Tales of Faerun

[Flipout6]

Amendale's eyes scanned the room sharply, taking in every threat he saw himself presented with. A considerable number of undead of approximately medium power, several powerful psionics, and Tak'We's massive- and undead- brother were the immediate threats, followed by Saris herself should she decide to join the fray. Che'Tak was undead, and as a result quite vulnerable to any attacks from Rhaine or Azuris, to Amendale took advantage of the brief calm before the storm in which Saris was speaking to quickly prepare a Psychic Turmoil spell, which he both cast and expanded with metamagic. The invisible field expanded to encompass an area at least twice its original size, sapping the power of any and all psionics in the area.

 

Weyland gave Dri an encouraging one-armed hug, murmuring "We'll get through this." before kissing the top of her head. He brushed by her and again placed himself in front of the entire group, shield at the ready.

 

Arland, meanwhile, was less than pleased. "What, you mean the one we just crossed half the Realms for's working for her now? Was he ever not?!?!" His twinblades, which seemingly had a sense of theater, flared brightly as his temper did.

 

"Mind control, most likely." Amendale commented.

 

"That doesn't look like mind control to me, it looks like he's out for blood." Arland snarled.

 

"There are other ways to bend someone to your will." Amendale responded sagely. "You don't need to simply cast a spell." Arland didn't respond, but wasn't above muttering traitorous bastard to himself as he looked around at the other threats.

 

Once the fighting began, Amendale erected a wall of fire in front of the horde of approaching undead, buying the group some time. Casting as fast as he could over the course of several seconds, the elf assaulted Che'Tak with a Feeblemind spell and finally called down a column of heavenly fire- the same he had used against Sana- and again increased its size, and then brought it down upon the hordes of undead, setting at least ten of them alight. Beside him, Annette began casting as well, movements unnervingly calm and controlled as she bolstered the group's natural attributes, enhancing everybody's craftiness and hardiness, before moving on to grant strength to the warriors and litheness to more agile combatants. Her gift for such beneficial spells clearly showed; they were considerably more powerful than identical spells cast by wizards who did not specialize in the field.

 

"Stay close to Xallistine." Amendale ordered Annette, his features contorted into an expression of intense concentration. "If he is incapacitated, you stick with me."

 

"Understood." She replied shortly.

 

The fighting erupted in an instant. Weyland made to defend against a tide of undead creatures but Amendale's interference bought him time enough to instead rush Zuir, not intending to give the assassin time to put any poisons to use. He charged with his shield firmly facing Zuir, covering his torso and most of his legs even as the eldest Grey went in for two quick swipes from his blade, taking advantage of the assassin's light armor. He kept himself mobile and flexible, whilst keeping on the lookout for any dirty tricks he would have up his sleeve....no doubt an agile combatant would go for a flanking strike with a poisoned blade, and Weyland wasn't going to give him the chance.

 

Sybille, with a dangerous flash of her eyes, completely ignored Tak'We's request and came in low and at an angle, bringing her maul in for a strike that would sweep Che'Tak's legs out from under him.

 

"You're not fighting him alone!" She shouted to Tak'We, fearsome and determined.

 

Arland and Marie both went for the same target: Kalin. The Grey gave an angry roar as he kept low and sprinted at the Elan, blades at the ready. Marie took cover behind a rock and fired arrows at him from a distance. A shot to his torso seemed to slow before it hit its target and then bounced harmlessly off what would have been his ripcage. Alarmed, she instead took aim at the inside of his thigh, the femoral artery. If if the arrow met its mark and wasn't quickly treated, Kalin would bleed out in minutes or less. As she let the arrow fly, Arland began a merciless, skilled assault against the Soulknife, chaining together blow after coordinated blow in a surprisingly disciplined attack that forced defending multiple different angles at- with the help of Rhaine's haste spell- an incredibly fast pace. He made sure to keep himself and Kalin two very different, separate targets so that Marie could provide fire support with her bow.

Edited July 11, 2014 by Flipout6

[mythicdawnmaster]

Xallistine surveyed the chamber as their foes emerged in earnest, a guttural growl bubbling in his throat as he glimpsed Saris and the Elan; his violet knuckled whitened as he felt himself descend slowly into rage, his ebony wand in his grip instantaneously. By his estimations, his stalwart companions would find the undead an obstacle best traversed, with Rhain's abilities and the assistance of Amendale and Marie, the unholy beings would face the wrath of the Doomguide and her patron in short order- it was the Psions then, that the Ulitharid would focus his attentions upon. Despite having confidence in the charms bestowed upon the group, Xallistine instinctual bolstered their mental defences with the power of his own, to ensure that their minds were airtight against any attack Saris may attempt to direct their way; none would fall to domination that day (of those unfelled already), the Ulitharid swore upon it.

 

Waiting for his companions to take their position in the fray, the Ulitharid remained alone as a small swarm of undead directed their attentions to him; having already ensured that his inborn ability of inertial armour was active ( a precaution that would have saved him the blade of Zuir) their blows bounced as if hitting the mass of a Slime, repelled by the psionic forces that churned around him, a tempest of mental energies that raged like a hurricane, obfuscated from view. In one graceful movement, Xallistine propelled himself from the floor with a flutter of robes, blasting away the foes that swarmed him with a powerful exertion of his mind; the undead were knocked clean off their feet and flung violently several feet away, rising slowly with a burning disorientation, afflicted with an effect similar to the spell feeblemind as the Ulitharid hovered above them majestically. With a flick of his wrist, The ulitharid ignited their unholy bodies in a great gout of flame, and moved into the fray, flinging spells at all foes that drew close; acid, lightning, fire and frost rained down in furious succession upon the dead and the Elan, projected with rage and maximization.

 

Aurora rushed into the fray with a cry, drawing her rapier and lunging for her foes; the battle showed no signs of being an easy one, and she was thankful at least that her mind was safe. She pranced around the chamber as she had done previously against the Gnolls, whittling down her opponents with light jabs and furious strikes, once again a wasp disturbed from it's peace and relentless in it's capacity to sting.

[Deleted6317247User]

Nawen sighed sadly at the sight of Kalin walking towards them with an enemy, nothing but pain and anger in his eyes. "We're too late." She thought.

"That him?" Shalena asked as she inclined her head towards Kalin. "We were supposed to rescue him, right? Or did someone forget to tell him which side he's on?"

As the battle began, the piratess, her crew and Nawen, all focused their attention on the undead. Shalena slashed and stabbed the undead with her 'golden' cutlass while stomping and breaking the bones of fallen skeletons. Nawen fought the undead further away from the pirates. As she took a few of them down with swift and precise strikes she shot a glanced up and noticed a large chandelier by the ceiling. There was no way she could get it down with her arrows, but her blade might. She looked around the room, mostly paying attention at the columns. One of them at the far end of the chamber had just the right carvings to make the difficult climbing easier.

The drow ran towards the column, trying to avoid enemy hits but even so receiving a cut on her left cheek as well as a few scrapes. As she reached the right column she began climbing up but quickly felt something grabbing her leg and trying to pull her down. She looked down and noticed an undead trying to get her down. She kicked him hard in the head with her left foot which caused the undead to let go off her leg. With that she continued climbing up.

As she reached the top, Nawen noticed that she was close enough to cut it down with her blade. With her one hand wrapped around the column, she drew her blade from the sheet and attempted to cut it down but it was to no avail. Thankfully, though, the chandelier was old and while the chain holding it was sturdy it looked like it wouldn't hold more weight than it already did. Sighing heavily Nawen dropped the blade and grabbed onto the chandelier, first with one hand, then with the other.

Shalena who had just decapitated a zombie noticed an elven blade falling on the floor beside her. She lucked up and noticed Nawen. It seemed the the drow was swinging on the chandelier. "This isn't the time!" The piratess yelled. "Just distract the archers!" The drow yelled back. It didn't take long for Shalena to realize that the drow was trying to do. "You heard her!" She shouted to her crew as she dashed towards undead archers as well.

Surprisingly enough, Nawen avoided the arrows that the enemy archers shot at her (unknown to her it was mostly due to the enchantment placed on the armor). She looked up and saw that the chain was barely holding. "Come on, come on." She urged the chandelier to break faster, and not long after it did. "WATCH OUT!" She screamed as loudly as she could for her friends to get out of the way as it began falling. Nawen let go off the chandelier and landed on a small pile of ghoul and zombie corpses. The chandelier fell not too far of her, crushing a group of undead beneath it.

She quickly got up off the reeking pile but sadly not fast enough to avoid incoming spear as it pierced through the sturdy leather and stabbed at her inner thigh. She screamed in pain and was about to grab at the spear but before she could do so, Shalena's half-orc quartermaster crushed the skeleton's chest with his hammer. With the particular enemy defeated, Nawen slumped by the column, concealing herself from other enemies as well as possible help, and pulled out some bandages and quickly wrapped it around her wound, hoping that it will be enough for the moment.

[AurianaValoria1]

"Don't kill Kalin!" Rhaine's ordering shout rang over the din of combat, "Incapacitate him but do not kill him!" The Doomguide feared that Saris's obvious domination over him would result in his own death...or one of theirs. Her face set with grim determination, she began another series of reinforcing spells, her silent castings washing over the group in white, gold, and blue waves, one right after the other. Upon her companions she bestowed a Blessing, a Prayer, and an extension of Undeath's Eternal Foe, once again bolstering their strength and courage and giving them considerable might and resistance to the undead.

 

Saris laughed at the Tannin's feeble attempt to attack her, retaliating with a massive Bigby's Clenched Fist that soared through the air, heading straight for the half-drow. Tar'ghas, in turn, dodged Tannin's attack by swiftly rolling to one side, simultaneously conjuring his mind blade - with increased difficulty due to the damned moon elf's magic - and then dancing around to Tannin's off-hand side, slashing at the half-drow in an attempt to push him right into Saris's oncoming spell.

 

Nearby, Zuir cackled madly as he circled Weyland and easily dodged his swipes, fully intent on letting the heavily-armored brute wear himself out. The warrior also could not possibly fend off attacks from every direction, and as soon as anything else...anything...descended upon him, so would Zuir...

 

As Tak'we battled his brother, he flinched in surprise mid-swing as he noticed the female Grey softskin attacking Che'Tak despite his warning. He hissed in aggravation at her joining the fray, even though he appreciated the support, because he had warned them to stay away for good reason; if Che'Tak hurt any of his clutchmates, Tak'we would never forgive himself for letting it happen...

 

Pushing those thoughts aside Tak'we launched himself at his brother, who had deftly jumped to avoid Sybille's warhammer. He brought his gythka to bear in a series of blindingly fast strikes as a fiery fury built within him. To see Che'Tak like this saddened him, but it also enraged him at the offense to the spirits and to Mother Moon. Che'Tak, however, did not seem surprised nor fazed at their attacks. He dodged and parried Tak'we's blows as easily as Sybille's coming in just as fast with his own powerful counter-strikes, first slashing wickedly at Tak'we and then reversing his swing to swipe straight at Sybille's torso. Tak'we only barely escaped serious injury, his brother's gythka scraping a decent-sized gouge out of his chitin.

 

Meanwhile, Kalin also seemed unsettlingly comfortable with two opponents, even if one of them was ranged. He joined in Arland's deadly dance, his twin mindblades meeting the young Grey's with equal intensity. To more easily keep up with the pace, Kalin Hasted himself as well, and the duel became a blinding whirlwind of fiery swords. He pushed himself forward, attempting to force the fight towards the nearest wall in order to corner Arland. Rhaine saw this movement out of the corner of her eye, and she prayed that Arland would not slay Kalin in his fury...though she knew that if the Grey's life was in danger of being snuffed out, she would destroy Kalin herself...

 

Though the ranks of the undead were being significantly reduced already by the combined efforts of Azuris, Amendale, Xallistine, Aurora, Nawen, and Shalena, more came forth from the shadowed recesses of the room at Saris's call - ghasts, ghouls, zombies, and even wraiths. The chamber shook with power, and Rhaine realized that until the ritual was stopped, the elan's magic would whittle them down to nothing. From the quick glances the Doomguide managed to take at the dragon skeleton, it appeared that the ritual was harnessing and sapping power from it directly...

 

...and Valthanarax had had a habit of repeatedly calling undead forth as well.

 

Rhaine wasted no time in Turning them, a shockwave of white power blasting outward from her body in a massive radius and slamming into the nearest waves of undead, outright destroying the skeletons and zombies and immobilizing a third of the remainder. She immediately followed with an Ethereal Purge, the rapidly-expanding bubble of violet magic allowing her companions to strike the wraiths as if they were corporeal beings. Noticing the duel between Tannin and Tar'ghas and Weyland and Zuir becoming closer together, flung a ball of light between the two pairs that manifested itself as her Blade Barrier in an attempt to keep them from interrupting each other.

 

Praying that they could all hold their own for a few moments longer, she secured Fitalis's dweomer firmly in one hand and began dashing towards Saris's shields. As she sprinted up the steps, taking three at a time, she could see the elan grinning at her wickedly from behind her shields, across the circle, and the room rumbled loudly again - this time, manifesting a huge earth elemental into existence before Rhaine. The fifteen-foot-high elemental merely stomped its massive "foot" (as it was only vaguely humanoid in appearance) and the Doomguide reflexively jumped backwards, causing her to slip and fall into a kneeling position. She cast her own Flame Strike in retaliation, however, the holy fire spraying chunks of stone and dirt from the elemental and distracting it just long enough for her to get back to her feet and race by...

 

Time seemed to slow as she launched the dweomer directly at the circle of pedestals. It sailed through the air, passing through the force field with ease, and then suddenly exploded, a massive blast of white magic crackling and sizzling as it destroyed Saris's ritual completely. The shockwave sent Rhaine, Saris, and the elemental flying from the area with incredible force. The Doomguide landed right in the middle of the undead, not far from Kalin, her armor crashing against the floor and knocking the wind out of her. The elemental rolled headfirst down the steps and kept sliding straight for Weyland and Zuir, the edge of Rhaine's Blade Barrier slicing bits cleanly off of its limbs as it went. Saris was unceremoniously thrown into the air and dumped again in front of the dragon skeleton, and all the while she screamed in agony as the power of the dweomer wracked her with psionic and magical energies. It did not kill her, however; it only rendered her much less powerful than before...

 

Unfortunately there was a secondary and unexpected effect to the explosion of the dweomer: the awakening of Valthanarax. The dragon skeleton came to life in a terrifying rattle of bones, the eye sockets alighting with a piercing crimson glow, the form and posture revealing the stature of a long-dead red. A formidable roar echoed from the dracolich's maw, and he spread his bony wings wide in an intimidating gesture.

 

"And you have been undone, elan traitor!" he raged as he turned on Saris. "As is fitting! Valthanarax is slave to no-one!"

 

Argyros, from his position at the rear of the group, felt a primal rage well within him upon seeing Valthanarax arise. It was a furious inferno that overtook his soul, completely unstoppable in its power. He felt himself begin to transform, and his mind registered that his companions might be afraid, but his heart did not care. A silvery aura emanated from him, concealing his humanoid form from view, and it rapidly expanded upwards and outwards, the glow becoming massive and blindingly bright before fading again to reveal a mighty silver dragon, twenty feet in height. His rippling muscles caused his hide to glimmer in the light, and he stepped forward with a roar to answer Valthanarax's challenge.

 

Nearby, Conall's mouth dropped open, and he almost forgot they were still in the midst of a battle. He had been suspicious of Argyros before, both for his odd habits and his strange font of knowledge, but he had never imagined him to be a formidable silver dragon; for this, he mentally scolded himself for not being observant enough. As he looked upon the silver's form, everything fell into place. However, the werewolf shook his head rapidly and forced himself to refocus. He held Ariel aloft and charged at the nearest undead, easily cutting down those that had been immobilized by Rhaine's Turning. Zorica fell into place beside him, facing off against a pair of ghasts. All the while Ariel chattered away in a singsong voice, something about "wondrous men" and "evil shan't win." Dagny, seeing Rhaine prone on the floor, charged past the two and shouted a warcry, carving a path with her shield as the dwarf slammed into anything that got in her way. The Doomguide wasted no time in scrambling back to her feet, and she threw a Dismissal spell at the earth elemental, banishing it back to its home plane.

 

But despite this small victory, the battle raged on...

[Deleted6317247User]

Shalena and her men continued fighting the undead. Nawen's crazy idea helped quite a lot to reduce the number of undead but then another wave showed up. "Fight them like there's no tomorrow!" The piratess yelled loudly, addressing her crew. She was never more proud of them. All fought bravely and well. The piratess noted to buy them all drinks if they'll get out of this alive. As she swirled and stabbed at zombies and ghouls she caught a glimpse of another dragon, who appeared to be on their side.

 

"Is that Argy?!" She exclaimed as she brought down another ghoul, pushing her cutlass into his eye socket as deep as it could possibly go. "That's awesome!"

 

Nawen on the other hand wasn't doing so good. She was losing blood, and her bandage didn't do much to help with it, but thankfully her blade was within her reach again, and she was no longer left defenseless. She got up while holding onto the column for support, leaving a bloody trail on its surface as she did. She had hoped that there won't be any more undead to fight but if the previous battle with Valthanarax was anything to go by - this was only the beginning.

 

Only a few undead came her way, as she wasn't easy to notice in her current position and through the sheer determination to see this battle through did she manage to defeat them. As the last of the undead fell to the ground, she felt her knees buckle but before she could collapse she grabbed onto the column again and slowly slid down. She then tried to settle in more comfortably by sitting with her back against the column as she removed her blood soaked bandage and replaced it with the new one, wrapping it around her leg as tight as she could to stop or at least slow the bleeding.

[josh900]

Tannin sucked in a breath. Soulknife in front of him, an oncoming Clenched Fist behind him, Nawen slumped against a pillar, Valthanarax and a dragon formed Argyros fighting, undead everywhere, Tannin smirked. Things escalated pretty quickly. The Elan rolled to his left, Tan would have to get creative. He could spin into Tar, grabbing an arm and face, kick his leg out and push him into the oncoming clenched fist.

He could lash out with BlackRazor and hook into his legs then fling him into the Fist.

He could parry the strike, then roll out of the way at the last moment, so that the fist hit him instead.

He could dodge the strike while arcing BlackRazor into the Elan, cutting through to sever the arm.

Block the strike with one blade, hook into the ground with the other and pull himself out of danger and closer to Nawen, would take a little longer though, risked getting hit with the Fist.

Parry the strike with his left, follow through with a stab between the legs with his right, guiding the blade to it's target, turn, jam his right shoulder into him, lift and flip over into the Fist. Again, ran the risk of taking the spell, or so he thought before remembering he was hasted. All of these thoughts ran through his head in an instant, the Instinct forming the options in his head, giving him the best options to kill, and it was rarely ever wrong.

 

He grinned, picked the right option, and followed through.

---------------

 

Lucas ran to Rhaine, his spear was dropped and he now held his newly purchased mace as he dashed to her, knocking aside any undead that got in his way. He stopped dead in his tracks as Valthanarax made his appearance. He wanted to run, this was so far beyond what he was ready for he wanted to run and hide behind something until it was all over. But he couldn't do that, he wouldn't abandon Rhaine like that. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if they failed because of his cowardice. Taking a deep breath, and continued his charge, he knew her Blade Barrier would keep her safe, but if it ran out at the wrong time...

 

He drew near to her as she go back on her feet, but still he stayed near, trying his best to protect her however he could.

[AurianaValoria1]

Saris had found herself between a rock and a hard place, indeed. She was now faced with Kalin's rescuers, an awakened Valthanarax, the undead she could no longer control, and the lingering effects of the powerful dweomer that Rhaine had thrown at her shields. The elan screamed in rage, even as the angered dracolich swiped at her with a giant paw. She was brutally slapped away and thrown off of the side of the dais - fortunately for her, out of the dispelled magic zone, but unfortunately close to the action that raged around her.

 

Tar'ghas found himself slammed by Saris's own Clenched Fist, having been thrown in the way by Tannin after the half-drow had stabbed him clean through the pelvis. The Fist collided with the Soulknife and sent him sailing into the wall with unimaginable force, his skull cracking against the stone, resulting in his instant death. The Fist dissipated immediately thereafter, and he slid down the wall into a broken and bloody heap.

 

Much of the remainder of the undead seemed drawn to Zorica like a moth to flame, and thus, Conall found that his Bane Blind bracers were becoming a mixed blessing. Though the undead were unaware of his presence, Zorica was now taking almost all of the heat near him, and it was getting worse. The undead unaffected by Rhaine's Turning were stronger ones, and they sensed a weak target in Zorica, who appeared to be all on her own. Conall fought harder and harder, trying to keep them from dogpiling the half-drow paladin, but he was unable to prevent a bodak from coming up behind her; it raked its long and vicious claws clean through her leather armor like a knife through butter, leaving bloody trails and tattered leather down her back. She opened her mouth to scream, but the pain was so intense that she could not. Her longswords clattered to the floor as she fell on one knee, and Conall twisted violently to decapitate the bodak and stab the two ghasts that had been attacking her before they could do further damage. Ariel cried out in fury as he fought, seemingly upset that the paladin had been injured so.

 

Tenebris, without warning, took control of some of the undead near Zorica, turning them away from her and Conall and directing them towards Saris instead. He knew he would be ridiculed for such a controversial act, but he also knew that he had no other way to help the badly-wounded paladin. Dri, swallowing her fear, joined Conall's side and helped push the hordes back with Lonesome, all the while worried at Zorica's blood loss. As soon as Conall had a breath, he took hold of his wounded comrade and cast Lay on Hands, but it did little to help...

 

Argyros found his increased size an unfortunate disadvantage as he stiffly moved forward to rush Valthanarax before the dracolich could cast any spells. He tried to avoid stepping on his comrades as best as he could, instead spreading his feet and hoping to act as a shield for some of them; his legs and feet took dozens of slashes and other small injuries from the undead around him. Valthanarax roared another challenge at him, and Argyros answered with a metallic bellow, launching a Lightning Bolt at the dracolich and then unleashing his pent up paralyzing breath on Saris...

 

Rhaine whirled around to see Dagny and Lucas near her and, taking advantage of their presence, cast a spell she hoped would turn the tide in their favor, her low chanting ominous and power-filled as her eyes glowed white. The ground rumbled and shook, and tiles broke open on the floor when a Balor under her command finally crawled forth. It focused upon Valthanarax and then charged towards the dracolich, intent on tearing the living bones apart for its mistress...

Edited July 12, 2014 by AurianaValoria1

[mythicdawnmaster]

Using the addition of the great Balor to circumvent his own involvement in the chaos, Xallistine first focused his energies on raining down chaos upon the undead swarming around Zorica and Conall; they were severely outnumbered and their foes not merely nascent thralls to serve as a hindrance- they had resisted Rhaine's turning like unholy beacons of malevolent resistance, and as such posed a severe threat. Witnessing Zorica's injury, Xallistine bombarded the surrounding undead with a torrent of various incendiary incantations in a show of vibrantly heated luminosity, waving his wand as if conducting an orchestra, in an attempt to buy his companions a few precious moments of recovery, which, in conjunction with Tenebris's wily distraction, would take the heat from the wounded duo enough for them to survive. A pair of ghasts fell to his flames, others considerably hampered in their assault; it should have been a matter of pickcing off the weak, a cull of sorts, and the Ulitharid was confident his allies would succeed. Still hovering above ground, Xallistine followed Tenebris's shambling cadre in their assault of Saris, first focussing upon penetrating her mind, now that her magical barriers had been destroyed.

 

The Elan had most certainly a powerful mind, and Xallistine could not break through enough to possess or command her, but he found his words a skeleton key, and focused his mental voice in greeting to the treacherous Saris. With a force far greater than that he used to communicate with his companions, Xallistine projected himself telepathically to Saris "So we finally meet, Saris. I must admit my grave disappointment in you thus far; sending an incompetent assassin is an embarrassing faux pas for a woman of your exalted station. The odds now stack against you and the rest of your mongrel kin, Culler, for you will not control a mind in this room that is not already yours..." The Ulitharid almost snarled as his brow furrowed, readying his wand to attack "You have harmed both myself and my companions, and I will not stand for such hostility any longer. For your gift of pain, I offer you a free lesson in return of the same nature." In quick succession, Xallistine tossed a cloud of black powder towards Saris, and shot through it with a water-like beam of pulsing darkness, intending to hit the Elan and inflict dire harm; Xallistine knew that Circle of Death was not enough to kill one as powerful as Saris, but he hoped it would at least harm her; In conjunction with Argyros's paralysing breath, it should have made for devastating wounds...

Edited July 12, 2014 by mythicdawnmaster

[Flipout6]

Amendale, witnessing Zorica and Connall's struggle against the seemingly-endless tides of shades and other undead, watched in horror as one inflicted a ghastly wound to her back. Thinking quickly, he sent the owl airborne with a healing spell and prepared a spell that would destroy the weakest of the strongest and work its way up. The five seconds it took for him to cast Undeath to Death felt like forever, but when it hit the spell was immediately and completely devastating. With the magic meant for twenty feet of spacing concentrated into an area half that size, even the strongest of Saris's rotting and ethereal minions could not stand against it. Every creature felled did so with a sudden flare of golden light lasting only a fraction of a second before they dropped lifeless to the ground or disappeared. An entire slew of undead were slain in this fashion, giving Connall and Zorica plenty of breathing room even as the owl landed on the latter's shoulder with his spell, and the wicked lacerations that had bloodied her were no more, the flesh knitting itself back together until no trace of the grisly injuries remained.

 

Zuir's attempts to tire Weyland were at first successful, but the warrior, used to such tactics (especially from agile opponents) quickly figured out his strategy and switched to fighting conservatively, using attacks that didn't take much strength to use such as jabs and pommel-strikes. Zuir was unfazed; with a wicked grin, he used some malevolent psionic power, one of his most powerful, on Weyland. Something so powerful it was almost sure to incapacitate his foe, leaving him open for a final, deadly blow...

 

...To no effect.

 

Xallistine's amulet, the gift he'd given to everybody in the party, diffused the psionic energy before it ever reached Weyland. The pause from the time it took Zuir to form the spell, plus the shocked surprise that followed was enough for Weyland's blade to arc across the assassin's stomach. Gasping, Zuir clutched the wound- likely the only thing preventing his innards from exiting his body- and doubled over. Weyland darted to the side and brought his blade in for a downwards stroke that cleanly parted the Elan's head from his shoulders with a spray of crimson. He kicked the twitching body over.

 

Arland defended against and deflected Kalin's soulblades with expert precisions and speed, but was still forced backwards towards the wall until finally, realizing what was happening, he dove to the ground and somersaulted just past the Elan, placing Kalin between himself and the wall even as Marie's arrows screamed through the air right towards their psionic foe with precise accuracy and at a brisk, haste-induced speed. With her arrows struggling to get through Kalin's defenses, Amendale had enchanted her entire quiver to pierce defenses both physical and magical, and suddenly they were punching through much more effectively. Any arrows that pierced Kalin' flesh now would do so nearly unhindered.

With Valthanarax's sudden resurrection and Argyros's even-more-unexpected transformation into a silver dragon, Arland was suddenly distracted. Kalin's mindblade broke through his defenses and scored a wicked slash that- due to the psionic nature of the weapon- slid right by Arland's armor and carved a deep, severe gash from his shoulder that nearly carved a path over his jugular and across his throat, stopped only by Arland's jerk of pain at being struck. Marie doubled her firing rate before one of the blades flew right at her and buried itself deep in her collarbone, hitting her with such force that she was thrown backwards before the blade dissipated into thin air. Marie hit the ground, her head jerking backwards and cracking itself against a rock, dazing her and almost knocking her instantly unconscious. She curled into a ball, clutching her wound and gasping with pain. Arland roared furiously as he attacked Kalin again, his adrenaline and burning rage numbing the pain from Kalin's slash enough for him to keep fighting.

 

"RHAINE!" The youngest Grey shouted. "If he's not knocked into himself, I'll KILL HIM!"

 

With the wounds rapidly accumulating, Amendale charged forwards towards the center of the fighting and outstretched his arms, covering a large area with healing magic that both mended wounds and damaged what little undead remained.

 

Sybille's battle with Che'Tak was not going well. He deftly evaded her initial strike and many swings that followed was either blocked or avoided. Her sheer skill with her weapon of choice was what allowed her to get in a few heavy strikes, but the mighty Thri'Kreen kept fighting with incredible speed and force. When she parried a blow from his gythka, it jarred her arms. At one point a blow slipped by and glanced off of her shoulder-plate with a spark; so close to her head that she heard the sound of it cutting air even through her helmet. It was immediately after this blow, when she went in for an overheard swing, that disaster struck.

 

Che'Tak caught the weapon by the handle and halted it in mid-air before violently jerking it forward, dislocating Sybille's shoulder and sending her stumbling into his grasp. She was lifted off of her feet, shoulder screaming with pain, and suddenly Che'Tak's face was the only thing she could see; compound eyes a menacing milky white, startling and dead. No life in them, no glint of reflected light; just cold, dull, lifeless. And it scared Sybille more than any other creature she'd seen before in her life. It lunged for her, mandibles working mechanically even without anything to grab a hold off, like a jaw snapping open and shut, drool dripping from the mandibles. She pushed it back with all of her might, the pain from her shoulder becoming so unbearable that she let out a strangled gasp of agony, but it was too strong.

 

Both mandibles pierced Sybille's neck, their shape letting them slip through the chainmail protecting it. She let out a hoarse cry of pain, gasping. She grabbed a hold of both of the limbs, trying to pull them out of her flesh. When that didn't work, she grabbed one mandible with both hands and wrenched it so powerfully that it broke cleanly in half into her hands. Sybille used it to stab at Che'Tak's face before it got stuck between two sections of chitin and pulled out of her grasp. She tried to break the other mandible, but her muscles weakened, she couldn't properly control her hands. Then she remembered that Thri'Kreen's mandibles were always coated in a venom that paralyzed its victims.

 

Then Che'Tak threw her across the chamber, where her failing body landed painfully just in front of a pack of wraiths where she lay unmoving.

 

Annette and Weyland witnessed this, horrified. Weyland steeled himself and sprinted full-tilt towards her, barreling through a skeleton and a bodak as he went. Annette tried to think of a spell, any spell, that would work. An arcane missile slammed into a wraith to little effect. And then Amendale's owl landed on her shoulder.

 

Divine Might.

 

The knowledge on the use and casting of the spell coursed into her mind instantaneously.

 

"Use it!" Amendale ordered.

 

Immediately Annette went through the proper motions, muttering the words she suddenly knew and moving her arms just so. And then she was blessed with enhanced physical strength and vitality. She drew her dagger; it didn't feel clumsy or useless in her grasp now, it felt like a weapon. The young woman sped past even Weyland as she rushed to aid Sybille, falling upon the wraiths like a hammer, Rhaine's as-of-yet unused enchantments tearing into them.

Edited July 13, 2014 by Flipout6

[AurianaValoria1]

The undead finally almost finished, the companions could focus on the remaining targets - Kalin, Saris, Che'Tak, and Valthanarax. But these foes were formidable, indeed, and there seemed no end to the fighting at hand.

 

Zorica was grateful for Amendale's aid, but her wounds still left her in great pain, and she found herself unable to continue fighting; Conall scooped up both her and her weapons and rushed over to where he saw Nawen behind a column. "Take care of each other!" he said with a gentle squeeze to both their shoulders before rejoining the fray. He charged towards where Arland was fighting Kalin and saw Marie hurt as well. "Damnit!" he cursed, carefully picking her up as well and carrying her swiftly across the room, dodging one of Argyros's shifting paws and depositing her beside Zorica and Nawen.

 

Rhaine whirled on Arland and Kalin's duel with rage in her eyes as she overheard the former's words, "Oh, no you don't!" The Doomguide cursed as her attention was refocused on those two rather than Valthanarax; glancing back, she decided to trust Argyros and her Balor with handling the dracolich as she saw to the Grey bother and the corrupted elan. Rushing forward, she threw Arland down to the floor and away from Kalin, then tackled the elan, slamming him into the wall and slapping him in the face.

 

"Snap out of it, Kalin!" she cried desperately, "It's us! It's me! Rhaine Alcinea! We're here to help you!"

 

When nothing seemed to register on his seemingly permanently-angered face, and he continued to struggle violently under her grasp, she remembered. Quickly removing her gauntlet, she forced her hand in front of his eyes and showed him the Orus family ring that she still wore on her finger. And, just like that, it was like a switch had been flipped; Kalin blinked suddenly and murmured "Rhaine?" before he slumped to the floor, holding his head.

 

Saris's domination was over.

 

Despite this, they still faced three powerful enemies. On the other side of the room, Tak'we was enraged even further after seeing what Che'Tak had done to Sybille, and all reservations were thrown out; he attacked his brother with the force of a whirlwind, pressing Che'Tak away from him and towards a column. Che'Tak retaliated viciously, his gythka swiping just below Tak'we's throat and breaking the holy amulet from his neck. The silver medallion went skittering across the floor, and Aodh shot by to recover it. Tak'we was momentarily distracted by this, and Che'Tak managed to land a devastating blow on Tak'we's chest, throwing him backwards several feet. It did not slow him down, however, and Tak'we finally worked out a combination of blows from which his brother could not recover. He first swiped at the lesser limbs, breaking them completely with his gythka before whirling around and shattering Che'Tak's right shoulder joint with a backhanded swing. He finished with a powerful swing at Che'Tak's neck, effectively breaking it.

 

His undead brother dropped to the floor like a stone, finally at peace at last.

 

Saris fought with all her might to resist Argyros's breath, and she did not succeed at first. It kept her still long enough that Xallistine's Circle of Death did a number on her, wracking her body with wicked lacerations and reducing her blue robes to a blood-soaked mess. Yet, after a few breaths, she managed to shrug off the paralysis, answering with a Horrid Wilting targeted at Amendale.

 

Meanwhile, Argyros was locked in a deadly duel with Valthanarax. He was wrestling with the dracolich, his back legs on the stairs, his front locked around Valthanarax's bony shoulders as he clawed and bit at his foe. Valthanarax likewise gouged deep wounds into Argyros's limbs and shoulders, crimson blood dripping on the floor in puddles. The dracolich opened his maw and unleashed a scorching gout of dragonfire directly onto the silver, and Argyros howled in pain, his neck burned severely. Yet still he grappled relentlessly with Valthanarax, latching his jaws around the dracolich's bony neck and thrashing his head from side to side in an attempt to break it.

Edited July 13, 2014 by AurianaValoria1