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: 1247227" data-attributes="member: 1210">The Battle of a Dozen DemonsSomewhere, a spirit wanders through a plane of dead black.  Negative energy roils around it.  If it were alive, its life energy would have been snuffed out long ago, sucked away greedily by the ebon cold of the environment.  There is almost nothing here, in the entire plane.A thousand years ago the spirit felt a flake of ash fall across it, and two hundred years before that there was a momentary encounter with a crust of salt- the absence of water.  But since then, nothing has caught the spirit’s immaterial eye; at least, nothing here.  There are always intruders in the Tomb, of course- every few decades, sometimes even more often.  Most have been grave disappointments; only a few have riddled their way through.  Recently, there have been... supplicants.  The spirit’s thoughts curdle for a moment.  And, of course, that upstart who dared to find his way through the Gap to Power without the intent to finish the course.  Bah!  Well, the spirit’s looked in on that one several times, and in closely watching its activities, the spirit has grown more and more disturbed.  Here is something that might be able to challenge him for supremacy.  Here is something extremely dangerous.  And what dealings has it had with the supplicants?  What is the relationship?Well, that one has enemies, and from watching them, the spirit thinks they might just be able to finish it off.  And if they can do that, they’ll already be halfway through the Course of Tests, and after all- apotheosis is near.On the ethereal plane, bubbles of blood float lazily in the non-gravity.  Screams of anger and pain echo through the weird mists of ethereal color.  The sounds of metal clashing on metal, the whiz of arrows, the chanting of spellcasters- all these herald the Battle of a Dozen Demons.If you’ll recall, the bad guys consist of quite a few glabrezu and a marilith whose upper body looks like Britney Spears.  Naked, though- hey, if you’re hot for Britney and lookin’ for the nudie pics, just fight this marilith, you’ll probably have about six seconds to look- and with a serpentine lower body, she’s meaner than she looks.  Which she promptly demonstrates, charging at the solar accompanying our heroes and trying to encircle it with her scaly tail.  Azekia the solar, angel of Heaven, flexes her wings and flies out of the demon’s coils.  The wrath of god is on her face.  “By the Light, we will destroy you all and send you back to the Abyss from which you came!” the angel thunders, and then speaks a holy word that stuns four of the glabrezu*.  Reeling, they whine like piteous dogs (albeit huge, four-armed, pincer-wielding dogs), clutching at their heads with their human arms.  Unfortunately, Ulla, herself not exactly Good, is caught in the area as well and cannot see!  Shaped as a stone golem, she cries out in confusion.The singing of Drelvin’s bow is a constant refrain.  Chortling, the whipcord-thin elf destroys one of the glabrezu’s knee, blasting off its lower leg.  A huge spray of blackish-brown, foul-smelling blood joins the ether mists.  The archer turns to another of the glabrezu, continuing his rapid barrage of missiles.  The demon yelps in displeasure, and then  Rex, the party’s new dragon disciple, chops him in the neck with his bare hand!  He use his remarkable unarmed fighting ability to strike, kick and headbutt demon, again and again.  It’s like a rain of limbs on the glabrezu’s head and chest.  The thing staggers, and Malford is suddenly there, stabbing with Memory and the Sun Blade.  Several of the active glabrezu are swarming the solar, aiding the marilith in her furious, screeching assault.  But Azekia is a powerful force of good, her radiant aura helping her fend them off.  It looks like she might be overwhelmed for an instant; moreover, the rest of the group has suffered an assortment of mounting injuries.  So the solar draws a deep breath, concentrates, and prays to her Lord, Galador.  A mass heal ripples out, and those of our heroes that are within range feel themselves heal and hearty again.  Better still, Ulla’s eyes clear- she can see again!  Taking note of the demons stunned near her, she begins smashing one of them to jelly, and in her golem form she makes short work of it.  And look, there are more stunned ones right nearby...Whiz!  Whiz!  The arrows just keep coming, a constant stream of missiles from Drelvin.  The demon facing Rex and Malford looks like a pincushion- it strikes at Malford but only eliminates some mirror images.  Rex and Malford, flanking it, slash, stab, kick and strike it, and finally the huge demon dies!  Then the glabrezu, seeing that they’re losing the fight (several killed, several stunned), change tactics.  One of the great demons rushes Drelvin and grabs him with a huge pincer.  The archer struggles to get free, but the demon gets a good hold on him and laughs enormously.  [color=AA8844]"EAT YOU,"[/color] the demon rumbles in Abyssal, salivating.  Another of the dog-like demons begins grappling with Angelfire, whose muscles bunch as he struggles with it.  It has the worst breath she’s smelled since the brood gibberlings long ago in Firestorm Peak.  Angelfire and the demon struggle back and forth for a moment, and then the scarlet-skinned Coilite breaks free of the pincers.  The demon yells in surprise as Angelfire strikes at it, but it has mirror images up and the templar only destroys a few images.  Then Patyn’s there, charging in and lopping off a pincer.  The monster squeals as more demon blood sprays out.  The snake-woman snarls in rage, unable to hurt the solar, and teleports immediately next to Rex.  “Whoa!” cries the dragon disciple.  He breathes a line of force at the marilith and immediately tumbles away.  The demon is pummeled by his breath weapon, and though not badly hurt she’s angrier than ever.  Then Azekia’s there again, flying swiftly to engage the demoness, and a heavy blow falls from her blade on the marilith!  The demon unleashes its anger in a full attack on the solar, landing only a single blow- but that one a critical hit!**  The blow cracks into the angel’s side, cracking ribs, but then Azekia cries, “For Galador!” –and strikes back!  Her massive sword slices across the marilith’s snake body twice, then stabs into one of her arms!  Sparks fly as the weapons of the outsiders flash and jangle off each other.  Truly, this is a clash of forces of almost cosmic power.Drelvin is struggling in the grasp of the demon on him.  It’s pincer is around his neck, trying to pop his head right off- and it feels like it just might work!  But Drelvin’s arms are strong from decades of archery, hours of it every day.  He struggles with it and slowly draws the pincer open like a bow and ducks out from the glabrezu’s grip!  His neck throbs and he can feel torn skin shifting beneath his shirt.  His voice full of gravel, Drelvin coughs, “That’s gonna hurt for days,” and starts firing arrows again, at point blank range, at the demon that held him.  Malford’s moving in to help him, too.  The demon, looking worried, tosses a dispel at the god-king, but doesn’t have any effect.  Then Malford sticks it in the leg and it shrieks, knocked off its feet.Angelfire raises the Deleter.  Pointing, he unleashes its weird power at the marilith!  A coruscating beam of weird energy jabs out, accompanies by a strange crackling sound, and strikes the demon.  It yowls in anger and pain, sending a sneer at the Coilite.Who, suddenly, is female.The negative energy that has been accumulating in him with each use of the Deleter ebbs partially away, but there’s still a bit.  And she’s female again.***   She’s a little dazed by the sudden change and her mind starts sorting the implications.The marilith teleports away from the immediate battle, badly wounded from her melee with the solar and a little annoyed by whatever that just was, and brings out a potion.  She’s glaring at the accursed Galadorian angel when it points at her and cries out a loud, strong prayer of banishment.  With a frustrated cry of rage, the marilith vanishes back to the Abyss.Ulla looks up from the last stunned demon’s body.  (CRUNCH!  Well, it isn’t stunned any more.)  The battle is thinning out.  She sees Patyn and Azekia double-teaming one of them while Drelvin and Malford finish off the last.  Then there’s a moment for everyone to catch their breaths.  Breaths caught, onward they go....*Note that this will only banish creatures if you’re on your own home plane when you use it.  Bummer.**This was from a vorpal blade, and for an excited moment I thought she’d slain the solar, but you need a natural 20 on the confirmation roll.  Darn.***Quick backstory element: Angel started as a woman, but changed gender when she was touched by Chaos.  That’s also how she gained the fire subtype.Next Time: The marilith’s boss!</blockquote>

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