Post by Dead Greyhawk on Nov 25, 2007 22:26:26 GMT -5
Otto shoulders the door open. A large chamber is dimly lit by flickering torchlight. Large columns of wood flow out of the floor and up into the ceiling, supporting the weight of the tree. Two large chairs sit in the center of the chamber. Each chair gives the impression of being an integral part of the tree itself, and the chairs appear to be carved and adorned with some sort of scene. On the far right side of the room are three doors.
Following their plan, Otto, Raven, and Jasper slowly move into the room. "Pfiffwin," says Otto, "scout ahead and see if you can find anything." Pfiffwin looks at Otto like he's crazy. Instead, he draws forth a wand and speaks a word of command as quietly as he can. The wand immediately snaps forward and upward, angling up above the thrones.
From the darkness above and behind the twin thrones comes two large gray ovals. Otto puzzles at their sudden appearance, until a black saurian head on a long, elongated neck resolves itself from the surrounding darkness. It exhales a gout of vile darkness that floods through the doorway and over the Company, narrowly missing Jasper and Raven, but coating all but Hugh and Winthrop in inky blackness. For those caught within the blackness, the feeling is indescribable. Not only are they bereft of sight, but sound comes in muffled, indistinct waves, and though they are not injured, they feel as if their lifeforce is waning. Otto's mind becomes befuddled, as if skills carefully honed and trained are made indistinct, and he feels the presence of his goddess retreat.
A group of bugbears runs in from the furthest door, half of them throwing hand axes as they charge from the right side of the room. Leading them in their assault is a huge bugbear and a bugbear that is at least as large as the one Al and the Warriors of the Horn chased out of the entryway. Jasper and Raven continue their charge forward, bringing them into combat with the bugbears. Jasper dodges lithely around the hand axe fired at him, but Raven's armor only deflects most, not all, of the incoming missile fire. He returns the favor with well-aimed shots of his own, taking one of the giant goblins in the eye. Jasper slams an elbow into a giant goblin crotch, and the giant goblin keels over to the ground.
The rest of the Company fares less well. Winthrop attempts to dispel the inky blackness with one of his glowing stones and finds that the darkness is repelled by the lightstone. It seems to not affect the vision of those who have been in the darkness though, as Otto still slashes around him, attempting to defend against unseen assailants, while shouting, "I'm blind, blind!" Fido howls in distress and flees back to Hugh, the dog's keen sense of smell guiding him there.
Antonus realizes that this is not an optimal situation. He very carefully finds the wall on his right side and orients himself on it. He knows that in only a matter of moments, he could easily become disoriented and turned around. From the staggering and stumbling sounds he hears, it sounds as if that has happened already. "Everyone get out of the doorway," he shouts. Further down the passageway, Pfiffwin has come to the same conclusion, and he also attempts to maintain his bearings by climbing up one of the walls. Perhaps if he gets high enough, he can avoid being struck by more of these horrible magics.
The rest of the Company stumble about, disoriented and uncoordinated, trying to either get forward through the doors or backwards around the bend in the corridor. With so many bodies all blind and unable to see or clearly hear, their efforts are doomed to failure.
Raven and Jasper continue to struggle against the bugbears, hoping that Otto and Winthrop can hold their own against the dragon for the moment. The sound of Winthrop chanting followed by a bright flash and a clap of thunder reassure them. Raven risks a glance over his shoulder while he dodges the bugbear's attack and sees the shadowy dragon disappear from sight, snapping out of existance. "That's our Winthrop," cheers Raven as he shoots another set of arrows into the bugbears.
Winthrop steps to the fore, searching for the dragon and preparing more words of destruction. To his trained eye, the dragon seemed to avoid the worst of his bolt of lightning, and Winthrop's experience in killing dragons has told him to hit hard, early, and often. If the dragon would show itself again, he would be prepared to launch more deadly energies into the beast, but the dragon is hard to see against the darkness.
"Oh no," gasps Winthrop as not one but two dragons slide forward with a sinuous glide. The saurian head rears up and vomits forth more lifesapping filth. Another gout of darkness is disgorged onto the Company, and their vitality is sapped even further. Hugh and Winthrop are affected this time, and Winthrop feels the uncomfortable sensation of the words of power lodged in his head dissipating, the magics long studied vanishing from his control. Otto and the others who were affected by the first horrible breath seem further weakened, feeling their life seeping away like water down a drain.
Otto's screams of distress tear Raven away from his combat with the giant goblins. Raven turns to discover the dragon has a mate, and he must now face both of them. A burst of sheer terror goes through him, but he does not let his fears dissuade him. He closes with the saurian creature, a dragon as black as deepest shadow and reflecting no light. Only the gray eyes provide a target to shoot at, and Raven uses them as well he can. His arrows reflect off of its form, dark scales resolving as the dragon shifts its sinuous bulk. "Dragons, dragons are behind the thrones!" shouts Raven. "Shoot towards me!"
The Company is unable to take advantage of Raven's cry, having become disordered and disorganized. Diego and Winthrop try to move forward to reach the double doors, Winthrop dropping a lightstone as he does so. Antonus and Pfiffwin make out Raven's cry, and they both come to the same decision; it is almost time to act. Antonus reaches into his pouch and draws forth a wand, while Pfiffwin begins reversing his ascent.
The shadowy dragons appear to not enjoy being peppered by Raven's arrows and slithers backwards, their necks rising up to the ceiling of the chamber. "Great, a spell-casting dragon," realizes Raven, as the two forms mimic each other. "They are like two images in a mirror." Raven thinks that perhaps he's forced it to retreat, but then he realizes, with a chill, that he's wrong. The dragon lines up Raven and Jasper and breathes a gout of darkness on them and extending back into the corridor coating the Company again in life-draining bile. Jasper, instinctively reacting to the onrushing darkness, dives over the bugbear that he laid low earlier, narrowly avoiding the dragon's breath.
Half of the bugbears gang up on Jasper, and he is forced back across the cavern. He succeeds in dropping another lightstone as he parries their blows, removing the cloying darkness from around Raven, but discovers, as did Winthrop, that dispelling the darkness does not restore Raven's sight. The other half of the bugbears are sent by their chieftain to fight the blind Company. They run forward into close range with the Company and begin throwing hand axes and other weapons at the Company's fighters. Otto cries out as the weapons fly fast and furious at him, knocking into his blind form. Diego, on the other hand, protected by the enchantments on Markessa's armor, withstands the giant goblins' attacks without fear.
His lack of fear is misplaced. The shadowy dragon slides up upon Diego and bites and claws at his thinly armored frame. The archer collapses to the ground, rent by the dark claws and fangs, unconscious and bleeding.
Antonus decides he can no longer wait. Aligning himself against one wall, he extends the wand along it, canting its tip slightly away from the wall. With a single command, the wand sprays a deadly coldness through the air, through the doors, and over all who stand there. Winthrop staggers and is nearly knocked unconscious, catching only the edge of the blast, but Perrin is enveloped by the cold and falls to the ground, unconscious. Diego lies on the ground before the shadowy dragon and is caught in the middle of the freezing cold. Ice forms on his body, coating him. Diego expires. Otto feels the blast of cold wash over him, frost riming his arm and armor, but the doorway itself shields him from the worst of the effects. Worse, unseen by the blinded mage, the frost veers into two streams as it hits the form of the darkness dragon, and the dragon is unharmed.
Pfiffwin, muttering some phrase under his breath, swivels about until he faces the looming dragon. "Antonus, the bad guys are that way," he cries, pushing forward against Antonus's form.
"No more with the wand! You're freezing us!" cries Otto.
The bugbears chortle glee as the Company injures itself and continue to pelt Otto with their hand axes. One foolishly closes with the warrior, having thrown his hand axe earlier against Raven and Jasper, and Otto quickly cuts him down, even while blind. The lifeforce of the bugbear goes some distance towards healing the wounds Otto has suffered.
Winthrop staggers around the corner of the corridor, having finally made it away from the doors. Covered in rime, he is a frightful sight. "It's horrible in there," pants Winthrop. "I don't know what's going on." Hugh makes soothing sounds and helps Winthrop down in a seated position.
Unable to leave his friends unavenged, Hugh ignites his broadsword and prepares to do battle, but sudden motion stops him. "I see something moving behind us!" hisses Hugh to the blinded Winthrop. Indeed, blending into the wood is a green shape moving along the roof of the passage towards the rear of the Company. Hugh steps forward to protect Al and Winthrop from the creature. With a surprising leap, it springs at Hugh, trying to knock him to the ground, while Hugh wales on the creature with his fiery broadsword. The green creature is grievously wounded. Hugh's blows on its back seem to have harmed it, but it is a crafty and strong creature. It circles Hugh, trying to draw him out of position so that it can get past Hugh and to those lying on the ground.
"Shoot me! Shoot me!" cries Jasper, as he runs from the bugbears to the shadowy dragon. The dragon glares at him with his grey orbs, but reaches out for Raven, claws raking and bite snapping. Raven, realizing Jasper doesn't really mean what he says, continues to fire arrows at the dragon, shooting off to one side of where he hears Jasper to be. The blows of the dragon are fierce, but nothing that he can't weather. On the other hand, the mace crushing him from behind is more than enough to knock him unconscious, the sounds of bugbear chortling the last thing he hears.
Herbert, hearing the screams of the Company and the cries of the wounded, is nigh onto unconsciousness. Frozen along one side of his body, turned about in the darkness, he seems to be wandering aimlessly in a vast dark tunnel from which he can not escape. "Phyton, oh Phyton! Why have you foresaken me, your humble servant on your holy bidding?" cries Herbert with all the fervor of his faith. "I work to save your Great Tree! Aid me Phyton in my moment of need! Aid me Phyton!"
Otto thinks that things have gotten totally out of control. "One of these pouches has it," he mutters to himself. "Which one, which one?" He draws out a large flask, smashes the top against his armor, and drinks of it, ignoring the shards of ceramic. His limbs feel harder and his skin tauter. The potion within was to have protected a warrior against weapons, and so Otto now is protected against the bugbears, if not the dragon.
The bugbear chieftain and subchieftain move menacingly towards the monk, and the dragon threatens him from the other side. Two of Raven's shafts have gone home, deeply struck, and the dragon leaks a dark ichor. "It's wounded and by me," cries Jasper, valiantly charging at the dragon with his halberd. His attack is futile, the halberd bouncing from the skin of the dragon.
Pfiffwin finishes climbing back down the wall, and, using his well-trained hearing, he staggers over to Antonus. "Let me help you aim," he pants. He pulls forth his wand and mutters the word of activation. It immediately points him in a direction, one that he tries to convey to Antonus. Antonus, now guided by Pfiffwin and his magical wand, uses the wand again, trying to aim up and above the fallen Company that may be in his path. He is mainly successful, especially as the door provides Otto, in the room, some cover. Herbert has staggered back behind Antonus, and he is spared. Perrin lies so close to Antonus that his small adjustment of the wand completely spares his unconscious form. Diego's corpse is covered by another layer of frost, the ice pack creating a Diego-shaped outline on the floor of the cavern. The bugbears are also not so lucky, and the wand's cold strikes some of them straight on. The bugbears, who were pelting the Company, are coated with frost, and they fall to the ground, frozen. The bugbear subchieftain is caught by freezing magic, though Jasper nimbly dodges aside.
Jasper hopes for a moment that the subchieftain will fall to the ground, but his hopes are dashed, as the subchieftain soldiers on. Covered in frost, the subchieftain bludgeons Jasper to the ground, knocking him unconscious. Jasper's attack is not without benefit though. Otto moves forward as quickly as he can, Giantslayer extended before him, towards where Jasper's shout came from. His charge is quickly met by thrown weapons, but the magic of the potion he has drunk holds him in good stead. The missiles bounce off of him as if they were marshmallows, and Otto finds himself swinging, toe-to-toe against a giant beast, presumably the dragon.
The dragon and the bugbears all attack Otto, trying to slay the last of the Company's warriors. The dragon mauls Otto, nearly slaying him, but the bugbears find their attacks to be meaningless. The warrior simply ignores their effect. Otto turns their presence to his advantage though, striking towards them both with Giantslayer and inflicting deadly and grievous harm. The subchieftain collapses to the ground, dead, while the chieftain staggers away, sorely injured. The lifeforce of the bugbears heals Otto's wounds, and he faces the dragon again, hale once more.
Hugh refuses to let himself be drawn out of position, and the green-scaled creature seems frustrated. Fido, able to follow the fight due to his keen sense of smell, attempts to help Hugh, much to Fido's detriment. The green-scaled creature leaps upon the poor dog, rending and tearing, and Fido falls to the ground, bleeding and torn. The dog reverts to his statuette form.
Hugh is enraged by the death of Fido and he takes the fight to the green creature. The green creature tries to rake and bite Hugh, but the golden scalemail and the enchanted shield that he carries, combined with his natural agility, serve him in good stead. The flaming sword seems to bite through the green creatures scales though, and it becomes clear that the battle is one that the green creature will not win. It tries to flee, but Hugh chases it down, striking it from behind and killing it.
Otto stands his ground against the dragon, slashing wildly in the darkness that consumes his sight. The bugbear chieftain and his last warrior stand back as the human warrior fights the shadowy dragon. The dragon streams ichor from arrows and other wounds, while the human warrior has been breathed on, not once, not twice, but three times by the dragon. The bugbear has never seen the like before. The dragon bites and slashes at the warrior, leaving great wounds on his body, but the warrior seems to be rejuvenated by the ichor he draws from the dragon. The dragon commits all to one last great attack on the warrior, plunging teeth and claw and its great weight into the assault, and the warrior is staggered, driven to one knee, but not slain. With an almost feeble first strike, and then a much stronger second, the warrior wounds the dragon and then, freakishly luckily, impales the dragon through its gray eye. Having seen too much, the bugbear chieftain and his last warrior flee past the blind warrior, the corpses of his bugbears, and the remains of the Company. The blind warrior spins and slashes, and down goes the last bugbear warrior. The chieftain continues on, not even breaking stride. A man with a flaming sword tries to bar his way, but the chieftain's fright is too strong at that point, and he simply continues to run as fast as he can from these frightening humans able to destroy so many.
Hugh looks at the retreating form of the giant goblin. He could chase after him, but then who would be guarding the Company? With the sounds of combat ended, Hugh risks a look back behind him around the corner. He sees a scene of death and destruction. Perrin is coated with a covering of frost. Diego lies on his back, unmoving, his eyes glazed over and ice filling his mouth. Fido lies as a statuette in a block of ice. Antonus and Pfiffwin huddle against one wall, wands pointed towards the doorway. Moving quickly, Hugh binds the wounds of the fallen, keeping them from dying, while warning Antonus to put the wand away. Beyond the double doors is another strained scene. Raven and Jasper, as well as a number of bugbears, lie on the ground, while Otto swings his sword over and over into the corpse of a great pitch-dark dragon. The dragon is definitely dead, but Otto seems either unaware or unsure of the fact.
Hugh scurries over to Raven and Jasper, binding their wounds tightly. "You can stop now," he calls out to Otto. "It's dead. I think we won, if you can call it that."
Hugh, fearful of leaving the others unguarded, guides those who still can not see, into the great cavern. Beyond the two thrones, which are carved with scenes of woods and meadows, the animals and trees life-like in the quality of the carving, is a great hole that appears to have been dissolved in the wood of the Great Tree. The wood surrounding hole is etched and corroded, almost like someone had poured acid or strong lye onto the surface. The hole is covered in a black material that slides and drips down the sides of the hole. Hugh looks over at the ichors coming from the dead dragon and compares them with those that coat the hole. Making a quick decision, he calls over to Otto, "Otto, take two steps backwards. Don't sit down. I'll be right back."
With grunting effort, Hugh drags the unconscious into the cavern and then pushes the doors shut. While not a barricade, it will at least give him a moment to react before attackers will be upon them.
A green light grows in the middle of the room, the sound of plants breaking through the frost filling the chamber. Hugh turns to see a tall humanoid creature with great greenish silver wings step from nothingness into the cavern. Hovering over the thrones, the shining creature turns its neutral, uninflected gaze on the carnage, the pommel of a great sword poking up from behind its shoulders. "Uh, hello," says Hugh, unawed by the creature's mien.
The creature hovers in the air, its wings not flapping as it floats over the battle scene. It drifts towards Herbert and, in a melifluous voice, sings to him, "Ask and you shall receive. Sometimes it is that easy." With a sweep of its hand, a greenish light fills the chamber, haloing the heads of the Company.
"I think I can start to see again," says Otto, waving a hand in front of his face. "I've got a blurry haze rather than just darkness." Otto is correct, and sight and vitality begins to return to the Company.
"Is this one yours as well," sings the unearthly being, pointing towards the frozen corpse of Diego. Herbert nods, unwilling to speak in the rapture that grips him. The unearthly creature seems the embodiment of all that is balanced and true, the perfect mix of law and chaos, good and evil. The creature waves its hand over Diego's still form, and Diego takes a sudden deep gasp of air.
The creature passes its flat gaze over the Company again, as if committing them to memory. Its gaze then returns to Hugh, and stops there. "I care not what you choose to attire yourself in, but others do," sings the creature. "Think wisely about those you face, or perhaps face those." With that cryptic remark, it begins flapping its wings. The creature does not move in the least, but the green light fills the chamber again. With a decisive movement, like taking off into the air, the creature somehow turns and flies into nothingness.
The Company is, of course, stunned by the odd experience. Diego stands, confused, and stares down at the Diego-shaped form captured in the ice on the floor. Slow comprehension floods through him, and he glares at Antonus, who tries to make himself scarce. Hugh wanders over and scoops up the onyx dog statuette. The gemstone dog seems to be intact, and he stows it in his belt pouch.
Otto seems unwilling to leave the three doors unopened, and once Raven and Diego are able to see again, he announces his intention to open them. Winthrop has not recovered those magics that he lost to the dragon's breath, but he does pull out his wand of steam. Antonus joins in the preparation with his wand of frost. The two mages triangulate on the door, and Otto kicks the first door in. The room beyond appears to be a bedroom of some sort. A single bed, recently used, and a table with a chair sit inside of it. A large chest is at the base of the bed, but it is closed.
Heartened by the lack of any foes, they move to the next door, repeating the procedure. This room is similar to the first room, but appears untouched. Dust lies on all of the surfaces, even the bed, and Otto can tell that no one has crossed the floor in months. Rather than a table, a full desk with drawers sits along one wall.
Moving to the last door, they work as a team. The last room is also a private room, but, in this case, for two creatures. Two beds, rather than a bed and a table, and two chests fill this room. Otto compares the treads in the three rooms and decides that bugbears occupied the first and third rooms, but an elf or human occupied the middle one. "Actually," says Otto, looking at the feet of the bugbear and the tracks in the room, "the one that ran occupied the first room, and this dead one here occupied the third room, with someone that we didn't kill here."
Content that they are secure for the moment, the Company rests.
Following their plan, Otto, Raven, and Jasper slowly move into the room. "Pfiffwin," says Otto, "scout ahead and see if you can find anything." Pfiffwin looks at Otto like he's crazy. Instead, he draws forth a wand and speaks a word of command as quietly as he can. The wand immediately snaps forward and upward, angling up above the thrones.
From the darkness above and behind the twin thrones comes two large gray ovals. Otto puzzles at their sudden appearance, until a black saurian head on a long, elongated neck resolves itself from the surrounding darkness. It exhales a gout of vile darkness that floods through the doorway and over the Company, narrowly missing Jasper and Raven, but coating all but Hugh and Winthrop in inky blackness. For those caught within the blackness, the feeling is indescribable. Not only are they bereft of sight, but sound comes in muffled, indistinct waves, and though they are not injured, they feel as if their lifeforce is waning. Otto's mind becomes befuddled, as if skills carefully honed and trained are made indistinct, and he feels the presence of his goddess retreat.
A group of bugbears runs in from the furthest door, half of them throwing hand axes as they charge from the right side of the room. Leading them in their assault is a huge bugbear and a bugbear that is at least as large as the one Al and the Warriors of the Horn chased out of the entryway. Jasper and Raven continue their charge forward, bringing them into combat with the bugbears. Jasper dodges lithely around the hand axe fired at him, but Raven's armor only deflects most, not all, of the incoming missile fire. He returns the favor with well-aimed shots of his own, taking one of the giant goblins in the eye. Jasper slams an elbow into a giant goblin crotch, and the giant goblin keels over to the ground.
The rest of the Company fares less well. Winthrop attempts to dispel the inky blackness with one of his glowing stones and finds that the darkness is repelled by the lightstone. It seems to not affect the vision of those who have been in the darkness though, as Otto still slashes around him, attempting to defend against unseen assailants, while shouting, "I'm blind, blind!" Fido howls in distress and flees back to Hugh, the dog's keen sense of smell guiding him there.
Antonus realizes that this is not an optimal situation. He very carefully finds the wall on his right side and orients himself on it. He knows that in only a matter of moments, he could easily become disoriented and turned around. From the staggering and stumbling sounds he hears, it sounds as if that has happened already. "Everyone get out of the doorway," he shouts. Further down the passageway, Pfiffwin has come to the same conclusion, and he also attempts to maintain his bearings by climbing up one of the walls. Perhaps if he gets high enough, he can avoid being struck by more of these horrible magics.
The rest of the Company stumble about, disoriented and uncoordinated, trying to either get forward through the doors or backwards around the bend in the corridor. With so many bodies all blind and unable to see or clearly hear, their efforts are doomed to failure.
Raven and Jasper continue to struggle against the bugbears, hoping that Otto and Winthrop can hold their own against the dragon for the moment. The sound of Winthrop chanting followed by a bright flash and a clap of thunder reassure them. Raven risks a glance over his shoulder while he dodges the bugbear's attack and sees the shadowy dragon disappear from sight, snapping out of existance. "That's our Winthrop," cheers Raven as he shoots another set of arrows into the bugbears.
Winthrop steps to the fore, searching for the dragon and preparing more words of destruction. To his trained eye, the dragon seemed to avoid the worst of his bolt of lightning, and Winthrop's experience in killing dragons has told him to hit hard, early, and often. If the dragon would show itself again, he would be prepared to launch more deadly energies into the beast, but the dragon is hard to see against the darkness.
"Oh no," gasps Winthrop as not one but two dragons slide forward with a sinuous glide. The saurian head rears up and vomits forth more lifesapping filth. Another gout of darkness is disgorged onto the Company, and their vitality is sapped even further. Hugh and Winthrop are affected this time, and Winthrop feels the uncomfortable sensation of the words of power lodged in his head dissipating, the magics long studied vanishing from his control. Otto and the others who were affected by the first horrible breath seem further weakened, feeling their life seeping away like water down a drain.
Otto's screams of distress tear Raven away from his combat with the giant goblins. Raven turns to discover the dragon has a mate, and he must now face both of them. A burst of sheer terror goes through him, but he does not let his fears dissuade him. He closes with the saurian creature, a dragon as black as deepest shadow and reflecting no light. Only the gray eyes provide a target to shoot at, and Raven uses them as well he can. His arrows reflect off of its form, dark scales resolving as the dragon shifts its sinuous bulk. "Dragons, dragons are behind the thrones!" shouts Raven. "Shoot towards me!"
The Company is unable to take advantage of Raven's cry, having become disordered and disorganized. Diego and Winthrop try to move forward to reach the double doors, Winthrop dropping a lightstone as he does so. Antonus and Pfiffwin make out Raven's cry, and they both come to the same decision; it is almost time to act. Antonus reaches into his pouch and draws forth a wand, while Pfiffwin begins reversing his ascent.
The shadowy dragons appear to not enjoy being peppered by Raven's arrows and slithers backwards, their necks rising up to the ceiling of the chamber. "Great, a spell-casting dragon," realizes Raven, as the two forms mimic each other. "They are like two images in a mirror." Raven thinks that perhaps he's forced it to retreat, but then he realizes, with a chill, that he's wrong. The dragon lines up Raven and Jasper and breathes a gout of darkness on them and extending back into the corridor coating the Company again in life-draining bile. Jasper, instinctively reacting to the onrushing darkness, dives over the bugbear that he laid low earlier, narrowly avoiding the dragon's breath.
Half of the bugbears gang up on Jasper, and he is forced back across the cavern. He succeeds in dropping another lightstone as he parries their blows, removing the cloying darkness from around Raven, but discovers, as did Winthrop, that dispelling the darkness does not restore Raven's sight. The other half of the bugbears are sent by their chieftain to fight the blind Company. They run forward into close range with the Company and begin throwing hand axes and other weapons at the Company's fighters. Otto cries out as the weapons fly fast and furious at him, knocking into his blind form. Diego, on the other hand, protected by the enchantments on Markessa's armor, withstands the giant goblins' attacks without fear.
His lack of fear is misplaced. The shadowy dragon slides up upon Diego and bites and claws at his thinly armored frame. The archer collapses to the ground, rent by the dark claws and fangs, unconscious and bleeding.
Antonus decides he can no longer wait. Aligning himself against one wall, he extends the wand along it, canting its tip slightly away from the wall. With a single command, the wand sprays a deadly coldness through the air, through the doors, and over all who stand there. Winthrop staggers and is nearly knocked unconscious, catching only the edge of the blast, but Perrin is enveloped by the cold and falls to the ground, unconscious. Diego lies on the ground before the shadowy dragon and is caught in the middle of the freezing cold. Ice forms on his body, coating him. Diego expires. Otto feels the blast of cold wash over him, frost riming his arm and armor, but the doorway itself shields him from the worst of the effects. Worse, unseen by the blinded mage, the frost veers into two streams as it hits the form of the darkness dragon, and the dragon is unharmed.
Pfiffwin, muttering some phrase under his breath, swivels about until he faces the looming dragon. "Antonus, the bad guys are that way," he cries, pushing forward against Antonus's form.
"No more with the wand! You're freezing us!" cries Otto.
The bugbears chortle glee as the Company injures itself and continue to pelt Otto with their hand axes. One foolishly closes with the warrior, having thrown his hand axe earlier against Raven and Jasper, and Otto quickly cuts him down, even while blind. The lifeforce of the bugbear goes some distance towards healing the wounds Otto has suffered.
Winthrop staggers around the corner of the corridor, having finally made it away from the doors. Covered in rime, he is a frightful sight. "It's horrible in there," pants Winthrop. "I don't know what's going on." Hugh makes soothing sounds and helps Winthrop down in a seated position.
Unable to leave his friends unavenged, Hugh ignites his broadsword and prepares to do battle, but sudden motion stops him. "I see something moving behind us!" hisses Hugh to the blinded Winthrop. Indeed, blending into the wood is a green shape moving along the roof of the passage towards the rear of the Company. Hugh steps forward to protect Al and Winthrop from the creature. With a surprising leap, it springs at Hugh, trying to knock him to the ground, while Hugh wales on the creature with his fiery broadsword. The green creature is grievously wounded. Hugh's blows on its back seem to have harmed it, but it is a crafty and strong creature. It circles Hugh, trying to draw him out of position so that it can get past Hugh and to those lying on the ground.
"Shoot me! Shoot me!" cries Jasper, as he runs from the bugbears to the shadowy dragon. The dragon glares at him with his grey orbs, but reaches out for Raven, claws raking and bite snapping. Raven, realizing Jasper doesn't really mean what he says, continues to fire arrows at the dragon, shooting off to one side of where he hears Jasper to be. The blows of the dragon are fierce, but nothing that he can't weather. On the other hand, the mace crushing him from behind is more than enough to knock him unconscious, the sounds of bugbear chortling the last thing he hears.
Herbert, hearing the screams of the Company and the cries of the wounded, is nigh onto unconsciousness. Frozen along one side of his body, turned about in the darkness, he seems to be wandering aimlessly in a vast dark tunnel from which he can not escape. "Phyton, oh Phyton! Why have you foresaken me, your humble servant on your holy bidding?" cries Herbert with all the fervor of his faith. "I work to save your Great Tree! Aid me Phyton in my moment of need! Aid me Phyton!"
Otto thinks that things have gotten totally out of control. "One of these pouches has it," he mutters to himself. "Which one, which one?" He draws out a large flask, smashes the top against his armor, and drinks of it, ignoring the shards of ceramic. His limbs feel harder and his skin tauter. The potion within was to have protected a warrior against weapons, and so Otto now is protected against the bugbears, if not the dragon.
The bugbear chieftain and subchieftain move menacingly towards the monk, and the dragon threatens him from the other side. Two of Raven's shafts have gone home, deeply struck, and the dragon leaks a dark ichor. "It's wounded and by me," cries Jasper, valiantly charging at the dragon with his halberd. His attack is futile, the halberd bouncing from the skin of the dragon.
Pfiffwin finishes climbing back down the wall, and, using his well-trained hearing, he staggers over to Antonus. "Let me help you aim," he pants. He pulls forth his wand and mutters the word of activation. It immediately points him in a direction, one that he tries to convey to Antonus. Antonus, now guided by Pfiffwin and his magical wand, uses the wand again, trying to aim up and above the fallen Company that may be in his path. He is mainly successful, especially as the door provides Otto, in the room, some cover. Herbert has staggered back behind Antonus, and he is spared. Perrin lies so close to Antonus that his small adjustment of the wand completely spares his unconscious form. Diego's corpse is covered by another layer of frost, the ice pack creating a Diego-shaped outline on the floor of the cavern. The bugbears are also not so lucky, and the wand's cold strikes some of them straight on. The bugbears, who were pelting the Company, are coated with frost, and they fall to the ground, frozen. The bugbear subchieftain is caught by freezing magic, though Jasper nimbly dodges aside.
Jasper hopes for a moment that the subchieftain will fall to the ground, but his hopes are dashed, as the subchieftain soldiers on. Covered in frost, the subchieftain bludgeons Jasper to the ground, knocking him unconscious. Jasper's attack is not without benefit though. Otto moves forward as quickly as he can, Giantslayer extended before him, towards where Jasper's shout came from. His charge is quickly met by thrown weapons, but the magic of the potion he has drunk holds him in good stead. The missiles bounce off of him as if they were marshmallows, and Otto finds himself swinging, toe-to-toe against a giant beast, presumably the dragon.
The dragon and the bugbears all attack Otto, trying to slay the last of the Company's warriors. The dragon mauls Otto, nearly slaying him, but the bugbears find their attacks to be meaningless. The warrior simply ignores their effect. Otto turns their presence to his advantage though, striking towards them both with Giantslayer and inflicting deadly and grievous harm. The subchieftain collapses to the ground, dead, while the chieftain staggers away, sorely injured. The lifeforce of the bugbears heals Otto's wounds, and he faces the dragon again, hale once more.
Hugh refuses to let himself be drawn out of position, and the green-scaled creature seems frustrated. Fido, able to follow the fight due to his keen sense of smell, attempts to help Hugh, much to Fido's detriment. The green-scaled creature leaps upon the poor dog, rending and tearing, and Fido falls to the ground, bleeding and torn. The dog reverts to his statuette form.
Hugh is enraged by the death of Fido and he takes the fight to the green creature. The green creature tries to rake and bite Hugh, but the golden scalemail and the enchanted shield that he carries, combined with his natural agility, serve him in good stead. The flaming sword seems to bite through the green creatures scales though, and it becomes clear that the battle is one that the green creature will not win. It tries to flee, but Hugh chases it down, striking it from behind and killing it.
Otto stands his ground against the dragon, slashing wildly in the darkness that consumes his sight. The bugbear chieftain and his last warrior stand back as the human warrior fights the shadowy dragon. The dragon streams ichor from arrows and other wounds, while the human warrior has been breathed on, not once, not twice, but three times by the dragon. The bugbear has never seen the like before. The dragon bites and slashes at the warrior, leaving great wounds on his body, but the warrior seems to be rejuvenated by the ichor he draws from the dragon. The dragon commits all to one last great attack on the warrior, plunging teeth and claw and its great weight into the assault, and the warrior is staggered, driven to one knee, but not slain. With an almost feeble first strike, and then a much stronger second, the warrior wounds the dragon and then, freakishly luckily, impales the dragon through its gray eye. Having seen too much, the bugbear chieftain and his last warrior flee past the blind warrior, the corpses of his bugbears, and the remains of the Company. The blind warrior spins and slashes, and down goes the last bugbear warrior. The chieftain continues on, not even breaking stride. A man with a flaming sword tries to bar his way, but the chieftain's fright is too strong at that point, and he simply continues to run as fast as he can from these frightening humans able to destroy so many.
Hugh looks at the retreating form of the giant goblin. He could chase after him, but then who would be guarding the Company? With the sounds of combat ended, Hugh risks a look back behind him around the corner. He sees a scene of death and destruction. Perrin is coated with a covering of frost. Diego lies on his back, unmoving, his eyes glazed over and ice filling his mouth. Fido lies as a statuette in a block of ice. Antonus and Pfiffwin huddle against one wall, wands pointed towards the doorway. Moving quickly, Hugh binds the wounds of the fallen, keeping them from dying, while warning Antonus to put the wand away. Beyond the double doors is another strained scene. Raven and Jasper, as well as a number of bugbears, lie on the ground, while Otto swings his sword over and over into the corpse of a great pitch-dark dragon. The dragon is definitely dead, but Otto seems either unaware or unsure of the fact.
Hugh scurries over to Raven and Jasper, binding their wounds tightly. "You can stop now," he calls out to Otto. "It's dead. I think we won, if you can call it that."
Hugh, fearful of leaving the others unguarded, guides those who still can not see, into the great cavern. Beyond the two thrones, which are carved with scenes of woods and meadows, the animals and trees life-like in the quality of the carving, is a great hole that appears to have been dissolved in the wood of the Great Tree. The wood surrounding hole is etched and corroded, almost like someone had poured acid or strong lye onto the surface. The hole is covered in a black material that slides and drips down the sides of the hole. Hugh looks over at the ichors coming from the dead dragon and compares them with those that coat the hole. Making a quick decision, he calls over to Otto, "Otto, take two steps backwards. Don't sit down. I'll be right back."
With grunting effort, Hugh drags the unconscious into the cavern and then pushes the doors shut. While not a barricade, it will at least give him a moment to react before attackers will be upon them.
A green light grows in the middle of the room, the sound of plants breaking through the frost filling the chamber. Hugh turns to see a tall humanoid creature with great greenish silver wings step from nothingness into the cavern. Hovering over the thrones, the shining creature turns its neutral, uninflected gaze on the carnage, the pommel of a great sword poking up from behind its shoulders. "Uh, hello," says Hugh, unawed by the creature's mien.
The creature hovers in the air, its wings not flapping as it floats over the battle scene. It drifts towards Herbert and, in a melifluous voice, sings to him, "Ask and you shall receive. Sometimes it is that easy." With a sweep of its hand, a greenish light fills the chamber, haloing the heads of the Company.
"I think I can start to see again," says Otto, waving a hand in front of his face. "I've got a blurry haze rather than just darkness." Otto is correct, and sight and vitality begins to return to the Company.
"Is this one yours as well," sings the unearthly being, pointing towards the frozen corpse of Diego. Herbert nods, unwilling to speak in the rapture that grips him. The unearthly creature seems the embodiment of all that is balanced and true, the perfect mix of law and chaos, good and evil. The creature waves its hand over Diego's still form, and Diego takes a sudden deep gasp of air.
The creature passes its flat gaze over the Company again, as if committing them to memory. Its gaze then returns to Hugh, and stops there. "I care not what you choose to attire yourself in, but others do," sings the creature. "Think wisely about those you face, or perhaps face those." With that cryptic remark, it begins flapping its wings. The creature does not move in the least, but the green light fills the chamber again. With a decisive movement, like taking off into the air, the creature somehow turns and flies into nothingness.
The Company is, of course, stunned by the odd experience. Diego stands, confused, and stares down at the Diego-shaped form captured in the ice on the floor. Slow comprehension floods through him, and he glares at Antonus, who tries to make himself scarce. Hugh wanders over and scoops up the onyx dog statuette. The gemstone dog seems to be intact, and he stows it in his belt pouch.
Otto seems unwilling to leave the three doors unopened, and once Raven and Diego are able to see again, he announces his intention to open them. Winthrop has not recovered those magics that he lost to the dragon's breath, but he does pull out his wand of steam. Antonus joins in the preparation with his wand of frost. The two mages triangulate on the door, and Otto kicks the first door in. The room beyond appears to be a bedroom of some sort. A single bed, recently used, and a table with a chair sit inside of it. A large chest is at the base of the bed, but it is closed.
Heartened by the lack of any foes, they move to the next door, repeating the procedure. This room is similar to the first room, but appears untouched. Dust lies on all of the surfaces, even the bed, and Otto can tell that no one has crossed the floor in months. Rather than a table, a full desk with drawers sits along one wall.
Moving to the last door, they work as a team. The last room is also a private room, but, in this case, for two creatures. Two beds, rather than a bed and a table, and two chests fill this room. Otto compares the treads in the three rooms and decides that bugbears occupied the first and third rooms, but an elf or human occupied the middle one. "Actually," says Otto, looking at the feet of the bugbear and the tracks in the room, "the one that ran occupied the first room, and this dead one here occupied the third room, with someone that we didn't kill here."
Content that they are secure for the moment, the Company rests.
