Session 06: Carry On

No one said it openly, but everyone was wondering what we were doing here. We came to meet Obox-Ob, only to be thrust into a test of magic whose ultimate outcome was merely to allow us freedom from this prison we found ourselves in. Yet there was no second guessing my decision to follow my friends into this pocket dimension. In truth, there was almost a feeling of trying to make amends for past wrongs.

Ironic that those events had yet to even occur. But I digress.

As we drank from the fountain, we found more courage in our swings. That courage would be needed as we carried on with these tests of magic. I had presumed that the bloody book contained spells that would allow someone without the necessary elements to access the doors. We decided to test the theory out as our next "test" would be the thunder door. With no knowledge of such spells in our inventory, Pellegri took the book in hand and cast a thunderbolt at the thunder door. And what we feared would occur happened, as a backlash of energy struck our friend hard. There was only a few seconds to heal her wounds as, from the door, two harpies emerged.

Elena and myself stood our ground, facing these foes we had never fought even in our own world. Pellegri sang a Dissonant Strain song at them, but they seemed immune to her magic. They in turn sent a screech upon myself and Elena that caused blood to stream from our ears and noses. Wanting to separate them, I moved away and used one of my new powers to pull one of them towards me. So fast was the manoeuvre that my subsequent uppercut with my warhammer into its jaw seemed to surprise it less than its displacement from its friend.

Soulerio sent a putrid rotting tentacle at the one I hit, but it failed to grasp its chicken leg. Elena had more success as she nailed it from behind with her chain, while Pellegri slashed it with her new scimitar. It seemed the Malcanthian had decided to show more bravery that was usual in getting so close to the enemy. Yet her strike was a mere glancing blow, but seeing her fighting by my side seemed to inspire us all to strike harder. The unwounded harpy sang a song whose magic pulled all of us right next to it, preparing us for its decimating sonic scream. The other one, slashed at Elena's back with its claws. I gave it a mighty blow with my warhammer, while Soulerio sent his rotting tentacle through its body. Elena used her chain to great effect and slashed it twice. Barely standing, it sent out its screech. Everyone was hurt bad, yet somehow the song failed to penetrate my helm. The other one continued to claw at Elena.

Pellegri again slashed with her sword and finally downed the one we had been teaming up on for some time. As these creatures were bound to this place of magic, there was no feeling to flee in its heart of the remaining one. It did all it could to bring us down, but could not possibly match our strength in our numbers. A final screech pounded everyone’s brains, save my own. By then it had already been battered, chained, and rotted to near death. A final strike from Pellegri ended the test of Thunder.

Soulerio hadn't even seen his friend’s triumphant swing as he was already staring into the basin. The man was a man of magic after all, and a basin that seemingly made almost anything appear was one of the most fascinating things he had ever seen, His eyes lit up when a strange liquid appeared in its depths and his lips opened to consume a small portion of it. Suddenly, he felt as though his body had rested a full eight hours, a relieving blanket for all of us after the last battles we had been through. As we drank and our fatigue drained away, and we decided on the Force door next.

The Professor reasoned that Pellegri, being not a true mage, had read the spell wrong from the book and offered to read the next one. I was amazed by this, as his bravery seemed to be getting stronger and stronger. Indeed, now that I think of it. Pellegri too seemed to be more and more courageous. It was as though the two of them were silently competing against each other. As Soulerio read the magic missile spell however, there was indeed a backlash of energy. Its power was so great that the robed man dropped on the spot. Fearing him dead, I ran to him and laid a healing hand upon his body. At the same time, Pellegri was singing a song whose music also eased some of his hurts.

There was little time to reflect on the hint of almost love in that song, as from the force door stepped a dire guard. With me out of my usual position, only Elena stood tall against it, and thus it was she who became the target of its force ball. The magic was like a thousand hits from my warhammer. Still, she stood her ground and threw her chain around the things throat and yanked it closer. As Soulerio rose, we could all see the anger in his eyes as he had just been nearly destroyed by the force. Summoning the dark side of his soul, he sent the most powerful rotting tendril I had ever seen him use. Its tip pierced the guard and almost seemed to expand in its chest, causing it to scream in pain. I tried to bring it closer to me, but it shook off my prayer as though it were nothing. Pellegri did strike it with her sword, but it was clear that this thing was far from done in.

The dire guard reached into its chest and pull out several balls of force, launching them in rapid succession. Pellegri, Elena and myself were hit square on and were thrown back several feet. Still standing, Elena whirled her chain in the air and connected mightily on our foe. I charged at it and summoned a majestic halo of energy to ravage the beast. Pellegri again connected with her sword.

Seeing that its own armored hide was not armored enough, the guard summoned a magical shield around itself. While it cast, we all smashed our weapons into its bony hide. It again reached inside its chest and all three of us were thrown back, clutching at our broken ribs where the force had struck us hard again. It was not far enough however as Elena, still holding on to consciousness charged in again and pierced its magical barrier. Soulerio commanded his Minion into the fray. I sent magic through my next strike, causing the dire guard to reach into itself and pull out one of its own ribs. Again Pellegri hit it hard with her scimitar, the enchanted blade cutting away more of the beast. Near death, the thing through one last ball of force in my direction, but I dodged it aside. And then Elena was there in its face again, dropping it with her chain.

Looking behind use, we were not surprised at all to see Soulerio reaching into the basin and pulling out a magical bag of holding, and filling it up with the gold that it sat upon. After he was done, he went over to the fire door and activated his cloak to start this next challenge. There was almost no time to prepare as three fire bats suddenly swooped from the doors opening and through us, burning everyone they touched. My new armor resisted most of the damage. This test was obviously a lesser one as the small creatures were easy to hit and easier to kill. In small order, we teamed up to drop one. Pellegri's song, though easy on our ears, caused the bats great pain. More soul rots by Soulerio, chain strikes by Elena and hammer strikes from me ended the battle quickly. The only nearly casualty was Minion, whose body was consumed by flames. Luckily, I was able to send a quick wave of energy to douse them, allowing for our valuable undead ally to stay with us.

After a quick mending of wounds our attention turned upon the necrotic door. Yet before we attempted this new challenge, there was one matter that came up; my place in the group. I was adventuring with the famous Harbingers of Faith. The ones who had saved the world from disaster, something which I and my mates were unable to do. All this time, I felt out of place as I truly was unworthy to be a part of the group. How the four was able to stay together was honestly a mystery, given their obvious mixture of hate and admiration for each other. Yet it was decided unanimously, if Soulerio's sneer could be counted as a yes, to include me as an official member. No longer were they the Harbingers of Faith however, for that latter they seemed to have been lost a long time ago. Now they were the Harbingers, a name that seemed so very fitting. For it was not a name as much as it was a question. Of what we were the Harbingers of, we had no idea. And perhaps we would not be alive to ever know. After drinking the new liquid that appeared in the basin which bolstered our defence, we looked to another door.

Our attention thus turned to necrotic. Soulerio seemed to only have to smile in its general direction and it opened up, revealing a pair of ghosts. The first one clawed at Elena, while the second one did something none of us expected, it entered into my body and took control. Elena assaulted the one ghost in front of her. As for me, I used all my willpower to try to break free of the hold the other ghost had upon my body. Yet all I found myself doing was slamming my warhammer hard upon pour Pellegri. She retaliated with a bolt of energy right through my skull. The pain was excruciating, and I felt the ghost laugh almost mockingly as it was unscathed by the attack. Yet Pellegri, former mistress of undead slaying thought that she was harming phantasmal presence within me and directed her friends to strike at me in order to obviously push the ghost back into a place where it could be physically hurt.

Taking her instructions, Soulerio used his rot upon me and leached away some of my life. My armor protected me partially from the effects, but the damage was still great. Again though, I felt the ghost escape harm and I began to wonder how much Pellegri, or for that matter, Soulerio, Master of the Undead actually knew about ghosts. I tried to send my body out of its form, but it held onto my psyche and commanded me to slam my hammer down into Soulerio's frail body. It seemed that I was the main threat now so Pellegri, Elena and Minion teamed up to finish of the other ghost in order for me to be their complete focus. Soulerio sent his rot into my body again but this time my mind shrugged off the attack. My uncontrolling eyes turned again upon Pellegri and I charged her, but she saw the attack from a mile off and easily side-stepped the attack. Again I struggled with the Will of the ghost and finally was able to escape it's possession. Now my friends saw its uninjured state and my own bloody and bruised state. It was only then they realized they had only hurt me with their attacks. In my mind, it was the ghost who had inflicted all these injuries on me, and so I prepared my own personal vengeance upon the entity that had stolen my body away from me.

Elena was the first to get to it however and she wounded it with her chain. After a healing song from Pellegri that healed she and I, we all closed in upon our foe. Realizing it was done for, it quickly possessed Soulerio. There would be none of that. I sent a silent prayer to my god and pushed the ghost away from my friend’s soul. I then brought my hammer down twice upon the floating undead, imbuing a suicidal instruction into my second strike. It responded and cut its own wrist while also clawing at Soulerio. Pellegri sent a bolt of energy into its transparent skull that seemed to nearly obliterate it. In a desperate attempt, it moved into Elena's body and she slashed her chain twice in my direction. Luckily both strikes bounced harmlessly off my armor. Our strong hero was obviously much stronger in mind than I as she was then able to thrust the ghost from her body. Barely holding onto its undead life, it was no match for the final rotting tentacle thrown by Soulerio. And just like that the Necrotic door was done.

The basin then filled with a liquid we had previously seen that granted us a feeling of a full days rest.

We looked next to the Poison door. Elena used the book to send a blob of slime at it, taking only minimal splash damage as a result. From the portal walked a pair of carrion crawlers, vermin we all had dealt with in our previous world. The battle was fast and, well... fast.

Soon, Soulerio was reaching into the basin and loading more gold into the bag of holding. He then pulled out a holy symbol. After several moments of study, he declared it was a symbol of battle and tossed it between Elena and I. Looking towards her; I stepped aside, leaving it for her to wield. Now with just a few doors to go, our hopeful meeting with Obox-Ob was at hand. Our only hope was that all this time and effort would not be in vain.