Monday, March 12, 2012

Episode 57: Once Again, With A Little SOUL...

The rather unexpected battle with Snow Yellow was going unexpectedly well. Koresh had laid low all seven Militant Dwarves, and Captain Bonkers had finished off the last of the Dragon Guard. Dolorous was poised to make a deadly strike with her Dagger of Venom, and they might not even need Stonehenge to unleash his Earthquake (and most likely collapse the temple down around them).

Even the Jade Scarab had failed in his attempt to heal The Enigma to death.

It was all going so well. Too well, one might say.

In fact, it was going so well that when Dolorous pounced on Snow Yellow's neck and plunged the dagger into where she thought her carotid artery might be, she rolled a 30... and sealed her doom.

For as a great wound opened up in Snow Yellow's neck, revealing the black and tortured soul of a lesser Tanar'ri, Dolorous became disoriented for one fatal, giddy second.

The Dark beckoned to her, called to her...

This is a place to hide, it whispered in a voice over a thousand eons old.

"Why not?" retorted Dolorous, and she immediately withdrew into the dark, internal and infernal space inside the now-dying demoness.

The others watched in horror/fascination/blasé disinterest as Dolorous' form was pulled, spaghettified and sucked into the hole in Snow Yellow's neck. The Darkness swallowed her up, pierced her in a million places and exploded what was left of her consciousness inside the foul Abyssal fiend. As what was left of her soul clung to the idea of Dolorous/Zoe and battled with the last vestiges of Yellow's consciousness for possession of the body it froze, toppled over, and clattered to the floor of the hallway like a sickly mannequin.

As the two souls battled in the body for supremacy, Koresh quickly attempted a Break Enchantment spell on the demoness' body. An arc of magic leapt from his fingers to the dying tanar'ri and, for just a split second, caused the two battling souls to separate just long enough for...

...

...Stonehenge to step in. In one fluid motion he retrieved Dolorous' dagger from where it lay and started to chant the ancient and deadly words of the Druid Strike. He raised the dagger up, spoke the last eldritch phrase and
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brought the knife down and plunged it into the demon's body. On impact, the blade flashed red and a surge of power shot up through Stonehenge's arms and went, as should come as no surprise, straight to his head. Stonehenge was thrown back as the lifeforces of both Dolorous and Snow Yellow mingled and were pulled up through the enchanted dagger and straight into Stonhenge's very being.

A floating, golden crown appeared on the top of Stonhenge's head. He began to radiate a great and powerful aura. The Jade Scarab prostrated himself in front of the glowing red druid and began to babble "My Lord" most obsequiously.

Snow Yellow gave out a great scream and sat up with a start - and as everyone drew their weapons and pointed ensorcelled fingers in her direction and made ready to strike her down, she held both hands up and squeaked out with weak voice, unaccustomed to her new vocal chords...

"Don't shoot, guys. It's just me."