Rashemen IV

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Sepp went over to Jex, "Sure, I can help. What are you trying to do?"

 

"If we move some of these rocks. You can crawl through the gap and see what happened to Daie." Jex said lifting another medium sized stone and pushing it down the slope. "If the demon still lives don't attempt to be the hero. Save that for the foolish."

 

"Oh, sure." He started moving smaller rocks, but was quickly out of breath. He wondered if he breathed when he was in stone form, and shifted to see. Apparently he didn't, because he suddenly was not winded. Before long, the hole was big enough for him to slip through.

 

Ciana sat with her knees drawn to her chest and her arms wrapped round them, her head lay on her knees looking out over the desert. She was gently rocking as she sang quietly.

Standing toe to toe
While the battles ebb and flow
Where crimson banners lie all around
Scream of metal the prevalent sound

[chorus]
With a hack and slash,
Watch the blood splash
With a cut and slice,
They'll open nice
With a lunge and spear,
They'll start to fear
Til they stand no more
Til they stand no more
[end chorus]

Where broken flesh doth lie and moan
Gluttonous Ravens strip to the bone
Where the body count is high
In the midst of that field stand I

[Repeat chorus]

I lean upon my scythe
Having taken my tithe
And still I wait for more
Wondering if any kept the score

[repeat chorus]

And when the story is told anon
Nary the cost of what was won
Nor the number of lost lives
Will be shown on history's dull knives
Nor shall they mention I was there
Doing my duty with diligent care

[repeat chorus]

[repeat chorus]

 

Nakia helped Perim limp up to the cavern and then out to the new oasis. They settled near the new Tree. Perim lay back sore and weary while Nakia gave him a healing potion. Then she walked over to the Tree and leaned against it listening with her Hin senses to the life of the earth. The oasis was vibrant with all the new growth and the Tree reached out to all around it giving life and receiving knowledge.

After checking on Perim who was resting quietly she returned to the lower cavern to check on Kelvados, Jex and Sepp.

 

A quiet cough was heard from behind the group.

A beautiful woman stood behind them, a figure held gently in her arms.
She stood almost eight feet tall, with a pair of wings that dwarfed even Maron's on her back. Looking at ehr was difficult, for she glowed with a inner light that was almost painful to look directly at. She wore a long silvery robe, with a familiar symbol on her cest- the same symbol that hung round Daie's neck.

She held Daie's body in her arms, covered in both elven and demonic blood. While the body hung limp in her gentle grasp, it was obvious that the chest was rising and falling. Daie was breathing.

The Angel spoke. 'You have the soul of my Mistress's servant?'

 

Sepp looked at the angel, a real one, unlike Maron, though he would always remember his first impressions of her. It hurt his eyes, but he met her gaze.

"Yes I do," he said, holding out the Gem. But then he drew his hand back. "It is in this Soul Gem, trapped with a demon, a servant of Gruumsh. I would gladly give you Daie's soul, but I don't know if he can be released without releasing the demon at the same time. We have fought hard and sacrificed much to do what we have wrought here, and if the demon escapes and reports to Gruumsh, all could be for nought, and we would have to fight the battle once again. If that came to pass, I fear we would not prevail a second time. If there is any way we can make this horrible fate right, I am willing to try, but we must be careful."

 

The Deva opened her mouth to speak, then drew the huge mace that hung at her waist.

'We must talk later, brave one. Servants of the Enemy approach. We must return to the surface.'

She turned, and bounded up to the surface, closely followed by Maron, who leapt to her side and began to rapidly question her about the body in her arms.

When they reached the surface, all hell broke loose.

A group of figures were approaching the sleeping Perim. Numbering just over a dozen, from many different races, they all had one thing in common- they all had a purple circle marked on their clothes.

One urned, and saw the group. Her eyes widened, and she began to speak, her words sending a chill down Maron's spine. The Sharran finished, and Shadows began to rise from the ground.

 

Sepp followed, as quickly as he could, once again he was gasping for breath by the time he got to where he was going. He saw the shadows rise from the ground. One seemed to spring from his own shadow. He didn't have time to turn to stone before he was dodging and parrying with the Staff.

One good thing, the diamond on the tip of the Staff caught the light of the sun and dazzled in its brilliance. It was quite damaging to the shadows when Sepp managed to hit them with it.

He tried to yell for more help, but it was all he could do to keep fighting with only one lung.

 

With a fearsome warcry Ciana ran past Sepp and laid waste to all around her, shadows dissipated with a low moan, the creatures stopped stunned and amazed for a moment. A fateful moment, as laughter bubbled from her Ciana plowed into them and with a hack and a flash the blood splashed. She turned after the group to find they were been finished off, as she looked on she tried to make sense of who was friend or foe; then the truth of her actions hit her, and with an anguished whisper she fell to her knees sobbing.

"My God, what happened to me?"

 

Jex barely managed to enter the fray. When he was in it, he took over. He grabbed one of the people in the purple circle clothing and drove his fist and the hilt of his scimitar into the mans face. "Let the others deal with the shadows" he thought to himself. "I'll fight the skin and bones."

Lashing out he felt both scimitars bite skin and unlike others in the group he relished in the fight. He enjoyed it. Rosie had been right, Jex wanted to kill Gruntak for one selfish reason, but it wasn't a test of strength, it was because he enjoyed the fight. If he revealed this to the others they might look upon him differently so for now he'd keep it his secret and enjoy the splash of warm blood of his foes on his face.

As the fight finished with Ciana's outburst Jex stopped and looked around "Who are these people?" He asked looking at the mans cloak.

 

As the party finished off the Sharrans, the one priest remaining smiled. His coven had been wiped out, but none of them ha noticed the invisible High Priest stood watching. They were formidable fighters, it seemed, and there was a Deva guarding them as well.

He decided to level the playing field. Whispering quietly, so that not even the elves would hear him, he began to summon...

The Deva whirled to face a seemingly empty direction. 'Stop!' she cried, but it was too late.

A portal opened, fire and a stench of sulphur emanating from it, and soemthing stepped forward.

A tall, muscular man, standing another two feet above even the Deva, his skin was a fiery red, and he too had feathered wings on his back. He raised a massive greatsword, wreathed in flame, and smiled cruelly at the party, before leaping at them, shouting the words of a spell as he came.

The Deva lay Daien on the ground, then raced to meet the charge. 'A Planetar,' she cried.

 

Delinos was taken aback at the sudden appearance of a Planetar, while still being surprised at the Deva's. He prepared several protective spells for the party, and began to cast them immediately. The group became hasted, and their skin glowed slightly. The drow glanced around quickly; Where has Rosie gone?

A few metres away, Rosie lay half submerged in the ground, sweat trickling down her face. To the others, the little girl might appear to be stuck in the ground, as only her head was showing. A vein appeared in her forehead, and her eyes narrowed. Suddenly, the ground around the feet of the Planetar erupted in a spray of soil and debris. The large creature didn't seem to notice. Then, all of the debris that had gone flying seemed to reform around the monster's feet. Rosie burst out of the ground, and screamed something in a language none of them had ever heard.

Her little hands were shaking as she pointed at the feet of the now redirected monster. Another scream, and the feet were covered in a hard, shiny almost diamond-like substance. The Planetar roared and tried to move, but was unsuccessful. It tore at its feet, but with little avail. With the others advancing towards it, the monster would have to make due with no movement.

Rosie screamed again, this time her face stern and solemn. The Planetar looked incredulously at the small child, almost understanding her. A look of fear spread across his face. At that moment, the diamond like covering shattered, fragments littering the sky over the party. As the others shielded their eyes, Rosie grinned as she saw that her spell had worked.

The Planetar's roar echoed throughout the oasis and desert, as it looked down to see it's feet had been shattered along with the covering. It fell down to the ground.

 

The Planetar crashed to the ground, yet as it was rushed, it leapt back up, it's wings beating furiously. It flew straight up, beyond the reach of any melee weaponry, and began to chant again.

The Deva followed, almost immediately, calling her own spell in response, yet the Planetar finished first. It's feet glowed red for a moment, before re-forming.

As he muttered the last word, the Deva's mace crashed into his side, and he plummeted to the ground, only just managing to land on his feet with a crash that shook the ground.

Nearby, Daie's body bounced with the tremor, and he landed with his face pointing towards Sepp. He looked up into the halfling's eyes, the first movemen he'd made since he had reappeared, and the Gem shudered slightly.

 

"Damn it all! Damn it all to the Nine Hells!" Sepp hissed. Maybe keeping the demon trapped wasn't as important to his plan of subterfuge as he had thought. It sure wasn't as important as Daie getting his soul back. He dropped the Soul Gem on to a rock, then raised the Staff above his head, bringing the diamond end of it down on the Gem. It cracked with a flash of light, which coalesced into two wrestling forms, one clearly the demon.

The demon tried to make a dash into the tunnels, towards its body, but what must be Daie's soul grappled with it and held it to the surface.

Sepp had no idea what he could do that would be effective against a planetar. He was sure that it would be better to be stone while the fight was going on. He didn't remember switching back to flesh after becoming stone to dig. He supposed it must have happened without him noticing it when the deva appeared.

He stood over Daie's body, guarding it against anything that might hurt it.

 

Almost everyone had moved towards the big battle between the planetar and deva, steeling herself Ciana picked up her sword and moved towards the demon. Daie's Soul was holding onto the demon with what seemed to be a grip of steel, the demon screamed its frustation and rage as Ciana walked up. As she started an overhand slash she said

"Shut up, I've had enough of you and your kind for today!" where she cut there was a hiss of burning flesh and the demon's scream changed to one of pain. She continued slashing at the demon while Daoe held it still, with a final flourish she chopped through it's neck, with a whimpering hiss it collapsed upon itself leaving behind a midnight-blue stone.

Daie's Soul bowed towards Ciana and then hurried back to it's body, Ciana stood there panting staring at the stone on the ground.

[ March 11, 2007, 09:35: Message edited by: DarkStrider ]

 

Jex couldn't do much against Planetar and Devas he'd leave that to the magic users and those who actively called upon their respective gods power. He had noticed where the Deva had looked when she shouted at the cleric. Not seeing the cleric Jex knew what to do. Through dirt in the air he watched closely as the dirt landed on the mans shoulders.

As soon as he saw the dirt stop falling and sit on the clerics robes he cast Faerie Fire upon the man, instantly his outline was surrounded by a pale harmless flame.

He launched himself towards the cleric scimitars leading the way. He'd fought clerics before and knew that they could be a challenge. It should be fun.

 

Rosie sat on her bottom, drawing in the sand with her pointed fingernails. As the image she was drawing became more intricate, the speed of her hand increased, causing sand to fly left and right.

She sat back on her elbows and smiled. The girl muttered a word under her breath, and the symbol began to glow. The sand shuddered as the symbol came to life, floating above her. It glowed an irrodescent blue, and spun slowly.

She pointed a sharpened nail at Jex's back, and the floating rune flew towards him. It went at a speed that might knock him over, but when it hit him, there seemed to be no force at all. It glowed on his back while he fought, and then suddenly, his speed increased, his muscles bulged, and he grew taller. Rosie smiled again; her spell had once again done what it was supposed to.

 

Kelvados woke with a gasp, his head throbbed. He rolled over and gagged, he felt awful. He looked over and was amazed, a huge bright pink daisy was 10 feet away and was smiling at him. He knew he must be delerious, and hallucanating. But it was too strange, he lay back down and closed his eyes. He was tempting to open them again, at the sound of crying, but he thought it must have been a hallucanation. His head hurt, and his back felt funny. His right eye was swollen, and bruised shut. Kelvados was relieved he was alive, he might not need the monster.

 

Nakia had managed to get Perim away from the area of fighting and moved into the shadows where they vanished.

edit: typo

[ March 12, 2007, 05:27: Message edited by: Nakia ]