02 Artifact of Evil by Gygax Gary

Author:Gygax, Gary [Gary, Gygax,]
Format: epub
Published: 2010-04-10T11:13:52.823000+00:00

All the while, Gord had been reciting the near unpronounceable words of the banishment spell. His eyes burned, and his tonguefelt as if it were possessed by a serpent. Beads of sweat sprang from his forehead and ran into his eyes while his hands shook and waterseemed to fill his knees. He invoked the names of the deities Celestian and Fharlanghn, and Rao from dimly remembered prayers ofchildhood, as the text demanded that beings of power be called upon. Gord tried to shout forth the spell, but his mouth was dry and hisvoice cracked, and the words seemed to be mere croakings and guttural, meaningless mumblings to his straining ears.

"This takes an eternity. You are too late!" one part of the young thief s mind babbled. Somehow he ignored the thought andread the scroll to its finish. The conclusion nearly gagged him, his throat was so raw, and the words brought agony to Gord's whole being.

"Ehlohum, XetorMudeelsa, Adonai . . . Rexfelis!" Gord shouted the conclusion, adding the name of the Cat Lord for goodmeasure, for it seemed that one had certainly aided him in his quest.

A colorless sheet of nothingness descended before Gord's eyes. His mind closed upon itself and went blank.

A terrible wail spread outward from Nerull. The daemon beast took up the sound, and it became a groaning bellow that echoedand rebounded upon hill and plain, over meadow and marsh, piercing woodland and valley for a league - and was even faintly heard inKrebalsthorp a score of miles away. The earth was blasted from the spot as thunder boomed and lightning beat a frenzied tattooroundabout, while tornadic winds howled and roared so that no vegetation within a mile stood whole and green when their work wasfinished. Rocks split and smoke shot from great fissures. Flames sprang from the very air to whirl and dance and consume, but even theseravening tongues were whipped and shredded to nothingness by the fury of the whirlwinds. There was a clap of sound as if iron had beenslammed upon iron by two angry giants...

...And then, there was nothing save the scoured, ruined land.

Chapter 17

The lord of pain danced in glee through the great halls of his palace in Dorakaa. Those who served Iuz hid from his sight, lesthe suddenly change his mood and punish those who viewed his gloating cavort. Iuz laughed and jeered and pranced, knowing the fearthese actions evoked in his minions, and the feeling doubled his joy.

"Fonkin, frightface, foul boy! You are naught but My own root!" he called, mimicking children's rhymes as he pranced in stepto his own ditty. After a time, though, Iuz tired of his vaunting. It was gladsome to his vile heart, but enough! There was much yet to do.

Iuz sent forth a thought: "Attend Me instantly!" Then he sprawled his corpulent bulk upon his chair of bones and skulls andawaited the coming of those who served him.

"Lord of Ancient Evil, your servants attend their Master," said a woman of indeterminate years who wore vestments of rustred trimmed in black.

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