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="Lazybones" data-source="post: 858462" data-attributes="member: 143">An interesting question... are demons with high DR even subject to subdual damage?  Of course, even if they did get ahold of Delem, it would matter little; they had him under control at the end of Book VII, but the current owner of his soul can apparently draw him back at will.  No, they're going to have to go to the "source," as it were.  Now, how a group of four ECL13 characters is going to force a Demon Prince to hand him over... well, that's the question we're going to face here in the upcoming chapters... Here's the Friday update, not really a cliffhanger per se, but our heroes are getting into some pretty serious stuff now:* * * * * Book VIII, Part 24It took them more than six hours to make their way out of the caverns to the surface.  Beyond the chamber of the Portal a dizzying maze of tunnels, caverns, and shafts burrowed through the rock, reft with fissures and vents that continued to pour hot, noxious gases onto them until even Lok was light-headed from their effects.  By the end of the first hour they were all soaked in sweat even through their magical protections, and their exposed skin itched and burned from the effects of the vapors.  But they persevered, with Dana treating the worst of it and Cal fortifying them with a quiet but constant melody from his lyre.  By the time they finally made their way up a long, spiraling shaft into the open air, the four of them were all at the edges of their endurance, and for a long moment they just stood there at the lip of the shaft, staring at the landscape around them. The world was a vast, open, barren expanse, the ground cracked and blackened, with each step calling up a small puff of fine dust.  A hot blue sun hung low in the sky, baking the land and making each breath feel like a wisp of flame.  Its radiance transformed “normal” sights into a medley of garish colors and vivid shadows, making even their own faces seeming strange and alien to their eyes.  Far to the south, the rough outline of some hills could be seen, and over them intermittent flashes that might be lightning, except that there were no clouds to be seen anywhere along the endless horizon.  From that direction wound a river, a glowing aqua in the light of the blue sun, twisting its way through the landscape until it intersected, a few leagues to the west...“By the gods...” Benzan breathed.  It was a city, its walls rising up like sheer cliffs out of the landscape.  Jagged towers rose up above the walls at seemingly random intervals, each slightly different than the last in size and form.  Beyond the walls the tops of what had to be thousands of buildings could be seen, likewise of incredibly varying form and style.  A few specks could be seen in the air higher above, either birds or some other kind of flying creature, too far to be made out even by Benzan’s keen eyes.  “It has to be the size of Iriaebor, if not larger,” Lok commented, holding a muscled hand over his eyes to shade them from the penetrating sun.  In the light his gray skin looked sickly, the color of rotten meat.Cal took a deep draught from one of the waterskins he kept in his magical haversack, then handed it to Benzan. The tiefling took it absently, handing it to Dana without drinking.   “Well, it looks like a good walk.  We’d better get started,” the gnome said, putting his words into action as he started trudging across the barren plain. The others followed.* * * * * The better part of a day later, the companions finally found themselves drawing near to the great stone walls of the city.  Through the long trek the blue sun had only shifted slightly in the sky above, indicating that the days here clearly rather longer than those back on Toril.  The four wore their cloaks with their hoods up to provide shelter from that orb’s penetrating rays, and covered in the gray dust of the plains they looked almost like wraiths that drifted silently across the surface of a silent world. Cal drew up tiredly; with his short legs, he’d had to work twice as hard to set a pace that was reasonable for the others.  Dana had offered to lend him her magical boots, but he’d refused, arguing that she’d need the mobility if they ran into a hostile encounter.  Now, as he felt his muscles burn with the sudden change from movement to pause, he started to regret that decision.  “Gods, this place is bleak,” Benzan said, adjusting the strap that held his second sword across his back.  Under his cowl, his hair was slicked back with sweat and dust, and his lips were chapped and broken. “Drink some more water,” Dana said, handing him a skin.  “No offense, Dana, but this water you created tastes awful.”  But he drank deeply, handing back the skin with only a small amount left sloshing inside.  Grimacing, he wiped his mouth and spat.  Cal nodded to himself absently.  The problem with the water was just another prompt that they should not dally here.  Dana’s spell had worked, and while she’d insisted that the water was safe—and absolutely necessary, given the amount they were sweating away—it had a greasy taste that made it almost undrinkable.  Yet another reminder that this entire world, this entire plane, was hostile to their very presence.  Before them stretched the vastness of the city, warded by the massive wall of gray stone that they could now see rose up a good forty feet above the surface of the plain.  While they could make out more details now that they were close, the structures that rose up above the wall maintained a certain... indistinct quality, as if there was something about their construction that didn’t seem quite right.  The shadowy forms that flapped through the sky between those towers were likewise things that didn’t invite too close a scrutiny, lest the viewer recognize something that he did not wish to contemplate.  Also, this close, they could make out the noise of the city, a faint din that was equal parts voices and noises blended together.  “I don’t like going in unprepared,” Dana said.  “Most of our magical protections are expired, and we need rest.  And a quiet place... to pray.”  The last words were almost a whisper, as if she thought that the city itself might be listening. Perhaps it is, Cal thought grimly, as he turned to face the taller human woman.  “I don’t think we’ll find much rest out here,” he said, glancing up at the blazing blue sun.  “We need shelter, and information, and we won’t find either out here.”  “At the very least, you’ll need to conceal that,” Benzan said, nodding toward the moon mote that Dana wore about her neck.  Her mouth tightened, but she didn’t respond; she didn’t like it, but knew he was right. “I’ve already got an idea for that,” Cal said.  He closed his eyes for a moment, clearing his thoughts for a powerful spell, one that he’d only recently added to his inventory.  It was an illusion, a more potent version of a spell he’d known from his days as an apprentice.  The others shifted as he wove his dweomer around them, touching each of them with its concealing shroud.  The gnome felt a sudden surge of energy, a strange feeling he couldn’t quite identify, but it did not disrupt his casting, and a moment later he was finished.  “There, that should do it,” he said.  “The seeming is just an illusion, not a physical change, so I’ve tried not to change too much that could be revealed by an accidental contact.  I’ll change it every day, I think; it’s not impenetrable, of course, but it should hold up to casual observation.”The companions looked at each other, and started in surprise.  While their outward appearance remained unchanged at first glance—tired frames, dusty cloaks, armor and weapons—it quickly became evident that the details had dramatically shifted under the shadowed cowls of their cloaks.  Benzan’s skin was a deep tinge of red, his forehead marked by thick ridges of bone, his teeth sharp and black.  Dana was still attractive, but several subtle changes made her face different, and the small horns jutting from her head were not subtle at all.  Lok’s armor had changed subtly, looking more malevolent with sharp spikes and a deeper, grayer coloration, and within his helm his stone-like skin had deepened to almost black, his eyes gleaming red orbs that seemed to shine in the reflected sunlight.  Cal, meanwhile, had transformed himself into a sinister-looking imp, lacking wings and a tail, true, but with an evil visage with skin the color of yellow ochre, wiry red hair, and eyes like black pebbles.    “You’ve got a lot of strange things crawling around inside that little head of yours,” Benzan said, adjusting his baldric yet again.  “How long?” Lok asked. “Twelve hours,” Cal said.  “As I said, I’ll renew it each day, but we should try to find someplace safe, where we can hole up and regain our strength.  Relatively safe, at least,” he added. “Well, let’s get this over with, then,” Benzan said, starting toward the wall, and the gate they’d spotted as they approached the city.  The heavy portals of black wood banded with iron stood partly open, and as they drew near they spotted their first clear occupant of the city.  The tiefling, striding in the lead, hesitated as he caught sight of the humanoid demon that stood a good nine feet tall, standing just inside the doors.  The creature seemed to have had the muscles of two or three normal creatures poured into its frame, the whole tightly covered in skin that was the color of obsidian.  It was clad in a breastplate and greaves of metal the same color, and bore a sword that almost matched its height.  Its face was dominated by a mouth that looked wide enough to swallow Cal’s head entire. Benzan stood there, at a loss for words, but the demon seemed to take no notice of them.  Cal quickly came forward, and said, “We are travelers, seeking entrance into the city, ser guard.”The black guardian did not respond for a moment, and Cal almost thought that they’d been mistaken, that the creature was in fact a statue carved from an inconceivably massive block of jet.  Then it flexed its muscles, a slight movement that was sufficient to betray that it did in fact live, and each of them heard a voice within their heads.  By the will of the Master, outsiders are currently welcome to pass the gates of Zelatar.  But ware your steps, for if you cross His will, your lives and souls are forfeit. Cal recovered quickly enough to offer a curt bow, and started in through the doors.  As Dana drew toward the opening, however, she drew back in sudden surprise, and let out a strangled hiss.  Benzan spun around, his hand darting to the hilt of his sword. “Dana, what is it?”The mystic wanderer’s gaze was fixed on the black wood of the gate, her eye wide with horror.  “Faces... faces, in the wood... in torment.”  At least she kept her voice low, but now that he had delivered his message, the stony guardian seemed content to return to its watch in silent immobility.  Benzan followed her gaze to the gate, but he could only see the thick grain of the heavy boards.  Still, he shuddered.  “They were there,” Dana said, trembling slightly as she clutched at the haft of her spear with white-knuckled hands.  “This place is fashioned from corruption, it reeks from the very stones,” Lok said softly.  Cal, meanwhile, stood in the narrow entry, looking back at them with impatience clear on the evil face he wore.  “Come on,” he said.  And so the four passed into the city of Zelatar.</blockquote>

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