Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="gfunk" data-source="post: 841571" data-attributes="member: 1813">Return to the Undying Temple and Disco Nirvana[Part 1]Unlike their previous foray into the Undying Temple, the heroes took extraordinary precautions. Knowing that they would face a battery of powerful necromantic magic from the Temple itself as well as its undead denizens, Joachim warded his companions appropriately. “Remember that our goal is to destroy the tower itself. Noir, my task as well as Hora’hun’s is simply to buy you enough time to destroy the Negative Energy Orb that forms the heart of the temple. Do not become distracted by anything else.” Hor’ahun and Noir nodded their consent as Joachim chanted and brought into being his most powerful spell. By the direct intervention of the god of justice, the trio was transported into the heart of the Undying Temple. Standing on one of the many platforms overlooking the central orb of the Temple, the party did not immediately notice any of the structure’s myriad inhabitants. The Temple, a sentient construct and unware of their hostile intent, contacted them telepathically, “So you return. Where is the mistress?” Taking the structure by surprise, the party sprung into action. Noir pulled forth her holy symbol and, invoking the Red Knight, began channeling positive energy into the orb. Hor’ahun nocked an arrow as he waited for reinforcements and Joachim summoned three viscious celestial dire bears to take care of melee combatants. With the element of surprise, things were looking up for the champions of good. ------------------------------------------------------------- Nurn hit the cold, metallic ground first, sliding dozens of feet on the smooth surface before coming to a stop. Only his phenomenal dexterity saved him from being crushed by the various bookshelves and massive wooden desk that followed him through the rift immediately afterwards. Coming through the portal in the form of a spectre, Entropy was unaffected by the powerful vacuum. As she did so, she created a large, hemispherical force wall to prevent the Cathezar’s valuable possessions from being scattered even further.  Nurn stood and examined his surroundings. The ground was extremely smooth and seemed to be constructed of bronze. In the distance, he saw various cogs spinning in space – some connected to other gears and some rotating independently. On some of thse massive platforms Nurn saw huge mountains of earth which supported numerous buildings of strikingly alien design. “Where are we?” Entropy took a brief glance around as well, “Welcome to Mechanus, Nurn. The Clockwork Nirvana. Considering all the places that we could have winded up, we are fortunate indeed to have been sent to such a benign plane. Now we can sort through the Cathezar’s belongings at our leisure.” The blonde man gave the spectre and incredulous look, “You’re joking, right? That bitch will not likely let us sort through her things for long before she comes to reclaim them, along with our hides!” As her formed shifted to that of a Pit Fiend complete with its amazing regenerative properties, Entropy frowned, “Yes I suppose you’re right. Well, let us prepare for her coming shall we?” Nurn unsheathed his sword while Entropy cast a spell which caused her hand to glow menacingly, “Yes, I think we can give the Cathezar the time of her life.” ------------------------------------------------------------- An immediate and loud telepathic alarm triggered throughout the entire Undying Temple as the structure realized what the intruders were attempting to do. Before forces could come to aid it however, the Temple decided to take proactive measures to ensure its survival. Reaching out to the Revenancer’s lair in the Abyss, the Temple summoned a massive demon. Known simply as a Ghour, it was gifted with a vast array of magical abilities. Fully cognizant of the threat that the positive-energy channeling paladin posed, the Temple commanded the Ghour to take care of her. Without hesitation, the demon opened up an extra-dimensional maze around Noir into which the paladin abruptly disappeared. Responding too late, Joachim and his dire bears closed quickly on the demon, tearing it to ribbons before it could inflict further harm. However, this victory was a pyrrhic one – without the paladin, Hor’ahun and Joahcim would have to hold off the defenders for much longer. As this realization set in, sounds of movement were heard as the Temple’s protectors moved in to dispatch the invaders. ------------------------------------------------------------- Seconds after Nurn and Entropy left her chambers, the Cathezar teleported back in. She looked about the remains of her quarters in rage and frustration. Though much of her belongings were of little material worth, she knew that she could not let her research regarding her master Aameul nor her personal journal fall into the descendant of Dydd’s hands. Though she could have easily resisted the pull of the raging maelstrom, she voluntarily entered it. Appearing in Mechanus, the Cathezar was taken aback as Nurn and what was apparently a Pit Fiend seemed to be awaiting her arrival. The Pit Fiend, its hand aglow with some arcane spell, touched the assassin and the magic discharged. At that moment, the Cathezar realized that her ability to flux randomly from the Prime to the Ethereal (and thus avoid physical attacks) had been eliminated the second she entered one of the Outer Planes of the Great Wheel. At first, Entropy's spell seemed to have no effect but the assassin suddenly felt the strangest compulsion. Her battle frenzy subsided as she felt an overwhelming urge to dance and gyrate. Inexplicably she raised her hands in the air and began to seductively writhe her snake-like body. While Nurn looked on in disbelief, Entropy mocked the dancing Cathezar, “Dance, my angel of darkness! DANCE FOR ME!!” Knowing full well that the assassin could not dodge, Entropy summoned forth a cone of sonic energy – directing it fully into the Cathezar’s face. The demon screamed in pain as the cacophonic blast hit her full force.  “Don’t just stand there gawking Nurn! Gut her!!!” Snapped out of his stupor, Nurn lowered his sword and concentrated. To Entropy’s surprise, the unmistakable aura of arcane magic appeared around Nurn as he projected a powerful necromantic death spell. However, the idea that this battle could be quickly ended were quickly dispelled when Nurn’s spell utterly failed to affect the still-dancing Cathezar. ------------------------------------------------------------- The first thing Joachim and Hor’ahun noticed were the loss of all their magical and psionic auras and the abrupt disappearance of the Inquisitor’s summoned celestial dire bears. The source of this disruption silently moved through the floor as it directed its anti-magic eye on the pair. This creature, called Doomsphere, was actually the ghost of a beholder. The heroes had not faced this beast in their first foray into Irae T’ssaren’s stronghold, but Entropy’s subsequent consolidation orders had brought it to the forefront of this battle. Both the Inquisitor and Psychic Warrior rapidly moved out of the area as Hor’ahun was hit with a withering ray of necromantic energy. Hoping that his luck would hold, Joachim brought a powerful column of divine fire on top of the beholder and was relieved to see it dissipate. As this occurred, and the dire bears re-appeared, the pair heard the casting of divine spells in the stairs above them. Though they could not see them yet, Flenser the draegeloth-priestess of Kiaransalee and Dorina T'ssaren were in the process of augmenting their already impressive battle prowess before engaging their foes. Below them, they also heard foes rapidly moving up the stairs to approach them. Among this lot included, Jhorganni a drider vampire priestess of Kiaransalee with her pet Grey Render. Beside her was Zedarr T’ssaren, the blackguard son of Irae along with his companion – a huge displacer beast. Providing magical support for the group was Umaerh, the drow sorcerer-lich. Joachim and Hor’ahun moved up the stairs to take on Flenser while Joachim sent his dire bears below to take care of the opposition. ------------------------------------------------------------- "You idiot! I don’t need you to use your pathetic spells! Slice her to ribbons, damn you!” Lifting his short sword, Nurn tried to stab the Cathezar but she was still able to defend herself admirably despite her dance. Similarly, Entropy found that her foe’s resistance to magic was still very active as only half of her damaging spells were getting through. Nevertheless, between Nurn’s sword and Entropy’s spells the Cathezar was rapidly approaching death. Finally, with a tremendous expenditure of willpower, the demon managed to break free of Entropy’s enchantment. Knowing that she would die quickly, the assassin immediately teleported away. “DAMN IT!! If you hadn’t wasted time with that Finger of Death, the Cathezar would be lying in a pool of her own blood right now!” Nurn was righteously indignant, “Well maybe if you had told me what you were doing, I wouldn’t have to improvise. It was YOUR lack of foresight that allowed her to escape!” Still fuming, Entropy looked off into the distance. The spell the Cathezar had used would allow the demon to move anywhere on Mechanus. However, the Alienist was confident that the assassin was not familiar with the plane which meant she couldn’t be too far away. Moving as quickly as she could, Entropy produced a crystal ball and scryed on the Cathezar. Trying to heal the damage done to her, the demon seemed to be drinking healing potion after healing potion. “We have to hurry, before she is back at full fighting capacity!” As Entropy prepared for battle once again, she realized that she had no direct way of following the Cathezar! As her thoughts raced, she gazed once again at the wondrous Formian Hive Cluster in the distance. Struck instantly with an idea, the Alienist summoned a Formian Myrmarch to her location – a noble in the armed forces of the ant-like race, the Myrmarch was sure to be familiar with this area of Mechanus. Furthermore, and most useful, it could teleport at will. After a quick description of the Cathezar’s location, the Myrmarch, Nurn, and Entropy disappeared and stood once again before the demonic assasin</blockquote>

Verification