---Bhashera---
---Sanctum of Frezia---
Marius
Most heroes in this world are simply the people that chose not to run away when shit hit the wall.
Marius of Corbeck was not a hero.
Yet, as he sequestered himself in the shadowed crevices of sand in the dusty realm of Frezia’s Sanctum, watching a buxom Scorpion-woman charge towards his friends, he reflected: he wasn’t running away, now. Just like he hadn’t run away when the Big Guy had come for his head. Just like he hadn’t run away from all these nutjobs and Voidspawn and Lightbringers and crazy fanatics and, now, the large-breasted scorpion.
As he knocked another arrow and aimed it squarely at the hideous Dominion Lord’s eyes, Marius reasoned that maybe it was true: two things can be possible at once.
Then, looking into the thirsting maw of the Lord of Bhashera, Marius remembered that heroes tend to die. A lot.
And he conveniently rolled away into another crevice of speckled sand.
“Marius!” Yelena called from the field of battle. “Go for its eyes!”
Really? The postulating thief pondered. Wow. I’d never have thought of that.
He loosed a shot that managed to strike the Scorpion in her jaw, just as she was making to smash her bloodied claws into the dog-guy swinging his axe around on her shoulder. The arrow struck true, knocked her back…
Sneak Attack: x2 DMG
DMG: 16
…and then the wailing axe of the desert-dog came down on her clavicle:
Scoripionness Frezia: Phase Two
HP: 60/195
“Not too shabby”, Marius heard himself whistle. Not too shabby at all.
Yelena was slashing fervently at every opening the dog-creature made for her, imbuing the party with the touch of her healing aura whenever the Scorpionness struck a cruel blow, while the new girl was slinging what little incantations she had left – all of them inflicting burning, searing agony on the skin of the Lord. The scorpion-body began to slow, while the human half of the unnatural hybrid started to crisp up and peel away against every strike of Yelena’s searing blade: her blistered skin fell apart revealing stretched, raw chunks of muscle and tendon beating with exertion. The sight was a spectacle of suffering: abomination against, well, let’s be honest, more abominations, each one of them hacking, tearing, searing away the flesh of their enemy till they were reduced to nothing but tattered ash and bone. And still, they all fought on.
He looked at them all out there, hopping about like termites chewing away at the crisping skin of their bloodied foe, and felt, for a moment, something odd strike at his heart.
Yelena’s blade sliced through the creature’s jaw, severing its muscles and letting it’s still writing, slashing mandibles fall to be devoured by the sand-caked earth.
He felt the sensation again. Like a singing in his head rising to the cacophony of a chorus. A chant. A death knell.
The red-haired Glancer sprayed a gout of billowing flame into the reeling face of the Scorpionness, and Marius watched it fall, burning, to the ground.
Yet still it flailed against its opponents, striking out with its still intact limbs at those who had invaded its layer. Yelena blocked, parried, and thrust in with her blade, while the manic desert hound met every stinger that came his way. The few times he was nicked, Yelena patched him up. And then the assault continued.
Looking into the eyes of the downed beast, Marius thought of Yelena’s words back there in the corrupted church.
Mercy, eh?
One sharp, bulging eye found him in his shadowed crevice, hiding in one of the sand dunes that skirted the edge of the beast’s layer. It found him, fixed him, and seemed to bore into him.
And all the while he watched it strike at his comrades, the more his arm faltered as he aimed a final strike.
I see you, Marius of Corbeck.
He grinned. Oh, do you now?
I see you, the voice that had decided to fit itself snugly into his head echoed. I see plans within plans. Paths winding within paths. And at their dark core, I see a man who is afraid of his own shadow as it chases his tail.
He watched the bloodshot eyes of the she-demon twitch with every slash his comrades made across her flesh. And with every strike, still, she struck back.
Yelena’s ward was growing weak. Her Glance would be depleted soon. He could see her golden threads thinning against the bloodied sands she tread upon to get another slash in at the beast.
The same could be said for the ‘Lightbringer’ girl. She’d launched bolt after bolt of fire at this monster, and now she stood, hunched over, while her dog-man kept the scything talons of the prone Dominion Lord away.
Though the thing looked dead, bleeding out on the floor of its lair, its voice was quite cognizant in Marius’ mind.
You have seen this before, have you not? She said. A group of cutthroats and murderers, fanatics and terrorists, laying waste to something pure. Something innocent.
Innocent? Marius chuckled back. Honey, don’t make me laugh.
Though he said it with confidence, his aim began to falter.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
You are a man who believes in nothing, aren’t you? She asked him, whispering at the edges of his consciousness. A human whose purpose in life was crushed long ago.
He simply laughed again.
Yawn. I do love it when the bad guys try and monologue before death.
He fixed his aim.
I’d say a prayer for ya, but you probably know it’d mean nothing. If it’s any consolation, you’ve got a banging set of knockers that would’ve turned young Marius to your side in an instant.
I can give you purpose again, the bloody maiden intoned in his head, slashing Yelena across the room as she tried to pierce the Scorpion’s skull. I know what you want.
Heard it all before, big gal. It’s night night time for –
Emily waits below.
He paused, blinked, and tried to keep from choking.
You say her name again and I’ll put one between your eyes right now.
So sensitive, Brother Marius.
He ignored her taunts. He focused on the arrow. On his line of sight. From outside the depths of his invaded mind, he could hear Yelena calling to him. He could hear her command: let your arrow fly.
But it wouldn’t.
He couldn’t.
Where is she?
Details, details, the dying demon sneered. If only I had enough time to tell you now. As it stands, however, my body shall not endure the insult of your friends’ assault.
He grit his teeth, ashamed of his own weakness.
I should let them end you right here and now, he spat back.
But you shan’t, Marius. Because you are wandering in the dark, with these little distractions, constantly trying to alleviate the pain even just her name causes you. Now, here you are, with your only lead. Your way out.
He closed his eyes, but he couldn’t block out the words. That name. He hadn’t even given voice to her name ever since…
I can be thy guide, Marius, Frezia whispered as she endured another bolt of fire that singed through the muscles of her exposed thorax.I can confer purpose upon you yet again. I can show you the way to the one you seek, if only you open yourself to me.
He saw the Appraisal smear itself across the inside of his eyeballs, even as he tried to fight against the lure of the voice, and its promise:
Scorpionness Frezia: Phase Two
HP: 45/195
You’re desperate, he said, fighting the invisible strings that were pulling at the soft tissue of his swelling brain. You don’t want to die. You just want…a host…
And you do want to die, don’t you Marius? But you can’t. Not yet. Not until you’ve fulfilled your mission.
The pain beating against his skull was too much. He opened his eyes and instantly regretted doing so - the world of the sands before him was nothing but fleeting shapes and specters floating in the dust.
He looked at his hands and felt their grip loosen.
It could all be over, Marius, the voice whispered with the care of a soothing mother consoling her long lost son. His mother.
All you must do is let me in.
----------------------------------------
Yelena
Searing Strike: Activated
Her cut was swift and true – tearing through one of the Dominion Lord’s four rotted limbs with a beam of pure luminescence. She heard the wail of the beast as it saw its limb crumble and fall away, and she stopped herself from thinking about its pain.
It will be over soon, she told herself, bringing up her shield to dodge a claw the size of her chest plate.Your suffering, and ours.
She leaped away from another strike in retaliation as the Gnoll creature barreled his way into the beast’s line of sight. His every charge was suicidal. His eyes – brimming with the fires of the fanatical. And she realized that it all must be for her – this girl who was fighting by his side. The red-haired girl they called the Lightbringer who had been seemingly ready to die when they found them.
He was thrown away by a dual strike of the creature’s bloodied, broken arms and tripped over himself as he tried to rise to fight again. Suicidal, indeed. Strong, but undisciplined.
Morphology: Desert Gnoll
HP: 10/50
And the girl?
Morphology: Glancer, Pyromancer
HP: 4/15
She wasn’t about to let her or the Gnoll throw their lives away to satiate the hunger of this monstrosity. So, even knowing her reserves were low, she drew in the remainder of her power and focused.
“To me, both of you!”
The looked to her with astonishment. To them, the Voidspawn Lord looked like it was on the verge of death.
But they don’t know, Yelena realized. They couldn’t. Voidspawn don’t just lie down and die.
“The creature is tricking us,” she shouted, blocking another blow as they threw themselves low, trying to avoid the creature’s three remaining arms and still deadly pincers. “It wants us to think it is without offensive capabilities. It seeks to separate us and conquer us one by one.”
The Gnoll merely growled some roar of defiance, but the girl, surprisingly, was listening.
“How do we take it down?”
Yelena planted her sword in the ground and stared up at the vicious mutant.
“When I give the signal,” she said. “Run to me.”
Frezia apparently wasn’t a fan of this plan, and boldly struck out at the girl and her Gnoll before another word was uttered.
So, without much choice, Yelena breathed deep, took in what clear air she could, and roared:
“NOW!”
SYNERGY ACTIVATED: Sentinel’s Aura (LVL I)
Battlecry + Guardian’s Ward
HP Restoration: 5pts/10 secs in Area (30ft)
Taunt: Enemies of equal to or lower LVL in Area (30ft)
Her call was heeded as her waves of healing energy radiated from her small form sinking into the sands. And instantly the claws and tail of Frezia retracted from their targets and flew towards the singular Argent.
Only, now, she wasn’t standing alone.
As each arm cut through the air to strike at the warrior, Amara and Mendax made their moves from Yelena’s flanks: one fireball from the girl and one toss of the old warrior beast’s axe and two of the remaining arms fell to the sandy floor of the lair.
The last one was seared away by Yelena’s longsword as she sidestepped its flailing strike and made a mercy cut that tore through tendon and bone alike. Frezia was sent skating away, rolling into the sand and spraying what remained of her corrupted blood across its surface.
By Amarata, Yelena found herself thinking. This strength…
Her Glance dissipated and her stamina was dwindled down to the final bead of sweat that dripped from her brow. She slumped as she tried to rise, and only the hand of the redhead steadied her.
“My thanks, Lightbringer,” she said with a rueful smirk.
“I told you,” the girl replied with tenacity. “My name is Amara.”
Feisty, Yelena noted. But with the strength to back it up. Even if she is a Glancer.
“Hold up!” Mendax growled, only now holding his poisoned eye in pain. “It’s not over yet.”
They watched the Scorpionness slump to the ground again, her pincers stabbing at the sands around her with wild abandon, like a mutant child kicking up a tantrum.
Scorpionness Frezia, Lord of Bhahsera
HP: 8/195
“One more strike will do it,” Yelena sighed. “Do you have one final spell in you?”
Amara bit her lip, watching the mutilated Lord thrash around uncontrollably, its pincers embedding themselves deep in the sands before retracting and doing so again.
“Nothing left,” was all she said.
“I will go,” Mendax growled, releasing his hold on his eye and steadying himself, looking straight into the broken jaws of his almost certain death.
“Don’t be stupid!” Amara suddenly wailed with such force that she almost relinquished her hold on Yelena entirely. “Too many have died! You said it! Too many…”
Yelena spared a moment of curiosity as she examined the girl’s dirt-caked, sorrow-strewn face.
A Glancer with a conscience?
“Marius!” Yelena yelled into the darkness. “Would you kindly finish the beast?”
Her request was met with silence from the shadowed crevices of the room’s perimeter.
She was about to call again when something odd struck her: Marius had barely engaged in the battle at all. In fact, she couldn’t even be sure he was still out there.
And, for that matter, where was the Red-Woman? Why did she remain on the mouth of the cave exit when her Lady and Savior was right here, waiting for her?
Yelena gave a sudden start as these pieces kept adding up to something more. Something unknown. Something that she hadn’t seen…
“Everyone,” Amara suddenly said. “We must run.”
Both Yelena and Mendax looked towards her face, tinged with the creases of fear.
“But…” Mendax began.
“Those tails are – they – they are not –“
Yelena followed her eyes. She saw the sand sinking into nothingness beneath the Scorpion’s insect limbs, revealing a selection of five pressure plates those pincers had been stabbing at this whole time.
“TRAPS!” Amara screamed.
And as the final letter left her lips, all three of them were swallowed by the sands themselves.