IN THE SHADOW OF THE SPIRE

SESSION 11B: GARDEN OF THE SICKSTONE ELEMENTALS

November 11th, 2007
The 30th Day of Amseyl in the 790th Year of the Seyrunian Dynasty

SICKSTONE ELEMENTALS

Seeing Tee climb down Elestra eagerly bounded forward and grabbed the rope. With her python viper wrapped around her waist, she swung over the edge of the ledge and tried to imitate the elf – rappelling quickly towards the floor of the cavern. Unfortunately, she set too fast a pace for herself. She lost her grip on the rope while she was still twenty feet off the floor. She landed with a rib-battering crash that was scarcely alleviated by the thin layer of moss-like growth.

With a deep groan, Elestra rolled over and sent her python viper forward to see if he could follow the trail of the spellcasters by scent. She was still staggering to her feet by the time he was halfway across the cavern.

Agnarr was moving a little distance into the cavern, as well. However, this may have been as over-hasty as Elestra’s climb, for as he drew near the first pair of rocky outcroppings the sound of a great rumbling and scraping echoed through the cavern and the outcroppings began to move.

They reared up into vaguely-humanoid forms which, with the creaking groan of an impending avalanche, stretched limbs of sickstone-laced rock. Agnarr immediately drew his greatsword. The goblins, still on the ledge above, briefly chattered to each other and then Itarek and another of the goblins grabbed the rope and began climbing down simultaneously.

Elestra’s snake, loyal to her last command, continued following the scent trail. “Agnarr!” she shouted. “Follow the snake!”

Agnarr ignored her and charged the nearest sickstone elemental. His mighty thews drove his sword deep into the creature’s side – gouging the stone, but seeming to have little effect on it. And now that he had drawn near to it, he could feel the overwhelming emanations of the heavy sickstone deposits laced through its body.

The other sickstone elemental abruptly dropped into the floor of the cavern – seeming to meld itself into the stone. At the same time, the other two rocky outcroppings began to move. Elestra had called her python viper back to her side, and it only narrowly avoided being stepped upon by one of the newly emergent elementals.

Itarek, meanwhile, had rapidly reached the cavern floor. The goblin accompanying him let go of the rope and fell the last few feet to land at his side, and the two of them moved together to Agnarr’s side. Without the barbarian’s strength, they found it difficult to have any effect on the hard stone of the elemental, but they did what they could.

Tee, meanwhile, had drawn her dragon pistol and was slowly circling to one side, firing bolts of pure force over and over again. Ranthir was lending his support to this barrage, moving to the edge of the ledge and releasing magical bolts of energy from his fingertips.

Their combined efforts had successfully demolished the first of the sickstone elementals, but now the other two elementals on the cavern floor were closing with Agnarr and the goblins.

Then the fourth sickstone elemental burst out of the ledge, having climbed through the stone itself to get there. It savagely clubbed one of the goblins standing guard there, the force of its rocky blow sending the goblin to its knees. Then it turned and charged at Ranthir.

Ranthir turned just in time to see the sickstone elemental lower its shoulder and ram into him at full speed. The immensely powerful body-blow of stone sent Ranthir flying backward off the ledge a full fifteen feet, and he was sure – as a he arced through the air – that his bones would soon be shattered upon the cavern floor…

… but, instead, he landed softly upon a giant mushroom. The impact smashed the air from his lungs, but the fungus cushioned the blow. He had no doubt that his body would be horribly bruised and aching the next day, but for now he was all right. Then another horrible thought came to him… but a quick inventory assured him that his many potions and vials were quite unharmed by the fall.

Dominic, meanwhile, wasn’t quite sure what to do. He’d suddenly found himself trapped on a very small ledge with a very large elemental. The two goblins with him rushed forward. One swung his sword with all the strength he could muster, only to watch it deflect harmlessly away. The other tried to push the sickstone elemental off the ledge, but found that it was literally like running into a wall of stone. Worse yet, as he fell back, he was caught by the sickstone elemental’s blow.

Dominic watched in growing dismay as the goblin’s chest collapsed. Then the sickstone emanations washed over him, and he found himself vomiting uncontrollably. The sickstone elemental turned on him and Dominic, in sheer desperation, stumbled to the edge of the ledge and stepped off. He survived the fall, but was almost immediately overcome by the sickstone. Retching and vomiting, he found he could not even rise to his knees.

But not all was going badly. Agnarr and Itarek had destroyed another of the elementals and were now battering on the third. Itarek, however, seeing what was happening on the ledge above them, stepped back and drew his bow. He fired and the arrow flew true. It buried itself in the back of the elemental’s head, spreading a pattern of small cracks around it, but seemed to have little effect.

Agnarr finished the third elemental and followed Itarek’s example. Yanking one of the adamantium throwing axes from the bandolier slung carelessly across his chest, Agnarr ran back towards the ledge and threw.

The axe split Itarek’s arrow straight down its center. The cracks deepened, but still the elemental did not seem phased.

It did, however, seem to be enraged. With a bellowing cry that sounded like an avalanche being unleashed, the elemental sunk down into the ledge. With a clang, Itarek’s arrow and Agnarr’s axe were left behind on the surface of the ledge.

Agnarr roared, “I want that axe back!” But the words had scarcely left his lips when the elemental was back, emerging from the rockface in front of him and landing a pummeling blow against his chest. The barbarian’s ribs creaked as he stumbled back several steps.

Tee stepped forward, past Agnarr as he fell back, and lowered her dragon pistol. A bolt of forced lashed out and struck the elemental in the head (it would have gone through its eye if it had one). The top of the elemental’s head was blasted away, and whatever animating force it possessed faded away. It was left hanging, half in the rock and half out of it.

For a moment everyone relaxed. Ranthir rose from his fungal cushion and glanced around. Even Dominic, with the sickstone elementals destroyed, was able to bring his retching under control and get to his feet.

The goblin up above, at the prompting of those below, pushed his companion over the ledge. Agnarr caught the goblin’s body and gently laid it on the floor, where Dominic was able to mend the crushed ribcage, mend the lacerated organs, and start the heart pumping once again.

But as the goblin got unsteadily to his feet, it was clear he was still far from well.

“Can you make him whole?” Itarek asked.

Dominic shook his head. “It would use up the last of our healing magic. We wouldn’t have enough left to use on ourselves.”

Tee translated, and added: “We’d all have to retreat.”

Itarek nodded. “Very well.” Then he spoke with his warrior. He sent him back, with honor, to the goblin caverns.

The goblin was well enough to climb the rope up to the ledge. But, as he disappeared along the upper passage, Ranthir suddenly felt a blinding pain. A bubble of acid had suddenly burst against the back of his head!

Ranthir’s cry of pain caused them all to whirl around. They spotted the goblin duskblade – one of the two spellcasters they were pursuing – standing in the mouth of the far corridor. With a horrible, cackling laugh the creature turned and ran back down the corridor.

Seized with anger and, finally seeing at least one of their quarry within their grasp, the entire party rushed towards the far end of the cavern. But they hadn’t gone far when a familiar voice suddenly cried out from behind them: “Hey! Where are you going?”

DUSKBLADE AMBUSH

“Tor!”

“You came back!” Elestra shouted.

The whole party rushed back across the cavern as Tor easily rappelled down the rope they had left in place. After an exuberant reunion — the goblins, too, were busy welcoming back the goblin that had carried Tor’s message — the party quickly brought Tor up to date on the current situation.

Tor nodded. That explained why he hadn’t been feeling very well since crossing the stone bridge.

The group moved back across the cavern. Although Tor’s return had given all of them more confidence, it was clear that the jeopardy of the caverns and the threat of the duskblade had asserted itself on the group. As they moved into the narrow passage at the cavern’s end, their formation had tightened up considerably: Although Tee and two of the goblins still moved ahead in a point position, Tee was now abreast of the goblins instead of taking the lead. And all of them were only a few feet in front of the others.

After a few dozen feet, a side-passage broke off to their left. But only a few feet beyond that, the passage they were following was filled with a wall of olive-colored slime that stretched from wall-to-wall and from floor-to-ceiling.

Tee called Agnarr forward, and was much relieved when — after a brief inspection of the floor — the barbarian reported that the duskblade had almost certainly taken the side-passage to the left.

Agnarr now took the lead, following the faint trail along the slime-covered cave floor. Tee took up a position as the rear guard. Elestra, trying to be helpful, sent her python viper forward to help Agnarr by following the duskblade’s scent.

And it was well that she did, because — as they passed into a slight widening of the passage — Agnarr was too intent on following the trail to notice the danger that lurked above. But the python viper reared back and Tor, although unable to see the danger, saw the snake and shouted, “Look out! Above you!”

Agnarr glanced up and then rolled forward in a low somersault, just barely managing to avoid one of the three slime creatures that dropped down from the cavern roof above.

They had narrowly avoided a complete ambush, but the slime creatures had still divided the group in two — and blocked most of them within the narrow confines of the twisting passage.

Agnarr stood and drew his greatsword. The flaming blade swept through the nearest slime creature with such fury that it literally sliced it in half… but Agnarr watched in disbelief as the top half of the creature simply fell onto the lower half and the two rejoined in a seamless whole.

Tor, meanwhile, had drawn his longsword and stepped forward as well. With careful, measured paces he managed to work his away around to the creature’s flank — or, at least, what might have been a flank if the abomination had possessed physical features of any kind — thus opening the way for at least some of the goblins to come forward and engage the creatures.

By the time Tor had gotten into position, however, the situation had dramatically worsened. Moments after the slime creatures had dropped into the room and Agnarr had turned to face them, the duskblade had darted out from the other direction and lithely slid up behind Agnarr’s broad back.

Some sixth sense warned Agnarr of the threat. He began to turn, but it was late: The duskblade’s sword lashed out. Agnarr’s twisting defense turned a devastating blow into a mild one. Indeed, the cut on his back would have barely slowed him down, but once again the duskblade’s sword merely served as a conduit for his arcane powers — Agnarr felt an immense weariness spread from the wound, sapping the strength from his limbs.

Tee was trying to find clear shots through the crowd of gabbering goblins filling the corridor ahead of her, but with little success. Dominic slid into a position where he could reach (and heal) Tor, but Tor’s conservative defense was allowing him to absorb the worst blows from the pseudopods of the slime creatures on his heavy steel shield.

Agnarr, his strength ebbing, stumbled. One of the pseudopods from the slime creatures struck him heavily, nearly driving him to his knees. The duskblade seized the opening and landed another vicious cut with his sword, this time wracking the barbarian’s body with hideous arcs of purplish electricity.

Elestra, seeing Agnarr’s plight, nimbly worked her way through the goblins crowding around the slime creatures. She narrowly ducked beneath one of the waving pseudopods, silently thanking her luck as she watched it smash rock from the cave wall. Then she was clear. Agnarr was being forced back into a corner of the cave, but she was able to circle around and succor his wounds.

Tor’s relentless attacks, combined with the aid of the goblins, was meeting with great success. They had sent one of the creatures into its spasming dance of death and Tee, finally finding a clear shot, ended its life.

But now catastrophe was striking the goblin ranks: Two of them went down, retching horribly from the effects of the sickstone. The nausea seemed to spread, with Dominic and then Tee both falling to their knees. Even Elestra’s python viper was dry-heaving in a miserable coil against the wall of the cave.

Fortunately, with Elestra’s aid, Agnarr was able to regain his feet. His muscles still seemed leaden, but his pain was now replaced with the strength of hard, furious rage. A single sweep of his greatsword cut down one of the slime creatures and drove the duskblade back.

The duskblade danced back in, trying to land a blow with the sword which once again crackled with electrical fury, but another sweep of the greatsword drove him back.

All this time, Ranthir had been caught up in the muddled chaos of the passageway. But with some of the slime creatures disintegrating (and goblins falling to their knees and retching), he was able to see what was happening. With a smile, he wiggled his fingers.

A second barbarian suddenly rushed from the passsageway behind the duskblade! The gray-skinned goblin whirled at the sudden onslaught, choosing to focus his attacks there instead of at Agnarr (who was, in any case, preoccupied with the remaining slime).

Elestra, not daring to face the duskblade’s arcane weaponry and without a weapon which seemed capable of effecting the slime creature, desperately tried to locate Tee so that she could use her dragon pistol… but Tee was still far back in the passageway, crawling on her knees and dry-heaving.

Like Ranthir, Itarek and his last remaining warrior found their path cleared by their retching comrades and fallen foes. They rushed forward to Agnarr’s aid… perhaps foolishly so, for as Itarek’s warrior came up “behind” the slime creature, the pseudopods which had been assaulting Agnarr were suddenly retracted and sent screaming out of its other side!

One caught a goblin warrior in its stomach and, as the warrior doubled over, the second came down hard and caved in its skull.

With a scream of horrified outrage, Itarek threw himself forward… but the slime creature’s pseudopods proved relentless, and Itarek was slammed up against the wall of the cave. A thin trickle of blood leaked from the side of his mouth as blackness claimed him.

But Agnarr, in the meanwhile, had taken advantage of both the duskblade’s and the slime creature’s distraction: His greatsword had ripped again and again at the the undefended flank of the slime creature, and even as Itarek slumped against the cave wall the slime creature’s death spasms had begun. With one final blow, Agnarr reduced it to a cascade of insensate slime.

The same swing of the greatsword carried through and Agnarr spun his entire body to bring it to bear on the duskblade’s neck… but the duskblade, sensing the eminent danger, ducked at the last instant. Simultaneously the duskblade’s own sword found the heart of the second barbarian… and the duskblade realized he had been tricked by a mere illusion.

With a snarl the duskblade whirled around, refreshing the crackling electricity of his blade. But Agnarr had found firm footing now, and he slammed his greatsword through the duskblade’s chest up to its hilt. He savagely wrenched it out, sending a cascade of blood to mix with the sickly slime coating the cave’s floor.

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