Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 4024232" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 347MAPHISTALIt may have been something in this place, or the ascendant power of its dark lord, but Maphistal seemed bigger, stronger, more steeped in power.  The demon’s skeletal, monstrous appearance was somehow magnified, and the echo of its mental declaration pulsed through their minds like the rumblings of an earthquake.  Demonfear rolled over them like a flooding torrent, but bolstered by Allera’s heroes’ feast, the companions were able to resist its effects.  Valor seemed almost alive in Dar’s hand, trembling with steel rage.    The demon was surrounded by a black aura of power that was distinct from the energies still radiating out from the portal.  It looked like an unholy aura, but as they watched they could see... things orbiting within that nimbus of darkness.  As the demon exulted they spread outward, twining around its arms.  It bore its deadly skullcrushing mace like a scepter. “Undead,” Allera warned the others, indicating the black shapes clinging to Maphistal, while Varo added, “Greater shadows.”  The other companions stood tensed, ready, but they hesitated, waiting to see what other surprises might be coming through the portal in the demon’s wake.  “It ends here for you!” Talen shouted back, stepping forward.  “You will not stop us from getting to your master, demon!” Maphistal’s gaze turned slowly to confront Talen.  “You arrogant little fool.  Do you think you can deny the power of your Master?  He who made you what you are!” Talen’s lips drew back into a snarl, and he took a step forward.  But power flashed in the demon’s eyes, and the vampire knight staggered as if struck.  The bandits and Calla screamed and collapsed upon the floor, abasing themselves before Maphistal.  Shay dropped her spear and clutched her head, swaying back and forth, while Talen grimaced and somehow held his ground.  He lifted his sword.  “I defy you, Maphistal!  I defy you, Orcus!”The demon’s lips twisted in what might have been a hint of a smile.  “You shall have an eternity to repent those words, slave.  Do you think that little amulet you wear can protect you from the will of a god?”  Dar whispered to Varo, “Shouldn’t we be attacking this bastard, while it’s distracted?”“Wait,” the cleric said.  He had slid his hands under his armor, clutching something on a throng fixed around his neck.  Talen screamed and tried to press forward, but his legs refused to obey his commands.  Again Maphistal’s words crashed through the minds of the living companions, even though the force of it wasn’t directed at them.  “KNEEL, SLAVE.”And Talen knelt.  Behind him, Shay and the other vampires were already on their knees, their faces pressed against the floor. “You may have cowed him, demon, but you won’t bend our knees quite so easily,” Dar said. Maphistal turned back to them, and laughed.  “It is your very strength that will make your souls so sweet to my Master.  Do you think it is happenstance that you are here?  You were allowed to live because you were still useful; the Overmind had grown... truculent.  Now that it has been disciplined, any need to keep you alive has disappeared.”“All that has transpired, since your first arrival at Rappan Athuk, has been in accordance with my Master’s plan for your frail little world.  Yours will be but the first souls that he shall consume.  And once your world is dead, a shriveled husk drained of life, then he will return to the Abyss, and reshape it to his will.  Thanatos will reign unrivaled in the multiverse!  The dark shadow of unlife will extend across the planes, undeniable!”“Yeah, yeah, we know all that crap,” Dar said.  “Let’s skip ahead to the part where I chop your freaking limbs off.””So be it,” Maphistal said.  The demon waved a hand, almost casually.  “Claim them.”The shadows surrounding the demon detached and surged toward the companions in a black wave.  At the same time, the vampires sprang up and leapt at their former allies, led by a raging Talen Karedes, who brought his sword down upon Corath Dar in a powerful two-handed arc.</blockquote>

Verification