Is
this what my father saw, at the end? Varien thought
as he gripped his sword tightly, waiting for the approaching ghasts and zombies
to come within striking distance. Is
this what it was like for the defenders of Lorelei? The paladin thought as he raised his sword and slashed downwards at
the lead zombie, opening a gash down the middle of the creature’s torso that
revealed its ashen innards. How
many more undead must I kill? He said to himself as
he cut across the zombie’s chest, knocking it backwards. He shoved the undead
creature with his shield, and it took a bloody tumble on the sloped hillside. “And stay down!” Varien shouted bitterly as
the creature’s companions stomped over him in their heedless rush to attack. Then the ghasts were on him; biting and
ripping at his armor, seeking any point of weakness or exposed flesh to rend
and tear. Varien raised his shield and battered back the outstretched claws but
winced as jaws clamped down on his arms, teeth piercing the mailed joints. One gibbering ghast yanked at a section of
plate and Varien’s eyes widened as he felt it give just enough for the creature
to rake its claws into his exposed flesh. Varien felt a shock of cold from the
creature’s touch, and a wave of sluggishness swept through his limbs and deep
into his core, slowing his defensive moves as he began to lose all feeling in
his extremities. Seeing his target’s sudden weakness,
another ghast took hold of Varien’s head and jerked it violently to the side
and bit down into the paladin’s neck. A gush of blood burbled forth from the
creature’s mouth as it chewed. As Varien felt his knees buckle beneath
him, he suddenly understood. Is this how I die? To the south, Erwen’s moonbeam spell burned one of the undead creatures in its spotlight
to a crisp. A burning ghast belched forth a cloud of
embers at the adventurers as they stood back to back to back to back against
the gathering horde. Radegast and Bob shied away from the worst of the flames,
but Siegfried took a direct hit that scorched his flesh. A second stumbling ghast, smoke pouring
from its moonbeam -damaged body, did
likewise. Radegast could not avoid the blast, nor could Erwen, who hopped about
trying to put out the fires on his backside. “I have been set on fire too many times
today!” shouted Siegfried. “Indeed!” shouted Bob. Siegfried pointed an accusatory finger at
Erwen. “You started this, small man!” Bob ducked as a ghast tried to tear at him
with his claws and teeth. A pair of ghasts fell upon Alec. He parried
their bite attacks, fully punching one creature in the face, but their claws
managed to slash the fighter’s cheek and jaw to ribbons. Alec grimaced but
fought off the creatures’ paralytic touch. He staggered a bit, bleeding from
the undead onslaught. Radegast surveyed the undead swarming the
hillside towards Varien and gripped the shard
of the ise rune in her gloved hand, casting sleet storm. At once a vortex of freezing rain and wind-whipped
snow whirled into existence, blowing sodden ash into the air and coating the
ground within its boundaries with an icy mantle. The raging storm obliterated
all sight, swallowing up creatures, terrain, and ally alike. Satisfied, Radegast gave a healing word to Alec. Buoyed by Radegast’s healing magic, Alec
found his second wind and raised his greatsword, swinging it boldly in an arc
that severed the ghast’s head from its shoulders. “Nice one, bruv!” Bob shouted before
casting a mass healing word on his
companions. Then he recoiled in pain as the heat from a nearby ash ghast
scorched him. Erwen found himself singed further thanks
to his close proximity to an immolating ghast. He moved his moonbeam spell to intercept. Siegfried brandished Lightbringer and
squared off against his undead opponent.
“You should go,” he said. The ghast snarled. Siegfried shrugged and swung the mace at
the creature, braining it smartly twice before finishing off his routine with a
flourish. Just within the boundaries of the storm, he
could make out the spinning form of Bob’s spiritual weapon. Bracing Lightbringer across the ghast’s
torso, Siegfried pushed the creature back until the flailing flail beat its
head into a soggy pulp. The headless creature sagged to the ground. Varien couldn’t feel his legs give out from
under him; he couldn’t feel the impact of the ground beneath him as he hit it,
and he couldn’t feel the pounding that two zombies attempted to give him. The
creaking of his armor told him that his plate was more that up to the task of
deflecting the worst of the feeble zombies’ fists, but the ghasts were another
story. Slipping and sliding through the sudden ice
storm, the ghasts piled on him in an instant, tearing at his armor and gnawing
at his exposed flesh. Varien couldn’t feel the blood draining
from his body at an alarming rate, but he knew that the fjords of the Frozenfar
were calling for him. He sighed, set his jaw, and waited for a Seraph of Sune
to draw him to her ample bosom, easing his passage into the afterlife. I’m
ready, father , he thought. The ghasts to the south continued their
attack, but Alec ducked and dodged his opponent’s fierce lunges. Bob found himself a target as well. The
ghast’s jaws clamped shut on nothing but air as the cleric stepped back. The
creature reached for him, but Radegast shouted “duck!” and gave Bob the edge he
needed to avoid the creature’s claws. Radegast ran a ghast through with her
rapier and with her free hand grabbed a potion
of healing and tossed it to Siegfried. “Can you run this up to Varien with
those fancy boots of yours?” Siegfried regarded the raging sleet storm
and his boots of the winterland . He
shrugged. “Naturally.” Wrapping his scarf up around his facemask, he prepared
to enter the maelstrom. Alec slashed at a ghast, slicing its
forearm off, but missed with his second attack. Bob used his spiritual weapon to bash a
ghast upside the head. Smoke began to belch from the crack in its cranium. Erwen moved his moonbeam until it was
blasting its pale light upon new targets. Siegfried leaned into the wind and dashed forward
into the blinding snow, his boots of the
winterland finding purchase where others would have found none. A ghast
snarled and tried to grab him as he ran by, but the creature’s claws grasped
nothing but air. Siegfried held out Lightbringer like a blind
man’s walking stick, hoping to warn himself of any hidden obstacles as he
plowed through the snow. The sleet-laden wind whipped his scarf and iced over
his facemask’s goggles, but the half-orc was relentless.
“Varien!” he shouted at the top of his powerful
lungs. The storm swallowed his words. Siegfried felt a tug at his boots and saw a
half-frozen zombie on all fours trying to bite him. He rolled his eyes. Varien stared up at his attackers as they
bit, gouged, and tore at his flesh. He took a deep breath and concentrated on
curling his fingers into a mailed fist. He strained as he formed a mental
picture of moving limbs, and to his astonishment feeling began to creep into
his extremities. Blinding pain soon followed as the ghasts
continued to savage him. “We’re going to peel you out of that
armor,” one hissed. “We’re going to rip you limb from limb,”
another giggled. “We’re going to tear the marrow from your
bones,” a third promised. Erwen’s moonbeam
caught a ghast in its circle of light and burned it away to ash. Alec’s undead opponent clawed him, opening
up fresh wounds along his throat. The fighter staggered again. Radegast thought she heard the sounds of
ghasts howling triumphantly above the whirling vortex of her sleet storm . “Tragic,” she said, and aimed her longbow
at the ghast savaging Alec. She let the arrow fly, and nailed the ghast to the
wall of the ruined building behind the fighter. It struggled momentarily and
then went limp, pinned. “Thanks,” Alec rasped. Radegast cast a healing word on Bob and then shrugged and let the sleet storm spell drop. As the last of
the freezing rain pattered to the ice-covered ground, she could see clearly up
the hill that Varien had disappeared under a pile of howling ghasts. “Uh oh,” she said. Bob frowned and misty stepped as far as he could up the hillside, taking off at a
run as he emerged from the shadows. The ice was already melting as its magic
faded, and the ash formed a slurry that squelched beneath the cleric’s feet as
he dashed. Bob looked down and paled as he saw his friend’s blood mixed in with
the ash and water. Siegfried wiped the fog from his goggles
and took in the sight of the pinned paladin. He pursed his lips and made a
decision. “Varien, you can die beneath a pile of
ghouls or you can let me help you, but it’s going to require you to trust me,”
Siegfried said. “Okay,” slurred Varien. “Will you let me help you get out of this?”
Siegfried asked. “Yesh,” slurred Varien. “Good,” Siegfried said. “It’s easier on you
this way.” He cast polymorph as he
conjured in his mind the largest, most terrifying beast he could think of. “Say, Varien, have you ever been to Chult?”
he said. “No,” slurred Varien as his shape began to
blur and change. His words turned into a guttural snarl as he began to grow in
size, his armor melding into the tough, leathery hide of a Tyrannosaurus Rex,
the king of Chult’s jungles. “Whoa!” Erwen shouted, suddenly very proud
of Siegfried. Ghasts and zombies went flying as Varien
Rex stood on his taloned feet and swept his tail form side to side, roaring in
defiance. Varien’s sense of self began to slip away,
replaced by a primordial ferocity, a hunger for prey, and the overriding
feeling that these tiny creatures had somehow invaded his territory, and were most
certainly not welcome. “Have at it, lad!” Siegfried shouted as he
stepped back, well back from the fray. The zombies around Varien Rex recovered
quickly, and if they were perturbed by his sudden transformation, they didn’t
show it as they resumed their slamming attacks. Bob caught a zombie’s fist under his chin
and his vision was full of stars. Varien Rex lunged at the nearest ghast and
closed his enormous jaws around it, sinking his eight-inch fangs deep into the
thrashing creature’s body. Spying more targets at his feet, he whipped his tail
around as though it was the most natural thing in the world, sending his
targets spinning across the hillside. Pinned in Varien Rex’s cavernous jaws, the
ghast howled and began biting and clawing fiercely, opening fresh gashes along
the dinosaur’s jawline. Its undead companions joined in, crawling
over the bodies of the fallen zombies to sink their fangs and claws into the
dinosaur’s flesh. Varien Rex felt a suddenly tingling
sensation as numbness spread throughout his reptilian nervous system. He began
to sway unsteadily. Siegfried’s eyes widened. “Oh, no,” he said
as he watched his carnivorous creation stumble and fall to the hillside with a
crash. Radegast dashed forward and cast shatter on a conveniently grouped set of
targets. The first zombie in line took the brunt of the spell’s damage and flew
apart in twisting torrents of gore. Alec swung his greatsword at a zombie,
slashing its chest open. He followed through with a stab to the guts that sent
the undead creature to its knees. With a final, coughing moan, it fell headlong
into the ash. Erwen’s moonbeam
swept the battlefield, sizzling undead flesh wherever it went. Siegfried shook his head at Varien Rex. “Come
on, lad!” he shouted at the prone predator. “You can do better than that!” He
growled something profane under his breath and cast a hexblade curse on his nearest target. The zombie spun about, staggered by
Siegfried’s attack, but swung a fist that caught the bard flatfooted. “Still have some fight left in you, eh?”
Siegfried taunted. Another zombie growled and lunged at the
half-orc. “Hey, dummy!” Radegast shouted. “Over
here!” The zombie’s eyes crossed and his attack
missed Siegfried. Siegfried was about to say something rather
witty when he realized that he’d attracted the attention of a ravenous ghast,
and had to dodge out of the way to avoid the creature’s claws and teeth. The rest of the ghasts fell on Varien Rex
in a terrible replay of what the paladin had endured only moments before, but
this time the creatures didn’t have to deal with plate armor. Their clawed
their way into the dinosaur’s innards like greedy children unwrapping birthday
presents. “Oh, I can’t look,” Siegfried said. Alec swore as a ghast bit down on his sword
arm, drawing blood. With a shudder and final wheeze, the Varien
Rex died, returning the paladin to his human form. “What a waste,” Siegfried moaned. Radegast cast thunderwave on the ghasts, killing one outright and pushing the
other two back into Erwen’s moonbeam ,
where they twitched and howled in agony. Alec pushed his ghast attacker away and
slashed violently at it, cutting it to ribbons and laying it out on the
hillside. Erwen grabbed the potion of healing and tiptoed through the fray until he was at Varien’s
side. “Here, drink this,” he said, uncorking the potion and tipping it down the
paladin’s torn throat. Varien felt the healing power flow through
him, and he groggily got to his feet, calling upon his divine energy to heal
himself even further. Siegfried hit a ghast with Lightbringer. The zombies began to regroup, lurching
towards the adventurers with outstretched arms. “Time to change my perspective,” Varien
said. He cast fly on himself and shot
straight into the ashen sky above. He noted that he could peer into the ruined
tower at the top of the hill. He conjured his spectral longbow and took aim at
the swarming undead below him. One of the shrieking ghasts caught in
Erwen’s moonbeam melted away to ash,
while the other hissed and bolted towards Radegast. “Nope!” Alec said, and with a swing of his
greatsword, decapitated the shambling creature. Its head landed at Radegast’s
feet. Siegfried ducked as a ghast tried to eat
his face. Radegast pulled her lightning bow and shot the creature at close range. Alec stepped up, slashing a zombie into two
twitching pieces and bisecting a ghast’s head with the follow-through. He
stepped through the red mist left behind by his kills, looking for another
creature to slaughter. Bob cast toll the dead on the nearest zombie as Erwen’s moonbeam hovered overhead. Siegfried hefted Lightbringer and bashed
the last ghast, missing with his second attack. The zombies caught in Erwen’s moonbeam
withered and died. Varien, floating overhead, fired an arrow
that pegged a zombie. The creature fell to the ground, moaned, and lurched back
to its feet. Varien frowned and hit the creature again. Now with two arrows
sticking out of its back, the creature continued to lurch towards Radegast. Siegfried and the final ghast squared off,
the undead creature hissing at him, its overlong tongue lolling. Smoke roiled
from the creature’s wounds, and fire was flickering in the back of the ghast’s
throat. “Haven’t you had enough?” Siegfried
shouted. “Not nearly!” the ghast shrieked and jumped
at the bard. Siegfried tried to parry but the ghast
knocked Lightbringer aside and sank his teeth into his shoulder. Siegfried’s
eyes widened as he felt a bolt of hot agony shoot through him. His half-orc
blood spurted out from the gaping hole in his shoulder. The ghast was fully
engulfed now, fire blackening its fresh and scorching Siegfried as the undead
creature grabbed him up in a horrible embrace. “Delicious,” the ghast rasped as he raked
his claws down, shredding Siegfried’s skin and setting his fine clothes alight. Siegfried shuddered as the cold shock of
the ghast’s paralyzing touch nearly froze him where he stood. He could hear his
own blood spattering the ground beneath him as the ghast’s claws drove deeper
into his flesh. Siegfried’s vision went red. Swaying on his feet, only his relentless
endurance kept him from collapsing. He growled involuntarily, his mind’s eye
fixated on scenes of slaughter and conquest that could only come from some sort
of racial memory, so deep in his bones that all rationality ceased to have
meaning. “Enough!” Radegast said, her rapier
slipping in to the hilt into the ghast’s midsection as she took advantage of
the creature’s distraction. Foaming at the mouth as Siegfried’s blood
boiled inside it, the ghast’s eyes unfocused and it collapsed at the injured
half-orc’s feet. Behind him, the Trevelyan brothers put paid
to the final two zombies. Silence descended on the battlefield, but
only for a moment. The ground roiled beneath the adventurers’ feet as an earthquake
rattled the hill. “What the hell was that?” Radegast asked. Siegfried tore off his mask and breathed
the ash-laden air deeply, his eyes still red with rage. He convulsed into a
coughing fit that turned into a roar of defiance.
He turned to Radegast. “Dump the bodies in the pit,” he growled. “We’re
leaving.” He jerked Lightbringer’s blood-covered business end at the crude
cemetery and open graves near the tower. Varien hovered over the mouth of the tower,
peering inside. Half of the tower’s roof was gone, as though some force,
natural or otherwise, had sheared it away. The rickety remains of a spiral
staircase hugged the remaining interior wall before coming to an abrupt end two
stories up the side. The floor of the tower had also
disappeared, as though a sinkhole had opened up beneath it. The hole, which
appeared to be quite deep, was choked with a greenish haze that seemed to glow
with its own light. Varien realized that the air above the tower was fouled
with a caustic acidity that threatened to overwhelm the alchemical filters of
his ghast mask. Movement within the green fog caught his
eye. “What’s that?” he said, fumbling for an
arrow, intending to cast light on it and send it down the hole. “You
sure that’s a good idea?” whispered Fiendsbane. “If you condemn yourself to hell I can’t
follow you there.” Varien caught sight of the wounds he’d
received and the rough shape many of his companions were in. “Perhaps you’re
right,” he said, and floated down to the ground. Radegast and Alec mandhandled the wrapped
bodies they’d taken from Reidoth’s watch to the edge of the nearest burial pit
and pushed them in. As they struck the bottom of the pit, the ground around
them erupted as thorny vines lashed up through the turned soil, grasping the
corpses and dragging them below ground in a spray of dirt and ash.
A fresh set of tremors rattled the hillside, causing the tower to sway. “Whoa,” Erwen said, his eyes wide. “Alec, may I have my sword back?” Siegfried
had composed himself somewhat. Alec handed him the sword, which Siegfried
immediately stabbed into the earth before the tower entrance.
“There’s something inside that tower,” Varien said as he alighted before them. “Indeed,” Siegfried said. “We’ll deal with
that when we come back to Thundertree for my sword.” He turned to Erwen. “Small
man. Find me a way out of this hellhole.” “We should head to Neverwinter,” Radegast
reminded the group. “That’s fine,” Bob said, holding up the
necklace. “We got what we came here for.”
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Siegfried began to limp away as Erwen
pointed the way out of town. “I hope it was worth it,” he called over his
shoulder. “Let’s go.”