(Been forgetting to do this. Warning, language)
Lilliannah pauses a moment, watching Jhori and the crates as they walk into the tower.
They spy several crates, body parts sitting in them still bloody and ripe. Several runes on the sides, glowing softly, the smell of blood hangs heavy in the air.
Valeiru walks slowly up the ramp. “If I were to guess those runes are preserving the bodies...a food storage center”
"Let's go then." She says allowing her gaze to turn away from the broken and bloody bodies, she makes a face at the words of 'food storage.'
Jeatra, looking bright as sunshine, skipped up to the group as if she was there all along. “Hiya. You guys save Eric yet?”
Lilliannah was also frowning at "food storage" and jumps slightly at Jeatra's voice.
The top level is was a look out, Jeatra skipping up the ramp with ease, her light frame and light armor hardly causing a sound along the wood. In the distance a large gate could be seen, the stone shattered in places and the doors open. A small group of burnt battlements dotted the land.
Jhorikos jumps at the sound of the new voice.
Valeiru flashes his silver eyes looking for anything hiding on the top level before he looks to the Battered gate and what lies beyond it. “Hello Jeatra...”
Jeatra grins, two daggers tucked in her hands. “Hiya Vale. You know there was some things sneaking up on you from behind...but I took care of them.” She winks, flashing her white pointy teeth.
“I know.. There will be more in a few minutes. And thank ye for it...”
Lilliannah nods once, still speaking quietly. “Hey Jeatra. And no, we haven't found Eric yet.” She smiles slightly.
Jhorikos looks back to Jeatra and nods. “Get up there and make yourself useful.”
Jeatra slips a one dagger back in it's sheathe, examining the hallway, looking for signs of danger. “Well, let's get on it!”
Jhorikos growls softly. “We should have killed half the tower by now.”
“The tower is empty Jhori...for now” Vale says as he looks to the ground and sky for the patrols
Jeatra giggles at Jhori, bouncing on her feet. “Right away!”
A few winged creatures can be seen flying into the broken door and into the darkness in the distance, like they are prepping to mount some kind of resistance. A single demon stands in front of the door, what kind he or she is however is unknown.
Valeiru sighs softly and judges the distance from the tower to the gate. “I cannae hit that from ere...We have to go to them it seems.”
The door is easily a quarter mile away, with tons of broken battlements between it and there.
Jhorikos looks around at the terrain “Shoot them... well stage a defense here, and cut them down.”
“If we are quick and dart between the battlements.. We may be able to get there safely.” Vales says as he starts back down the ramp putting Karas on his back and drawing Dual longswords that come ablaze with silver as he touches them. He then stops at Jhori's words. ”Shoot them? My eyes are good Jhori but that's a distance even for an archon archer.”
Jhorikos sighs. “Fine then... have it your way.”
Valeiru pulls out Karas. “If its fer Eric...”
“I got this.” Jeatra says, a small giggle in her voice. In mere seconds, Jeatra is sprinting forward, practically springing off one of the broken battlements onto one of the winged demons. Her daggers are back in her hands, as she whirls into the air, a swirling dervish of blades.
Jhorikos stammers out. “Holy F*cking Flame!”
Lilliannah frowns slightly at Jhori but stays silent.
Valeiru takes aim at another of the winged demons and whispers to his bow. “Taedar Vaalim cheres...” He lets loose an arrow that becomes a streak of silver holy energies infusing it.
“That crazy halfling!” Jhorikos shouts, standing ready for battle.
Her jump is shy by inches, but she managed to nick the winged demon and send it falling, the cut to the wing more then enough to send it down. Her feather fall kicks in and saves her the pain of the demon, whom crashed rather harshly into the broken battlements. A cry was heard and the demons pulled back for the gate on the wall.
Jeatra only takes a few moments with the feather fall active, gauging her descent, then removes the ring with a flourish. She spins her daggers, aiming them right at the fallen demons chest, using it's body to break her own fall. Her laughter rings across the walls.
Lilliannah sighs and mutters. “Sometimes I wish I had some range...”
The demon made a short cry as the blades sink in. Vale's Arrow whizzing past her on the way down, impaling one demon and sending the holy fire though it. It screams out and falls to the ground, this time not landing on the ground, but a stone spike, set up to block chargers.
Valeiru knocking another arrow and readying it. “You'll get a shot at fighting soon anough love.. they are treating us like a whole battalion.”
Lilliannah grins a little. “We may as well be, love.”
Jeatra grinning, she twists her blades once, then pulls back out, the blood deeply coating the steel. “One less demon.” She waists no more time, and charges forth again, springing from battlement to battlement.
Valeiru takes aim at the lone demon that was standing in front of the gate and lets loose an arrow for its head.
Lilliannah watches the Halfling closely, hoping she doesn't hurt herself. Jhorikos covers the rear and tries to kill any demons that may have been missed.
The arrow goes flying for the demon, only to be stopped not far from it, a rope wall flying up and holding the arrow fast in place. As Jeatra skips across the battlements something in her bones tells to jump back, now.
Jeatra's motion quickly stops on one of the battlements. Luckily due to the angle, it's easy to kick her feet off, sending her into a back flip towards the rest of the group. Valeiru reaches out with his aura to get a feel for how many demons are there getting ready to fight.
As she pushed off, the battlement, it exploded, a trap of some kind built into it. Vale could only feel the one demon at the door, anything beyond that was too distant to know really. The figure took a step forward, the evil of it almost overwhelming for Vale.
Valeiru shakes his head clear. “That...” He calls down to Jeatra. “GET BACK HERE! THAT DEMON IS TO POWERFUL TO FIGHT ALONE!”
Lilliannah frowns at Vale's reaction, but knows he has more knowledge on demons then she does.
Jeatra took a moment to look at the large thing in the doorway. She moved back a bit further, and then hunkered behind one the structures, using it both as cover, and a convient place to hide. The Halfling gave one look back to Vale, waiting for a cue to attack.
Valeiru draws his swords again setting them ablaze with silver. “Love....Get your mace ready.” He leans in and kisses her on the check and jumps of the tower keeping hold of the side to slow his decent.
The creature pulled back the hood, long black hair fell from it. She could have been mistaken for a human save her feral features and light blue colored skin. She was larger then a human as well, as she moved back and forth, waiting for them to approach a bow could be seen in her hands. She seemed to patient, very patient.
Lilliannah holds her mace and watches Vale go, frowning slightly, wondering if she should just jump out as well.
Valeiru stops abruptly when he lands and yells. “LILLY STAY THERE!”
Lilliannah blinks and mutters to herself. “Well that answers that.” She frowns and calls back. “Love, are you sure?”
Valeiru calls back up to Lilli. “Love if you wish to come down do so slowly and keep that shield at the ready...”
Lilliannah looks down the side of the tower and sighs, not understanding at all why he took such foolish risks.
The small halfling is already slowly working her way towards the devil, carefully staying in the shadows. All traces of her sounds have gone, except for some lingering laughter that seems to come from everywhere and nowhere.
Valeiru sheathes his swords and pulls out Karas. “Erinyes Whore!...You chose the wrong specialty.” He lets loose 3 arrows in quick succession aimed at her head, chest, and groin respectively.
That rope wall went up once more, that was going to be pain, though the acid in the arrows seemed to break a free strands of it. As Jeatra moved up slowly, she could see the area was littered with ropes of all kinds and sizes. This was set up, very much so. The woman let out an echoing laugh followed by a shot of her own. It was aimed over Vale's head and stuck into the wood of the tower, the arrow lighting on the fire.
Lilliannah gasps and steps back, then turns to move quickly, not quite running, down the ramp, still not trusting of it. Vale takes a testing shot to the right of the Erinyes not to far but so that she knows its not at her. The arrow fly past her and sticks into the soft stone just beyond her.
Little did the demon know...Jeatra had a trick up her sleeve. A small golden flash appeared across the battlefield, a blur as it hurriedly hopped from place to place, never lingerly long as it worked closer to the blue skinned woman. The halfling herself moved from the other hand, still silent, her footfalls covered by the growing mews that seem to echo from the gold furred cat darting closer and closer.
'”So thats her trick” He thought to himself. “I see your game you cowardly bitch! If you shall not fight fairly neither Shall I!” He darts forward and springs off a battlement seemingly letting only two arrows loose but there is a third hidden in the shadow of the first meant to penetrate where the first failed.
The woman drew back her bowstring and waited for the cat to dart across the battlefield once more. She fired a shot in front of it, enough for it to be forced to make a last second choice of be tripped or jump over it. The arrows sent by Vale hit the wall, but the second one tore though the opening, sinking into the large cloak of the woman. She didn't even flinch as she notched her next arrow. Lilliannah exited the burning tower and ran a few more feet away from it, straining to see what was going on from her ground position. Jhorikos continued to watch from where she stood.
“Lilli, to me! I have an idea!” Valeiru shouted. Jeatra’s cat moved nimbly, more nimble than should be possible. Instead of jumping over the arrow, it used its paws to leap on it, knocking it the ground. Jeatra was close now, nearly ready to make her final spring, and sink her dagger into the evil creature's heart. Lilliannah ran toward Vale's voice, her shield in front of her and her mace at the ready.
Jhorikos advanced forward with her shield up. “Hello Demon!” She peered over the top of her shield in front of her.
Valeiru pulled out 7 arrows from one of his 3 quivers and handed them to Lilli. “Can you cast a strength spell on these?” Lilliannah took the arrows and nodded, muttering a few words. The arrows glowed for a moment, then the light faded and they returned to looking normal. Jeatra and Jhori, the only ones in range to notice it see that the area around the woman is blighted rather heavily. It looks like her simply standing there is causing the ground to die.
Lilliannah hands the arrows back to Vale. “That should work.” She states hopefully.
“Thank you love.” Valeiru takes three of them and knocks them, taking careful aim for the center of her rope shield. He lets them loose and grabs two more and lets them loose at the same spot. Upon locking eyes with the woman Jhori felt a tug in her mind, like she was trying to take her over. Jhori managed to take hold of her mind, fighting back the invasion for control of her body once more. The arrows zoomed past Jhori, the first one stopped by the wall but the last three screaming past, one missing the woman by inches, the other two sinking in, making her stagger. A bright light followed them, and the woman was lieing face down on the ground.
Valeiru sighed with relief. “Dont go near her yet..she is down but may not be out.” He knocked the last amplified arrow and let it loose at the fallen creature’s head. The arrow sank into the skull with ease.
Jhorikos waited to hack the demon apart. Paying no attention to Vale’s command, Jeatra bore down on the fallen demon. She grinned with malice, piercing her daggers down on its abdomen. Seeing Jeatra, Jhorikos began to advance carefully.
As Jeatra rushed over to the body, she felt sickened. Very sick. As she sank her blade in, she realized something was wrong. The body wasn't quite right. Jeatra grimaced, working back the sickness as she twisted her blade. A small bit of bile spat from her lips, and she leapt back before she could succumb to the sickness. Once she jumped back, she could see what was wrong. The body wasn't real, at all. The sickness hit her hard.
What ever she ate was really no longer hers any more, it belonged to the ground. Lilliannah took a step forward, concerned for Jeatra but hesitant at the same time. Valeiru flashed his eyes silver, searching. Jeatra quickly knelt down on her hands and knees. Her stomach released the small breakfast she had prior as she cursed with several obscenities.
Lilliannah took another step forward, cast a cautious glance around, then moved quickly to Jeatra's side, kneeling beside her. “Jeatra?”
Jhorikos moved forward with her blade ready. “What did you eat?”
Jeatra coughed several times, her kitty giving comforting purrs. “Blasted Khyber!” Jeatra pounded the ground once as her body convulsed in another fit, but there was nothing more to expel from her body.
“Where did it go?” Jhorikos asked.
Lilli put one hand on Jeatra's back, using the other to support herself as she leaned down slightly to get a look at Jeatra's face. A scream could be heard from deeper inside of the caverns, Jhori could reconize it now. That was Eric, screaming in pain and rage. The gate was broken from countless wars, beyond the door was a small outpost and then the goal they saught, a castle, black stone and a dark moat around it.
Jhorikos jumped. “It's him!!! ERRRIIIICNOOOOX!!!!!!!!!!” The passage way to the next was narrower. Just beyond the gates, the stone had been worked. They could see a small outpost, worked stone and well made. Just beyond that was the goal they had been seeking. The Castle of Black Blood, blackened stone and cruel tops, pikes and the like along its dark stoneworking. Valeiru made his way around the blight and around the illusion of the creature towards the path. The illusion shimmered out of sight and the stoneworking in this area was rather smooth, which was odd for Khyber. Lilliannah followed Vale slowly, picking her way carefully.
Jhorikos looked at Vale. “What in the nine hells are we supposed to do now? Jeatra is useless now...” Jhorikos shrugged. “You are back on point, unless a dwarf shows up. And I do not see that happening.”
“Alrigh...” Valeiru headed into the gate, knocking two more arrows. Lilliannah held her shield in front of her and her mace at the ready. The outpost just ahead was dark on the inside. A single iron door, facing the group, was set into the cold stone walls. Valeiru pushed on the iron door to try and open it. The door was unlocked and creaked open slowly, making plenty of noise as it did. Vale could hear things moving inside of the building. He stopped the door from opening completely and peered inside with his silver eyes. Demons were hiding someplace in there, but he wasn't sure exactly where at. Snickering echos could be heard inside as well. Valeiru made a motion to stop and indicated there was a number of demons inside. Lilliannah hung back behind Vale.
“What did I say to you before we left, Vale?” Jhorikos inquired quietly.
“I know. But Shhhhhh....letting you know before I go rushing in.” He spoke in a hushed tone. Jhorikos began to get impatient.
Valeiru replaced his arrows and handed Karas to Jhori, drawing his dual swords and setting them ablaze with silver. “Come in after you count to 5.”
“Love...” Lilliannah was concerned about this plan.
Valeiru burst the doors open and screamed in a blood rage. “DEMON BASTARDS COME MEET THE FLAMES OF YOUR DOOM!” He charged them, flipping through the air, sliceing at the first one he could.
Jhorikos didn’t even bother waiting to shout, “FIVE!” and Lilliannah frowned. Jhorikos drew her weapon and gritted her teeth. “Let’s go... You two are slow like old women.”
Lilliannah sighed. “I am an old woman.” She smiled and stepped into the building.
Valeiru’s blade connected with a small creature, something that looked like a malformed blob. There were dozens of these creatures in here, all of them flooding out of rooms.
Jhorikos whispered, “Fuck Arawai in her ass...” Valeiru frowns and then continued his slicing onslaught through the tiny beasts, moving like a flashing dart. Jhorikos continued to swear as she trudged forward. “If these things break my sword, I blame you Vale!” She slashes at the creatures.
Dozens of Lemures were all over the place. The blades passed through them like water, it felt. An echoing voice seemed to flow though the halls of this place. "Look... She showed up... She did?! Wow... I had not expected to chase her shell of a man..."
“Come out and fight me you fecking cowards!” Jhorikos screamed, looking all over the place. “Or are you lacking your balls?”
"Of course we lack the balls... Unless you wish for us to gather your mates and have them for you?" The female voices called with a giggle. "Poor thing... He was so much fun while he still breathing." Jhorikos kept slashing at the creatures. Valeiru sliced through the last one near him and he whipped the slime off his blades and held them at the ready for the voice.
Before long, the devils were dead around them, simple fodder and nothing more. The voices continued to giggle around them though starting to get distant. "Come and get us! The Mistress will want to see you soon... Before she eats his soul that is..." Lilliannah walked up to stand next to Vale, ready for something to jump out at her. Valeiru flared the silver on his arm to light the room better.
A sting passed quickly through her chest…Were they trying to say he was already dead? “I will kill every one of you!”
“Jhori! Stay calm!...They want you to go flying into a rage.” Valeiru advised.
Jhorikos fought with herself for several seconds. “What do you mean?”
“You go running after them ahead of us....alone. Think” Valeiru watched her.
“It won't end well...” Lilliannah added.
The giggling passed and the door in the front of that hallway slowly opened. Just beyond that was a stone walkway with a huge stone gate. Unlike the others, this one was closed and the sigil on burned brightly. The hands of hell seemed to be holding it closed.
Jhorikos blinked slowly, then looked down, slashing quickly at the small bit of skin exposed between her glove and her armor sleeve. Blood ran freely in a line down her hand and dripped onto her shield. She nodded at Vale. “Let's go.”
“Eric will be proud of you when we find him Jhori. Of this I am sure.” Valeiru tries to comfort the Drow.
Jhorikos was still visibly shaking, but less so than before. “Just go...just go.” Lilliannah smiled slightly, standing still, examining things.
Valeiru headed towards the shining sigil slowly, holding his falme-covered sword out in front, watching it in case the flames fade. Jhorikos flanked Vale. As they moved into this area, a feeling of dread started to wash over everyone. Vale felt like he had done this before... Been here before. The feeling was much stronger the closer they got to the doorway. Valeiru continued on, slower than before.
"VALEIRU BAERATAN! It’s nice see the meatbag that is you, still alive!" A voice called, landing right next to him was a massive Fleshrender of some kind. The creature’s tail wrapped around Vale and damn near crushed the air out of him. "And look! You brought me a snack! Does this little Cleric love you as well?!" He laughed out.
Jhorikos whispered, “Meatbag?” Lilliannah stood perfectly still, her eyes wide. Jhorikos looked at Vale. “...You know these people?”
“HAAREESH!” Valeiru could only scream that.
Jhorikos’s mouth dropped open. “What in all the hells just happened?!”
Lilliannah gasped in recognition at the name. “No...”
“I will kill every person in this fucking continent including you people and myself if someone does not start talking.” Jhorikos speaks through clenched teeth.
Valeiru spoke in ragged breathy words. “You..Bastard...Don’t look at her...”
“Don’t look at who.. I don't understand” Jhorikos looked from face to face. Lilliannah stood speechless. Jhorikos considered just swinging at random things.
"The Lord of Khyber said you would be here..." The creature said, picking up Vale and squeezing him in one hand. "I bet she will taste just as good as your other woman... I bet she will even scream more as I pulled her apart..." He laughed, looking to the woman. "How rude of me! I am Haareesh! Vale's bane and woman eater!"
“M-me...he doesn't want it to look at me...” Lilliannah stammered quietly. Jhorikos swore under her breath.
Valeiru began screaming obscenities and curses in Infernal. “Heltaer! Gulutashae! You Fucking....YOU WILL LET ME GO! BEFORE I SCAR YOU AGAIN YOU MOTHERLESS SON OF A TAPEWORM!” Lilliannah wanted to tell Vale to calm down but knew it would be worthless.
“Right... let's see if it bleeds.” Jhorikos tried to flank the demon and prepared to swing her blade. Lilliannah nodded and tried to go around the other way, her mace held ready to swing and her shield ready to protect her.
The creature laughed and squeezed Valeiru harder, grinning as he did so. "The Lord of Khyber granted me a wish... You will need to try much harder then you did last time... so much harder you sack of pig swill. Now. Which should I eat first? Shattersoul's woman is off limits... So I guess that leaves your woman..."
Valeiru growled and roared in a bloody rage. “You even glance in her direction and I will turn you and this whole realm to ASH!”
"At what cost, fool!? Will you kill me and yourself to let her suffer?! HA!" He shouted, tossing Vale away from him and into the gate. Jhorikos’s ears rang with the words... 'off limits'... She growled and aimed her blade at the space joining between his leg and his hip, growling. The blade hit home, tearing into the flesh and sending a spray of blood out. "AHH! You bitch!" Lilliannah swung her mace, hoping to have Jhori's luck with hitting her mark.