Chapter #190
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+ THE ADVENTURERS +
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+ Epic II +
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+ The various characters contained in these writings are +
+ copyright 1994 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to any +
+ persons or characters either real or fictional is utterly +
+ coincidental. Copying and/or distribution of these tales +
+ is permissible only under the sole condition that no part +
+ of them will be used or sold for profit. In that case, I +
+ hope you enjoy them... +
+ +
+ Thomas Miller +
+ tmiller@cimmeria.oit.gatech.edu +
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+ THE PARTY: +
+ +
+ Arnold 11th level human warrior (NG) +
+ Belphanior 12th/14th/14th level high elven w/m/t (CN) +
+ small immaterial wispy thing +
+ Mongo 16th level dwarven warrior (CG) +
+ Gorin 6th level dwarven warrior (CG) +
+ Peldor 18th level human thief (N) +
+ Bosco 7th level halfling thief (CN) +
+ Rillen 16th level human warrior (N) +
+ Rob 15th level human priest (LG) +
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+ Date: 12/5/573 C.Y. (Common Year) +
+ Time: early evening +
+ Place: the NE reaches of the Hold of the Sea Princes +
+ Climate: cold +
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+ "You ever seen anything like that before? +
+ "Hell, I ain't ever even _heard_ of anything like that!" +
+ - from _Tombstone_ +
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CXC. Battle!
As the small but potent force which has followed them
from Westkeep turns invisible, the adventurers prepare for
one hell of a battle...
Gorin: I can't see 'em!
Bosco: Where _are_ they?!?
Belphanior: (his magical eye glowing crimson) _I_ can see
them...the three wizards are flying our way...the priest
is spellcasting...the half-orc is riding toward us on one
flank...the twenty mounted warriors are riding at us in
a semi-circular formation, head-on.
Mongo: Oh. (he scratches his head)
Belphanior: (still airborne, he begins spellcasting) It
would probably benefit us to spread out...
Arnold: (with Mongo, Gorin, and the ex-slave Garth, he
waits in front of Rillen) Aaa.
Rillen: (holding his bow and nocked arrow) I need targets.
wispy thing: (nowhere to be found) sss.
Peldor: (invisible somewhere, he hastes himself)
Bosco: (standing near Rillen, waving his sword around) I'm
ready to do battle.
Rob: Me too. (he looks at his mace) Well, maybe not. (he
begins casting a Prayer)
Belphanior: (completes his spell, and a flame sphere appears
and begins rolling across the plains, igniting grass as it
goes) That'll delay the cavalry a bit...(he wipes sweat
from his brow) Whew.
Rob: (completes his prayer, and the others feel invigorated)
Mongo: Where are those flying wizards?
Belphanior: (points into the sky above) There's one! Take
cover!
Huey: (completes his Fireball, and the huge mass of flame
rockets toward the party) Hah! Let's see you take cover
from _that_!
The fireball exploded in a tremendous blast, spraying
tongues of flame everywhere.
Garth: (far to one side anyway, he dashes out of the way,
avoiding any damage) Whew!
Mongo: (directly within the blast, he is scorched severely
but lives, thanks to his various magical protections)
Aaaargh!
Gorin: (leaps to one side, and is saved from serious harm
thanks to the potion he drank earlier) Yaaaah! (he
rolls, trying to put out the small fires on his person)
Arnold: (avoids the brunt of the blast, and only gets
singed slightly) Aaa.
Rillen: (having leaped outside the fireball's blast radius
with his bow and arrows, he quickly fires an arrow at the
airborne, and now visible, Huey) Hold still, there.
Huey: (his arm speared by the missile) Argh! (he looks
around in shock) Some of them actually lived through my
fireball?!? Inconceivable!
Mongo: conceive this. (he hurls his hammer, walloping the
flying mage, hard)
Huey: Ugh! (his arm broken, he floats about in an airborne
version of a stagger) Damn it!
Dewey: Fear not, I shall get them! (he casts a Lightning
Bolt at the adventurers, becoming visible immediately)
Arnold: (sees the bolt of electricity coming) Aaa. (he
leaps for cover)
Gorin: (manages to scoot from the path of the bolt) Whoa!
Rob: (grazed by the missile, he is knocked back) Aaaargh!
Rillen: (barely has time to dodge as the lightning comes,
and takes the blast head-on) AARGH! (he is knocked back
and down, and his bow falls from his hand)
Mongo: Shit! (he hurls his hammer at Dewey, hitting the
airborne mage in the chest) Yeah!
Dewey: (seemingly unshaken by the blow) Hah hah!
Mongo: Huh?
Louie: (chooses this exact moment to cast a Wall of Force,
and the magical barrier materializes around Mongo, in a
spherical shape) That should corral yonder dangerous
dwarf...
Stormcrest: (in the process of returning, it hits the
translucent wall of force, and bounces off)
Mongo: Huh? Hey! (he begins beating on the wall from the
inside) Lemme out!
Stormcrest: (falls to the ground, inert)
Belphanior: (diverts his flame sphere in a new direction)
invisible half-orc: Uh-oh. (he spurs his mount to greater
speeds, but in vain, as the fiery ball engulfs him) AIE!
(he ignites) AAAARGH!
Belphanior: Hmph. (he directs the sphere toward the other
mounted, invisible attackers) Damn, too many...(he has a
better idea, and digs in his pack for a wand)
Arnold: (on the ground, like most of the others, he can't
really do much right now) Aaa. (he waves his sword)
Someone come fight Ah-nold!
invisible red-robed priest: (casts a Wall of Fire, which
appears and encircles Arnold, Gorin, Bosco, Mongo in his
force-bubble, Rob, the ex-slave Garth, and the prone
Rillen) By Hextor, they are cut off! (he now becomes
visible)
Belphanior: Uh-oh. (he finds the wand he was after)
Peldor: (invisible, and now directly behind the red-robed
priest, he backstabs, slashing violently) Die, scum!
red-robed priest: AARGH! (wounded direly, he staggers,
one arm now attached only by a few tendons) YAAARGH!
Peldor: (now visible) That should take care of your next
spell...(he advances on the priest)
invisible warriors on horses: (bearing down on Peldor)
Belphanior: Look out! (he uses his wand of foam to spray
a sheet of white, bubbly foam down onto the twenty riders)
Peldor: Huh?
Since Belphanior was so far up, the foam dispersed nicely,
and the entire score of horsed foes was rendered visible,
thanks to the sticky magical foam.
Belphanior: (glad that he found another use for the wand
besides putting out fires created by Ged) Hah!
Peldor: (rather confused, he nevertheless attacks the high
priest again, stabbing him in the leg) Time to put an
end to your machinations, vile one!
red-robed high priest: Argh! You'll pay for that, thief!
Huey: (spellcasting) Time to kill-
Dewey: (likewise) -these fools-
Louie: (likewise) -once and for all!
Suddenly, the blazing wall of fire that surrounded the
majority of the adventurers simply...vanished!
Rob: (finishes murmuring magical phrases) Ah!
Arnold: Chaaaage! (he leads Gorin, Bosco, and Garth in
a charge toward the foam-covered cavalry)
Gorin: Get 'em!
Bosco: (feeling cocky, no surprise since he drank a potion
of giant strength) urp...(his stomach churns, but yet he
charges onward with the others)
Garth: (swinging Arnold's spare two-handed sword) Death
to the slavers!
Rob: (feeling rather left behind) Oh. (he notices that
his Dispel Magic didn't neutralize Mongo's force-sphere)
Mongo: (screaming bloody murder from within the sphere of
force that surrounds him) Dammit! I want out of this
thing!
Rillen: (nearby, lying on the ground next to his bow, he
stirs) Oh...
Huey: (casts a Death Spell upon Belphanior) Die, fool!
Belphanior: (shrugs off the deadly spell) Try again...
Huey: Aie!
Dewey: (puts a Globe of Invulnerability up around himself)
I shall be invulnerable!
Louie: (casting a spell of monster summoning) You people
are not the only ones who can bring monsters into play...
red-robed high priest: (spellcasting as Peldor rushes him)
Balok will finish you, scum! (he reaches out, touching
Peldor on the shoulder as the thief lunges) Hah!
Peldor: (drained of almost all of his health) Argh...(as
he collapses, he still manages to drive his sword through
the priest's throat) Die, you son of a bitch...!
Balok: (gurgles and falls, dying)
Peldor: (falls to the ground) You lose...
Louie: (about to complete his summoning spell) Ha ha ha-
Rillen: (standing shakily, he fires a magical arrow at the
flying mage)
Louie: (hit by two arrows, as Rillen's magical bow doubles
its missile) Urgh! (his spell is ruined)
Rillen: Have another...(he fires another arrow at the mage,
and this one, too, doubles and hits)
Louie: Argh! Yargh! (he hovers, bleeding profusely, then
falls from the sky) YaaaAAAAAIEEEEE- <splat>
Huey: Louie!
Dewey: He killed him!
Rillen: Naturally...what did you expect?
cavalry: (foam-covered, they yet advance) Kill them! Kill
them all!
Arnold: I was hobing you'd say something like that! (he
leaps forward, taking a glancing sword blow on his helm,
and hacks at a mounted warrior) Ah-nold!
mounted warrior: Argh! (he is knocked from his horse)
Gorin: Yeah! (he chops at a warrior's leg, wounding the
fellow)
Bosco: (stands fast before a charging horse and rider)
mounted warrior: A _halfling_?!? Hah!
Bosco: (dodges the man's sword blow and grabs his ankle as
he rides past)
mounted warrior: Wha- (suddenly finds himself unhorsed)
Bosco: (hurls the fellow into another mounted warrior)
Whee! Giant strength'll do the most amazing things!
Garth: Die! (he slashes a mounted warrior, severing an
arm)
Arnold: Yah! That's the way to go!
Garth: A fine sword, this...
As the land battle continued, Belphanior faced off against
Huey and Dewey, in the air.
Huey: You were warned...(he begins spellcasting)
Dewey: (also begins spellcasting) Prepare for the end.
Belphanior: Bah. (he invokes the power of his evil eye,
which glows bright red)
Huey: (suddenly sheathed in a nimbus of red light) AIE!
(his features shift and melt, and he suddenly falls from
the sky) AAAAAAARGH! (he hits the ground with a wet
squishing sound) <sploosh>
Dewey: By the gods...! (he casts a Power Word, Blind at
Belphanior)
Belphanior: (instantly stricken blind) Yow! (he flies
forward, well, blindly, attempting to slash the mage,
but misses by quite a distance) Fuck! (he sails around
blindly)
Dewey: Now to finish the others...(he turns to those on
the ground)
Rob: (completes another spell, touching Peldor on the
forehead) Be healed, brave thief...
Peldor: (stands up) Huh? (he looks around) Holy shit,
we're in trouble! (he points to Mongo) We've got to free
him!
Rob: Err...yes, I know.
Peldor: (spots Dewey in the air) Can't reach him...
Dewey: (hunting for a wand)
wispy thing: (finally shows up, orbiting the mage's head
at blinding speed) whzzzzz!
Dewey: Wha- Aie! (he swats ineffectually at the wisp)
Get away!
Rillen: (buries two arrows in a mounted warrior, knocking
him off of his horse)
warrior: Eyagh! (he falls onto the ground, the twin
missiles protruding from his chest)
Rob: (looking around) Huh? (the potion of ESP he drank
is helping him pick up some evil thoughts nearby)
half-orc: (quite charred, but also invisible, he stalks
Rob)
Rob: (feels that something is amiss, and turns suddenly)
What's-
half-orc: (its potentially lethal backstab merely glances
off of the priest's chain mail) Damn!
Rob: Ow! (he backs up) Who?!?
half-orc: (now visible) How did you...?
Peldor: (draws his sword, and interposes himself between
Rob and the half-orc) Why don't you fight _me_ instead?
half-orc: With pleasure...(he charges)
Rob: Hmph. (he ignores the combatants and turns to Mongo,
preparing a second Dispel Magic) Maybe I can free him
this time.
Mongo: (nodding enthusiastically)
Arnold: (cuts down another horsed attacker)
Bosco: (swats a horse and rider aside with his giant
strength) I _like_ it!
Gorin: (he and Garth team up to attack another mounted
warrior) Let's get him!
Garth: Aye. (they proceed to do so)
Dewey: (unable to begin new spellcasting because of the
wispy thing)
wispy thing: (refuses to let up) sssss!
Rob: (tries his Dispel Magic directly on Mongo's sphere
of force) By Trithereon, I say take _down_ this wall!
Mongo: (pushing against the invisible wall, he suddenly
falls over) Hey! It's gone!
Rob: All right!
Mongo: (catches Stormcrest as it flies back into his hand)
Time to kick some ass! (he hurls the weapon at Dewey)
Dewey: (knocked twenty feet higher into the air) ARGH!
wispy thing: (looks on approvingly)
Dewey: (tries to cast a spell)
wispy thing: (begins orbiting the mage's head once more)
Dewey: Dammit!
Mongo: (catches his hammer, then hurls it again)
Dewey: (his neck is snapped by the blow, and he falls)
Mongo: Yeah! (he looks up into the sky) What's that?
Rob: That's Belphanior...he's flying and blind.
Mongo: Oh. (he turns his attention to the land fight,
in which the mounted foes have encircled Arnold, Gorin,
Bosco, and Garth) Look there! They need help!
Peldor: (narrowly avoids a slashing blow by the half-orc)
Whoa, you're a fast one...(he stabs at the foe)
half-orc: (takes the blow on his armor) You can't beat
me, thief! (he slashes Peldor, tearing a deep cut in
the thief's side)
Peldor: Argh! (he staggers back in a daze)
half-orc: I've been a warrior for ten years! You'll
never outfight me! Ha ha!
Peldor: Don't have to...(he uses his ring of telekinesis
to lift the foe into the air)
half-orc: (swinging and slashing around himself as he
rises into the air) What?!? Come back here!
Peldor: (continues to levitate the half-orc higher)
Mongo: (hurls his hammer at the group of mounted warriors,
knocking two over at once) Hah!
Bosco: Yeah! (he darts under a horse, then picks it and
its rider up) Aha! (he tosses them away and heads for
another horsed warrior)
Gorin: Wow.
Arnold: (bleeding from a half-dozen minor wounds, he still
fights on) I think we're winning!
Bosco: Of course we're winning!
Rillen: (punctuates this statement with two more arrows,
both of which hit another mounted warrior, exposing him
for Garth, who pulls him out of his saddle)
Garth: Scum!
half-orc: (fairly high up now, shouting loudly)
Peldor: Oh, all right. (he releases his telekinetic hold
on the foe) Down you go.
half-orc: Oh, shiiiiiiiiiii- (hits the ground) <SPLAT>
Peldor: Hmm. What a mess.
Rillen: Nice of him to drop in.
Shortly, the group had beaten the remaining cavalry, and
wounds were bound. Belphanior eventually returned, able to
see - apparently, the blindness was extremely temporary.
Everyone but Mongo was wounded, though Bosco's nicks and
cuts weren't too serious. At Belphanior's suggestion, all
of the enemy bodies were piled up and promptly burned, after
being searched (in vain) for spellbooks and other useful
items.
Mongo: Burn 'em, eh?
Belphanior: (coughing) Who knows, someone might try and
bring them back.
Peldor: Well, we wouldn't want that, would we?
Arnold: Definidely not.
mob of ex-slaves: (beginning to approach)
Garth: Have no fear, my people. It is over.
Rillen: (his wounds bound tightly, he looks to the south-
west wearily) Is it, I wonder?
next time : towards Keoland
ftp site : ftp.cs.pdx.edu in /pub/frp/stories/adventurers
notes : It's time for some more shameless bragging; all
three intramural teams which I play for (being
male, I only coach and keep stats for the womens'
team) have now ended their seasons; my final
stats are:
GAMES AB HITS 2B 3B HR BB AVG K RBI RUNS
9 31 18 1 1 1 7 .581 2 9 16
If it's not obvious yet, I'm not only a leadoff
man but also a singles hitter. That homer was a
fluke :)
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--
Thomas Miller tmiller@cimmeria.oit.gatech.edu
Systems Support Specialist II Georgia Tech Network Services
"What good is being a hammer when you can't find a deserving nail?"
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