"I should take up do it yourself surgery, dragon dentistry, or maybe sign up as a torture chamber tester," grumbled Jimmy as he slipped from shadow to shadow.
A few weeks ago, Jimmy was happy taking etiquette lessons, doing presentations in front of an unappreciative class about some geezer general, and sticking out like a sore thumb in an overall snooty group of aristocrats he had no business hanging around. Somehow between then and now, he had fought a group of artifact robbing knights, been bushwacked by one of his old colleagues, a Valkyrie, and a wereshark? , found his old mentor and a host of shadow demons, befriended some horselord princeling who had some grudge on an old romantic rival, had to deal with the Baroness being kidnapped, got beaten up by a Marilith disguised as a housewife, rediscover his long lost love, and killed some Greater Succubus that was oddly familiar but he couldn't put a finger on.
Even after all that nonsense, whatever fates that governed his turbulent life would not let him rest as he slowly crept up to some mind blasting, dimension shattering Asura lord attempting to summon a lower planar horde to butcher whatever got in their way.
Chupawata, the maiden of torments or whatever Sammy thought it was, was a terrifying entity. Simply staring at it should have driven him mad, but Jimmy's mind was being kept intact by Sammy's enchantment, which should keep him safe until the magic was dispelled. His foe was a towering blue skinned, nine headed, ten or perhaps twelve armed, demi goddess of destruction. Or maybe simply a god, since Jimmy didn't see any breasts on the creature, which probably meant it wasn't Chupawhatsitsface, and might have been the Eclipse demon thing, or perhaps it was Trevorsoon or however you said its name. Regardless, Jimmy had never met a god, let alone fight one.
There were tales by the Baroness, Sir Jose, and even Martinez of gods and goddesses walking around the fair people of Grom, unseen and unnoticed, but to Jimmy they were just stories. The god of chance disguising himself as a small squirrel, a vagabond mercenary, or an albino tiefling skiff driver was a good one for the children, the goddess of death who sang off-key in taverns was most likely an invention by poorly skilled bards to stay the hand of an overly critical tomato throwing audience, and the innkeeper god of war at the top of the world that broke Ogremoch's back was most likely a simple exaggeration of the common retired adventurer innkeeper trope that got out of hand. One of his favorite of course was the immortal epic heroine that was charged to defend some dark artifact. She lost it of course, and was cursed to wander the world till she recovered it and or destroy it. He liked that one because it seemed the most tragic of all the legendary phoney baloney god stories, and Jimmy had a soft spot for tragedies.
Still, as Jimmy faced off against the Eclipse King or Trevorsoon, he wished he had one of those gods or goddesses watching his back. From the background he could see Sammy initiating combat with the Asurendra, but he knew it wouldn't last long. He had never fought that particular type of Asura before but was told it was on par with a Balor or Pitfiend, creatures that he had fought or at least encountered before, and he knew that Sammy, no matter how brave or skilled, would not be able to handle one on one.
The girl was smart though, and appeared to open up with a salvo of spells against the 'Golden Destroyer' to catch him off guard, and then remained in a defensive posture to draw him out. The Asurendra erected a sword barrier which was dispelled by Sammy's runes, then threw a few rocks which were easily dodged, giving it some pause. Jimmy knew Sammy's plan would only delay the inevitable though, once the Asura realized their difference in power, it would go at her with all his might.
The distraction didn't go unnoticed though. Eclipse King or Trevorsoon or whatever his name was stopped its incantations briefly to observe the interloper.
"Who dares to interrupt Taraksun!" shouted the nine heads as one as it briefly paused its incantations.
Jimmy frowned, he was still pulling for it being named Chupawhatsitsfacea.
Sammy did not reply however as she was too busy falling back against the assault of the Golden Destroyer, it's bulk seemed even greater now that it towered a good twenty feet over her.
Jimmy on the other hand saw his opportunity and took his shot. While he didn't claim to understand the exact anatomy of his enemy, he'd hunt demons enough to know to go for the eyes. With it being distracted, Jimmy lined his shot, and let loose a deadly shot, a bolt carved by an Eladrin fletcher, blessed inadvertently by Grand Crusader Sarin himself on the ruse that it was for hunting vampires.
Time seem to stop as Jimmy loosed his bolt. As he released he realized this was probably the most important shot he ever took. Jimmy's aim was true as his bolt pierced one of the monster's many eyes, which was quite surprising since he half expected his shot to bounce off. The creature screeched more in anger than in pain, but it revealed Jimmy's chance. Though Jimmy had no illusions about killing the monster outright, since it had another seventeen more eyes, it did redirect its focus as several of its hands covered its wounded face. Jimmy bounded up to its while it was distracted, did a jump and a flip, tapping it hard on the elbow to distract it midjump before yanking the scroll from his grasp.
Yank perhaps was too strong of a word, since there was no way in hell, or whatever this place was that he could wrest the scroll from its grasp with pure strength alone, but he did give it a slight half twist and a simple tug. Just like a pickpocket on the streets of Lower Lueder, Jimmy had the scroll in his hands without Taraksun realizing.
Or at least that's what he hoped. Though he did manage to weasel it from the Asura lord's grip, one of its other eight non wounded heads managed to spot his chicanery. Fortunately for Jimmy it was too late for Taraksun as he managed to land into a patch of shadows and slip out of sight behind some loose stones as he feigned himself to become part of the background.
'Hiding in plain sight' was one of the greatest achievements of any stealth based profession, from the enigmatic ninja, to the Royal Assassins of Grom, the thieves of the Teamsters, and even a lowly demon hunter like himself, but it was far from a perfect defense. Though it did defeat simple magic, like detection spells, and even higher forms of magic, like true sight, it did nothing against creatures that can 'sense' through tremors, have acute non sight based senses like hearing and smell, or could detect a creature's life essence like the undead. Jimmy had the hearing and smell ability covered due to his time as a rogue and his use of scent masking musks, but he still didn't have an answer for creatures like…earth elementals and xorns, or spectres or ghosts.
Not that it matter though, since given the way Taraksun was raging at a spot where Jimmy was thankfully not there, it appeared that even a demigod had its limits.
As Jimmy watched the Asura lord rain fire and lightning at the spot he was definitely not there, Jimmy wondered what to do next. He hadn't expect to get this far into purloining the scroll and wasn't sure about his next move. Destroying the scroll would be the logical choice, but he doubt he could do it. If it was similar to the one that Martinez took from that Rakshasa Rajah, then it would be nigh invulnerable. The Baroness had already tried destroying it, but its artifact status proved quite a problem. He might be able to sneak out and hope the ritual collapses on itself, but the portal Tarkasun had already opened seemed pretty big already and showed no signs of shrinking. He ruled bargaining out, his life and Sammy's and throw in a million gold for the scroll, but he knew that would be a rookie blunder; as a professional he knew that it would never turn out in their favour. Asura's weren't wheeler dealers like their Baatezu cousins but they were known to bend or break bargains that weren't clearly in their favour. His last option was he could simply hide and wait it out before rescuing the Baroness, Chloe, and Nymk, but he wasn't sure if he could do that with Sammy in her current predicament. She was holding her own against the Golden Destroyer, but it wouldn't be long before its attacks grew more aggressive, or worse…Taraksun joined the fray in frustration for losing the scroll.
"Thief! Surrender my scroll now and be rewarded for your boldness! Bathe in the fruits of my eventual victory, or suffer the eternal torments of Abaddon! " threatened Taraksun as his fists pummeled the floors while his voice shook the foundations of the walls.
Jimmy kept perfectly still even though he was tempted to shake his head. He had his doubts before, but he was fairly certain now that he correct in his analysis about making a deal with the Asura. From the tone of his voice, Jimmy discerned there would be no bathing in fruits or treasure, and a lot of eternal torments delivered to him if he surrendered the scroll.
They were in a stalemate, at least until his cover was blown, but Jimmy was fine with that. Not many can claim to thwart an Asura lord, even for a little while. Given that it still had seventeen good eyes, Jimmy wasn't sure how long he could maintain his guise, but hoped it would be enough to give Sammy an opportunity of escape.
Thankfully Jimmy's ploy did hold Taraksun's attention as it did not turn towards the battle between Sammy and the Asurendra, buying her a little more time. He was pretty sure Sammy heard the Asura's lord's bellows and was seeking a route of escape, but her foe was pretty relentless in blocking her as its attacks grew more aggressive. However, instead of using its size and reach to its advantage, it leapt at her, seemingly ready to crush her with its overwhelming mass, but transformed itself mid-jump into a much smaller golden clad warrior.
Its feint caught Sammy off guard who missed wide with her spear, and suffered a heavy slash on her shoulder from the fiend. Sammy staggered back and barely healed her wound before the golden clad warrior pressed hard against her with several wide slashes. The priestess managed to block the first two blows with her spear, but the third slipped through her defenses and almost disembowelled her.
Against all his instincts Jimmy gasped, and at once he knew he made a mistake as seventeen eyes stopped and glared at him with all the wrath of Abaddon.