Snippet #1542888

Northern Terra, The Yawning Maw

"Ah! Glad you could make it!" Nhil Derenthi smiled down at the mercenaries who had escorted Mercy as they attempted to extricate their limbs from the pile of tangled bodies that the translocation had ended up in. The deep human, garbed in deep black leather that seemed to absorb the meager light of the moon stood on top of a wooden battlement directing the flow of combat. Just beyond the wall a tide of legionnaires was pumping the enemy line full of arrows, bolts, ballistae rounds and all sorts of magic. Absolutely no melee units had been fielded, nor were they required. "One moment please..."

With a series of commands that drew upon the shamanic aspects of death, Nhil made the mystery behind the strange gap that kept the Children of Fire from storming their position evident. In the twenty-yard span of seemingly blank earth a pulse of eldritch light ran down the line, revealing a host of spectral warriors--men and women who had died on this very field during the Nexus Wars centuries past--were hacking and slashing at the enemy. Following Nhil's command, the ghosty-army formed a bladed wall of death that allowed the Legion of Ashes to pick apart their foes piecemeal. The strain was apparent on the communer's face, as Nhil was paler than usual. Still, the Grand High General of the Legion of Ashes managed a weak smile and nodded away Helm's salute.

"We managed to recover Captain Yan'vega, sir Derenthi." the lamia spoke with deference despite his standing as a mercenary. His fellows, the halfling, elf and female lamia were all at attention.

Nhil nodded and gasped when an enemy spellcaster down the line banished a portion of his phantasmal minions. The gap was replaced by more ghosts in moments, and Nhil relaxed somewhat. Without looking, he addressed Mercy. "I apologize for any unpleasantness you may have suffered at the Black Dragon's behest. Were I to know that the portal your team had been sent through was rigged I would have...well, I would I gone through with you. That Ebon Bitch is mine...have you anything to report?" Nhil shrugged, indicating the fully stocked and untouched camp behind them. "After your debriefing you may rest. We join up with General Liu-Wen in two days."

---

The next animated skeleton exploded in a hail of bone and grave-dust, landing in the mud without so much as a clatter. Wrath paid the undead no heed though as more of it's ghastly kin stepped in to fill the void with five times the force. The general whirled his blades with even greater speed than earlier, the gales of the storm bending to his whim and lashing out at his animated foes. On his own, Wrath had created a wall of forceful winds that held the skeletons at bay. Even the greatest of the undead, the lamian and minotaur skeletons merely bounced off of the barrier and even exploded in many cases.

No...he was not simply fending off the inevitable, Wrath realized with an unnatural level of calm, he was steadily turning the tide. A cold sentience fed a constant flow of knowledge, arcane discipline and instruction that allowed him such feats of power. The soul within the amulet was gave off a vague impression of surprise. Fong Liu-Wen had been a man of median arcane ability that defined himself with the seemless integration of near-flawless martial skill and a puritan style of magic. Wrath, inclined more towards the eldritch arts was able to summon power that even Fong himself had not known. To keep Wrath from getting a big head though, the sentience within the amulet reminded him that he commanded nowhere near the level of control and strength that his father did.

Wrath scowled slightly and continued on his inexorable advance on the dwindling horde of skeletons. "Sarish! Bring the light over here! Legionnaires, rally around the cleric and head towards me! Mialee! Do it!"

---

Ohmydeadgodsthankyousomuchwingedsexyman. Sid unleashed a trio of high-speed bolts at Nunnsam as soon as her harpy ally made his presence known. The polymorphed halfling slid throguh the grass to dodge swipe that could have taken her head off and came up in a roll. SHe nearly slipped, unbalanced by her new body.

The Silenced either did not notice or did not care, for he had already oriented on the new threat. Nunnsam's stitched mouth stretched into a lip-locked grin as his newest challenge was recognized. As a former member of the Deep Guard, his love of an honorable duel between two warriors burned hot within his chest. With a gesture from his off-hand, the red-robed swordmage teleported a few feet to Alistair's right. Before the harpy would realize where his foe had gone, Nunnsam had pulled up alongside Alistair in a high-speed sprint. Nunnsam allowed the harpy a moment's notice in the form of a salute before striking with a magically enhanced sword-edge.

Beelzes scowled when Faera scampered off to attack the Thane. Despite the airs she put on, the warlock feared that she was outclassed. Already her hellish armor was dissipating and the Silenced gnoll had banished over two-thirds of the Hell-Blades. Beelzes hissed an incantation and slashed at the air. Five bloody rents formed in the space where her nails had passed through, and seconds later disks of sanguine light came screaming out of the minature portals. Beryl, snapping the last of the conjured swords slashed a gash in her own hand and raised it to the oncoming spell. All five of the disks condensed and flowed into the cut in the gnoll's hand, which summarily healed.

Beelzes coughed and stared at the gnoll in uncomfortable silence. Then she snickered. "At first, I couldn't think of a witty comment...but then this uncomfortable Silenced forced me to say something!" the warlock might have rolled over laughing, but Beryl had already invoked a focused storm of green fire raging towards her.

In the thundering clouds, Qinn screamed in rage and defiance. A massive fireball engulfed her avian frame, one made tiny compared to it's sheer volume and the legionnaire's screams died inside the roar of the flames. Across from the crackling conflaguration, flapping her wings to stay aloft, Phaze cackled in delight. The owl-featured harpy spun in the air and grinned a mouthful of sharp fangs. That smile dimmed somewhat when the fires disperesed and her prey was still beating her own wings and in one, not-too singed piece.

"That all you got, gizzard-brains?" Qinn coughed weakly and allowed the remnants of her hastily erected flame-shield to gutter out. The Thane squawked in suprise, and sucked in another breath to begin yet another blast of tremendous flame. Qinn's eyes widened and she practically choked on her words as they flowed from her mouth in a desperate plea to the spirits of Norr. By fate or design, the legion-harpy finished her summoning first and a searing lance of the purest fire streaked through the air towards Phaze. The latter shifted slighty, avoiding the thin ray entirely and smiled past the flames gathering in her gullet. Again, this faded when she saw Qinn mirroring the expression. "Wasn't aiming for you."

A light from behind drew Phaze's attention and the Thane swiveled in midair. High above even their aerial duel and rapidly descending, Achiru Brightwing was approaching with a veil of blue fire draped over his wings. Living up to his surname, the harpy had been blessed by Qinn's spell and carried with him the power of a poenix. The thane remained unimpressed though, ready to counter him with her own fire. An arrow clipped her left wing suddenly and cause the harpy toglance down at the disturbance. As her eyes met those of a lovely little elf below a tentacle of water smashed into Phaze's back inbetween her wings.

In the distraction, Achiru literally tore through the Thane's petite frame in his spellbound form. He returned to normal almost immediately and Qinn had to steady him in their descent. The landing was rough still, a few yards away from Faera, but Pel was there to mend their wounds. The halfling had stayed hidden most of the battle and chose this moment to begin her work. With a sideways glance at Faera, Pel smirked. "That was way cooler than fire whips." Qinn bristled at the comment and winced for her troubles. "I heard that water is second only to darkness in the level of difficulty of arcane disciplines to master."

A sudden crack of thunder, much too close to the ground in origin to be natural cut the conversation short. A shockwave blew Pel's hair to the side of her head and caused some plumage of both Achiru's and Qinn's to fly off. Back at the tree on which Faera had been perched, Beelzes limped and clutched one arm to her chest. A hulking and vaguely human slab of unreflective crystal--a Shitre Devil--stood over her protectively, but a large chunk of it's hide shattered under the sonic assault of the gnollish Silenced. Pel screwed up her eyes to focus on them in the rain. "She needs help, and these two are in no condition...is that a gnoll?!"

---

For once in their lives, the Mialee twins had little to say about one another's craft as they worked. Gurgen aligned each control conduit and Turha linked their arcane synapses with one another. Within seconds of the general's signal they were ready, and the clouds rained down not only water, but golems. The draconic golems carried their land-locked bretheren in metallic grips and hurled them into the midst of the zombie and skeleton hordes. Their great bulk smashed many upon impact, and those that survived fell to the reaving swipes of the darkgard constucts. The aerial unit veered back towards the field in which several living Children were converging on the two main battles with the Silenced.

Their assistance was halted though, for a harpy, mostly charred bones and flesh that dripped from them like wax, crashed into the lead golem and tore off a wing. The others, as if feeling fear at the undead Thane, balked in her presence. All except the Leliana MKII. The fiery golem lashed out with it's steel tail to crack the harpy's ribs and engaged the thane. The skeletal avian laughed a hollow, disturbing laugh and locked hands with the construct.