satisfy himself with images of the assmar dashing into the room, only to be roasted in fiery tendrils, the paladin had activated his magic helm. He disappeared in a flash, and just as quickly, he returned, axe in hand. He was only mildly scorched. All things considered, it was incredibly anticlimactic. Wulf sniffed. "Easy enough for yer." The paladin beamed. "Of course!" "Good..." Wulf snatched up [i]Taranak[/i]. "Then yer won't be expectin' my undyin' gratitude." The paladin opened his mouth to speak but was drowned out by the sound of Keldas' steel-tipped talons digging through the rock walls. Sure enough, they found a passage beyond the elemental, linking two identical rooms on opposite sides of the tower. Wulf's map and Keldas' digging revealed that there were two large sections of tower where hidden rooms could lie. After the first section turned out to be a large solid section of stone, Wulf did some quick math and surmised that they were supporting the combined weight of all the floors above them. There were no hidden rooms-- there was nothing but solid, load-bearing rock. He barely stopped Keldas before the eager mage had tunneled through the second support. That left them with only two very obvious options: in each of the two rooms remaining there was a large open pit, a shaft that descended farther than Wulf's eyes could see. Wulf took a listen-- and couldn't help but catch a whiff at the same time. There were gorillons down there. Lots of them. Wulf gave voice to what they were all thinking. "We're not up for this, not without Halma. Let's go back and see the Old Man, stock up with supplies." Keldas and Karak grabbed Wulf, Dorn, and Alliane, and together they teleported home. ------------------------- Wulf's first duty was to stop in for a chat with the Old Man. Once again, he was looking for some clerical supplies: holy water, potions of healing, some minor wands. And most importantly, he was looking for a discount. He fixed the Old Man with a stare. "Now, I know yer got to pay for all this tackle somehow... So I'll cover yer expenses and throw a little in the collection plate to make it worth yer while. How much of a discount are we talkin'? Fifty? Fifty seems about right." "How about... zero?" "What!?" "Are you trying to tell me that holy water isn't worth the money you pay for it? Or healing potions?" "Wha... wha..." Wulf was red-faced and blustering. "What the hell do yer think I'm doing here? I cleaned out your damned Forge, now I'm off fightin' ancient bloody vampires, layin' our lives on the line... The least yer can do is give us a discount..." "What, are you [i]destitute[/i] or something?" "What about the [i]thirteen ferkin' thousand[/i] gold pieces I gave you? Ferkin' peck spends his share on armor and weapons and other goodies, and I look like an ass for handing all mine over to a blasted priest! Did yer forget about that? Cause it's time for a little payback and so far I haven't seen sh..." "Look around. We're bringing dwarves back into these halls and rebuilding. These halls... this Forge... could be great again..." "What good does that do [i]me[/i]?" "Well, you'd be one of the Lords of the Hall, of course..." Wulf stopped. He blinked. The Old Man had said, "One of the Lords of the Hall" but Wulf had heard, "King Under the Mountain." "Oh. Oh, yes..." Wulf turned and walked out without another word. He was already trying to figure out how he could parlay his experience in brow-beating his companions into the necessary skills to command an entire kingdom. ------------------------- Wulf stopped briefly to chat with Keldas, who was perverting some of Wulf's dwarven kinsman with his unmanly elven magic. "What'cher workin' on?" "The usual. A few utility scrolls." "Make us a teleport scroll." "I don't need a scroll for that, I can just memorize it." "Aye, but I'd rather yer memorized summat more usef... ach, to hell with it. Not like yer got anything more useful, anyway." "No, no, nevermind. I'll humor you this time." Keldas signalled to one of his dwarven apprentices to start gathering the necessary materials. ------------------------- The Old Man had been sorry to hear about Halma, but he assured the group that the boy had gone to his just rewards, and in any case, there was little time for grieving. He introduced them to two acquaintances of his: Loyal Vanderbrand, an elven archer; and Shorty Tumpytoes, a halfling sorceror. Wulf looked down in disgust, as if he'd stepped in something, while the halfling tugged repeatedly on his cloak, eager to introduce himself. Wulf looked him up and down (mostly down), leaving the halfling with the unsettling impression that he wasn't so much a [i]companion[/i] as a [i]mannequin[/i] on which someone had thoughtfully hung a few magic items for the dwarf to pluck. "Nice ring yer got there." The halfling beamed. "Yes, it's a [i]Ring of Invisibility[/i]." Wulf had been affecting an air of disinterest in their new companions, but he nearly jumped out of his skin with excitement. "Is that so? Better hope yer don't accidentally drop dead within arms reach of me, then, cause I could [i]really[/i] make murder with one of those..." "Ahh... err... It's actually a [i]Ring of Wizardry[/i]. See?" The halfling worked the ring on and off his finger a few times. "Nothing to see here... or not see... ahh..." "And what is it yer do, exactly?" "Big, flashy spells that hurt bad people... basically." Wulf grinned. "I like this one." He turned to the elf. "And...?" Loyal was incredibly stoic for an elf, a man of few words. "Arcane archer." Wulf grabbed Shorty in one hand and the paladin in the other. "Let's see how this works out, then. Fire up that helm, assmar!" ------------------------- They returned to the tower, directly back to the room with the large shaft heading down. They checked out both shafts, one on each side of the tower, sniffing, listening, and trying to pierce the darkness below. Wulf pointed to the shaft before them. "I think this one's got less gorilla traffic. Any objections to going this way? No? Right." They dropped a sunrod to the bottom of the shaft. It was a long way to the bottom, and they only had about 100 feet of rope-- not enough to make it all the way. Despite the fact that it was a good 20 or 30 feet from the floor to where the bottom of the rope would hang, Dorn insisted that they leave the rope tied to the shaft, "as an escape route." "I can't fly up this shaft," he reasoned. "It's too small for the wings. Without the rope, we're trapped." "If yer can't climb, and yer can't fly, yer not even going to be able to reach the rope. And we're not leavin' it hangin' for somebody to discover." He quickly added, "Or boobytrap." Reluctantly, eventually, they all made it to the bottom of the shaft, where a large pile of bones, dung, and other offal awaited them. But otherwise, no gorillons. They followed the long hall as it wound its way under the tower. Wulf knew they were well under the surface of the ground at this point, but he wasn't any more at ease. He was still smarting from the chute-traps, and he was taking no chances. So they couldn't dump him out the side of the tower? Fine. But he was having horrible nightmares of being dumped into a steam fissure or volcanic vent. He still had Dorn holding onto his little leash. Eventually the path ended and a huge cavern opened up before them. The floor ended at the edge of a large pit. A small shelf jutted out from the wall. It was [i]possible[/i] to inch your way along that ledge and cross the cavern. But Wulf wasn't about to volunteer. He got down and leaned over the edge of the pit. His darkvision picked up lots of moving shapes. Zombies. More than he could count. [i]We could have probably dropped Halma down there and he could have cut his way through the whole bloody bunch.[/i] But again, Wulf wasn't about to volunteer. Eventually, the silence behind him forced the issue. Wulf turned to Dorn. "Well, give me the wings. Be ready." Shorty cast [i]Levitate[/i], and Keldas cast [i]Fly[/i]. There was a tall pillar of rock about two-thirds of the way across the cavern, and on the pillar was a large statue of a dragon. Wulf kept a lookout while they shuttled the entire party across the cavern to the ledge on the other side. When everyone was in position, Wulf flew over to take a closer look at the statue. There was something in its mouth. Wulf had merely begun to [i]think[/i] about searching the statue for the inevitable trap, when his senses alerted him to danger. He ducked behind the statue just as a huge fireball exploded around him. He was unscathed, but angry. "What? The traps here can read minds, now?" Wulf shook his fist. "That's the only way you'll be faster than me!" While Wulf railed at the heavens, the rest of the party was pointing down a side corridor that they'd overlooked. A large gang of mohrg was shuffling towards them, and something near the back had hurled the fireball. Wulf was the only one who had a chance of spotting it in the dark. He raced forwards as another fireball went whistling past him to explode near the ledge where the rest of the party was huddled. Dorn and Alliane were injured, but poor Shorty took the brunt of the blast. Hovering there in mid-air, he was an obvious target, and a sitting duck. The little sorceror wanted desperately to return a little heat their way, but he knew he'd be dead if he took another blast. He quickly retreated, landing on the ledge and running around a bend in the wall to huddle next to the two clerics. He needed healing, badly. Wulf and the paladin moved forward together to flush out the enemy. They could see a mohrg at the back of the pack, pulling tiny beads off its necklace and hurling them at the party. [i]So![/i] Keldas had sprinted forward to get away from the rest of the party and present a less tempting target; and unfortunately for the mohrg, it worked. He dropped an [i]Evard's Black Tentacles[/i] right onto the ledge where the mohrg were forming into a fighting wedge. The vicious tentacles lashed out, entangling almost every mohrg in the pack. One mohrg dodged the first tentacle, but as it shuffled forward to escape the area of effect, tentacle after tentacle lashed at its back, eventually bringing it down. There was a method to its madness. Otherwise occupied, the tentacles could not react in time to stop the mohrg "leader," who shuffled forward with its [i]Necklace of Fireballs[/i]. Now it could see the entire group, including Shorty, Dorn, and Alliane around the bend. They'd patched up the halfling but now it was Alliane who was in danger. Wulf and Karak swooped down on the mohrg leader; Wulf charging in, Karak readying himself to strike should the mohrg attempt to throw another bead of fire. The creature grasped one of its remaining beads, and as the paladin drew back his weapon to disrupt the missile, the mohrg grinned and crushed the bead against its chest. [i]Against the remaining beads on the necklace. Yer clever little prick, yer.[/i] The blast spread out in a huge fireball. Wulf bobbed and weaved behind Karak, who weathered the blast only through the good graces of the gods. Their foes dispatched (or at least, still being beaten senseless by the black tentacles) they patched themselves up and turned their attention to the statue once again. Wulf could clearly see a jagged piece of metal resting in the mouth of the statue. It looked like another piece of the sundered key to Gulthias' inner sanctum. Wulf didn't even bother to take a second look. "Trap." They all looked at him expectantly. "If yer waitin' for me to disarm it, yer out of luck. It's magical." They continued to stare. Wulf sighed and made a snatch for the key, but he was stopped by a horrific jolt of electricity. Certainly not fatal. He could probably take another jolt... unless of course the first one was just a warm-up. "Ach, right. I'm done. Get it yerself." Karak sailed over to the spire and hovered in front of the statue. "Well, if it's electricity we're dealing with, I think I can resist it a little better..." "Aye, don't let us mere mortals stand in yer way, assmar." Karak snatched the key, taking his own jolt in the process. If he was better able to resist the electricity, it didn't show-- but, he [i]did[/i] come away with the key fragment. They moved on through the tunnels-- skipping the tunnel where the mohrg had emerged, as it would be full of raging tentacles for hours. Instead they headed the opposite direction, coming at last to a large hallway. The hallway continued around a corner, but off to the south there were two double doors. Wulf waved the group along. "Let's not open any doors or leave any unsecured..." Keldas was already standing before the doors, and before Wulf could stop him, Keldas gave them a push. They opened easily and silently. Keldas gestured inside at the swirling mists. "See? Nothing to worry about. Now we can move on." Wulf muttered to himself. "...bitch." Around the corner they went until the hallway stopped at another door. Pressing his ear against it, Wulf could hear the low grunting of gorillons. He motioned the party back around the corner, where they prepped for battle. Gathering once more at the door, Wulf kicked it open, and the party let fly with everything they had. Wulf held the middle of the doorway, with the paladin on one side and Dorn on the other. Shorty and Loyal stood just behind them, lending ranged support to the attack, while Keldas kept them all juiced up with his various transmutations. They struck hard and fast, but even so, it was rough going, and when the gorillons finally fled, slamming the door behind them, the party was in no shape to pursue. They had to stop for a few moments-- a few precious moments while their offensive spells wore off-- and heal up. As quickly as possible, they moved on, stopping in front of the door for more timely spells. The door opened into another good-sized room, about 20' x 30'-- but it was abandoned. There was another door on the opposite side. Moving cautiously forward, wasting more precious time, they booted the next door. Again, an empty room. They knew they couldn't afford to dawdle, so they hustled across. They had barely formed up in front of the next door when it was yanked open and the gorillons came at them. Though he fancied himself a front line fighter, the paladin was quickly rended near to death, and retreated to the back of the room to touch himself in his special way. Standing in the center of the doorway, Wulf saw the gorillons angling to attack Dorn, their huge arms clawing past him to get at the priest. Acting instinctively, Wulf grabbed Dorn and shoved him aside, switching places with him just in time to bear the brunt of the attack. Unfortunately, by switching places with him, Dorn was left in the center of the doorway, without the cover he'd enjoyed from the doorjamb. In a flash, he too was shredded and dropped to the floor. Now standing alone in the doorway, Wulf took a step to the side to block their approach, and shouted to Keldas. "Bring it! Bring it all, don't worry about me!" Keldas stepped up just behind Wulf. At the last second, Wulf dodged aside, bending nearly backwards so that Keldas could let forth a belch of acid onto their enemies. It had worked wonders before, on the wolves, but the gorillons were just too tough-- and now, they were pissed. Wulf widened his stance and gripped his weapons. "Yer want him, yer got to come through me!" One of the gorillons stepped up toe to toe with Wulf-- and simply reached OVER him. Keldas was grabbed in both hands and literally torn in half like an old scroll. "Godammit!" Wulf could hear Loyal and Shorty's plaintive cries behind him... "We're going to die!" and "Not like this!" and most peculiarly, "[i]Not again![/i]" Wulf grabbed Dorn's bleeding body in one hand and the largest chunk of Keldas in the other, backpedalling as fast as he could. He gradually became aware of Karak shouting in his ear. "What are we going to do?" Wulf shoved Dorn into Karak's arms and pointed at Alliane and Loyal-- two slender elves. "Take them home-- NOW!" "Are you sure?" "Yeah," shouted Shorty, who realized he'd been selected to stay behind. "Are you sure?" The paladin hesitated only a moment, then activated his helm and they were gone. The gorillons were advancing on them, but Wulf paid them no heed, instead rummaging through Keldas' corpse. Shorty stood nearby, wondering if he was somehow expected to hold off the advancing gorillons while Wulf looted his fallen comrade. Shorty closed his eyes and felt the gorillon looming over him, its hot breath on his face. He opened an eye for one last peek. He was face to face with Wulf, red-faced and shouting, holding Keldas bloody corpse on his hip and pressing a scroll into Shorty's hands. "REEEEEEAAAAAAAD!" And in a wink, they were teleported home to safety. ------------------------- It's been said by other, more poetic writers, that the effects of [i]Resurrection[/i] leave one in a state of heavenly bliss, in the happy afterglow of the soul's effortless flight to the outer realms. In fact it's said that oftentimes, the soul is so overcome with joy that it chooses not to return to the land of the living. But there was none of that for Keldas; no questions of whether he was coming back or not, none of that mincing about "with his feet not quite touching the ground." (Well, no more than usual, anyway.) Instead, as the Old Man finished ressurrecting him (for the second time, mind you) he bolted up, straight as a rod. "It is ass-kicking time." He trotted over to the pile of his belongings and began suiting up. He looked around at the others. "You coming or not?" ------------------------- Fully rested and prepared with a slew of ass-kicking goodness, they prepped themselves with spells and returned. Wulf was enjoying the benefits of [i]Improved Invisibility[/i] once again, which pretty much ensured that he would mulch anything foolish enough to come within arms' reach. He paid little attention to the preparations that the others enjoyed, salivating as he was at the prospect of slaughter. They worked their way back to the gorillon nest, find only empty rooms, until they came at last to a door they had not managed to breach on their last assault. Wulf took a wide stance in the center of the door and smashed it open with a steel-soled boot. Before he could come to grips with a single opponent, spells were flying past him into the room. Shorty's lightning blasted through the doorway (with no concern for Wulf), as was the case with Keldas' acid belch. But the topper was from Dorn, who'd apparently decided to focus on Haela's [i]War[/i] aspect for the day, instead of [i]Luck[/i]. He conjured up a spinning maelstrom of blades and dropped it right into the center of the gorillon lair-- their men, their women, their children and elders. Never before had they unleashed so much devastation across so many foes at one time. The gorillon "chieftain" led out a wailing cry. "Evil surface-dwellers return to murder us!" Wulf was slightly angry that he couldn't get through the bladestorm to attack his foes, but even so, he couldn't help grinning. "Look out, boys! They're unleashing their secret weapons: doubt and guilt! Oooh!" He laughed as the blades whirled, and chunky, charred, oozy, ozone-scented bits of gorilla splattered the walls. A large group of gorillon younglings fled down a wide passage at the end of their lair. Dorn dropped his concentration and the bladestorm vanished. Wulf was off like a shot, chasing down the survivors. It was butchery, but it was glorious-- just like the old days, hunting goblins back in his clan's tunnels. His axe rose and fell invisibly, relentlessly, keeping time to the sound of his comrades finishing off the wounded gorillon adults. Unburdened by conscience, Wulf stalked among the scattered, frightened young, slaughtering them to the last. [/QUOTE]
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Wulf's Collected Story Hour -- FINAL UPDATE 12/25
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