3 - 131: The Third Piece

[K Man]

{Galdren - I'll move you into the room and on the platform.}

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Krysta, Caelith, Girud, Mordrock, Galdren, and Garor - Mordrock takes his shots. [Attack Rolls = 15/24] The Second arrows strikes meat. [Damage Roll = 8]

Vorren, unable to reach the demons currently, taunts them with talk of faith and religion...infuriating them. [Readied action in case of approach]

Garor squeezes onto the platform, but currently the devils are too far out to be hit with anything. [Readied action in case of approach]

Krysta takes her shots at the unblocked devil. [Attack Rolls = Nat. 20, Crit Confirm Success/Nat. 20, Crit Confirm success] With two expertly fired shots, Krysta hits the devil once in each of its ebony eyes. [Damage Rolls = 24/18] The demon howls in pain, holding its skull and desperately trying to cling to the pillar it hangs from.

Brother Hingar joins in the deific taunts of the unholy, nodding approvingly at Krysta's attack. [Readied action a approach]

Adelia moves to the center of the platform, ready to help the party when needed.

Girud unslings his bow and takes a shot. [Attack Roll = Nat. 20, crit confirm Fail] The shot is good, but falls short of striking a soft spot. [Damage Roll = 12 (I'll assume against wounded demon since no target specified)] It howls again, nearly collapsing into a heap of flesh in the lava.

The paladins grin when they see evil losing like this..

Galdren moves up, standing by the holy warriors and keeping his blades drawn. [Readied action for close]

The demons take their actions. The one nearly on the verge of death, proves the resolve of evil and flaps its leathery wings out of this room....leaving its companion to the fight.

The other demon reaches, taloned hand outstretched, into the lava and scoops a giant handful of the stuff up. It seems to form in his hands, a ring on the crimson skin glowing. The demon hurls it, dead center into the group and the lava explodes with unrivaled force. [Fireball effect. REF Saves for all on landing = Brother Hingar, Vorren, Jannoch and Garor Fail.] The ball of fire engulfs everyone, bathing them in the soft glow of amber fire and molten rock. [Damage Roll = 38 (1/2 = 17)]

The demon then snarls, readying a diving attack...

Michuth and Jannoch both wait, hoping the demon will move forward to within their sword range soon...

The innocents atop the platform let out a slight cheer at the fallen devils. A glimmer of hope in this palace of darkness...

[Initiative: Mordrock, Vorren, Garor, Krysta, Brother Hingar, Adelia, Girud and Galdren, The Demons, Michuth, Jannoch]

Map;

________________
...[].......|   |
.........../    |
......‡.../V    |
..[]...../BD    |
..[].....\TG   A|
..........\V R  |
...[]......\____|    
________________|KM

[/pre]

... = Lava
[] = Pillar with innocents atop it
‡ = Devil 2 (98/98)
T = Michuth
B = Brother Hingar
J = Jannoch
V = Vorren
M= Mordrock
A = Adelia
G = Girud
D = Galdren
R = Garor
N = Alton
K = Krysta

175 out of 200 Restoration points earned.

COUNTDOWN - 01:07 Hours to Apocalypse Clock Chime...
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yuri and Romar - The young acolyte helps Yuri to his feet, explaining.

"Not long sir...just long enough for the good to take ahold of you."

He helps you to your feet, wrapping a long blanket around you and gently wiping the blood from your skin. He ushers you to another set of doors, ones you did not see before when the room was dark. The acolyte speaks to you as he does.

"It may help you to understand, that before - when the darkness gripped you - your eyes could not see this room. The sun was already there...that was part of the pain you felt - it's cleansing power."

He opens the doors and helps you along, through a darkened tunnel, where you can hear a voice - Romar.

"I'm taking you to see your friend now. The head clerics think it well, when an undead is made undying, for them to see the ones that brought them here immediately."

"It makes for smoother transition."

Just as the acolyte finishes, you round the corner to see Romar addressing the council of clerics and head clerics. He nods to you and he goes on.

"...therefore, clerics of the Hidden City, I feel the need to urge you, and the leaders of this community, to aid in the struggle that now takes place at the Last Bastionne, where king Sturmguard's people will welcome all that would! I may know little of this place, but I know very well the might of only a handfull of clerics, let alone the full weight that this community can bring about, if only placed on the right side of the Scales of this War!

Remember well that no-one can be here and stand alone for long anymore, for you, above all, should do so now, after the treachery that has nearly been the end of this place that was commited by the Master. Even though you might not have been in open war with him and his vicious troops, you are an enemy to him, and will fall if you do not return the favor!"

The clerics, upon seeing their other saviour Yuri enter, confer for a moment before speaking. They murmur among themselves for quite some time before finally speaking. Enough time for the acolyte to seat Yuri next to you, shaking and still covered in blood.

"Good Romar, you make a point we cannot ignore. For nearly twenty years 'The Master' has mauraded against the very life of the land...."

Your mind reels for a second, pausing on those words.

'Nearly twenty years?'...when you came to Ravenshead, the war against the master was just entering its 13th year. You question the clerics quote and he speaks the words.

"No Romar, for nearly twenty years." The cleric looks at you, head tilted to one side. "It is the year 935 and the war began in year 917..."

You feel like throwing up. When you stepped foot in the Hidden City, it was 930....

How long did the demon keep you frozen?
__________________________________________________________________________________________

[GeneralMHB]

Yuri looks confused as to the words spoken by the cleric. Then, he speeks up, turning to Romar first.

Romar... we have been frozen in time for nearly 5 years. What has happened during that time period? Ravenshead.... Veya and her riders...the party that searches for the crystals....?

He then turns his attention to the clerics.

Good clerics, there is much I must ask, but this is of the most important. We arrived in the Hidden City in the year 930. The demon has frozen us for nearly five years. What has happened in the time we have missed? What has happened to Ravenshead?

Myself, Romar, and another orginally travelled with a party of five sent to defend a placed called Boon's Freehold. Half of the party separated trying to save one, myself included. That is when I met Hirsuthe. I separated after I made my... sacrifice.... for obvious reasons. Romar went to find his beloved Huna and I followed, as did another named Sehanine. The last we have seen them, they were on their way to Hell to find crystals that may stop 'The Master's tide and speek to a holy warrior named Karn. Already Ravenshead claims one that has healing powers. They were given the task by the King of the Blackwind Kingdom himself. If their words are true, then there may be a way to end this war with these crystals. I sensed great psionics within these crystals. If 'The Master' should find these before anyone else...

The thought churns a not in Yuri's stomach. If 'The Master' has those crystals.....

He shakes it off enough to ask about his state.

Now that I am pulled away from the negative plane and entered into the heavenly plane, what becomes of me now? And what of this 'undying' the acolyte speeks of? What is an 'undying'? What changes have I undertaken?

He awaits a reply.

[Jevva]

Reasoning that there are more than enough capable fighters on the platform ready for the demon should it fly in and attack, Galdren takes a step back from the line of defense, drops his katana and wakizashi, draws his bow, and launches an arrow at the demon.

5 ft. step back, drop weapons, draw bow.
+11, 1d8 +2 +1d6: +1 Ghost Touch Mighty Composite Longbow of Shock, 20, x2
AC: 24

[Fangor the Fierce]

Mordrock, grinning at such a fine display of shooting by Krysta, grabs a pair of arrows, letting them loose one by one at the remaining demon. He hopes he can fare better, knowing that at least he got a hit in on the demon from before.

+7/+7, 1d4, x3

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`~~

Kryst continues her onslaught on the next demon. She sees it readying an attack on the warriors on the platform, and tries to damage the demon enough to give them an edge. She lets loose more arrows at the demon, hoping they are true in their aim.

+2 Mighty Comp Longbow of Shock, +13/+8, 1d8+2, +1d6 Elec dmg, x3, 100', Piercing, AC 20 for Krysta

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Adelia, content with the warriors dealing with the soon to be attacking demon, reaches out with the wand, casting a spell on the large Garor. Cure Light Wounds, 1d8+1 from the wand. She then takes a five foot step NW, just in case she would need to be healing the paladins next.

[BluSpecs]

Seeing that the deamon won't come any closer, Garor lets out a blast of light at it

Searing light, 4d8 dmg Touch attack +15

[Japic]

Angry with himself for not felling the demon Girud can sene the tide of battle turning in their favor. The lavaball might have hurt, but that wasn't going to stop him from helping those caged innocents.

Tapping his heels together Girud begins to rise into the air, darwing his second nonmagical greatsword on the way up. Once near the ceiling he will use it to propel himself towards the pillar in the middle of the room, and then let himself back down.

{I don't know vertical distances here, KMan can decide how far I get}

[VemuKhaham]

holy ****... I'm not sure what's up yet, but surely I'm curious. I feel like Odysseus.

---

As soon as the idea hits Romar like a smack in the stomach, that he and his companion could've been trapped here for five years, Romar feels his legs weaken and he sits down again, holding a hand over his eyes, as if to rummage through his own thoughts for a while.

"Five years..."

He says slowly. What could've happened in that long a time? As Yuri speaks about the news, Romar can find no energy to do anything but sit down, trying to come to his senses. He mumbles a bit to himself, repeating again and again the same two words.

"Five years..."

Romar then stands up, but without addressing the clerics or Yuri or who-ever present, he walks out of the halls to outside, to find a spot where he is alone and can think for a while.

Five years...

What about Veya, who has now served for five years in the unforgiving war against the Master? What about Húna, whom he had left below at the mountains' feet? What about Hirsuthe; chasing him had been the only factor that had kept him going, five years ago? Surely Hirsuthe is nowhere to be found by now... What about the war? Will there be anything left to save? Is the Hidden City the only thing left untouched? Does the Master rule the outside world by now or... or maybe what they had all hoped for is now realized; the defeat of the Master. Or maybe the war's still going on.

After a while of only summing up questions, a bit of order comes back to Romar's mind. If what the cleric's say is true, then there is not much of a hurry left to chase Hirsuthe. After all, what are five days of rest after a standstill of five years? First, he must make sure what has happened to Húna. Then, he must write to his king, but above all, to Veya; let them know he is still there.

But then, a sudden shadow falls upon Romar. If Veya is still alive, then five years must've surely been too long for her to wait for his return. Time erases all, and what they had, had only lasted for... two days...

Sitting and pondering on that last thought tears begin to flow freely from Romar's cheeks. Only after quite some time does he returns to the halls, but without saying anything further. For now, he will just listen.