Heroes come in all shapes and sizes (IC)

[Iscaa]

Isca steps up to the evil being,

" I have some questions for you ....Mesobulbron. What do the Demon Lords want with this world?
If they destroy all living things, what do they gain?

She watched it carefully, hoping to see some kind of weakness, anything to help them destroy it.
Nefer perched on her shoulder had her hackles up as she too watched it's every move. Isca continued,

"What will you be or do in this world that the Demon Lords dream of controlling?"

 

[milkmaiden38]

“The little pretend wizard speaks … perhaps you should go back to playing with your dolls” Mesobulbron said, but then it continued to talk

“but the question deserve an answer … the question all of you have is why? Why are the demon lords interested in ruling this planet? Power? Control? Ego? All those reasons would be wrong. The demon lords are the dominate beings on this planet, none can stand before them. They are the top of the food chain. The pentacle of existence. However, life is a problem, it is always changing, evolving, adapting. You see … when there is change … there is risk. Risk that the food chain order could be rearranged, with a view on the order of eons, one day the demon lords may no longer be the dominate beings on this planet. This is not acceptable” The creature paused. “The problem is change. Change must be stopped”

“The solution is quite simple really … remove ALL life from this planet and the status quo will never change” The creature grinned evilly.

“A very sick and demented plan driven by fear…” Zarik pointed out “one slight flaw without life your demon lords could not survive”

The creature laughed “how little you know pet … the demon lords do not require any life to survive … have you wondered why the lords use garliks as they primary fighting force? They are undead, reanimated, they can not evolve because they do not change. And … the more you living things fight … the more garliks that are created. In fact, your own struggles against us … have only swells our armies!”

Zarik thought with dread about what the demon lord minion was saying. These beings feared change, feared evolution; they wanted the world to be static, unchanging, and devoid of all life. But they must feed on something … did they not also need life to sustain themselves?

“With no life … your demon lords would rule over no one … they would also die they have to eat something” Zarik stated

“Ignorance … and stupidity … how have you survived this long?” The Mesobulbron said. “There are beings that can sustain themselves on other forms of energy. The demon lords need nothing from the mold that is called life that has spreads itself across this world.” The creature answered.

Megan thought about this answer as she slowly moved on opposite sides on the creature than Zarik. Many plants did not need any organic substance to sustain themselves. Light from the sun, water and a place to secure their roots was all they really needed. But some change was still required. Water and solar cycles … these demon creatures appeared not even to need that.

“If the demon lords don’t need any life forms, aren’t you also on their kill list?” Megan asked her eyes still closed.

The creature laughed, “That is the beauty of their approach to destroying, organic slim, like you!” It looked at Megan, gloating “I’m not a life form, I’m animated from the dead, similar to the garlik troops you have fought. We don’t reproduce, we don’t evolve, we exist for as long as the demon lords wish. We can never be a threat to them. And the more death, the larger the demon lords armies become, you life forms are always fighting an uphill, a hopeless battle!”

Megan could understand the logic the demon lords had used to assemble their fighting force. It made some sense. If they allowed the army to become too strong, it might turn on them. By using dead creatures, there was never a threat of that happening. But the last part did not seem to ring true to her. If the garliks were not alive, destroying them would not produce more garliks. Only the death of living creatures would increase the demon lord’s numbers. So more battles where living creatures were killed, and particularly battles where life killed life would enhance their numbers. This may have been another reason for trying to get the elves and humans to fight a war against each other.

The demon lords were truly vile and hateful beings, they aimed to destroy all life in whatever form based solely upon fear. This was not a fight against a simple evil that was trying to take the human kingdom of Palamar … this was a battle for all life on this planet! They must be stopped.

 

[DeathsKnight]

As the zombies appeared, Devon knew his bow would be useless, so he carefully laid it aside and drew short swords from under his cloak. One an Elven short sword and the other a kopesh, he spread out with the other's, but he was,kt focused on just the Mesolbulbron and the Overseer, he had his eye on the zombies holding Isola, he knew if she could get her arms free, she would be able to fight back. Maut stepped forward, the lights from inside his helmet flaring with what appeared to be anger, his voice though carried only an edge of annoyance,

"He may have been ill-conceived, creature, but he has more heart, character and passion than you and your masters will ever have. We may not see eye to eye and he may not like my undead nature, but you have no right to use that name."

He reached behind his back and drew a warhammer into view, the head flickering into a bright blue flame,

"Magic nor blade creature, this is a blunt weapon, it crushes. And there is one gross oversight on your demon master's calculations. Death comes for all, my lady will welcome you and them all into the deepest, darkest pit where you will stay..."

A cold, cold smile could be heard in his voice,

"Forever. Now stop your insane babbling creature, let's see if you are as powerful as the legends say."

 

[Mantra]

Nas

The time that Nas had dreaded had finally come, the Mesobulbron had come for them. Even though the dragon would have denied it, he was terrified of this thing, this nightmare from fable. When he actually saw the bulbous thing floating there, in the flesh (as it were), Nas had to will his stomach to remain as it was and not fly away with the rest of him still attached. But then a strange thing happened...

..the damnable thing started talking.

Demon Lords? Formed from the dead? Unchanging status quo?

"What?" was all Nas said at first, his mind racing around the words oozing out of the creature's mouth. He shook his head in disbelief at what he heard.

"All of my life I have feared things like you." Nas said, more to himself than anyone else. "You are a thing of legend, of nightmares...A creature as malevolent as you were indestructible."

Nas looked up at the mesobulbron. "But here you are and from your own words I see the truth; you are nothing but a dog on a leash, set to barking when your masters crack their whip. Nothing more than a slap-together makeshift monster, created from other creatures that failed, died and rotted. Are you truly the mesobulbron of legend, or are you but a reanimated fraction of that creature?"

"I do not know," Nas said defiantly, "but you are not the creature I thought you might be. You are an exaggeration, a fragment, a myth,"

"A slave."

Nas tossed his head, his tail beginning to sway back and forth in anticipation of battle.

"If you are a slave, then you are not a legend." Nas challenged. "If you can be leashed, then you can be beaten...and you can die!"

 

[milkmaiden38]

“Your bravado will be short lived, Maut the ABOMINATION. Nasanthil your words ring hollow … ILL-CONCEIVED. Everyone watch as I drain of life of something you all care about” The creature said in glee “.… and there is NOTHING you can do about it.”

His great eye looking to each member of the party … finally turning on the little baby held in the Zombie’s arms. A gentle beam of light from the creature’s eye bathed the small child. “I shall kill your … HOPE!” The Mesobulbron declared.

The baby began to struggle … fighting … as its young innocent life begans to drain out of its body. The light becoming stronger … more intense.

“MMM, how delicious it is to feel the life drain from your prey; to feel their surrender before they die. MMMM How satisfying.” The Mesobulbron grinned horribly. The light growing stronger.

“STOP” yelled Isola … realizing what was happening.

Time seemed to slow down … everyone got ready to act … Maut, Nas, Devon, Zarik … but Blin was just a bit faster … he had been watching … he had been moving closer to the zombies masked by the cloak … he knew them only too well … but without the collar binding him … he was free to act … and now he saw he chance. 100% sure his god would protect him. Confident his magical warg cloak would shield him. He decided to do a “nice” thing. In the blink of an eye, Blin sprang in front of the beam … taking the full beam on his warg hide. At the same time, he reached for one of the explosive flasks he had on his belt preparing to throw it ... But the beam of light took only a fraction of a second to work at this intensity. He gasped once … and his face drained of all life …“NOOOO” Isola yelled. But it was too late, and Blin fell to the ground … his warg cloak offered no protection from the draining light. Isola had tears rolling down her face.

“Killing … it is the best feeling …. The half-goblin’s heroic changed nothing” the Mesobulbron paused for effect. “Now, I will kill the concubine … Isola” The creature said as the great eye turned to face Isola.

Megan knew the creature was expecting an attack, but she saw no alternative. She opened her eyes … revealing … her regular eyes were gone … replaced by white orbs of blazing intensity … it was like search lights were behind each eye … cutting through the thin fog … no one in the group had seen her like this before! Her eyes were demonic in nature … She stared directly into the Mesobulbron horrid face.

“MESOBULBRON … YOU ARE NOT THE ONLY ONE THAT KNOWS ELDRITCH MAGIC, I TOO CAN WIELD THE DEMONIC FORMS … TOO BAD YOU DID NOT KNOW THAT UNTIL JUST NOW!!” She screamed. Megan threw up her hands and produced a thick fog that surrounded the creature’s round floating body.

“MAUT … NAS … ATTACK THAT THING” She yelled … there was no way it could drain the life from Isola when it was obscured in fog. “ISCA … DEVON free Isola and HOPE from the Zombies!” Megan screamed. Mesobulbron started to move outside the fog ... but Megan had given the heroes some time to act.

 

[Iscaa]

Isca watched in horror as Blin died......her mind shouted ...(Nooooooo..) She could feel Nefer's rage added to her own. She started to move towards Isola and Hope, suddenly Megan put forth her magic, producing a fog that gave Isca time to get to Isola and hope. Before she could reach them three zombies appeared blocking their path.

Nefer launched herself at the nearest one, landing on it's face. Her claws dug deeply into it's protruding eyeballs, ripping them out of the sockets. Once it's sight was gone, it just moved in circles as Nefer gnawed it's nose off, spitting it out before going for it's jugular vein. It moaned and tried to claw the cat off it's face but she was quick, biting it's finger off before continuing on that vein. This happened so fast that the thing didn't have a chance to put a mind lock on Nefer...even if could....which was doubtful. It finally got three fingers and a thumb hold on her back leg. She speedily turned and bit another finger off, her leg was free, she went back to the neck. It kept on walking and moaning trying to pry the ferocious cat off, finally it crashed into a small tree and fell down still struggling with the cat. Nefer eventually bit through the tough skin and sank her sharp canines into the vein....awful green gore gushed out. She jumped out of the way and looked to see where Isca had gotten.

Meanwhile Isca faced two zombies that had combined their powers locking onto her mind. Unable to move Isca closed her eyes and concentrated on pushing their own force back onto them. Slowly with all her will she could feel the magic turn around and travel back to the zombies, they stopped advancing on her. Gasping with the effort, Isca opened her eyes stretching both arms towards the stationary things and sent forth a spell that normally would lite fire, but this time she intensified it a hundred fold. The zombies exploded in a huge fire balls, looking like walking torches, they were not destroyed but sort of just blindly walked around mindlessly.

Isca fell to her knees drained from this effort, Nefer bounded to her side adding her strength to the depleted mage. After a few seconds, Isca lifted her head looking to where Isola and Hope had been. Still weak she shakily got to her feet taking a deep breath to start again, something grabbed her ankle, looking down she found Nefer's zombie had somehow crawled it's way to her and was now trying to put a mind lock on her. Isca could feel it take her will away, she didn't know if she had the strength to block it.

She closed her eyes again, pushing with all she had, it wasn't enough, suddenly she felt a surge of strength added to her's, it was Nefer. Isca smiled...sending her a thank you...before pushing the magic back at the zombie at her feet. She stepped away from it, pointed her hand at it...and with the last of her power she ignited it enough so that is smoked letting go of her ankle momentarily, before groping around for her again .

The both of them fell to the ground out of reach of the smoking pile of rotten flesh, depleted and weak, Isca looked towards Isola and Hope, knowing she could do nothing for them at this time. She could only hope that someone else would come to their rescue now.

 

[DeathsKnight]

As Megan cast her spell, Devon darted towards Isola, three zombies stepped forward to stop him, but he slipped passed them. Swords flashed, slicing the hands holding Isola, he ducked behind them, swords cutting the zombie that held Hope, catching her as she fell, he held her close to him as he cut away at the zombie that he liberated Hope from, it's arms and hands fell to the ground, twitching, but unable to move, the head followed, where it lay snapping at the air, hatred in those dead eyes. Devon had only a slight moment, feeling the will of the zombies trying to enter his mind. He secured Hope to one of the horses and turned to find three zombies converging on him,

"Oh great."

He dodged away, the zombies following him, he made his stand against a tree, if he was to die it would at least be on the ground of his choosing.

Maut moved forward just as Blin made his move, then Megan called out, mist billowing out towards the Mesolbulbron. The demon moved back, huge eye searching for a target, from the thick mist a hammer emerged, slamming into the eye, making the creature shriek in agony. Maut stepped clear of the mist, a black bow in hand, he drew back and fired, the demon closed it's eye, turning to a mist-like form to prevent damage, but the arrow pierced one of the eyes, the blue flame tip ripping the eye apart, causing the creature to scream once more. Maut dropped the bow, it disolved in mid-air as he picked up the hammer. The Mesolbulbron chuckled suddenly and Maut found himself illuminated in an intense white light...nothing happened as the moss and plants at his feet browned and died.

"I have no life force creature."

With a violent heave the hammer went flying again, again Maut struck before the creature could react, the roar of pain was louder this time as the Mesolbulbron turned away for a second.

"But you will burn like all undead ABOMINATION!"

The scream spoke of hatred and anger, it gave Maut the chance to dive away as a beam of flame shot out, scorching the ground where he had stood scant moments ago.

 

[milkmaiden38]

“Kill everyone” The demon overseer ordered his zombies “except the minotaur … he is mine!” As he strode directly towards Zarik.

“GRRRRRRR” Zarik bellowed in full Minotaur rage. No one had ever seen the minotaur in this state. His body tensed, eyes narrowed, ready to spring at an instant. Zarik’s axe had all the force the raging bull could put behind it as he rushed towards the Demon Overseer!!

The red skinned Overseer demon was his equal, a massively built minion with bulging muscles and a long sword with flames licking along its edges. “A magic sword … Great!” Zarik thought. He also noted the strange spider like things crawling under the skin of the demon, convulsing, and wiggling, their movement almost distracting him. These red skinned demons looked similar to minotaurs, they had horns although much shorter horns than a minotaur and their faces were more human like.

Zarik was not scared of this creature; he had fought many minotaurs and other creatures of greater size and strength than himself. It was a matter of fighting defensively while you probed your opponent to discover their weakness.

“Demon’s give minotaurs a bad name … why don’t you assholes pick a different form.” Zarik taunted. As the great battle axe tried to end the battle in a single bow … the Demon blocked with his sword … huge sparks lite up the clearing … Zarik’s blows were so powerful … a normal sword would have broken into pieces … but not this magical one!

The demon didn't fall for the taunt. "It must be an honor for you to die like this … fighting a battle you cannot win!” The demon sneered at Zarik. “Perhaps your fellow minotaurs will write a song about it … too bad your whole race will be wiped out soon so none will enjoy it!”

"I think not." Zarik said and in a surprise move kicked out with his right hoof. The demon saw it and slipped back just as Zarik had hoped … and he dove forward with the battle axe trying to remove the demon’s sword arm, like he was splitting wood.

But the demon block the attack, sparks flying … Zarik turn the battle axe, twisting it back for a side strike, the demon again blocked that attack with his sword.

“Shit!” Zarik thought the demon knows how to fight; this is not going to be a quick victory.

Almost like the demon could read his mind, he said in an unholy voice “You see … it is hopeless …I know …as a minotaur you will not give up … it is not in you …but you cannot win against me!”

The demon attacked now … swinging the sword at Zarik’s head … as the bull ducked the sword came around and tried to slice off his arm. Zarik great battle axe coming up to block the attack. Sparks flying again.

Zarik’s turn and he attacked with twice the power and speed. The strength and brute force he used was impressive … slamming down at the sword over and over with his axe … each time the demon caught the blow and defended against it. Then Zarik struck with his axe one handed and punched with his fist at the same time! The demon recognized his attack surprised attack with a speed that was uncanny. Blocking the axe away with the sword and his fist with his other hand, with Zarik off balanced the demon brought his sword around toward Zarik head … Zarik ducked at the last possible moment, but again as if the demon could read his mind the sword changed direction. Zarik could no longer move his head fast enough to get out of the way …he tilted his head …the blade sliced off one the end of one of Zarik's horns. Zarik crashing into the demon driving him back … He then he stepped back …he knew right away part of his right horn had been cut off. The Minotaur grunted and thought of the ease by which the blade cut his horn. A minotaur horn was all bone and had no nerves so he felt no pain … but his head was no longer in balanced and a bull minotaur’s horns were a great source of pride. A cut off horn was almost as bad as cutting off a dragon’s wing.

The demon laughed “Yes … the fire blade cuts bone very easily … don’t you think! You look disfigured and impotent with one cut off horn! No cow will mate with you now …” The demon laughed.

“I will make you a promise …” Zarik said grimly but with determination “I shall remove your head … in exchange!”

A normal minotaur would have single mindedly attacked with even great determination … redoubling his efforts. But Zarik was not a normal minotaur; he was also a riddle master. He remembered something Blin had said in the swamp donkey pub …“Besides his physical strength … He also has magic. He spoke to me … without a voice … directly into my mind.”

Was the demon reading his mind? … sensing what attacks Zarik was going to do … before he did them. The demon’s defensive moves had been so quick it was almost beyond belief. Zarik needed to test the theory, he reached for one of his short sword on his belt … preparing to throw the weapon into the demon’s left shoulder. The demon changed his stance in reaction to Zarik’s move and brought his sword over to the left to deflect the sword had it been thrown.

Zarik knew …there was no way the demon could know which area he was going to throw the sword. Only a mind reader could react that fast.

The demon laughed evilly “So you are not such a dumb bull after all … you discovered my little secret!” He smiled evilly. “But it will not help you …I know before you do it what you are going to do!”

Zarik realized the demon was right … how could he defeat a creature that knew what he was going to do? This was the riddle he needed to solve … and quickly, as the demon advanced on him, the flames on his sword dancing higher. Zarik gave ground trying to think of an answer.

The demon swung his blade in sweeping chops, covering as much area as he could, driving Zarik back as he defended with his axe … The dance of thwarted death continued until the demon laughed “You grow weaker … half horn …soon you will die!”

 

[milkmaiden38]

Mesobulbron adapted to Maut attacked … floating after him blasting fire bolts after him. “Is that the best you can do? I was expecting so much more!” The creature mocked the deathknight, toying with him. The Mesobilbron eye then turned towards Megan and a beam of white light appeared aimed directly at her. She was caught off guard, again by the surprising speed of the floating eye. The world seemed to slow down, when that large eye turned on her. Thankfully lady luck took Megan in her arms and seemed to instinctively guide her to side step the first three blasts of Mesobulbron's light rays. Finally her brain fell into the routine of this match. The Illumian drove for cover as the white beam of light turned the ground where she had been standing into death. The ground totally died … just as they had seen before at the caravan attack. She looked back at where the other two rays had hit, it was the same story.

Too bad the eye was so focused on her … he did not see Nas’ attacking coming or did it?

 

[milkmaiden38]

Of the 10 lifeless zombie creatures … Devon had injured 2 of the things … one had no more head and was no longer a threat. Isca and Nefer had smoked three of the things … so 5 uninjured ones remained. 3 were on Devon surrounding him. 2 had headed off towards Blin but now turned around and ran towards Isola.

But Isola was no longer held … and the long daggers on her belt were now in her hands. She ran past the mule with baby Hope and SLAPPED the mule hard … sending the animal galloping off into the swamp. She then turn toward the zombies array near Devon … Devon could see her counting her rhythm … and placing her feet as he had instructed her … her blows with the daggers were masterful … as quick as the zombies were she was quicker … she was not only good with the daggers … she was graceful and a marvel to watch … two of the zombies surrounding him had stab wounds and one lost a hand in a fraction of a second! What had he and Zarik created! She was beautiful and DEADLY! The mind control spells directed at Devon had been totally disturbed.

“From freeing me …consider this my thanks!” She yelled at Devon as two of the zombies near Devon turned to attack Isola. These two were joined by the other 2 that had been headed for Blin and she now faced four!

“Devon … what do I do now” she asked her old instructor … as she retreated … and then she fell over Blin’s body. The Zombies moved quickly to finish her off! Suddenly she reached into the half-goblin’s cloak and threw one of the flasks on the ground near two of the zombies … there was a … mmm what is the right word?? ….a “nice” explosion! And Zombie' parts went flying.

But Isola was going to die in seconds … the other two zombies were almost upon her. And only Devon could save her … but he would need to defeat the zombie he faced and kill the other two … it looked hopeless!

 

[milkmaiden38]

Zarik solves the puzzle

Zarik defeated the blows ... and then with a confident smile on his face got an idea!

He pulled one of his short swords from his belt. He stood straighter … and smiled at the demon. “Ok … I have enjoyed this little puzzle … but I have solved it. I believe I can now keep my promise to you ... and remove your FUCKING head!” He said with total surety.

Zarik on the attack again. Re-emerged with confidence … fighting with two weapons … his battle axe keeping the flaming sword busy blocking blow after blow …as he maneuvered the demon into a position where he would not be able to dodge or block a stab from his short sword. Seeing his chance the minotaur spun the sword in his hand and slammed it into the demon side.

The demon grunted in pain as Zarik pulled the sword out and hot red gore pour out of the wound. But quickly the flow stopped and sealed up.

Demon laughed “You can’t kill me that way … Half horn!”

“WELL MAYBE THIS WAY THEN!” Zarik yelled getting tired of this fucker’s little surprises. He hack with the axe to draw off the demon’s guard and tried to slam the sword into his side again … the demon blocked the attack with his sword, but then Zarik brought the great battle axe around and cut his head clean off …

“Take that … NO HEAD” he said satisfied the overseer demon was dead. But to his amazement the body of the demon continued to fight with no head. The blood gushing from the neck stopped and the demon started swinging the sword again. Zarik had been sure it was dead and that distraction cost him … as a swipe from the flaming sword tip caught his arm cutting a gash in it … blood spilling out. Zarik recovered and jumped back. "WHAT" He said … shocked the demon continued to live.

In his mind he heard “You stupid bull …you cannot defeat ME!” the demon taunted.

The thing had no eyes … no brain … how did it continue to fight … then he saw the spider like things under its skin … moving wiggling. Zarik attacked again “I KNOW WHO IS REALLY IN CHARGE NOW … MY LITTLE SPIDER FRIENDS!” Zarik screamed as he used the same tactics of overloading the demon’s defensives and then stab directly into one of the spider like things. There was a mental scream in Zarik’s head as the thing died. The demon body staggered and Zarik cut off the arm with the flaming sword … Then he stabbed at every under the skin spider he saw until he saw no more. The demon stopped moving. Satisfied the thing was dead … He looked over the battle field checking to see how the others were fairing.

 

[Mantra]

Nas

For long moments, Nas simply watched the battle unfold, contributing to nothing except to the backdrop as a spectator. Even when Blin died, the dragon did not react. It was not fear that stopped the dragon, although in truth, Nas was afraid. It was not shock from a comrade's death, for Nas really did not know the little skulker, and did not like the half-thing anyway, so his passing was unnoticed. It was not that his other comrades were in mortal peril, for surely they were, but still, Nas did not react.

He watched the appearance of the zombies, and how his comrades moved to intercept them. battle was joined, even as they were separated from the rest. He watched the minotaur joined in battle with another demon-thing, dancing and spinning away.

He watched to glowing female cast up her mist and work her glowy-magicky thingie in hopes of deciphering the mesobulbron's secrets and he watched the death knight attack and wheel away at the creature turned to mist and struck at them both with eye-beams.

Through all of this, Nas waited patiently.

At the moment, all others between Nas and the mesobulbron were away and clear. The monster, so focused on wounding the deathknight and arrogant in its mist form did not consider the dragon for a moment.

"But you will burn like all undead; ABOMINATION!"

Indeed.


Lost in the heat of battle, none heard the dragon's great intake of breath, but at that one moment, Nas's head whipped down, neck straightening and jaws opening wide. a massive, red-white cone of fire spewed out, instantly banishing the ebbing shadows and early morning damp of dawn. A wave of heat and light filled the clearing as the cone of flames engulfed everything that remained before the dragon's maw.

Even though the swamp was wet and resilient, it was little enough protection against pure dragonfire. The mist that was both Megan's spell and the mesobulbron was instantly consumed by the flames. likewise, much of the land and vegetation all around and behind the mesobulbron hearty enough not to be incinerated outright was set ablaze. Yet even from this, within the inferno, their foe remained.

Nas had not hoped to kill the mesobulbron with one blow...Well, yes he did hope to do so, but realistically, Nas did not expect to. Instead, the move was inteended to force the monster to again adapt to a new attack form, delaying it further and also, with the flames all around, the mesobulbron would be forced to either move away, escaping the flames or again, continue to adapt to the fire and thus, limit the possibilities it could use against them.

 

[milkmaiden38]

Megan watched as the huge red dragon attacked … the Dragon fire was hotter and more intense than she imagined … even from where she stood she could feel the intense heat. NOTHING living could withstand that … Hell … metal could not with stand that … it would have melted. Yet the massive floating eye ball seemed to float through the flames … Nas and her watched this revival creature harden it shell so the flames did little to no damage.

It appeared the creature could change its form. Change from one state of matter to another. When the dragon flame hit it … its skin had turned to something flame resistance like rock. When Maut had tried to hammer it … it turned to water
“Oh Shit!” Megan gasped.

“That is right ... little demonic wizard … you are starting to understand. I cannot be killed or even harmed in any way … AND soon you will stop struggling …. and surrender … before you die!! Knowing there is NOTHING you can do! NOTHING!!” The Mesobulbron laughed.

“You are really starting to piss me off” Megan said … and decided it was time to stop letting the creature set the pace of this fight. As the eye turn towards her again, this time Megan was ready and had found her balance. She leapt over a fallen log and cast a freeze spell at the same time. She aimed the spell at the air around the massive eyeball. Before her feet hit the ground the eyeball was incased in a block of solid ice.

“Maybe you can change your form, but you can’t change the air around you!” She said. Hopefully, Maut or Nas could take advantage of this opportunity and SMASH the ice cube ... Maut using his hammer …or Nas with his tail …

Meanwhile Megan reached Isca and Nefer. Both lay on the ground … depleted of energy. Smoking zombies around them. Megan placed a hand on Isca shoulder.

“ISCA we need you … I need you” She said and Megan dumped half her magic energy into Isca. Isca eyes opened. Megan quickly said “Keep firing spells at that thing!” and pointed at the block of ice that in casing the Mesobulbron.

 

[DeathsKnight]

The fire from Nas was perfectly timed as was the ice spell, Maut ran with a speed and agility that totally belied the weight of his magic enhanced armor and the nature of his undead body. He looked alive, yet he would never be alive again. He jumped, swinging his hammer as hard as he could, of course he could not reach the eye, the central weapon of the Mesolbulbron, but the jarring impact of the hammer broke off several of the stalks housing eyes. Maut landed hard on the ground, drew a short sword and threw it with unerring accuracy and power, slicing off more of the eyes, glancing off of the eye.

"Only problem is demon, I do not tire. You will exhaust your magick energies at some stage and then you will succumb."

Devon on the other hand was hard pressed, not only was a zombie pressing hard in on him, it seemed like the exploded parts were still fighting. To top things off, Isola was stuck. Unfortunately for them Devon came from royal blood, courage instilled at a young age and Devon knew that a knight never gave in, of that Maut was a clear testament.

He found an opening and used his leg to shove the zombie away, freeing his arms to set his short swords in to action, he had a plan. He sliced off the zombie's arms, it's head followed, he then rushed passed the trunk and attacked the two zombies crowding Isola, slicing at them. They turned to face him,

"Isola! Get my bow!"

 

[Iscaa]

As soon as Megan had poured half her energy into Isca and Nefer they both felt a surge of power enter their bodies. Getting up she looked towards the ball of ice, heard Megan cry,

“Keep firing spells at that thing!”

Isca, positioned her legs for the fight of her life, she felt Nefer leap onto her shoulder in order to be near enough to give her all the strength she had. Lifting her arms up, hands then fingers pointed at the ice encrusted eyeball, her mouth chanting the fire spell that her mentor had taught her. She closed her eyes, reciting the spell word for word then repeating it again and again, focusing every bit of power in her slight body, Nefer's energy gave her that much more.

Fire sprouted from her fingertips, traveled the length of the space between her and the Mesolbulbron hitting it dead center. She kept this up...as the others did their part, Nas with his fire, Maut hammering away at the eye stalks. She now refocused on some of the other eye stalks, they started to wither and fall off, encouraging her to put all that she had in her....to sustain her attack for as long as she possibly could.

Nefer growled and whimpered at the same time.

 

[milkmaiden38]

Good Bye Maut!!

The combination of ice and sudden hot fire shattered the ice cube into a million pieced! Mesobulbron screeched in pain

“Nice going Isca!!” Megan cheered “You killed it!”

A combination attack! That was the key. The thing could not protect itself from fire and ice at the same time! Or physical attacks …when it turned to water blast it with fire!

Then to the horror of everyone watching the mesobulbron pieces all glued themselves back together again. The creature was laughing.

“Use more spells on me … use up all your magical energy. You can’t kill me!” It taunted them. And then smiled arrogantly at Maut “Your time is done … your existence is now over … good bye ABOMINATION!”

The Mesobulbron produced a massive wall of fire and launched it right at dead knight! There was no cover for Maut … he could not jump out of the way of the wall it was too big. It looked like nothing could save him!

Let's give Isola a hand!

Isola was off running … to the spot where Devon had laid down his bow. But something was wrong … she could feel something crawling up her cloak …She grab the bow and started back towards Devon when a hand grab her throat.

“UGHH” is all she could grunt as the thing cut off her air. It was just a hand. There was no body … not even an arm. It was a zombie hand and the thing was stronger than a human hand. Isola wanted to stop and try to pry it loose … but Devon needed the bow … She chose to keep running. Her free hand trying to pull the thing off … her other hand carrying the bow, when she got close enough, she tossed the bow to him as she fell to her knees … both hands trying the get the hand off her throat!

Megan Stops!

Megan Bloodfrost stopped. She just stood in the middle of the field of battle, and her eyes returned to normal. They were grey again … but carry such utterly intense fierceness, that most people would have screamed and run if they looked into them. She was again an Illumian … a race that not only used magic … but was magic! A series of glowing runes rotated around her head in a shimmering fashion. Her long, red hair pushed about by the gentle winds on the battle field …

She just stared at the Mesobulbron … “the creature was right about one thing. The spell casting had used up much of her magical energy. She needed her attacks to be effective. And so far, they had not harmed the creature at all. Think Megan! Think … how do you stop something that can change the matter it is made from?” She thought to herself. That last attack should have stopped it; it was in a million pieces. It took a lot of energy to glue itself back together again, where did it storage all that energy?”

Then she saw the massive wall of flame aimed at Maut. She could not stop her studies to save him … she needed to figure out the magic flow in this creature. She had to just watch as the wall approached the dead knight

Good Bye Nas!

The Mesobulbron turned and looked at Nas, a bright white light beam fired directly at the dragon … there was no way the big dragon could dodge it … he was just too massive.

“Killing big dumb animals like dragons is just too easy … I prefer something that provides more of a challenge” the eyeball gloated.

 

[Iscaa]

With horror Isca saw the wall of flames heading for Maut, with the last of her reserves she swung her arms towards the Dead Knight, shouting the spell that she hoped would save him. Ice...shot out of her fingertips....reaching Maut before the flames could. It first enveloped his entire body,freezing him instantly,then a solid wall of ice three feet thick was produced between him and the incoming flames.

When the flames hit the wall, Maut's solid frozen body slowly sank into the ground, just as his helmet passed ground level the flames ate through the ice wall and passed over where the Dead Knight's body had been only moments before.

Totally spent Isca and Nefer fell to the ground, there was nothing left ...nothing she could give now...only time would tell if her efforts had been enough to save the Dead Knight or not. Nefer lay on her side looking at Isca before her beautiful blue eyes closed and she became unconscious. Isca slowly reached for her beloved cat, pulling her into her bosom before the blackness overwhelmed her too.

 

[DeathsKnight]

As the creature shattered into pieces, Maut knew that the fight was not done, then the creatures flowed back into it's original form and casted a firewall at him. The undead part of Maut's mind schreeched, the human mind rationalized that the fire would not penetrate the magical armor and that he should make himself a smaller target. The body refused to move though, terror gripping it's undead nature. Then the ice encased him, shielding and protecting him, it tasted of forest and Maut knew it was Isca who had saved him. As the ice melted away and the creature turned it's attention on Nas, Maut drew his bow from his back once more, fitting a red-tipped arrow to it he fired at the eye. As it's attention was on Nas, it did not notice the movement, then the arrow pierced it's eye, causing it to scream in pain, shaking it's head wildly at the pain,

"Hurts doesn't it demon? The blood of an innocent blessed by Death."

It was the kind of weapon that would kill any other creature, but Maut knew that he had bought them only a few seconds' reprieve.


Devon grabbed the bow, sliding one sword into it's scabbard, pulling an arrow and firing. The arrow sped towards Isola, the point hitting the middle finger's knuckle, ripping it from her throat. Devon was on the move, firing arrow after arrow, ducking from the zombies attacking him and slicing off body parts only to impale them with his arrows. The plan was a good one, but arrows only lasted that long and soon Devon had to abandon his bow in favor of throwing knives, these too ran out quickly, leaving Devon to face one remaining zombie. It came at him tirelessly, Devon managed to evade it, but he was tiring, the intensity of the fight and the constant mind attacks was starting to catch up with him.

 

[DeathsKnight]

As the creature shattered into pieces, Maut knew that the fight was not done, then the creatures flowed back into it's original form and casted a firewall at him. The undead part of Maut's mind schreeched, the human mind rationalized that the fire would not penetrate the magical armor and that he should make himself a smaller target. The body refused to move though, terror gripping it's undead nature. Then the ice encased him, shielding and protecting him, it tasted of forest and Maut knew it was Isca who had saved him. As the ice melted away and the creature turned it's attention on Nas, Maut drew his bow from his back once more, fitting a red-tipped arrow to it he fired at the eye. As it's attention was on Nas, it did not notice the movement, then the arrow pierced it's eye, causing it to scream in pain, shaking it's head wildly at the pain,

"Hurts doesn't it demon? The blood of an innocent blessed by Death."

It was the kind of weapon that would kill any other creature, but Maut knew that he had bought them only a few seconds' reprieve.


Devon grabbed the bow, sliding one sword into it's scabbard, pulling an arrow and firing. The arrow sped towards Isola, the point hitting the middle finger's knuckle, ripping it from her throat. Devon was on the move, firing arrow after arrow, ducking from the zombies attacking him and slicing off body parts only to impale them with his arrows. The plan was a good one, but arrows only lasted that long and soon Devon had to abandon his bow in favor of throwing knives, these too ran out quickly, leaving Devon to face one remaining zombie. It came at him tirelessly, Devon managed to evade it, but he was tiring, the intensity of the fight and the constant mind attacks was starting to catch up with him.

 

[milkmaiden38]

Isola gets a breather

Isola vision started to get blurry from a lack of air … she watched as Devon pulled back and fired an arrow straight at her throat! But she trusted him and remained still … the arrow tore off a finger from the Zombie hand … and that was enough … she pulled the rest off and buried a dagger into it … pinning it to the ground. It could not free itself and just wiggled there.

Isola did not think more about the skill of that arrow shot until after the battle was over … She did not know … but there were only two men in the entire kingdom that could have made an arrow shot like that Darran Bloodfang and Devon Hillsong … Months later, the Elven Bow Master Touric had been told of the feat and he simply raised a single eye brow and stated “humans … tend to exaggerate and brag!” He dismissed the feat and story with a wave of his hand! Not even he could have accomplished this kind of accuracy on a dead run, fighting zombies, at that range, it was just simply impossible!

Some Minotaur’s can’t handle their high!

Devin Hillsong … handsome … skilled …brave …and in a few moment he would be dead. He was tried …and the zombie he faced was skilled and quick … in seconds the creature would have him. Too bad it did not have seconds. Zarik swung his massive battle axe and slice the creature from head to its crotch … cutting it into two pieces. Each piece still moving, but it was no longer standing.

The bull grabbed Devon’s shoulder and pulled him upright … smiling “By the GODS … I LOVE battle!” he said as he kicked one of the squirming zombie pieces sending it deep into the swamp. That had been the last zombie … only the Mesobulbron remained! Zarik was still in a battle rage high … from killing the Overseer demon

“I saw that arrow shot that free Isola … magnificent! Not even the best Elf archer could have done that! You need to survive this battle if only to tell the elves the story … IT WILL DRIVE THEM CRAZY” Zarik yelled.

Then he looked over to the Mesobulbron “The arrogant, bloated, ego thing still exists …” Zarik said to Devon more seriously “I believe Nas and Maut may need our help …” It was at this moment the creature fired its death ray at Nas … and was quickly followed by Maut's “arrow with the blood of an innocent blessed by Death” fired and landed into the Mesobulbron’s eye. The creature screamed in pain … but then the screaming stopped and the arrow fell to the ground as the Mesobulbron’s body again turned to water.

 

[Iscaa]

Isca moaned as consciousness slowly came back, opening her eyes, she shook her head trying to clear her vision. Looking down, Nefer stirred slightly in her arms. Then she remembered the Mesobulbron and what it was about to do the the Dead Knight. Sitting up while still holding onto Nefer she looked over to the place where she last had seen Maut, encased in ice with the wall of ice between him and the thing. The ice was gone, but it looked like it been enough to have saved the Dead Knight.

Maut was still alive, and fighting the evil creature, she saw that it was the only thing left to defeat. Looking down at Nefer Isca commented,

"Looks like we missed a good portion of the fight, come on gal...let's see what we can do to help defeat that thing."

She got slowly to her feet and setting Nefer on her shoulder, while getting their bearings, they watched as a death ray was directed at Nas, immediately Maut shot his arrow into the eye of the Mesobulbron making is scream in pain. As it's body turned into water, Isca took the opportunity to put out her hands towards the creature....whispering another fire spell.....balls of fire shot out of her fingertips. One after another, again and again, they went directly into the ball of water, making it sizzle and steam.

As Isca did this she hoped that Nas hadn't take any harm from the death ray that had been launched at him.

 

[Mantra]

Nas

The beam struck Nas's torso like a ray of sickening light. Fortune favored Nas in that like all dragons, Nas was a magical and powerful creature in his own right. Being creatures of magic themselves, dragons possessed a resistance against hostile enchantments, but regardless, the beam stung and burned, his brownish scales sizzling as the beam saturated his hide. The dragon roared in pain and anger, but regardless of his resistance, Nas began feeling light headed and dizzy.

He turned aside, bringing up one wing as a shield, but this had no effect at countering the ray's power. With a final snarl, Nas launched himself upwards and into the sky in an attempt to escape the killer ray.

"AWAY! AWAY! AWAY!" Nas shouted as his wings carried him upwards.

Nas felt the beam leave him, either the creature had lost interest in the dragon as he fled or it was unable to follow Nas's assent. Whatever the reason, the dragon felt the searing of the beam fall away. In spite of his escape, the dragon's head throbbed and his chest felt scalded. most of all was the steady creep of weakness which inched through his body. Nas considered his options, then folded his wings and dropped like a stone.

One might envision an elephant as it walked past on a nearby trail and what it might feel like. Beyond that, what it might feel like if said elephant ran by, and beyond that, what if that same elephant were playing hopscotch? Nas was much, much larger than any elephant, and much heavier as well.

Falling from the sky above, Nas plunged down directly onto the mesobulbron with all four feet in a massive, earthshaking stomp. The dragon's last thought was a hope that the others had understood his dire warning to escape away from around the creature before he struck...if not, well...

The mesobulbron, still in water form, was literally splattered beneath the massive bulk of the dragon, but the creature was not the only thing affected. 'Earth Shattering', was a very apt description as the very surface of the clearing burst up and out in a massive explosion caused by Nas's rapid decent and collusion. The shock wave rippled outward, tearing up and flinging earth, trees, stones and anything else in all directions before falling back to ground as gravity and physics demanded.

As for Nas, the harsh impact, devastating though it was, did not come without sacrifice. the force and shockwave which ripped apart the land and hopefully, the mesobuibron as well, rolled up the dragon's legs and through the entire length of his body. For a final second there was an eerie silence all around them as the dragon looked up and around from within the crater he had formed.

"Stare at that you bastard!" Nas said weakly, then crumpled to one side as everything went black....

 

[milkmaiden38]

The light ray enveloped the dragon’s torso. There was a roar pain as the dragon turned and Isola could hear the sizzling of Nas’ scales.

“Nas get out of here … We can handle this!!” Isola yelled. She had no idea how to handle this creature, but she knew herself and the others were much better at dodging the light beams than Nas. Nas slipped into the sky and was gone, the Mesobulbron did not give chase. It was too busy with the arrow and the fireballs.

What Isola failed to understand … was NAS WAS NOT GOING TO RUN AWAY FROM ANYTHING!! It was not what dragons did, unless they were very badly hurt. As the eyeball got ready to blast Isca and Nefer into nothingness … the massive meteorite of Nas … came hurtling toward the Mesobulbron and crashed into the thing with deafening force. Again the creature was in transition between its water like form and solid and simply vanished under the dragon’s impact. The Mesobulbron was gone.

As Nas impacted the soft swampy ground a wall of mud and loose dirt flew up and around the carter he had formed. This wall slammed into Isola, Zarik, Isca, Nefer Megan and Devon. What happened to Maut … Isola could not see as the wall blocked her view.

Isola was closest to the impact area and went flying …20 feet landing in a bush. Covered from head to toe in mud. She now looked like some kind of strange mud creature as she got back on her feet, only her human eyes could be seen under the mud. Nas may not have intended it … but this thick layer of mud was about to save Isola life. As the Mesobulbron reformed in front of her and blasted her with the death ray. Isola screamed and jumped underneath the evil floating ball. If she had not been covered in mud she would have been dead for sure … But the mud had given her time …

Isola had studied the creature enough to come up with a theory … the wriggling eye stalks on the top of its head gave the creature warning of an attack from every direction … so it could change form before the attack occurred. But that left a blind spot, directly under it. Its own round body would block the view of the stalks and the central eye. That would prevent it from changing form to protect itself.

She SLAMMED her remaining dagger into the Mesobulbron’s underbody and was rewarded by the sound of the creature’s SCREAM of pain.

“TAKE THAT FUCKER!” She yelled.

The creature turned to water again … and Isola took off running and dove behind some bushes before it could blast her again. She knew she had hurt the thing … but what good came from it? … it could just repair any damage inflicted by changing form! Isola started to understand … this was a battle they could not win.

Megan had not moved. The wall of mud had covered her … but her focus and stillness did not change … it was like she had become a statue. Staring at the creature. The same thought Isola had were also going through her mind … the thing continued to reform and repair damage via its magical energy. She needed to unplug it from its magical energy.

Just as she had done when she studied the Isca and Nefer at the swamp donkey pub …. she tried to see where the magical energy was coming from to repair the damage Maut, Nas, Isca and Isola had wreaked. She finally saw a stream of energy entering the creature from the east. The demon lords were providing the energy it needed. Well, she was closer … she could over power that signal … she could just jam the energy before it reached the Mesobulbron!

“Use more spells on me … try to smash me … use up all your energy. You can’t kill me!” The Mesobulbron roared … taunting them. Megan smiled and fired off her jamming signal effectively cancelling out the incoming energy. Mesobulbron notice right away, his large central eye turning on the Illumian.

“Very clever … organic slime … I do not know how you did that … but that will not save you.” He said still full of confidence.

“We’ll see about that …” Megan said and added “Since you don’t know how I did it ... I’ll explain it to you …I have sent a negative magical stream out to the incoming energy. So tell your masters … to try something a bit more challenging next time!” Megan said. The Mesobulbron screamed in anger firing his disintegration beam at her but she was already moving, ducking behind some trees that exploded as the blast struck them.

Zarik massive battle axe came flying in from the side in a crushing blow to kill the mesobulbron. But the monster skin turned to water as before, so when the axe hit the monster ... it simply went through the creature and crashed into a tree on the other side.

Megan was feeling pretty good about jamming the inbound magical energy. That gave them a fighting chance against the monster. The mesobulbron would have some natural magical energy reserves, but they could drain them. She yelled from the bushes “everyone … it still has the power to change … but keep attacking it … use the combination attacks! Hopefully it will run out of energy!”

Mesobulbron started to float towards Megan … it spoke ““Killing life … mmmm … I relish it … some argued that a plague would be best ... kill off as many of the higher life forms as possible … then we could just kill off what was left. But I maintained that was a flawed strategy … no ... it was better for you life forms to feel your planet die. Like you will feel now Illumian!” The eye stated matter of factly having found Megan’s hiding spot and was preparing to “illuminate” her with his death ray.

 

[DeathsKnight]

From the shadows Maut stepped, there wasn't a drop of mud on him as it all have ran from the enchanted metal, the yellow eyes shone brightly inside his helmet. He held no weapon in his hands as he looked defiantly up at the Mesolbulbron,

"Let me show you a neat trick demon."

Black tendrils escaped from his armor, running over the metal to his hands, where they fueled two black fires. They grew in size quickly, one turning into a light blue flame as the other grew even darker.

"Dodge this."

The light blue flame erupted from Maut's hand, encasing the demon in ice, the energies from the remaining flame grew and when it erupted from Maut's hand, it even caused a slight backlash, rustling the shrubs and grass behind him. The fire entered into the ice, burning away at the flesh of the demon. Maut threw open his arms, dark energies flooded from his being, he pointed towards the demon and the energies flashed out, encasing the creature as it's screams echoed through the swamp as it's flesh melted into the icy container, freezing again, allowing the energies to engulf it again. Maut staggered slightly backwards, the lights of his eyes dim inside the helmet,

"It is up to you now."

The lights blinked and then he crashed to the ground, lifeless. The flames ate away at the Mesolbulbron, but the fires died down, leaving a Mesolbulbron behind with no eyes, no appendages a scared central eye and a mouth with no teeth, no tongue and greenish blood streaming from the mouth. It was damaged, but not dead yet.

 

[Iscaa]

Isca and Nefer were covered in mud from head to toe. Nefer jumped down to the ground and shook as much of the heavy mud off as she could. Isca wiped the thick muck out of her eyes...seeing that she needed to continue throwing fire balls at the Mesobulbron. It was quite the sight, the dress Isca wore...now weighed her down. being saturated with the mud, but there was no time to put a clean spell on it now. That would have to wait, if they all survived this.

After seeing what Maut did to the evil thing, she redoubled her efforts, with Nefer's help (mud and all she had jumped back onto Isca's shoulder in order to lend her strength to the girl.) Wiping the tips of her fingers on her dress, Isca lifted her arms up, chanting the fire spell again. Fire balls began springing from the tips of her fingers...straight at the damaged being. Fire ball after fire ball kept beating on it.

Even though the effort was taking it's toll....she knew she had to keep it up. They had to kill it no matter the cost. They fell to the ground, with the weight of the mud...but continued to throw flames at the Mesobulbron.