Amdirlain’s PoV - Outlands

The structure she’d set up allowed plenty of space, but the excavation had taken only minutes. A hollow fourteen-metre cube held four smaller free-standing cells in a grid pattern, with a lane around each cell for layers of containment and protection. The base of each of the smaller cells was five metres squared, and the elaborately carved interior walls rose ten metres. Unaware of how long they’d need, Amdirlain constructed a picture with millions of details along the walls to catch their eyes for however long this took.

Once the area’s layout was complete, Amdirlain set a layered summoning circle gleaming within each cell. The summoning circles had been the most time-consuming part, and initially, Amdirlain had considered just binding each target with a crystal. The only distraction Amdirlain allowed herself was to return to the Demi-Plane to meet those she’d missed the night of her release.

It was over a day before she’d finished with each circle, even though the triple-layered circles weren’t required except to serve as a misdirection. Each cell had a host of crystals affixed to the outside to bind them and block the Fallen from contacting anyone else. That she intended to use only three of the cells didn’t stop her from trying to improve on each summoning circle she crafted.

With everything else set in place, Amdirlain turned the solid stone door to a cell into a two-way mirror and began the summoning. The resistance to her summoning was so negligible that they appeared in the circle almost instantaneously. The Dwarf was barely 150 centimetres, wearing only a simple pair of dark blue pants and boots; his exposed skin appeared covered in the weeping blisters and open wounds of third-degree burns. A single set of bone wings extended from his back, a misty black energy all that kept the bones together.

Amdirlain had already chosen names for them, and she didn’t hesitate to press her Willpower through Profile Mastery. “Gondren.”

Even before she’d finished, the Dwarf smashed against the summoning circle’s barrier; smoke drifted from his flesh and blisters popped as the purification field began to work. As he bellowed in rage and started screaming threats, Amdirlain activated the sound barrier and moved on to the next cell.

The second Fallen appeared to be a beautiful female Elf with high cheekbones and a pointed chin—though her thin lips were twisted in a fury. Her teal skin wasn’t a colour Amdirlain had any memory of from an Elf, and neither were her solid black eyes with their shattered ruby starburst pupils. The circle's barrier pressed a pair of wings—with feathers the colour of dry blood—tight against her back. Amdirlain activated the rest of the protections she had learnt from the Maze, the strength of the Lómë’s songs within the crystals, preventing them from drawing on Mana or shifting form.

“Where are you, Mortal?” snarled Pena, only to grunt in surprise under the impact of Amdirlain’s Willpower. “What was that?”

“Cuiniel,” intoned Amdirlain, and she pressed through Profile Mastery to wipe away the Fallen’s previous names.

Amdirlain listened as multiple variations of communication spells fizzled out and an attempt to broadcast through an oath link shattered. With the music of that link isolated, Amdirlain focused on the former Celestial’s energy and ruptured the bond at Cuiniel’s end before repeating the process with Gondren.

A reddish mist rose from Cuiniel’s feathers as the purification field set in.

Though it would be far safer not to speak or communicate with them any further, Amdirlain pressed a simple message towards their minds. “You are in a purification field that I hope will lessen the abyssal corruption within you. My goal is for it to allow you to rebalance your perspective and decide if you wish for redemption. If it does not work, I’ll try other approaches, but you’re unlikely to leave here for some time.”

As Cuiniel started yelling demands, Amdirlain set another sound barrier in place.

Amdirlain didn’t leave immediately but recorded the befouled song of the pair into a memory crystal for others to study before she settled down to monitor their progress. Memories of hospital stays and nurses doing their round check, ensuring her name and other details, niggled at Amdirlain.

The slow pressure of the purification field, Amdirlain knew, was a magical version of poison in their state, though she had no way of knowing yet if it could dilute the corruption. The only other options she’d found would mean the complete erasure of their previous personality instead of recovering it to any degree.

After two hours of monitoring their efforts to escape, the two were alone, Planar Shift having returned Amdirlain to the Demi-Plane.

Both the foyer and the banquet hall were empty upon her arrival. Knowing the wards would report her presence, Amdirlain wandered along the woodland paths, looking for a place to relax undisturbed. Eventually, she settled on a glade open to the brilliant blue sky some kilometres from the entry point. A bubbling brook, its spring hidden in the undergrowth, split the clearing in two.

[Imperial Princess Malfex:

Increases both the chance of gaining significant insights and the frequency at which they occur for powers and skills directly related to the Fallen’s arcane and spiritual classes.

Attribute adjustments provided by new species:

+20 Strength per Level

+20 Intelligence per Level

+20 Willpower per Level

+20 Charisma per Level

+40 Free Attribute Points per Level

+20 Melee Attack Power per Level

+70 Magic per Level

+24 Defence per Level

Unlocked Powers:

Greater Mana Drain

Greater Mana Rift

Energy Drain

Planar Gate

Greater Energy recovery.

Amplified Energy efficiency.

Note: For those seeking to be Daddy's little princess.]

"Gideon, I'm sure you gave it that title just to poke fun at me," grumbled Amdirlain.

[Empress Malfex:

Increases both the chance of gaining significant insights and the frequency at which they occur for powers and skills directly related to the Fallen’s arcane and spiritual classes. All insights become staged by an additional level, regardless of the chance to gain them.

Attribute adjustments provided by new species:

+40 Strength per Level

+40 Intelligence per Level

+40 Willpower per Level

+40 Charisma per Level

+80 Free Attribute Points per Level

+30 Melee Attack Power per Level

+150 Magic per Level

+30 Defence per Level

Unlocked Powers:

Greater Mana Drain

Greater Mana Rift

Enervating Aura

Planar Gate

Greater Energy Recovery.

Amplified Energy Efficiency.

Note: Maybe I should rename Imperial Princess to Repetitive Grind Queen.]

“Thanks, that’s fine how it is; not about to show anyone my real profile,” muttered Amdirlain.

[Greater Energy Recovery.

Details: This trait causes the possessor to recover any energy type used by their Class abilities at five times the standard speed. It will add rather than multiply to existing Class features (powers or skills) that already provide recovery capabilities.]

[Amplified Energy Efficiency

Details: This trait adds to the possessors' powers or skills that amplify the maximum amount of energy type available.]

[Enervating Aura

Details: This aura allows the possessor to drain mana, health, and other forms of energy from living and non-living sources that are within ‌their abilities. The possessor's strength of will determines the degree of this drain.]

[Insight stages:

Common

Uncommon

Rare

Significant

Extraordinary

Momentous]

[Momentous Insight:

These insights always cause a Power or Skill below Senior Master rank to gain a triple progression. When gained at Grand Master rank it can cause the ability to evolve.]

Running the numbers for Empress, Amdirlain blinked at her level calculation and let out a low whistle at the experience tally Analysis provided.

[Accumulated experience required for a class to reach 245 is 6,848,500,000,000.]

Amdirlain pushed away the temptation to check on Grand Empress’s benefits, her inner gamer already threatening rebellion for flinching at Empress's required effort. With her first rough guesstimate putting it over three hundred and thirty levels, Amdirlain mentally applied stakes to the heart of considering that transformation. Still, as she mentally buried it face-down, her brain spat out the number of levels she’d need to accumulate in classes.

“Getting three hundred and thirty-four in every Class I have plus a Prestige and evolved Class hurts to think about,” muttered Amdirlain.

[Accumulated experience required for a class to reach 334 is 263,378,500,000,000.]

Racking her fingers through her hair, Amdirlain groaned. “I’ll be nice and leave that for some other masochistic sod.”

“Whips and chains exciting you?” asked Sarah from the clearing’s edge, Gail trailing behind her in female Wood Elf form.

“Speaking to yourself is a sign of insanity, auntie Am,” Gail chirped.

“I passed that point long ago,” countered Amdirlain. “I’m trying to figure out ways to counter some of Balnérith’s power advantage. Gideon added new transformation levels, but the second highest already hurts just thinking about the effort involved.”

“The longer you take going after Balnérith, the more the gap will close,” noted Sarah. “How are you going to do your experience farming?”

“It might close, but if she still has her Fallen advantage, she might earn experience from a Sisterhood experience tithe.‌ As for the next stage, I think I’m cutting back on crystals for a while. When I don’t have any leads on Torm, destroying demons while pushing my powers and skills will be my primary focus,” Amdirlain stated.

Sarah came across and sat on the grass beside her, while Gail almost skipped in her excitement at Amdirlain’s presence, but moved to wade along the stream.

“When Gideon provided the notification about adding them, they made it clear more would get added if I exceeded the highest. Since Power and Skill ranks have impacted Prestige Classes offered before, it's time to push them hard.”

Gail laughed and bent to splash water towards Amdirlain. “Do you know how to work at a goal except hard?”

Her antics caused Amdirlain to focus on Gail. “Did someone put an extra dose of bubbles into you this morning?”

“It’s afternoon, auntie. I just returned from visiting Queen Iphandis and the brand-new addition to the Andúnë royal family. He’s so cute and didn’t want to let go of my finger,” gushed Gail.

“Surely you’ve seen babies since you arrived at the village?” prodded Amdirlain.

“This one is different,” Gail exclaimed, and she hopped out of the stream and came over to drop cross-legged onto the grass beside Amdirlain. “He would never have been born without our involvement.”

Amdirlain smiled and tapped her nose. “How is the Andúnë baby boom going?”

“Very controlled, but not as much as aunt Sarah,” replied Gail, and she shifted to lie down, the pair of them book-ending her. “Stage one of your post-freedom plan complete?”

“Yes, the pair that had been coming and going around Moloch’s palace were former members of Torm’s cell. They’re in a purification field, so I’ll see how that goes,” confirmed Amdirlain before she turned her gaze towards Sarah. “Will you have time to go to The Exchange today?”

“No point going today. Erwarth established contact with the broker, pretending to be a human. The best she could do was to meet with us two days from now,” Sarah stated.

“He was happy to deal with a Solar?”

Sarah wrinkled her nose. “Fancies himself a completely neutral party, which isn’t surprising given The Exchange’s nature. Erwarth didn’t get to see him but learnt he’s an Outlands’ Satyr, so his planar nature is keeping with that neutral attitude.”

“A Satyr is living in The Exchange? That has to be one of the weirdest things I’ve heard,” commented Amdirlain.

“Lives in the middle of a park, atop a skyscraper,” noted Sarah.

The news had Amdirlain raising an eyebrow. “Alright, so not a standard agent for the lower planes. That leaves things in question regarding what side Torm’s operating on. While I’d like to meet him sooner, it gives me time to drop off my passenger and kick things off.”

“Given the initial message to Livia and the notes he left, it's more likely he’s operating purely on his side,” suggested Sarah. “What was the Home Plane of your captives?”

“Both of them had Ijmti,” stated Amdirlain, and she nodded at Sarah’s surprised hiss. “Rummaging in their brains even after the purification field has yielded some results won’t be pleasant, so I’m inclined to chalk it up to the Miracle Isa cast to help Torm also benefiting them.”

“If he still had it as his Home Plane, we could at least detect the combination of Fallen and Ijmti,” Gail said. Though she seemed intent on saying more, she stopped to chew at her bottom lip.

“All that would let us do is fine-tune the detection, but at the risk of missing him if he has changed his Home Plane,” sighed Amdirlain. “Can’t scry for someone based on the attributes of their song.”

Gail wrinkled her nose. “Yeah, I had the same thought as soon as I made my suggestion. How come you’re lying in the grass here?”

Amdirlain tilted her chin towards the Radiant orb high overhead, illuminating the vast stretch of woodlands within the Demi-Plame. “I was laying here enjoying the light and listening, making sure I’d not slipped up in crafting its seed.”

“Well, it seems you have a couple of days to relax,” proposed Gail, and she sighed when Amdirlain shook her head.

“No, I’m going to organise a few things,” stated Amdirlain. “If everything is good to go, I’ll kick off the attempt to destroy the plateaus.”

“I think you’re underestimating the conversion, given you’re drawing on primordial fire,” suggested Sarah.

“I’d prefer to be greatly underestimating, especially since I couldn’t test the energy in sufficient volume,” conceded Amdirlain. “Before you start worrying, I won’t be anywhere nearby. I’ve got all the songs chained to an empty memory crystal; they’ll go off as soon as it records a message.”

“That’s good. Anything I can do to help out?” asked Sarah.

Amdirlain shrugged. “I would like an extra day of setting songs in place. Can you spare time to cross-check labelled banishment arrays against the plateau’s settlements?”

“I can do that for you. Gail’s staff don’t need help with running things anymore,” said Sarah.

“Employees sounds better. Calling them staff makes me think I’m going to beat someone around the head with them,” quipped Gail.

“I’ll do one run-through and leave a memory crystal for you to crosscheck in the storeroom. If you’d do the first check against that, I’ll have Roher and Laergul also check it against the mapping orb,” said Amdirlain as she flowed to her feet. “Once I’m done with my check, I’ll add more songs to the tunnels to improve my odds of making this work.”

Gail tucked her hand behind her head and gave Amdirlain a hopeful smile. “Will you be by regularly, auntie Am?”

“I’ll try to visit regularly, but I’ve got a lot of things to take care of,” admitted Amdirlain. “A few individuals I owe visits wouldn’t have been comfortable at your gathering. I’m amazed you got Jaixar to come along without a hint.”

Gail gave a pleased smirk. “Well, I couldn’t hint; that might have been a lie; after all, we only hoped his permission would be enough. I have ways of convincing people, not infallible, but I’ve got a pretty good ratio.”

“That and she bribed Jaixar,” snorted Sarah.

“Shh, you’re not supposed to tell,” Gail said, putting a finger to her lips. “It wasn’t a bribe; it was an encouragement, and she told me it was a great surprise.”

“You pair have fun now; I’ll be back in a day or so,” stated Amdirlain, and Planar Shift moved her through a series of skips before she arrived at her target.

The storeroom featured a few rows of racks with thousands of circular pigeonholes. Each had a crystal, ranging in size from a sewing needle to a wrist-thick rod. She’d set a hologram beneath each with a picture and settlement reference, from locations barely thirty rooms carved into the top of the plateau, to two cities carved into a cliff face. The thousands of crystals would have expanded the monitoring network, but Amdirlain wasn’t taking a risk with Mortal lives this time.

Setting the map orb beside the memory crystal, Amdirlain teleported to the tunnels far beneath Moloch’s palace. Initially, she’d didn’t restrain the Power, and the force within the song reverberated through the tunnel. Despite the song's energy, it neither overly strained her nor warranted an increase in the now Apprentice-ranked Power. It did, however, niggle at her with fleeting tendrils of fatigue, the additional vibrant energy within the notes coming at a price. Though that price was minor for a single Song, Amdirlain was sure that wouldn’t be the case if she pushed hard with multiple songs at once.

“Roher, I’d like some time from you and Laergul tomorrow to cross-check that all plateau locations have sufficient banishment coverage. I’m adding more songs, but after we check everything, I’ll hopefully destroy the plateaus.”

“I’ll organise a time with Laergul and send you a reminder an hour in advance,” replied Roher, his amusement and anticipation adding a vibrant energy to the Message’s music.

Snorting in amusement, Amdirlain sang again. This time she fed her anticipation into every note, feeling it trickle along her tendons and lay across her bones. She split her voice three ways to harmonise with the song's first strand. The secondary strands of vocalisation provided a sturdy support that formed a resonating brace for the primary theme’s reach.

As soon as the second song was complete, Amdirlain shifted into another and felt her fingers twitch in time to the complex interwoven beats. Hour after hour, she moved along the tunnels beneath Moloch’s palace and linked hundreds of additional songs into place. Yet, despite her efforts, no notification of progress appeared. Slightly over a day passed before Roher’s prompt to meet up came, and she had plenty of evidence that improvement needed a different tack.

By the time Amdirlain collected the orb and memory crystal, she found Roher and Laergul already waiting for her.

Laergul immediately grinned; his restraint since Amdirlain gained Femme Fatale noticeably absent. “How is freedom?”

“I’m happier that Gail’s effort got us the royal tower’s location than at my freedom.”

“Pfft, we were more worried about you,” Roher interjected. “You have your safety net again. By now, I hope it's at least a triple one.”

“I was a bit distracted last time I visited; I’ve not set this plane as a secondary yet,” admitted Amdirlain.

Roher's lips twitched as he suppressed a smile. “I thought that might have been the case, as I heard nothing being cast before you left.”

Resisting the urge to poke out her tongue, Amdirlain cast the Spell and quickly set Ternòx as a secondary Home Plane.

Amdirlain passed over the memory crystal and the orb. “Have you got the spire set up to cover the palace?”

“It should be completed shortly if the choir hasn’t finished already. We’ve added a few extra elements to the song,” replied Roher, giving her a triumphant grin. “Its destruction will release a mist that should be untouched by the energy you demonstrated. We’ll check this list and then follow them up.”

Duplicating the memory crystal, he passed one to Laergul before activating the orb. The image of the plateaus manifested between them, and with them focused on the task, Amdirlain waited patiently. When they reached the sullen markers on the last plateau, Roher sent a Message, and even before he could continue, a physical acknowledgement arrived.

A spire appeared beside Roher and gently lowered to the ground. The linked songs within it hummed with a barely contained force, causing Amdirlain to regard Roher in surprise.

“I get there is no point holding back, but this feels like a dam about to burst.”

“You’re using it today, aren’t you? We want to utilise as much of the contained force as possible,” explained Roher.

“Yes, but what size choir did you use in creating these songs?”

“A hundred of our best singers; it's doing a few extra things besides the banishment of mortals. We wanted to cover as much of the plains as attainable. While we’re unsure if the field will affect the individual who cursed you, we want to collect as many of the rest as possible.”

Shrugging at that last news, Amdirlain stored the spire away. “That’s okay. I might have a use for him if my first attempt at handling the corruption doesn’t work.”

Giving a nod of thanks to Roher, she opened a Gate and stepped through to the storeroom on Culerzic.

Within a minute of setting it onto a stand, she had the Spire linked in, last but not least in the series of banishment arrays. She could hear someone had already targeted the spire for the palace’s location. With that reminder, she walked along the line and triple-checked the tagged crystals were all set for their locations atop the plateaus.

“Let’s see what Moloch thinks of these greatest hits,” murmured Amdirlain, and she sent the trigger message. The racks containing the banishment arrays emptied in a rush, and the spire signalled the end of the first chain of events. Amdirlain barely got the scrying window created before the light show beneath the sky’s flames began.

Moloch’s PoV - Culerzic

Moloch smiled as the black skin of the male Elf that Bliss currently straddled turned ashen. The unique consumption of energy she managed tantalisingly beckoned to him, yet so far remained beyond his ability to grasp. One moment the male struggled to breathe, and the next, he vanished—not dissolved into dust as so frequently happened—but gone.

The feeling of a tuning fork ran through him, resonating down to his bones and trying to bind him to the Plane before he fought it off.

Danger Sense screamed to a degree he’d not felt in thousands of years, and Moloch responded without thinking. Teleport took him far out above the Umbra Sea, and he remained Human formed to avoid being easily spotted. His preparations to retaliate faltered when he caught sight of the vortexes blazing in the sky.

High above, millions of miniature hurricanes sat, blazing a pure gold beneath the sky’s burnt amber flames. Their continued inhalation coiled energy downwards, twisted from the familiar primordial flames into strands of black and white. Strands that wrapped around each other even as they smashed downwards, purging all in their path. Moloch's palace was suddenly beyond the black and white curtain they’d formed, yet he couldn’t sense anything from its wards. A feat that should have been impossible—even if he were planes away—while they remained intact.

Buffeted by the impact of strange, painful winds that didn’t touch his flesh but reached within, Moloch could only stare at the sight before him. The energy curtain veiled the entire plateau his palace sat upon, along with those out to the extreme limit of his eyesight. A Spell to extend his perception beyond a hundred kilometres showed more of the same.

At the base of the curtain, a rolling mist started to wash across the Blood Plains of the Dretch. The first impaled Damned it touched vanished, and the spike they’d rested on crumpled into dust. Slowly at first, as the curtain flexed like a breeze was buffeting it, the mist started at a walking pace outwards and left no damned in its wake.

Tendrils from that mist lashed towards the energy clouds that covered the blood plains and drank them in. That added to the speed of spread as the slow-moving mist suddenly burst into a sprint. He saw it hit a group of squabbling Dretch, and bones stripped of flesh dropped to the ground.

When the energy curtain vanished hours later, Moloch growled with rage. Beyond where the curtain had touched was now a giant pit that descended so far that it disappeared beyond his still-amplified sight. A massive waterfall streamed into that expanse where the Ravager’s River had once passed his plateau, and not even an echo returned. As far as he could see along the virtually empty Blood Plains of the Dretch, the residual ooze of aeons flowed to join it.

With a push on Analysis to learn of the ritual that caused such devastation, the familiar image of a golden scroll with burning black script touched his awareness. However, that is where the usual ended. The message was far from what he expected and, coupled with the power displayed, added a long-forgotten emotion to the day’s events—fear.

[Bay of Annihilation

Details: A landmark showing where the Cliffs of Lust once stood—before Moloch’s mistake. Lured from retirement through enticements of various demon lords, the Titan’s Songbird gave a minor trill, and a Plane trembled.]

Ignoring the strange, taunting implications, Moloch started trying to push for an answer.

“The Titan’s Songbird, what is that? Who awakened it?”

Despite attempts with thousands of questions to elicit information, Analysis returned nothing but further cryptic nonsense.

Eventually, after many unanswered messages to those stationed in the palace, he sent yet another, not expecting a reply. “Bliss?”

“Lord Moloch, are you alright? You vanished after our toy, and my Danger Sense yelled. Where did you go to?”

Moloch smiled at the Succubus’ concerned tone, the falseness abundantly clear to him.

“Meet me at the reconstruction overseer’s tower. It seems I’ll need a new palace.”

Bliss's acknowledgement was a gush of words, said in a soft bedroom tone. “That’s where I teleported; others I’ve tried contacting haven’t answered. You should know something weird is going on here. The souls in the river are boring now; they float in the chains as if asleep. The overseer says the Primordial is the same way and went to sleep weeks ago.”

Her careful, long-distance delivery of that news had him snort with amusement before he teleported to meet her.