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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 2813569" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 540Dana brought down a flame strike that almost missed the demon.  It moved so quickly that it was on her even before her mind registered that it was attacking.  Even as the stench of scorched reptilian flesh filled her nostrils she felt pain explode across her body as the thing smote her with one of those massive claws, drawing deep gashes in her torso, slicing flesh and muscle down to the ribs below.  Staggering back, she opened her mind to the goddess, and poured divine energy into a stream of silver fire that splayed over the body of the demon, scoring its corrupt, scaly hide. The demon roared in pain.  It lifted its claws, snarling as it prepared to tear her face from her body. A dark form hurtled through the doorway like a rolling boulder, slamming hard into the demon’s back.  Dana twisted out of the way as the newcomer and the fiend crashed hard to the ground in a tangle of limbs, the demon already twisting its body around in an effort to get at its attacker.  The newcomer was just as strong and fast as the demon, however, and after a violent series of attacks, the fierce reptilian monstrosity sagged and collapsed, blood oozing from the wreckage of its back.  “You okay?” Laertes Leonidas growled as he stood.  The werelion looked a sight, his fur matted with blood and scorched black across his shoulders and the left side of his head.  “Took you long enough getting here,” Dana said with forced levity, as she healed his injuries.  “Yeah, well, their welcoming committee wasn’t exactly… welcoming.”  Dana’s cohort looked around at the wreckage of the chamber, the two still-insensate maugs, the remains of the Silent and the arcanaloth.  “That him?” he asked, nodding at the motionless form of Barrat Ghur. “Yes,” Dana said.  She turned as another figure appeared in the doorway.  He looked like an elf at first glance, although his planar heritage was clear in the odd shine of his eyes, the slightly unreal cast of his features.  “Everything all right in here?” he asked, his voice musical in its lilting syllables. “Yes, Eleva,” she said.  Now that the battle was over, she felt suddenly tired.  But she could not rest, not now.  “Bring him,” she said to her cohort, who nodded as he went to recover Ghur’s limp form.  “Thank you again for your service,” she said to Eleva.  The ghaele eladrin bowed.  “You took most of the risk upon yourself, Moonmaiden.  I am pleased that you were successful.”“I would not have been without your plan.  It was… brilliant.”The ghaele smiled.  “The intelligence provided by your captive provided us with the keys we needed to unlock the complexities of the tactical situation.”  The statement was true in more ways than one; Mocker Darr’s headband of intellect had been one of items Dana had offered Eleva for a term of service as her planar ally, and while it had been one of the least powerful versions of said item, it had still helped to augment the eladrin’s already considerable intellect.“Are you all right?” she asked, noting that the ghaele’s garments were discolored with scorch marks and trails of blood.  His greatsword, dangling at his side, was red from the hilt to the tip of the blade.  But his wounds had already been healed, and the eladrin shook his head at her offered aid. “The fiends put up a bit of a fight,” he explained.  “Your contingent summoning worked perfectly as soon as we felt the tremors of you earthquake, and the elemental made short work of the entry.  But as soon as we got inside, we ran into some heavy resistance.  That little monstrosity,” he said, indicating the reptile-demon, “was the worst of them; she made short work of the elemental but fortunately disengaged to return here before she became too much of a problem.  I was able to distract the remaining defenders while Laertes here followed it.  Your friend ran across a few blast wards, but he was quite intent on reaching you.”“Eleva is too modest,” Laertes said, as he returned with Ghur slung over his shoulder.  The fiend groaned, but did not stir back to consciousness.  Dana gave him a quick examination; she did not want any more surprises.  “Ghur had a good two dozen fiends and merc guards working for him, mostly light stuff: quasits, reavers, half-fiends, maugs; with a couple of nasties like the dragon-bitch there.  He went through most of them single-handedly.  I marked a prismatic spray, a banishment, and a holy word, and I think I saw a summoned avoral flapping around in there at some point.”  “It was a glorious fight,” the eladrin said, modestly. “Let’s get back,” Dana said.  “Eleva, please give a quick check over the rest of this place for any remaining fiends lurking in the corners, or items of power that we might use.  Swiftly.”  The eladrin nodded and departed.  “What about them?”  Laertes said, indicating the still-helpless maug guards.  “They are likely mercenaries, Dana… evil, perhaps, but not implicated in Ghur’s schemes.”“You know the answer to that.” The were-lion did not reply, but followed Dana as they made their way out of the complex.  It was harder going out than in; the earthquake had done some damage outside of the central room, forcing them to detour around a few fallen beams, and at the doorways they had to pass over the wreckage of the portals forced by Dana’s summoned elemental. Once they had made their way back to the covered portico outside of the main door, they paused.  Dana looked back at the black doorway; the violet lighting inside the main hall had faltered during the battle. “Dana…”“Later,” she said.  After a few moments, Eleva emerged, and nodded. Dana cast a summoning, and after a few seconds, a trio of large fire elementals appeared.  She did not speak Ignan, but Eleva had told her the words she needed, and she had memorized them.  She pointed toward the dark entry.“Go inside there.  Burn everything to ashes.”Without even stopping to see if they obeyed, Dana turned and walked away.  Her friends shared a brief look, and then followed after her, bringing with them the prize they had fought so hard to win. Chapter 541The scene within the Hall of the Flame had the look of chaotic bedlam, with celestials rushing about, to and from the staircase that led into the room, or flying in through the cleft in the ceiling above.  But most of those present were archons, and so the appearance of tumult was in fact underlaid by a precise order.  Lantern and hound archons delivered reports crisply to superiors, who in turn passed the information on to others of higher rank.  A hulking ursinal clad in silvery plate stood guard, its armor aglow in the golden light that shone from the burning column that gave the place its name.  The center of the buzz of activity stood adjacent to that plume, close enough that he had to be awash in the heat radiating out from it.  A sword archon approached and delivered a report in precise language.  After his summary was concluded, he paused. “What else is it?” the figure standing in the glow of the golden pillar asked. “Avellos again requests permission to return to his patrol leader,” the winged celestial said.  “No,” Saureya replied.  The archon waited for elaboration, but upon receiving only silence he made a clipped, formal bow and retreated to receive more reports. Saureya stared into the column of flame.  He already knew most of what the archon had reported, had already deduced the trend in the snippets of information that had flowed in from all over Occipitus since that first hound archon had returned with his news of a planar gate opening in the fibrous forest.  At that point the deva had dared to hope that this was just a raid, but it had taken very little time to dispel that dream.  At this point, the only thing he didn’t know for sure was which Abyssal magnate was behind this.  He had his ideas, of course.  Ultimately, what did it matter?He hadn’t wanted this authority.  When Morgan had… gone, leadership had somehow just fallen upon his shoulders.  He had managed to convince himself that it was all for the greater good in the aftermath of Adimarchus’s destruction, when no major threats lingered.  But now…He turned, and looked at the others gathered here.  There was no fear, no doubt.  They looked to him, and would sell their lives at as high a price as possible, if he gave the word.  For the archons, there was Right, and there was Wrong.  Everything between was clear. How he envied them.  He knew that he should make another attempt to secure aid, but he knew it was pointless.  Whoever was behind this, they had planned well.  The link between Occipitus and the Higher Realms was blocked, and while he might have restored it eventually, using the power of the plane itself as a conduit, there was no time.  Thus far the wards had held, but demons had already begun popping in and out in the airspace above the skull, and they were likely only waiting to build up a sufficient advantage of numbers before they swarmed in for a final assault. The sword archon returned, but Saureya did not acknowledge him.  Instead, the fallen deva reached out and plunged his hands into the column of golden fire.  That hurt, and more than a little, but Saureya was a creature who had long familiarity with the nature of pain.  The flow of liquid fire shuddered as he manipulated it, drawing upon the power of Occipitus to send a message across the boundaries between worlds.  He did not even try to penetrate the barrier that lay between him and the rest of the outer planes, but instead drove in a different direction, toward the inner planes and the Prime Material. It took almost no time.  As soon as he felt the tiny pang that meant contact, he issued his sending. Graz’zt unleashed all-out attack on Occipitus. Under heavy attack, several legions mimimum. Celestial aid blocked. Holding skull for moment. Assist immediately or Occipitus will fall.The effort of completing the sending cost him more than he’d expected, and he sagged, the pain from the connection with the plume intensifying in response to his weakness.  But he forced himself to hold the connection for a few moments longer, until the response came back, weak but still discernable. We will do what we can.He all but fell back from the pillar of fire.  The sword archon looked at him with concern; the action in the room had paused as all of the gathered celestials watched.  Instead of turning to his adjutant, the deva addressed them all directly.  “Send out the following order to all forces in the field.”“Retreat.”Chapter 542With a hissing crash and a twisting of reality, Cal, Dannel, Mole, Lok, Umbar, Beorna, and Arun materialized on an open plain under the golden sky of Occipitus.  The third arrival of the companions from the Prime was not a pleasant one.  Cal and Mole collapsed, voiding the contents of their stomachs; Dannel staggered and likewise would have fallen if not for Lok’s quick steadying arm.  The dwarves looked unsteady as well, although they were better able to weather the surge of nausea that swept over them. “What in the… Hells… was that?” Arun said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.  “Some kind of distortion effect,” Cal managed, shaking his head as Umbar started to help him.  Summoning an effort, he pushed himself back to his feet.  “Are you all right, Mole?” Beorna asked. “Oh, hunky dory,” the gnome shot back, grimacing as she wiped her mouth on her sleeve and gingerly stood.  “You know, there are times when I envy you dwarves your cast-iron bellies.”“Something is wrong here,” Arun said, looking up at the sky.  They all followed his gaze, and they could see angry red striations in the gold-tinged firmament; had it been a normal skyscape, they might have called it a storm.“We’re way out on the periphery,” Cal said.  And indeed, the massive wall of cliffs that ringed the bowl-shaped plane seemed to almost loom with gray menace over them, extending out as far as they could see to either side.  In the opposiste direction, toward the center of the plane, they could make out the massive spire of the great skull mountain that marked the core of Occipitus.  The distortion effects appeared to be stronger there, but they could not discern any details at this distance. “I cannot gauge the distance,” Umbar said.  “This place… it is strange.”“The layer is completely flat, and lacks a horizon,” Cal explained.  “It takes some getting used to.”“You should have seen it when it was evil,” Mole said. “I do not think I will ever get used to this place,” Dannel muttered.  “We need to find Saureya, and find out what’s happening.” Arun said.  “His sending said that several legions of demons were attacking, but that they were holding on to the skull—for now.”“Assuming that the message was legitimate,” Cal said.  “Remember, we know almost nothing about this situation.  Time flows… differently here than on our plane, and the situation may be more fluid than we know.““You said you could bring four with your teleport,” the paladin said.  “Take Lok, Mole, Dannel, and Beorna with you directly to the skull.  Umbar and I will follow on the magic carpet.”“I do not think that is a good idea,” Cal said.  “Not only would the two of you be vulnerable, but we might arrive right in the midst of a hundred demons.  At least let me try to scry Saureya, first.”“That could be very time consuming, and we are very exposed here,” Umbar said, siding with Arun.  “I have the more potent variety of the spell memorized,” Cal explained.  “I can establish the sensor in just a few moments, once I set up my focus.”  He unslung his handy haversack which produced the oblong silver mirror on demand.  As he prepared his spell, the others established a perimeter around him, scanning the open plain and the sky above for any threats. None of them spotted the invisible quasit that hovered briefly a few hundred yards away, watching for a moment before it flew off with all dispatch in the direction of the skull. Cal cast his greater scrying spell, and focused intently upon the mirror.  The silver surface grew murky, as if he were looking through the window of a room filling with smoke.  He oriented his thoughts on Saureya, the fallen deva, as he was the last time they saw him, after the defeat of Adimarchus. The surface of the mirror faded to a dull gray.  “It’s no use,” he said.  “He’s warded, or just alert to being detected; the spell has to overcome the subject’s will in order to get a lock…”He trailed off as the gray void disappeared, replaced by a scene of intense clarity.  Cal found himself staring into a familiar chamber; it was the greater chamber in the interior of the skull, with the pillar of fire just visible as a flickering glow in the back of his field of view.  “Hey, I got some—“A darkness appeared, filling the sensor.  It fixed the gnome archmage, pouring into him like a torrent through the link.  Darkness, nothing but darkness, carrying him away.“Cal!”“Cal, what’s wrong?”“The mirror!  Something’s using the sensor to attack him!” Arun and Umbar pulled the gnome and the mirror apart, the paladin having to rip Cal’s clenched hands from the sides of the device.  Cal screamed as the contact was broken, his body arching as his muscles clenched in a violent spasm.  Umbar lifted the mirror to break it, but Dannel stopped him.  “No, wait!  The link has been broken!”  And indeed, when the priest cautiously looked at the mirror, he saw only his own face.For lack of a better solution, Beorna cast a protection from evil on Cal.  The seizure seemed to be passing, and the gnome groaned in the cleric’s arms, pressing his palms against his eyes.“What happened?” Mole said, once he’d removed his hands, and blinked up at them.  “He… he’s here,” Cal said, his voice laden with dread. That grim announcement was followed by a pregnant silence, broken only when a harsh sizzle sounded out of thin air almost upon them, followed by a series of pops as demons materialized all around them and attacked.</blockquote>

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