Thanks everyone for responding. This update has certainly been one of the trickiest but also the most rewarding. Having to rewrite half of it because the computer froze was fun... not!!!
However, I hope it has been worth the wait.
By the way Pogre, I'm glad you heard back from them. Personally, I'm not happy that they are withholding information on my investments with them...
And so now we have the episode some of you have been patiently waiting for...
The Gating of Sarrash
Deep within a Lesser Hollow in one of the darkest of Hell’s Greater Pits…
The cacophony of wretched souls and their pitiful moaning combined with the sporadic screaming of unknown entities to produce a dizzying fountain of sound. Blackness of visage and soul was all around, only corrupted here and there by the silent glow of red heat from within numerous rocky depressions. Over one such emanation of tainted light hung the undying body of some pathetic creature, strung up by it’s own distorted ligaments and sinew. The wracks of interminable pain flickered across its indistinct features along with the shadows of various small creatures and imps, flying up to whisper messages of pain to the eternal captive. What life or purpose the being had before its capture was lost now forever. Magicked so it could never depart its ceaseless and unending pain, it suffered the worst of imaginable fates. Sarrash was a cruel master. Sarrash was a terrifying enemy.
A heated wind then swept harshly through the hollows centre causing the grounds heavy blackened ash to stir like tiny maelstroms in a sea of absolute evil. A servant of Sarrash – one of the massive hellish beings of diabolical rank {1} at his disposal - suddenly appeared looking around from its newly established and slightly elevated position. The haunted sounds of the hollow receded and swelled like some insane chorus of forgotten souls unheeding of this latest appearance. There was one however who did notice. Using corrupted senses, the undying soul attached to this particular body repelled in terror, the impulse sending an echoed tightening to muscles and sinew long since turned to hardened rope. As if somehow reacting to the psychic convulsion, numerous engorged maggots were displaced from their bone-caged home, falling from the body’s ribcage to the heated pit below with a spitting crackle. There was no escape for the captive as the obese and corpulent fiend slowly progressed to the vicinity intent upon the torture and torment of this captive’s soul.
However, another sudden appearance distracted the diabolical servant as well as the undying soul. This time, a burst of fetid and superheated air mushroomed out from the monstrous visage in the centre of the hollow. The appearance of Sarrash was terrifying. A complete expulsion of dribbling grubs erupted from the now shaking ribcage, emptying completely from the putrid body as the massive form of Sarrash quickly swung around, its speed totally belying its bulk and height {2}. Its semblance of tattered robes whipped around, flung violently outwards by a hidden, personal and constant tempest of surrounding wind. It abruptly stilled, focusing its vile gaze towards its servant: boring into the obese minion. Sarrash’s true name had been spoken. The diabolical servant froze upon the instant. Sarrash’s face was as a flensed skull, almost of a size as the mark of its gaze. Orbs had not graced the devil’s blackened sockets for an eternity; instead holes of an absolute darkness penetrated into Sarrash’s monstrous braincase. A density of erupted bony protrusions graced the skull’s crown while an overall sense of death and disease hung close to the entire aspect of Sarrash. Its jaw then opened producing a wail of complete horror. Sarrash’s true name had been called.
Carried in Sarrash’s left claw was the mangled body of some balor, its throat and jaw removed, its horns driven backwards through its skull, its explosive finale corrupted. The prized carcass of the balor however was dropped upon the ground, forgotten as Sarrash’s wailing continued fighting some unseen presence; Sarrash’s massive body twisted in maniacal resistance. On this occasion, Sarrash failed to defy the magick that entangled then removed it. The sucking intake of air lifted the hollow’s ashen covering from the ground as the void left by Sarrash was filled. A quiet then enveloped the hollow.
Haltingly, the grossly proportioned servant looked upon the prized body of the balor. It ventured a glance to either side then in a frenzy of psychotic hunger and greed, it lunged using ungainly corpulent steps towards the demon’s carcass. However with Sarrash now gone, the balor’s body had returned to some semblance of its normal abyssal equilibrium and presently exploded in an enormously engorged and loosed spring of eructed energy. The hollow of Sarrash was for the most part no more – a particular soul happily blasted into the placid serenity of utter destruction.
***
Earlier upon the headland supporting the littered abodes of the Strauchn Clan and in particular the sizeable pavilion of the Shamaness Ugari…
Light from a myriad of differently shaped and colored candles illuminated the inner sanctum of Ugari’s pavilion as Lucifus Cray carefully floated above his almost finished creation. Laid out upon the cleared ground was a well-scribed pentacle of large dimension, taking up almost the room’s entirety. The only other addition to the area was the crafting of three smaller concentric circles replete with the ancient symbols of warding from which the petitioner was to complete the castings of magic that would trap a being inside the pentagram. Lucifus was cautious testing each of the many specific and arcane triangulatures forming the work. The careful augmenting and attenuation of each of these was imperative in ensuring some measure of protection and safety as well as overall success to the program at hand.
The somewhat dank yet comfortable conditions within the tent belied the ferocity of the vicious storm outside. The raging winds buffeted the sides of the pavilion but through the careful application of specific magicks, only an occasional stirring of wind through the interior or a thrumming above in the web of ropes keeping the pavilion in position could be occasionally observed. Lucifus’s familiar Winter {3} looked on from above, hopping from rope to rope fascinated by her master’s prudential exercises and arcane augmentations. She would give the occasional comment of dissent or approval, her mood one of enthusiasm and excitement compared to the surface placidity of her master. Lucifus’s designs were almost complete.
Lucifus had devoted most of the day to studying the Arcadys scroll and his current diagrammatic efforts were carefully tied to his discoveries {4}. There were several elements of interest in his current work. Lucifus needed to carefully modify each point of the pentagram based upon his present reference upon the prime, the current planar positioning of the intended target plane as well as a variety of synchronous factors between the planes, only known by those with dedicated expertise in the field. However, Lucifus was at a loss in terms of exact identification of his intended target in terms of overall power and standing. This caused several conundrums that could be overcome with the solving of several formulas of copious variables – a difficult and lengthy task for most but something quickly accomplished on the run by Lucifus.
It was at this point however that Lucifus had his first conception of doubt. What if “Sarrash” was not as powerful as he had hoped? The thought of some smaller diabolical lackey, impotent to the proposed task caused Lucifus to pause in the middle of attenuating by two paracepts the pentacles third point. The incipient visage momentarily compounded, swimming through his mind like a hazy chimera of invocational disaster before being quickly expunged from his thought processes {5}. Lucifus’s internal confidence and equilibrium was quick to re-establish.
It was during this small crisis of invocational faith that an unexpected guest interrupted Lucifus. Tunthi, drenched from the fierce storm outside, his mop of tangled hair pasted to his features spoke several words to the tuk-tuk. “I kill you and throw you off cliff!”
The fact that he did not advance further into the room led Lucifus to believe that the words were more inarticulate threat than immediate course of action. Lucifus waited patiently for more explanation but the half-orc had obviously not rationalized or conceived inserting a qualification into the previous statement.
Lucifus smiled in answer before saying, “You will sit on skull of Karodo and Jengus… whilst picking the meat from their bones by the time I am finished.”
Tunthi had difficulty following the florid speech although the overall tenor of confidence rang through the larger unintelligible words. For the moment, he struggled for a cogent response.
“You will be leader over all. Any woman will answer your call.”
To this a slowly increasing grin evolved, splitting Tunthi’s features; the image of sexual domination planted firmly within his limited faculties. His moments of fantasizing were distracted by additional information from Lucifus. “Tell Shamaness Ugari that I am ready to serve her needs.”
Tunthi, about to follow the instructions stopped, realising he was being ordered by the tuk-tuk. He would have abused Lucifus but the thought of displeasing Ugari was not something he wanted to contemplate. Tunthi hurried out of the room to find the Shamaness, the inner sanctum subconsciously making him uncomfortable on several levels.
***
A short time later…
Ugari sat to the side of the pentacle upon several cushions of soft hide. Her hair was carefully arranged in a ceremonial coiffure signifying some element of tribal history beyond Lucifus’s knowledge. Lucifus thought she was quite pretty; chin held high in the dappled candlelight as she carefully examined the room trying to internalize the significant arcane constructions inside her private sanctum.
“So it will serve your will without hesitation?” she asked in her deliciously thick accent.
Lucifus trying to think of the most positive way of answering the tricky question continued with his explanation. “Not quite. It will try to escape the arcane binding of the trap but in this it will fail. It will thus be forced to make negotiation with me to ensure its freedom.” Lucifus licked his lips before saying, “and this is where we will bargain the service out of it. While on the surface this may seem a dangerous task, to one expert in the field such as myself, it is somewhat routine and everyday.”
Ugari smiled but sensed a certain level of bravado on Lucifus’s part. The opportunity of victory though could almost be tasted in the air, drowning out any thoughts of difficulty or possible exigence. In fact neither of the pair seemed truly cognizant of any impending danger {6}.
Lucifus lifted the scroll carefully demonstrating its magnificence to Ugari. It glistened with power.
“I will now cast the preparatory magic and then… I will unleash Arcadys’ power into the Seventh Gate of Hell {7}. Prepare to look upon the weapon that will seal your final victory over the Pianatha.”
Ugari smiled a grin of pure insanity.
Lucifus cast the final protective magics before lifting the Arcadys scroll to his view. A slow dimming of candles greeted Lucifus’s incantation of the scroll’s initiator. With careful and precise enunciations, Lucifus intoned the scroll’s contents, each part reigniting brilliant illumination from one of the pentacle’s points. Casting the magics upon the vellum in an invocational direction {8}, Lucifus continued on relentlessly as sweat started to appear upon his taut and constricted features. Even the distraction of Winter flapping down to his shoulder could not stop the syllables of power tumbling from his straining lips. Consummating the final fricative of the Grand Gating spell of Arcadys and with a powerful and dramatic sweep of his flourishing hand, a bursting of brilliant incandescence struck the entire outline of the pentacle.
With an explosive and blazing thrust, the entire pavilion was immediately lifted over a hundred feet into the night sky through sheets of driving rain, pushed upwards by the sudden and horrific appearance of the Greater Devil Sarrash. A scream of absolute defiance penetrated the entire outcropping of headland as the sonic bombardment issuing from the Devil’s impossibly stretched mouth struck the area like an enormous crack of reverberant thunder. Unbelievable pain quickly stirred into unbridled fury as it twisted against its bonds with deranged and manic ferocity. Waves of panic struck the peoples of the Strauchn as hundreds of the clan ran away from the massive entity that had engulfed the spiritual circle of their home; gouts of exploding flames bursting in random spastic directions. With the rain driving in, the storm increasing in fury as if in answer to the appearance of the colossal entity, Sarrash sought with savage movement for the orchestrator of its current condition upon the prime. Adjacent to its hideously clawed feet over seventy feet below its gaze was the soaked and floating form of Lucifus Cray, comatose with glazed stare at the product of his creation.
Without a wasted thought, Sarrash blasted apart Lucifus’s frail protections, bent over with savage rancor and swung a massive claw to rip Lucifus’s head and body in twain.
***
{1} There are many common devils, from the highest pit fiend to the lowest lemure in the Nine Greater Pits of Hell. However, there are numerous types of “individualised” and unique devils who have lived long enough to slowly evolve from the regularity of the previously mentioned “common” types. When a fiend had evolved far enough from its original concept, it was considered to have achieved a rank or place amongst other hellish progenitors. This diabolical rank varied based upon the deeds and reputation of the devil concerned. The servant represented here was of one of the lower ranks.
A quick sidenote: The regular use of the impersonal pronoun “it” is normally used when referring to fiendish beings where gender has no physiological or psychological significance. While most diabolical beings are assumed to be male and are referred to as such, only a select few actually have functional genitalia.
{2} Sarrash literally towered over most of the other devils amongst the Nine Greater Pits. Very few amongst the ranks of diabolical beings provide as large a presence as Sarrash. At over eighty feet in height, its presence is enough to terrify the life out of most living beings. As an angel fallen from heaven almost an eternity ago, millennia of hatred, pillage and evil have totally ruined Sarrash’s appearance although there are still corrupted vestiges of its once celestial origin in terms of appearance and might. Perhaps because of this, Sarrash’s rank amongst others of the Nine Greater Pits of Hell was somewhat limited; of a middling power at best.
{3} Winter had been a constant companion for Lucifus through good times and bad. Perhaps more than anyone else, she understood him. Her involvement while not direct provided significant support to Lucifus in his arcane pursuits.
{4} The study of Spellcraft and other arcane magics is an equally fascinating pursuit not only for the beginning or lay wizard but also for the experienced master, magus or archmage. The development of similar but more powerful spell sequences forms an interesting offshoot as in the present case. Most higher version or “greater” spells - a terminology only used by the rank novice or beginner – are in fact normally based upon the lower valance or more stable spell platform. For example, even Arcadys Binding (Similar in form and structure to a Greater Planar Binding) uses the lowly and more generic “Planar Binding” as a foundation. The creation of the more powerful version has used a more concise arcanature (a single or series of magical methods, exercises or components) to achieve a similar but either longer lasting, broader or more powerful effect. The power required by the mage is thus tested more stringently but for greater reward.
In the present case, the Arcadys scroll is an augmentation and focused version of the difficult to master “Gate” spell. Using this as the basis, the magics binding the spell are focused more strictly towards the invocational with a series of ingeniously simple but difficult to master arcanatures beyond the ability of all but the most powerful maesters of the art. Fortunately for Lucifus, the prepared scroll has taken away the need for the repetition of these more difficult processes. The scroll if used by someone of Lucifus’s talents is an inherently dangerous process as its design is more suited to one who has a higher manifestation of arcane power.
{5} Of interest were several amusing features of Lucifus’s personality. Of most importance was the almost complete lack of wisdom common with most summoners and alienists. However, in most cases, this could actually be viewed as a strength rather than a weakness. It allowed a full sufficiency of effort to be brought to bear upon any task without the usual nagging issues of doubt and indecision common to those with greater wisdom. Such thoughts and doubts were quickly dismissed as ridiculous or of insignificance.
{6} The binding of planar entities onto the prime is an incredibly dangerous and foolhardy exercise normally restricted to those bereft of wisdom, those of insanity, those with an insatiable hunger for power or usually a combination of these quirks and foibles. However, very few have a string of continued successes such as that currently enjoyed by Lucifus. In this particular case though, he has far overreached his abilities, overconfident in his application of the Arcadys scroll. Sarrash was of diabolical rank far surpassing anything he had ever tried – powerful enough even to attract divine attention.
Compounding this were several other factors and events that were to immediately follow Sarrash’s calling. First was the loss of the hated enemy balor Derizahn and the enormous loss of evil sustenance that was to be gained from its partially sequestered carcass. Second was the loss of several key diabolical servants of rank, gained and earned over several millennia. Third was the subsequent destruction of the majority of Sarrash’s personal hollow. However, weighing most heavily against Lucifus and his intended design, program and diplomatic efforts was the sheer insolence of a mortal successfully calling a fiend of Sarrash’s diabolical rank to the prime. In short, Sarrash would be pissed.
{7} It was known by Lucifus that the Storm Soldiers of Galasso had access through unknown means to the third and seventh gates of hell. However, various descriptions made by Lucifus’s former slave pointed towards the seventh demi-plane more so than the desolate third as the eventual source of Sarrash. Without this knowledge, Lucifus would have been trying the impossible.
{8} As opposed to the reverse or “warding” direction.
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