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Post by Stix on Aug 20, 2008 16:40:03 GMT -5
The group crosses the street from the Other Place, coming to the main entry at the Transcendent Order's headquarters. No sooner do they arrive to collect their bearings than a tremendous roar sounds from somewhere around the block, followed closely by distressed and panicked screams.
The deva straightens up, wincing in pain as he readies his weapon, staggering forward. "The bebilith!" He races toward the sound as fast as his injuries will allow....
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Post by hilathic on Aug 20, 2008 19:00:54 GMT -5
"To the rescue!" Hilathic's words literally drip with sarcasm as spittle flies from his mouth. "Anyone know is this demon intelligent at all?" Hilathic follows the Deva, keeping a distance behind him.
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Post by john on Aug 20, 2008 22:00:19 GMT -5
John simply says, "Hold on a moment." *he dumps his gear out of the bag of holding willy nilly, and begins strapping his armor on, barking to Wraith. "Help me with these straps, I need this done quickly and I can't be bothered to wait, but I'm not fighting this bloody thing naked." He lays hands on the clear steel of his bastard sword and says, "A worthy way to blood it, to be sure."
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Post by john on Aug 20, 2008 22:03:30 GMT -5
John looks over at hilathic contemptously. "Your cowardice aside, I've wounds to pay this damned thing back for. I'll be avenging them shortly."
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Post by TheGratefulNed on Aug 20, 2008 22:10:50 GMT -5
"A bebilith!?" The tiefling's voice at once expresses disbelief and extreme curiosity. Moving with the deva, Gl'Fnak draws a silvery-blue, bejeweled long sword and opens the clasp on one of the small pouches on his belt.
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Post by exile on Aug 20, 2008 22:38:33 GMT -5
Hadrian felt the blood in his veins at once freeze and boil simultaneously in a roiling tumult of fear and hate. A bebilith; hunter of fiends, scourge of the hellbred, and malice made flesh. John had no merit in chastising Hilathic so; Hadrian seldom saw eye to eye with the naked creature at his side but he was merely expressing a terror instilled deep in the bones of mortals the planes wide.
And now the horror had come to the city of doors...
Falling in beside the advancing deva, Hadrian readies a defensive prayer.
"All-father, look kindly upon us..."
(OOC: Readying protection from evil to be cast on sighting the creature)
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Post by hilathic on Aug 20, 2008 22:46:23 GMT -5
"Bebilith? The slayer of Tanar'ri? Hell no, I'm not going near that thing. You go right ahead and smack it around. I'll wait right here for your return."
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Post by Uathach Blackmantle on Aug 20, 2008 23:32:41 GMT -5
Wraith's back stiffens and she compresses her lips into a thin line as John makes his demands of her... but she did, after all, owe him a debt of service for the things he'd done. "Hilathic, take Aerin to safety. Go now!" She didn't even need to nudge her son toward him; the boy squeaked in terror when he heard the roar, and ran to hide behind Hilathic's legs.
Not sparing a glance their way because she knew Hal would do what was right for Aerin, she began cinching in John's straps. Despite her apparent frailty, her fingers were nimble and strong, no doubt from many years of tightening her own corset laces.
"I'd watch that tongue of yours when speaking of Hilathic, if I were you, John." She warns in the Fated's ear; tightening one of his straps perhaps a bit too tightly, then releases the tension. "He is no coward. He is smarter than you, me or anyone else here except for our ward." She nods at the Deva staggering away from them, and shakes her head.
"Although I'm beginning to wonder just how addled that one is. How many zealots have lived long to speak of their deeds?" Shaking her head again, Wraith goes through the exacting motions of her Art, chanting and drawing upon the invisible forces around her. A faint shimmering aura appears before her at the culmination of her spell.
[OOC: Wraith is casting Shield. Post edited to take into account lack of material component for Stoneskin.]
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Post by Stix on Aug 21, 2008 0:28:39 GMT -5
(Stoneskin has a 100 GP material component... when was Protection from Evil cast?)
Gl'Fnak, Hadrian, and the deva round the corner and discover a grisly sight, lit by a still-burning lantern on the ground: three fresh corpses litter the street just outside a vacant building, still leaking blood from arterial lacerations.
Nearby, a trembling bystander begins to shriek hysterically now that the shock of the brutal assault has worn off, her cries the only sound to fill the darkened streets.
"It... it must have gone through the gate," says the bewildered deva, fighting to keep his feet beneath him. "That beast is loose in Elysium!"
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Post by Uathach Blackmantle on Aug 21, 2008 0:42:28 GMT -5
[Crap. I'll edit accordingly. Wraith cast protection from evil on herself [from her Bardic repoirtoir] during the Zero thread, around the time the annelid popped out.] [Double crap. Wraith wouldn't have been able to cast Protection from evil in Zero either. It requires powdered silver for the casting. I'll have to work out a spell components pouch for her tonight. Thankfully Shield has no spell components, so she'll be casting that now.]
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Post by john on Aug 21, 2008 0:45:25 GMT -5
John smiles tightly and says, "If he's as smart as you say, then when isn't the target already trussed up and at your feet?" He shakes his head.
He then fits the vulture helm over his head, and smiles beneath it, again the invincible taker of blood, not the painfully mortal figure in a robe, even though it still lies under his armor, padding his body against the hard edges of the splint mail. Half-moons of sweat are starting to form in the underarms of the robes, and the blood that he spilled earlier over it has made it a more fitting accoutrement for the taker of blood.
"Let's kill it and be done with this. Can you fight?" John asks the Deva.
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Post by hilathic on Aug 21, 2008 10:34:10 GMT -5
Not wanting to leave Wraith, yet not wanting Aerin to be hurt, Hilathic heads back to Zero with the boy to see if he can discover any clues. What in the name of Graz'zt was the beast doing in the Abyss, and why was it chasing a Deva and a Human. This did not make a whole lot of sense. Thinking back to the scene that had just played out, Hilathic tried to remember anything that may gain insight. Hilathic also tries to remeber any instances of a Bebilith being lose in Sigil in the past.
Intelligence 19 [dice=20]
Information Gathering 19 [dice=20]
Local History 19 [dice=20][rand=6692289557751895262629311599059423121982506230575434764307303942]
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Post by TheGratefulNed on Aug 21, 2008 16:46:24 GMT -5
Leaving John, Wraith and Hilathic behind, the horse-legged tiefling easily keeps pace with the Bleaker and the injured celestial. Upon seeing the carnage wrought upon the Guildhall Ward, the Cipher pauses, mouth agape. His pitted black eyes jump from one corpse to the next and across the ground. He comments to the deva, "At least in Elysium it shouldn't be able to get too far."
Gently but firmly grabbing the shrieking woman by the shoulder he stares her in the eye. "The bebilith, did it go through a portal or no?" he asks with a distinct sense of urgency and severity in his voice.
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Post by Stix on Aug 22, 2008 13:43:59 GMT -5
The trembling woman calms down long enough to give a shaky nod, pointing to the nearest doorway.
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Post by exile on Aug 22, 2008 16:52:44 GMT -5
Hadrian watched the shaken woman with a look of mournfulness; as keen as the pain must have felt to the deceased before their last gasps had faded to silence, so now would be her own burden to suffer night after night for months without relief. He pitied her more than the dead.
“Cutter,” he called out to her softly. “Remember that the Gatehouse turns no one away.”
He prayed she would remember those words in the weeks to come. For now though, greater concerns weighed upon his thoughts. Walking up to the door way in question, he asked aloud: “What is the key, Angel?”
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Post by TheGratefulNed on Aug 22, 2008 17:45:58 GMT -5
Gl'Fnak gives the woman an appreciative nod and pats her on the back. Approaching the doorway she indicated, he looks for the tell-tale markings of the countless planar pathways dotting the Cage. At Hadrian's words, the tiefling turns his mirthless gaze toward the deva.
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Post by Stix on Aug 23, 2008 9:28:12 GMT -5
"Ybdiel," says the aasimon, producing a thrice-knotted hemp cord from his belt pouch. "You may call me Ybdiel."
The wounded deva stumbles toward the portal, falling to one knee as a foot slips out from under him.
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Post by exile on Aug 23, 2008 11:55:43 GMT -5
Stepping quickly to the celestial’s aid, Hadrian ducks his head beneath the man’s arm and steadies him with a hand across his chest. “Easy cutter…” he chides, shouldering the additional weight with a grunt. Rising slowly to his feet, he helps Ybdiel to the dormant portal.
“I am Hadrian. We will spare further introductions until you are safe though I think.”
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Post by john on Aug 23, 2008 16:09:59 GMT -5
John follows after, his expression now concealed within the vulture helm, he's on the hunt!
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Post by Stix on Aug 23, 2008 16:15:46 GMT -5
Ybdiel slumps against Hadrian, lapsing into unconsciousness. The key in the deva's hand falls to the ground, close enough to the inactive gate to rouse it to shimmering life.
(As people post to go through, I'll add them to the plot board.)
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