Secrets revealed...
The old ashik moved over to the mekillot wagon's water butt, and for the first time since the sibling herders had met him a couple of weeks beforehand, he pulled his hood off and washed his face with water. The brothers noticed that his skin had a greyish hue to it and when he turned back to them he no longer looked like a hunched old man, but now looked like a battle hardened Mul. The Mul that they had known as the old ashik locked eyes with each and every one of them and said;
My name is Balboa, chosen of Gnoriath! The Company of the Cloaked Inix have hunted the servants of Nurkel-Malia and slain them here. Remember my tale and spread my word!
Balboa took a long drink of water and then finished the tale.
Scar leaps back to her feet having tended to Arthur and lunges a stab at the nearest plague demon with the Sword of Kemalok, the ancient Dwarven weapon slices deep into the other planer creatures arm diminishing it's lifeforce. With his arm hanging useless by his side, Arthur casts about for a weapon that he can use one handed and by great fortune sees Ferulah's dropped enchanted cestus just within reach. He dives for it narrowly avoiding one of the many plague demons.Miloch slashes his flaming battleaxe at the plague demon attacking Ferulah, the magically enchanted blade slices clean through the chaos creatures torso and it dissipates into nothing but a black mist. One of the many plague demons hacks at Kank with it's obsidian bastard sword but the attack glances off of the big Muls armour. Another of the plague demons slashes at Scar and the warrior woman from the wastes is forced to double over as she is cleaved in the abdomen. Ferulah smashes her remaining cestus into the arm of the hugely muscled Beastman, the creature brays in pain as it's arm breaks.
Scar stabs again at the plague demon was again, hitting it in the same arm. The plague demon's arm disappears in a billow of black smoke but the demon continues to fight one handed. Velatash smashes his one good fist straight into Kank's chest, and though the punch is inhumanly powerful it is unable to breach the big Mul's armour. Miloch reverses his grip on his flaming battleaxe and sweeps it clean through yet another of the plague demons, sending the chaos beast back to its own hellish plane of existence. Kank jabs Velatash in the guts with the head of Earthshaker, the blow powerful enough to shatter his pelvis and drop him to the floor. Yet again, however, the discharge of electrical energy from the head of the artifact is magically reflected back onto Kank chipping away at the big Mul.
The plague demons attack both Arthur and Kank, but they struggle to penetrate the warriors armour with their obsidian blades. Ferulah punches the Beastman again and the strength of the feline in Human form is such that the creatures leg breaks and it drops to one knee. Miloch, having slain all of the plague demons around him, steps to the unconscious form of Balboa and quickly administers a dose of Weezer honey to the prone priest. Kank swings Earthshaker in an overhead arc at Velatash, but the High Priest of Nurkel-Malia nimbly rolls out of the way at the last second avoiding the fatal strike. Arthur punches one of the plague demons with Ferulah's enchanted cestus and the chaos creatures arm is injured so much that it just disappears in a cloud of black smoke.
One of the plague demons slices it's black obsidian blade against Scar's leg and the warrior woman is forced to one knee. Ferulah lets out a very leonine roar and smashes her fist into the huge chest of the Beastman, the creature staggers backwards and then finally drops dead to the floor. The pair of plague demons continue to attack Kank from behind while he focuses on Velatash, but neither of them are able to penetrate the Mul's magically enhanced armour. Now back on his feet, the brave Balboa rushes to the aid of Arthur and Scar who are both badly injured and under attack from plague demons. One of the plague demons attacking Arthur looks in the direction of Balboa and then back at Arthur, and seems to become confused with which one he should attack and so he ends up standing there doing nothing.
Scar lashes out with the Sword of Kemalok from a prone position and the ancient Dwarven blade cuts across the legs of one of the plague demons diminishing it slightly. A heartbeat after she has attacked, Balboa calls upon the Gnomes of the earth and heals the warrior woman, Scar jumps back to her feet as Balboa moves towards Arthur. Ferulah falls upon one of the plague demons from behind and lands a powerful punch to the back of its head and the chaos creature dissipates in a cloud of black smoke. Velatash strikes out from the ground and smashes Kank in the legs forcing the Mul back a step. One of the plague demons slices at Miloch with its obsidian bastard sword and the Human warrior is injured in the leg, but Miloch counters with a sweep of his flaming battleaxe and slices the chaos demon in twain.
Kank leaps back into the fight and brings Earthshaker down with all of his enhanced might, the head of the artifact of Gnoriath smacks heavily into Velatash's chest and the sounds of breaking ribs echoes through the room. Finally the High Priest of Nurkel-Malia stops moving, vanquished by the Champion of Gnoriath.
The martial Balboa, chosen of Gnoriath, smashes his mace into one of the plague demons attacking Arthur and drives it backwards. Scar slashes again at her opponent driving it backwards into the punching arc of Ferulah, the feline in Human form smashes her enhanced cestus into the chaos demons arm and the limb evaporates in a cloud of black. Miloch, the bane of the plague demons, joins the melee and his flaming battleaxe despatches the the plague demon attacking Scar. The mighty Balboa attacks the plague demon again, protecting the Dwarven warrior, and when his mace smashes into its guts the creature bursts apart in a cloud of black flies.
The Company of the Cloaked Inix stand amidst the bodies of their enemies, the sounds of the battle in the blackened Beastmen pit still raging, and look about. The tear in reality between Athas and the diseased realm has ceased to exist, but the Human tied to the chaos altar is still groaning. Scar steps over to him and pulls the last of her Troll stones and slaps it off of his forehead, the chaos magics that were altering the Human into a Beastman begin to reverse under the magic of the Trolls. The body of Velatash is quickly turning into a puddle of black ooze that spreads to encompass the fallen spear of Nurkel-Malia.
Ferulah is the first to react and launches herself at the plague lord, managing to draw blood with her enhanced cestus. Both Kank and Miloch miss with their attacks, both of them being distracted by the cloud of ebony files buzzing around the huge hideous beast. Balboa, the chosen of Gnoriath, summons the power from the Heart of Gnoriath deep in his chest and launches a spell at the monstrosity but the powerful spell ripples off of the demon lords obese form. The plague lord stabs with the spear at Miloch but the Human warrior dives to one side at the last moment.
The plague lord tolls the bell again, and as the wave of demoralization washes across the Company of the Cloaked Inix Miloch feels the pressure of the pointlessness of attacking such a powerful being and his flaming battleaxe drops to the floor and he backs nervously away. Balboa summons his magic again and directs a spell at Miloch, but again the magics of the Heart struggle to counter the power of the plague lord. Kank sweeps Earthshaker at the huge demon but misses, and in missing leaves himself open for a counterattack and the plague lord does not miss the opportunity and stabs the spear deep into the flesh of the big Muls arm. Kank's arm drops limp to his side and Earthshaker hangs useless in one of his hands.
In a rage Ferulah launches herself at the plague lord and this time attacks it's arm wounding it. But the attack is not powerful enough to stop it from sounding the great bell again, and this time it is the mighty Arthur that loses confidence in the ability of the Company to overcome the plague lord and he backs fearfully away. Scar backs away from the fight and points her finger at the plague lord, magical power from her inner well leaps from her into the plague lord and electrical discharge plays around the chaos demon as it's atoms are disrupted. Balboa reaches out with his hand and touches Kank injured arm, calling upon the Gnomes of the earth to heal the Mul, the Gnomes are listening and the Champion of Gnoriath swings Earthshaker back into a two handed hold and launches himself back at the plague lord.
But for a creature of such huge size, the plague lord nimbly side steps the attack and then stabs out with its spear narrowly missing Kank. Both Ferulah and Balboa land blows against the monstrosity, but neither can breach its thick armoured skin. The plague lord peels the bell of doom again, and this time it is Scar that staggers backwards away from the fearful presence of the plague lord. Ferulah swings hard but again the massive form of the plague lord belies its size as it side steps away from the strike. But this time it steps into the path of the head of Earthshaker as Kank smashes the chaos creature with a mighty blow.
The great bell of doom sounds for a fifth time as Ferulah hits the plague lord once more. Her attack is quickly followed by Kank smashing Earthshaker into it again and then a heartbeat later Ferulah follows up with a second ferocious attack. One second the plague lord is towering above the forms of Balboa, Ferulah and Kank, and the next second it is gone. Disappearing out of existence with a tremendous thunderclap that knocks the members of the Company of the Cloaked Inix to the floor and stuns them.
As the Company comes too they can hear the sounds of battle in the Beastmen pit receding away from them, the sounds of Braying Beastmen running away and the absence of sound as the Trolls silently pursue. The Company were not to see the Trolls again, by the time they existed the cave system they found nothing but the bodies of dead Beastmen and the signs of fleeing Humans. Kank can hear Graneggadon almost purring with happiness within his head as he climbs to his feet and looks about. The pool of black ooze that was once Velatash has disappeared, along with the spear of Nurkel-Malia. The Human sacrifice strapped to the altar is once again Human, but is little more than a gibbering wreck of a man. Resting beside him on the altar is a black sphere, Kank recognises it as Kalak's dragon orb and he picks it up and hands it to Balboa.
The wise Balboa looks about and he knows that Kank can also feel that the valley is still weeping and he points to the chaos altar and says to Kank;
It must be destroyed!The big Mul does not need asking twice, as Scar quickly unties the prisoner, he raises Earthshaker above his head and begins to smash the altar into rubble. As he does so, Balboa performs an earth ceremony to remove the chaos taint. He prays to Gnoriath and once completed both he and Kank can tell that the valley is at ease.
Arthur offers the creature some water and once it has quenched it's thirst it says in a sibilent voice;
My name is Hassaan Krotha, Templar of Ur Draxa from beyond the Ringing Mountains. I am on a diplomatic mission to Tyr. The Dragon demands his levy!But Kank did not hear any of this, because at the moment that Hassaan Krotha started to speak Ferulah had lent in close and whispered into his ear;
You're going to be a father!
How rude, Ferulah! Don't interrupt the lizard thing when it's doing exposition!
ReplyDeleteSome of these other worldy, unexplained creatures, have no manners...
DeleteBut she is incredibly powerful and has sharp teeth and claws, so Kank isn't going to tell her!
That's a fair point, well made.
Delete