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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 4074128" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 365RUNNING OUT OF TIMELetellia’s first realization of awareness came with a zombie clawing at her skull. The sorceress, still dazed, screamed as the undead monster’s filthy claws dug bloody channels in the flesh of her scalp.  Her stoneskin had faded, leaving her defenseless save for the meager benefits provided by the magical augments she wore about her person.  She tried to pull away, but the zombie had gotten a grip on her hair, and she felt a harsh pain as it ripped a swath of it out from the roots; enough to hurt, but not enough to leave her free. Something crashed hard into her back, a few inches to the left of her spine.  Another enemy, although she could not currently turn to confirm her suspicion.  Instinct flared, along with something else deep within, and power flowed through her body as she lunged up with both hands and thrust them into the rotted gut of the zombie.  Blasts of sonic energy tore through the creature, and it all but came apart around her, collapsing in a spray of decayed flesh.  She rolled over onto her back and saw the second zombie reaching for her; another blast caught it in the face, which disintegrated under the force of her spell. Breathing heavily, Letellia spared only a second or two to collect herself before she was able to drag herself up into a crouch.  Looking around, she saw that the situation had devolved quickly from bad to worse.  Allera and Dar were down, and while Letellia could not discern any noticeable wounds on the healer, the huge open cleft in the fighter’s chest told the story of his fate in an instant.  Varo... yes, somehow it was Varo, enlarged and transformed by some mysterious power, was battling Orcus, the two exchanging violent blows with magical swords of golden light and blackest darkness.  Letellia had lifted her hand to intervene when she realized two things.The first was that nothing she could throw would have any chance whatsoever of harming Orcus. The second was that she had unleashed sonically-substituted scorching rays at the zombies.  That ability to alter the energy properties of spells was one that she had never possessed, until now. Somewhat stunned, Letellia could only watch as the cleric and the Demon Prince met in another series of violent clashes.  Both were hurting each other, that much was instantly evident, but she could not tell who was winning.  There was so much happening here that she did not understand...There was one way to find out more, but it carried a significant risk.  Swallowing back her fear, Letellia opened up her mind, and invoked the power of arcane sight. The flood of sensation almost overwhelmed her in the first instant; even with her eyes closed it followed her into her mind, battering at her awareness like a warhammer.  She cried, or screamed, or maybe just sat there insensate; she was no longer conscious of what her body was doing, as she struggled against the fist clenching down upon her mind.  But then a familiar presence whispered into her thoughts, overlapping the chaos surging in from without.  It was the same presence that had been with her ever since the death of her parents, steadying her, helping her both to understand and control her gift, and to come to grips with her place in the world.  It wasn’t the same as when her uncle had placed his consciousness within her body, using the transposition; the Web was damaged, and Honoratius had made no effort to contact them since the disruption of their connection in the illithid ambush that had claimed the lives of several of their companions.  She had thought him dead... and yet that subtle sensation felt so... real, as if he was standing over her shoulder once more, providing direction, support, and... love. The young sorceress opened her eyes.  She was accustomed to the distorting effects of arcane sight, but nothing could have prepared her for what she saw now. The entire chamber was alive with auras, all of the forms of magic that she knew interwoven with strange, unidentifiable threads of power that seemed to flow and connect in a dizzying and unpredictable array.  She perceived the barriers that had limited their magic earlier, recognized something of the nature of this place, rooted in the Will of its master.  Many of her spells would not function at all here, and those that would work could not realistically hinder the Demon.Her gaze was drawn to Orcus, and as her spell pulled away the veil surrounding the ancient fiend she gained some true understanding of its power.  It commanded epic magic, that much was instantly obvious.  She saw the wounds caused by Varo’s burning sword as bright gashes in the dark aura around it.  With her enhanced perceptions, she could see that it was drinking in a source of power from somewhere outside itself, healing itself, replacing the energy hacked away in the confrontation with its foe.  Her eyes were watering, and it felt like knives were stabbing into her head, but she continued her viewing, honing her concentration like a blade as she sought out the source of the power bolstering the Demon.  She was only dimly aware of the course of the battle, of Orcus turning away, luring his foe in so that it could strike hard with the deadly poisoned barb of its tail.  Her attention was on the tendrils of black energy that connected Orcus to the huge thone of bones; she followed that trace from the Demon to the chair, and sucked in a breath as she realized the nature of that unholy construct, and the true source of the creature’s stolen power.  Varo was stabbed by the Demon’s barb, and a moment later suffered the crushing blow to his head that knocked him sprawling to the ground.  Orcus, exultant, stepped forward.And Letellia, summoning every last bit of power she had, disintegrated the throne.</blockquote>

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