Alastor Crossclaw – blogpost 7

“The Orogs are still alive.” whispers the White Mage. 

“GO?” I say intently to him.

“Yes. Go,” he says. 

I exit the tiny hut and run after the mind flayers that are trying to flee. I use misty step to get closer to them after I use a sacred flame. However, I get hit by ranged attacks from the Orogs that are still alive and hidden in a corridor on my right. I don’t turn around. I’ve set a goal: get to the mind flayers. 

In front of me, a fireball explodes, scorching the mind flayers, and even a couple of our enemies behind a big door that was ajar. 

The scorched mind flayers are deceased, and the door flies open thanks to the force of the fireball. The door causes a couple of Orogs behind the door to get hit by the heat as well. I hear Farryn yell triumphantly behind me. 

As I turn around to nod in appreciation, I feel another source of heat. A blue wall of fire is created by Mohan. I refocus on my goal and see the White Mages’ pendant fly towards the door. I want to follow it, but have to keep my distance (I don’t need my fur getting burnt) again: the pendant blasts fire into the hall with the open door. The Orogs are almost burnt to ashes, and a couple of mind flayers that hid behind them are recoiling too. 

For a second, when I look the mind flayers in the eyes, I feel a terrible dread. It almost takes possession of me – I feel my whiskers tremble, but I shake it off.

I look to Farryn for validation: “Go on?!” 

“YES!” 

I run toward the door and cast a cloud of icicles just behind the threshold, where the Orogs are standing. Then, the door slams shut. Behind me, the fire spreads. The Orogs that were behind me, and making ranged attacks are burnt to ashes. 

I cannot continue, first I have to open the door. I pounce my claw on the door and shout: “THIS DOES NOT END HERE!” 

The door doesn’t open, as I expected. 

Farryn approaches, but first loots some mind flayers and Orogs. Almost at the door, he nearly falls off of Grond but regains consciousness to prevent it. Mohan shares some Goodberries, and Farryn casts stoneshape immediately after. There is a 5-foot hole in the stone doors through which we all can see the mind flayers. 

“I’ll hold them off!” shouts Mohan, who conjures a wall of fire. The first magic I’ve seen from Mohan incorporates blue fire, but this wall also has flickering orange/red-ish colors through the blue. 

I walk to one of the Orogs and use my smite to smack it into oblivion. I hit the other one that’s standing next to it, and at the moment of impact of my Mace of Disruption, it spats into stardust.

One of the mind flayers approaches and tries to entangle my manes and face. I manage to get out of the tentacles, but I get a huge headache. I just cannot think straight, and every movement I make with my head makes me flinch. I’m stunned – I cannot do ANYTHING. The mind flayer is still in front of me, and it’s smiling ominously. Mohan interjects: he draws a blue, flaming sword and attacks. With ONE SLICE, the mind flayer is dead. Its tentacles still wrangling around, its head falls to the ground. Mohan looks at me and touches me for a second. At the place he places his hand, a light blue glow starts to spread around my fur. He cast sanctuary on me. I look around, startled, and am able to move again. 

Grond runs at a mind flayer and attacks it with a force-empowered rant, and another fireball is thrown. In the light of the fire, I see a lot of green valves with people in them in the distance. A couple of them are now broken. I can see there are PEOPLE inside the green valves. 

Then, in the middle of the cavern, I see an Extremiton, a huge Ulitharid. It’s just watching us, and says: “LEAVE”. 

It is super close to me, almost like I’m standing under it. It doesn’t feel real. Is it real? Am I still dazed or something?

“It’s an illusion!” yells the White Mage slowly.

“Let’s kill as many as possible.” says another party member. 

The wand of the Ulitharid touches the ceiling, and the two pillars on both sides of the space, which I didn’t notice before, light up. Farryn yells: “Take cover! I recognize these things!”

The colors are orange and green. The green pillar targets Mohan, and the orange one the White Mage. 

Next, Mohan dispels the Ulitharid, and it disappears: it was indeed an illusion. 

I feel dazed again. I cannot shake it off. The mind flayers have influenced my normal way of thinking somehow. I cannot move, I cannot think straight. The only thing I can do is listen, and even that hurts my brain. 

I hear heavy footsteps on the other side. “A giant with two heads, incoming!” shouts the White Mage. 

“It’s an Ettin!” he continues as he throws a fireball at it. 

The pillars light up, and both electrocute me. The AGONY. Shit man, I have to get out of here! 

With all my power, I try to get away from the pillars, but luckily Anax comes to my aid. It transports me to a free space around the corner, outside of reach for the pillars. 

I shake my head, but cannot get rid of my headache, and my fur is completely static as well now. 

In the distance, I see Farryn attack the mind flayers that were in front of him, and in front of me, the pillars activate again. I’m not in the line of fire, and I thank Selune for that because I’m very weak at the moment. However, Mohan is the target this time. I see his feathers harden with the cold damage he has to endure. 

Damn! I need to help my party! I struggle to get out of my stunned body and mental state. 

Mohan quickly says: “The pillars are destroyed. In a second, I’ll heal us all!”

I sigh in relief and feel I can move again. 

From the distance, I hear: “Two Ettins down, and two mind flayers gone.” 

And then: “Two mind flayers and big boss incoming! I need assistance!” from Farryn. 

I can walk again, and try to make a clear shot with a sacred flame on the big boss in the distance. It is an Ulitherid, the same as the illusion, but this is the real deal. It misses, unfortunately. The White Mage throws a fireball but it backfires: it bounces back into mid-air and explodes in our faces. I was just healed a BIT, but now, I can smell my fur burning. This is not good. 

We’re in the distance, unable to do anything, and we see the Ulitharid walk closer to Farryn… It’s holding his hand up, and I can spot a golden ring on its finger and it seems it’s showing it to Farryn for some reason…