Xanthus rode into Darlune as the sun was just past the peak of its arc through the sky. He rode straight for the Temple of Sune. He rode his horse right up the steps and into the temple. He secretly enjoyed watching the priesthood scatter before him. As he expected the priesthood rallied quickly to put a stop to whatever mischief he might be up to and that brought out Angelous. The Planetar had lost the frostbitten look that he'd come out of the Hells with and wore fine armor.
"Angelous!" Xanthus bellowed, his rich voice echoing through the large room.
"Why have you come for me?" The planetar demanded.
"Cimmera has sent me to call you to her aid," Xanthus dismounted and approached the winged man.
"What?" Angelous instantly tensed to a battle ready state, "Where is my love? How may I assist her?"
"She is barricaded in a farmhouse with three orphans. The clergy of Cyric and the undead they raise are expected to attack her position, if they have not already."
"Where?" The angelic being demanded.
Xanthus pulled out his map and showed him where the farm was.
"Priests," Angelous called out as he leaped into the air, his wings working to hold his position. He fluttered around, unable to hover but clearly trying to. "Follow. Your High Priestess is under attack. I will fly ahead and join the battle."
The Planetar twisted his wings and arced out of the building, bounding through the doors in a burst of speed and folding his wings slightly to clear the frame. Once outside he pumped his wings and flew off at speed towards the farm where his love awaited his aid.
From there Xanthus, following the Nephilim's orders, rode to the offices of the city and bought the farm and several surrounding farms that had been abandoned. He put Hypatia and Cimmera's names on the titles so that no one priesthood could lay claim to the land. He hoped Hypatia would not be cross with him for taking that liberty.
Then, finally, with the sun near to setting, he rode to the garrison where Agathon was seeing to the evening devotions. He did not ride his new horse into the garrison proper but dismounted in the yard and handed the reigns to a stable boy so that the horse would be well tended. Then he ran into the garrison.
Agathon looked up as Xanthus ran into the long hall that served as a chapel within the garrison. "Xanthus," He frowned in mild censure, "I was not sure if you had abandoned your calling. You left without notice or permission."
Xanthus skidded to a stop and flushed, "I…I followed after Gabriel. I," He stammered out his excuse, "thought he could use a friend."
"Hmmmm," I don't recall either of you thinking Hypatia could use a friend when he decided to turn on her."
Xanthus stood frozen by the stern glare Agathon held on him. "Sir," He knelt, "A celestial creature gave me a message for you." He hoped that might distract Agathon from his transgressions.
"Is that so?" Agathon stepped down from the small dias upon which sat an altar. "And you just happened to stumble upon a celestial creature while you were out, without my leave, mitigating a just punishment I set for one of your brothers?"
"Uhh…" Xanthus gulped, "Yes, sir."
"Very well then," Agathon stepped town the middle aisle towards Xanthus, "What did this celestial creature say?"
"She…um…She said," Xanthus glanced at the other paladins in the room and realized this was a poor place to have burst into, but he needed to get Agathon's help for Hypatia. "She said that Hypatia is the Judge."
All sense of righteous anger fled Agathon to be replaced by surprise and then frustration. "Are you kidding me?"
Xanthus could only shake his head in the negative. "She also, um, she also kind of implied that if you'd considered the Judge could be a woman you would have found her sooner."
That was when Agathon started swearing— inventively and creatively.
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Elrithradia set Hypatia down on one of the scaffolds that ran in spiraling levels around the machine. The nephilim fluttered to a landing on the top level and began casting herself.
Hypatia charged down the ramps and around the scaffolding, slaying anyone who tried to stop her. The machinists and gnomish engineers dove off the ramps rather than be killed by her.
Casting her spell the nephilim called into existence large emerald panes of force that she placed strategically on the ramps to keep the priesthood of Cyric from charging back up. She also resolved several of them around her so that she could continue casting without taking weapons fire from archers.
Icarus set Valen down on the floor of the cavern and the two tieflings joined the battle. They attacked clusters of priests and mercenaries that Farquhar had summoned while Hypatia cleared the ramps and scaffolding of the huge machine. Valen recognized Farquhar and made the high priest his primary target. Other combatants were mere distractions as he fought his way over to confront the evil man.
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Farquhar had been pushing his builders and priests unmercifully for days. The priestess and her allies would be upon them soon enough. They had barely escaped from the temple. The next battle had seen her with but a handful of allies defeat his entire army in the graveyard. Antonius had mishandled their hired tiefling and the treacherous fiend had betrayed them. It was an insult that still rankled.
He knew she would not stop until she found him. Together the priestess and her tiefling lover were almost unstoppable. If he could separate them though, find a crack in their bond he might destroy their love. His god would reward him greatly for such a prize. Then when his god had justly rewarded him he would destroy the Weave and the Shadow Weave and become a god himself.
He alone recognized the swarm of beetles for the magical tell that it was. "They've found us!" He sounded the alarm. "Prepare…"
The priesthood of Cyric smoothly began their counteroffensive. Their numbers appeared to double then triple as spells resolved and more and more clerics and fighters appeared in the room.
A column of fire landed almost on top of the scale model of the control mechanism, scattering several priests and singing their robes. That broke their concentration and their sudden allies disappeared as quickly as they had appeared.
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Illusions! I snorted and knew I'd have to rely upon my other senses to take out my enemies. My eyes would deceive me, fooled by their fell illusions but my nose could pick up the stench of fear and desperation on them from across the room. My sensitive hearing could pick up the sound of their mumbled spells even through the din of battle. I was no fool to be trifled with. As soon as one of the treacherous berks opened their mouths to begin casting I homed in on them, the sound drawing me in and their stench singling them out from the illusions that surrounded them.
Their carefully thought out spells may have distracted a man and bought them more time to cast yet more spells but I am not a man. It was satisfying to see the horrified realization and fear ripple through them as I began to unerringly cut them down in the midst of their castings.
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Antonius opened a door and a slender figure wearing light black armor stepped out of it and into the room.
"The tiefling with the red hair and no wings is your target…but…" Antonius saw an opportunity to advance his own position. "Wait until he has killed the high priest."
"You're the one paying me." The man watched the battle, two balanced daggers sliding into his hands from hidden sheathes in his close fitting sleeves. He stepped into a shadow and hid, moving unseen from shadow to shadow with ease.
Farquhar cast slow on Valen and smirked when the spell realized and the huge tiefling's reactions were noticeably delayed.
"Were you aware that someone who wielded the power of your true name, tiefling, could rid you of your demonic taint?"
Shock from those words, that unthinkable idea, caused Valen to hesitate on his weapon swing but he focused and powered through, just missing the nimble Farqhar.
The almost unnoticeable hesitation did not go unseen by the evil High Priest. A cruel smile curved his lips.
"Don't tell me you didn't think of it?" He taunted sliding behind a stone column, keeping just out of the reach of Valen's flail. "No matter, I'm sure Hypatia did. She's clever, isn't she? Clever enough to survive the hells, find the Knower of Names and a way back. Clever enough to defeat an Arch Demon. Clever enough to find me here. Surely she asked if you'd like for her to procure your true name and rid you of your taint."
Valen's flail whistled through the air, his concentration thrown off by a sudden terrible doubt. Hypatia was clever. He growled, "She wouldn't betray me."
Once again Farquhar danced out of the way. "No? You are a powerful ally. Insuring your loyalty would be…well your loyalty is priceless. Your comrade," he waived a narrow hand towards Icarus who was busy sowing death half way across the room, "Was easily enough swayed to her side."
"That's because you betrayed him," Valen clipped Farquhar with his Flail.
Farquhar dove out of the way, casting a healing spell on himself. He ran, weaving behind a cluster of his priests who turned on Valen, slowing the tiefling down.
Valen though not possessed of quiet the same acute sense of smell and hearing as Icarus could sense magical energies and also could tell the illusions from the real priests. He swung his flail almost rhythmically as he mowed them down, some in the act of casting spells.
He withstood holy fire and acid, ignoring the pain of their spells and weapons, focused upon his target. A particularly vicious swing of a mace cracked across his leg and the sound of his knee breaking could be heard even over the sounds of battle. He shouted in pain once and Hypatia was there, her gentle healing touch causing his injuries to magically vanish, restoring his flesh and faith in her. Then she was gone, chasing after Antonius who had grabbed the activation rod of the machine and was scrambling for the insertion tile.
A shower of meteors crashed around him, killing a priest he hadn't gotten to yet and wounding him but he managed to dart out of the spell effect before taking too much damage. He charged Farquhar, frightening the man into dropping his concentration, causing his spell to fizzle.
"I have to wonder why she wouldn't want to set you free from your demonic heritage. Oh!" He feigned a sudden thought, "Perhaps you never told her how much your demon blood haunts you."
"I told her," Valen blurted, unable to keep the words from spilling out. He swung his flail again but his aim was off. Doubt once again creeping in to haunt his mind.
"She knew? And she was clever enough to know there was a way but she chose not to?" Farquhar swung his own mace while diving out of the way of Valen's answering swing. The priest rolled to his feet and kept moving. He was more agile than Valen but if he slowed down for an instant the tiefling would undoubtedly kill him. "Are you sure you know her as well as you think you do? The Drow often dally with demons to solidify their power base."
Valen snarled and swung his flail. Farquhar parried with his own mace only to yelp at the pain as it got knocked out of his hand and half way across the cavern. Valen stalked him slowly, his eyes glowing red, his tail whipping behind him, "Hypatia loves me."
"Oh, right," Farquhar sneered, "Or maybe she loves being the hero. Maybe she knew that if you were fully human you'd be her equal and she didn't want the competition. Maybe she wanted to keep you as her personal one man army while she takes all of the credit for your blood, sweat and battle prowess."
Farquhar stopped shrinking back, confident he had the tiefling's attention. "Maybe she's not as good as she seems and she needs you around to do her dirty work. Perhaps she already has your replacement lined up." He waived a hand towards Icarus to make his insinuation clear.
Valen swung his flail and crushed Farquhar's skull. His tail twitched from side to side in jerky motions. He turned and charged a cluster of hired fighters, loosing himself in the motions of battle.
Once the tiefling had killed the high priest the man stepped from the shadows, swinging with his daggers. He backstabbed the huge tiefling with one and missed with the other.
Valen swung around but his assailant had already danced nimbly out of the way and he lost him in the shadows. The fighters he'd attacked surrounded him and he attacked, dodged and parried as fast as he could move. The wound from the assassin slowed him down.
Deekin sang his song of doom while using his crossbow to great effect. One of his bolts hit one of the fighters Valen was battling and finished him off, permitting Valen to focus on the others while keeping an eye out for his shadowy assailant.
Elrithradia the nephilim cast spells as fast as she could. Her Emerald panes began to flicker and wink out as the spell's duration ended.
The priesthood that supported Farquhar had exhausted themselves raising another army of undead but were unable to put numbers in the field like they had the day before.
The exhaustion was crippling them. They lost their focus as often as not and those lapses proved deadly.
Icarus cut down priests, undead and strongmen alike. He was in his element. His fine new armor protected him well and his sword thirsted for blood.
Hypatia targeted the priesthood of Cyric almost exclusively. She swung Enserric with surprising efficiency. Her months of battle and training with Valen evidenced in her newfound skill.
"My father always wanted me to be a fighter!" Enserric shouted happily.
"Are you draining my constitution?" Hypatia demanded as she fought a priest whose weapon was a staff. He was skilled with it and she was finding herself hard pressed to parry his blows and find an opening to strike through. The two moved around in a deadly dance of weapon upon weapon.
Somewhat sheepishly Enserric answered, "I think this sword is evil."
The priest swung a little too hard and left himself open when Hypatia dodged. She thrust Enserric through his defense and finished him.
"You let yourself get sucked into an evil sword?" She demanded turning to the next foe.
"Look," Enserric answered, a bit indignantly, "It was either die or be sucked into an evil sword. What would you have done?"
"Well knock it off!" Hypatia looked around. The battle was going well but it was a distraction. They needed to destroy that machine, or at the very least take the anti-magic orb out of it.
The assassin struck at Valen again from the shadow, sneaking a dagger through to strike under the arm where there was a weak spot in his breastplate.
Valen whipped around, clipping the assassin with the tip of his flail but it was a glancing blow and did not slow him down. Valen snarled. Renewing his focus he began to twirl and spin, sensing more than seeing his all but invisible foe as he danced from shadow to shadow.
Hypatia saw Antonius watching from a doorway, cravenly staying out of battle and darted that way.
Above them Elrithradia cast a potent spell, her wing tips twitching while she sang the words.
Valen made solid contact with his enemy, a scream and tumble to the floor finally giving him a good look at the man. He swung again but the man was gone before he could connect. He heard more than saw him gulp a potion.
Elrithradia's spell resolved and all around them anything their enemies were wearing with a buckle or clasp opened up. There were shouts of consternation as armor unexpectedly slid off strongmen and priests alike.
With their armor suddenly unbuckled the fighters that had beset Valen found themselves distracted and unprotected against Valen. They fell quickly to his flail.
The shadow assassin recognized a particular technique Valen used and swore under his breath. His target was a weapons master. The priest had made this job sound easy but it was far from it. Tieflings were fierce foes under the best of circumstances. Many preferred to assassinate them in their sleep. He circled, keeping hidden in the multitude of flickering shadows in the cavern, patiently looking for an opening.
The attack came from behind and Valens tumbling could not keep him out of the way. He was beginning to feel the effects of his wounds. He connected again on the back swing, knocking his foe half way across the room. This time he saw the man gulp a potion before he got up and once again disappeared into the shadows.
Icarus laughed and continued mowing down enemies like so much grass. This would be a battle to talk about over strong ale and fine food. He'd make more jink than he'd ever had at one time in his life and despite the numbers against them he began to believe they would not only survive but triumph.
The soft glow of a healing spell surrounded him and almost distracted him. He caught Hypatia darting by out of the corner of his eye and couldn't help but mentally calculate the cost of the potion she'd just saved him. She was heading for Valen who looked to be in need of a healing himself.
Antonius would not have seen Hypatia approach, so intent was his focus on the battle between his assassin and Valen. Hypatia detoured to cast a healing spell on Valen and that brought her into Antonius's line of sight.
The assassin stepped back into the shadows and rethought the whole thing. The tiefling weapons master was difficult enough to take down alone but if he had the back up of the good priestess he may be near impossible.
In the chaos of battle Antonius dodged and weaved his way towards the machine. If he could insert the rod into the control box and activate the machine that might put an end to this battle.
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Cimmera stepped carefully through the shadows of the farmhouse, keeping an eye on the intruders. There were five fighters, two priests and she couldn't even count the number of undead shambling into the house. The undead were mindless and couldn't open doors themselves so they weren't as much of a worry. The fighters and priests could be trouble. She needed to keep them away from the children.
They began a systematic search of the farmhouse, not bothering to be quiet at all. "Farquhar said it'd just be some kids and the priestess of Sune."
"Sune, eh?" One of the fighters elbowed his comrade. "Maybe we'll have a little fun before we kill her."
"She's still a priestess," cautioned one of the priests. "She will have spells of her own."
"A woman and some brats? And he sent five of us and two of you. Bunch of cowards, the lot of ya." The merc leader sneered at the priest.
The priest drew himself up, "Only a fool underestimates a trained cleric."
Cimmera stayed hidden in the shadows and watched their progress carefully. She'd like to teach those uncouth fighters a lesson or two but she didn't have the leisure now. She needed to protect the children. They searched the front room, family room and parlor of the house and then split up to search the upstairs and kitchens at the back part of the house.
She had to keep them away from the kitchens. There were too many of them for her to hold off for very long. Xanthus had better have sent reinforcements, she thought as she stepped from one shadow on the ground floor and into another on the upper floor.
Quickly she knocked over a chair and shut herself into a closet, making sure the door sounded loud when she latched it.
Downstairs the fighters and priest who had started towards the kitchens turned and looked up towards where the sound was. The priest motioned the fighters to follow him and turned back towards the staircase.
Upstairs the fighters and priest who had already gone up the stairs ran towards the room where the high priestess lay in wait.
Cimmera waited in the shadows, controlling her breathing and holding her dagger, its blade black to keep from glinting in any light and betraying her location. She watched them open the door of the closet she had been in before stepping from shadow to shadow and out without opening the door.
They checked every nook and cranny, keeping her moving carefully in the shadows to avoid detection. They even checked under the bed.
When they decided no one was in the room they filed out. The last man lingered just a minute too long and she reached out from a shadow backstabbing him. It gave away her position but only to him and dead men tell no tales. Her dagger found his heart. She laid him down quietly and vanished into the shadows again.
Downstairs she went this time, jumping from shadow to shadow. Whenever she found a straggler she killed him. The undead were troublesome as they were too stupid to realize they couldn't see her. But she managed to stay out of their way and not give herself away.
She managed to pick off 2 of the fighters and 1 priest before they even noticed their thinning ranks. In a panic they circled back the way they had come, counting off their now dead brothers. They stood on the landing of the stairs back to back holding their torches aloft looking for a threat they could not see.
She left them then to check on the children. They were frightened but sitting quietly where she had left them. "Time to go," she whispered and opened the hatch in the floor for them. She was just about to motion Bessura over when she stopped. Something wasn't right.
The wine cellar was full dark, which would be perfect for her special training but something about these shadows filled her with dread. Very carefully she closed the hatch again and then, after a moments hesitation, bolted it shut. They were trapped in the cheese room.
She moved the children to better hiding spots and then after giving each a hug and reassuring them disappeared into the shadows again. With the wine cellar out of play she'd need to clear the house. They knew she, or something, was about though and catching them alone would be difficult.
Thankfully they had moved back up the stairs where she had made most of her ambushes. They must think whatever was picking them off was up there. She decided she'd make sure they kept thinking that.
Cautiously she followed them, keeping to the shadows. She could shadow jump but not for much farther and she needed to get back to the children. She'd already burned through most of her shadow jump distance for the day and she did not want to get caught outside the cheese room and unable to jump till the next day.
She was also acutely aware that she did not practice these skills as much as she should. She was getting tired already and there was still much to do.
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Agathon had stopped swearing and now he and a group of his best paladins were riding hard for the farmstead and then on to aid Hypatia. They rode in a straight line across fields and streams with a fine disregard for what had been planted or lay fallow.
Angelous had quite a lead on them and the angelic being flew hard for the farmstead where his love was even now besieged. "Hold on, my love, I'm on my way," he spoke the words as a prayer.
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Gabriel finally managed to fight his way into the main cavern where the battle was taking place. He'd cleared the hallways of undead and bursting through a little knot of them and into the cavern put fear in the hearts of the few remaining priests of Cyric who were still in the battle.
He turned undead, his one time per day and finished off the last of those vile abominations. Looking around he spotted some more hired fighters and charged them shouting, "Flee now and I might let you live!"
With the priesthood decimated and the arrival of a paladin the remaining few fighters turned and fled. They belatedly realized were never going to get paid anyway. They, like everyone else, had been played by the priesthood of Cryic.
Gabriel's path led him past a wounded Valen and he hesitated for just the blink of an eye then laid hands upon the tiefling. It was his one healing per day and it didn't have anywhere close to the potency that Hypatia's spells did but some of the wounds edges drew together and he meant it when he said he would earn Hypatia's forgiveness. Even if it meant healing the spawn of a fiend.
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Elrithradia, her defensive spells gone, grabbed up Deekin and glided down to the floor where Valen and Icarus were fighting. The little nephilim had not missed the way Valen's opponent moved and she raised her staff above her head. The staff instantly glowed so brightly it drove all of the shadows out of the room, blazing like the very sun in her hands.
Icarus screamed and covered his eyes, unprepared for such a blinding light.
Valen, having fought many battles in the Underdark with Hypatia knew to shield his eyes and so was ready when his foe was exposed. The shadow assassin hesitated for just an instant, dazzled by the sudden brightness. His reflexes were heightened and he almost got away again but Valen had been ready and he connected solidly with his flail, Devil's Bane. The assassin's end was so swift he was dead before his legs gave out and he crumpled to the floor.
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"Stop him!" Hypatia's cry came too late. She'd been chasing Antonius but he'd gotten ahead of her by circling some fighters. They'd engaged her and slowed her down, forcing her to fight through them. Now he stood over the activation tile with the control rod. He sneered at her and inserted the rod into the tile.