Arbatos stared at the scaly imp in front of him. How dare he demand of him an oath of fealty. He was a barbazu, a feared bearded devil. He had battled countless foes and stood victorious. Although the last short while had seen him bowed , he was definitely not defeated. Despite being captured and sold into slavery , he had endured the mortal's arena. Now with freedom in hand , this imp had demanded he serve him and his mistress. Outrageous!
"I assume by the way you're gripping your glaive, you do not accept my terms?", sneered Baalphzon as he regarded the much bigger devil warily.
"I shall skin you alive, and make you into a belt, imp!", Arbatos sneered as he readied his hellish polearm.
A ring of devils surrounded the 2, the result of the battle would determine their fates. Despite their immortal nature and vast powers they wielded, they had been recently beaten thoroughly into submission . These Grommers were experts at nullifying magic and breaking wills . Before they signed with Duke Ari, Reinhardt the renegade had warned them of the dangers of campaigning in Grom. He claimed that they should not be fooled thinking this was a dimension in the prime. He said it was a quasi plane in Carceri the prison world, and it would be foolish if they treated it without caution . Most scoffed at the idea, but with Ari slain, his legion scattered, even Bel banished...they all had second thoughts.
Baalphzon bared his teeth and unleashed his claws as he circled his foe. " I see you lost one of your horns? I'll tell you what, I'll let you keep your remaining one, and I'll take an eye instead ...maybe a nose ...for your disrespect. Here I am , doing you all a favor by freeing you prisoners from the accursed arena, and this is the payment I get. Shameful !"
Arbatos bristled at the mention of his horn. He recalled an archer on a jumping horse had shot it off during the climax of the last battle under Ari's banner. The thought stirred his hellish rage. The taunting of the imp however drove him over the edge. How dare this creature threaten him with mutilation of his remaining horn. He gripped the crude weapon he was given to use in the arena, and he could feel his hell spawn power flow through it and warp it. He roared and swung at the imp.
Baalphzon was gone before the weapon struck. Arbatos looked for his foe, but was greeted with a whisper and a painful grip around his neck.
"Too slow, ...much too slow...no wonder you were captured. Don't move, as you can see , my silver barbed tail is wrapped around your neck. If you struggle, it will tear your throat out. If you try to rip me off , it will tear your throat out. At anytime I can choose to tear your throat out...do you understand? ", whispered the imp while he played with the bearded devil's beard. The beard of a barbazu was one of their main weapons, but had no effect on other devils. The fact that the imp was playing with it, infuriated Arbatos even more.
"Ahh,,, your struggles cease, you're not hopeless after all. Do you agree to my terms to submit to my will and that of my mistress?", asked the imp .
"Ye...sss...", squeaked the captured barbazu.
"Excellent...but I'm not done yet. I want to let you know that I'm not afraid of you...and I expect...no I welcome further insubordination from you. I should kill you right now ...to set an example for the others. Do you know why I won't? Its because you are nothing but an insect. You're nothing to me, I can slay you anytime , but as a reminder of my power over you, I'm going to take ...hmm...your nose I think.", the imp howled and savagely mauled the larger devil's face. With a fierce howl he tore its nose off and spat it away. He release his tail and jumped to the center of the circle.
"Does anyone else wish to challenge me? Who thinks they can leave here without swearing fealty?", challenged the imp.
"RAHHHHH!", Arbatos screamed as he suddenly brought his glaive crashing down onto the imp's back, connecting squarely and driving him into the ground.
"I do not honor deals with imps! Especially dead ones!", he said triumphantly.
Vanna was a curious sight. She was easily 6 foot tall and bore many features of both a human and a elf. She did not resemble a half elf though, but something strange and incoherent. She had a figure similar in shape to Brita's but none of the grace, and her face had the hard edge's like Surry's but had none of the nobility. She even had freckles which were rare on both elves and half elves. On most days she would be gathering stares and snickers , at her ungainly form , but today it was her opponents that looked out of place.
Black skeletons with warped elven heads dripping in a black acidic bile, surrounded her. They howled in a strange language, a hybrid of both elven and abysall , as they descended on her and attempted to tear their foe apart.
Vanna suffered their deep slashes and bites. Her maid outfit was ripped and her long elven hair was torn. She showed no sign of discomfort though. She calmly grasped one of her attackers by the throat and slammed the creature into the ground, oblivious to the other 3 scrambling and clawing her. The ground shook from the strength of her blow. The skeletal creature was stunned from the might of her strike, and did not get a chance to react. She release her grip on it, and brought both arms 45 degrees to its head. Then she slammed them both together like sledge hammers and pulverized its skull. Acid sprayed her dress and face, but it did not seem to affect the elf. Fetch had protected some of his allies earlier with a spell, and it seemed to be doing its job.
The large elf was still on her knees on top of the shuddering , headless skeleton. She grasped another attacker and dragged him screaming to where the first one died. It struggled violently , but she placed an impossibly heavy knee on top of him, and repeated the action once more. The other 2 skeletons promptly retreated from the destructive elf.
Vanna gave prompt chase, but soon found herself surrounded by a half dozen more of the blackened elf skeletons. She showed no sign of fear or hesitation as she crashed into them. Methodically dealing death to her foes.
Dietrch felt the strange spores digging into his skin. It was like the time he accidentally fell into the penguin pool . The creatures darted about and took small razor snippets of his flesh as he thrashed and struggled to shore. Dietrch survived that encounter and he would survive this one. He was a knight of the order of the Walrus, they believe in strength and honor through survival and struggle.
The knight ignored the fungal induced pain and swung his searing white blade in a wide arc at the three vulture elves in front of him. He had fought their ilk before when he served with the Great Host, he knew they were some mutated versions of demons called Vrocks. He was victorious that day, but it was different now. He fought only one during that battle , and he was supported by his fellow knights. His companions today were brave, but they were badly outnumbered. He hoped his actions today would reflect well on him when he entered Arcturus's hunting lodge.
His glowing sword drew blood from the lead Vrock, and the knight smiled at the sight of flesh and feathers tearing before his sword. His blade was the only magical item he possessed. It was the only item he ever needed though.
The wounded demon was surprised and fell back, but his fellows pressed forwards and swarmed to flank the knight . They struck him with a storm of beaks, claws, and talons. Dietrch shrugged off the blows though and pressed forwards towards the retreating demon. His shield brushed aside the creatures pitiful defenses and he stabbed his blade deep into its chest. The sword shuddered as the knight released it. The demon's eyes bulged in both surprise and pain. His comrades had struck the man at least 10 x..he should have fallen by now. Dietrch grasped the creature's neck. He was a knight of the walrus, a hero of his order. He fought penguins scarier then this. With his shield hand and his sword hand both freed he twisted the vrock's neck and snapped it. The 2 behind him were not idle and they continued to viciously rake the knight's back .
Dietrch was not unscathed, but his wounds were not as deep as they should have been. He grasped his sword and spun quickly around to face his 2 confused attackers. "What's the matter? Not use to fighting an opponent whose skin deflects most of your blows? Trust me , its a bitch."
His confidence faltered however, as the vulture elves were reinforced by another 3 demons. They seemed tentative about pressing the attack however, the knight's resistant skin and his holy blade gave them reason to be cautious. The knight and the 5 vrocks were momentarily stalemated. Dietrch saw his enemy's hesitation and pressed his advantage. He would not bring shame to the Mighty Order of the Walrus today.
He roared a shrill battlecry and charged the 5 large demons.
Trip scrambled from the huge tusked elf. It was easily the largest demon on the battlefield. It was bigger then a mammoth , but smaller then a squirrel. It seemed a mix between a bat, a dark furred taer, a boar, and an elf. The warforged halfling fired a blessed crossbow bolt deftly behind him as he ran. A roar of pain rewarded his efforts.
"Run you pathetic creature! ", boomed the terrible demon ," I can beat you with my claws or my spells. It doesn't matter!"
It waved its hands and lightning flew from the sky and struck the warforged as he scrambled behind a tree.
The demon smiled at his handiwork as he watched smoke and ozone rise from the blasted area. Suddenly the halfling reappeared and fired a pair of dragon golems at it. The weapons mercilessly tore chunks of flesh from its stomach and wings. "Missed me!", he chirped before retreating once again.
The halfling's weapons had hurt the demon, but his pride was injured more. He would not let this creature make a fool of him in front of Priestess Talia. It scrambled on all fours and pursued his prey.
Strangely it spoke in his prey's language. "Run, halfling . I despise your miserable ilk, as I have done for centuries. I was in the Great War you know. I wasn't on any particular side though, I just enjoyed killing your people. I hunted halflings for over 200 years . I slew forge halflings, hairfoots, hobbits , stouts, tall fellows, icehalflings, forge halflings even you warforged and kenders!"
"Kenders aren't halflings!", piped Trip as he fired his crossbow wildly behind him. The big demon was prepared and brushed aside the attack with his heavy furred arm.
It lost sight of Trip deep in the grove, but could smell the oil and metal . The demon tore a tree from the ground and readied the weapon. It sniffed the air attempting to track his prey." There's nowhere to run. I know all your pathetic race's tactics. Hit and run , attack from stealth, thrown and missile weapons. They are useless against me. I have slain every type of halfling when I was a mere mortal elf. Now , with this new immortal body, I shall add you to my collection of trophies."
Trip appeared a short distance away, but was instantly greeted with a thrown tree. The halflings aim was spoiled as he barely avoided the projectile.
The demon roared and pounced on his prey. The hunt was over.
Suddenly he heard the snapping of ropes, and he saw 2 massive camouflage tree logs fall from the canopy towards him from opposite directions. They were suspended by ropes and their aim was true. The beast attempted to futilely block the logs. It partially succeeded in the attempt. He deflected one log at the cost of a broken arm, but the other impaled him deeply in his massive gut. He fell to the ground, shocked at the prospect of his defeat. He tried to rise but felt his life force draining from the lethal wound.
The mechanical halfling jumped in front of the dieing creature and savagely kicked him in the face . It had attempted to teleport but was disrupted by the swift wood and metal halfling's foot .
"You've killed many of brothers I see, but you are incorrect. You haven't killed every type of halfling. You obviously haven't met the tribe from Hendor.", said Trip as he pointed a dragon golem to both eyes.
"As the hunters there would say...Yub Nub." , he said with cold merciless iron eyes.
"BANG!"
Surry heard Trip's dragon golems in the distance and wondered if the little guy was alright. He respected the halfling. He was brave and almost a good as shot as she was.
In front of her was Priestess Talia. She was monstrous in appearance now. She was pretty sure, she was not this way yesterday. Her divination magics showed nothing unusual about her when she first encountered her prancing around the great tree. Something changed her and her followers overnight.
Talia said a druidic prayer and her smooth skin and scales were covered in a bark like substance. Then she intoned a prayer that gave her the aspect of a fearsome wolf.
Surry yawned, rookie hour it seems. She only had a few blessed cold iron arrows, but she didn't actually need them. She just wanted to harass and infuriate the druidess. Afterwards she would get down to some serious bitch slapping. She fired 3 arrows at her foe, her aim was true but 2 of them clattered off her foe's bark like skin. The third slammed heavily into her torso but the demon seemed not to notice it.
Talia laughed, "Is that the best you can do "princess?" Let me show you true power!". Surry was really annoyed at the way she said princess. It sounded like an insult not a proper title of respect. Talia intoned a prayer, and her already lean muscular physique warped to even scarier proportions. A six armed snakewoman covered in bark with rippling muscles stood before Surry.
Surry smiled and intoned her greater dispel at the creature. Soon all of Talia's spells vanished. Her wolf like aspect, the unnatural muscles, and even her bark skin disappeared. "3 for 1, that is not a good trade. Guess they didn't teach you druids math in the woods.", scoffed the wizard.
The demoness screeched and quickly slithered towards her opponent, with a sword in each hand. She slashed repeated at Surry, but she was gone in a flash. A pair of floating swords, however, struck the demon before disappearing into the woods. The wizard and her swords moved with supernatural speed through the forest. Another arrow struck the demon in the shoulders and it looked up and saw the wizard high above her balancing on a branch. "Hey, you're the druid, shouldn't you be the one using the tree, not me?"
Surry gave a short laugh and vanished again. She enjoyed fighting druids, they weren't very smart fighters. She respected their power, but scoffed at their tactics. All the "love the forest", peace be with you crap, left many of them inexperienced at combat. Surry knew the key to this fight was to keep moving. At best Talia could swing once with her blade or cast a single spell. Surry was happy to exchange arrow for sword, and spell for spell. Her arrows were only a distraction, she wanted the fight to drag out, and her opponent to make a slip with her tongue. Defeating the druid was secondary to the information that she required.
Talia screamed at her rival and the forest erupted in blades. Trees and brush were slashed mercilessly as a barrier of blades surrounded the priestess. "You think you can beat me? You're nothing to me! Your friends are pathetic, I've spied on them and know how truly impotent they are. A captain that is assigned to non combat roles, a bard that sings off key, a knight of the walrus of all things, and a mechanical halfling? Please! You guys make the Order of the Baboon look good. "
Surry shrugged, and fired another arrow from cover. The blades obscured her target and she missed. She didn't care what she said about her friends. It was mostly true but she would not respond to the taunt. Except for her stepmother, Surry had called her "friends" much worse then the druid had.
Talia smiled as the arrow missed and sensed momentum changing," Your magic is weak as well, all I've seen are a few distance hopping spells, and defensive dispels. Isn't that the main failing of wizards? A great variety of useless spells, not enough power to get the job done?" , the demoness laughed.
Surry had already changed her position and fired a few magical missiles to test her opponent's spell resistance. As expected , her spell dissolved before striking the demon. She agreed with the demon's assessment of her profession . Wizards had to be careful with their use of magic. They did not have the raw power of sorcerers . Their magic had to be wielded like a fine rapier, not a massive club.
Talia spotted the failed spell and brought down a pillar of fire onto her foe. She laughed as she sensed the battle was soon to be over. "Poor little pretend priestess , I can understand why you hate me so. How can you hope to compare to me. You are an ugly unattractive shrew, while I am a beautiful elven goddess. My new body accentuates my exotic looks even more don't you think?"
Surry resisted the fiery spell, but the unholy portions of it burned her skin. She waited patiently despite the pain . Talia's taunts were really getting annoying. She knew she wasn't attractive as the other half elves or even elves, but she made peace with that a long time ago. Or at least she thought she had. She wasn't beautiful like her mother Brita, she lacked all of her soft curves and charms. She accepted her situation calmly, but grew mad when it was thrown in her face like Talia was doing. She was also mad that Talia used a fire spell on her, that was her area of expertise and it was a professional insult to have fire used against her.
Another ring of blades appeared and one of them slashed Surry deeply. She scrambled away as Talia spotted her and gave chase.
"Run , run, you spoiled "princess"! Nothing I hate more then you pampered ice elf tramps. How dare you come to the southern lands after your own was despoiled , then act all high and mighty amongst us commoners. I hate you pathetic refugees . Especially you half elves. Was your mother raped by the humans? Did she enjoy herself while giving mock protests? Maybe she prostituted herself to some human for a few days protection and food? I shall enjoy grinding your half breed bones .", sneered Talia as she pursued the Surry.
Surry snapped. That last bit was too much for her. It was one thing to insult her and her friends but her comments on Brita's honor was too much. Even though she constantly questioned her mother's purity herself, deep down she knew her mother was a good and honest woman. It was the only thing that kept her sane through the poverty and loneliness. She had hoped to draw out this fight and trick Talia to reveal the source of her powers. The plan seemed to be working well, but the last insult set off the cold and calculating half elf.
Surry stopped and intoned a quick spell. Talia lost her balance as a flaming wall swept around her. The demon was surprised as her fire resistance was overcome by the intense scorching flames. She attempted to crash through the wall, but noticed a bars made of flames and force had been placed around her as well. Her skin was burned as she struggled in her double fiery prison. She attempted a teleport spell while in the cage but was shocked when nothing happened.
Surry stared at her , even though the fires roared around the demon, Talia could hear her tormentors voice loud and clear . "Don't even think of travel magic, I've already hit you with a dimensional anchor, force cage and of course a fire wall. I could have used tentacles on you , but a slut like you would probably enjoy it. You could make fun of my friends, my magic , even my looks...but the venom you spread of Brita is too much. Prepare to die.". Surry continued her dominance by striking the demoness with a black ray , draining her strength and any chance of escape. Her 2 "pet" blades repeated slashed and hacked at the caged demon.
"RAWWWRRR", from out of the woods emerged a massive dire bear. It was as big as the boar demon from earlier and towered over Surry. It raised a paw towards the wizard, before getting on all fours and dashed towards her.
"You forget a druid's greatest weapon! Let's see how many spells you have left to handle my pet!", screeched the burning demon.
A hurtling blue grey streak struck the bear like a thunderbolt . A cloud of leaves and dirt erupted from the unexpected explosion. When they cleared only a frenzied blue grey horse emerged . It wildly bit and stomped the clearly dead bear relentlessly.
"I was hoping this was going to be just between us girls, but clearly this is amateur hour.", sighed a confident Surry at her trapped and dieing prey. She paused and smiled at her suddenly fearful burning foe. She drew an exquisite black scimitar with a fiercely burning white blade and whispered to the dieing demon, " Did you know my mother is a paladin? I didn't follow her path, but I did pick up a few tips about fighting demons. Nothing beats them like a blessed cold iron blade she use to say. Lets test out her theory, shall we?"
The wizard plunged the scimitar skillfully into the shrieking demons heart. It thrashed weakly in its prison as black blood sprayed from the wound. Its fate was sealed. " Well what do you know? Guess Brita was right. Getting beat by a flat chested half breed with second rate powers and loser allies must be a real bitch isn't it?"
Surry watched the demon's corpse burn from her unnaturally hot flames. Even a fire elemental would feel the effects of her fire spells. She saw the damage her spells were causing in the grove but paid them no attention. She saw more demons slowly gathering around her. They seemed unsure if they wish to challenge the person that just slew their mistress. Surry thought there was no need to prolong this any longer, she doubted any of the minions would have the information she needed. She intoned a fireball then quickly intoned another at her uncertain foes. Fire and the sound of burning demons erupted through the grove. The wizard erupted in a carefree grin, she wondered if there would be any trees left to guard over when this was done. She wondered if she even cared.
Fetch slew the pair of skeletal demons before him with his hammer. It took a while and was a quite a struggle but he finally vanquished them. They were similar to the bubba demon that slew Hank and he felt some pride in avenging his old comrade. Afterwards he ran towards Vanna, but the elf seemed to have things in hand. Before he reached her, she got up and scattered her remaining attackers. They tried to run, but she calmly grabbed one with her iron grip. She brought the struggling creature towards her with one hand, while windmilling the top of his skull with her other hand. The demon screamed as his head exploded from the force of her blow. The demons regrouped and surrounded her, but Fetch doubted they would present a problem to the seemingly unstoppable elf.
Fetch checked on Dietrich and saw he had almost half a dozen vulture demons on him . He was covered with minor wounds and cuts, but his opponents bore deep slashes and cuts on them. Despite the spores growing out of his body, the Walrus knight relentlessly attacked his foes. Fetch sensed he needed help but a scream from Henrietta's house distracted him. The gnome and Yasmina were in trouble.
He turned around and rushed into the house. Four more of the black skeletal creatures were advancing on his aide and the gnome. They were both screeching in high pitch female voices. Yasmina swung a heavy oaken table at a creature and smashed it into the wall. Everyone in the room was stunned by his sudden surge of strength. Fetch took the opportunity and summoned one of his most powerful prayers. A demon suddenly collapsed into a ball of blacken bone, then another followed suit. The stunned demon and the remaining demon stared at their slain comrades and saw the suddenly fearsome cleric behind them. The stunned demon attempted to rise, but Yasmina flattened it with his foot. The other attempted to jump through a shattered window, but Henrietta spoiled his jump with a sudden gust of wind spell. The creature crashed into the wall but imploded into a ball of bone and blood before he could react to the small wizard. The one at Yasmina's foot also fell prey to Fetch's frightening spell.
Henrietta was unsure of who to be afraid of more, the demons attacking her house, or this young man with his terrifying display of power. "Wh..What are you? Are you a god?" , she asked in a small terrified tone.
"I'm just doing my job. Ma'am.", Fetch said before returning to the battle.
Fetch lost sight of Dietrch when he returned. Most of the melee had drifted away from the clearing . He saw no sign of Vanna or Dietrch and their respective attackers. He hopped on a smashed tree and looked for his friends. He remembered Trip was engaged with a Nalfeshnee or boar demon earlier. Surely the little guy needed his assistance . He scanned the forest from his vantage point and saw a large demon on his back thrashing wildly as a mechanical halfling fired crossbow bolts repeatedly into his skull. Fetch shuddered at the creature's fate.
The cleric remembered Surry had the fiercest opponent. He vaguely remembered the demon identification lessons he received with the Great Host. Her foe was second only to the mighty Balors. He spotted the half elf, with the demon in a fiery cage, lecturing and taunting the creature mercilessly as it burned in flames and was slashed by animate swords . She threw random fireballs into the woods, and he saw exploding trees and demons . He wondered what would be a worse way to die, to be helpless while crossbows were shot in his skull, or to be trapped and burned while being lectured by Surry. He shuddered at the thought of both demises.
He spotted the succubus he saw earlier. They were the least "unnatural" demons that attacked. He hoped to be able to throw his hammer at them , but was disappointed to see Tyris cleaning her rapier standing above the 2 slain demonesses. He nodded at her from a distance and she somehow saw and nodded back. He struggled to see how she killed them. There were no visible wounds on their bodies but pools of dark blood were forming around them. Perhaps she got them between the wings or in the armpits, he shrugged.
Fetch signaled for Tyris to follow him but she vanished from sight again. He sighed and decided to regroup back at Henrietta's house and await the others. The demon's numbers grew after their initial attack and he wondered how many more were there. He hollered for his companions to join him, better to fight the remaining creatures as a group then individuals.
Suddenly a dark shadow appeared above him, and a massive creature of darkness and flame descended from the sky. It had a flaming whip and a blade of lightning. It landed between him and the house, and roared towards the heaven. Even more demons appeared from thin air. Fetch recognized the demon had gated more allies to him. More traditional looking succubus, bubba, rutterkin , and even chasme demons appeared.
Fetch had encountered the large creature before , it was a balor. The beast was similar to the ones he saw in Amarath except this one had the large head of a baboon, wore dark iron armor, and had a belt of elven skulls. The others were minor demons, but there was at least a dozen of them.
The band of demons stared evilly at Fetch. Fetch was ready for a fight, but wondered where his companions were. Most were still engaged and looked drained from the initial wave of attackers. He knew Tyris was in the area, and the pair of them would give the demons a good fight. He readied his hammer waiting for their first move.
Suddenly surprised cries in abyssal and angry shouts in infernal filled the air. Fetch understood both languages but it was hard to make them out in the chaos. It sounded like "we're under attack!"...and ..."slay those abyssers ...our lord commands it..."
Through the chaos he saw Dahana shoot a succubus and pouncing on her injured form in glee. He saw a one eye bearded devil with a broken horn ,a missing ear and no nose tear open a rutterkin with its glaive. He saw a muscular imp punch a hole in the large bulbous eye of a Chasme before flying away .
The large baboon demon looked at the chaos around him, and bowed towards Fetch. In a cloud of smoke it vanished.
"Is everyone ok? ", asked Fetch for the third time. His companions groaned yes . The group had returned and witnessed the small skirmish between demon and devil. They were hurt but not that seriously . Vanna seemed unaffected by his healing but showed no sign of discomfort. Fetch noticed that her arm was badly mauled and curiously found iron under her skin. A prosthetic perhaps? Dietrch staggered back to the group with a hefty swagger in his walk. He boasted about killing 3 vulture demons before they ran. After days of menial porter work the battle gave him his confidence back. Fetch knew Trip didn't normally take trophies, but the small warforged looked ridiculous dragging the huge tusked boar/elf head back . Freiki helped the struggling warforge but they made little progress till Dietrch gave them a hand. Surry had a few deep cuts and burns on her, but she seemed ok. The beating Bel gave her was much worse then the one she received today. Fetch could hear her whisper to herself ," Am I really that flat chested?"
Henrietta and Yasmina rushed out of the damaged house and greeted the victors." You ...you guys did it. That was amazing! "
They seemed reluctant to approach Fetch though. His frightening display of power had them both scared.
"I'm a priest! That's what we do!", Fetch explained, " Look I'm not even that good of a priest. You know how guys hit a learning wall when they reach their potential, well that's me. I haven't learned any new prayers for several months now. I've reached the height of my limited potential."
Surry shook her head at the dim witted Fetch. If it was anyone else she would have suspected they were jesting, but she knew Fetch's statement was spoken in honesty." You haven't learned any new prayers, because there aren't any more to learn. Sheesh, you can make half a dozen creatures implode, you can summon your god, I'm surprised you don't make a little pocket dimension love nest to shack up in."
"I can do that?", asked Fetch curiously. Tyris smiled and winked at Surry in approval.
Henrietta turned her attention to Trip, he was the smallest one there but killed the biggest demon. He even had the skull to prove it. The small wizard was most impressed with his deed.
Yasmina was at a loss for words from the carnage before him , after a while he finally composed himself and spoke," Is it over? I saw the big one with the whip get away... Will they be back?"
Fetch nodded, he wondered who the demon was and was it the boss or just another lackey.
Baalphzon landed on his shoulder and pointed to a large scar on his back,"Hey can you heal this. I took this blow while establishing who the alpha male was with my new pack. Its a cursed wound it won't heal unless powerful magic is applied."
Fetch nodded and healed the familar with a wave of his hand. "I wonder how he survived .", he thought.
Baalphzon mentally replied, " I admit I had help, ...your help in fact. A familar gains not only the skills and knowledge of his master , but also a portion of his physical power. Despite Surry's constant put downs, you are the Warmaster and even a fraction of your power is overwhelming. You could say it was a grossly unfair match to begin with."
The imp flew to Surry and interrupted her thoughts, "Treekeeper Surry , may I present to you , your new guardians."
Surry looked at the creatures and whispered to Baalphzon, "Hey I recognize those guys. Pixietrampler stomped that Erinyies ...Dahana I think her name was . And I recall shooting the horn off that one eyed guy."
Baalphzon smiled, "Excellent, you've already established contact with them, and proven your dominance. It will be easy to bind them to your will now."
Surry smirked, "I dunno...binding devils to your will is kind of low class...ghetto even..Like what kind of loser commands devils to do his bidding? ", she giggled as she motioned towards Fetch.
The wizard talked to the imp then composed herself and turned to her guardians," Ok, here's the deal I'm offering you. You can agree to serve me for a modest term of lets say 10 years each or you can refuse and Baalphzon here will ship your batorian asses back to the arena. You will do as I say and obey my wishes. I've dealt with your kind before, so if you attempt to subvert my intentions or twist my orders to suit your whims...well lets say some of you have met me on the battlefield before, and know I don't take shit ..especially from guys like you. Unlike Baalphzon I won't settle for an eye." . To emphasize her point she stared at the groin of Arbatos.
A few gasps slipped the lips from the small band of infernals. "Hey Surry, stop scaring the devils. Better to use the carrot then the stick , I always say.", smiled Baalphzon.
Fetch was attempting to put out the fires when Captain Malik and a patrol marched into the burning grove. "Oh Captain Fetch, I didn't expect to find you here. " Malik surveyed the dead and dissolving demons and remained cautious .
" Oh hey Malik. We got most of them , but a few escaped or are hiding in the grove I think.", Fetch replied casually and with a smile.
Malik nodded, "Well I was going to ask you if you had any combat experience , but I'll take that as a yes."
Fetch looked at his companions and saw that Baalphzon's band had vanished. Magic or were they hiding? The cleric didn't approve of using devil's as guardians, but he wasn't going to voice his opinion since he employed one as well. He thought he would be a bad role model for Surry if he acted like a hypocrite. Best get rid of Malik's group now before they saw something they shouldn't.
"We got everything in hand here I think Captain. .", Fetch said with his best authoritative voice.
Malik signaled his group to fall back, he had enough trouble dealing with wolves and baboons. He didn't need to mess with demons as well.