NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 1102979" data-attributes="member: 1210">Against the InevitableAcheron, plane of endless war for its own sake.  The cubes smash and rumble in the distance, the echoes of the sounds of battle ring through this bleak cosmos.  There is nothing good here, no love or happiness- just unending bitterness and violence.  And, of course, an inevitable that our heroes must destroy.Somewhere on Drakos’ Cube, locked inside the Cells of Urthgor, lies their target.  First they use magic to retrieve Sybele’s blade; then a little searching around finds the wan soul of a deserter, trying to hide from the ceaseless conflict of the plane.  He’s dead now, of course- but his eternal punishment is a futile attempt to escape the warfare that ruled his life.  A little persuasion and the simpering petitioner leads them to a series of mines, and at the bottom they find what they seek.  Some sort of squat statue of clay bars their way, demanding, “Astos or Crotus?”Malford, blase as always in these situations, answers, “Why, Astos of course!”And a secret way opens before our heroes.They enter it cautiously, and find themselves facing a narrow stairway heading down.  They follow it into an antechamber with a huge locked and barred door on what seems to be some sort of thick cube of bindings and chains.  Locked and barred from their side- to keep something in, not to keep anything out.  Huge chains run around a multitude of pillars in the chamber.  Thick, adamantine links as big around as Angelfire’s thighs seem held taut against breaking.  They feed, ultimately, into the large cell’s door.  Gorlon listens at the massive door.  “I can hear creaking and groaning,” he tells his fellow adventurers, “the sound of metal straining...”Four locks and bars fall quickly to the skills of Malford; by the time he’s done our heroes have drawn weapons and are on the balls of their feet, ready to fight.  But the chains still hold the Cell of Urthgor shut.  But they start to slowly, one by one, snap- the first as the locks are picked, then another and another.  Our heroes are ready, dammit, ready for the inevitable to emerge.  It’s bound to happen soon, soon...Snap! goes another chain, then two more rapidly.  Any moment....The door to the cell bursts open, the inevitable rushing out, free after who knows how long!  Its bizarre shape seems to mirror the cosmic rules that spawned it, yet somehow it has gone rogue, being imprisoned here against some eventuality our heroes can only guess at.  Its body is shaped something like an oversized top, with blocky pieces of clockwork fitted together.  Where our heroes can glance within it, they see gears, pulleys, cables, small spheres resembling entire worlds. Wasting no time, our heroes show this construct just how powerful they are.  Thrush moves in, his blade whipping into his hands almost of its own volition.  Gorlon bursts into song as he brings out his weapon and the party feels a burst of confidence.  Telemundo casts Marius’ sidestep and makes a short distance hop out of the monster’s immediate reach (or so he hopes) even as Malford tries to hold it with a spell.  Angelfire’s cloak of embrace and boots of speed both activate, giving the scarlet-skinned Coilite four arms and amazing speed.  He displaces himself.Then the strange Law-construct creates a forcecage around Thrush and Angelfire, taking the two biggest fighters out of the battle.  It’s moving forwards, inevitably (if you’ll pardon the pun) seeking egress from this place. “Nope!” calls Horbin, and casts lower resistance on the clockwork thing.  Gorlon fires a burst of magic missiles at it, and then Telemundo shows his power with a shimmering ray that blasts out and disintegrates the inevitable.  And just like that, it’s over.  And a gate spell later, our heroes are home in Var, and their other obligations discharged, they’re ready to get on with the real business at hand.Felenga.Felenga, who’s plans are even now approaching fruition.  Felenga, who’s got the key he needs.  Felenga, who will soon be in position to release his master into the accursed Darkhold, the only thing to survive before... the thing that spawned a new universe.Time runs short.Next Time: The Hunt for Felenga!</blockquote>

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