Imedren spun around as Anophth crashed to the floor. The Demons surrounding his friend caused him to reevaluate his plan.
Dramm calling out for Anophth caused him to snap back into the situation at hand. Imedren reached into his pack, and pulled out one of the few potions he'd bought.
Rushing forward, he opened the Goblins mouth and poured the potion down his throat. "Dramm, grab Anophth and get ready to run!"
Even as he eyed the demons surrounding them, he spotted the overturned golden bowl and it's spilled contents. He grabbed the blood red shard, feeling its power course wildly through his hands.
The fear is overwhelming, but Anophth has fallen. Uruuna can't let him die here. Not on her watch. With an ululating cry, she charges at one of the demons, but her terror causes her to falter and her sword slices through the empty air.
Space folds around the demons as they step through the Void, three surrounding Uruuna while the others appear near the back ranks. They lash out with teeth and claws, shredding Uruuna and leaving her barely on her feet. Joy and Dramm take some painful hits as well, but Delia and Imedren manage to fend off their foe.
Delia screams and chops at the demon near her, to no avail. Dramm fires unerring darts at the demon attacking him, but it seems to resist the spell's damage somewhat, the magic not nearly as effective as it should be. Fortunately, a well-placed arrow from Tabog slays the demon, even as the rogue falls back to the entrance! That frees up Imedren to rush to Anophth's side and pour a healing potion down his throat. The goblin's single eye blinks as he regains consciousness. As Imedren picks up a chaos shard, all of the demons turn to regard him with malice!
Uruuna groans and staggers as the demons' attacks leave her barely standing. She spits a glob of blood on the floor and raises her blade in trembling hands, refusing to back down. With a defiant scream, she slices upward, chopping off a demon's head! Black blood sizzles as it splatters over her and the fiend dissolves into a puddle of corruption.
"N-no! Get away from me!" Delia shrieks in terror. She swings her axe again, but despite her best efforts, her crippling fear still causes her to narrowly miss her foe!
"Don't eat them, Imedren! F!$$ER!" Dramm shouts in pain as the demon bites into his leg. He kicks the thing away. "You don't know what it will do to you! Uruuna needs you whole!"
He quickly pulls his battleaxe and steps forward as Uruuna beheads one, trying to follow suit.
The twisting shadows keep Dramm from landing a blow.
He gave a half smile as he saw Anophth's eyes open. But when he saw his friends, then Uruuna, being cut to ribbons from the demons vicious attacks. His breath caught and he eyed the shard which thrummed with power in Imedren's hand.
Even as Dramm shouted his warning against using the Shard it became clear to him that he had to. He looked to his friend, then to his wife, then at the demons with hatred.
"And I need Uruuna alive, Dramm!" Then without hesitating, he popped the shard into his mouth, crushing it between his teeth and swallowing.
the crystal pulsed, it's magic surging immediately through his body, he convulsed momentarily but Imedren was not unused to the chaotic feeling. His vision turned an angry red and from the outside, his eyes shown began to glow.
Imedren disappeared from his kneeling position, reappearing standing over Anophth. He reached out a hand to Uruuna.
"It's my turn to protect you, love." his voice reverberated as though there was an echo of it close by.
The air in front of his hand compressed before sparks jumped out and an explosion filled the air out over two of the demons.
Both demons twist away from the flames, their natural spell resistance dampening the effects of the blast. Still, both are injured by the fire.
Anophth shakes his head.. What happened?
The rooms move in a sort of slow motion, as he sees the demons fighting his friends.
It didn't work. Why didn't it work?
He looks around and sees the chaos shards next to him. I need to try again. I need to try again.
He grabs a shard and consumes it.
Shit, shit, shit... I don't know what's happening anymore. It looks like they're still getting overwhelmed!
Tabog lets off another arrow but the shifting demons are suddenly gone as the arrow flies through the area they were standing.
Joy stands resolute, and launches bullets at the nearest skittering demon. The first sails past, but the second strikes true!
As Anophth doubles over in pain, the demons warp through space to get at Imedren, drawn by the power of the chaos shards. One of them lashes out in a frenzy, taking down Uruuna with a claw and biting Imedren's the other two tear at him as well, leaving him badly hurt!
Anophth is still aware of his surroundings even as he doubles over in pain.
Joy tries to calm, to take aim and strike true.
Even as the Demons appear around him and attack, Imedren's chaotic power flushes through him. When Uruuna is attacked and knocked to the ground. Imedren's fury explodes, the red glow in his his eyes burns bright for one moment.
"That's it..."
and he disappears from the ground,
"I'm sending you all back to Hell!" only to reappear in the air above blasting fire downwards to the flying demons. The vestiges of power dissipating as he fell back down.
The demon that Joy wounded is consumed by the flames, but the other two still stand!
Dramm moves up to cover the unconscious Uruuna.
"Dammit, just die!" Desperation creeps into his voice as he unleashes destruction magic on the more injured demon.
With a groan and a shuddering breath, Uruuna regains consciousness! She stubbornly gets back on her feet and slashes at the demon, scoring a lucky strike! The monster deflates as steaming entrails spill out of its rent belly!
Dramm's spell is just enough to rip apart the last demon. The chamber falls silent once more, the walls and floor decorated with the gruesome remains of the monsters.
Pain wracks Anopth's body for a full minute until finally abating. The power of the chaos shard warps his body, causing ratlike fur to sprout all over and his sweat glands to seal up!
Dramm kneels next to Anophth as the spasms slowly subside, trying to draw the Goblin through the pain.
"Breath Anophth. It passes quickly. You're right here with us, the pain will stop." Dramm draws the magic from the air and his skin begins to heal. "That's it. You're still you."
He traces healing magic over Anophth in an attempt to ease his suffering.
Imedren glanced up concerned with the two remaining demons. He was sure they'd be destroyed but they were more resilient than he thought. But that's when Dramm and Uruuna stepped in and finished them off. He picked himself up from the ground, he felt woozy from the surge of magic and the wounds he'd received but didn't lose his feet.
He put an arm around Uruuna. "You did it! I wasn't sure if you would... well we did, it I suppose. Alright, I think that's about as much of this place as I can take for today."
"Dramm, is Anophth alright?"
Uruuna punches Imedren lightly in the gut. "You should never doubt your wife!" She coughs and wipes some blood from her mouth. "It was a close thing, though. When we get back home, I'm just gonna sleep for a week..."
Imedren took the jab with an exaggerated act. "Ha ha. Yes you're right, I won't misjudge you again. A full week sounds good for you and me both."
The spectacular display that unfolded in front of Tabog caused him to hesitate. Before he could make a move the battle was over and the party seemingly all sighed with relief at once.
"Although some of us nearly died there, and we needed magic drugs to bolster our offense, aaaaaand Anophth is slightly more rat the he already was, the feat achieved here is truly folk song worthy! Hell, maybe even a whole opera could be written to the trials we faced toady... That is, if we do actually survive, and someone gets the girl...
A job well done, and by the looks of you guys, a job well finished. Shall we head back to the surface?"
As he speaks, he is very animated with his hands. He collects the arrows he could find and salvage and posts up in the direction home is, on high alert.
Everybody seems to be in agreement about falling back, so you retreat from the shrine a second time and rest in the nearby camp. Nothing disturbs your rest, and you feel a little better the next morning, the aches and pains from your wounds fading a bit.
There are still a few rooms left in the shrine. Will you head back in or leave well enough alone?
Earlier....
Anophth returns to awareness after a solid minute of pain. He breathes heavily, almost gasping for breath.
He looks at his hands. His eyes widened as they trailed up his arms and then down his body. I'm.. I'm covered in fur! The Fae have spoken to me! I'm meant to be a Skin Changer! This is my destiny!
I.. I saw the Queen. She was in my mind. I stole her hair and I am forever to wear it upon my skin! Look, it's even the same color!
Dramm, I must accept my fate. Fighting it has nearly gotten me killed multiple times now. And you've risked your life to save me every time. I put you in too much danger. I put you all in danger.
Later....
I can't take any more of that tea. The Old Ones have spoken to me. I must accept what I am. With practice and patience, I will be able to control it. Just.. just give me some time. When the moon comes, we can lock me up so I'm not a danger to anyone. But I must stop fighting this.
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"Destiny? Destiny?!" Dramm is on his feet before he knows it, towering over the Goblin and shouting in fury, "That's what you call it?! Since when was Anophth's 'destiny' written by others? When did you decide to die a slave?! And to the Fae no less?!" He gestures angrily about the room.
"Look what they made! Look at what they build! The Fae tore the flesh from men and made them live that way! The Fae locked corpses inside a shrine to flay and devour our friends! They toyed with dangerous, corrupting magic! They twisted your body, Anophth! Shit on the BLOODY F!$!ING FAE!"
Dramm smashes the porcelain bowl with his axe in anger before dropping it. He whirls back around to Anophth.
"And you want to give up? You'd rather die a slave than risk being free? You'd let them do this to you?! You'd take on that magic, forget who you are, destroy your body for them?! Abandon us for the whim of some mad monster?! YOU'D LEAVE ME ALONE AGAIN?!" Dramm suddenly throws something at Anophth. It's only then does he realize that his face is wet. An amber stone clatters to the floor, and suddenly the rage is drained from Dramm's face. It's replaced by shock, then fear, then defeat and sadness. He stands frozen for a long moment.
Without a word he bends down and scoops up the remaining chaos shard and turns to leave the shrine.
Dramm doesn't wait for the group. He's already outside and sitting silently at the camp when they arrive. He looks hollow and distant.
As Dramm walks away, Joy turns to Anophth and says quietly:
"Anohpth, I wouldn't be so quick to trust the Fae. They trick people. All the time. It's what they do."
*******************
At the camp, the slender girl approaches Dramm.
"Dramm...would you like to talk?"
Dramm is busy stirring the fire. He doesn't say anything as he stares into the coals, but Joy is certain he can hear her.
As Dramm continued to the second half of his outburst Tabog approached with the intention of saying something but decided to remain silent. He tensed when Dramm through something at the goblin but remained stoic. He let's Dramm walk away and stands gazing at Anophth for a moment before pivoting and following his upset friend out of the shrine.
Anophth stands silent as Dramm verbally thrashes him. As Dramm walks away, Anophth cries - the tears flowing gently down his face, matting the new fur that has grown.
Anophth just stands there as they all go, one by one, out of the temple.
The next day.....
Anophth is cheerful. Is it a mask or genuine? Either way, he seems to be making an active effort to be In Control.
Come on, guys. Let's get rich off this temple, he says, and he leads the way in.
As you step into the columned hall, the figures at the end animate and move towards you. What you first mistook for statues are revealed to be armored skeletons, green pinpoints of flame burning in their empty eye sockets!
I am not afraid of you. I have faced demons far worse than what you can imagine. Anophth says, mostly to himself as a means of encouragement.
He advances forward with his walking cane and strikes the animated skeleton.
The cane clangs off the armor of the skeleton.
Dramm is quiet for most of the remaining night. Before he goes to sleep, he does stop to see Joy.
"You've done well, Joy." He looks a bit uneasy praising the girl for the feats she's performed these last few days, as though they might encourage her to more danger. "I underestimated you, and you showed you could handle this. I'm... proud of you."
If there is nothing else, Dramm calls it a night.
Before venturing into the shrine again, Dramm prepares his defenses and offers some minor healing to anyone who would claim it (Uruuna gets first dibs). He also offers to ease Anophth's mind again.
Anophth's new attitude is met with trepidation. Dramm wants to be relieved, but things have been very unstable with his friend. Still, it is good to see the Goblin with confidence again. He can't help but feel maybe his friend is coming back.
When the Goblin doesn't even flinch at the beasts, Dramm is impressed.
His own experience with the dead cause Dramm to shake. Still, he steps forward and weaves the magic to destroy these creatures.
The fear makes what would have been an overwhelming spell into merely a damaging one.
The armored skeletons and their strangely hypnotic gaze of green flame mesmerized Imedren, causing him to shake in fear. Suddenly he could feel his wounds and he couldn't get the image of them chopping them in half out of his head.
"T-These things will probably kill us if fight them like this. But I think I can even the odds." Imedren says nervously while making sure to step behind whoever was in front but stretching out his hand.
Uruuna accepts Dramm's healing spells, sighing with relief as torn flesh mends itself and scars fade away.
Undeterred by the scary spooky skeletons, Uruuna moves up alongside Anophth and slashes at the foe that Dramm blasted.
Delia steels her mind and moves to support Anophth, but her attack falls short.
Tabog takes up his position just in front of the back. He has an arrow notched but not drawn as the begin their decent. Not watching the statues as they approach, he is nearly caught off guard but as he sees them rear up and Uruuna charge into action, he recalls the rally song she inspired and fits the words to the fight that was to ensue.
"The halls of this shrine, are a home now for yo-o-ou,
Cause you could not help but, be f~!~ing rude.
Someday you may see that, you were so wrong,
but you'll know you got beat by a halfling and Sooong."
Dramm's magic twists and rends one skeleton, while Imedren shatters the armor of the second. As Uruuna and Anophth close into melee, the skeletons swiftly lash out with their scimitars! Fortunately, both the halfling and goblin are able to dodge!
Anophth misses, but Uruuna strikes the damage skeleton, causing it to collapse in a pile of bones! The other one slashes twice at the halfling, scoring one glancing hit.
Taking the hit in stride, Uruuna retaliates, still bolstered by Tabog's song.
Delia finally manages a good hit, chopping into the skeleton with her battleaxe.
Excited now, Tabog draws his bow string and looses an arrow at the weakened skelly.
Not counting on the lack of skin, fleshy bits, his arrow whizzed straight through its rib cage and shattered on the wall behind it.
Watch it with those arrows! That nearly went through my new hair! Anophth yells to TaBog.
And don't you know arrows won't work for something that's only bones! You need a solid stick! Like this!
He swings his cane at the skeleton.
Anophth's strike shatters the skeleton, sending bones clattering all around the goblin.
With the undead guardians handily dealt with, you proceed down the curved ramp to a circular chamber. A shaft opens up in the center of the ceiling here, climbing to the glass dome above. Bright red lights fill this room, whose every surface is mirrored. In the center of the room floats a shallow golden bowl. The light radiates from three chaos shards lying on the floor.
More shards. Anophth glances over at Dramm. How about we takes these in a nice thick leather bag, and then sell them and share the profits?
Glancing warily around at the mirrored surfaces Imedren reached out for the bowl to take it. "I wonder what'll happen this time."
The shards disappear as Imedren reaches for them. They were just illusions! At the same time, the golden bowl explodes with bright, burning light!
Thinking of Dramm's words before sleep, Joy does not flinch. Even if the others smash through the bones before she acts, she still feels good about herself.
And the bowl explodes.
"Oh no! Imedren, are you okay!?", she cries.
He'd been planning to grab the shards and get back quickly; when the explosion occurred, it was the last thing Imedren expected to happen. It was also the last thing he remembered as he lost consciousness from the pain.