| Fight the Real Enemy! | |
| Survival....Barely |
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The old man grumbles, "To hell with that!" He mumbles some more arcane phrases. Suddenly, the wall of fire disappears! Immediately after that, the three reappear as the old man abandons them and goes running off madly from the clearing, "Even now. I saved you!" The disembodied voice is heard growing farther away. The Bishop now appears at one of the windows, and his face is glowing red with anger. "Kill them, damn you!" He then raises his hands once again and starts intoning a spell. Asif turns towards his two stunned companions and mutters something to the effect "Fortune is with you for an hour and against your for ten. I suggest with the speed of a leopard, we run. Such fortune may not smile upon us again" Asif with these words shoves his two companions forward before diving through the open archway to freedom, running with all the speed of the before mentioned creature of the desert. Asif pushes into the massive bulk of Kenishiro, who looks down upon him, still confused. As Asif struggles to move the man-mountain, the Bishop strikes. A ray of fire streaks down toward the exit to the clearing, exploding into a ball when it reaches the three left there. All three are caught firmly within it. The effects are devastating. All three fall to the ground burning badly, Asif's colorful robes alight and still flaming as the magical fire dies down. Kenishiro, lightly garbed, is less effected, but is stunned by the flame and falls to the ground as well, the ground shaking when his bulk impacts it. The effects on grumpy old Guiseppi are by far the worst. The smell of burning hair and flesh hits the nostrils of the entire group as he lights up like a torch. All of you watch with disgust and dismay as his body hits the ground with a sickening thump. Impossible to believe he could have survived. Meanwhile, this has set the abused hedge on fire on both sides. Things are going to hell in a handbasket quickly. Still entangled in the roots by Ullar's side, Silus knows death is now inevitable, but that he is not going to give the Bishop the satisfaction of submitting to him: "Go on then, you physical manifestation of Beelzebub. Let's see whose god is the stronger;mine or yours." He then continues to pray to his god in the hope of recieving protection from him. Ullar curses at himself for not succeeding to get the weed out of their way. "I should have taken my Axe with me.. I really should". Seeing that his attempts had little effort he whispers to Silus: "Silus, if we stoop a little, perhaps those weeds would conceal us a little from the crossbowmen's view. Hacking around with my sword doesn't seem to improve our situation, so perhaps we just have to make the best of it." He pauzes for a slight moment, looking around as where everybody else is. "As soon as this spell, as I assume it is, disappears, will I drag you and myself to savety." Rhune very slowly begins inching her way just out of the writhing mass of plant. She is vaguely aware that the way is clear of fire. Her only thought at the moment is to free Silus without getting hit by any more of the crossbows. She works her way around so that she is sort of to the side of Silus and with a lot of plant material beside. She reaches up and draws her hood up perhaps its color(shaded greens) will make her harder to detect. Slowly she draws one of her knives and begins to dig around the roots of the nearest vine that has Silus. If she only had a bow to use she would try for the bishop. "No," Silus cries out as he sees Rhune coming towards him. "We are all doomed. Try and save yourself. They might not be able to get all of us if we are not all together." Rhune looks up at Silus briefly and sighing deeply gives in to his orders. She quickly stands and dives out the exit. She rolls clear of the opening against the wall of the gate. Perhaps she can come back for them. She is breathing heavy and uttering a silent prayer to Erevanus to help her friends. She is not happy with having to leave them there. But perhaps Silus is right. Maybe once she has caught her breath she can do something else. She sits for a moment trying to slow her breathing and take a look around for the woman with the book and those who ran from here earlier. Rhune is too far away from the exit to make it out this turn. Indeed, it is a hard road merely weeding through the weeds, and she is only able to get halfway out (less than a quarter of the way to freedom) before the crossbowmen respond. Matteo, torn between the need to help the bleeding halfling and giving aid to his newfound friend Urak, hesitates only slightly. He quickly scoops up the badly injured halfling and, cradling the small body, charges shoulder-first into the back of the African menacing Urak, in an attempt to knock him off balance and allow Urak to strike or escape. Matteo is able to snatch up Sam's body and turn back toward Urak before they engage in another go round. Using the momentum of his charge, Matteo continues running, covering Sam's body with his own, and sprints around the hedge shouting, "Now, brother... Act now!" Urak dances backward from the guard facing him, the staff twirling lightly in his hands. The hunting grounds of the People were a dangerous place, and he had learned, as all young Urk learned, the basics of self-defense. However, he was decidedly aware of the differences between himself and a warrior like the one he faced. Urak strikes quickly, swinging the end of the staff around and up at the other man's head. Having witnessed the behavior of the other African, he had no wish to truly harm any of these poor enscrolled souls. Praying that the African would be able to wrest his spirit free from this vile entrapment, he disengages. The large fellow and Urak strike simultaneously, Urak dodging at the same time as he strikes overhand. He is rewarded by punching the staff into the great fellow's chest, knocking him back a few feet. Unfortunately, there is a price to be paid, as he dodged the blade but not the flat of the African's tulwar, which solidly impacts the side of his head and sends him spinning. He almost falls on his face, but rights himself and realizes he has managed to separate himself from the muscular foe. Taking the best of that opportunity, he bolts. Once the guard chasing her is trapped, Marika screeches to a stop and reverses direction, so rapidly that the straps on one of her sandals snap, and the shoe goes spinning off into the entangling weeds. The crossbowmen, seeing their prey darting about and obviously in very dire straits, smile and pick their respective targets. One of the two on the walkway picks the unmoving target of Krige in the weeds, thinking him an easy shot, but the weeds manage to interfere with his aim, as the shot sails over Krige's head. The other skyway guard fires an arching shot at Matteo, who has dropped to hoist Sam. The bolt is true, hitting Matteo firmly in the right thigh and penetrating it as Matteo bends over. However, even in his agony, Matteo still manages to shoulder the small burden and hobble off toward the exit. The window guards spread out thier fire. One targets the clambering Rhune, vainly trying to speed her escape from the weeds. However, the shot is very poor, sailing above her head and to the right. Two of the others target Marika, who is rushing to assist Matteo. The first narrowly misses her as she weaves directly into the path of the second, which smashes into her left knee, dropping her like a stone. The final guard, obviously a nasty sort, sends a bolt at the burning body of Asif. Fortunately for the flaming foreigner, the bolt lands near him but does not hit him. The Bishop smiles nastily from the window, "You all shall live to rue this day! Well, all of you that live in any case." Fortunately for you all, he is too busy gloating to invoke another one of his spells. However, the deadly Genoese are still firing away. One of those on the bridge fires a shot at the struggling Krige once again at medium range. However, Krige's leathers protect him as the blow glances off them. However, he notices that yet another rent has ripped open in the front, and his now twice torn armor hangs about him raggedly. The other targets the collapsed and crippled form of Marika. However, his cowardly blow flies over her head. The four in the window also take their targets. The first arcs another shot at the smoldering Asif, and once again is not rewarded. Asif's burned robes have gone out at this point, but if he is alive, it is only just barely, as his burns are quite severe. Another of those in the window targets Rhune, who has just emerged from the weeds and is rushing toward the exit. His shot is true, though the blow is not mortal. The heavy bolt wings past her ear, slashing it and drawing blood. Combined with the other blows she has taken, Rhune is now in fairly bad shape. However, she does reach the exit and freedom! Meanwhile, Urak-gor grabs hold of the crippled Marika and Matteo stumbles forward with Sam. Both ignore the African guard in order to save their newfound friends, even though it would be child's play for him to cut them down from behind. One bolt flies over Urak-gor's head as the relentless Genoese keep the arrows coming. The last of the crossbowmen draws a bead on Matteo with a particularly wicked gleam in his eye. However, he is thwarted by the African, who leaps toward the four with strange abandon. The heavy bolt smashes into his spine and he falls to the ground. As he falls, you all can see a smile on his face "Go" he utters with his dying breath. Not looking a gift horse in the mouth, the group stumbles and falls out of the exit. Under the cover of the burning hedges for a moment, Matteo and Urak-gor do the mercy of tending to the terribly wounded Asif in an effort to save his life. Marika attempts to ascertain Kenishiro's condition as well, but is surprised to see the giant open his eyes, muttering in some very foreign language. As she realizes his is going to be all right, she turns her attention to Sam, who is still bleeding from his terrible wounds. She bandages him and then proceeds to cast a curing spell on him, which manages to mend him enough that it is apparent the resilent fellow will survive. Urak-gor, meanwhile, uses his healing skills on Asif with little effect. The burns are severe, and he estimates that man will surely die without some additional assistance. Thus he casts healing magic on the man as well. This seems to pull him away from death's door, but it is clear he will need lots of rest before he even resumes consciousness, much less is in fighting trim again. Matteo in turn, puts his magic upon Marika in an attempt to restore her ability to walk. It is not to be, however, as though most of the ripped flesh and blood is cleaned up and restored, the shattered kneecap remains. Only with some sort of crutch will she be able to move. Ironically, she is now the most healthy of the lot. The situation as it stands: Rhune, still smarting from the several crossbow wounds, is alert, but quite weak. Sam is unconscious but out of danger's way, for now. Matteo is hobbled by the bolt sticking out from his leg and very weak, but alert. Marika is in fairly decent shape as a result of Matteo's magic, but is crippled, and cannot move at all without some type of assistance. Asif is unconscious and still precariously close to death. Kenishiro is weak as a baby as a result of his wounds, but a baby Kenishiro is still a strong fellow. Guiseppi is clearly dead, his skin burnt, and the smell is terrible. Urak-gor is in better shape than most, though very weak as a result of his encounter with the African. None of this group feels remotely confident that they could take on a small child with a stick at this point. Silus is still hobbled and entangled and extremely weak as a result of his wounds. He is not going anywhere. Ullar is still in decent shape, but held tightly. Krige is weak as a result of being shot at several times, and caught as well. |
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| Benjamin Lomax |
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This page was last updated on 20 January 2001 |