---------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------- Chapter 16: Get Ready ! Here they Come ! -------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Dithion emerges from the hallway into the room with the pool and breaks off from melee to cast a spell. Some of the others move to fill the gap he has left .... (DM:) After Dithion disengages the Daemon, he takes a breath and casts a spell. His skin begins to slowly change colour, and becomes greyish looking. Falrun and Tatiana are now melee'ing the Daemon, both swinging their borrowed weapons, and hitting the Daemon a few times. However, the Daemon takes several swipes at the multiple Tatiana's. Two of the images disappear, and one hit scores on the real Tatiana (14hpd and bloody side, no other effects) (Tatiana:) Still some of the "Mirror Image" Tatiana's were left next to the original, and all of them were bleeding badly on the right side. But still the bulked out Tatiana's continued to fight alongside Falrun. "I can barely stand another hit like that" the chorus of Tatiana's hissed to Falrun as she swung mightily with her owl-headed staff. (Silver:) Silver is aware of this, and will keep watch as much as she can without causing herself problems with the next staff-strike. No-one really notices during the intense battle, but Silver is currently struggling with a battle inside herself - seeing her companions getting badly hurt, and yet worse is the hatred for such evil creatures as these daemons, combined with fear of this place. (Falrun:) Falrun continues his desperate battle with the daemon, spurred on all the more by the damage inflicted upon Tatiana. (Tatiana:) "Damn ! Will these things ever drop?" (DM:) Keilan looks about lost, without a magical weapon or spell capability to harm these creatures. Arlon prattles some more in ancient mermanese :), but to no noticeable effect. Suddenly, the Rotund Daemon appears in the pool-room, amidst all those preparing. Shade having a grey silverish glow on his hand from a ready spell does not hesitate, and hits the Daemon. The glow touches the Daemon, and the flesh of the Daemon shrivels, as Shade's wounds suddenly heal! (15hps transferred) (Silver:) *Eeugh* thought Silver .... *Better stand clear of Shade for the moment* (Shade:) The drow feels a little exhilarated by the effect of the previous spell "Sheesh! - he grins - my little sister told me necromancy is great. Woe to me I didn't acquiesce to her will." (DM:) Silver also stood nearby, with a red-glowing staff, and as if by reflex she lashes out at this new threat in front of her. The staff connects, and sends the Daemon reeling. It was already confused by the after effects of the teleport, and now he gets whacked from all sides! (Silver:) The staff hit the insectoid daemon with a satisfying *crack* and the monster staggered back under the force of the blow. (DM:) Arlon changes back to his real self, and Dithion hefts his club, and moves forward to engage one of the lobster Daemons... And this is what the situation looks like .... | | | LD2 | where: T=Tatiana, F=Falrun, D=Dithion, LD1 S=Silver, Sh=Shade, Ky=Kaeyar, @ T F @ Kl=Keilan, A=Arlon, @=basin, D LD1/2=Lobster daemon 1/2, RD Sh RD=Rotund daemon, |=hall wall, S _=pool stairs _____________ Ky _A___________ Kl (Arlon:) Arlon is now back to original form so the staff and trident are available. Arlon will blast the rotund daemon with a magic missile and then call over to Keilan "Keilan, if you feel up to it you can use my staff, although the magic may not be strong enough to affect them. I do also have the trident; but the Daemons seem very interested in the one who has it." (Keilan:) Keilan looks at Arlon with eyes full of hatred as Arlon offers him a staff or the trident. "Fool! You expect me to wield either with one arm!?" Keilan looks back to the scene of the newly arrived rotund daemon being engaged furiously. "Arlon, wait, give me the staff." (Arlon:) Arlon looks at Keilan, a little annoyed by the "Fool" thing - thinking hey I'm not making you do anything. Arlon tosses the staff to Keilan, saying "May you strike hard and true, brave one!". He will then prepare another spell. (Keilan:) Keilan pulls a small metal vial from a pouch and tears the cork from its top with his teeth. Turning the bottle over, a few drops of some liquid trickle out and down his throat. Keilan drops the empty vial and takes the staff from Arlon, grasping it tightly in one hand. "I must be damned. First you fools drag me into the bowels of hell, and now the daemons have come for me." With that he strides slowly to the rotund daemon and begins the painful task of fighting with a shattered arm hanging at his side. (Arlon:) "Shade, how complete is their resistance to acid and fire? Are these things totally immune, or does their resistance lessen the effect?" Not waiting for an answer before his next action Arlon will fire another volley of Magic Missiles at the rotund one. "I must get through its resistance!" (Shade:) Calling back over his shoulder, the drow says "I do not know how complete their resistance is, anyway we can give them a chance to show us" he grins wickedly. Then he produces three salvos of magical bolts against the spider-like rotund daemon (three magic missiles) in rapid fire. (DM:) Keilan drinks his potion (the Giant Strength I presume?) and whips out with Arlon's staff, whacking the Daemon on its head. It seems very unamused at that, as black blood seeps from a crack at its head. Then Arlon and Shade let go with streaks of magical energies, the chamber is lit up as if by lightning, but when the energy bolts strike the Daemon, they dissipate, and the Daemon laughs cruelly. Kaeyar hefts his large mace, and whips out at the Rotund Daemon that is laughing, and hits it on the Daemon's body, leaving a black bruise behind. Meta: Kaeyar's player has some problems, and may not be able to post for a while. I will play his character through this adventure until he can join us again. (Silver:) Silver backs away from combat hurriedly, but not very far. After taking a few paces, she stops, and looks once more at the staff, mouthing unfamiliar syllables as she twists the staff around in her hands. She stands once more, holds the staff firmly, and intones a strange and arcane-sounding phrase. The staff glows once more, but not with it's previous deep red colour. Moving back toward the insectoid monster, Silver readies herself to strike. OOC: The second harm-helix, just under the red one. (DM:) To Falrun: The head of the Daemon spins around once every five or six seconds or so, however, for a backstab to be effective, you must know some of its anatomy, and I don't think you ever met a daemon like this before :).. The fight with the lobster daemons continues ever more viciously, and Falrun lashes out with Soulcrusher, and stabs at the Lobster. The sword pierces the skull through the beasts eye, and it screams loudly. It lashes out in anger, dispelling the two more 'fake Tatiana's', then shudders and falls dead. However, the other Lobster crawls over its dead buddy to continue the fight, only to be hit from the side by Dithion, and in its face by a desperate Tatiana. Both score hits, and the Daemon reels in pain and anger. (Dithion:) Dithion gives a slight smile as the first lobster thing goes down. He lumbers in next to Falrun and presses the attack against the daemon. (Tatiana:) "Yeah!" Tatiana shouted as the first lobster daemon fell. She stepped back just a little, to let Dithion fill her spot leaving the last lobster daemon to her two brave friends. She looked to her side where she was still bleeding. Her side was sticky but she still had energy. Meanwhile, back with the Rotund Insectoid Daemon .... (DM:) The rotund Daemon is surrounded by four of you, and all four release their magical prowess in hopes of overwhelming the beast. Silver, whose staff lost its glow after the first strike, speaks some more arcane words, and the staff glows again, albeit with a lesser intensity. She strikes resolutely, hitting one of the beasts five arms, shattering it. The beast strikes back with two other arms, one hitting Silver through her leather studded armor. The armor is torn to shreds (one AC step less effective) where the claw hit, and Silver bleeds from her stomach (16 hpd) from three red gashes. (Silver:) "Yaaagh! That *hurts* - really *hurts*" Silver says, the colour draining from her face. She knows she's going to have to withdraw from combat soon, or lose more blood. Using her forearm to staunch the wound a little, she speaks the first arcane phrase she used, hoping to get the deep red glow on her staff once more. "Damn you, you unearthly travesty of nature" she calls out. Swinging more carefully, timing her thrust, she attempts to hit the daemon once more before withdrawing from combat. Back with the last lobster daemon ... (Falrun:) Falrun experiences elation over the party's victory of the first creature defeated. He soon comes back to full concentration on the remaining lobster creature though, and sends Soulcrusher in on a quick jab, followed by a feint to the right with a quick crosscut to the throat warding off any attacks possible with his short sword. In the middle of the melee he yells out to any who can hear him, "Who has the dagger that we picked up from the natives? Has anybody tried it to see if it will bite the flesh of these flea ridden vermin?" (Dithion:) He swings his club like a madman. Next to Falrun's skillful use of the blade he looks like a lumbering oaf. However, each strike by the massive club resounds like thunder, whether it hits the beasts chitinous hide, or strikes the stone walls. He swings his club over his head, exposing his whole body....a serious mistake if he fought a skilled fighter...and then swings it downward at the beast. Determination burns in his eyes. (DM:) The fight continues, with one Daemon down, and several of the party injured greatly. The following happens.... Near the basin, the fight against the remaining lobster Daemon continues unabated, as Tatiana, Dithion and Falrun strike again. Greatly underestimating the staying powers and fighting skills of a veteran of many lower plane wars, Dithion and Tatiana both get hit by swings from the beasts huge claws. This time, the real Tatiana gets hit. Dithion receives a jab in the stomach (17hpd), and doubles over coughing up blood, and Tatiana receives a hard hit to her right shoulder, dislocating her arm (15hpd), Falrun gives a mighty jab with Soulcrusher, and is pleased to see the sword sink deeply into the Daemon, however, in so doing, loses his grip on the sword when the Daemon turns and shrieks in horrid agony. The Daemon seems near death, but so do some of you.... The crowd around the mighty rotund Daemon lashes out with weapon and spell, hoping to wear it down as quickly as possible. Both Shade and Arlon let loose with more of the fiery bolts, only to see them dissipate on the hide of the Daemon. Silver, Keilan and Kaeyar attack relentlessly with whatever weapons are at their disposal, and see their staves (Silver's again glowing a nasty bright red after some arcane mutterings by her) and mace strike home, but the Daemon seems as vigorous as ever. It lashes out with its many arms, and strikes Keilan once on his left arm (13hpd), and Silver once, raking her left arm (10hpd). (Silver:) *Dammit* Silver thinks *This is NOT what I was destined for* as she prepares to drop out of melee in order to help those people who are badly wounded, but .... (Keilan:) Keilan fights on in grim silence even as his already hurt arm is further battered by the great rotund one. (DM:) Then suddenly the Daemon disappears, and your short elation that it might have escaped is dashed as it reappears right behind Arlon, grinning wickedly..... (Silver:) "DOWN ARLON! NOW!", and ignoring all thoughts of withdrawing from the battle right now, Silver speaks the second arcane phrase she has learnt from the staff, and swings it at the daemon, trusting that Arlon will move out of the way. *Mielikki guide my blow against this Defiler of the Balance* Silver thinks, as she swings as powerfully as she can, despite the wounds she has already received. (Keilan:) When the sneaky critter disappears, Keilan whips around to see where it has gone. Spying it behind Arlon, he cries, "Not that easily!" and charges it, swinging his borrowed staff down on its head again. (Arlon:) OOC: It appears that Arlon is in deep, with that fat daemon behind me. Arlon, knowing about the daemons teleport ability will have a general idea of where fatso went especially when he sees Silver's face. Arlon will take a dive forward (away from the daemon) and to his left of Silver, allowing her room to smack it, he will then roll to his left so he can face the thing. He will then transform into a small eagle (bald). "You want this trident don't you fatso, well lets see if you can fly." Arlon will then take to the air with the trident and fly to the furthest point in the room and see if the round one can fly. OOC: I am looking to distract the daemon from my comrades, so if it cannot fly I will land far behind it making it necessary for the daemon to teleport to get to me quickly and if it does teleport again I will take immediately to the air. (Silver:) After this blow, Silver will take stock once more, ready to aid those who may have fallen. Initially though, she will attempt to stop her own bleeding (with her mundane knowledge of first aid), and then call out "Wounded! Rally to me for aid!". Silver notices how badly wounded Tatiana is, so if Tatiana does not withdraw straight away, Silver will call out "'Ana! Fall back before you pass out!". If Tatiana still does not withdraw, Silver will not call out again - after all, 'Ana knows what she is doing - she is not a child, just a very dear friend. She will then wait, readying herself to invoke the healing powers of her Goddess, keeping a watch on the progress of the battle (and the party's surroundings in general) OOC: Can you let me know how bad you are damaged if you come over to Silver for aid ? This will affect what she attempts to do. Back with the lobster daemon .... (Tatiana:) Tatiana screams in pain, and start to back out of combat clutching her right shoulder. The staff dangles from her injured arm. (Falrun:) Falrun is startled as he realizes he let Soulcrusher get away from him. Torn between helping his companions and attacking the creature, Falrun decides he can best help by eliminating the threats to their safety. After quick consideration of the situation, Falrun calls to Tatiana, thinking she would be the most reasonable one to approach. Dithion is probably too stubborn to admit to defeat so easily. He quickly calls to Tatiana, "Give me the staff so I may try to finish this foul beast before it has a chance to do further damage! Then you may also seek healing from one of the healers in the party." (Tatiana:) Hearing Falrun's cry for aid through her pain. She takes the owl headed staff with her good arm and extends it to Falrun. "Use it well brave warrior! We are in dire straits" (Dithion:) Dithion grimaces, and as Falrun moves a bit to the side to get the staff, he moves in on the Daemon...obviously intent on crushing it. He mutters, "I will make Daemon jelly out of you, foul beast." He continues to swing his club... (Falrun:) Falrun will return to the fight and continue to attack the lobster daemon with the same zeal as previously demonstrated, possibly even more so. Spurred on by his allowing Soulcrusher to get away from him, he will be fighting even harder to get Shade's sword back. It would be quite devastating if he failed to return such precious borrowed property. (Tatiana:) As Falrun takes the staff from her, she tries to cast a spell. Taking a tuft of oxen hair from her pouch of spell components with her good hand, she struggles with the somatic gesture, casting the oxen hair at Falrun as he steps forward again to do battle. Falrun's muscles enlarge to tremendous proportions. OOC: Strength, the DM will determine the increase Groaning from the exertion she barks out "I can do no more without help" and then hearing Silver's call for wounded, will seek her out. She and her mirror images that are left back out away from combat and seek out Silver if she's not occupied. Approaching her, she says "Silver, I need the aid of you and Mielikki. Please heal me so I may assist our friends" OOC: Dislocated right shoulder Bloody side Down to 4 Hp's out of 38 (Silver:) Silver moves out of melee, holding her arm to her stomach once more, and moves to intercept the Tatiana's, who have also left the fight. "Which one is the real you, 'Ana - I can't help ghosts !". Presuming the real Tatiana moves into the embrace of Silver, she will cradle her head and wounded shoulder, saying "The battle is not yet ended, Dear Mielikki, this, your child is more than worthy, Permit me to bathe her in your warmth and ease her pain so she may defend the balance once more." On the completion of these words, a pale silvery-green nimbus cloaks Tatiana's body entirely, becoming quite intense around her shoulder and down her side. OOC: Cure Serious, 10hp back (Tatiana:) While Silver casts her healing magic Tatiana jabbed a finger towards the rotund Daemon, Falrun was closing in on and Arlon was trapped by. Strikes of blue bolts shot towards the Daemon. "That's the last of my spells. It's down to brute force for me now" she says with regret. (Silver:) "Keep *still*, dammit 'Ana. Don't disrupt the energy flow" Silver says quite firmly. "You may have benefited yourself more by laying still." After a brief pause, "I have lesser healing gifts, and I think your side could still cause you problems in battle - lie still for a moment more while I concentrate." OOC: If Tatiana waits for 1 more round, then Silver casts CureLtWounds. (Tatiana:) OOC: Just wanted to say "I love your character!". You do an great job with Silver. You stay in character so well! I was hoping you'd pick up on the squirming bit with Tatiana. That "keep still Damn it" was great! (Silver:) OOC: I am really surprised that this is the first time you have played a female character, Tatiana is excellent ! This is the first time I have ever played in a pbem, and I love this format ! It gives me so much time to plan, make sure Silver is doing things consistently. (Tatiana:) OOC: Thank you very much. I like to hear how other people perceive me. Written text can be so cold and heartless, it's easily misinterpreted. Tatiana is my first female character and I think I like her best so far. I'm impressed with your style. It's as if you've been in lots of pbem's before. You're one of the best characters I've seen. An update on the character positions .... | | | | LD2 where: T=Tatiana, F=Falrun, D=Dithion, @ D F @ S=Silver, Sh=Shade, Ky=Kaeyar, Sh Kl=Keilan, A=Arlon, |=hall wall, T LD2=Lobster daemon 2, _=pool stairs, RD=Rotund daemon, @=basin ____S__Ky______ ___A___Kl______ ___RD__________ (DM:) After the disappearance of the Rotund Daemon, and its reappearance behind Arlon, Both Silver and Keilan charge it with staves raised, Silver's staff glowing a slightly muted red. Meanwhile Falrun grabs Silver's staff from Tatiana, and swings at the Lobster Daemon. Three staves hit the two Daemons almost simultaneously, Keilan and Falrun hitting on the heads of the creatures. Arlon rolled away just in time, and while rolling away and taunting the Daemon to follow him, his features melt and transform, and a bald eagle flies away, holding the trident in its claws. (Shade:) The drow is quite worried about the ugly way things are going "S**t! This situation is more hairy than a night of sex with a yeti - he mutters, then seeing his sword is no longer useful to Falrun - I have to be able to fight again, I cannot kill them with my weak magik." He looks intently at his death tattoo "Going to kiss her today - he sighs - hope I'll make you wait a little more sickled milady." He quickly cast a blur spell and then he tumbles on the lobster back. Grabbing soulcrusher hilt he pulls madly trying both to dislodge the sword and to do the maximum damage to the daemon. (DM:) Shade, seeing his valuable sword embedded in the Lobster, cries out, and scrambles over one of the basins, and jumps on the back of the Daemon, desperately trying to reach his sword, and jarring it around in the beasts body to hurt it as much as possible. Meanwhile, Dithion keeps on slamming away at the Lobster, overcoming the last hit thanks to his stoneskin spell ( :^) ), the only effect is that his chainmail is now hanging in shreds around him (2 AC steps less effective), and Tatiana retreats from the fight after having handed her staff to Falrun, but not before casting one last spell at the rotund Daemon, surprisingly hitting the tough beast, slamming energy into its fat, bulbous body. While Kaeyar also tries to hurt it by spell, but his bolts fade to nothing upon reaching the foul creature. The Lobster Daemon is unable to withstand such vicious onslaught. It desperately tries to dislocate Shade from its back, gashing Shade's forearm with its claws (6hpd), before toppling over, driving Shade's sword even deeper into its body. (Falrun:) With a glimmer of satisfaction, Falrun watched as the daemon hit the floor. Seeing that the daemon was dead, or soon would be from Shade mauling it, he turned his attention to the large insectoid daemon. (DM:) Okay, Lobsters down, Rotund one to go .... Or Eidolon 2, Monsters 0 :) Ok, only the rotund insectoid daemon left now .... but it still has tricks up it's sleeve (DM:) The rotund Daemon whirls its head around, and surveys the destruction of its companions. It lets out a horrid shriek, shaking you all to your very cores (save vs fear or run away in fright!) (Shade:) The drow shivers deeply "Wheew! It's a fortune I sometime presenced at one of my sister's evocation of the abyss minions, if I had never heard this before I would be surely running away in tears!" OOC: I rolled 19 (Dithion:) I rolled a 16 for my save vs. fear. (Well, my program rolled it for me ; ) (Keilan:) Keilan is preparing to whack the rotund daemon once again, when the evil beasty screams. Keilan's swing stops in mid-motion and he drops the staff, scrambling backwards away from the beast in a mad rush. (Arlon:) Arlon is seemingly stunned for a moment from the daemon shriek, perhaps from being in eagle form, and starts a dive toward the floor; but is able to pull up before hitting. He then continues towards the far side of the room, keeping a watch on our fat friend and seeing if anyone was adversely affected by the screech. (Falrun:) As the daemon let out an unearthly scream, an ice cold shiver ran down Falrun's back. He was overcome by an urge, a need, to run from this foul creature, but, noticing the poor state of his companions and thier struggles, he steeled himself for what he knew he had to do. (OOC: Saved with a 20) (Silver:) As Silver backs away from the melee, to aid the damaged Tatiana, the daemon screams. The unreality of the situation closes in on her once more, and for a moment she remembers a time long ago .... *Flashback Effect - Silver watching peacefully grazing animals* when a herd of pack animals she had been watching started screaming in their death throes when a magical spell went wild, Silver standing helpless nearby, not knowing what was happening until too late. *End of Flashback* Then she snaps back to the present, finds herself close to Tatiana and close to tears. Even realising that it was the daemon screaming did little to dull this painful memory. OOC: Rolled a 19 on my saving throw (Tatiana:) Tatiana twisted quickly in Silvers arm's trying to get away as the Rotund Daemon screamed, her heart throbbing with fear. Silver still held on to Tatiana as she squirmed to get away. Tatiana looked up to Silver in a panic and saw that she was close to tears yet still stood her ground and willing to help. Something inside her steeled her nerves despite the situation and she forced herself to relax and accept the healing spell Silver was preparing. OOC: Rolled a 17 And so some of the party run like crazy from this maddening noise, while the rest .... (Falrun:) He picked up Silver's borrowed staff and charged the daemon. Swinging wildly and fighting for all he was worth, he began to wonder if running away wouldn't have been a better idea. (Shade:) If the lobster is still alive I'll keep on trying to kill it with my embedded sword. When it is dead I'll dislodge the sword pulling as strong as I can and attack the other daemon (after casting mirror images) (Tatiana:) She started to hum to herself to calm her nerves and it seemed to work as her voice grew in volume till all in the cave could hear her singing. The song was strong, and it told the tale of bravery, and how a great important battle was won. Half the troups of King Fredrick had been demoralized and run from battle leaving him to lose, yet King Fredrick continued to battle on, knowing the righteousness of his fight. In the end his troops rallied and returned to win the day after realizing the folly of their fear. OOC: Trying to rally the scared and raise the moral of those fighting (Dithion:) Dithion moves away from the crab creatures saying only, "Someone should burn those things in case they regenerate." Then his eyes seem to glaze over as he charges the other Daemon, club in hand. Once he is upon it, he swings...obviously with everything he has, and no concern with form. Shade is having considerable problems getting his sword back from the daemon's body .... (Shade:) While trying to roll the daemon on his side in order to get back his sword the drow asks for the help of who is not directly involved in the melee "Silver, Tatiana, help me with this, I need my sword to join back the fray!" (Silver:) Overwhelmed by images from the past, and the immediate needs of tending to a seriously wounded close friend, Silver realizes that someone is calling her name .... Looking up, she realizes that Dithion and Falrun are close to being damaged as badly as Tatiana was a moment ago. "More gifts of healing will have to wait for a moment, 'Ana" Silver says as she gently helps Tatiana to a sitting position "Take good care of your side - don't needlessly waste the gifts of Mielikki" she says with a thin smile. (Tatiana:) "Thank you very much Silver" Tatiana said as she got back up rubbing her wounded side. She grimaced as she touched the wound, her shoulder was very sore from it's recent dislocation. (Silver:) Standing up, her form seems to shimmer and morph into that of the Silver Bear that the party has seen once before. When the transformation has completed, the Bear will roar defiance at the daemon and lumber over to Shade. (Tatiana:) As Silver the bear shambled off Tatiana called to her "May Mielikki be strong with you Silver!" (Silver:) Arriving at his side, the Bear will flip the lobster creature over so that Shade can reach his sword. Satisfied that the sword can be freed, the Bear will head over to the daemon. (Shade:) Quickly grabbing his longsword the drow thanks Silver/Bear "Many thanks my furry lady" - Shade smiles - "Now let's put an end to this annoying dancing party before it puts an end to our party." OOC: If I haven't done it yet, I cast mirror images now. With a grim, determined expression frozen on his face the bard joins the fray. (Silver:) She will then try to smash down with both paws onto the shoulder of one of it's arms with the intention of breaking it. If she manages to hit it, she will then let out the loudest roar she can manage, directly into the fanged face of the daemon. (DM:) At the unearthly shriek from the remaining menace, Keilan and Kaeyar look as though their worst nightmares came true, and both try to outdo each other in getting away from the Daemon as fast as possible, and both disappear the way the Dwarf went some minutes ago. Silver is forced to break off combat, and shuffles her way over to Tatiana in order to heal her wounds. While she is being healed, Tatiana begins to sing a tune of courage, hoping to lift the spirits of her fighting comrades. Shade is prying away at the Lobster that fell over with his precious Soulcrusher inside it. Shade calls out to the non-combatants to help him free his blade, so he may assist the dwindling number of fighting men. By himself he is not strong enough to roll over the hulking body of the armored creature. Of the fighting men, only Dithion and Falrun remain keeping the monster at bay, the others fled or without means to fight the abomination. Both attack the Daemon, spurred on by the song of Tatiana. Knowing their friends will be defenseless should they fall and the Daemon survive, they attack with renewed vigour to ensure the Daemon dies first. Both swing mightily, and their connecting blows send the Daemon finally reeling, and incapacitate a third of its grasping claws. However, Dithion is struck twice by the creature, and is loosing his protective layers fast. Arlon is still flying around, after having had some trouble regaining his composure after the Daemon's shriek. (Dithion:) Dithion continues battling the creature, although his armor hangs in pieces around him. Both he and his club are covered in blood... (Falrun:) Falrun continues to battle on in a desperate attempt to bring down this foul beast before it can do more damage. (Arlon:) Since it seems the daemon cannot fly, Arlon will land on the ground at the far side of the room (leaving minimal room behind him) and transform into himself again. During this he will taunt the daemon in mermanese "Poor foolish daemon, I warned you to hold; but as with all evil you were blinded by your own arrogance and pride!" - I am still trying to divert the daemon's attention away from those who are in melee with it - Arlon will then fire another volley of magic missiles. (Tatiana:) She turned to the rotund daemon her brave warrior friends were still battling. It was going to be close. She sang louder for all to hear in the cave. The song of courage and the righteousness of her party boomed through the enclosed room. She hoped it was enough, as she had no weapon of use and was out of magic. (DM:) Seeing the end is near for the Daemon, the Eidolon close in on the creature with a vengeance. Dithion and Falrun keep bashing and hacking away at the monstrosity, and Silver (in the form of a bear) and Shade (rearmed with Silver's help) rush to aid their comrades. Before entering combat, Shade mumbles some arcane words, and suddenly five Shades stand there. Arlon flies over to solid ground again, and begins to fire magical missiles onto the Daemon, after having turned back into his own form again. (Arlon:) Arlon will begin to change into an ogre - a disgusting creature, but imposing. The ogre figure continues to chant "Daemon, you choose poorly. You did not hold, now you will die!" He then pulls out 3 spell components (Acid Arrow). (DM:) Dithion and Falrun both hit the Daemon, and the Daemon strikes back at both. Dithion gets struck, and suddenly the grey pallor disappears from his skin, while Falrun gets struck a glancing blow across the face and shoulder (13hpd, no other adverse effects :) ). (Falrun:) Falrun staggers back a little from the blow. Incredulously he wipes his cheek and rubs a small streak of blood from his face. "Why you little piece of wyvern dung! I'll have your head for that!" He then wades back into the battle swinging the owl headed staff with a look of vengeance in his eyes. (DM:) Throughout all, Tatiana keeps on singing, while Keilan and Kaeyar have safely fled outside (You can do stuff, look around etc, as long as you do not reenter the caves/mines). Shade and Silver have not attacked the Daemon yet, you used this round to free Shade's sword from the Daemon, and Shade cast his mirror image and Silver transformed. (DM:) All those still capable of fighting are back into the fight, and assault the Daemon from all sides. Falrun, pissed off at being hit, swings most viciously with his borrowed staff, and clonks the Daemon over it's ugly head. The Bear/Silver has reached the Daemon, and takes a mighty swipe with her claws, attempting to destroy another arm of the Daemon. Though she does not succeed in that, she does hit the beast in the side, and a large gashing wound appears on the Daemon. Dithion continues to fight with his blood-smeared club, and strikes out once more, banging the club against the vile creature. (Dithion:) Dithion, does, indeed, continue to pummel the daemon. He seems even more vicious in his attacks (if possible). (Shade:) All of the Shades close in on the Daemon, adding his skill to the closing battle. (DM:) Shade, having freed his sword, dances into this dance of death, jabbing and thrusting with his blade, drawing black lines along the creatures ravaged hide. Through all this, Tatiana continues to sing encouragement, and Arlon, while taunting the Daemon still, shifts form again, now into the form of an ugly Ogre. Through this onslaught, the Daemon sags to the ground, his three legs buckling under the force of your blows. As Falrun gives the last swing on top of the beasts head, it spins its head one last time, looking at all of you with a burning hatred that send shivers through your spines. His last look is one of pure malevolence and will for revenge. Then the creature topples over, and the massive body crashes to the ground......