A/N: And here's the next chapter! This time, our heroes face a close brush with death.
Disclaimer: I don't own Dungeons and Dragons. I only own my original ideas.
Chapter 27: The Dwarf-Halls
We moved up to the door to the north, and noticed that someone had marked it with some sort of language I couldn't read. We continued through the door to the north, and found ourselves in a ruined, desecrated shrine. The walls were carved with dour images, and a low stone altar stood at the western end of the room. Stone benches had been smashed and thrown askew, and the icons of the gods once worshipped here had been defaced. Atop the altar, arms folded over his chest, lay the ancient corpse of a dwarf warrior in plate armor. Bone lay heaped around the altar's base, and at its foot was crouched the desiccated body of an orc in studded leather.
As we moved further into the room, and suddenly some of the bones at the foot of the altar stirred and formed into a pair of towering skeletons clutching greatclubs. The 'dead' orc warrior looked up at us and grinned cruelly, green flames burning in its hate-filled eyes at it stood up.
Krisyra attempted to blast the undead orc with a flame, but it simply dodged out of the way. The orc stepped up to me, and swung at me with its rusty longsword, but it simply glanced off my scales. It snarled at the brought its blade around again this time flickering with dark energies. The blade found purchase, and the magic of the attack made me feel weak, like it was pulling at my very essence, but a shook off this effect. One of the skeletal ogres stepped up to Krisyra, and bashed her with its greatclub, send her stumbling back. Charles moved up to the other ogre skeleton, and swung his greatsword low, intent on tripping his foe. His tactic was successful, knock the skeleton over. Narcrath channeled his magic, and fired off a chromatic orb as a blast of lightning at the orc. I struck at the orc with my claws, but my attack seemed less effective than I expected. Lydratir noticed that the undead orc was resisting my attacks, and moved to assist me, attacking the orc with his rapier. The ogre skeleton near Charles got back to its feet, and attacked, hitting him solidly.
Krisyra looked towards the skeletal ogre that had attacked her, and then morphed into a dire wolf. She then leapt at the ogre, making it stumble back, and not fall over. The undead orc attacked me again, both of its strikes finding purchace. Once more, the second attack was charged with dark magic, and again I managed to shake off the effects. However, I knew I was in bad shape. The skeletal ogre engaged with Krisyra swung at her with its greatclub, hitting once more. Charles swung at the ogre skeleton near him, and once again connected. Narcrath cast another chromatic orb, pumping more power into this time, and connecting with the orc. In considered my options. I was in bad shape, and needed this undead orc down as soon as possible. I saw I had a good angle: I could catch the orc and one of the skeletons with my fire breath without hitting one of my allies. I unleashed my fire, burning both the orc and the skeleton near Krisyra. Lydratir saw we needed to end this battle soon, and drove his rapier into the orc, finishing it off. The ogre skeleton near Charles struck him again, its greatclub wounding him further.
Krisyra-wolf leapt at the skeleton near her once more, sending it stumbling slightly. It attempted to counterattack her, but missed by a mile. Charles continued his assault against the skeleton near him, but it still didn't fall. Narcrath moved to assist Krisyra, striking the ogre with a Shocking Grasp. I moved up to assist Charles, and bashed the skeleton with my tail, sending its bones scattering apart. Lydratir switched to his bow, and fired off an arrow at the remaining skeleton, but it didn't seem to do much. Krisyra-wolf made one final attack against the skeleton, causing it to fall as well.
With the area clear, I could see that all of my companions were injured, but I could tell that I was probably in the worst shape… it was like every wound I'd ever received had been reopened, it was like that creature I'd just fought had been attempting to siphon off my very soul. Krisyra morphed back to her normal elven self, and helped the others secure the chamber. I laid down to try and catch my breath, barely holding on to consciousness. Soon enough, my Krisyra and Lydratir stepped over, helping me by applying some medicinal salves.
"Well, I wasn't expecting to see something like that down here," said Lydratir, "you got lucky my friend, if that Wight had hit you much harder… well you'd not be getting back up".
I was struck by the implication of his words: a Wight. That meant it had blasting me with negative energy. I only survived this battle by sheer luck. Though, this also left me to wonder, if I were to die in this moment, where would I end up? I doubted I'd done enough good in the world yet to earn a place among Bahamut's horde, but at the same time I'd done everything I could so far to defy Tiamat's bidding. I honestly wasn't sure if I'd be worthy yet for any particular afterlife realm.
After a short rest, all of my companions were feeling better, and I was no longer feeling the chill of the grave within the depth of my soul. We made sure all our belongings were gathered, and prepared to continue deeper into this place.
A/N: Yeah, that was a close fight. Valignatirisk survived the wight's final attack with 1 HP. If that attack had dealt any more damage, he'd have died. bypassing the death saving throws. Next time, our heroes continue deeper into the halls of this dwarven citadel, and see what the can find. See you then!