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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Canaan" data-source="post: 3320346" data-attributes="member: 40239">Chapter 33: The Temple of BaelAfter swimming for countless moments in a sea of burning, lightless cold, I was hauled back to life by a stinging slash in my chest. My eyes opened onto dim, flickering scarlet torches. Alighted on my chest was a small, black feathered bird. I instantly recognized the instinctual indifference of Shallahai’s gaze in the bird’s eyes. It let out a short, curt chirp and then soared off me toward the deep shadows above. The druid, wildshaped as he was, had healed me. The burns left by the warlock’s blasts subsided. I quietly thanked the Green for Her intervention and rolled over to stand. As I did, my hand struck scaly flesh. I recoiled and crawled backward, hitting a wall. On the floor lay one of the fiendish brothers who had smote me with its blasts. Deep gashes oozed gelatinous blood from its throat and chest. The other warlock was nowhere to be seen.          A light passed over me, followed instantly by an ear-splitting squawk. I looked up to see, encased in a celestial glow, a hippogriff diving for the dire bear that had taken up the rest of my companions’ attention. Several other animals, dogs and wolves, similarly haloed, lunged and snapped at the monstrous bear. I gasped and immediately stood when I saw that Lilian Evenshire, Champion of Canaan, had been grappled by the bear and was being continuously and horribly squeezed and mauled by it. Hu Li and Feir’inj, the Shuuthian Druid sent to aid us by Balian’s questionable, but nonetheless, affective magic, were gesticulating their hands in the manner of a puppeteer, sending their summoned monsters into the fray. The hippogriff dug its formidable beak into the bear, tearing off a massive chunk of fur and flesh. The bear howled with pain and Lilian managed to push herself free from the creature’s grasp. I saw, with growing dread, that her armor was in tatters and caked with her own blood. She had little strength left and if this beast was not dealt with swiftly, she would be lost to us, again.I called to Canaan, uttering a prayer to aid my allies and confound our common enemy. It was then that I saw Talon burst out from the chaos of the fight. He leapt effortlessly into the air and landed square on the back of the bucking, howling dire bear. He struck at the beast with his fists. Lilian tried to run, but stumbled. We were all too far away to aid her, and the Western corridor, where the battle was being fought, was hopelessly clogged with the creatures summoned by Shallahai, Feir’inj and Hu Li. I could only look on as the bear ignored the monk’s blows and reached for Lilian, scooping her up into its massive arms to maul her again. She let out a short, pained scream, and then fell limp.It was only then that the bear dropped her. I scrambled to my feet and called forth to Canaan. I had power enough left in me and planned well for the horrors we were destined to face. I therefore summoned forth a second spiritual weapon and sent it slashing at the monstrous bear. Within moments the creature, beset as it was with the summoned hippogriff, the other called animals and Canaan’s fiery sword, was utterly destroyed and vanished in a puff of brown smoke. I raced forward, calling upon Canaan’s healing grace, and lay my hands upon the fallen Champion. Warmth poured from my hands and sank into her. Her bruises receded and she stirred. Shallahai in his natural form came about, a thin green aura surrounding him like a waterfall splitting over a rock, and bent over, and placed his hands upon a persistent wound on Lilian’s arm. It instantly healed. She stood, fully restored. She looked at both Shallahai and myself and smiled. “Thank you.” She said, and then suddenly turned toward the large door at the end of the hallway where the summoned dire bear once stood as guardian. Talon, too, bristled, and stared fixedly at the door. We all turned. My eyes were drawn to the horrid symbol of Bael emblazoned upon it, a curved sword dripping with blood. The heavy door pushed open without a sound. A solitary figure, garbed in a red robe stepped into the light. His face was masked by the shadows cast down from his hood. He stopped in mid-gait and his head turned directly to Talon.“Let us pass.” The voice was a calm, confident baritone. “If thou refuse, to thy Maker we shall send thee.”  There was no trace of malice within it, only assurance that this figure would hold true to his promise. He accented his proposition by holding forth his hand. It was gauntleted with an ornate metallic half globe, not unlike the pommel of a rapier. Talon’s eyes widened at the sight of it. “Mordind.” Talon uncharacteristically gasped. There was a short hiss. It was followed by a low hum that accompanied a glowing blade forged entirely of red light that emerged from the globe. The blade pulsated with an energy the likes of which were entirely foreign to me. Time and circumstance would not afford me the luxury of inquiring as from what manner of magic this sword was crafted, as Talon leapt forth, eyes full of focus, arms and legs perfectly posed to tear this villain asunder. It was then, with Talon in mid-leap, that the Mordind moved back into the shadows beyond the door, only the red of his blade visible. In his stead, his disciples tumbled forward, effortlessly leaping over and around us. Before we could even react to their presence, we were surrounded. There were six in all. Talon landed under the archway of the door. Two disciples instantly flanked him. From the bosom of the shadows, the leader again spoke. “Talon.” He said. “When I last saw you, you were no more than a baby. How you have grown. We did not come to fight you, or your companions. Let us pass and we shall leave you to your quest. Impede us, and you are doomed.” “I will not suffer the existence of the Mordind.” Talon said in a solemn response. “I cannot. It is my duty to destroy you to the last.” “Careful, Talon.” The leader said, equally solemn and calm. “Lest your duty blind you to the truth.”“Oh, shove it, you pansy!” Shouted Hu Li. “Get out of our way or be fed to the Eyeless Hollow Ones!” The wizard began chanting. The acolytes closed in around him, but everyone was ready. All at once, the hallway erupted with the cacophony of battle. Lilian leapt to Hu Li’s side and took the brunt of several blows that were meant for the wizard. The two acolytes on Talon both swept their legs out low and wide, catching their Celind foe by the back of his ankles. Talon was knocked off his feet and somersaulted violently to the floor. The spiritual weapon I had summoned to aid us in the battle against the dire bear still swirled above me. I sent it flying at one of the acolytes that threatened Talon. It swung wildly, but the skilled monk effortlessly evaded its blows. Hu Li completed his chant and an azure glow enveloped his hands as several magic missiles fired forth slamming into one of the acolytes with tremendous force. The monk fell, dead. Behind Hu Li, Shallahai and Feir’inj were entangled in their own fight with the last two of the Mordind contingent. Both had their scimitars freed from their scabbards, clearly forgoing divine magic for a more martial tactic. All four were locked in a deadly circuitous dance of steel and flesh, weaving and hacking, but neither side gaining ground. Lilian kept close to Hu Li, protecting him from the remaining monk that threatened them both. She thrust and slashed her blade, slicing into the monk’s robe, but never hitting deeply enough to slay him. Her adversary swung a foot with blinding speed and stunning accuracy. It slammed into her chin. She reeled back, but managed to remain standing. I turned back to see Talon as he bound to his feet. He sliced his hand across the throat of one of the acolytes.  The throat cracked under the blow, and the head tilted horribly to one side. The defeated monk crumpled to the floor. The other one swung a foot at Talon’s head, hitting him squarely in the ear. Talon spun, but managed to remain standing. Blood gushed from his ear and spackled the wall behind him.My spiritual weapon slashed at the remaining monk on Talon. The shining, flame wreathed blade stabbed deeply, critically, into the back of the Mordind cultist. Its power spent, the blade vanished, but the wound was sufficient and the monk collapsed.     Talon and I both turned to see the two monks threatening Shallahai and Feir’inj fall under the might of the two druids’ scimitars. Lilian, her face battered by the incessant blows of the monk still on her, finally managed to score a fatal blow with her sword. The monk spun violently out of control and death overcame him.     We all then faced the Mordind leader. The glowing red blade sunk back into the half globe clutched in his hand.“Surrender!” Talon commanded with uncharacteristic aggression. “Now is not the time, Talon.” The leader said calmly. “We both have work to do.”With that, he leapt up and outward, toward the wall to our left. His feet barely touched the wall before he sprung off to the right wall, and again, leapt to the left wall, deftly, quietly, gracefully bounding out of the hallway into the center chamber.Talon tumbled after him, whisking by us with great speed. We all followed. By the time we reached the center chamber, the leader was at the elevator shaft. He turned back to us and before anyone could react, he flew straight upward, vanishing in the blackness above. Talon jumped onto the wooden lift, but Lilian had caught up with him. “Let him go, Talon.” She firmly stated. “He is not our reason for being down here. Focus on what must be done, now. Not on vengeance.”Talon looked the Champion in the eye. “It is not vengeance that drives me.” He said, coldly. “It is duty. He is my enemy. He must be destroyed.” “Talon, listen to me.” Lilian pleaded. “We need you here. We need your help to cleanse this evil place. We cannot do it without you. What would your Master tell you?”Talon lowered his head. His taut body relaxed as he took a long, deep breath. “Patience.” He finally whispered. “He would counsel patience.” “Yes.” Lilian answered, nodding. “Forgive me, Lilian.” Talon said. “I… forgot myself for a moment.”“Are we all friends, again? Can we move on, now?” Hu Li whined. After I called upon Canaan’s healing grace to cure Lilian and Talon’s wounds, we returned to the hallway where the Mordind acolytes still lay. We ignored them and moved cautiously down the hall. Talon led the way with Lilian and myself behind him. Shallahai and Feir’inj, scimitars drawn, followed, which left Hu Li astern. Hollow. That was the overriding impression I recall as we walked down that crimson shadowed hall. We passed under the proscenium that, moments earlier, was guarded by the Mordind master. No one uttered a word. Even Hu Li’s whistling nostrils fell silent within the suffocating bosom of that oppressive air. Tales stretching back to the beginning of time tell of the seductive airs of the devils. How their countenance is always alluring, beautiful, intoxicating, and their whispered promises, tempting for even the most chaste and unflappable saints. As we walked down that dark corridor, inching our way to a black iron door at the end, which bore the symbol of Bael’s bleeding sword, all those stories evaporated from my mind. Here in the heart of a place held sacred to the disciples of the Devil Prince, all I could feel was an immense void and the desire to rebuke the emptiness with a shred of sunlight. How anyone could fall to the siren calls of the Hells after enduring such profound coldness and barrenness shall remain, until Canaan calls me home, a mystery to me. After Talon looked over the door and declared it free from traps, Lilian stepped forward and pushed on it. It creaked open. Red, yellow and orange light danced across the jam from within. We entered, weapons ready for anything that might leap from the deep shadows that battled with the thin tendrils of cavorting fire lights. Our eyes adjusted to the contrast and we beheld a massive temple of iron and stone, in the very center of which we stood. Some sixty feet above us a ledge hugged the walls on all sides. Sitting in a throne, flanked by two more fiendish men—warlocks like the brothers at the temple’s entrance—no doubt, sat a red-robed priest. His face was as thin and sallow as an onion’s fragile flesh. A sharp, black goatee stabbed out from his chin.  His head was as bald as an apple. His hands were lost under the waves of his heavy sleeves. He barely moved. His two minions did not move at all.I looked around the rest of the ledge and saw no more than six robed figures, placed in strategic intervals along the wall. Their faces were shadowed by their hoods and they all bore wide curved bladed in their hands. Like the tieflings, these devotees to Bael stood like stone. Though they were all sixty feet above us, we were surrounded. “What is the meaning of this sacrilege?” The high priest bellowed from his chair. “We come in the name of Canaan to cleanse this unholy place!” I shouted back.“How dare you?” The priest shot back, suddenly standing and glaring down at us. “This is a holy place! We have the right to pray as we see fit! We do not burst into your houses of worship and make threats against you! You…” He added pointing to me. “Priest, should understand this!” “You have sinned against Canaan!” Lilian shouted. “We come to enact His justice upon you and your whole wicked cabal!” “You enter into our hallowed halls, attack our disciples, our guests…”“We were defending ourselves!” Lilian interrupted. “Silence!” The priest’s voice echoed throughout the chamber.I refused to be cowed by this corrupt man. I stepped forward to challenge him, but was disrupted by Talon, who suddenly strode by me.  He gazed up at the priest and raised his palms.“Great priest.” He said. “You are in league with the Axis of Annihilation. You seek the return of Kharas’Voorhies and this is something we cannot allow.” “Lies! All lies! I am a Priest of the Bael!” The priest shouted with great indignation. “I have nothing to do with those other two religions, save for the proximity of their temples. I do not follow or confer or in any way conspire with them. Their beliefs, frankly, are beneath the glory of Bael and I would sooner die than unite with those… misguided fools!”  Talon bowed. “Enough blood has already been spilt.” He said “We have intruded without provocation and ask you to allow us to leave in peace.”The priest’s lips pulled back into a cruel grin and he laughed.  “You are wise, monk, to advise against challenging me. You have no power here. You have no jurisdiction here! You are also outnumbered and your strength spent. I am a patient man, but I have my limits. Leave now and I shall be merciful. If you stay, you will be slain.” Talon merely bowed and turned to us, indicating urgently yet subtly with his eyes that we should leave.“He’s right.” Hu Li’s voice was tinged with a panicky vibrato. “My spells are all used up. There are too many of them. We are no match for them in this condition. We should leave.” “Coward!” I let out in a harsh whisper that, to my surprise, filled the echoing chamber. “Evora.” Talon cautioned.  “Remember my lesson of earlier.  Patience.  Now is not the time.”  Talon whispered as he passed me.“No, Evora, Hu Li is not a coward.” Lilian answered. I turned to her, dismay overcoming me. “But this priest must be stopped. What they’re doing here...” I said, not believing what I was hearing, searching for words to curtail Lilian’s sudden shift. Some small part of me understood where Talon was coming from and Hu Li was understandably a weak coward.  But Lilian, it is our duty to cleanse this place in Canaan’s name.  “Do not let fear cloud your resolve.”“It is not fear. It is humility.” She said, sheathing her sword and walking away from us. “We go back to Allustan’s and seek his council. Coming here was hubris. Canaan forgive me, but this was a mistake.” We followed her out of the chamber. Shallahai matched her pace. “Lady Lilian, this is not like you.” He said. “You are bewitched. You are...”“I am quite in control of my wits, Druid.” She said, an anger threatening to erupt from her. “Fighting them would be foolish! We would be throwing our lives away! Like Gabriel did. And he was punished for it!” “Canaan brought him back to us.” I said. “Surely that means…”“You know nothing, Evora!” Lilian shouted as we cleared the hall and entered the center chamber. Lilian headed for the wooden lift. “Oh, bother.” Hu Li sputtered with irritation. “Here goes my last spell of the day. I hope you’re all happy! Athair litrich!” He commanded with a wave of his hand. I recognized the intonation. It was an abjuration to dispel magic, and he had directed it at Lilian. The air cracked and shimmered as an auburn rain descended over Lilian, grappling with the enchantment which held her in its sway. A violent second later, the two forces dissipated. The Champion stopped and held her head, swaying as if about to faint. Shallahai and Talon rushed to her. She was free. I looked to Hu Li with surprise and did not attempt to mask my delight. “What did you do, wizard?” Fier’inj asked. I startled at his deep, heavily accented baritone. He had been silent for so long. “What? Isn’t it obvious?” Hu Li huffed with arrogance. “She was under some kind of suggestion and I removed it. Not that I was in any kind of disagreement with what she was saying, it’s just, well… didn’t seem right coming from her.”     “Thank you, Hu Li.” I said, taking a step to him, arms outstretched. If his face had not crunched up with disgust at my gesture, I would have embraced him. “Something followed us.” Lilian suddenly said, pointing toward shadows at the edge of the doorway that led back to Bael’s temple. “It is there! I can sense it.” “Yes. I am here.” A voice, cold and sharp as sleet emitted from the shadows. “Yes. I followed you.” “Show yourself, villain!” I commanded. “I do not wish to.” It almost demurely hissed. “You will only attack me.” “As a Priest of Canaan, I command you!” I retorted. “Show yourself!” Though my words were bold, my heart was fracturing. I had no power left. I was no threat to this creature, but I could not allow this beast to toy with us. “We give you our word, we shall not attack you.” Lilian promised. “You attacked my brothers.” The voice quickly answered. “Why should I believe you?”“We were provoked.” Lilian calmly responded. “We had no choice but to defend ourselves.”“Why are we talking to this thing?” Hu Li whined. “It’s nothing more than a ploy to…” Hu Li abruptly stopped his rant as a figure removed itself from the deep shadows of the chamber. It was like the other half-fiends, tieflings if I remember my fiendish lore correctly, that almost destroyed us and served as Bael’s guardians. Its flesh, if one could call it flesh, was like a thin layer of coal barely sheathing a blacksmith’s enraged fire pit. Its eyes were yellow pools laced with ebony veins. Its nose was nearly flat, discernable only by two narrow slits that must have been its nostrils. Its lips were obfuscated by two twisted rows of dusty fangs. “Why are you leaving?” The beast asked. “The priest. He is weak. He can be defeated. I can help you.”“Why would you want to help us?” Fier’inj asked with a growl in his voice. “I want to leave here. I…” The creature hesitated. He stood there fishing for words. “If you leave now… it will be too late… they will be gone… I… do not like what I am. What I am told I am. I wish to…” “You seek redemption.” I said. I felt everyone turn to me. “Nothing and no one is beyond salvation.” I ignored their stares and approached the tiefling. I placed a hand on his rocky flesh. His. Yes. In that moment this being was no longer an “it” to me. If he indeed had no soul, he sought one, and I could not refuse such a request. “Do you have a name?” The creature looked at me for a long silent moment. “They call me Rin.” He finally said. “Quickly. Let me show you. The priest, he is in his private quarters. He is vulnerable. Slay him and you can stop them. Come! Come!”His voice was a whisper. He moved over to the wall back down the hallway toward the temple. He went half-way to the iron door and stopped. “Here.” He pushed on the stone wall and it slid back, revealing a short hallway ending in a narrow staircase leading up. “He is there. I will show you.” He hurried up the stairs. Lilian was the first to follow. I scrambled behind her. I could hear the others bounding just behind me. The stairway ended at a landing, then continued to the left. A few more strides and we were at a second landing. A small wooden door awaited us. Once we were all gathered, Rin pointed at the door. He nodded. Lilian approached the door, releasing her blade from its sheath. I readied my mace. Shallahai and Feir’inj brandished their scimitars. Talon readied. Hu Li stood back at the edge of the staircase. He gripped his staff tightly. Rin melted into the shadows. Lilian opened the door. Beyond was a large room. The first thing I saw was a bed covered in red sheets. The room was lit with more crimson torches. Standing by the bed, clothed in no more than his bedclothes, was the priest. His eyes widened with indignation at our entrance. “Acolytes!” He shouted as he reached behind him to grab a sword off the wall. “We are invaded yet again!” Lilian bounded to him with a war cry. The two locked swords with a great clang. A door to the left of the priest’s bed burst open. Four armed acolytes poured in. I met the first one with my mace. He slashed his sword at me, but my chain shirt deflected the blow. I retaliated with my mace, striking the disciple across his cheek. He spun halfway around before collapsing. Another acolyte was on me. One hand held his sword, while the free hand crackled with purple energy. He slammed his hand into my chest and my flesh tore open from the inflict serious wounds spell. Just then Talon bound over me and the remaining three acolytes. He tumbled to the door, slamming it shut and sliding the bar across it. Feir’inj and Shallahai, side by side, hurtled toward the two acolytes before they could reach me. A chorus of scimitars and swords composed a vicious, impromptu operetta under the chaotic minuets of blood red torchlight. Hu Li remained outside the room. There was no sign of our new ally. In that moment I wondered if I had been deceived. But my fears were assuaged when a burst of purple and black energy fired out of a shadow and struck the acolyte in melee with me. The acolyte barely responded, struck dumb and numb by the eldritch power the coursed through his body. He stiffened, and then crumbled, tendrils of smoke wafting up from his smote body. The priest, locked in combat with Lilian, shuddered at the sight. His teeth clenched and his free hand enveloped with a grim power. He punched Lilian in the chest. She stumbled back, blood drizzling from the seams in her armor. I raced to her as she fell to the floor, staggered by the attack.I had one useful spell left in me. Seeing Lilian almost perish from the priest’s viciousness forced me to use it. I called upon Canaan’s healing power to sanctify my allies with a mass lesser vigor. Though the healing would be slow and minimal, it may just be enough to stay death’s hand from clutching Lilian’s heart. My strategy was fortuitous, as I heard Feir’inj cringe from a deep wound one of the acolytes exacted upon him. Shallahai, too, suffered a great blow from his opponent. I could focus only on Lilian. Her fate was imminent. I positioned myself between her and the priest as he struck down with his sword. It was now infused with an unholy divine favor. The sword cut deep across my chest. I endeavored to ignore the potentially debilitating pain and countered the priest’s blow with my mace. In that moment I could see Lilian had scored at least one worthy hit on the villain, as his own blood stained his evening robes near his waist. My mace struck his chest. The priest reeled back, but remained standing. A moment later, he was lifted off the ground. Talon had leapt on the bed and seized him. There was a short struggle before the priest’s neck shattered under the monk’s relentlessness. Trapped and demoralized by their master’s defeat, the two remaining acolytes were soon vanquished by Feir’inj and Shallahai’s scimitars. We had no time to celebrate, however, as the door Talon had bolted heaved from a heavy blow from the other side. A cloud of splinters ruptured from its planks. Then Hu Li rushed in, panting, his chalky white face flushed with effort. “The other door…” He said between gasps. “At the bottom of the stairs… It was shut by two of those… warlocks. I saw them closing it myself. No doubt they’re waiting in ambush.” “Rin!” I called to the shadows. The tiefling emerged from a corner. “If you seek redemption, then prove yourself. Get us out of here!” Another blow at the door warped one of the planks. It nearly bent in two over the iron bar. “One more blow and that door shall be breached.” Feir’inj opined. “Quickly. Find something to bar their way.” “No.” Rin said. “That will only make escaping harder. Wait here. They do not know of my betrayal. Trust me. I will clear a path.” Before we could respond, he moved back into the shadows and was gone. The pounding beyond the door stopped. We all stood in the room, staring at each other in silence, waiting for Rin’s return. The healing power of the vigor passed. Lilian leaned on a wall, bruised and winded. Her own healing power exhausted, she would not last another skirmish. After several tense, soundless minutes, Rin reappeared at the landing by the staircase. Hu Li nearly jumped when he saw the fiend-blooded creature suddenly materialize. “Stop doing that!” The wizard demanded. “The way is clear.” Rin said. “Follow me.” “Good!” Hu Li spluttered. “Let’s get out of here!”He bolted down the staircase. Talon, Shallahai and Feir’inj followed. Rin called out after them. “No! Wait! Through the temple! The other door is guarded!” Lilian and I looked to the tiefling and then each other. All three of us chased our companions down the staircase, but by the time we reached the lower doorway, it was too late. Hu Li had opened it. I saw two more tieflings just beyond the threshold. One let out an eldritch blast that sent Hu Li flying back and up the staircase. I had to lunge to avoid being toppled by his flailing arms. So taken by the surprise, Talon, Feir’inj and Shallahai struggled to recover enough to respond. Lilian, however, was ready for the attack and she vaulted down the staircase passing the monk and two druids. But to my horror, the second warlock had readied for this and just before the Champion of Canaan reached the door, the Dark Sider’s palms exploded with evil energy. Lilian was struck in the chest. The remainder of the battle is clouded by my grief in remembering. I recall the door being closed. I recall being lead through the empty temple by Rin. I recall resting a few moments before ascending from the main chamber.  All I recall was the overwhelming sorrow at witnessing Lilian, blessed of Canaan, being slain yet again, and I being powerless to prevent it.</blockquote>

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