Shackled City Epic: "Vengeance" (story concluded)

[Lazybones]

Chapter 449

“Something’s coming from above, approaching fast,” Dannel pointed out.

The companions readied weapons and spells, and looked in the direction that the elf indicated. They’d spent maybe half of an hour flying toward the center of Occipitus since arriving via Dana’s plane shift, and true to Arun’s earlier comment they seemed to have come little closer to their destination.

“Dana, Lok, Beorna… be ready to transform back to corporeal form, if it looks like a fight,” Cal said. “I’ll bring the carpet down to ground level.” He went on to weave a few preliminary buffs, preparing for a confrontation.

“Hold,” Dannel pointed out. “I don’t think it’s a demon.”

As the intruder drew nearer, the companions could see that it was a golden winged serpent, easily twelve feet in length, with a broad feathered wingspan more than fifteen feet across. It was beautiful to behold, and indeed it bore a certain majesty about it that seemed to radiance calm and reassurance.

“I sense no Taint,” Arun said.

“Indeed not, paladin,” Cal said, quietly. “It is a couatl, a powerful emissary of Good.”

“Travelers from the Prime,” the creature said as it came up alongside their conveyance. “I bring you greetings and bid you follow me, at the summons of the Master of Occipitus.”

“Which one?” Beorna asked.

“You knew him as Morgan Ahlendraal,” the couatl said. “Your attendance is most urgently required… time is short.”

“He’s not at the Big Skull?” Mole asked. “Is Adimarchus back?”

“The Master will answer your questions,” the couatl replied. “Please, you must accompany me with all speed.”

“We’re pretty slow on this thing,” Cal said. “But with a thorough description of the destination, I can teleport us there. Dana will have to materialize to do the same with the others.”

The couatl complied, providing a terse but accurate narrative of Morgan’s headquarters as it related to their current location and other landmarks visible across the plane. As it spoke, Cal gently guided the carpet down to the ground, with Dana and the other wind walkers close behind. By the time it was finished, they had fully materialized, and stood ready. Lok helped Arun roll up the magical carpet.

“Did you get all that?” Cal asked Dana. The priestess nodded.

“I can bring you as well, couatl, if you can come close so that I can touch you,” Dana said. The outsider responded by polymorphing itself into a slender, muscled youth, with golden skin and a metallic skirt around his hips.

“I am prepared,” he said, his voice soft and melodious.

They materialized directly in front of their destination. It was a place well familiar to Dannel, Mole, and Arun, who had been here before to face the trials of Adimarchus for the rulership of his abandoned realm. The ancient celestial cathedral looked to be in far better condition than that last time, its white walls shimmering faintly in the diffuse golden light. But it was still a ruin, with gaps in its walls and large segments of its roof missing, collapsed in the trauma that had torn Occipitus free from Celestia and ultimately deposited it here in the Abyss.

The place had the look of a military camp, although the forces gathered here were sparse in the least. They saw several archons, gleaming bulbs of flickering light and sharp-eyed humanoid hounds carrying bare greatswords in ready stances, and a wolf-like lupinal that disappeared into the temple before they could get a good look at it.

“There is a lot of sadness here,” Dana said, surveying the exterior of the structure.

“Come on, it’s pretty cool inside,” Mole said. “There are these ‘flashbacks’ to another reality, where it’s all intact and shining and peaceful…” She outpaced the couatl who was directing them inside, but even as she reached the open double doors—they, at least, showed signs of recent repair—Morgan appeared.

The companions sucked in a startled breath. For Morgan, too, had changed since they last saw him. His golden celestial armor was fouled with blood and black char, and his right arm was simply… gone, replaced by a stump at his shoulder hastily wrapped with a bandage thick with crusted blood.

 

[gfunk]

Just wanted to chime in and tell you how much I am enjoying Asylum, esp. since I am writing our campaign's own version! Keep up the great work!

 

[Solarious]

Mnn... Gotta love that vorpral claw/gauntlet. At least it left his head on to feel exquisite agony.

The battle for Occipitus begins! But when? I wanna see some screaming and pain!

 

[147]

WOW! Just caught up. As the newbie, I'd like to jump on the "Lazybones" bandwagon and express my gratitude for a great read and congratulations for the quality of writing.
Thanks again!

 

[Lazybones]

Just wanted to chime in and tell you how much I am enjoying Asylum, esp. since I am writing our campaign's own version! Keep up the great work!

Thanks! I admit, I've popped into your Shackled City SH every now and again to see how your group handled certain situations. I haven't read all of it, but it seems like your group is significantly more powerful than my hapless band...

The battle for Occipitus begins! But when? I wanna see some screaming and pain!

Fear not! I am planning on posting every day next week, and the action will be fast and furious (and with plenty of pain to go around)...

WOW! Just caught up. As the newbie, I'd like to jump on the "Lazybones" bandwagon and express my gratitude for a great read and congratulations for the quality of writing.
Thanks again!

Thank you for posting, glad you've been enjoying the story. It's been a lot of fun to write. These posts are like fuel for my creative ego.

Update tomorrow.

 

[Lazybones]

Chapter 450

The knight of Helm regarded them with a tired but determined expression. “I am glad you have come. I’d feared that you had not gotten my message.”

“We did not get any message,” Arun said. “What happened?”

Morgan did not answer for a moment. “I’d feared that my sending did not get through… it is as I suspected; his arrival immediately began to interfere with my grasp upon Occipitus, already tenuous…”

“You encountered the demon prince, I take it,” Dannel said.

But again Morgan seemed not to have heard. “Already tenuous…” he repeated, cupping his chin in his remaining hand in a strangely mundane gesture, ruined by the wisp of smoke rising from his left eye socket, where the Smoking Eye flickered. For a moment it seemed like he’d forgotten their presence.

“Morgan?” Mole gently prodded.

The divine agent looked up. “If you are not here at my summons, then your arrival here is merely happenstance?”

“Not quite,” Cal said. He briefly related their experiences on Carceri, culminating in their visit to Skullrot. Morgan’s earlier vacuous mood seemed to have finally shifted, and he paid close attention to their words. “We were present when the Prince was freed, although we were not the agents of his release. Vhalantru, restored again, somehow followed us to the asylum, and opened his cage.”

Morgan nodded. “It makes sense; the beholder was given new life through Adimarchus’s madness; it would have been drawn to him, much as the Cagewrights had been.”

“So now the demon lord has returned to his home,” Dana prodded, glancing at the distant skull mountain and its surrounding nimbus of violent energies.

“He already works to reform Occipitus,” Morgan said, spitting the words with contempt. “All my work here will be undone in short order.”

“What happened?” Arun asked again.

“He came upon us very quickly; I can sense in a general way what happens here, but I had very little warning. He descended upon the Great Hall of the Flame like a hurricane, sweeping away all opposition with a wave of his hand.”

“We would have sent warning, if we could have,” Cal said. “As it was, we were pretty battered and depleted of magic when we left Carceri, and we came here as soon as we could recover our spells and utilize the key you had left for us.”

Morgan nodded, some of the drive in his expression softening to mere weariness. “I do not blame you, friends. Long had I feared this, ever since the buildup of power I sensed growing here in the very fabric of the plane. I spoke of this to you, on our last encounter?” At their nods he went on, “All my efforts were to naught. His power is beyond anything I have ever encountered.”

“He came nearly alone; there were a few minor demons, babaus, mostly, which my forces engaged at the base of the Skull. Adimarchus came directly to the Hall of the Flame, accompanied by a marilith.”

The companions shared a look, but did not interrupt.

“We met him with our full strength; everything I’d been able to prepare. He shrugged off the full power of Helm, including the Crushing Hand of Righteousness, the greatest gift granted by the Vigilant One to his mortal servants. He smote through my allies with a single word of blasphemy. I was somehow not affected…”

“Perhaps your power grows greater than you realize,” Beorna said. “Do not question your own commitment, knight of Helm.”

But the cleric-turned-master of an Abyssal layer waved his hand dismissively. “I believe was Occipitus itself that sheltered me, through the touch of the Smoking Eye. It touches all with a slick of Taint, despite all of my efforts to redeem this place from the depths of the shadow in which it lies.”

“I stood nearly alone against the Prince of Madness, with only Saureya still at my side. I should have drawn some conclusion from the fact that he was not harmed by the demon’s power either, but my attention was fully absorbed by my enemy.”

“I brandished Aludrial’s Shard, the mighty blade that I found and recovered through the grace of Helm. Calling upon the power in that long-lost artifact, and the righteous might of the Vigilant One, I smote the Prince. He was injured already, it seemed; at close quarters I could see black marks upon his cursed hide. The blessed blade harmed him, and I drew faith as he recoiled from the divine power of the Shard.”

“I prepared to press my advantage, but in that moment I realized my error. Saureya betrayed me, striking from behind, wresting the holy blade from my grasp. The Prince… changed, his false aspect of angelic purity shifting to a monstrous form of utter demonic depravity. The wounds I had seen earlier, and the hurt I had inflicted upon him with the Shard were alike gone; it was as if a new creature entire faced me. Tentacles jutting from his back tore at my flesh, stealing my life energy, and he drove a sword of smoke and ash into my arm, consuming it in a searing blast of flame…”

“I do not know how I survived. When next I could perceive my surroundings I was looking up into the eyes of madness. The Prince regarded me as a man might regard an insect that had managed to sting him. He spoke… I cannot repeat his words, even now, though they are seared into my soul!” Even the thought of it seemed to stagger the man; he flailed with his remaining arm, as though trying to fight off an invisible attacker.

“Morgan!” Arun exclaimed, coming to the man’s side, taking his arm in both of his muscled hands, steadying him.

Slowly the knight seemed to come to his senses. “I… I will be all right,” he said, gulping breaths of air.

“You’ve been through an incredible trauma,” Dana said. “You need to rest; once I recover spells I can pray for magic to restore your arm.”

Morgan shook his head. “There is no time! Already Adimarchus is bending Occipitus to his will, regaining the power that had been sapped from him in his captivity. I have no choice… I must face him again now, or he will become unstoppable!”

“But from what you said, and what we ourselves saw on Carceri, he’s virtually invulnerable now,” Dannel said. “What chance do we have against a demon prince, even one freshly released from captivity?”

“We knew that the odds were long when we agreed to come here,” Beorna reminded the elf.

“But if he can blaspheme, to give just one example, then how can stand against it? That magic cannot be resisted. I remind you of our encounter with the balor, in case you have forgotten.”

“I do not think that his power is unlimited,” Morgan said. “And Aludrial’s Shard harmed him, although it is lost to me, now.” He reached around and drew a bastard sword from the scabbard across his back. The weapon was clearly old, with small pits and other imperfections visible in its blade, and it looked dull, as though its forging had been completed with cheap metal rather than fine steel.

“Cold iron,” Lok said.

Cal slapped his forehead. “Damn it, I am a fool! I should have had us reequip before coming here.”

“Arun’s sword will do well enough,” Beorna said. “And my blade can hack through anything, given enough muscle and spirit.”

“I don’t doubt your conviction, templar” Cal said, “But the Prince is not a mere demon. He will be stronger by far than even a balor. His damage resistance will be a problem.”

“I have a few of the cold iron arrows we found in Shatterhorn,” Dannel reported.

“And we still have the rapier we took from the drow warrior in one of the bags of holding,” Mole said. “That was cold iron as well, I remember Arun saying something about it.”

“Give it to Lok,” Cal said. “Dana can align it; that should be sufficient to penetrate his damage resistance.”

“So we’re doing this, then?” Dannel asked. “Attacking a demon prince, on his own turf.”

“It’s not so bad,” Dana said. “We’ve done it once before.” But despite her easy words, her hands were shaking; she clenched the shaft of her longspear tightly to still them.

“We will be victorious,” Morgan breathed. “There is no other option.”

Cal turned toward the center of Occipitus. “The other problem is how to get there. I can greater teleport directly to the Skull, but Dana has already spent her magic…”

“We can resume wind walking,” the priestess suggested. “Or, I have my remaining teleport.”

“It is over a hundred miles, although it may not look it,” Morgan said.

“That’s not the difficulty,” Cal said. “The difficulty is that one cannot use a regular teleport to journey to a place one has not visited.”

“How about transporting directly on top of the skull?” Mole suggested. “I mean, you can teleport wherever you can see, right?”

“In a sense,” Cal said. “But at this range, it is impossible to clearly mark the destination. It would be a huge risk; the chance of a mishap or false destination would be at its greatest. Dana and everyone accompanying her could end up teleporting into the mountain, suffering injury or possibly even death.”

“I think we’re beyond the point of balking at risks,” Dana said. “We will all have to do whatever we can.”

“I will accompany the priestess, then,” Morgan said. “We will share the risk. How many can you transport, together?”

“Five each,” Cal said, “In addition to the caster.”

“You take your other companions, then,” he replied. “I will go with the priestess, and bring what allies that I have…”

He turned back to the interior of the cathedral, and raised his hand. Immediately they could hear a loud clanking noise, more like the bellow and creak of machinery than the clatter of armor.

“I have begged Lord Helm for aid against this enemy,” he said, as two figures strode forward from the shelter of the cathedral into view. The first had the shape of a centaur, a half-man, half-horse melding, while the second was a massive brute the size of an ogre. But it was immediately obvious that neither of them were living creatures, even before they could clearly mark the nature of the flesh that lay beneath the suits of heavy armor that each wore.

“Inevitables,” Cal said.

“As inevitable as Adimarchus’s doom,” Morgan said.

“I have to wonder which side is more insane,” Dannel whispered to Mole.

“Yeah… but you have to admit, it’s pretty damned exciting.”

 

[Loincloth of Armour]

Hmm... If I remember correctly:

The first priest of Helm they worked with got a spear/ax/sword through the chest.
The next got her face caved in with a heavy flail.
Morgon got batted around a bit before becoming Lord of the Plane.
Beorna got eated by a dragon. (But she got better. )
Jenya got disintigrated.

Now the only servant of Helm to survive (Morgan) has lost an arm.

Any bets no servant of Helm leaves this story alive?

 

[Solarious]

Hmm... If I remember correctly:

The first priest of Helm they worked with got a spear/ax/sword through the chest.
The next got her face caved in with a heavy flail.
Morgon got batted around a bit before becoming Lord of the Plane.
Beorna got eated by a dragon. (But she got better. )
Jenya got disintigrated.

Now the only servant of Helm to survive (Morgan) has lost an arm.

Any bets no servant of Helm leaves this story alive?

Don't be silly. Beorna will be fine... even if it takes a True Ressurection. I can't make any promises about Morgan though... The Smoking Eye template complicates things. Bets on wheter he gets absorbed by Adimarchus?

In other news... More cannon fodder to experience pain! Mwahahahaha! And backstabbing! No story is complete without backstabbing!

Thanks! I admit, I've popped into your Shackled City SH every now and again to see how your group handled certain situations. I haven't read all of it, but it seems like your group is significantly more powerful than my hapless band...

Don't kid yourself Lazy. You deliberately gimped all your characters because it would make me happy! I mean, where would all the pain, the screaming, the angst, the hapless wriggling and struggling, and the dying (most importantly ) be if your characters kicked rear ends all the way, right?

Fear not! I am planning on posting every day next week, and the action will be fast and furious (and with plenty of pain to go around)...

A return to DAILY updates? OMG, the Kingdom has arrived on the Material Plane at long last! All worship His Cliffhangerness!

Any who DON'T... Please come and see me in my chapel.

 

[Neverwinter Knight]

Daily updates? That's good news!!! More updates = more cliffhangers!

So Saureya turned sides again? And with Adimarchus stands the Marilith? Lazybones, you're a mean DM! I'm guessing Solarious will get his wish!

 

[DSC-EricPrice]

For more than a couple of years now I thought story hour was home to PBeMs, and so never gave it much attention. This weekend however, I stumbled upon the beginning of this tale. In a word, your writing Lazybones is nothing less than

CAPTIVATING.

Don't believe me? I read as much as I absolutely could this weekend. Each time I set myself about going to take care of my chores I found some excuse to come back and read some more. Now I am 17 pages into the story, and eager to finish the rest.