Chapter #1192
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+ THE ADVENTURERS +
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+ Epic VI +
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+ Many of the locations, non-player characters, spells, and other +
+ terms used in these stories are the property of Wizards of the Coast +
+ which has in no way endorsed or authorized their use. Any such +
+ property contained within these stories are not representative of +
+ Wizards of the Coast in any fashion. +
+ The player characters depicted in these stories are copyright +
+ 1991-2026 by Thomas A. Miller. Any resemblance to any persons +
+ or characters either real or fictional is utterly coincidental. +
+ Copying and/or distribution of these stories is permissible under +
+ the sole condition that no money is made in the process. In that +
+ case, I hope you enjoy them! +
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+ KEY ELEMENTS OF THE ALLIED FORCES +
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+ Mongo's army (~9000 soldiers from multiple kingdoms and lands) +
+ Mongo 20th level dwarven fighter +
+ Gorgo 10th level dwarven berserker +
+ Gorin 13th level dwarven fighter +
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+ Yod's army (~9200 dwarven warriors from the Lortmil Mountains) +
+ Yod Ironbeard 21st level dwarven fighter +
+ war-lizard mount (30' long, armored, and battle-trained) +
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+ forces of Geoff (~1000 soldiers and ~900 armed refugees) +
+ Stramburg commander of the Geoff refugees in in the Hornwood +
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+ wood elves of the Hornwood Forest (~1000 archers and infantry) +
+ Tassarion captain of the wood elven forces in the Hornwood +
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+ ASSISTANCE FROM THE BRIGHT LANDS +
+ Belphanior 18th/18th/18th level elven fighter/wizard/thief +
+ Hope 16th level female human wizard +
+ Poulos 8th level human fighter +
+ Irina 14th/7th level female human priestess/fighter +
+ Otto 12th/14th level dwarven fighter/thief +
+ Paige 13th level human female fighter +
+ Razor Charlie 12th level human fighter +
+ Skektek 14th level human wizard +
+ Ys 14th level reptilian fighter +
+ iron dwarf insane, armored berserker +
+ Parekh 18th level female human wizard, innovator +
+ Drak 15th level human barbarian +
+ Wu 18th level human wizard, transmuter +
+ 6 elite ogre magi +
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+ Date: 1/9/587 C.Y. (Common Year) +
+ Time: midmorning +
+ Place: Gorna, capital of Geoff, occupied by evil forces +
+ Climate: cold and windy +
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+ "Thought you didn't make mistakes?" +
+ "Everyone makes mistakes. I merely make far fewer than most." +
+ - Stealth, from _Ex-Heroes_ +
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MCXCII. Bouncing Back
An unusual, unexpected, and highly destructive attack has just flattened
the royal palace in Gorna, leaving a massive pile of rubble and debris in
its place.
Mongo: (regarding the massive cloud of dust which billows from the
center of the city, even as aftershocks from the building's collapse
reverberate through the ground in and outside the city) I'm not sure
even _I_ would have survived that.
Yod Ironbeard: (nods) Impressive tactic.
Mongo: (nods) Probably better than my earthquake-horn would've been.
I'm glad Belphanior let us know, so we could tell the troops to hold
back and be ready. (he listens to the rumble of settling debris inside
the city walls) Plus it's great for morale.
Belphanior: (floats down from the sky, where he'd positioned himself to
better observe the dropping of the giant boulder) And _now_ we attack.
The elf had opted to remain with the ranks of the dual armies led by
Mongo and Yod, so that he could be with the other archmagi (and work with
them during this initial phase, had that been necessary). The rest of his
team accompanied the smaller but still sizable group of men and elves that
had just arrived from the Hornwood to augment that group's magical power
and help them against magic-wielding foes. Overall, there were now two
massed forces in the vicinity - those who had marched here from the south
and those who had come from the forest to the west - which together now
completely encircled the city of Gorna. Of course, they had stayed well
back at (what Belphanior had calculated to be) a safe distance, so that
their eardrums hadn't been ruptured by the impact and resulting shockwave
of the huge boulder hitting the palace, or the latter's collapse. They
had also been outside of the blast radius of rubble and dust that followed
the mass destruction.
The leaders of both forces gave the signal, and the troops surged forth
toward the city walls. Anyone could clearly see that this was the time to
attack; the palace's destruction had not only made it impossible for most
defenders to see (due to the dust that continued to issue from the immense
pile of rubble) but had also resulted in severe consequences for anyone
within the city walls but outside the palace. At the higher altitudes,
the collapse had emitted a near-horizontal blast wave, a disc of masonry
and detritus that eventually rained down on anyone in the city or right
outside its outer walls. However, at much lower heights, that powerful
blast wave of rubble had actually struck the outer wall and ricocheted
back inward...with horrific results for all the giants and humanoids who
had taken up defensive positions there. Belphanior hadn't anticipated
this side-effect of the palace collapsing - he hadn't even known if the
huge boulder would level the building - but he was pleased with the end
results. He had spent hours making detailed calculations involving the
size and approximate weight of the boulder, its speed at the moment of
impact, the projected wave of rubble, and other such things...and then he
had double- and triple- checked those calculations. He was pleased now
to realize that his work had been nearly perfect in its precision...for
the vast bulk of the enemy forces in the city were slain or wounded. All
of those who had been inside the palace were now masses of bloody paste
amidst the rubble, and very few of those who had been stationed outside
were in any shape to fight. The attacking troops quickly overcame the
defenders at the gaps in the city's wall, and those atop that outer wall
weren't able to bring enough defensive measures to bear. The fomorians
who remained still fought effectively, slaying or wounding many of the
smaller foes, but they fell one by one simply due to being outnumbered.
It wasn't long before large numbers of the assaulting armies were inside
the ruined city, for there was no possible way that Gorna could repulse
the twenty-thousand-plus attackers who were rushing in.
Or was there?
While Eclavdra had failed to imagine the unimaginable - an unbelievably
gigantic chunk of rock magically transported above and dropped upon her
palace from a great height - and thus had no defense against it...she was
still a high priestess of considerable power, experience, and resources.
She possessed several magical rings, and the two she wore on her fingers
at any given time varied with the situation. One of her default choices
was a unique item that allowed its wearer to shift their location up to
several hundred feet, in a mere moment. This effect mimicked the wizard
spell known as a dimension door, except one did not have to be a wizard to
use the ring's power. At any rate, as soon as she'd seen the huge object
dropping out of the sky, Eclavdra had invoked her ring's power, magically
moving three hundred feet to one side and above...and then employed her
boots of flying to retreat further from the impending collision of boulder
and palace. Thus it was that she survived - shaken and half-deafened and
stunned after the tremendous impact and blast, but alive.
Alive, and extremely upset.
Eclavdra: (calls upon the full power of her evil deity to summon a huge
column of flame at a specific point on the ground below)
Ahead of the expected attack, the city's defenders had made a number of
preparations. Many had been rendered moot by the total destruction of the
palace, but a few remained; one of these was the presence of several large
reservoirs of oil buried in the ground outside the city walls and covered
with sturdy wooden lattices and then dirt. As Eclavdra and all of her
dark elven wizards and priestesses knew exactly where these hidden pits
were, any of them could easily ignite one with any fire-based spell of
decent power. It was only a matter of waiting until the right moment...
such as when a dense concentration of enemy troops was directly above any
of these traps.
Eclavdra: (watches in satisfaction as her massive column of flame burns
a dozen attackers to a crisp, sets a couple dozen more on fire...and
then ignites the pit of oil beneath, resulting in a fiery explosion
that sprays burning oil upward and outward, killing scores of foes in
mere moments as charred corpses are strewn all about) Excellent. (she
slips on a ring of invisibility, vanishing from sight as she turns her
attention to the force from the west, whose spellcasters are wreaking
havoc with the defenders on that side of the city)
Far below, the men and elves from the Hornwood were making quick work
of the few active defenders at that side of the city wall. Archers from
both groups rained arrows down on the wall and beyond, while attackers
with swords charged the huge but damaged barrier, surging through one of
several gaps that had been there for years due to the giants' vandalism
and subsequent apathy toward repair efforts. To be fair, some of the dark
elven wizards had used their magic to add new stonework, but some weak
points still remained...and these had very quickly been widened by the
magic of Skektek and Hope. The wizards stayed fairly well back in the
ranks, both of them airborne by their own methods. The other adventurers
from Belphanior's team who did not wield mighty destructive magic - Otto,
Razor Charlie, Ys, Paige, Poulos, and Irina - stayed close and below their
companions, as their main role was to protect them from any ground-based
attacks that might come (as well as the possibility that they could be
knocked from the sky). As for the iron dwarf...with Belphanior elsewhere
and his knowledge of the control rod still limited anyway, that mindless
berserker had simply been given orders to stay with the party and only
fight anyone who first attacked him. With so many allied troops around
and moving into the city, deploying the iron dwarf there was too risky a
proposition at this time.
Razor Charlie: (considering the possibility that random foes might get
out of the city at some point and make the mistake of engaging the
iron dwarf in battle, he smirks)
Otto: (notices a slender, dark-skinned form far above as it suddenly
vanishes from sight) Did you see that?
Razor Charlie: (nods, grunting)
Otto: I bet that's the one who dropped that column of flame down, up
there near the wall. (he checks his crossbow) We need to be alert.
She'll be back.
Another of the priestess' advance preparations now came into play, the
participants needing no direct orders to know what to do...for the dark
elven leader had intentionally held back a powerful subset of her forces.
These had not been anywhere near the palace or city, but rather on the
plains to the north of the city - the one direction from which the foes
were unlikely to approach. Concealed within the grasslands, beneath wide
swaths of thin green cloth, this backup force had lain in wait as its
leader observed the armies' approach to Gorna from afar, using magical
means. The original idea had been that once the battle started and the
enemy wizards revealed themselves, this auxiliary element would join the
fight with a much better idea of who to target, and how.
The destruction of the palace, and the subsequent surge of attackers
into the city, had been all their commander needed to see. Her name was
Yozalii, and she was a high priestess of the same dark power that her
mistress Eclavdra served. She was an experienced and dangerous combatant
who knew neither compassion nor mercy. If enemies stood in the path of
Yozalii and her force, then those enemies would be destroyed - it was
just that simple.
Yozalii: Up...up and to the attack! Target the wizards; there are some
to the west and others in the larger force to the south. Most of them
are in the air.
With that, the secondary force ascended into the air; it consisted of
a dozen dark elves - each of them a highly skilled wizard or priest -
mounted atop dark horses whose large, leathery bat-like wings sprouted
from their sides. These odd but useful steeds, the result of long years
of magical experimentation and breeding by the dark elves who served
Eclavdra, were not demonic or possessed of arcane attacks; they were
simply large, flying horses that enabled their securely-fastened riders
to work magic from above without having to worry about evading attacks.
The horses were battle-trained with their specific riders, and had past
experience dealing with missile weapons and common offensive spells.
Additionally, each horse-and-rider pair was protected by a special spell
that filtered out the hated, harmful rays of the sun. This magic was a
vast help when they had to fight in daylight, like today; while these
spells wouldn't last for more than a few hours, that would be more than
enough whatever the outcome today. Additionally, just before launching
into the sky and toward Gorna and the battle there, each of this group
had cast spells of invisibility to mask their approach and give them
another advantage.
Also with this small but powerful force was a summoned air elemental
of massive size and foul temperament. It was under Yozalii's command and
was well aware that it could return to its home plane once this battle
was done. Accordingly, its sole interest on this day was to engage and
destroy whatever foe it was told to deal with.
So it was that - while the vast majority of Gorna's evil occupants and
defenders had been slain or overcome, the gargoyles and wizards on the
rooftop of the palace taken out, and the potent magical payloads in the
ground-based catapults buried and unlaunched - a small number of rather
powerful spellcasters remained in play, most of them now approaching but
still unknown to the attackers.
It didn't take long for them to make themselves known. Above one mass
of attacking dwarves, several potion bottles were flung from above; each
shattered to produce a sizable cloud of noxious, choking gas that felled
a dozen of the stout demi-humans, their eyes burning as they choked and
gasped for air. Another attack was more conventional, a thin arc of fire
that exploded as it reached the ground and the assaulting force there, the
resulting fireball incinerating a hundred warriors and horribly burning a
hundred more. A third effort summoned a mass of writhing black tentacles
that grabbed anything they touched, immediately squeezing and crushing.
Each time one of these attacks came, its originator appeared as if from
nowhere, a black-cloaked dark elf atop a dark, winged horse.
Paige: Would you look at that...?
Skektek: (having spotted the few new attackers who became visible, he
launches a great arc of lightning at one)
airborne drow wizard #2: (alarmed at first, he watches as the powerful
electricity fizzles out before it can reach him)
Skektek: Shit.
airborne drow priestess #2: (using a sling, she launches an enchanted
sling bullet at the foe, who is also airborne but thirty feet beneath
her own altitude, and then becomes visible)
Skektek: (alarmed at the sudden appearance of a foe close by) Huh?
The missile had very little chance of actually hitting the wizard, but
it didn't need to. As it drew near, it burst suddenly, opening up in a
wide mass of webbing which completely covered Skektek!
Skektek: (finds his arms pinned to his sides) Dammit!
While he'd had previously-cast protections (one from conventional, non-
magical missiles, another a stoneskin to help protect him from anything
that did strike his body) neither of those could help against webs. His
flying magic was still in effect, but he couldn't see where he was going
and couldn't cast another spell to free himself...and so he just hovered
in place in the sky, moving erratically in random directions for short
distances.
Otto: They got Skektek! (he fires a crossbow bolt at the nearest dark
elf, but misses as the foe is high above and moving fast)
Irina: (having summoned a floating hammer, she sends it up into the air
toward those mounted drow who are visible)
The priestess knew that the dark elves' resistance to magic was useful
against any spells cast upon them or in their vicinity, but did not stop
indirect, ancillary attacks spawned from magic...such as telekinetically-
hurled objects or summoned weapons.
airborne drow wizard #1: (spellcasting, he is struck across the face by
the force-weapon, his impending spell ruined and his jaw and cheekbone
shattered) ARGH!
airborne drow priestess #2: (plying her sling again, she fires another
enchanted sling bullet, this time at Irina)
Otto: Watch out - it could be anything!
Irina: (already darting to one side to try and dodge whatever is coming)
The enchanted missile suddenly burst into a mass of a dozen writhing
black tentacles...several of which latched onto the priestess, quickly
constricting around her body with crushing force.
Irina: Argh! (she is able to snap a couple of them before the rest get
a good grip and pin her arms) Urgh...
Ys: (immediately moves over to help) Hold still.
Irina: Easy...for you...to say...!
Ys: (he carefully slices one of the things along its length, causing it
to vanish into dark mist)
Irina: (breathes a little easier, literally and figuratively, with even
one of the things gone)
Poulos: (brings his scimitar down upon one of the loose tentacles on the
ground, destroying it) Watch out for the other ones!
Ys: (seeing one wriggling around near him, he brings one foot down on
it with a mighty stomp, causing it to vanish)
Razor Charlie: (eyeing the airborne foes, he grimaces...then shouts to
Hope, who is hovering above but still within earshot) I need to get up
there!
Hope: I can make that happen. (she begins spellcasting)
Elsewhere in the sky, Wu had taken the form of a gigantic, serpentine,
brown-skinned dragon with earth-related powers and abilities. The dragons
of his homeland were exotic and much lesser-known than the conventional
species of the eastern Flanaess, and they tended to align with elements
and para-elements. Each had its own unique capabilities, and Wu tended
to assume different dragons' forms whenever he shape-changed.
Wu-dragon: (belches forth a great gout of choking, blinding dust, taking
out three of the visible airborne drow and their mounts as the foes are
rendered temporarily blind along with suffering intense choking)
Paige: (using her magical boots, she rushes over to intercept the closest
of the falling foes, moving in great leaps and bounds, sword drawn and
aflame with its magical fire) Come and get it...
Wu-dragon: (far above, it circles in the air for another pass)
However, the old wizard from the far West was quickly met in battle,
the air elemental obeying Yozalii's commands, howling as the amorphous
cloud that was its body moved with incredible speed and blasted into the
gigantic dragon. A fierce whirlwind surrounded the serpent's head and
frontal area, those wild winds tearing at the scaly flesh and preventing
Wu from attacking any more of the airborne dark elves. The half-dozen
ogre magi who served the transformed wizard - and always flew beside Wu
whenever he took a dragon-form - now turned to try and fight the airy foe
who was attacking their liege.
Meanwhile, on the south side of Gorna, the rest of the invisible and
airborne dark elves appeared one by one as they dealt tremendous blows to
the ground forces below.
airborne drow wizard #5: (uses a wand to launch a fireball directly into
the massed enemy troops, killing scores and scattering even more as the
mighty blast torches the area and shakes the ground) Hah. (he becomes
visible after the attack)
airborne drow wizard #6: (summons a large cloud of poisonous gas amidst
a particularly tight knot of soldiers, felling about two dozen of them)
airborne drow priestess #4: (having spotted the obvious leaders of this
army, she targets them, dropping a thick column of flame directly onto
Mongo and Yod, who are also fairly close to one of the hidden pits of
oil)
Mongo: (looks up as the mass of flames descends)
Yod Ironbeard: By Moradin's Beard-
And just like that, the powerful fires sputtered and died, thanks to
the spell-absorbing powers of the armor worn by Mongo. The soldiers
nearby the dwarf, who had just seen their lives flash before their eyes,
breathed sighs of relief.
airborne drow priestess #4: (her eyes widen in surprise)
Mongo: Hmph. Nice try. (he rears back, then hurls Stormcrest up into
the sky above, at the now-visible foe)
It should have been impossible for any weapon to be _thrown_ hundreds
of feet into the air and to hit a man-sized target...but that was exactly
what happened. The winged horse was fast, but so was the journey of the
hammer - and neither horse nor rider could have expected such a ranged
attack, especially since the flame strike was supposed to have taken the
dwarf out. Both rider and mount were smashed by the mighty weapon, the
immense strength behind the throw sufficient to shatter bones and crush
flesh.
bat-winged horse: (its neck broken, it plummets from the sky, the rider
still attached by the same secure harness and saddle that ensured no
slipping would happen during normal flight)
airborne drow priestess #4: (incapacitated anyway due to a snapped left
arm and shoulder, she screams as she falls along with her horse)
Mongo: (catches Stormcrest as it sails back into his gauntleted hand)
Yod Ironbeard: (hurls the Axe of the Dwarvish Lords, timing his throw
perfectly as the weapon strikes the falling priestess, cutting her in
two and half-severing the mount's head as well)
Moments later, mount and rider - both thoroughly dead - smashed into
the ground, even as Yod's axe returned to his own hand.
Mongo: That might've been overkill.
Yod: Dark elves are dangerous. No reason to take chances.
Mongo: Speaking of which, there's another one. (he points upward)
airborne drow priestess #5 aka Yozalii: (hurls a heavy, black glass bead
in the direction of Parekh and Drak, then becomes visible after this
action)
Parekh had just finished covering a small but rather troublesome knot
of a half-dozen fomorians with a variant of the normal Web spell...one
that had a longer range, a larger area of effect, and stronger webbing.
These giants had been holding their own against dozens of smaller foes,
and that simply wouldn't do. Even now, men and dwarves rushed in to
deal with the incapacitated giants.
Yozalii had, through long practice and experience, become dangerously
effective with hurled beads. The dark elven priestess had an unusually
strong and accurate throwing arm, and the enchanted bead hit the ground
near Parekh and Drak, exploding in a burst of force that pummeled both of
them. Drak had become giant-sized, and his strength saved him from the
worst of the blast as he was driven back about twenty feet. Parekh, on
the other hand, had been standing closer to the impact point (and was
significantly less durable than Drak. She was hit harder by the force-
burst, knocked completely off her feet, and stunned for a few moments.
She also fell victim to the force-bead's secondary effect: she was now
surrounded by a small but impenetrable bubble of force.
Yozalii: (smiles, pleased that she was able to at least temporarily stop
an opposing wizard)
Drak: (having recovered, and with no idea what this bubble is or what
it might do next, he immediately begins beating on the barrier with his
gigantic mallet) Parekh!
Parekh: (within the force-sphere, she struggles to regain her senses)
airborne drow priestess #6: (casts a spell of silence upon the area
containing the force-sphere, then becomes visible)
This was the perfect followup to the previous tactic, as it meant that
Parekh couldn't cast any spells to free herself from the force-shell in
which she was now trapped. This in turn meant that the powerful wizard
was effectively removed from the battle. Drak was beside himself, for
he had never seen his mate trapped like this, and he realized that the
silence prevented her from freeing herself.
It also prevented him from hearing the approach of the foe who had just
landed nearby.
Eclavdra: (lands on the ground, brandishing a mace whose silvery metal
shaft ends in a small, spiked tip of purple-black metal)
Drak: (unaware as he silently beats on the force-bubble around Parekh)
Parekh: (having regained her senses, she desperately points at Drak, or
perhaps at something near him)
The barbarian warrior didn't possess wizard-level intelligence, but he
wasn't dumb either. His keen senses combined with Parekh's repeated
frantic gestures caused him to turn around in time to face the slim,
beautiful dark elven woman who approached him. Her intent was clear,
both from the look in her eyes and the small but deadly mace held in her
right hand. Drak figured she might be a spellcaster - he knew many drow
were - so he stayed close to the force-bubble and the silence all around
it, hoping that the effect would prevent or diminish her ability to work
any magic.
It was clear, however, that she intended to engage him in combat...and
that was fine with him. He was sure that she was quick and deadly, but
he had plenty of experience fighting foes of all sizes and shapes. His
mallet could crush her with a single blow, once he landed one; until then
he would use the massive weapon to simply block her attacks and keep her
at bay.
This was a good plan, and it might even have worked...except that she
didn't wait for them to lock weapons, as she used her innate powers to
create a series of bright, floating lights all around the barbarian's
head. These weren't enough to blind him, but they did distract him for
a crucial moment or two...in which time Eclavdra darted forward with
unexpected speed, sidestepped the huge mallet which Drak brought up to
block her, and rapped him across one giant-sized thigh with her mace.
Drak: (barely fazed by the blow...until his vision begins to swim with
a purplish haze that quickly turns to black)
Eclavdra: (backs away, smiling thinly)
For many years (and many adventures on and beneath Oerth) the dark
elven priestess had carried and fought with a typical, if powerful, mace
of the sort common to the drow. A few years ago, during the exploration
of a lost crypt in the far reaches of the Underdark, she and her forces
had bested a pack of mind flayers...and she had found the weapon she now
held. Aside from a powerful combative enchantment, it had another, more
special power: any solid hit would inflict blindness upon the victim.
That meant she had to engage in direct combat, but that was fine, as her
prowess as a warrior matched her skill as a priestess. And it always
helped when a foe didn't know about the mace's special property until it
was too late.
Drak: (now flailing about within the radius of the silence spell, he
bumps into the force-bubble containing Parekh, who knows multiple ways
to help but can't execute any of them at the moment)
As amusing as it would have been to leave the blinded, giant-sized
warrior to blunder about, Eclavdra had bigger fish to try. She dropped
a quick web over Drak and the force-bubble, then returned to the air to
seek out a new target. However, in this case someone found her first...
Belphanior: (also airborne, his dark blade in hand) Try me.
Eclavdra: (slowly floats toward the elf) With pleasure.
At this point, the first four drow wizards and the first three drow
priestesses were engaged with the Hornwood force to the northwest side
of Gorna (which included all of Belphanior's team except the elf himself)
while the fifth and sixth drow wizards and the fourth, fifth, and sixth
drow priestesses were engaged with the larger armies that had attacked
from the south (including Mongo, Yod Ironbeard, Parekh, Drak, Wu, and
Belphanior).
To the west and north, amidst the assault from the Hornwood force, the
confrontations between aerial dark elves and adventurers continued...
airborne drow priestess #3: (one of those previously knocked from the sky
by the Wu-dragon's breath weapon, she and her mount tumble down out of
control)
iron dwarf: (looks up, puzzled, a moment before the winged horse and its
rider fall directly on top of him)
That was all the excuse the armored berserker needed. His rage, held
in check for this entire battle so far, was unleashed as he laid into
horse and rider alike with his powerful battleaxe. It was a quick and
bloody business - a slaughter more so than a fight - but it alleviated
the ever-simmering rage of the iron dwarf, and eliminated a powerful foe
from the playing field.
iron dwarf: (holding his bloody axe, he looks around) RRR...
airborne drow wizard #3: (another of the three who had been knocked from
the sky by the Wu-dragon's breath weapon, he manages to get his winged
horse to land rather than crash, although both are still choking and
half-blinded from the intense barrage of dust)
Paige: (having used her magical boots to get there in a hurry, she takes
full advantage of the foe's condition, her sword swinging in a deadly
arc...and bouncing off of the foe's neck) Whaaa?
Like all of the dark elven wizards (and likely all of the opposing ones
as well, to be honest) this one had a stoneskin spell in place upon his
person. The potent defensive magic would block a number of weapon-blows
before any actual damage could occur.
formerly-airborne drow wizard #3: Foolish wench. (he waves a spread
hand, and a sheet of flames fans out at the warrior-woman)
Paige: Aaaargh! (she leaps back, her skin singed but not burned badly
as a result of her enhanced speed)
drow wizard #3: (begins working another spell)
Otto: Maybe I can help. (he fires his crossbow, the bolt bouncing off
of the wizard's back and interrupting his spell)
drow wizard #3: Eh? (he turns to face the dwarf)
Paige: (blistered and smoking, and completely enraged now, she lunges
forward...but instead of attacking the rider, she targets the mount,
her flaming sword nearly cleaving one of its leathery wings from its
body)
bat-winged horse: (shrieks in pain)
drow wizard #3: What? (he turns to face her)
Paige: I figured your steed didn't have the same protections you do.
And now you can't fly away.
drow wizard #3: (working another offensive spell)
Otto: (having advanced and switched to his magical shortsword, which
will allow faster attacks than the crossbow, he stabs the dark elf in
the lower back, this attack also failing to harm the foe)
In this manner, alternating attacks and not giving the dark elf any
chance to recover or cast a spell, the two adventurers strove to wear
down his protective magic until one of their blades would at last have
some effect.
Nearby...
Razor Charlie: (now airborne thanks to the flying spell that Hope cast
upon him, he slowly and carefully floats toward the nearest foe)
airborne drow wizard #1: (the dark elf hit earlier by Irina's spiritual
hammer, he is unable to speak due to his damaged jaw, but pulls out a
wand as he surveys the various foes on the ground below)
Razor Charlie: (floating through the air toward the wizard, he readies
knives in each hand)
The lean, scarred warrior was new to this magical flying business, but
as he always did, he learned and adapted quickly. From the ground, he'd
never have been able to reach these foes with his knives...but up here it
was a different story.
Razor Charlie: (throws one knife, then briefly goes off-balance in the
air until he can right himself)
airborne drow wizard #1: (turns in annoyance as the blade glances away,
turned back by a previously-cast protection spell)
Razor Charlie: (throws the other knife, with the same result)
airborne drow wizard #1: (readies his wand for an attack)
Razor Charlie: Fuck it. (he wills himself toward the foe, and moments
later they collide violently as the warrior tackles the other in midair)
The dark elven mage had no defense against an actual physical attack,
as he'd never expected to experience one while flying. His spell was
ruined, and now he had to contend with this wiry and deceptively strong
warrior who had one arm around his thin neck while the other hand now held
another knife, this one enchanted.
Razor Charlie: (ignoring the wild bucking of the winged horse, he stabs
the dark elven foe repeatedly, the blade being turned away each time
thanks to the stoneskin spell currently in effect)
airborne drow wizard #1: (struggling to free himself, or better yet,
reach the wand at his belt)
Razor Charlie: (hangs on tenaciously, the knife in his free hand a blur
as he continues his stabbing attacks, knowing that the wizard's defenses
will eventually fail)
Elsewhere in the sky, the third of the dark elves who had previously
been incapacitated by the Wu-dragon's breath weapon had already recovered
and was launching a new attack.
airborne drow wizard #4: (drops a mass of webs over Irina, who is still
held by black tentacles, as well as Ys and Poulos who are still in the
process of cutting her free)
The webs likely wouldn't hold the warriors - especially Ys - for long,
but they did take two more combatants out of the battle for a time...and
the wizard prepared to cast another spell that would doubtless bring some
sort of harm to the three adventurers. However, at the same time, Hope
had seen the foe's work and gotten an unusual idea...
iron dwarf: (having dispatched the drow priestess who landed on him, he
now stands in place, following the previous order to only fight those
who attack him)
Hope: Hmm. (she considers the position of the wizard in the air) Hmmmm.
(she casts a telekinesis spell, lines everything up, then employs the
spell to abruptly launch the iron dwarf directly away from her and also
upward...which puts it on a collision course with the low-flying foe)
iron dwarf: (now sailing upward) RRRRRR?
airborne drow wizard #4: (hit in the back by the heavy, armored form, he
suffers several broken ribs and other impact damage, and his new spell
is ruined) Argh!
iron dwarf: (now enraged again, and completely uncaring about now being
up above the ground, he braces his feet on the winged horse's back,
grabs the wizard's neck with one powerful hand, and brings his axe up
with the other) RRAARGH!
airborne drow wizard #4: (barely able to breathe) Ghak.
Hope: (muttering to herself) Good luck with that. (she immediately
begins planning her next move and her next spell)
airborne drow wizard #4: Urk...(using a ring on one finger, he lays his
palm against the foe's helmet, delivering a powerful electrical shock
directly to the iron dwarf's head)
iron dwarf: <ZZZZZAP>
Some foes would have been slain by this attack, or at least seriously
injured and likely stunned for a while. The iron dwarf, however, only
got angrier (which was really saying something).
iron dwarf: GRAARRRRRGH! (he closes his fist, crushing the dark elf's
neck like a twig)
airborne drow wizard #4: <SNAP> (his body immediately goes limp)
iron dwarf: RRRR? (he tries to casually toss the body away...and fails
since it's still strapped to the bat-winged horse, which is bucking and
thrashing wildly) AAAARGH! (annoyed, he brings his axe down, cleaving
halfway through the animal's thick neck)
bat-winged horse: (bleeds out almost instantly...and plummets downward
toward the hard ground fifty feet below)
iron dwarf: RAAAARRRRRRR- <THWACK> (along with the dead mount, he
lands hard on his back, and lays there unmoving)
airborne drow wizard #2: (preparing to launch a deadly disintegration
beam at Hope, his efforts are thwarted by spellcasters from the ranks
of the Hornwood force who are doing their best to help out)
The dark elf was hit by multiple magical attacks at once; a volley of
magical missiles flew in from one side, while an arrow of flame came at
him from the other side, and then a cloud of stinking gas appeared right
over his head. All three spells fizzled out without actually hurting the
foe or his winged steed, but they served to distract him while a dozen of
the highly-skilled archers from the forest and Geoff fired arrows. Most
of those were of normal make, and were thus deflected by a protective
spell...but three of those shafts bore enchantments.
airborne drow wizard #2: (hit in the back, leg, and arm by those arrows)
Argh! Urgh! Agh! (he falls from the sky, badly wounded, and smacks
into a flat section of courtyard below, just inside the city wall)
Hope: (aware that spells cast directly on these opponents likely won't
work, she instead focuses her next spell on the ground beneath the
fallen foe)
airborne drow wizard #2: (barely has time to note the rock beneath him
changing into mud before, weighed down by the horse he's strapped to,
he sinks down into the ooze) Glub-
airborne drow priestess #2: (using her sling again, she fires another
magical stone, this one at Hope)
The missile struck the wizard in the back, exploding into a small cloud
of blue dust enchanted to reduce a victim's intellect to that of a young
child. It was a potent attack, one that would have had a strong chance
of success against any powerful wizard...but the sorceress had a rather
unique history as far as her mind and its memories went, and somehow the
feeblemindedness failed to affect her.
Hope: (blinks) What?
airborne drow priestess #2: (airborne high above, she frowns)
The next moment, dozens of arrows sailed up from the archers of the
Hornwood and assaulted the airborne dark elf. Like all of her group's
priestesses, she'd previously had a spell cast upon her to deflect any
non-magical missiles...but the wizard who'd just been brought down had
just learned to his dismay, some of the arrows were enchanted. More
significantly, all of the bowmen were highly skilled and experienced;
they knew to target the riders rather than the mounts, and their aim was
true.
airborne drow priestess #2: (hit in the eye, neck, and chest by two of
the magical shafts, while a fourth narrowly misses her) Ack. (she
collapses in the saddle, dying)
bat-winged horse: (unsure what to do, it turns and flies away with its
dead rider still strapped to her saddle)
Meanwhile, Otto and Paige's persistence had paid off; their alternating
sword-strikes had defeated the stoneskin of the wizard they had teamed
up to fight.
drow wizard #3: (hit in the upper arm, he suffers his first wound, a
deep cut from Paige's blazing sword that immediately renders the limb
useless) Argh!
Otto: (leaps forward and buries his blade in the foe's throat)
drow wizard #3: Urk-
Paige: (whirls with a flourish, stabbing the dark elf in the heart and
hastening his demise) Got him.
airborne drow priestess #1: (the one who had previously hurled bottles
of noxious liquids, she drops a flame strike onto the pair)
While Paige was able to instinctively jump to one side (a leap made far
greater thanks to her boots) and avoid being incinerated, she was still
seriously burned for the second time in this battle. As for Otto, he had
no such means of avoiding the worst of the searing fire...and he fell,
his flesh roasted and blackened.
airborne drow priestess #1: (smirks, a moment before a simple length of
rope loops around her torso, pinning her arms to her sides)
Razor Charlie: (tightens the rope, then stuffs an old rag into the dark
elf's mouth)
The warrior, still airborne after his vicious series of knife attacks
had dispatched the drow wizard, had been able to sneak up on this foe.
He opted for a different tactic here, incapacitating the priestess' limbs
and mouth - effectively preventing her from casting spells. Of course,
the very next thing he did was unleash a flurry of fast, fierce stabbing
attacks with his magical knife. He was quickly learning that these magic
skins of stone could be beaten through a combination of a magical blade
and brutal tenacity. Some would have offered the opinion that this was
ruthless violence and murder...and they would have been right. And Razor
Charlie was well aware that, had the tables been turned, any of these
foes would have done their best to kill him.
In the sky far above, Wu's gigantic serpentine dragon-form was locked
in battle with the air elemental...although the latter was doing little
more than keeping the dragon from attacking any more of the dark elves.
This was exactly what Yozalii had intended, for the powerful dragon would
have been a game-changer if left unchecked. The scaly form flew this way
and that, but was unable to dislodge the amorphous elemental no matter
how hard it tried. Wu's retinue of ogre magi were unable to dislodge the
elemental as it whirled around the dragon's head. Eventually, Wu used
another tactic to escape the problem...
Wu-dragon: (changes shape, becoming a massive iron golem)
The heavy form immediately dropped out of the elemental's airy clutches
and plummeted toward the ground. Wu's original intent had been to change
shape again, into something else that could fly away...but when he saw
who was almost directly beneath him, he immediately opted to keep the
golem form.
Yozalii: (completely focused on directing the air elemental, as she had
almost lost control before when she hurled the force-bead at Parekh
and Drak, she now notices the immense iron form that falls from the sky
above her, and her eyes widen)
airborne drow priestess #6: (guides her own bat-winged horse toward her
commander, colliding with her but also pushing her out of harm's way as
the golem sails past on its way to the ground)
Yozalii: (recovering from the midair collision with the other priestess
and mount, she looks around, alarmed) What are you doing?!?
airborne drow priestess #6: I saved you, milady-
Yozalii: You idiot! I've lost control of the elemental!
airborne drow priestess #6: -oh.
That summoned ally had carried out its orders flawlessly, but now it
was suddenly and unexpectedly free - and it was furious at the one who
had summoned it in the first place.
airborne drow priestess #6: (quickly guides her own mount to fly away,
putting distance between her and Yozalii)
Yozalii: (barely has time to begin a spell, as the mighty elemental hits
her with the full force of its whirling winds)
As for Wu, he did change shape again before hitting the ground, this
time becoming a long, serpentine, red-skinned dragon with colorful fins
and spines of orange and yellow. This massive beast immediately turned
its attention to some of the airborne drow; Wu had just noted that Parekh
was trapped, and he knew that he had to be aggressive before the enemies
could take full advantage of that.
Wu-fire-dragon: (swoops past, deftly snatching a drow wizard and mount)
airborne drow wizard #5: What?! (his spell misfires, the cone of cold
launching straight up into the air, destined to explode somewhere in
the clouds above)
Wu-fire-dragon: (even as it crushes the foes in one gigantic, powerful
claw, it rolls sideways in the air and closes its massive fanged jaws
around another of the horse-and-rider teams)
airborne drow wizard #6: (along with his mount, he is crushed and then
mangled by the powerful bite attack)
Wu-fire-dragon: (not liking the taste of these foes, it turns skyward,
holds the first foe and horse in front of its maw, and then belches
forth an immense gout of greenish-yellow flames)
Needless to say, both dark elves and their mounts were incinerated
after that, and the bright red dragon turned again in the sky, seeking
other foes to dispatch.
Wu-fire-dragon: (notices another airborne form above and to the left)
airborne drow priestess #6: (having fled Yozalii's side as the furious
air elemental attacked, she is now a fair distance above as she tries
the only spell that might be effective on the dragon)
She knew that a flame strike wouldn't harm the huge wyrm, but figured
that a blade barrier might. The whirling mass of blades appeared around
the dragon's head, slicing the beast's scaly hide in a hundred places.
Wu-fire-dragon: (roars in fury, bleeding and temporarily unable to see)
airborne drow priestess #6: (heads elsewhere, if not to find other foes
then to escape the dragon's wrath once it leaves the stationary site of
the magical vortex of blades)
The dark elven priestess wasn't aware of the six now-invisible ogre
magi who now followed her, quickly closing in from all sides.
On the southern front, the ground forces had hit a stumbling block, as
the giants and others who had been hiding in the tunnels beneath the city
finally emerged, led by Boss Kranok himself. This war-band - consisting
of about fifty fomorians, a couple dozen ettins and trolls, and another
score of ogres - had originally planned to emerge and counterattack from
behind the invading forces, once they were in the city and under assault
from the dark elven wizards and priestesses. That plan had completely
gone to hell, and they couldn't hide down there forever...and so Boss
Kranok had followed his instincts and decided that the best defense now
was a good (if desperate) offense. He just wanted to kill enemies - and
the fact that the city had fallen and his small band was surrounded by
thousands of foes didn't deter the dim-witted chief in the least.
Boss Kranok: Arg! (swings his massive, spiked war-club, felling several
warriors and knocking a half-dozen more back) Hah! (he looks around
at his giants and humanoids, raising his club over his head) Have at
'em, boys! Let the blood flow today! (he swings his gigantic shield,
swatting four attackers aside) Kill 'em all, and then kill some more!
Yod Ironbeard: (points with his axe, toward this new force which just
appeared, seemingly bursting out of the city's streets) What in the
hell...?
Mongo: Looks like a trap that they couldn't spring. (he heads toward
these new arrivals, who are wreaking havoc with the allied forces due
to both the element of surprise and their greater size and strength,
his gaze fixed on the fomorian giant chief) That one is mine.
The dwarven general was fed up with hanging back and telling others
what to do, and he was also tired of watching his troops getting beaten
and slain by the nearby giant-chief and his forces. Once an adventurer,
always an adventurer, Mongo now figured...and also, his powerful magical
hammer had been constantly urging him to employ it against any giants in
the vicinity. The first opportunity to do so, and really cut loose, had
vanished at the same time the royal palace had - but now, a worthy foe had
literally popped up on the battlefield in front of him. If this was the
last charge of these giants, and their leader wanted to go out in a blaze
of glory...well, Mongo was happy to oblige.
Mongo: (roaring as he charges at the giants' war-band) Out of my way!
By the gods, let this battle be joined!
Boss Kranok: (sees the attacking force part, allowing the dwarven general
a direct path toward the knot of defenders) Yeah, come and get it! (he
lumbers toward the approaching Mongo)
Boss Kranok, being a great deal bigger, stronger, and more aggressive
than others of his species, had never been afraid of anyone or anything.
He knew about this supposed "Killer of Giants" and all the great deeds the
dwarf had supposedly done in recent years. He even believed some of them.
At the same time, the fomorian giant leader couldn't help but think about
the glory that would be his once he smashed this foe into a bloody pulp
and hurled the body back into the ranks of Mongo's own troops. Hell, it
was even possible that the drow spellcasters would turn the tide of this
battle and help the giants win the day...but that was their problem, and
the approaching dwarven general was his.
Had Boss Kranok been more aware of the events of the last few minutes,
his morale might have been shaken, or even broken. And had he been more
intelligent, he would have realized that the armored, hammer-wielding foe
who now closed the distance with him had already beaten larger, stronger
giants along the long, violent path that had brought him here to Gorna
(and a place in the history books) on this day. However, those such as
the giant-chief were not exactly known for their dazzling intellect...
Boss Kranok: Now I'll smash you! (he charges forward, huge war-club
raised overhead)
Mongo didn't wait for the attack, which some might have tried to parry
with a weapon or block with a shield (neither being sound tactics given
the significant size difference between the two combatants). Instead, he
leaped forward with his hammer swinging in a sideways arc; the war-club
hit the ground behind the dwarf, while his weapon smacked into the giant's
thigh. This was the highest that Mongo could reach with a melee attack,
but it was quite effective, as the other's thigh-bone cracked under the
immense force of the strike.
Boss Kranok: Argh! (he staggers, surprised at the sheer strength behind
that blow) What...
Mongo: (not here for a conversation, he presses his attack relentlessly,
the hammer now hitting the giant's other leg at the knee)
Boss Kranok: (his knee shattered, he topples to the ground, shrieking in
agony) Aaaaargh! (he falls onto his back)
This was similar to how one chopped down a much larger tree: one blow
at a time, with grit and effort, until it fell...at which point it could
then be dealt with much more easily. Mongo had practiced and refined
such combat techniques over years of fighting giants, and he swung his
hammer again, its heavy head coming down on the giant's hastily-raised
shield - and splitting the large, metal-plated disk in two. Still in
excruciating pain and now lacking the leverage to fully utilize his much
larger size, Boss Kranok was unable to bring his huge war-club around in
time as the dwarf's weapon smashed into his side, cracking several plates
of the giant's enchanted splint mail armor.
Boss Kranok: Urgh! (he coughs up blood) How...the hell...
Mongo: (musters his full strength, his grip on the hammer tightening
with his battle-fury) For Sterich! For Geoff! For all the innocent
people you and your kind killed here! (he brings the hammer down,
smashing through the front plates, snapping rivets and straps, and
crushing all the vital organs beneath the leather and padding)
Boss Kranok: (his heart and lungs pulverized, he burps up a great gout
of frothing blood as his eyes roll back into his head)
Mongo: (victorious, he raises his hammer above his head, roaring in
triumph) Men of Geoff, and Sterich, and the free lands! Dwarves of
the Lortmils! (he suddenly hurls his hammer toward the knot of shocked
giants and humanoids, felling several foes with the single mighty throw)
Forward...ATTACK! LET'S FINISH THIS!
The liberating force surged forward as one, and there was no doubt in
anyone's mind that it would soon overwhelm and vanquish the remaining
defenders of Gorna, whatever the cost. It didn't hurt that Mongo and
Yod Ironbeard led the attack; the latter general spurred his gigantic
war-lizard forward, the armored beast crushing some foes and knocking
others aside as it drove a wedge into their ranks while Mongo took out
the largest foes one (or two, or three) at a time with powerful hammer-
throws.
With the defeat of Boss Kranok and the charge of the dual armies, the
tide had now turned on all fronts of the battle. To the north and west,
the elves and men from the Hornwood had overcome the defenses and entered
the city from that direction, and were now systematically moving through
the streets and buildings, dispatching any enemies that they encountered.
Some of the archers from their ranks had neared the band of defenders led
by Boss Kranok until his demise just now; quickly finding their range,
they used their bows to pick off those foes where they could, assisting
the efforts of the larger force led by the two dwarven generals. From
Belphanior's team, Hope and Razor Charlie were still up and about, and
were helping the two different groups of companions (Irina, Poulos, and
Ys in one area and Skektek all by himself) who had been covered in webs.
Once Irina was freed, her next move would be to tend to Otto and Paige,
who had both been taken down by fiery attacks. The iron dwarf - while
he'd fallen from a significant height and hit the ground hard - was
already up and about, still kept in check by Belphanior's last command
using the control device.
On the south flank, Parekh was still trapped in the force-bubble and
silence zone while Drak was blinded but had ripped his way free of the
webs that had initially pinned him to Parekh's prison. In the sky far
above, the gigantic serpentine dragon form of Wu flew about, having left
the stationary area where the blade barrier whirled and sliced the air.
The shape-changed wizard had suffered severe cuts on the dragon-form's
head and neck, but was still in the fight - which was more than could be
said for the dark elven priestess who had conjured the whirling mass of
blades. She had fled, but Wu's ogre magi had sped after her, invisible,
and eventually caught and surrounded her before striking in unison with
their exotic halberds and spears. That foe and her mount, both slain,
had then fallen to the ground in a violent and messy fashion. The other
remaining dark elven priestess, Yozalii, had met a similar end, except
much more quickly; the enraged and newly-freed air elemental had caught
and enveloped the dark elf and her unfortunate steed, the whirlwind then
violently buffeting its victims with jarring force before ultimately
hurling them directly down at the hard ground. That swift and brutal
impact had broken every bone in their bodies and killed them instantly,
after which the elemental then vanished, returning to its home plane.
Indeed, there was but a single confrontation still remaining to play
out, in the sky above...and it was a significant one.
Belphanior: (airborne, his dark blade in hand) Try me.
Eclavdra: (slowly floats toward the elf) With pleasure.
This foe was clearly no stranger to combat, as evidenced by the easy
manner in which she held her weapon and the lightweight but well-made
chain mail she wore. The woman was also strikingly, almost impossibly
beautiful by anyone's standards - elves or men alike - and Belphanior
had to concentrate to avoid being distracted by that beauty. He had no
doubt that countless others had fallen victim to it in the past...and
perished as a result.
The combatants circled one another aerially, the high elf having cast
a spell of flying before this battle and the dark elf employing magical
boots that allowed her to fly as if she'd cast the same spell. Both of
them were skilled warriors and both had experience fighting with their
weapons while airborne, so neither would find such a fight awkward, nor
were they likely to make any maneuvering mistakes.
Eclavdra: We need not fight, you know. Perhaps we can parley. (she
frowns) Do I know you?
Belphanior didn't trust her for a moment; she was clearly stalling,
which was fine as he could also use the extra time to figure out the
best tactics. While either of them could begin spellcasting with but
a few words, the other was likely to soar forward and strike at the
first sign of magic use...and neither could successfully cast a spell
while simultaneously trying to maneuver to avoid a physical attack.
Belphanior: I doubt it.
Eclavdra: Then why have you done this...come here, undone all my work
in this region, and hounded me all the way here to Gorna?
Belphanior: (grimly) I doubt you'd understand, but it's a combination
of loyalty, righting wrongs, and the pursuit of power.
Eclavdra: I too have pursued power here. (she regards him carefully,
her innate abilities sensing the large number and variety of powerful
magical items on his person)
Belphanior: (doing pretty much the same thing via his enchanted crystal
eye) Your pursuit ends here, today. Your wizards and priestesses are
all slain, as are your giants and such, and the palace is rubble and
dust now.
Eclavdra: That was a nice trick...one worthy of the most cunning drow.
Belphanior: That's far from my last trick, or my best. (he opens his
other hand, within which he's been concealing his magical hourglass
this entire time)
Nothing happened - not entirely unexpected given the formidable magic
resistance doubtless possessed by the dark elven high priestess - but
Belphanior had needed to try. If the potent artifact's powers hadn't
overcome that magic resistance, it wasn't likely that any of his spells
would, either...which changed his entire approach. And which was fine,
since he'd thought about a contest like this - and more importantly how
to win such a contest - ever since learning that dark elves were the
true power behind the giants here. He'd also seen this high priestess
inflict blindness on Drak with her weird-looking mace, and he well knew
that her most powerful clerical spells were likely to be geared toward
healing or harming - likely the latter - which explained her approach
so far during this battle. She lacked powerful ranged attacks like a
wizard would possess, but didn't mind getting up close and personal due
to her powerful weapons and armor and her fighting prowess (the latter
in particular being evident by how quickly and easily she bested Drak).
And now she knew that he held a leading role in this effort against her
efforts in the Lost Lands, which meant that she'd focus her attention
on him...which would allow his allies to recover, use healing magic or
items, and free themselves as necessary. Their future help could prove
critical in the very possible event that Belphanior was defeated by the
dark elven high priestess here today.
Belphanior: (quickly pockets the small hourglass, lest he risk losing
it) Damn.
Eclavdra: Some sort of time magic? Interesting...but ineffective. I
will give you one last chance here. Join me, turn against your allies
below, and I will place you high in my ranks as I replenish them.
Belphanior: (smiles thinly) Here's a better idea. Go back to wherever
you came from and stay there, troubling the world no more.
Eclavdra: (laughs) What audacity! (her expression suddenly becomes
deadly serious, and with alarming speed, as she quickly begins speaking
words of magic)
Belphanior had been expecting this to happen sooner or later, though
not so abruptly; regardless, he surged forward in the air, his dark sword
already in motion as it sought its victim. Only at the last minute did
he realize the truth: he'd been duped, and the spell - most likely some
simple one - had been intentionally wasted to draw him in. The sinuous
dark elf twisted her body to the side, narrowly escaping Blackrazor's
bite - her tactic had been a risky one - and then hit Belphanior in the
arm with her enchanted mace.
Belphanior: (quickly loses all vision in his left eye) Aaaaah!
Eclavdra: Hah. Let's see you fight now that you're blind.
Belphanior: (suddenly grabs her wrist in an iron grip, keeping that
mace at bay, as he regards her with his crystalline right eye...that
being a feature someone could never have noticed unless they were up
close and carefully scrutinizing the elf's face)
A moment later, it was the dark elven high priestess who received the
real surprise, as Belphanior's other hand drove Blackrazor through her
flat, muscled belly. The sword's tip emerged from her back, the blood
on the dark blade gradually being absorbed by the weapon.
Eclavdra: Urk...(she looks down in disbelief)
Belphanior: I told you the leveling of the palace wasn't my last trick.
(his non-flesh eye, which bears powerful enchantments thanks to the
deep gnome illusionists and can't be blinded, gleams at her) And now
we get to it. (he prepares to disembowel the badly-wounded foe)
Eclavdra: (concentrating through the pain, she invokes the power of her
ring...and vanishes)
Belphanior: What?!?
Thanks to the soul-sensing powers of Blackrazor, he quickly realized
where she was: several hundred feet away and a bit lower in the sky.
He wasted no time, immediately flying that way at maximum speed as he
reasoned out what had happened.
Belphanior: Dimension door...hmm. Not a spell for priests, so she must
have an item. Damn good thing it wasn't teleportation or I'd have lost
her entirely. And she'll need a short time to recover from the spatial
shift...
The elf did not intend to allow the dark elven foe that time, or that
recovery. He flew toward her at top speed, intending to meet her blade-
first and finish the job. She still appeared dazed, and he readied his
sword-arm for the killing blow as he quickly drew near...and then, for
the second time today and despite the grisly wound in her stomach, she
somehow dodged his attack, the sword sweeping past just inches from her
head. As Belphanior came to the realization that his opponent possessed
far more experience in airborne combat than he did, Eclavdra executed the
second part of her ruse.
Eclavdra: (having recovered much faster than it appeared, due to the
dimension door spell coming from an item rather than a caster, she
whirls around deftly in the air and touches the elf's cheek with one
dark-skinned hand)
Belphanior only had a moment to contemplate the irony of his own
previous tactic - duping a foe into getting too close and then striking
unexpectedly - now being used on him. After that moment, he suddenly
found himself incredibly, unbelievably weakened as the high priestess'
potent spell of harming only drained away almost all of his strength in
an instant. The spell basically brought him to death's door, as if he'd
been in a long battle and suffered numerous wounds and was on the verge
of bleeding out and dying. Worse, the unholy magic also inflicted a
terrible disease upon the elf, his skin breaking out in a horrific,
blistering rash that quickly turned into painful red boils that oozed
blood and pus.
Belphanior: ghaaaaaaak...
Eclavdra: (puts one hand over the stab wound in her stomach, her blood
continuing to flow freely from the hole and between her fingers) Agh.
(she regards Belphanior, who has more or less curled up into a fetal
position in the air and is now coughing up red-flecked phlegm)
While she really wanted to finish the elf off now, the dark elven high
priestess was at the limits. Everything she'd done since being stabbed
in the gut had taxed her strength and sapped her energy, and now she was
weak and dizzy from blood loss. She realized that she had to deal with
her wound as soon as possible if she wanted to live through this day...
and she couldn't risk some other foe striking while she was this feeble.
Accordingly, she now made the sensible decision to tend to herself, using
a powerful healing spell - actually the inverse of the one she had just
used to incapacitate Belphanior.
Eclavdra: (calling upon the powers of her evil deity, she begins the
casting, her chanting spoken in a shaky voice, her efforts driven by
the knowledge that in a few moments, she will be healed and whole)
Before she could complete her efforts, the impossible happened...as
a wiry arm, nowhere near its normal might but still strong enough for
one desperate move, covered her mouth.
Belphanior: (at the same time, he locks his legs around her torso, his
other hand clutching a small amulet that hangs from a thin but tough
cord around his neck)
This device was simple and non-magical, and had been designed for him
by the gnomish tinkerer Judhon months ago. It was a simple sphere of
metal whose two halves joined together tightly but could be opened with
a simple twist if one knew how the mechanism worked. Belphanior had
asked for something that he could open one-handed, and after long and
arduous hours of trial and error, the gnome had delivered. The sphere
was about the size of a cherry and was hollow, its central section even
smaller...but that wasn't one of the two things that were special about
the thing. The combination of metals from which it was fashioned was
rare and possessed of a unique property, being the same allow used to
construct the much larger box which held Belphanior's anti-magic sphere,
back in the Bright Desert. The other reason the amulet was special had
to do with its contents: inside its hollow center was a tiny bead the
size of a pea, which had been carefully cut from the much larger anti-
magic sphere and then shaped to fit within the container.
Belphanior had effectively created a smaller and much more portable
anti-magic sphere that he could quickly expose with a simple one-handed
motion. Of course, it was a great deal weaker than the original, but
it didn't need to be that powerful to achieve the desired effect...an
effect that he'd planned for in case he found himself struggling against
a powerful magic-wielding foe.
Belphanior: (with the last of his strength, he slips the cord around
the high priestess' neck, yanks it tight, and then opens the amulet's
outer shell all in one motion)
All magic from spells - including the one the high priestess was in
the process of casting to heal herself - and items within a five-foot
radius was instantly negated.
Eclavdra: (her eyes widen in complete and utter surprise)
Belphanior: _That_ was my last trick...and my best. (he plants a boot
on her chest and then kicks her away with all the strength he has left)
They were now dropping from the sky, all flying magic negated; while
the fall would only be a hundred feet or so, it would undoubtedly prove
fatal to both of the badly-injured combatants. Fortunately, Belphanior
had ensured that he'd escape the radius of the unique pendant - something
Eclavdra couldn't do - but unfortunately he lacked the time or ability to
save himself with a spell while he was falling. But that was fine. He
figured that his allies would likely find some way to bring him back to
life, and if they didn't, at least that dark elven bitch wouldn't escape
to haunt them another day.
Two things happened then, one expected and the other much less so.
The falling dark elf, still struggling with the amulet whose cord was
wrapped tightly around her neck, hit the ground hard enough to shatter
most of the bones in her body and hasten her approach to death's door.
And Belphanior's fall was stopped, ten feet before he would have slammed
into the hard ground, by an unusually-soft field of light blue colored
magical force.
Belphanior: (his falling motion gently stopped as he now rests right
above the ground, he blinks a couple of times) ...what?
Parekh: You're welcome. (she frowns) Hope dispelled the silence that
kept me from dispelling the sphere of force...and now I've finally
contributed something to this battle.
Belphanior: Thanks...(he stands weakly)
Irina: (rushes over) By Istus' eyes, you're a mess. (she realizes
what's been done to the elf, and begins working her most powerful
spell of healing) I've only got one of these-
Belphanior: Use it...on...someone else...(he coughs up mucus) ...who
needs it...more. (he teeters on his feet)
Irina: Stop complaining. You need it most. The others are stable for
now. (she confers the healing spell on him, and the blisters all over
his body quickly close up and vanish)
Belphanior: (stands up straight) Oh, wow. (he flexes his hands, his
strength returned) My thanks. (he looks around for a moment, quickly
noting the fallen dark elf nearby) Ah.
The elf strode over to the broken, bloody form of Eclavdra on the
ground nearby, feeling his magical abilities and items weaken and then
cease to function when he got close enough. No one else had yet gone
anywhere near her, both because of the anti-magic effect and because of
the fact that - even in her current state - she was still an exceedingly
dangerous foe. And, apparently, one who was still alive somehow despite
all of the wounds she had suffered. Aside from just being damn tough and
having an exceptional will to live, it seemed likely that her fine drow
armor had helped cushion her fall to some extent. Belphanior didn't
really care; what mattered was that she _was_ still alive, at least for
now. He wasted no time, quickly tearing off a piece of his sleeve to gag
her, and then binding her hands; these simple measures ensured that she
wouldn't be able to initiate any spells. Next he removed every ring on
her fingers, a brooch around her neck, her boots and cloak, and her belt
which had several small pouches attached to it. And of course, he moved
her mace away, touching only its handle. Only then - when Eclavdra had
thus been rendered as helpless as she could possibly be - did he finally
remove his anti-magic amulet from her neck and close up the outer shell
of the container. He felt his magical ability and items quickly return
to their normal strength, and the fallen foe blinked as she sensed the
return of her magic (even if she couldn't use it).
Eclavdra: (lies there, regarding the foe as her sight grows dim at the
edges)
Belphanior: You're probably wondering why I'm sparing you now.
Eclavdra: (watches him, confused, but also thinking frantically about
how she can escape this situation once a chance presents itself)
Belphanior: (his expression darkens) But you misunderstand.
Without any hesitation, the elf drew his sword and ran it through the
evil high priestess' throat, finally ending her existence both physically
and spiritually. Blackrazor absorbed her life force, transferring it to
Belphanior and bolstering his own energy. More importantly, being slain
in this manner ensured that a foe was unable to return; it had something
to do with souls and spirits. The dark sword ended those permanently as
it consumed them, which was a horrifying concept to powerful foes who
might otherwise have been resurrected or later returned in the body of a
clone. This was why the elf had gone out of his way to slay the archmage
Rary with his sword, and why he was pleased to have been able to dispatch
this dark elven high priestess the same way (although that had been quite
unexpected, as at first he hadn't known she survived the fall).
Belphanior: I didn't spare you. I ended you.
Eclavdra: (now inert and unliving, her life essence completely absorbed
by the black blade)
Belphanior: (looks around, no longer weary but now fully energized with
the life force transmitted through his dark blade) Whew. A good day.
Parekh: (walks over to join him) Indeed. (she regards the corpse of
the dark elven woman) I wonder who she was.
Belphanior: I didn't think it was a good idea to keep her around to
find out. She was a dangerous one. I've fought dark elves before,
and I've fought powerful spellcasters, but never someone who's both
at the same time. I didn't want to risk her escaping. (he frowns)
We'll figure her story out eventually, I'm sure.
Parekh: We need to. Drow don't just come to the surface world and back
the taking of entire kingdoms for no reason. Someone was pulling the
strings here. (she nods in the direction of the corpse) Someone that
she served.
next: wrap-up
map: http://www.peldor.com/world/atlas/Bright-Desert_1156.jpg
www: http://www.peldor.com/download.html
homepage: http://www.peldor.com/
email: tmiller@peldor.com
released: 1/16/2026
notes: First of all, thanks to Tom Vallow for helping me remember
that not every plan, tactic, and battle can (or should) go the way of
the good guys. I would have remembered anyway, but I remembered a lot
faster after the reminder.
I've said it before and I'll say it again now (and probably again in
the future: big battles are tough to write, and big battles with lots
of magic are really tough to write. It's like a chess game, and the
same spells might work really well if used one way but might fail if
used another way. And then you have to factor in which attacks bring
down which defenses, and which defenses are good against which things,
and honestly it's impossible to write a big battle that will make all
people happy all the time. So as always, I try my best to keep true
to the basics of AD&D and my established characters, while also having
things make good basic sense, and most of all keep the overall story
fun and entertaining.
In case you're wondering how I keep track of dozens of combatants
during a battle that ranges far and wide, with multiple areas and in
this case on the ground and in the air...here's my method. I make a
second text file listing all the combatants, then I move them around
as needed during the battle. It's a live and ever-changing file as
the story gets written, and I add notes about who did what to who,
what damage was suffered, etc. And when the battle is over and done,
each individual will end up with either a "alive" or "dead" annotation
next to their name. So that's how I do it. (If I had any sense, I'd
probably buy, mount, and use a big-ass whiteboard and markers, but I
never claimed to have any sense.)
For the climactic fight between Belphanior and Eclavdra, I actually
made a scorecard like in a boxing or MMA match, listing their AC, HP,
thac0, and so on in columns to the left and right. But what really
mattered there was their spells and magic items. Or in Belphanior's
case, not the spells. I hadn't seriously thought about the inherent
magic resistance of dark elves in a while (if ever) but this time I
did, and...wow. Being able to shrug off most magic is a pretty big
deal, and as you just saw it made a dozen drow a pretty major threat.
I will add that there's some room for interpretation from the written
rules, which is possibly a sign to me to "use" a more recent version
of D&D. But I probably won't because I don't want to spend the time
learning it...I'm not playing it, I'm just writing fiction, and rules
would often slow me down. I do own all the 3.0 and 3.5 and 4.0 books
but I feel that processing them all would take time I just don't have.
A word on Eclavdra: I very strongly considered having her use her
ring to pull herself back a second time and then cast a Word of Recall
(which instantly whisks the caster away to a safe place) or just have
her cast that right after she initially used her ring to put distance
between her and Belphanior. She's a canon villain with a ton of good
history in the world of Greyhawk. And she very clearly serves some
evil master/mistress (other than Lolth, who was slain in my stories'
canon) and that big bad individual is still out there, as hinted at
the very end of this episode. Of course I know who it is and will be
forming plans to apply that enemy to future stories. But anyway, if
Eclavdra had escaped, she'd have made a great recurring villain. As
I established in the last few stories, the Eclavdra of my canon/world
has had a run of pretty bad luck - which would have continued with
her defeat in Gorna completing the unraveling of all the conquests
she masterminded in the area - but that would have just made her more
determined to do future evil. Oh well. Sometimes I have to make the
decision I think is best given the long-term plans swirling about in
the depths of my mind.
Once again I'll remind everyone that the events of this story arc
took place in the southwestern area of the continent, specifically
http://peldor.com/world/wog/map13.html
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