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Message: <blockquote data-quote="gfunk" data-source="post: 995046" data-attributes="member: 1813">Session 45 The beginning of the end All were temporarily blinded by the sudden transition to the Positive Energy Plane.  Surrounding the companions was a brilliance beyond comprehension, limiting vision to only a few dozen feet.  The party struggled to move, but they found that they were rooted in space.A veteran of extraplanar travel, Hor’ahun knew what to do, “Travel in this plane is accomplished by thought.  Just will yourself to move.”Glancing around, Joachim could see no evidence of any structure or creature, let alone the Bastion of Unborn Souls, “Entropy!  What deceitfulness is this!  Lead us to the Bastion!”“Hold on!”  Concentrating briefly, the Soul Totem shard around Entropy’s neck began to glow as it revealed to her the exact location of Nalavara’s lair.  “That way,” the Alienist pointed to nothing in particular.Joachim and Hor’ahun flew ahead in a burst of speed, leaving the others behind.----------------------------------------------The creature stood ten feet tall, its body a weird hybrid of ape and boar – and it was rapidly loosing patience.  He angrily shook his wrist, trying to mitigate the intense pain.  In this plane, the insidious positive energy that permeated the place slowly infused travelers with its power until they exploded.  Of course, there were spells and magical items that prevented this problem but Aamuel, with his wicked sense of humor, had developed a more conventional solution.Known as torture bracelets, the devices periodically extruded painfully sharp spikes into the wielder’s wrist.  Therefore, by constantly injuring the wearer, positive energy never overwhelmed him but rather was constantly at work healing the damage.The demon’s orders were clear, however, no matter how badly he wanted to abandon his post he could not lest he invoke the wrath of his abyssal lord.  He was waiting for one of Demogorgon’s favored servants, the so-called Cathezar.  Though the Nalfeshnee had never seen the vaunted assassin, he knew enough to respect her fearsome reputation.Suddenly, the demon heard a faint sound in the distance.  His companions seemed to hear it as well and began to prepare themselves for combat.  Before the Nalfeshnee could respond, he heard spellcasting above him as his muscles unexpectedly froze.  His senses still functioned however, and he felt a wave of panic as a clawed hand grabbed his head.----------------------------------------------In the distance, Joachim and Hor’ahun saw a massive dome composed of crystal that could only be the Bastion.  In front of the structure stood several creatures and one gigantic spider-like being.  Both allies stopped as they waited for their remaining companions to catch up.Seconds later, Noir and Nurn appeared but Entropy was nowhere to be seen.  Invisibly, the Alienist had already moved ahead of all of them.In the form a Balor, she silently flew over the group of demons.  She mentally tallied the fiends as she saw them, “Hezrou, Glabrezus, Nalfeshnee, and . . . RETRIEVER!”If there was one thing Entropy feared and loathed it was arachnids.  Though she could not say whether this phobia had begun with Lolth’s declared vengeance against her, she nevertheless avoided such creatures at all costs.Flying safely over the massive body of the Retriever, Entropy paused over the Nalfeshnee.  Quickly she cast a spell and paralyzed it.  Smiling, she could only wonder about the terror it must be experiencing.  Bloodlust taking over, she descended quickly grabbing the ape-like demon and tearing into its flesh.  Though the demon would regenerate most of the damage she dealt, it would certainly feel the pain.Hearing spellcasting and seeing one of their foes freeze, Joachim, Hor’ahun and Nurn charged towards the massive construct.  Taking it by surprise, all three inflicted considerable damage.  In response, the creature’s eye rays flashed as Hor’ahun and Joachim were hit by fire and electrical energy.  Moving up to Nurn, the retriever grabbed the death slaad with its powerful pincers trying to crush him to death.Noir moved to engage the Glabrezus, ripping into one of them with her greatsword.  The dog-like demon immediately dropped its torture bracelet, relying on the restorative powers of the positive energy plane to heal its injuries.  Concentrating, it adjusted the local gravity field in the area as the blackguard was thrown backwards.  The remaining demons closed on Noir.The Nalfeshnee, in terrible pain, managed to dispel the spell that paralyzed him.  However, he still could not manage to overpower the Balor who was grappling with him.  Entropy relaxed her grip on the demon and blanketed the area with sonic energy, immolating her foe as well as a nearby Hezrou.With his extraordinary agility, Nurn easily wiggled free of the retriever’s grasp as Joachim and Hor’ahun continued to pour damage into the construct.  Tumbling underneath it, Nurn’s short sword finally brought the immense creature down.Between Noir and Entropy, the remaining demons did not last long.----------------------------------------------“Is this the best Demogorgon has to offer?”Hor’ahun smirked as he kicked over one of the demonic corpses.“Quickly!  There is no time to waste, we must find a way into the Bastion before my spell shielding us from the positive energy expires,” Joachim’s eyes fell on the exploded corpse of a glabrezu.  During the battle, the demon had relinquished its torture bracelet to take advantage of the positive energy.  But, the moment it had been fully healed, the additional influx of energy had caused it to utterly explode.Entropy flew up to the Bastion.  The structure was truly titanic with each facet of its surface shaped like a snowflake.  In time, she found a small indentation where she could place her Soul Totem.  Gingerly placing the artifact in place, a large section of the wall disappeared.  The entrance to the Bastion was thrown open.----------------------------------------------Po, Krushar, Thalidorus, and Grisly waited in anticipation.  They were the most powerful servants of Nalavara, tasked by their mother to repel the increasingly frequent demonic incursions.  In truth, the quartet had watched the dismembering of the patrol Aamuel had posted outside the Bastion with rapt attention.  “Impressive.  It seems that another party is interested in the exploits of our mother,” Po quickly removed a potion from his belt and quaffed it.Krushar followed suit, though Thalidorus and Grisly both lacking human hands merely growled in anticipation.Though the slightest of the four in stature, Po had assumed the mantle of leadership.  His mother often reminded him that he was of “lesser” stock, though this had not stopped Nalavara from using her vast resources to harness his martial aptitude, honing him into a remarkable fighter.Krushar, taken from the great wastes of the North proved a bit harder to sharpen.  However, he followed Po’s orders well enough and his seemingly endless fountain of rage fueled what he lacked in finesse.The remaining two, Thalidorus and Grisly, were nothing more than animals in Po’s estimation but each had their talents.As the wall shielding them from the outside disappeared, Po squinted as the brilliance of the plane seeped inside.  Before them stood a demon, three humans, and a wrinkly humanoid of some sort.  If they were a rival demonic faction, Po knew that his fiery breath would be worthless.  Gesturing to his companions, they waded into melee.----------------------------------------------Nurn laughed out loud, “A kobold!!  The mighty Nalavara must rely on a weakling kobold to defend her lair!”Stopping for a moment, the slaad manifested one of his most powerful abilities and instantly struck Po blind.  However, one of the kobold's companions, a two-headed ettin dual-wielding greataxes, ran forward to engage Nurn.  With unbelievable speed and ferocity, one of the axes blindsided Nurn, sending the rogue crashing into the side of the Bastion.  Before he could recover, Krushar was on him again swinging with abandon.The last thing Nurn felt was his torso being severed by two simultaneous axe blows.  His bloody body fell to the ground.Surprised by the sudden and unexpected death of their ally, Joachim and Noir quickly moved to engage the ettin.  Hor'ahun brought them some additional time as he psi-blasted their other foes, including a draconic looking dire bear and chimera.Entropy pelted the half-dragons with elemental magic but was surprised by the blind kobold at her side.  With uncanny precision, the small figher stabbed her repeatedly despite the considerable natural amor her Balor form provided.  Quickly, the Alienist began to feel light-headed from blood loss.  She changed into a Pit Fiend, hopeful that its regenerative properties would save her from death.After taking Entropy down, Po listened carefully for the status of his companions.Though he had taken them by surprise, Krushar did not last long against the martial prowess of the Inquisitor and Blackguard and had fallen.  As Po moved to engage the pair, Grisly managed to shake free of the effects of the Gitzherai's psi-blast and grabbed him.As Entropy and Nurn lay in bloody heaps, the party fought hard against their remaining foes.  But the question remained,Could they take down the blind kobold before it was too late?</blockquote>

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