Rush Of Blood To The Head, part 7.11.

Hi, folks! I know that I am a bit late with this, but there were more than one reason for it. I wanted to give more time for people to respond to 7.10. as I wanted to have more opinions on that leaving Nalia behind decision, but oh well. Also an idea for a short story hit me a few days back, and I spent much of the yesterday to write it down… perhaps you’ll see it soon. Also, I am not sure when you will see the 7.12. as I have to rewrite a large part of it, the part which features dear brother Sarevok.

But anyways, one dramatic battle coming up! This is what I call, going down in the hard way… Oh, and I would have loved to end the episode in the middle, but then it would have been much too short…

 

Rush Of Blood To The Head, part 7.11.

Even though we have caught Irenicus in a weak moment, that does not mean that the ensuing battle would be as easy as a walk in the park… immediately, the wizard surrounds himself with protection layers and produces many copies of himself, along with a bunch of summoned creatures. While our mages and Keldorn are busy casting various dispelling spells, Jaheira and I engage the summoned efreet, while Viconia fights an exact replica of Jon Irenicus, trying to prevent it from casting even more spells.

The removing of Irenicus’s magical protections is a long and tedious process, requiring multiple castings from both Imoen and Edwin, and Irenicus himself is well aware that he needs to prevent them from doing their job. Quickly, the madman casts a spell and summons a small, dark cloud over the heads of our mages and Imoen notices the possible danger and breaks off her spell to roll out of the way… Edwin is not so lucky, however. Too absorbed in the casting process, he does not notice the ice shards falling around and directly on him, until a few sharp icicles pierce his shoulders and he collapses with a loud curse, followed by quiet whimpers as our best mage finds himself badly wounded and taken out of the battle already.

Jaheira and I have some problems in disposing of the efreet as it is protected by a mantle of burning fire and each time we move closer to pounce upon him, we receive burns on our hands in response. The efreet falls eventually, and as we look for our next target, we see that Viconia, who has been unsuccessfully trying to get in a blow past Irenicus’s protections, disappears from our view in thin air, as Irenicus completes yet another spell… and the very same sight forces Imoen to break off yet another spell as she looks with disbelief at the spot where Viconia stood a second ago.

Since Irenicus is still untouchable behind his protections, we rush to help out Keldorn, who is being badly pounded by a couple of huge skeletal warriors and just to make the whole situation even more interesting, Irenicus casts a demon summoning spell and an angry glabrezu charges towards us immediately. Too busy with destroying the last of the skeletons, Keldorn does not notice the tanar’ri approaching him from behind and it grabs him in its four powerful hands and lifts the unsuspecting paladin off the ground. Jaheira quickly darts forwards and pierces her scimitar into the demon’s guts and I follow her immediately, but it is too late for Keldorn as the demon falls a moment after it has tossed the paladin against the tree trunk with an amazing force…

I turn to see that yet another Imoen’s spell goes off, and this one simultaneously with Irenicus’s… While Imoen has opted for a counter-spell and with satisfaction I see that the last barrier around Irenicus falls, the former elf has chosen a powerful offensive spell… I see a ring of fire expanding around him and soon I feel it washing over us, making Jaheira and myself scream in pain. As I look at Imoen, I do not see her standing no more, but I hear loud groans from someone, lying on the ground… though I am unsure who it is, it could be either - Keldorn, Immy or Edwin…

While the two of us stand as if stunned, recovering from the effects of the painful spell, Viconia suddenly reappears out of nowhere and yells for us to snap out of it and finish the now unprotected mage once and for all… but Irenicus is already chanting and his spell is finished a moment before the three of us reach him. A wilting spell… draining the moisture from our bodies, making me go blind from pain, but if Irenicus had thought that it would stop me from piercing his chest with my sword, then he has miscalculated.

All the strength has completely left me and dragged on only by my will, I continue the motion forwards and the Soul Reaver plunges deep into the hated mages flesh… with a look of disbelief he stares at the blade impaled in his chest. The realization that he has lost this battle slowly sinks in and he slides on the ground, his hands grasping the blade of my sword in a desperate effort to pull it out, but instead it only cuts deeper into his flesh and more blood spills down on the tree branch.

“I… you k-killed me,” he exhales his last words, “T-this is not… this… is not…”

And then he lays still and finally I succumb to the horrible pain stinging my body and collapse on the ground… slowly I crawl over to where Jaheira lays, motionless. I slowly turn her over so that she lies on her back and to my relief she opens her eyes, but the relief does not last long as I note how hard it takes for her to speak the few words…

“Your… soul…” she whispers, wincing in pain.

“I… I don’t know, love… I don’t feel any different…” I sigh, leaning to caress her cheek.

“Damn… damn him… what about…” she stops, obviously the pain is too strong and I hectically try to find a healing potion to relieve her suffering, “The others?” she finally manages.

“I don’t know…” I reply, but after a moment I conclude that the groans of my injured friends have now subsided and there is only silence… “I think they are all… dead…”

“You live… that is… most important…” she says, even though it is taking her a lot of effort, “I… I am dying. You… must live on…”

“NO! Jaheira… Jaheira, you are not dying… here, open your mouth… drink this…” I hand her a healing potion, but suddenly a powerful shiver runs through my body, forcing me to drop the potion and the valuable liquid pours out of the bottle and soaks into the tree bark…

“Theo?” she whispers weakly and I see tears appearing in the corners of her eyes, “are… are you…”

No. I am not all right… another shiver runs through my body, this one accompanied by a sharp pain, causing me to scream out aloud… I feel my body becoming limp and not responding to my orders… and then I lose my consciousness.

 

I… I live? No… I died, didn’t I? So… this must be afterlife, I muse, having regained my senses, but too afraid to open my eyes to find out where I have landed… Obviously, in some depressing place… I doubt that I lived my life honourably enough to have earned a nice and enjoyable afterlife…

However, my curiosity soon overcomes the fear and slowly I open my eyes to scan the surroundings… the ground I lay on is as if made from a solid black stone, and I see that to my left there is a huge wall from the same black stone. In the middle of the wall is a huge gate, a couple of gigantic demonic heads made from stone on each side of the door. As I turn my head to the other side, I see no wall surrounding the right side of this space… only impenetrable mist.

I take a few, cautious steps forward to explore the area around me… and immediately make a breathtaking discovery, as I see… Jaheira? She is in the process of slowly rising on her feet and as she shakes her head, trying to come to terms with the surroundings, our eyes meet suddenly.

“Ja… Jaheira? Is… is that you?” I stammer in surprise, “but… no, this can’t be… I… I died… this is not real, some demon must be toying with me.”

“I assure you, I am quite real,” she speaks in that beautiful accent of hers, immediately dispersing me of all my doubts, “Your soul, Theodur… have you regained it?”

“I… I don’t think so,” I sigh, before reaching out and pulling her closer and much to my relief she indeed is real, “and I have no idea where and why we have ended up…”

“Then… it is not finished, is it? You… we both died… this is death itself… but why did I came with you? I felt as if I was pulled when you collapsed beside me… and I guess it was your strange power, calling me to follow,” she speaks calmly, resting her head on my shoulder.

“Do you… do you think there is a way out? A chance? Perhaps… perhaps I, we are here because I have not claimed my soul back? Another confrontation?” I muse, slowly cradling her in my arms.

“This is an odd realm… and what you say makes sense. Yes, I think there will be more challenges for us to overcome,” she speaks before disengaging from my grasp and clasping her hands around my face, her palms warm against my cheeks. “So be it,” she says grimly, “we stand together until the end.”

“Of course we will, Jaheira… look, even death can’t tear us apart,” I smile wearily, “but come, let us look around for our companions… perhaps they have ended up here as well…”

Jaheira takes my hand as we cautiously walk around the dark realm, looking for any signs of life and just as I start to lose any hope, I see another figure emerging from the mist… Viconia.

“So I am not alone here, I see,” she sounds pleased, “I knew that I died, only to wake up beside the paladin… and I immediately thought – crap, this must be Hell…”

“You saw Keldorn?” I ask her and she turns around to lead us to the paladin, who is still sitting on the ground, pensive and contemplative. Much to my delight, I see another two figures reappearing beside us and I am quick to hug my little sister even before Viconia has noticed her presence.

“Heya, folks!” she sounds cheerful despite the grim surroundings, “Eddie and I went to explore that strange gate…”

“And to discover that your skills in lock picking are absolutely inadequate,” Edwin adds.

“Well, it could have been due to the fact that the door had no lock to pick, Eddie dear,” Imoen chuckles, “and I don’t think that your spell worked much better, since it was obvious that the gate is warded against such crude incantations.”

Edwin only grumbles in response as we start a debate on how to proceed and much to my surprise everyone seems to agree with my version that we have all ended in the weird realm, simply due to the fact that I have not yet reclaimed my soul. That would also mean that if I manage to do that, perhaps that is a way for us to return to the world of mortals… though, perhaps we chose to believe it simply because we want to. In any case, it does seem that our deaths at the Tree of Life have not been final and there is yet a slim chance that the sad event can be reversed…

“So… now that we think we know why we are here… how do we go on about it?” I ask timidly, hoping that nobody was waiting for any practical suggestions from me.

“Heh, dunno, but I’d say we act like when in any other dungeon,” Imoen raises her cheerful voice, “we EXPLORE it!”

[quote] Hi, folks! I know that I am a bit late with this, but there were more than one reason for it. I wanted to give more time for people to respond to 7.10. as I wanted to have more opinions on that leaving Nalia behind decision, but oh well. Also an idea for a short story hit me a few days back, and I spent much of the yesterday to write it down… perhaps you’ll see it soon. Also, I am not sure when you will see the 7.12. as I have to rewrite a large part of it, the part which features dear brother Sarevok. [/quote] Sorry I have been so far behind on commenting it isn’t even funny. In a couple days my schedual clears and I can tackle both writing and commenting again. BTW: seemed a shame to drag Nalia along just to kick her out at the pivotal battle.

[quote] Even though we have caught Irenicus in a weak moment, that does not mean that the ensuing battle would be as easy as a walk in the park… immediately, the wizard surrounds himself with protection layers and produces many copies of himself, along with a bunch of summoned creatures. While our mages and Keldorn are busy casting various dispelling spells, Jaheira and I engage the summoned efreet, while Viconia fights an exact replica of Jon Irenicus, trying to prevent it from casting even more spells. [/quote] the direct approach to fighting Irenicus. Brave but foolhardy.

[quote] The removing of Irenicus’s magical protections is a long and tedious process, requiring multiple castings from both Imoen and Edwin, and Irenicus himself is well aware that he needs to prevent them from doing their job. Quickly, the madman casts a spell and summons a small, dark cloud over the heads of our mages and Imoen notices the possible danger and breaks off her spell to roll out of the way… Edwin is not so lucky, however. Too absorbed in the casting process, he does not notice the ice shards falling around and directly on him, until a few sharp icicles pierce his shoulders and he collapses with a loud curse, followed by quiet whimpers as our best mage finds himself badly wounded and taken out of the battle already. [quote] See Nalia would have been handy about now.

[quote] Jaheira and I have some problems in disposing of the efreet as it is protected by a mantle of burning fire and each time we move closer to pounce upon him, we receive burns on our hands in response. The efreet falls eventually, and as we look for our next target, we see that Viconia, who has been unsuccessfully trying to get in a blow past Irenicus’s protections, disappears from our view in thin air, as Irenicus completes yet another spell… and the very same sight forces Imoen to break off yet another spell as she looks with disbelief at the spot where Viconia stood a second ago. [/quote] I hate those spells

[quote] Since Irenicus is still untouchable behind his protections, we rush to help out Keldorn, who is being badly pounded by a couple of huge skeletal warriors and just to make the whole situation even more interesting, Irenicus casts a demon summoning spell and an angry glabrezu charges towards us immediately. Too busy with destroying the last of the skeletons, Keldorn does not notice the tanar’ri approaching him from behind and it grabs him in its four powerful hands and lifts the unsuspecting paladin off the ground. Jaheira quickly darts forwards and pierces her scimitar into the demon’s guts and I follow her immediately, but it is too late for Keldorn as the demon falls a moment after it has tossed the paladin against the tree trunk with an amazing force… [/quote] boy you are being rough on your guys.

[quote] While the two of us stand as if stunned, recovering from the effects of the painful spell, Viconia suddenly reappears out of nowhere and yells for us to snap out of it and finish the now unprotected mage once and for all… but Irenicus is already chanting and his spell is finished a moment before the three of us reach him. A wilting spell… draining the moisture from our bodies, making me go blind from pain, but if Irenicus had thought that it would stop me from piercing his chest with my sword, then he has miscalculated. [/quote] I took a lesson from the many mages I had fought before and usually I summon everything I possibly can to soak up the damage Irenicus puts out.

[quote] All the strength has completely left me and dragged on only by my will, I continue the motion forwards and the Soul Reaver plunges deep into the hated mages flesh… with a look of disbelief he stares at the blade impaled in his chest. The realization that he has lost this battle slowly sinks in and he slides on the ground, his hands grasping the blade of my sword in a desperate effort to pull it out, but instead it only cuts deeper into his flesh and more blood spills down on the tree branch. [/quote] well it is a given that Theo is the one to kill Irenicus.

[quote] “I… you k-killed me,” he exhales his last words, “T-this is not… this… is not…” [/quote] poor looser

[quote] “Damn… damn him… what about…” she stops, obviously the pain is too strong and I hectically try to find a healing potion to relieve her suffering, “The others?” she finally manages.

“I don’t know…” I reply, but after a moment I conclude that the groans of my injured friends have now subsided and there is only silence… “I think they are all… dead…” [/quote] or on their way to hell….not much difference really.

[quote] I… I live? No… I died, didn’t I? So… this must be afterlife, I muse, having regained my senses, but too afraid to open my eyes to find out where I have landed… Obviously, in some depressing place… I doubt that I lived my life honourably enough to have earned a nice and enjoyable afterlife… [/quote] and then there is the whole Bhaal essence thing.

[quote] “I assure you, I am quite real,” she speaks in that beautiful accent of hers, immediately dispersing me of all my doubts, “Your soul, Theodur… have you regained it?”

“I… I don’t think so,” I sigh, before reaching out and pulling her closer and much to my relief she indeed is real, “and I have no idea where and why we have ended up…” [/quote] oh I bet you have some clue.

[quote] “This is an odd realm… and what you say makes sense. Yes, I think there will be more challenges for us to overcome,” [/quote] there always are.

[quote] “So I am not alone here, I see,” she sounds pleased, “I knew that I died, only to wake up beside the paladin… and I immediately thought – crap, this must be Hell…” [/quote] First I am sure Keldorn thought exactly the same thing and second where did Vic expect to end up when she died?

[quote] “Heh, dunno, but I’d say we act like when in any other dungeon,” Imoen raises her cheerful voice, “we EXPLORE it!” [/quote] I’m sure someone will come along to explain things real soon.

Great chapter as always.

Even though we have caught Irenicus in a weak moment, that does not mean that the ensuing battle would be as easy as a walk in the park… immediately, the wizard surrounds himself with protection layers and produces many copies of himself, along with a bunch of summoned creatures. While our mages and Keldorn are busy casting various dispelling spells, Jaheira and I engage the summoned efreet, while Viconia fights an exact replica of Jon Irenicus, trying to prevent it from casting even more spells.

I love this fight. I once managed to make Jon almost run out of spells - I was sitting there laughing at him while he cast flame arrows and cone of colds at me.

Jaheira and I have some problems in disposing of the efreet as it is protected by a mantle of burning fire and each time we move closer to pounce upon him, we receive burns on our hands in response. The efreet falls eventually, and as we look for our next target, we see that Viconia, who has been unsuccessfully trying to get in a blow past Irenicus’s protections, disappears from our view in thin air, as Irenicus completes yet another spell… and the very same sight forces Imoen to break off yet another spell as she looks with disbelief at the spot where Viconia stood a second ago.

Don't worry Immy - she'll be back.

Since Irenicus is still untouchable behind his protections, we rush to help out Keldorn, who is being badly pounded by a couple of huge skeletal warriors and just to make the whole situation even more interesting, Irenicus casts a demon summoning spell and an angry glabrezu charges towards us immediately. Too busy with destroying the last of the skeletons, Keldorn does not notice the tanar’ri approaching him from behind and it grabs him in its four powerful hands and lifts the unsuspecting paladin off the ground. Jaheira quickly darts forwards and pierces her scimitar into the demon’s guts and I follow her immediately, but it is too late for Keldorn as the demon falls a moment after it has tossed the paladin against the tree trunk with an amazing force…

Uh oh...this fight doesn't seem to be going too well.

All the strength has completely left me and dragged on only by my will, I continue the motion forwards and the Soul Reaver plunges deep into the hated mages flesh… with a look of disbelief he stares at the blade impaled in his chest. The realization that he has lost this battle slowly sinks in and he slides on the ground, his hands grasping the blade of my sword in a desperate effort to pull it out, but instead it only cuts deeper into his flesh and more blood spills down on the tree branch.

Whoo! Go Theo!

“I don’t know…” I reply, but after a moment I conclude that the groans of my injured friends have now subsided and there is only silence… “I think they are all… dead…”

This bit was really sad, even though I knew they were going to be ok. You did a good job of getting Theo's emotions across here.

“You live… that is… most important…” she says, even though it is taking her a lot of effort, “I… I am dying. You… must live on…”

Aww...

No. I am not all right… another shiver runs through my body, this one accompanied by a sharp pain, causing me to scream out aloud… I feel my body becoming limp and not responding to my orders… and then I lose my consciousness.

I really liked this part - and it would have been a nice cliffhanger to end it here, but I guess you're right about it being too short for a whole chapter.

I… I live? No… I died, didn’t I? So… this must be afterlife, I muse, having regained my senses, but too afraid to open my eyes to find out where I have landed… Obviously, in some depressing place… I doubt that I lived my life honourably enough to have earned a nice and enjoyable afterlife…

LOL! Aw, you're not as bad as all that, Theo. There's plenty worse, anyway.

“I… I don’t think so,” I sigh, before reaching out and pulling her closer and much to my relief she indeed is real, “and I have no idea where and why we have ended up…”

But at least they're together. That's probably what matters most to both of them.

“This is an odd realm… and what you say makes sense. Yes, I think there will be more challenges for us to overcome,” she speaks before disengaging from my grasp and clasping her hands around my face, her palms warm against my cheeks. “So be it,” she says grimly, “we stand together until the end.”

Aww...I liked this dialogue.

“So I am not alone here, I see,” she sounds pleased, “I knew that I died, only to wake up beside the paladin… and I immediately thought – crap, this must be Hell…”

LOL!

“And to discover that your skills in lock picking are absolutely inadequate,” Edwin adds.

Heh, can't get out of the tests that easily.

Edwin only grumbles in response as we start a debate on how to proceed and much to my surprise everyone seems to agree with my version that we have all ended in the weird realm, simply due to the fact that I have not yet reclaimed my soul. That would also mean that if I manage to do that, perhaps that is a way for us to return to the world of mortals… though, perhaps we chose to believe it simply because we want to. In any case, it does seem that our deaths at the Tree of Life have not been final and there is yet a slim chance that the sad event can be reversed…

I sure hope so!

“Heh, dunno, but I’d say we act like when in any other dungeon,” Imoen raises her cheerful voice, “we EXPLORE it!”

Heh, she knows the drill.

Great chapter.

I'm looking forward to seeing how Theo approaches the tests - and to seeing him meet Sarry. Will he be travelling with them in ToB?

Hi, folks! I know that I am a bit late with this, but there were more than one reason for it. I wanted to give more time for people to respond to 7.10. as I wanted to have more opinions on that leaving Nalia behind decision, but oh well. Also an idea for a short story hit me a few days back, and I spent much of the yesterday to write it down… perhaps you’ll see it soon. Also, I am not sure when you will see the 7.12. as I have to rewrite a large part of it, the part which features dear brother Sarevok.

Sorry I have been so far behind on commenting it isn’t even funny. In a couple days my schedual clears and I can tackle both writing and commenting again.

Oh, that's just fine. A large part of 7.10. had a in-game dialogue which was transferred quite directly into the story - so there was nothing that much to comment on in that chapter, I think.

BTW: seemed a shame to drag Nalia along just to kick her out at the pivotal battle.

Yeah, perhaps... but as I was writing the fight with Nalia participating, Irenicus always wanted to use Disintegration on her - I could not convince him not to! GRRR! So I chose to leave Nalia behind.

Even though we have caught Irenicus in a weak moment, that does not mean that the ensuing battle would be as easy as a walk in the park… immediately, the wizard surrounds himself with protection layers and produces many copies of himself, along with a bunch of summoned creatures. While our mages and Keldorn are busy casting various dispelling spells, Jaheira and I engage the summoned efreet, while Viconia fights an exact replica of Jon Irenicus, trying to prevent it from casting even more spells.

the direct approach to fighting Irenicus. Brave but foolhardy.

I imagine that the surroundings did not give them a lot of chance to maneuver.

The removing of Irenicus’s magical protections is a long and tedious process, requiring multiple castings from both Imoen and Edwin, and Irenicus himself is well aware that he needs to prevent them from doing their job. Quickly, the madman casts a spell and summons a small, dark cloud over the heads of our mages and Imoen notices the possible danger and breaks off her spell to roll out of the way… Edwin is not so lucky, however. Too absorbed in the casting process, he does not notice the ice shards falling around and directly on him, until a few sharp icicles pierce his shoulders and he collapses with a loud curse, followed by quiet whimpers as our best mage finds himself badly wounded and taken out of the battle already.

See Nalia would have been handy about now.

As a meat shield, maybe - I imagine her having only one level7 spell at her disposal and that is mass invisibility. So nothing much to counter Irenicus with.

Jaheira and I have some problems in disposing of the efreet as it is protected by a mantle of burning fire and each time we move closer to pounce upon him, we receive burns on our hands in response. The efreet falls eventually, and as we look for our next target, we see that Viconia, who has been unsuccessfully trying to get in a blow past Irenicus’s protections, disappears from our view in thin air, as Irenicus completes yet another spell… and the very same sight forces Imoen to break off yet another spell as she looks with disbelief at the spot where Viconia stood a second ago.

I hate those spells

well, at least she's safe in the maze.

Since Irenicus is still untouchable behind his protections, we rush to help out Keldorn, who is being badly pounded by a couple of huge skeletal warriors and just to make the whole situation even more interesting, Irenicus casts a demon summoning spell and an angry glabrezu charges towards us immediately. Too busy with destroying the last of the skeletons, Keldorn does not notice the tanar’ri approaching him from behind and it grabs him in its four powerful hands and lifts the unsuspecting paladin off the ground. Jaheira quickly darts forwards and pierces her scimitar into the demon’s guts and I follow her immediately, but it is too late for Keldorn as the demon falls a moment after it has tossed the paladin against the tree trunk with an amazing force…

boy you are being rough on your guys.

I think Slide and Silrana did nice final fights with Irenicus, but I thought that Jon was not portrayed as powerful as I imagine him being. I just wanted him to hurt the group, and good.

While the two of us stand as if stunned, recovering from the effects of the painful spell, Viconia suddenly reappears out of nowhere and yells for us to snap out of it and finish the now unprotected mage once and for all… but Irenicus is already chanting and his spell is finished a moment before the three of us reach him. A wilting spell… draining the moisture from our bodies, making me go blind from pain, but if Irenicus had thought that it would stop me from piercing his chest with my sword, then he has miscalculated.

I took a lesson from the many mages I had fought before and usually I summon everything I possibly can to soak up the damage Irenicus puts out.

And run with the rest of the group away, hiding on the tree branch while he exhausts all of his repertoire. Yeah... doesn't sound that well for a story, does it?

All the strength has completely left me and dragged on only by my will, I continue the motion forwards and the Soul Reaver plunges deep into the hated mages flesh… with a look of disbelief he stares at the blade impaled in his chest. The realization that he has lost this battle slowly sinks in and he slides on the ground, his hands grasping the blade of my sword in a desperate effort to pull it out, but instead it only cuts deeper into his flesh and more blood spills down on the tree branch.

well it is a given that Theo is the one to kill Irenicus.

Conveniantly, the others are all dead and Jaheira is about to exhale her final breath...

“I… you k-killed me,” he exhales his last words, “T-this is not… this… is not…”

poor looser

I bet this wasn't how he imagined things. But he gets a re-match!

“I don’t know…” I reply, but after a moment I conclude that the groans of my injured friends have now subsided and there is only silence… “I think they are all… dead…”

or on their way to hell….not much difference really.

Well, Theo wouldn't think that Immy and Keldorn are on the way to Hell, though...

I… I live? No… I died, didn’t I? So… this must be afterlife, I muse, having regained my senses, but too afraid to open my eyes to find out where I have landed… Obviously, in some depressing place… I doubt that I lived my life honourably enough to have earned a nice and enjoyable afterlife…

and then there is the whole Bhaal essence thing.

Yep, but Theo doesn't know what happens to the souls of Bhaalspawn after they die. Yet.

“I… I don’t think so,” I sigh, before reaching out and pulling her closer and much to my relief she indeed is real, “and I have no idea where and why we have ended up…”

oh I bet you have some clue.

He just does not want to do any guessing.

“This is an odd realm… and what you say makes sense. Yes, I think there will be more challenges for us to overcome,”

there always are.

They are pretty used to it, too.

“So I am not alone here, I see,” she sounds pleased, “I knew that I died, only to wake up beside the paladin… and I immediately thought – crap, this must be Hell…”

First I am sure Keldorn thought exactly the same thing and second where did Vic expect to end up when she died?

Hehe... well, Viconia would expect to find herself in the realm of Shar, after her death... it probably is very dark there, and I bet there are no paladins around. Maybe some fallen ones.

“Heh, dunno, but I’d say we act like when in any other dungeon,” Imoen raises her cheerful voice, “we EXPLORE it!”

I’m sure someone will come along to explain things real soon.

A friendly demon, perhaps?

Great chapter as always.

Thank you for the comments!

Even though we have caught Irenicus in a weak moment, that does not mean that the ensuing battle would be as easy as a walk in the park… immediately, the wizard surrounds himself with protection layers and produces many copies of himself, along with a bunch of summoned creatures. While our mages and Keldorn are busy casting various dispelling spells, Jaheira and I engage the summoned efreet, while Viconia fights an exact replica of Jon Irenicus, trying to prevent it from casting even more spells.

I love this fight. I once managed to make Jon almost run out of spells - I was sitting there laughing at him while he cast flame arrows and cone of colds at me.

Ouch, but those really hurt too! Heh, I remember trying to tackle him directly, not running away&hiding... geez, I've rarely seen my party decimated so quickly as that! Though, I've taken him out in a direct fight as well - I just ran away and spent a few rounds in raising up all possible protections (F-M-T + Jaheira, my all time most powerful party)

Jaheira and I have some problems in disposing of the efreet as it is protected by a mantle of burning fire and each time we move closer to pounce upon him, we receive burns on our hands in response. The efreet falls eventually, and as we look for our next target, we see that Viconia, who has been unsuccessfully trying to get in a blow past Irenicus’s protections, disappears from our view in thin air, as Irenicus completes yet another spell… and the very same sight forces Imoen to break off yet another spell as she looks with disbelief at the spot where Viconia stood a second ago.

Don't worry Immy - she'll be back.

Yep. And with Vic's INT score, she'll find the way out pretty quickly. (Geez, I had to bargain a lot with Jon, he insisted on casting Imprisonment on Vic!)

Since Irenicus is still untouchable behind his protections, we rush to help out Keldorn, who is being badly pounded by a couple of huge skeletal warriors and just to make the whole situation even more interesting, Irenicus casts a demon summoning spell and an angry glabrezu charges towards us immediately. Too busy with destroying the last of the skeletons, Keldorn does not notice the tanar’ri approaching him from behind and it grabs him in its four powerful hands and lifts the unsuspecting paladin off the ground. Jaheira quickly darts forwards and pierces her scimitar into the demon’s guts and I follow her immediately, but it is too late for Keldorn as the demon falls a moment after it has tossed the paladin against the tree trunk with an amazing force…

Uh oh...this fight doesn't seem to be going too well.

Nope, I'm doing it the hard way. I remember hearing the NPC reactions in hell, and they all said about dying at the Tree - even though I kind of remebered them all being at full health after Irenicus had died!

All the strength has completely left me and dragged on only by my will, I continue the motion forwards and the Soul Reaver plunges deep into the hated mages flesh… with a look of disbelief he stares at the blade impaled in his chest. The realization that he has lost this battle slowly sinks in and he slides on the ground, his hands grasping the blade of my sword in a desperate effort to pull it out, but instead it only cuts deeper into his flesh and more blood spills down on the tree branch.

Whoo! Go Theo!

Yeehaa!!!

“I don’t know…” I reply, but after a moment I conclude that the groans of my injured friends have now subsided and there is only silence… “I think they are all… dead…”

This bit was really sad, even though I knew they were going to be ok. You did a good job of getting Theo's emotions across here.

Thanks! Y'know, I could never kill anyone of them off for good - so I had to use this chance...

“You live… that is… most important…” she says, even though it is taking her a lot of effort, “I… I am dying. You… must live on…”

Aww...

Some pretty awful moments there...

No. I am not all right… another shiver runs through my body, this one accompanied by a sharp pain, causing me to scream out aloud… I feel my body becoming limp and not responding to my orders… and then I lose my consciousness.

I really liked this part - and it would have been a nice cliffhanger to end it here, but I guess you're right about it being too short for a whole chapter.

Thanks, and yes - I could not draw the fight out any longer without it becoming boring. I thought it was ok in length, quick and effective.

I… I live? No… I died, didn’t I? So… this must be afterlife, I muse, having regained my senses, but too afraid to open my eyes to find out where I have landed… Obviously, in some depressing place… I doubt that I lived my life honourably enough to have earned a nice and enjoyable afterlife…

LOL! Aw, you're not as bad as all that, Theo. There's plenty worse, anyway.

Well, he has been improving as of late, I would dare to say...

“I… I don’t think so,” I sigh, before reaching out and pulling her closer and much to my relief she indeed is real, “and I have no idea where and why we have ended up…”

But at least they're together. That's probably what matters most to both of them.

Of course!

“This is an odd realm… and what you say makes sense. Yes, I think there will be more challenges for us to overcome,” she speaks before disengaging from my grasp and clasping her hands around my face, her palms warm against my cheeks. “So be it,” she says grimly, “we stand together until the end.”

Aww...I liked this dialogue.

Thanks! I just had to use those last lines of Jaheira's game dialogue. It captures so much of her essence.

“So I am not alone here, I see,” she sounds pleased, “I knew that I died, only to wake up beside the paladin… and I immediately thought – crap, this must be Hell…”

LOL!

I'm quite fond of this one!

“And to discover that your skills in lock picking are absolutely inadequate,” Edwin adds.

Heh, can't get out of the tests that easily.

Nope, that wouldn't be fun!

Edwin only grumbles in response as we start a debate on how to proceed and much to my surprise everyone seems to agree with my version that we have all ended in the weird realm, simply due to the fact that I have not yet reclaimed my soul. That would also mean that if I manage to do that, perhaps that is a way for us to return to the world of mortals… though, perhaps we chose to believe it simply because we want to. In any case, it does seem that our deaths at the Tree of Life have not been final and there is yet a slim chance that the sad event can be reversed…

I sure hope so!

Well, I would have to be REALLY evil in order to do something that bad to them. But since I'm just fluffy evil...

“Heh, dunno, but I’d say we act like when in any other dungeon,” Imoen raises her cheerful voice, “we EXPLORE it!”

Heh, she knows the drill.

She has the markings of a seasoned adventurer.

Great chapter.

Thank you!

I'm looking forward to seeing how Theo approaches the tests - and to seeing him meet Sarry.

That's all in the next episode! I'll be doing the tests in a manner of a recap and have just finished re-writing the dialogue with Sarry. Needs some polishing, but should be done soon!

Will he be travelling with them in ToB?

Oh, I think so! It would not be a real ToB story, if Sarry was not in it - after all, he was pretty much the only (very) interesting feature of the expansion. But the ToB is... very far off. A couple of peaceful months coming up first after the SoA part.

But anyways, one dramatic battle coming up! This is what I call, going down in the hard way… Oh, and I would have loved to end the episode in the middle, but then it would have been much too short…

Tsk, you being evil to your characters again?

The removing of Irenicus’s magical protections is a long and tedious process, requiring multiple castings from both Imoen and Edwin, and Irenicus himself is well aware that he needs to prevent them from doing their job. Quickly, the madman casts a spell and summons a small, dark cloud over the heads of our mages and Imoen notices the possible danger and breaks off her spell to roll out of the way… Edwin is not so lucky, however. Too absorbed in the casting process, he does not notice the ice shards falling around and directly on him, until a few sharp icicles pierce his shoulders and he collapses with a loud curse, followed by quiet whimpers as our best mage finds himself badly wounded and taken out of the battle already.

Aww, poor Eddie. That was nasty.

Since Irenicus is still untouchable behind his protections, we rush to help out Keldorn, who is being badly pounded by a couple of huge skeletal warriors and just to make the whole situation even more interesting, Irenicus casts a demon summoning spell and an angry glabrezu charges towards us immediately. Too busy with destroying the last of the skeletons, Keldorn does not notice the tanar’ri approaching him from behind and it grabs him in its four powerful hands and lifts the unsuspecting paladin off the ground. Jaheira quickly darts forwards and pierces her scimitar into the demon’s guts and I follow her immediately, but it is too late for Keldorn as the demon falls a moment after it has tossed the paladin against the tree trunk with an amazing force…

Ouch and double ouch! Hmm, kind of lucky Eddie is out of action or he might have tried to make the glabrezu into his own personal pet.

I turn to see that yet another Imoen’s spell goes off, and this one simultaneously with Irenicus’s… While Imoen has opted for a counter-spell and with satisfaction I see that the last barrier around Irenicus falls, the former elf has chosen a powerful offensive spell… I see a ring of fire expanding around him and soon I feel it washing over us, making Jaheira and myself scream in pain. As I look at Imoen, I do not see her standing no more, but I hear loud groans from someone, lying on the ground… though I am unsure who it is, it could be either - Keldorn, Immy or Edwin…

This group is really getting beat up.

All the strength has completely left me and dragged on only by my will, I continue the motion forwards and the Soul Reaver plunges deep into the hated mages flesh… with a look of disbelief he stares at the blade impaled in his chest. The realization that he has lost this battle slowly sinks in and he slides on the ground, his hands grasping the blade of my sword in a desperate effort to pull it out, but instead it only cuts deeper into his flesh and more blood spills down on the tree branch.

“I… you k-killed me,” he exhales his last words, “T-this is not… this… is not…”

The end? Unfortunately for Theo, he's right.

“I don’t know…” I reply, but after a moment I conclude that the groans of my injured friends have now subsided and there is only silence… “I think they are all… dead…”

“You live… that is… most important…” she says, even though it is taking her a lot of effort, “I… I am dying. You… must live on…”

“NO! Jaheira… Jaheira, you are not dying… here, open your mouth… drink this…” I hand her a healing potion, but suddenly a powerful shiver runs through my body, forcing me to drop the potion and the valuable liquid pours out of the bottle and soaks into the tree bark…

Aww, poor Theo. This is like his worst nightmare come true.

I… I live? No… I died, didn’t I? So… this must be afterlife, I muse, having regained my senses, but too afraid to open my eyes to find out where I have landed… Obviously, in some depressing place… I doubt that I lived my life honourably enough to have earned a nice and enjoyable afterlife…

*whistles innnocently*

“Ja… Jaheira? Is… is that you?” I stammer in surprise, “but… no, this can’t be… I… I died… this is not real, some demon must be toying with me.”

Er, close but no cigar.

“So I am not alone here, I see,” she sounds pleased, “I knew that I died, only to wake up beside the paladin… and I immediately thought – crap, this must be Hell…”

LOL. now that's funny. I really enjoyed this line.

“Heya, folks!” she sounds cheerful despite the grim surroundings, “Eddie and I went to explore that strange gate…”

“And to discover that your skills in lock picking are absolutely inadequate,” Edwin adds.

Hm, getting a compliment from Eddie is like pulling teeth, isn't it?

“Heh, dunno, but I’d say we act like when in any other dungeon,” Imoen raises her cheerful voice, “we EXPLORE it!”

Good idea.

Hi, folks! I know that I am a bit late with this, but there were more than one reason for it. I wanted to give more time for people to respond to 7.10. as I wanted to have more opinions on that leaving Nalia behind decision, but oh well. Also an idea for a short story hit me a few days back, and I spent much of the yesterday to write it down… perhaps you’ll see it soon. Also, I am not sure when you will see the 7.12. as I have to rewrite a large part of it, the part which features dear brother Sarevok.

But anyways, one dramatic battle coming up! This is what I call, going down in the hard way… Oh, and I would have loved to end the episode in the middle, but then it would have been much too short…

Sorry for being a little late with commenting...the Hordes of the Underdark have kept me busy.

Even though we have caught Irenicus in a weak moment, that does not mean that the ensuing battle would be as easy as a walk in the park… immediately, the wizard surrounds himself with protection layers and produces many copies of himself, along with a bunch of summoned creatures. While our mages and Keldorn are busy casting various dispelling spells, Jaheira and I engage the summoned efreet, while Viconia fights an exact replica of Jon Irenicus, trying to prevent it from casting even more spells.

I keep forgetting what a pain this battle is when you have the level cap in place, and can't summon up a few planetars to help you.

The removing of Irenicus’s magical protections is a long and tedious process, requiring multiple castings from both Imoen and Edwin, and Irenicus himself is well aware that he needs to prevent them from doing their job. Quickly, the madman casts a spell and summons a small, dark cloud over the heads of our mages and Imoen notices the possible danger and breaks off her spell to roll out of the way… Edwin is not so lucky, however. Too absorbed in the casting process, he does not notice the ice shards falling around and directly on him, until a few sharp icicles pierce his shoulders and he collapses with a loud curse, followed by quiet whimpers as our best mage finds himself badly wounded and taken out of the battle already.

Eddie!

Jaheira and I have some problems in disposing of the efreet as it is protected by a mantle of burning fire and each time we move closer to pounce upon him, we receive burns on our hands in response. The efreet falls eventually, and as we look for our next target, we see that Viconia, who has been unsuccessfully trying to get in a blow past Irenicus’s protections, disappears from our view in thin air, as Irenicus completes yet another spell… and the very same sight forces Imoen to break off yet another spell as she looks with disbelief at the spot where Viconia stood a second ago.

I like your descriptions of the battle, and the spell effects. The wounds feel realistic, under the circumstances.

Since Irenicus is still untouchable behind his protections, we rush to help out Keldorn, who is being badly pounded by a couple of huge skeletal warriors and just to make the whole situation even more interesting, Irenicus casts a demon summoning spell and an angry glabrezu charges towards us immediately. Too busy with destroying the last of the skeletons, Keldorn does not notice the tanar’ri approaching him from behind and it grabs him in its four powerful hands and lifts the unsuspecting paladin off the ground. Jaheira quickly darts forwards and pierces her scimitar into the demon’s guts and I follow her immediately, but it is too late for Keldorn as the demon falls a moment after it has tossed the paladin against the tree trunk with an amazing force…

Ouch! I think Keldy almost became Paladin Pudding!

All the strength has completely left me and dragged on only by my will, I continue the motion forwards and the Soul Reaver plunges deep into the hated mages flesh… with a look of disbelief he stares at the blade impaled in his chest. The realization that he has lost this battle slowly sinks in and he slides on the ground, his hands grasping the blade of my sword in a desperate effort to pull it out, but instead it only cuts deeper into his flesh and more blood spills down on the tree branch.

Rini: Go, Theo!

“I… you k-killed me,” he exhales his last words, “T-this is not… this… is not…”

I think his voice acting was great here...he sounded shocked for real.

And then he lays still and finally I succumb to the horrible pain stinging my body and collapse on the ground… slowly I crawl over to where Jaheira lays, motionless. I slowly turn her over so that she lies on her back and to my relief she opens her eyes, but the relief does not last long as I note how hard it takes for her to speak the few words…

“Your… soul…” she whispers, wincing in pain.

“I… I don’t know, love… I don’t feel any different…” I sigh, leaning to caress her cheek.

I… I live? No… I died, didn’t I? So… this must be afterlife, I muse, having regained my senses, but too afraid to open my eyes to find out where I have landed… Obviously, in some depressing place… I doubt that I lived my life honourably enough to have earned a nice and enjoyable afterlife…

Wouldn't have mattered...all the children of Bhaal wind up in that dreary place.

“So I am not alone here, I see,” she sounds pleased, “I knew that I died, only to wake up beside the paladin… and I immediately thought – crap, this must be Hell…”

LOL!

“And to discover that your skills in lock picking are absolutely inadequate,” Edwin adds.

“Well, it could have been due to the fact that the door had no lock to pick, Eddie dear,” Imoen chuckles, “and I don’t think that your spell worked much better, since it was obvious that the gate is warded against such crude incantations.”

Cute!

“Heh, dunno, but I’d say we act like when in any other dungeon,” Imoen raises her cheerful voice, “we EXPLORE it!”

And won't *that* be fun...

But anyways, one dramatic battle coming up! This is what I call, going down in the hard way… Oh, and I would have loved to end the episode in the middle, but then it would have been much too short…

Tsk, you being evil to your characters again?

Who, me? Awww... how can you say that!

The removing of Irenicus’s magical protections is a long and tedious process, requiring multiple castings from both Imoen and Edwin, and Irenicus himself is well aware that he needs to prevent them from doing their job. Quickly, the madman casts a spell and summons a small, dark cloud over the heads of our mages and Imoen notices the possible danger and breaks off her spell to roll out of the way… Edwin is not so lucky, however. Too absorbed in the casting process, he does not notice the ice shards falling around and directly on him, until a few sharp icicles pierce his shoulders and he collapses with a loud curse, followed by quiet whimpers as our best mage finds himself badly wounded and taken out of the battle already.

Aww, poor Eddie. That was nasty.

I had to take out Edwin quickly - otherwise the group would have done much better in the fight and it probably wouldn't have been possible for Jon to kill them off.

Since Irenicus is still untouchable behind his protections, we rush to help out Keldorn, who is being badly pounded by a couple of huge skeletal warriors and just to make the whole situation even more interesting, Irenicus casts a demon summoning spell and an angry glabrezu charges towards us immediately. Too busy with destroying the last of the skeletons, Keldorn does not notice the tanar’ri approaching him from behind and it grabs him in its four powerful hands and lifts the unsuspecting paladin off the ground. Jaheira quickly darts forwards and pierces her scimitar into the demon’s guts and I follow her immediately, but it is too late for Keldorn as the demon falls a moment after it has tossed the paladin against the tree trunk with an amazing force…

Ouch and double ouch! Hmm, kind of lucky Eddie is out of action or he might have tried to make the glabrezu into his own personal pet.

I don't know, he can summon better pets than that!

I turn to see that yet another Imoen’s spell goes off, and this one simultaneously with Irenicus’s… While Imoen has opted for a counter-spell and with satisfaction I see that the last barrier around Irenicus falls, the former elf has chosen a powerful offensive spell… I see a ring of fire expanding around him and soon I feel it washing over us, making Jaheira and myself scream in pain. As I look at Imoen, I do not see her standing no more, but I hear loud groans from someone, lying on the ground… though I am unsure who it is, it could be either - Keldorn, Immy or Edwin…

This group is really getting beat up.

I really wanted Jon to kick them around a bit!

“I… you k-killed me,” he exhales his last words, “T-this is not… this… is not…”

The end? Unfortunately for Theo, he's right.

Yeah, now they have to do it all again.

“NO! Jaheira… Jaheira, you are not dying… here, open your mouth… drink this…” I hand her a healing potion, but suddenly a powerful shiver runs through my body, forcing me to drop the potion and the valuable liquid pours out of the bottle and soaks into the tree bark…

Aww, poor Theo. This is like his worst nightmare come true.

Really bad, bad moments here.

I… I live? No… I died, didn’t I? So… this must be afterlife, I muse, having regained my senses, but too afraid to open my eyes to find out where I have landed… Obviously, in some depressing place… I doubt that I lived my life honourably enough to have earned a nice and enjoyable afterlife…

*whistles innnocently*

He's been improving and I think will continue to do so

“Ja… Jaheira? Is… is that you?” I stammer in surprise, “but… no, this can’t be… I… I died… this is not real, some demon must be toying with me.”

Er, close but no cigar.

Nope, it's the real thing.

“So I am not alone here, I see,” she sounds pleased, “I knew that I died, only to wake up beside the paladin… and I immediately thought – crap, this must be Hell…”

LOL. now that's funny. I really enjoyed this line.

Thanks! I'm very fond of it myself.

“And to discover that your skills in lock picking are absolutely inadequate,” Edwin adds.

Hm, getting a compliment from Eddie is like pulling teeth, isn't it?

Equally painful, but much more difficult.

“Heh, dunno, but I’d say we act like when in any other dungeon,” Imoen raises her cheerful voice, “we EXPLORE it!”

Good idea.

Tune in tomorrow to see what they will find! (as if you didn't knew it already )

Thanks for commenting!

But anyways, one dramatic battle coming up! This is what I call, going down in the hard way… Oh, and I would have loved to end the episode in the middle, but then it would have been much too short…

Sorry for being a little late with commenting...the Hordes of the Underdark have kept me busy.

No prob about the commenting... but it would be a real shame if it would make you forget to post the new chapter of Cards...

Even though we have caught Irenicus in a weak moment, that does not mean that the ensuing battle would be as easy as a walk in the park… immediately, the wizard surrounds himself with protection layers and produces many copies of himself, along with a bunch of summoned creatures. While our mages and Keldorn are busy casting various dispelling spells, Jaheira and I engage the summoned efreet, while Viconia fights an exact replica of Jon Irenicus, trying to prevent it from casting even more spells.

I keep forgetting what a pain this battle is when you have the level cap in place, and can't summon up a few planetars to help you.

It's been so long since I last played without ToB installed... all I remember is that indeed was a lot of pain

The removing of Irenicus’s magical protections is a long and tedious process, requiring multiple castings from both Imoen and Edwin, and Irenicus himself is well aware that he needs to prevent them from doing their job. Quickly, the madman casts a spell and summons a small, dark cloud over the heads of our mages and Imoen notices the possible danger and breaks off her spell to roll out of the way… Edwin is not so lucky, however. Too absorbed in the casting process, he does not notice the ice shards falling around and directly on him, until a few sharp icicles pierce his shoulders and he collapses with a loud curse, followed by quiet whimpers as our best mage finds himself badly wounded and taken out of the battle already.

Eddie!

Afraid that Eddie's reflexes sucked a bit... but he'll be alright!

Jaheira and I have some problems in disposing of the efreet as it is protected by a mantle of burning fire and each time we move closer to pounce upon him, we receive burns on our hands in response. The efreet falls eventually, and as we look for our next target, we see that Viconia, who has been unsuccessfully trying to get in a blow past Irenicus’s protections, disappears from our view in thin air, as Irenicus completes yet another spell… and the very same sight forces Imoen to break off yet another spell as she looks with disbelief at the spot where Viconia stood a second ago.

I like your descriptions of the battle, and the spell effects. The wounds feel realistic, under the circumstances.

Thanks! I tried to make it that way, without going too much into the details

Since Irenicus is still untouchable behind his protections, we rush to help out Keldorn, who is being badly pounded by a couple of huge skeletal warriors and just to make the whole situation even more interesting, Irenicus casts a demon summoning spell and an angry glabrezu charges towards us immediately. Too busy with destroying the last of the skeletons, Keldorn does not notice the tanar’ri approaching him from behind and it grabs him in its four powerful hands and lifts the unsuspecting paladin off the ground. Jaheira quickly darts forwards and pierces her scimitar into the demon’s guts and I follow her immediately, but it is too late for Keldorn as the demon falls a moment after it has tossed the paladin against the tree trunk with an amazing force…

Ouch! I think Keldy almost became Paladin Pudding!

Hehe... yeah, the party is being really spanked!

All the strength has completely left me and dragged on only by my will, I continue the motion forwards and the Soul Reaver plunges deep into the hated mages flesh… with a look of disbelief he stares at the blade impaled in his chest. The realization that he has lost this battle slowly sinks in and he slides on the ground, his hands grasping the blade of my sword in a desperate effort to pull it out, but instead it only cuts deeper into his flesh and more blood spills down on the tree branch.

Rini: Go, Theo!

Theo's busy dying right now, so can't answer for himself, but he thanks Rini for the support.

“I… you k-killed me,” he exhales his last words, “T-this is not… this… is not…”

I think his voice acting was great here...he sounded shocked for real.

yeah, I know... I think he never even considered a chance that he might fail.

“Your… soul…” she whispers, wincing in pain.

“I… I don’t know, love… I don’t feel any different…” I sigh, leaning to caress her cheek.

I know... that was pretty cruel...

I… I live? No… I died, didn’t I? So… this must be afterlife, I muse, having regained my senses, but too afraid to open my eyes to find out where I have landed… Obviously, in some depressing place… I doubt that I lived my life honourably enough to have earned a nice and enjoyable afterlife…

Wouldn't have mattered...all the children of Bhaal wind up in that dreary place.

He'll find that out too...

“So I am not alone here, I see,” she sounds pleased, “I knew that I died, only to wake up beside the paladin… and I immediately thought – crap, this must be Hell…”

LOL!

I was obviously inspired here!

“And to discover that your skills in lock picking are absolutely inadequate,” Edwin adds.

“Well, it could have been due to the fact that the door had no lock to pick, Eddie dear,” Imoen chuckles, “and I don’t think that your spell worked much better, since it was obvious that the gate is warded against such crude incantations.”

Cute!

They sure are...

“Heh, dunno, but I’d say we act like when in any other dungeon,” Imoen raises her cheerful voice, “we EXPLORE it!”

And won't *that* be fun...

Being lectured by annoying demons? Yippee. I'm so excited.

Mmmmm... visceral...

Yeah, really, the party's fairly powerful by the time they get to the Tree of Life, but seriously, they should be almost outclassed even so. After all the build-up and everything else, Irenicus shapes up to be such a powerful villain that if the group manages to get away without serious, life-threatening injuries, and maybe even a couple of actual casualties or two, it almost cheapens him as a character.

It almost seems as if this battle just -requires- that someone be killed, quickly, suddenly, and irrevocably... like the whole idea of Nalia catching a Disintegration spell. I mean, sure, I understand not wanting to do that to a character (I'm fairly sure that I'd have a hard time with it), but this kind of scene just begs for that sort of thing.

As in "Look, someone is just plain gone..." How senseless, how brutal, how... perfect for the scene. Right? Right?

Well, even if you don't run with that angle, that's one thing nice about this particular part: the elves of Suldanesselar raise some, and even if they don't get the chance to, all of the party members end up in that Abyssal pocket or whatever, and so even if they got taken out up above, it's nothing permanent... but since that's the case, though, it just seems to me that someone really -needs- to get nailed in the above-ground battle. I don't know... but I do know I'm rambling. Sorry.

In short, I guess:

Vicious fight sequence. I like. In some ways, I'd have preferred seing even more grievous injury and various flirtations with death, but still, good sequence.

Yeah, really, the party's fairly powerful by the time they get to the Tree of Life, but seriously, they should be almost outclassed even so. After all the build-up and everything else, Irenicus shapes up to be such a powerful villain that if the group manages to get away without serious, life-threatening injuries, and maybe even a couple of actual casualties or two, it almost cheapens him as a character.

Exactly, hence he gets to hurt them alot in this piece.

It almost seems as if this battle just -requires- that someone be killed, quickly, suddenly, and irrevocably... like the whole idea of Nalia catching a Disintegration spell. I mean, sure, I understand not wanting to do that to a character (I'm fairly sure that I'd have a hard time with it), but this kind of scene just begs for that sort of thing.

I see where you're coming from, and I almost did it - but in the end there were two main reasons why I left Nalia alive. First, while I don't like much the in-game Nalia, I am quite fond of my own version and I simply did not want to kill her and second, I think that Theo has enough blood and death on his hands and one more death of a companion would just make it terribly sour victory. and that contradicts a bit with what I plan.

As in "Look, someone is just plain gone..." How senseless, how brutal, how... perfect for the scene. Right? Right?

Well, even if you don't run with that angle, that's one thing nice about this particular part: the elves of Suldanesselar raise some, and even if they don't get the chance to, all of the party members end up in that Abyssal pocket or whatever, and so even if they got taken out up above, it's nothing permanent... but since that's the case, though, it just seems to me that someone really -needs- to get nailed in the above-ground battle. I don't know... but I do know I'm rambling. Sorry.

Heh, no problem... I think I could have arranged that a huge army of elves goes down first and Irenicus slaughters them all and then party arrives in a bloody scene of carnage. Alas... a permanent character death was not to be.

In short, I guess:

Vicious fight sequence. I like. In some ways, I'd have preferred seing even more grievous injury and various flirtations with death, but still, good sequence.

I'm very touchy on the subject of mutilating the characters in any way, so the injuries are more general and in most cases do not leave permanent scars. Not terribly realistic, but I don't care, I want my heroes to look good!

Thanks for commenting and I'm glad that you liked it despite the quirks!

The removing of Irenicus’s magical protections is a long and tedious process, requiring multiple castings from both Imoen and Edwin, and Irenicus himself is well aware that he needs to prevent them from doing their job. Quickly, the madman casts a spell and summons a small, dark cloud over the heads of our mages and Imoen notices the possible danger and breaks off her spell to roll out of the way… Edwin is not so lucky, however. Too absorbed in the casting process, he does not notice the ice shards falling around and directly on him, until a few sharp icicles pierce his shoulders and he collapses with a loud curse, followed by quiet whimpers as our best mage finds himself badly wounded and taken out of the battle already.

Boom! Nice battle-scene.

Jaheira and I have some problems in disposing of the efreet as it is protected by a mantle of burning fire and each time we move closer to pounce upon him, we receive burns on our hands in response. The efreet falls eventually, and as we look for our next target, we see that Viconia, who has been unsuccessfully trying to get in a blow past Irenicus’s protections, disappears from our view in thin air, as Irenicus completes yet another spell… and the very same sight forces Imoen to break off yet another spell as she looks with disbelief at the spot where Viconia stood a second ago.

More good battle-stuff! You kicked it up another notch! BAM! (Hold off on the spice-weasel. )

“I… you k-killed me,” he exhales his last words, “T-this is not… this… is not…”

Yes it is.

“Ja… Jaheira? Is… is that you?” I stammer in surprise, “but… no, this can’t be… I… I died… this is not real, some demon must be toying with me.”

“I assure you, I am quite real,” she speaks in that beautiful accent of hers, immediately dispersing me of all my doubts, “Your soul, Theodur… have you regained it?”

So, Jaheira's in hell... I bet she's pretty pissed off.

“So I am not alone here, I see,” she sounds pleased, “I knew that I died, only to wake up beside the paladin… and I immediately thought – crap, this must be Hell…”

ROTFL!

“Well, it could have been due to the fact that the door had no lock to pick, Eddie dear,” Imoen chuckles, “and I don’t think that your spell worked much better, since it was obvious that the gate is warded against such crude incantations.”

Now I bet Eddie will be mad.

“Heh, dunno, but I’d say we act like when in any other dungeon,” Imoen raises her cheerful voice, “we EXPLORE it!”

Woohoo! Great stuff,
---Weyoun

The removing of Irenicus’s magical protections is a long and tedious process, requiring multiple castings from both Imoen and Edwin, and Irenicus himself is well aware that he needs to prevent them from doing their job. Quickly, the madman casts a spell and summons a small, dark cloud over the heads of our mages and Imoen notices the possible danger and breaks off her spell to roll out of the way… Edwin is not so lucky, however. Too absorbed in the casting process, he does not notice the ice shards falling around and directly on him, until a few sharp icicles pierce his shoulders and he collapses with a loud curse, followed by quiet whimpers as our best mage finds himself badly wounded and taken out of the battle already.

Boom! Nice battle-scene.

Thanks!

Jaheira and I have some problems in disposing of the efreet as it is protected by a mantle of burning fire and each time we move closer to pounce upon him, we receive burns on our hands in response. The efreet falls eventually, and as we look for our next target, we see that Viconia, who has been unsuccessfully trying to get in a blow past Irenicus’s protections, disappears from our view in thin air, as Irenicus completes yet another spell… and the very same sight forces Imoen to break off yet another spell as she looks with disbelief at the spot where Viconia stood a second ago.

More good battle-stuff! You kicked it up another notch! BAM! (Hold off on the spice-weasel. )

Hehe! Jon wanted to go with a bit of fireworks!

“I… you k-killed me,” he exhales his last words, “T-this is not… this… is not…”

Yes it is.

Muhahah!

“I assure you, I am quite real,” she speaks in that beautiful accent of hers, immediately dispersing me of all my doubts, “Your soul, Theodur… have you regained it?”

So, Jaheira's in hell... I bet she's pretty pissed off.

Reckon she thinks it... unnatural?

“So I am not alone here, I see,” she sounds pleased, “I knew that I died, only to wake up beside the paladin… and I immediately thought – crap, this must be Hell…”

ROTFL!

One of my best, if I dare say so myself.

“Well, it could have been due to the fact that the door had no lock to pick, Eddie dear,” Imoen chuckles, “and I don’t think that your spell worked much better, since it was obvious that the gate is warded against such crude incantations.”

Now I bet Eddie will be mad.

Yeah, Irenicus will feel world of hurt for this!

“Heh, dunno, but I’d say we act like when in any other dungeon,” Imoen raises her cheerful voice, “we EXPLORE it!”

Woohoo! Great stuff,
---Weyoun

Thanks! And thanks for commenting!