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Message: <blockquote data-quote="LordVyreth" data-source="post: 2691062" data-attributes="member: 9626">The Final Countdown: ...3, 2, 1Even though the bomb the party had to protect now was without its most stalwart defender, the party still had to worry more about the more immediate attackers.  Tiana tumbled behind the remaining undead, the surviving Charnel Hound, to strike at its vulnerable spiritual cores while Tonaca fired at the monstrosity using his divine magic.  However, Tal was in a far less secure position against his attacker.  He was no fighter, and the mezzoloth was enraged and eager to settle the score with the party to make up for its past defeat.  Fortunately, assistance came in the form of Bath, who was as eager to fight against fiends as always.  Tal quickly backed away while looking for new opponents.  Once he remembered what the Arcanosheen was and represented, his objective was clear.  “Violet, guide me!” he yelled while he summoned his most powerful magic to use against the unseen attacker.    Meanwhile, Robin was briefly at a loss for an opponent, but it didn’t take long for that dilemma to solve itself.  Molidmare the nighthag saw that the hapless ranger was alone, exposed, and damaged extensively already, and she smiled grimly.  “You were there!” she snarled as she leapt at her longtime foe with blade and magic at her call.    Despite this, the tide was beginning to turn.  Bath was hewing into the Yugoloth with predictably effective results, and Tal was successfully disintegrating massive holes in the sheen’s torso.  However, Affliction was unconcerned, nor did he intervene in these battles.  Instead, he closed on Danae while another strange device emerged from his shapeshifting body.  Danae’s confidence at the defenses of her new golem form quickly vanished as Affliction effortlessly fired a series of four flaming meteoric spheres at her.  All struck her easily and for maximum effect, nearly killing the unfortunate wizard in one attack!  However, though she could barely remain conscious, Danae was still more than capable of retribution.  She took the form of the largest dragon she could and, while reveling in the newfound health the dragon’s mighty form gave her, she breathed a blast of pure force at their strange enemy.  The blast caught Affliction by surprised, and it appeared that it obliterated him completely!    A cautiously optimistic Danae wondered out loud, “Did it kill him?”    However, the sharp-eye Tiana shook her head.  “No, there’s…something there.  It’s like a swarm of insects, but much tinier.”  She looked to Robin for confirmation, and in between arrows, he nodded grimly.    Before the party could react, the swarm managed to escape through a crack in the floor.  It was just as well, because most of the party was far more concerned with Affliction’s servants.  The Charnel Hound was finally dispatched by Tiana, and Bath had similar success in finally destroying the hated mezzoloth.  Just as the bomb’s timer reached 30, Tal brought down his opponent as well with one final volley of magical missiles.  Was the fight to destroy the moon truly almost over?    Sadly, mere moments later, the next stage of Affliction’s plan began.  Out of tunnels located on the roof, four more fiendish enemies entered the conflict.  All of them were Swift Prides about the size of the one that helped guard the foyer of Legion’s lair, but these were much better prepared.  Each one silently began a magical spell in quick succession, but the four spells were directed not at the party, but at the prismatic sphere protecting the bomb.  First, a cone of cold struck the sphere, shattering its red layer.  It was followed with a gust of wind, a green disintegrating ray, and a spell that forced an opening in almost any surface.  The attacks were perfectly designed to destroy the orange, yellow, and green layers of the sphere, leaving it with only three layers left!    It was clear what Afflication’s forces were planning, and the party did what they could to stop it.  While Tonaca healed Danae and Robin’s many wounds, Bath stepped in to intercede on Robin’s behalf in his fight against Molidmare.  This freed the ranger up to lead the attack against the Swift Prides.  A half dozen arrows flew at the nearest Pride in a matter of seconds, followed immediately by magic from Tal and Danae (who was able to return to her sphere when Affliction’s wall disappeared when he did.)  Even Tiana flew up to the nearest of the bat-like fiends.  However, the four attackers combined could only bring down one of the bats, which was just one too few.  The three surviving bats ignored their compatriot’s death and their more direct enemies and simply continued their assault on the sphere.  A magic missile volley, followed by a spell simulating the light of day and a simple Dispel Magic, destroyed the sphere utterly!    Only eighteen seconds were left before the bomb was ready to detonate, but the final stage of Affliction’s was ready to begin.  First, holes suddenly appeared in the wall next to the bomb as more allies of Affliction joined the battle.  These appeared to be mere cultists, and it was likely that none of them could do a thing to Danae, let alone disarm the bomb with her there.  However, they had a less direct role in this final plan.  The first one was seemingly responsible for the creation of the passwall spell the cultists used to the enter the room, and a second was cut down by Danae when it tried to close with he bomb, but the third survived long enough to cast a single spell: anti-magic field.  Suddenly, Danae was forced back into her inherent form and all of her magical protections were stripped away!  At the same time, Affliction teleported inside the effect of the field and was seemingly unaffected by the lack of magic.  “Let’s see how strong you are without your anachronisms!” he boldly told the party as he strode towards the bomb.    It was immediately obvious to party what must be done.  Even if it means staying until the bomb was about to detonate, they had to keep Affliction from the bomb using whatever it took.  Danae, lacking both the power of her spells and the ability to shapechange into a more effective attacker, simply blocked the way towards the bomb with her body.  At the same time, Bath, who was just about to deal the killing blow to Molidmare, turned and charged the strange and evil enemy leader.  Molidmare realized that any role she had in this fight was over and was about to escape from the fight for a third time when four arrows suddenly pierced her torso.  Dying, she turned to the source of the arrows to see a grim Robin.  “Time for you to join your sister,” he said simply.    Inside the anti-magic field, the fight wasn’t going well.  Stripped of her magical enhanced strange and the powers of her sword, Bath could do little to the surprisingly powerful skin of Affliction.  Affliction, on the hand, had little difficulty in attacking the angel now that she lacked both the defenses of her armor and her angelic ability to resist damage from all but the most evil of sources.  Drawing two swords out of seemingly nowhere, he cut Danae down in three mere attacks and nearly defeated Bath as well!    “Bath!  Get Danae out of there!” Tonaca shouted as he brought down his own prismatic sphere to give the party access to the teleportation circle they would soon need.  Bath hesitated but realized she had to save her friend or both of them would likely be killed.  She reluctantly dragged the dying wizard out of harm’s way.  Affliction continued his work on the bomb but was distracted by a sneak attack by Tiana.  The blade found its target, but to Tiana’s amazement the blade struck no organs nor did it create a bleeding wound.  Instead, the hole created a strange blurring, indistinctive gap in Affliction’s body, and Tiana realized that the swarm that survived Danae’s breath attack was actually the sole component of Affliction’s body.  He was made of nothing but countless tiny mechanical insects!  Affliction wasted no time to knock the rogue unconscious before continuing his work.  If he was capable of expressing emotion, however, he would be worried now.  Half of the enemy party was taken out of commission and the others could do little to him inside the field, but he had little time left to disarm the bomb.  10…Robin tried to fire at Affliction, but he was surrounded by the Swift Prides and had to flee to avoid being ripped to shreds.9…Tonaca entered the field as well, but as soon as he saw Affliction raise his sword, he realized he could do little to affect the enemy here either.  He reluctantly prepared to take Tiana to the safety of the teleportation circle.8…Affliction, without any further distractions, had nearly completed disarming the bomb.  If he succeeded, he would certainly take the bomb with him, and in a matter of minutes, Methosilang would be no more!7…Though much of the party was defeated or unable to fight, one still could act.  He was certainly no match for Affliction without his magic, but Tal was still, at least partially, a dragon now.  He would fight his opponent with whatever he could.6…Tal charged at the distracted Affliction and tackled him from behind!5…Affliction struggled against his new opponent, but easily turned the tide on the sorcerer.4…Affliction managed to wrestle Tal off, but as he turned to the bomb, he realized it was too late.  To his analytical mind, there was no doubt or uncertainty, and thus he was positive he had failed.  But he would not let this be a total failure.3…Reshaping his weapon to one of perfect sharpness, Affliction used the last moments before the bomb went off to strike at Tal one time.  The attack was perfect.  It went right through Tal, decapitating him with one cut!2…Time was short and victory was achieved.  Tonaca and Bath left through the circle, taking the unconscious Danae and Tiana with them.  Robin was ready to leave as well, but he would not go alone.  Moving as quickly as possible, he flew in to grab the body of one of his oldest friends.1…With as much of Tal as he could gather, Robin desperately dove towards the circle, mere moments ahead of detonation and a vengeful Affliction.0.  The party witnessed the death of the dark moon, one of their world’s greatest threats to life itself, from the vantage of a nearby hillside on the planet’s surface.  At first, only a few lines of light shot through the moon, damaging but not destroying it, and for a moment they were afraid that the bomb had failed.  However, as the seconds passed, more and more lights escaped to the edges of the moon and beyond, until the whole thing was enveloped in a blinding sphere; a short-lived but powerful micro-sun.  Only a few loose rocks survived the blast, and most of them burned up as they tumbled into the atmosphere and rained upon the earth.  It was a hard battle, and one with many sacrifices, but with luck none of them will be permanent, and now perhaps nothing stood between the party and Bas.Meanwhile, as the lights emerged from the MIDAS bomb, Affliction watched without emotion.  The cultists that survived the fight were almost certainly doomed to death now, and the surviving three Swift Prides had only slightly better odds.  In fact, one was caught and immediately destroyed by the first beams of light, but none of this mattered to Affliction.  If he was unlucky enough to be destroyed before he could escape, so be it, but if he was to survive, his servitude was not and never would be finished.  Bas would have another purpose for him, and Affliction suspected that this last purpose would be his last and most important task.Tal, meanwhile, spent several days in the hall of Facetous.  His god was of course not present, for he was still busy maintaining and protecting Dragovigis, but Tal was nonetheless content to live with his dragon brethren and learn more about his heritage.  However, he soon felt a calling from his home plane and he realized his friends were trying to get him back.  He was reluctant, but he knew his spirit would never be truly at peace until he finished his task at home.  Besides, his time away from the realm of mortals had given him some insight he had to share with his friends.  He suddenly awoke in his repaired body, but it was apparently immediately that it was quite as he left it.  As his friends gasped at his change and asked if he was okay, he surveyed his body.  Apparently more of the Dragon’s realm went with him than just his spirit, for he found that his body was now finally a complete half-dragon!OOC Notes: There’s no way to know what the party would have done in this final part of the battle, but Affliction’s plans were identical to the original adventure.  The Swift Prides were going to arrive mid-fight to attack the party or destroy any prismatic spheres they had to, and the cultists were going to create an anti-magic field for Affliction with just enough time for Affliction to use it to go after the bomb.  I was a little disappointed that I couldn’t see how the party would handle the anti-magic field and an incredibly powerful enemy who lost none of his power in it, but so it goes.</blockquote>

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