Snippet #1563989

At the sudden contact and lucidity of Kisikoni, Pel found herself confused and feeling very warm. Her mouth was suddenly dry and it took the halfling a few moments to form simple words. "Uh...n-no problem."

The cleric hopped down from her seat, grabbed Kiskoni by the chin and brought his head closer to her face. After a few seconds of examination his head was turned 90 degrees left, then right. No abnormal dilation or contraction of the pupils, no waxy build-up either. when they had first brought in the addled deep human, his irises had been little more than pinpricks agains the whites of his eyes. Pel released Kisikoni's chin and moved to pick up his hand, lifting up the sleeve of the linens he had been dressed in and pressing two fingers against the interior wrist. Pulse is normal for the moment. Head Medic Jehanna said there is a good chance he could...relapse? Was that the word? Pel shrugged, not truly caring about the science-jargon. "Come on soldier Ayalen. We should get suited up."

---

"Ah...not so rough...you're going in too deep too fast..."

"S-Sorry, I am not very experienced-"

"Damnit Achiru....you've done it to Qinn like, three times! Why be so rough with little ol' me?" Beelzes batted her eyelashes at the harpy before swiftly snatching away needle and thread. She began using her left hand to suture a long--if superficial--cut along her right hand whose stitches had come undone again. She cast sharp glares at Achiru, who had retreated back to Qinn's bed. He had learned a bit of first-aid training from the medics and had been permitted to tend to Qinn's stitching so long as he reported any major changes in her condition. Beelzes, looking physically more like a scrawny teenager at this point in time, found herself a bit jealous that her ally had a...man, to tend to her every need.

Beelzes sighed. How she missed home. Then, the memories of the lords that ruled much of the Deep Kingdoms and the methods with which they dealt with those who did not comply to their each and every command to the letter struck her. Screw home. Screw this! I'm not sitting in this damnable bed while my friends fight and bleed! What a waste of blood! That could be used in a plethora of arcane rituals--oh, especially that orc and dark elf blood. So good. Now that I think about it, Lord Yuzu said I have seven days to use the power he bestowed upon me before I am visited by dire consequences. Hehe. It's fun to think in a man's voice. I'm in charge 'cause I have a penis! Warble, warble, nag, nag, get back in the kitchen-

"Beelzes...are you feeling alright?" Qinn and Achiru were staring at the deep human with looks of concern from across the room. Beelzes raised an eyebrow in confusion. "You...you've been shaking your head and wagging your finger as if talking to someone for the past minute or so."

"Ah...sorry!" completely forgetting about her partially opened cut, the warlock brought her hand to her mouth and bit a small hole into her thumb. With a few passes that left trails of blood hanging in the air as if painted onto some unseen canvas Beelzes created a key to one of the layers of the underworld. A clawed hand tore free of the hole in space, followed by the chitinous hide of an insectoid Osodaemon. The hellish creature's mass seemed to swell as it entered the corporeal realm, and despite it's daunting presence, the demon knelt in front of it's summoner's bed awaiting command. "Hello, Icj'seri'hann'o'shas'amon! We shall discuss the state of your younglings as we march off into battle!"

That said, the mantis-like demon lifted Beelzes out of the bed with surprising gentleness and displaced the space at another point somewhere else in came, teleporting there and leaving Achiru and Qinn staring slack-jawed into the space that they had once occupied.

---

The dark had come on in full now, only the pale light of the moon providing any sort of radiance to see by. Torches within camp and along the walls across the besieged city seemed dim in the engulfing blackness of night. At the head of camp, Sid stood atop a wooden ballistae shouting orders at those assigned to attack first. "Stop gearing up those damned pegausi, wyverns and griffons only! We need fliers that can see in the dark damnit-you! Yes, you, the one-tusked orc, get to the supply train and tell them to start loading up carts with ballistae bolts!"

At a gentle tap on the shoulder, Sid ceased her bellowing and turned to face the harpy captain, Horus. A heavily scarred man, rather large for a harpy, Horus was the leader of the famed aerial archers of the Artemis Legion. Wasn't he supposed to be preparing his troops for the first assault? Before Sid could inquire as to his presence, the harpy spoke. "We have been ordered by general Liu-Wen not to engage in the siege with the rest of you. We are to intercept a hatchling that has been sent to scout Herrick, most likely due to it's silence over the past month. We wish you well in your attack. For the Legion."

Sid nodded gravely and looked on asHorus flew off into the night. There was a very real possibility he would not be returning. Lost in her grim thoughts, the halfling nearly jumped out of her skin when captain Genki sounded for the first wave to advance. Several hundred aerial mounted riders, harpy and flying nightmarian ranged units as well as summoned creatures took to the air. They would rain death upon the battlements and set up gaps in Herrick's defenses for the ground troops to come flooding in. Although the town had reinforced the side Wrath's forces were attacking from over the past few days, the bulk of their defenses were still concentrating on keeping the already attacking Nhil out. It was clear to anyone but a fool that the city was lost...that did not stop the Children of Fire from spurring the townsmen into a religious fever that maintained an unrealistic vision of victory.

"Footsoldiers, ladders and pikemen! Vangard units! Form up, we're going in once the air-unit returns!"