Countless stones and broken roof beams pressed down on Renato. Shadow Shield had cushioned the initial impact, but it could not bear the weight of the rubble.
Renato twisted hard, shouldering aside a stone slab before reaching out to push away a corpse.
Every movement sent more loose stones sliding down. His vision blurred, and he groped through the pitch-black darkness on instinct alone.
But at last, he broke free of the collapsed building.
Renato thrust out his left hand and hauled half his body clear. Fresh air mixed with dust flooded his lungs, setting him coughing.
Balin caught Renato by the wrist and dragged him bodily out of the rubble.
The old Dwarf had emerged before Renato. His helmet sat askew, and blood from a cut on his forehead had run down his nose, clotting dark red in his beard.
"Where's Flori?" Renato staggered to his feet, his head still spinning. "Have these Mind Flayers gone mad?"
"Forget that Duergar!" Balin roared, pointing his hammer toward the crowd gathering nearby. "Get up, human lad! We have to break through now!"
The collapsing building had not killed everyone. Besides the surviving Mind Flayers, more Duergar and Orcs were crawling out of the rubble.
The once-controlled slaves had now gone completely berserk. Confused fragments of memory and their sudden freedom had driven every Orc into a killing frenzy. They attacked anything that came near, friend or foe.
The Duergar were little better. Some had clearly lost their minds, drooling as they hurled stones at anything alive.
An Orc charged Renato with a roar, bringing a battle axe down at his head!
Sword met axe in a shower of sparks. His longsword knocked the axe aside, and Renato turned his wrist, slicing off the Orc's forearm.
The pommel strike that followed caved