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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JollyDoc" data-source="post: 6902797" data-attributes="member: 9546">22 Gozran, 4717 - 9 Sarenith, 4717 - Five Days To DarknessForty-seven days. That was all the time remaining until the ritual to recall Vetra-Kali would be complete. At Kelvin's urging, and much to Dakota's displeasure, the Nessian Knot decided they were not going to take any more chances with invaders disrupting the proceedings. The best solution seemed to be to barricade themselves, along with all of their servants and minions, on the third level of the Horn. Lemmy blasted the spiral staircase leading from the second level to rubble, while Dorian shaped the stone surrounding the archway that led to the outside balcony into one continuous piece, blocking the opening completely. They were sealed in. A week passed. Dakota grew ever more restless. She had never been fond of staying in one place for any period of time, and the boredom and tedium threatened to turn her positively homicidal. Finally, late one night, just as she was ready to start practicing her torture skills on some of the boggards, a dull BOOM sounded from beyond the archway that Dorian had plugged. "Trouble," Tardaesha said as she came into the entry hall."About time!" Dakota whooped."And that's not all," Kelvin replied. "An alarm just sounded from the level below us. The assault is coming from two fronts. Is Knick-Knack still in the sanctuary?""Yes," Tardaesha nodded. "I just told him to use the Eye of Vigilance."She paused for a moment, head cocked as if listening. "He says its a large creature," she said at length. "It has three heads. One looks like a green-scaled dragon, another like a lion, and the third like a metallic bull. It also has wings.""Sounds like a gorgimera," Kelvin said solemnly. "Stupid brutes usually bent on destruction. Zikomo! Go and find Ezra!"The boggard oracle scuttled off and then returned a few minutes later. Rising through the floor behind him came the dread wraith followed by his three lesser minions. Ezra gestured towards the wall, and the smaller wraiths drifted through it. When they emerged on the platform beyond, the hulking gorgimera drew back in alarm. As one, the trio reached out and touched the beast, and it squealed in agony as it felt its very life essence being drained away. It leaped backwards, beating its wings furiously to take to the air. After it had flown several yards away, its draconic maw gaped wide and spewed a jet of bilious fluid across the undead. Though their forms were incorporeal, the acid still burned them and they withdrew hastily back inside the Horn. Ezra's pallid face darkened in rage as he flew through the wall himself and into the night sky beyond. The gorgimera, still hovering cautiously, unsure whether or not to resume its assault on the wall, was taken by surprise. Ezra closed the distance rapidly and seized the beast by the throat of its dragon head. Already weakened, it struggled to stay aloft as its soul was rapidly siphoned. Within seconds it was no more than a withered husk which Ezra cast aside carelessly. He returned silently inside the Horn, gathered his brethren, and disappeared through the floor once more. _______________________________________________________________"I'm tired of waiting around," Katarina announced. "I'm going downstairs to look around for any more trouble.""Yeah, I'm needin' to stretch my legs too," Lemmy growled, rising to follow her."The whole point of this was to stay together so we couldn't be picked off," Kelvin objected. "Scar and I will go with them," Roger said, patting the big tiger affectionately. "We won't be long, and we'll contact Hexor if we run into any trouble."The four of them went to the teleportation circle and promptly vanished.Ten minutes later, Knick-Knack's voice piped up in Tardaesha's head.'Mistress!' he said excitedly. 'I sees something! Little floating lights! They invisible! Moving closer to friends down below!'"Trouble," Tardaesha told the others. "Dakota, Oddball, with me! Kelvin, have Hexor warn Roger. Something's stalking them!"_____________________________________________________________"That was Hexor," Roger said, bringing his companions to a halt. "We're not alone down here."No sooner had the words left his mouth than a flash of light sizzled out of  the darkness, and a jarring bolt of energy struck him, coruscating across his armor in electric tendrils. Katarina whirled and saw that they were surrounded by four bobbing globes of eerie, green light. She whipped a dagger from her belt and hurled it at one of the orbs, not really expecting much. To her surprise, the knife stuck in the light as if it had hit a solid object, and she heard a high-pitched keening cry of pain. Roger managed to pull himself together and stop jittering long enough to channel the power of Asmodeus through his holy symbol, sending out a wave of dark magic that washed over all of the wytch lights. They all trembled and shrilled as the energy struck them."Hands off my boyfriend!" came a cry from the darkness, followed by a volley of arrows.Two black-feathered shafts impaled one of the lights and it promptly dimmed then vanished. Dakota stepped out of the shadows, closely followed by Tardaesha. The three remaining orbs were undeterred. As one they unleashed electric jolts into Roger, and he danced like a puppet on a string. Almost by reflex, he channeled again, and the creatures recoiled once more. Then Kat leaped at one and drove another of her knives into it, causing it to wink out of existence. Dakota brought her bow up fired two arrows into each of the last pair, destroying them as well. _________________________________________________________________Despite the two simultaneous and seemingly random attacks, the next month at the Horn passed quietly. Dorian inferred that the gorgimera and the will-o-wisps had been drawn to the mountain by the ever-increasing power emanating from it as the ritual neared its climax. Whatever the case, whether there were no more monsters in the area or whether they were too afraid, there were no more attacks.During that interval, Katarina decided to pay a visit to Farholde. She wanted to touch base with the Ninth's contacts in the city and see if there was any information worth following up on. Her informants were able to tell her that the rumor in the underworld was that the dragon that had destroyed Baron Vandermir's mansion may have spent some time in the city disguised as a human. In this way it may have uncovered the Baron's involvement with events at the Horn. Kat also heard that the disappearance of Sir Valin had served to discourage any further concerted attempt to the assault the Horn. _________________________________________________________________Five days before the end of the ritual, the temple was wracked by a tremendous earthquake. The ground itself seemed to rebel against the blasphemy being perpetrated in the Sanctum. Within the Sanctum there was a horrific ear-splitting scream, and for a moment a shadowy apparition manifested over the silver seal. It reached out six clawed hands and grasped at the seal, scratching and clawing. The seal was gouged and marred, and the echo of unholy laughter was heard as the apparition faded away. Vetra-Kali was close at hand. Throughout the upper levels of the Horn, stone and masonry collapsed, and many boggards, as well as Zikomo, Oddball and Lemmy's hell hounds were injured by the debris. The entire west wing of Lemmy's Death's Head Tavern broke off and fell down the side of the mountain. On the first level of the Horn, the basin of the great fountain cracked, spilling hundreds of gallons of water throughout the courtyard. On the second level, several rooms collapsed completely, making them inaccessible and ruining several of the pit traps the Ninth had so painstakingly restored. The third level also suffered severe structural damage, with several archways and internal walls collapsing. In one chamber an entire exterior wall caved in and fell to the valley below, creating a new entrance into the Horn. Finally, in the cell block, all of the cell doors sprang open in unison, releasing Sir Valin, one of his Alerion knights, and Trak Rackborn. Fortunately, they all remained shackled."Kill them," Kelvin said, indicating Trak and the knight. "Nothing and no one is going to interfere with the completion of this ritual! Zikomo, have your warriors bring Sir Valin to the Sanctum, then assemble all of your people there. It's going to be our home for the next five days."The boggards rushed to comply, while Tardaesha and Dakota calmly and efficiently slit the throats of the two prisoners. Once all the members of the 9th Knot and their minions had gone up the spiral staircase to the Sanctum above, Kelvin ordered Hexor to remain below. The daemon would serve as rear guard and early warning system. ____________________________________________________________Midnight. All of the torches inside the Horn momentarily flickered, while outside, the green fire that surrounded the mountain briefly sputtered. Roger straightened from where he'd been leaning against a wall passing the time of his watch shift. He sensed something. A flash of white light suddenly burst in the air at the center of the Sanctum. When it cleared, a figure hovered there. Great feathers swept back from the fierce bird-man's brow, and long, clawed hands grew from the end of his wings."You have come to the wrong place, agathion!" Roger's voice boomed as he drew his blade. "The light of Iomedae does not shine here! Leave now while you still can!"For a moment the avoral's features grew uncertain, but then his eyes went steely once more. He spread his wings wide and shrieked like a raptor diving at its prey. Many of the boggards quailed at the sound and scuttled for the spiral stairs. Even Katarina looked shaken, her mouth slack and her eyes wide. Then Ezra Thrice-Damned rose from the floor like liquid shadow. The angel did not falter. Instead he thrust one finger towards the wraith and a salvo of pure white force missiles slammed into Ezra. He howled inhumanly and recoiled. "I am Brastius Star-Feather!" the avoral cried.  "The evil you do here has not gone unnoticed! I am but the first to arrive, but I shall make certain that your foulness does not spread!"By this time, Ezra's spawn had joined their master, and one of them flew towards the celestial. It reached out and grabbed Brastius' wrist. Hissing at the vileness, Brastius jerked his arm away, glaring at the black handprint burned into his flesh. A moment later unholy power washed over him as Roger channeled Asmodeus' power. Brastius folded his wings around his body and abruptly vanished, only to reappear a second later beside the altar of Vetra-Kali. Knick-Knack, who'd been cowering behind the shrine, shrieked and started to fly away, but the avoral raked him with his talon-like claws. The little cacodaemon wailed and flew drunkenly into a wall, bounced off and fell to the floor stunned. Brastius turned back to the shrine, and came face-to-face with Kelvin."It won't be that easy," the wizard smiled, snapping his fingers and erecting an emergency sphere of force about himself and Sir Valin, who was chained to the altar.Alas, Kelvin's mistake was in thinking that the knight was Brastius's target. Instead the avoral calmly reached out and plucked one of Vetra-Kali's eyes from its socket in the statue. Then he tapped it against the force shield and smiled grimly back at Kelvin. Brastius began to move away from the altar, but then a pair of Ezra's wraiths emerged from the floor beneath him and grabbed at his legs. He looked down in surprise, and that's when Vexor charged into him, head down, and bowled him backwards into the shrine, threatening to overturn the massive statue. Brastius struggled to disentangle himself from the big daemon, only to find all three of the smaller wraiths surrounding him and reaching for him, their touch deathly cold. An arrow took the avoral through one shoulder as Dakota's bow twanged, and then a metallic hand wrapped around his neck from behind when Artephius moved in close. As his airway threatened to collapse, Brastius gathered his breath to cast one last spell to open a dimensional portal allowing him to escape. He never got the chance. Lemmy blasted a whole clean through his chest with fist-sized chunks of earth and stone.___________________________________________________________________Deep within the catacombs of the Horn, the uncontrolled magic that continued to build high above in the Sanctum permeated and saturated a long-simmering pool of mud. Suddenly the morass exploded upwards in a great geyser, coalescing into a massive, semi-humanoid form. The newly-created elemental gazed around its new environment for a moment, and then looked up towards the ceiling. Somewhere above it could sense powerful energy. It could feed on such energy and grow even stronger. It sank its tendrils into the loose sand at its feet and began to glide through it as easy as if were water, searching for a way out.___________________________________________________________"From now on, unless they are in use, I'm keeping these with me," Kelvin said, pocketing the three eyes of Vetra-Kali.""Do you think it's wise for one person to have all three?" Roger asked.Kelvin turned, starting to respond when a massive pounding sounded from across the Sanctum on the other side of the wall Dorian had created to block ingress from the outside. A moment later the wall simply imploded, and clinging to the side of the mountain outside was what appeared to be a huge humanoid creature made entirely of mud. Ezra and his wraiths reacted in an instant, but as they approached the breach, the first rays of down broke over the horizon. The undead creatures immediately shrank back into the shadows, afraid of the killing light. "Artephius! Kill!" Dorian commanded his automaton. The golem lurched to life and plucked a glowing ball of electricity from its belly. Cocking one hand back, it hurled the bomb right into the center of the viscous elemental. As it exploded, both Knick-Knack and Kelvin loosed a fusillade of magic missiles into the elemental as well. It roared and pitched forward into the Sanctum, but as it struggled to regain its bearings, Ezra pounced. The dread wraith latched onto the creature and did not let go until it was a withered husk that crumbled away into dust.</blockquote>

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