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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 2386913" data-attributes="member: 143">Thanks, Neverwinter Knight! I appreciate the kudos. I haven't had any time to write at all the last few weeks, but luckily I still have a full backlog of chapters to post, for a while at least...* * * * * Chapter 422As Cal spoke his command, his companions, ready for battle, immediately released their attacks.  The demons were prepared for a confrontation as well, but in that first critical moment, the adventurers from Faerûn claimed an edge measured in fractions of a heartbeat. Mole was by far the fastest of all of them, and even as Cal opened his mouth to shout his command the gnome had gauged the threat and lifted her small bow to fire.  Her little bolts would not have done much against the huge demon, but before it could react she’d already fired a shot into its throat, the tiny missile all but vanishing into the thick folds of flesh gathered there.  Clearly she’d had an effect by the way that the demon’s eyes widened and it roared in pain and outrage, but before it could counter she’d already slapped the string down and palmed a new bolt into place, lifting and firing in a motion that an ordinary crossbowman never could have managed.  The second bolt struck within an inch of the first, adding to the demon’s discomfort.  But the nalfeshnee was a grandee of the Abyss, a potent beast indeed, and a few bolts, sneak attacks notwithstanding, were not going to take it out of the fight.  It called upon some fell power, and an aura of multicolored beams of gyrating light sprang up around its body, rapidly building in intensity. Cal, true to his word, commanded the carpet to descend, aware of the hezrous but knowing that their warriors would be seriously hampered in such a crowded space.  As the nalfeshnee gathered its smite power the gnome used what was rapidly becoming his favorite tactic, an empowered disintegrate that lanced through the nimbus of lights into its fat form.  The demon resisted being turned into ash, but even so the gnome’s ray cut an ugly black slash in its thick hide.  The vrocks screeched in anticipation of the fray, a sound echoed by the terrible croaks of the hezrou below.  As the carpet descended, the hezrous leapt up in anticipation of tearing into its passengers.  A few started to conjure unholy blights or chaos hammers, the better to soften up their prey. All that ended, however, as Dana rose up above the carpet, her boots sprouting tiny magical wings, and spoke a holy word.  The four hezrous were instantly struck down, slain by the divine purity of the word.  The nalfeshnee was very fortunate, its spell resistance barely holding against the power of the magic, but it swiftly draw back, quick to recognize that these foes, while not what they claimed to be, were nevertheless extremely dangerous. Lok leapt off of the carpet a moment later, flying in a straight line toward the nalfeshnee.  Arrows from Dannel’s bow sped past him, burying themselves into the demon.  The elf was using the blessed white-fletched holy arrows, which struck the fiend with great effect.  By the time that Lok reached it three arrows already pierced its chest, trailing ichor that ran down its body through its furry hide to fall in fat drops to the ground below.  Lok added his own voice to its troubles by swinging his axe at the creature’s head.  Its reach far exceeded his, and its huge jaws snapped at him as he dove at it.  Lok did not try to avoid the attack, twisting to the side as its tusks pounded his shoulder and side, and driving his axe down in a powerful arc that removed one of its ears.  The vrocks, meanwhile, had thus far avoided damage, well outside the radius of Dana’s spell.  Mirror images appeared around several of them, while three dove down in a tight knot about eighty feet above them, twisting and gyrating in a complicated aerial dance that, whatever its purpose, clearly didn’t bode well for their enemies. Arun and Beorna were the last to act.  Beorna lifted her bow and took several shots at the nalfeshnee.  The thing was so big that she could hardly miss, but her arrows were no longer aligned, and the shots merely stuck in its hide, doing little or no damage.  Seeing that archery would not have much effect, Arun instead summoned a magic circle against evil, warding them against the dark powers wielded by the demons. It was a timely gesture, for a moment later the rainbow hues dancing around the figure of the nalfeshnee exploded in a brilliant display of light.  Each of the companions felt a sudden wave of disorientation as the lights twisted around them, creeping into them, filling them with whispers of terror and images of that which they feared most of all.  For the most part, their wills stood up to the barrage, but Dannel, Mole, and Lok all suddenly stiffened, dazed, their eyes wide with the horrors that they suddenly saw before them. Screeching madly at the success of the nalfeshnee’s smite, the vrocks began to circle lower, claws outstretched.</blockquote>

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