Gary Gygax - Dangerous Journeys 2 - Samarkand Solution by Gary Gygax Page A
Authors: Gary Gygax
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syllables, this time a combination of heka. A shimmering hemisphere sprang up around him, and that shell drew the mists to itself and absorbed them. Shielded now by a curtain of chill water energies which both held in air and cold and kept the radiant power of the fire out, Setne stepped further into the inferno which had been the prince's personal domain.
A gigantic mass of living flames shifted, hot-violet spots fixing themselves upon the magister as if they were eyes. In fact they were eyes, and red-orange fires parted and a mouth spoke. "You come to your death, fool! Run away, little man, or I shall sear your flesh and boil your blood ere I consume you!"
"If you thought you could do that, efreet, you'd act, not boast," Inhetep shouted back. "Return now to your infernal realm, or it is I who will quench you!" Although the magister had expected to encounter some form of creature from the Spheres of Fire, this near-demoniac in its most potent form came as a surprise, but he didn't allow the monster to have an inkling of that. Even as he spoke, the ur-kheri-heb made preparations to carry out his threat.
The towering creature of hellfire form reached out to grab his antagonist, then withdrew his fiery arm with a shrieking howl as it contacted the freezing water. Its cry hurt Inhetep's ears, and the hemisphere trembled, bulged in where the efreet had struck it, then restored itself to smoothness again. It was noticeably smaller. "Son of a newt!" the fire being roared. "I'll soon have you out of that bubble and fry you slowly for your presumptuousness!"
With that, the flame-limbs struck down upon the shielding water, pounding upon it again and again. The monstrous thing howled in pain as it sought to destroy Inhetep's protection, but it was enraged and determined. Inside his watery shell, Inhetep worked desperately. He had to both maintain his defense and mount an offense against the efreet. No mere defense could prevail for long in such conditions as these. He worked with precision even as the water which protected him hissed and wavered and shrank to little more than a few inches of liquid but a foot above his sweating head. There was a sudden eruption of steam, and as vapors of superheated stuff rose round Setne, the priest-wizard called out, "Now, thing of perdition, you are doomed!"
Steam would slay Inhetep as surely as fire, but the stuff of fire and water mixed was nearly as deadly to the efreet as it was to human flesh. Magister Inhetep had managed to cloak the whole room in a curtain of billowing steam, while above them there was no longer flame-wrapped timbers but only an ever-darkening cloud such as might occur naturally in the sky and send down a torrent of rain. The elemental being of fire shrank from the billowing mass of superheated water vapors, peered up at the mass of coo! ones above, and hurled itself insanely upon the man who had wrought its demise. As it leaped to crush the shield and incinerate the man beneath, the cloud above suddenly released a downpour. The burst of drops extinguished the flames of the efreet's back even as its belly struck and demolished the protective shield which stood between it and the mortal. "DEATH!" it roared at Setne, even as it died.
Inhetep saw what was coming and sank. That is, the wizard-priest used the last of his power to alter his physical body so as to be able to pass through the marble floor and int® whatever lay below. The compression of the air in the shielding hemisphere as the efreet flattened and then destroyed that shield actually drove the magister down as a breath might propel a dart along a blowgun. Inhetep shot downward and struck another layer of stone some ten feet below. The force of the impact stunned him for a moment, but he was saved from real harm. "By Thoth's bill!" he muttered sacrilegiously. "That was too close and hot. Next time I go to see a fire, I'll be sure to carry along something to deal with elementals of that ilk."
"One must always
A gigantic mass of living flames shifted, hot-violet spots fixing themselves upon the magister as if they were eyes. In fact they were eyes, and red-orange fires parted and a mouth spoke. "You come to your death, fool! Run away, little man, or I shall sear your flesh and boil your blood ere I consume you!"
"If you thought you could do that, efreet, you'd act, not boast," Inhetep shouted back. "Return now to your infernal realm, or it is I who will quench you!" Although the magister had expected to encounter some form of creature from the Spheres of Fire, this near-demoniac in its most potent form came as a surprise, but he didn't allow the monster to have an inkling of that. Even as he spoke, the ur-kheri-heb made preparations to carry out his threat.
The towering creature of hellfire form reached out to grab his antagonist, then withdrew his fiery arm with a shrieking howl as it contacted the freezing water. Its cry hurt Inhetep's ears, and the hemisphere trembled, bulged in where the efreet had struck it, then restored itself to smoothness again. It was noticeably smaller. "Son of a newt!" the fire being roared. "I'll soon have you out of that bubble and fry you slowly for your presumptuousness!"
With that, the flame-limbs struck down upon the shielding water, pounding upon it again and again. The monstrous thing howled in pain as it sought to destroy Inhetep's protection, but it was enraged and determined. Inside his watery shell, Inhetep worked desperately. He had to both maintain his defense and mount an offense against the efreet. No mere defense could prevail for long in such conditions as these. He worked with precision even as the water which protected him hissed and wavered and shrank to little more than a few inches of liquid but a foot above his sweating head. There was a sudden eruption of steam, and as vapors of superheated stuff rose round Setne, the priest-wizard called out, "Now, thing of perdition, you are doomed!"
Steam would slay Inhetep as surely as fire, but the stuff of fire and water mixed was nearly as deadly to the efreet as it was to human flesh. Magister Inhetep had managed to cloak the whole room in a curtain of billowing steam, while above them there was no longer flame-wrapped timbers but only an ever-darkening cloud such as might occur naturally in the sky and send down a torrent of rain. The elemental being of fire shrank from the billowing mass of superheated water vapors, peered up at the mass of coo! ones above, and hurled itself insanely upon the man who had wrought its demise. As it leaped to crush the shield and incinerate the man beneath, the cloud above suddenly released a downpour. The burst of drops extinguished the flames of the efreet's back even as its belly struck and demolished the protective shield which stood between it and the mortal. "DEATH!" it roared at Setne, even as it died.
Inhetep saw what was coming and sank. That is, the wizard-priest used the last of his power to alter his physical body so as to be able to pass through the marble floor and int® whatever lay below. The compression of the air in the shielding hemisphere as the efreet flattened and then destroyed that shield actually drove the magister down as a breath might propel a dart along a blowgun. Inhetep shot downward and struck another layer of stone some ten feet below. The force of the impact stunned him for a moment, but he was saved from real harm. "By Thoth's bill!" he muttered sacrilegiously. "That was too close and hot. Next time I go to see a fire, I'll be sure to carry along something to deal with elementals of that ilk."
"One must always
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