|
Tarbosh and Wiquaestreal search for and track down an arcane; a magic trading blue-skinned giant. They ask to buy magical items from him, but he declines saying that if they so choose, they may bid items and fight inside a magical gem arena against creatures they feared to win the items they want; but if they fail he keeps their items that they put up for bid. So in the first such contest Tarbosh's crazed mind produces 11 black abishi and 2 crabmen for the heroes to overcome! Tarbosh bid several magical maces for a gem of insight, while Wiquaestreal ("the elf") bid a few magical long swords for a pair of winged boots.
In the battle Tarbosh was critically struck 13 separate times! He had 3 teeth knocked out and various other nasty head injuries, lowering his Charisma rapidly and making him the ugliest man in the World, there is no doubt! The elf on the other hand laid low 7 of the abishi, who now stood at 14 in number from their gating ability, to Tarbosh's meager 1 abishi kill.
The elf was nearly done in however, as the abishi swarmed him and only by jumping with his magical ring of the wall did he escape their grappling holds! From there he slew the three that had once held him and finished off four others, who had hit him with at least eight balls of fire while he struggled against overwhelming odds. He then ran in behind Tarbosh, who could not manage to land a blow on the remaining crabman, which was slowly killing him and destroyed his intelligent mace Typhus!
There the elf leap out and killed two more abishi, before Tarbosh was free enough to heal him, as he was gravely injured by the many devils. After this Tarbosh slipped and fell in his own blood, stunning himself. So left alone the elf finished off the rest of the abishi, even as the wounded began to rise again! How can they kill these foul beasts thought the two desperate heroes! Tarbosh finnally discovered and convinced the elf that they were only illusions, so they won and escaped relatively whole.
With the gem and boots won, they next foolishly tried for a deck of many things by placing nearly all their prized extra loot up for bid! They healed a bit, then back into the arena again. This time a golden wolverine-type animal struck them like lightning after Tarbosh increased his strength and the elf made a phantom blade appear connected to his sword. The little berserker thing nearly caught ahold of the elf in his first pass. In the far end a towering 20' tall great mother neogi could be seen waddling towards the heroes.
The Arumvorax clamped on the elf and nearly ripped him to shredds in a mear two beats of his heart! Only a deft hit in the back from Tarbosh and repeated, desparate sword slashes did the thing finnally die. The elf then fireballed the looming menace that set upon them now, while Tarbosh healed some of his wounds.
The two then fought bravely as baby neogi crawled out of thier mother's wounds to consume them. The elf then suffered to viscious bites to his stump, while Tarbosh was again thrown to the ground. They unloaded more magic into the mother with spells from the elf and the wand of lightning hilted mace of Tarbosh. Finally killing the mother they then fought almost to their ends against the many neogi babies around them. In the end they overcame them and gained their prize at last.
In the drawing of the cards, Tarbosh gained new insights into his goddess's will (Wisdom +2), lost some knowledge (Intelligence -1), and gained a level from his next hostile encounter if he beat his foe in single combat! The luck was truly with the elf however, as he gains experience, 2 levels for the next hostile creature beaten in single combat, which he did after having to defeat a minor death or forever be destroyed, finnaly he also gained an avoidance to any one situation in the future.
|