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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 3615728" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 198BLASPHEMYThe single word of power echoed through the chamber with devastating effect. The goblinoids were not affected, except perhaps as a momentary twinge of uneasiness felt at the edges of their senses.  They were not creatures of Orcus, but that did not mean that they were not evil. Varo grimaced, and briefly lifted one hand to his head, but likewise recovered swiftly.  He was still in the outer corridor, far enough away that word only reached him as an echo of power.  Kalend had hesitated in the entryway after taking his shot at Celleen, and that saved him as well from the full force of the spell. The same could not be said of their companions.  Varo’s chaos beasts were blasted out of existence, sent back to the primeval disorder from which he had summoned them.  Serah and Allera crumpled, their senses overloaded by the spell, their muscles locked and useless.  Talen, Shay, and Dar were dazed and weakened, the potency of the spell draining strength from their bodies. There was one other casualty; a flutter in the air as Snaggletooth fell to the ground off to the side of the room, the little dragon becoming visible as it landed in a limp heap.  Allera let out a strangled cry, but the healer, paralyzed, could do nothing to intervene. Energized by the success of their leader’s counterattack, the evil clerics rebounded with a vengeance.  The one that Shay had knocked down pulled himself to his feet.  The dazed scout was unable to hinder him in any way as he turned and dropped a flame strike of his own into the arched entryway.  The spell incinerated most of the prisoners there and the cleric’s own guards, but those had been all but dead anyway, expendable resources that had served their purpose.  But the flames also tore through the enemy; a pair of goblin fighters fell, and several scouts that were too slow to get out of the way were roasted as well.  Herzord, Dar, and Talen all suffered serious injuries from the spell, and behind them Serah and Allera, paralyzed and helpless, were nearly killed.  Varo lifted his hands and staggered back as the backblast of the spell washed over him, but he was just outside of the area of effect and suffered no serious injury.  Likewise Kalend retreated back behind the arch of the entry as the flames shot past, the thief’s hands trembling as he fought to overcome the terror that clutched at his insides. Tibor, his robe still covered with smoldering coals, stood to see the hobgoblin lieutenant standing over him atop the bronze platform, ready to finish what he had started.  The cleric fell back and raised a hand, summoning his magic in a desperate effort to stop his adversary.  The gambit worked, as the hobgoblin veteran froze, caught by the hold person spell.  The cleric smiled grimly, and grabbed the hobgoblin by one ankle, dragging him over the edge of the platform.  Herzord’s lieutenant was a tough fighter, but was unable to do anything to stop his fate as the cleric yanked his helm off, and proceeded to crush his skull with a solid blow from his heavy mace. Relnek, standing on the opposite tier, faced a pair of goblin fighters, which had leapt off the stairs to assail him.  The priest looked down at its foes with derision, but that changed a moment later as one of the creatures got in a lucky thrust that punched through the armor protecting his side.  Spitting a curse, the cleric reached out and seized the creature’s head with his open palm, unleashing a slay living spell.  The goblin failed to resist the magic, and collapsed, dead.  Its companion paled but pressed its attack, only to miss as the cleric turned to face it. “You are next,” he hissed, as a red glow materialized around the fingers of his right hand. Herzord charged out of the dying flames, his armor blackened, smoke rising from his charred flesh.  The hobgoblin roared as he laid into Phesor, smiting him with his greatsword.  The cleric’s magical armor saved him from being cut in twain, and he fell back, favoring a vicious wound in his side.  Dar and Talen were not far behind.  They had a wide choice of enemies, with all five clerics still on their feet and proven deadly, but it seemed clear that the two atop the dais were the biggest threat, if only because they could cast spells at will while they were not directly engaged.  Theron had been shielded by the angle of the dais while he’d been prone, but now he came back into view, as he rose and started spellcasting.  Celleen, meanwhile, had belatedly realized the source of the silence, and managed to yank the arrow out from the links of her armor, tossing it aside.  As soon as the arrow passed out of range, she too began casting.  Dar tried to slip past the cleric facing Herzord, but the man turned from the hobgoblin and seized the fighter as he passed, pouring the devastating energies of an harm spell into him.  A scream was torn from Dar as the familiar agonies of the spell savaged his body, dragging him roughly to the brink of death.  Weakened from the aftereffects of the blasphemy, Dar could not shake free, and the cleric cackled in mad glee as he summoned more negative energy to finish off the crippled fighter.  Shay was already on the stairs, but like Dar she’d identified the pair behind her as the more immediate threat.  She ran up the stairs, her sword feeling like a lead weight in her hand.  “Shay, no!” Talen yelled, recognizing the scout’s intent to engage the clerics alone.  Avoiding the crowded stairs, the knight leapt up onto the lowest of the bronze tiers on the left.  He’d intended to use them as giant steps to make his way up to the top of the dais, but with his reduced strength and heavy armor weighing him down, he was barely able to keep from tumbling over onto his face.  He grimaced and rushed toward the second tier, but before he could make it an agonizing pain exploded through his leg, ripping into his body.  He staggered and fell to one knee as another harm spell savaged him.  Through a haze of pain that threatened to pull him under, he was dimly aware of something tugging at the injured leg, trying to drag him down.    He looked down to see Tibor, his robe on fire, covered in the blood and brains of the hobgoblin lieutenant, clutching his ankle, looking up at him with an eager, evil look burning in his eyes.  Allera couldn’t see anything; she’d fallen onto her side, facing the wall.  Her body shook, and could not even feel the pain of her crispened flesh over the sharp grief that stabbed into her like a knife.  She could not move, and the part of her brain that was still capable of reason told her that the paralysis would not ease for minutes, at least. But a moment later she felt a presence behind her, followed by a sudden sharp twist of spiritual power that shattered the paralysis holding her like a rock through glass.  That power was nothing like the soothing, bolstering healing magic that she commanded, but the dispel evil spell got the job done.  She looked up and saw Varo. “Serah, Talen, and Dar are on the brink of death,” the cleric said.  Allera stared up at him with wide eyes.  She opened her mouth, started to reply, but he’d already risen and rushed back to the battle. She did not even waste the seconds it would have taken to get up; she closed her eyes, focused, and let the healing power flow through her.Herzord hacked at Phesor’s back like a lumberjack hewing at a tree, but the cleric refused to release his grip on Dar, intent on making certain of the fighter’s death.  Dar was still unable to tear free of the fanatic priest’s hold, but he pulled his arm back and drove Valor into the man’s gut.  Half of the length of the sword slid into Phesor’s body, and the cleric grunted.  A moment later, he coughed, and blood trickled down his chin from the sides of his mouth.  His body sagged, but he still did not relinquish his grip on Dar’s armor.  “Tell your Master...” Dar began. “The True God will have his bounty,” the cleric laughed, spitting blood into Dar’s face.  Phesor’s gaze shifted, and Dar could not help but turn to see the cleric Relnek, standing over the broken bodies of two goblin fighters, lift his hands as he chanted the words to summon another flame strike.  Shay heard Talen’s cry, but she did not turn from her objective.  She knew that someone had to take out those priests, before they blanketed the room with more destructive magic.  She’d seen Allera and Serah go down, dead or dying, and knew that they would not have healing to pull them back from the brink this time.  Fighting her own weakness, she was not certain what she could do to stop two clerics of their obvious power, but she had to try. She reached the top of the stairs, and skidded to a sudden stop. Looking up, she found herself confronted with a huge black ape, standing easily eight feet tall, looming over her.  The thing had an extra set of arms, her mind registered, just before it smashed its fists into its chest, uttered a deafening roar, and surged toward her.</blockquote>

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