Apyrel's fire clones were finally destroyed, and once again our heroes attempted to reach the pool. But Apyrel was not yet finished. Around the pool rose a wall of fire, 100 meters tall, which writhed and swirled with the life force of the demon. The heat made it barely approachable, and it began to shoot jets of flame at the charging warriors. Slightly singed, they fell back and regrouped.
"We must destroy him now!" said Ravyson, weary with the fatigue of battle. The others nodded, panting.
Torlax joined the group as they discussed. "The Wolfriders and I can keep him in this form for a short time, but one of you has to get up close to him and stick him with that sword. We can't stop his flame jets but your shield can. Then we can use the staff and end this! Who will carry the sword and shield?"
Torlax looked around the group, waiting for a response.
(OOC: I'm sorry for having taken so long to get this post out, but I've had a hellish couple of weeks where Murphy's Law has just gotten the better of me. Let's finish this before exams. Who's gonna take the sword and shield, and who's gonna take the staff?)
OOC: I already am carrying and using the sword and shield.
Out of the flaming wall marched Apyrel, now in his final form.
His head was that of a beast made of deep red-orange lava, seeming like putty to look at. As he snarled, his mouth tried to seperate, but gooey strands clung between upper and lower lips. At the peak of his head, a long curved horn arced backwards, two adjacent ones at temple-level reaching upwards. His body was slender, but similar in appearance, with two long tentacles winding around him, whipping through the air, originating somewhere on his back.
His new form stood a decent twelve to fifteen feet tall, and bore the frightening appearance of a fire being, like a massive demon covered in soft, dripping lava. His left arm hung almost to the ground, a massive limb with a blob of a hand at the end. Protruding from the hand was a massive array of bone-like spikes, some curvaceous, other straight, all pointing downward to the floor. His right hand stood, the lava coating oscellated. It formed into a spear head, then went unintelligable, reformed as a battle axe, returned to a shapeless blob, and then manifested as a warhammer. It seems it would be any array of weapons he wished, His powerful legs seemed solid enough, each ending in a massive foot bearing four sharp talons. He stomped forth and stopped just past the wall. The party prepared to make their move.
But the first move was his. The right hand manifested into a crossbow shape, and a low, dark voice bellowed forth
"You want to finish me? This is the end of the line, so one side has to lose. Let it begin!"
A bevy of lava, shaped as crossbow bolts, rapidly shot out towards each party member...
As the bolt of searing fire streaked towards him, Jerreck
instinctively raised his greyskin covered shield and charged
into the fire.
The bolt hit his shield with extra force, as he had ran into
it, and although Jerreck had had long training, he found the
momentum too great to simply continue his charge. Momentarily
halted, he grit his teeth when the searing heat assaulted him.
Muscles straining, a brief blue light flashed through his body
as he leaped. A great tiger spring, and he was through the barrier
of fire, lightning mace hungry crackling with energy.
Apyrel turned towards him. Its burning voice filled Jerreck's
very being.
It's futile, mortal... but please, do come anyway. It's
almost touching how willingly you throw yourselves at me.
Liander had raised his magical defenses, and thanked his lucky
star they were 'only' playing with fire. Perhaps not as much at
home here as Apyrel, Liander still felt confident that no fire
would harm him. Countless hours of scolding and lessons from his
master had taught him always to have the fire protection spell
ready in memory.
Today it had saved his life, as the solid bolt of fire aimed at
him had simply veered off to the side and harmlessly struck the
ground behind him. Gripping the staff, he strode through the fire
wall, carefully circling the ongoing battle between Jerreck and
the demon. He took his position, readying himself to use the staff.
Jerreck danced around the demon, locked in mortal combat. He managed
to land blow after blow with his mace, and the demon's weapon arms
made swoosching sounds as they cut through the burnt air, trying to hit
the warrior. Jerreck was near exhaustion, and the demon knew it. Its
left arm turning into a burning blade, Apyrel swung low, catching
Jerreck's right leg with a mighty blow. A searing pain and his flesh
burned. Jerreck cried out.
"Ravyson!! NOW!!!!"
Ravyson stood ready with the frost ridden sword, and he knew that this
was his chance. The demon's attention was fully on Jerreck. It was now
or never!
Ravyson dove forward in flight, the blade affixed on the demon's back. He swooped in with amazing speed, but was even further disheartened when the demon yanked his own body to the left, avoiding the blow, Ravyson diving straight to the ground, the Frostbite digging into the "earth" below. Before he could extract the blade, Apyrel was upon him, a sledge of a hand smashing into Ravyson's chest, sending him reeling. The two founght hand to hand, going higher and higher in the air as the others looked on. Finally, the bladed hand wrapped all twelve spines around the warrior's head.
"It is the end of the line for you Ravyson." the beast chuckled, and drove the warrior straight down to the ground, slamming his head into the earth.
All looked on with shock. Was it over? Had Apyrel won?
Thoughts of his wife's death flooded Levin's mind. The image of his brother, gone, haunted him. To the onlookers, he began to shake like before, when he had bolted off the face of the planet like a comet. Ravyson began to rise, but the demon loomed over him in wait.
"It's over."
A scream broke the air, Levin crashing like a bullet into the fire-demon lord from behind, wrapping his arms around the monster's neck.
"NOT YET!" The two squirmed in air, Levin holding on like Apyrel was a wild bull trying to pitch him off. Growls and yells filled the air as they struggled.
Apyrel broke out a final effort, igniting his entire body in a huge ball of flame, the fires licking at Levin's skin, searing, unbelievably painful. Levin winced from it, but moved his hands to clitch the side of the beast's head.
His words fell on Apyrel like rocks.
"This is my final gift to you, Apyrel. Enjoy it."
Levin did the only thing he could to put the monster down, the only ability he had gained in his first trip to the fire plane. At once he began the pain empathy, where he would have to relive all the pain, every ounce returning to him at once. The only benefit of the enormous torture Levin would endure was that Apyrel would feel all the pain of Levin's life in one brief instant as well. It stunned the demon briefly.
Liander reacted, snatching Frostbite from the earth and throwing it to Ravyson. Ravyson in turn snatched it by the pommel and pulled it back like a spear, and like a spear, threw it straight at the demon. It split right into the beasts chest and both he and Levin fell from the sky.
"The staff, now!"
1)Heh. Like the Crow.
2)I doubt that he knows the names of the party.
OOC:
Not really. Apyrel did just here Jerrick cry out "Ravyson, now!" and see your character come at him. It would be kinda obvious from that who Jerrick was shouting to....
Just mentioning it...
~ /\/\ist Phantom ~
Traug, Troll Mage
Shh! Don't argue with me!
A note about point two. I want to use this as an example of something, because this particular detail is not important to the story at hand.
Though, intuitively, you are right, because there is no direct continuity error (it hasn't been specifically stated or unavoidably implied that Apyrel doesn't know Ravyson's name) then the detail should stand; for whatever reason, Apyrel knows Ravyson's name.
Do you understand what I'm trying to say (I can clarify, of course)?
**sticks tongue out**