They were both awoken by rallying cries, early in the morning. Eyes snapping awake, they leapt out of bed and threw open the doors of their rooms. Sharing a quick glance in the hallway, they armored themselves with a speed even they were surprised at, and, as one, rushed out of Atma's inn. The streets were in chaos; Greiz's men and the royal guards rushing towards the gates, and the townspeople just running randomly in a panic, screaming about how they were all going to die. They rushed towards the main gate and, seeing Greiz and Jehryn up on the wall, sprinted up the narrow stairs, precariously shoving past mercenaries as they went. When they reached the top, all eyes were on them. Jehryn didn't say a word, but simply pointed a long arm out towards the sands.
Duriel was charging across the open desert, headed right for Lut Gohlein. In the gloom of his lair, he had simply been a vague section of maggot crossed with a vague section of teeth and claws. In the glaring light of the sun, he was far more horrific.
They could make out the sick, bloated form of his maggot half, undulating across the ground with nauseating movements.
They could clearly see the blue of his skin; it was the blue of mold, the same color blue of a strangled victim's face, the blue of a drowned man's blood.
They could see the oversized claws, each one half again as long, stout, and sharp as a war scythe.
They could see the gaping mouth, slicing his face apart in a wicked, demented smile full of teeth best compared to short swords.
And, they could barely make out the eyes, squinted against the bright light; the sickly shade of puss yellow, the tinge of a moldering, festering wound, the tint of old bone.
The both of them were dumbstruck.
Rashaban couldn't find the words. All he could manage was, "But…but…but…but-HOW?!"
"We left him in there!" Kara practically shrieked. "The hole was way too small for him to get out!"
Jehryn turned to them, and with an obvious forced calm, replied, "It seems as though he has escaped."
Rashaban and Kara shared a glance, for once completely at a loss. As they looked into each other's eyes, each one saw the other's fear. They were confident that they could destroy Duriel, by Rashaban's trick or by force. But, that was in his lair. If they died, if they fell, then they did. They knew they were putting their life on the line daily; they had chosen this path. That was not the fear that coursed through their veins and their eyes. There was a whole city below them. An entire city of innocents, who would die if they failed.
Rashaban's eyes lost their focus, and he started breathing heavily and quickly, his gaze darting out across the sands to the monstrosity bearing down on them, and flitting back towards the roiling mass of people beneath.
Kara visibly staggered backwards as the realization hit, propping herself up with her spear to keep her balance.
They both simply stood there, reeling for a moment, as the full weight of what they had inadvertently done came crashing down. They had never borne this sort of responsibility, never had this much weight on their shoulders.
Rashaban staggered over to the battlements, leaning on them to steady himself, his head spinning.
Greiz shouted something derogatory at him, but it didn't even register through the chaos in his head. He always had control of the situation. Even the worst one; when Andariel had killed his Rouge backup. Then, he still had room to move, factors to play to his favor, a singular battle to analyze and manipulate; more cards up his sleeve.
All that came crashing down with the realization that thousands panicked below him, utterly defenseless, and requiring his full attention and demanding all his efforts; the situation was no longer in his control.
Kara saw Rashaban stumble towards the parapet, and followed suit, the end of her pilum hitting the ground with a dull thud as she used it to support herself, a queasy feeling in her stomach. She had some basic attack plans in case Rashaban's trick failed, but now that so many were merely animals for the slaughter…she would have no room to move, no way to distract him or kill him in time. She wasn't strong enough, and people were going to die because of it.
His hands shaking, her vision blurring, and both of their heads floundering in chaos, they somehow shared another glance. They each saw the other scrambling to come to grips with the situation, and somehow they drew strength from that knowledge; each anchored the other back to reality, and back to the dire situation. As their eyes stayed locked, thoughts whipped around that anchor, and came to a crystal clear focus.
A memory of his training snapped, unbidden, to the forefront of Rashaban's mind;
'Rashaban shrugged, and replied, "Can't let the enemy see your fear. If you're fighting, you fight harder, with more focus, more concentration, more strength. Push yourself to your limits, and the fear won't have any room.'
Likewise, Kara's mind grasped hold of a memory that had kept her going;
'She set her mind, steeled her resolve, and prepared to do what she had been trained to do. No, this was not what she was trained to do. "For the final moments of my life", she intoned, "I shall become a true warrior."'
Taking a deep breath, Rashaban steadied himself, stood up to his full height, and glared out at the monster, assessing the situation. 'I can't afford to lose this.', was all he thought.
Kara closed her eyes, flexed her hands open and then to fists. Once her eyes opened again, they were devoid of all fear. They held only resolve, and a hunger for the end of this madness.
"Jehryn." Rashaban said simply, without looking at him. His voice was no longer confused, or waving, or surprised. Now was so clear and commanding, that Jehryn almost took offense to it, as though he had been given an order. Rashaban turned to look at the prince, a calculating gleam in his eyes. "We brought this threat here, and will deal with this. You have a part to play here, as well." he paused. (Later he would not admit it to himself, but it was for dramatic effect.) "I need you to restore order. Get everyone out of here. The Arcane Sanctuary will hold the entire city, and is now clear of monsters. Use it."
Jehryn would ordinarily have spat back a comment about who was giving to orders in the city, but under the circumstances, he knew there was no time, and held his tongue. As he turned to go, Rashaban put an arm on his shoulder. "Tell everyone not to look at the stars."
As Kara heard what Rashaban was doing, she marched over to Greiz. "Gather your men." She said simply. At his incredulous look, she continued, "Drognan said that Rashaban's little trick had good odds. If you want any of your men to come out of this alive, you'll heed what I have to say. I have a plan."
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By the time Duriel reached the gates, the town was empty. The seething, roiling mass of panic had drained down into Jehryn's Palace, and from there, to the Arcane Sanctuary. Duriel bashed through the gates unopposed, smashing them open with a single swipe of his claws. As he slid through, leaving the gates pitted and scarred by the mere wake of his passing, he didn't notice that they hadn't even been barred.
From the moment he entered, Rashaban had his spell on him. From atop a building far across the city, he had a clear view, and he channeled as much magical force into Duriel as he could.
Kara looked out from her hiding spot. She saw Duriel hesitate for a moment, almost as if he were flinching at some unseen itch. It was only momentary, however, and soon he was again undulating through the streets in his sickening way. The cobblestones behind him looked charred and weathered, and he trailed a miasma in his wake that left holes and caked filth on the buildings around him. Kara shook her head at the sight, then looked back at the slightly unnerved group of mercenaries behind her.
"Remember the plan, and we'll get through this." she whispered. "No heroics. All we have to do is buy time."
She looked back towards the demon, and saw that he was advancing straight towards Rashaban's position. She didn't know if he was on to their plan, or if he was just attracted by the energy, but he had gone right past their hiding spot, and now was the perfect time to strike. With an Amazon war cry, she leapt out of the cover of the alley, followed closely by the mercenaries. She rushed towards Duriel, her trident in hand, and made as if to strike him. Duriel whipped his head around, and with sickening fluidity, simply sucked his head along his maggot half, so that he was facing them without having to turn around. Kara waved her trident at his face, her eyes always on the claws, and the mercenaries followed suit.
They dodged and stabbed at empty air, sometimes causing a small flesh wound, but never any real damage, always focusing on staying away from the claws. Kara was beginning to wonder how long this was going to take, when Duriel started to back away, towards Rashaban. He was still facing them, but was seemingly losing interest in swiping at them and getting nowhere. "We have to keep-"
And, as Kara and her allies soon found out, he had left them to walk into a trail of his manifested corruption. Kara cut off her command, as they all faltered for a moment, coughing and hacking as their lungs fought against it, filled with the vile fumes.
Duriel began to back away from his choking victims, and turn back towards Rashaban, no longer interested in weaklings. As he turned his head away, one of the mercenaries courageously charged forwards, shaking off the effects of Duriel's trail, and stabbed him in the back. Duriel roared and twisted himself back around.
His roar drove everyone, even the courageous mercenary, to the ground for a moment simply for what it was. It was not a roar of hatred, no bellow of rage and anger and blood lust; it was something far more sinister. It was a sound the Kara had heard many times during the final battle for the Monastery. Duriel's battle cry was a human death scream, and it was echoed as he pierced the brave mercenary completely through with a claw. As Kara and the rest got to their feet, they witnessed one, final act of valor.
Duriel's victim had dropped his spear before the frost took effect, but, as he was about to be devoured, he drew out a glimmering curved knife, and with the last of his strength, broke through the ice encasing him and shoved it through the top of Duriel's mouth, just before the teeth came down, and he was pierced a dozen times over before crumbling away to ash in the fiend's wicked maw.
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Far away on the rooftop, Rashaban was about to curse whoever had caused Duriel so much damage; he was close, the forces of decay bottled up in the demon building to a violent pressure, and now Duriel would surely draw on some of that power to heal himself or use some wicked attack. But, a smile soon formed on Rashaban's lips. Apparently Duriel was too enraged, too distracted by the dagger in his head to do anything, and wasn't drawing away any more power. Rashaban redoubled his efforts, pushing himself to his limits to finish this, and not put whatever sacrifice was made to waste. His opinion of that nameless man had changed considerably. With that thought, he downed his fifth mana potion and kept it up.
As Duriel thrashed in pain from the dagger in his head, Kara pushed her advantage, thrusting forwards with her spear her allies close behind, they harassed him until he broke through the haze of pain, and began slashing at them wildly, far to randomly and quickly to avoid casualties.
Kara yelled out, "Greiz! NOW!"
As her group vanished into the surrounding alleyways, Greiz and a second group leaped out from behind, harassing him from the back. As Duriel slid his ugly torso across his body once more, Griez's group melted away into the city, and Kara's group came to strike again.
As Kara's group melted onto the alleys once again, she glanced out of the corner of her eye, and saw that Duriel was now thrashing about in a different way. She didn't quite know how it was different, but it just was. Then, she caught the air around him beginning to darken, and thicken. Either Rashaban's plan had worked, or Duriel going to use a new attack. Either way, it was time they were going.
"Everybody run!" She yelled, and sprinted through the alleys to the palace, the rest of them right on her heels.
Kara's command came an instant before Rashaban shouted it across the rooftops. His plan had worked, and from his vantage point, he could see the liquid decay flowing out from Duriel, far too fast to be controlled. He could also see that both groups were well on their way to the palace. With one unfortunate side effect; Duriel was now thrashing towards him again, through the haze. Cursing, Rashaban ran down the stairs, cutting off his magical link so that he would be harder to find, and wove his way through the alleys. He caught sight of the palace just as the last of the mercenaries made it through the door. And, just as Duriel lost control.
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Looking over his shoulder as he ran, Rashaban saw buildings crumbling in a wave behind him; Duriel's decaying form shooting off the same lighting bolts Andariel had. The buildings were slowing the explosion, but not by much. He sprinted as hard as he could, and cursed himself for not learning the bone wall spell. It would have been handy. Rushing through the doors, Rashaban simply jumped down the stairs, cursing the damage to his legs when he landed, but knowing that his death was right behind him
Scrambling to his feet, he jumped down the next stairwell, and the next, using golems to break his fall slightly after his first attempt. Once he was down to the second level of the basement, he glanced back, to see if the creeping, roiling mass of decay had been slowed by the multiple levels. It was meandering down the stars after him, like a mist. He hurriedly raised a golem, hoping against hope that the sheer mass of it would halt the creeping death, if only by a second. Running even faster, ignoring his burning lungs and his legs pounding with pain, the mist on his heels, he finally reached the portal after what seemed like a never-ending run. Barreling through at top speed, he yelled at the top of his lungs, "DROGNAN! CAIN! CLOSE IT!!!!"
A second later, the portal went dark, and they were safe.