"Ghouls, eating bones." Mythram said quietly as she closed the door again.
"Those are dangerous undead as I recall," Caress noted.
"Cunning and vicious creatures that arose from a pact with Orcus. Their claws can cause bodies to freeze up and leave them vulnerable to being devoured," Ravyn said. "I've read a few books now and again and the subject has come up."
"Then we'll want to prepare before we move in," Lyra suggested.
"I have a charm I can cast upon myself to keep the claws of the dead and fiends at bay," Caress said. "I would have to cease my focus on the blessing of protection I gave Mythram." She gestured toward the slight silver shimmer around the rogue.
"It's probably a good idea, but there's a second exit and this one..."
The rogue looked toward the door that lacked a lock and opened into the room.
"We're not going to be barricading it."
"Perhaps, we set up on this one and barricade the other, if you can get to it safely," Ravyn suggested.
"I should be able to do that," Mythram agreed.
The plan in place, Caress let the divine power flow into her whip and stood at the door ready to open it and Mythram stepped away. Ravyn moved to the intersection a moment later where she could keep watch on both groups. Then the sound of pitons hammering around the corner came clear.
"Let evil wash away like a river carries away stagnation to the sea," she whispered and opened the door.
Almost instantly, a ghoul launched across the room and lashed out at her, struggling to fight through the dragon-blooded tattoo and the blessing of Sharess and failing miserably. But as she watched, Caress saw the other ghouls burst through the barricaded door out the other side of the room.
 |
| It was a ghoul plan, and it went ghoulishly. |
A blast of power passed over Caress's shoulder into the face of the ghoul facing her as Lyra's moonbeam appeared within the room. The other two ghouls scampered out of the paladin's line of sight and the sound of skirmishing carried to their ears as Mythram cried out and returned her attacker's blades. Caress lashed out with her whip at the one in front of her as Lyra and Ravyn rushed into the dark to help Mythram, Ravyn guided by her imp's eyes.
The moonbeam vanished though the yuan-ti could see glimmers of it through the other door along with flickers of shadows as the rest of the team contended with the remaining ghouls, but the one in front of her held her attention. The sound of eldritch blasts and screaming ghouls echoed through the corridors, at least until the sound of bloodthirsty undead was cut short.
She and the ghoul traded blows in the mean time, though the creature remained unable to reach through the twin protections of her tattoo and blessing before she lashed out again, calling out to Sharess and channeling the power of her connection to the divine font through the whip and incinerating the beast.
"That could have gone better," Mythram said as they regrouped in the middle of the room.
"It was a sound plan."
"Yeah, but for now, I think we need a rest."
"It does seem a ghoulish idea to continue after that," Lyra concurred.
"A short break, then we'll discuss whether to rest further or move into the dungeon," Mythram agreed. "Set the imp to watch, in the mean time."
"I can do that." Ravyn noted.
Unfortunately, it was at the end of the hour when the imp rushed back into the room, injured and distressed. They rushed to the door to see a massive sludge of tan color, an ochre jelly.
"Don't cut it!" Ravyn shouted. "It'll split into two!"
"That's... a bit of a problem for me," Caress commented, looking toward her whip a moment before Lyra stepped by and filled her with with arcane energy.
"Enjoy."
A moment later the Eladrin was out the door and unleashing a blast of ice on the monstrous jelly and Caress could feel how to do the same and waited until the path ahead of her was clear of her allies. Arrows and blast of eldritch power battering and piercing the creature while Lyra rebounded its assault with the shield radiating out from her glassstaff and unleashed another torrent of ice before fey stepping away leaving it open for Caress to breathe as well and bring the beast down.
"All right, I was all for exploring further until that happened. We're pushing too hard, we should call it recuperate."
Caress nodded. "But how far back, to the room we found the dwarf? Or shall we go further back to the forest."
"I'd say out of the cavern entirely, just keep an eye on it in case anybody leaves in the night."
The night passed without event and then they were back into the mines, taking a different route at this time. They passed through several of the branches that had been in the process of being worked clean.
"It occurs to me that we could wander around here, never encountering the other group, report back that it's clear, they do the same, and then there's a battle when both the people we report to head out here not expecting to meet anyone."
The rest of the party sighed and glared at Caress.
"It was a thought."
Passing through the abandoned tunnels, they came to a stagnant pool that was turgidly trickling further north. Pausing a moment, Caress whispered a prayer to reveal the presence of poisons and disease, remembering that they suspected the presence of spiders with their enemies. But there seemed to be nothing nearby. They moved from there into some of the areas of the mines that had been worked out and converted into more regular corridors until they came to a room where deep voices were arguing in goblin.
Squaring up at the door, Caress enchanted her whip again and then opened the door... and found the image of five bugbears that turned to look at her before shouting "intruders."
And then the battle was joined again.
The enchantment of Lyra's dragon breath spell filled her again, and she let loose as she slipped forward into the middle of the group, taking a slamming blow to her shield, the magic of the Still Eye of the Dragon shielded her from some of the impact, afflicting her attacker with the dread of judgment.
Some of the bugbears slipped past the paladin, ducking under her whip to strike hard into Ravyn, unfortunately in hitting the witch the warrior received a blast of hellish face-melting pitch that eliminated the problem as Caress weathered another blow maneuvered to release another blast of dragons breath on the bugbears.
 |
| That could have gone better. |
Mythram kept ducking in and out of sight, landing arrows into vital areas and with the aid of her imp, Ravyn's eldritch blasts caved in the rib-cage of one of the foes. As the fight came to a close with the death of the last guard, Caress and Ravyn caught their breath.
"Another short rest, perhaps."
No comments:
Post a Comment