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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JollyDoc" data-source="post: 6993968" data-attributes="member: 9546">25 Kuthona, 4717 - 7 Abadius, 4718 - The Fury Of The PhoenixThe battlefield was littered with dead, and everywhere could be heard the cries of the dying. The battle had been savage, as the bugbears were brutes with no regard for life, and the priests and holy warriors were fanatics who would never retreat under any circumstances. The conflict between these two forces had been a brutal slaughter, but victory was finally in sight. As the Nessian Knot and their vanguard approached the far end of the greater bridge, however, a final group of defenders barred their way. This was no ordinary band of soldiers, but the priests of Iomedae themselves, backed by a company of holy warriors. They were of the Order of Saint Macarius, and they had been sent by the leader of their order, Lord-Abbot Earnan MacCathlain himself."Come now," Kelvin sighed, stepping forward. "Is their really need for more death? Will your throw your lives away for nothing?""Sacrifice is never in vain if it blooms from moral purpose," one of the priests called back. "We will give no quarter!"Kelvin sighed again. "Very well."He clenched his fist abruptly, and then thrust it forward. A ball of black fire went streaking into the midst of the defenders, and then exploded in a blast of vitriol. The holy warriors screamed as their armor dissolved along with flesh and bone beneath it. Within seconds all that remained of them were hissing heaps of goo. The four priests still stood, however, not a mark upon them."Our Lord-Abbott warned us of your foul magics," the head priest called. "We do not fear you!""Well then, what about me?" Dakota laughed as she knelt and fired her bow, Timeon only a half-second behind her. Their arrows struck one of the clerics, and he choked out a grunt of pain as he stumbled. "Or me?" Lemmy bellowed. He swirled one finger in the air and a shaft of metal shards coalesced around it. This he sent forward, writhing like a serpent, to strike the injured priest as well as one of his comrades. "Wait till they get a look at me!" Tardaesha cackled as she pulled a flask from her belt and turned it up. Immediately she began to grow until she stood at twice her original height. Then Dr. Know stepped up beside her and touched her arm. In a burst of light, the two of them vanished and then reappeared behind the priests. Just as they arrived, Dorian commanded Artephius to release his bombs, and the golem lobbed a globe crackling with electricity into the center of the clerics. When it detonated, the wounded priest was blown back, and he did not rise again. It was only then that any of the clerics got the opportunity to go on the offensive. One of them called down a column of holy flame upon Lemmy, Roger and one of the war hounds, but it didn't really slow them down. Instead Dakota rapid-fired a volley of arrows and took down another of the defenders, while Lemmy blasted a third. The one who'd managed to get off his spell stood resolute, knowing that his fate was sealed. He closed his eyes, gripped his holy symbol and uttered one last prayer before the Nessian war hound tore out his throat._______________________________________________________As the last barrier to taking Sanctum was torn down, Kelvin ordered several of the Knot's more trusted underlings, along with the remaining vampire spawn, back to the watchtower to guard against any surprise visitors to the Vale. Then the remainder of the invading forces moved on to the town itself. Even as they approached, the snow began to fall in earnest and the sky darkened even further. The Vale of Valtaerna fully belonged to the Knot of ThornsThe bugbears and their allies wasted no time in sacking Sanctum and putting it to the torch. There were still some two-thousand survivors there when the invaders arrived. Those numbers began to fall rapidly. The Knot took up residence in the Reeve's manor, which escaped most of the mayhem. As they settled in, Shagoroth Night-Mane hauled the Reeve himself into the greatroom, sobbing and sniveling like a woman. "Timon Lotte," Night-Mane snarled"Oh great and terrible lords!" Lotte gibbered. "We surrender! The township of Sanctum and the Vale of Valtaerna are yours! I beg you, free the women and children! They are no threat to you. Spare them and with the spring they will spread the word of your great power and awesome victory to every corner of Talingarde! All will fear you!""Thank you for gifting us with something that we already own," Kelvin smiled scornfully. "And as for being feared, we already are by those with wisdom. Those without are all dead, or soon will be.""Let me build a pyramid of skulls in the center of town, my lords," Hekkarth Head-Taker growled. He'd come in behind Night-Mane. "With the deep chill of winter, it will freeze into a solid block of blood and ice. When we leave and the Iomedaens retake this sewer pit, they will find our mark and know that it was the Head-Takers that did this!"Timon Lotte blanched in abject terror and soiled himself."There will be time to build pyramids out of skulls, Hekkarth," Night-Mane replied calmly. "Before we sever the heads, perhaps we should learn what is inside them first. The Vale is not entirely ours. A light still burns on the Mountain of the Phoenix, and the Cathedral is still unconquered. I could begin torturing the survivors to see what they know.""I like that idea," Dakota nodded, smiling."Yes, I think it best we find out all that we can about what yet awaits us within this treacherous place," Kelvin agreed. "Very well Shaggoth. Get to work."_______________________________________________________________Over the next two weeks, the Nessian Knot secured its hold on Sanctum, in no small part by terrorizing its surviving citizens. Tardaesha gathered several of the griffon corpses from the battlefield and used black necromancy to animate them as grotesque zombies. She took one as her personal mount, and gifted the others to the commanders of the bugbears and duergar. At the watchtower, a few late-season pilgrims came seeking the asylum of the blessed vale, only to find horror and death at the hands of the vampire spawn.  On one morning during that interval, Prince Zargon approached Kelvin with his duergar soldiers arrayed behind him."We are going home," the Prince declared, "and we will be taking our prisoners with us."He referred to the few remaining dwarves that had survived the battle of Saint's Bridge."I understand," Kelvin nodded. "Your help was invaluable, and we will not forget our allies."Zargon grunted and nodded in return."You are friends of the duergar," he said gruffly, "and you will always be welcome in Zhaazen-Kryr."He gripped Kelvin's hand, then sat his cadaverous mount and led his men and their ill-fated prisoners from the vale.Near the end of the second week, while the Dannisters were visiting the watchtower on inspection, a rag-tag band of survivors from Sanctum decided to make a break for it and escape the vale. They were led by a nobleman from Farholde called Lord Roderick, and consisted of a motley assortment of soldiers of the watch, elite archers, holy warriors, two acolytes of the Serene Order, a dwarven noble, a priest of Iomedae, and an unhorsed Knight of the Alerion. Their endeavor was doomed from the start. One of Kelvin's fireballs, tossed while the mob was still a hundred yards away, killed the soldiers, half the holy warriors and archers, the dwarf and the priest. A follow-up cone of razor-sharp ice shards from Raiju took out the remaining survivors except for Lord Roderick, the Alerion Knight, one acolyte and one holy warrior. The mopping-up was handled brutally and efficiently by the rest of the Knot. While searching the bodies, Katarina came upon several documents among Lord Roderick's belongings. They authorized payment from a merchant in Ghastenhall of 12,000 gold coins to Lord Roderick of Farholde."We spent the better part of a year in that armpit of a town," Kat said when she showed the writs to her family. "There is no such nobleman there.""It seems we may have killed a kindred spirit!" Dakota laughed. "Yes," Dorian agreed as he perused the papers. "Likely he was some swindler who came here to bilk the trusting Iomedaens out of their money.""Looks like he succeeded," Tardaesha said. "The thing is, that Goldquarter merchant doesn't know he was a charlatan, and thanks to my little bauble," she tapped the iron circlet on her brow, "Lord Roderick can still claim his ill-gotten booty."Dakota smiled broadly and kissed her twin affectionately on the lips."That's why I keep you around," she laughed._________________________________________________________________"The torture's gone well," Nightmane reported at the end of two weeks. "Oh, how talkative all of my new friends have been. First, you missed somebody. The Head of the Order of Macarius wasn't in the battle...Earnan MacCathlain. No idea where he is but I bet he's up to no good. Some of the people feel like he's betrayed them, but most believe he must have a plan to defeat us and liberate the vale. No one seems to know what that plan is exactly. Second, there is an actual phoenix on top of that mountain. It's as big as a house, it breathes fire and it's been there for as long as anyone can remember. Good luck with that! Third, everyone agrees there are angels in the Garden of Serenity. How many, they ain't sure, but angels. And if you make it past the labyrinth, there are probably more angels in the Cathedral. There is something powerful in this valley they believe will defeat you. It's name is Ara Mathra. I'm not sure what it is. Maybe that's the phoenix's name?"The Knot digested this information, and ultimately came to the unanimous conclusion that the phoenix would have to be dealt with first. Kelvin was able to research some information about such creatures in the town's library, and learned that, once yearly, they were able to resurrect themselves immediately unless their bodies were completely destroyed, or unless they were slain on desecrated ground. The following morning, it was time to go to war once again...____________________________________________________________Knick-Knack soared invisibly upon the thermals wafting up from the lake far below, drifting ever closer towards the peak of the great mountain. His mistress had bade him to scout the spire and report back to her, but the higher he went, the more nervous the little cacodaemon became. There was power here, and it frightened him. When he finally cleared the cloud layer that ringed the peak, the first thing he saw was a brilliant white temple carved from purest marble. The beauty of it sickened him. From the structure, marble stairs wound further up the mountainside to a ring of standing stones which surrounded an immense bonfire. And there, atop the highest point of the mountain, was a nest of gargantuan proportions. Perched inside the nest was a bird of flames, and just the sight of it terrified Knick-Knack. He vanished in a puff of brimstone.______________________________________________________________"The bonfire first," Kelvin decided. "We were told to extinguish three eternal flames. That must be one of them."The others agreed, and Dorian cast a prayer over himself, Katarina, Roger and Lemmy which allowed them to walk on air as if it were solid ground. Tardaesha mounted one of her zombie griffons, while Kelvin cast his own personal flight spell upon himself. Raiju and Grumblejack followed, flying under their own power. The Mountain of the Phoenix rose over seven-hundred feet above Lake Parynthus, and the Nessian Knot managed to ascend most of that distance before disaster struck. With no warning whatsoever, the magic that held Kat, Dakota and Dorian aloft simply vanished and they began to plummet. Dakota's armor was enchanted with flight magic, though she was loathe to use it as it was only of limited duration. She had no choice. She touched an engraving of a wing that decorated her chest piece and her fall immediately arrested. Whirling in mid-air, she saw Dorian still flailing about as he streaked past her. She dove for her brother, and fortunately for him, the air walk dweomer had not failed entirely. He still fell, but at a relatively slow speed. Dakota was able to catch up with him and grab his hand as she hauled him back up with her. The-Flame-That-Sings watched all of this transpire from the portico of the Temple of the Phoenix. She had seen the slaughter in the Vale below and had ached to fly to the aid of the people there. As Sanctum burned, her oath to Iomedae, made to atone for the past sins of her ancestors, had stayed her hand. But now the butchers had come to her mountain, and she would greet them with fire, and her song would become a battle-cry.As Dakota pulled Dorian towards the others, a column of white fire suddenly erupted out the heavens, engulfing both of them. Katarina, who'd managed to fish a flying elixir from her belt pouch before plunging to her death, narrowly avoided the flame strike, as she was still some distance below her siblings. Fortunately for Dak and Dorian, Kelvin had cast protective spells upon them prior to ascending that warded them against fire. Yet the conflagration that struck them was not just fire. It was also pure holy power, and their flesh still burned. Kelvin altered his own flight path and swept down towards the pair. When he reached them, he grabbed Dakota's free hand and opened a dimensional door, whisking them to the landing of the temple, where he'd spied their assailant. She was a darkly beautiful woman with alabaster skin and white hair. Wings of fire sprouted from her back and she gripped a blazing scimitar in one hand. Dakota gasped as she tried to catch her breath and assess her situation. She was wounded, though not mortally. Kelvin had saved them, but as usual, he'd put them into possibly even graver danger. She saw the flaming woman striding towards her and brought up her bow."Death to those who have wronged me!" Dakota shouted, invoking the power of the oathbow. She let fly with her arrow and the shaft physically rocked The-Flame-That-Sings back on her heels. She grimaced in pain, her blood flowing like liquid fire, and then rushed towards. Dakota. The archer tried to knock another arrow, but a swift strike from the fallen angel's flaming sword disarmed her of her bow entirely. From behind her, Kelvin spoke a spell and the bow lifted from the ground and back into Dakota's hand. She fired again. "Your sharp sticks will not save you!" The-Flame-That-Sings hissed as she raised her sword again. "No," Grumblejack rumbled from where he'd landed behind the woman, "but I will!"The fiendish ogre swung his greatsword in a wide arc across the her spine. She screamed and tried to turn to face him. That's when Dakota rapid-fired four more arrows. "Suchandra," whispered The-Flame-That-Sings with her dying breath, "I have failed you. They are coming."________________________________________________________________The mountain top began to shake violently and a cry arose from the summit like the voice of a thousand eagles. The bonfire that burned above the temple suddenly flared into a mighty conflagration. Suddenly, the sound of great wings beating the air like thunder came to the companions of the Nessian Knot, and from out of the mists above emerged the phoenix Suchandra, The-Fire-That-Never-Dies. He was wondrous and terrible to behold. As he swooped towards those who had dared to defile his abode and threaten his sacred charge, he hurled meteors of fire before him. The companions scattered before the bombardment, but before Tardaesha could remount her zombified griffon, the creature exploded in flames. Before any of the companions could escape the temple's landing, a twenty-foot high wall of fire sprang up along it, catching Lemmy in the conflagration. Once more the Ninth owed Kelvin their lives for his forethought in warding them against fire. One-by-one they dove through the wall and took to the air again, all except for Raiju. The oni had seen enough. The Ninth Knot had offered him a good deal, and had treated him well, but it wasn't worth his life. He cloaked himself in invisibility and dove towards the foot of the mountain far below.Kelvin didn't notice the departure of his cohort. He was too intent on the phoenix. He knew the creature was capable of strong magic, and when he saw it preparing to unleash another spell, he threw one of his own, attempting to disrupt its concentration. The ball of cold fire that he hurled simply dissipated as it struck the great bird. Kelvin held his breath, waiting for the next devastating attack. When Suchandra cast his spell, however, nothing seemed to happen. The companions looked around at one another, not sure what had transpired. Kelvin's face paled, however. He knew exactly what the phoenix had done. He'd used his magic to dispel Kelvin's own. Their fire ward was gone...</blockquote>

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