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Message: <blockquote data-quote="gideonpepys" data-source="post: 7865372" data-attributes="member: 79141">Session 247, Part OneHis Celestial Eruption, General Paelyrion XVIIIA sudden flash in the teleportation circle saw the arrival of another pit fiend – this one looking battered, scarred and very, very angry.  It was Pahlo Vilk, the fiend they had faced on Elofasp, and the sole survivor of the legion’s outpost there.  It had taken this long for him to accept defeat and flee, and now he saw the architects of his failure, here in the throne room of Paelyrion.  Vilk gave a terrible roar and summoned a golden legion company to his side.  The other two pit fiends did likewise, and the throne room was suddenly filled with devils.Uru shot and killed the injured pit fiend, vanishing into the gloom of the grim candle.  Thisraldion decapitated the two remaining succubi.   Ordinarily all this prancing and lopping would have exhausted him, but the fey monarch was fabulously invigorated by the oil of Colossus in the wayfarer lantern – as was everyone else.Korrigan’s body still lay trapped beneath the mound of treasure Paelyrion had dropped on him, but had entered into a kind of trance or stasis while his mental projection ranged about the battlefield.  Seeing the tide of battle shift, he flew to the centre of the chamber and gave orders which the others followed:  Leon teleported Rumdoom out of the lava and away from Master Chyak;  Rumdoom arrived, slumped and smoking in one of the horned devil’s plush chairs; “Mind the leather!” bellowed Paelyrion, eyes flashing; Uriel came up alongside Rumdoom and fully healed him with a single touch;  Rumdoom struggled to his feet.Quratulain, who had been backing up the Huldregarl at the top of the spiral stairs, heard Vilk’s bellow and responded to this new threat, activating her jet boots to reach the throne room quickly, and drawing her vekeshi blade to shield her from the pit fiend’s fiery aura.  Appraising the situation in an instant, she threw a grenade into the midst of the remaining elite star unit, killing them.  Leon then used his nightmare power to confuse Vilk, who began to swing his golden mace at the legionnaires he had summoned.  Knowing that his mind was stronger than some of the other unit members, Leon also teleported next to one of the central mirrors, causing it to darken.  Gupta switched to hybrid form so she could cast bone-pointing at Vilk.  The fiend would need to steady its mind or take terrible psychic damage, but it was driven by the nightmare inflicted by Leon, and fought on.Using the telepathic network Korrigan had established with their allies (all save Rock, who stubbornly continued to wear his tin-foil hat) Calily spoke to them:  “Where are you now?” she asked.  “Have you located Master Chyak?”  They confirmed that they had, and were in the process of trying to free him.  “Is there any visual clue as to your whereabouts that we could see from above?” she asked.  They told her that they were behind a large window above the twin rivers of lava.  (A quick glance out of that window revealed point defences firing incessantly.  Though they couldn’t see the target,  Amielle had told them that both Rock and the Caeloon monks had broken ranks and left the fog cloud; Doverspike, too. The dragon had gone to investigate the brand towers and had disappeared inside.)Now that they were ruining his upholstery, Paelyrion got personally involved.  He teleported from his throne onto the long table, next to Uriel, Korrigan and Rumdoom, clawed his own palm, which began to blaze instead of bleed, and blasted them all with terrible fire, hot enough to burn even Korrigan in his astral form.  Then the general ordered all of his legionnaires to attack.  They teleported from all sides to surround  Uriel, Korrigan and Rumdoom, and assail them with their spears.  Vilk followed the legionnaires he had summoned, flailing at them with his mace, coming to a halt atop the pile of treasure beneath which Korrigan still lay.Uru took advantage of Paelyrion’s removal and occupied his throne.  At once he realised that this was a control mechanism for the unsustainable energy levels that the legion siphoned off the caldera, preventing it from exploding.  If only he could figure out how it worked…Master Chyak saw Leon was isolated and leapt across the room towards him.  A pit fiend followed.  Master Chyak paused only to find Leon’s weak point, then struck his sternum with a powerful blow.  The tiefling’s vision blurred as colours transposed across the spectrum, and he felt snapping throughout his body, as if a thousand tiny ligaments had torn. Leon reeled, as if trying to learn how to use his mind and body all over again. Then the pit fiend struck him too, and he teleported away.Gupta found herself in Vilk’s searing aura, and she took off at speed, circling round the central scrum.  Then she invoked her triune’s blessing to lend aid to Leon and Thisraldion. Blessed, Thisraldion teleported between Chyak and the pit fiend, then teleported away again with a haunting laugh and a blinding flash, which affected both of his foes.Astral Korrigan rose up into the air again and gave orders to bolster his allies; Uriel used his deathly gaze to stun the legionnaires that assailed him; Quratulain shot Vilk; Rumdoom crashed through the stunned legionnaires to attack Vilk too; Leon – crouched behind Paelyrion’s throne, saw the point defences outside fire a massive volley and fall silent.  Then he drew the Wand of Egal the Shimmering and used it on Paelyrion, so that the general could no longer teleport.  “Master?!?” asked Paelyrion , baffled.  When he saw that his legionnaires had been frozen in fear by Uriel’s spell, Paelyrion’s tone changed to one of defiance:  “You think to control my minions?” he scoffed, before he ordered them to attack. Their devotion to the legion was such that his command freed them from the spell and they attacked again.Uru had worked out how to control the throne, and that doing so would cause the volcano to begin to erupt. His fingers hovered over the controls and were stayed only by the entreaty of his comrades.Gupta had figured out how best to co-ordinate with Thisraldion, having studied his capabilities since he joined them.  She drew a wand she had found on Padyer and used it to cast a wall of sleep across the chamber.  Thisraldion then used his controlling presence to vie with Paelyrion for command of his legion.  In that moment, the fey monarch won, drawing all of the legionnaires through the magical wall, causing them to pile up in an unconscious heap. Then he set about killing as many as he could. “Frankly, Paelyrion, I’m not impressed,” said Korrigan.  “I thought you had a disciplined army at your command, but it would appear that they are all asleep at their posts.”</blockquote>

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