[Cerek the Barbaric]

Mencar Pebblecrusher - Round 2

With my knapsack now stuffed with several new scrolls and a quiver bulging with new arrows, I decided it was time to revisit Grumpy Dwarf and his buddies at the Seven Vales Inn. The first thing I did was cast Improved Invisibility and Haste on myself, then I hurried up the stairs trying to be as quiet as possible. When I reached the upper floor, I stayed away from their room instead of initiating any dialogue to see if they had changed their attitude. I backed up towards the wall opposite the doorway leading in and cast a Web spell into the room, followed quickly by Cloudkill out of the last wand from Irenicus' dungeon. Once the room was filled with sticky webs and noxious fumes, I ran towards the doorway to see exactly where Grumpy and his buddies were. I needed them to be in my line of sight for the next two spells I cast, which were Greater Malison and Emotion:Hopelessness. Those two spells knocked out the mage and froze the thief (who was helplessly trapped in the web anyway. However, the barbarian seemed unaffected by any of the spells and he began advancing towards me with a very large sword. I had hoped to avoid using the Dryad's Acorns in this battle, but I simply couldn't take the chance of facing the barbarian in single combat - and I noticed that Mencar had also shaken off most of the spells I had cast. The gods smiled on me at the last minute and the barbarian became entangled in the webs mere feet from the doorway. Another couple of steps and he would have been out of their reach. By this time, the moose and nymphs had matierialized and I directed the moose to attack the barbarian. This also prevented Mencar from leaving the room since the moose blocked the doorway quite effectively. I then used my new bow (which fired 3 arrows in the time it normally took to fire 2 from a normal bow) and some of the arrows I had procured from the fletcher. I targeted the thief first in hopes of getting some Potions of Invisibility from him. Meanwhile, the nymphs attacked the group with spells of their own. I don't know what they were casting, but the spells worked great. Orcslicer (the barbarian) and the thief soon joined the mage in the next life and Mencar was Held as still as a statue. His sturdy dwarven endurance was no match for my arrows, the spells of the nymphs, and the antlers of the moose.

The battle had seemed to last a long time, but had actually only taken a few moments. All four of my potential attackers were dead before the effects of my first spell (the Web) wore off. I waited for the sticky strands to disappear and for the noxious fumes of the Cloudkill to disperse - then searched the bodies. I was ecstatic to discover the thief had a ring that allowed him to turn invisible rather than potions. I quickly placed it on my own finger. I started to search the rest of the bodies, then realized that I was still enjoying the benefits of the potion I had drunk much earlier to aid my procurement of the scrolls and arrows. Not wanting to waste a good thing, I decided I should go back and pay yet another visit to the scroll merchant before the effects of the potion did wear off. A short time later, my knapsack was once again re-stocked with some vital scrolls and I could get down to the serious business of claiming the treasures from my fallen enemies.

[ 07-19-2004, 01:00 PM: Message edited by: Cerek the Barbaric ]