August 25, 1372
Kadlian casts his three cure spells into Ragnar (2), Galil (1) and Edelle (2).
Early in the evening of August 25th, you hear guttural voices through the door, from the barracks hall beyond.
At this point Ragnar and Windul are still out of action.
Kadlian says quietly, "Trinity, may I borrow your ring of invisibility for a few moments?
"Niko, if Trinity lets me borrow her ring of invisibility, you and I
will go out and scout around. We will lead whatever is out there
away from here. Otherwise, you will have to go alone."
Niko nods. "Whatever you need."
Niko puts his helmeted head against the door and tries to listen.
"I will turn you invisible," says Trinity to Kadlian. "And I can come with you."
"I was going to leave you in charge. Perhaps, then, you and Niko
should go. And I will stay here. If there a lot of them, we
can make a stand here or retreat to Niko's paradise."
Niko straightens up.
"Well, I don't know about you, but there's a pack of gnolls out there
wondering why there's a bunch of hobgoblin corpses there. I say
we just go to Paradise and come back when the others are healed.
Either that or we just take out those gnolls right now. They're
going to come in here at some point..."
"Gnolls? Niko, how about I open the door and you use that wand of
yours to cook them. At the same time, Trinity and Edelle can toss
magic missiles at them. Anything left alive can be taken out by
Dor, Niko and myself."
Niko shrugs. "I'd rather use a lightning bolt spell, but either way should work."
"As you showed against the hobgoblins, lightning bolts take a
while. I would rather not try to time the opening of the door
with the completion of the spell. We should use spells that are
very quick to cast."
"Trinity and I could probably each get off a sleep spell..."
Trinity raises her hand.
"What if I stand in the doorway and then cast a fireball? With my
shield up, nothing will get in here, and the fireball will clear
out the area. Then again, it could start a huge fire and we could
all die," the woman says. "Lightning bolt sounds good. Much
safer. How about we make the door invisible? That way we
can see through it and have our protection while we cast at them."
Niko looks confused. "Ummm...won't they be able to see us if we make the door invisible?"
Kadlian nods. "My thought exactly. And the fireball just sounded too dangerous."
"Yes, but the door will still be there, won't it? They can come
charging down, but won't be able to get to us, and when they run into
the door, it'll be a hoot. However, it will let you get the time
to cast your lightning bolt and they will not be able to get to us,"
Trinity replies. "Are you telling me you never did that trick in
the girl's dorm?"
Niko shakes his head. "Nah...didn't need to...just snuck in!"
"Will not any spell cast at the door just affect us? And will they not just break down the door?"
"We cast through the door, dodohead," says Trinity. "The
limitation of magic is line of sight and if we can see them, can
start our spells outside the door to get them. If you want, I'll
prove it with a magic missile spell first. And if you'll feel
safe, I'll put my shield up to protect everyone. As for breaking
down the door, they are not that smart, and will come charging towards
us and hit the door falling backwards in a hilarious effect."
Kadlian shrugs. "You are the magic expert."
He draws his frostband and Sinclair dagger. "Might as well
try. If it works, maybe I will toss my first magic missile!"
"Have everyone hide on the sides, away from the door. I'll make
it invisible, and be invisible myself. I'd let Niko cast the
first lightening bolt, and I'll follow up to clean up the stragglers,"
says Trinity.
Kadlian makes sure that everyone is in the southwestern corner of the
room. He then moves up to just south of the door against the west
wall and waits for Niko and Trinity to do their thing.
Niko turns invisible and waits for Trinity.
Trinity turns invisible with her ring, puts her globe up from her
staff, casts invisibility on the door and waits to see the effects of
Niko's spell.
Through the west door, just about 100' away, you can barely make out
the form of a gnoll. He is yipping and growling. You hear another,
unseen, gnoll reply in kind. Apparently this second monster is out in
the passage somewhere close by.
"Can one of you zap him with a magic missile spell? Maybe that will get the rest of them into the barracks."
"Hey, Kadlian, what are gnolls favorite enemies? Or food?
Let's have Malvis create an illusion of them mooning the gnolls to come
rushing down here. We don't want them to get wind of our magic
power yet. When they are closer, then Niko can let loose with the
lighting bolt. It'll be hil-arious," says Trinity.
Malvis smiles, then says, "We are probably their favorite food. We don't need an illusion, let's just moon'em!"
"I do not want them realizing that we have people in this room.
Let them think that the danger lies in the barracks, not here."
"Probably a warrior challenging them would be enough. Is it possible for the illusion to have sound?"
"My illusions have sound," harrumphs Malvis.
"Have it be an elven warrior cursing in gnollish."
"Allright, then. One elven warrior, cursing away. Where
should I place him? Hmmm....let's see. Right over there, I
should think. Away from us, yet within eyesight of the gnolls.
He'll have thermal imagery also, so the gnolls should believe he's
real. Should I make him run if attacked?"
Malvis casts spectral force as he finishes speaking.
"No. Have him back slowly away, closer to this room. That
will give Niko and Trinity the opportunity to make their lightning
bolts appear as if they are coming from the warrior."
"Right. He'll slowly back this way, then." Malvis concentrates on his image as he speaks.
After a moment a shadowy form takes shape...Malvis' illusion You know that it is an illusion, but then you had advance warning.
The spectral elf makes a raspberry at the gnoll, who turns at the sound and stares. He then yips uncomfortably.
The illusionary elf gives the gnoll the finger.
The gnoll looks at the elf, then looks at the scene of carnage in the
hall at his feet, puts two and two together and comes to a logical
conclusion, then runs for his life northwards up the hall, yelping like
a kicked cur.
The second, unseen gnoll apparently does likewise, going by the sounds you hear.
Dor starts laughing.
"Niko, go out and have a look around. Trinity, how long will the door stay invisible?"
"Twenty four hours, or until I dispell the spell. I'd recommend we put
a stone wall up to seal us in, and make that invisible," says
Trinity. "And I told you it would be hi-larious."
Niko shrugs, turns invisible and heads out to take a look with Dwarf's Envy and Sinclair dagger drawn.
After Niko leaves, Kadlian says to Trinity, "You can put the wall up
after Niko comes back. As far as it being funny, I think it would
have been funnier if the gnolls had attacked."
"It would be funnier to put it up before Niko gets back," says
Trinity. "And we can hope that Mr. Gnoll goes to find a few
friend and we can party."
Fifteen minutes pass.
Trinity, becoming impatient, says, "Where is Niko? Let's go blow up something."
Suddenly you see a face look quickly around the corner of the doorway leading out into the hall. Then, it is gone.
Kadlian sighs. "Trinity, go and check things out. Try to
find Niko and bring him back. Avoid contact with anything else,
okay?"
In reply, you hear the invisible door open...then close again.
At the same time you see six figures run south past the far doorway, and out of your sight.
Less than a moment passes after Trinity leaves before you hear a distant voice from the far doorway shout -
"Magic floating in the doorway!"
Followed by another voice which says -
"Attack!"
"Dor, Galil, guard this door."
Kadlian opens the door and runs out to assist, both his frostbrand and his sinclair dagger drawn.
Galil guards the door with Dor, keeping alert for more trouble.
As Kadlian opens the invisible door you see a horde of human warriors
come surging into the barracks hall, the symbol of a thundercloud with
a lightning bolt shooting out of its underside emblazoned on their
shields and breastplates.
The leader swings at something invisible above and before him with a glowing bastard sword.
Suddenly Trinity, floating up near the ceiling, becomes visible as she
shoots a ray out of her staff. It engulfs six of the warriors,
paralysing four of them.
The rest, with more following, run under her, and Kadlian finds himself
confronting over a score of them. Others take out crossbows and prepare
to fire at the mage.
"Surrender now," says the man with the glowing sword, "Make it easy on yourself."
From somewhere in the distance you hear the bellows of more monsters.
"Surrender to whom and why? Trinity, fire in the hole. Now."
He attacks!
Kadlian meets his attack, giving ground so that he can defend from the
corner where the door is to the party's room, and so that he can defend
the door, as well.
The elf is faster than the man and cuts him down in mid swing. The
glowing bastard sword clatters to the floor as three more warriors
swarm in.
Trinity, meanwhile, has edged back to float above the door where the
rest of the party cowers. Suddenly the air is full of quarrels. Three
pierce her for a grand total of 6 hit points. Dropping in altitude
slightly, she launches a fireball from her staff, which detonates in
the middle of the chamber.
When the smoke and flames clear you see that all of the warriors have been cooked, except for the three now attacking Kadlian.
In the western area of the barracks hall you now see that perhaps a score of kobolds have come charging in.
You hear some loud, ogrish bellowing from out in the hallway. Suddenly
the west door is slammed shut...followed immediately by the south door.
The warriors attack Kadlian. Somewhat more reluctantly, the kobolds move forward to assist.
Kadlian attacks the three.
The first fighter attacks Kadlian with his broadsword but misses.
Kadlian replies and carves out a hole in the man, who groans. The elf
slices into him with his Sincair weapon and he drops.
The second warrior attacks Kadlian but misses. The third one cuts into the elf for 7 hit points, then again for another 6.
"Trinity, try a sleep spell, if you have one. If not, do another
fireball. While the kobolds may be easy, there is too many of
them for me to take out."
Trinity launches a lightning bolt from her staff starting at the lead kobold.
Nineteen of the 20 kobolds are blown to bits.
Kadlian raises his voice. "Edelle, try a sleep spell on the
kobold. Dor, next opportunity, join me. Galil, Malvis, Ragnar,
you have to protect our wounded comrades. Let nothing pass the
portal."
Ragnar tries to stand, groans and falls back down.
Galil is at his side immediately, preventing him from injuring himself further from his efforts.
"You must lie still to heal, I will guard you," Galil says firmly.
Dor starts moving toward the action to help Kadlian.
"On my way boss."
"Yes Lord Kadlian," she replies, "Nothing will pass while I can still bear arms."
"After Dor gets out, spike the door closed. If you have none of your own, Windul has some in his backpack."
"I have some and will do so once Dor is clear," Galil calls out
as she frowns. "Though it would have been amusing, as Trinity
would say, to watch the creatures run into the door as she did rather
make it amusing."
Trinity then opens up with magic missile spells on the warriors on
Kadlian. She uses four spells, but kills the remaining two warriors,
and has one missile left over to polish off that last kobold.
By the time Dor is out in the barracks hall and Galil has the door closed and spiked, all of the monsters and enemies are dead.
The doors exiting this chamber are all closed.
Then, you hear the muffled sounds of a fight through the west door.
Kadlian whistles at Trinity in appreciation. "That was impressive!"
"I suspect we have more monsters out there. And Niko, if he is
alive, is probably in the thick of things. Trinity, can you open
the door from here with an unseen servant? If so, do it.
And then come behind Dor and I so that it will at least be harder for
anyone to use you as a
pincushion."
"It'll take too long, just open the door, and I'll be close. Niko
has protections against fire, so I can block the door with my globe and
let loose with a fireball," Trinity replies.
"Dor, come with me, then. We will all go open the door.
With my frostbrand, I can protect the three of us from a fireball.
"Dor, get ready for whatever is going to come through the door."
Getting no response, Kadlian runs over to the door, looks at Trinity and pulls it open.
Trinity is ready, and is close behind Kadlian, so she can protect him
from the potential fireball as well as preventing it from spilling into
the hall.
The door opens...
Kadlian and Dor charge through the door and into a crowd of kobolds,
accompanied by several ogres. Simultaneously a cloud of putrid vapours
rises up around them.
All but two of the kobolds start vomiting on Kadlian and Dor. Two
kobolds stagger out of the cloud. An ogre launches a projectile puke at
Trinity, but misses her. The other ogre howls and retreats.
Kadlian helplessly upchucks on a kobold.
Dor vomits on Kadlian.
Dor and Kadlian are helpless.
"Trinity, now!" Kadlian tries to move back into the doorway.
Niko turns invisible, floats upward and launches a forked lightning bolt down the hallway.
Trinity moves up to the doorway, dispelling the stinking cloud, and bounces a lightning bolt north up the passage as Niko releases his.
Niko's lightning bolt is a
beauty, and those two kobolds are vapourised. Farther down the passage,
three of the closest four ogres are blown into little tiny pieces,
while the sole survivor howls and charges at you.
Farther down, he sees the
remaining ogres, who had been spread along looking for his invisible
self, bellow and come charging south...and right into Trinity's
ricocheting bolt. Her bolt catches the survivor from Niko's attack,
killing him, plus four more. Only one survives.
By this time the kobolds who were
caught in the stinking cloud, Kadlian and Dor have recovered from their
biliousness and have started fighting each other.
Also, just coming into clear view
down the passage to the north, Niko sees the source of the iron-shod
footsteps: several score of orcs: marching in order as lawful creatures
are prone to do.
Niko turns invisible immediately.
"Trinity, toss a fireball far north and see what you can do to reduce their force."
"Roast 'em!"
"Niko, is the eastern passage clear or are we going to have company that way as well?"
Niko casts sleep on the kobolds and then says in elvish, "Kad, I
think we're better off fighting them as they come down the corridor
rather than in this doorway. At least until their mages or
archers arrive. I still have a pair of bolts and an ice storm..."
"I do not want anything getting in behind us from the southern door to
this room. If we can keep it locked, then we can hang out here.
"Dor, you and I need to clear a path for Niko.
"From there, we all retreat back towards the rest of the group. No sense trying to fight a two front battle."
Eight kobolds nod off thanks to Niko's spell, which makes him visible
again. Seeing him, the ogres start hurling insults and other, deadlier
weapons at the flying elf. Only one manages to hit him, though, for 2
hit points.
Kadlian attacks the kobolds in front of him, trying to kill them
quickly. One kobold melees him with its shortsword while three others
try to pull him down. The one with the blade misses. Kadlian replies
and kills him. Two of the kobold's overbearing attacks are ineffective
but the last one gets between his legs. Kadlian loses his footing and
falls.
The kobolds swarm him immediately.
Dor presses the attack along with Kadlian. The warrior easily dodges a
blade and skewers the attacking kobold. Three kobolds also try to knock
him down but the big man seems to be immune to their tactics.
The first of the ogres reach the scene of the battle.
Niko flies the 40' south to take a quick glance down the eastern passage.
Trinity lets loose a fireball at the orcs.
A pretty red flame blossoms forth, accompanied by the cries of orcs as
they get torched. Those sounds are quickly extinguished...as are the
lives of the orcs.
Looking around the corner to the south, Niko sees a troll not 10' away
from him. Farther up the passage he sees four more trolls with four
bugbears just opening that south door into the barracks hall. Farther
down the passage he sees about a dozen gnolls approaching.
The trolls and bugbears burst into the barracks hall behind Kadlian, Dor and Trinity. Seeing them, they rush to encircle them.
"Niko, Dor, get these creatures off of me. Trinity, fireball,
centered near us. My frostbrand will protect us and Niko has his
ring."
Dor shrugs and does as Kadlian has requested, carefully smiting the kobolds swarming Kadlian.
Kadlian uses his dagger to go on attempting to kill kobolds whilst he is covered in them.
Kadlian prods a kobold and it explodes. Five more are on him now, and he is stabbed for 5 hit points.
Dore carefully kills a humanoid on Kadlian. He has three kobolds
hanging off of various parts of his anatomy in a rather ineffectual way.
The ogre swings at the grounded elf, and misses. Two more ogres arrive as well.
Niko, floating up near the ceiling at the corner discovers the hard way
that he is not outside of the range of the troll's long arms. He flits
back, just missing its grasping claws.
Of the monsters rushing to attack Kadlian, Dor and Trinity from behind,
part way across the room they notice the allegedly open (invisible)
door to the northeast. Half of them break off and run to investigate.
The remainder reach the rest of you, and the flying mage finds herself
dodging the grasp of a troll.
The gnolls reach the door, and half of them rush in, while the rest run east towards Niko.
From the north come four more orcs, who evidently were not caught in Trinity's fireball.
"Niko, help Galil, Edelle and Malvis out.
"Trinity, stop thinking about it and reduce the odds!"
Kadlian keeps jabbing his dagger into kobold bodies until he can get up again.
The ranger gets punctured by a kobold for 4 hit points, then by another
one for 3 hit points. Kadlian in turn dispatches another of the pesky
humanoids.
Then the ogre clobbers him for 5 hit points.
Dor ignores the kobolds on Kadlian and tries to defend him from being pummeled by an ogre.
"Bill, let's stick it to these ogres."
"I say, let's do that!" replies the sword.
Dor swings Bill at the ogre but misses him. All of the monsters hanging onto and/or attacking him also miss.
The troll chews into Kadlian for 6 hit points.
The troll attacking Niko is fast, and claws and bites him for 9 hit points in all.
Niko flies north, dropping a grenade (after pulling the pin!) for the troll.
The troll pursues Niko northwards. The grenade explodes...catching both
Niko and the troll in its blast. Niko takes 14 hit points of damage and
floats softly to the floor...stunned. The troll is also knocked
senseless.
Trinity shoots a lightning bolt up the passage to the north.
Her spell kills six ogres and all the remaining orcs.
Her fun is interrupted by the claws and bites of a troll, as she takes 11 hit points of damage.
She next does the invisible thing again with her ring and turns to see how Kadlian et al are faring.
Meanwhile, two trolls run headlong into the invisible door with a
crash. They stand back and shake their heads. The two bugbears laugh at
their comrades, then put their shoulders to the door. The door does not
give.
Edelle climbs a wall.
Three gnolls run over to join them, while a further three head over to battle Kadlian, Dor and Trinity.
Rounding the corner to the south come the other five gnolls. They spot
Niko lying senseless on the floor just ahead and close for an easy kill.
Right now, Kadlian has 3 kobolds, an ogre and a troll attacking him;
Dor has 3 kobolds, 2 ogres and a bugbear attacking him; Trinity has a
troll attacking her. Niko lies about 35' away from Kadlian and Dor with
5 gnolls just a few feet away from him. A bugbear waits for an
opportunity to attack Kadlian, and three gnolls are also approaching.
Trying to get at the rest of the party are two trolls and two bugbears,
soon to joined by three gnolls.
Through the southern door you hear more trouble approaching from the east.
Malvis, who had been practicing some sort of esoteric meditation
exercises, finally comes back to reality and quickly snaps off a color spray
at the onrushing humanoids, then pulls out his wand of steam, ready to
shoot it at those who weren't sufficiently stunned by the spell.
His spray hits the invisible door but still affects some of the
creatures on the other side. The bugbears drop, and one of the trolls
is blinded.
Kadlian, meanwhile, is pierced for 1 more hit point.
"Right. This has gone on long enough."
Kadlian stabbing yet another kobold and killing him, activates his ring
of flight and floats up towards the the ceiling with the last two
kobolds on top of him. As he rises, the ogre swings again, but
perhaps not expecting this to happen, he misses. The troll fares
better, though, and Kadlian is bitten for 10 hit points. Just below the
ceiling the elf flips over and the kobolds fall off him, striking the
floor below with s sickening crunch. One kobold is injured in the fall;
the other is killed.
"Edelle, Malvis, try sleep spells on the creatures attacking the door.
"Trinity, if you are afraid to drop a fireball in our midst, block off
that southern door so that we do not have to continue fighting a
multiple front battle."
Since Trinity is invisible, she dimension doors up the northern
passageway, about 15 feet from where she was. She then uses a fireball
from her staff centered on the troll who was attacking her. The
fireball blossoms in the doorway, engulfing the troll, Kadlian, Dor,
and all of the monsters that are loitering about close by. The
remaining kobolds are killed, the ogres - within the area of protection
of Kadlian's sword - are scorched, and the trolls wounded. The two
bugbears who were close by are killed.
Kadlian takes 8 hit points of damage, as does Dor.
She then follows up by turning invisible again.
The gnolls - advancing up the passage from the south - pause only long
enough to behead the stunned Niko, before continuing their advance on
Kadlian and Dor.
Dor continues his battle with the ogre that is still trying to get his
illustrious leader, while two more of their ilk beat up on him. His
second swing with Bill connects, nearly killing the monster. The other
two ogres, distracted by the fireball, miss him.
The troll that had attacked Trinity moves to get in on the fun.
Malvis, who was going to use his wand after the color spray
spell, instead opts for an illusion, since the wand will not penetrate
the invisible door. Malvis creates an illusion of a large, spiked
pit opening up just his side of the invisible door, hoping that will
slow the attack down somewhat.
A pit appears to open up just
inside the door. The troll continues to beat at the spiked door, while
the bugbears sit stunned. The gnolls arrive and start bashing at the
door as well.
Next, pouring through the south door and into barracks hall, come several dozen hobgoblins.
You get the impression that the gods of evil are emptying this entire
dungeon level of monsters. Currently Kadlian faces an ogre and a troll;
Dor battles 2 ogres; two more ogres wait for a chance to attack; a
troll waits as well; and 6 gnolls have just arrived. At the invisible
door are two trolls; 2 bugbears (stunned) and 5 gnolls. 25 hobgoblins
are racing across the barracks hall, roughly half going against Kadlian
and Dor; the rest going to the other door (sic). The troll that was
stunned by Niko's grenade stands up, shakes his head, and then charges
up the passage at Kadlian and Dor.
Trinity, however, cannot see what is happening in the barracks chamber
from her current vantage point north of Kadlian and Dor, so she moves
south again. She does note that Niko's body is near the south corner,
some 65' away.
"Trinity, start closing off the entrances to this room, please and winnow down the odds with whatever you have left."
"And what do you think I am trying to do?" calls the mage.
Kadlian gives her a wry grin. "Playing?"
"Look loverboy, you want help or not?" the mage asks. "I have to concentrate."
Kadlian lands beside Dor, and lashes out at the nearest monster with his frostbrand and Sinclair dagger.
As he lands his ring of flying disintegrates to dust.
Kadlian nods, facing the humanoid in front of him. "Of course I
want help. Oh, and we need to figure out how to get Niko's body
back. He has that rod of paradise thing that we are going to need
pretty soon."
The ogre misses with his club. Kadlian pricks him with his frost brand
and kills the monster. The troll, meanwhile, misses. Another ogre moves
in as well.
The ogres on Dor both miss, and Dor cuts down one of them. Another steps up.
Over by the door, the trolls are still bashing ineffectually at it. The five gnolls also give it a try. The door holds.
Trinity, floating above the mob encircling Kadlian and Dor, creates a wall of fire just before the invisible door, catching the bugbears and three gnolls in it. The bugbears are cooked, as are the gnolls.
Through that south door come two more trolls.
Dor turns on the next ogre, but misses...as does the ogre. The second ogre also misses.
The New And Improved Kadlian prods the next ogre in line - a big boss
type - and kills him. The troll slashes him for 13 hit points as
another troll steps up.
The invisible door starts to groan and splinter as the trolls and remaining gnolls continue to beat on it.
An ice storm explodes in the barracks, killing 12 hobgoblins and a gnoll.
Then, Trinity turns and fills the north passage with a web...even though it is already blocked by a wall of something.
Finally, she turns invisible again and reaches for a scroll to read. She can read one scroll per round...but not if the scroll is invisible as well...
Next, around the corner to the south charge four bugbears.
Kadlian continues to kill things in front of him.
The ranger drives his frost blade
into the troll. It waves a claw and misses him. With the Sinclair blade
in knife mode Kadlian he chops it down. The other troll claws him twice
for 12 hit points, leaving the ranger ready to collapse (2 hit points).
Another ogre steps up to help finish him off.
Dor laughs. "Dor and Bill get to kill more evil! That's what we live for."
"Right!" agrees the blade, and together they cut down yet another ogre. The second ogre misses. A troll steps up as well.
"Trinity, see if you can move your wall of fire to cook those still attacking that door. Next priority will be to seal the southern door. Heck, if you can seal the passage beyond that, even better. Thirdly, if you have more lightning bolts up your sleeve, use them."
Galil, having been watching (and wincing at what she could see) has prepared as best she can for the impending attack. She has moved Ragnor to a far corner, as far away from the door as possible, and has her bow ready to fire her entire arsenal of arrows at whatever gets through the door.
Galil wracks her mind for ideas of how to vanquish the pesky critters,
dismissing setting a fire on her side of the door for obvious reasons,
wishing she had some kind of slippery stuff she could paste the floor
with...right at the entrance so that any advancing would fall on their
butts.
With that idea in mind, she rummages through her pack to find her scented oils. She concocts a mixture of lavender oil together with her massage oils (out of sight of the door) and then kneels at the door jam, trying to be inconspicuous and pours the mixture so that it will pool in front of the door.
She then resumes her position where she laid her bow and arrows down and prepares for whatever might fall through the doorway.
Malvis pulls out his Wand of
Steam, and prepares for the onslaught of humanoids. Once they are
past the "pit", he will fire the wand.
Over by the door, meanwhile, the
trolls and gnolls finally give way before the heat of the wall of fire,
and retreat...one of the latter dropping in flames before he can
escape. As they retreat the floor below them suddenly turns to mud. The
trolls, gnoll and the rest of the those hobgoblins drop out of sight
into the muck.
Then, the mud turns to stone again.
Trinity starts another spell.
Currently, no monsters are threatening the people behind the invisible door, thanks to Trinity's wall of fire.
Dor battles an ogre and a troll.
Kadlian fights a troll and an ogre.
Five gnolls wait to get at Kadlian or Dor. Four bugbears are also queued up.
Next, two more trolls come through that south door.
Kadlian adroitly sidesteps the
next troll's claw as he all but decapitates it. It catches him with its
second claw for 6 hit points, though, and he is left with is 1 hit
point. With his Sinclair blade he finishes the troll off.
The ogre misses him.
Another troll moves up.
A blast of cold nails the gnolls and bugbears and kills them.
Trinity starts another spell.
Directly below her, Dor fights on. The ogre misses yet again and curses. He curses again as Dor and Bill kill him.
The troll bites him for 8 hit points.
Suddenly a sticky web springs up
in that doorway, as 63 goblins rush into view through it. Eight are
entangled in it, and a large traffic jam behind them results.
Trinity turns invisible again.
At this point Dor fights a troll, with a second about to join in. Kadlian battles an ogre and a troll.
The goblins are trying to
discombobulate themselves, but you know that the passage to the south
stands open as an alternate route for them.
"Trinity, I am critically wounded. We need to close off the exits
and finish what is in front of us or you and Dor will be on your own."
Kadlian attacks the troll.
"Kadlian, defend yourself so you can heal yourself," calls the
invisible mage. "Dor, I hope to all the gods you and Bill can do
this," she says, as she flies out to seal off the southern
passageway after rescuing Niko's body.
"Don't worry about us, Ma'am," Bill replies, "The forces of Law and Order shall prevail."
"Yeah. What Bill said," Dor cheers, grinning and fighting. "Bill, you are the best."
"For once Bill, I hope so, I truly hope so," says the mage.
"Trinity, I used my healing spells earlier on the rest of the
party. I have one possibility, but that would require time I do
not have. Avenge me, should I fall."
"Then fight a defensive battle and push the foes towards the wall of
fire" calls the mage. "You better not get yourself killed, or
I'll be really mad."
"Trinity, all I have been trying to do is take out the foes in front of me. It is just that they keep coming!"
The elf then sticks his frost brand into the troll and it drops.
The ogre misses.
The troll on Dor, meanwhile, scrapes his claws down the warrior's shield as the warrior connects with Bill.
The second troll swipes him from behind for 5 hit points.
Suddenly there is a roar from around the corner to the east, as Trinity
lights up a fireball down there, catching the goblins, as well as a
group of gnolls who just happened to be arriving. Unfortunately, she
also torches her own web, leaving that south door open again.
She then creates another wall of fire just east of the doorway in the
passage, effectively sealing this area off from the rest of the
dungeon...as best as you can tell.
Niko's body then shrinks, as she picks it up and flies back with it...sans head.
Meanwhile, Kadlian turns back to the ogre, just in time to avoid a
haymaker to the chops. Poking him with his blade, the ogre drops.
Dor is hit again for 8 hit points, as he starts to look hurt. That does
not stop him from carving off another chunk of troll meat, though. The
troll misses with his second swing, and the warrior finishes the job,
then turns to deal with the last troll.
Dor lands a mighty blow on the monster, as the troll that Kadlian just
cut down suddenly stands up and attacks again! Kadlian jumps aside,
fanning with his frost brand. The troll catches him with his second
claw for 7 hit points and the elf drops.
The troll that just dropped Kadlian kicks his body aside and attacks Dor.
The warrior fights alone, while Trinity hovers overhead. Dor jabs the
troll a second time, then is clawed for 7 hit points. Dor's second
swing takes down the monster, though, and he turns to face the troll
that just chopped down Kadlian.
Dor and the monster trade misses, as the monster continues to regenerate. Dor lands a hit, but it still stands and fights.
Meanwhile, another troll that you took down earlier sits up and looks
around. The other three look like they will be reviving soon as well.
Dor says "Uh oh. How come we kill them and they coming back to life? Bill and I need some help with this."
"Turn off this blasted wall of fire so we can help!" cries a voice from the invisible doorway.
"Dor, I think Kadlian's firebrand is on his belt. We need to burn
the trolls," the woman calls. "I have an idea."
She levels her staff at the troll fighting Dor as it misses the warrior
again. Dor chops the monster again and it drops a second time.
Suddenly the troll rises up into the air and hangs there. However, when
Trinity tries to move the troll towards a wall of fire nothing happens.
Apparently levitation does not imbue horizontal movement.
Dor faces the last revived troll, who is just standing up, and cuts him down again.
The battle is over...for now.
Trinity quickly patches up Kadlian's wounds, for he is near death. He remains unconscious.
Next, Trinity and Dor move the trolls over to the wall of fire and
immolate them...preventing them from coming back to life for once and
for all.
After a moment the wall of fire before the invisible door where the rest of the party has been hiding goes out.
You know that the other wall of fire in the south passage will burn for a few more minutes.
Kadlian awakens to find himself in Niko's paradise. The party has
survived again, save for Niko, whose decapitated corpse lies under a
nearby tree.
Kadlian coughs and groans. "We made it, I guess?"
He looks over at Niko. "More or less, that is."
"Trinity, what was the status when we entered here? Everything that came at us is dead?"
"Yes, all was quiet when we entered paradise." says the mage,
"and all the trolls burned up. How the place will be when we exit
is anyone's guess."
Kadlian grimaces. "Too bad we were not healthy enough to pick up whatever they left behind."
Trinity needs to study her spells and rest from all the action.
Once she's rested, she can teleport the group to the flame of
anti-wishing and restore Niko.
"As far as going to the anti-wishing flame, how about we head back to
Sandas, instead? If Salaam is there, I think we can ask him to
cast a resurrection spell on Niko and heal the rest of us up."
Dor takes stock of his person and personal effects.
"Good job Bill. And this armor is great. Thank Tyr we made it through."
He breathes a great sigh. Turning towards the group, he says "I feel beat up. I am going to rest."
"Me too," adds Bill.
Trinity speaks, "Well Bill, I take everything back I have ever said about you. You and Dor were marvelous."
"Dor, you and Bill fought well as did you, Trinity. Now, if we
just avoid fighting a two front battle against 20 to 1 odds, we can
avoid getting banged up so much. Next time I want to hole up in a
mostly unexplored dungeon level, just remind me what happened here."
"Oh don't worry, I'll remind you. Especially when you send me out
to go scouting and there's a foe with a magic detecting sword." says
Trinity. "I'd almost wonder if there was a magical monster
summoning device in the area, with all those creatures that kept coming
and coming. I lost count as to how many we killed.
Kadlian makes a face. "Now, that was just bad luck. After
all, we thought we were dealing with gnolls, not an army. In
hindsight, we should have sat behind the door and you could have tossed
fireballs at them until they all were gone."
Trinity looks at Kadlian, "Throwing fireballs around indiscriminately
is not wise. Further, had I tossed them from behind the door, they
would not have passed the barrier. The Fireball emanates from the
mages hands. I forgot to mention that. However, we were
able to protect the door, thanks to Hecate and her ring." Trinity
says, with a smile. "And I will have to remember to use
levitation as an offensive weapon." adds the mage. "It
might have saved your recovery time."
"Ah. Well, considering that my sword protected me from your
fireballs, I was thinking that they would have made the trolls expire a
little quicker. And what is this about levitation as an offensive
weapon? How would that have saved me?"
"Your sword also protected the trolls nearby, so it was not possible to
use a fireball against them. As for levitate, how well do
you think you would fight floating 5 feet off the ground?"
"Hmm... You have a point. It would be more impressive to
bounce an opponent off the ceiling a few times. Still, you have
so much more destructive power with magic missiles, lightning bolts and
the like. Levitation seems like a pretty wimpy weapon compared to them."
Galil, content to listen to them discuss their success, remarks, "It
was quite an impressive battle from what I could see through the
door. I'm afraid my skills would not have been up to what we
encountered." she says quietly. "I shall endeavor to be
more diligent in my training as I can see that you are all seasoned
warriors and magic users."
"And we need to beat Niko, since technology can cause many problems, and cause you to lose your head."
Kadlian snorts at the joke and then groans in pain. "Indeed. Not very smart on his part."
"And when he's alive, we have to remind him that technology is bad, magic is good," replies Trinity.
Galil nods sagely. "I do not know much about this technology you
speak of, but it certainly did seem to be somewhat less reliable than
magic."
"Some magic. This sinclair dagger is very effective..."
Kadlian looks at the others. "I am sorry that I kept you out of
the fight, but you got to see an amazing fight without being injured
any worse than you all were. Count yourselves lucky that we all
survived at all."
"It was actually easier for me with fewer people out there, I had a bit
more latitude on tossing spells of mass destruction," says
Trinity.
"I wish you had tossed a few more fireballs. Although the forked
lightning bolt that took out all those kobolds was pretty impressive."
"Sometimes you're the lighting bolt, sometimes you're the kobold," replies Trinity.
"And we will do something about Niko as soon as Trinity is up to casting a teleportation spell."
"Take a day to memorize the spell, but we might want to stay a few days
to get everyone healed. As I recall, this paradise can speed up
healing, and we are completely out of time and space," says the mage.
"But, until Ragnar is up and going, no one will have any healing
spells. I am out for more than a week. If we head back to Sandas,
Salaam is at least there. And maybe some of Occa's other friends
will be around to heal us."
"As you wish," says Trinity.
"Hey, if you have any better ideas, please speak up. It is just
with Ragnar and I doing the healing, we will here a month or more
before everyone is healed."
"I just said that this place should increase the speed of healing and
so we should take advantage of it. I suspect we can say here
about 10 days," replies Trinity. "And we can use the time
to relax and prepare for what is next. It will also give those
outside time to decide nothing is happening and not explore the
destruction we just created."
Galil nods, "This place does seem to be heavily infested which leads me
to believe that something important must be hidden here. There is
much mystery about these towers and so it draws all those seeking
something."
"Okay, we will do it your way and see how far we get. I hope Niko will not start to smell, though..."
"Oh, and Trinity, if I can help you recharge your staff, please let me
know. Your magic combined with the staff's energy saved our
bacon."
"I, too, need some rest," says the human illusionist.
You settle in and rest.