Whip It Good

Summary:

Gilic stooped down and lowered his gauntlet into the pool. On the surface, it appeared as a red, viscous substance. Upon taking his hand out, Gilic straightened and gazed across the chamber's full expanse. Just fifteen feet away, an island platform arose straight from the pool. Atop it, a massive iron minotaur statue, jointed at the limbs and holding a coiled whip. Taegahn squinted and noted dried blood at the whip's end. In the middle of the chamber, a stone walkway some twenty feet wide. At the far end, another large platform displaying a second minotaur statue, its whip less coiled, but similarly bloodied on the ends. To the left and right of that platform, smaller stone islands, one holding a hilt, the other a blade.

"The blood, it burns," Gilic said, holding out his smoldering glove. "And I don't like the jointed look of those statues either."

"Nor I," Taegahn replied as he stepped forward and loosed an arrow at the farthest minotaur. The minotaur didn't react as the arrow's impact echoed over the current of the blood pool.

"I think I can jump that," said Gareth. Of like mind, Queequeg motioned for Taegahn to step away and then sprinted across the foyer. The dragonborn lept across the channel of blood and onto the platform, his clawed feet scratching for purchase as his arms spun for balance. A second later, he righted himself and peered cautiously at the inanimate statue.

He looked back at the party and rumbled, "What are the chances this statue isn't going to come alive?"

"Ack, uhboot as good as your mother not walking the streets tonigh for rat blood money," quipped Gilic.

"By Bahamut's sacred hide! Halfpint, I'm going to jump back over there and dip you head first into the blood. If you come out with any hair left on that patch you call a beard, at the very least the fleas--"

The dragonborn never finished as an evistro suddenly jumped out of the blood pool and pulled him down off the platform and into the drink. As the same time, a loud winding sound could be heard from underneath, like chains on a pulley; the nearest minotaur jerked to life, its movements scripted and choppy, its whip uncoiling.

Gareth reacted instantly, taking a running jump and landing on the platform Queequeg just vacated. He brought his great axe up high and drove it hard into the statue's hide, a resounding blow that vibrated through the weapon into the fighter's feet and arms. Taegahn responded with devastating firepower, calling upon ancient boar ancestors to drive back the evistro. Cedric cast a ray of frost upon the carnage demon just before it dove back into the red murky depths. At 6' 8", Queegqueg's head emerged from the surface of the blood pool, his face grimacing with pain as he waded back to the initial foyer.

Unseen mech arcana suddenly crackled with energy as the minotaur statue roared to full animation, cracked its whip back, and unleashed a whip blow that struck everyone within 35 feet of him. Most of the party was hit and driven back, except for Gareth who managed to anchor himself to his position like a boulder against the tide. Returned to the foyer, Queequeg jumped once more across the pool, joining Gareth next to the statue. The fighter continued raining blows upon the statue. Gilic attempted a similar jump, but cannonballed spectacularly into the pool, well short of the platform. Marking Gilic's air bubbles, Orchid attempted to use Gilic's head as a stepping stone to reach the statue, but she also landed in the pool with a thick splash. Shava also attempted a jump but missed; the cleric began wading to the chamber's central walkway.

Meanwhile, Taegahn lightly jumped from the minotaur platform to the central walkway in what appeared to be a single bound. The second minotaur came to life as the ranger's foot touched the second walkway; Taegahn never seemed to stop as he unloaded on statue and evistro alike at every opportunity. Cedric cast a spell that lifted him high into the air. Upon reaching the ceiling, however, the wizard flailed about, arms and legs gyrating in a vain attempt to launch himself forward. "It seems I, uh, can float but not fly," Cedric mused, "I thought for certain a spell named 'levitate' would grant free-range flight."

Emerging from the blood pool, dripping in liquid gore, Shava sighed contemptuously at the mage. "Dammit Cedric, use the walls and ceiling to push your way across."

"Ah, capital idea!" the wizard replied. Tilting horizontally, Cedric floated as close to the ceiling as he could and grabbed for any handholds he could find as he slowly made his way across the chamber.

Taegahn, meanwhile, studied the whipping motion of the second minotaur and plotted a strategy. As the whip circled around the chamber, the ranger timed the lash's approach to him and grabbed for it. He deftly hung on as the whip continued its circular arc over the blood pool and released his grasp just over the smaller platform. Taegahn landed expertly and grabbed the hilt.

Queequeg plucked Orchid out of the pool just as Gareth fell the spinning minotaur. Shava conjured a divine hammer that rained blows upon the farthest statue as Cedric continued to float ponderously towards the platform holding the blade. Evistros continued harassing the party, attempting to pull in and submerge anyone standing next to the pool. After making his way to the central walkway, Gareth vaulted himself more than 20 feet across the pool to the opposite statue platform. His great axe poised to strike, Gareth saw he was going to fall just short of the platform. At the very last moment, he swung his axe down. Steel met stone as the blade sunk deep into the floor, anchoring Gareth enough to pull himself face-to-face with the remaining statue.

The party finished off the remaining minotaur after Cedric lowered himself down to fetch the blade. Pursued by the remaining evistros, one by one the adventurers leapfrogged across platforms or waded through blood and headed back to the entrance door.

The Victors retreated deep into the Well and broke camp. Orchid set the blade and hilt side-by-side as Queequeg took out a pair of spectacles and studiously examined the two artifacts. Shava did a double take at the warlord and said, "Dragonborn, your spectacles."

"Hmm?" Queequeg said, distracted by his study.

"They don't have lenses in them."

"That's right."

Shava glanced at the rest of the party for insight. Cedric shrugged his shoulders while Queequeg suddenly snatched the two pieces, connected the hilt to the blade at a 90 degree angle, and then twisted while pressing a hidden button at its base. The blade merged together with a blue glow that faded within a second.

Queequeg intoned, "The Blade of Baphomet. A deadly effective weapon in its own right, but forged to be wielded only by a minotaur. Any other race that tries to use it will go berserk with blood lust."

"So if we handed it to Orchid, we really wouldn't notice a difference, huh?" Gareth said.

The Victors paused for a moment and then broke out laughing in unison, their shoulders moving up and down with the force of their mirth.

The laughing continued longer than it should.

TO BE CONTINUED

Phat Lewt(z):

The Blade of Baphomet
The Mask of Baphomet

Line(s) of the Night:

"I load and cock Orchid!" - Simon, metaphorically referring to the deadly weapon that is Orchid.