Whom the gods would destroy...

[Adan Hellschwert]

"I hear one, but they run in flocks, and cold steel such as mine cannot pierce their flesh." Shaking his head, Adan sighed, as he stepped through the room towards his uncle's corpse, an infinite sadness upon his face as he kneels beside it, reaching out with a single hand, the shield still upon it, to close the man's eyes and giving the man his final blessing, a brief prayer entirely in the language of his ancestors, and an old one indeed.

To you, High Lady, I commend this soul.
In bravery, he walked your dark forest,
In joy, he lifted his voice to you.
In sorrow, he sought your respite.
In death, I ask you guide to his final rest.
Blessed be you, and all that you ask.

Amen.

Burial, however, would have to wait until the foes were dead. With sorrow, then, he moved to examine the gestured mirror, and after a moment, reached into it, his arm rippling and fading as it moved into the space beyond, and drew out the artifacts left therein. A careful check over of them, and he tucked both the dagger and key into his belt, before donning the necklace. The others, and the stone as well, could be distributed later, but for now, these would serve a purpose to him. Tucking the others away in various places, save the bracers, which he held to Kadarin with a nod in passing, he went to aid Kyrian in the donning of his steely suit, and to finish donning his own. They would be well abused today.

[Murometz]

As the warriors donned their armor, Kadarin examined the scrolls. Mouse hides himself inside the first-floor privy...

the sounds of thuds, grunts, and shrieks above them, accompanied Adan and Kyrian as they scrambled to prepare for battle once more. Adan had a strange thought then. Were the elk-demons after something besides blood and hearts? Were they sent to kill Denhane, or were they sent to retrieve something?

His thoughts, and Kyrians were suddenly interrupted by the call of Herald, outside. The horse seemed to be in dire straits, by the sounds of it.

[Adan Hellschwert]

Pulling his own helmet down over his head, Adan began to bolt towards the inner entrance to the stables, a great clattering following his passage, though he kept to the indoors, determined to minimize his exposure to the sky. The large shield upon his arm, he drew not the sword, but the mystical dagger as he ran to the doorways of the stable, great consternation upon his face.

[EchoMirage]

"A helpless horse they assault, when they could have us? Fortune frowns upon such feeble cowardice. Onwards, Adan, they cannot have victory today; and by default, it will fall to us."

Barely restraining his energy, he urged the other knight onwards.

[Murometz]

Through the house they ran full speed now, until at last they reached the stable doors. Shoving them open, Kyrian and Adan proceeded to enter. From within, they could now see an agitated Herald, rearing and flailing his hoofs, near the entranceway to the stables (30 yards from where you stand).

The prized mount was fearlessly trying to defend itself (or did it rip free and attack the intruder on its own accord?) from a rather large peryton, who could not quite fit comfortably into the stables, though he was trying. It seemed a stalemate at the moment, but one that Herald would eventually lose.

Behind the large peryton at the stables entryway, Kyrian and Adan could see another now, this one still outside, and circling the manse approximately twenty feet off the ground, its giant, clumsy wings keeping it airborne. It seemed to be headed for the wide-open bedroom window.

[ooc]For the moment peryton is pre-occupied with Herald. Your initiative automatically[/ooc]

[valadaar]

"Lets deal with this one first", pointed Kadarin. at the one menacing the horse. Producing a second set of cobwebs, he cast his web spell at the preoccupied Peryton, closing to 20 yards first.
[ooc]
Using floor and ceiling again , trying to avoid the horse, though if necessary he will web both.
 FYI: If the horse has enough HD(4+1 or greater) , he can attack as if it has +1 weapons for purposes (Bottom left, page 76 DMG 1st ed) >[/ooc]

[Murometz]

[ooc]With Siren as witness, Herald rolled a 20 onhis save to avoid web! Kyrian, as witnessed by me, missed on his first attack on peryton with a 5'er[/ooc]

Once more the words of arcana flowed from the young wizard's lips, and once more a fibrous yet gelatinous substance shot forth, a huge column of gluey webs, completely engulfed the raging peryton. Herald, nimble as his famous rider, reared and bolted sideways with such grace to avoid the giant web, that even Kyrian was proud as he raced by his mount to attack the eagle-winged demonling. A long arc however, and a rare miss, with the Carmine Rose instead slicing through rubbery strands of ensorcelled spider-web.

[ooc]Adan's attack, then initiative, though really, this peryton is now screwed as well[/ooc]

[Siren no Orakio]

Slower than the elf, the Hellschwert scion none the less crashes across the floor with a great clatter and a primal scream, planting his feet as he approaches the hell beast, holding the dagger with the blade down. As he plants, his arm swings in a flat arc towards the creatures entangled chest, biting deeply, but sadly unvitally, before he yanks it back, his shield coming back up before him again, as he resets, and readys to attack once more.

Rolling the dagger over in his hand, the once-paladin shouts again, this time his deep voice intoning, "Für Trigu!," before he thrusts it forwards past the still-raised shield, this time biting deeply enough that the black blood that issues forth is frothy, the sign of having at last reached the vital lung.

[Murometz]

Adan stabbed savagely, covering himself in a fresh coat of black blood, and Kyrian did not miss a second time. The peryton shrieked  its last, and finally stopped moving inside its death-prison of webs.

Outside now, looking through the stable doors, the adventurers could see two more beasts quite clearly. Both were circling just beneath the roof of the hunting lodge, looking through windows for any living soul or movement. Both perytons heard its brethren's death cries, but neither cared to investigate, and thus the two did not yet see the companions inside the stables, and had not yet picked up their scent.

It did not seem as if these creatures cared for their own, nor did their morale seem to wane in any way at the sight of dead comrades.

[Murometz]

Before the trio could plan their next action they saw something else besides the perytons enter the courtyard and proceed to near the lodge. A figure clad in gray and black, covered from head to toe in hood and shroud approached the front door.

It seemed to eye the circling perytons, and communicate with them in some way silently. The figure then sniffed the air, and withdrew something from a satchel, hanging fron its belt. From Kadarin's angle, as he silently stared from the stables, the object seemed to be a thick glass bottle. Inside was what looked like black, featureless goo. The dark-robed figure lifted the cork, and placed the glass jug on the ground.

The black goo began to slowly flow from the vesel, with a consistency of thick, drying blood. As it poured onto the ground, it began to rise up and take shape....a shape from some hellish nightmare.

Some nine foot tall, insectoid horror, a chitinous transgression of nature truly, with fearsome mandibles, jagged horns, spine-spikes, and bleeding tumors, covering its vaguely humanoid form, now stood where the black goo once gurgled.

It clacked its steel-like mandibles in the direction of the shrouded figure, then proceeded to rip the door off of its hinges, with an effortless tug of its impossibly long, taloned arm. Without hesitation it entered the hunting lodge and disappeared into the shadow-filled hall, leaving dropped globs of tar in its wake

The two perytons had landed on the roof now, and seemed to be acting as look-outs, surveying the forest terrain from their perch. The shrouded figure then turned and proceeded to leave the way it had come, walking casually back toward the forest and away from the courtyard, its robes billowing in the breeze.

[EchoMirage]

"Dark wizard or horror foul? Decisions, decisions!"

Yet a true man can make up his mind in the fraction of a second. "I shall return!" the wereling called out, then leapt into the saddle of the speeding Herald, charging after the horror's master. "Cut of the head, the body dies!"

[blockquote]Rolled 1d20 : 20, total 20[/blockquote] [ooc]to plant the blade between the black mage's shoulderblades once I catch him![/ooc]

[Siren no Orakio]

For a split second, Adan's thoughts were torn, between protecting his friend, and protecting his family. The threat within, he decided, was worse than the threat without. It did not seem the sort that might dissipate with the death of its caller, not called from a vial so. And so, he turned back into the building, intending to delay, to frustrate, and pin down this strange fiend until such time as Kyrian could come to his support. Wending his way through the lodge, he did his best to rush through it, to find Erund and Mouse, and get them out to the stables. Fighting that thing, perhaps, would be extremely unwise at the moment.

This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 1d10 : 3, total 3
This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 1d20 : 5, total 5
[ooc] New initiative ... And attack roll if I'm forced into fighting the demodand. (Or have initiative after he knocks me on my butt.)[/ooc]

[Murometz]

In that chaotic moment, several things happened at once.

As soon as Kyrian charged out of the stables atop the frothing Herald, the twin perytons shrieked and took flight clumsily, intent on chasing down the wereling knight and his steed.

Adan took this moment to rush inside the lodge, unseen by the perytons.

Moments later, Kyrian bore down on the retreating robed figure, which turned just as Kyrian brought the Carmine Rose down upon it. A mighty strike as Adan noticed from the corner offf his eye, rushing in the opposite direction.

Though Kyrian could still not make out the nature of the robed figure, he could feel the familiar "give" of flesh and bone as his sword struck home. The figure went down like a scarecrow where it stood. Blood sprayed high into the air, from a mostrous gash somewhere in the vicinity of the neck, upper spine and shoulder, as the robe crumbled to the ground.


To be continued...

[ooc]Kyrian damage roll, This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 1d10 : 10, total 10 [/ooc]

[Murometz]

Adan rushed inside the gloom-filled hall. As soon as he entered, he could hear what could only be the demonic creature, rummaging upstairs. Glancing upwards of the wide staircase, Adan could not see the creature. At that moment, from out of nowhere seemingly, Mouse raced toward Adan, a look of utter horror upon his face. He did not pause to chat, but simply raced out of the house, heading toward Kadarin and the stables.

A sudden scream from upstairs, turned Adan's attention back to the staircase. It seemed Erund had not been as lucky as Mouse.

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

The robed figure lying before Kyrian, turned its now exposed face up toward its slayer. Blood gugrled from its mouth, as it tried to speak (cast?) and the incredibly savage wound was still pumping life fluids onto the ground as well. Just a man, Kyrian thought, just a man.

Whoever this was, he now slumped to the ground and stopped moving, lying in an ever-expanding pool of blood.

Just then, out of the corner of his eye, Kyrian noticed a shimmering "doorway" about thirty yards away at the edges of the forest. It seemed perhaps, that the robed figure was heading for this dimension door when Kyrian rode it down.

The wereling did not have much time to investigate, as the perytons announced their arrival with their now familair shrieks. The two beasts were now bearing down upon Kyrian and Herald.

[ooc]initiative roll for Perytons vs. Kyrian This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 1d10 : 10, total 10[/ooc]

[ooc]again, for the record, none of these rolls were tampered with, the text was  [/ooc]

[EchoMirage]

[ooc]Kyrian does roll initiative as well[/ooc][blockquote]Rolled 1d10 : 8, total 8[/blockquote]

[Murometz]

The first peryton managed to avoid Kyrian's first strike, and dove to attack him in turn, smelling the knight's beating feline heart. The second peryton came from another side. Herald reared.

[ooc]peryton attack rolls, This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 2d20 : 10, 4, total 14[/ooc]

Both attacks were deftly avoided by the mount and its rider... [ooc]initiative roll, [blockquote]Rolled 1d10 : 10, total 10[/blockquote][/ooc]

[Siren no Orakio]

Almost recklessly, Adan advanced, though he sheathed the dagger, covered in black blood, and drew his single phial of holy water, holding it beside the large shield he held up, breaking into a run as he heard the scream of his distant cousin. As he reached the bottom of the stairs, he began to sing, the same song that he had once sung to Borgadoc, the dread promise of divine vengeance, before he ran up the stairs, planted his feet and hurled the phial of Trigu's sacred water at the tar-covered beast... Slipping, the phial far wide left of the mark, far enough that none of the splash would reach the daemonic thing. Deftly, he wove a curse into the fabric of the song, even as the tinkling of the phial's breakage was joined by the smashing of yet more glass in the background.

Still, he would have its attention, enough to bolt for the outdoors, with it still following.

Well. That would explain the presence of the demons and the magi.

[valadaar]

"That was a sword strike for the sagas", thought kadarin as he watched what transpired. 

Should someone survive to tell the tail, thought Kadarin.  With that, he invoked his ring, the stored sleep spell striking out against one of the fell beasts.

"Give me the scroll!!!" shouted Kadarin..

[valadaar]

And then remember he carried it.  Not bothering to think about it longer, he hauled out the protective scroll, while noticing that the Peryton failed to fall asleep. 

"Mouse - say behind me. " and he carried on with the reading of the scroll.  It was old and written in an odd hand, perhaps not a hand at all.  But in any case, it was oddly legible.  Drawing from unknown sources, it began to form a spherical area of magic only shimmering in Kadarin's eye.

That done, the Perytons needs something else to keep them busy, for the barrier was not proof against them.  He drew forth another scroll, perhaps the most precious of the lot, and spoke the words that would draw his own ally to the fray..

[blockquote]Rolled 1d100 : 65, total 65[/blockquote]

[valadaar]

[ooc] Thats an Ogre   Perhaps I summoned Vorodon! B ut thats a 4+ HD monster, so it can hit as a +1 weapon! Rather important that...[/ooc]

[EchoMirage]

"Mindless goons! Your master departed to pay the abyss a visit, yet miseryl loves company - so off you go, after him!"
Invigorated by the wizard's fall, Kyrian struck out to dispatch his monstrous minions, who should have seen the wisdom of retreat. With scything arcs he fended them of, steel clashing against demon-horn.

Not too different it was from battling feral beasts upon the arena's blood-stained sand, and with blood pulsing in his ears, Kyrin could almost hear the crowd go wild.

[ooc]Below, I roll for my next three strikes, provided I get to make them.[/ooc]
[blockquote]Rolled 1d20 : 20, total 20[/blockquote]
[blockquote]Rolled 1d20 : 1, total 1[/blockquote]
[blockquote]Rolled 1d20 : 14, total 14[/blockquote]

[Murometz]

Kyrian’s lightning speed, and his coordinated, well-practiced mounted attacks were more than a match for the clumsy flyers. Swinging once more, Kyrian manages to plunge the Carmine Rose deep into one of the creature’s open maw. (20)

This time, not even a shriek could be heard, as Kyrian swiftly withdrew his blade, and a fountain of black blood erupted from the spasming peryton’s body, which now suddenly was on a collision course with the loamy ground. The thing began to writhe its death-dance, helpless now.

Turning quickly, Kyrian was buffeted by the wing of the second beast, but whirled again in time to avoid its strike, attempting to pierce the creature’s buttocks, but missing badly perhaps due to over-confidence, nearly dropping his blade. (1)

Undaunted, he whirled atop of Herald as the airborne peryton lunged once more, and Kyrian did not miss again, nearly severing the mighty eagle’s wing from its stag body with a single strike. (14)

The whole time, he could hear the young Kadarin chanting his spells. Kyrian was unsure of their result, but that was because he could not see the massive humanoid emerging from the woods thirty yards behind him, seemingly intent on joining the fray.


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

Vorodon was soaking wet. And the sudden scene before him was not one his eyes could immediately comprehend. One moment, he was hauling the line with his prodigious strength aboard the Vermilion Wind, the next moment came the unexpected wave, slamming itself into the ogre-kin, and drenching him entirely.

Then suddenly, he was here, in some forsaken wood, in front of some hoary keep. And as he looked upon his new world with saucer eyes, briny salt-water still dripping off him, Vorodon spied his old friend the brave knight Kyrian atop his mount not far ahead in a clearing. It seemed that some flying, antlered deer were assaulting the whiskered one. This did not sit well with Vorodon. He loved his friends.

[ooc]There is 1 peryton left alive. Its hurt but fighting mad. But it misses, so Kyrian is up. As is Vorodon. Poor, poor peryton, it never had a chance[/ooc]

[ooc](21:24:27) ChatBot: Murometz rolls 4d20 and gets 6,12,8,11.
(21:24:36) Murometz: motherless cur!
(21:25:52) Siren_no_Orakio: lol, perys whiffing?
(21:25:59) Murometz: yes dammit
(21:26:09) Murometz: now kyr dam
(21:26:40) ChatBot: Error: Unknown command: /roll3d6
(21:26:46) ChatBot: Error: Unknown command: /roll3d6
(21:26:53) ChatBot: Murometz rolls 3d6 and gets 3,4,4.
(21:27:00) ChatBot: Murometz rolls 3d6 and gets 5,5,2.
(21:27:18) ChatBot: Murometz rolls 4d8 and gets 6,4,6,2.
(21:27:25) ChatBot: Murometz rolls 4d8 and gets 6,4,4,7
[/ooc]

[Murometz]

Adan braced himself and met the monster's gaze, as the demodand emerged from one of the upstair bedrooms and paused at the top of the grand staircase.

Adan did not flinch from the tar-dripping vision before him, but felt the hair on his neck rise, and cursed beneath his breath, that such a grotesque creature could even exist and be furthermore tolerated by the gods.

For its part, the demodand first listened to the man's sing-song, then let out a series of clicks and clacks through its mandibles. Moving its monstrous jaw as if dislocating it akin to a snake, the demodand began to drool out words it knew the human would understand.

"Giv' whizhard tressuure. Giv' prizhe! Souls cruushh und flesh devourrr"

It seemed to be remembering the common tongue, as it spoke. Perhaps centuries had passed since it last used the vile speech.

The demodand remained at the top of the stair, and cocked its head to examine Adan below. It noticed something then. It noticed because its nature was to notice such things. It noticed because it sensed these things, the weak and mewling humans and their foolish bonds of false love.

Satisfied with its observation, the demodand lifted its long, taloned arm above its head, to show off its victim and mock the warrior below.

Dangling from its tar-stained claws, was young Erund, alive but in a bad way, scraped up, teary, and soiled. He dangled their helplessly, a tiny living bundle, held aloft by a creature from the very pits of Hell itself.

"Eat Boy. Give Prizhe!"

[Siren no Orakio]

The dark forces were, then, after the key. The key, then, or the boy? Or, if the key was at all what the once-paladin expected that it should be, his Land, and all that remained of the family, or one boy? Yet, Adan did not falter, merely raising his dagger, pointing it at the beast. He would do his level best to save both, but he was a son of the Land, a descendant of that Great Lady, who adorned the very treasure the creature desired. A treasure, Adan suspected, that would be literally key to gaining the ability to cast his foes from the Land, the Brightblade itself. His task would be to endure all the privations that Hell might throw, in order to bring light back to this land.

"Ahh. I understand now. You're weak. Weak enough to debase yourself far enough to be used by a human. You're too weak and afraid to put the boy down and come and claim it, demon. You're afraid I'll end your pointless, god-benighted existence, and you won't even have a last meal, let alone your treasure." Beneath the brow of his helmet, the knight actually managed a smile, one that was mostly faked. "I bet you're so pathetic you don't even have the right to have a name. Come and earn your meal, pestling, earn it like the peasant among demons that you are!"

"By Trigu's name, I bind you to d**nation! By Alys's name, I bind you to death! By the spirit of Denhane, I bind you to failure!"

[Murometz]

Now the monster was stirred. For a moment it considered the man's words. The Farastu, unbeknownst to the wretched human assaulting it with words, was among the weakest of its kind, a servitor, infernal truth be told, to the kelubar and the dreaded shator. Challenged strongly and openly, this brazenly, by seemingly a desperate human, drew some deep-seated fear from within the beast's putrid bowels, and some ire. A burning desire to rush down and strangle the pink-skinned pig one thousand different ways.

"Oh weeakest of humans! Fool you are to speak such talk! No names you say, I know. My name you will not be speak. Piggy I hold here. Piggy to devour. Speak now talk of wizard's prize, and only half the boy I eat, I will vow."

The demon-thing's speech seemed to improve every time it spoke. The language it had so much time to forget, was returnng from its pre-glass prison memories.

Despite its own words, the Demodand could stand still no longer. The warrior's cursing words had infuriated the creature. It began its loping descent down the same staircase, where Nial Hellschwert had once descended as a boy, armed for the hunt, his unreadable face, stern as ever, even in youth.

The demodand, however, descended considerably faster now, than Nial once had. As it moved, black tar flying everywhere and clinging to every surface, it began clicking its mandbles, a purplish pus, streaming down its neck from its mouth, just to disappear into the tar-like goo of its alien body.

The demodand was almost at the foot of the stair, one arm still holding aloft Erund, moving like a gorilla on the attack. The boy, being thrashed about, seemed to be unconcsious or at least in shock by now.

Adan had two choices. Run or withstand a direct assault.


It was at this moment of decision, as Adan prepared to bolt and let the demon give chase outside where Kadarin, (and by now Kyrian, Adan hoped) was ready to aid him in the struggle, when the Hellschwert felt a sudden warmth in his chest, beneath his stained armor, a warmth which manifested next as a brief, but piercing light in his eyes. Only a second it took, but to Adan the sensation felt like it lasted a minute. The vision of his father descending the staircase of the hunting lodge had lit some heretofore dampened flame within the man's soul.

[ooc]Adan gets a paladin ability back. Hurrah! Lay hands.[/ooc]