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Nippy walked around the keep trying to find anything or anyone but there was no one there. The keep was literally empty. He went outside to the stables expecting to find someone tending the horses but he found no one there either. The tingling of battle rang it's song in Nippy's ears and he mounted a horse quickly. Strangely, Nippy saw a lance hanging on the stable door. One of Kramor's old ones, he decided to take it with him. It may prove useful.

Nippy's horse broke into a gallop quickly. The lance was cumbersome and after occasionally using one once or twice, he soon balanced it level. He followed the sound of battle and saw the most hideous site he had possibly seen. A demon was battling against some of his friends and he bucked his horse, kicking it to it's highest speed.

The dust kicked up from behind the horse and it made Nippy look like a clouded devil. He closed the distance quickly and his entrance, though loud, was ignored by the demon. It didn't after Nippy got in range.

Nippy extended the lance and crashed it into the neck of the beast. The lance impaled itself and snapped in the neck of the demon. Nippy was thrown over the head of the demon and landed softly on his feet in the midst of his friends. He told the horse to bolt home.

The demon screeched and reached around to it's neck. It's talons glistened evilly but it couldn't reach the lance end and it struggled with futile effort. Nippy drew his katana and readied himself for the battle to come.

"Battle my friends! Battle!" Nippy was aware of demon fear, but the effect of a Paladin was strange, it brought a new courage boost to his allies and they looked more confident and ready to battle...

"You are of no consequence demon! We shall remove your vile taint from this plane or Torm damn me!"

The comanding voice continued to press against his mind. The strain bore down into every corner of his intelligence, threatening to overwhelm him, to break his will. The struggle inside continued as the battle raged around him, his own body taking part in the combat of it's own accord. So far, the best he had been able to manage was a stalemate, but the demon's will was overpowering, and he didn't know how long he could keep that voice at bay alone.

Then, suddenly, BS didn't feel so alone. He felt another presence, lending it's strength to his will. It bolstered his faltering will, not pressing to battle the voice, instead lending it's support to his own struggle. It brought a small lessening of pressure to him, for which he was grateful. The lessening did not last long, as the mind of the demon, still locked into a struggle for dominion, suddenly lurched and screamed in rage. The scream echoed through BS's being, then the contact faultered, almost broke, giving him an opportunity to see the cause.

He registered a lance protruding from the creatuers neck, and Nippy's voice drew his gaze to his friends. No, he wasn't alone. The thought gave him courage, and the images threatened to overwhelm him again, it found his will hardened. He retreated a little from the demon, giving his companions room to confront the
creature without fear of injuring him. His body had reacted as always, as a lone warrior, but he realized that had he been standing alone against this beast he would lose. He had to adjust his fighting style to work with a group, especially now that he could not put his whole energy into the physical battle.

He resumed his mental struggle, not as violent or painfull now, and gave his companions the trust that he had never offered to any in the past. For the first time, he put his life in the hands of not just himself, but a group of friends.

Bearing at the beasts left wing, Mysteria struck home with both sword and dagger at the same time, but to no effect. Her sword scittered harmlessly over the smooth leathery surface of the wing and her dagger bounced back without leaving a mark. Fang had no more luck as his teeth were unable to pierce the demon's foul hide.

Growling, the wolf brought himself out of reach of the hellish fiends talons whereas Mysteria had less luck. As the demon lurched upwards, his great wing caught her side and sent her flying into the bushes. Aegis, meanwhile, was more alert as he gracefully sidestepped the right wing swishing in his direction.

Landing hard, hitting a tree, Mysteria's world began to spin out of focus for the second time in a few minutes time. She was dimly aware that Nippy had joined them in a daring attack and that the two newcomers where somehow preparing a special move.

Then it hit her... The demon had apparently partly broken his mind-link with Bloodstalker who was acting rationally once more, not trying to face a demon on his own. Somehow, a backlash of that hit Mysteria, overwhelming her mind in with fear, then she felt new courage as Nippy called out.

In her state of mind, half knocked out and her left side, where she had already been hit earlier on, throbbing with pain, those to feelings gave a dangerous mixture. In an instant, her magic had swollen up to a torrent, and she fouriously lashed out at the demon.

As her magic hit, the world blackened out as she fell unconscious. Yet, she was still able to see how her magic burned into the demon, turning his horrible hide into a patchwork of tender, raw flesh and blue fur. His wings also changed, now a delicate, filigrane structure, hardly fit for flying.

But there was more... Her magic circled out, the ground alternatively erupting into circles of flames and circles of tangle weed. Her last thought before passing out was for her friends... she hoped she hadn't caught any of them with the flames.... though the tangle weed was hardly better.

A strange, eery taint came into the area. Strange magicks filled the air and Bloodstalker seemed to clutch his head in agony. He fell to his knees and was just about to be crushed by a vicious stamp from the enraged beast when Nippy dove and rolled grabbing his collar and dragging him away.

"Magic... Nooo! Damn that place! No! Won't go back! Can't make me!" Nippy looked quizically at the man and wondered what had happened. A call from Aegis shook him from his thoughts, he had gotten his foot caught in some strange tangle weed and was trying to fend off an attack.

Nippy made sure Bloodstalker was away from the strange magics and ran to Aegis, using his Ice Sword to freeze the root. A quick thanks and Aegis ran back, trying to find some arrows that would pierce the skin of the beast.

Nippy saw Mysteria lying down, knocked unconcious and Bloodstalker trying to regain his footing. Aegis and he were the only people still moving and Aegis was out of ammo, having no arrows that would cause the massive damage needed to fell the beast.

Nippy dodged some of the flame rings and evaded the tangle weed and was gasping when they were outside of the range of the demon. Luckily enough the demon was help up in some of the weed and was getting the occasional burn.

"We'll have to keep it at bay until these two are able to fight. Do the same as we did against the golem, but go low and take it's legs, try to stop it from escaping."

Aegis nodded and they shook hands, if they were to fall honour would carry their spirits high into the halls of victory.

They got on either side of the beast and began an attack pattern, hoping that damage would be sufficient...

Concentrating hard, Yshania employed the mental bastion as a backup to the Shield of Archons...how grateful she was to have spent that time with Thantor...how much he had generously given her, how much she had learned about herself...about the powers of the focused mind. With one of the Umberhulks stationary, and insistent on mental domination, she turned to the one actively trying to disembowel her...calmly she took a step backwards, and raising both scimitars horizontally brought them to meet...skillfully finding a gap in the shell armour just below the jaw line...as the decapitated beast fell she turned to the next, it was quivering in it's effort to dominate...she was filled with a sudden uncharacteristic bloodlust...again she raised her scimitars, but before she struck, a lightning bolt cracked from the heavens and crisped the creature before her...she smiled grimly...a god was on their side...

The blackness hovered near...for reason that confounded Yshania it appeared to pose no immediate threat...it lingered, and strangely it appeared to distract and concern nearby Illithid...

Yshania heard a grunt off to her right and noticed Gwalchmai had appeared to find some movement in his muscles...though he appeared somewhat confused as to his surroundings and present occupation...'Oh dear!' ...she thought...

Gwalchmai felt like his arms were made of lead. How long has he been standing with them held above his head? Slowly, control began to come back to his muscles, and he dropped his arms in relief. Blinking the dryness from his eyes, he tried to remember what he had been doing. Something about a rit… a rit…, something he was supposed to do? Golly, it was hard to think. And it sure was noisy!

He looked around and saw a lot of his friends playing with a bunch of squishy squid-men and big dung beetles. Ug. The tall, dark guy looked serious, as usual. The pretty girl in leather was swinging her swords around. The other pretty girl who wasn’t wearing much clothing looked like she was a talking with a fire guy. The tall, pretty girl was hitting one of the big bugs with her metal stick. That looked like fun, but she wasn't smiling. Actually, everyone looked mighty serious, come to think of it. Except for the pretty girl with the long legs. She looked mad and scary. He thought that maybe he should help his friends out, but wasn’t there something else that he was supposed to be doing?

Then a big black ball of something that seemed to be rolling around distracted him. The ball was about as tall as he was. It would roll over the squid men and leave them lying on the ground. He laughed and wondered if the black ball could bounce. He thought that the ball really needed a big number ‘8’ painted on it, and wondered if he had a spell that would let him paint it.

Still, there was something he was supposed to be doing. He picked up a piece of parchment, but couldn’t read the words on it. He tried squinting at it with one eye. He couldn’t even tell if it was the right way up. So he walked over to Leather Girl and asked her to read it for him.

Yshania grunted as she struck the final blow against an Umberhulk, then leapt back as a bolt of lightening fried another. Bleeding from a gash on her arm and exasperated to be taken away from the fight, she snatched the parchment away. “Gwally? What’s the matter? Why can’t you read the ritual?” She saw that he was again distracted by something off in the forest, so she read the third step to the Noontide Ritual aloud while shaking his shoulders. “‘Rejoice on the Glory of the Light as it reigns over the Dark.’ You got that Gwally? ‘Rejoice on the Glory!’”

Gwalchmai trudged back to the white rock, wondering what ‘rejoice’ meant. It sounded fun, like a party. Is today his birthday? Maybe this is a big party for him? He couldn’t remember. As he glanced at the altar, one of the three objects on it caught his eye. A long white crystal with carvings on it: it looked really pretty. He held it up to the light to see if he could see the pictures better.

The clouds above seemed to crack open as a beam of sunlight shone on the altar. The fighting stopped just for an instant as the small clearing was bathed in light. The Sun’s Ray Symbol in Gwalchmai’s hands gathered the light, and then let it wash out over everything in the clearing. The fighting resumed, but with the clearing lit in glorious noontide sunlight, the Dark Flames felt re-energized and powerful. But the mysterious man inside the black bubble shuddered.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!

Flanders was almost to the clearing admirably watching the woman keep the two umber hulks at bay chuckling to himself at the fleeing illithid when he sensed the tear in the material plane. Looking back, he saw the air around the woman bubble with excitement and energy as the denizen from the elemental plane of fire began to materialize.

Noticing the skeleton warrior losing the fight against the illithid, Flanders reached into a pouch and grabbed two figurines. He tossed them outside the globe and the only two "friends" he had remaining in this world began to take shape as he invoked them from the astral plane. Rod, a wolverine, and Todd, a lynx immediately began growling and snarling at the globe. Flanders pointed in the direction of the woman locked in the battle of domination with the elemental and said, "Aid." The two sprinted off immediately fixated on an illithid snack.

Headed back towards towards the clearing, the heavens opened and a ray of sunlight so vibrant shot down into the middle of the clearing.

"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo". Flanders was rocked backward by the intense light. His concentration faltered and the globe began to flicker various flames spontaneously igniting across his body. Making a quick recovery, he reduced the radius of the globe and refocused all of his mental energy on its upkeep hoping these alterations would keep him alive.

The illithid had made it back to the clearing and he was now too far away to assist. He yelled out to warn the group...


P.S. What other names could I choose for my pets other than the actual names of Flanders children.

Yshania sighed concerned, as Gwalchmai returned to the altar...what next? Then he picked up the crystal, was that an ironic humour he expressed as he held it high?

As the light refracted and opened up the clearing with it's intensity, Yshania felt the dark energy being sucked away...heard a distant mental scream as it did so...the spawning ceased...with an imbibed vigour, she set to clearing up their existing concerns...

Farscape had let what aid he could to Bloodstalker, until the beast had it's own concentration broken. He stood up to see the womenunconscious, and Bloodstalker writhing in agony.
Rising to his feet, he strode forward, never taking his eyes from the demon. He picked up Bloodstalker, then went to get Mysteria. The tangle of weeds had no effect on him and his new armour. Scouping Mysteria over his other shoulder, he carried them both to a nearby glade, shielded slightly from the demons wrath. He took the time to use some of his regained powers. Curing the minor injuries of both combatants, and drawing upon holy strength for himself.
Stepping out from the glade, Farscape made his way to battle. Nippy and Aegis were already in combat, and holding their own. His own presence would tip the scales.
"D'arroth" He shouted, and the demon turned its attention to him.
"Ahhhhh" it growled. "The princeling comes, I don't need your help to defeat these fools, go back to your father"
Farscape chuckled. "I'm not hear to save you demon. I am your doom. I am death to your kind. But you, you will be spared. Go back to the depths and tell my 'father' that I am not his! He has no hold on me."
"Arrogant you are" the demon hissed. "Fallen out of favour have you? *chuckle* Perhaps your lifeless corspe will bring you father some pleasure."
"As you wish. These are my allies, and should I fall, they would ensure my body will never be desecrated by your kind. Fear me not, I will not kill you, but do fear my father for failing!"
"So be it mortal"

And Farscape joined the battle, smoothly integrating himself with the offensive and defensive patterns of Aegis and Nippy, his two blades of Redemption and Redeemer flashing.

Der-draigen and the Shadow Master were taking another coffee break. It seemed as if the whole day was just passing them by; as if they were in suspended animation, waiting for something.

"Is it hot in here to you?" the Shadow Master asked politely.

"Mm-mm," said Der-draigen, shaking her head and taking another long pull from the mead bottle the Shadow Master had generously provided. The Shadow Master looked at his watch.

"Gin," he said, grinning and throwing down his cards.

Der-draigen sighed. It was going to be a long afternoon.

{ }

Sudently a voice was heard where the demon was fought "Justice shall prevail" they heard, and a person with blue hair, green eyes, pale skin and a blue and white outfit came out of the shadows "I am Teroril of silvermoon, and I will be your doom" he shouted to the demon.

Teroril made a circulair move with his hands, and then he was covered in stone. He drawed his glowing sword and began fighting the demon side by side with Farscape.

here nippy =)

Reacting swiftly Harry's companion pulled out a spell trigger, casting stoneskin on herself as well at greater malison and slow on the demon. Harry waited for the spells to take affect before invoking one of his special skills and set a time trap, halting everything long enough for him to sever the tendons in one of the demon's legs, then land a huge blow on one arm cutting the hand off.
Darting back as the trap wore off Harry waited in a defensive stance.

T'lainya braced herself for the umberhulks attack. The beast raked at her with its razor sharp talons. The priestess grimaced as they tore into her arm. She focused and cast Finger of Death. The umberhulk shuddered and collapsed, it’s corpse still twitching. T’lainya quickly assessed the situation and headed over to Gwally. She cast the restoration spell and was gratified to see recognition light up his eyes. She smiled and turned looking for the others. Viv seemed frozen to the spot, locked in a battle of wills with the elemental she had summoned. T’lainya knew that breaking her concentration could have disastrous results. She saw Yshania swinging her scimitars with a bloodthirsty exuberance and thought of filleted squid in a spicy sauce. She shook her head at the strange notion and saw that her friend had summoned some animals to help her. The priestess decided that bolstering spells were needed and cast Defensive Harmony, followed by Prayer. She saw a black Globe and wondered what it was and who had summoned it. She saw it slowly shrink in size and seem to retreat. She watched for a moment and then turned to check on Dragonwench.

A strange feeling came over Nippy in the clearing. Some kind of strange aura enveloped everyone but the gem in Nippy's pocket burned with a great warmth. Nippy tried to reach down and grab it, but was held back by a great force, he could still move his eyes and saw all of his allies standing stock still...

"Time stop..." mused Nippy.

Then, one of the strangest sights came to Nippy, he saw, Harry? The thieving scoundrel had returned? It looked like he moved quickly, he hamstringed the demon and removed an arm while the demon stood, not noticing the horrible blows that rained upon him.

The stop was soon over and everyone got their senses back, apparently not knowing that the stop had occured but the demon had fallen and was immobile it could only cause damage if anyone got to close.

"Hold everyone! I have an idea! We must not kill it, for some reason Bloodstalker was not attacked immediately, it must be questioned."

Nippy cast Magic Circle Against Evil and the demon was trapped for a short time. Bloodstalker had started to regain some more mobility and walked back in to the field with Farscape.

"Blood, you have to question the thing, why did it not attack you first?"

Harry and his group heard this and came over to where everyone was standing...

Something wet and a little rough was being drawn across her face...

"Fang, don't you...", she pushed the wolf's head away as she slowly came back to her senses. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she pulled herself up in a suitting position.

She was dimly aware of some commotion in the distance, but her mind felt numb and she couldn't remember a thing. What had happened?

She buried her face in fang's thick fur as memory came back...

There had been drow... she'd been hit by that mage... her side didn't hurt anymore, she must have been healed. Whoever did this, she was grateful for it. But what had happened next?... yes!, she remembered the demon ... she'd attacked ... then all was black ...

Shaking her head to clear the rest of the numbness, she suddenly became aware that something was missing, but what? Then it came to her... she wasn't feeling the usual undercurrent of magic at the back orf her mind leaving her feeling curiously empty. But then, this only happened if she used bigger quantities of magic...

Her head jerked back, now fully awoken, her memory came rushing back.. she'd hit the demon! And her friends! Jumping to her feet, her black daggers coming into her hands as she had lost the rest of her weapons somewhere, she rushed off towards the clearing.

She arrived just in time to see Bloodstalker join the group and Nippy suggest that he question the demon. A quick look around was enough for her to tell her that everybody she'd left and some more was stil standing and more or less unharmed. She let out a sigh of relief... her magic hadn't hurt them, in any case not badly.

She picked up her weapons, scattered over the clearing, then joined the group, trying not to draw too much attention to herself.

The battle raged on and appeared unceasing, illithiads and umberhulks respawning as rapidly as they were slain.

Dragon Wench felt her sword arm begin to ache...... her entire body ached, and for a brief moment the temptation to lay down her weapons and abandon the battle nearly overwhelmed her. She closed her eyes, and fought the impulse to succumb, searching deep inside for the strength she was no longer sure she possessed. As she delved within, her sword continued to hack relentlessly at the carapace of her foe. It's shell, although hard, was also brittle, and she discovered that a well-angled stab could shatter the protective armour that encased the vulnerable flesh beneath.

Absorbed by her inner struggle, Dragon Wench was only faintly aware of the worried glances both Yshania and T'Lainya had cast in her direction, and she remained largely oblivious to all but the monsters unfortunate enough to wander within the reach of her blade.

Unexpectedly, a surge of energy arose from the depth of her being, and with a savage cry Dragon Wench aimed her sword at a nearby illithiad, driving it through the creature's heart in a single, ferocious, thrust. The illithiad, supported only by the blade slowly severing its life force, attempted, for a moment, to resist the fate it had been bestowed, and sought to reach its tentacles into her mind. Then, like a puppet suddenly without a master, it slumped forward, impaling itself still further on Dragon Wench's sword. She shifted the weapon slightly, and the mind flayer finally went still, sliding slackly from the blade and into the oozing mud with a convulsive shudder.

He just couldn't resist the tempatation to taunt D'aroth.
"Well well well. Feeling a little constrained are we?" he asked pleasently.
"Damn you mortals" Hissed D'aroth. "Think you that your pathetic magiks can hold the likes of me!" And he lunged at the cirlce Nippy had erected, he was immediately repelled.
Farscape chuckled grimly. "Caged like the beast you are. Do you think we'd allow you to leave without a few questions? Well, I would have, but not my friends. I want to see you gone, and maybe in pain a bit. Just to torment my sire."

He sat down heavily in the grass, yawned, and found a few small rocks, and threw them at D'aroth, infuriating the crippled demon.
'Why do you torment me so human?" It grinned maliciously. "What have I ever done to you?"
Then, Farscape snapped. "What have you done to me!" He screamed, rising to his feet. "You have taken my honour! My pride! Everything that made me great I later learnt came from you! You and your dark allies. How dare you mock me!" He stopped, realizing he'd nearly been tricked into entering the demons cage. "Crafty old Basterd D'arroth. I do believe I will leave you to rot until my friends are done with you. I couldn't care less what happened to you now." Farscape cast another containment spell around the demon, and strode off towards the keep for dinner.

Finally it appeared that the battle was won, though not quite over a few Umberhulks still lumbered around, but their will to dominate was overridden by the necessity to protect themselves physically when challenged. Thantor had defeated the Illithid and was assessing Gwalchmai's physical - and mental- state, T'lainya had joined him and appeared to be casting restoration, Vivien had succeeded in dominating her summoned elemental - which had proved valuable in their battle. Yshania smiled proudly to herself...

Noticing the sun was now high, Yshania concerned herself with how long they had fought, and how much time they had left to prepare for the dusk ritual, would that the party move as one for the final ritual...rather than as smaller units, perhaps they might provide a more united assault and thus a concentrated effort would ensure the final offensive would not leave them unrested before they faced the abomination, and ultimately the Shadow Master...she would speak with them all as soon as was possible.

She looked for Dragon Wench, and found her facing the final Illithid, the Illithid and her friend were standing in an open mental challenge, Dragon Wench's sword was by her side as the creatures tentacles began to stir and aim for the fighter's temples...

Yshania ran towards her friend 'Take it down!' she yelled, 'take it down!...' Dragon Wench appeared not to hear as she gazed transfixed at the Illithid, her expression was one of defeat...not challenge...after all she had come through, she was facing the mindflayer without the will to fight it, her berserk rage replaced by...by...as Yshania raised her scimitar's to finish the creature, an energy appeared to suddenly course through her fighter friend...With a roar, Dragon Wench lifted her sword and ran the beast through, raising the blade to disembowel it As the Illithid dropped to the ground, Yshania sheathed her own weapons and approached Dragon Wench 'We must move on' she said hugging her friend quickly, then checking her over for any sign of injury 'time is not on our side right now. Let us finish up here and we will talk as soon as we get the chance'. Dragon Wench sighed and nodded, she had picked up a few injuries during the fight, Yshania began the soft incantation to aid the healing.....

As Yshania began to treat her wounds, Dragon Wench found her thoughts retreating inwards, and as she had in the past, she wondered about the magic that could initiate healing. Then, noticing that her immediate sense of aching had dissipated, she smiled gratefully at her friend.

"Thank you," she murmured, an enigmatic expression hovering behind the weariness that was so starkly reflected in her eyes.

Yshania smiled but concern still graced her features. Turning towards the clearing they both observed their comrades recovering from the onslaught of battle. Gwallly and Jenna appeared to be recuperatinging from their temporary loss of wits, and T'Lainya was attending to their wounds. Thantor, she noticed, had cast a healing spell on himself, and was glancing intently towards the mysterious figure that had appeared in their midst.

"We need to purify ourselves before the dusk ritual," motioned Yshania. Dragon Wench inclined her head in agreement, and with their thoughts directed towards the coming battle, the two women headed slowly back towards the keep.

Deedee removed a large pocket watch from the folds of her cloak. "Nearly time for the Dusk Ritual," she said, replacing the watch. "Go fish."

The Shadow Master reached for a card and as he leaned forward his eyes caught the red gleam of the talisman, glinting past the neck clasp of Der-draigen's cloak.

"ExCUSE me," she said with great indignation, slapping him upside the head. He blinked. Then he looked at his cards, and sighed.

"I suppose we had beter get back to it," the Shadow Master said, throwing down his cards and shaking his head.

Der-draigen took a deep breath and stood up. "I suppose you're right," she said, polishing off her brandy. The Shadow Master gathered up the pack of cards. "Don't forget the three in your sleeve," Der-draigen offered helpfully.