RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter Twelve

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ewancummins
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RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter Twelve

Post by ewancummins »

A stifled moan rises from beneath a heap of frosted, bloodied corpses...

Before anyone has time to investigate the moaning, the door before Alain flies open.

Alain unleashes a blast of magic as a gang of horrid semi-human things push through the doorway, reaching out toward him with filthy nails.
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One of the hideous things burns and bubbles away under Alain's conjured attack, but the other mob about the man and flail at him, scratching his harness and tearing at his clothes and hair. Mindless yet malign tittering rises from formless mouths as the creatures lay on.



The others see all this--but are still healing or being healed-- when a hissing sound bursts over the noise of the fight by the doorway.
It's coming from that black disk in the middle of the chamber's floor.

The portal.

Inky vapors spray up from the cracking ebon surface. A form pushes up as the dark circle fragments and liquefies---a manlike shape, clad in armor, wielding a blade big enough to decapitate a giant at one stroke!
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter Twelve

Post by ewancummins »

THE ARMORED HUMANOID

Rushes across the floor, setting sparks flying from its ironclad heels against the flagstones, and swings its oversized sword down at an angle that carries the heavy blade through a monster and out, away from Alain.

The gibbering fiend slides apart in two cleany severed pieces as its slayer spins his improbably big sword round and up to chop down at one of its mates.
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter Twelve

Post by RocEter »

ewancummins wrote:THE ARMORED HUMANOID

Rushes across the floor, setting sparks flying from its ironclad heels against the flagstones, and swings its oversized sword down at an angle that carries the heavy blade through a monster and out, away from Alain.

The gibbering fiend slides apart in two cleany severed pieces as its slayer spins his improbably big sword round and up to chop down at one of its mates.
Again the armored humanoid's improbably big sword cuts a fiend cleanly in two. Raising his sword, he again cuts down another fiend.

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History prefers legends to men. It prefers nobility to brutality, soaring speeches to quiet deeds. History remembers the battle and forgets the blood. What ever history remembers of me if it remembers me at all, it shall only be the fraction of the truth.
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Re: RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter Twelve

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''NO! Fiend from the Pit---stop slaying my minions and start killing my enemies! I who summoned you now command you!''''

The furious objections and shouted orders come from a black-robed man in the shadowy hallway on the far side of the open door, whence came the monsters that set upon Alain.

The strange man stands maybe twenty feet from the door, making arcane gestures as he speaks.
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter Twelve

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Seeing the flood of monsters and the armored figure, Klokulf is washed over with fear. He knows these circumstances are not conducive to survival.

Fear is replaced by bewilderment as the figure lays into the evil wizard's horde. He hears the cries of dismay, and thinks, The heretics' gods must be crazy.

He reaches into his pack and withdraws a carved stick. His gaze darts between it and Kat a few times, then he trains it on her and unleashes a flash of healing energy. If I die helping others first, at least I will be able to express my outrage in person when they catch up with me in the Hell of Slaves.
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Re: RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter Twelve

Post by ewancummins »

RAEN

conjures bolts of magical force and hurls these at the enemy sorcerer--but the missiles splinter into shining dust a little way short of the robed man, as if breaking up against an unseen but steel-hard barrier.
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter Twelve

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Bennedict is paralyzed with inaction for a moment but, hearing the cries of protest from the hall, knows where the puppet master is hiding and who needs to be dealt with first. With a grunt of pain (those old knees of his were never built for adventuring, he reflects,) he stands and moves to the hall to go smite the speaker.
"Of course," Benn mutters, "It would be a damned shame if we ever knew what the hell was actually going on."
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Re: RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter Twelve

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Adam wrote:Bennedict is paralyzed with inaction for a moment but, hearing the cries of protest from the hall, knows where the puppet master is hiding and who needs to be dealt with first. With a grunt of pain (those old knees of his were never built for adventuring, he reflects,) he stands and moves to the hall to go smite the speaker.


Benn lurches past embattled Alain and into the hall.

There! Ahead of him, in the shadows-- the man in black robes.

Something flits in the space behind the man, but there's little time to stop and strain the eyes at leaping shadows--the gaunt man looks as if he's readying another spell...


--------------

THE OTHERS see Dorgio dodge round the fight near the door, where Alain and the Mysterious Armored Swordsman battle the horrid lumpy Things, and clank after Benn with his short spear at the ready.
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter Twelve

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IN THE SHADOWY HALL
BENN smashes his way through the wizard's magical defenses and drives the man back down the hall.

The black magician begins another incantation, but a smack from Benn's stick sends the man reeling into the wall with blood dripping from his busted lips.

Then, before the Benn's enemy can recover his balance, a cloak falls from the ceiling at his back and covers his head and shoulders.

No--not cloth--spiders, hundreds of spiders.
The arachnids cling to the magician as he hustles backward, shaking his robes to throw off the crawling swarm. The man gives a choking cry as the black tide forces its way into his mouth and nostrils, and then he collapses with the seething pile crawling all over him.


Dorgio , near Benn, stabs at a flapping, cawing bird, but only strikes the stone ceiling with his spearhead.

IN THE BIG ROUND CHAMBER, WHERE THE PORTAL IS LOCATED



The scroll turns to dust in Raen's hands as he finishes the spider summoning spell.


Kat spots a red-haired man in a green cloak sneaking out of the side chamber and making a beeline for the door to the stairs up.
Even from behind, there's something familiar (to Kat) about this skulking fellow.

Alain blasts the last of the horrible monsters, melting it into a bubbling pool of gelatin.
Last edited by ewancummins on Fri Dec 29, 2017 4:05 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter Twelve

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Bennedict, fury in his eyes, raises the walking stick again and shouts to the caster. "Where is Matyr! Tell me how to find him, or die!"
"Of course," Benn mutters, "It would be a damned shame if we ever knew what the hell was actually going on."
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Re: RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter Twelve

Post by ewancummins »

IN THE GLOOMY HALLWAY



Adam wrote:Bennedict, fury in his eyes, raises the walking stick again and shouts to the caster. "Where is Matyr! Tell me how to find him, or die!"

The supine man twitches under the living carpet of spiders.
Nothing like words, though he sounds as if he's trying to cough.
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter Twelve

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Kat has recovered and concealed herself, trying to work out a way to slip past the monsters to the wizard.But as soon as she sees the man all her focus changes. On silent feet she dives forward, and tries to ram her blade into the man's back. As she stabs, she yells.

"Matyr's here!"
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Re: RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter Twelve

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kintire wrote:Kat has recovered and concealed herself, trying to work out a way to slip past the monsters to the wizard.But as soon as she sees the man all her focus changes. On silent feet she dives forward, and tries to ram her blade into the man's back. As she stabs, she yells.

"Matyr's here!"

Maytr dodges left as Kat springs at his back and shouts.

Her thrust tears a hole in his cloak and rips the garment from his shoulders.

Klokulf gesticulates and chants, but if his magic is aimed at Maytr, it doesn't stop the man from reaching the broken door that lets onto the ascending staircase.


Kat keeps after her target.
Alain turns to watch the chase.

ZIP ZIP ZIP ZIP

Ghostly arrows flit over Kat's shoulders and head, passing her and flying straight into the fugitive's back.
He spins left from the doorway and falls limp over the broken carriage wheel of the enemy's burst falconet.
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter Twelve

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KAT rushes up and executes a hasty thrust at the fallen man, but accidentally sticks her sword point in the wreck of the gun carriage.
Tug.
She's fouled the blade in the twisted metal and splintered wood, but not snapped it.
A moment more and she'll have it free...

Kat yanks the blade free and then drives it deep into the man's back, angling between ribs. Twist.
The sword comes loose again with a nasty grating of steel on bone. Blood drips from it.

The man slides down the broken gun wheel and lands on his side, limbs nerveless and limp, face slack, eyes dim.

Alain is the first
VIEW CONTENT:
to see and understand.
VIEW CONTENT:
This red-haired youth is roughly the right height and weight, but he does not look like Jonathon Maytr. Wrong shape nose and chin, mismatched blue and green eyes, and upon close inspection his hair looks like it might be dyed with henna. Brown at the roots, not red.
He's not, it seems, Jonathon, but he is quite dead.

Benn drags the subdued, semi-conscious magician out of the spider heap and back into the chamber.

Dorgio chases away the squawking raven and then joins Benn. The priest brushes straggling arachnids off the black-robed stranger and sets to binding and gagging him.


LordSkybolt, Adam, and BrockMarshRunoff should read spoiler boxes. Others may.
Last edited by ewancummins on Sun Dec 31, 2017 7:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: RAVENLOFT: The One That Got Away, Chapter Twelve

Post by Wolfglide of the Fraternity »

Klokulf falls from his knees to his rear, sitting down a bit hard. He presses the point of his wand to his chest, and a pulse of positive energy flows into him.

He draws his hand across his face in exhaustion, then lingers on his upper lip. He utters a strong Vaasi curse, then looks skyward and apologizes to the Lawgiver. I never thought I would need fireproof mustache wax, he thinks.

His gaze settles on the creature in the black armor. Is it safe to address this thing? Surely not-- "And who might you be?" he asks of the being.
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