Rush Of Blood To The Head, part 2.37.

Rush Of Blood To The Head, part 2.37.

The stairway leads us into an opening of a huge underground cave, gigantic stone statues gracing its walls… This is not something you would expect to find below cities sewer system.

Shortly after entering the cave, we are ambushed by a group of large spiders, it seems they were hanging upon our heads and dropped down on us for a surprise attack. They are dispatched easily enough, luckily both Jaheira and Viconia have memorized spells for curing poison and Jan and Keldorn are both thankful for it.

Keldorn and both women are examining the large hall, looking for an opening to proceed further into the cavern and judging from Keldorn’s signaling he has found it. Meanwhile Jan is jumping around one of the smaller stone statues, trying to look inside the statues mouth.

“How about giving me a push, my Worship?” he finally asks.

I head over to him and easily lift him up so that he can see inside the statue’s mouth. Soon a light shower of gems and spell scrolls rains over me, but the fun ends quickly as I see a bright flash of lightning and sharp pain flashes through me. We both drop on the ground, swearing loudly…

“Blasted, greedy little idiot!” Jaheira yells running to our side, “can you not even disarm a trap, Jan? I should spank you for this, gnome…”

“Oh, calm down… it’s nothing, really,” I rise from the floor a little dazed, but otherwise unharmed. Jan decides to remain silent and gathers all the loot from the ground, instead.

“And you!” Jaheira prods her finger against my chest, “should know better than to trust this maniacal gnome. It could have been a more dangerous trap, you know…”

“Please, Jaheira, this is becoming ridiculous,” I speak quietly, “try to pull yourself together, I have never seen you acting like this and it… scares me… perhaps it was not wise to get into adventuring so soon after…”

“I… there is nothing wrong with me,” Jaheira tries her customary snarl, but fails miserably, “now let’s get going, no need to leave others waiting.” She paces over to Keldorn and Viconia, ignoring their stares and Jan and I quickly join them.

As we move further, the cavern becomes more narrow and twisty, Jan is busy running around the bends and checking for any dangers in front of us.

“Snakes,” he speaks quietly after returning to us, “A small group, and a mage too, should be an easy prey.”

Yuan-Ti’s. We have fought them before and I know that they can be tricky… “I suppose mage will be your responsibility, Keldorn,” I speak and the old paladin nods approvingly. Quickly we prepare for the battle and Jan starts it by sending a fireball in the direction of the yuan-ti and judging from the loud hissing it seems that the casting was successful.

Swiftly we jump on the confused snake creatures, Keldorn mutters a quick prayer and the mages magical protections melt away. Quickly Keldorn rushes the mage and finishes it quickly before the yuan-ti refreshes its protections. Jaheira and I work shoulder-to-shoulder dispatching one enemy after another… the snakes are slow and are unable to follow our swift, graceful moves. Jan and Viconia were meant to support us with ranged attacks, that is why I am surprised to see that Viconia soon joins us in frontlines, swinging her mace wildly, her teeth gritted in determination.

Soon the last yuan-ti falls and I breathe with relief… if only all our battles would be so well coordinated and successful. Though the peace does not last long…

“Gnome! Yes, I am speaking with you!” Viconia yells in anger, “tell me why have all my sling stones have been replaced with turnips?”

“Err… now drowsy, let’s not jump to rash conclusions,” Jan smartly backs a few paces away from Viconia.

“Do something like that once again and you will be a dead gnome,” Viconia is unable to calm down, “on the other hand… how about I let you taste your own medicine, fool!”

Viconia quickly loads her sling with a particularly large turnip and throws it in Jan’s direction. Jan manages to duck and the turnip floats over his head and hits Keldorn in the backside…

“You did that on purpose, drow!” Keldorn bellows, making me realize that this has gone far enough…

“Please, will you all just calm down?” I raise my voice and the guilty ones look at me apologetically… “Rod to retrieve? Beholder to kill? Remember?”

We continue on our way, everyone silent, likely rethinking their behavior… our path leads us to a half-ruined bridge leading over a large crack in the ground. Jan hides in the shadows to scout the other side of the bridge. He returns and as he drops his cloak of invisibility we see a small gnome with his face white as chalk…

“Eyeballs! Plenty of them… three at least! A couple of small, green ones and a huge one with them as well…” he speaks in a trembling voice.

“Gauths,” Viconia and Jaheira both say simultaneously.

“Oh, your knowledge, impresses me, mongrel, do you also know how to prepare for fighting them?” Viconia can’t resist an insult. As Jaheira does not reply, Viconia continues, “Direct assault always works best with beholders – you have to overwhelm them quickly, they are weak fighters, but their magic is deadly… I hope that gnome has something to protect us from lightning…”

“Err… I think I learned Haste, drowsy… as for lightning, I only have these two scrolls, which obviously is not enough… now who is going to get that protection?” Jan asks, puzzled and sees that I am pointing at Jaheira in the same time as she is pointing at me.

“Ok, that settles it… Keldorn, you can use that crossbow of yours, you, Jan and Vic-” I am interrupted by Viconia.

“I will join you two upfront,” she says, “two is not enough to overwhelm them – my natural resistance to magic will protect me…”

Jan quickly reads both protection scrolls and follows it up with casting of Haste… I avoid looking at Jaheira as I know how dangerous this battle will be and I don’t have anything calming to say to her. After Jan has finished the spell we rush over the bridge towards the unsuspecting eye-tyrants.

They spot us quickly enough and soon a shower of magical rays hits us and slows us in our tracks. The rays of lightning only cause inconvenience, not pain due to the protection… however the other type of magical rays are very painful indeed, they tear up the flesh and leave bleeding cuts and very soon all three of us are covered in our own blood and weakening quickly…

Still we don’t give up and Jaheira and I are working tirelessly on the large beholder. It’s middle section has been cut open by Jaheira’s blade and the green, thick blood is spurting all over us and getting in the eyes, obstructing the vision. I have managed to slash of a couple of it’s eyestalks and my latest swing cuts a large opening in the beholders side and soon enough it falls on the ground dead.

Viconia is finishing off one of the gauths, the other is floating around in panic – Jan and Keldorn quickly dispatch it with crossbow bolts and then turn to help Vic with her victim.

Jaheira is finding it hard to stay on her feet due to the loss of blood and I feel much the same… Viconia does not look a lot better either… a rest would be in order, I think.

“Watch out!” Keldorn shrieks loudly, but I do not understand what is the reason for that. Suddenly the cavern is full of the shadowy apparitions, rushing in from an opening in the wall… Jaheira is the first in their path and she is too tired to react to Keldorn’s warning as I see the shadows knocking her down to the ground.

“Viconia!” I yell for her to take care of these undead bastards, if Jaheira dies because of her indecision, I will kill her, I swear…

This time Jan saves the day, quickly casting Resilient Sphere over the fallen form of Jaheira, saving her from certain death. Viconia finds enough strength in her to channel the power of Shar and destroy the undead assailants, Keldorn’s arrival in the frontlines spurs me on and together we destroy the last of the beasts.

“Quickly, Keldorn, dispel it…” I urge the paladin, “Viconia, prepare for healing…”

Viconia, having healed herself to the extent that she can at least move without screaming in pain, comes closer to heal me, but I push her away. Meanwhile Keldorn’s casting is successful as magical wards around Jaheira collapse and I see her lying on the ground, badly injured, but still struggling to get up. Quickly Viconia and I rush to her side and as Vic prepares to heal her, I push her down on the floor, saying, “Now, don’t resist or I will have to knock you out cold – you will be healed whether you want it or not.”

After Jaheira has been patched up, both women tend to my injuries only to discover that the number of their healing spells is not unlimited… some of the healing potions are sacrificed, but I am fully aware that continuing on would not be safe.

“We need to rest before we continue on…” I say weakly, “in fact, I think we have to change our plans… this seems to be a bit beyond us. Let us return to the upper reaches, we can rest safely in the rooms of those ex-cultists. And Viconia – your task is to come up with a tactic against this Unseeing Eye. Instruct Jaheira and Jan on what spells should be memorized while we rest.”

I am surprised to notice that neither Jaheira, nor Keldorn argues with me, I am glad that the paladin is wise enough to understand and listen into the voice of reason. Slowly, we crawl back to the upper reaches to have some well-deserved rest…