Today’s snippet, titled “The Grey Garrison”, is a piece I wrote about my PC in Mark’s new (Good) Pathfinder Campaign.
Be forewarned, there are mature themes and naughty language below.
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Two sacks, bound with twine and labeled in chalk, dangled from her pack. Hulroon, read one. Kando was scribbled upon the other. Radiance glowed in her hand as they stood before the massive doors of the Grey Garrison.
Mira was inspecting the doors; Mickey, hammer at the ready, was just behind her, with Kumiko, Rhiallis, and Red prepared to follow him into the frey. Irabeth’s last minute addition to their party, a fellow Iomedaen paladin who introduced herself as Celeste, drew blade as well.
“I don’t see any traps,” Mira said, darting away from the door. “Mickey – will you try and open it?”
“Damn right,” he said, and lifted that massive hammer from his shoulder.
BOOM!
It smashed into the heavy, iron-bound door with a concussive crash. A few splinters broke free but the door was not sundered. He growled and wound up a second mighty blow.
Rhiallis cringed as a second BOOM! rocked the door. It rattled upon its hinges, but did not open. Something cold prickled at her brain but she brushed it away, refusing steadfastly to acknowledge any anxiety lest she turn tail and run like a coward.
“I try,” Kumiko said, and put her shoulder to the door, grunting.
From somewhere beyond the entrance, an alarm bell began to toll. Panic gripped her heart and she swallowed thickly.
“I think-” someone began, but the words that followed were lost in the roaring blaze that consumed the entire party.
Rhiallis screamed.
Though it was over in a heartbeat, the agony lingered upon her flesh and she could hardly believe how stupid they had been when Celeste stepped forward and twisted the handle. One half of the doors opened to them and as she squinted, Rhiallis could make out movement within.
“Are we pushing in?” she cried.
Mickey answered as he barrelled into the room,”Hell YEAH!”
Red and Kumiko and Celeste were just behind him, Rhiallis as well, and they lashed out against a group of Tiefling worshippers. Mickey’s hammer obliterated the bastards and Rhiallis wanted to laugh with triumph! More shuffled in from the east room, decaying corpses with enormous fists and gaunt bodies.
We are going to make it! We are going to do this!
The thought had only just formed in her mind when Ema raised her gloved hands to the skies and unleashed a powerful blast of holy energy. Several of the zombies fell immediately and Rhiallis cheered her friend in her mind.
“This way,” Mickey growled, pushing toward the east room, from which the second wave had emerged.
Rhiallis followed him, swinging her blade ineffectually. With each miss, she hated herself for not working harder in the practice yard and vowed that when they returned to Defender’s Heart, she would spend all of her free time sparring with the best warriors Kenabres had left to offer. I will improve and be a better servant to the cause, I will!
Viggo had been skilled with a longsword.
The thought came unbidden and for a moment, it dimmed the heat of battleblood in her veins. Not now, Rhiallis, she told herself, and waved the memories away. Not now!
“More! I hear more!”
“Where? How many?”
Chaos reigned, the party split in several directions, fighting furiously. Above the din, the cultists were shouting at each other, calling for back-up. Rhiallis’ arm felt as if it would fall off already and she knew the battle far from over.
“Xatuanu, kakkuata kakkuata, sheelu bombo’aaka DEE-NAR!”
If any of her friends understood the incantation, they did not have a moment to translate it before the central hall erupted in flames. A swirling inferno, it wrapped around the room entirely encapsulating it. Behind her, Rhiallis could feel only a breath of warmth, but the inner side of the burning wall boiled with searing heat.
“We’re trapped!”
Rhiallis nodded, sticking as close to Mickey’s side as she could without risking her own life to the backswing of his weapon.
“I hear more coming,” she cried, drawing a potion from her belt. “We probably shouldn’t have wakened the whole keep at once!”
“Too fucking late!”
If Ema did it, I can too, she thought, and thrust Radiance into the air, focusing the positive energy she channeled out in an offensive burst. Not as powerful as her friend’s blast, her own still managed to wound the undead minions that surrounded Mickey.
“DIE PIGS!”
“Wha-” she began, her knees trembling in her high boots. “…the Hell?”
An enormous, beastial minotaur crammed himself through the door, squeezing in almost impossible ways, to hurl himself into the fray. His eyes burned like hellfire and he let out the most hideous roaring low. Blood flecked spittle frothed from his lips as he swirled his weapon about. Behind him, another wave of cultists appeared, bearing scythes and rictus grins that suggested they were going to enjoy themselves today.
We’re all going to die, she thought, nearly hysterical with laughter and fear.
From the room on the other side of the entry, which still burned with conjured flames, came screams of another type. Mira, Ema, Seraphina! Red, Celeste! Oh Gods, save them! Iomedae, please! PLEASE!
As if in direct response to her pleas, Mickey leapt into the air, lifting his hammer so far above him that the head touched the back of his thighs. He grunted, body stretched to superhuman proportions.
And then it came down.
The bulbous head of the weapon met with the Minotaur’s skull with a sickening crunch. As if time had slowed to a crawl, Rhiallis swore she could see the bones fracturing beneath black fur, see its eyes squished like grapes as they popped out of ruined eye sockets, see specks of shattered teeth flying from bloody lips. Down and down and down. Mickey’s follow-thru was not complete until his hammer rested on the stone floor. He had hewn through the damned demonic creature, splitting it like a hog for the spit, with a blunt weapon.
“Holy… fuck…”
There were no words. Hope surged within her once again, for though her friends were still screaming and fighting in the other room and their only escape was barred by fire, and there seemed to be no end to the swarming defenders… Mickey had obliterated the greatest, most ferocious, hideous, powerful enemy yet – and he had done it in one shot!
“Seppaka’reenu yurgu yanna yurgu kay shar argu!”
Another chant in that same awful language grated on her ears and Rhiallis blinked, trying to discern which of the thousand or so enemies was casting. Agony wracked her body as the spell burned through her.
“Urk!” Mickey gurgled. She had not even seen the blow coming.
“No!” the cry escaped her lips even as she, once again, lay hands upon herself and set forth yet another burst of healing energy to her nearby allies.
Kumiko was there, loyal and steadfast, braving the fire to give aid to Rhiallis and Mickey. She was too late, however. Rhiallis was the only witnesses to Mickey’s fall.
Flee! Flee you stupid bitch! She screamed at herself to no avail. Kumiko took up the battle in Mickey’s place, taunting the enemy with her feather-light blade and that cocky smile.
It was all she could do to expend Iomedae’s blessings over and over again. Desperate to keep both herself and Kumiko in the fight, Rhiallis was only dimly aware of Seraphina’s voice ringing out at last. The little wizard flung a fireball into the enemy’s ranks and though many were demons, a good amount of them shrieked in fury.
Maybe we can actually-
A brilliance unlike anything she had ever known swept upon her, searing along every nerve in her body and wiping away any thought.
Agony.
Wracked with pain, Rhiallis felt Radiance slip from her grip. She could see nothing; there was a wetness on her face that she could not place. The dazzling light burned brighter, hotter, and Rhiallis felt a name upon her lips, cool as morning dew.
Viggo…
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Note: Image is “King Jagiello Statue Central” by (Mulligand) from SXC.hu; edited by me