Mar 18 05 - Told in Story Form
After 2 hours of whining (and there are few things worse than a whining fremlin), I was able to convince the Dragonslayers to continue the quest into the Temple of Chaos. Despite the fact that EL Fudge was out of combat (he had been recovering from a night of binge drinking and carousing with a very large woman who damaged his back the night before), Alastair? was still recovering from his communion with the Lords of Law, Laila? was ministering to Alastair?, Paul and Khan were still researching the information given them by Alastair?'s communion spell, the group led by Finglas entered the pool and transported themselves to the same room they were driven out from the temple previously.
Finglas had quite a bit of trepidation that putting the "low level weaklings" such as Ailea? and her pets up front would be the downfall of the adventurers as a whole; even though Ailea? and Moraleodredd? were boosted with haste, stoneskin, and enlarge spells, and Moradred? the dire wolf was boosted with haste. In fact the entire party had haste spells cast upon them. Immediately upon entering the "Domicile de'Chaos" Ailea? split her pets up and had them begin sniffing out their prey, while she boosted up her attack and damage ability with a Magic fist spell, and her strength for combat was boosted by a stone strength spell by Finglas. Previously she and Finglas had been given an extra defense by his protection from lightning spell.
Well the dire wolf and the enlarged lion (standing 9 foot at the shoulder now) scented the "Warriors of Chaos" from 2 corridors leading to the east and south corners of the room. Ailea? and Moraleodredd? followed by myself (Mobuto) headed east and then south, while Finglas and Moradred? headed south and then east. Wilson followed behind at a distance since he was the back up healer and third line of defense. The "Party of 5" was spotted around the corner immediately by Ailea?, myself, and Moraleodredd?.
Finglas acting as leader initiated combat immediately. Ailea? and Moraleodredd? moved forward instantly and engaged the fighter in the first rank. Startled by the giant half naked unarmed female and the roaring giant lion bearing down on him he was ill prepared for what was to happen next. Ailea? leaping in the air connected with a flying dragon kick to the face, followed by an aerial side kick to the head and then a pile driver punch to the torso, ending with a dragon uppercut to the chin. The first warrior was dead before he hit the ground. Moraleodredd? then roared into action intercepting the Paladin of Chaos before he could take a step down the hall. Huge gashes in his armor were left by the gigantic claws of the ferocious lion.
As the lion went into action so to did Finglas. In an amazing display of arterial prowess he sent a flurry of arrows into the enemy. With a precision that comes only from decades of study, his first arrow pierced the heart of the fighter that had turned to attack him. The look of stunned incredulity was still on his face when his corpse collapsed to the stonework floor. A second arrow found a mark in the paladin and then arrow after arrow flew down the hall only to clink off the alabaster like skin of the mage Reina. Finglas had initially planned for all attacks to be directed as much as possible at the spell casters, and he was none to happy when I had directed the lion, Moraleodredd?, as well as Ailea? to attack the paladin rather than the mage. But I assured Finglas that although it was a deviation from the original plan I knew what I was doing. And sure enough right after those words were spoken the fireworks that have become my signature spell were released. I then sent a barrage of whistling flaming death down the corridor that flashed into, and ignored the stonelike skin of the mage, blasting her to the wall behind her and erupted in a blazing fiery scream of death as flames gushed from her mouth, eyes and ears, leaving a perfect, beautiful shell behind.
But wait what of the powerful Cleric Anselem? Why had we all but ignored him? He had cast 2 spells on himself, Sanctuary and Withdraw intending to use the magic of these spells to take time to power up against us. But he did not count on the might and fortitude of Moradred? the dire wolf!! Sensing the cleric despite the cloaking magics he bounded down the corridor and with a powerful bite of his huge jaws ripped a hunk of flesh from the clerics arm disrupting the spells hiding him from our view.
The paladin of chaos, unnerved but not undaunted lifted his huge sword and attempted to hit the lion in front of him but despite his huge size he still had the grace of any feline and avoided it with ease.
Again the Dragonslayers went into action. Ailea? this time did a backward foot sweep and as the paladin fell, she completed the motion with double fisted uppercut to the head, snapping his neck instantly. Again I sent hurling into the cleric more fiery missiles stunning him and enwrapping him a brief cocoon of flame. Moraleodredd? with his huge paws, and savage bite tore slashes into his flesh, and as the rivulets of blood pooled under his feet, Anselem? attempted to activate a magic item but Moradred? bit his arm preventing him doing so. As Anselem? dangled from the jaws of the 8 foot wolf Finglas slowly and deftly raised his bow and arrow, looked deep into the eyes of the Cleric of Chaos, bid him farewell and released the arrow that ended the debate as to whether or not we were strong enough to take them on.
So here we are now having redeemed ourselves with a much smaller and supposedly weaker crew. Although Wilson didn't seem to play a role in this scenario I don't believe we would have felt half the comfort of entering their domicile had he not been present.
We are still jubilant from our victory. I am pleased that my plans succeeded and as always I am quite confident my magic will prevail. Ailea? is more daunting warrior than one would expect at face value and maybe we need to consider exploiting that somehow in the future. Her animals also played no small role as well. Finglas I must say surprised me. Not only has he proven to be an exceptional leader but his skills as a marksman were even better than I had given him credit for. I knew we would win, but I did not ever imagine we would do so, so quickly. It amazes me sometimes with his skill that he sometimes hesitates so much to be more aggressive, but then again that may be why he still lives. I suspect his confidence in his extreme prowess will grow as his victories grow. Hopefully when Alastair and Paul return he won't be so quick to "Split hairs before the orc's axe falls", and continue to take more of a leading position. I still no nothing of this Lady Kylia that they all speak so highly of. I wonder how she will fit into all this?
Well as they say in my country "Only the Sun, Wind and Moon know all that has happened, and the grass over the next hill hasn't been trampled yet".
Mobuto the Glorious, Mage of Semphar
