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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 870479" data-attributes="member: 143">Book VIII, Part 26Cal did not hesitate; even as the demons began their charge he called upon the power of one of his most reliable spells, the always-useful haste.  He lost himself in the familiar gestures and words of arcane power, but before he could finish the final invocation that would fill his body with the power of the spell, something hard exploded against his head.  Immersed in the casting, he never saw the heavy paving stone that shot down from above, glancing off his temple, dropping him like a sack of potatoes to the soiled ground of the alley.  Nor did he hear the screech of triumph from the bar-lgura demon as it raised its claws to the sky, leaping in joy at the pain it had inflicted.  “Cal!” Dana cried.  She was already turning to the fallen gnome, while Benzan drew and fired at the demon in one smooth motion.  The arrow hit the demon with a solid thunk, but it did not erupt with the magical flame that normally was produced by Benzan’s bow, nor did it sink more than an inch or so into the demon’s tough flesh.  The tiefling cursed as the demon casually plucked out the missile and tossed it aside, but there was no time for a second shot; his keen ears were full of the sound of the invisible demons charging down the alley and he quickly tossed his bow aside and drew out his sword of the planes.  The gifted blade flared uncannily in the faint blue light that filtered down from the narrow opening high above.  Dana saw that Cal was merely stunned.  Fortunately for him the heavy stone, its edge smeared with the gnome’s blood, had caught him a glancing blow instead of full on; had it struck true, there was no doubt that it would have crushed his skull like a ripe melon.  Quickly she called upon the goddess—but before she could access the power of Selûne and her link augmented through the power of her Harper pin, she felt a shudder of fear pass through her.  Her mental defenses, born of her strength of purpose and of her training, clicked into place by reflex, and the demonfear washed over her impotently.  While there was little chance that they could affect her, however, she knew that Benzan and Lok lacked her defense...I’m sorry, Cal, she thought, altering her casting as she summoned forth a protective ward over her and her companions.  Selûne granted her petition and she felt the ward flow in and around her, shrouding all of them with a potent counter to the evil demonfear.  The hoots and cries of the charging demons sounded a roar, building off the walls of the confined space, and she spun around, raising her spear to meet the attack. She’d made it halfway around when a heavy form tore into her.  Lok could not see his adversaries, but he could hear them coming, a pair of vicious demons whose heavy steps shook the pavement with the sounds of their rush.  He remembered well that fierce battle in the dark chambers under Lord Evan Rathman’s estate in Elturel, though several years and hundreds of battles had come between.  But his blood pounded with the heat of battle, and he held his ground, setting his feet to meet the charge with the finality of the dwarven defender.  And once he’d chosen to make his stand, there were few forces capable of moving him.  Instinct warned him an instant before the first demon hit, the hulking ape-demon launching itself through the air to blast into him with incredible force.  Lok absorbed the force of the charge, his thick legs bending as the creature’s weight and momentum threatened to crush him under its assault.  The creature became visible as its claws and fangs lashed out at the armored genasi, tearing and gnashing and trying to find a vulnerable opening somewhere in the warrior’s skin of steel.  From within the rush of his battle fury Lok felt pain as a solid impact rocked his side—the second demon had joined the fray, harrying him with another series of attacks.  For an instant sharp jaws snapped on his weapon arm, threatening to tear away his axe and perhaps the limb with it, but Lok tore free before the demon could get a firm grip.  With a roar that cut through the insane chatter of the demons, he drove the first back with a powerful thrust of his shield, and tore into the second with a powerful stroke of his axe.  The enchanted blade cut deep, and while the demon’s innate resistance protected it from the nimbus of cold that wreathed the weapon, its thick hide couldn’t prevent the flood of hot ichor that erupted from the gash that the weapon clove in its fat belly.  The demon screamed, redoubling its assault in a rush of fury.  Dana staggered as the demon slammed into her, pain erupting on both sides of her torso as its claws dug long gashes in her sides.  She felt its hot breath on her face and jerked back just in time to avoid having half her face torn off by its jaws.  Her feet slipped on the filth of the alley and she nearly fell as she crumpled back against the unyielding stone wall behind her.  She looked up to see those vicious claws sweeping once more toward her face, and barely ducked in time as they tore runnels in the stone from the force of the impact.  She rolled forward, trying to get some distance from the wild but powerful rush.  Somehow she’d kept her grip on her spear, but there was neither time nor room to bring it to bear.  She had a sickening feeling that none of her other weapons would have any effect upon the demon, however.  Just a pace or two away, Benzan was having his own problems.  He saw the demon tear into Dana, and leapt forward with his sword of the planes ready to beat her attacker off.  But even as he started his thrust he sensed the faint shimmer that rose up into the air, materializing into the second demon as it pounced upon him.  Something hard caught him on the side of his head, and the world spun as he staggered back, the taste of his own blood salty in his mouth.  He tried to get his bearings as the demon pressed him further; he could see Cal, the prone form of the gnome wizard barely distinguishable from the scattered lumps of trash and debris that littered the alley, and Lok, holding the opposite side of the alley against a pair of bar-lgura that were unleashing a storm of attacks upon him.  Something buzzed in his head momentarily, a sudden tinge of stark, unrelenting terror that fled as quickly as it had come.  A magical attack, no doubt, turned with the help of Dana’s spell.  But there was no time for anything now except his current foe.  He could sense it coming on again, lunging with another series of attacks, and reflex honed by dozens of confrontations as violent and chaotic as this one took over.  Darting to the side, he barely felt the force of a claw as it glanced off of his mithral chainmail.  As he turned he drove his blade out and under, blindly striking out at the source of the attack.  The demon was there, its jaws fully open as it pressed yet another attack, and the blade bit deep as its enchanted steel, forged specifically for the purpose of slaying creatures such as this one, slipped through hide and magic and muscle and organs beneath.  The demon’s expression of fury transformed into a mask of pain, but it did not hesitate, immediately ripping upward at Benzan with its claws with enough force to drive him back two paces, the solidity of the alley wall against his side the only thing that kept him from going down.  He was barely able to get his sword up before the bar-lgura leapt at him again. As the battle raged desperately around him, Cal tried to get up, despite the way that the world seemed to waver and blur around him.  He rose to his knees, even that effort almost causing him to lose consciousness.  He could hear the clash of arms and the cries of his friends superimposed on the guttural hooting and cackling of the demon apes, and that noise drove him to action.  Gritting his teeth, he tried to get up, but only managed to stagger and fall back onto his seat despite his best efforts.  He looked up, at the sliver of daylight between the two looming walls of the buildings that rose up high above him like sheer cliffs.  As he stared up at that narrow window, he caught sight of two ugly, uneven forms, one of which had to be the bar-lgura that had struck him down.  They were staring down at him from opposite sides of the gap, and while he could not see their eyes, could not distinguish anything more than the vague outlines of their bodies silhouetted against the sky, he thought he could feel the malevolence focused upon him. And then, without warning, both creatures leapt down from their perch, claws outstretched. Straight toward him.</blockquote>

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