I was dreaming again. Sometimes I can tell right away. It makes it easier to realize it's a dream when you are staring at yourself.
I was on an empty plain surrounded by gently swaying grasses in all directions with no sign of shrubs or trees. The sun was just cresting in the early morning and the dew around my feet started to mist as the early sun burned the droplets away. I looked down at my hands, I was carrying an alchemists pewter cauldron.
As I watched the shadow cast along the inside of the cauldron shifted. I turned to face the morning sun. It was moving unnaturally fast. Bells flew by in minutes as I watched. But even as I started watching the sun slowed. Where before it was racing, now it was merely unnaturally fast. Where it was fast before, now it is it is normal speed. It is high overhead now, but as it nears noon, it slows further. The light around me shifts color. As I stare fascinated the rays coming from around the sun seem to shift. They grow shorter. They are growing shorter still. The sun is now a smooth orb, it tries to move higher. It cannot move higher. It cannot reach it's zenith. Then it starts to fall. I turn in panic and begin to run from the dying red sun. It is plunging down on me I know and if I turn to look back it will catch me. Though I run as fast as I can, I seem to move with a preternatural drag.
My limbs start to go cold; everything starts to go cold as the light from the sun begins to fade. It is dying as it crashes down. The cauldron in my hand changes, it is now a volcano, it shakes. I lose my grip, it falls to the ground so slow as I try to catch it. The light fades. The cauldron hits. The last thing I see before everything goes dark are three fish which spill out, flopping on the ground. They stare at me with blind milky white eyes...
?Joshua?, he says with a shake. ?Joshua,? he shakes me again. ?Joshua,? he says with a shake. ?Joshus,? he says, ?I heard a noise,? he continues, then he shakes me.
?WHAT YOU WANT!? I spring over the back of the sofa and away from him, and for good measure I say, ?stop shaking me, I'm fine now, just ssstop shaking me, I was having a bad dream.?
?I heard a noise. It was a big crash like something fell, it sounded li..? he was interrupted by a large crash, the sound of rubble falling, and a woman screaming. ?Yes, thats it exactly Joshua, It sounded exactly like that!?
I look around for the foot of the couch, grab my mace and head for the door, belting my sleeping gown more tightly so as not to flash the neighborhood. My head starts to pound and I have the beginnings of a headache after my rude awakening. Memory returns. Scratch that, can't blame the headache on Cirlyn.
The door ahead opens and she steps in with her black getup. ?Joshua, oh good your up. I need you to look at some powders for me, I was on the street...? She, too, was interrupted by a heavy crash. This time it was accompanied by a chorus of discordant screams.
?Oh, never mind. Her friend the Soul Warden walks up then, belting on a sword. He looks like he passed out in his armor. And he smells. I hope I don't smell that bad. Behind us Cirlyn wakes the recently resuscitated fighter.
When we reached the crowd it was apparent why they were screaming, and running away. A large red brown chitinous monster with multiple arms was tearing through the wall of a nearby warehouse.
?What the hell is that?? I said sagely.
?It's trying to get into that building.? Cirlyn told us all, showing his deep insight into the situation.
I moved towards its right side. I wanted to get a look at its face. The rest of the party moved to surround it. It was just as ugly and chitinous in the front. It had two large multifaceted eyes that made me sick to look at, mandibles in its head like a giant ant might have, and a jaggedly defined maw between the mandibles.
?Stop this, explain yourself.? I shouted at it in the case that it was intelligent and felt like talking. It ignored me and continued to tear away at the building making a sizable hole.
Shnyder loosed an arrow that struck in its back. It got his attention. He turned around throwing a lazy swipe at me with an oversize claw that I battered away with my mace. It went after Shyder, trying to rend him with those nasty pincers.
Cirlyn backed away nervously, so did our Gnomish friend, and then at once they both bolted for the crowd. Our newly brought to life fighter companion moved up then and engaged the monster with his long sword, keeping his shield up between it's claws and it's torso. It clipped him anyway and his side was crushed. I took a step backwards, called upon Vie for the power to aid my companion, and sent healing energies forth to my companion. His side was enveloped in a cool blue glow, smoothed out, and then the bleeding stopped.
Moving more easily now the fighter brought the fight to the creature. Shnyder moved to flank. The girl in black did one of those startlingly frighting moves and suddenly had a bastard sword in the things back. It bellowed, turned, and clubbed her away with a closed pincer. The Warden moved then to take her position. Using his manifested sword to bat away the things moving hands. Behind him, the fighter put all of his power into battering the things torso. Bits of chitin flew in every direction.
The monster bellowed again. It rushed the Warden knocking him to the side. Before Shnyder lost his balance he took a step back to replant his feet. He looked up at the monster, and then turned to me. ?Your healing it!? he shouted at me.
?What? No, what are you talking about?!? I shouted over the things bellow. Shnyder started towards me with long strides past the monster. He brought his soul blade up then and swiped at me. ?Stop you gods-damned traitor!?
Not expecting an attack I was slow to parry. The blade clipped my mace and then scored a long deep track across my arm.
?WTF?? I said, out of character. Then I backed off let he swing at me again. I set my shield between us then brought healing energies coursing through my arm, repairing the damage. ?What the hell is wrong with you, Shnyder, I'm not healing the thing, I'm helping kill it for Vie's sake!?
Ignoring my plea he strode forward again, taking another swipe. I battered the swipe away with my shield and then clubbed him in the right leg with my mace. He howled in pain, but stayed upright. ?I knew it, I knew you were healing it, and now you've attacked me!? His dark friend came to my aid as the fighter continued the fight unaided. The fighter brought his sword around in a devastating arc, sundering one of the pincers to the ground. But that powerful attack left his left undefended and a claw racked the muscel from his left arm.
I backed away from further from the deranged Warden and called upon vie to heal my companion. Sending more of the energy towards the fighter than before.
?He does it again!? Shnyder screamed, breaking free of his friends hold. ?I'll kill you!? He jumped me then and set that sword flashing at my side. I brought the mace up to parry but only managed to slow the racing sword. It bit into my side and my nerves were awash with pain. I was going to have to hurt him.
I brought the mace down again and caught the right side of his left knee. Again he howled. He shifted all his weight to his right leg. He moved to swing but couldn't quite make his right leg work anymore.
I backed around him to the building. The fighter now had the monster engaged in the street. I quickly clambered through the hole in the building using the wall to cover my injured side.
On comes Shnyder, his left leg dragging in the dirt. He steps through the building without seeing me and again I bash him in the left leg, throwing my mace out in a great arc. It only glanced off making a popping sound but out of nowhere the girl in black sweeps a kick at him and he falls.
He tries to stand but she grabs him around the waist, halls him to the ground, and wraps her ams and legs about him so he cannot move.
?I'll hold him, go help him.? She nods her head towards the street.
I do as the lady bids. Running out into the street I gather more healing energy and send it into the fighter just as he is clubbed again by a large claw. The fighter sends a devastating riposte at the monster and cracks one of its over sized pincers.
?City Guard! City Guard!? an orc comes up beside me.
I have just enough time to wonder whos side he is on when I see the rest of them coming towards us. In uniform. ?They are the city guard? ? I wonder aloud.
?We're the city guard, we will take care of it from here!? the nearest (half-orc?) shouts. There were five all told and they moved up with spears and short swords to surround the monster. Then as if to enunciate the effectiveness of employing city guardsmen for monster control, three turn tail and run, and the one who was shouting stops to stare stupidly at the creature.
Still, one of the guards(men?) actually does engage with the enemy and he and the fighter start to fight it back towards the warehouse.
?I'm fine now, I'm fine. Let me up. I don't. What came over me, I thought.? Shnyder is being pulled to his feet by his dark female friend. I race over to them. I cautiously approach Shnyder. When he doesn't try to murder me I heal his knee. Then I point. ?See the monster? It's the enemy. Attack the enemy. I.E. The monster.?
Shnyder just nods, then tests the knee and strides towards the battle.
With the attackers now numbering three, the monster makes a break for it and runs towards the building. It blows past me so fast I can't even get a good swing against it then it just dives into the warehouse floor. Before you could say snicker-snack the thing has tunneled out of sight and the dirt of the hole has collapsed inward.
We, all of use, move to examine the indentation that is all that is left of the collapsed tunnel. It's solid and there is no way we can dig after it. Then, another bellow of the monster outside has us clambering back through the hole in the wall.
The half-orc guardsmen is the first to reach the monster. It tunneled back up between two buildings. The party moves to engage, and I call up a Salamander to fight for us Maybe we can boil the thing like a lobster.
My summoned fiery friend appears over the creatures head. It goes for the monsters eyes but is battered away. The claw doing the battering smokes. Nice to see fire pains it. I rush over and heal my fiery friend. He has some time left with us yet. The others start mobbing the creature and the chitin flies off revealing grey flesh underneath. The elemental creature burns the meat of it as it is revealed. The fighter breaks off combat and I move up to heal him. But before I can reach him he dashes into a nearby tavern. ?What the hell, he can't be that thirsty.? I was going to follow. But after a quick look back at the monster I see Snyder, moving to flank the orc. ?The little murderous bastard,? I mutter.
I rush him and bash him to the ground with my shield. ?What the hell has gotten into you Snyder!? I scream at him. ?First me and then the guardsmen!? I yell as he scrambles back.
He looks at me with confusion in his eyes. It has to be an act. ?I don't know what you are talking about.? he shakes his head in denial.
?Lier, you have done nothing but help the thing the entire fight. Well, I'm not letting you up, stay down or I'll kill you.? I raise my mace threatingly and he scrambles back some more.
?I told you to stay down!? I swing the mace again and hit his knee once more. Oh how he howled. I summon forth negative energy. I could undo all the healing in that knee if I could just touch it. ?Stay still Shnyder, this is gonna hurt.?
But before I could lay hands on him his dark friend grabs my arm. ?He didn't do anything Joshua,? she says pleadingly.
?No. But he was going to!? I reply with some logical fallacy. Now that I think about it He lowered his weapon when he stepped behind the guardsmen. Maybe...
A bellow from the creature catches my attention. It looks confused and hurt. It backs off into an alleyway and begins to dig again. Slower this time. It has been hurt bad, that much is obvious. The half-orc guardsmen rushes it and impales it on his spear. The thing shutters in death.
Before I could decide anything else about Shnyder, with a sound of physical displacement, wizards appear. ?Who is responsible for this!? the oldest calls out. I step forward to explain. I must have done a ho-hum job of it. For though we were not all taken into custody, the fighter was apprehended for kidnapping. Something about a baby in the bar.