On The Shores of Despair (Part 4)

[Ra'Sona Races-The-Wind]

Frad leapt away from the great demon as its' head erupted in a deafening explosion that would have done him some serious damage if he hadn't gotten clear. He landed on his side and slid for a while then gained control of his fall and rolled into a crouch. He grabbed his axe from where it was still lodged in the monster's back and then retrieved his throwing axe too, hurrying back to where Lyon was lying. He'd so far avoided taking a hit, though that would change soon enough if he was to attempt to hold a line; he was a skirmisher rather than a direct combatant but this was Lyon's life and maybe even his soul at stake. He needn't have worried too much however, as Pwdn has the situation well under control.

Lyon, having received a blessing of [i:2kbklbmq]Regeneration[/i:2kbklbmq] on top of the vigorous cycle in the area and the effects of two separate [i:2kbklbmq]Cure Moderate Wounds[/i:2kbklbmq] spells that restored him to more or less proper form. The feeling was somewhat strange, having his fingerbones knit themselves back together and his stomach twitching and tearing itself painfully but momentarily from the sensation of growing back together. He was almost standing by the time the Balor sent more of its' brethren to finish them off. "Pwdn, help me up. We're not done yet." He had no sword or shield, but was nonetheless determined to return to aid his friends that now stood about him beneath the three where Cinder was crouched, a final line of redoubt. Frad slid under the swing of one of the Hezrou and took up his place beside Lyon, holding out the haft axe for him to use. "Frad, you're looking surprisingly well. Thank you. I suppose this would be the line drawn, then? From here, only forwards.

Pwdn herself, having given Lyon what aid she could and seeing Veraka bringing his affianced to her seemingly unconscious, moved to join him and give what help she could. As she worked, casting [i:2kbklbmq]Restoration[/i:2kbklbmq] and [i:2kbklbmq]Resist Poison[/i:2kbklbmq] to try to be certain of some kind of effect, she watched the battle and made ready to stand and beat back an attacker that came too close.

((Cinder, you're pretty much godmoding there. An animal companion that can't possibly be hurt or overtaken isn't possible to have, and instantly curing someone like that without even knowing what's happened to them is pushing it quite far for the situation. At the very least you should have to contest the curse/ability damage/etc. against the Balor's spell DC (I'd suspect this is power word stun, making it DC23). What you seem to be doing from your description is casting the Miracle spell, which is 9th-level, cleric-only and costs 5000xp to use in that kind of way?))

[Adian Novar]

Adnain nodded curtly as he faced the gigantic hezrou. The adrenaline and the blessings of Pdwn gave him a feeling of capablity that he never would have had alone against even one of them. Now he was facing three. His speed and agility would be put to the test.

He should have been terrified. Instead he stood his ground and set his feet to be ready to move. He thought back to his lessons.

[i:32x1lmqs]If they're big and you're small, you're fast and they're slow. If they're stronger then you're quicker. Turn weaknesses into strengths and their strengths into weaknesses...[/i:32x1lmqs]

"When you return to the Abyss, tell your fellows that the servants of the Dark Maiden were the ones who sent you to face your masters," he told them.

[veraka]

Seeing Adian nod his head, Veraka noted Drakashin was in the perfect flanking position to take down on, or at least cause some serious havoc for the left-most demon; it was the crazy bongo-drum obsessed gargolye that wasn't anywhere to be seen that had Veraka a little worried.

Without a second thought the aasimar roared and charged the left Hezrou demon, building up his speed to near double its max in 3 great strides.
Jumping at the right moment, Veraka kicked his legs out in front of him as he drop-kicked the demon in the chest, sending the stupid, bumbling fiend stumbling backwards a few steps. Rolling out to his left, Veraka barely dodged the lead hezrou as it attempted to stomp on him, leaving Adian with a wide open attack opportunity.

Turning to the half-drow wizard as he got up, "hey, wizard; see if you can take on that foul bastard without a banishment spell, and come out on top," Veraka bellowed the subtle, but very real challenge to Drakashin.

[Drakashin]

Hearing the challenge Veraka threw at him made Drakashin smile.

"I could banish one of these in my sleep!" he yelled back. Then he went into his spell casting, going as fast as he could without uttering a word wrong. He pointed at the Hezrou closest to him and finished his spell. The demon yelled in surprise and pain as its binding to the plane were torn away

Grisnaw was back in Drakahin's bag of holding. Finding what he was looking for he took off once again to the battle, glad that he finally has the chance to cause chaos.

As he soared above the battle he took a quick look at the situation. One of the Hezrou was already gone though the other two were still up.

[i:3rb03xfw]That can be changed easily enough[/i:3rb03xfw] he thought to himself as he pulled out what he got from his master's bag, a wand of fireball. Uttering the trigger word he sent a fireball down below. His aim was off and exploded on the ground a few meters to the middle one's left side.

"Whoops," he whispered to himself, "Probably shouldn't have sneaked that last glass of wine before he teleported us here." Then he shrugged, in the end it didn't matter. He took aim with the wand once again.

[Adian Novar]

"HA!"

As thought they had practiced the move before, Adian followed up on the opening Veraka had provided a mere instant later. His sword was sheathed in the thing's chest as easily as if it had slid into water. The young drow kicked off the demon's great chest, taking the sword with him. Black blood hissed and boiled in the snow as the monster toppled forward, its eyes glazing over as it fell.

[veraka]

Right as the aasimar got up and standing, he had to crouch and raise his shield to block the exploding fireball that came in a little too close for comfort; looking up into the sky to see the familiar gargoyle of doom and bongo music hovering up there, the aasimar cursed to himself.

"I swear one day, I'm gonna kill that over-sized imp," he grumbled to himself. Recovering from his charring experience, the aasimar noted with a hint of pride that Adian had taken the initiative and plunged his sword into the lead hezrou's chest.
But Veraka knew that it took a holy strike or banishment spell to send these fiends back to the black depths of the Abyss.

"Adian, finish it; Smite it in the heart or head, NOW!" he barked at the paladin, making sure that the young drow finished the creature, as the aasimar was now dealing dealing with the remaining one Hezrou, and he didn't like facing these bastards alone.

[Adian Novar]

The question became did he have it in him or not?

Nothing to do but try.

As the demon tried to push itself up, Adian bought his sword down point-first into the base of the thing's massive skull.

[i:3oxsyp4q]"Ssussun pholor dos!"[/i:3oxsyp4q]

The flash that came from his sword startled Adian almost as much as it did the demon he struck. The creature shuddered violently as the weapon pierced the monster's brain, and the touch of the Dark Maiden's power sent its spirit shrieking into the Abyss after its predecessor.

Adian was feeling a bit light-headed as he removed the weapon and shook the black blood from it even as the remaining beast roared its inhuman fury at them. It came at them swinging its massive fists...but Adian was simply not in its way anymore. He rolled to his feet on its flank and struck, his sword slicing into its lungs.

The monster choked on black blood and fell to one knee...but it was still able to fight and dangerous.

[veraka]

Seeing Adian take down the monster of a demon, Veraka let out a shout of victory as the second Hezrou went down. That left only one of the fat bastards, plus a few Erinyes left, though, the female devils were having a hard time with an enraged Aurora, whose icy-breath turned the area around them into a blizzard. The great white wolf growled at two of the devils that her surrounded, icy particles emanated from her maw as her breath turned to steam as it left her lungs, her eyes glowing cold-steel blue as her animal instincts took over, turning her into one of her brethren, both in attitude and prowess.


Veraka looked around to see the female celestial, who was fighting with the balor, was now on the defensive and being pushed back, but wasn't yielding any opening for the demon to break into. The aasimar decided to do something rather unusual and probably more than a little crazy.

He unlatched his shield from his bracer, and drew out his shortsword, Thunderstrike; looking to Lyon, he said "Catch!" and threw both his shield and THunderstrike towards the young warrior. He hoped the young warrior could use a weapon after his little injury; otherwise, there would be trouble for him.

Wielding Marala Vharc in his right hand, Veraka waited for the balor to turn its back to him, then launched himself into a full-speed run. When he neared the balor, the aasimar launched himself onto the demon's back, and proceeded to start to pommel the demon with Marala Vharc while he wrapped his free arm around the thing's neck; this action both surprised and horrified the celestial that was fighting the demon.

As Pwdn was watching the battle, come to a close, Neriah's hand shot up and latched onto her wrist like that of a frightened child. The fey'ri was there, looking the cleric of Illmater in the eyes. Neriah's own red eyes looked frightened and confused.
"Where's Veraka?" she asked Pwdn in scared tone.

[CinderSuru]

Cinder watched carefully from her post in the tree, her focus was on the drawing of the energies from the two planets in conjuction there was good link established and she would be ready if needed.

[Adian Novar]

The monster Adian had wounded wouldn't let Adian come in close to finish it. It blasted at the elf with purple flames from its mouth and swept its arms around to keep him at bay.

"Cinder!" Adian shouted as he drew the beast's attention. "Finish him!"

The thing's profile was to her, giving her a perfect chance to hit the neck ot the head.

[Zarae Zyne Kilanatlar]

((im gone and this turns into a mush fest??? Blech! lol.
im back, tho now I got internet problems, go figure.))

As she sat there, the snow fell around her cloaked body covering her in a thin blanket of soft white. The only evidence of her even breathing was the slight warm breath occasionally coming from the shadow. Not too far beneath the shade of boulder and tree stood the black stead. His nose wiggled moving snow and hoping to find some shoots of grass. His ears were on the alert moving and listening. Moonlight pawed the ground, some in agitation, some in bordem. He wanted to be out and about doing something. But he waited as she asked. Ahead Zarae watched, her little eight-legged scout doing her work. The spider was a bit conspicuous but Shade was good at her job. And if these folks were who she thought, a spider near them would keep them off guard. For spiders were symbol of the dreaded spider queen. Shade was an anomaly, a good spider follower of Lurue.
The trail was rather easier to find than she would have guessed. They hadn’t been to good at covering their tracks. Tho Zarae had managed to circle around them and follow them, following the group. Several times they had to stop, mostly during the blinding daylight times. But Zarae was also a creature of the night. She waited, watched for her chance to confront them.
The telepathic link sent word back to the young rogue. A half smile crept on her obsidian face. Her eyes shifting to a violet tint. A clue of the mischievousness she was about to engage in.
A few trap now were hidden in the snow, simple ones but enough for what she planned. Drow were chaotic in nature, and chaos she needed to create.
Movement within became more apparent tho she heard them first. Their heat signatures slowly came into view, their piwafwis falling back enough to reveal their location.
“come into my web,” she whispered to herself. Tho she hated to use such an analogy.
The barely audible crunch of snow was heard, and only b/c her hearing was more acute than most.
“closer…”
A larger crack, snap, twang, was heard followed by a shout and the scout flying into the air by his ankle. Deeper in the cave came a few more sounds, snap, pop, and a couple of angry shouts.
Commotion grew and Zarae dropped a globe of darkness over the group.
the blade flew straight and into the first mercenaries abdomen. Those not affected by the traps drew their weapons. Zarae, barely, managed to light the wizard in faerie fire as he attempted an invisibility spell. Simultaneously, she was covered in violet flames. The priestess was in the next step of a spell. The air round her tingled with magical energy and the rogue rolled to the side just in time.
Another blade was released from her hand as a web was directed to her. The blade struck deep into a shoulder, pausing the priestess only a second, a few vital seconds, but the web caught her ankle and tossed her to the snow. Three others began circling around. Zarae prepared to release another dagger as the first assassin was now overhead.
The word had been to capture the girl, alive and bring her back to Matron Mae’Vir. Zarae knew. She had played this game several times. And normally she had managed by luck or divine intervention to escape and get away. But she knew that she would not out run them forever.
The assassin aimed his crossbow when a web strand knocked it from his hand (think almost like spiderman idea. But its Shade). Surprised he looked up to see the three foot tall, 6 ft diameter spider above. Confusion was etched on his features then Shade shot another few strands at him.
The pause was enough for Zarae to pull forth her secret weapon. She detached a sword pendent, Moonshadow, from the mithril chain around her neck. The words activated, it elongated into it longsword form. The drowses managed to bring it up into a block above her head as a wicked mace came in. the force caused tiny explosion up her arm, but other than the force of the blow vibrating, she was uninjured by the enchanted thundering weapon.
Moonshadow swung to cut the entrapment. Rolling and diving she avoided another slash from the left and two from the right.
Where were they coming from?
The fight continued for a good long while, metal rang against metal. Showers of sparks flew lighting up the night air. Zarae was breathing a bit harder, the fight taking longer than she hoped. And her against them all? She musta been crazy to attempt this alone. But it was for the greater good. No need to endanger her knew friends.
More warm blood pooled and littered the snow, spattered the trees and stones and a couple bodies added to the pile. The young rogue, had her spidersilk shirt not been as enchanted as it was would have been covered in the gash. It stopped most the cuts. But she had been struck a few times, including her cheek with a deep red line.
The priestess watched the show from the back, her arm healed again. She was intrigued by the heretic, her skill was impressive for her age. And had she not been hired by the first matron, she would have considered taking her. When the numbers had dropped considerably, she decided to act. The power flooded over Zarae, slowing trying to dig into her subconscious. A feeling of dread or fear or something came over her. She felt a despair well up and she wanted to do nothing but give up. But the stubborn girl shook it away, her innate drow resistance helping stave off the effects. With renewed determination, Zarae continued.

--
A good time later: the horse walked slow northward. His path easy as the girl on his back was barely hanging on. Zarae sat on his back, leaning forward, head next to his neck, yet conscious enough to hold on and aware of her surrounding. Ahead she heard noise she thought she left behind. Had she been in better shape, she would have hurried to their aid. But the fight with earlier had taken most everything out of her.
Moonlight slowed his pace even more, careful to stay hidden. Shade had followed behind but she knew she needed to travel back to her home plane soon. For she hadent gone unscated the fight.
Zarae lifted her eyes somewhat to see the fight not to far down the trail. The battle near its end (assume she comes up as yall are finishing). There was also a few extra faces she hadn’t known working with her companions, including another drow, and some elven looking demoness (I think that’s the new faces…did I forget someone?)

[CinderSuru]

Cinder let her bow fly it hit its mark and exploded in its neck it jurked and fell at Adains feet.
Cinder drew her bow again and waited. ...another arrow awaits you Adain.

[Adian Novar]

Adian pointed at the Erinyes that were tangling with Aurora.

"You support Aurora! I'm helping Veraka!"

With that he attacked the balor's front, taking advantage of its flailing at Veraka to slash and hack at the things chest and belly. The steel blade was rapidly becoming notched, but the enchantments were having an effect.

[CinderSuru]

Cinder drew from the planets abondance of energy, one arrow was let losse one of the demons on the wolf then another they both as the other had, an exposion in there necks that weakened them temendacly, the winter wolf quickly responded, and they were torn appart in seconds. Another came at the wolf and got the same responce from Cinder.

Cinder watched carefully from her post in the tree, her focus was on the drawing of the energies from the two planets in conjuction there was good link established and she would be ready if needed.

From a distance she saw a figure on a horse drawing near she tried to focus, was it Zerae it looked like moonlight, she seemed wounded. Adain she sent a message throw there minds ...it is Zerae she looks wounded i am going to take Meldrinus to guide her to Pwdn, i will not be long at all. Cinder jumped from the tree the cat stayed watching with some what indifference. She was riding her mount toward Zerea she looked weak hold on to the main Zerea, i will take the rains and guide you to Pwdn, hold tight. They sped to were Pwdn was watching over the wounded, she helped her from moonlights back and layed her on her own fur hid. Dear Zerae we are so glad to have you back with us Pwdn wil take care of you, i must go back to my post in the tree she touched her face you will be fine. And she climbed up the tree to take her stance. ...She seems ok Adain she is weak but with Pwdn. I am ready once more if you need me. I have three arrows left.

Cinder hoped it would be over soon Verake and Adain were fighting hard but they must be getting tired. She prayed to the dark maid to give them the strength needed to rid the face of the land of these beasts. And finally she called on the lady of the moon herself Seildanine, she closed her eyes and prayed to these female goddesses to aid the hands of the brave who battled such evil. Her heart feared for Adain all thow her head knew he would win the battle. It was not his time his work for the dark maid was still ahead of him, as was her's she knew it was he that would lead her to the faith of the dark maid and she would give herself completly to her service, she knew that some how Adain was appart of that. She need not worrie for Adains Life was safe in the hands of Eilistraee. A peace came over her, she focused on the task at hand to be ready if her arrwos were needed.
Biot was in a mad rage growing stronger the more he killed she would have her work cut out cailming him after all this. Fortunately she had the proper roots and herbs to do so.
She heard Pwdn reasuring Verakes women that he was doing well in the barttle, she called down to her " do you need my help Pwdn?"

[Zarae Zyne Kilanatlar]

Zarae did little as cinder helped her off. her cheek had an open gash and dried blood. her clothing was a bit dirty and her hair matted. Moonlight (doesnt allow a bridle so no reigns) stayed out of sight but remained where he could see. she nodded slightly to acknowledge that she knew Cinder had to leave to help the others. for truthfully she needed to.
Zarae laid there, nearly unconscious tho asking help for the group in their struggles.