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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Shemeska" data-source="post: 4016359" data-attributes="member: 11697">They don't fit into that camp either, just as much as they don't conform as devils. They don't destroy to destroy, nor do they tempt to tempt, or control for the sake of control. They cause agony. Destruction can be a tool to that end, but it in and of itself is pointless. They're elementals of blind misery and raw malice wrapped in the multicolored cloth of the various shades of human suffering.And because I'm feeling wordy tonight:Everything had come in a blur of darkness and flame, curses spit in a tongue that burned the ears and blurred the vision with each uttered syllable, and in the end the mortal paladin’s house and family lay torn apart, ripped limb from limb, partially devoured, or incinerated. There had been no time to flee. Most of the dead never realized what was happening before their spirits were ripped free from the anchor of the flesh and devoured by a single, solitary fiend from the darkest pits of the netherworld.    Apteris Ib Shaelloth inhaled, letting the smoky curls of burning wood and burning flesh lick at his nose before being siphoned into his lungs where they mixed to his infernal delight like the bouquet of a wine to a picky connoisseur of fine spirits.    Lord Marcus Artellion, paladin of Torm and general of the armies of Cormyr lay at the fiend’s feet, pinned to the floor by his own sword which neatly punctured his thigh and dove deep into the stone below. The paladin’s face was stoic, as much as was possible with the bodies of his wife and three children laying just out of reach or pinned to the walls with their own extracted and fractured long bones. Everyone was dead except for the lord of the house, and the fiend seemed to be waiting to butcher him last.    “Do what you must fiend.” Marcus said, snarling the words and holding back the tears of a broken man.    “I can, I have, and I will.” The fiend said calmly, now licking at the air with its elongated jackal’s tongue. Its eyes were still closed and it seemed preoccupied with taking in the whole of its actions like an artist, only vaguely aware –or caring- of the paladin skewered and helpless at its feet.    “The gods will destroy you and your kind for this sin.”    “I’m sure that they would,” The ‘loth answered with a thick sense of contempt. “If only they were capable of it of course. Or maybe they don’t care about one or two ants beings roasted under the sun; one or the other.”    The jackal-headed fiend turned and looked at his last victim, stepping closer and kneeling down to look him eye to eye.    “Enjoy my death.” Marcus spat defiantly. “But you will not shake my faith in the end, even if you have killed everything I loved. Enjoy yourself but it will be hollow.”“Of course I’d enjoy it.” The fiend replied, leaning in so close that Marcus could smell the paradoxical combination of brimstone, perfume, and rotting flesh upon its breath.Marcus waited for it to end. He waited for immolation, claws ripping open his chest to grasp at his still beating heart, or even the beast’s teeth at his throat ready to siphon off his blood, spurt by arterial spurt.Marcus waited but nothing happened.“Hmmph.” The fiend snorted contemptuously. Marcus inhaled and shuddered as he heard the fiend’s lips separate and felt the acid spittle dribble down upon his cheek. But the end did not come, and the fiend was smirking rather than preparing to gorge itself.“Why are you waiting hellspawn?” Marcus asked, opening his eyes and gritting his teeth.The fiend was sitting down, legs crossed and apparently relaxed. The fiend’s silk robes and manicured hands were still spattered in the blood of his wife and children, but the creature had an almost pleasant look upon its face as it locked eyes with him.“Of course I’d enjoy killing you.” It replied. “I quite enjoyed butchering your family, and I even admit to having applied a rather loose reading of the terms of the contract that bade me lay low your house in order to extend the killing to more than your immediate family. Their blood is still fresh on my tongue, and a certain urge exists to continue that slaughter with you and simply be done with my obligations in order to return to other pursuits.”“Then kill me.” Marcus said. “Everything I loved is gone. Do your worst and be done with it.”The fiend leaned in and replied with a smile on its lips.“Death would be a transient pain for you mortal.” Apteris Ib Shaelloth explained. “One brief flicker of emotion, agony, spilt blood and perhaps your soul slipping down my gullet like a still squirming infant… and then it would be over. Indeed I would enjoy your death on some level, and the taste of your soul would be a particular delight in its own way: greasy and chewy as I digested its metaphysical gristle.”The fiend paused, licked its lips and smiled even wider.“But your death is predicated upon one simple notion: the assumption that you matter and that I care.”    Apteris stood and brushed the dust from the knees of his robe, fastidious about the presence of the smallest speck of dirt, but absolutely uncaring about the Rorschach patterns in pooled, smeared crimson.“As much as I might enjoy it in some fashion, I have absolutely no intention of killing you.” The fiend’s words were cold, but the despondent chill that pulsed through the paladin was even colder. “If you’re so intent on suicide, I’ve conveniently given you a sword through your left leg, so I suppose you should thank me for providing you with that little bit of grace.”    “What?”    “I’m not going to kill you.” The yugoloth replied with a sneer. “But I will take my leave of you now, and I’ll leave you with your family, now that I’m done with them. Do as you will little man.”    The paladin had no words as the fiend opened a slender rip in the fabric of space and prepared to step through. His heart lurched and the foundation of his faith shuddered and cracked.“Your ultimate fate doesn’t concern me you see.” The fiend said as he stepped through the gate. “Your suffering holds no meaning mortal. But you shall suffer nonetheless.”</blockquote>

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