Obsidian is escorted to a large rock on the volcano's side. As his red skinned host places a hand on the rock, causing the middle of it to dissolve away, leaving an empty shell. The pair enter the rock, and the outside fills in around them. With a sudden lurch, the rocks begins to move. After about five minutes, their ride stops, and the outside of the rock dissolves once more. Obsidian is washed with a blinding light, and as he exits the rock, he see before him what could only be described as a duplicate of Hell. Devils of all shapes and sizes wander around cliffs and ledges that spiral around a deep pit filled with dark hellfire. Red skinned mages work tirelessly at constructing constructs, weapons, and magical devices of all kinds. Formations of Pit Fiends roams the upper ledges, obviously prepared to do battle.
"My name is Harborgens. I used to be a personal assistant to Mephistopheles, ruler of the Eighth Level of Hell. Eventually, my lord grew weary of my power, and I was forced to escape to this land in order to be free from his vile clutches. Of course, not without taking a fee for all those centuries of loyal service. I stole from him the power of hellfire. And here I am, preparing an army to battle these troubling times. I wonder if any of us will see the the next year"
The Devil sighs to himself as he looks up to the unseen roof of the cavern.
"I suppose there are many things you are unaware of, as you are anew arrival here. Let me fill you in on a few details. When this island was first created, it was constructed with four holy nations, one to the North, South, East, and West. Of course the Eastern nation, Halo, became the leader, being the direct connection to the rest of the world. And things progressed quite steadily, with people from all places migrating to a land where the upper beings could not control or prosecute them. The rest of the island filled itself out with beings who had no ties to the Church of the Gatekeeper. When the Disciples raised an army of these neutral partys to fight the religios nations, everything on the island was thrown out of order. It was Alemetra, the southern religious nation, that took the brunt of this war, and was practically in ruins afterward. As forces from outside sources funneled in, Almentra rebuilt itself from the ground up. However, once it had become a power again, Halo demanded that Almentra aid its brehtren in the fight against the disciples. Infuriated by the lack of aid, Almentra broke off relations with the Gatekeeper, and things have been going downhill ever since. Then Loien, the northern nation, lost contact with the rest of the island. No word came out of it for months, and soon after undead were spotted destroying towns to the south of it's borders. Halo attacked back, attempting to hold off the undead invaders. They set up an armed border, and left High Priest Gerode in charge of its defenses. However, after having his plans meddled with time and time again, Gerode claimed the border and the area around it as his own nation, Abel. The Undead have begun expanding to the West, and have created a border with the Barbarian Nomads, but have a small corridore to my home here. I was forced to erect this volcano as a fortress against them, however on my own I am quite overmatched. And so I have begun taking action, destroying the nations undearneath my realm. You see, I have developted a secret weapon to battle these horrors. I have crafted my own Pact Primevil. Whenever one of my minions claims a life, that life becomes mine, to do with what I please. I can transform weak, insignificant elves, gnomes, halflings, and humans into power Devils to fight this coming foe. I sent toxic clouds of death from the top of my volcano south, turning the plains into a desert, and the forest into a swamp, and leaving my forces set to claim those unfortunate enough to be in my path. I hope to drive a line towards the bottom of the island in order to funnel resources from anywhere, or to escape the wrath of my foes. After my horde was finishes, I sent an invasion force into the Undead lands. They were faced by thousands of skeletons and zombies. Hacking their way through the insignifacant beings, it looked like the day would be ours. However, those fallen atrocities stood back up, and my Devils were surrounded. They began to attack with more ferocity than could be thought possible. I saw a zombie charge 90ft and bite a Pit Fiend's head off. My forces were crushed. It was only recently I discovered they were using unique creation techniques, crafting the perfect undead. Paragon Undead. As it stands, I am capable of only defending what is mine, though I would hope to get a chance to strike out at these foes, and halt them in their tracks for good."
At this point another Hellfire Wyrm entered the cavern, this one with scales slightly lighter than those of the one Obsidian encountered.
"James, you have returned triumphant I trust."
The dragon explains it's encounter with an unusual being representing the church, trying to forge an alliance with them, as well as its response of "buzz off". Annoyance began to show on the Devil's face.
"One of them have decided that they want us as allies, and you told them off? We are struggling in these dark times, and few are willing to work hand in hand with Devils! And yet you took a possible source of aid and refused it! Go out there, and find me that being! Do not return without him!"
Harborgens shakes his head as the dragon flies off on its assigned task.
"Good help is so hard to find these days. So what is your take on all this?"
He turns to his guest, waiting for Obsidian to compose his thoughts.
OOC: I finally got that posted. More updates to come later tonight, thats all the time I got for now.
"My name is Harborgens. I used to be a personal assistant to Mephistopheles, ruler of the Eighth Level of Hell. Eventually, my lord grew weary of my power, and I was forced to escape to this land in order to be free from his vile clutches. Of course, not without taking a fee for all those centuries of loyal service. I stole from him the power of hellfire. And here I am, preparing an army to battle these troubling times. I wonder if any of us will see the the next year"
The Devil sighs to himself as he looks up to the unseen roof of the cavern.
"I suppose there are many things you are unaware of, as you are anew arrival here. Let me fill you in on a few details. When this island was first created, it was constructed with four holy nations, one to the North, South, East, and West. Of course the Eastern nation, Halo, became the leader, being the direct connection to the rest of the world. And things progressed quite steadily, with people from all places migrating to a land where the upper beings could not control or prosecute them. The rest of the island filled itself out with beings who had no ties to the Church of the Gatekeeper. When the Disciples raised an army of these neutral partys to fight the religios nations, everything on the island was thrown out of order. It was Alemetra, the southern religious nation, that took the brunt of this war, and was practically in ruins afterward. As forces from outside sources funneled in, Almentra rebuilt itself from the ground up. However, once it had become a power again, Halo demanded that Almentra aid its brehtren in the fight against the disciples. Infuriated by the lack of aid, Almentra broke off relations with the Gatekeeper, and things have been going downhill ever since. Then Loien, the northern nation, lost contact with the rest of the island. No word came out of it for months, and soon after undead were spotted destroying towns to the south of it's borders. Halo attacked back, attempting to hold off the undead invaders. They set up an armed border, and left High Priest Gerode in charge of its defenses. However, after having his plans meddled with time and time again, Gerode claimed the border and the area around it as his own nation, Abel. The Undead have begun expanding to the West, and have created a border with the Barbarian Nomads, but have a small corridore to my home here. I was forced to erect this volcano as a fortress against them, however on my own I am quite overmatched. And so I have begun taking action, destroying the nations undearneath my realm. You see, I have developted a secret weapon to battle these horrors. I have crafted my own Pact Primevil. Whenever one of my minions claims a life, that life becomes mine, to do with what I please. I can transform weak, insignificant elves, gnomes, halflings, and humans into power Devils to fight this coming foe. I sent toxic clouds of death from the top of my volcano south, turning the plains into a desert, and the forest into a swamp, and leaving my forces set to claim those unfortunate enough to be in my path. I hope to drive a line towards the bottom of the island in order to funnel resources from anywhere, or to escape the wrath of my foes. After my horde was finishes, I sent an invasion force into the Undead lands. They were faced by thousands of skeletons and zombies. Hacking their way through the insignifacant beings, it looked like the day would be ours. However, those fallen atrocities stood back up, and my Devils were surrounded. They began to attack with more ferocity than could be thought possible. I saw a zombie charge 90ft and bite a Pit Fiend's head off. My forces were crushed. It was only recently I discovered they were using unique creation techniques, crafting the perfect undead. Paragon Undead. As it stands, I am capable of only defending what is mine, though I would hope to get a chance to strike out at these foes, and halt them in their tracks for good."
At this point another Hellfire Wyrm entered the cavern, this one with scales slightly lighter than those of the one Obsidian encountered.
"James, you have returned triumphant I trust."
The dragon explains it's encounter with an unusual being representing the church, trying to forge an alliance with them, as well as its response of "buzz off". Annoyance began to show on the Devil's face.
"One of them have decided that they want us as allies, and you told them off? We are struggling in these dark times, and few are willing to work hand in hand with Devils! And yet you took a possible source of aid and refused it! Go out there, and find me that being! Do not return without him!"
Harborgens shakes his head as the dragon flies off on its assigned task.
"Good help is so hard to find these days. So what is your take on all this?"
He turns to his guest, waiting for Obsidian to compose his thoughts.
OOC: I finally got that posted. More updates to come later tonight, thats all the time I got for now.
), however all the results end up the same. If Jemal started a grapple, the Choker ended up escaping, not hitting, and moving back anyways, and things turn out the same.
