Continuing from Battle in the Temple
The High Priest
Del and Morphran, distracted as they were by whatever nightmare had emerged from the latter's mind, were engaged in their own desperate fight, their bows useless against creatures that were without form. Only the white stone in Del's fist gave them pause, as luminescence leaked through the cracks between his fingers.
"What we do now, comrade?" Morphran was panting from exertion, and from behind there was a sound of chanting. Something bad was about to happen, and there was nothing they could do to prevent it... not without exposing their backs to these hideous wraiths.
"Go. Help the Count. Am having something for these creatures."
"But..."
"Go!"
Morphran took off at a clip, bow drawn. There was a sound of magic coming from behind, as if the air were suddenly becoming much drier... but this made the presence of the dark creatures before him all the colder. Frost seemed to plume forward as he exhaled, three of the robed beings now so near that he could reach out and touch them. In that same moment, he recalled the sacred mountain of his goddess, snow and ice covering it as the sun reflected in a brilliant, dazzling display. Even in the coldest days of winter, such moments of intense radiance had been common in that place, their memories burning brightly in his mind. And he felt, rather than saw, that the strength of his recollection had served to intensify the stone's aura dramatically.
"Do svidaniya, suki!" Opening his hand, searing light blasted the remaining wraiths into dust, robes falling like bundles of rags. For his own part, Del staggered, his energy rushing out of him like a wave. Stumbling sideways like a drunken man, he collapsed against the wall, barely conscious of the thundering equine that was now wreaking havoc among his friends.
***
"Spasibo, friend Kol. Indeed, would be liking to see your home. Is much yet, am thinking, that I still could learn."
Bearrach stretched. He still ached, but the horrid dread that had befallen him seemed largely to have abated.
"Am thinking they must be attacking temple by now. Is feeling strange that we are here while our friends face unknown danger. Am knowing that we need to guard supplies, but wondering if they need our help. What say you, comrade?"
***
Morphran was shaking badly; dark horses, sacrifices, and the bizarre transformation of the high priest - it was getting to be all too much. Nonetheless, Del had told him to help, and by Ea, he was going to do it. Ignoring the high priest, he focused on the leftmost chanter, firing a shot that went badly wide of the mark. Cursing his failure, he nocked another arrow and fired; this one would have found the mark, but the chanter ducked at just the right moment, and the missile clattered harmlessly against the far wall.
About to fire the third arrow, Morphran abruptly froze. The chanter's eyes were locked on his, and it seemed he was unable to move. As the latter made a beckoning gesture, his body betrayed him, as he made one step forward, and then a second. He tried to scream, but no sound would come out.
A vicious smile wrote itself across the chanter's face. Raising his hands in the air, he seemed intent on making a more dire mystical command when an arrow punched through the back of his head, killing him instantly. Morphran looked up to see Aedhan firing down through one of the windows in the ceiling.
"Behind you!" Aedhan shouted, giving Morphran just enough time to whirl. His bow came up to parry the blade of a goblin, using the angle of the bottom portion to lock and twist the weapon away. Unfortunately, doing so cost him his bow as well, leaving both of them unarmed. Operating on instinct rather than reason, Morphran charged the beast and began to wrestle it to the ground...
***
Ferryll and Raff continued their frenzy against the goblins. Aedhan was keeping the chanters busy, while Morphran tangled with his own quarry. Del could not see Buck, but he did see Kell and Hauk, both of whom seemed quite busy with their respective battles. Rowe, backed up by Dalivune, stood against the high priest, who appeared to be cloaked in black fire.
Coughing, Del dragged himself to his feet, not entirely steady but also realizing that they had little time left with which to deal with this menace. He was incredibly thirsty, and the gem around his neck felt much heavier than what it had earlier... but the light, while not reaching the intensity that had destroyed the phantoms, had remained far brighter than it had before entering the temple.
Striding forward, he took up a flanking position, keeping Rowe at the center with he and Dali on either side.
"The goddess is with you, comrade," he called softly, "and so am I."
Kol smiled at Bearrach. "I was hoping you'd say that. I am here because you were injured, and it was unsound to leave a man alone in hostile territory."
The graying warrior rose from the log he was sitting on, and they began up the path to the temple. "I suspect they'll be in need of some fresh help." Kol walked quickly, but for whatever reason, did not break into a run like the others had.
* * *
Dali shook off the shock from the dark sacrifice, and restarted the protection spell, but dialed back this time just for him. He needed to conserve it. The goblins seemed to dislike the protection spell. They didn't try to stab him. He wasn't sure what to do next. The red crystal still pulsed in his shirt pocket. It was going to be tricky. Kell was in too bad of shape to help with his plan now. He saw Hauk briefly, but he couldn't get his attention. Rowe was fighting off nightmares from the high priest. Del.
He made his way over to the mountaineer. "Del - I think if you blast the high priest with that, and I get close with my protection spell, that might, ... help. What do you think?"
* * *
Kell beat the goblins away as best he could. His back was badly cut. He recalled when he was younger getting hurt by a small dragon while hunting. He pictured it clearly. As soon as the image formed in his mind, one of the horses from the chanter grew much bigger and spouted wings and changed into a dragon. "My own mind betrays me!" he cried out, before smashing a goblin away from him with his hammer and driving towards one of the chanters.
* * *
Rowe felt colder and weaker by the minute. One of the chanters was looking directly at him, while the high priest seemed to focus on the dragon. The dragon seemed to be working of its own mind as it carved and swooped at anything in its path, though it never seemed to go after the chanters or priest. The goblins began to skitter away down into the tunnels below.
Rowe sliced at the dragon as it whooshed past him, spewing a black caustic smoke. It wasn't especially big, but it was very nimble and fast. He finally nipped it, and it cried a screeching howl, but unlike the chanter's nightmares, the priest's dragon held together.
He headed for the high priest. The closer her got the weaker his spirit felt. The priest sneered, "Azkladash will particularly relish your sacrifice."
Two acolytes surrounded the high priest, guarding him.
The dragon swooped down again
* * *
The dragon erupted out of one of the broken stained glass doors into the cloudy late afternoon. Buck fired an arrow at it, but it passed right through it like it was just a mirage. The dragon swooped down below again. He picked off an acolyte by the priest. "They've got to stop that dragon."
* * *
Dali tried to explain what Del should do with the crystal, but Del told him to stop. Dali fumed inside. This mountaineer knew nothing of magic, yet he had the best crystal. "Don't screw this up Del. I think I need to get close enough to touch him for this to work." The dragon was staying away from him under protection, so he approached the priest. Between the archers above, and Hauk and Ferryl swarming, they did a fine job keeping the riff raff away from him. Good thing too, he thought, this protection spell is only good for magic.
On the way he'd have to adjust his own protection spell rapidly though to make it a weapon. Fifty-fifty it would break his own crystal, but they needed something now to stop that priest. When he was almost there a thought popped into his head, "Audin's law. If I had Del's crystal I could have just enchanted some Ea magic onto one of his arrow heads and avoided this whole thing. Stubborn luddites."
Bearrach nodded and followed his newfound friend, a half-step behind but managing to keep pace. He was doubly on guard against potential mental pressures this time, and strained his ears for what might lurk ahead. There was an uncanny quiet, which made little sense given that they were not so far ahead... and the explosion had been noisy enough. Either the fight was already over, or whatever was happening in the temple was muting the conflict within. Grimacing, he unslung his bow and readied an arrow.
"Am not liking this unnatural silence, comrade," he murmured, as much to reassure himself that his voice still carried sound as to express his opinion. "Am wondering...."
He cut himself off sharply as a shouting came from somewhere up ahead. As the pair took to the trees, he craned his neck to spot a handful of cowering goblins, a towering man berating them in what sounded like a derivative Hoarde-ish dialect. Biting his lip, Bearrach darkly recalled Del mentioning something about a handful of men who had aligned themselves with Azkladash. It seemed likely that this one was attempting to rally either a handful that had fled, or perhaps a group that was returning from scouting and found their spot under siege.
With a glance at Kol, he held up three fingers, then two, then one. Taking aim at the man, he let the arrow fly...
***
Atop the goblin, Morphran slammed the creature's head against the stone floor once, twice, three times, before it stopped struggling. He stood, unsteady, seeing the chaos swirling around him. His bow lay useless on the ground, the Hoardeling's blade having severed its taut drawstring. With a curse, he drew his long knife instead.
The altar was already too thick with bodies, fallen acolytes and swarming magics making it too difficult to see what was what. But a cry of "My own mind betrays me!" rapidly snapped his attention sideways. Kell, badly injured and beset on multiple sides, was fighting staunchly, yet the pallor in his complexion belied that he was losing strength rapidly.
"Comrade!" Morphran dashed to the other's side, covering from behind as the big man hammered yet another goblinoid into oblivion. "Am having your back, comrade. Will keep them..." Here he parried away a strike from one of the beasts, rewarding it with a kick. "... away from you, as I can!"
***
Aedhan froze, his arrow only half-drawn. A dragon? Was that a gods-damned dragon down there? First orcs, then wraiths, and now this? What could possibly come....
He slapped himself, hard. No sense adding more nightmare fuel to the raging inferno that was already down there. Buck, for his own part, was still firing away, and the second of the acolytes went down in a heap. Very well - focus on the enemies that he could actually kill. His bow was useless against the beast and priest, but against this lesser being....
The bolt struck the acolyte squarely between the shoulder blades, pitching him forward and slumping him across the altar like a sack of flour. As the blood poured out from the wound, Aedhan felt gooseflesh prickle while the hair on the back of his neck stood up. That had been the last place he was aiming - what foulness had he created by the dead man landing so?
***
Although his fellow gnoll showed no signs of slowing down - if anything, the frenzy was only continuing to build - Raff was getting tired. He had completely lost track of how many he'd managed to kill, and his teeth were on edge, though whether from the black blood of Hoarde stain or from the unwholesome magics being slung about, he was unsure. Worse, there didn't seem to be any indication that the beasts were growing any less numerous. Where in the name of the gods....
Then he saw it. One of the holes where they were emerging, as a pair of the little bastards crawled out seemingly from nowhere.
"I'll show you," he growled, darting forward and eviscerating the two with his battle-axe. This time, however, he dragged the corpses back toward where he had seen them pop up. Indeed, there was a small trapdoor here, one that could be easily knocked upward to allow reinforcements. Fortunately, there was no shortage of literal dead weight to ensure that this opening stayed close. A few dead goblins later, he was certain that this entrance was sealed.
"There must be more." This realization struck him, and he went bounding back in the way he'd first come, intent on finding other similar points of ingress. The fewer assailants they had coming, the better.
***
Dali was talking too fast, too excitedly, and Del was still more than a little woozy from the most recent burst of energy. "Blast him with your crystal" was simple enough, but he knew precious little of exactly how to control it... it seemed to respond more to his need, or perhaps to the will of his goddess, than anything he specifically was doing, and after a minute he held up his hand to a clearly frustrated crystal smith. As the latter walked off, he caught something that sounded like, "Don't screw this up."
In that moment, Del remembered why he didn't really like magic users. His mind flickered back to a look he had exchanged with Caedric after Davik had expressed agitation, taken matters into his own hands, and promptly failed. Dalivune seemed, if not cut from the same cloth, at least spun by the same tailor. Yet there he went, stalking toward the high priest as the Count battled a....
Was that a dragon? When had that shown up?
No time. The high priest had seen the new adversary and was changing course. Whatever Dali had planned, Del suspected he wasn't ready yet, and charged between the two, holding his crystal aloft.
"Get back!" he thundered, stone blazing with a snowy light. "The goddess commands that this foul place be cleansed!"
"Your goddess has no power here, insect!" Dark fire burned in the high priest's gaze as he stretched forth a hand, blackness ebbing outward in a shadow. "This is the dream of Azkladash; you are all his to command!"
"Never!" As the black hand stretched toward Del, the blinding light seemed to radiate not only from his fist but from the rest of him as well. "The mountain dawn will cast your god back into the shadows, darkspawn!"
The priest took another step toward Del, both hands reaching forward to cast that hideous shadow. Del, for his own part, clasped both hands together, falling onto his knees - giving the look of a man praying as much as a warrior in battle.
"Ea help me...."
Kol was annoyed at young Bearrach's quick trigger. It was two against many, and they only had one bow between them. Worse, they were needed in the temple, not out here. "Bearrach, if we take out a few of the leaders, the rest will go without a fight. Unlike men and orcs, goblins have the sense to know when they've lost."
Kol held the token of strength in his hand, and looked to the sky. "Be with me, gods. I am your servant. Let us cleanse this place today so that the Eamites may have a peaceful home."
With that, Kol charged towards them.
* * *
Kell saw Hauk helping Raff cover up the trap doors and secret passages where the goblins had been swarming through. He only wished goblins were his chief problem. Chanters were wreaking havoc on their minds and spirits. The dragon seemed unstoppable. The only thing it seemed to fear was Rowe's orcish blade, but Rowe was moving in on the high priest, which meant the dragon kept trying alternating between trying to eat him and trying to eat Ferryl. "I guess we look like the two biggest meals." He said to Morphran, trying to stay positive.
* * *
Dali veered around fallen enemies towards the High Priest. Rowe was on a similar path. Rowe headed in for the kill, but when he got close it was like his will was sapped. Nothing came of it. The figure reached out with one hand, a black ball of swirling energy inches away from his grasp, and it then it flew into Rowe. Rowe dropped his sword immediately, and fell to the ground. One of the acolytes lunged in for a strike on the fallen leader but an arrow from above stopped him.
In shock, Dali barely noticed the flash of Ea light from Del. He fired a white beam of energy at the high priest.
"It'll take more than that in MY temple! Your pathetic magic cannot hurt me after all of the blood spilled on the altar this day!"
Dali backed up in befuddled astonishment. He couldn't believe his plan didn't work. On the ground Rowe looked over at him. "... altar....break...." Dali pulled out his red pulsing crystal.
He fired a white beam into the red crystal which began to glow in spectral crazy shades of red and yellow. The crystal began to get very hot in his hands, so he tossed it towards the altar. "I'll bet this still works."
The priest ran after the crystal. So did three of the other acolytes. They kicked the crystal around trying to pick it up.
Then it exploded, and Dali remembered nothing else.
Del had the feeling of floating - everything was very bright, as if all color had been wiped from this place. Before him, he recognized his goddess, she who had summoned him by name.
"Am I dead?"
"No. You are merely dreaming. A brief moment of rest in the chaos."
"Have I done what you wanted, goddess? Are the dark one's forces defeated?"
"This battle is nearly over, Delnaroi Eamite. But the war, grown cold over many generations, is heating up anew. The Hoarde remembers its wounds from yesteryear, and their gods drive them forward with lustful vengeance and temptations of power. Your journey is just beginning, my champion."
"What would you be asking of me?"
"You will know." With that, a gentle kiss met his forehead, and the vision vanished.
***
The arrow struck home, catching the man through the eye. Bearrach couldn't suppress a cheer; it felt good to be doing something useful after relying too heavily on the kindness of others lately. Such elation was drowned out swiftly by Kol's roaring charge, his weapon at the ready and smashing through the largest of the goblins who remained standing.
Already skittish, they scattered like vermin, and Bearrach was able to quickly take out a second who hesitated a moment too long before fleeing. He was about to follow up with another shot when a deafening boom came from nearby, the remaining goblins screeching and fleeing deeper into the woods.
"Kol! The temple!" He pointed before realizing how foolish the gesture must have been; as if the sound could've come from anywhere else. With the earth itself rumbling beneath his feet, Bearrach took off at a sprint - surely their friends needed them now more than ever.
***
Aedhan had just enough time to shield his eyes as the massive blast sent shudders throughout the entire temple. The roof, already weakened in spots from stray magic or shattered glass, was buckling in on itself, and stones were dropping from above to the temple floor. He threw himself sidelong just as the place where he was standing crumbled, sending a shower of stone upon the crumpled forms of several acolytes.
"Buck! We need to get down, and quickly!"
The latter nodded, and both men sprinted for the edge of the temple, leaping over sudden cracks and crevices as they appeared. As they drew near to where they had made their ascent, however, they found that the statue they'd used to climb had been toppled - no doubt collateral damage from the explosion's force.
"Der'mo!"
"Wait - I have rope. We can climb down."
"Harasho! But are needing to move quickly, comrade, before whole place is falling down!" As if to underscore his point, several more chunks of the roof dissolved a few meters away from them. In response, Buck nodded and set to work, tethering the rope to one of the heavy stones at the edge of the roof. Though he was working quickly, Aedhan shifted nervously from foot to foot, watching for the next likely place where the blast might have further side effects.
***
Morphran never even saw it coming; he and Kell were both knocked flat from the heavy impact of whatever spell had been cast. Fortunately, their opponents were similarly caught off-guard, putting a rapid end to the fighting... and the dragon, gods curse it, was nowhere in sight any longer.
"Did we win?"
The big man wasn't moving very quickly, a combination of the injuries he'd sustained and the sheer force with which he'd been knocked down. Just then, Morphran heard a sound that was becoming all-too-familiar lately. Looking up, he saw several chunks of the ceiling falling toward them.
"Prosti, comrade!" Grabbing Kell none too gently by the arm, Morphran yanked him toward him, just in time for the rocks to miss him. "Am thinking is good time to be leaving this awful place!"
***
Having closed off the last goblin ingress that he could find, Raff was sufficiently far that he maintained his footing when the blast struck, but he felt it in his bones. Shaking himself, he glanced back to take in the sights - almost everyone had been knocked down, and the roof was starting to collapse... but there was one figure, no longer glowing with black fire but now screaming hideously, who was stalking toward one of the prone forms.
"You fools!" it shrieked. "You have violated the sacred temple of Azkladash! You will all pay in blood!" A blade appeared in his hand; Raff was running on all fours, but he was too far away. He couldn't save them, whoever it was....
But another form leaped for the high priest, crashing into him and knocking the blade sidelong. A burst of energy sent the shape flying, hammering it into the already-cracked altar. It was then that Raff recognized his fellow gnoll.
"Mangy cur," the high priest sneered. "You dogs ought know your master when you see him!"
Ferryll howled in rage and charged again, the high priest stepping aside and snatching up the blade. By now, however, Raff had approached from the far side, and the trio began a slow, steady circle.
***
Everything hurt.
Barely able to see, black spots swam before his eyes, and the ringing in his ears drowned out the sound of rubble sliding about. Vaguely, he could make out a trio of shapes, but Del could barely tell if they were friend or foe; trying to fire an arrow would be madness.
Crawling more than walking, he dragged himself along to find Dalivune's slumped form. The crystal smith appeared to have been even worse for the wear of whatever magic he had crafted.
"Is good thing you are not heavy, brother," he mumbled, and began to pull the unconscious figure away from the scene.
Buck tried frantically to tie the rope to a secure spot before the roof caved in but he couldn't get the knots tied. "Aedhan - I'll brace myself on this beam. You go down the rope."
Aedhan nobly declined, but Buck insisted. "When you get down, find me a soft landing spot." Aedhan reluctantly agreed, and Buck held the rope with both hands while he braced against the edge of the roof. Aedhand went down fast, but made it okay. He began to search around for a soft spot while more of the roof fell in. "It's nothing but rocks!" He looked up unhappily. "Wait..."
He ran around to the front of the temple, and less than a minute he returned with Raff. "We'll catch you!"
Buck looked down very skeptically, but he couldn't reach the beam nearby to tie onto it. Buck threw down his gear, which they caught easily. He leaped. It felt like ages in the air and he landed on Raff, who got two hands on Buck, but at this high speed Buck still crashed down onto the ground. He bounced back up, mostly in one piece, though his several of his ribs seared with pain.
They had little time to recover - the wall was starting to drop stones down on them.
* * *
Hauk gained his senses slowly. He was buried underground, in a mass grave with the grotesque corpses of goblins. He pushed frantically, and found that he'd just been covered in bodies after the explosion. He had no idea where his weapons were, and the temple was falling apart around him. He stumbled outside in a daze, stopping only to count his allies.
* * *
Rowe was on the ground boots towards the enemy when the blast had erupted. After the deep cracking sound, he felt a massive weight lifted. His mind cleared. Inside a cloud of dust, he groped around and found the hilt of the bastard sword. He readied himself for another lunge from the dragon, but it never came. When the dust settled, to his astonishment, the High Priest was still standing.
Rowe lurched up onto one knee, then, leaning on the sword, got up on both feet. "For Ea," he said under his breath. The High Priest lacked the menacing aura he'd had before. When Rowe approached, none came to the High Priest's aid. The priest held out his hand, but this time there was no coalescence of evil.
"Who sent you?" he asked.
"Ea, herself." He pulled his sword back, "You will foul this land no more!" and the black blade struck through the High Priest. "Feel the pain that you caused on so many before you. You will be the last to die in this vile place." Rowe twisted the blade. The temple started to creak and crack above him. Several of the wooden support rafters had cracked in the blast, and this roof was not going to hold for long.
Ahead Rowe saw Del dragging Dali out. On his way, he passed Morphran, pulling Kell, and joined in.
Continues with Aftermath