JollyDoc
Explorer
“Now is the time,” Mandi said, once she’d rejoined her companions. “While they are disorganized and panicked, we strike now. They’ll never see us coming until it’s too late.”
The others nodded in agreement, and then quickly began their descent. Tetradarian’s command center was identical to Bagromar’s, complete with a broad clearing around the central pavilion. It was there that the Legionnaires landed, solidifying rapidly, unnoticed by demonic eyes. Cautiously, they approached the tent.
“Wait!” Mandi whispered, holding up her hand. “There is something I need to do first.”
Closing her eyes, she concentrated, sending out her thoughts once more, only this time she sought out a different general…Bagromar.
‘General,’ she thought, ‘we are outside your brother’s tent. We are preparing to eliminate him. Will you join us?’
The response she received was sudden and violent.
‘Fools!’ came Bagromar’s voice. ‘My brother and I struggle to the death at this very moment!’
Shocked and confused, Mandi nodded for Tower Cleaver to open the flap.
The interior of the pavilion was identical in every way to Bagromar’s, save that no clone of Demogorgon stood at the table. Instead, a thirty-foot tall demon dominated the center of the enclosure. His skin was the black of a frost-bitten corpse, with red, bat-like wings, four arms, a snarling orcish head, and a massive gaping mouth in his abdomen flanked by a set of scythe-like pincers. His stench was horrible, and his sodden flesh was covered with bluish patches. When he saw the intruders, he growled and flipped the table aside, advancing purposefully. Mandi was faster. Flinging her hand forward, she cast, a familiar, disembodied hand materializing out of thin air. The appendage seized the klurichir demon, lifting him bodily from the ground. As it did, Cleaver and Octurus threw themselves forward, but before they could reach the fiend, he shrugged off the crushing fingers with a massive flex of his arms. Then, with a viper-like hiss, he hurled black magic at the two warriors, stunning them with raw, blasphemous power. He reached out, almost tenderly, towards Cleaver, stroking the minotaur’s jaw with one, jagged nail. Blood poured from the scratch, and immediately, the minotaur’s flesh began to turn bluish, festering with boils. Suddenly, a great war cry caused the klurichir to turn, just as Sepoto charged into the tent, his chain a blur of whirling death. The demon threw up his hands to ward off the blows, only to lose two of his arms to the goliath’s slashing chain. He struggled desperately to escape the deadly steel, but Sepoto was blind with fury. He’d seen his friends die once that day already. He was not going to let it happen again. By the time Cleaver and Octurus recovered from the dark spell, their foe lay in pieces on the floor, Sepoto standing over the corpse, his chest heaving.
At that moment, Mandi heard a thunderous roar from outside. She turned, and pulled aside the tent flap. Orcus’s hordes had arrived en masse, and for a brief moment, she almost pitied the Demos Horde.
The others nodded in agreement, and then quickly began their descent. Tetradarian’s command center was identical to Bagromar’s, complete with a broad clearing around the central pavilion. It was there that the Legionnaires landed, solidifying rapidly, unnoticed by demonic eyes. Cautiously, they approached the tent.
“Wait!” Mandi whispered, holding up her hand. “There is something I need to do first.”
Closing her eyes, she concentrated, sending out her thoughts once more, only this time she sought out a different general…Bagromar.
‘General,’ she thought, ‘we are outside your brother’s tent. We are preparing to eliminate him. Will you join us?’
The response she received was sudden and violent.
‘Fools!’ came Bagromar’s voice. ‘My brother and I struggle to the death at this very moment!’
Shocked and confused, Mandi nodded for Tower Cleaver to open the flap.
The interior of the pavilion was identical in every way to Bagromar’s, save that no clone of Demogorgon stood at the table. Instead, a thirty-foot tall demon dominated the center of the enclosure. His skin was the black of a frost-bitten corpse, with red, bat-like wings, four arms, a snarling orcish head, and a massive gaping mouth in his abdomen flanked by a set of scythe-like pincers. His stench was horrible, and his sodden flesh was covered with bluish patches. When he saw the intruders, he growled and flipped the table aside, advancing purposefully. Mandi was faster. Flinging her hand forward, she cast, a familiar, disembodied hand materializing out of thin air. The appendage seized the klurichir demon, lifting him bodily from the ground. As it did, Cleaver and Octurus threw themselves forward, but before they could reach the fiend, he shrugged off the crushing fingers with a massive flex of his arms. Then, with a viper-like hiss, he hurled black magic at the two warriors, stunning them with raw, blasphemous power. He reached out, almost tenderly, towards Cleaver, stroking the minotaur’s jaw with one, jagged nail. Blood poured from the scratch, and immediately, the minotaur’s flesh began to turn bluish, festering with boils. Suddenly, a great war cry caused the klurichir to turn, just as Sepoto charged into the tent, his chain a blur of whirling death. The demon threw up his hands to ward off the blows, only to lose two of his arms to the goliath’s slashing chain. He struggled desperately to escape the deadly steel, but Sepoto was blind with fury. He’d seen his friends die once that day already. He was not going to let it happen again. By the time Cleaver and Octurus recovered from the dark spell, their foe lay in pieces on the floor, Sepoto standing over the corpse, his chest heaving.
At that moment, Mandi heard a thunderous roar from outside. She turned, and pulled aside the tent flap. Orcus’s hordes had arrived en masse, and for a brief moment, she almost pitied the Demos Horde.
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
