"Ready yourselves for I know not what it is they guard against be it beast or magic construct."

"We have to move, now! Attack and run. All of you with me!"
With the words of the recently thawed mage and their own Siréne ringing in her ears, Aliya sees Ulthok cast a fireball at one of the two strange beholders headed towards them. Changing her previous plan, she casts her own fireball at the other beholder, then runs to keep under the veil with the others, hoping both spells reach their mark.

With 3 of the of the 7 Beholders dead and Allanan now free and united with the party, all that remained between the party and their way home, were the 4 last beholders. Ahhh but in the world of Trilogy nothing is as easy as it seems.

As Allanan yelled to ready themselves the first 2 Beholders charged! Though staying apart as to not get close enough to be hit by a single area effect spell still they both found themselves from the start in range of the parties vast array of weapons.

First to act once again was Sirene as always seemed to be the case, her initiative allowed her to act the fastest.

Continuing to use her previous spell of Veil she quickly mouthed words of summoning and in a split second of time there appeared four Shadows. Directing them to attack the nearest of the shadows (#4) all four of the Shadows descended on it as one giving it no chance to defend. That fast one of the remaining four creatures was gone.

"We have to move, now! Attack and run. All of you with me!"

The next two to go off were Ulthok and Aliya words of magic on their lips and balls of fire erupted. Aliya's fireball struck true, lighting up the Beholder she chosen (#3)in a fiery cloud of flame. However the flames were not enough to stop it as bursting through the cloud it attacked!

Once again the party, all but Lother, found themselves in a cone of cold! Yet again however saves and protection were with the party as all who were hit only took a quarter of damage.

For Ulthok his fireball was a wasted effort in favor of the party, and a great gift for the Beholders. The Shadows having attacked the nearest charging Beholder were still there as the Halfling Thief/Mages fireball exploded around them. Though terrible creatures that could drain the life force from a living thing in seconds they were not, however, one with great amounts of life themselves. In minutes all four Shadows along with the remains of the Beholder were gone! Swept away in an explosion of fire.

For the rest of the party a time of long range death did they unleash upon the only target left, the Beholder that had just attacked.(#3) Arrows, crossbow bolts and streaks of energy slammed into the flaming creature as if delivered by the hand of a god and it too like its companion Beholder was thrown backwards to explode in death.

With two out of four Beholders now dead the party moved to the left but were stopped dead in their tracks as to the right of them a loud crash was heard. Behind where Beholders #3 & #4 had once stood guard a large chunk of the Ice had broken away. Tons upon tons of it, both solid and heated water lay shattered and melted upon the ground.

And within the ice something moved!!!!!.......

(DM OOC: Ok round 1 of combat up and done. Once again you pretty much ran riot on the two closet Beholders and all of you, but Lothor, took 6 points of damage. Ok as this is Wednesday my next post will be on Saturday night February 3rd and not on that Sunday night due to the Super Bowl. Ok think carefully as you still have 2 Beholders headed your way and something moving in the ice.)

Cor saw that only 2 beholder kin remained and knew that part of the battle was won. "Finish them. I will keep an eye on that block of ice. Who knows what is in it and if it be friend or foe." Cor watched and readied himself to cast a wall of force from his helm if whatever appeared sought to harm the party.

Lothor saw two more of the beholders explode and smiled. He wasn't pleased that the last one had been able to hit them with a blast of cold, but at least they had been at least somewhat defended by their spells. But two remained. And whatever it was in the ice.

the ice mountain was . . . a mountain. It was huge and the blocks of ice cracking off of it were big enough to crush a person. Had Allanan said that whatever was under there was the source of the magic they needed? It looked like the size of the legendary Terrasque, something which Lothor had never really believed was real, even in a world in which almost everything was real. But how big was this thing? And what was it? That the clownies seemed to not like it was a good sign, but the enemy of my enemy was not always my friend.

But ponderings aside, the time to act had come again with the clowns. Quickly the group kept moving - this time directly away from the giant mound of ice, which meant a slight change in course. The veil spell still provide some shielding. And they fired off whatever they could.

Lothor himself continued to reign arrows on the two onrushing beholders.

(OOC: He targets either the first one he can target, or the one on the left if he has a choice.)

Talca added his grin to those of the rest of the party when two more beholders exploded in front of them. That brought the total tally to 9 down, he thought. It was at least a fair start on payment for the centuries he had spent frozen to the wall.

But there were at least 2 more - and something huge in the ice. This group was impressive. He hoped they could keep up the work. He fired his arrows at the nearest beholder.

Roan stood amongst the group and watched the battle unfold. He yearned to get into the action but lacked a great ranged attack. His preferred mode had always been to sink his teeth and claws directly into whatever ailed him. But these clowns were better kept at a distance.

Still, he was not without options. if the two remaining beholders came together so that he could hit both with a blade barrier spell, he would cast one. If not, he still had options. He looked down at the ring of the ram on his finger and clenched his fist. He prepared to spend 3 charges and hit an incoming beholder with the force of a ram.

Perhaps since they were just bouncy balls it would push it backwards like a pool ball. He smiled at the idea of one beholder blasting into another.

Siréne

The witch turned her gaze upon the shifting form within the ice. Tremors from its moment seemed to vibrate through what was left of the great ice mound. Soon enough they would find out what manner of creature had been imprisoned within. For now, there were still two floating mongrels making their way toward them. Hidden by the magic of the veil the would need to strike hard and fast. This was a time for dark magic.

Setting her sight on the closer of the two remaining beasts, Siréne began to draw power into her. She hissed her spell with a wordless low chant shaping the arcane forces flowing through her. With a final note, she reached out before her releasing a beam of liquid darkness to surge through the aberration. She dearly hoped it hurt.

((OOC: Casts Disintegrate))

Rayne

Once again Rayne pulled the strings of Andurile's Blood to send a volley of arrows into the Beholders. Narrowing her eyes the ranger focused on the closest of the beasts and sent her missiles of light hurtling into the creature.

Ulthok
The crashing of ice from the great wall and the movement inside cautioned the mage. They had expelled many of their power spells and now there was something seeming even larger than the clown creatures about to break loose. , But the there were still two more of the clown things attacking and they must push on. So to save his magic for a possible greater battle Ulthok pulled his bow of speed. Having seen his spells wasted as Sirene had attacked the lead creature before he targeted to following beholder and loosed four arrows into the abomination.

Valene..
Things were going their way,maybe. There was still great danger and so once again to do her part she aimed her crossbow on the back beholder. Four possibly deadly bolt were loosed on the back beholder. If nothing else they may slow it enough for the others apply their damage.

And in the ice something moved!

And with that movement everything began to change. As if a switch had been turned, the 2 Beholders reversed course, ignoring the party all together. As if they knew the greater danger lay within the mountain of ice and not the party of ten, they both headed back to the huge ice mountain. The whole time firing off stream after stream of ice blasts but even as the party watched it was too late as larger and larger pieces of ice began to crumble to shatter on the hard cavern's surface.

With the Beholders change of direction they left themselves open and defenseless to the party's attacks. Seeing this, Sirene the only spell-caster with a readied spell, held it back. In only a matter of minutes the number of missiles fired from the parties bows once again made short work of the two creatures. As their dead bodies flew towards the breaking ice as those before them both exploded!.

As if the two explosions were a last switch turned on or a last button pushed the remaining ice around the creature inside blew away in a vast storm of ice and magic. Thanks to luck or the Beholders in a strange way, the party found themselves far enough away to evade much of the deadly ice shards. Though struck by smaller pieces it was the wave of concussion that threw the party to the floor. For the non-mages of the party it was pure concussive force but to the mages and Allanan it was much, much, more.

The wave of magic was incredibly strong, old, devastating, in its raw power unlike anything the mages had ever encountered. A roar of pure hate followed as the creature gave sound to its freedom. As the party began to recover to their feet before them was a sight that took their breathe away and placed fear even into the stoutest of their hearts. Though before them roared a Dragon it was like nothing any of the party had seen or heard of in history. No written word was there about the giant dragon before them for not only was it big, it was huge! Easily 10x the size of an ancient dragon and it looked old, older then ancient and again any dragon heard of or spoken of.

For the moment its attention away from the party as streaks of ice and Beholder clown eye attacks lanced at it from its far side. The party could see a group of 13 Beholders attempting to bring it down and seeming to not have much effect as one exploded dropping the number to 12.

An intake of breath and Allanan spoke what would become fatefull words to the party.

"It's heart, such power... such magic, We need it's heart, only that will cast the spell"


(Dm OOC: Ok here is my new post hope you all enjoy. As for your present situation you have at the moment not caught the giant dragon's attention so plan carefully for once you attack it it will know your there. DM WARNING this is by far the toughest creature you will face in my game other then the Dark King himself. It is tougher to kill than Shadow Wraiths, and even stronger then some lesser gods. So again plan very carefully in the Q/A or PM. If there is one place where player run characters can die permanently its here. So good luck and have fun. Next post next Sunday the 18th)

As the ice broke, a great wyrm stepped into the cavern. The beast was beyond ancient, that much Cor could tell. Even among the paladins he had never heard mention of a beast this big. An army would tremble before it. A small blessing was that the cavern was too small for it to fly. Just as Cor was thinking that retreat was the best option, Allanon revealed that the beast's heart was the item needed to power the spell. "It's heart ye say? I am thinking it would nae give it up if we ask nicely. Have ye any idea how ta kill the thing?" For the moment Cor was content to allow the beholder kin to fight the dragon as the enemy of a bigger enemy is often something of a friend. "Perhaps disintegrate or the vial of basilik blood we carry might give us a chance. We should likely spread out a but as its breath could very well kill us all at once if we are grouped."

Ulthok listened as Cor commented.

"It's heart ye say? I am thinking it would nae give it up if we ask nicely. Have ye any idea how ta kill the thing?"

Ulthok lookup to Allana, "Yeah what do you have that will work for us here? You know Dragons better than all of us, how can we drop this ancient wyrm?

(hope for some response)

As Cor watched to beholders fight the beast he hear him say, "Perhaps disintegrate or the vial of basilik blood we carry might give us a chance. We should likely spread out a but as its breath could very well kill us all at once if we are grouped."
Ulthok looked to Cor, "If we turn it to stone how would we retrieve the heart?"

"We had Valkyries come help once, do you think you might get Thor to appear? We need a way to cut this challenge down to size."

"It's heart, such power... such magic, We need it's heart, only that will cast the spell"

The mage's words echoed through her mind as she watched the behemoth rise from the shattered ice. In the many centuries of her life, never had she seen such a creature. It was a nightmare made manifest, and yet, there a was a beauty and grace to the horror. A sweetness that was pain...

A creature such as this would surely suffuse magic, and its great heart must possess the power needed for the greatest of spells. Yet such would be a dark rite, even if their sacrifice was the most twisted of creatures. A life offered drew the greatest power, but that came with the greatest cost.

There was no time for such regrets, perhaps one day should would return to Faery and ponder philosophic ethics. That day was not today, they all had to do what must be done. It was time.

Reaching into one of her magical pockets, Siréne pulled out a shining ring of the whitest silver. It was cold to the touch; beautiful and cold. Slowly, the witch slipped the ring onto her finger and at once felt all turmoil wash away into unwavering calm. This was a serenity she knew well, like the mantle donned in the service of the Goddess. She would bear its weight.

"Then we must do what we must." Siréne spoke with a haunting, almost mournful calm.

At once fey magics flowed through her, hardening her skin to deflect any blow and imbuing her being with the power to walk through the blazing inferno unharmed.

"Before we strike we must make ready," again the witch spoke taking all into her cerulean gaze, "Arm yourselves and prepare while you can. I offer healing to those in need."

((OOC: Casts stoneskin and protection from fire on herself. She has replaced the ring of protection +2 (now in girdle of many pouches) with the ring of emotionless action, so will be regeneration 6 hp/ round. Siréne has 9 CLW, so can heal everyone to full health before we attack.))

As the last of the ice fell away she roared!!! FREE!!! The word so ragged and cloaked in hate it was not so much a word but a cry of rage. Turning to her captors as the Beholders sought to once again capture or kill her, she roared again and attacked.

With a massive claw she caught one and squeezed it like watermelon until it popped. The ensuing explosion barely seen or heard, having no effect at all on her armored claw. A wing sweep to the right catching three more of the flying Beholders and throwing them into the still large mountain of ice. The force of the impact causing massive damage then her tail struck them pulverizing them into a goorish stain and the ice exploding into shards of cold leaving nothing to explode.

The remaining nine Beholders spread out trying to attack her eyes and wings with both streams of ice and a greenish ray that seemed to do nothing but briefly halt her movements, as if trying to stun her. Though it seemed to have some effect it did not for long, clearly not enough Beholders to cause her to be stunned long enough to freeze her once again. With the numbers the party had encountered and on hand how these clown faced Beholders had done so the first time was mystery to the watching party.

Also clear to the party this fight between Dragon and Beholders would be over quickly. Then unless the party retreated or somehow made peace with this beast, they would be next.......

((Ok just a short scene to give you an idea of what's happening in the battle before you. When I post again for the party, I'll make note of your preparations for the fight like Sirene's stoneskins. Ok depending on you all, next post, next Sunday)

" Well the beholders will nae last long against that thing.  We may not do any better if we fight.  Perhaps there is another option.  Since we did free it perhaps it would be willing ta talk and offer information on an alternate item with the power ta cast the spell.  If the rest of ye stay back, I'll try ta talk ta it." 

Cor waited until the last belholder kin fell and then with hands wide to show he meant no harm he walked closer.  "Such a regal and mighty creature ye are.  Our thanks for killing that last of those creatures.  We were not storng enough ta destroy the ice prison that held ye and the creatures as well.  Never have I seen a dragon as impressive as yourself.  Although we are not worthy ta even ask, I feel I must ask a small favor from you.  We have come from the future at the behest of the dragon queen on a quest ta save the future of both men and dragons.  In order ta return we require an item of great power ta assist in the casting of a spell.  Surely one so wise as you knows of such an item."  

As the ice chunks fell away from the mountain Lothor saw that what was inside was indeed the size of a mountain.  A dragon "the size of an aircraft carrier."  He didn't even know what an aircraft carrier was, but had heard the expression somewhere along the way and had gathered that it meant something along the lines of, "Oh crap!  That thing is bigger then big and huger than huge and somewhere akin to the size of a living mountain!"  It seemed to fit.  

Lothor glanced at the archmage as he said something about the beasts heart and the spell to get the home.  Seriously??  Kill that thing for its heart?  He quickly turned to the archmage and whispered/asked, "Kill it?  How?  Is there any other option?  A way to beat it?  A way to talk to it?  Another way to power the spell?  This doesn't seem possible." 

As he waited for a hopefully quick answer, he glanced back at the beast.  He couldn't help but wonder.  What had they done?  What had they unleashed?  Not too long before the others had been worrying about changing the past and now this.  Certainly a dragon the size of a carrier couldn't do much to change the flow of time, could it?  Hardly anyone would even notice the thing wandering about, right?  He shook his head slightly as he turned to the mage for his answer.  

As these thoughts crossed his mind he moved through the group and handed out the 4 viles of basilisks blood.  It might work.  It was an option anyway.  He'd keep his whip close.  What were the odds it could work on a thing this big?  Probably not likely, but it was worth a shot.  What could a sword do anyway?