Ch24: Securing the Battlements
After appearing right at the top tower of Bastion's Keep, Tyreal and our group went right to work at telling the whole populace of the battlements about the impending battle to come. And nearly everyone believed us, only because of the fact that our team consisted of 4 zombies, a succubus, an imp, a mythical Horadrim, Shen (he was quite popular with the soldiers), and an Angel. So those that didn't really agree with us had no choice but to bear arms, especially since a good 90 percent of them believed our tale. And, after about an hour of preparation, a rumbling noise could be heard outside the keep.
"Thar she blows boys! Time to fight some demon scum!" I exclaimed at the soldiers in the Keep, rushing forward to lead the charge as the demon monstrosities began to make their way from the crater and to Bastion's Keep. "By the Lords of Hell! Look at the size of some of these things!" Serena exclaimed as I rushed forward with Lilith, Megan, and Serena to fight the battle. "You're telling me you've never seen Demonic Hellbearers?" I asked her as I noted that she was staring at the giant snake-like demons specifically. "I've only heard of them in rumors from my previous lives, but I've never seen one before!" she admitted.
And thus, the battle commenced as the troops and our group began to go across the battlements to defeat any monsters that scaled the walls. And while the troops and our group dispatched of the Demonic Hellbearers and Fallen Minions/Shaman/Overseers quite nicely, the real threat among the bunch were the Sky Flyers. We saw just how dangerous these guys were just at the fact of how they were able to simply pick up people with swift movements and fling them right off of the walls! "Be careful about these Flying enemies, guys! They are by far the deadliest of the bunch!" I exclaimed as I slashed at any that came close to me from above. Their weak spot was fairly easy to hit, as it happened to be in three spots. Either striking their wings or right in their chest was enough to end them.
Our group's job was simple, but difficult. We had to go around the battlements of Bastion's Keep and light the signal fires surrounding the different parts of the towering walls. And with each fire that we had to light, there was at least 1 Demonic Hellbearer to deal with. After about 30 minutes of running in the cold and lighting the fires, our group had successfully lit all of them. It was then that we saw a visage of Azmodan appear in front of us as we were about to enter the second phase of getting the catapults to activate. "So, Zombie Nephalem. You think that you are so clever enough to play with the fires of hell?" Azmodan asked me with a sinister snarl.
"Azmodan... Belial may have been a liar, but I never thought I'd be able to see the 'most famed battle commander of the Burning Hells'. Seriously, that title is fucking stupid," Serena sneered right back at him. I could tell that Azmodan was angered at this as he growled at her comment. "Oh, little Javina. You always were the absolute worst when it came to following our demonic heirarchy," Azmodan smiled sadistically at her. "Hmph! I figured you'd know my name from when I was a succubus, you big tub of lard," Serena pouted at him.
When she called him THAT name, not only did it make me and Lilith giggle a bit, but it made his visage disappear with a loud growl of anger. We then proceeded forward and began to attack our way to the first catapult, making it through the bridge raising section without a sweat. When we reached the first catapult, the soldier there was one of the ones that didn't believe us, but now he looked at us with a stern look.
"I'm not one to admit when I'm wrong, but this time... this time it's just too much! We need help to raise these catapults and if anyone can help us, you lot can!" he exclaimed as he pointed over to the gate with Demon Troopers trying to break it down. "You'll need to free the recruits to help us get this catapult raised," he said. "Of course! Consider yourself lucky that we arrived when we did!" Megan exclaimed as we rushed forward and we attacked the different Demon Troopers with our own unique skills. I attacked with Blizzard, Megan attacked with her fiery arrows, Serena attacked with her claws, and Lilith attacked with her immense ramming powers. Seriously, one ram of those horns could send a Demon Trooper flying off the edge from the northern side, which was the longest stretch of this whole place!
"Okay! Let's protect the recruits while they raise the catapult!" the man said as the men started to come out from behind the partially-destroyed door and begun to pull the chains to raise the catapult. Monsters tried to hinder our progress, they really did, but with all of our skills, most of them were killed off with a single hit each! The first catapult was up with very little effort at all. "Now let's move onto the other catapults! There should be 2 more to go," I ordered my allies. "Okay!" Megan exclaimed as we rushed forward and did the same thing with the next catapult, having to defeat 6 different Demonic Hellbearers in order to secure the 2nd one.
When we arrived at the final catapult, I noticed that there were only 2 ropes and that there was only one person. "Are you all alone here? You look like you could use some help," I said to him, noticing that he was one of the ones that didn't believe in the stories we told, which made me feel bad for him. "Of course I'm bloody well alone! And don't you dare try and say anything about all this! Instead, less words, and more actions! Help me get this damn catapult raised!" he ordered me himself. "Got it! I'll help you raise it. Everyone else? You're in charge of watching our backs," I told Megan, Serena, and Lilith. "You got it!" they exclaimed as I took the chains of the catapult and decided to use my right arm to do most of the pulling, since it wouldn't fall off.
I had to admit, even though it looked quite easy to do in the game, pulling on the chains to raise the catapult was a real chore to do! You had to constantly be pulling and readjusting your hands so that the chains wouldn't slip away from you and make the catapult fall more. It took about a minute of pulling on both our ends, but me and the soldier finally got the catapult raised the whole way, a bloodbath happening behind us with my allies having defeated all the monsters that tried to impede us. "Right... captain told me I had to watch my temper... do me a favor, and don't mention that I shouted at you a little, a'right?" the soldier asked with a worried look. "My lips are sealed," I smiled at him as I activated the Town Portal and warped our group back to the main part of Bastion's Keep.
And who's visage would show up upon us entering than the face of Azmodan himself. "While you tinkered with your paltry catapults, my legions have breached a hole in your Keep. All they have to do now is take the Soulstone and I will be victorious!" Azmodan guffawed. "You really think that a hole will be the thing that destroys us? You're a fucking idiot, you know that?" I smirked at him as his face disappeared.
"Okay, here's the plan," I said to Megan, Lilith, Tyreal, and Serena. "I'm going to go to the armory and get the aid of Leah to help us patch up that hole. In the meantime, you guys go down to the Keep's lower half and prevent any demons from coming up to this part. If my plan works, that hole will be patched up like new in no time, okay?" I asked the group. "Heh. I've been wanting to be in on the action for quite some time. Alright! Let's defend this fortress to the last man!" Tyreal exclaimed as he rushed his group to the lower half as demonic troops began to pour out of it. I really needed my plan to work. If it didn't, we may not have an easy time protecting the Soulstone.