XXXII. A Likely Story

The party teleported to Elana’s manor in Greyhawk to recuperate and formulate a new plan of battle. Edward rested and trained, hoping that an increase in his skills as a paladin would help finally to defeat the monster. Green Arrow did likewise. Arnold rested, ate and drank. 
Elana searched for followers to assist her. At a tavern near her manner (where Arnold happened to be drinking), she gathered information, finding that a number of low-level adventurers sought opportunities for adventure. Suddenly, someone ran into the tavern.

"The tarrasque is awake!" he shouted. Chaos broke out in the tavern.

Elana tried to calm the patrons. Some did calm down; most remained terrified, and many ran out of the tavern, panic-stricken.

She asked the man for info about situation. "I came from Verbobonc!" he cried. "The city is almost totally destroyed!" "How long ago?" asked Elana. "Less than an hour ago. Then the monster left, heading along the river northeast toward the Gnarley Forest."

One of the frightened tavern patrons asked about survivors. "There were many refugees! And there was a party that tried to stop the monster, but failed!"

"I hate the word "fail"!" she said. "We just didn’t achieve success."

"Were you one of them?!" asked the astonished refugee.

"What of it? We saved your life. You should be thankful," replied Elana, condescendingly.

The refugee gave Elana an angry look, then ran out of the tavern, leaving Elana shaking her head and the other tavern patrons looking at her with various expressions, none of them very friendly.

Sudden commotion outside drew Elana’s attention. "It’s coming!" someone shrieked. Hearing that, Elana decided to return to her manor, where Firiona and Lina waited. Meanwhile, Edward did some self-improvement at the main temple of Hieroneous in Greyhawk.

Arnold decided to go off to search for more information. Late that night, he returned to the manor. Panic was spreading through Greyhawk. Not only that, but at least one refugee recognized Arnold as part of the party that had failed to save Verbobonc. Edward had also been recognized.

"We’d better hunker down for the night," suggested Arnold. "We’ll have time to go monster-hunting tomorrow. That crowd’s getting ugly." Elana agreed, and spoke to her servants about increasing security at the manor.

Next morning, Edward and Green Arrow returned to Elana’s manor. It was decided that Firiona should try to scry on the monster, determine its location, and then go out to confront and destroy it.  After four hours, and tghree fafter four hours, and three failed attempts, Firiona finally succeeded in scrying on the monster. It was heading out of the Gnarley Forest, heading for Dyvers, and didn’t notice the scrying.

That afternoon, almost a day and a half after the party had fled Verbobonc, they spelled up and prepared to renew the battle. Firiona and Lina both assumed pit fiend form again, while all the party turned invisible. Finally ready, the party teleported to the previously-scried location of the tarrasque.

They arrived to find another party already fighting the monster! Eight heavily-armed fighters surrounded the beast. Two more lay scattered on the ground, apparently dead. Standing apart from the fighters, a cloaked and armored figure stood, gesturing and speaking words of power.

None of the party noticed that tail spikes and rear claws of the tarrasque were missing!

The party, invisible but for the "pit fiends" and Arnold on Lina’s shoulder, stood by observing and readying actions as the cloaked figure pointed a finger at the monster. A bolt of blackness shot toward the monster, only to stop just short of the beast. The caster slapped his head, as if he’d just done something foolish. The tarrasque responded by striking at several of the fighters, wounding two with horns and claws and sending another flying with an awesome tail slap. As they fought, Firiona consulted her store of religious knowledge, and was startled to realize that the other party was affiliated with none other than the Church of Hextor!

Two of the troops spotted the flying pit fiends, with Arnold on Lina’s shoulder. "Look!" they shouted. "Hextor has sent us even more aid!" Inspired to even greater bravery, the troops landed blow after blow on the monster, inflicting massive damage on it. The caster screamed, "Kill it for the glory of Hextor! We shall prove our valor to all Greyhawk!" He pointed a finger at the beast, and suddenly it seemed to wilt before their eyes, as if moisture were being sucked out of its body.

Edward, seeing this, casts holy sword on Green Arrow’s mercurial greatsword, which he still bore, and advanced toward the tarrasque, being careful to stay out of reach of the monster. Firiona likewise advanced toward the monster, which immediately leaped up to bite her! Shaken, she proved unable to avoid the jaws of the beast, which grappled her and prepared to swallow her whole!

Arnold immediately attacked the monster, hitting it but becoming visible in the process. In response, Lina waved a wand at Arnold, who reverted to invisibility. Elana unleashed one of her signature spells, sonic orb with sonic might, wounding the tarrasque, and closed in on the monster.

One of the fighters noticed that bolts were hitting the tarrasque without any visible shooter. "There’s something strange here!" he shouted, alerting the other fighters. The fighters continued their assault on the beast, striking blow after blow and severely wounding it. Shouting "Hextor, guide me!" the sorcerer cast the same horrid wilting spell again, striking the beast and draining more of its precious bodily fluids from it.

Fiend-Firiona, although grappled, was able to cast dimension door and thus escape the grapple! She reappeared next to fiend-Lina. Now without a victim, the tarrasque suddenly bullrushed two of the fighters, forcing them back twenty-five feet. The other troops landed several blows as the opportunity presented itself, wounding the beast but not enough to stop its rampage. Arnold, meanwhile, attempted a sneak crossbow attack, missed, but remained invisible. Lina directed another sonic orb at the monster, one which did not miss, and moved closer toward the tarrasque. The battle against the beast appeared well in hand.

But suddenly, Elana decided to attack Hextor’s troops as they were engaged with the monster! A mighty shout blasted five of the fighters as she suddenly became visible. The troops were now shaken! Retaining enough composure to shoot, one fired a volley of arrows at Elana. Or rather, at her images. Four images disappeared. Another fighter shot down those that remained. The other fighters, still focused on the tarrasque, hit it with blow after blow, and the beast bellowed in pain. One called out, "Ruslan!"

The caster, seeing Elana appear and his fighters suffer from her attack, shouted, "Oh treacherous one, feel the power of Hextor!" Pointing his finger at her, he sent a deadly bolt against her. It struck her, and she was barely able to avoid being killed outright, but took severe damage from the attack.

But then Edward, who had previously flown, invisibly, above and behind Ruslan and quaffed a potion that enlarged him to twice his normal size, turned visible and declared himself. "I am Edward Gallahan, paladin of Hieroneous!" he shouted, warning Ruslan of his peril. "Take any offensive action and it will be your last!"

Ruslan looked up behind him at the giant flying paladin. Quickly taking thought, the sorcerer began a spell. Firiona recognized it.

He was preparing a wish.

Before any of the party could activate their readied actions, Ruslan completed the spell. Suddenly, Ruslan, the fighters, and their fallen comrades all disappeared!

Now that the field of battle was clear of distractions, Green Arrow was free to fire at the tarrasque. Five shafts found their mark, inflicting heavy damage. Firiona quickly attempted to cast imprisonment on the tarrasque, but the spell failed to affect the beast. Realizing it was under attack from new and more powerful foes, the tarrasque ceased its attacks and ran, at top speed, away from the party, until it was five hundred feet or more from its tormentors. But Elana cast dimension door, and headed off the beast. Lina likewise pursued it. Arnold, Green Arrow and Edward followed. Green Arrow’s shooting struck critical areas of the monster twice and stunned it! Edward ran to the supine beast and hacked off a claw.

But the monster was far from vanquished. Its wounds began to heal, and suddenly it was back on its feet, biting Edward but failing to hold him in its jaws. Then, suddenly, it was back down again! Lina had spoken a word of deadly power, dropping the monster in its tracks! Edward hacked off more claws and scales, but the monster still regenerated itself enough to get back up and keep fighting. Again and again it was put down, again and again claws, scales and bits of carapace were hacked off, and again and again it got back on its feet! Firiona cast spell after deadly spell at it, hoping one would finally put an end to the threat of the monster, but without success. One of her errant spells almost imprisoned Edward, who barely evaded its effect. Imprisonment, polymorph, flesh to stone –none had any effect.

Exhausted and running out of magical firepower, Firiona cast one last spell–and the tarrasque suddenly vanished, sent out of the world to parts unknown. She had successfully plane-shifted the monster to the Negative Energy Plane! Firiona had hoped that the life-draining properties of the plane, not to mention its lack of air, would keep the monster from regenerating, and in any event, that the monster would not be able to return to the Prime Material Plane any time soon, certainly not before the party could re-locate it and finally destroy it.

"Is it gone, finally?" Arnold asked.

"Gone enough for our purposes," replied Firiona.

"Then let’s get out of here!"

The party could think of nothing they’d rather do than head back to Greyhawk. Getting themselves together and catching their breath, they all transported themselves, and large quantities of claws, scales, hide and carapace portions, back to Elana’s manor for rest and recuperation.

They awoke to find that the story of the tarrasque’s defeat had spread throughout Greyhawk. It was not, however, the story they were familiar with.

Ruslan had used his wish well, transporting himself and all of his crew, living and dead, back to Greyhawk, along with the claws, scales and other parts of the tarrasque that they had taken during their battle with the beast. He and the surviving fighters of the Church of Hextor had spread their version of the tarrasque encounter, spinning it to put the Church of Hieroneous in the worst possible light.

"Greyhawk is safe thanks to us!" they proclaimed. "The Church of Hextor immediately tried to save Greyhawk from being ravaged by the tarrasque. We were the first ones to locate and attack the monster. And we had the monster defeated, when minions of Hieroneous came to steal the victory and the corpse for themselves!

"These renegades came upon us invisibly, the dishonorable sneaks! They obviously watched while we did the hard work. No doubt they were afraid to attack it themselves. They knew they couldn’t kill it themselves, as they proved when they abandoned Verbobonc to its fate. That city now lies in ruins, devastated!

"And when they thought the time was right–when we had the monster on its last legs–they attacked us without warning while we were focusing all our efforts on destroying the monster! Not only that, they used pit fiends against us–a lawful good organization using the services of devils! And there’s more! A paladin of Hieroneous was involved in this treachery! Edward Gallahan, whose reputation is known far and wide. He showed his true colors in this fight!

"But the Church of Hextor always acts according to our code of honor in battle. And we have proof of our deeds–claws, hide and scales from the monster!"

Having heard this, the party discretely gathered information from throughout Greyhawk. They learned that public opinion in Greyhawk now favored the Church of Hextor’s claims. In particular, numerous refugees from Verbobonc were speaking out against the party’s actions.

"They failed us and then ran away, leaving our city to be destroyed!" they said to all who would listen. "And one of them had the nerve to demand our gratitude!" There was even a distorted version of the story that seemed to be gaining acceptance: Hextor’s fighters actually killed the monster, then the party had attacked them and stolen the corpse!"

The party found these developments disturbing. Apparently, so did others.