Keep on the Shadowfells – Session 10

The Final Battle From 4′ Off the Ground

Battered and bruised, and with barely an ounce of energy left, Tallow lifts himself up (its easier for a Halfing) for what he thinks could be the last time, resolute to send this evil back to the hole its trying to come from.  “Let’s go…” Tallow says, as he stealthily re-rolls Korbein’s bedroll with a flick of his foot.  “There will be no place to rest for us tomorrow if we sleep now”.

Tallow slowly makes his way over to the descent, both dread and excitement pulsing through his veins.  Ankle-deep in blood, a dark feeling permeates the entire place.  If not for the inspiring dedication of Ganak, and the exuberant devotion of Cirlandir, this feeling may overcome Tallows heart.  But with a mighty Maul in front of him, and a fireball behind, Tallow feels confident, or at least hopeful that victory is possible.  One last time, Tallow whispers to himself, “we’re gonna make it”, reminding himself of the consequences if the heroes do not.  With a quick warning that the chain will be slick from the blood, Tallow slides down, friends on both sides of him.  He barely grips the chain, allowing himself to slide down easily, the chain covered with the blood of the innocent.  Tallow lands deftly on his feet, immediately scanning the room to assess the battlefield.  A hideous undead creature to the right, and what is obviously the villain of this story to the left, protected by his two undead soldiers.  And then Tallow looks straight ahead, a deep pit immediately developing in his stomach.  The most evil, dark creature Tallow has ever seen or imagined lies straight through this “portal”… this “window” into hell.  The creature reaches across, his hand the size of Tallow’s body, being held back by the thinnest film.  Surely a minute longer and this creature would be free… free to destroy all Tallow has ever held dear in this world.  Before the undead soldiers can react, Tallow quickly loads and fires his trusty crossbow, plunging a bolt straight into the creatures chest… leaving the creature reeling in pain.   The battle has begun.  “Thank goodness for friends”, Tallow thinks, being surrounded by them on all sides.  If not for them, surely these beasts would run down the one responsible for that crossbow bolt.  Instead, as so often is the case, Tallow’s much larger friends suffer for the pain he’s inflicted.

Everything suddenly starts moving much faster for Tallow now, as if up until now everything was in slow motion.  The undead soldiers approach ignoring Tallow, and a dark bolt of energy shoots from the undead beast to the right… Tallow ducks just in time as the same type bolt hits the wizard next to Tallow, causing him to immediately go pale, sapped of much strength.  Tallow slides to the left, deciding to focus on the undead soldiers.  He watches his friends strike at them, and then peppers the same one as before with another crossbow.  “That ones looking bad!  Finish him!”, Tallow shouts.  Not three seconds later, the soldier lies dead, again, at the hands of our own soldiers.  Tallow quickly wheels around, trying not to lose sight of the horrow shooting bolts at him, but this time cannot avoid it.  He feels the pain the wizard had felt, this dark force weakening every fiber of his being.  Before Tallow can act, Cirlandir, seeing his anguish, calls upon Bahamut for assistance.  Tallow tries to resist the weakness, and it leaves Tallow bruised but not crushed.  Tallow’s friends strike at the wicked priest and his remaining soldier… the battle cries of his friends lifting his spirits.  He sees Korbein’s maul lift and come down hard on the enemy.  A second later a ball of fire appears next to the priest… singing his robes… and his skin.  “I’m glad Lorik is on our side”, Tallow thinks.  Tallow fires his crossbow again and hits the priest with a bolt.  This is one tough priest Tallow thinks, as the priest laughs and pulls the bolt out from his arm, barely affected at all.  Pressing their attack, the heroes destroy the second soldier, ignoring the horror behind us for now.  Tallow runs up to join in the hand-to-hand fight against the priest, when, suddenly the priest disappears. Tallow looks right… then looks left, then turns around.  “There he is!”, Tallow shouts, seeing that the priest has somehow teleported to the other side of the room, standing inside a blue circle which eminates an eery blue light.  He stands only 15 feet from the gate to hell with the monstrous horror barely being held behind.  Tallow’s brave friends charge up to the powerful priest, continuing their assault, but just as they do, Tallow sees the giant hand reach through the gate, and grab Ganak pulling him back towards the gate.  “Death is one thing, but being dragged into hell is another”, Tallow thinks, resolute to avoid Ganak’s fate.  Fortunately, Ganak is able to wrestle himself away, and with a look of horror, moves away from the gate expeditiously as the rest of the party moves up to attack the priest.  The priest seems stronger somehow… Tallow swings his dagger with all his force, his attack glancing off the priest when he was certain it would have hit him just a moment ago.  “Damn!” says Tallow, I needed that one, realizing the priest was unaware of him for a moment.  Tallow tumbles around the priest, plunging his dagger into the priest, but wait… his dagger again glances off.  The priest wheels around, annoyed at Tallow’s sinister attempts, and connects Tallow with a horrible blow.  Tallow, groggy from the blow, retreats back to the wall, barely remembering to avoid the grasp of the beast, quickly pulling out his crossbow again and deciding firing bolts would be a better path until he gets his senses back.  His friends continue their assault despite their own wounds, one of them finally finishing the undead that had earlier weakened Tallow.  He stumbles back to regroup with his friends, finally regaining his momentum.  The priest looks bad, quite bad, which makes Tallow feel quite good.  Ganak walks up and touches Tallow’s shoulder, inspiring him and making the burden of his wounds feel light.  Encouraged by this, Tallow charges in, determined to deal this preist his final blow.   Tallow plunges the dagger into the priest’s back, and pulls down with all his strength… opening up a gaping hole in his back.  The priest falls flat, and gives up his last breath.  For just a moment Tallow relaxes… the battle is won!  A huge hand reaches out further than it has before.  Tallow knows he’s about to be taken on a ride he doesn’t want to go on, but the hand instead grabs the priest, and pulls him into the abyss.  It seems the punishment for his failure will be quite severe.