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No sooner had the first dragon died than the second
contemptuously snuffed Sigred's Blade Barrier and slashed at
Surya and the water elemental with its' claws, teeth and wings.
Defending himself with his shield, Surya struggled to make an
impression on it. The sight of the dwarf beyond reminded the dragon who
had actually started this fight, and it lunged past the Tellaran to
attack the dwarf. Seizing his opportunity, Surya leaped onto the
massive hindquarters as they swept past, scrabbling for a hand hold as
he slashed at the base of the heavy tail.
In its' place was a humanoid figure; in appearance much like
an elf, mailed and bearing a mighty spear; but its' skin was coal-black
and its' eyes burning red, without iris or pupil; smoke rose from the
ground where its' feet had trodden. With a snarl it brought its' spear
around to the ready and advanced on Surya. At this moment, Sack emerged again from the neighboring
corridor where he'd been sheltering from the flames, nocked an arrow to
the bow he'd taken from the Death Knight Asildur,
and loosed. With a crackling blast of electrical energy, the shaft
slammed into the back of the dragon's head, and it sprawled forwards on
it's face. A few seconds later, it transformed back into its' own form
as it died. Sack approached, slinging his bow on his shoulder as he did
so, and without a word slapped Hildraft on the top of his round helm,
making the metal ring. Their attention released from the deadly business of
dragonslaying, the heroes now realized anew that the citadel of the
Dark Beast was in iminent danger of complete collapse; waggon-sized
rocks were crashing through the roof every few seconds, sending
razor-sharp splinters of tortured stone tearing through the air, and
showers of broken stone to collapse and block the corridors around
them. Sack seized a moment to hack a couple of teeth from the deaqd dragon's jaws, and then without further ado, Hildraft cast his Wind Walk, sending the
group soaring insubstantially out through a hole in the ceiling. Outside, the siege had reached its' climax. The midnight air was torn
by the din of battle, fighting raged all around the citadel; the walls
were breached in many places, and Gozan's skillfully-directed troops were
pushing the outnumbered Githyanki back into the building. The extraplanar
warriors were retreating towards the Vault, clearly defending it to the
last in the mistaken impression that the Silver Swords were still there.
The tall figure of Ruruk the Sword -seeker could clearly be seen, leaping,
spinning, fighting with impossible skill at the head of her force, her
mighty blade a blur around her as she slaughtered Gozan's troops. Seeing
this, Surya remembered how scornful she had been, and how she'd tried
to cheat him. Veering off from the main group, he descended to the ground
nearby and dispelled his share of the Wind
Walk. Material again, he stepped forward to face the Githyanki
leader. "You again!" she snarled, and flourished the huge two-hander as easily as a dagger. "I'll fillet you this time!" Surya raised his shield against her dreadful alien eyes and gripped his sword as he advanced. Meanwhile, Sack had indicated to Hildraft that he wanted a casting
of the nifty Mislead spell, which was duly provided. Sending
his illusiory double down to mess about near Gozan's command tent, Sack
himself soared across the battlefield in the direction of the Kin general's
tent from a different direction. He had not forgotten Gozan's scornful
comments on half-orcs, and had decided that the world could quite easily
do without one more of the Kin... |