The outer walls had fallen, the gates sabotaged and now all that stood between the army of the King of Shadows was the sun, that and a pitiful remnant of the Keep guard force and a band of adventurers who had, it seemed, fought their last fight. The party of heroes stood, unafraid, in the middle of the barricaded area, waiting for Black Garius. They heard the massed footsteps of thousands of undead swarming up the path to the inner wall. Aeronwy stood calmly at the head of the group, her hair spilling down her back like the sunrise they awaited, the Sword of Gith in one hand and a haze of arcane fire in the other. She had ordered Ammon and Zhjaeve to the back of the group, keeping them in reserve for Garuis's appearance. Elanee and Khelgar stood on either side of her, as small number of lizardfolk and Ironfist warriors holding beside them. The construct anchored one end of the line, its blades glittering with silver fire, and Casavir held the other, his once shining armour now battered and stained by hours of relentless combat. Neeshka stood behind the line, safeguarding their two 'free' casters Qara and Sand as they frantically summoned extra-planar allies. Grobnar stood with them, humming – tunelessly, as usual – one of his many songs that filled all who could hear it with a newly found strength. And behind him and the two who could speak the true names stood maybe two-score warriors of a force that had once boasted over five hundred. Most were of the Captain's Company and deep down, a part of Aeronwy wept for the slaughter that had claimed so many of those lives. But on the surface she was the same as always. Nothing but the sun was going to stop this horde, but she and her companions were going to sell their lives for high enough price that what was left would have to pause before going after Neverwinter, hopefully a long enough pause for the Lord's Alliance forces to arrive and crush them. So now they waited for that tide of inhumanity to gather and sweep them away. Then suddenly, she heard cheering from the soldiers behind her and spun on the spot as the first rays of sunlight lanced across the smoky sky.
She turned back to her front, expecting to see the undead crumble as the sunlight shone down on them. And she was met by the sight of the horde, unhindered by the sun that should have defeated it, reach the top of the path and, on seeing their enemies, charge. The tide of death swept through the sabotaged gateway and hit the group like a tidal bore. At least, so it seemed. But Garius seemed to be playing this one smart she thought as her sword swept through the chest of a charging skeleton. As a large group of weaker undead kept them busy, the wraiths, vampires and stronger monsters were swarming the barricades.
"Qara! Sand! Concentrate on the ones trying to breach the barricades, we can hold this line without you." She yelled over the screams of battle. Her sword twirled in her hand, lancing through the defence of another skeleton and she pointed a finger at a zombie about to stab Elanee. A lightning bolt lanced from her hand and split off into a score of smaller bolts on connecting with the zombie, lashing out at enemies all around them. Elanee flashed her a quick smile and then dived back into the fray, her sword of fire cutting a swathe through the undead ranks. Aeronwy dispatched another foe and then glanced around. Sand and Qara had sent the undead assaulting the barricades reeling with their minions and spells. The line was holding, any injuries being healed by Elanee, Zhjaeve or the surviving lizardfolk shamans. The were winning!
"Forward, push them back to the gate and make a wall of their bodies!" Khelgar boomed and they charged, yelling inarticulate battle cries. The line inched forward, body by body, slash by slash until they were just short of the gateway.
"Just a little further! Keeping going!" She screamed as Khelgar shattered the skull of the last vampire and darted forward to the gate. Neeshka spun gracefully through the melee, rapier and scimitar flashing in the dawn light. One crackled with white electricity, the other dripped acidic green fire and both danced with deadly beauty in their owner's hands as she half danced, half fought her way through their foes. Gith's sword lashed out, cutting down two wraiths in a single swipe and Aeronwy finally gained the threshold.
Only to find herself facing none other than Black Garius himself. They stared at each other for perhaps a second and then reacted. Garius lashed out with a wave of power that swept the entire group back to the line they had previously held and flung most of them to the ground. He stepped out of the gateway and his rage was almost palpable. It streamed off of him in waves of fury as more undead scurried past him to take up positions in a line very much like the one that Aeronwy and her companions had swiftly re-established. But their were holes in this line. Only two dwarves had survived, along with two warriors and a shaman from the lizardfolk. They had come so close she thought sadly, but now they were done. All that remained was to kill as many undead as possible.
"Ammon, Zhjaeve, start chanting. We may be going down, but we're going to take that bastard with us." She said grimly, gesturing at Garius, then raised her voice. "This is probably the last time we're going to see each other, and I want to say this, fighting with you was as great an honour as becoming what I am now. More so, in some ways," she sent a warm glance in Elanee's direction. "but now we are here, at the end, so it seems. So to all of you I say, good luck and may the Gods keep you." She stepped forward, out of the line, as rings of white fire surrounded Zhjaeve and Jerro, raised her glittering, liquid sword and screamed, "For Neverwinter, now and forever!" The army of the King of Shadows charged.
--- --- --- ---
Deekin; bard, merchant and sometime adventurer was confused. Not that this was an uncommon experience, but this was important. The nice boss who had given him a shop – now overrun by hordes of skeletons and who knew what else – was facing down that evil shadow thing Garius. He knew they couldn't win, they knew they couldn't win. But they were doing it anyway. It reminded him of his old boss that he had helped defeat Mephistopheles. He had had that sort of courage to go out there, regardless of the odds and do everything in his power to defeat whatever evil they were fighting. But that wasn't the problem. You see, his old boss had given him a rod before they parted ways. He had said that if Deekin ever really, really needed help, then "break that rod and I'll come and deal with whatever it is that's causing the problem." Deekin wanted to break the rod, but he wasn't sure. What if old boss was busy doing something important? Deekin looked down from the tower onto the fight erupting below him and pondered. This was a dilemma. Then he saw Boss go down, still fighting, beneath a mob of skeletons.
"No! Boss! NO!" He cried, but no one seemed to hear him. Seeing that, Deekin started to feel something. Something he hadn't felt in a long time. Deekin was getting angry.
--- --- --- ---
Aeronwy fought like a berserker, the sword of Gith flashing in one hand, arcane death spewing from the other. She heard both Ammon and Zhjaeve finish their True Naming and redoubled her efforts to reach Garius. There were too many reanimated corpses between her blade and the Reaver to survive but that wouldn't stop her from trying. She tumbled through the uncountable ranks of her foes, her sword carving a circle of death around her. She saw Elanee holding off five massive skeletal warriors on her own, Khelgar crushing the skulls and rib cages of vampires and zombies as he tore a hole in their lines. The construct wading through the melee, dealing out swift death with single swipes of its deadly, divinely enchanted blade-arm. But they all fell to the horde that swept over them and carried them to the ground. Then she was in front of Garius and she had no time to consider the feat of reaching him. He gestured with one hand and robes of black fire sprang from his fingertips. She hurled herself away from them and, almost instinctively, brought the Sword of Gith crashing down through them. Garius screamed in pain and rage as the silver sword cut through the ropes and flung a wall of force at Aeronwy that threw her into the undead mass. She desperately scrambled for footing, almost stabilising until a ghoul flung itself on her, carrying her to the ground. She beat at it with one hand, throwing it off, too late. A score of varied undead flung themselves upon her and she went down, screaming her battle-cry. She felt a club in her stomach, heard the ribs give way and screamed again, this time in pain, lashing out with sword and spell at the creatures around her. But one of the things latched itself onto her throat, cutting off air and as she blacked out she felt another club hit her.
There was a burst of icy fire above her and suddenly, a miracle. The undead above her vanished, their bodies turned to ice and the ice turned to steam too quickly for her to see how. Then she looked up and realised how. Deekin, that slightly mad kobold merchant she had given a shop was hovering above her. How on earth is he doing that she thought and...are those wings? They were. Deekin hovered above her on the wings his Dragon Disciplehood had given him, hands glowing with power.
"You insolent kobold scum!" Garius shouted. "What twisted form of insanity makes you think you can defeat me?"
"None, evil shadow creature." Deekin replied, his voice calm and clear, projecting with the natural skill of a bard. "My old boss will stop you. You will not hurt the nice boss who gave Deekin a shop! You will not!"
"Oh be quiet you ignorant savage!" Garius taunted. "Go annoy someone else." He flicked his hand at the kobold, sending a torrent of destructive energies hurtling up at him. Aeronwy covered her eyes, hoping that Deekin got a quick death as the beam of power struck him. There was a flash that almost blinded her, an explosion of savage sound and then as she opened her eyes she saw Deekin hovering above her still, unharmed. He tutted at Garius.
"Silly shadow thing. Now you've tried to hurt Deekin. Icefire will be mad."
"Ha! Who's Icefire, your latest imagining?"
"Oh no." Deekin replied, drawing from his cloak an intricately carved rod of shining white. "Icefire is who you meet when I do this" And, exerting his strength on the rod, he snapped it. Power flared out from the broken rod, building up into a sphere of roiling arcane energy. Both Garius and Aeronwy stared, dumbfounded, as it seemed to align itself and then exploded upwards in a pillar of white fire that impaled the sky. The pillar flooded upwards, upwards, tearing a hole in the planes and then exploded above them in a massive firework of pure power.
Everything stopped at that explosion. Both sides paused in their struggles and as one, gazed up as the explosion spread out in a hauntingly beautiful pentasymmetrical pattern above. And the undead stopped for a second. It was just a second, but they paused in their assault. And the Greycloak officers took ruthless advantage of that pause.
"Archers. Loose!" Kana screamed as she vaulted the barricade with Catriona, Bevil and Light of Heavens. They all hit the ground crouching and a hail of arrows from the archers hidden behind the chest high wall in front of the main door to the keep shot over them, into the ranks of entranced undead. The four then charged forward, attempting to reach the Knight-Captain and get her away from Garius. Swords flashing in the dawn light like white fire they carved a column of death through their foes as Deekin showered them with storms of lightning and ice, burning away the piles that covered the party. They hit the the circle of wraiths around Garius just as the undead started to pull themselves out of the entrancement. But humans were quicker than most undead and they had reacted much, much faster with reflexes born of endless drills. The remaining Greycloaks fell back, fighting furiously for separation as their leaders yanked the Knight-Captain off the ground and sprinted for the barricade.
"Stop them!" Garius shouted. A ray of green fury leapt from his finger towards Aeronwy. Light of Heavens spun on the spot and her shield came up as she interposed herself between the ray and the Knight-Captain.
"My life for Neverwinter!" She screamed in challenge as Garius's spell hit her shield and bounced.
Black shadow-stuff leapt from his hands, and Light of Heavens gathered her power. She met the darkness with a wall of divine Light and on contact the two exploded like a nova. The two powers twisted and fought, each trying to subvert the other and Light of Heaven's knees buckled as power poured through her.
"Heavens! Look out!" Bevil yelled as a massive skeletal warrior swung a club as long as he was tall at her head. She dodged, somehow, and her sword flashed down in a sparkling arc of steel and power shearing through the plate the warrior was garbed in and separating its legs from its torso. But in that moment, Heavens lost her concentration on her shield. Garius's face twisted in a semblance of a smile and a part of him reached out to consume her. But in fighting Light of Heavens, Garius had forgotten Deekin.
"Hey! Shadow thing." Garius looked up at the taunting voice. "Eat this!" Deekin cried. A ray of ice slashed across the distance between them and lanced into him, burning a hole in his body. He screamed in pain, pain greater than any human could endure. But Garius was not human and even as he screamed, he struck back. An explosion of darkness lashed out, smashing Deekin into the keep and ripping the buildings around him apart like a hurricane. Wood, glass, metal and stone blasted outwards on a wave-front of shadow-power.
"Where is you Icefire now kobold! He will not save you, he cannot, for I am greater then he can ever be." Garius screeched, rising into the sky on wings of twilight. "Now you all die where you stand. Neverwinter will be mine!" Shadows started to swirl around him, encasing him in a ball of darkness as more – how could there be more – undead streamed through the gates to take their final victory. Garius let out a howl for the slaughter to come and a wave of ravenous darkness erupted from him. They all saw it coming and as it swept down on them Aeronwy heard Deekin whisper to himself.
"Boss...why didn't you come?"
Everything stopped.
Time ceased.
Blades about to land a blow slid to an instant stop. The death-wall of Garius's creation froze a mere hand span from the closest to it. There was a flash of silver Power and a man stepped through it, the ethereal form of a female paladin beside him. They both paused, struck by the sheer destruction that had been unleashed on the Keep. The man straightened, his white hair spilling down the back of his robes as he did so. Eyes the colour of a spring sky took in the scene effortlessly and he reached out to his companion. She stepped towards him...and something strange happened. She seemed to shimmer, become more solid and then melded into his body. Golden fire traced the air around him in a smooth shell as he rose to the same height as Garius. A rainbow of light ran through his fingertips, infusing the shell with their colours. He cupped his hands – and if any had been able to see him they would have seen another pair of thinner, pale hands cup the inside of his hands. Two sparks of power, one white and the other black formed in their hands and flowed into the other to form a glittering bead of argent flame. Their hands lifted up as one, holding the bead up like a holy symbol and the shell around them imploded into it. Power flowed around their hands as they closed on the sparkling ball of energy and began to glow. Not white, not any single colour in fact. Every colour of the rainbow, tinted with gold and silver the light swirled around them, growing in intensity and a shining ball of the purest silver coalesced around their chest. It pulsed and flowed around them, shining like a beacon against the darkness before it. He took a deep breath, watching in double-sight as the power flared into incandescence, and let go.
A shattering blast of rainbow tinted silver force erupted away from him as time restarted. Most of the undead didn't even have time to think as the storm of coruscating death swept over them. A few of the more powerful creatures, further back managed to either erect a shield around themselves or try to escape. In both cases, it was a futile exercise. The energy swept outwards, somehow not reducing the fortifications of the keep to rubble and shattered the King of Shadow's great army, burning them away in a blaze of magical fury. Garius's attack was less noticeable then a fan in a tornado as the combined strength of two – for lack of a better term – demi-gods lanced through it to strike at its creator. Garius screamed, writhing like a spider on a candle flame as it tore through him, but he survived. The magical apocalypse flashed outwards, almost beyond view, before dissipating, taking Garius's hopes and dreams with it. And with his army destroyed and his form ripped and torn, he fled. Unfortunately for him, he had not gone unnoticed. A green ray sprang from the hand of the man who had wrought his ruin, surrounding him in the eerie glow of a teleportation anchor and bars of force rose out of the ground around him to hold him prisoner.
The man descended towards him slowly, as if strolling on a delicate floor and landed just in front of the cage. Garius looked up, eyes burning with hatred and merciless chunks of blue ice stared back at him.
"Garius, Master of the Fifth Tower." he said and gestured at the people behind him, who were currently shaking themselves out of a stunned sense of awe. "You have much to answer for."