AUTHORS NOTE: A very very short chapter. I should have probably just added this to the previous one, but... meh. Thanks for reading everyone!
Chapter 96
6th Day of Early Autumn 768 n.c
Irin was the name given to the outsider Irinovastaria, the Chaos Demon of wrath, pride and anger. The commander's invocation sent forth a torrent of red miasma into the 'winner' of the battle, who began to lift up into the air as if pulled up by invisible strings. He shifted and changed as we watched, muscles bulging and mouth open in a silent scream of rage and pain. After a moment, he collapsed onto the ground as if the strings had been suddenly cut and the four soldiers rushed forward to manacle him and carry him to a cage on the right hand side of the room. The dead plainsman was likewise picked up and thrown on the pile of bodies against the wall.
"On my mark," I whispered to Karalin, "shoot at the commander and don't stop, I feel that he will be stronger than the average person. I'll target the rest of the soldiers and then switch back to him."
Karalin nodded next to me and drew her bow, knocking an arrow and taking aim at the chaos infected Commander Fosse.
Elemental explosion seemed my best bet for the soldiers, I could probably hit most of them with one and then target the others on the right hand side of the room with magic missiles. Commander Fosse would probably be the most dangerous however and I hoped that Karalin's arrows would distract him enough to move onto him with other spells.
"Mark", I said as I let loose my first Elemental explosion.
The sphere of negative energy expanded from the middle of the remaining parts of the circle of soldiers, encompassing all of them in its radius. Their bodies withered and fell.
I quickly cast Haste on Karalin as I watched her loose two arrows straight into the chest of the commander, who ceased his laughter and looked down dumbstruck at the shafts sticking out of his torso. Everybody else in the room stopped and looked up towards us, except the manacled plainsman that was being dragged to the cage. He let loose a roar and with doubled fists he knocked one the soldiers on the side of his head, knocking him flat. I cast multiple Magic Missile spells at the remaining soldiers and watched in satisfaction as they too fell and was about to switch my attention to the Commander when I heard a roar of pure fury coming from the back of the room.
Commander Fosse was now surrounded by that red miasmic mist, like some sort of stormcloud, spinning around him faster and faster. He had been peppered by arrows by this point, but seemed to be ignoring them. Suddenly he hunched over onto himself and began to change, to grow. He grew to at least twice his previous size and the cracking of bones could be heard as his knees reversed and his legs morphed into the cloven hooves of a goat. He lifted his head in a scream and I could see that horns had sprouted from his head and his face had changed into something more⦠animalistic. Karalin gasped and loosed another two arrows in quick succession, they streamed towards him but bounced off his skin doing no more damage than had she shot them at a stone wall.
Our attention was so taken by the changes with the Commander that we hadn't noticed similar with the plainsmen manacled in the cages against the wall until with screeching metal they had ripped the gates from their hinges. The plainsmen had changed also, into smaller versions of whatever the Commander had turned into but covered with long shaggy hair all over their bodies.
"Aim for them!" I shouted to Karalin as I let loose with a Lightning Bolt spell at Commander Fosse.
The bolt of lightning stretched out from my finger in a long line, streaking towards the demon thing and passing through him only to rebound against the wall behind him and strike him on the way back towards me. Muscles pulled taut as the electricity spread through him on both occasions. Whisps of smoke trailed up from his body, but he did not fall. Instead, once he had regained control, he let out a roar and charged towards us picking up a spear on the way. I only had a moment to figure out what to do before he would reach us and I felt that I had to protect Karalin while she took care of the transformed plainsmen. I cast Haste on myself and followed it up with Bulls Strength while I moved down the steps to meet the Commander's charge, drawing my sword on my way. He was approaching at quite a speed, spear raised to skewer me but moments before he reached me, I cheated.
One of the gifts Tenebrae granted me was the ability to create areas of darkness. Darkness that I could see through. He was obviously surprised by this and stabbed down at the place I was standing, but I had already stepped to the side. I wasn't especially proficient with my sword, not enough to fight a veteran soldier come demon in a fair fight, but I was still able to slash at his torso as he passed by me. I had managed to cut a deep gash into his side, but not enough to slow him. Black blood leaked from the line as he spun around, swinging his spear towards me. The shaft of the spear caught me in the side of my head and knocked me down on the floor. I managed to cast Elemental Projection despite the throbbing in my skull, sending out a cone of negative energy straight into him; which gave me time to struggle to my feet again and move from my previous position. I cast another Elemental Projection at him and thankfully this time I saw that it had some small effect, but not enough to drop him. It gave away my position however and he immediately stabbed out with his spear. Quickly, too quickly. I felt the head of the spear piece my side, between my ribs. A burning pain radiated from that point and only got worse when the spear twisted inside me and I almost dropped my sword in shock. He tried pulling the spear back and I lurched as I was pulled towards him, the spear still stuck inside me and pulling on my ribs. He reached a hand over to grasp the shaft higher, in order to pull me even closer and I raised my sword to point it towards his heart. His other hand crossed over and he pulled. I locked my arm as he did so and as he pulled me towards him, so did he pull my sword. It pierced through his chest and he stiffened, releasing his grip on the spear. It was enough to allow me to collapse, thankfully on my side; though the bouncing of the spear shaft off the ground sent waves of white hot pain coming from inside me.
Everything went black.
