Antonius pulled the control lever back and twisted it, locking it in place. He paused to look up in triumph, a sneer of contempt on his face and threw the lever into the on position. Above him the anti-magic orb activated in the cold iron machine. Electricity coursed down every line of the machine. Antonius sneer of triumph turned into a scream of horror as the electric arcs coursed through him too, binding him to the control rod.
Above the anti-magic orb appeared a blackness that grew into a disc with an electrified rim that twisted and circled around it. A maelstrom centered in the disc began to spread rapidly through the cavern, drawing anything not tied down into it. Their clothing and hair all whipped around them as if in a gale and they found they had to lean back against the force drawing everything it could into the disc.
"We have to stop it!" Hypatia began casting and a beam of searing light shot towards the orb. The disc swallowed it up. The anti-magic orb remained unscathed, sitting in its cradle in the machine, electricity and light dancing over it and arcing up to the disc.
Elrithradia pulled her bow out and shot a flaming arrow towards the orb with the same result. The maelstrom pulled it into the disc which seemed to devour everything.
Hypatia turned to run towards a ramp, hoping to climb the machine and take the orb out of it by force. The nephilim, having a similar thought fluttered her wings, letting the wind lift her.
"My Lady!" I cried out at the same time as the blood, our words as one, "You'll be killed." I grabbed the celestial born while he caught the pretty priestess.
"The gods begin their spell," Elrithradia shouted over the wind.
Above us the disc grew into a sphere, the energies crackling around it and spreading from the confines of the machine. I backed away, guiding the celestial born. Beside me the blood did the same with the pretty.
Hypatia cast again, a column of light dropping from the cavern ceiling into the sphere with no effect.
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Cimmera caught the priest alone and slid her dagger between his ribs. Tense and wary from finding his partner priest dead he was able to shout and twist away, ripping the dagger from her hand before she could kill him.
The fighters whirled around, their weapons drawn. Running back they saw the priest healing himself with a spell. They spotted a flicker in the shadows and attacked.
Cimmera stepped out of a shadow at the top of the stairs and threw one of her balanced blades. It sparked off the armor of one of the fighters and the three charged up the stairs. She turned and ran down the hallway and into a room, locking the door and pushing a chest in front of it. They knew she was in there now and attacked the door, trying to break their way into the room.
Cimmera was long gone by then, jumping all the way back to the children in the cheese room. She was out of shadow jumps for the day and needed to get the children out of there. "We have to get out of here," she told them. Opening the door she led them into the kitchen.
The four of them pulled the tables away from the door that they had put there and opened it carefully. They could hear the three men still pounding on the door upstairs. Cimmera didn't know how much longer it would hold them.
"When I say, you run out the front door," She told the children. Undead still shambled around in the hallways. Cimmera hurried along it until she encountered the first undead. It was a single zombie and she used her daggers to attack it and keep it pinned to one side of the hall while motioning the children to run past her and out the door.
She heard the men upstairs break into the room and knew her time was up. She slashed at the zombie, dodging it's disease encrusted claw-like hands and ran outside. There the children huddled together in horror, a score of undead shambling slowly towards them.
With no other choice Cimmera raised her holy symbol and turned them, a bright pulse of light racing away form her and destroying every one of those zombies. "Run children," she urged trying to hurry them away from the evil priest and fighters that would soon discover her ruse.
The priest of Cyric upstairs heard the unmistakable sound of a cleric of good turning undead. "They're downstairs!" He turned and ran from the room.
"How is that possible?" The shorter of the fighters asked charging down the stairs.
"Clerics are no better than mages. Can't trust them to stay put like normal people." The taller one observed racing behind his companion.
The children were too slow, Cimmera realized, scooping up the littlest one and grabbing Bessura's hand. She had to hurry them along. The men pursuing them would kill them without hesitation.
Behind them the three men charged out of the house a shout of triumph sounding from the cleric upon seeing the four trying to flee. He stopped and began casting a wicked spell.
Cimmera knew the sound of spell casting and she set the child down. "Run!" She commanded, turning and preparing to stand and fight. The children barely got clear before a column of fire dropped down almost on top of Cimmera, singing her and almost causing her to break her concentration while casting her own spell.
The children screamed and ran. The fighters hurried to engage the priestess while the cleric of Cyric continued casting. Then Cimmera's spell resolved and three forms took shape in the air in front of her. Their outlines shimmered like a heat wave making them barely visible. When they moved they picked up leaves and debris from the ground, whirling it up and around them before it fell back to earth.
"Air Elementals" The priest of Cyric screamed, shocked for a minute. Then he began casting again.
The Elementals charged the fighters who tried to flank them.
Out of the barn came six more fighters, all wearing the same colors as the first two. Three of them ran to join their friends fighting the air elementals while three peeled off to chase after the children.
Cimmera couldn't keep the priest of Cyric and the three fighters chasing the children in her line of sight. Just when she thought all would be lost Angelous came soaring over the trees and dropped down to engage the three fighters. With a smile of relief Cimmera turned to focus on that blasted evil cleric but not before his spell resolved hammering her with divine light. She screamed and fought off the stunning effects of the spell, desperately hanging on to her focus.
The other priest, seeing her air elementals take down three of his fighters cast a dispelling magic which banished two of the three elementals. The remaining fighters turned their attention on the single air elemental left.
Cimmera shook off the spell effects and began casting again. Her spell targeted the priest, a pulse of soft white light flying away from her and engulfing the evil priest.
The priest of Cyric resisted the effect of Cimmera's spell and cast his own on her. Once again a column of fire fell out of the sky, this time hitting the high priestess.
Cimmera screamed and dove away from the fire, rolling to put out the flames that liked over her form. She rolled to her feet already casting a spell and white hot light leaped away from her focus, lancing at the priest. She struck true and he screamed, staggering back.
Angelous fought three fighters, using his sword and spells to keep them away from the children they had been pursuing. The planar fought on the ground and in the air, He would attack, feet touching the ground and when the fighters counter attacked he would leap up out of range and attack them from above.
After a few minutes trying to attack him by presenting a united front the fighters broke up and surrounded him. Closing they harried him, keeping the angelic creature from using his wings. Keeping him on the ground gave them a chance to strike through his defenses. With three of them circling him they didn't give him a chance to cast spells either.
Seeing the fighters overwhelming the planar the children began to cry and run again.
The two fighters battling the air elemental vanquished it and turned their attention on Cimmera. The high priestess pulled out her daggers and prepared to fight. She didn't like the idea of fighting swordsmen with shields with just her daggers but the choice had been taken out of her hands. Outside, in the morning sunlight there weren't any shadows for her to disappear into either.
With their attention on the priestess, the priest of Cyric cast another spell and the three dead fighters rose up and shambled towards Cimmera. Now she faced two live fighters, three undead fighters and the priest. Behind her Angelous managed to fell one of the fighters harrying him. The reprieve from battling on three fronts allowed him to gulp a potion of minor healing. It was not enough to fully heal the heavy damage he'd already taken.
Cimmera took a chance and turned undead, taking a vicious hit from one of the fighters but destroying two of the three undead fighters. The third had been just out of range but she didn't dare wait longer. Cimmera, unburdened by heavy armor or weapons whirled and ducked around the swordsman who was closest, moving around his side, under his sword arm and slicing at the straps that held his armor on.
The second swordsman tried to get a clean swing at her but she was too close to the first. Her life now depended upon her speed and agility.
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No one could get close to the cold iron of the machine and its supports. Deadly energies cracked and danced along every line of it from the whirling disc that hovered over the anti magic orb at its apex to the massive feet that supported its multiple legs. Somehow they had to stop it.
"What can we do?" Hypatia turned to Elrithradia, hoping for some answer. Valen still kept her from charging the machine and trying to bring it down through sheer force. Icarus likewise kept Elrithradia from taking flight and trying to snatch the orb from its cradle at the top.
Some of the priesthood of Cyric still skulked in the shadows, watching, waiting for their reward. Handfuls of fighters still lingered in rooms and hallways, unwilling to risk death from the machine.
Deekin tugged on Gabrials coat of arms.
The paladin looked down at the kobold. "What is it?"
"Deekin can't fly but if you help, Deekin might be just a little kobold but Deekin can get orb and stop the machine."
Gabriel looked around then at the machine. "You'll be killed little one."
"But Boss and whole world be saved. Deekin finally be big hero." Deekin told him with unaccustomed gravity before shrewdly adding, "You help, you be hero too."
Gabriel looked around once more, making a mental note of the enemies still lurking in the corners and shadows. Then he put his huge shield down and sheathed his sword. Turning his back to the machine he crouched down and threaded his fingers together so that the kobold could step into his hands.
Deekin smiled a toothy smile and set his pack, crossbow and book down. "You give these to Boss." Then he stepped into the paladin's hands.
Gabriel snapped his entire body straight, tossing his arms up over his head and throwing the kobold with all his might, grunting with the exertion.
Deekin shot up towards the orb, his wings tight against his little body to cut down on drag, his tail a rudder adjusting his trajectory on the ballistic arc he travelled.
"Deekin!" Hypatia saw it happening, "No!"
Snapping his wings out at the last minute, Deekin dropped down just enough to grab the anti-magic orb, wrenching it out of its cradle. Energies crackled and snapped around the kobold, running over his body. Deekin clutched the orb to his chest and was sucked into the disc which snapped shut behind him.
"Deekin!" Hypatia cried out again. "Oh no."
Without the orb to power it the machine fell silent. The air in the cavern stilled. The priests of Cyric and their hired army regrouped to attack again. From lower levels drow came like shadows and slaughtered them.
Elrithradia listened, to what no one else could tell. After a few tense minutes she smiled in relief. "The gods have stopped the spell. It is no longer needed.
Hypatia slowly approached the machine, looking up. "Deekin?" She whispered, hoping against hope that he had found a way to survive.
Gabriel braced for battle at the arrival of the fell drow. He looked to Hypatia first though. "Priestess?" He indicated the drow with a gesture of his shield hand.
Hypatia recognized Nathyrra and spoke quickly, "They are my friends, Gabriel."
The paladin relaxed every so slightly. He didn't completely let his guard down just in case they betrayed her but she said they were friends, that was, at last, enough for him to give them a chance.
Hypatia did not miss Gabriel's acceptance of her designation of the drow as friends and surprised she gave him a brief, sad smile.
Valen recognized Imloth and relaxed from his fighting stance. Turning he approached Hypatia. With his drow friends here he had to have the answer from her. "Might we speak?"
Hypatia turned, "Certainly Valen, what is it you wish?"
"Did you know?"
"Know what?" Hypatia asked, genuinely confused.
"That you could rid me of my demonic taint by using my true name?" He had to know.
Icarus rolled his eyes. The blood's timing could not be worse. I don't know if it was his demonic heritage that drove him to rub salt in the pretty's wounds by demanding this answer now, when she had just watched a friend die or if the priest who had poisoned his mind had also cast a spell or something on him forcing him to do it.
Completely taken aback, Hypatia shook her head, trying to focus on the question. A question that seemed more like an accusation. "Is that even possible? Your demonic heritage is part of you. How could it be removed?"
"With my true name, you could command it be gone. You know that is what I desire above all other things." Valen snapped at her, his eyes glowing red. "Yet you did not even acquire my true name from the knower. You even commanded she never reveal it, thereby cutting me off from ever being rid of my demonic taint."
"The gods have given each of you one wish," Elrithradia interrupted, trying to diffuse the situation. She handed each of the four of them a small translucent sphere, smiling brightly at them. She hopped back and looked hopefully from Valen to Hypatia.
Distracted from the brewing fight between the blood and the pretty I looked down at the sphere, rainbow colors reflecting off of it and thought of all of the jink I could wish for. I'd never be hungry or lack for a healer's touch again.
"Valen," Hypatia protested, feeling defensive and uncertain as to why. "I would be suspicious of anything the arch-devil offered you. There has to be some drawback."
"Like that I wouldn't be inferior to you?" Valen growled.
The Seer and Nathyrra followed Imloth farther into the cavern, a group of their fighters following and cleaning up any straggling foes.
Hypatia's jaw dropped. "What? How could you even think that? I never would have survived without you. The Seer would have been lost, all would have been lost without your skill in battle and cunning as a tactician." She couldn't believe what she was hearing. How could he think so little of her even now, after all they had been through together. After she had fallen in love with him. And now, when she'd lost a dear friend, Valen was going to destroy himself?
Valen growled wordlessly and looked down at the sphere the celestial-born had pressed into his hand. Raising it over his head he spoke, "I wish to be rid of my demonic taint."
A darkness rose off of his form and his horns and tail slowly dissolved away. He looked at his hands and smiled. "I feel lighter, like the weight of evil has been removed from me." He laughed, "Finally I am free of it. My blood no longer calls out with the endless song of the blood war."
Hypatia placed one hand over her heart as if in obscure pain, hunching over and turning away, her face drawn and pale. Her breathing came in pained gasps.
I watched, a strange sense of foreboding overtaking me. Wishes were tricky things and all too often took more than they gave. The pretty's reaction suggested even wishes from the gods were no different.
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Cimmera continued her deadly dance, using the fighters own bulk against them. The priest was problematic. He kept casting spells trying to trip Cimmera up, or slow her down. Anything that would give the fighters a shot at her.
Angelous struggled to keep himself between the fighters and the children and not be distracted by the danger Cimmera was in. He knew that if he could get to her the two of them together could make short work of the fighters and the priest but separated they were at a disadvantage.
Cimmera was growing tired, whirling and ducking around the fighters. She needed to finish them, or cast a restoration spell on herself but they have her no respite. If she stopped moving they would cut her to ribbons.
The priest of Cyric cast a spell and a bolt of darkness lanced out and struck her. She screamed and fell. The fighters were not ready and she was able to roll away while they scrambled to readjust their tactics.
All might have been lost but just then Agathon arrived with his paladins right behind him. They had ridden hard, changing horses as needed to get there just in time. They rode past the children, two of their number peeling off to protect the little ones and charged towards where Cimmera had just scrambled to her feet and turned to face the fighters.
Three of their number including Xanthus engaged the fighters who were menacing Cimmera, four rode to Angleous' aid and the rest charged the priest of Cyric. The priest screamed and turned to run. Agathon rode him down, trampling the man under the hooves of his warhorse. Agathon turned around and trotted back to where Cimmera had run to Angelous and they both cast healing on one another. Then they embraced before turning to the children to comfort and reassure them.
"Cimmera," Agathon started to speak but she cut him off.
"Go! Hypatia and a handful of others, Valen and another tiefling—with wings, have gone to put a stop to Farquhar's foul plan. Hurry!"
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Hypatia looked wistfully up at the spot where Deekin had vanished.
"You cannot wish him back," Elrithradia answered her unspoken question. "There is no power that can bring Deekin back to this place now."
Valen turned to The Seer with a bright smile and took a single step towards her. Then he stumbled and fell to his knees a cry of agony ripped from his throat. His red hair turned white and he dropped his flail, unable to lift it as he aged rapidly from a young man to a very old and frail man, his skin wrinkling and sagging with age, his eyes clouding over with cataracts. "What?" He croaked, his voice that of an old man. "What is happening to me?"
The Seer shook her head sadly, as did the celestial born. Everyone watched horrified as he aged decades before their eyes.
I waited and watched, unsure what was happening but saddened by it.
Hypatia straightened from the obscure pain she suffered and shook her head sadly, "Young tiefling. That's what the arch-devil said, you were a young tiefling but old, so old for a man. Isn't that what you said? You were tortured for decades in the hells? Fought for uncounted years as a slave in the blood war then searched for years for the Seer?"
"Hypatia," Valen held out a hand to her from where he knelt on the floor, unable to rise to his feet under the weight of his breastplate, "Wish me young again."
"Only 1 year." Elrithradia said sadly. "Each wish would only give you back one year. It is not enough."
Hypatia dropped her head, closing her eyes. It wasn't fair. "So, Valen," she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. "What will it be? An old man? Or a young tiefling?"
I could not believe what I was hearing. The pretty was going to use her wish for the blood? Impossible! She could wish for power, or jink, or…or…weapons, spells, anything and she was going to let the blood choose how she would use it? After he had wasted his own wish? I just stared at her, unable to process what I was witnessing.
Valen closed his eyes, he could die—soon but free of his demonic taint, or he could live with it, forever wrestling against the demon within him. "Young," he croaked.
Hypatia held up her hand, the wish in her palm and spoke in a clear voice, "I wish Valen were whole."
I didn't see the darkness descend that had risen up from the blood but I did see the horns and tail sprout to rapidly grow back. I heard his scream and saw him collapse to the floor.
I looked down at the wish in my hand and then to the pretty. What I wouldn't give to be worth a woman's wish? What I wouldn't give to be mourned when I died like the kobold? Suddenly I no longer wanted to fight and die, nameless, forgotten and uncared for. I looked at the pretty, kneeling beside the unconscious blood and then up to the machine, to where the kobold had vanished. A kobold. He was nothing. Less than nothing. Yet she wept for his passing.
"I wish, " I swallowed, questioning my own sanity. Taking a deep breath I said, "I wish for the ability to finish telling the tale the kobold began."
I don't know what I expected but I felt no different. That is until I went to pick up the kobold's things. When I picked up the book a knowledge of how to write and compose filled my mind and when I picked up his lute I suddenly knew how to play it. All bemused I strummed the strings, playing what I suddenly knew was a chord. The urge to laugh filled me and it was so alien to me I did not know what to do. I don't remember ever laughing because I was happy. And I was happy. Looking over to the pretty I saw her staring at me. I had finally surprised her. "He will not be forgotten," I hefted the book and looked to where the kobold had vanished.
Tears filled her eyes and she rose. I don't know what I expected but when she hugged me it shocked me into motionlessness. Then she thanked me and I felt—like a man. I did not know where this new path would take me but I vowed to myself not to poison it with self loathing. I was part man and maybe I could coax my humanity out like the blood had. Maybe I didn't have to be beholden to my fiendish blood. Maybe there would be more to my fate than death as an unnamed fighter in some meaningless war.
Suddenly a platoon of paladins came charging into the cavern, their armor making an unholy racket. Agathon in the lead. He looked at the scene before him, noting that, despite the presence of no small number of drow and Hypatia kneeling at Valen's side, no battle was currently happening and held up his hand, calling for his men to hold their places.
Agathon met The Seer's eyes and after a minute taking the measure of the priestess bowed at the waist. The Seer inclined her head graciously while Imloth saluted the high paladin.
"I see you were successful," He spoke to Hypatia.
Hypatia half turned and nodded, too broken hearted for words.
Then Agathon caught sight of Elrithradia and a half smile formed on his face. He didn't even know where to begin to greet the angelic creature.
With a laugh Elrithradia danced up to him and threw her arms around him in a feathery hug. "Well met, Agathon."
"And you, heavenly one." He returned her hug, all bemused.
Gabriel looked down at the wish in his hand and thought long and hard about it. There was truly nothing he wanted that a wish could accomplish. It couldn't rid the world of evil. It couldn't make him a better man. There were no shortcuts to that end. It couldn't earn him Hypatia's forgiveness. She had already forgiven him, not because of anything he had done but because she had to. She had sacrificed her own wish to restore the tiefling she loved. And he'd watched the other tiefling turn aside from his evil path because of the kindnesses she had shown him. Why else would the fiendish creature wish to complete the kobold's story?
He stepped around Icarus and Elrithradia, passing by Agathon without pausing and stood over Hypatia. "My lady," His voice cracked and he cleared his throat and tried again. "My lady, I would like to give this to you. You will use it far more wisely than I would." He handed her his wish. Looking into her eyes and knowing her he said, "Keep it for yourself. Just this once, keep something for yourself."
"Did you know?" Valen's voice interrupted anything Hypatia might have said. He pushed himself into a sitting position and rubbed the side of his head, his youth restored along with the horns and tail.
Hypatia gently closed her fingers over the wish and tucked it into a small pouch. Then she turned to Valen, her eyes so sad. "I did not know that would happen."
"Then why?" He finally asked the question he should have asked in the first place.
"Because I would never see you enslaved again. Being enslaved by your true name is the most profound kind of enslavement. You wouldn't even be able to imagine being free. You, who suffered so much and escaped through the force of your will; how could I ever take a chance like that with you?"
"But you don't know that would have happened," Valen looked into her eyes. Something had changed between them and he didn't know how to fix it. He had made a bad mistake.
"I know that there are creatures and men, mages and magics that can lift the thoughts right out of a mind and you wouldn't even know they'd done it. If I'd gotten that name, your true name, I couldn't be certain that kind of enslavement wouldn't befall you."
Ashamed that he'd doubted her he hung his head. Then after a minute Valen touched his chest over his heart and said, "Something is different. I feel different."
"When part of you was—vanquished," Hypatia struggled to find the words. "It shattered part of the bond."
Surprised Valen reached for her, putting his hands on her shoulders and looking closely at her. "Are you ok?"
"I do not know."
"Will it…I don't know…reform?"
"I do not know." Hypatia answered as honestly as she could. "I love you Valen. Not part of you. Not the part you think is worthy, but you. All of you. You rejected that just as you reject part of yourself. I do not know what will happen now."
The Seer approached them and nodded to Hypatia. "I did not get a chance to thank you for saving us, Hypatia."
The priestess rose to her feet, dusting her armor off as she did. Then she met The Seer's eye and said, "It was Valen." She remembered what he had said, so long ago in the tunnels of the Underdark. That he wanted to be the one to save The Seer. Despite how badly he had hurt her, she still loved him, and what she was saying was the truth.
Valen rose beside her, still weak from the effects of the wishes. He stared at Hypatia in shock. She had saved The Seer. She had saved Waterdeep. She was the hero. What was she doing?
Surprised The Seer indicated that Hypatia should continue.
"It was her weakness," Hypatia explained, "The Valsharess. She did not see males as equal. She saw males as less than females. That was her true downfall. She expected me, or you or Nathyrra but she never counted on Valen, or Imloth. She discounted Valen and it was Valen who got me safely through every one of her traps and attacks. Valen kept me safe and through me, kept you safe."
Hypatia hesitated and then added, "That is why you are such a threat to them. Not simply because you show the drow a better way than evil, but because you challenge the power structure. You treat all of your people as equals and none as lesser. If all drow were to adopt that kind of culture, Lolth would have no followers and she would fade away."
Valen blinked rapidly. After his distrust and letting that priest poison him against Hypatia, she still loved him and still gave selflessly of herself for his sake. She had even used her wish for him. "My lady," his voice was full of emotion when he spoke, "If you will permit it, I would make up to you any pain I have caused you."