Clash of Outsiders (PsionicCuttlefish & SeductiveKitsune)[canceled]

Flames, spells, and roars echoed around the central chamber of the stone fortress as a fierce battle was waged.

In the center of the chamber was a very large and very fat demon, a mid-level noble in the brutal hierarchy of The Abyss. With a whip composed of unholy energy, he lashed out wildly at the multiple attackers that danced around him, and screamed in rage at the being of light that dodged or blocked every one of his attacks.

Makiel the avenger archon danced with the grace that only a Celestial could possess, as he casually used his sword wreathed in white fire to parry all of the Fiend's attacks. At his side was a man in heavy armor with a large shield, and while mortal steel would have offered almost no defence against the demon's vicious assault, the platemail this man was clad in was enhanced with potent magics, as was his shield. Together, they offered him defense enough even if he could not dodge as the Celestial did. Every now and then he would move in close to lash out with his flail, which trailed mystical ice, to score another wound on the demon. And around the chamber were other figures, all participating in the assault on the otherworldy foe. An elf held high the symbol of his patron god while he recited sacred prayers, calling upon his diety's wrath to smite the corpulent Fiend with holy lightning. At his side was a halfling dressed in loose robes and holding out a spellbook, as he assisted the elf in assaulting the demon with the fury of the elements. Flitting around the edge of the chamber was an unusually thin and spry half-orc, who used his enchanted bow to shoot arrow after arrow into the softest parts of the demon's flesh.

As Makiel blocked yet another swing of the cursed whip, he couldn't help but feel a small amount of frustration with the sheer tenacity of the nalfeshnee. Had Makiel been alone, he wasn't sure he could have bested this demon. The enemy had only just exhausted his own innate magics, and despite the sheer punishment the mortals were inflicting on him, he refused to fall. It was actually fortunate they were all working together; the nalfeshnee was focusing almost exclusively on Makiel--the despised adversary from the Upper Planes--and ignored the mortals, or one of them might have fallen already.

But the entity of Evil given physical form was weakening. Acting as a team, the mortals all struck together in a final simultaneous assault; the two magic-slingers wracked the demon from behind with a combined spell, the former theif shot two mystically-empowered arrows at once into the demon's neck, and as it staggered, the warrior swung his icy flail straight into the face of the Fiend with a resounding smash. The once-proud noble stumbled and fell to his knees, bleeding from countless wounds.

This was it, Makiel knew, the demon was effectively defeated. He folded his blue-feathered wings against his back and turned down his vengeful aura of power, reducing the brilliant light his body was putting out as he began to walk towards the gasping fiend. "Deth'Nar of the Creeping Legion!" Makiel boomed with a voice born of the heavens. "Your army has been crushed, your plot has failed, and you have met your match! If you surrender now, even one such as yourself may be shown mer--"

The obese demon shrieked in unmitigated rage and lunged for Makiel with a speed belied by his mass. But there was a flash of light even faster than him, and Makiel's arm was fully outstreached, with his angel-forged sword extended.

Deth'Nar's head fell to the ground, and his body collapsed after him. Makiel allowed himself a small sigh of victory. In truth, he only said the words he did as a formality. As an avenger, he never really wanted a Fiend to surrender, and the Fiends never wanted to either, so it worked out well. Still, he was called to the Ministry of Temperance every now and then to ensure that his intentions always remained pure; if he ever pursued the ultimate justice too far and strayed from the other ideals that defined the Celestials, his heart could become tainted. So he always repeated the words, and never slew a foe unless it was in combat, or if the sentance had already been declared.

The four mortals gathered near Makiel and the fallen demon, and they congratulated each other and began to heal their wounds with potions while they also thanked Makiel for his assistance. Makiel looked them all over and smiled upon them. "You have done well, mortals, and have served a just cause today and ended a great threat. Know that the heavens are grateful that you have stopped this incursion into the realm of the Material, every victory against the Fiends is counted."

He then turned to the elf, who held his holy symbol close to himself as he looked up at Makiel and softly murmured prayers of thankfulness. "The spell you have used to Call me here will last for several more hours still, which is more than enough time for us all to finish searching this unholy fortress from top to bottom to cleanse it of any remaining dens of evil that may have escaped notice." The mortals nodded at him, and split into two groups to take two different passageways, while Makiel himself took a third.

RE: Clash of Outsiders (PsionicCuttlefish & SeductiveKitsune)

A strange figure lay slouched against a wall in an unlit room. Her soft skin was sliced and bruised, while some bones in her body bent into painful angles. She was no human, as her bat-like wings and small devilish horns made her stand out. She had no way to escape the room, but still tested the chains that bound her every few minutes. She looked to where she thought the door was, hoping to be saved. That was a ludicrous idea. Who'd save a demon? Well, other than a necromancer looking for personal gain.

Her name was Avina, and she was a succubus. She was spawned in the depths off the abyss and crawled her way up the hierarchy of demon kind. Seducing males and killing the jealous females, she made a small name for herself in that hell hole. She found a chance to enter the human world, and agreed to work with a demon to get there. Once in this new plane, he betrayed her and placed her in this room. He beat her to near death for his own pleasure, and left to go fight some "foolish villagers raiding a dungeon". She heard fighting, but was scared more when it stopped. She heard the clicking of boots as someone walked down the hall she was in. She hoped it was not the demon, but if any holy figure came through she would be worse off.

RE: Clash of Outsiders (PsionicCuttlefish & SeductiveKitsune)

Outside the door, Avina could hear more feet scuffling nearby, and then some soft clicks and clatters from what must have been the door's lock could be heard in the silence of the dark room. It wasn't opening right away though, and continued to quietly clatter around, as if being jiggled. Was someone...picking the lock?

There was then a very loud click as the bolt slid open, then a creaking sound as the door swung in, letting light into the room around two silhouettes, one tall and one short. As the light fell across the bound succubus, there were two exclamations of alarm, and suddenly the smaller figure was cupping fire and lightning in each hand. The elements illuminated the two figures for Avina; the shorter one was a halfling garbed in purple robes, while the taller one was a half-orc dressed in a leather vagabond's outfit, who also held out a drawn shortbow, shimmering in the light with enchantments, and aimed straight at Avina.

The two mortals stared wide-eyed at Avina, but did not unleash any attacks yet. After a moment, they seemed confused. "It's...chained up?" The half-orc said under his breath, though Avina's excellent hearing allowed her to catch what they were saying to each other.

"This is...very strange...it is a demon, we should probably just kill it, but...why would they imprison one of their own?"

"Maybe it's dangerous enough to be chained up for a reason."

"...Go get Makiel. He'll know what to do. I'll stay here and keep an eye out."

The half-orc nodded to his companion, then turned and sprinted back out the door and down the hall. The halfling stared down Avina, with his arms still outstretched and hands ready to unleash elemental wrath in an instant.

RE: Clash of Outsiders (PsionicCuttlefish & SeductiveKitsune)

Avina stared back up at the halfling, keeping an expression of pain in her eyes. She smiled weakly, whispering to him softly. "I know... I'm a demon, and it is confusing as to why they turned on me... But such is life in our hierarchy, so I must follow those rules..." She whispered as he leaned back. She shook her head, before saying "If you were going to fire those, you would have already." She thought to the name she had heard. 'Makiel'... Was that the angel she'd heard of? Many demons talked of a ruthless archon who had slain many of her kind, but never payed it much mind. She was not affected, and waited until that happened to worry.

Avina tested the chains once more, but they held firm. She knew he'd be coming, and she didn't want to be seen. She had heard that the angels system was prejudjiced, killing any demon they caught...

RE: Clash of Outsiders (PsionicCuttlefish & SeductiveKitsune)

The halfling just stoicly watched Avina from across the room, frozen in an at-ready stance, with raw elemental energy strill crackling around his open hands. He didn't respond to her at first, but at her assertion that he wouldn't fire because he hadn't already, he replied with a curt "I still might if you try any funny business." And continued to watch her with almost-unblinking eyes.

After a few minutes of the staring contest, rapid footsteps could be heard from the hallway through the open door behind the halfling mage. Without taking his eyes off Avina or lowering his guard, he sidestepped until he was out of the way. Moments later, indeed Avina's fears were confirmed as a towering figure swept into the room, brandishing a golden-flaming sword. The figure was radiant, clad in humble and practical white garments, had pale-blue skin, blazing solid-gold-colored eyes, and crimson-feathered wings. A Celestial, there could be no doubt. An Archon of some kind, by the 'feel' of him.

Makiel stood utterly still and unblinking, fixing the chained succubus with a gaze more piercing than the halfling's ever could have been. Several other mortal figures shuffled into the room behind the Archon, giving him a respectful berth. But the Archon took no action. He just...stared, while flames licked up and down his outstretched sword. Then he blinked.

Slowly, Makiel lowered his sword-arm. One of the mortals, an armor-clad warrior, spoke up. "You're...we're not going to kill it?"

There was a moment of silence, before the Archon answered with a voice that resonated in the air slightly. "...No. We cannot. It has not been met in combat nor sin; it does not seek to fight us, and there is no action for which we can punish." The words were steady, but internally, Makiel was fuming. He very much disliked this part of the job. While 'Mercy' was a critical boundry in his calling as an Avenger, it wasn't supposed to come up very often. Things just had to get complicated when it did. With only a moment's hesitation that betrayed his distaste for his words, Makiel finished with "...It would be wrong of us to execute it out of hand."

The halfling's magical nimbuses snuffed out as he turned to look up at the Archon. "But...we can't just let it go. Surely it's done something that deserves--"

"Indeed." Makiel said lowly, with his gaze still fixed on Avina. "...But we don't know that for absolute fact." He turned his head to an elf, who was thumbing a holy symbol in his hand for protection. "Your spell that brought me here will not last much longer, and this lair has been cleared out to enough satisfaction that I trust you to handle any remaining stragglers. I can amend the conditions of the return to my home...and through it, I will bring this creature with me. It will face trial before an examination council, where all its sins will be laid bare. Then it will be executed in accordance with proper justice." The Archon talked as if Avina weren't even there. "Let me hold your icon, I will use it to alter the spell you cast." The elf nodded and held out his holy symbol for Makiel, who reverently took it and started murmuring in the Celestial tongue over it, while he turned to watch Avina again while he worked, in case she tried anything.

RE: Clash of Outsiders (PsionicCuttlefish & SeductiveKitsune)

Avina began to struggle against the chains, attempting to rip them from the walls. While she had no strength left to do that, she did not stop the action. She began to tear up, falling limp as he turned to face her with the seal. A burning sensation hit her as she looked at it, and she whispered "if you wish to kill me, just do it archon. From what I've heard, you'll just do it either way" and began to whisper a sacrificial spell in the demon tongue. If it went through, she would sacrifice her remaining energy to cast an illusion that she escaped them.

She secretly wished this angel to kill her, as she felt horrible. She'd seen the true evil of her kind, and learned she was wrong. She hated herself for who she was...

RE: Clash of Outsiders (PsionicCuttlefish & SeductiveKitsune)

The archon made no obvious reaction to Avina's comment, and continued to mutter over the holy symbol. But once she began to whisper to herself, the Archon then stopped his own magic-weaving. "She is working a spell. Fornab?"

"I got her." The halfling in purple robes spoke up as he stepped forward and made a rapid gesture with his hands, without any accompanying words. A beam of energy lanced from the halfling's palm and struck Avina, who then felt the magic she was trying to call up shatter and fade away. She had been hit with a magic-cancelling ray.

The archon merely looked at Avina impassively for a few moments, before he muttered a final few lines over the holy symbol, and handed the object back to the elf. The adventurers grouped together as the archon then approached Avina. Makiel wasn't entirely sure what kind of magic she was trying to work, and he wasn't sure how she was able to do it with the enchanted manacles she was in...but, from what little he could 'feel' of what she was doing, she hadn't been drawing the power from a reservoir of energy...she was trying to use herself to power the magic. That would have likely killed her, or at least seriously crippled her. And yet, the magic she had been trying to form didn't feel harmful or offensive. Very strange, for a demon.

As Makiel stood just out of reach of Avina, he started weaving his hands in mystical patterns, and slowly, a set of chains made of golden light were created, which Makiel then looped around Avina's wrists. It did not burn her, but she could feel her powers even more heavily supressed than by the manacles she was already chained in. Makiel then drew his flaming sword, and slashed it across the physical manacles binding Avina to the wall, leaving the gold-light chains as the only thing restraining her. Makiel then turned to the adventurers. "I thank you all for the services you have done this day. Know that those above have noticed you, and you are watched and blessed by them. Carry on with your work, noble mortals." Makiel said as streams of white light began to swirl around him and Avina. They grew thicker and faster, like small whirlwinds, until both Outsiders had been completely engulfed in pure whiteness.

Avina could feel the lurch from a planar breach in her body-soul, one she had felt only once before. The whiteness then fell away, revealling the interior of a flawless celestial cathedral. Angels, archons, and a few animal-like guardinals walked from place to place about their own business, while several armored angelic guards nearby took notice of Makiel and Avina's appearance. Speaking in the Celestial tongue that Avina could nevertheless understand, the guards queried Makiel about his business and the reason for the presence of the demon, to which Makiel explained she was a non-combat pisoner taken from a corrupted fortress, and needed to be judged and dealt with properly. The guards nodded, and escorted Makiel and Avina down one of the hallways. The golden chains that Makiel had Avina on kept her magical and physical strength subdued, and even if she tried, she couldn't keep herself from being pulled along by her captor. She was taken to a corridor of cells, one of which she was pushed into. The golden chains dissolved around her, and at the same time, her cell became completely enclosed in pure shimmering magical force. Much like the chains, any supernatural sense or ability of Avina's was completely deadened. For some time, she was left in the cell, alone with only her thoughts to keep her company...