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Chapter 5: Showdown with the Dragons
Chapter 6: Victory?
Chapter 5: Showdown with the Dragons
Pendran looks crest-fallen.
Dayal's head falls forward till he is looking at the ground. He shakes his head slowly. He mutters under his breath, "Bloody Idiot..."
Sivad transforms a laugh into a cough and puts his hand over his mouth.
Asura cries out, "Curse the Abyss, you've been telling them all this time that we want LUNCH!"
Pol says, "Let's just get out of here now." He notches another arrow.
The orc says, "I'm sorry but you missed lunch by several hours. But I do have something else for you! You might not find it quite as tasty, but I insist you try some!"
Asura says, "No! Wait we want a truce! None of us can speak orc very well," she glances at Pendran "and all of this is a misunderstanding! We are not invaders!"
Cadar strides forward saying quickly, "Actually, we came all this way to stop those mercenaries. But sadly we are too late. I am Cadar deSavaric son of Dorgath deSavaric of Nashira. This band of worthy adventurers and I intended to stop those mercenaries before they began the massacre that ensued and no words express my sorrow at that failure. What my honorable friend was attempting to say in your language was 'Peace'. We are here for peace not war. Perhaps since you speak common you can help us?"
At the mention of the mercenaries the orcs stop laughing and the woman scrambles up and runs down the hall screaming. Behind the group, more glass is being crushed as orcs climb into the window at the end of the hall and move into a better position to shoot.
The human mage raises his hands in surrender and says to the orc, "Can we go someplace where there is less activity." Gesturing to the arrows, "These pointy things can seriously disrupt a mage's concentration."
A voice from down the hall yells, "Surrender or Die!" The group turns to face four orcs about 20 feet away stretched across the hall. Each has a strangely stringed bow, with what look like wheels at the tips and dual bow strings. Two of which are loaded while the other two swing their bows around and reach for arrows.
The orc in front of the party says, "That is an interesting story. Prove it! Drop your weapons!" Sweat begins to bead on his brow and the fiery arrows seemed to be almost fighting to be free."
There is the sound of thunder just outside the building. In the distance behind the orc mage vines are growing quickly to cover the hallway and they begin to grow both up the stairs and down the hall toward the group.
The party turns toward their leader, Cadar, who in turn looks at the assembled warriors, "I propose a compromise..."
Asura rolls her eyes and interrupts muttering, "Great... another monologue. He thinks he's Master Bard Jay Lenoki or something."
Frowning at Asura, Cadar continues, "Because of the nature of the relations between our races we can not drop our weapons, nor do we wish to fight. So how about we all sheathe our weapons, and discuss a truce for the time being. This will prevent bloodshed on both sides, an event I do not want to see. And if you prove to be as honorable as you seem then I will gladly surrender my arms to you noble mage."
"Flattery will get you nowhere." The mage replies, "We are well aware of your barbarous tricks. And that one has been tried before!" He finishes with a scream as the seven flaming arrows streak toward the mountainous Cadar slamming into him and knocking him back several steps.
Pol doesn't hesitate a moment. Turning he fires his bow the same time the four orcs at the end of the hall also fire. Thunder reverberates through the hall as his arrow slices straight through one of the archers and then through the one immediately behind him before slamming into a wall.
The orcs arrows fly true, slicing into Rek's great bulk, one slices through Dorin's scalp his small size saving him, before being caught in the air by the man in dirty leathers. "Oh well, couldn't say I didn't see this coming."
Another pierces Asura's armor and the last flies toward Sivad who throws his arm up protectively, saving his life as the arrow slams into it snapping the bone, piercing the skin on the other side of his arm and stopping just before hitting his face.
The orc mage pulls several small sharp objects from his pocket and begins to back away from the group at a quick pace.
Dorin recovers his senses and opens his mouth. The little dwarf lets out a mighty roar that shakes the building to its very foundation. The roar is so great and so loud that it sounds like it came from a great monster. Everyone turns to stare at the dwarf for a moment. They see determination in his eyes, pride in his manner, and invincibility is written all over him. Everyone knows that he cannot be stopped. Not now. Not Ever.
Spurred on by his companions' influence, the mage begins a spell.
Dorin reaches into his backpack and pulls out a rod.
Cadar recovers and as he draws his sword, he moves toward the mage. With resignation in his voice he says, "So be it, orc to the death..."
Sivad pulls out a sling and loads it.
Dayal grabs his shield and charges the mage, "This isn't necessary!"
Before the human mage can finish his rune, Asura grabs him by the robe and pulls him off to one side, yelling, "Get back! Cadar, Rek, all of you, MOVE!"
Pendran taken by surprise by Dayal's quick actions is left looking for his shield mate.
Dorin yells, "Everyone DROP YOUR WEAPONS! Death lasts an eternity. So lets spend a few minutes getting aquatinted before we all die."
Ralandin turns around and standing behind Laurian, he lifts his shield and says, "I got your back just warn me if he starts tossing any more flame arrows."
Laurian's eyes narrow, and he grips his axe. He mumbles something to himself and suddenly he is outlined in flames. He shouts, "With me Ralandin!" He charges the orc mage. His actions catching Ralandin by surprise as well.
The orc mage sees the two of them charging and decides to retreat in full. He turns and shows surprising speed leaving Dayal and Laurian well behind. He stops dead as he nears the vines and jumps through an open door, slamming it just before the vines near him. It almost seems as if the vines tried to catch him.
Pol loads and starts to aim for the mage, but finds his target gone. He turns to face the archers again and is surprised when an arrow bounces off of his bow plunging into the metal cabinets.
Rek turns and crashes through door, opposite the one that they came in, to escape the second rain of arrows.
This time the archer corrects for Dorin's small stature and the arrow slams into his right arm causing him to drop the rod he was holding.
Zraxin lets out a wild cry and charges the archers, oblivious to the arrow that just sliced completely through his left shoulder.
Sivad twirls his sling and shoots. The bullet however misses the archers and flies out the window.
The man in dirty leathers vanishes.
Laurian and Dayal slash at the vines trying to cut a path through before retreating as the vines threaten to overwhelm them.
Pol aims and shoots. Thunder echoes throughout the halls as the arrow speeds past Zraxin and slams into an orc. The arrow gets caught in the orcs bow, but so great is the speed of the arrow that it pins the bow to the orc and pins them both to the wall behind them.
The orc looks down at the arrow in shock and disbelief.
Before either of the two remaining archers can reload Zraxin has slammed into them with his sword swinging wildly. As he hits one of the orcs a ring on his finger glows and answering glow comes from his wound. Within moments both orcs are down and his wound is closed.
On the other side of the hall, the creeping vines have covered everything at thaat end and start to come down the hall after the group.
Just then, there is the sound of a great inrush of air from somewhere beyond the vine-entangled mess. With a loud whoosh flames shoot down the stairway burning the vines away. The fires begins consuming the vines all around. Some of the walls get scorched but curiously do not burn. The metal cabinets near the flames start to turn a little red. The stones that make up the stairwell are scorched. Then from up the stairway a voice says, "Where are your friends now flunky? Huh?!"
Down the stairway rolls one of the mercenaries. He is battered and bruised. He rolls to a stop several feet beyond the stairwell. Following him down at a much slower pace is a group of orcs dressed in all black. The leader seems to be wearing a black leather jacket with fastenings made of shiny metal. He is followed by four other male orcs and three female orcs all in black and sporting outlandish face colorings that make them look even more hideous than they already are.
The leader takes a few quick steps and kicks the mercenary, who rolls several more feet down the hall. "I know where you're friends are. They're dead and they gonna stay that way! You, however, are going back as a warning to that freaky wizard! No one messes with the Dragons on their turf."
One of the male orcs says, "Yo! check it out more 'umans and they'ze sporting the rings..."
The leader looks up and smiles, "Oooo more of the wizards flunkies." He shouts over his shoulder, "Yo! Flamerider! Looks like you gonna eat well tonight." He looks at the group and gives them an evil grin.
Several loud whomps are heard coming from the stairs and they see what can only be described as a giant winged red lizard coming down the stairs. When it reaches the ground they see that it is about eight feet long and six feet tall. It's wings are tightly furled to its sides. It snorts and flames come from its nostrils as a forked tongue flicks out and licks its lips.
The human mage mutters, "Oh-ohh! Trouble has arrived my friends" and he turns moving to the back of the group.
Dorin uses his good arm to pick up his rod and replace it in his pack, cursing his bad luck.
Laurian closes his eyes and concentrates for a moment when he opens his eyes they look like twin flames. A red haze covers his body and great heat begins coming from his body.
Cadar takes a step back and sheathes his sword.
The leader chuckles and says sarcastically, "Whoooaa an elementalist... I'm impressed." He looks over his shoulder at one of the women and says, "Blow the man a kiss, hon."
The creature looks like it is getting ready to breathe fire.
Pol readies another arrow.
Asura says quietly just loud enough for the others to hear, "I don't like the looks of this. Tangling with that... thing... doesn't seem very wise to me it would likely have us for evenfeast. Maybe we should try to get away?"
Sivad mutters, "The thing looks like a one-headed hydra. So this is what the mythical dragon appears to look like. Somehow I always though they were bigger. Now I'm kind of disappointed."
Pol shoots and his arrow thunders down the hall, but flies a little high and embeds itself in the stairs behind the orcs.
Zraxin runs up to the group from behind.
"Gladly shuga." One woman moves forth from the group a pace or two, bends forward at the waist and she covers he mouth with her hand. For a brief moment a bluish symbol flashes on her hand. When she blows her kiss a lot more comes with it. From her lips a chillingly cold wind howls forth. Causing hair to blow back and occasionally a shiver but not much else. No one is affected in the slightest, except Laurian.
The fire has gone from his eyes as he collapses shivering violently. His face has turned blue.
Dayal says, "Please we really don't want to fight. We just came to stop the mercenaries!"
"Uh huh, is that what he is calling us now!", shouts one orc, "Them's fighting words!" He flicks his wrist and a short sword appears from thin air. Stepping forward he says, "Hurry up I don't have all day!"
Cadar aims and shoots at the beast. His arrow flies true, but bounces off the creatures' scaly hide.
The creature breathes and the hall is engulfed in flames. Dayal steps forth raising his shield.
Laurian and Cadar are both engulfed in flames. The flames somehow miss the mercenary prone on the floor.
Moment's later Cadar retreats from the flames with a singed bow and red-hot armor.
The mage turns and begins a rune.
Ralandin raises his hand to the fire and the fire seems to retreat upon itself. They hear cries from the orcs and finally the flame dies out.
The flame dies to reveal the orcs standing there soot covering them and they don't look very happy.
Laurian stands back up seemingly returned to normal by the warming flame.
The mage finishes his rune and a dark orange glow appears in front of him. The glow is turns into five dark orange arrows. The arrows streak out and slam into the head of Flamerider. The creatures' head turns side to side as if trying to dodge the blows.
The leaders face transforms into a mask of rage. "Hey, that's not funny!" He gestures with both hands and a pair of short swords appears. He clashes them together and points them at the mage, who suddenly flies back several feet landing roughly on his rear.
Pendran says, "Time to get up close and personal."
Pol readies another arrow.
Asura retreats to make sure the mage is okay, keeping her glowing sword at the ready.
Zraxin charges recklessly, "Let's play boys!"
Pol fires at Flamerider again, but this time the arrow flies closer to the mark, slamming into and through the creatures' wing. Everyone stops for a moment as the creature lets out a bellow that shakes the entire building. The female orcs quickly surround the creature as the male orcs, suddenly begin sprouting weapons and move forward.
Pendran still well behind the front lines, swings his hammer over his head and lets it fly in the direction of the oncoming orcs. Unfortunately he can't seem to let go in time as the hammer flies off taking him with it. The hammer slams through the orc front line and continues on just missing the creature and smashing a huge crater into the stairwell. Before he can recover on of the female orcs yells, "That's my brothers Chi 'Hian!!!! Return it thief or I'll flay you were you stand!" As she speaks the nails on her fingers grow to dagger-like lengths and she charges the stunned Pendran.
Cadar recovers and seeing the battle close by puts away his long bow and unsheathes his two-handed long sword.
Another one of the orc women screams, "Dragons will rule forever!" and moves her arm quickly in a sweeping gesture. Several black objects fly out and slice into Laurian, Ralandin and Zraxin. They turn out to be small black star shaped objects with sharp edges.
Dorin grabs his morning star clumsily in his left hand and moves forward to join the battle.
The ring of metal upon metal sounds again and again as battle is joined. Laurian attacks an orc a good foot shorter than he is.
Zraxin charges wildly attacking two orcs at once with his pair of long swords. Within moments begins to get the worst of it, but seems not to care too much.
An orc with a short sword moves toward Dayal.
Cadar strides forth and is met by the Dragon's Leader, who salutes him. "I shall leave you with just enough strength to return to your wizard. When you return to him, tell him that all that he sends against us will meet the same fate."
Cadar returns the salute and attacks. The leader easily uses his swords to parry Cadars' over hand swing and return an attack of his own. However Cadar's sword seems to move with unnatural speed to deflect the attack.
Dorin tests his right arm and then shifts his morning star to that hand and joins the battle helping out an over-matched Zraxin. Between the two of them, they begin to get the better of their opponents. Every time Zraxin strikes a blow, his ring glows and another of his wounds closes up.
Pendran howls in pain as the female orc slices him with her dagger-like nails.
Laurian and his opponent seem to be evenly matched as the pair attack and parry each other's blows, but neither seems to get through.
The orc woman with the windy kiss watches the battle with worried eyes. Seeing that Dorin and Zraxin are getting the best of her companions, she reaches into a pocket and pulls out a globe of pearly material. She tosses it at Dorin who instinctively puts up his shield. The sphere shatters and a dense mist of powder explodes covering the entire hallway all battle ceases as everyone is reduced to a coughing fit. Combatants wave their swords around in an effort to clear the air. The orcs quickly retreat beyond the cloud.
Asura stays with the mage beyond the great cloud of dust and watches as Sivad and Pol retreat out of the cloud. The something amazing happens. As the last orc leaves the cloud pursued by Cadar, Laurian, Dayal and Ralandin. The orc female tosses another pearly ball down at the ground just inside the cloud. There is a flash and instantly all motion inside the cloud ceases. The cloud has become a giant mass of oozy jelly with the four brave adventurers trapped inside.
They can be seen with only a little distortion, most of the way through the cloud, seemingly frozen in posture.
Flamerider returns part of the way down the stairs and breathes again on the jelly cloud, which begins to burn intensely. The others retreat up the steps leaving the Dragons leader, "Not how I planned it, but I guess your ashes will have to suffice." He turns and moves up the stairway, past the prone, bleeding form and Pendran. He stops to help one of the orc women drag Pendrans' hammer up the stairs, "No wonder this thing took him off his feet. How'd he ever pick this thing up?"
The shaken mage gets up slowly to his feet and mutters, "Ok, so you want to play rough, eh!" He begins chanting a rune.
Grunting the orcs leader strains to pull the hammer up, finally calling another of his friends back to help him. Together the three of them drag the hammer up the stairs.
Asura slices her sword into the oozy jelly and the sword flares turning the inside of the jelly bright as day. It is a strange scene that presents itself with most of the group seemingly motionless inside the hazy prison with their impending death approaching in the form of a wall of fire that devours all before it.
The mage makes a sharp gesture as he finishes his rune. Immediately the light from Asura's sword flickers and dies and the oozy mass of jelly vanishes. The sudden vanishing act surprises those trapped inside, who all stumble forward and crash to the ground. With their source of fuel gone, the flames fall from their now vanished perches and vanish almost as quickly as the jelly did.
The mage begins to mummer another rune.
Sivad rushes forward to see if the others are okay.
Dayal scrambles forward moving on his hands and knees wheezing and coughing.
Zraxin, Cadar, Laurian and Ralandin collapse on the ground desperately trying to catch their breath.
The group of orcs disappears over the top of the steps and a second later the mage finishes his rune and gestures toward the top of the stairs.
Moments later a huge fiery explosion engulfs the top of the stairs spilling out and down the stairs and just barely singeing the injured Pendran. Screams are heard from the top of the stairs and are silenced as the fire overtakes them.
Seconds pass after the fireball is gone and the only sound is the hacking and coughing of Dayal, Ralandin, Laurian, Zraxin and Cadar as they clear their lungs.
The mercenary groans and moves a little trying to get up, before grasping his side in pain.
Sivad examines each of them before moving on the Pendran. Hovering over the injured knight, Sivad begins praying. He lays his hands tenderly on the shredded flesh as his hands glowing like an eerie ghostly white light. The glow fades moments later, and the healing helps Pendran only a little.
Suddenly they hear a keening cry from beyond the top of the stairs, a cry of anguish and pain.
Sivad begins another prayer, again his hand takes on that ghostly white glow and again they seem to do only a little good.
Sivad says, "He will live but my powers are at an ebb here in winter. I can keep him alive but I cannot heal him completely."
Cadar and Laurian regain their feet.
Zraxin sits on the ground and looks around and says, "Where did Rek and the dirty fellow go?"
A shadow falls over Sivad as the leader of the Dragons returns, this time without a coat. His hair slightly singed and his eyes cold as ice. "It's time we ended this once and for all." He calmly takes his hand and puts it into his pocket. Pulling it out a moment later he displays two small pills which he quickly swallows. His form seems to shimmer a moment then he stairs out at the group with a look so cold that his former glance seemed warm in comparison.
"Time to die! First you, then your damned wizard!"
"I was saving this for a fight with Quicklings, but that doesn't matter anymore" says the orc.
"Enough of this!" Zraxin gets up charges toward the stairway.
Calmly the leader moves down the stairway.
Dayal raises his shield and stands between the orc and Pendran, "We did not come to slaughter children. The wizard lied to us. We are...were here to stop the mercenaries from slaughtering you. Apparently we weren't needed."
Laurian mutters something and a moment later he is surrounded by a slightly hazy reddish field.
Dorin reaches back into his pack and pulls out his rod again.
The mage points to the orc and says, "You've attacked us twice and twice we've retaliated, the first was peaceful the second ended in death for some, the third time could be the end for all of us. Would you like me to demonstrate?" The mage begins to mummer a rune.
The orc stops a mere two feet in front of Dayal neither moving.
Laurian says, "Remember, it was you who started this. How it proceeds from here is once again up to you. Do not start something you will not be able to finish."
Cadar mutters to those around him, "Laurian and Ralandin go left I'll take the front. Lets see if we can deal with this orc."
A familiar voice behind him says, "No you can't!"
Cadar spins around to see the leader of the Dragons standing between him and Asura. Asura recovers quickly from the surprise and moves to intercept the leader. The leader casually tosses a black box in a slow high arc toward Cadar and vanishes just as Asura gets near.
Cadar quickly vacates the area as the box comes down.
The voice of the leader on Asura's right says, "Goodbye fools!"
Asura blindly slices in the direction of the voice her sword increasing in brilliance until she disappears in its light.
At the same time the box hits the ground and explodes sending shards of deadly metal fragments in all directions.
Cadar uses his sword to deflect several of the fragments, but it is an ineffective shield as quite a few still hit his armor where they do little damage.
Laurian is peppered by the metal fragments getting hit twice in the left arm, once in the right side and once in the left leg.
Ralandin raises his battered shield and only takes a single hit on his left leg.
Some metal fragments shoot toward the brilliant globe of light that shrouds Asura, but bounce off as they reach the rim of the light.
The glow from her sword recedes revealing a frustrated Asura.
The Leader, on the stairs near Dayal suddenly vanishes, revealing the orc female with the frosty kiss. She appears just as she is repeating the favor this time with both hands.
The wind that blows from those lips is like a hurricane. Dayal, Sivad, and Pendran are picked up and tossed backwards. They land heavily between Cadar and Asura. The three of them are nearly covered in frost and ice.
Dayal groans and mutters, "This must be what it feels like when he throws that cursed hammer."
The Leader appears next to the woman. He gestures and his swords reappear.
This is the opportunity Dorin was waiting for as he points the rod at the pair. The rod seems to shimmer as red and yellow flames chase themselves along them length of it.
A moment later a huge fireball explodes behind the pair of orcs, consuming both of them. The woman screams in pain. The fireball begins to fill all the open areas, but dies out before much more than a wave of heat hits the nearest of the group. There is the charred body of one of the orcs, but the other stands up.
Before them stands the Dragon Leader, none the worse for wear. He takes a sidelong look at the charred body of the girl next to him. He shrugs and says, "Guess we'll just have to take a trip to the temple."
Cadar moves toward the orc and says, "Let us dance orc and may the better prevail and the lesser be welcomed to the land of the dead honorably." He attacks the orc.
The Leader responds, "Whatever." He easily sidesteps Cadars' first attack and with unbelievable speed attacks the giant humans' backside.
Laurian moves to attack the orc and swings, but the Leader is no longer there!
Zraxin charges the orc as he moves toward Ralandin. Noticing the charge the orc meets Zraxins' charge. Zraxin attacks twice quickly, but neither attack hits, but neither does the orcs' counter attack.
Ralandin takes advantage of the orc having his back to him and starts to chant a rune.
Laurian and Cadar move to flank the orc.
The Leader notices the flanking maneuver and fakes an attack to Zraxin, who falls for it, and then the orc begins spinning around on one leg his swords outstretched, looking much like a spinning tree with two deadly branches.
This maneuver serves only to force the two back a step. Zraxin earning a good sized cut on his arm. Laurian and Cadar move into position attack his vulnerable sides.
Cadar's sword slams into the orcs side knocking him toward Laurian. But at the same time, Cadar is also knocked back off of his feet and lands with a crash a dozen feet back.
With the orc falling toward Laurian, Laurian takes an easy shot that pierces the orcs side, but his sword exits as quickly as it enters slamming Laurian in the midsection and taking him for a ride back down the hall where he also lands in a crash. Zraxin attacks with both swords on either of the orc, both swords slice into the orcs arms, but then both swords shoot out like deadly missiles ripping themselves from Zraxins grasp to land far away from him on either side of the elf.
The orc stops spinning and despite several fatal wounds, he is still moving and ready to fight. He moves into a fighting stance and watches them while almost perfectly still.
Dorin moves in a little cautiously, but the orc doesn't move or acknowledge his presence.
It is Asura who first notices that one of the doors has opened and the orc wizard they saw before has returned his time with a small book barely large enough to fill his hand.
He rips out a page and tosses it at Asura who slices at it with her sword, the sword flaring and Asura disappearing in its light. The piece of paper is tossed outward from the brilliance and it forms into a large hand.
The hand pounds at the globe for a moment before turning to Pol. The amber haired elf is caught off guard as the giant glowing hand slams him into the wall.
As Ralandin finishes his spell, an orangish-red glow appears in front of him. The aura quickly becomes three magic arrows, which slam into the Leader, knocking him off of his feet.
A roar silences all as Flamerider reappears on the stairs and he doesn't appear alone. A second creature like him appears from around the corner. This one is slightly large than the first. The wall down the hall is blasted open and in the opening appear several orc magi.
There are shouts all around seeming to come from the very walls themselves as it seems the school has come alive again. The chant they heard before has returned.
The chant gets louder as several orcs, dressed up in that strange padded armor from before, push through the line of orc wizards taking up positions in front of them. Each carrying what looks like a padded tower shields.
One of the wizards stops and examines the bodies of the orc archers. He shouts back behind him a moment and two more orcs run in and drag the body out.
Cadar sheathes his sword and draws his bow.
The human mage points the staff down the hall at the orcs and a tiny flame appears on the end of the staff. A moment later the end of the hall is engulfed in flame as a fireball erupts in the midst of the midst of the orc magi.
Flamerider's larger companion takes a deep breath and lets loose a cone of fire that engulfs the Cadar, Laurian, Dorin, Ralandin, and Zraxin. Dayal, Pendran, and Sivad get the tail end of the blast, which serves only to quickly defrost them.
Asura reaches down and pulls a knife out from her boot and tosses it at the young orc with the notebook. The dagger however flies wide and only serves to draw attention back to her.
The giant hand that is crushing Pol moves away and attacks Asura instead.
Pol slides down the wall and lands heavily. His bow clattering loudly on the strangely tiled floor. The giant hand doesn't get very far as her sword flares up again blocking off that approaching hand.
As the fireball that engulfed the orcs clears, several of the orcs in padded armor lay about the ground badly burned, their padded tower shields lie blackened in near ruins. Unfortunately the mages stand completely unaffected. Three of the four magi are in the process of drawing runes in the air!
As the flames from the creature subside, Cadar, Laurian, Dorin, Ralandin, and Zraxin take stock of the situation.
Laurian, being the least affected is the first to react. Putting away his axe he charges the young orc with his fists. He manages to catch the orc completely off guard and with his first hit knocks the orc back through the doorway his papers spilling everywhere. The orc lands in a crumpled heap surprisingly still conscious, though just barely.
As the orc is struck, the giant hand vanishes.
Cadar is the next to recover, takes a firm hold of his bow and reaches back to get an arrow, much to his surprise he pulls out a completely ruined arrow!
Zraxin gets up and charges the creatures again will little or no respect for his safety.
He doesn't get far as Dorin points his rod again at the creatures, this time the rod turns steel gray and a moment later a wall blades sprouts outward from the ground. The blade wall grows outward toward the two creatures whom after taking a few hits from jutting blades quickly retreat beyond the growing menace.
His options cut off Zraxin turns and charges back down toward the other end where the orc magi are.
The sounds of the chant get louder and louder and Cadar suddenly realizes that they are coming from small open holes inset just above the metal cabinets.
Asura shouts, "EVERYONE CLOSE TO ME, NOW!" and just as suddenly the world is blotted out in a blazing brilliance of white light that blinds nearly everyone. There are surprised shouts coming from down the hall. A moment later the world is turned topsy-turvy as suddenly everyone they looses their sense of balance and get the distinct feeling of falling. Between being blinded by the light and loosing all control they seem to be falling head over heels as the world comes crashing down and the floor comes flying upward to meet them.
Just as suddenly the light is gone. And the only one left standing is a gasping Asura who seems to have trouble breathing. All around her are her companions who are flapping about blindly, slipping and sliding in a pool of brown goo. A moment later the goo surrounds Asura and she joins her companions on the floor.
Down the hall stands a single orc magi with bandages covering his eyes. He absently strokes his long white beard and in aged creaking voice he says, "Shall ye surrender now or are we going to have to spend the next week washing the smell of burnt flesh out of the walls. His nose shrivels up and says, "Wheeewh!! Too late! Hey are any of you alive out there! Is there anyone left to surrender?" He cocks an ear and listens.
He says something else but he is drowned out by shouts of victory and joy that echo through the hallways from those tiny sound holes.