Inside the city, the battle raged on. The frost worm continued to rampage through the town center and the surrounding districts, virtually unchecked. Haxiasssskaash assaulted Arimir and Elana, wounding both of them severely. He struck them again. Both fell with life-threatening wounds.
Gordian, meanwhile, had located the item he sought. The scroll contained a spell that he was not at all certain he could even cast; it was above his normal ability. "Must try anyway," Gordian thought to himself. He took the scroll with him and left the temple of Kord, to confront the great wyrm as it towered over the inert forms of Arimir and Elana.
"Kord, aid me!" the cleric cried as he unrolled the scroll. He recited the difficult mystic syllables on the parchment before him. The dragon snarled and prepared to attack the impudent caster. But as Gordian reached the end of the spell, the great wyrm’s snarl turned to rage, but also fear. "NOOOO!!!" he roared. But as he did, he began to vanish, and his bellowing faded out. With a last shriek, the mighty dragon disappeared.
"Banished you, Haxiasssskaash!" cried Gordian. "Begone, foul wyrm, and never trouble us again!" He savored his victory for a brief moment, then ran to attend the fallen Elana and Arimir.
Back on the battlefield, Edward finally recovered his senses. He picked up the hammer of thunderbolts, lying nearby. Then he turned to the fallen Ardaric. Seeing him gravely wounded, the paladin laid hands on the venerable fighter, restoring him to fitness for battle. Slowly, Ardaric got back on his feet and prepared for battle.
The stone giant fighters maintained their race toward the open city gates. Firiona, having shaken off the effect of the sirrush’s roar at last, cast darkbolt at the approaching giants, striking one for serious damage. Yet on they ran. One engaged in melee with Edward. The insane giants babbled on.
And Green Arrow still lay dying on the ground.
Edward called out to Ardaric, "We must stop the giants!" He returned the hammer of thunderbolts back to Ardaric, then flew up 70 feet, laid hands on himself, and surveyed the battlefield.
Ardaric took the hammer, and promptly attacked the giant fighters, striking one dead. But his assault was not enough to keep the screaming stone giant fighters from entering the city and rampaging within!
Before the city walls, Hulagu stood stunned! The wyvern zombie kept flying toward Lina, reaching to bite and rend. Scratch, the quasit, got to Lina first and attacked, but missed.
In return, Lina cast polar ray at the stunned Hulagu. Incredibly, she missed!
Hulagu shook off the stunning effect. He leveled his staff of power at Lina and blasted her with magic missiles. Only one got through! While he was thus engaged with Lina, Scratch turned invisible and returned to perch on Hulagu’s shoulder. The wyvern zombie at last reached Lina and attacked, but the undead monster missed, taking opportunistic damage for its trouble.
Firiona could see the battle between the skull and her sister. She left Edward and flew high above the battlefield, toward Lina. From the air, she cast maximized darkbolt at Hulugu. Three of the black missiles struck the evil cleric. Then Lina, ignoring the onslaught of the wyvern zombie, pointed a finger at Hulagu and spoke a mighty word of power. Hulagu screamed as power word, kill struck him down. The mighty skull of Orcus fell dead! Instantly, the summoned wyvern zombie vanished. Scratch, still invisible, fled the battlefield. "Take that back to your master!" cried Lina in triumph.
"Well done, Lina!" Edward shouted to the elf-woman. He then called to Ardaric to follow him, and sped toward the inert form of the elven archer on the battlefield below.
Firiona flew up onto the city walls to rejoin the defense of the city, accompanied by Lina. As she landed, she realized she’d forgotten her sword! "So much for melee," thought Firiona, as she grasped her staff and sent a fireball at the rampaging giants. Several were wounded by the fire. Lina did likewise, inflicting still more damage and killing one of the furious stone giants. Some of the giants inside the city threw rocks back at Lina. Only one hit, doing little damage.
From her position in the air over the city, Firiona sent chain lightning at the rampaging giants. Lina hurled a maximized fireball. Two more giants fell. But still the remaining giants, and the frost worm, wreaked havoc on the city.
Gordian, meanwhile, pulled out another scroll, and prepared to confront the worm.
On the battlefield, Edward at last reached Green Arrow. Quickly he administered a potion of cure serious wounds to the fallen elven archer. Green Arrow instantly returned to consciousness! His first action was to jab both himself and Edward with heal arrows, regaining still more strength. As the two adventurers healed themselves, Ardaric hurled the hammer of thunderbolts at the trailing squads of stone giant fighters heading into the city. The hammer struck one, but did not drop its target.
Edward flew to Ardaric, with Green Arrow accompanying him. Ardaric hurled the hammer again, and this time struck one giant dead. By now, the three defenders had almost reached the shattered city gates. They could see the stone giant fighters inside the city, smashing, burning and killing. Over their heads, they could see the frost worm crashing into the main city street leading to the central square.
"Time to end this fight!" shouted Edward, as he landed, raced into the city and charged the rampaging giants. One giant fell to the first blows from his furious assault. Ardaric threw his hammer again, wounding another giant. Still flying, Green Arrow’s manyshot killed a rampaging stone giant and wounded several others. But now all the stone giant fighters had entered city, enraged by the fall of their king and anxious the destroy everything in sight. Many hurled rocks at Green Arrow, striking him for heavy damage.
Firiona, from the air, cast chain lightning at the rampaging giants, wounding several. Lina’s prismatic spray wounded another.
But before the defenders could act again, before Gordian could recite the words of his next scroll, the mighty frost worm trilled again!
Edward evaded the trill’s effect, then quaffed a potion of blur and entered a burning building in the city. Green Arrow failed to evade trill’s effect and was stunned! He dropped his bow and floated down to street level. Ardaric was stunned as well. Many stone giant fighters were also stunned! One ran away. Still another hurled his stone at Lina, hitting and wounding her.
Firiona was not stunned. She became visible, then flew above the burning building Edward had entered. From there, she looked down toward Lina, who had also been affected by the worm’s trill and was stunned. To protect her, she cast force cage on her sister!
Gordian had not been affected by the worm’s trill. He called out to the adventurers, "Fall back!" as he prepared to assail the worm with magic.
As he floated to the ground, stunned, Green Arrow made an easy target for the frost worm. The gargantuan beast attacked the elven archer, biting him for heavy damage
Edward cast find the gap on himself. The worm would soon feel the wrath of his sword! Firiona cast scorching ray at the frost worm, but failed to affect it
At a second warning from Gordian, the adventurers braced themselves for the worst. The cleric of Kord read from the scroll he held. He called up a storm of vengeance! Unfortunately, the frost worm evaded its effects. Edward, Green Arrow, Lina were also unaffected. Only one giant was affected, and deafened, but so, unfortunately, were Firiona and Ardaric!
The frost worm was now even angrier. The blue-white beast attacked the helpless Green Arrow and Ardaric, crushing the two for heavy damage.
Edward stepped up to the worm and launched a ferocious attack, hitting the monster twice for incredible damage. In a loud voice, he then commanded the worm. "Leave this city, O worm!" he ordered.
All the stunned stone giant fighters remained in place, except for two who ran away,
Gordian maintained his concentration on the storm he had called up. Acid damage assailed all except Firiona and the safely force-caged Lina. Then lightning struck the giants. Firiona flew off toward the western wall of the city.
The frost worm raced forward to crushed Edward, knocking him to the ground. "Why should I leave, puny human? I’m having such fun!" the worm hissed. "Leave, while you yet live!" Edward again ordered. When the worm refused to comply, the mighty paladin renewed his assault, inflicting massive damage on the icy monster.
The frost worm crawled back five feet, then regarded Edward. "You may have a point, paladin. Haxiasssskaash took most of the treasure anyway!" But the monster then readied greater dispel magic and waited.
"Please leave. Exist in peace," Edward urged. "Do you have a name, O paragon of frost worms?" The worm rose up above the city main square, as hailstones from the storm summoned by Gordian pelted it. The frost worm looked at Edward again, nodded, as if to say, "Yes, I do have a name!", then burrowed into the ground and away from the adventurers and was never seen again.
Seeing that he had prevailed over the worm, Edward ran to Green Arrow and Ardaric. "Need help!" he called out to Gordian. Leaning over the fallen Green Arrow, he administered a potion of cure serious wounds to his comrade. The potion brought Green Arrow back to his senses. Edward also gave Ardaric a potion of remove deafness, which he quaffed at once. His hearing was restored, as was his health from the potion of cure serious wounds supplied by Green Arrow.
As the worm departed, Firiona flew back toward the rest of the adventurers.
The stone giant fighters also witnessed the withdrawal of their icy ally. They started to realize that the tides of battle had turned decisively against them. They began to retreat toward the shattered city gates, even the insane ones. They were slowed by heavy rains as they did so, as Gordian maintained his summoned storm. The cleric moved to join Edward.
Edward quaffed a potion of cure serious wounds, regaining more of his health. Green Arrow did likewise. Ardaric and Firiona now went to the force-caged Lina. "Let me out of here!" Lina demanded.
The retreating stone giant fighters had almost reached the city gates. Gordian could see that they were about to escape. He ceased concentration on the summoned storm, headed toward the giants, and cast wall of good to block their escape. Edward charged at retreating fighters and killed one of the insane giants. Green Arrow shot at another insane giant, putting it down as well. The stone giant fighters were now trapped!
Meanwhile, Firiona dismissed the protective force cage around Lina. "A cure deafness, please," she asked. "Somebody? Anybody?" Lina, not a cleric, but not currently occupied, cast break enchantment on Firiona, the next best thing to the requested spell. It would take a long time to complete the spell.
The attack on the trapped giants continued. Edward killed two more. The other defenders held back. Gordian called out to the giants. "You have no choice. Surrender immediately!" the cleric commanded. Edward also ordered the giants to surrender. "You will work to repair the city!" said the paladin.
The giant fighters realized they had no choice. The survivors laid down their rocks and their weapons, and surrendered. At that, the insanity afflicting the remaining crazed giant was dispelled.
The city had survived. The battle of Chalons was over.
No comments:
Post a Comment