"What do you think of your little sparrow now, brother?"
Xorxen backs up for a running leap off the top of the elevated platform. He jumps from the pillar, leading with his ancient weapon, attempting to put an end to the beast men remaining on the bridge threatening his friends.
The Underground City, the Vast Subterranean Caverns Beneath the Great Pyramid
Lost City of Khemsa, Forgotten Kingdom of Verulia, Great Eastern Desert, the World of Hyboria
Day Seven. Midnight?, 19th day of the month of Yuluk, 1279th year of the Age of Aquilonia
At the siege of the underground city, Mako the conjurer holds his concentration. Through sheer mental force alone, he keeps alive the phantasms and delusions he has cunningly woven within the terrified primitive minds of a half-dozen flailing beastmen!
Unnerved by the frightful black magicks at the command of the surface-dwelling invaders, none of the surviving beastmen can land a telling blow! Except one. One of the shouting, masked clerics of Zargoth that descend upon Mako with ferocity and panic strikes the little easterner with a black staff carved like a curling tentacle (-4hp damage) and Mako's fierce concentration is broken!
The monstrous bat that Amethu had set aflame (B1) withdraws screeching! Amethu hammers its rider with his staff as he is burned alive! The fiery amalgam of man and beast flaps up to the vaults of the immense cavern, a shooting star falling upward into the endless stalactite spires.
Loche the Pict evades a clumsy knife thrust and slips his dagger between the ribs of his brutish enemy (B3) as the two fight for their lives atop another gigantic bat creature!
"What do you think of your little sparrow now, brother?" the suddenly visible Xorzen asks Tjoruy the ragged denizen of the underground city. Then the hawk-masked monk leaps down from the ancient obelisk and charges to the aid of his friends at the front line in time to see Zahra decapitate a powerful savage with a single devastating sword stroke (B6), and the fierce beastman chieftain cut asunder by Garrin's terrible crimson blade! (B5)
Behind Xorzen, Tjoruy pushes one of the stricken beastmen (B10) off the cliff! Illusion becomes reality as the carnal brute plummets down into the bottomless crevasse until his blood-curdling screams recede from hearing but not from memory.
At the center of the bridge, surrounded by gigantic thrashing batwings, Kiri drives his trident with all his might into the brain of a great chiropteran steed (of B2), killing it instantly! Its stunned rider leaps clear and crouches in hesitation before Kiri; spear low, red eyes watching fearfully.
Then, the five stricken beastmen, no longer ensorcelled by Mako of the East, begin to awaken from their horrific nightmares!
Protection from Evil (Garrin): -2 to AC and +2 to saving throws against evil, in a 10 foot radius around Garrin. Healing Mists of Osorus (All except Amethu, Tjoruy and Zahra have breathed of the mists): All lost HP recovered with 8 hours of sleep. Wakeful rest, or sleeping less than 8 hours, enables recovery of 1 HP per hour. Duration: "months." Silence, 15' Radius (Amethu): Location: NE corner of map. Duration: 2 rounds
Knowing he must kill the beastman before the beastman is able to kill him, Loche continues trying to inflict mortal injuries with the dagger he has plunged into his opponent's chest. Death will come eventually for the foul warrior, but will it come swiftly enough for the benefit of the uncharacteristically wordless Pict?
On November 2nd I will be participating in another 24 hour game of Dungeons & Dragons as part of Extra Life. This organization uses gaming to help raise money to donate to children's hospitals. I'm raising money for Marshfield Children's Hospital in Marshfield, WI, and all money I raise will go to that hospital. All donations are tax-deductible. Please take a moment to check out my donation page below. Thank you.
Having promised to protect Maako, and seeing Zahra rushing P2, Kiri glares at the dismounted beast man, then suddenly lunges for the other priest (P1) with his magical trident, aiming to permanently silence him, with death.
The Underground City, the Vast Subterranean Caverns Beneath the Great Pyramid
Lost City of Khemsa, Forgotten Kingdom of Verulia, Great Eastern Desert, the World of Hyboria
Day Seven. Midnight?, 19th day of the month of Yuluk, 1279th year of the Age of Aquilonia
The illusion shattered, ensorcelled beastmen awaken from Mako's fearsome spell with murderous intent! Realizing they've been tricked, they howl like mad wolves!
Suddenly surrounded, Xorzen and Tjoruy are besieged by stone axes hungering for their deaths! (9hp damage each) Startled and surprised by the turn of the tide, neither can effectively retaliate!
In the center of the bedlam of the wild fray, the three evil wizard-priests begin chanting a new votary to their dread master Zargoth!
Mako fails to stop one with his staff, but before they finish sowing this fresh hell-seed of sorcery, two of them are dead at the hands of Kiri and Zahra! Trident and swordblade impale the sorcerers' mouths mid-incantation, forever silencing those sinister apertures! (P1, P2)
Fear undermines an attack on Kiri (from B2), as Garrin ducks beneath a deadly ax stroke and draws blood from its wielder (B4)!
To the east, Amethu races to Loche's aid in time to see the Pict dodge a disemboweling thrust as he twists his own jeweled dagger, plunging it deeper into his foeman's side, killing him! (B3) Loche casts the powerful dead savage down and tries to commandeer the reinless bat monster!
And then, the last of the vicious priesthood (P3) completes his fiendish invocation!
Protection from Evil (Garrin): -2 to AC and +2 to saving throws against evil, in a 10 foot radius around Garrin. Healing Mists of Osorus (All except Amethu, Tjoruy and Zahra have breathed of the mists): All lost HP recovered with 8 hours of sleep. Wakeful rest, or sleeping less than 8 hours, enables recovery of 1 HP per hour. Duration: "months." Silence, 15' Radius (Amethu): Location: NE corner of map. Duration: 1 rounds
Fighting on with the last of his strength, which, it turns out, is still quite a lot, he yanks the Claw out of the dead priest and in one motion wheels it back around in an arc intersecting with the face of the beastman he neglected. There is an audible whoosh as the ancient trident cuts through the air and a patter on the stone as a mist of blood sprays from its tips:
