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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Chasmodai" data-source="post: 1032563" data-attributes="member: 12445">Along the way, we passed through a village that instantly alerted my suspicion the moment we took a step inside. The village was empty and deserted, though by the look of it, it hadn't been so for long. The livestock wandered in the fields, the crop was still tended and houses mostly looked like they were in the midst of being cleaned when the occupants left in a hurry. No more than an hour.Suddenly there was the sound of running people, accompanied by screaming. Somewhere further ahead, there was the sound of the shrieking and neighing of a horse and its steel-shod hooves on the rough ground.A crowd of frightened - no terrified - villagers appeared from behind what appeared to be a large barn, making a bee line for Ingram."Please help us!" one man implored of Ingram. As Ingram opened his mouth the reply, the thundering of hooves got closer and what I saw next I can never forget.The rider was decked out in full-plate, studded and spiked, painted a gleaming black. The rider's visor was down, but the sight of the horse, with its blood-caked teeth and red eyes confirmed my suspicions.Fiend.It held a heavy miner's pick in one hand, shield in the other. Strange choice for a weapon, I remember thinking to myself. It held one hand aloft, even as Xaod and Ingram were readying their weapons. There was an explosion of sorts, a wave of hot black energy came down upon us and found its way into our pores and threatened to burn us from the inside.I managed to leap clear of the blast, taking cover behind my horse. Ingram was quick enough to cover himself with his shield, although the unholy fires burned his arms and his back. Xaod was not that lucky. He was thrown off his horse as the beast reared and shrieked, and the paladin landed hard on his back, his face and hair singed. His tabard was charred and smoke was wafting up from the edges.My horse's knees buckled and it fell. The villagers were nothing more than blackened skeletons. Only the man who had spoken to Ingram was left intact - even then, it was only his face that remained, a grotesque mask that spoke of horror and shock. Ingram looked at the dead man's pleading face in anger and drew his sword, righteous fury seeming to seep from his very pores. There - in the subconscious vision of my mind - I saw him glow with hallowed light, and I was cowed.The fiend gave no sign of fear. As Xaod picked himself up from the ground, drawing his sword in the process, I scampered backwards, because Zander was supposed to be completely inept at melee combat. The fiend chuckled as Ingram readied his shield. It hefted its pick, and as if that was some sort of sign, the two charged at each other in a thunderous beating of hooves. They met in the center of the dirt road with a furious clash of metal. The fiend's mount bit at Ingram's untested horse. Panicking, the horse threw the Paladin and bolted, only to have two burning hooves thud into its neck, breaking its spine. Ingram scrambled to his feet just in time to catch a blow on his shield. Countering fluidly, the Templar of Heironeous swept aside the fiend's shield with his sword and slashed at its iron clad torso. The glimmering blade - one I then recognized as the Morius family sword - clove into through the armor like it was paper, tearing the flesh and the muscles beneath. Even as Ingram pulled his weapon out, the fiend growled aloud in anger and slammed its shield into Ingram's chest. The blow was harmless, but drove the Paladin back a few steps.And then Xaod acted.I had seen the Paladin kneeling on one knee a distance away from me, muttering something to himself. Abruptly, a bright fire erupted about him, lighting him up as if he was some kind of celestial being. Deep inside, a more cynical part of me muttered, "Show-offs,"Xaod rose to his feet with more grace than I could have credited him for and charged at the fiend, leaving a trail of blazing fire in his wake. His sword was raised high, the blade also glowing with an inner flame and he struck down upon the fiend, promising to smite it back to the stinking hells it came from.As his sword flashed down, the fiend, in an almost careless way, turned the blade aside and sent Xaod stumbling. As the Paladin attempted to right himself, the fiend swung its pick around in a deadly backhand, and the sharpened end of the weapon pierced the back of Xaod's helmet and into his skull. I could not see his face, but I could very well imagine the look on it.The fiend shook it weapon loose and spun it, flicking the blood and bits of grey matter off it. Xaod's body slumped to the ground, blood forming a small pool around his head. Ingram yelled a war cry to Heironeous and raised his sword to strike at the demon again, but I acted first. Finally shaking loose my crossbow and loading it with trembling fingers, I fired twice at the fiend, utilizing a little trick I'd picked up in Greyhawk. I fired the first bolt, quickly reloaded and let off the second in such a way that the two bolts were in the same line of trajectory, so that my target would only be able to see one bolt, and not two.But my fingers shook so badly that the second bolt struck the first and the two were sent careening into the ground. I growled in frustration and threw the crossbow to the ground, charging forward and drawing my rapier.Ingram slashed at the fiend once more, but his sword 'clanged' off the thing's spiked armor. Suddenly, the fiend dropped its shield and tore off its helmet, revealing a pale, grey face of a once-human, filled with unutterable sadness. As I stared into the face - one that did not look the least bit demonic, I might add - I felt an overwhelming fear come over me and grief and a blinding light.Suddenly Ingram cried out and struck at the fiend once more, snapping me out of my stupor. The knight had his shield raised and was covering his face with it, averting his eyes from the demon's face. I understood then. The friend's visage was a supernatural attack in itself, its gaze causing an unbearable horror to overtake the mind and the cause the heart to stop functioning, thereby killing the target.I had been that target. The fiend had tried to kill me.Now I was pissed.I closed on the fiend, flanking it and waited till its defenses were occupied with Ingram. At the precise moment of time, I lunged and stabbed, piercing its armor through a gap in the joints and pushed through into its body. My blade entered its breast and punctured its heart. I pulled out my rapier and looked at the blade, completely unblooded.Bloody fiends.I leapt back, too far for the fiend to hack at me with its pick. Ingram abruptly changed tactics and stabbed at the fiend's horse. Even as his sword was about to inflict serious damage upon the horse, the fiend tugged on the reins, and pulled the horse out of harm's way. I was - to put it bluntly - quite impressed.Not to mention scared.I decided to follow Ingram's lead. It was a good idea anyway; drop the horse, get rid of one of the fiend's advantages. I stepped in, lanced my rapier's slim blade through the horse's neck and bounded backwards. The fiend snarled, its sad face contorting into anger for a short while. As the fiend's attention was divided, Ingram hacked at the horse and his longsword ripped into the creature's belly.The horse shrieked in pain and stumbled, dropping. The fined jumped off the saddle and landed on its feet, immediately turning to Ingram and chopping at the knight with its weapon. Ingram fended off the fiend bravely, but the sharp, blood-crusted head of the pick broke through the Paladin's defenses, once, twice, thrice. In retaliation, Ingram scored a hit upon the fiend's torso, tearing the steel of its breastplate open. Viscous, black blood began to flow and the fiend pressed its attack ever harder.Ingram managed to draw blood once more, but the fiend's pick pierced the Templar's suddenly brittle armor and smashed bone and tore skin and muscle. Ingram grunted, swaying on his feet, and fell. I started, and began to scramble for my rapier, despite the fact that it was useless against the fiend's supernatural skin. My eyes roamed our dirt battlefield, searching for a solution. It came to me in the form of a sword.To be precise, Ingram's.The fiend lunged for me, and I dodged aside, and then dove for the blade. Seizing it in my hands, I hopped to my feet and held the sword in a defensive posture. The fiend did the unexpected. It stared into my face, and I belatedly tried to turn away. But I felt a presence in my mind already and though I strove to fight it off, it was much too powerful for me."I have done what I came here for. Watch him die," the fiend rasped, its voice hollow and full of hate. I was frozen, held helpless, while Ingram lay on the floor, bleeding.No big loss.</blockquote>

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