Seravin's Tales of the Night Below (Two Updates this Week - 07/24/07)

[Seravin]

It’s the next morning for the characters, snow is falling lightly. Preparations are made to break the siege of Latina’s Cathedral.

Jared’s Player (JP): After we finish getting our spells I want to use the two Planar Ally spells to summon…<flip, flip, flip>…how about two avorals. We want them to help us retake the church.

DM: Heh. I expected you to say planetar. Okay, make two DC 22 Knowledge (Religion) rolls to see if you recall the names of any summonable avorals.

JP: I almost did, but that seems a little cheesy. <clatter> I made the rolls.

DM: Okay, you recall two names and you’re able to find adequate space in Jaylissa’s home to perform the summoning. How do you handle the bargaining? Just a simple gold payment, or do you want to do services?

JP: I can’t think of any services right now and I want to get to the Cathedral. If you don’t mind I’ll just pay the 1,400gp.

DM: Not a problem. You summon the two avorals and explain your need to them. They are happy to help and direct you to give the gold to the church of Sarath when this is all over. Hmmmm. I can’t think of good names for them. Why don’t you come up with something?

JP: Uh…Bob and Fred.

DM: ……….<deep sigh> Okay, Bob and Fred it is.* We’ll use these two miniatures for them.

I should have learned my lesson earlier. Jared's player once came up with a very undignified command word for a wand once. This was pretty tame by comparison.

 

[Seravin]

Shattered Siege

I can’t do it. I just can’t do it. I’m not going to refer to the two avorals as Bob and Fred.

----

A light powder of snow was falling in the early morning as Jared invoked a prayer heaven-ward from the rear courtyard of the Deverex mansion. The priest knew they would need allies in this morning’s endeavors. Too many enemies were already about, ranging from merely evil humans to aberrant mind-flayers, to fiendish devils. Illusion and deception infested the city so the warrior-priest called for aid that could protect and see truly.

A celestial war-cry echoed through the courtyard answering Jared’s prayers and two feathered avorals appeared in mid-air, swooping down to land before him. A bright radiance surrounded each of the guardian creatures and Jared’s soul basked in the holy light.

Angelic creatures, avorals are of the guardinal line and are charged with scouting out the hiding places of evil creatures. Standing seven feet tall, avorals are an imposing cross of human and eagle. Instead of hair these angels are covered with soft white and dark-blue feathers, giving their sharp-edged features and golden eyes an even more avian cast. Instead of arms, they have wings with hands located at the mid-point. Their legs are also distinctly avian ending in sharp, golden talons.

The avorals gazed upon Jared with interest for a long moment. Satisfied that he met some invisible criteria they nodded as one and the avoral to Jared’s right spoke.

“Why have you called us warrior?” Though deep, there was a hint of an eagle’s cry in the voice.

And so the bargaining began.

---

Jaylissa Deverex and Lore stared out of the second floor window that overlooked the street running in front of the mansion. Their four newest allies had already disappeared out of sight along with the strange creatures the priest had called.

Jaylissa spoke first, hugging herself tightly for warmth. “Do you think they can do it?” She asked.

Lore shrugged. “We don’t know enough. I suspect that if there’s anyone in Corlean that can break into the Cathedral, it would be them. Based on the spells I saw them casting before they left I’d match them against most people in the city right now.”

“I hope you’re right.” The young woman turned from the window. “I want my father back.”

“For what it’s worth I think they’ll find him.”

“I do too.” She said as she headed for the stairs. “I’m going to write a letter to Quereth and ask him to stay his hand against these people. Something is going on and I think we’re all being played by someone.”

Lore hesitated a moment and then nodded unhappily. He lacked his charge's faith in her godfather, but it was her decision. “I’ll have a runner deliver it when you are ready milady.”

---

The four made good time through the nearly empty early-morning streets. The gates to the city were closed and the city was under martial law, but the trouble at the Cathedral kept the army and the Watch from patrolling the streets in any great number. The two called avorals, Baob and Ferd had followed from high above under the mantle of invisibility.

For the most part the Square looked peaceful in the lightening sky and the gently falling snow; the peacefulness was only a lull however. Twice now the Sarathians, the army, and the Watch had tried to break into the Cathedral. The defending Latinans (and undead some whispered) had fought hard but would have been overcome except that members of the Watch and the army had begun to switch sides in the middle of each fight; turning on former comrades until they were struck down too. Worse, curious city folk who had approached the square too closely had begun to join the Latinan defenders.

In the face of the desertions and the unexpected civilian additions the army, Watch, and Sarathians had pulled back and tried to secure access to the Square and the Cathedral; sending word to the Duke that more reinforcements were necessary. Somewhat uncharacterisicly Duke Hilmaron seemed indecisive and was still considering his options.

The morning’s new snow was only beginning to hide the muddied and stained ground about the Cathedral. The fallen bodies had been removed sometime during the night and only the defenders of the Cathedral knew that the dead had gotten up and joined them inside the walls.

---

Hidden in an alley-way Jared looked towards the besieged cathredal some four hundred feet away. They had seen at least one patrol blocking their route to the walled grounds which meant that only authorized people would be allowed near the building. The priest discounted the hooded figures manning the wall as irrelevant.

They had a few options to gain entry including talking to the Sarathian commander or having Jallarzi teleport them inside. However Jared was only mostly sure that Captain Rusuk of the Sarathian church wouldn’t arrest them and he was loath to use up any of Jallarzi’s precious spells.

Turning to Baob and Ferd the priest asked, “Can you get us into the nave?”

Baob focused his gaze on Cathedral and the pillar of fire streaming out of the temple. “Easily,” replied the avoral.

Jallarzi looked about and reached into her spell component pouch. “Then it’s time for the short-term spells.”

Jared and Kellron nodded and the three of them began casting while Kestral took watch. The spell-casting went undisturbed though. As Jallarzi finished her final invocation of mass haste, Baob touched her and Jared on the arm and breached the dimensional boundaries. Likewise, Ferd touched Kellron and Kestral and the three of them disappeared leaving the alleyway empty again.

 

[Seravin]

Temple Services

There’s probably a way to describe what happened next. Indeed, the verbalization of the prayer used to ward the nave and sanctuary of the Cathedral would provide enough technical detail to anyone versed in spellcraft.

For the lay person however the only informative description is that the dimensional doorways didn’t work. The exit points of the angelic doorways should have opened up in the center of the nave of the cathedral, between the rows of pews. Instead the exits collapsed upon themselves and the travelers found themselves forced out of the nave and shunted back astrally to the boundaries of the forbiddance*.

The six travelers staggered to their feet within the darkened, wide entryway of the church. Behind them the great double doors were barred shut, denying entry to anyone not bringing a portable ram or magic. Before them were two large archways curtained off. The curtains were stained and glistening with some dark liquid. Beyond the curtains they could hear the muffled chanting of a single deep voice.

The six dimensional-travellers had only a few moments to take this in when shuffling movement within the entryway drew their attention.

Three figures from either side of the entryway emerged from dark alcoves. The figures were dressed in the white robe of Latinan acolytes with the hoods pulled low obscuring their features; but these robes were bloodied and torn. Their walk was shuffling, almost lurching, and every living person in the entryway recognized the creatures as the walking dead.

Kellron pivoted to the right, drawing Deverat with a practiced movment, and presented the sword in a salute as he called out. “Sarath!” He invoked, channeling the righteous and holy power of the war god. The three zombies still shuffling towards them burst with a silver fire and burned away to nothingness.

Under the effects of Jallarzi’s hastening spell Kellron pivoted smoothly while holding the same salute. “Sarath!” he called out again; and the remaining zombies burned away to dust.

Jared, Kestral, and Jallarzi went up the curtained archways and pushed the soaked cloth (blood they could now tell) aside to peer into the nave beyond. The scene presented was out of some hellish play.

The nave and sanctuary, once illuminated by sunlight, torches, and candles was now lit only by a monstrous, roiling, pillar of red-orange flame that started were the altar once stood and roared up thirty feet through the ceiling and beyond. A dark, shadowy shape, perhaps ten feet tall, could just be made out in the center of hellfire.

The pillar somewhat obscured the back of the sanctuary, but it was apparent that the once gleaming-white statue of Latina the Defender had somehow been transformed to a woman enchained.

A cloud of brimstone smoke hung in the air and the once glorious stained-glass windows were blackened. What little light seeped through the panes suggested horrible scenes. The iconic imagery of the shields and swords which had graced the stone and wood of the temple were blackened, twisted, and broken. Almost like they had been melted or reformed like clay.

There were witnesses to this hellish scene. The front five or six rows of pews were half-filled with people wearing blackened, hooded robes; just standing and staring at pillar of fire. Jallarzi was the first to pick out the source of the chanting; a large, robed man standing in the center aisle.

Apparently realizing that he was about to be interrupted the robed man raised both of his hands up in a sudden movement and the congregation took up the chant with him. The sudden swell of voices seemed to lend substance to the shadowy, monstrous looking figure trapped in the hellfire.

“Hells.” Whispered Jallarzi.

Jared agreed, but he wasn’t about to voice that invective. Catching the half-elf's eye he nodded to the left hand row of pews which she was closest to. He then jerked his head to the pews on the right.

Jallarzi smiled savagely and nodded agreement. Nearly as one both Jared and Jallarzi moved into the sanctuary, with Baob following Jared and Ferd protecting Jallarzi. Corruscating tendrils of black energy flared as the humans and angels entered the nave proper. Mage, priest, and avoral grimaced but pressed on. The tendrils died and let them pass unharmed; unable to break their will. The four cautiously made their way to the rear most pews and looked about the temple for any hiding foes.

Not to be left behind Kellron also raced into the sanctuary and made his way down the long center aisle. As had happened to his friends, the black energy flared again and tried to keep the paladin at bay; but he wasn’t about to be slowed from his duty. Kellron was going to try and fill the sinkhole of evil with the righteous wrath of the war god.

Kestral, her mind racing also made to move into the sanctuary at the same time as Kellron. This time the black warding energy found purchase. Kestral gave a muffled half-scream as she was blown back into the entryway. Ravaged nerves screamed pain as the young woman regained her footing.

Kellron noted his friend’s cry as he skidded to a stop about halfway down the aisle, some sixty feet from the pillar. Pointing Deverat at the flames Kellron invoked a brief but feverant prayer to Sarath. White power flared up around the paladin and the pillar of hellfire, and for a moment the fires dimmed and the shadowy figure faded. The flames resurged though as the chanting lended it power again. Kellron snarled and tried to focus himself; he would be Sarath’s blade. Again the flames died back as holy power was fed into them and again they resurged.

The black-robed figure leading the chanters turned at the unwanted intrusion. With a deliberate shrug the man raised his arms up and pulled back his hood. The snarling visage was the perfect mirror of Kellron. The man glared at Kellron with hate filled eyes and then was suddenly gone.

Thinking through the pain, Kestral finally remembers what’s been bothering her about the scene and calls out a warning. “Don’t kill them!” she shouted. “Whoever is behind this has been kidnapping people of the street!” reminded the young adventurer.

Jallarzi, her hands filled with packets of guano stops the first gestures of a fireball spell and grimaced. For his part, Jared lets out a slow breath as he realized he nearly invoked a plane of swords into a group of innocents. There was no telling what that could have done for the creature in the hellfire.

Stuffing the packages back into her spell component pouch Jallarzi looked to Ferd. “Can you dispel a charm?” she asks.

The guardian angel nods once and turns his sharp-eyed gaze onto the congregation. With a single bird-like sound a sudden stillness grips the congregation on the left hand side of the Cathedral. Baob, invokes his own dispel magic with a similar cry, stilling his half of the congregation. Jared augments the angelic dispelling with his own god-given prayers.

The stillness lasted for about two heartbeats and then the chanting resumed again; but this time by only half of the congregation. The other half staggered where they stood and began to look around.

“The Defender help us!” cried out a voice, while another person screamed in terror. Within seconds the formerly enslaved members of the congregation were tripping over each other trying to reach the aisles.

“Keep trying to free the rest!” Jared ordered the avorals, as he and Jallarzi moved to the center aisle and made their way to Kellron. They were able to move against the people easily as no one wanted to get in their way and there weren’t enough fleeing people to jam the aisle yet.

Seeing the onrushing horde of panicked people Kestral took a deep breath. She wasn’t sure what was outside, between the Cathedral and its walls but she would bet her own money that the grounds were not safe. Lifting up her arms she called out for calm and order. “Hold up!” She ordered. “It’s not safe out there! Everyone calm down and we’ll get you out of here as soon as the pillar is gone!”

The crowd of twenty-odd people faltered in their rush to the door, but fear is a harsh master it drove away reason.

Thinking fast and still acting under spell-graced speed Kestral stamped her foot and threw back her shoulders, remembering to slow her words so she could be understood. “I said hold it!” She shouted, her voice piercing through the threatening madness. “There are undead monstronsities just outside the doors waiting to eat anyone who steps out. We have angels in here who will save us all if we just lend them our prayers!”

The stick and carrot approach worked and Kestral cared not whether or not either was true, as long as everyone else did. Kestral pointed to the alcoves at the side. “Everyone just squeeze into these alcoves right now, out of the way of danger. We don’t want any stray spells hurting anyone.” She smiled with satisfaction as the still fearful people began to obey her.

Meanwhile, Kellron was still trying to channel the will of the war god with only limited success. Each time the pillar would dim but it would always flare back to life. Kellron knew in part it was because he was more warrior than priest and it was only his force of personality and devotion to Sarath that would make this task possible. Then Jared was beside him, lending his own faith to the task, and the two men poured more holy energy into the pillar.

Jallarzi moved up beside the two men and looked about as the avorals continued to free the congregation of their mental enslavement. A cry of pain drew her immediate attention and Jallarzi whirled to the source.

Almost all of the congregation members were throwing back their hoods as they were freed. A handful had not, but in the ensuing confusion the hoods had dropped back anyway. There were undead mixed amongst the congregation and they were starting to attack anyone trying to flee.

Jallarzi paused only long enough to pick out two ravaged, walking corpses and invoked a stream of five magic missiles. “More undead." she noted to the two men.

Kellron only half-heard. Reaching deep inside he found and touched the well of energy that he recognized as Sarath. Raw holy power, bolstered by Jared’s own attempts, poured from the paladin in a torrent of silver flame**. Under this perfect expression of faith the hellfire pillar didn’t flicker, it simply went out with single monstrous cry of rage that was suddenly silenced.

Without missing a beat Kellron and Jared each turn to face separate parts of the congregation and invoked a final turning each. The skeletons and zombies flared briefly again and disappeared.

Kellron allowed himself a moment of satisfaction before turning to Jared. “We need to get these people out of here. Can Baob and Ferd get them out the same way they got us in? Maybe take them all the way to the church of Sarath…”

Jared nodded. “Good idea.” Turning to the avorals he shouted to be heard above the shouts of the now freed crowd and Kestral’s commanding voice. “Baob! Ferd! Please start ferrying these people to the safety of Sarath’s church, or as close as possible in a single trip.”

The two guardian angels grunted assent and half-hopped/half-flew to the entryway. Once there they began gathering the thirty or forty odd Imperial citizens close so they could get them to safety.

---
*This was a 3.0 Forbiddance. The way it was written left me in some doubt on how it denied teleportation effects. I ultimately ruled it would dump then at the edge of the effect.

**Natural 20 with an assist from Jared. Kellron was the primary because he has a nice Charisma score which offset his paladin-ness penalty. Jared has a Charisma or 10 or 11.

 

[Seravin]

That was the last update before the board crash.
I apparently didn't actually save the last page of posts, so I reposted from my drafts.

Also, cutting and pasting like this lost the formatting. I'll be going over the posts as time permits and updating.

The next post has been in the works for awhile, but apparently I failed a fortitude save or two and I've been moderately ill. I'll try and post by this Sunday though.

 

[Seravin]

Hurried Activities

Balraj seethed at the intrusion even as he fled through the astral places of the desecrated church. Some would call his flight cowardice but Balraj viewed the retreat as an expedient necessity. He had little doubt that he could defeat the mortal Sarathians now that he was able to manifest his full power without regard to witnesses; especially since the woman from the Blue Gorgon was not with them.

Likewise Balraj was confident in the face of the avorals. If they were the strongest divine emissaries he and his brothers would have to face then the gods had already given up on the city and there would be much pain and agony to savor in the coming days. It had been a long, long time since he had plucked the feathers from a guardian angel. More scout than warrior the avorals represented little more than an annoyance.

The might of the mortals and the angels combined however gave the devil pause. No one in the city had tested the might of theses humans in many days. Certainly they were easily tricked but the priest had managed to discern his true form beneath his mortal disguise. In truth it was just barely possible that the angels and mortals together could have killed him. Maybe.

So Balraj stepped into the astral to find his brothers, Foruk and Yyntod.

---

Foruk was upstairs in the office chambers with the woman-priest. Not the high-priestess herself but her lieutenant. Balraj hadn’t bothered to learn her name though Foruk undoubtedly knew it. Foruk viewed torture as an art form that required working not only with the flesh and mind of the victim but with the spirit as well. Foruk favored priests as his principle medium as they had the spiritual fortitude to make long-lasting works.

Foruk, disguised as the mortal priest Jared, spat and turned as Balraj appeared within the room. “I asked you not to bother me Brother. She is not ready for display as of yet for I have barely had time to whisper to her all of her sins.” The devil sighed. “Now I shall have to start all over.”

There was a whimper from the bed and the devil allowed himself a satisfied smile.

Balraj shook his head with impatience. “They are here brother.” he said shortly.

Foruk paused and then grinned. “Let us find our other sibling then. He is in the large room of meetings with the priestling and the sorceror-pawn.”

---

Yyntod, in the guise of the wizardess Jallarzi, gazed with interest at the pulsing globe of violet light floating some three feet over the wide table. Various other colors pulsed within the radiance and the shape would occasionally deform however there was little else that revealed the power inherent in the dimensional extrusion. The wet, throaty sounds from the corner of the room and the thin film of clear slime covering the walls ample were evidence that there was power in the ball of light. The remains of the Latinan acolytes were making that horrific, bubbly sound and the slime had been their extracted sanity. Yyntod wondered what else he could do with the globe.

The priestling, a servant to Aruk and of so little power that Yyntod had not even bothered to learn his name, looked at the corner and then to the illithid-pawn sorceror. “Send that thing away.” He snapped. Yyntod refrained from shaking his head

The sorceror smiled beatifically, though the madness in his eyes was still apparent. “Of course. The song is not meant for you anyway. Not until the cerebrotic seed has expanded even further.” The sorceror looked to the corner and uttered a series of squeals and clicks.

Any further conversation was cut short by two small pops of displaced air. Balraj and Foruk, still in their human Sarathian guises appeared by the door to the room. Balraj gaze flicked about the room dismissively before settling on Yyntod. “They are here, in the nave,” announced the devil.

Disguised as Jallarzi, Yyntod’s smile was chilling. “Excellent,” purred the disguised devil. “Let us prepare for battle” he commanded the two humans.

---

Baob and Ferd stepped into the entryway from out of nowhere, each graced with a visible halo of power. The holy aura had gained the avorals the instant respect and unquestioning obedience of the priests outside the walls. The angelic guardians looked about the entryway and settled their gaze upon the young woman organizing the evacuation even as they reached out to take the hands of the faithful and lead them from the damned and damaged temple. If they saw anything of note about the young woman they kept it to themselves as they smiled comfort to milling humans.

 

[Seravin]

Looking back over my notes I can see that I didn't run forbiddance properly. Balraj never should have been able to teleport out of the nave. It's been a couple years since we ran this session and I'm not sure if I did it on purpose or not. I think it worked okay in the context of the game and the players abilities but I doubt I'd do it this way again.

There's more to come but I'm still fighting whatever bug I picked up and life has gotten busy. I'm going to see if I can manage small/frequent updates.

 

[Torgal]

Just a few words of encouragement. I have spent the last week being rather unproductive at work while engrossed in this SH. I love the various outlooks on the story from villians, NPC's and even the familiars and weapons! I look forward to more and now that I am caught up maybe I'll get a few projects at work finally completed

 

[Seravin]

Just a few words of encouragement. I have spent the last week being rather unproductive at work while engrossed in this SH. I love the various outlooks on the story from villians, NPC's and even the familiars and weapons! I look forward to more and now that I am caught up maybe I'll get a few projects at work finally completed

Welcome to the boards! And thank you for the kind words.
I won't apologize for making it interesting - but I will sympathize for the lost work time.

I'm about half-way done with the next installment, but life seems to keep getting in the way. My own projects at work are also piling up so I'm not going to offer when I'm posting next.

The good news is that I'm still interested in continuing the SH and I have a lot of material - just not a lot of time to format it.
The words are appreciated though and I'll try and get the next bit done as soon as possible.

 

[Seravin]

The Welcoming Committee

Shifting from the meeting room with a brief exercise of his will, Balraj led the charge from under the cover of invisibility. The devil’s destination was a narrow ledge high above the floor along one wall of the nave. A cruel smile crossed the devil’s lips as he realized that their prey was where he had left them and clustered oh-so-close together, and the avorals were nowhere to be seen.

Even better his arrival had not been noticed. The human’s attention appeared to be on the darkened shadows and the milling cattle in the entryway. Remarkably, the three other hushed whumps of air signaling the arrival of his brothers and the humans also went unnoticed.

Waving a hand out towards the three clustered humans on the floor below, Balraj’s smile turned to a sneer as he invoked a twenty-foot tall, encircling wall of fire about his prey. The heat of the hellfire wall was enough to drive the humans back a step to the center, but none of them could avoid the hellish heat. The invoked power shattered Balraj’s cloak of invisibility revealing that he was still disguised as the human paladin.

Nearly simultaneously a bead of fire formed and shot from the ledge opposite Balraj. The bead sped forth like an arrow and exploded in a ball of orange flame directly over the top of the fiery wall. Foruk, still disguised as the Sarathian priest, was revealed with the fiery invocation and his sneer was the equal of Balraj’s.

There was a pause and then all within the nave and foyer heard the hurried voice of a hasted spellcaster invoking a spell from amongst the pews, some twenty feet away from the fire-wall. Barely a second later another voice started to chant.

---

Jallarzi only had time to turn towards the direction of the voices. Beyond the bright flames were dark shapes that she could only just make out. Clinically she recognized several syllables and realized that the voice was invoking something akin to a cone of cold; but something was off. The other voice was praying for a spell of blindness

No sooner had Jallarzi finished that thought then a storm of green, slushy acid erupted from the pews, engulfing everything in its path. The pews in the way disintegrated under the slushy deluge and even the wall of fire wavered enough to allow the acid to reach those inside.

At almost the same time Jallarzi’s eyes filled with darkness. Shaking her head she shrugged the spell off and was relieved to find that she was still standing. Jallarzi began to reached for her potions when she heard the hasted syllables begin to repeat themselves. Her eyes grew wide but she didn’t need to give a warning shout. Both Kellron and Jared heard it too and they understood what was coming. Mercifully the second voice was beginning a different prayer.

---

The exultant shout died before it was voiced and Balraj’s sneer faltered as the greenish acid evaporated as suddenly as it had been created. The three were still standing. Both the paladin and the wizardess were sorely hurt, but they were still standing. Worse, the priest was completely unharmed; the spellstorm had not touched him at all.

Stunned, Balraj got off to a slow start and the devil didn’t have time to so much as swear as twin globes of radiance suddenly appeared in the foyer. The avorals had come back. The burning wall of fire alerted the angelic guardians that there were new attackers to deal with even as the still frightened humans pressed in against them.

Her body burned and aching, Jallarzi orientated on the still chanting voice and invoked a storm of ice, bending her concentration to ignore the waves of heat radiating off the fiery wall*. The ice-storm caught the sorceror, priest, and the Jared-doppelganger high on the wall. Not satisfied with that and still under the effect of her hastening spell, the wizardess followed up with a sonic-substituted ice-storm centered on the same place. The cry of pain she hears over the thunderous spell makes her smile but the chanting still continues.

Like Jallarzi, Kellron had taken the brunt of the onslaught. Gritting his teeth and ignoring what he was about to do Kellron ran through the flames towards the still chanting voice. The other side of the fiery wall was blessedly cool and the paladin looked about at the enemies before them as he invoked Sarath’s blessing to heal his burned and smoking flesh.

Dopplegangers of himself, Jared, and Jallarzi stood precariously on ledges about the nave while two humans stood amongst the wreckage of pews some forty feet away. One of the men, dressed in smoking black robes looked dazed and was already trying to work past the effects of Jallarzi’s counter barrage. The man next to the sorceror was dressed in black platemail and was just about to complete a spell of his own. The one still casting bore a shield with the symbol of Tresh emblazoned on it and was loosely holding an ugly looking mace while the free hand gestured. Grimly, Kellron moved closer to the two men but he knew he wouldn't get there before the spell wasfinished.

Jared was reacting nearly as fast as Kellron. His prayer of spell resistance had just been completed before the spell storm had enveloped them all and he was grateful for his foresight. Jallarzi was on her last legs however and the priest knew that the wizardess was counting on him. Reaching out to touch his friend the priest invoked his most powerful prayer of healing, restoring Jallarzi to full health with but a touch and an invocation. The priest then turned towards the still chanting voice and invoked a spell of purity, washing the area in pure goodness.

Kellron watched the holy light spill over the sorceror, Treshan priest, and the devil disguised as Jared. The sorceror’s scream was cut short as he crumpled to the ground, his flesh smoking nearly as much as Kellron’s had moments before. The priest grunted but continued his spell.

The quickest of his brothers, Yyntod snarled as he saw the backwash of light from the holy radiance now filling the foyer. Dropping from his ledge over the door to the foyer Yyntod pivoted and picked out the armed woman who was even now directing the humans into alcoves. His gaze met hers momentarily and he tried to bend her to his will.

Yyntod’s effort was for naught. The woman, Kestral, was standing within the radiance of the avorals and the charm washed off their protective aura. The magical effort shattered Yyntod’s invisibility and the devil was revealed disguised as Jallarzi in a ragged, black and red dress.

Balraj knew that Yyntod could prevail against all of those in the foyer so he concentrated on the paladin who was free from the flames. Uncoiling his whip the devil leapt lightly to the ground, landing some ten feet away from the paladin. With a flick of his powerful wrist he snapped the whip at his foe. The paladin batted the weapon away with his shield with an almost distracted air, his attention was on the spellcasting priest.

Foruk, stunned at the counterattack, teleported away. Every spell had pierced his profane resistance and he had been sorely wounded. Confused, the devil sought sanctuary to heal his wounds and prepare again. Foruk saw the illithid-pawn sorceror drop as he teleported away, but gave the expendable human little thought. The human had been expendable anyway.

Remarkably the priest had managed to sustain his summoning spell throughout the entire spell barrage. Even as Jared was finishing his holy smite the priest finished his spell of summoning, conjuring forth a fiendish ape from some hellish realm. The priest shouted something in the infernal tounge and the creature bounded towards the foyer. The priest then turned to Kellron, worried, and conjured an unholy darkness around the paladin and himself. The darkness burned like cold-fire and stank of evil. The priest then shifts his mace from his shield hand and readies himself.

Events were happening fast and for the first time in a very long time, Kestral found herself slow to react. Shaking the confusion off Kestral drew her sword and yelled to the remaining Imperials. “Head to the alcoves! Let the angels fight for you!” Remarkably the crowd obeyed. She hoped that the avoral’s auras would protect the innocents from any stray fireballs.

Converging on the Jallarzi look-alike, the bird-like guardians slashed at the woman, barely leaving scratches. Uncoiling her whip, the woman/devil sneers prettily at them. For their part the avorals can see beyond the glamour concealing the devil and know that right now they are only buying time.

Standing in the center of the fiery circle where the broiling heat was only marginally less, Jallarzi strained to peer through the flickering wall. The movement of a large creature bounding past the fiery wall catches her attention, but she pauses for a moment.

Kellron calls out to his friends. “A little help?”

Jared, hearing Kellron’s call, casts a spell of daylight upon the darkness. A piercing light momentarily appears within the darkness but it is then consumed utterly. Jared snarls but decides to engage the Kellron doppelganger that had dropped from above. “See what you can do.” he tells Jallarzi. Raising Finslayer Jared charges through the flames unharmed and strikes at a creature that looked almost exactly his friend.

“Good one!” shouted Finslayer as he sinks deep into the whip-carrying Kellron. The blade sinks nearly to the hilt, and the evil creature stumbles as Jared pulls the enchanted blade free.

Seeing Jared is otherwise occupied Jallarzi first invokes a binding spell, freezing the charging ape in place. She then abjures the darkness spell, clearing the damning darkness from the once sacred hall.

Kellron breathes freely and charges the Treshan. Unfortunately his wild swing misses. The Treshan’s answering strike is more measured and he manages to hit the paladin upside the head with his wicked looking mace. Kellron grunts but his helmet absorbed most of the blow and he readies himself for another flurry.

Meanwhile Yyntod lashes at the avorals with his whip. He manages to strike twice but while the whip scores blood the unholy power in the whip fails to stun the angels. Positioned as he is in the foyer Yyntod is unconcerned. The devil doesn’t see what is going on in the nave and is paying more attention to the armed woman who is trying to come up from behind.

Not quite panicked, Balraj steps away from the Sarathian priest and teleports across the hall putting himself within striking distance of the paladin. He wants room from the Sarathian priest for the moment.

Foruk makes his appearance next; this time on a different ledge and for the moment goes unnoticed. Rather then patiently wait Foruk lets loose with a quickened wall of fire, encircling Jallarzi within a tight circle of flickering fire. The flames are close enough that the young woman’s clothes begin to smolder.

The Treshan priest is feeling confident after his successful strike against the Sarathian warrior. He proceeds to lay blow after blow against the paladin and only then realizes how lucky his first blow had been as each subsequent strike is fended off. A cold sweat beads upon the priest’s brow.

Finally gaining her bearings Jallarzi looks about and sees the source of the second fire. Gritting her teeth Jallarzi covers her face and runs through both walls of fire, somehow managing not to cry out with the pain. As she emerges from the last wall, her once white hair now blackened, Jallarzi glares at the devil disguised as Jared and invokes another binding, freezing the creature in place. Jallarzi then continues moving towards the foyer.

Nearly recovered from the knock to his head Kellron cries out “Sarath!” and smites the Treshan with a single clean blow. The priest crumples under the blow like a sack of potatoes and Kellron uses the momentum of the blade to step closer to his evil twin. The whip-carrying Kellron’s eyes grow wide as Deverat begins to sing a celestial song.

Balraj finally recognized the blade. No one had said that the Song of Angels had been found. Feebly the devil tried to entangle the blade with his whip, but there was no slowing down the paladin. The last sound Balraj heard before he was beheaded was the cry of “Sarath!” accompanied by a celestial aria.

The corpse that looked like Kellron shimmered and grew, revealing the mishappened body of a nine-foot long (minus a head) gargoyle like creature. The devil was well muscled and its leathery skin was covered with ruddy scales. Almost immediately the body began to smoke and decompose. Kellron gives the corpse a bare glance and then ran towards the ledge where the held devil posing as Jared was standing.

Jared beat Kellron to the punch. Before the paladin had traversed half the distance Jared invoked a horizontal blade barrier on top of the devil, laying it so that the blades cover most of the nearby ledges. Unable to leap out of the way the devil was chopped and slashed into a pulpy mass. The body fell to the floor of the cathedral with a wet thump, but even from forty feet away Jared could tell the body was beginning to knit itself up.

Yyntod heard the music and recognized it for what it was. Snarling, the devil pressed the attack against the angels.

Bleeding heavily from the whip wounds, Baob and Ferd step back and drop their divine aura.** Yyntod raised a perfectly formed eyebrow in askance and looked about the foyer. He doesn’t know why the angels have done so and wonders if it is a trap. Seeing Jallarzi approach he understands and smiles.

“How dare you impersonate me and use my looks to ruin my friends!” Jallarzi’s anger is righteous but she doesn’t understand that Yyntod admires the pride behind it. This is a human he could work with. Jallarzi lets loose with two flights of magic missiles. The missiles slash through the devil’s resistance drawing deep wounds. Wounds that start to heal almost immediately.

Within the nave Kellron and Jared ensure that Foruck will never rise again. The unconscious devil cannot even teleport away as the two men slash at the fiend’s body.

Yyntod ignores the spell-made damage and smiles, knowing how that smile will infuriate the still burning woman. “You have spirit.” He admires. So saying he drops a fireball just outside the foyer, deliberately missing the cowering humans. The devil didn’t particularly care about the humans but he and brothers would need the fodder to reopen the gate.

The ball of fire roars through most of the foyer with a ferocity that Jallarzi is unable to avoid. The wizardess drops to the ground, her flesh burned almost black and her hair almost completely burned away.

Somehow Kestral manages to avoid the spiraling flames that had licked out from the explosion. Seeing her friend drop Kestral calls out to the two men. “Jallarzi’s down!” Then to Baob and Ferd, “Bring that aura up!” Bravely the young woman continues to try and harry the wizardess-disguised devil

Seeing the wisdom of Kestral’s command the two guardian angels bring their protective auras back up. Baob maneuvers around to Jallarzi and touches the half-elf, easing enough of her wounds that the wizardess wakes up. Ferd lets loose with a flurry of his own magic missiles at the devil, but they burn harmlessly away against the devil’s hide.

Jallarzi stirs and stands. Her hastening spell nearly expiring, Jallarzi maneuvers around to the front doors, putting her back to the Imperials. Gritting her teeth through the pain Jallarzi invokes a cone of cold. The blast of frigid air scours the resistance of the fiend and it drops to the floor unconscious.

The frost covered corpse twitches on the floor and Jallarzi thinks she sees that the flesh is still trying to heal itself. Rolling her eyes Jallarzi lets fly with another flurry of magic missiles. “Someone get in here and kill this thing!” She yells.

---

It doesn’t take long for Kellron to dispatch the last two fiends using the holy power that flows through Deverat. Less than a minute after their surprise attack the three fiendish brothers are no more; their essence sent back to the hellish plane that spawned them. Perhaps in a century or more they would rise again as manes. Perhaps not.


------

As an interesting side note, everyone but Kestral had an initive over 20. She was down at 7.

*We apparently forgot that the wall of fire was opaque. As near as I can tell after so long, everyone was targeting through the wall.

**Jared’s player was running the avorals and I’m still not sure why he did this. I think, in retrospect it was because Jallarzi was going to be entering the area and they didn’t want her spells interrupted.

 

[Seravin]

Moving is heck. Being involved in 3 moves and a house building is worse.

I'm not going to be able to update for awhile - probably not until late July or August.
Just thought I'd let people know that I still plan on updating things - just not soon.