Ambush at Bile Mountain- the Conclusion!
Our heroes are battered, wounded and tired. Many of their most powerful spells have been expended. And now they face another assault, a second ambush before they can make their escape. First the Bile Lords, and now the forces of Law, have laid traps against them.
Orbius and Horbin both recognize the flickering form for what it is. It is hard to see, fading out of material existence briefly before flickering back for a cloudy instant. The thing is an abomination, a phane- the cast-off spawn of a deity of time.
This is Marius’ work, somehow, Orbius instantly recognizes.
Even as it rushes in, Inoke swings his club in a shallow arc, smashes it across its forebody. The thing is vaguely centauroid in form, with a vaguely equine body supplanted by an almost-humanoid torso, head and arms. It is also, to Orbius’ magically enhanced senses, blazing with mystical auras (as are the inevitables). The Eye of Boccob makes the logical choice; he chants the mystical syllables of a Mordenkainen’s disjunction.
***
9/6/371 O.L.G., 8 p.m., the Bastion of Law
On one of the walls surrounding the Bastion of Law, Lord Alyth of Fendobarz is watching the Field of Battle. As always, things are at a stalemate, but there is a certain intensity to the conflict that has not existed before- at least, not while Alyth has watched. The Arrow of Law’s face remains impassive as he watches. His mind is on his old world- a world lost to Chaos. Certainly, the group assembled here in service to Law appears able to throw the balance forever in favor of Order over Chaos.
The door leading onto the wall from one of the towers of the Bastion opens, and Cluma strides out from it. “My lord,” he nods in greeting.
“Cluma.” Lord Alyth nods in return.
“How goes it?” queries Cluma.
“Ahh, you have not heard, then? Prayzose has received word from our friend- Lester, Sybele and their companions will be attacking us tomorrow.”
“Are we ready for them? They are quite powerful...”
“Of course,” Lord Alyth snorts. “Marius has had plenty of time to make preparations, and he has worked to ensure that they cannot use similar temporal effects against us. And, of course, we are ready to attack their homes.”
Cluma shakes his head. “Wasn’t that one of the things that Prayzose wanted to outlaw at the casters’ conference?”
“Yes, but the idea got lost in the shuffle.”
“So it’s perfectly legal.”
“Yes.”
Cluma shakes his head in amusement. “Our friend keeps us well-informed,” he remarks.
“Of course,” Lord Alyth retorts. “He’s XXXXX.”
“Cluma” maintains his composure, but barely; but a look of sudden comprehension passes over Lord Alyth as he realizes-
“IMPOSTER!!” Alyth roars, and his terrible sword Judgment is in his hands.
Veil springs back, then sprints for the exit. She knows that Alyth has found her out. She rushes into the hall, trying to make her escape before the inevitable trap closes around her. Alyth is shouting, both aloud and telepathically. As Veil reaches a door, it swings open before her, and she skids to a halt.
Devils and Galadorians block her path.
She tries to bluff them, tries to use her appearance as Cluma to trick them. “Get him!” she cries, gesturing wildly at Lord Alyth. “He’s an imposter! He’s stealing the Rod of Seven Parts!!”
They- devils, Galadorian and Alyth himself- fall upon her.
***
9:05 a.m., The Cathedral of Dexter, Var
Alcar stands, shaken, in the face of the aleax of his deity. It has come to challenge him to prove his faith in combat. It is a stern rebuke. It has challenged him in the fane of the temple.
They fight.
Though the aleax has all of his powers and some of its own, he has one thing it doesn’t: the suite of contingency spells that Orbius placed upon him. Using the greater contingency, Alcar activates (surprise) a Marius’ double actions spell. This allows him to cast both divine power and a quickened righteous might, and still make a full attack! The aleax heals itself and then blasts Alcar with a quickened flame strike.
Alcar grins at the aleax. “You can’t defeat me!” he declares. “I walk in the Light!”
“You are called to task by the Light,” the aleax intones solemnly.
Using the double actions, Alcar makes two full attacks and blasts the aleax with a quickened flame strike. The agent of his deity staggers and rocks back, clearly badly wounded. Grimly, it attacks him with a series of punishing mace blows and uses another quickened flame strike.
And then Alcar strikes it down.
A burst of confidence fills him. Forgiven. It is like a shadow lifts from him. Thank you, he thinks. The Light fills him.
For a moment Alcar basks in it. He does not yet realize the magnitude of the gift he is being given. Then, with a sigh, he opens his eyes and sheathes his mace. The aleax is gone, as if it had never been.
I must find my friends, Alcar realizes. They are going to need me. They must be in Bile Mountain. I have to find my way back there, and quickly. He considers his options for a moment, and settles on a miracle.
He arrives just as the forces of Law and the party are engaging.
Most of the spells and effects on the inevitables and the phane wink out as Orbius’ disjunction washes over them. A scaly giant, clearly a half-dragon, stands with the forces of Law. It is obviously one of Dekrasode’s brood. Some sort of aura is extending outward from the phane, though- a flickering temporal effect that threatens to put our heroes into some kind of stasis. Spells burst and blaze through the fight, and Alcar grimaces blindly- a sunburst takes his vision- while Zyltha acts as his eyes, holding one of his hands and pointing him in the right direction while he casts holy blasts at the enemies. To our heroes’ dismay, the phane is flickering in and out of existence in a way reminiscent of the chronal repeaters that Marius has been known to use, and one of Alcar’s blasts has no effect on it at all. The giant, meanwhile suffers significant damage but
Our heroes pour it on, fueled by Marius’ double actions and quickening abilities and rods. Lester activates the bestowed greater contingency that Orbius had placed on him, triggering an extended maximized double actions. Then, using metamagic rods to boost his already formidable spell power, he fires off a maximized meteor swarm that pounds one of the inevitables and explodes to engulf all of them. He follows this up with a chained and electricity substituted meteor swarm. This is more than the inevitables can take, and after the combined blasts they lie still, smoking and sparking as residual flames and sparks dance around them! A mighty blow from Thrush stuns the giant, and soon it is withering under the party’s tremendous magical and physical assault.
Gerontius slides forward and thrusts his dagger into the phane. He heals an incredible wound to it, for it seems vulnerable to his sneak attack. Unfortunately for the halfling, as he sticks his knife in, he freezes in time! Gerontius stands, unmoving, and the phane reaches out to touch him. A whisper of laughter comes from it as a silvery radiance pours over Gerontius like a sheet of sand. Then it is gone, and he stands still as before, but something has changed. What, our heroes cannot say; but the phane chuckles in delight. This turns to a chortle as Thrush freezes in stasis from its aura.
Alcar roars in anger, Zyltha still acting as his eyes. “Foul creature!” the angel cries. He casts another holy blast, this one empowered, and the phane staggers, howling in pain. Sybele, meanwhile, pounds the phane with a crystal shard, dealing another good chunk of damage. It roars in anger and pain again. Lester finishes off the giant with a horrid wilting, and Inoke charges forward and smashes into the phane with his mace, using almost the last of his psionic energy to perform a psionic lion’s charge. Blow after blow lands, despite the phane’s temporal displacement, and finally the creature falls.
“Quick, grab up Thrush and Gerontius and let’s get out of here!” exclaims Lester.
This time, they succeed. Inoke, Sybele and Lester manhandle the frozen forms of their companions and they leave the cave beneath Bile Mountain. Once outside, it is a simple matter to teleport away, and our heroes return to the Temple of Elemental Good.
***
9 p.m., The Bastion of Law
“Well, well,” murmurs Marius. Then, louder, he asks, “You are sure it’s the doppelganger?”
“Oh, yes,” Prayzose nods.
“So they may be warned.”
“I doubt it,” the Emperor of Forinthia observes. “Veil had not had a chance to get out of the Bastion, and my eavesdroppers have not heard any telepathic communications coming from her.”
“But she knows.”
“Yes, Lord Alyth let it slip. But as long as she is imprisoned, it simply doesn’t matter. And the cells are shielded against telepathic contact- you know that- so she cannot tell our enemies what she has learned.”
Marius nods. “It might be easier to simply destroy her and soul bind her to ensure that Horbin or Alcar can’t simply bring her back...”
“Perhaps,” Prayzose acknowledges, “but she might be better used as a bargaining chip later.”
Marius nods again. “Very well,” he sighs. “And what else?”
“He has confirmed it- they will attack us on the morrow.”
Marius purses his lips. “Is everything ready?”
“I believe so, but I find this strategy... distasteful.”
The Chronomancer chuckles. “I know. You argued for an agreement to ban such things at the caster’s conference. But nobody listened.” He shrugs. “Well, they left it legal, so to speak; let them suffer the consequences.”
Prayzose nods sadly.
Next Time: Our heroes try to find some help for their assault on the Bastion! The time is coming very soon!!
I've been following this story hour for a while, but I'd like to chime in and tell you that I think your doing a great job. I love the combination of high level action and comedy. Even if unintentional, some of the combats have been hilarious. The Big A being dropped in one action was great as well as the timestop/reverse gravity/prismatic sphere smakdown on the other PC party beforehand. Keep up the good work 
