Flight of the Valkyrie - Dead Men Walk
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xp_logsAmanda, Ty, Tandy and Illyana meet the Duergar.
The Helway wound through oppressively dark caverns and dank caves, always trending downward and shifting from claustrophobic tightness to wide open causeways, dotted with stalactites and meadows of moss. in the background, sounds of hammering would creep in intermittently, metal on metal or stone. It sounded almost like a mine was somewhere off of the Helway, with unseen figures toiling in the deep.
Passing over a hillock, they found themselves stopped. A stone fortification, long crumbled to fragments, crossed the path. Behind the rotted out main passage, a squad of creatures waited. They may have been men once, but those days were long in their past. Underneath their random assembles of dented armor and rotting leather, their skin was grey and stretched taut over their emaciated frames. Through tears in their flesh, bones protruded, and a miasma of decay roiled from them. Only their eyes held any signs of living, and they were worst of all; deeply sunken in their skulls, glowing slightly with a pale green light, giving off nothing but a painful and all consuming hunger for life.
"Great, zombies. Zombies armed to the teeth, even." Amanda paused to examine the scene and their options. "If the Disir are any indication, these things aren't going to like your daggers, Tandy, so you take the
lead. Ty, you know your way around here, but you're going to be at a disadvantage - don't use your powers on them if you can help it - most likely you'll only feed them. Stick to the old-fashioned way of things, yeah?" The witch looked over to Illyana. "Try and watch Ty's back and stop him from getting mobbed.
But if things go bad, 'port straight back to Valkyrie with whoever you can reach. Leave whoever you can't." It probably didn't need saying, at least from Illyana's point of view, but Amanda wanted to be clear. No sacrificing the high schooler.
Tandy was looking at the horde before them. She had seen a lot of things in her days of adventuring but this was going to take the cake. "And remember kids, don't get bitten." She looked at her small part and smirked. "Kidding." Her sword was ready even if it was going to be useless in this battle, at least it would keep them from getting to close. Tandy's hand glowed brightly as she lifted her hand up to unleash the five light daggers, each going for a different opponent. She hit her targets, but the five were quickly replaced as the hoard advanced on the small group.
Ty looked and felt dejected and useless. "Damn, I was spoiled when Nott brought me here. No zombies." He felt like an idiot, cowering between two tiny blondes, but they were definitely better equipped to handle the job and he knew it.
Illyana doubted her ability to watch Ty's back - or any part of him - since she mostly planned to not get killed, but she stuck reasonably close to him anyway. If nothing else, he was tall and would make a great human shield. Apart from the morally wrong aspect of that plan which she reminded herself Rahne would probably not approve of.
She moved quickly, light on her feet, and reached into the quiet, wounded part of herself where her Soulsword lay dormant. It hurt her eyes when it appeared, the too-bright light only fading slightly as the sword settled into reality, and she lunged to reach a fast one, trying not to remember what could happen if she died.
Amanda's hands wove in intricate patterns, golden light wrapping itself around her. One of the creatures screamed and disintegrated as she punched the light through it, while another trying to grab her arm was incinerated for its trouble. At least power wasn't going to be an issue.
Another five daggers appeared and hit their targets, disengaging them from the fight. Tandy had to fall back before she was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of them. "There is too many."
Ty backed up a few steps and pulled shadows close. He wasn't sure where things went when he "ate" them, but "not here" was definitely a better option than here. "Punt some over here!" He shouted.
Amanda hesitated - she wasn't sure if Ty's powers wouldn't just make the ghouls stronger - but then the choice was out of her hands as a new wave of them came charging up the slope, too many for her and Tandy to handle. Her shielding spell buckled under the weight of them and she threw herself to the side to avoid being trampled. "Chow's on, Ty!" she yelled.
Ty stretched the darkness around into an impenetrable net of which his body was the center, sweat dotting his face as each ghoul neared. The first one disappeared into shadow, then one after another. Not a one made any sign of reaching back through the gloom. The light snapped back into normal patterns.
Ty broke out into a dance. "IT WORKED!"
Well, that had been... interesting. And vaguely gross. Amanda put the image of Ty's body becoming a portal to somewhere else and focussed back on the matter at hand. A good number of the ghouls had been taken care of, but there were still plenty left for everyone. She blew sweaty hair off her forehead and moved back onto the path. "Hopefully that's most of them," she said to Tandy next to her. "But the job's not over yet."
"Just a few more." Tandy sheathed her sword and cracked her knuckles. Tandy walked ahead slightly and lifted her arms up and unleashed ten daggers.
"If that guy can just eat the monsters, I don't understand why everyone else has to be here," Illyana muttered, her sword flashing.
"Because we don't know how much Ty there can eat, and I don't carry the inter-dimensional of Tums," was Amanda's reply, as the four continued their path downward.
The Helway wound through oppressively dark caverns and dank caves, always trending downward and shifting from claustrophobic tightness to wide open causeways, dotted with stalactites and meadows of moss. in the background, sounds of hammering would creep in intermittently, metal on metal or stone. It sounded almost like a mine was somewhere off of the Helway, with unseen figures toiling in the deep.
Passing over a hillock, they found themselves stopped. A stone fortification, long crumbled to fragments, crossed the path. Behind the rotted out main passage, a squad of creatures waited. They may have been men once, but those days were long in their past. Underneath their random assembles of dented armor and rotting leather, their skin was grey and stretched taut over their emaciated frames. Through tears in their flesh, bones protruded, and a miasma of decay roiled from them. Only their eyes held any signs of living, and they were worst of all; deeply sunken in their skulls, glowing slightly with a pale green light, giving off nothing but a painful and all consuming hunger for life.
"Great, zombies. Zombies armed to the teeth, even." Amanda paused to examine the scene and their options. "If the Disir are any indication, these things aren't going to like your daggers, Tandy, so you take the
lead. Ty, you know your way around here, but you're going to be at a disadvantage - don't use your powers on them if you can help it - most likely you'll only feed them. Stick to the old-fashioned way of things, yeah?" The witch looked over to Illyana. "Try and watch Ty's back and stop him from getting mobbed.
But if things go bad, 'port straight back to Valkyrie with whoever you can reach. Leave whoever you can't." It probably didn't need saying, at least from Illyana's point of view, but Amanda wanted to be clear. No sacrificing the high schooler.
Tandy was looking at the horde before them. She had seen a lot of things in her days of adventuring but this was going to take the cake. "And remember kids, don't get bitten." She looked at her small part and smirked. "Kidding." Her sword was ready even if it was going to be useless in this battle, at least it would keep them from getting to close. Tandy's hand glowed brightly as she lifted her hand up to unleash the five light daggers, each going for a different opponent. She hit her targets, but the five were quickly replaced as the hoard advanced on the small group.
Ty looked and felt dejected and useless. "Damn, I was spoiled when Nott brought me here. No zombies." He felt like an idiot, cowering between two tiny blondes, but they were definitely better equipped to handle the job and he knew it.
Illyana doubted her ability to watch Ty's back - or any part of him - since she mostly planned to not get killed, but she stuck reasonably close to him anyway. If nothing else, he was tall and would make a great human shield. Apart from the morally wrong aspect of that plan which she reminded herself Rahne would probably not approve of.
She moved quickly, light on her feet, and reached into the quiet, wounded part of herself where her Soulsword lay dormant. It hurt her eyes when it appeared, the too-bright light only fading slightly as the sword settled into reality, and she lunged to reach a fast one, trying not to remember what could happen if she died.
Amanda's hands wove in intricate patterns, golden light wrapping itself around her. One of the creatures screamed and disintegrated as she punched the light through it, while another trying to grab her arm was incinerated for its trouble. At least power wasn't going to be an issue.
Another five daggers appeared and hit their targets, disengaging them from the fight. Tandy had to fall back before she was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of them. "There is too many."
Ty backed up a few steps and pulled shadows close. He wasn't sure where things went when he "ate" them, but "not here" was definitely a better option than here. "Punt some over here!" He shouted.
Amanda hesitated - she wasn't sure if Ty's powers wouldn't just make the ghouls stronger - but then the choice was out of her hands as a new wave of them came charging up the slope, too many for her and Tandy to handle. Her shielding spell buckled under the weight of them and she threw herself to the side to avoid being trampled. "Chow's on, Ty!" she yelled.
Ty stretched the darkness around into an impenetrable net of which his body was the center, sweat dotting his face as each ghoul neared. The first one disappeared into shadow, then one after another. Not a one made any sign of reaching back through the gloom. The light snapped back into normal patterns.
Ty broke out into a dance. "IT WORKED!"
Well, that had been... interesting. And vaguely gross. Amanda put the image of Ty's body becoming a portal to somewhere else and focussed back on the matter at hand. A good number of the ghouls had been taken care of, but there were still plenty left for everyone. She blew sweaty hair off her forehead and moved back onto the path. "Hopefully that's most of them," she said to Tandy next to her. "But the job's not over yet."
"Just a few more." Tandy sheathed her sword and cracked her knuckles. Tandy walked ahead slightly and lifted her arms up and unleashed ten daggers.
"If that guy can just eat the monsters, I don't understand why everyone else has to be here," Illyana muttered, her sword flashing.
"Because we don't know how much Ty there can eat, and I don't carry the inter-dimensional of Tums," was Amanda's reply, as the four continued their path downward.
