Liches and Summons

The dust and dirt covered tomb was chilling to both the spirit and the flesh as the adventurers huddled in the corner, talking and finalizing their battle plan for the monstrous foe they were about to face. Khan, the Bhaalspawn leader of the party and paladin glanced back at the sarcophagus that lay behind them, only accessible by a stairway on either side. Statues of death encircled the hall; it was not a welcoming sight. They had found this tomb in the Bridge District of the city; one would think someone would have noticed the door that was never opened and had a deadly trap on it after a while, especially in a city run by Shadow Thieves... but it seemed they were the first to have actually tried the door.

Still, Jaheira noted, Khan didn't seem worried. He never did, oddly enough. And the plans he would come up with were some of the most ridiculous sounding things in the world... and yet they always seemed to work. Khan took one last glance backwards, then laced up the Boots of Speed he was wearing.

"All right, everyone... here's the plan. I run over there and open the sarcophagus, then run back."

Everyone nodded, waiting for him to finish... "And then?" Imoen prodded. "I mean, we all know it's going to be a lich in the spooky tomb. Do we attack right away, cast spells and protections..."

"Nope. I come back here and we wait."

"But the lich will surely see you and give chase as soon as his rest is disturbed..." Keldorn frowned.

"No. He won't even know we're here. Once he wakes up and dosen't see anybody in front of him, he'll stay right there."

"But all he has to do his look over his shoulder and he'll see us." Imoen protested.

"Just trust me on this... he won't. "

"Why not?"

Khan sighed. "Because the lich can't see that far, all right? He can only see about half the screen, we're on the other half, okay?"

"Screen? What does our friend Khan mean by this... screen?" Minsc frowned.

Khan mentally cursed. "Er... nothing. Just wait here, okay?"

Khan darted off in a blur toward the sarcophagus, racing up the stairs and skidding to a halt beside the black stone tomb. With a quick touch, the tomb cover seemed to slide off, revealing as expected, the magics and bones of a lich. As soon as he had done so, the paladin raced back toward the party, the lich already beginning to materialize at the tomb. The lich howled, its empty eye sockets searching out the area in front of him... "Despair mortals, for you have disturb... eh? Nobody here- what the hell? You've got to be kidding me... Damn teenagers again, probably..."

The confused grunts and mutterings of the lich faintly echoed back to the party as they all crouched there, staring at it nervously. "Everything's going according to plan." Khan said confidently.

"What? How is this according to plan?" Jaheira whispered harshly.

"Just trust me." Khan rolled his eyes. "We'll attack in just a few seconds."

Minsc's face spread in a huge grin as he stood, preparing to raise his sword and charge, but Khan's arm quickly pulled him back down. "Not yet, Minsc... Imoen, I need you to summon something."

"A summoning?" she frowned. "Okay, I think I have a summon Djinni, but that's as powerful as it gets."

"No... don't bother. Monster Summoning I will be fine."

Everyone stared at Khan with more than a hint of incredulity. "Monster Summoning I? You know that'll bring... like, a Ghast, or maybe a wolf, right?"

Khan nodded, shrugging with growing irritation. "Of course."

The lich was still glancing back and forth, taking in the different sights and surroundings. It had been an awful long time since he was disturbed... but he was rather expecting some sort of action. Some battle or poor insignificant mortal to crush in exchange for opening the sarcophagus. Suddenly, the sound of moanings and growls caught his ear. He whirled his head, searching in the darkness... a ghast was shambling towards him. The lich smiled; finally, the battle he had been awaiting! Surely this ghast had been the one to disturb his rest...

The six adventurers cringed in the corner as they heard the sounds of numerous spells igniting off on the other side of the room: Time Stop, Mislead, Protection from Magic Weapons, Fireballs, Horrid Wiltings, Meteor Swarms, Gates, Sunfires, Symbols of Fear, Stun, Power Words and True Sights... all aimed at the single Ghast they had sent into battle. Imoen shielded her head as she felt another explosion shake the room. She almost felt sorry for the little guy. Part of her wondered why the lich was using so many spells of power against the one ghast they had sent; a few magic missiles would have done the trick just as well. Finally, as the rumblings and explosions ceased, Khan looked at the others and nodded, drawing his sword.

The lich was breathing heavily, staring down at the remnants of its foe, even as the last of his own summoned protections faded away. The lich felt a certain sense of smug satisfaction as he tried to catch his breath; he had used his most powerful spells and protections on the ghast; it had never gotten close enough to attack. "Hurmm... let that be a lesson to all who dare attack me!"

The sound of a battle cry saying something about butt-kicking caught his ears; he turned and saw six heavily armed and experienced adventurers charging towards him. The lich glanced back down at the single, solitary, pathetically weak ghast he had exhausted all of his most powerful, potent, incapacitating and deadly spells on. The lich did a quick mental inventory of what spells he had left... Magic Missile and Ghoul Touch.

"Crap."