Sithelnost - The Gallery of Heroes (Part 1)

 08 Newkolt 349 AC

THE SURPRISE ROUND

The sudden appearance of the adventurers did not cause panic in the Dragonarmy ranks. Baaz sergeants shouted orders, shields locked together. Spears were brought to bear as the Draconians began to advance.

Romulus thrust one hand toward the prisoners. "Стена Силы!" The archmage's words carried across the Gallery. A shimmering barrier sprang up along the length of the Gallery of Heroes, stretching from statue to statue, cutting the elven captives off from the Dragonarmy.

With half of the prisoners shielded from attack, Raven leapt forward. He raced into a knot of the three closest Ravagers of Kern. Nightwatcher carved a black arc. The adamantine blade split the breastplate as ifnit wasn't there. The flesh and bone beneath fared no better but the strike did not stop there. Raven's momentum carried through, turning a single strike into a devastating attack, cleaving through the next two ogres as part of the same motion.

One after another, each of Ravagers fell to the cold stones of the Gallery.

Redclaw reared back on his hind legs. Ra'ziir spoke a single word, "Festinatio!" The spell swept across his allies, granting them supernatural speed. The griffon leapt into the air. The bladesinger's second spell was already complete, his Song of Celerity technique blending the magic's somatic component into his natural movements. Lightning tore across the open air between him and the flying green dragon.

Its wings snapped into a hard turn, twisting its massive body away from the attack. The dragon's scales flashed as the edge of the spell washed over it. A few emerald scales were blackened, leaving little, if any, sign of injury.

The dragon roared in anger and began to bank.

Ra'ziir spurred Redclaw on. The griffon beat its wings furiously, trying to get above the wyrm to launch a diving attack.

Shadow took to the air as Ra’ziir' Haste spell settled over him. The drow muttered the words to a spell and a crackling, black ball of energy materialized in one hand. With the other, he reached up, touching the Circlet of Rapid Casting that adorned his brow.

The circlet flared and magic flowed down his arm, through his chest, and into the dagger sheathed at his hip. The blade lifted free. For a moment it hovered, orienting itself toward the target its owner had given it before streaking after the dragon like a hurtled spear.

He calls out to his companions “I am going for the Green! Who’s with me?”

Kysek, having faith in his and Dusk's invisibility, guided the griffon behind the Ravagers to assault the Baaz with his prepared spell.

Dusk skimmed over the heavily-armored ogres, passing scant inches over their heads. Kysek flickered back into visibility as a fan of colored light washed across the heavily armored ogres. They fell back, blinded and dazed as the Knight of the Barrie Grange hauled back on his mount's reins. The black-feathered griffon banked hard to the right, sweeping between the statues on the side of the avenue opposite Romulus's Wall of Force circling back toward where she came from as Kysek readied his next attack.

Commander Parnitha screamed, "FOR SILVANESTI! FOR TARITHNESTI! FOR SITHELNOST!"

The Wildrunner transformation surged through her. Her strength increased, her reflexes sharpened, her jaws extended, becoming wolf-like. She raised her bow, taking aim at the guards still lining the avenue beside the unshielded prisoners.

She let fly, scarcely needing to aim. Crystal-tipped arrows streaked through the open space. Four deadly arrows buried themselves in the back of one of the Ravagers. The ogre pitched forward, crashing heavily onto its face.

Cedron decided to stay close to Parnitha. He raised one hand. For a moment the world seemed to dim as light was drawn into his open palm and focused until it gleamed with the power of the sun.

The light erupted in a torrent of divine power, a coherent beam that struck one of the Green Scourge ogres. Flesh blistered beneath the holy radiance. The creature roared as its green and black Dragonarmy tabard ignited, flames spreading across the fabric.

The beam burned through armor, flesh, and bone in an unrelenting display of divine power. The ogre collapsed, smoke rising from the ruin of its body.

As the ogre fell, Cedron drew the Harmonic Blade from its sheath. The sword...listened for a moment and began to hum.  with a rhythm that matches the ebb and flow of the battle. The blade found the rhythm of the battlefield - the clashing of blades and screams of the dying, its wordless song joining the chaos raging all around.

The runes of Grotto's gods burned beneath his shoulders.

Hanseath.
Kiri-Jolith.
Sargonnas.

Three different powers. Three different aspects of war.

As the now massive dwarf moved forward, his voice led the way, "You have nowhere to run! These are the last moments of your life!"

He raised his axe and hurled it toward one of the nearest Baaz. "TIME TO DIE!"

The weapon spun through the air toward his chosen target. The force of the impact hurled the creature back a dozen feet.

Before the draconian's body could begin its unnatural transformation into stone and trap the blade within its corpse, the axe reversed direction. It tore free and streaked back across the battlefield, and slammed back into his hand.

THE FIRST ROUND 

08 Newkolt 349 AC

Romulus looked around. His wall of force had separated the elven prisoners on one side of the Gallery from their guards. They were, for the moment, safe. He turned his attention toward the heavily armored Ravagers.

He raised one hand and spoke a single arcane word. The air around him began to vibrate. Energy gathered as his fingers danced through the complex choreography of the spell. With sheer force of will, he altered the element make-up of its destructive potential and focused on the nearest massive ogre.

The lighting vanished but the thunder remained.

The first Ravager barely had time to react before the invisible bolt struck. The sound of thunder followed a moment later. The blast caught the ogre full in the chest. His breastplate buckled. The rivets holding it together were blasted apart. The magic passed through the steel as if it were nothing.

Then, the magic leapt.

The air itself seemed to split open as the magical thunder leapt from one armored giant to the next, each strike hammering through their defenses.

Twenty-one total ogres fell, their bodies reduced to pulp inside the steel casing surrounding them.

Raven cut down two more of the Green Scourge with frightening efficiency. He glanced upwards at Ra'ziir, Redclaw, and Shadow in pursuit of the green dragon and shouted, "SOMEONE GET ME UP TO THAT DRAGON!"

Ra'ziir spurred Redclaw forward. The griffon cuts across the green dragon's flight path. The bladesinger quickly chanted a few words of magic and touched Redclaw’s back. A shimmering field of protective energy spreads across his mount and sank into the body, a ward against the dragon's caustic breath.

Ra'ziir leaned forward, gripping the reins.
"Remember, Red. Go for the eyes if you can."

Redclaw answered with a fierce screech and went into a dive.

The griffon's talons led the charge as they dropped toward the green wyrm. At the last moment, Redclaw twisted aside. His beak struck twice, scoring a pair of hits against the browridge.

Grumbar’s Razor whipped around, trailing smoke and ash. Ra'ziir launched a flurry of slashes and thrusts, opening four fresh wounds on the dragon's neck and shoulder. The dragon twisted and snapped, its teeth tearing into Ra'ziir's shoulder at the same time. The impact nearly ripped him from the saddle but the haste spell carried them away before the dragon could fully retaliate.

“We want to stay above him if we can. C’mon, Big Red, YOU GOT THIS!!”

The flying dagger changed course. Nasty Surprise twisted violently, responding to its master's command and plunged into the dragon's chest.

The lightning stored within the enchanted weapon erupted. A torrent of electricity exploded across the dragon's scales, filling the sky with white-blue fire.

The wyrm roared. For a moment, its entire body disappeared beneath the storm.

When the echoes from the blast died away the dragon was still flying. Its scales were scorched, smoke rising from several points along its body, but the attack had not hurt it as badly as Shadow had hoped.

Shadow was already moving. The black sphere in his hand pulsed with terrible energy. He hurled it.

The orb of darkness hit the dragon in the back of the neck. For an instant, the dragon disappeared beneath a wave of dark energy.
Shadow expected the magic to take hold.
It did not.

The great beast's muscles tightened for only a heartbeat before ancient draconic resilience broke through the spell. The wyrm roared, forcing its body back under its own command.

The magic had not stopped it.

Kysek and Dusk circled back through the chaos of the Gallery, still hidden from the Dragonarmy by the magic of his ring.
Below, the Baaz were beginning to reform.

Kysek would not give them the chance.

He raised his hand. The magic of the ring faded for the briefest instant as he unleashed the spell. The Knight of the Barrier Grange reappeared as lightning erupted.

The first bolt struck the nearest Baaz, dropping the draconian where it stood. The energy leapt from soldier to soldier, racing through the clustered formation as the spell jumped between targets. Eleven baaz fell, their bodies turning to stone in death.

Kysek vanished once more and Dusk banked hard, carrying her rider away before the surviving draconians could even determine where the attack had come from.

Parintha continued to draw and fire one arrow after another. The crystal-tipped arrows streaked across the avenue, each one finding its mark.

The first struck armor.
The second found a gap.
The third drove the ogre back.
The fourth buried itself deeply in the ogre's chest. It staggered and finally fell, collapsing onto the ground in the Gallery.

Cedron stepped forward. He looked at the battlefield around him as he voiced a prayer to Malazzarr. Magical authority flowed through him.

He spoke a single word, "FLEE."

The remaining Green Scourge stared at the elf standing among the fallen giants, at the bodies of their comrades scattered across the stones, at the impossible battle they were losing. Their will broke.

One ogre stepped backward. Then another.
The five remaining members of the Green Scourge turned and ran.

Seven Baaz draconians broke from their formation as well, abandoning their weapons and fleeing down the avenue, passing reinforcements who were flowing in to the Gallery.

The green dragon gave chase, pursuing Redclaw through the sky. The griffon, under the effects of Ra'ziir's Haste spell began to slowly pull away but the dragon reached out across the widening gap. Teeth flashed. Ra'ziir twisted in the saddle but razor-sharp teeth found him, tearing through his flesh. Claws followed, raking him twice.

The emerald wyrm tore through the air, banking hard to the left. Its massive tail came around with the strength of a battering ram. The blow struck the griffon like a hammer. Redclaw shrieked in pain.

Completing its turn, the dragon swept back toward the Gallery of Heroes and the prisoners from behind Romulus's Wall of Force.

It drew a deep breath. The scales along its throat shimmered with sickly green light.

Grotto saw the Baaz rushing into the Gallery. He planted his feet firmly and thrust his free hand toward them. A wave of black divine energy rolled across the battlefield and ran through the reinforcements. They staggered as weeping sores appeared on their hands, necks, and faces but none of them fell.

Plate-armored ogres turned onto the avenue, running toward the battle in a loose formation but were still nearly two blocks away.