CHAPTER XII: THE INNARDS OF THE OBELISK

As the seven misfits crowded around the dais in the center of the room, the hands on each of the four clocks began to extend, breaking the limits of their circular confines – eventually, a large 'x' slashed across the entire face of the dais. Before they had a chance to wonder what was happening, it began to spin…swirling…lower and lower as the dais sunk into the ground, leaving a rickety ladder in its wake.

"Oh, no…no, no, no! Further down into the hole?" Sic complained.

"You see another way out?" asked Krougu, already descending the ladder to the bowels of the obelisk.

A small, earthy room like the ones at the very bottom of Wyvhern's dungeon greeted them below. The walls proved hard; they were stiff to the touch but still clearly made of soft, loamy earth. The dirty floor didn't prove exciting either, but Sic snapped at the group.

"Well, here we are. In another little room that you're all probably going to search for hours on end! Well, you know what? Forget it! I'm opening the only door in the room. Right now! No searching, no ridiculous 'investigation' crap! It's time to take things at face value!" Sic said, barging through his friends as if they were large, fleshy doors. When he came to the only wooden door in the room, he yanked it open quickly, to be greeted by a rather unappealing sight.

A creature, at least seven feet tall, stood blocking the doorway from any who wished to enter. It wore tattered pants on his lower body, ripped and covered in dried, brown blood. Thick, coarse hair covered the entire body of the monstrosity; the patches beneath its doggish snout were caked with a disgusting, opaque drool. The fact that it was more muscular than Barakus made Sic whimper in the most inaudible way. The fact that it was flanked by two more creatures that looked identical made that whimper quite audible, indeed.

"You're not allowed to open doors anymore…" Krougu chided as a spear chucked by one of the beasts' cut right through Sic's shoulder. Illonel pulled back his bowstring and aimed a shot directly into the closest creature's throat – it gurgled and clutched at its neck, trying to remedy the intense pain.

Towering over his gnomish allies' shoulder, Illonel then put the farthest creature into a deep, magically induced sleep – it slumped to the floor in a furry heap of matted hair and drool-soaked fangs.

"All I wanted to do was open a friggin' door…and you had to be in the way, making me look like an asshole!" he grunted, slamming the hilt of his crossbow into the gurgling monster's face, knocking his right eye a few inches back into his head – the spear chucking monster couldn't decide which pain was worse, the arrow in his throat or his bloody eyeball.

"'Scuse me…" Furrius said, slinking past Sic who still blocked the only doorway into the earthen hallway. As he made it into the larger hallway, he steadied himself against the wall and took a swing with his mace, barely missing the creature's midsection. Retaliating, the creature slashed Furrius' already scarred back with his Morningstar.

Back at the doorway, Sic was paralyzed with anger and couldn't move to create a clear path into the room with the creatures – only Furrius had made it fully in, and that was only due to the monster's preoccupation with the arrow in his throat. Barakus and Krougu both tried desperately to slash the creature on either side of Sic, both missing as they tiptoed around the small bard.

Concentrating hard, Emily focused her mind and raised her hand – a dozen or more pink, crystalline shards shot out of her fingertips and embedded themselves in the monster that was awake at the end of the room. Her magic missile caused it to bellow in pain, a bellow which only grew more furious as Celathiel's magic missile, a set of two jagged black crystals, impaled his stomach.

"Enough of this – remind me to beat your ass for opening the door later, okay?" Illonel threatened Sic as he vaulted over his shoulders gracefully, spinning sideways over the head of the closest, wounded creature. Though it struggled with the arrow in its throat and his bleeding eye, it swung upwards and caught Illonel in the side with its Morningstar, heaving him into an awkward tumble into the floor.

Sic finally snapped out of it and jumped backwards, clearing the doorway – as he steadied his crossbow, a bolt shot out and satisfyingly impaled the creature's heart, felling it after a wicked battle. It landed with a thud as Krougu, Barakus and Celathiel finally entered the room to meet Illonel and Furrius.

The sleeping creature awoke as Illonel hovered above it – in a nimble display, it jumped to its feet and spat in Illonel's face, swinging its Morningstar overhead threateningly.

"Watch it, I got him!" Furrius called from across the room – with a twang from his crossbow, a bolt landed squarely in the earthen wall - to his right, almost twenty feet away from his intended target. "Let's try this again…" he said, quickly firing another bolt…into the already dead creature near the doorway. "Well, son-of-a-bitch! I am all thumbs today!"

Barakus' right eye changed colors rapidly as he thought about his options…suddenly, he charged at the creature suffering from the magic missile wounds and attempted to slice it with his greataxe; a retaliatory jab in his stomach from the monster told him it was a bad idea, as he fell to the ground…

Emily shrieked audibly as she watched Barakus slump to the ground across the hallway – with a mighty summoning of pink shards, she ripped the creature who had felled the sensitive barbarian apart, piece by piece. The only remaining creature sniffed intently, growling as his fangs dripped with saliva. "Don't move, Illonel…"

This time, it was Celathiel – firing his crossbow proved even more worthless than Furrius' attempt; a bolt actually stuck into the back of Illonel's neck.

"Oh, crap…sorry! Sorry!" Celathiel dropped his crossbow, holding out his hands as a piece offering as Illonel turned around, flames burning in his eyes.

"You motherfu-" he started, but was silenced by a squelch and a thud – the final monster had been decapitated in one blow by a triumphantly standing Barakus.

Sic, Furrius and Celathiel all claimed a Morningstar from the battle; Krougu, Illonel and Barakus each walked off with javelins. Everything else on the creatures was either in too poor shape to use, or covered in disgusting hair and drool. The hallway was just like the first room they had descended into, though a bit longer and less wide. A set of doors stood at the opposite end, but the group decided a bit of rest was in order before heading deeper into the obelisk.

Returning to the small room with the ladder, they unfurled their bedrolls and prepared for a good night's sleep. Celathiel immediately lay down; attempting to regain his spells...he had used them all in their last battle…

During the fourth guard watch that night, Furrius peered down the hallway and saw a bit of light emanating from beneath the door at the opposite end of the hallway – two specks of black seemed to be moving back and forth, and Furrius immediately realized they were feet. Illonel looked closer…he discovered that they were indeed feet…feet that were pointing toward the door, ready to open at any time…as the doorway creaked slowly open, Illonel and Furrius realized they had no time to hide…

"Up, up!" Furrius whispered. "Get up! We've got more of 'em…" he said, shaking all of his comrades awake except Celathiel – when a sorcerer needs sleep in order to regain his spells, he better get that sleep…it didn't seem as though they'd even need him – how many more could there be?

As the four sleepy travelers awoke and assembled in the ladder room, the door burst open in the hallway, revealing the owner of the feet that Illonel and Furrius had spotted: a beast very similar to the hairy ones they had slain earlier, it had bits of flesh sagging all over its body - its teeth were yellow and decaying; huge, gaping holes were situated in vital portions of the beast…the bloody gore inside almost made the cleric throw up – Furrius and Illonel immediately had their hunches on what the creatures were.

"Undead…?" Illonel asked to Furrius in their slick, Elven tongue. Not entirely sure, Furrius surveyed the walking corpse and was inclined to agree. Furrius wished he had time to pray for Wee Jas' guidance. Illonel wished his friends would get dressed a little quicker…

The beast started through the door, but was halted in his tracks – a powerful arrow shot by the handsome elf ripped through the undead creature, taking a huge chunk of it along as it continued on into the dark room behind it. Another shot landed with a sickening thud in the creature's chest – it howled, leaving the arrow in the dirty, festering wound.

"Damn. We're gonna need some divine intervention shit, here…" Illonel said, slinging his bow around his shoulder. Furrius nodded knowingly and reached out, laying four fingers across the hilt of Illonel's newly drawn rapier. Calling on the powerful magic weapon spell he had been granted by his god, the once dull, grey rapier glowed with a beautiful golden sheen. As he swung it playfully, a small trail of light golden flecks followed, creating a dazzling display. As the undead beast lumbered forward, Illonel readied his magic rapier – and with a swing worthy of the finest swashbucklers on the seven seas, he sliced right across the face of the creature.

Slowly…disgustingly…the detached face of the beast slid off of the meaty, muscular maw it had left behind, slinking to a stop as it rested atop the arrow in its chest, flopping down like a horrid piece of abstract art. It recoiled as the air stung its skinless face, as Furrius and Illonel looked at each other worriedly.

"Okay, you can do your hair in the morning, gentlemen! We need some assistance!" Illonel yelled through clenched teeth over his shoulder – there was no answer from the dark, earthy foyer they had been sleeping in.

"Either they're dead, or we are…" Furrius said, his mace shaking in his hands to the point where it could do more good on the ground than in his grasp.

"Haven't you been in these situations before? Undead? Evil? All that crazy Wee Jas shit!" Illonel said as the beast aimed a crossbow at his torso from less than ten feet away.

"I…I don't know…I don't think I can handle something like this…" Furrius said, genuinely meaning it. He had faced some small creatures that his mentor, Gendal, had animated…rabbits and dogs, mostly…he felt stupid just remembering them when he compared them to the beast he was up against now.

A sharp twang echoed through the room as a crossbow bolt sailed by Illonel's head, nicking his temple and sticking into the earth behind him.

"Fine. I still got a few tricks up my sleeve…" he said, focusing with all his might to remember a spell that Emily had taught him…he dropped his tome to the ground and flipped the few written-on pages with his feet, pulling his bow out with his free hands. He stopped on a page that read 'true strike' – as he cast the spell, he fired a seemingly enchanted arrow that pierced right through the beast's shoulder, separating its arm from its body entirely. As it fell awkwardly through the air toward the ground, a smaller bolt not only pierced through the falling arm, but pinned it into the monster's belly.

"Need a hand?" Sic said, blowing off the edge of his crossbow.