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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 2813675" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 576The demons in the first rank of diggers were caught off guard by the sudden appearance of foes among them, but they were quick to respond.  The two bar-lgura fell upon Lok, trusting in their superior size and weight to simply overbear the genasi, to be torn apart at their leisure. Unfortunately for them, Lok was far tougher than his size would indicate, and the two ape-demons were repulsed, bouncing off of the warrior.  One tried to recoup by grabbing Lok’s weapon arm, but Lok shifted his wrist out of its clumsy grasp, and drove the axe solidly into the demon’s ugly face.  The battle was entirely silent, but no less violent for that. The hordeling lifted its bludgeon-shaped head slowly, white froth erupting from the gash in its face that formed its mouth.  With a painful shake of its body, it extracted itself from the litter of stone that half-buried it and started to shift around to face the enemy behind it.  The maneuver was aborted, however, as Arun appeared in the gap opened by Lok just a spare second before.  The paladin leapt into the fray much like the genasi, but his course brought him down squarely upon the back of the hordeling.  The creature opened its mouth wide and let out a silent screech of displeasure at the sudden burden, but its struggles were cut short as Arun brought his blessed warhammer down solidly into the back of the thing’s skull.  The hordeling was slammed down hard into the ground by the force of the impact, sending up a plume of stone dust around it.  Its multiple limbs splayed out around it, quivered for a brief instant, and then fell still. The dretch thralls clearly had no interest in remaining in the tunnel, and started to fall back in chaotic disarray, dropping their heavy burdens.  They did not get far, however, before a maze of sticky strands appeared to block the tunnel.  A half-dozen were caught in the web, and several others dithered before it, trapped between an unhappy choice of trying to force through the barrier, or turning back to face the deadly weapons of the enemy warriors behind them.  One that hesitated too long suddenly pitched forward, the feathered end of an arrow jutting from its splotched back.  That decided the others, which leapt forward, trying to pick a way through the web. One dretch, a loathsome little creature named Uzet, had been almost to the front of the web when it had been snared.  Doggedly it picked its way forward, focused on the twisting, empty tunnel ahead of it.  It heard a squeal, and glanced over its shoulder to see one of its bretheren a few paces back, hopelessly tangled.  Then, suddenly the trapped dretch became silent, although its struggles continued. A dim awareness of the significance of that sudden quiet pierced Uzet’s little mind, and it redoubled its efforts to break free.  However, as it lurched forward toward freedom, the webs suddenly vanished, and the dretch toppled forward to land in an ungainly heap on its fat belly.  The demon tried to scrabble to its feet, but fear engulfed it and tangled its scrawny limbs.  It turned its head to look back, and that fear intensified a hundredfold as it saw the metal warrior coming toward it, its heavy bootsteps utterly silent, an implacable stare fixed in the glowing gray eyes that were visible beyond the slits of the full helm that it wore.  Uzet’s gaze fixed on the axe the creature carried, a terrible weapon already drenched in the blood of its kin.  Not that it cared about the bar-lgura or the other dretch, but it had a certain attachment to its own hide. Self-preservation won out over fear, and the dretch leapt clumsily to its feet.  It sprang for the safety of the tunnel—let Nax deal with this terror!  The dretch was still within the radius of the silence, and thus did not hear the whistle of the arrow that tore into the back of its head, ending its pathetic existence in a quite decisive manner. Back behind the radius of the silence around Lok, Cal slid his wand of enervation back into its sheath, seeing that it was not necessary.  He knew that Lok and Dannel would make sure that none of the dretches got out to warn of their presence, so he turned to grab Umbar as the dwarf cleric started to move past him.  “This is the point of no return,” he said.  “Regardless of whether we succeed, no demons can use this tunnel to get into the Bastion.”The cleric nodded.  “Go ahead.  I will see to it.”  The dwarf started back toward the tunnel breach, pressing up against the side of the tunnel to allow Avellos and the Herald’s Voice to pass.  Part of Cal’s strategy had held the two celestials back in the rear for at least this first part of the plan; while all of them were shielded against causal detection, he was cautious of the demons sensing the presence of their traditional enemies, regardless.  And, he admitted to himself, he was worried about the celestials betraying themselves to their foes as well.  After all, such beings were not accustomed to dissembling, and deceipt was central to their success.The sword archon looked at Cal with a calm expression on its face, not even sparing a glance for the wreckage of demon bodies strewn about the tunnel.  It was getting cramped, and time was passing; Cal knew that the chances of something going wrong increased with every second of delay. “Time for our disguises,” he said, just loud enough for everyone to hear.  Everyone except Lok, of course; the genasi had taken up a position further down the tunnel at a slight bend, alert for any signs of additional demons. The spell took only a few seconds to cast; Cal had already prepared a set of mental images based on what he’d expected to find here.  He used the forms of the demons around them when possible; Arun and Lok became bar-lgura, while he and Mole took on the form of dretches.  The others became a miscellany of typical demons, vrocks and babaus and other types suited to the size and shape of the individual being veiled.  One of the principles of effective disguises, Cal knew all too well, was keeping things as simple as possible.  Dannel got special attention; Cal lingered a moment on him, adding a tongues spell to the veil enchantment.  Mole grumbled, although there really was no choice; not only was the gnome too small for what Cal had in mind, but she was also far more useful to them as a scout.  And while she wouldn’t have admitted such, Cal knew that the elf was about as good at bluffing as his slippery niece. Cal heard Umbar’s chanting coming from back down at the breach; almost immediately a faint tremor shook the tunnel.  “Let’s go!” he urged, moments before the roof of the tunnel, weakened by Umbar’s soften earth and stone spell, collapsed, sealing the route back into the Bastion behind them. Now, there was only one way for them to go, and no avenue of escape left to them. Chapter 577Nax was not pleased.  The massive hordeling spat, the gob of spittle hissing as it hit a nearby boulder.  A dretch cowered away from him, acutely aware of the dangers of antagonizing the more powerful fiend.  The narrow valley, settled in between a nest of jagged black peaks, was smaller now then when the demons had found it.  Huge mounds of crumbling stone extracted from the tunnel were scattered everywhere.  A few dretches carrying empty sacks milled about, careful not to attract the slightest attention.  The hordeling’s skull was a monstrosity, with a gruesome concavity where half its skull had been, half-formed flesh still slowly regenerating over the spot where the mage’s disintegration had hit.  The terrible wound had to be causing the creature incredible agonies, but like many fiends, Nax was used to pain, even welcomed it, in a way.  The pain meant, at least, that it still existed, that it clung to what it could call a life. The hordeling’s expression darkened further as a faint rumbling sounded from somewhere deep within the mountain.  Well, that might explain the delay.  He’d been prepared to messily execute another of the dretch “miners” for dallying; the steady stream of the wretched little demons coming out of the tunnel, dragging their heavy bags of crushed rock, had suddenly ended a few minutes ago.  Nax’s first thought was that there had been another clog; the demons were too stupid to avoid getting cluttered up in the narrow twists of the tunnel, and there wasn’t enough space to send in babau overseers to keep them in line.  But Yavuv had been suspicious, and the larger fiend had learned to trust the instincts of its symbiant. The big hordeling gestured, and a quartet of babaus came forward.  All bore grievous wounds that in some cases continued to ooze black ichor.  The whole valley was like a giant… what?Convalescent ward, the voice in its mind whispered.  Nax nodded.  It understood the concept, if not the logic of it; fiends in general and demons in particular didn’t spare much concern for the wounded.  In most campaigns it had participated in, such weaklings would have been torn apart after a battle, as old scores were settled… or in some cases, just for the thrill of slaughter.  But Malad was unwilling to waste resources, even crippled ones, until the celestials were utterly and fully defeated.  And since the sorcerer was the voice of the Prince, his mandate was obeyed.  Unfortunately for Nax, that meant that it was saddled with a company of pathetic, injured demons.  Fortunately they healed quickly; the cries of pain were really getting on its nerves. The hordeling lacked the insight to recognize the irony in its feelings, given its own grievous hurts, but it felt a brief chuckle flit across its mind.  Annoyed, Nax turned his attentions to the babaus.  “Go into the tunnel and investigate the delay,” it ordered.  Yavuv flittered across the hordeling’s shoulder, and the fiend nodded.  “You may feel a touch upon your minds; do not offer any resistance.  Yavuv will watch through your eyes, and report back to me.”The demons clearly didn’t like that command, and they offered weighing looks, as if considering their options.  Nax did not stir, but simply fixed the four creatures with a cold stare.  Even if they had been whole, four babaus were not a threat to him, and if necessary, he would tear these four to pieces and grab others from the milling throng scattered about the valley. Perhaps the babaus were thinking the same thing, for they quickly skittered off toward the tunnel entrance, sending the dretches scurrying to get out of the way.  But before they reached the black opening, a knot of demons emerged. The reason for the delay was immediately obvious; the demons were covered in stone dust, and bore other obvious marks of a tunnel collapse.  Several dretches staggered out and to the side, but only a small handful; from the condition of the larger demons, it appeared that most of them had not survived.  As for those bigger ones, there were more of them than Nax had expected…But the hordeling’s attention was drawn to a certain figure who emerged from the press, and stepped forward.  The babaus drew back in alarm, glancing back to Nax, turning the matter over to their nominal leader.  What is he doing here? Nax thought, as the figure looked around before focusing his attention on the hordeling.  “Lord Malad,” Nax said, the words rumbling deep in the fiend’s massive chest.  “This is… unexpected.” Dannel, in the guise of Malad, came forward, exuding a confidence that was considerably bolstered by his cloak of charisma.  “The celestials were waiting for us; they collapsed the tunnel.  You will have to begin anew.”  He waved absently to the demons behind him.  “I will take these with me to report.”  He started to turn away, as if assuming that his command would merely be followed.  And indeed, Nax would have had no choice but to comply, except for the sinuous voice that sounded softly in his mind. Something is not right…What is it?He is shielded… they are all shielded…“Lord Malad,” the hordeling thundered.  “How did you get into the shaft?  I have been here watching since you departed last.”The expression of the “sorcerer” narrowed.  All of the demons crowded about the valley were now watching the scene, some no doubt excited at the possibility of witnessing a clash between their liege lord and a not-quite-popular underling.  None paid heed to a few dretch that slipped deeper into the center of the gathering. “Your task is not to question me, hordeling.  You will obey.”  The demons behind the sorcerer edged forward, as if eager for a conflict to begin.  But Nax merely dipped his monstrous head slightly.  “As you command, lord,” he said.  But the motion also revealed Yavuv, the thing that had once been a babau wrapped around the greater creature’s neck.  Its eyes flashed red as it looked upon Malad, and it unleashed a tendril of power into him.  The sorcerer snarled, and raised an arm as if to launch a magical attack.  But before he could act, the air around him shimmered, and his borrowed form dissolved, revealing the elvish arcane archer in all his natural glory. Demons shrieked as the deception was unraveled.  There were over a hundred in all crowded into the close confines of the valley: dretch, rutterkin, babaus, bar-lgura, jovocs, and even a burning palrethee.  Altogether it was a riot of sound and glistening alien bodies.  Foremost among them was Nax, who recognized this archer, a foe that had stung it already.  The hordeling rose up ponderously, the ground shaking beneath its massive form as it lifted its fists to smite this enemy that had been foolish to confront it for a final time. Chapter 578The valley echoed with the roars of demons as they leapt up, their agonies forgotten in the face of an enemy, and surged forward toward Dannel.  But none were ahead of Nax, who lifted his clawed fists high above his body before driving them down in an arc that would pulverize the arcane archer into elvish paste.  The veiled warriors rushed forward to intervene, but there was no way they could reach Dannel before that blow struck. But an instant before Nax’s attack landed, Cal cast his first ninth-level spell. To the companions, all they saw was a haze of insubstantial forms that exploded outward from the gnome.  During the exchange between Nax and Dannel, Cal had taken up a position roughly in the center of the compact valley, in the midst of the gathered demons.  They ignored him, seeing only a pathetic, simpering dretch. But now, those same demons saw terrors starker than even the worst nightmares of the Abyss.  Demons are bullies by nature, but in their hearts they are motivated by fear as much as by the lust for violence.  Their screams redoubled, but now they were cries of stark, unrelenting horror as Cal’s weird took hold.  It lasted only a few seconds.  When the images had dissipated, and the cries of the demons had faded, the little gnome mage from Faerûn was surrounded by the wracked bodies of nearly a hundred demons, their faces frozen in terrible rictuses of abject fear, the fear that had killed each and every one of them. Nax was not slain, but even it had been seriously affected by the spell.  The weird hit it in the middle of its attack, and it staggered to the side, its fists smacking harmlessly upon the bare stone several feet to the left of Dannel.  The elf darted back from the stunned hordeling, speaking a word of command that caused his magical quiver to eject his fiendbane longbow.  He took hold of the weapon and fell back beyond the charging warriors, stringing it with a practiced ease. Nax recovered quickly, but not before Lok, Arun, and Beorna slammed hard into him, driving their weapons into his huge body.  The hordeling possessed an incredible toughness and vitality, even injured as it was, but even it was hard-pressed against that onslaught.  Lok’s axe and Arun’s hammer drove hard into its torso, and when it tried to knock them aside with a powerful sweep of its arm, Beorna stepped in with a two-handed swing of Aludrial’s shard, taking the limb off at the elbow. A few of the other demons that had survived the weird—a half-dozen babaus, and the palrethee—began to stir, shaking off the stunning effect of Cal’s spell.  But they were broken, and any thought of continuing the attack fled their still-addled minds as they watched their champion being dismembered.  The only routes out of the valley were treacherous, twisting paths up the sides of the valley that led to narrow gaps between the surrounding peaks.  The wounded demons made for these exits, pushing each other out of the way when necessary, intent now on escape.  “None of them must get word out,” Cal said calmly, blasting Nax with an enervation from his wand. Dannel and Callendes nodded, and began plying their bows.  The Voice had started toward the greatest foe, the hordeling and its symbiant, but Cal’s words reminded it of its duty, and it flew across the valley to block the escape of a trio of fleeing babaus.  The fiends threw themselves upon the celestial with a furious desperation, but the sword archon quickly demonstrated the futility of their efforts. Umbar and Avellos rushed up to join in the pounding upon Nax, but the hordeling had clearly had enough of this one-sided melee.  Its wings pounded as it started to lift into the air, narrowly avoiding a sweep at its legs from Arun’s hammer.“For Helm!” Beorna cried, as she lifted Aludrial’s Shard in her hand like a spear, and hurled it into the hordeling’s body.The weapon buried itself to the hilt in the hordeling’s chest.  Nax screamed, its remaining claw clutching at the wound.  Its wings continued to pound at the air for a few moments, and then the crippled creature plummeted straight down, landing with a colossal impact that shook the ground under the companions’ feet. The death of the hordeling brought a sudden quiet to the mountain valley.  The last babau had fallen, pierced by four arrows, and none of the demons left scattered upon the uneven rocks stirred.  Beorna went to recover her weapon, while Cal gestured for everyone to gather quickly around him. “We don’t have very long… even if they didn’t hear that, these mountains are probably crawling with demons; a vrock or a quasit could fly over at any second.”They knew their roles, and their assignments; the companions quickly split into two groups, with half gathering around the Herald’s Voice, and half around Umbar.  The cleric began casting, and the sword archon closed its eyes as it called upon its own divine power.  Cal was casting as well, and just before the others finished he laid a seeming upon all of them, layered over the veil.  Their demonic forms did not change in substance, but took on a pale, almost translucent coloration, and soft white robes appeared draped around them.  “Remember, stay together, and stay focused on the objective,” he said, a moment before the wind walk spells took hold, and the companions began to dissolve into vaporous form.  Within thirty seconds the transformation was complete, and the ten of them shot off into the sky, darting in between the gap between two of the rising peaks, and rapidly vanishing into nothing as they sped toward their destination. For at least a full minute after they departed, the valley was silent.  But then, a dark shadow shifted within a cleft in the rocks, half-hidden by the fallen mound that had been Nax.  Red eyes gleamed within that amorphous mass, staring with malice at the point where the wind walking heroes had disappeared.</blockquote>

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