Rashemen - RP Thread

Remove all ads!

The group's various contributions seem to boost Delphinae's spirits greatly. "Thank you all; that should make this considerably easier. Now, everybody foll... oh dang it! Hang on a minute."

A few seconds later, Delphinae abruptly reappears about 15 feet away as she steps out of the spell's area of effect. She looks down at her hands, smirks ironically, and continues in a rueful tone, "That's better. Now, everybody follow me."

After some initial bumping into other invisible people, the group follows Del through numerous twists and turns of the passages with Nakia setting traps along the way. Eventually they come to another dead end, and unsurprisingly the group has no qualms about passing through the barrier this time. They emerge into a small room with stairs going both up and down. The moment of truth that Delphinae had been anticipating at the stairwell comes ... and passes. Noone is around the stairwell, and the group descends to the basement without incident.

The basement seems as any lower level of a castle would look, with a wine cellar, a guard room, and a few dungeon cells. Oddly there seems to be noone here either, and try as she might, Del cannot shake the feeling that something is amiss. Stopping in her search, she leans against the wall, only to have it swing open under her weight! She crashes to the floor, her hip falling on a trip-wire that shoots a flaming arrow over her prone form into the opposite wall.

Hurriedly scrambling to her feet, Delphinae calls for the others and prepares to beard the lion in its subterranean den.

 

POSTING AS FELLOWSHIP OF THE SERPENT

"May the Serpent be praised," Viper's Fang finished his prayer and raised himself from his knees. He looked up at his superior, the Dark Naga Ithyalik, and was about to speak, when the alarm sounded from the floor above them.

"What could that be?" Ithyalik asked.

"Who else, it is the band of little maggots I know so well," Viper's Fang answered.

"But our scouts have seen no one, and Midnight Death and his vipers have reported nothing since tracking them from the village. He would not leave us in the dark," the naga hissed.

"Your trust in him was always misplaced. I learned long ago to always mistrust him. His lust for power was always greater than his devotion to the Serpent. He has most likely betrayed us. We should consult the little witch." Viper's Fang said.

"But you remember what she did the last time we addressed her. We can't afford something like that to happen again," the naga said.

"How could I forget?" Viper's Fang said, rubbing the scars on his hands. "I've taken precautions to prevent any such thing. Trust me."

"As you wish," the naga said. He leaned forward and the large crystal that was suspended around his neck hung down to Viper's Fang. Viper's Fang conjured some black flames in his hand and held them under the crystal.

"Anatha Heathertop Nochedramantrium Blackfoot, I compel you to appear before me and answer my questions, and to do nothing else. Obey!" Viper's Fang boomed. The black flames increased, and the crystal started to give off white smoke, the smoke coalesced into a small torso of a woman.

"I obey," the woman said, writhing in the black flame.

"Who is it who has tripped the alarm? Is it your son? Who is with him?" Viper's Fang asked.

The white, smoky form flickered in the flames for a moment, then replied, "Yes, it is my son, and also my .... niece? Yes, how can that be?" A smile actually appeared on the woman's face. "Oh, my baby brother ... he was just walking when I became handmaiden to the forest and left my family ... he has become a chief ... and his daughter ... she has been a true friend to my son."

"This is not a family reunion!" Viper's Fang growled. He let the flames totally envelope the crystal. "Who else is with him?! Does he have the Earth's Heart?!"

"Aaaah," the woman moaned. "His friends are few, but they wield the power of an army. Your Fellowship will fall. He has held the Heart, but he does not have it now." She was silent for a moment. "The One-who-is-finding-his-destiny cares for the Heart currently. You will not be able to wrench it from him. He would bind himself to it and sink to the center of the earth himself before he let you wretches possess it. The time is coming when I will be free of you. I will be obedient no longer!"

White flame shout out of the crystal and burned both Viper's Fang's and the naga's faces.

"Have the little wench under control, do you?" the naga sneered.

"At least we know now who we're going to kill," Viper's Fang retorted. The sound of companies of cultists, hitaschis, and Yuan-ti arming up and moving to the alarm comforted him. He took his battle axe and serpent staff.

The naga heaved the end of his tail on the table. "Buckle on my blades before we go," he said, and Viper's Fang helped him put on a strap that had six, long, sharp blades welded to it on his tail. The naga swished his tail in anticipation as they left the chamber, "It's been too long since I've tasted fresh prey that I killed myself. There's nothing quite like that fresh killed taste."

[ August 26, 2005, 02:59: Message edited by: Scot ]

 

Jex stopped suddenly. There was a scent in the air. "Someones comeing and they had friends" he whispered to Del. "We have to find somewhere that we can at least be on an even ground. We're at a disadvantage in the tight confines of a corridor."

His scimitars were drawn again. His hands were shaking, not from fear, but excitment. He wanted a fight, he needed one. His confidence had been shaken seeing how he had been killed by a mindless Derro, he fought off the creeping doubt with bravado. He was ready to go.

 

Delphinae grinned wickedly in the direction from which the still-invisible Jex's voice had come. "Then we bring the fight to them, and ambush them in their own lair. They may not find us, be we WILL find them."

Finally hunting her quarry, Delphinae was in her element. She moved as swiftly and silently as the wind, while the magic of her Cloak made her seem one with the rock walls of the tunnels. The only sign of her existence was a faint sense of movement that the rest of the group followed as best they could. As they came upon a cavernous chamber, Del warned the others and they approached with caution.

Once again, though, there was no enemy in sight. So overcome by disbelief that she did not even notice the signs of a recent large-scale departure by the Fellowship, Delphinae screamed out before she could stop herself. "Is there NOONE to fight in this gods-forsaken place!?!" ...And a thunder of returning footfalls could be heard from nearly every exit. "Ohhh $#*%. Time for a new plan. Sepp, where are you?"

"Over here," came the nervous response.

Delphinae got close to the source of the voice and whispered to the group, "You're all still invisible as long as you stay close to the spell's source, so stay grouped up in the middle of the cavern until they get here. Then you can move close to whoever has the missing piece of the Heart. Once you do, you'll have to find some way to wrest it away from them, and then I want you to run, Sepp. Run as fast as you can back to Atten, and we'll follow if we're able. Now if you'll excuse me, as the only currently visible member of this party, I need to hide before they get here."

 

Jex slipped out of the invisibility sphere while Del spoke. He could fight better when he could see what he was doing. He blended in well with the wall, his grayish skin blending with the brick, and the elegent piwafi he had taken to wear after tearing apart his old cloak help him to hide in the dark shadows.

His hand found it's way to the amulets he wore. The magical one, that enabled him to be hasted, and he inacted the magic of it feeling the burst of magic he felt a little surge of confidence. Touching the other one a medallion that his father had given him, he felt protected. He was quite ready now. All thoughts of dieing again had flown from his head, replaced with visuals of the battle.

 

POSTING AS FELLOWSHIP OF THE SERPENT

Yuan-ti, hitaschi, and cultists poured from every opening into the grand cavern, then paused and looked around. Several of them flicked out forked tongues, tasting what they could not see. The large naga said, "They're mostly in the middle. They're cloaked. I'll fix that. Xnatha Xnod!" Light flashed in the middle of the cavern, and a cracking was heard. Several figures flickered in and out of visibility for a few moments, then finally stayed mostly visible.

"There they are!" Viper's Fang yelled. "Kill them all!" The Fellowship of the Serpent quickly closed in on the small group.

POSTING AS SEPP

Sepp had drawn his sword and dagger, they were both glowing bright blue now. He took out some ironwood bark and pressed it to his forehead, letting all of his skin becoming as hard as the bark. Then he saw a glint of light from around the large black snake's neck. "Nakia, there! The large snake has the crystal!"

 

Delinos and Kelvados, on the ceiling, dropped down onto the advancing foes and were deep into a blood rage. Delinos was tearing through the scales of the yuan-ti as if this quest was his own. He felt as though, now, this was his quest. He kept on tearing and stabbing, and then was stabbed in the shoulder by a yuan-ti sword. He fell to his knees.

Delinos flipped on his back and spun out, cutting with his bladed toes, fingers, elbows, and knees, blood flying everywhere.

Kelvados had taken out his two katanas, and was slicing at the histachii. Hearing Sepp call out to Nakia about the crystal, he flung a dozen of his throwing daggers at the large black snake's body, leaving him open to attack. A histachii then swiped at his feet and he had the wind knocked out of him as he hit the rocky floor.

 

"Aw heck." Seeing the group reappear after a spell cast by the naga, Delphinae whispers a command word, faern, and draws a familiar black arrow back out of her Quiver. She looses it at the serpent mage, and the arrow speeds through the air. Too busy trying to avoid Kelvados' throwing daggers, the naga never sees its doom's approach. The arrow buries itself in the serpent's back, piercing its black heart and killing it instantly.

As the lifeless snake-body falls to the earth, Del jumps out from hiding and begins firing arrows into the throng of enemies almost mechanically. While on the outside she does not even seem to register the naga's death, on the inside she hopes that she has perhaps purchased a slim chance for them all to get out alive.

 

Jex spun out the corner with his simitars blazing. His red eyes were aflame. He was dropping Histachii and Yaunti with ease but he was focused on Vipers Fang. Recognizing him from the battle in the forest all thoughts of fighting Naga flew from Jex's head. It only took a matter of secnds but Jex dropped three Histachii and appeared right in front of Vipers Fang. Reaching into in innate abilities as a drow he focus Faerie Fire around the mage, and rushed ahead.

Leading with a fist he drove it Vipers Fangs nose, and with a smile he said "Remember me, I just about killed you last time we met."

 

Atten munched on some more berries and decided to have a sleep. He wondered who, if anybody, had actually decided to stay with him. There was nobody nearby so he closed his eyes and allowed the Living Force to flow through the nearby bushes, raising a canopy of thorns around himself and the Heart of the Earth. He also send word to some of the nearby animals (who were mostly rabbits) to let him know if anyone came near.

 

A Yuan-ti stabbed a blade right through Kelvados's shoulder to the ground. "Argh!" He flung out a sword and sliced the head off the yuan-ti. The place went black as he sunk into unconciousness.

Delinos climbed back onto the wall, then the ceiling. Seeing his brother being stabbed, he uttered, "Weihfre Kirut," and Kelvados was in an Otiluke's Resilent Sphere. Delinos rested his eyes, invisible to the fighters below.

 

Racing to the dead Naga, Nakia grabs the stone hacking the chain through. Over to Sepp.

"Here .. stone. Take to Atten. Quick. Be careful. Danger."

Then she turns short sword in one hand and dagger (poisoned) in the other and enters the fray.

 

Sepp had been trying hard not to get himself killed, and surprisingly succeeding at it, when Nakia handed him the crystal. He held it and looked into his ma's face, pressed up against the inside of the cystal. "Ma, we've got to get you out of there," he said.

"Just bring me to the Earth's Heart," she said. He dodged in and out of the chaotic melee, but somehow didn't manage to avoid a large axe hitting him hard in the back. The light mail he wore kept it from going through him, but he heard several of his bones breaking, and lost all the feeling in his legs, as he flew threw the air.

He landed against a wall, between two dead Yuan-ti. He felt Ma pushing into him. "No Ma," he hissed. "I won't let you push me out this time. I want to be a part of it now."

"Then just slide over a bit, and let us dance together," her voice soothed him. He did and she was with him. "It looks bad, Sepp. Maybe we can fix you up later, but for now we've got to get out of here. Just let me lead for now."

"Okay, Ma." Sepp sighed, and part of him slipped down into the crystal. It was nice and bright in there. They turned his body into stone, and sank down into the earth, following a nice vein of pure granite for awhile, before quickly surfacing in a small canopy of thorns, next to Atten, and the Earth's Heart.

Ma went back into the crystal, and Sepp was in total control of himself again, and in total pain. He reached out and placed the crystal in the Earth's Heart. It fit perfectly, and shuddered into place with a snap. "I hope we're not too late," he whispered to Atten, as a firestorm ripped through the thorn canopy. He could feel the rabbits burning up, and just beyond them, six wicked beings closing in on him and Atten.


*******************************


Viper's Fang jerked his head back, enough to avoid getting a bloody nose, but not enough to keep all his teeth. He spit blood at Jex, "Yes, I do remember you. Would you please turn around so I can return the favor of stabbing you in the back?"

He swung the axe at Jex's middle. Glancing around, he saw that things did not look good. Ithyalik was down, and he wasn't sure if most of his fighters were coming or going. Still, they greatly outnumbered the enemy, they were bound to overwhelm them sooner or later.

He jumped back from a double scimitar swing, "Ah, hah! You're a clever one, aren't you?" he jeered.

 

POSTING AS ALEXI:

Alexi hurried back to Atten. As he approach he saw things attacking something made of thorns. Weapons in hand he raced towards them.

 

"I'm drow, we enjoy stabbing people in the back." Jex went into a complicated spinning routeing he felt his scimitar bite at least once in Viper Fangs flesh, but he sure how badly, he was to involved in the fight to care anymore, all he wanted was to see the man, laying crumpled on the ground.

 

Delinos, seeing Jex's trouble, jumped down onto the snake's shoulders and stabbed his blades into his eyes. He knew about the feeling that Drow get if someone interupts your killing, so h eleft Jex to fight the snake alone. He jumped over to a Histachii and sliced it's head off. He pushed off it's shoulders and went to the ceiling again.

 

Nakia was busy slashing and spitting histachii where she could reach best, legs and lower abdomen, sometimes a backside. As she danced her merry way through the throng she didn't see a mage preparing a spell behind her.

 

Seeing that Vipers Fang had been blinded Jex lunged ahead, both scimitars leading. He was hopeing for a quick kill, but highly doubted it he had seen the mans abilities before.

 

Firing arrows at a frantic pace, Delphinae had been barely managing to take down the robed forms that noticed her before they could reach her. Spying an unusual glint out of the corner of her eye, she risked a glance in that direction and was alarmed to see a yuan-ti mage emerge from the shadows and begin casting a spell.

Quickly shifting her target, Delphinae let fly at the sorcerous snake. Despairing that it was off-target (a good archer can tell as soon as it leaves the bow), Del starts to ready another arrow. But to her surprise, the arrow drops directly onto the mage's tail, which was stretched out behind it. The yuan-ti screeches, ruining its spell.

Del's triumph is short-lived, however, as she spots a blur of movement from her right side. She pivots and prepares for a point-blank shot, but is not fast enough. The hurtling robed human tackles her around the waist, sending both of them to the floor. Delphinae manages to ward off the first few blows from her assailant's meaty fists, but soon the blows begin to connect. As she starts to lose consciousness, she remembers the Prophecy, and is filled with pride.

This means...the Earth's Heart...they'll make it!...and I helped.