Interlude IV:

Material Plane, Secter [CLASSIFIED], World B02

Continent Auren, Rua Desert

Astral Conversion Center 035

Palmz looked down into the abyss, staring at the wriggling shapes in the darkness. His snout forms into a nasty snarl, his pointed teeth glinting in the dim light.

He looks up from the edge of the cliff, staring at the cavern before him. It is held up by various natural forming pillars, limestone stalactites forming on the ceiling. The remnants of a limestone bridge stand in a broken pathway, leading off into the oppressive darkness.

Palm scratches under his furry chin, his various gold wristbands jingling. He hums, inspecting the shattered bridge. “Been a bit since they were here? Completely automated, most likely. What is running it though?”

He thinks for a while, walking back and forth on the edge of the cliff, his multicolored robes swishing and his jewelry glinting and jingling. He stops, snapping his black clawed fingers, “The system! Probably hasn’t been updated since its introduction here, which update though?” He paces gain, thinking and growling sofly, all the while the indistinct shapes wriggle bellow in the darkness. “Update 54.1, perhaps? No, most likely 54.7.”

He stops, his bushy red tail wagging with the swish of cloth. His pointed ears perk at the sounds of the cavern, his every shifting colored eyes staring straight ahead. “Biometric, id, soul and most likely knowledge coded. I wouldn’t put it past them to have an eternity code in there as well, hacking isn’t an option. Not to mention the guard dog. I need someone with the right credentials… or maybe I could use one of the subjects. They’d have to be near are at ascendance though…”

Palmz stops pacing, pulling a cerulean sphere form his sleeve. He stares into it for several minutes, it’s blue glow glinting in his eye.

He stuffs it back into his robe, and starts pacing again. “The seeds have already started sprouting, it’s only a matter of time before they move against him. Could I use one of them? No… If one of them were caught, he’d know I was here. However, there are 8 subjects in Rua.”

He lets out a low growl, scratching behind his ear. “I’ve bought myself time with the portals and the Githyanki, but it’s not going to last forever. I have to do this before the Epox, or I’ll never save them. 80 conversion centers, and then Central. I have 23 of the orbs. This facility is a tougher nut than the others.”

Palmz pulls out the All Seeing Eye again, scanning it’s swirling insides. He clacks his teeth, a predatory grin spreading across his face. “Cereus is distracted for now, good. While he builds up his army, I should be able to slip past undetected. I can use some of my Astral and brute force my way in, disable the System and rewrite the logs. All I have to do is get the orb.”

Palmz puts away the sphere, looking up at the limestone bridge. He stares with his slitted eyes at the darkness, looking at the hidden structure there. It is all sleek metal, the security system dormant. A slimy tendril from the darkness wriggles up the side of the building, caressing it, then slithering back into the abyss below.

Palmz looks at the creature that lies at the bottom of the cavern, covering the entire floor. It is a mass of slither tentacles, its true body hidden somewhere down there.

“Hideous fiend, barely a demon. To think it’s related to the Obyrith,” Says Palmz as he starts pulling on the demonic Astral that lies within him. His bracelets jingle as he holds his arms up, dark colored hex circles forming around his arms.

He mutters in a forgotten tongue, praying.

A crystal clear tear streams down his furry cheek, wetting his fur. He mutters under his breath, “Hold out just a little more, and you will be saved. Just a little more time, and everything will be righted.”

Then he casts his hexes, his body levitating above the ground by floating rings of intricately patterned circles.

His arms and sleeves crackle with dark crimson energy, and two bolts shoot off from his fingers. They collide with the mass of tentacles at the bottom of the cavern, frying several in a flash of light.

There is a ear piercing screech that fill the air, and the tentacles all shift en mass, crashing against the cliff like waves. The ground shakes as they collide with the stone, slithering up the side of the cliff.

Palmz launches another salvo of crimson bolts, roaring his anger, tears of pain staining his red fur. He launches himself into the mass of roiling tentacles, screaming his defiance, firing bolts of crimson and dissolving the tentacles.

The demonic Astral twists his pain, and he gives into it, letting it flow through him. His last coherent thought echoing in his pain wracked mind, I will save you. Even if I have to destroy this world to do it.