Fland watched as his death approached. Paralyzed with fear, there was no course of action that could save
him from his inevitable and gruesome fate. He would have made any
bargain, agreed to any devil's deal to be freed from his living
nightmare.
As one of the bugbears prepared to
deliver the deathblow, flames that bared his escape burst into the
room. Materializing out of thin air, as though birthed from the
sputtering flames stood a grim elf. Fland's attention was turned to
the newcomer along with the goblinkin. With a sharp thrust of both
hands, the elf sent the bugbears and their master flying back across
the room.
Fland realized now that his fate would
be doomed down another path. To many times now he had angered the elf
mage. Elarr would not rescue him. Instead he would meet out a dire
punishment to insure Fland's slow death. He closed his eyes as Elarr
started a spell, preparing for his end...only to have his mind
suddenly clear.
It took Fland's mind a moment to
adjust. After a heartbeat his mind was able to put together what had
happened, and what was now going to happen. As his senses refocused
the first thing he noticed was Elarr's voice, “-thrice damned fool!
Now do something useful. We have to get the hobgoblin away from that
orb.”
Fland did not need any encouragement.
The bugbears and their master were already back on their feet. One
had both of its meaty hands wrapped around a primitive stone ax while
the other held two crude swords. The one with the ax was the first to
charge and Fland stepped forward to meet it. He ducked low so that
the powerful swing. He came up and bashed both maces into the
bugbear's side. On a human or elf he would have felt the satisfying
crunch of shattered ribs. Instead, it was the sensation of a dull
thud. This was not going to be a fun fight.
Evading a counter attack by the ax
wielding bugbear, Fland found himself facing the second one wielding
two swords. The blood on his face indicated that this was the bugbear
that Fland had smashed in his surprise attack. As it lashed out with
one sword it opened its maw to roar at him. The bugbear's lower
mandible split down the middle, revealing a line of sharp teeth to
tear meat off and pull it down fanged gullet. It was enough to chill
Fland to his core and make him wounder if he had fallen back into
some kind of nightmare realm.
Fland was throne into a rapid dance of
dodging and deflecting attacks. The bugbears were raw power, but
their swings were wild and unskilled. Any blow from that ax or a
sword would have been his end. He preferred not to contemplate what
his fate would be if either of the slavering, flesh rending mouths
was able to bite down on him. His maces lacked power, but moved like
lighting as they knocked attacks out of the way. He would riposte
with a quick strike of his maces to bludgeon arms and legs. Multiple
blows were adding up and he could tell that he was wearing down the
bugbears' endurance.
Unfortunately, he was not battering
down their defenses fast enough. They only needed one good shot to
hack him to pieces. Time was not on his side. While they might not be
geniuses, the bugbears knew to flank an outnumbered opponent. Fland
was pinned in with only seconds to live. Did he want to let the ax
cleave the back of his skull or take a sword through the gut?
Time was about to run out and the ax
was closing in on his head while he smashed his maces into the other
bugbear's abdomen. A bright blue light lanced across the room to
strike the ax wielder and send him to the floor in a howl of pain.
Fland was going to shout at Elarr to hurry up with the next blast
only to watch as a ball of dark energy collided with his partner.
Elarr screamed as he dropped to the floor as black energy coursed
along his body.
Fland cursed himself for not paying
more attention to the spellcaster. Glancing to where hobgoblin stood,
Fland saw that the twisted creature had one hand on the dark orb
while the other crackled with foul energy. A hand of energy that was
now pointed at Fland.
A line of black energy cut the air
where only a heartbeat before Fland had stood. The sword wielding
bugbear did not seem to care that he had nearly been caught in the
dark slash as well and pressed the attack. Fland stepped into the the
bugbear's reach as the next line of energy shot towards them, using
it as cover. Before blade or fang could close on him, the beam of
energy burned into the bugbear's side. The bugbear staggered, giving
Fland the opening he needed.
CRA-CRACK. CRA-CRACK.
He rained blows down in rapid succession until he had cracked open the bugbear's skull and turned
it into a bloody mess. Before the corpse could hit the floor, Fland
was sprinting across the floor toward the black hobgoblin. He ducked
under one slash of energy then leaped high over another. The tension
that had been building deep inside of him since entering the cursed
warren had reached its peak. He let out a cry of rage as he slammed
his maces down at the spellcaster only to have them stopped by a
barrier of black energy.
The fight was in close now. The short,
but vicious creature snarled at him as it tried to cut him in half
with the slashes of black energy. Fland dodged and whirled his maces
to drum against the black barrier. He could not batter his way through
the ward, but the hobgoblin could not gather enough energy for an
effective attack. They were locked in a stalemate until one could
figure out a way to attack the other.
Behind him, Fland heard a comotion.
Throwing a quick glance over his shoulder, he saw that he was not the
only one hard pressed. The ax wielding bugbear had regained his feet,
and one of his fallen partner's swords and was trying to hack Elarr
to pieces where he lay on the floor. A glowing circle of runs hovered
in the air forming a shield for the prone elf. Fland knew the barrier
would eventually collapsed and that maintaining it meant Elarr could
not focus to make another attack.
Fland was tired, frustrated, and now
desperate. He pounded on the barrier to keep the hobgoblin busy while
he racked his brain for a plan. He looked down to the orb where the
hobgoblin's hand rested on the orb. Did the barrier extend to the
orb? Fland feigned to the left then sidestepped to the right. He
raised up both maces then brought them down in a powerful arc towards
the evil orb at the center of his troubles.
From across the room where he fought
desperately for his life, Elarr saw what was about to happen. He
managed to croke out a weak, “No,” but it was to late.
CRASH!
