| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The air stank of taint. The ground oozed the rankness of taint. The feel of the ruins, the stones, the wind that caressed over the ancient testament of ruination, all of it, reeked of taint. With every passing moment, Jasper felt it grow, felt it soil his thoughts, corrupt his bones and the marrow within. Out beyond the ruins, the wind and lightning howled and shrieked, yet upon the property, the wind was held at bay, as though i giant hand held all but the most determined gusts in.
My lord, the balding follower muttered softly, not daring to intrude too severely upon his master's meditations. Everything is set. The virgins, the candles, the glyphs, all of it.
Jasper grunted in acknowledgement, not moving from his spot atop a stone throne, bound in place upon a large stone dais centered in what was could only have been a large circular building.
For the umpteenth time, his right hand lifted up and pressed upon the narrow paper that was kept in his breast pocket upon his body. The critical part of his life's work. Everything else, the bargains, the pacts, the depravity he used; he knew he would be weighed and found to be damned, but he took heart in that his actions would eventually be proven to be good. He opens his eyes, and scans again the landscape. Tall and small rocks dot the hilltop, atop of another hilltop, atop another, each one with a larger base than the one atop it, rising higher to the sky above, an ancient ziggurat to the heavens above. Jasper took one final breath to center himself, and started to pull the arcane and divine energies toward this unnatural summit he stands upon.
Brothers! he says to the followers that have helped him, that have followed him, that have done his bidding. all of it, led to this moment, and they were bound to Jasper, heart, mind and soul. All of them, male and female, old and young, all looked up at him from their designated ritual circles. Brothers! the moment has come! Everything that we have been forced to do, to sacrifice for. tonight! The group claps softly, majority of them still within ther meditative trances as they also channel mystic energies into their selves. We had but one goal, to rid this realm of evil, once and for all. To deny this world the demonic, the devil, the chaotic, the evil. And yet, all of us! We all had to participate in evil to achieve this final goal! Slavery! Racketeering! Prostitution! Extortion! War-mongering! Assassinations! Genocide! All of this was necessary to finance our research, to maneuver the world towards this position! to redirect the attentions of those that would think that we are no better than the common criminal and attempt to stop us! And, it allowed all of us to enter into this realm of evil, to use evil to beat evil! those that think Good and Evil must exist in balance, they are the ones who are the greatest evil to the world! They are the ones that pacify allow evil to continue to exist. when evil should be crushed! they show restraint! when evil corrupts good, they show leniency! Evil beats good!
jasper stands up from the stone throne, removes the item from his pocket, and casts off his jacket. Upon his body, runes, glyphs, marks of power, all of it are arranged upon his body to concentrate energy towards a single point just below his heart. the markings mirror those that are chiseled into the stone found upon the ziggurat, from the lowest base to the highest, precariously leaning stone, every rock has markings of amplification, of attraction, of resistance, and more. Radiating out at the eight directional lines, stones with more etchings are laid out, stretching out from the base to the horizon and beyond. As irrigation channels redirect river water into sown fields, the stones collect and redirect the whispers of energies throughout the lands and towards this single ziggurat, and up the ziggurat to the top, and upon the top to one individual.
Tonight! We shall triumph over evil! Tonight! we shall bind the Grand Bargainer! THe author of the First Contract! We shall bind the great Deceiver, and his minions! We shall bind them to our will, or force them and their kin, their influence, from this realm once and for all! We shall control them all, and make them suffer!!!
Jasper nods, and stands atop the throne. He opens the paper and begins to read.
Asmodeus!
******
He sat atop his throne, staring at the Loom of Fate as it weaves it's threads of Destiny. Minuscule was the majority, yet some were massive cables that snaked through and around even the tiniest of threads. He knew which one was his; it was black with flecks of red, a giant cable with thousands of of lesser cables were wrapped around, with those in turn wrapped by tinier threads.
It is done. The contract, secured. The High priestess of Thraf shall retain her beauty, and shall be ripe for plucking in several twists. The distorted voice, male and female in tone, a voice that would flay the soul from a mortal that would listen to it, it tickled the Lord of Hell's ears with pleasure.
Ah. Excellent. I- Lord Morning star pauses, feeling an odd pinch upon his elbow. he reaches across his body and scratches the pinch with his clawed finger. I shall enjoy her taint- the pinch was stronger this time. Yet, with the pinch, an odd echo sounded within his mind.
-bound to my will, Asmodeus Dexu xmcich'pxcht! Be not yet be here, bound to my essence Asmodeus Dexu xmcich'pxcht cwqplxxiw! Your contracts are your soul, and you are bound to my essence Asmodeus Dexu xmcich'pxcht cwqplxxiw
The Lord of Devils, Master of Hell, bound to his feet in rage!
The lesser devil quailed in fright, not because of the radiant emotion, but instead for the look!
Fear played out upon the Master's face.
The Nine levels began to shake! To rumble!
Fools! Dare you- the Arch-Devil, the God of Devils, cuts off.
The pinch, no longer pinched. instead, it pulled. it pulled hard, relentless. An entity pulled at him. Pulled at the Lord Below. He resisted at first with a negligent thought, but that forced him down a step. More, he resisted. Leaning away, bracing his essence, yet a sliver of him knew that this was futile. Yet still, he resisted! what else could he do? Asmodeus sunk his corrupting claws into the other realm stone, and for a moment, it halted the pull. Yet still, the voice pulled at him. The compulsion!
He knows my True name!
The voice was relentless, each name was relentless, it pulled at Asmodeus' psyche, lashing him like divine whips, a master to a bad slave. The will that compelled him, that forced him to respond to his true name was absolute! No hesitation! no worry! Complete and utter confidence with each name addition!
Asmodeus, the Master of Hell, the fallen from Heavens, the corrupted divine essence, the architect of The Contract, succumbed!
Into a bright light, Asmodues, Lord of the Nine Hells, was he pulled into!
It was the bright light that you immediately remember. It flashed, filling your vision. you felt a momentary weightlessness, and then you crashed hard into a wall behind you. You had dropped down to the ground, coughing hard, more so in shock than from true injury. You groaned-
No!
you didnt groan.
Who groaned?
You blink, shake your head. You clear away the after affects of the blinding light. you see your hands holding you up. hands and knees. You look left and right, seeing others in the same position.
A groan is heard, a second, third, and then screams! loud! Close!
Feet hammer the ground, running as the scream!
You look up! you see three bodies covered in blood running at you! Mouth distorted wide, tongues bitten nearly clean off, blood covers chins! Cut marks mars their bodies, blood soaking the clothes; they were dead by your hand.
cultists they were! Seeking to summon some dead woman, or something. The memory is fuzzy. maybe i took a worse blow than i thought.
The shriek grows louder, the hammering foot falls closer, closer!
You got to do something!
you got to get up!
do something!
something!
anything!
death comes!
In his mind's eye--a dream, perhaps a vision?--Nokhir had seen the great Observatory of the Turning Sphere floating above the Perfect City. The planets in this system were aligning, but not just in this system. Across the planes there were curious alignments along the invisible orbits that governed the paths. It was one of those moments that those tuned in to the more esoteric and occult knew could be used to heighten magic to powers typically unreachable by mere mortals. And the gods? This was the sort of thing that could destroy the fabric of reality itself. Ancient mythology held that the Lady of Graves was the sole Survivor the last time something like this happened. And since prophecy was dead, no one could say what might happen if it happened again.
Nokhir looked at the Turning Sphere with their indescribable yet perfect form, drawing his face to the lens to see. His vision slowed and then everything turned blinding white.
There was pain. He had known pain. There was not a hobgoblin alive who did not know pain. Pain was the way of growth. Pain was the way of ascendancy. Pain was the way of power. But as his vision returns, he looks up and the memories of the current moment filter slowly into his consciousness.
There was no time to think. There was only time to kill.
Nokhir rises to his feet and clenches his right hand into a fist. A piece of rubble at his feet rises and trembles. He narrows the fingers of his left hand into a claw-like position and the rubble forms itself into daggers. "Die," he says, thrusting both hands forward to send the shards of earth forward.
Jediah's eyes snap open as he claws back to awareness as howling fills the air. Grabbing at his axe that also served as his focus for his songs, he got to his feet and aw the blood drenched figures charging at them.
He lifts his axe and will strike at it draws near
Krugga was halving and quartering whole aurochs for the clan when her vision clouded and she lost consciousness.
Krugga awoke from the nightmare, seeing several others around her that did not seem to be immediately threatening and several that did. she saw that the hobgoblin and human were not fighting each other, and decided not to attack them but to follow their lead and focus on these abominations; she stepped to the east and Prepared to slash and what she heard running down the hall to the south.
Bos spared a glance at the other "normal" people in the room with him as reality came back to him, More like snapped into existence, he thought.
There has been that light followed by the pain. Had there been an explosion? Something powerful enough to send them all hurling into the wall?
No time to worry about it right now, Bos told himself. One of the creatures snarled as if in response.
Two of the others had weapons. One had sent a large chunk of the ground flying. Bos looked at his feet and found, what looked like, an oversized rapier at his feet. That'll do, I s'pose, he thought as he gripped the hilt.
"Looks like we're fighting our way out, eh?" A large, toothy smile spread across Bos' face and he moved in line next to the orc with the oversized axe, following into a similar stance as her's with his blade at the ready.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Walking up and not being in the ship is weird enough, given she was there when she went to sleep in his hammock. But what she finds here...
Out of pure instinct, she tries to reach her blade, and actually unsheathes it, but not knowing who's who and why - or even what - makes her ace a bit more cautiously. Opening her hand and pointing at one random opponent - probably one of those demonic things - she produced a splash of acid that travels to its face.
the disjointed, unearthly howls as the creatures rush at you all echo inside the room, pounding your ear drums.
Nokhir's stone daggers slash through the air and impact wetly upon the cultist's form, each one thudding into the flesh. Chunks fall off as flesh is sheared from the main body. It takes two more steps towards Nokhir before it falls face first onto the floor, destroyed.
Black jane snaps off her acid splash with hurried motion, and yet luck is upon her side! the acid splash connects squarely upon the cultist's face, where it corrodes the skin, flesh, and bone. it falls wetly to the ground where the acid continues to eat not only the head, but the upper torso as well.
Bos and Krugga take up positions next to the doorway, and wait. Yet they dont have to wait long, as another thing walks around the corner and passes over the threshold.
instantly, in a viscious display of burtality, Krugga makes her weapon live up to it's name as she butchers the cultist in half with ease. blood, organs, and sinew all spray out from the shearing impact, it's screech cut off into a wet gurgle as it dies before it fully realizes it is dead.
Bos, seeing the creature destroyed, he raises his blade and holds it at ease.
As Nokhir's earthen assault cuts the howling creature down, the others around the room similarly render their quarries asunder. But although the sound has gone quiet from this room, there are howls echoing off the walls indicating that there is not yet safety.
The hobgoblin turns to the others--an orc, two half-elves, and a human, all seemingly adept at the killing art--and regards them with a mixture of suspicion and admiration. Elf magic was dangerous, but the woman had done well with it. It would be better to keep her on his side. And hobgoblins had occasionally brokered treaties with orc tribes, though Nokhir himself had little experience with their ilk. Did any of them look familiar? He couldn't tell.
"Fighting our way out of where?" Nokhir responds to the male half-elf. His voice rumbles with deep resonance as he checks to see that the buckler strapped to his arm is tightly secured. "My recent memory is marred," he admits. "I am Nokhir. I would know with whom I fight today."
She knows other civilized people would be amazed and horrified at the sight of someone like the one who just talked - a hobgoblin if she's not mistaken. She, though, had been with crews strange enough to be used to it.
"Jane."
Jediah is rather put out that he did not get to cleave his foe but looks at the others who splattered everything. Jediah. He grunts. So sense telling them too much.
Krugga seems to not notice or care about any blood spatter, in fact you notice that the apron she wears seems to have many blood stains of various ages on it already."Nokhir fights with Krugga, daughter of Krogge." She grunts out at the hobgoblins queston. hobgoblins... worthy foes the thinks to herself while sniffing the air towards The other female in the room, and the male next to her, Knife ears, grrrr....and a pinkskin. she thinks looking over each of the companions.
she continues sniffing the air around her, as if searching for something,
but you soon realize she must have something stuck in her nose as she lets out a massive, orc sneeze, that likely shakes the room. This is the first time you notice just how big she really is, taller than most male orcs and bigger and more defined muscles, likely honed from years of swinging her large axe, whose bearded head goes down almost half the length of the haft.
"My memory is also muddied; Marred, as you say. I am unsure of if I am familiar with any of you..." she says, tightening her grip on her axe.
“Well, Nokhir, Jane, Jediah, Krugga,” Bos nodded to each as he said their names, then he pointed a thumb at his chest, “Bos Murga.”
The half-elf knelt by the bisected thing on the ground. “Somehow, we all made our way in here. Maybe we were trying to stop something from happening? I recall a bright light then hitting the wall…hard.” Bos rose back to his feet, letting out a low groan as he did.
“Safe to say that we’re on the same side. So, how’s ‘bout you loosen that grip just a bit and we find a way outta here, eh?” Bos said to Krugga. Though he flashed a smile, the point of his own blade was angled just slightly toward the orc.
"Uhm... I was... Swinging on a rope..." Yeah, the situation is quite weird, but in any case her hard life has taught her to focus on here and now. Here and now, she's in a strange place with demon-like creatures and strange guys who seem friendly enough, at least for now, so she'll have to adapt.
"Let's get outta here. I have a ship to board."
Nokhir nods as the others introduce themselves. Group amnesia was an ill omen of meddling.
"Something approached from that door," the hobgoblin says, pointing to the door behind Krugga, and the decimated corpse lying at her feet. "Let us cut our way through any who would deny us exit."
If something thought to just yank us from our homes as tools for their will, I say we give them a firm kick to the face.
Krugga relaxes her grip and heaves the haft over her shoulder, she offered her hand to him and said,"Very, well let us find our way out of here. will we go around the corner hallways or use this staircase?" she says pointing at the norther and southern doorways and the stairs to the west.
"Given that this fella," Bos tapped the corpse with his boot, "came from this direction, should we head back that way?" He gestured toward the northern doorway. "I figure, if we head up these stairs here" "we might run the risk of this guy's buddies coming up after us. And we don't know exactly what's up there waiting for us."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Nokhir shrugs but seethes internally. It was one thing for the orc to question him, but the half-elf? He'd better watch his back. But with a calm veneer, the hobgoblin defers. "By all means, lead the way."
"I'd say if this guy's friends are there" Jane says, pointing at the place, "we could just go and kick their ass, so we save time. But as you wish. We can always come back to say hi."
"hurrhurrhurr" She chuckles heartily,"It was no match for my Axe. one or ten, I will chop them all down." She says, clearly excited to continue battle.
Jediah begins humming a tune of battle.
WIth that, Bos opened the northern door.
several loud roars float in the air, indicating more of these creatures are within... where ever you are.
"Well, unless one of you moonlights as a laborer of some sort, I don't think we're getting this door open," Bos said.
He pointed back at the southern door, "I s'pose we'll be heading that way after all."
And, unless someone offers up any suggestions, he will step over the corpse and into the southern hall.
Nokhir raises an eyebrow and walks into the hallway after the half-elf abandons it. He raises both hands and tries to bend the metal to his will. But unfortunately, his mastery of the elements was not yet strong enough to identify the specific earthen components within the steel that could be manipulated. There is a bit of sweat on his brow as smaller bits of stone whirl through the air, but he gives up after a few moments.
He huffs and resumes his position near the back. Stupid steel and its impurities.
Jediah grumbles as the group has to back up. If they ever get out of here, miner's tools look to be something they must buy.
"Well, unless one of you moonlights as a laborer of some sort, I don't think we're getting this door open," Bos said.
He pointed back at the southern door, "I s'pose we'll be heading that way after all."
And, unless someone offers up any suggestions, he will step over the corpse and into the southern hall.
"This way it is then, Krugga says as she heads down the southern passage, following the hall east.
"HEY!!" she barks to get the others attention,"This door is closed too!" she says waiting about 6 seconds for someone to stop her before flinging the door open (if its actaully unlocked) and then proceeding to do the action in "if the door is OPEN" spoiler tag.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
We could take over the world with a dozen of her.
Rushing through the door Krugga’s axe rips through the first cultist,
+the 22 damage already rolled.
Nokhir is surprised to hear a human speaking so openly of world domination, but perhaps he shouldn't be. They were often brazen.
And as the orc proves his statement correct again in short order, the hobgoblin has to agree. He slides into the room after her and, seeing a large stone lying on the ground, sends it flying towards the furthest cultist in the room.
With a swift jerk of his hand, the stone cracks in half a few inches from the closer cultist's head. The stone halves arc out before slamming back together in one whole where the back cultist's head used to be.
It was...less total than Krugga's devastating strike, but he was still pleased with the results.
"One more for the eager," he calls back.
Jediah moves up with Bos, already thinking of songs to praise Krugga's might. What rhymes with 'gibblets'?
Jane advances through the door and stands beside Krugga, waiting and watching for more demons.
Two of the cultists go down fast, split from head to foot or crushed by a stone to the chest, while the third takes the thrust to it's chest from Bos' blade. It staggers back with a loud groan. It set's it's feet and roars a wet throated groan! It steps back up and lashes out at Bos with a hands and maw.
the claws sink deep and the bite tears out a chunk of flesh, warm blood splashes out onto the cultist's face. it chomps loudly as it eats the flesh.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Nokhir scowls as Jane and Jediah muck about and allow Bos to be savaged. He tries to rectify the problem. Who would have ever thought a hobgoblin would be coming to an elf's aid?
Even weaving around the cover provided by his "allies", his latest scrap of earth manages to connect. "Don't stand around gawking while they still live," he castigates. He walks up to each one in turn, telekinetically lifting up a slew of bricks and other detritus and smashing the cultist's heads in to be sure that they were well and truly dead.
"Disgusting Creatures! you need to slow roast a shoulder before biting into it like that! IT WILL BE TOO TOUGH!!" Krugga roars as she charges the cultist eating Bos.
Jediah casts Cure Light Wounds on Bos
Bos’ smile flickered for just a moment as he watched the thing devour a piece of Bos’ shoulder. An instant later, the thing was no more and Jediah was already working to infuse the wound with healing magic.
”Thank you,” he looked to each of them, “All of you. It seems I’m still a bit groggy from before. I’ll need to do better.” Bos pointed to the the door to the north with the tip of his blade. “I’m still for wiping out any of their friends that might be hiding out in here.”
And he moves to open the door.
Nokhir gruffly nods. At least he seemed aware. And it was good that they had someone with healing capabilities, because that was not an area in which Nokhir excelled. The hobgoblin takes his place at the rear, ready for more bloodshed while watching their backs.
”Thank you,” he looked to each of them, “All of you. It seems I’m still a bit groggy from before. I’ll need to do better.” Bos pointed to the the door to the north with the tip of his blade. “I’m still for wiping out any of their friends that might be hiding out in here.”
And he moves to open the door.
"AYE let us amuse gorum with this fodder!!" she says gleefully as she rushes into the next room and winging right onto the balcony,"More of the creatures in here!" she calls back as she whips a chakram down at the cultist below.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Jediah moves up and starts a Raging Song for Inspired rage.
At 7th level, a skald can start a raging song as a move action instead of a standard action. At 13th level, a skald can start a raging song as a swift action instead.
Inspired Rage (Su) At 1st level, affected allies gain a +2 morale bonus to Strength and Constitution and a +1 morale bonus on Will saving throws, but also take a –1 penalty to AC. While under the effects of inspired rage, allies other than the skald cannot use any Charisma-, Dexterity-, or Intelligence-based skills (except Acrobatics, Fly, Intimidate, and Ride) or any ability that requires patience or concentration. At 4th level and every 4 levels thereafter, the song’s bonuses on Will saves increase by 1; the penalty to AC doesn’t change. At 8th and 16th levels, the song’s bonuses to Strength and Constitution increase by 2. (Unlike the barbarian’s rage ability, those affected are not fatigued after the song ends.) If an ally has her own rage class ability (such as barbarian’s rage, bloodrager’s bloodrage, or skald’s inspired rage), she may use the Strength, Constitution, and Will saving throw bonuses, as well as AC penalties, based on her own ability and level instead of those from the skald (still suffering no fatigue afterward). However, inspired rage does not allow the ally to activate abilities dependent on other rage class abilities, such as rage powers, blood casting, or bloodrager bloodlines; the ally must activate her own rage class ability in order to use these features.
11/12 rounds left
Was Krugga a Gorumite? It was almost hard to tell. Nokhir chuckles darkly to himself as he follows after here. And then the human starts singing a song.
Oh, but that's good, though.
The thrumming of his voice times in with Krugga throwing the chakram and impacting with the next visible cultist.
Nokhir feels his connection with the earth growing stronger. His blood pumps through his vessels and he bares his teeth at the bloodied cultist. "Only if he's ready to be bored by their weakness!"
He sends several sharp shards of earth out past Krugga, but his aim is off this time and he only succeeds in raining shrapnel down in the flight path. No worries. It would be dead soon, but one of their hands.
Bos followed the others into the room and headed down one set of steps. Not keen on having another bite taken from his flesh, he readied himself for any possible attack.
WAGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!
the shock attack into the room was fast! you breached the door and rushed in, rage pumping within your veins as you swept the room, looking for the nearest threats. Cultists, bloody pustules and gobs of saliva pool upon their bodies and the floor, all of them moan and roar as you enter into the large room.
Krugga runs down a catwalk that terminates further down, her gaze at the moment upon the closest cultist. She hurls her Chakram at the cultist, its razors edge slashing across the creature's stomach. A hollow ring and clatter comes as the thrown weapon falls to the ground.
Jediah stomps into the room and begins to sing a deep baritone war song, one intended to whip the emotions up into a blistering fury.
Nokhir snaps the loose gravel upon the ground at the cultist, unfortunately the heavy concencration of the gravel misses and scatters loudly upon the ground behind it.
The room itself, as people take a moment and look around, seems to be some sort of chapel, or throne room. your quick glance doesnt reveal much. a narrow catwalk runs from the platform by the door you just passed through, and from there it runs out about 30 or so feet before it transitions into a dais of some sort. it stands empty now. About halfway down the catwalk a pair of stairs, to the left and right of the path, both descend a hop (5 feet) down onto a lowered subfloor, which surrounds the raised platform. On the far side of the room a set of double doors stand closed. And, across from the door which you entered, another door sits closed.
Bos glides on the balls of his feet, his stance held easy, prepped to resist an attack.
The cultists roar and scream, globs of pus and saliva vomit forth from their bodies as they scream and begin to descend upon all of you.
This one rushes up to the raised platform and climbs up onto the platform.
another cultist rushes up and climbs onto the platform as well, standing between Krugga and Nokhir.
a third cultist rushes from behind the platform, along and rushes up the stairs to stand before Krugga. it growls and slobbers!
this cultist rushes forward, blood trailing behind it as it rushes Bos. It swings its claws and bites at bos.
As the creature lunges ahead, swinging it's claws, Bos snaps his estoc in a precise counter attack. first left and right, he slaps the arms wide, and the lunges, the blade catching the cultist through it's heart. It fall over, dead.
another cultist, as it's fellow falls limp, rushes past Bos and stands just at the feet of Krugga, snarling and roaring.