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-
- *****
- * The 8 player characters contained in these writings are copyright
- * 1992 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to persons or characters
- * either real or fictional is utterly coincidental. Copying and/or
- * distribution of these stories is permissible only under the one
- * condition that no part of them will be used or sold for profit.
- * In that case, I hope you enjoy them.
- *****
-
- ------------------------------------------------------------------
- THE PARTY (temporarily split up; this is the "land" group):
-
- Alindyar, 9th level drow elf mage (N)
- Lyra, 5th level female drow elf mage (LE/N) [pseudo-prisoner]
- Halbarad, 8th level human ranger (NG)
- Peldor, 10th level human thief (N)
- Peyote, 7th/8th level half-elf fighter/druid of Obad-Hai (N)
- ------------------------------------------------------------------
- Date: 12/20/570 C.Y. (Common Year)
- Time: late afternoon
- Place: the forest to the north of the town of Tragidore
- ------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-
-
- LXIV. The Hideaway
-
-
-
- The party found a crying girl, and Peldor was affected in a
- strange way after trying to comfort her...
-
- Peldor: (turns around, looking dully) Don't hurt her. (draws
- his sword) I won't _let_ you hurt her.
- Peyote: Rats!
- Halbarad: I see only one rat - Peldor.
- Alindyar: (not fooled by the "girl" or her illusion due to
- his keen intelligence, sees a half-goat, half-woman thing
- grinning evilly next to Peldor) Beware! That is no girl,
- but rather a monster of some sort!
- Peldor: Monster? (moves to protect the goat/girl, which his
- charmed mind sees as a young girl in need of help) Back,
- or Peldor shall have to show his wrath!
- Peyote: (sees a little girl) Huh?
- Halbarad: (sees a lamia) Foul vermin! (unslings his axe)
- I am with you, mage!
- Lyra: (sees a lamia) ! (in drow) That is one ugly bitch!
- lamia: (casts mirror image, making 6 other images of herself)
- Help! Why are you people attacking me? Protect me, you!
- (pokes Peldor)
- Peldor: Yes! Peldor stands ever-ready to protect the innocent!
- (attacks Halbarad) Back, you goody-two-shoes dork!
- Halbarad: (parrying) The thief is mad.
- Peyote: What the hell's going _on_ here?!?!? (signals his two
- wild boars to stay put) Hold, greasy ones.
- boars: (itching to attack somebody) Grr! Snort!
- Lyra: (in drow) The she-beast has them all confused.
- Alindyar: I beg your pardon?
- Lyra: Except you, of course. (casts a shield spell upon
- herself)
- Alindyar: Indeed. (begins spellcasting)
- Peldor: (engaged in deadly melee with Halbarad) I've had it
- up to here (holds his free hand up to his neck) with you,
- you fool! How dare you attack innocent girls?!?
- Halbarad: You are mad, thief. (parries another slashing attack)
- Mad, and bewitched.
- Peyote: (casts entangle on the ground under everyone but himself)
- Cease this stupidity at once!
- Alindyar: (in the air on his carpet, of course) Good move. Now
- you have her - it - them - right where I want them. (casts a
- web onto some of the lamia's images)
- Halbarad: (stuck by the roots, grapples with Peldor) Stop your
- fighting, you crazed rascal.
- Peldor: (also stuck) Never! (they wrestle)
- lamia: (most of images under the web dissolve; she saves against
- the druidical entangle anyway) Ha ha ha! (all the images now
- gallop away)
- Lyra: (in drow) Damn!
- Alindyar: You can say that again.
- Lyra: (in drow) Damn!
- Peyote: Hey! She - they - are getting away! (hastily finds his
- wand of wonder and aims it at the fleeing lamia/images) Stop!
- lamia: (laughing and becoming more distant) Ha ha ha!
- Peyote: Okay, I warned you. (fires the wand, and all of the
- lamias/images suddenly disappear) Huh?
- Alindyar: Good work.
- Peyote: (wondering what in the hell he just _did_)
- Lyra: (in drow) Who knows where _she_ went? (shrugs)
- Peldor: (suddenly, no longer charmed) Hmm? (looks around) Wha-
- HEY! Why am I stuck in roots and vines?!? Get me out of here
- at once!
- Halbarad: You fell under the spell of some foul goat-thing and
- were mindless.
- Alindyar: (to Lyra, in drow) He is usually mindless anyhow.
- Lyra: (giggles)
- Peldor: Stop laughing at me. Hey, Peyote, how about freeing
- us now?
- Peyote: Sure, dude. (cancels the spell) Let's get a move on -
- that girl or whatever was surely not the source of the missing
- men.
- Halbarad: I doubt it, and don't call me Shirley.
- Peldor: Hey! Did I hear that right? Did Mr. Axe-and-Dagger
- Goody-Two-Shoes actually make a _joke_?
- Halbarad: (scowling)
- Peyote: Very funny, dude. (wanders northward)
-
- Shortly, they saw that the trees ahead thinned out abruptly,
- revealing a clearing of sorts. They advanced a bit, and saw a
- squat, cylindrical tower-like building, over a hundred feet
- in diameter and constructed of stone blocks. No windows were
- visible, but a recess on the east face held a pair of large
- wooden doors...
-
- Peldor: Quiet, now. We'll sneak up on the place, and...wait,
- wait, wait. Better yet, Let _me_ sneak up on the place, and
- I'll take care of the lock. Then the rest of you can follow.
- Halbarad: Go then. Hurry it up.
- Peldor: (sheathes & unsheathes his sword, becoming invisible,
- and runs over to the door, presumably)
- Peyote: I wish we could see him.
- Halbarad: Then again, if _we_ could, then so could any guards.
- Peyote: Good point.
- Alindyar: (casts Invisibility on Lyra)
- Lyra: (in drow) Muchly appreciated.
- Halbarad: Eh?! Where did she go?
- Alindyar: (casts Improved Invisibility on himself) To the
- same place I went. Nowhere.
- Peyote: (grinning)
- Halbarad: (looks at Peyote) You wouldn't...
- Peyote: Yep. (slips on his ring, going invisible) Heh heh.
- Halbarad: Argh. (puts his head in his hands)
-
- meanwhile...
-
- Peldor: (at the big doors, picking the locks, remembers not
- to whistle while doing so) ...
- Alindyar: (prepares to move, on foot now - the carpet has been
- stashed away in his bag)
- Lyra: (casts a Shield spell on Halbarad as well)
- Halbarad: (tingles) What?!?
- Alindyar: Lyra just afforded you a spell of protection.
- Halbarad: Uhh...my thanks, then.
- Alindyar: (in drow) He gives his thanks.
- Lyra: (happy, smiles invisibly)
- Peyote: (whispering) Look! The doors open! Peldor was
- successful!
- Alindyar: That, or else he has been slain...
- Halbarad: Let us move out, then. Slowly and quietly! (uses
- his ranger skills to try and do so)
-
- Soon, they were all inside the doors, which were quickly closed
- to avoid possible detection should someone show up. Halbarad
- opted to lead the way, by virtue of simply walking out in front
- of the invisible party before anyone else could (a la Mongo).
-
- Halbarad: (sneaking along quietly, down a hall which opens into
- a larger room)
- others: (following him; Alindyar and Lyra both cast Fly on
- themselves first)
-
- The ranger moved past some pillars into a larger open area.
- He was just as surprised as the two slim, dark-skinned warriors
- who moved quickly to flank him.
-
- drow warrior#1: You! You are an intruder here! We have you
- surrounded! Drop that big axe and your knife, and surrender,
- else we shall slay you on the spot!
- drow warrior#2: (menaces Halbarad)
- Halbarad: (cockily) Really? (holds up his weapons) Hah!
- drow warrior#1: You are outnumbered and outskilled. (they
- both move closer quickly, shortswords raised) Prepare to
- die, human fool!
- Halbarad: You can never beat me.
- drow warrior#2: (smirking) Why not?
- Halbarad: Because I know something that you do not...
- drow warrior#1: (shrieks suddenly, as a sword point pops
- out of his neck) Aaaaugh! Gurgle gurgle...(falls)
- Halbarad: ...See?
- Peldor: (appears) Ha. Peldor's mastery prevails yet again.
- drow warrior#2: (slashes Halbarad, nicking him, and then
- fills the room with darkness) Aie!
- Halbarad: (can't see a thing) Damnation!
- drow warrior#2: (emerges from the darkness sphere, intending
- to flee and summon help)
- Alindyar: (invisible, sails over the darkness and casts
- Forget upon the drow warrior)
- drow warrior#2: (somehow fails his magic resistance check
- _and_ his save, forgets the events of the past minute) Eh?
- Lyra: (flies out of the darkness)
- Peyote: (charges from the darkness, but runs into a wall)
- Oof!
- Peldor: (slithers out of the darkness by feeling along one
- stony wall) ...
- Halbarad: (slowly wanders about in the darkness) Damn.
-
- Alindyar: (casts a Color Spray on the drow)
- drow warrior: (shrugs off the spell) What is this?!?
- Lyra: (having no offensive spells, she simply watches)
- Peyote: (sees the drow warrior, and charges him) Aaaaa!
- drow warrior: (perceiving Lyra to be the greatest threat,
- casts Faerie Fire around her, and then charges her) Hah!
- Lyra: (in drow) Is that the best you can do? Hah!
- (realizes that the warrior is bearing down on her) Uh-oh.
- Peyote: Hai! (intercepts the warrior, slashing him deeply
- as he runs by)
- drow warrior: Argh! (slumps)
- Peldor: (suddenly runs up and hacks at the drow from the
- front, slaying him) Hah! It's Peldor again!
- Alindyar: I suppose we cannot question him now that he is
- dead...
-
- Shortly, they all recovered and examined the chamber as
- best they could. Tapestries revealed that this place was
- some kind of dark elf home - one mural depicted a few of
- the drow overcoming many humans in battle. Another showed
- the life of a female drow, eventually being served by human
- slaves. Lyra was quick to identify this person as Zara,
- the evil drow mage of no small power. The party rested and
- prepared to check out the only exit, a door to the north.
-
-
-
-
-
- next time: more dark elves
-
- FTP SITE: ccosun.caltech.edu (in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers)
- ********************************************************************
- NOTES: Do lamias drain Wisdom _permanently_? Can a mage cast a
- Shield spell on others? Did the cow jump over the moon? Who
- knows the answers to these amazing questions?
- ********************************************************************
-
-