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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 1243504" data-attributes="member: 1210">Ethereal AssaultMalford grimaces as Patyn, hunter of the dead, squares off against Angelfire.  There are no weapons drawn yet, but Patyn looks ready to fight.  His words- “You are evil”- hang in the air.  Angelfire’s thoughts immediately flash back to Alcar, the angel of food, and his challenge on the same grounds.  Servants of Good- will they never learn?“I serve Coila,” the scarlet-skinned man answers.  “I have no quarrel with you, but my loyalty is immutable.”  His eyes smolder and his lip quirks in a half-smile.  “I travel with a cleric of your god, Galadorian.  We work together.  And surely the need to destroy Felenga, one of the most powerful undead ever, outweighs any... differences we might have.”“And there will be no fighting in my home,” Malford snaps.  The tension stretches for a moment.  Then Patyn growls, “Very well, then, Coilite.  I’ll tell you what.  Vow not to turn on me so long as we work together and I’ll do the same.”  He glares at Angel.  “Your goddess is Lawful.  I will take your word, and to destroy the Academy, I’ll take your aid.”“And you’ll help us destroy Felenga’s phylactery?” Angelfire presses.“It sounds as if that will be half the battle in my quest anyway.”  Patyn sneers.  “Phylacteries!  Bah!  Too bad I wasn’t with you before.  When I kill undead, I kill them dead.  They don’t come back from my blows!  I kill them dead!!”  Spittle flies from his mouth.  He leans back, breathing hard and fingering his holy symbol.  Seems we’ve got a bit of a fanatic here, folks.Oaths are exchanged and everyone sits down.  Ulla and Rex, the two new companions Lester and Angelfire managed to find, are a little wary; they’re in the king’s presence- some even style him a god- and there’s clearly some level of dissension in the group.  Everyone’s heard of some of the people here- Malford and Lester themselves, who’d have thought that we’d meet up with them! thinks Rex- and if high adventure has a definition, they’re it.  From the clockwork horror invasion to Fuligin’s victory and defeat, these folks are heroes of legend!The group discusses strategy.  Patyn tells them that there’s an entire city of necromancers and undead that’s grown up around the Bleak Academy, or Black Academy, as it is also called.  He repeats what he told them before- that there are tons of evil spellcasters and undead.  “Giants, too- the biggest I’ve ever seen,” he reports grimly.  And, of course, extraplanar incursions were discouraged by a horde of demon guardians.“I still think an ethereal assault is our best bet,” Malford opines.  “A city of necromancers or a few demons.  How many could there be?”“Our cleric and wizard thought it would be prohibitively difficult to assault that way,” Patyn answers, and Malford leans back and frowns. “Well,” Orbius offers, “there’s always a solar.  That would probably even the odds against us considerably.”“I’m all for using the ether,” agrees Lester.  “Let’s kill some demons!”Within a few hours everyone’s bathed and dressed for battle.  The Eye has summoned a gorgeous angel named Azekia, who’s agreed to help them for two weeks or until Felenga’s phylactery is destroyed.  Angelfire tries to buddy up to her, but she clearly perceives his aura of evil and frowns at him.  He tries showing her some of his trophies, but he pulls out a few of Alcar’s feathers and she fixes him with a steely gaze and points an accusing finger at him.“Hey, he started it,” Angelfire smirks.Then they’re off, Orbius teleporting them to a location near the Academy and then the group going ethereal.  Their surroundings change, becoming misty analogies of the material plane.  Some things are gone, some slightly different, some almost exactly the same- but all of them are made of colored wisps of mist.  The group starts moving forward, in the direction of the Academy, passing wispy mounds and tree-like shapes to either side.  The ethereal matter swirls around them as they float through it, and then-Ahead, Orbius warns over their telepathic bond.  Demons!And indeed, looming ahead are a trio of horrible monsters- huge dog-like heads atop a massive torso.  Two man-like arms emerge from the creature’s body, but so too does a pair of deadly pincers.  More start moving into visibility through the mist, closing in on the party.  Even as the solar dismisses two of them, the rest of the party starts maneuvering for good combat positioning.  The glabrezu, meanwhile, are moving in and some are initiating mirror images.  With a gigantic bellow, two of the demons closes on the solar and start battling it!  Another engages Patyn, who responds with his blade, slicing through one of its images.  More demons are arriving- and now they’re starting to teleport across the battlefield, one appearing right next to Drelvin!Patyn charges and smites, landing a smashing blow on one of the glabrezu.  The creature roars and slashes back, dealing punishing damage to the hunter of the dead.  Rex and another of the demons wheel across the sky, natural weapons slashing at each other.  Blood is flying all over.  Ulla’s form melts and twists, and suddenly she’s become a stone golem!  Her massive fist smashes into one of the demons, snapping its head back and letting a spray of blood flow from the doggie snout.  The demon growls, but then she smashes it again, and this time her blow is so strong that its guts fly from its mouth!  It stops moving, slain!Malford and Drelvin are double-teaming the demon that teleported in on the archer.  With his extraordinary skill, Drelvin calmly plugs the demon with arrow after arrow even at point blank range and still manages to avoid giving it an opening!*  Malford’s combination of his sun blade and Memory, two weapons of surpassing puissance, finish the evil beast, and then the god-king moves in on another.  Then, emerging from the mist, a horrible beauty comes forth.  Think Britney Spears with six arms and a long serpentine body.  She’s armed with more swords than you can shake a stick at and otherwise naked.  More glabrezu are still coming, too!  There must be half a dozen or more even after the ones that have already been slain or dismissed...  *i.e. Order of the Bow Initiate close combat shot ability (or whatever it’s called)- no AoO provoked by bow fire!  Next Time: The Battle of the Dozen Demons!</blockquote>

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