Amdirlain’s PoV - Grohtan - Ruined city

The ringing orchestra from Mars gained a touch of good-humoured impatience—an eagerness to be on his way more than a fit of temper. His form’s song was more substantial than Moradin’s avatar and had Amdirlain wondering at his remark about a limited avatar, but she didn’t intend to risk Analysis with the music’s strength.

Amdirlain motioned for Mars to wait. “Sorry, give me a minute for some extra preparations.”

With all the Skill points Amdirlain had let accumulate over the years—temptation had reared its head repeatedly—now she decided to use some. Given the pain she’d experienced with True Song Architecture, she spent the first point warily. It was a relief that, unlike before, there wasn’t an echo effect, but nervous energy ran up her spine and through her limbs.

[Devouring Cacophony [S] (14->15)]

The following few Skill levels felt equally insignificant and, remembering Orhêthurin’s battle proficiency, she spent points by the score, causing her muscles to flex and tense, wanting to move in half-remembered motions. The last point she dared left Amdirlain feeling tension knot in muscles too long idle, craving the need to move, stretch, and remember.

[Devouring Cacophony [S] (140 ->141)]

A quick duo of songs manifested a pair of Kopis. The first was wrapped in Primordial power, while the second she wreathed in fierce Destruction.

“Now I’m ready to go.”

“Primordial energy contains the full range of the song and more that we couldn’t touch,” murmured Nûr, the three Solars frozen at its creation. “That was a very interesting demonstration.”

“Safer with my Planar Lock released,” observed Amdirlain, and she ignored the crafting summary.

“That is very true,” Fainil acknowledged, and she clasped a hand on Nûr’s shoulder. “Perhaps we can talk more about it later, and who should hear of it.”

“It's only interesting news to those that understand what you’re talking about,” grumbled Mars. “Are you going to kill some demons or not?”

Amdirlain pointed downriver at the most significant strong point among the ruins. “Is that an acceptable location for us to teleport to?”

The location she’d picked was a sprawling hill of stone amid which jagged spikes were all that remained of broken support columns, pointing accusing fingers at the sky.

Mars nodded. “Can you cast and fight?”

“I can handle doing several things together,” confirmed Amdirlain.

Giving a fierce smile, Mars grew to match her height. With smooth motions, he pulled a shield onto his left arm and readied his pilum.

“Let’s go,” said Mars. “But just the two of us; solars steal too much fun.”

Amdirlain placed them on the sloping rubble left from massive towers brought low, and Mars locked gazes with the closest Balor, roaring a challenge. Flaring its bat-like wings, it roared back, and a jagged sword of lightning appeared in one hand and a whip of flame in the other.

Another Balor, focus fixed on the frontline, died in a blur. A cast of Mars’ now blazing pilum pierced the back of its skull and returned to his hand; the speed of the attack left an afterimage in its wake. Taking in the surrounding songs, Amdirlain spun on her heel, leaving Mars to deal with the balors; she focused on a flight of vrocks who’d started to descend from behind them. Angelic Aura switched on for the first time in decades, and instead of the flames that had previously crawled over her alone, the air around her burned and twisted. The distortion set a shielding effect in place that covered both of them.

Ki State turned her wings into a barrier blocking the arrows loosed at Mars. Other hurried attacks bounced off her feathers and skin, leaving them uninjured. More ranged physical and magical attacks followed, only to be shrugged aside by the dual powers that focused her Willpower into defence.

Despite their lack of success at a distance, her foes swept in, and the first was soon within melee range. Enfolding Ki Strike around a slicing Kopis obliterated the first Vrock’s head, and before it could fall, an uncoiled kick sent it hurtling into others with bone-breaking force. Another swooped from the flank to snatch at her, and turning between its taloned feet, Amdirlain hooked a sword into its guts and let its momentum disembowel it. As it tumbled, another grabbed at Amdirlain, and she continued her spin to sever its legs at the knees.

Her wings turned into a mass of tentacles, and Amdirlain shifted her swords into the grasp of a pair of coils. Returning the favour of a grasping attack, she seized a fourth Vrock and wrenched him from the sky. His attempted fly-by attack gave her plenty of force to redirect, and demonic blood sprayed as he face-planted across the rubble. A stomped foot shattered his back, and keeping his squirming form pinned down, she twisted on that fulcrum to tear him in half.

Far Hand flung his still screaming upper body at a flanking Balor, and she brained another Vrock with his legs. As he started to rear back, she hooked the latest foe around the neck, then yanked him into a head butt that drove the vulture-like beak through his head. The blades lashed out, and other tentacles grew serrated claws before she unleashed a flurry of Ki strikes to slaughter another Vrock. His remains fell between the pair, but the only contact with Mars was dousing his back with blood.

Despite her speeding motions, Amdirlain listened to the assortment of music she caused, reinforcing or suppressing the themes within her strikes. A dozen attackers in the sky above them turned into hundreds as more teleported close, seeking a chance to get at unprotected foes. Seeing the horde spiral above them, Amdirlain drew mass from the stone beneath her, consuming it until Protean protested. The first wave that dived in received the brunt of her transformation.

She discarded any resemblance to Elf or Angel and became an eldritch horror inspired by the thing imprisoned within the Abyss. A central mass extended thousands of clawed tentacles that ripped and tore at her foes. As she extended up the slope, more tentacles unfurled to land ki strikes that carried the cycling fires of Yang energy. Those that circled beyond what they believed her range found themselves being ripped from the sky by a suddenly extended tentacle.

Those grasped, she battered into each other or tore apart with Yang flames. Where foes opened Amdirlain’s flesh, the Yang flames ignited her spilled blood into napalm that clung and seared—extracting a price from them both. As the battle raged on, some of the tension that had knotted her muscles flowed away, and her movements started to smooth out.

Writhing coils continued to grow, and her reach expanded whenever she pushed Protean past its limits. Among the tentacles dishing out death, Mars flowed and ended those she missed or had ensnared to bring into easy reach. His pilum’s blurred path repeatedly linked him to yet another demonic target. Despite all the foes that fell after hours of fighting, more demonic reinforcements emerged from the ruins or teleported directly into the sky above them. All their foes blindly sought to crush the pair that signalled life’s opposition where their master desired only death.

New towers crossed the river, and balls of plasma from artillery platforms dropped closer, obliterating large swaths of the ruins in the course of their advance. Amidst the chaos of the battle, Amdirlain listened to the shifting songs beneath the ruins and worked to identify the Gate Orcus’ cultists had opened in the distant past. A surge of power caught her attention and finally let her recognise one Gate as a powerful entity’s passage strained its framework until it emitted shrill notes.

A Balor general larger than Amdirlain’s Fallen form appeared overhead, his skeletal wings holding his mammoth form aloft. Like the others on the field, it was armed with a massive curved sword and blazing cat-o'-nine-tails. Blackness dripped from flesh that appeared more undead than demonic and was echoed by the darkness within its blade. Mars’ throw went straight for its throat, but the Balor’s whip snatched the weapon from its course. Amdirlain braced the shifting rubble beneath Mars’ feet to provide solid footing and changed the terrain. Songs issued from a dozen mouths, fortifying stone and creating a tower one hundred metres across that brought them to its height.

Even while she created the platform, Amdirlain reinforced the shrill notes within the Gate he’d used. Manipulating them to build up stronger dimensional eddies in the still strained framework, she added Yin strands into the Gate to consume arriving forces.

Reforming into a wingless version of her Fallen form, her swords were firmly grasped in her hands again. A cascade of black flames thrown their way crashed into a Mana Barrier that Mars threw up with a casual flick. Their foe screamed in rage and sent a continuous barrage of attacks. A tsunami of black flames tried to drown the barrier and blocked their view, allowing the Balor to shift position unseen behind the obstruction. Focused on its song Amdirlain shifted position to face it, but Mars had already adjusted the barrier with a vicious grin.

When its song vanished in a familiar theme, Amdirlain sent hundreds of needle-tipped tentacles spearing through the air behind her. She drew ichor from scores of tiny wounds when Teleport materialised the Balor standing on the tower behind them. Those that initially missed, she twisted around into obstacles to hamper the Demon’s attempts to strike with whip and blade alike.

Mars spun and stabbed through her tentacle meshwork. Pulling back the tentacles’ assault except on her foe’s joints, she unleashed a low leg sweep that smashed hard against the column of muscle within his leg, staggering the surprised goliath. As usual, the Ki within her attack had allowed her to rupture through its unnatural protections. A jab from Mars drove it back, the Divine weapon seeking a wound she’d left between two ribs.

Jumping back from a second jab, the Balor rapidly flexed its massive wings to buffet them in a hail of dust and smoke. As he retreated, he lashed out at Amdirlain, his cat-o'-nine-tails’ flaming strands wrapped around her arm, and he yanked her towards him. Rather than fight the motion, Amdirlain went with it; transforming in mid-air, she became a massive slime that enfolded the whip and raced for his hand. With the wavefront of her form attempting to close around his forearm, he released the weapon and swung his massive sword to cleave her in half. The moment it was no longer controlled, she stored the whip and teleported—his strike found only empty air. Out of sight of the Balor, she transformed and teleported again.

Mars continually jabbed and slid past the Balor’s attempts to counter, keeping him off-balance and dotting his torso with smoking wounds. When Amdirlain stealthily returned to the tower’s platform, Mars’ speartip jammed hard into the Demon’s ribs, blessed enchantments searing flesh and bone alike. Mars sped up his stalking of the retreating Balor, who, having given ground, suddenly lurched sideways, the latest stab cutting along his side and ripping through the lower part of his wing. While enduring more damage from the spear, his dodge mostly avoided the spiked wall that Amdirlain suddenly blossomed into—though she shredded a third of his wing.

Once clear of them both, the Balor teleported, but Mars spun in time to interpose his shield and absorb the blow. The Balor’s raw strength didn't even sway Mars in his stance. Amdirlain used Analysis and found she’d been mistaken about their foe’s species.

[Name: Esinzima

Species: Darvakka

Class: Jagged Behemoth / Necrotic Colossus / Umbra Colossus / Warlock

Levels: 71 / 62 / 62 / 62 / 62

Health: 3,093,946

Defence: 9,897

Magic: 2,976

Mana: 11,286,306

Melee Attack Power: 5,288

Combat Skills: Sword [GM] (315), Whip [GM] (423) - Variety of Spell lists and affinities.

Details: Having survived a trio of suboptimal transformations, he became a Balor and rose in the service of the Demon Lord Bael. During a conflict between Bael and Orcus, he was captured by Orcus’ forces. Orcus forced another transformation upon him, polluting his demonic essence with energy from the Negative Material Plane, to advance Orcus’ nihilistic agenda and bind him to Orcus’ service. ]

[Darvakka

Having been broken down and transformed by the Negative Material Plane, these former demons seek to snuff out all life and light in the realm. Though they retain the memories and powers they gained from the Abyss, they are no longer demonic, and advance similarly in strength to other species from the Negative Material Plane.]

As Mars struck lightly at him, Esinzima teleported again, reappearing to unleash a lightning-quick blow, trying to decapitate Amdirlain. Swaying under the strike, Amdirlain’s Kopis reappeared in her hands and deflected his attack further. Shifting his blade between his hands, he spun and opened a line along her arm; the trail of blazing blood, rich with life’s energy, drew a hungry growl from her foe. The energy in the blade’s black metal scrambled for purchase but failed to draw extra health through the wound.

Shifting position to keep Esinzima pincered between Mars and herself, Amdirlain struck out with a series of attacks. Though Mars continued to add pressure, Esinzima focused on Amdirlain and the Yang energy cycling beneath her skin.

As the battle continued, Amdirlain felt the demanding challenge of this fight speed up the dispersal of tension within her. Esinzima’s greater reach made her work hard to land blows without transforming. Savouring that challenge, Amdirlain pushed hard to breach his skilled defence without enfolding the weapon in Ki.

The continuous exchanges left jagged wounds across Amdirlain’s torso whenever Esinzima’s greater skill and strength broke through her defence. Yet together, she and Mars made him pay the price—smoking wounds crisscrossed his body and he’d lost most of a wing.

Amidst the fighting, Esinzima gated in waves of other entities to aid him, but spells or attacks from the pair shattered them upon arrival. With the weapon-capped towers starting to get within range, Esinzima’s predatory gaze narrowed. Amdirlain prepared for another series of attacks, only for him to vanish completely. Her attention on his song let her catch it within the ruins below before he retreated through the Gate.

Despite her plan and the strands of Yin that flayed at his theme, there was no rush of experience gained from his death, though others that followed shortly after burst apart.

“Back to the ridge?” suggested Mars, and Amdirlain moved them both.

Sage directed troops from a spot not far from where they’d started. Flights of angels were forcing the flying demons into the range of towers, while ranks of archons held the forward lines against the massed demons and undead. Whenever a new structure emerged, the celestials pressed the advantage the addition provided.

[Combat Summary:

Assorted undead x 4,986 (50%)

Vrocks x 7,602 (50%)

Succubi x 2,495 (50%)

Darvakka x 483 (50%)

Total Experience gained: 50,570,800

Ostimë: +25,285,400

Ontãlin: +25,285,400

Resistance: Negative [I] (16->21)

Protean [S] (1 -> 7)

Resonance [S] (75->76)

True Song Genesis [Ap] (13->14)

Devouring Cacophony [S] (141 -> 168)]

“I trapped the Gate he used, but he survived the return trip,” advised Amdirlain as she checked out the combat summary. The increase in True Song Genesis caught her by surprise, unsure if it was the accumulation of use or manipulating the internal structure of the Gate.

“Smart enemies never fight to the bitter end if they’ve got a way to avoid it. I should have dimensionally locked down the platform, but he kept bringing in additional opponents to kill,” sighed Mars, and after he cleaned his pilum’s blade, it disappeared. “That fight was fun.”

“I didn’t expect you to be so capable,” admitted Amdirlain. “Aren’t you levelling to avoid strengthening your Mantle?”

Mars laughed. “Not on this battlefield. We’ve made it standard practice that at least one of us maintains a strong avatar on these major battlefronts in case the goat-headed one himself turns up—I’d so love to kill Orcus. Get him Planar Locked, and then have some heroes steal and destroy the artefact he uses to transform the demons. We’re sure he’s got so much energy tied up in it that he’d suffer from its destruction.”

“I wondered about the strength I perceived in you, considering you said you’re using a limited avatar,” remarked Amdirlain as she sought to avoid asking questions about Orcus.

“All avatars’ limits are below what a full manifestation possesses, which isn’t possible here even if this world has no pantheon and only a few groups of near-tribal gnomes. It's not a world I’m worshipped on, so there are restrictions to what the planar barrier allows.”

“You were playing him, weren’t you?”

“Your fighting seemed to smooth out faster from fighting him than the lesser foes,” observed Mars.

Amdirlain managed not to roll her eyes at the avoidance. “Is there a particular reason you wanted to fight together?”

“You know, you ask a lot of questions,” laughed Mars. “Let me ask some of my own before I answer yours. Why create the platform? And how did you know he would stick around?”

“The platform was for two reasons: to reduce the number of directions that attacks could come from instead of fighting in mid-air, and to ensure it stuck around. It had a stage to display its power, a challenge was issued, and demons don’t like the lesser beings opposing them,” explained Amdirlain.

Nodding in satisfaction, Mars motioned to Amdirlain. “I wanted to fight together to learn more about you. Fighting beside someone teaches you more in one battle than by weeks of talking or training with them.”

“What did fighting beside me tell you?” asked Amdirlain.

“You look gorgeous but don’t care about your appearance. You’re practical, sometimes brutal, and you don’t care about your injuries if it keeps a foe focused on you. Turning the bodies of your enemies into weapons is pretty cold and not normally a good sign. Yet you continually put yourself between me and foes coming at my back whichever way I turned. You fought effectively and cooperatively, not leaving a more proficient foe to me; instead, you embraced the challenge.”

“I was expecting you to find my Fallen form or shapeshifting offensive,” observed Amdirlain.

“The rules of this realm determine the appearance of the beings that serve us regardless of our tastes. Your red and black makes you look deadly. While others seem to find the white-winged angels appealing, I prefer the archons with weapons for arms or clawed hands—they look ready to fight. Overall, it strikes me as more honest than a flapping bird with a weapon in hand,” replied Mars. “Though I noticed at the start you used your wings as a shield to protect my back before you removed them. That, I’ll admit, was an interesting effect that I’ve never seen another Celestial use.”

“It needs a particular Power development from the Monk Class,” advised Amdirlain.

Mars nodded thoughtfully. “The Persians had those before the scourge, though I heard your cadre and Týr’s church have restarted their practices. Something else I heard about was Týr losing one of his celestials in the Abyss.”

Amdirlain stiffened but gave a sharp nod.

“Rumours are that soldier’s fall is related to you,” continued Mars.

“Torm was in the Abyss working with a cell of celestials, so he followed the leader’s orders. Yet he wouldn’t have been in there in the first place, except he considered I might emerge there,” admitted Amdirlain.

Tapping his hand against the gladius sheathed at his side, Mars hummed. “The way you say his name, you sound divided between blaming the leader and yourself. Bad leaders or good leaders, if there is a price in battle, the soldiers normally pay it. Were you there for the fight when Torm fell?”

“No, the group’s leader didn’t want me around their operations—he’d decided I was a bad omen,” replied Amdirlain.

“Omens are the gods' way of communicating with mortals who might be paying attention. If a Celestial is focused on omens, he needs to get better at his job,” scoffed Mars before he gestured towards Sage. “One thing I’ve noticed about your older celestials is they improve at their classes far faster than others. Celestials don’t normally earn a transformation between Archon species, let alone Angel types, within decades. Does that have anything to do with you?”

Her nod raised Mars’ brows, and Amdirlain continued. “Yes, any of those I’ve teamed with in battle progress at a Mortal pace afterwards.”

“Yet you teamed with me without real objection, except given in respect to an older God,” noted Mars, and he gave a satisfied nod. “It’ll be interesting if I progress faster when deactivating the Mantle. I’d been sure I was right to consider you an ally; it was good to gain a proper confirmation today. I’ll speak to Týr about this Torm; perhaps I can help him meet Mimir’s price.”

“You seem to know more than just rumours-”

Before Amdirlain finished her reply, he vanished.

Sage signalled the other commanders and reappeared beside her.

“That was quite a display with Mars; he sounded impressed.”

“Is he always like that?”

“He always seems high-spirited and passionate whenever I’ve spoken to him,” replied Sage. “And eager for a fight.”

“I’ll take that as a yes,” replied Amdirlain.

“At this rate, we might break the nearest fortresses soon,” noted Sage. “How do we let the towers know when we’re done?”

“The crystal needles; a few divination spells should let you recover them quickly enough. Once out of the ground, the beacons will go dormant, and the towers’ operators will return to their staging areas. You’ll be able to use the beacons elsewhere if you like,” offered Amdirlain.

“There are a few other spots on this world where we could use the assistance,” admitted Sage. “Many of the involved gods only have a small contingent available to help out with any world.”

“What keeps their other celestials busy?”

“Where would you like me to start?” countered Sage. “I questioned what had kept them busy when I learnt of the memorial to the lost worlds, but Limbo isn’t the only Plane with beings that would overrun civilisations if left unchecked. Many oppose the efforts of the Dao and Efreeti against mortals, demonic forces striking through the Outlands, and more. The celestials can’t be everywhere, but they are kept busy holding many threats in check.”

“So the heavens let Hell and the Abyss fight it out because they’ve enough on their plate from other matters?”

“The Planes are infinite. There are so many places to guard and only so many beings available to do so,” sighed Sage. “Would you like me to show you the Portal to Grohtan now?”

“Who named the world that?”

“It’s the name on the memorial,” advised Sage.

“Interesting, it sounds like the dwarven word for dark stone, yet Moradin said it wasn’t one of his,” observed Amdirlain. “Then again, I’m still relying on recalled snippets and translation powers for dwarven dialects.”

Sage shook his head. “No, he said there hadn’t been dwarves here. Not that I think he lied to you, but I’ve learned to be wary of what some celestials tell me. The agendas of other deities don’t always mesh with yours, so please don’t take it for granted that they’ll always do what is best for you.”

Amdirlain’s gaze narrowed, and when Sage went to continue, she put a hand reassuringly on his shoulder. “Well that’s a given, since Apollo was supposed to be a God of the Light. Yet assuming that is part of how Torm got in trouble, I’ll try to keep it in mind.”

Her response drew a nervous smile from Sage. “Did you want me to show you the Portal here or on the Outlands side?”

“I don’t want to take a blind jump from either Plane, but studying them from both sides might be best. There might be differences in what I need to scan for, after all,” explained Amdirlain.

Two quick gates later and Sage had shown her both locations.

The Portal from Grohtan was in the midpoint of a massive natural arch at the base of a cliff face, the contours of the surrounding stone influenced by the Portal’s presence. The grains of the rock provided a dramatic border to signal its location. On the Outlands’ side, it was a mild shimmering on a meadow’s edge with only a bare patch to mark where it stood.

Hugging Sage, Amdirlain soon shooed him on his way and knelt to listen to the Portal’s song while she basked in the sunlight.