It wasn't long before the narrow hallways opened onto a large room at the very deepest part of the catacombs. The room was brightly lit, torches and bonfires scattered everywhere.
To their horror, the party discovered many of the bonfires were actually pyres and stakes where charred bodies still burned. Worse, the walls and pillars were lined with dismembered rogues, torsos, limbs, and heads hanging from hooks or pinned by spears.
But the most horrifying thing of all was at the center of the room: a large pit stood there, filled with blood, looking for all the world as though hell itself had torn a bleeding wound in the earth. More body parts floated in the blood pool, more than could be counted, intertwined in one last gruesome embrace.
Most of the party lost what little remained of their composure when they saw the mound of gore within the pit; some turned deathly pale, some retched on the floor, others still were frozen in shock. Aan dropped his mace, his hand nerveless. Dana had to steady herself on her spear, Talia on her staff as she dry-heaved. Galen had to lean on a pillar, feeling a dizzy spell from the rush of emotions; even at the worst of the war he had never witnessed anything close to such butchery. He could not imagine what was going through the sisters' minds at the sight of their desecrated fallen. Only Cyrus managed to seem unshaken, though even he had to close his eyes and steady his breathing.
Paige had collapsed onto her knees and was shaking like a leaf. Slowly, the shock, grief and terror she felt were burned away and replaced by something else: blind, murderous fury. She no longer cared about her own life or even the safety of the others. She just wanted vengeance. She wanted to rend the demon queen with her bare hands, no matter what it cost her.
- "Do not give in to fear or anger," the paladin spoke up breathlessly, and he directed his gaze especially to the rogues. "This display is meant to intimidate us, and failing that enrage us. If you want to avenge your sisters, stay focused. It's the only way we'll come out victorious today."
Paige shot to her feet, distantly aware of what the paladin was saying. A distant corner of her mind knew what he was saying was important, that it made some kind of sense, but it was drowned out by the deafening keening that filled her world. A strong hand clasped her shoulder and she blinked, her eyes regaining focus to make out a concerned amazon.
- "Stay strong, Paige. I need you clearheaded for the fight ahead."
The young rogue bent her will to bringing her quivering limbs under control and nodded. She looked around at her sisters and tried to guide them by example, knocking an arrow to her bow and assuming a battle-ready stance.
- "The bitch queen must be just behind those doors," she announced as she moved past the pit, her voice still raw. "The room beyond is the end of the catacombs."
- "It will be her end as well," the paladin proclaimed and his golden aura grew brighter. "Battle formation!"
The northman and the amazon joined him at the vanguard, while the sorceress and the necromancer took up the flanks and the rogues formed the backline. Aan, Dana and he shared one last look before bursting through the doors with a battle cry.
The chamber was filled with corrupt rogues, fallen and goatmen, tightly packed to defend their mistress, who sat at the far end on a throne made of human bones, flanked by giant spiders.
There was no challenge offered, no gauging of the enemy's strength, no calm before the storm. The three simply tore into the demonic lines like a scythe through a field, while the rogues rained sharp, pointy death around them, preventing the enemy from collapsing upon the trio. Aan rampaged with the fury of Bul-Kathos himself; Dana struck like lightning before her foes even knew she was there; Galen blade-danced, his sword a sharp and clear song of death. Soon they were joined by Cyrus' minions entering the fray on the left flank, while Talia's fireballs and lightning bolts secured their right. The combined ferocity of their assaults shattered the ranks of the demons, who only stood their ground because they were yet more afraid of their mistress' wrath.
Said mistress gripped one of the skulls that served as an armrest and shattered it. She rose angrily from her throne and strode forward. She towered over everyone in the room, her blood-red hair twisting snake-like in the air, as though it had a life of its own. She wore nothing but a belt of skulls around her waist, and her body, human except for her claws and hooves, oozed both allure and menace, a dangerous and sinful glare reflecting off of her naked skin. The most intimidating part of her, however, were the four appendages that protruded from her back and curled forward like giant spider legs, tipped with scorpion stingers that dripped bright green venom. Paige and her sisters unleashed a volley against her but the arrows seemed like needles in her massive frame.
- "Congratulations, maggots," she snarled, "you've succeeded in gaining my attention. Your reward is death!"
With that she opened her arms and a sickly miasma steamed from her body, rolling in mist-like waves that began to fill the entire chamber. The air turned foul and both humans and demons began coughing as the noxious fumes entered their lungs. The archers and Talia struggled to breathe, and their second volley was poorly aimed. Only the necromancer seemed unaffected as he directed his minions to engage the last of Andariel's forces.
Those forces were scrambling out of the way as their mistress stalked forward. Aan was struggling to keep his balance when the demon queen was already upon him, rearing her stingers to strike. He grit his teeth and attacked first, hoping to catch her wrong-footed. His gambit worked, and she was taken aback by the leaping barbarian that smashed his mace into her face before she batted him away with her arm. He rolled with the blow and came at her again, delivering a crushing blow to her hip. Her cry of pain took on tones of ecstasy and she turned a crazed grin at him before grabbing him in one hand, lifting him, then smashing his body down onto the ground. His vision blurry from the combination of the impact and the poison attacking his senses, he looked up to see all four of her appendages poised to deliver the coup de grace.
She was about to strike when she felt a searing pain in her back, where the amazon's spear had lodged itself, and there was no hint of pleasure in her voice this time as the flaming tip burned her from the inside. A hellspawn that hates fire, Dana mused inwardly as she disengaged, narrowly avoiding the stinger that sought to skewer her.
Before Andariel could pursue, the paladin was inside the reach of her appendages, a storm of steel and zeal that tore into her forearms as she tried to defend herself. Her lurid skin was actually much tougher than it appeared, and though she bled, the wounds were not too deep. She swung a claw out but he ducked beneath and slashed at her thigh, cutting a long gash that oozed green blood. He realized his mistake too late as her other leg shot out before he could reposition and he was sent flying back. His helmet landed several feet away as his body tumbled before skidding to a halt.
Andariel again had no opportunity to finish the job as she was set upon by both Aan and Dana, each attacking from one of her flanks so she could not bring all four appendages to bear on either one of them. The northman batted away one stinger and slammed his mace into her knee, whilst the amazon snuck in a quick jab at her calf.
They were trying to cripple her mobility, she realized.
Enraged, she turned fully on the barbarian, completely ignoring the amazon despite the scorching wounds her spear was inflicting. Aan pulled out his axe and dual wielded his weapons but the Maiden of Anguish had twice as many appendages; he desperately batted away at the stingers, but before long one snuck past his defense and pierced his torso. Grunting in pain, he hefted his axe to try and sever the appendage but he suddenly felt like molten metal was being poured into his veins as the stinger spread its toxin. This was nothing like the poison the Lesser Evil had filled the room with; this was raw agony distilled into liquid form, a torrent of excruciating pain that flooded one's body and drowned one's mind. He fell to the ground with a strangled cry, gasping for air, his limbs spasming.
Andariel turned back to Dana who had just delivered a series of jabs to her exposed back. She retaliated with jabs of her own, launching her stingers in quick succession to catch the amazon out, but despite the poison slowing her down the Askari had lightning-quick reflexes and she dodged every blow cleanly, though that was all she could do. Her frustration mounting, the demon queen snarled and ceased her assault.
- "Let's see you dodge the very air around you!" she taunted with a sinister smile and she inhaled deeply before vomiting a thick green cloud into the amazon's face.
Dana retreated but there was no way to avoid the expanding fog of concentrated poison. Even when she covered her mouth and nose it infiltrated her pores and burned her eyes. She collapsed onto a pillar, gagging and retching. Andariel strode forward, ignoring the renewed barrage by Talia and the rogues to stab a stinger, then another, then another into the fallen amazon's back, who twitched on the floor like a freshly caught fish.
Satisfied she was rid of another enemy, she set her gaze on the human backline, but to reach them, she first had to get past the paladin, who had regained his feet. Strangely, his eyes were closed. His aura was shifting, the fierce golden color fading into a pale blue light that moved like the lapping of waves. The waves washed over his allies; suddenly burning lungs began to breathe freely again, boiling blood began to cool, and agony was washed away with each surge of the aura.
The archers began to find their mark again, using flaming arrows, and Talia's fireballs struck true. Andariel roared at the renewed vigor of their assault and charged, intent on slaughtering them before they could do her any more harm; much as she relished pain, her injuries were starting to become severe.
Galen gripped Providence firmly and stood his ground. He knew he could not overpower the demon queen without his aura of divine might, but his allies needed his cleansing powers; he would have to rely on strategy instead of brute force in order to buy time; time for his aura to work its magic on Aan and Dana.
His towering foe was already upon him, lashing out at him with all four of her stingers. He took one small jump backwards as they slammed into the floor, before jumping forward again to hack at the appendages, scoring a couple of gashes. She pulled them back to strike again but he was already dashing between her legs when she attacked, slashing at her left knee before emerging on the other side, turning around and stabbing the small of her back. She screamed, though again there was a shade of euphoria behind the pain. He anticipated the spinning backhand he knew she would instinctively throw, looking at her feet to detect which side it would come from, and when it came, he hacked down at it. Providence bit deep into the wrist, thought it did not have enough force to sever it. Andariel swiveled to bring her opposite stingers to bear, but the paladin turned with her, running to her right to keep her off-balance. She swung her two right appendages wide to try to bat him away, but he rolled forward beneath the swing and came up lunging, stabbing his sword straight into her abdomen.
Before he could pull it out, however, her oversized claw shot out snake-fast to grab his arms, immobilizing him. He tried to wrench himself free but her grip was stronger than steel.
- "Yes, squirm for me," she urged and slowly raked her claws on his exposed head. "Now scream for me."
He tried to stifle his cries of pain so as not to give her the satisfaction but found it impossible. He was offered a reprieve when another volley slammed into her face, but she curled her appendages together in front of her to form a shield and resumed digging her claws into Galen again. The distraction had allowed him to breathe, and he caught a glimpse of something stirring to his left; his pained scream turned into a furious shout as his aura once again shifted, blazing back to its glorious golden hue.
Andariel suddenly found him breaking her grip and he twisted Providence in her belly before wrenching it free with one sharp tug as she doubled over. She looked up at him with a grimace that turned into a sneer as her appendages struck in rapid succession; her posture allowed her to better make use of them, and she staggered her blows to prevent him from countering.
The mounting pressure of her attacks pushed him back as he parried stinger after stinger, but he knew that even with the speed and power afforded him by the light he was on the verge of being overwhelmed. He steeled his resolve and, just after deflecting one stinger he spun, leaving his right side exposed and accepting the coming blow there, while putting all his power into an overhead chop directed at the stinger coming in from the other side. Andariel's upper right appendage was sliced clean off as her lower left one punctured Galen's brigandine and gambeson and buried itself in his waist. Both combatants uttered a cry of pain and separated.
The demon queen stared with disbelief at the stump where the stinger used to be. The paladin fell to one knee, summoning all his willpower to try and shape his lifeforce into a light of purification before the darkness took him. His vision blurred, his limbs shook, but he leaned on his sword and placed a glowing palm on his wound to purify it. He knew that if he allowed himself to succumb there would be no one to remedy the Lesser Evil's poisons, and they would all die in unspeakable suffering.
A shriek of rage warned him that he had but a few instants before Andariel would be on him again, but his senses were returning too slowly. He closed his eyes, praying fervently to the Heavens to grant his allies strength.
