Cedron and Raven - In the Lair of the Lady (Part 2)

09 Newkolt 349 AC


Wickerbell spurs her bee into motion. The huge insect flies to the southern door where the brownie grabs the knob and twists. The door groans but creaks open on its hinges and hangs ajar.

As Raven bounces off of the pillar and looks around the room, he sees the ogres trying to barge into the ruined sanctuary. Realizing that he and Cedron may be overwhelmed by the large number of enemies surrounding them, he draws Thorgrim, the cursed giant-slaying sword from its sheath and surrenders to the  berserker rage. He rushes the twisted giants, swords leading, putting all of his strength and anger into every swing of his blades.

Nightwatcher carves through the chest and unwounded thigh of the nearest giant, bringing the Fomorian to its knees just in time for the snarling elf to strike its head from its shoulders. Raven’s momentum carries him into the second brute where the nigh-unbreakable blade hews completely through a leg the size of a tree trunk in a single blow! The giant falls, a fountain of blood erupting from the wound and it crashes to the ground.

Start of Round

Cedron activates his Ring of Telekinesis. He pulls back the door opened by the hag, and slams it back closed in front of the ogres. “You’re not welcome!” The priest then calls upon the power provided by his renewed connection to Malazzar and aims his open palm at Ellessandra. A beam of light, as bright as the sun, lances across the room, revealing Cedron but striking the Lady of the Crawling Fey in the chest. The blue hag shrieks, dropping the kender who falls to the floor in a heap.

One of the spiders clinging to a pillar turns its spinnerets toward Cedron and shoots a web at the minstrel-priest. Cedron nimbly avoids the line of sticky thread, only to have two other spiders leap at him from behind. He turns, easily avoiding both attacks and slashes the first with his harmonizing blade as he utters a short chant, hardening his skin to the consistency of iron.

The green hag begins to sing, the cackle of her voice giving way to a surprisingly high and pure. She grabs the door Cedron closed and yanks it open.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh-ah...
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh-ah...
We come from a land of bogs and swamps,
Your dreams and nightmares we will haunt...."

The song takes hold and the final remaining giant and first two ogres begin to froth at the mouth. Rage floods their bodies, causing muscles to swell and eyes to burn with a dull red light.

The giant surges forward, rushing Raven with its flail twirling overhead. The elf roars in defiance and thrusts with his cursed blade, plunging the cold iron directly in the Fomorian's heart. The hunchback stumbles forward and falls, landing atop the bodies of its fellow giants.

Three ogres pour into the room through the west door. The two in the lead, "blessed" with the same enchantment that had affected the last Fomorian. They run straight at Raven. The elf drops and rakes Thorgrim across horizontally. The cold iron blade nearly dissects the leader at the waist, sending him tumbling to the flagstones. Two quick flashes of the cursed berserking giant-slaying sword end the other two brutes before they even have a chance to strike.

With all of the giants and giant-kin in sight laying dead on the floor, Raven’s ensorcerelled fury comes to an end and Thorgrim clatters to the floor. He breathes heavily, gasping for air, "Her... crown, take... the crown."

Still reeling in pain from Cedron’s burning beam of sunlight, Ellesandra draws a wand with her left hand. She levels it at the minstrel-priest and shouts, "Urchar Draoidheachd!" Nothing happens. She frowns and smacks the thin rod against her free hand and a barrage of five magical pulses blast forth to strike him in the arms and chest.

Trolls pour into the room through the door that Wickerbell opened. They leap over spiders and around shattered furniture as they race toward the center of the old sanctuary as the millipedes slither across the debris.

End of Round


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