Just to remind that I am alive.

The chapter is nearly finished, but it is A PAIN IN THE ASS to format. The amount of dialogue was MONSTROUS and i probably screwed up more than once. The amount of fights is also terryyyyyyyfying and I am simply tired of writing and formatting and writing and checking and writing and formatting.

Two fights and a suitable ending till the end of one saga. Chapter XIII, whichalso happens to be titled a Corrupted Mind II : (Whatever strikes me fancy), enters a new dimension of my own characters, and a lot of crazy shit. And there's no way in hell I am starting to write it before 23th of May.

In fact, as soon as I upload the final version of this chapter, consider the story on hiatus until at least 10th of June. If I will start writing as soon as 23th May, you can expect an update then. If not, you'll probably have to wait additional one-two weeks.

Finally, this is the final version. I am through with this part of the story, and damn, I need a rest. Breaking record once again, this chapter containts 34 500 words of... all sorts of things.

I am getting almost tired of thinking up characters just to kill them in the same/following chapter, but fortunately...
Nothing stops me from killing official NWN characters at a right point ! Hell, nothing stops me from killing Elminster ! Or Maenaz and Xardas, for that matter...

Well, anyways, in May or June I will really be able to use (and abuse) a whole new cast of characters. And bastardize the current ones further.

The depressing part is, I do not believe I am even half done with the story. More like a quarter. I did not think it would be this long, but well... It's not my fault ! I really intended to simply make some major Nwn characters meet and go at it killing each other, and then killing each other again, and then making love not war (or destroying the whole world). The problem is I thought up a long and complicated story instead because I tried to be too ambitious.

Well, at least I hope later sagas will be enjoyable. Because they contain some pretty sick and mean shit, if nothing else.


(THIS IS THE FINAL VERSION)

Enjoy. Eldritch Doom ! X666 !


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Chapter XII
A Corrupted Mind I :
We’re Through

The silence of the world around him made him suddenly torn between wanting to hear that voice again, desiring it not to speak, and wanting the dream to end altogether.
He resisted turning back. He know he tried. He would fail, he was almost sure of it. But maybe if he didn’t turn…
He did.
Looking at this terrible structure in all it’s grim glory.
It was a wall, but it wasn’t build of any normal material. In fact, he was sure the wall was composed only of the bodies that eventually lost all semblance of humanity – as some parts of it contained actual bodies looking similar to how they might looked during their life.
To add to the horror, the structure was covered with some strange, green mucus, only adding to the realization that this thing was ORGANIC.
And just before him, in that very horrifying structure, was a body he would recognize even once he got old and his eyes would start to fail him.
Because, unmistakingly, it was her.
Aribeth the Tylmarande was being eaten alive by the Wall of the Faithless. Because that’s the only thing it could be. The parts of her skin that weren’t covered by the mucus or drawn deeper into the Wall were losing color, and her once magnificent hair were disheveled and unclean, slowly turning from her natural reddish-auburn shade to the gray that seemed to devour everything in this world.
One of her eyes was bloodshot and he could no longer see the iris, but the other was very much fine and stared at him with dreadful intensity he very rarely saw from her even after she turned to Morag.
- Aribeth…
- And Maenaz. I am surprised that you still remember me, considering the fact that we haven’t seen for about a year. It seems you are enjoying yourself quite much, don’t you ? Playing in the dark as you always wanted, slaughtering innocents to please your mistress, so she would allows you to satisfy your desires, to fill her with your accursed essence. You’re happy to see me gone, just like those in Neverwinter are, right ?
- It’s not the case, it’s just that…
- That I am dead ? That you do no longer love me ? That you’ve picked yourself another pretty face and decided that you’ll simply kill one or two servants of Neverwinter at a time to give my memory some semblance of being avenged ?
- That’s not it ! I didn’t forget you ! I vowed to avenge you, and I will… I even gathered enough forces to do this ! I’ll convince Sinvyl that…
- Sinvyl ? Sinvyl ? VALSHARESS ! And how will you convince her ? You’ll beg ? You’ll lick her filthy fiend-infested cunt for hours until she agrees ? Or do you hope she’ll simply destroy Neverwinter sooner or later ? And then you’ll leave happily ever after, enjoying yourself with her, because our feeling *WAS HOPELESS SINCE I WENT FROM BEING STUCK IN A FUCKING PRISON TO BEING CONSUMED BY THE ANCIENT WALL ALL EXISTENCE DREADS* !?
- That is not the case, Aribeth ! My feelings… were honest…
- Then what is the case ?! What is the reason you’re throwing everything we had away for a bit of dark elven butt ? You want her more than you ever did me, don’t you ?
- Aribeth, that is not true !
- What is true, bastard ? Which one of your words and promises was true ?
- Dearest, I… I am sorry. I was a failure so far, but… I will avenge you. I… I promised, I vowed… I won’t forget you. Or my quest. Ever. Really !
- You’re lying just as you did in the Maugrim’s sanctuary ! You’re lying just as you did in my cell ! Just as you did upon my grave !
- I didn’t ! I wasn’t lying !
- Then why are you abandoning your promise ? Why do you turn away from our feelings to be with another woman ?
- I… don’t know. I… was weak.
- Finally your useless shitty brain formed one accurate sentence, my dearest beloved ! You were weak ! You always were ! And you’ll always will be ! You didn’t deserve my feelings ! Fenthick was a thousand times better, and you couldn’t even do shit to save him and ensure my happiness… Then, you didn’t do shit to save me and you ensured my damnation ! And now, you don’t do shit to avenge my memory, instead playing around with another woman !
Maenaz fell to his knees, covering his ears, almost crying.
- Don’t say that ! I’ll do anything ! I’d do anything to make it up to you ! I’d trade my soul if it could turn back time ! I’d do anything to be able… to simply…
For some unnatural, abominable reason, he couldn’t block this out. He still heard her voice.
- But you didn’t. And you won’t. You’re not doing anything. You’re so weak and pathetic it disgusts me. But, perhaps I should fulfill your desire. Perhaps I should let you meet me once more in the flesh, touch me again. Just so I could show you what kind of treatment did you deserve from me after all you did.
The construction of the wall suddenly seemed to shift, change, the bodies twisting, shifting and rubbing against one another as Aribeth pulled her head away from the rest of the wall. Her body seemed to tense up, to wriggle inside the wall, to desperately reach out for freedom…
He knew that, in truth, in real world at least, that was impossible. Souls freshly attached to the wall were rumored to sometimes be stolen by powerful Tanar’ri who had enough might to make the wall abandon it’s newest dish.

But to get out of the wall on your own ? Nobody ever accomplished that. Nobody. The effort was hopeless, it pained him to see her even undertake it.
But more of the memories flew, and his eyes widened.

[“Impossible”].

The wall behind Aribeth then showed signs of struggling, and suddenly, a line formed through the mucus. Then the structure under it… cracked. Finally, in a moment, it was as if some terrible power smashed itself into the wall, but not even touching Aribeth that was in it’s way, great seams running through the wall around her. She pulled herself out from the wall, part of her body still covered by the strange growths of the construction as her legs stretched, then curled up and propelled her off the wall.
She fell in a manner filled with agility if not exactly grace, landing on her feet and her right hand, looking up at him, still with that cold intensity from before.
She raised to full height. Tilting her head, she spoke.
- Yes, I believe I may as well avenge myself on you. You deserve punishment. MY hatred.
- Aribeth, I’m sorry.
- You’re not. You’re going to be, however.

Maenaz didn’t bother looking for a weapon as he know he neither had any nor would he be able to use one against the elven paladin. When Aribeth came at him with her fist, he initially did not bother to avoid her blows. But they were still coming, and the pain was getting *stronger*.
He finally grabbed her fist, but did nothing in retaliation. Aribeth’s gaze grew more lively, more *feral*.
- So, did I finally knock it into you ? Are you finally ready to kill the last semblance of your memory of me ? Are you ready to give me oblivion ?
- I’d never do such a thing !
- You already did ! You just cannot say it, accept it ! You should just roll over and die !
- Aribeth, I cannot recognize you ! Do you really hate me so much ?
- I hate you and your false feelings more than anything else in this world, bastard !
She punched him, and this time, he realized that the strength was quite a bit beyond what the true Aribeth could muster.
[“It’s a dream. Just a dream. You can do it, you’re just fighting your own subconsciousness, you CAN turn it around. What she said *is not true*.”]


Aribeth displayed another act of inhuman strength lifting him off the ground and tossing him far away. Then he noticed.
Obviously, the land was changing. They weren’t next to the Wall anymore. While should still be able to see it, he couldn’t, and the strange grayness surrounding them was disappearing. Instead, they were moving deeper and deeper into a forest, and when Aribeth tossed him he was pretty much *too* far in it.

Aribeth was approaching him, the look in her eye changing further, becoming feral, sadistic, something he never expected to see in her even in greatest anger.
But the face was painfully *hers*.
- You think I’m done ? No… no way in hell… I won’t be done until I rip your fucking heart out, so you’d feel just the way I felt !
- I cannot believe what I’m hearing. I… really went out of the way to try and save you. I really loved you. Damn it all, I still do. This… cannot be how you really feel. This cannot be the end.
- The end ? Oh, but that’s it, Maenaz. I wriggle and writhe in a wall composed of damned souls, dreaming about ripping your heart out. At least, that is the version YOU chose. That’s what you should believe right now. Because it came to your view once that I might have been judged differently, but you never had the balls to check out the truth. You were scared shitless… in fact, you didn’t want me to return.
- Aribeth, that’s…
The sky around suddenly went darker. The forest started to change, the ground taking a different hue – almost as if it was drenched with blood. The trees changed shape, becoming twisted and unnatural, some of them changing into things which *couldn’t* possibly be trees anymore.
- And you know, Maenaz ? It barely matters now. Regardless of whether I was put into the Wall, it’s too late now. I am damned as completely and utterly as you will be. I will disappear into the void of oblivion because you have abandoned me just like everyone. *This* is the end. There is no hope, no *saving* me now. But, hell, I really, truly, honestly WANT TO RIP YOUR FUCKING TREACHEROUS HEART OUT !!!
Finally, Aribeth herself changed. He didn’t notice it before, but the growths on the right side of her body were growing all the time, and her height was slowly increasing. Now, her entire right half burst with blood. She screamed and screamed as the mixed blood and remains of the Wall of the Faithless started to morph her body into a new shape, one red in color, seeping and oozing some thick dark substance through the pores in her skin.
She was drooling and her bloodshot eye suddenly darkened in color to the midnight black, as her right arm twisted and elongated, ending with terrible claws. Her right leg curved unnaturally and grew longer, though remained in shape that allowed her to stand relatively comfortably on both legs.

This form was so twisted and malformed he could actually feel his heart ache at seeing the transformation.
- I will kill you, *dearest*. I will rip your *loving* heart out.
Maenaz dodged this time, knowing that against these claws, there were no jokes. This woman attacked him with ferocity he’d only seen for a moment during his fight with the real Aribeth, and he started wondering if this was truly this woman. What sort of dream was it ? Why did it return ?
Was his mind finally slipping into insanity and was making all this shit up to inform him of it ?
Or was it divine punishment that caught up to him at last ?
Or… something else ? A sign ?
It could be all of this. Or none. But… it hurt like hell. And he knew that if he retorted, if he *hit* this dreamed-out horror that *should* be Aribeth, he would be doing something terrible, killing his own identity, each hit destroying a part of *himself*.
He basically had no way out of this.
- Stop dodging and let me kill you, my *darling* ! It’s the only thing I desire as much as the peace of oblivion… If you cannot do this, you know what’s the only alternative !
- I could never…
- You’re already doing it, fool ! You’re harming me more than you can imagine ! Both by your actions, by consorting with that woman and her slaves, and by forgetting me ! But, I don’t care anymore ! I want to be forgotten, I just want the PAIN to end ! So either let me end the pain by murdering you, or end it yourself !
The claws on her right hand finally reached his flesh, causing him to lose balance and silently yelp in pain. What was the proper ending for this dream ? What did he do last time ?
He couldn’t remember.

Aribeth leaped upon him, pushing him down as they fell and rolled through the unnatural undergrowth, Maenaz feeling thorns and needles piercing his skin just as Aribeth managed to get another strike with her newfound claws, raking his flesh. This time he felt something else – the tips of her claws seemed covered with something and at the moment of strike they also ejected a small additional amount of the same substance, which he identified as some sort of acid… though too weak to overcome his resistance. Probably the only reason he was still in good enough form as to manage to jump away from her as soon as they stopped and, moment later, dodging her next strike.
- You useless man ! You cannot even decide what you should do… but no longer… you are too weak to postpone the inevitable any longer… this will all end here ! I’ll do what I couldn’t do in Maugrim’s sanctuary…
- Aribeth, I could never bring myself to harm you… but I’m not exactly the type to roll over and die. I beg you, stop…
- You idiot. Fool. Moron. Do you know nothing of yourself ? No… I don’t think so. I think you’re simply pretending.
- What… do you mean ?
- Silence !
This time, she punched him with her normal hand before attempting to bury her teeth into his neck. He noticed that the right part of her jaw was morphed along with the rest – disturbing fangs now in place of her normal, humanoid teeth.
He grabbed her to prevent harm from coming to either of them, but she continued to wriggle until she could stab him with her transformed right hand. He screamed just before she pushed him over again and pinned him to the ground.
- If you refuse to acknowledge it, I’ll spell it out for you. You never loved me… You couldn’t. You hated everything I stood for, all I represented before my fall. You were simply egoistic with everything… You just lusted after my body, that’s all. You were just as egoistic with turning me away from my vengeance… you wanted me for yourself, you hoped I would fall on my knees and become your willing slave. That’s all I could ever be to you… you’re incapable of love. You’ll never love or be loved. You pretended for a while, but now that another nice tail presents itself and is, this time, more suited to your personality, you will drop the façade of ever having feelings for me soon… really soon, won’t you ? I can’t believe I could be so stupid… Now that I realized all this… I hate you more than *anything*. Die !
As her hand rose to strike once more, he considered.
This was all…
It *had* to be a lie.
Her hand fell.
Neither him nor her could feel that way.
Could they ?
He could barely feel pain through the strange numbness that was overcoming him.
*If* he felt like that, it would mean he did deserve to die… and more.
But that *couldn’t* be true.
He loved her. He was sure of it. And he couldn’t imagine her ever possessing the rage and cruelty to an extent allowing to strike at his heart and feelings that way.
Her hand came back up.

He would not allow anyone to claim he had bad intentions, that he didn’t love her. Anyone. Even if it would be his memory of her, the very *essence* of whatever remained from her inside his mind and heart.
The claws fell back down.
The numbness went away, but he didn’t feel pain. No. He felt a seething, cold anger. And renewed confidence… faith.
She *gave* him a purpose *twice* so far. This was a dream, no matter how real, no matter how much truth about his failures it said.
Just as the claws raked his muscles, his head darted forward, headbutting the woman atop himself. Using the moment she lost balance, he pushed her off himself. In a moment, both were on their feet, and Aribeth was poised to strike.
- Die ! Diediediediediediediediedie !!!
She threw herself at him, but he stepped back and caught her hands. He pushed her left arm away as eldritch energy swirled in his right, his eyes once again fired up in a maelstrom of emotion as she looked into them, with something like fear coming up onto her face.
He knew he should hesitate.

Gods, he did. But he always had quick, sharp movements, and was a man of good reflex. Before she could protect herself, he rammed his hand into her stomach, the blast firing itself through her body which was suddenly starting to go limp into his arms.
- So… you finally chose… weak man.
- I am sorry, Aribeth. I am sorry.
Her eyes rose to meet his, her only normal, left eye beginning to cloud over.
- You… are ?
- Yes. Probably more than ever.
- Truly ?


His fingers met her chin and delicately lift them upwards as he planted a gentle kiss on her lips, not feeling repulsed despite the transformation of half of her face.
After that act, she let out a silent whisper, something incoherent, and then an equally silent gasp left her as the body he held in his arms fell completely limp.
Nothing was calm in him any longer.
He felt pain rise in him. Pure suffering – the level of which was such that he was no longer being able to distinguish the physical pain from the emotional torment.
He fell onto his knees and let out a scream, marked by a blast of eldritch energy hitting the ground nearby.
And then another. His voice went silent, but he started gritting his teeth.
His hands came into fists as a powerful wind blew, and he hit the ground with both arms just as two blasts of energy hit the ground, breaking it, making large cracks into the earth.
He couldn’t take it. Another scream, and he felt increasing pain as he radiated every bit of power he had from his body, small canyons forming in the ground as the cracks increased further and his eldritch energy started to come out from the earth and nearby threes themselves. The air was getting heavy, but his pain was melting into a desire.
He wanted it gone. The dream. Everything in it.
He wanted it gone so badly and his power itself was turning against it with all he could, but he had no means of destroying it quickly or permanently enough. He could only radiate so much energy. The ground and environment could only break down from it so much, and at a certain pace.
But he wanted more.
He wanted this, all of it…
He wanted it to *burn*.


It was the last location they were supposed to check because, apparently, the cloaked sorceress was near it some time ago. They had to wait to make sure she left, but they also had to check if she left behind anything of note.
So far, scavenging the ruins wasn’t as profitable as the lizardmen leaders had hoped. More was required, and perhaps they would soon have to abandon some of their caution.

The Asabi moved out into the tunnels.

Maenaz rose from the beddings.
It was that dream again. He was sure of it. Completely sure. It was the very same one.
He tried his hardest to catch the fleeting memories and impressions the dream left. He focused the hardest he could.
The hardest he could was pretty good. And it was enough this time around.
He traced his lips as the memories came flooding back. He remembered everything up to the very moment that brought a faintest shade of a smile to his lips – he kissed her.
Anything that went after that was unimportant.
He turned around to see Valsharess already awake, staring at him.
- You made a bit of a ruse. Is something wrong ?
- No… I don’t think so.
- Fine. So, before we get down to work… maybe you’re in mood for another round ?

Maenaz now realized why he felt something was wrong after he woke up from the dream last time.
It was how he perceived Sinvyl.
Instead of the desire and admiration he felt looking at her body just before he slept, there was… something else.
Apathy. Actually, probably more like slight repulsion.
That’s what was wrong. Looking at her uncovered naked body… those curves he saw as nearly divine before were now just bags of flesh, something you could find even on a ghoul.
And without this consuming desire he felt for her, the emotional bond he was forming with Valsharess, the sensation he had when their eyes met…
It felt somewhat empty.
Of course, before she managed to reignite that desire. He wasn’t as conscious of his feelings back then as he seemed to be now, but it would probably be possible for her now, as well. She might as well have been a succubus, for all that mattered.
But his mind seemed clearer now. An effect that would probably be permanent.
- Sinvyl, I’ll have you know that I’d rather get down to business. We may engage such activities once whatever stops you from attacking the surface… Neverwinter in particular… is done away with.
- Oh my, I see you’re in a bad mood… Maybe I should try and get you out of it…
She moved closer, her hand touching his thigh, but he pulled away as he rose from the bed, walking to his equipment. She let something of a disappointed sigh and took to her own things as well.

- Have you decided already whether I should be helping Phaere or Ilivarra ? Or do you have a different kind of mission for me altogether ?
- I have this peculiar feeling that they both would rather be away from you now, and that you all have to work on your teamwork… especially you and Phaere.
- I’m under no obligation to be on good terms with your cousin.
- Oh, are you not ? We’re supposed to be conquering the world together. How will we accomplish this if you two are unable to put aside your petty arguments for a greater cause ?
- … I guess that means I’m working with Phaere this time around ?
- Yes.
- Am I the one in charge ? Or do you plan on leaving the chain of command ambiguous once again ?
- You two work as a team. As equals. Maybe I’ll put you in charge on the next mission… Which, hopefully, will involve some “on-surface” action.
She grinned, and just to seem natural, he gave her a smirk. The feelings of repulsion were slowly going away, but the images from the dream were far too fresh in his mind.
- So… what exactly am I up against ? I’ve know of Gibberlings, but Phaerlin Giants ? Chitines ? Choldriths ? And what did you mean by “unusual circumstances” ?
- Chitines are a race bred through experimentation by us, Ilythiiri. They were originally slaves, but we didn’t pay enough attention to them… we let our control of the race slip, and they simply abused a couple situations including rival drow noble houses fighting each other to escape their slavery. Now, they’re free… They’re usually rather pathetic creatures with little ability, though some more talented or determined ones can match a drow in combat. A choldrith is a priest of the Chitines, though this is a certainly… unusual case. Choldriths are mutants. They seem to have quite little in common with the creatures they originate from. I don’t know whether they transform or are born like this, but they usually lead the chitines. However, due to certain circumstances, the choldriths should be depowered, unless I am wrong. I won’t bore you with details. A phaerlin giant is a rare creature of the Underdark, a mutated giant that was exposed to corrupting magic from a young age… currently, they may as well be a true race. And grimlocks…
- I know of grimlocks. I was very young when my settlement had to deal with a pair.
- Then you should understand that if a grimlock’s sense of smell or hearing is impaired, it greatly weakens their abilities. Once you block both, they’re rather helpless.
- I believe our men will be equipped to deal with them in that way, if the situation demands…
- True. You will leave in the evening. I need to make sure Ilivarra won’t send any request for help. I will also arrange a suitable means of transport for you.
- You mean you’re going to summon more fiends.
- Exactly.

In the evening, Maenaz visited Samael to get his… Means of transport. Curiously, Valsharess wasn’t there to oversee the whole thing – she was apparently a bit more interested in overseeing the summoning of more fiends and the process of changing the befalled enemies as undead. Also, she supposedly bargained with some Illithid ambassadors who wanted to buy out slaves. As usual.
Maenaz still disliked slavery, but it seemed to be everywhere in Underdark. Every race was both enslaving and being enslaved by others. Even the Svirfneblin, whom he slaughtered in mass amounts, were using the earth elementals to their own advantage.
The drow and the illithids actually experimented on and bred creatures with only one purpose for them in mind – servitude.
It was sick, but he noticed he was starting to learn how to live with that.

Samael summoned him a mount. A fiendish one – as expected. It was the same kind of creature he summoned when he fought Baravar, only this time it was smaller – probably a usual specimen of the race, unlike the more powerful ones that took part in that battle.
- Tell me, archdevil… is the enmity between Chitines and Drow something more than just the desire to return the race to slavery ? It seems something else is going on.
- Ahh, you noticed ? But, shouldn’t you ask Valsharess ? Or does she simply refuse to answer ?
- She gives only small pieces of information. Like… on a need-to-know basis. I’m curious.
- The conflict is a religious thing. You should guess which deity do Chitines and Choldriths revere soon after you meet them. And then, I would advise you to start putting the pieces together.
- I do not remember asking for your advice.
- It seems you are not willing to hear any no matter who gives it, or how many times it is repeated. Tell me, how was it ? Did you tell Valsharess of your… feelings ? Though I doubt it would change your eventual fate, it would certainly be interesting to see how will she cope with *that*.
- I posses no such feelings, Samael. The woman I had feelings for is gone, only living in my memory.
He could swear he saw something in the fiends eyes. Something unusual. But then in morphed into something more suitable for a devil. Glee.
- So, that is the reason for your vendetta ? A loss… of a woman you loved ?

Maenaz reconsidered. He let his tongue slip. Maybe he shouldn’t talk about this…
- You want to avenge her memory, but you keep desecrating it yourself by risking your quest in bonding with another woman… one who seems to be trying to take the place of that important one in your mind. With a measure of success, I may add.
- Don’t act all smart on me now. You let yourself get binded by the very same woman. My own problems… are none of your business. I’ll… sort it out.
- Ahhh, but I was bound by an ancient ritual. And do you consider yourself to be bound by magic ? Actually, that is quite possible. Maybe you should start to look for signs of such. Maybe she’s trying to kill you or incapacitate you more slowly… and if it’s enchantment… Well, I’ve heard that victims of long-term enchantment sometimes have dreams showing them brutal and vivid images of what they’ve done during their enslavement. Any disturbing dreams late…ly…
Samael noticed that the warlock’s eyes were gleaming, and he was apparently on edge of attempting to strike him down.
- It appears the topic is a source of strong distress for you, warlock. You must be really confused about your own feelings. I cannot tell how much you cared about the source of your lust for revenge, but I can tell you should attempt to look at your relations with the Empress and at what she is with some detachment. Maybe the specific nature of this mission will help.
- You’re not getting free, fiend. I have no reason to listen to your pathetic attempts at turning me against Valsharess. I have no reason to pick you above her.


Samael grinned. This time, the smile reached his eyes, and it was a truly disturbing sight. Maenaz’s accumulating blast suddenly dispersed. He felt somewhat… small. Despite the fact that the fiend was starting to fall into pieces, he couldn’t help but noticed that he still evoked pure terror.
- Oh, you have no idea, Warlock. You have no idea.
He disliked the very thought that anybody had the advantage over him in every aspect like the fiend seemed to have. He knew much about his powers – perhaps more so than the warlock himself. The fiend’s might, intellect, and the ability to read people was also tremendous.
Maenaz also started to realize that the fact this fiend possessed those abilities extended to the fact that Valsharess had them at her disposal. And, if what the devil spoke about her leeching off his powers was true – she would soon have those traits herself.

He knew enough about fiends to know that as long as they didn’t rose to about the equal level of power as them, to fiends mortals were usually mere playthings.
He also knew that Valsharess and him were currently at about the same level, but if she…
No, he shouldn’t think that way.
- I believe Sinvyl, will get annoyed if I won’t leave soon. Can I be confident that your doggy will listen to my commands ?
- Oh, I believe he will. They’re mostly able to recognize who is the master. As long as you give it no reason to see you as weak, you can be sure this particular beast will believe you are it’s commander.


Maenaz took the creature out, hoping it would not destroy anything inside the fortress on their way out. It didn’t, and it behaved fairly timidly when he mounted it.
Not wishing to lose any more time and not wanting to give in to distracting thoughts, he rode away as fast as possible.

Deep in the Underdark…

The phaerlin giant turned out to be nowhere near as powerful as the whole talk about a giant mutated by magic would suggest, and the gibberling hordes were nothing compared to the drow forces and their allies – each drow could befell many of them, and the addition of beholders and umber hulks into the forces just made things easier.
However, the last wave of the gibberlings, who just lost their leader – the phaerlin giant – to her hands, were supported by grimlocks and they actually managed a sort of battle formation.
This kind of cooperation as well as the entire alliance suggested a higher intelligence at work, behind the scenes.
In any other situation, she would point to a choldrith. But they were weakened. They *had* to be.
Unless this one was something unique. One of a kind. After all, she herself was a drow female never trained as a cleric, which was somewhat rare, so why limit them ?
Other possibilities would include a demon summoned long ago by the choldrith gaining enough power to take control of such an alliance. The least possible, but still conceivable, option was that it was a powerful leader of Grimlocks that lead the whole thing.
As they hacked through the gibberlings and grimlocks, who were much tougher than their smaller allies, Phaere and her drow entered into a small maze of tunnels, so she spread the forces out a bit to ensure they had a way of leaving and wouldn’t be trapped inside. The grimlocks were rash and at times lacked leadership and organization, but were smart enough to set up a trap.

And when she saw chitines in the higher parts of the tunnel, she knew some kind of trap was involved. The little creatures were rather sly.
She noticed a rock move, and saw two chitines using webbing, aided by a single grimlock, attempt to move it. She immediately rushed to stop whatever ploy they planned, blasting away one of the chitines, and then aiming for the grimlock. He withstood the attack and the rock was pulled away, revealing a dark entrance to some kind of cave.

“Click, click, click…”

The sound of thin, hard legs hitting the ground.
At first, she perceived the sound as if coming through eight legs, but in a moment, a ninth was added… a tenth… an eleventh…
As the creature lurking in the darkness leaped out and tore the grimlock to pieces, then moving onto the wall, the chitines attempting to run away frantically, her infravision finally perceived the being for what it was – a mass of writhing, spider-like legs with sharp ends.
It was that *thing*.
A chwidencha. Perhaps the worst possible ending for a drow’s advancement. If becoming a drider was a curse, then becoming that thing…

Phaere used her Eldritch Blast to strike the thing just as she prepared to react to any of it’s movement. The spider beast pulled away a bit and then started to walk all over the cave’s walls in erratic patterns, but Phaere quickly noticed that the whole movement was directed to find a way to attack *her*.
Then, she was attacked with ranged weapons by the chitines.
It was a trap. The creature was meant to take down whichever of the drow leaders would spot the plan and attempt to stop it.
And it seems the most important drow on the field jumped right into this trap. She dodged the attacks well enough, even taking down three of the chitines (one with her eldritch blast and two by throwing a couple of daggers she had in her belt), but the mistake she made was that she lost track of the chwidencha, and regained it in the worst possible way.
By having the beast overrun her and start attacking her with those horrifying, sharp-ended legs.
Phaere managed to stab it with her weapon… She could probably get out of it with a bit of luck, all right.
She was no pushover – in fact, she was one of the most powerful drow in existence, with or without drow priestesses before the spider goddess went “silent”. But that was not a situation in which it would be easy to come out on top. She would get badly hurt, maybe even lose some body part, or win only to find herself murdered by something else…
And probably nobody would help her in defeating the creature. The drow had their own enemies to engage, and she did not know if any followed her to the cave’s entrance.

Phaere blasted the thing as it stabbed her, the female coughing up blood and praying that the wounds wouldn’t leave permanent scars marking her body for the rest of her life. Just as she prepared to take another two strikes from the aberration’s rising legs, something jumped into the creature, lifting it off her and pushing it into the wall. The chwidencha frantically defended itself trying to befell the aggressor, starting to overcome the familiar beast. However before it could slay it, a blast more intense and powerful than any of hers tore through the chwidencha, splattering some of it’s insides on the walls.
Rivvin. The “Chosen”. Carn’renor.
And he… possibly saved her life ?
Life was just getting too crazy these days.
- It seems you are having more problems than Sinvyl would tell me, miss ex-chosen of the Empress.
- It seems your arrogance is only surpassed by your timing, mister soon-to-be-demoted Chosen of the Empress.
- I am not getting demoted.
- Not now. But, even under Sinvyl, we can advance our rank. I do not intend to leave my rightful place to you forever. Even if it means…
- That’s a strange thing to say to someone who just saved your butt from permanent scarification.
- Oh, yes, that… Thank you. It seems you are useful for something, after all.
- There’s much to be done, Phaere. I’m going to finish off what you started. You’re welcome to proceed as well, if you can… But don’t expect me to take orders from you.
- True, there’s a lot left to do. But you will have to get used to me giving orders pretty soon.
Not wasting more time on pointless chat, Maenaz turned his already injured beast towards the battlefield.
Riding towards the incoming gibberlings and grimlocks, it was pretty easy for him to cut them down. Blasting a group of enemies away, the ex-hero of Neverwinter continued to cut into his enemies’ rank like into butter.
Way ahead of the drow force, he finally stood on the edge of the chitines’ settlement. A group of the wretched creatures and blind deformed humanoids surrounded him, attacking his fiendish steed, attempting to bring it down.
Blasting two of the grimlocks away, he found the creature falling down below him as he was stabbed multiple times by a chitine. The creature then jumped towards him, but Maenaz dodged and immediately turned to blast the deformed thing into oblivion. Just as it landed, the spider-like humanoid jumped to the side, avoiding the destructive energy. Maenaz blocked an attack from another grimlock, but found himself in a bad situation as the chitines suddenly all jumped onto him.
They landed in an empty space, the warlock smirking as he was just above the group, putting the wall of fire right in the middle of the group.
Landing, he had another thing to worry about. The chitine that cut down the beast he rode on was immediately upon him, attempting to repeat the continuous stabbing attack. The warlock was way too quick for him this time, though, and managed to avoid injury through blocking and dodging.
Of course, the problem was that he had to stay aware of his surroundings.
Two grimlocks attacked him from the back. They, however, probably thought he made a mistake of focusing on a single opponent.

With this kind of power difference, he did not have to.
Turning around, he slaughtered the attackers with a cone of acid. A chitine jumping into action was also defeated by accident.
A lucky accident, but still, there were many enemies both behind him, and in the village itself.
And the chitine he fought with turned out to be less of a pushover than he initially suspected.
Brilliant, indeed. The creature immediately kicked him just above his hips as it jumped and attacked from the side. Maenaz managed to turn and block one of the strikes, but another armed hand was closing in onto him quickly. He grabbed it, but this left the creature with two more attacks. He managed to pull away somewhat, but one hit stabbed him quite hard. Not wasting time, he let go of Enserric and blasted the creature from nearly point-blank range. It flew away, but soon was up on it’s legs.
Maenaz was honestly surprised that such a small creature managed to survive his blast. He must have been some sort of an elite guardian of the village, at the very least. Surprised enough that he spoke out to it in Undercommon.
- That’s quite impressive, creature. Are you sure you are ready to die ? You may be able to survive, shall you choose a different opponent than me.
- I will… kill you…


The creature rushed against him, it’s strikes aimed against vital spots. Maenaz moved to the side and kicked it in the back, and it took all it’s strength to block the incoming slash.
- In the name of the Spider Queen !
- Ehhh ?
The creature attacked frantically, attempting to break through the human’s defenses, but to no avail. After one particularly bold move, it uncovered itself too much and Maenaz immediately took the chance, raking the being’s torso with Enserric.
Of course, he was being approached by others of it’s kind. And quite fast, by now. Blocking another attack from his opponent, he nearly pushed him back into the ground as his eyes started to glow.
- Your friends are an annoyance.

He only needed to throw a sideways glance towards the approaching enemies to aim his Eldritch Doom, sending them all to wherever they belonged after death.
- You’re really hopeless. It seems your puny brain cannot comprehend the difference in our abilities. Did that show you enough ?
Maenaz looked into the creature’s face, which now revealed only one emotion – fear. Oh yes, he knew that look. Usually he would associate it with would-be heroes that suddenly understand the villain is too much out of their league.
Only this time, he was the villain. Again.
It may grow on him, in fact.
- Don’t be too hard on yourself. You never stood a chance.
Maenaz pushed the creature away with a wide sweep of his blade and energy swirled in his right hand. Finishing the move was a piece of cake this time.

In a moment, he had more enemies on his hands. Nothing an Eldritch Doom or two wouldn’t solve. That’s all it took for his drow allies to catch up to him, and he was pretty much in a safe position again.


When fighting with Svirfneblin, he almost felt sorry for the creatures, but decided killing them was necessary. Not so much with Chitines and their allies. They looked inhuman, were disgusting and obviously near Nasher’s level of ethic and morality.
Not to mention so far, there was only one creature that tried to put up more of a fight against him. He almost wished he didn’t kill that spider-leg abomination so quickly.
But his hunger for battle was to be sated today, actually. An odd-looking grimlock, somewhat more slender and with a rather unique hair color – dark green with two white-gray lines on the sides – approached him, wielding two long swords and apparently quite aware of how well his to-be opponent fared on the battlefield so far.
Maenaz didn’t waste any time, begging the fight with a blast that was only barely dodged and blocking one of his opponent’s strikes. Before the grimlock could follow up the strike with the other hand, he kicked it and slashed him through the chest. The monstrous humanoid recovered quickly and continued to strike, it’s attacks gaining velocity, power, and speed.
After dodging one of them, Maenaz was surprised to find himself thrown back by the strength of another, an the follow-up from the left side managed to actually cut him.
Another would-be hero of the rebels.
The grimlock managed to dodge the incoming blast and pushed Maenaz away, going low and running towards him in a somewhat unexpected maneuver.

Not enough. Maenaz stood on his left leg and jumped back a couple of times, putting a wall of flames on the creature’s course. The grimlock run through it and struck out with scary force, but Maenaz blocked the strikes, which actually caused him to lose his balance and fall down for a moment. The grimlock attempted to stab him, but only succeeded in being blasted away. Before he recovered, he had to use all his reflex to dodge another ray, and he couldn’t exactly get back to offense in a few moments after that.
Suddenly, the grimlock pulled out a throwing knife out of his belt, and threw it at Maenaz, but the warlock moved fast enough not to get hit. The grimlock tried to take advantage of the moment’s delay by charging, however the human stepped back and blocked in the last moment, not taking any further damage.
The grimlock proceeded to kick him and just as Maenaz was to prepare another blast, he noticed something on the ground with the corner of his eye.
A rather large snake suddenly threw itself from a higher-placed rock and onto him. He moved his head and managed to grab the end of the creature’s neck before it’s fangs buried themselves in his neck, but the defensive move left him completely open for an attack from the grimlock.
Maenaz was slashed with both swords at once, screaming out in pain.
Oh, how he would get back at him.

Splitting his opponent’s animal companion’s head from it’s body by means of emanating acid from the palms of his hands, he turned back and went on the offensive with the grimlock, repeating quick flurries of slashes finally getting through the creature’s defense. Maenaz finished the combo by blasting the blind fighter away.
Getting up, the creature spoke in Undercommon.
- You fight like a demon… truly, it seems the drow have a very powerful ally on their side… but you do not smell like a drow, no… you smell like something else…
- It’s truly pitiful to have to identify what you’re fighting with by means of smell, you know ?
- Maybe to you. It’s normal to us, fiend-bred warrior of Valsharess. What I truly wonder about is who’s dark ally is stronger… Ours, or the drow’s…
- What are you talking about ?
- You’ll die before learning !
The grimlock attacked him again, but Maenaz pretty much lost patience. They gave each other another wound, before Maenaz started to gather his power.
- You know, it’s truly annoying about all those guys I tend to fight with… They always brag on and on about how I will die soon, giving me only small bits of information… In the end, nothing the Underdark is able to pull off can defeat me. Which you’re about to learn.

The warlock made a tremendous jump onto a rock higher than his enemy’s footing, and the grimlock needed a moment to find a way to follow. It was a moment too much, as a Vitriolic Doom bathed the poor creature in acid.
Turning to move away from his probably dead opponent, Maenaz wanted to go on with the slaughter.
Surprisingly, however, the fighter he just deemed a corpse… moved.
- You… don’t think I am finished yet, do you ?
- Oh, how surprising. It seems everybody around here can survive one or another variety of my blast. Do you feel high and mighty now ?
- I… can still fight… I can still… stop you… From facing him… If you’ll face any one of them, you will die a horrible death.
- I don’t give a shit. You may be strong as an orc, agile like an elf and as sturdy as a dwarf, but against my power, you are still nothing. If your strength is anything to go by, your leader stands no chance.
- You will die !
- I’m tired of your bullshit !
Aiming quickly, Maenaz fired a blast straight into the creature’s exposed ribs, hoping to hurt the heart directly. Whether he did or not, the grimlock was dead moments later.
Maenaz moved forward, not wanting to waste any more time. He drunk a healing potion on the run – not that he had any serious injury, just in case he had to fight at full throttle. The chitines and grimlocks before him presented no challenge, and he drew closer and closer towards the single standing out structure in an otherwise unremarkable village – a big dome covered in patterns that reminded of spider’s webs and legs.
Why spiders ?

At least the entrance was somewhat different, “guarded” by two statues of gargoyles, but just as Maenaz was about to enter, he noticed a ghostly silhouette above the entrance.
Dressed in a dark chainmail and boots from the skin of a creature he probably did not want to see, this being stood out of his opponents so far. Instead of a normal helmet, it wore an exotic mask – the spots were eyes would have been were surrounded by teeth from some reptilian creature, and the mask went down to form something of a bat wings shape on the creature’s chins.
The lack of eyes showed that this creature was definitely a grimlock, but other traits betrayed it was something else. The creature’s face was elongated and on it’s neck it had something like a collar of bone-growths, going down towards it’s shoulders. Two vestigal sprouts came out of the creature’s back, which was slightly hunched – but that failed to mask the being’s great height, which was nearly seven feet. Finally, the beast’s skin was something of a deep purple instead of the usual grimlock grayness.
Maenaz was nearly sure that this was, at the very least, one of the leaders of this “alliance”.

The creature jumped down from where it stood, a great scythe in it’s hands, revealing one additional symbol at the temple’s entrance, and this one seemed like it was carved pretty recently – this one represented a great winged snake.
He knew the creature was about to attack, but it stopped. It seemed to recognize the threat he posed, though how, he had no idea – the creature was blind as all the Grimlocks here, and as such it probably wasn’t from seeing him fight.
- Pull back. Leave. You should leave while you can. We shall overcome the drow, no point in you dying along with them.
- If I did it every time someone suggested it, I would probably have lost feeling in my legs from constantly running away. I defeated every single one of the warriors that were sent against me here, and some freaking monstrosity consisting of nothing but spider legs. I believe I can defeat you and whatever else has formed this alliance.
- You would be wrong. Even if you stand a chance against me, you have no idea what you’ll be going up against if you storm this temple.
- Now you’ve piqued my curiosity. I simply have to get in.
- Do you have a deathwish ?
- Perhaps… And perhaps not. But there are certain things that need to be achieved before I simply let my life slip away. And unfortunately for you, it seems that destroying your pathetic attempt at rebelling against Valsharess is required in order to achieve them.
- So be it, then. I believe I must kill you in that case.
The creature rushed towards Maenaz, it’s speed considerable for something of such build, but still to slow to make the warlock unable to react. He dodged intently in the last moment, forcing his blast into the beast’s back. To his surprise, the fighter was thrown off-balance for just a moment, while most of his opponents in here simply flew away.
Maenaz knew how dangerous that scythe might be, so he made a series of short away jumps, cumulating a blast on the go. He fired it into his opponent, and it did connect, however, the tide of the battle suddenly went the other way.

The grimlock simply took the blast head-on while leaping to the human, swinging it’s scythe quickly, the short maneuver just barely blocked by the warlock.
Withstanding the attack, Maenaz felt the fight was going on his terms, which somewhat improved his mood.
- Oh, rather a tough one, aren’t we ? Your tribesmen simply died from these attacks. Those who managed to take one on flew around the place and screamed like little girls.
- You do not seem to understand. I am not only the toughest of my tribe. I am also, by far…
Maenaz suddenly felt the edge of the scythe pushed onto him with increasing pressure. This was past his own strength, past the strength of any grimlock he met out here and probably any orc he met on the surface.
And it was growing.
-… the strongest.

When the full strength of the fighter came crashing down on him, Maenaz realized that creatures he thought of just a moment before could never even be in the same league – comparisons with trolls or giants were far more accurate. And this, of course, threw him on the ground.
Maenaz dodged right before his head was smashed by the scythe’s other end and managed to roll away, throwing another blast at the creature. The grimlock – though Maenaz doubted more and more it had anything to do with grimlocks – supported the edge of the scythe with his free hand and repelled the blast, though with visible strain.
Though, for Maenaz at least, this was proving to be problematic.
The opponent again run at the warlock, who this time put a wall of fire between them and prepared himself for the strike. When the scythe swung, he dodged and slashed his opponent with Enserric.
The grimlock tried to punch the human, but Maenaz swiftly turned and was suddenly on his opponent’s flank, putting his hand to his armor and firing a Vitriolic blast. It connected, but the grimlock was already turning, kicking the warlock just above the hip. Maenaz felt great pain, once again a hint on the fact that this warrior’s strength was something to respect.

The grimlock continued the attack by stabbing the warlock with the other end of his scythe and then swinging it, nearly throwing Maenaz onto the ground again. He was poised for another strike, but the ex-hero’s of Neverwinter sharpened reflexes allowed him to dodge in the last moment.
[“ If that guy hits me on the wrong spot with *that* kind of strength even once, it’s finished”]

The grimlock rushed forward, grabbing the warlock by the throat and throwing him into the temple’s wall. Maenaz ducked to avoid another swing, and instinctively blasted the enemy with Beshadowed Blast – though it had no right to work on a blind creature. The grimlock headbutted him and threw him against the wall again, punching him with his left hand, then kicking, and punching once again. Maenaz grabbed hold of the scythe to block it for a moment and blasted the grimlock’s face, and then lifted him for a short moment only to shove him into a wall of flames. Dodging another immediate charge, Maenaz repeatedly fired blasts at his enemy, who managed to avoid one and block another, but the third and the fourth connected.
The grimlock rushed at him once again. Maenaz managed to dodge the initial strikes, but his opponent was gaining momentum, and the last attack managed to throw Enserric out of his hand. Maenaz ducked and attempted to run past the grimlock, but he did something unexpected – he grabbed him and bit.
Well, he’s seen some goblinoids and other relatively humanoids creatures with pretty mean teeth in his lifetime, but as soon as the fangs were buried in his flesh, he knew that this creature couldn’t be fully humanoid – these fangs he would more easily associate with a snake than with anything humanoid he met. The other teeth were rather sharp and resembled at the very least a large lizard’s bite.
Maenaz knew he had to break the contact, and so he focused a vitriolic blast in one hand while at the same time tried to gather energy in the other.
Then, at one moment he fired the two blasts into the grimlock. This time, the creature gruntled in pain and lost it’s hold of the warlock. Maenaz immediately kicked his opponent again and desperately gathered the energy for another blast, this one pushing the creature completely out of balance and throwing him onto the ground.

Maenaz quickly made a dash to reclaim his sword and made a wall of flames in the spot where the grimlock lay on the run. The spurts on his back prevented the grimlock from rolling away effectively, but he rose quickly enough.
- What the hell are you, even ? You’re no grimlock. A mutant ? A spawn of a magical creature, or a fiend ? Or did you sell your soul for… this ?
- I am pretty much a grimlock, I assure you. I am Tuzantar of the tribe of Serpentia, the leader of the tribe and part of the greatest alliance this side of Underdark has seen for centuries.
- Oh, well, exchanging formalities… Maenaz Carn’renor. Technically of Neverwinter, but no more.
- I believe that only one of us will stand alive after this. And I believe it will be me, for you simply don’t have the strength to stand against my might.
- Ohhh, I can show you the meaning of the word “might”. In fact, I think I shall do it right now…
If the creature had sight, it would have noticed the warlock’s eyes started to glow.
And while it did sense it should probably dodge, the blast was simply too quick, too wide, and hit too strong.
As the dust cleared off, Maenaz knew his opponent would probably still stand.
It was his turn to be surprised.
Suddenly, a gush of dark mist flew from the dusts, and Maenaz noted it was moving dreadfully fast. It swiftly engulfed him and he could feel it was no mere mist – his body suddenly felt weakened and his skin felt itchy. In a moment, a pain flew all over his skin, as he realized the attack was some sort of corrosive gas. In a moment, it was clearing and he was dashing out of the cloud, but he was too slow this time.

Tuzantar was upon him, and this time, the strike was quick, merciless…
And true to its purpose. Maenaz felt both the sharp pain as the blade went into his body as well as a dreadful shake inside his bones when the full impact of the blow hit him. He blasted his opponent with acid as he was thrown off the blade and into the temple’s wall, feeling like any and all of his bones could crack any moment now. He managed to slow down the opponent with repeated blasts, but just as he was very near, he himself cut short the distance and stabbed him with Enserric.
Dodging the non-bladed end of the scythe, he fired a cone of energy at Tuzantar, to which the grimlock responded by shoulder-charging him and making him fly a fair distance away. Maenaz quickly put up a wall of flames between himself and his opponent, but noticed something.
Tuzantar smirked.
Why ? This clash did not go particularly to his advantage…

[“ Could it be… Damn it ! Gargoyles !”]
He sometimes wondered that if he was just a moment slower, would he ever even survived during the Wailing Death.
Still, it didn’t matter. In nearly one hundred percent of situations, he was fast enough.
So it seemed this time, as well. Two blasts immediately blasted the figures that suddenly sprung to life just a moment before. One of them crumbled immediately, but the other gargoyle was upon him. He managed to grab hold of Enserric once again and impaled the beast as it raked him with its claws. He then pushed it off the sword with his leg and swung the blade again, decapitating the creature.
But it was too late.

Of course, thinking up that the gargoyles were part of a strategy was pretty smart on his part.
Focusing on them instead of the monstrous humanoid was a fatal mistake, however.
In just a moment, the blade of the scythe fell, going through his collarbone and deep into his body, his legs barely withstanding the impact without breaking.
Still, it could be a mortal wound. It should be, especially with the blade still inside him.
But grimlock’s face showed incredible surprise when he sensed that his target was still alive. Moreover… he was getting better.
- You thought… cough… that I was all talk ?? It takes… far more than *this*… to send me to the other world… I don’t feel ready yet !
- You’re a rather stubborn…
- You have no idea. No idea at all. Go to hell, you damned mutant. I… am… sending you there… posthaste.
Maenaz plunged his blade inside the grimlock’s body as well, and started to focus. Even the creature realized that the power that was being summoned was something unnatural and incredibly dangerous. A strange symbol suddenly flashed on Maenaz’s forehead as his hands shone with energy, which was subsequently all released into the body of the grimlock.
Maenaz ripped the blade of the scythe from his body by himself, while the grimlock stumbled and almost fell backwards. The warlock did the same, and although he could not yet maintain his balance, he fired what he believed to be the finishing attack – Eldritch Doom.

Looking up, Maenaz waited for the dust to clear, only to see the fighter still alive, though on his knees, panting heavily, his mask destroyed, his armor damaged and smeared with blood, both his opponent’s and his own.
It was the warlock who stood up first.
- You… fight like a demon. But… I’m not done yet.
- Oh, believe me, you very soon will be. Very, very soon.
Enserric was swung before his opponent could fully get up, but Tuzantar’s grip on his scythe was quite good and in a moment he returned the cut, albeit his strike was less accurate. Maenaz kicked him to the side and thrust his blade under the grimlock’s shoulder, to which the monstrous humanoid responded by trying to pull the blade out of Maenaz’s hands. The warlock’s reflex was quick enough, however, and he backed away, accumulating a blast in his hand. Tuzantar couldn’t dodge and the blast pushed him away, and Maenaz used the moment to place a wall of flames between them. Leaping through the flames, the desperate grimlock charged him. Maenaz dodged his swing and countered with his sword, to which Tuzantar’s answer was to shoulder-tackle him, sending him airborne.

A pillar of pale green light suddenly appeared before the grimlock. Of course, he couldn’t see it.
His voice was working quite well, though. And it filled the air with a tortured yell as a mass of acid came down on him.
Maenaz lifted his eyebrow skeptically as he saw the state grimlock was in after that attack. The acid still tearing through his flesh, his left arm was reduced to almost only bones, and he now only had one sprout on his back. His skull was showing in places, and the “collar” his neck formed was misshapen and irregular.
And yet it seemed that the grimlock still wanted to fight.
- You’re one of those idiots who are unable to perceive the amount of damage dealt to their body, aren’t you ?
- It’s just a flesh wound. I have… a whole tribe to protect, and… My father needs me.
- If you say so. But I’d say your old man is probably pretty endangered by being killed in the fighting.
- Oh, you have no idea…
- I suppose you wish to finish this, don’t you ?
- My thoughts exactly.
The grimlock moved forward more slowly now, his bony arm clearly aching as he rose his scythe. Maenaz charged first, easily dodging the attack mid-way as he stabbed the grimlock’s side. His right arm was suddenly filled with energy and he fired a blast straight into Tuzantar’s ravaged body. The grimlock stumbled backwards, grabbing his abdomen, and Maenaz used the chance.
Twisting his body and raising Enserric, he made a half-turn and slashed his opponent through the neck, decapitating him.
Moment after, he fell on one knee.
Enserric’s abilities and his own regeneration kept him alive so far, but his state was… less than perfect. He grabbed a couple of healing potions – he always wished he could carry more with himself, as he wouldn’t have much left after this dosage – and gulped them down one after another, his body filling with healing energy and slowly being restored. Blasting a charging Chitine, he turned to the building’s entrance. Focusing more energy, he blasted the door away, and entered.
There were a couple chitines inside, accompanied by a few giant spiders, but nothing a few blasts couldn’t handle. Moving forward, Maenaz realized that not only was this a temple, in a way, it seemed oddly familiar.
Did the Chitines worship a god he was familiar with ?
Well, with all the spider motives and such…
It would seem plausible…
No. Impossible.

Then, something moved in the darkness. He was almost sure it did, but he heard nothing. Just absolute silence. Observing his surroundings, he entered the next chamber. This one was filled with spider webbing in chaotic patterns, the webs making it more difficult to move around. There was some sort of a construction at the end of the chamber, but he could barely see it through all the webs.
- Oh, here he is, he came, to kill us, he comes. Like we thought.
Maenaz twitched at the raspy voice replacing the dead silence, and he looked around.
- Show yourself !
- Why, so you could kill us, like you did with the others ? Oh, no, it doesn’t come that easy, it doesn’t, I am not like the others. I know the truth.
- The truth ?
- Those who send you, those who order you, think they’re special, they think. But… no. They’re not.
Something shot out of the shadowy surroundings, and Maenaz suddenly found himself entangled in a spider web.
- I am special !
Maenaz this time saw surely a great, dark shape moving slowly towards him. He tried to free his hand and accumulated energy to blast it, but the attack came from behind.
Suddenly, he was being stabbed by multiple, sharp but organic attacks, and being pushed over. He fell on the ground while trying to free himself from the web, and he felt something.
He was bitten. A dreadful chill came through his body and he found himself unable to move.
Then, he saw that shape move out of the darkness.
A giant, spider-like body supported by six spider legs, with the front two transformed into misshaped arms with too many joints, ending in pale palms. The creature had a humanoid head, but the ears were long and pointed, mandibles sprouted out from the jaws, and the eyes were large end red… seemd faceted, too. The creature’s hair were long and a mix of blonde and green, which coupled with a face that was chitine-like made Maenaz somewhat unsure about the gender of the thing. Three things for sure. It was large, it was nearly wholly a spider, and it had help.
- You came here thinking you could murder us, but no, no, you cannot.
- You seem pretty insane. Or at least you have a curious manner of speech.
- Insane I am not. Enlightened, yes.
- Enlightened ? In what way ?
- By the Spider Queen, of course. I know the truth !
- Spider Queen… Lloth ?
- Yes… The dark elves used to worship the Spider Queen like we did, but it was our race that she chose. Our priests are transformed into greater things such as I. And now, the Spider Queen went silent, and look what the drow are doing… Turning away. That’s what they’re doing. But oh, no. I know the truth.
- You keep speaking of the truth. What truth ?
- I’m not telling you.. I am the chosen one. And you…
The creature grabbed Maenaz’s head, moving it up while her own went down. It’s mandibles were slightly touching his face as it stared into his eyes.
- You shall die. Neither us nor the Master have any use for you alive. You’re a problem.


Maenaz was wallowing in disgust at the contact just before the creature moved it’s head sharply and bit him at the base of his neck. He felt sick, but initially it was more of an emotional reaction. A moment later, he really felt sick… Poison ?
However, there was a positive side.
He could move now.
He bucked himself against the webs sharply, tearing them an rolling over in the process. The creature that attacked him before looked like a spider, but he could tell it wasn’t one – it’s eyes were gleaming red and even it’s skin seemed to give off a slight sickly yellow radiance.
He plunged Enserric into the strange chitine mutant or whatever it was, while blasting the fiendish spider away. It hit the ceiling and Maenaz rolled away from both his opponents, igniting the webs with his wall of flames and backing off.
The stabbed creature moved swiftly towards him, and he recognized that it used a negative energy spell before it grabbed him and plunged the mandibles into his shoulder again. The grab was strong, very strong, but it was nothing like the physical might of the grimlock he defeated minutes ago.

He decided not to play. The poison was already in his body and getting more wouldn’t help.
He blasted the mutant with the beshadowed version of his blast and attacked it’s arm with Enserric. He tried to chop it off, but succeeded only in giving it a cut. In this moment, the fiendish spider from above attacked, it’s legs attempting to stab him repeatedly.
It was as sure as anything right now that this was no spider. The fucker could levitate. Maenaz found himself being pushed into defense from the repeated leg stabs which he barely managed to dodge or block, and when he entangled himself into one of the webs in the chamber, he was left open. The creature stabbed his hips with it’s middle legs and lashed itself onto him, biting into his flesh. Maenaz noticed that this thing had one thing uncommon in spiders – it had no poison, instead the bite produced some magical effect that caused him to be unable to move last time.

He decided it was a bit too dangerous after all and he had to destroy it right away. Overcoming the paralysis that tried to grab him, he summoned his strongest ability and fired an Eldritch Doom. He would damage himself, probably, but the spider would perish.
At the moment the blast was about to strike, he attempted to move out of range, but of course, the webs made it impossible. The plan worked, however. The spider was destroyed.
- You… you killed my Myrlochar ! My sign of favor from the Goddess ! My… I’ll kill you ! You’re dead !
- Oh, am I ? And what is going to destroy me now, when it’s one on one with you ? You’re a priestess. If so, your powers are limited, now that Lloth doesn’t respond to prayers.
- I am chosen ! You will die !
- Try.
The creature attempted to use another negative energy spell on him, but of course, he blasted it first. In a moment, the warlock was upon it, slashing and piercing through it’s defenses, dealing wound after wound to it.
- Chosen ? What the hell are you, even ? You’re just a giant freakin spider’ with an androgynous butt-ugly face, so what the hell are you talking about ?
- I am Garwen Venomheart, a Choldrith, the high priestess of the Chitine race ! Favored by Lloth herself ! I will not lose to the likes of you !
- You will. You should now that damn well. Because, unlike you, I don’t rely on any deity with my powers. It’s all my own !
Focusing a powerful blast, he showed it into the choldrith, pushing it (her ? it was a “priestess”, wasn’t it ?) away. A moment later, it’s back legs were standing in a wall of flames, but it couldn’t move forward, as Maenaz re-engaged the melee, forcing the priestess into defense and actually stepping more and more into the wall of flames.
Choldrith attempted to bite into him again, but Maenaz was too quick, and even the following shot of web was dodged. When the choldrith nearly jumped back to get out of the wall of flames, Maenaz decided that the distance was right, and it was time to finish this.
- I am Maenaz Carn’renor, the Chosen of Valsharess… but my purpose lies beyond that. That is why you had no chance to defeat me here. Go to the Abyss or wherever you belong.


His eyes shining, he fired the Eldritch Doom into the spider priestess.
Surprisingly, she survived. It seemed like the creature was originally far more powerful than now – while she was currently able to cast clerical spells, all that she used so far was a low-level Inflict Wounds spell, which suggested it’s spellcasting ability was cut short, but the amount of vitality and battle ability the creature possessed suggested that where Lloth giving spells to her clerics, she would be far more of a challenge than she was.
- You… fiend. We… simply want freedom. I will not submit my race to the Drow again. Not now, especially, when the Spider Queen will be on our side if we prevail.
- You vehemently refuse to become drow servants despite the fact that Lloth seems to favor them.
- Lloth favors the powerful, and this transformation I’ve undergone so long ago is the proof of her favor ! We can destroy the drow and make the Spider Goddess look only upon us ! Even if we’re not able to, we’ll rather die trying than return to being slaves !
- I’m not in favor of slavery at all, priestess. But, your race seems no less vile than the drow. I happen to need Valsharess as well. So I have no choice but to destroy this pathetic alliance of yours and let this be done with.
- Not if Master has anything to say about this !
- You mentioned this Master once again, yet I see none…
-
Another spurt of the web forced him to dodge, and he was momentarily stopped anyway as his left leg got entangled. The choldrith practically ran to the strange construction at the end of the chamber and he realized it must be some sort of an entrance to a tunnel, because she disappeared in it. Maenaz freed himself and drank another healing potion, and then pulled out a different one. Potions of minor restoration could temporarily remove the effects of the poison in most cases, but the source of the problem remained – unless his organism beat it by himself, he would soon have to find a way to cure himself of the poisoning, or he would grow weaker.
And he had, quite possibly the most challenging fight to undertake yet, if this *master* was stronger than his subjects. Maenaz drunk the potion and went to the construction. It was a tunnel, true, but for him, who did not move like a spider, it seemed more like a slide down. So, in order to follow the priestess, he had to slide. It was somehow… funny.
Proceeding to do so, after a few moments of a crazy slide, he found himself in a cave. It was pretty dark in here, but one thing was unmistakable. Either this *master* desired a lot of space, or he was quite a big thing.
Moving forward, he heard a loud, heavy breathing. It was the second one. The breath seemed somehow… familiar, as well.
Moving forward, he noticed the white shape of the spider priestess. And before it…
Holy shit.

Ilivarra stood in the chamber, Valsharess reading the reports from both her and the one Phaere send before Maenaz went to join her.
- It seem to go rather well. Phaere destroyed about three quarters of the gibberling horde and killed the Phaerlin giant himself, and is in fact almost at the entrance to the chitine settlement already.
- I keep wondering who is the actual leader of this odd alliance. After all, those three races have nothing in common with each other. They have no reason to ally in normal circumstances.
- I kept wondering about the same thing. That’s why I send both Phaere and Maenaz against them. If their boss proved to be a challenge, together they should be easily able to stop the rebellion anyway.
- I think the same. While one of them would probably suffice, to use both will both allow them to work on their teamwork and ensure a sound success.
- I didn’t ask for your opinion… though yes, that is what I thought. Now, Ilivarra, do you wish to go or slaughter the rest of the underdark brutes that dare to rise against me, or would you prefer to stay, rest a bit and help me with the preparations ?
Ilivarra grinned.
- I am torn between the two, actually.

A dragon. A freakin’ dragon. And no normal kind, either. After all, Maenaz saw a couple of chromatic dragons in his life, more so, he fought them, and this one definitely wasn’t any of those he knew. It’s scales were a dark purple with black overtones, but it definitely wasn’t a black dragon. It’s slender shape, long neck and curious head and neck growths outruled the possibility that it was any sort of a mix between a blue and a red dragon as well.
One thing for sure, that had to be the “Master”.
The choldrith turned away and pointed at him.
- That’s the one ! He killed my brothers and sisters, and he defeated Tuzantar !
The creature spoke. Unlike what he expected, the voice was rather quiet, and it had sort of a hissing sound to it. Almost like it was a giant, intelligent snake speaking.
- I was capable of guessing it on my own. After all, I put Tuzantar as the guard of the temple myself.
- So, you’re the master everyone’s been talking about. I must confess… I expected something else. Something… smaller.
- Oh, but the alliance between such races had to make your lady curious. And who could plan it out better than a dragon ? Maybe the fact that we’re so rare made you all outrule the possibility, having never met any dragons in person.
- Oh, you’re quite wrong. I met dragons. I even fought them. You’re not the biggest I saw, either.
- Is that so ? You must be an expert at running away then. Or, have a talent at bargaining.
- Not exactly. I negotiated only with one, and this one was so large that you would get scared. All the others are biting the dust.
- I find that hard to believe. Even if you practically destroyed my alliance and made many years of rising Tuzantar meaningless by killing him all by yourself, a dragon is another story.
- *Rising* Tuzantar ? You raised him yourself ?
- Oh, you did not notice ?
The growths on his neck…
The end of his skull was forming something which kind of looked like a collar…
And those vestigal sprouts on the grimlocks back…
Were those undeveloped wings ?
Oh, all the deities of Faerun !

- You are… his father ?
- A bright one, aren’t you ? Yes, I sired Tuzantar. T’was an unpleasant thing to do, but necessary. I needed to form a bond between myself and his tribe. Choldrith and her chitines could be reasoned with. Enslaving a phaerlin giant who already had the gibberlings at his disposal was a piece of cake.
- You seem awfully calm for someone who’s offspring was just killed.
- I did not particularly care about him. He was a mild success… powerful, but just slightly brighter than the rest of his race. A good enough son, only not as valuable as I hoped. He fulfilled his purpose… and then, you killed him. So now, I’ll slaughter you and we’ll call this even.
- Oh ? I have no wish to get even with you. I also find your arrogance disturbing. What makes you think you can slaughter me ?
- Because I am naturally superior to you, mortals ?
- Wrong kind of thinking. Put many would-be rulers of this world to eternal rest. At least one of them I put there myself. Anyway…


The eyes of the warlock were surrounded by a pale, green mist. A pillar of light appeared between the dragon and the choldrith. The dragon managed to react and back off, covering slightly, but the choldrith was bather in acid. Maenaz immediately put the screaming wretched creature on fire to ensure it would die quickly, and turned to the dragon.
- Let’s get this over with, shall we ?
- I agree with you once, human.
The creature turned rapidly and swept it’s long tail, with Maenaz jumping just outside the range in the last moment. He returned the favor by firing a blast at the monster, to which he answered by unleashing a small orb of acid.
Of course, many dragons could use sorcerer spells. Quite proficiently, in fact.

Maenaz put a wall of flame under the dragon and fired another blast. The snake-like dragon did not intend to stand in the fire too long and it lept forward, trying to rip the warlock to pieces with it’s claws. Maenaz backed off and stabbed the hand that got the closest, one of the claws even piercing his armor and, just barely, his skin. He noticed the dragon’s physical power wasn’t all that great – it was comparable with the strength of his own son, even with the size difference.
Of course, the dragon’s great mass and size presented it’s own problems, and Maenaz was slammed with a wing the moment he tried to slash at the creature’s wrist. The beast unleashed an electric charge, apparently another spell, just as Maenaz summoned Eldritch Doom. The beast roared in pain, anger now visible in it’s eyes, and then it did what Maenaz waited for all along.
Well, most dragons breathe out one kind of shit or another. In this case, he already knew what to expect.
A flesh-corrosive gas.


Maenaz leaped backwards and propelled himself further by blasting the ground, and found himself near the cave’s wall. He voiced the invocation and a ring of blackness surrounded the irises of his eyes.
Maenaz then realized the dragon was getting more tactical with him, apparently realizing the danger, but as he knew the first move of the strategy, he quickly processed the rest of what the dragon would do. Maenaz fired a blast to the side where the stone suddenly re-shaped itself to cover one way of escape, and he run towards the wall, jumping through the wall just as the dragon breathed his gas where he should be. Maenaz then started to focus energy, and just as the dragon was upon him and ready to strike, he unleashed another Eldritch Doom.

This time, he was sure the attacks where having decent effect as the dragon seemed to lose balance for a moment and missed the sweep of it’s tail by a dramatical amount. Maenaz fired a Beshadowed blast at the dragon, but as he runned for cover to prepare another attack, the clawed hand of the dragon nearly caught him and slashed through it’s back.
- You probably don’t know it, but my kind has a special kind of sight. Nearly exactly the same as the one given by that True Seeing spell. This cheap trick is much less effective against me.
- Your kind ? You’re not a crossbreed ?
- How dare you ! I am a Deep Dragon, not some chromatic half-breed !
- Oh, I am so sorry for hurting your feelings. There you go… That’s my… apology.
Maenaz gathered his negative emotions and conveyed them into the energy, a symbol flashing on his forehead as he used the Utterdark Blast on the dragon. The beast answered with another breath, but the human quickly run to the edge of the range and jumped, blasting the dragon in mid-air. As he hit the ground, he fired yet another blast, and the dragon tried to smash him with his tail. He dodged and slashed the tail with Enserric, and fired a Vitriolic blast into the creature’s wing. The dragon growled and hissed, and breathed once more. This time, Maenaz could only hold his breath and withstand the outside effects of the gas. As it cleared, Maenaz realized he had nearly zero time to react to the dragon’s next move. He jumped back and blasted forward a cone of acid, the teeth of the dragon stopping just before him as the dragon attempted to bite. Pulling away when the acid started to damage his jaws and threatened his eyes, the dragon swept his clawed hand, nearly sending the warlock flying as the dragon showed him away a good distance right against the wall.

The warlock answered by putting the ground under the reptile on fire again, and the dragon attempted to both move out of the flames and smash him with his tail as once. Maenaz foresaw this and propelled himself upwards with a blast, but before he could react, the dragon slammed him with his wing and breathed his gas. Jumping forward and increasing the range of the jump a swing of both wings, the dragon was suddenly upon him. Maenaz avoided being raked by the dragons claws and then dodged the orb of acid the dragon fired, answering by smiting the reptile with Eldritch Doom.
- Die, mortal !
The deep dragon attempted another wing slam, but Maenaz managed to put himself out of the range and fire another blast into the wing, thus managing to damage both of the dragons wings in the fight. The dragon tried to literally stab him with his claws, but Maenaz dodged yet again. Suddenly, however, he lost his standing – he swore he was about to step on the sure, stony ground that was everywhere in the cave, but instead slipped on the mud that suddenly appeared there. The dragon used the situation immediately, it’s jaws darting out and opening to crush the human. Maenaz poised his sword and fired a blast straight into the reptile’s throat to decrease the bite’s strength, and he succeeded, managing to only get wounded by the dragon’s terrifying fangs.
Realizing the threat of another blast, the dragon pulled away, tearing more flesh from his torso and Enserric from his hand, and Maenaz answered by blasting the drake’s neck. Another tail sweep came, and while he jumped back he succeeded only in limiting the strength of the impact. Maenaz decided to pull out all he had and a pillar of green light appeared between the dragon’s wings before he got an acidic bath.
The dragon hissed and started to pant, the attack definitely taking it’s toll on him, but had no time to rest as two Utterdark blasts where fired against him. The drake roared and breathed out it’s gas, getting hit by another normal and another Vitriolic blast in the process.

Maenaz started to feel that he was overdoing things again as his palms started to burn and the bones in his arms ached. Also, the poison was apparently beginning to work again, though the effect was minimal – apparently, it was less fatal than he thought, but it didn’t help at all.
What a crazy day.
Of course, after having to save Phaere in the afternoon, battle a half-dragon grimlock fighter of great strange in the evening, getting poisoned later and stabbed repeatedly by a freaking spider, he did not expect to fight a dragon. And moreover, he did not expect to lose.
Of course, none of this compared to the horrifying night and morning that he had, where he had to kill Aribeth herself.
It was a dream, true, but it was still…

Of course. He couldn’t lose.
Too much was at stake here. He grabbed that desperate feeling and the sudden wave of sorrow, regret and anger that washed over him when he imagined his dream, and suddenly, a dark, black mist filled with red stars came down on the deep dragon, seeping out his very vitality and earning him the most sinister hiss yet. The drake stumbled, fell over onto one of the walls, tried to take flight, stumbled again, and then roared. He recognized that the dragon used some sort of magic power, and suddenly something came down from the ceiling and fell at his armor.
Mud ?
He looked upwards. The so-far stony ceiling was rapidly changing into a mass of soft ground, wet at that. A tone of mud was about to come down at them.
The dragon leapt upwards and suddenly changed, becoming slimmer, it’s wings losing mass and size, the limbs disappearing into his body.
He transformed into a giant freakin’ winged snake, and as the mud started to fall on them, he slid through it and upwards, probably where his forces were battling those of Phaere.
And he, the former Hero of Neverwinter, was just about to be buried under a ton of mud.




Phaere was just murdering some grimlocks when it happened. A giant hole was suddenly opening in the ground… and it leaped out from under them.
A giant, purple snake with wings. Just as it released itself from underground, it snatched one of the drow from the ground and crushed him with it’s jaws, and it prepared itself to repeat the attack. Killing another drow, the creature breathed out a cone of gas that caused all the beings inside (it apparently did not care that chitines and grimlocks were caught in the range) to yell horribly as their flesh was being eaten away.
Phaere decided it was time to act, and run towards the creature. Dodging the snake-like dart of it’s jaws, she jumped onto it’s body and propelled herself towards the wing, burying her sword into the soft flesh of the wing and tearing it as she pushed herself downwards with her legs in an acrobatic move. When falling, she fired an Eldritch Blast at the beast, which answered by discharging some electricity which jumped between her and the other drow.
The creature attempted to bite her again, but to no avail. However, she noticed it was transforming. The wings suddenly got slightly larger and more imposing just as the creature widened and suddenly sported four clawed feet, one of which was immediately used to ping her to the ground. Only a barrage of Greater Missile Storm from one of her mages stopped the creature from attacking her once more and freed her from it’s grasp.

Suddenly a large eruption appeared in the place where the beast appeared from, which mean Carn’renor was apparently alive and either fought something or tried to remove some sort of a blockade.
Phaere dodged another attack from the creature and stabbed it’s hand, proceeding to an attempt of magical poisoning on the wound. She fired a blast at the dragon’s head before being blown away by a sweep of it’s wings. The dragon breathed out the gas, and she held her breath, knowing quite well that the damage could be more severe if she breathed in the gas.
Then, she noticed.
Out of the hole the beast left, supporting his weight by lifting himself on his sword which was forced into the ground, the blood-dirt-and-mud covered human came.
He seemed to draw a deep breath, let out a sigh, and then he did just what was expected of him.
He fired a blast at the beast’s back.

Maenaz mentally noted that there was something tactically wrong with firing a blast at the dragon’s back after just emerging from the hole, and when the dragon leapt at him and attempted to throw him back down, he realized just what.
He succeeded at stabbing the dragon into the stomach and just barely held on him when the dragon started to fly over the whole. Maenaz charged another blast and fired it by stabbing the dragon with the charged hand, thus managing to actually grab at the drake’s muscles as they flew over the hole. With his wings wounded, the dragon quickly started to go down after this and Maenaz let him go, while ensuring he would land in a wall of flames.
After landing the dragon attempted to smash him with his tail, but was too slow. Turning around, he breathed out the corrosive gas and Maenaz responded by blasting his chest with acid.
- You are a most frustrating opponent, mortal. None of your kind ever pushed the great Oloth’Kelir so far.
- Ah, so we’re on a name basis now ? Maenaz. How unpleasant to make your acquaintance.
- I’m afraid we won’t be friends for a long time, as I plan to kill you as soon as possible.
- Coincidentally, I plan to eat your heart for dinner.
- You cannot win, human. Look at yourself. You’re badly hurt, your wounds are smeared with earth and mud, you probably got poisoned before fighting me, and I doubt you can keep using those magical rays and explosions of yours much longer.
- Shall we see ?
The dragon leapt onto him, but Maenaz jumped onto his neck and fired a blast to the back of his head. The dragon was a bit dizzy and this gave Maenaz a moment he needed. Noticing a group of spell-charged drow mages nearby, he turned his power towards the group. Reaching out, he connected to the spells active on the two of them, and seeped the magical energy away, feeding on the spells. Feeling a temporary rush of vitality, Maenaz jumped off the dragon as he tried to shake him off and accumulated more energy, firing repeated blasts into the dragon’s side. When the dragon turned to breathe gas, Maenaz fired a cone of acid to damage the drake’s teeth and temporarily blind him. Then, he focused all his power and, despite being damaged by the gas, managed to smite the dragon with Eldritch Doom.
The dragon prepared to bite him, but Maenaz dodged in the last moment, stabbed his neck near the head with Enserric and blasted it’s base, and started to run along it’s length to increase the wound’s size. Oloth’kelir managed to use it’s forelimb to throw him away and then went into a clumsy flight, apparently hurt and trying to put some distance while thinking of a strategy. Maenaz screamed and pointed at the dragon, accumulating an Utterdark Blast. At the same time, the wizards and priestesses started to cast spells and Phaere used a blast of her own. Struck by that magical barrage, the dragon fell down. It took him a moment to get back on his feet as the human and the dark elves approached.
- No… wait. I’m sure we can come to some sort of an understanding.
- Now you want to parlay ? You almost buried me under a ton of…
- You propose an agreement ?
- Yes. I do possess some magical items, and… I am certain I can do Valsharess a favor or two.
- Oh, no. That’s far from enough. In order to buy your life…
- Phaere, you’re not honestly considering to strike a bargain with this monster ?
- Why not ? Having a dragon would be useful.
- He’s the enemy ! And he almost killed me thrice !
- Oh, then we have many things in common. Don’t you think Sinvyl will be more pleased if we return to her with a new servant, who just happens to be a Deep Dragon ?
- I know I won’t be more pleased it we…
- Shhh…Silence. Dragon, in order to buy your life, you must do two things. First, you must swear upon your life to serve Valsharess until released by her. Second of all… You must personally kill every last Chitine in here. They must all perish.
- Wait, why are you taking a dragon, but slaying the chitines ?
- Because we hate them. They deserve nothing but death. We don’t need servants who fail us. And Valsharess herself told me to slaughter all inhabitants of the village, taking no prisoners. She doesn’t have any use for them, either.
- So, you’re just going to commit another massacre ? They’ve served you before, they even worship your deity…
- They were considered a blasphemy and disgrace to Lloth. And we do not serve Lloth anymore, we serve Valsharess. And she told me to kill them. They’re useless. Disposable. Now, dragon. Do you accept my terms ?
- Yes. I, Oloth’Kelir, promise to obey Valsharess until released, and to destroy all Chitines under my command.
Phaere grinned disturbingly.
[“Disposable. The former servants who share the same religion and only wanted to be free have no choice to survive. They’re disposable.”]
- Excellent. Proceed.

The dragon roared, and started the slaughter.

[“ So that’s what he meant. “I would advise you to start putting the pieces together”. It seems so obvious now. The drow made a race of slaves themselves… but once they got free, worshipped Lloth and started to get their own blessings from her… The dark elves started to hate them with a passion. So much that they deemed them disposable. Useless.
Does Samael mean that this is what’s going to happen to me ?
I already shown an independence streak. Disobeyed Valsharess, in their minds. And if what Samael said is true, she is going to become far more powerful than me once she leeches off his power.
And then, I will become far less useful. And… less dangerous ?
Will that make me disposable as well ?
She’s a drow.
She’d never have feelings for me. Even if I am developing some for her. And… The dream…
But just what the hell am I supposed to do ?”]



Maenaz returned to Valsharess’ fortress somehow… drained.
Less enthusiastic than ever before when doing so.
Entering the chamber where they were all supposed to meet did not help the situation at all. While nodding to Ilivarra as a welcoming had no implications whatsoever…
HE was there.
That annoying ancient fiend that, instead of making things easier, kept increasing his doubts.
Actually, those were no mere doubts anymore. There was like a whole another part of him that partially regretted joining forces with Valsharess and becoming intimate with her.
Because lately everything seemed to suggest that in doing so he was betraying Aribeth – an emotional downside – and everything seemed to suggest that, in the end, he would be used and discarded – a rational downside.
And of course, he in truth gained little from that alliance.
A one member of the Nine dead… A fight with a companion to the champion of Neverwinter…
And, well, some sex.
Was it worth it ?
He wasn’t sure.
Even when Valsharess walked in, still he wasn’t sure, still he was lost in his thoughts.
So he did not exactly hear…
- What did you say ?
- Using Samael’s and his servants’ knowledge about the elven civilizations on the surface, I made a plan of attack. There are a couple of places where you can enter or leave Underdark on this “sword coast” of yours, and we used the one closest to Neverwinter… however, we did not take into account that such forces will be prepared to strike against our first wave, nor did we acknowledge that the Daarthiri will immediately strike out against us. Therefore, I plan to leave the Underdark in an area where we will be close to a larger elven settlement and will be able to attack by surprise. Once the elves are done with, we can stabilize on the surface and eliminate the human part of the country.
- That sounds fine, but…Where is this area ? What part of the Sword Coast are we talking about ?
- The elven city great Valsharess is talking about is called Suldanesselar, which happens to near the south border of Amn.
- You mean… we’re going to get out on the surface and start the whole thing by trying to defeat the Amnites ? Eliminating the nearby elves is good, but why in Amn ?
- It seems the area most suitable to carry out this plan. Why do you object ?
- It’s… so far from…
- I told you, we will…
- Defeating the Amnites may take ages ! They have the best guild of thieves and assasins on the surface, at least of those I know of, and even if we go country by country, by the time we’re done with Amn, there will be alliances, maybe whole crusades to deal with us !
- I’m not afraid of the surface dwellers. Besides, unless I am mistaken, the only plan you were capable to think of was to bash our forces against Neverwinter’s walls and then wait what happens.
Maenaz went silent. But… something in him wouldn’t shut up. There was something wrong with the situation.

[“ Of course. I wanted to destroy Neverwinter, but I simply did not think about what would happen after. Truth is… Valsharess may quite well lose. And she’ll almost surely be stopped from her surface expansion at one point or another.
So, that’s how it was. All I cared about was destroying Neverwinter, but if she starts the attack from somewhere else…
We may never even get to this point…”]

- Sinvyl, to be honest, I…
- We’ve discussed enough. There is, however, one another big problem with my plan. We will use everything we have to attack the surface, and so…
Valsharess paused, tilted her head, looked at Samael, and spoke out.
- He needs to be transported elsewhere.
Everybody in the room suddenly went silent. Ilivarra spoke out first.
- Is it just me…
- …or does even thinking about this… – Maenaz continued.
- ….seem dangerous ?


Valsharess sighed. So much explaining.
- You don’t have to worry SO much. I will only be undoing one part of his bindings, and transferring the hold and keeping-it-up duty of another element to our mages. The possibility that he breaks out permanently practically doesn’t exist, and even small temporary breakouts are unlikely. And because of our bond, he won’t be able to hurt me during them.
- But he will be able to hurt us.
- Yes, that is indeed possible. Which is why we will all be ready to fight, and I’ll have additional healers and wizards ready.
- Doesn’t he have an ability in the range of “nearby mortals have their bodies ripped apart when I will it “?
- Now you’re overestimating him, Maenaz. There is no chance any of you will die during any short outbreaks he may have if we remain cautious. And taking him to the surface will guarantee our victories.
- This still seems dangerous. Are you sure you can rebind him after you undo the seal ?
- Yes, very much so. All we have to do is watch for any attempts he may make to use his powers while he is half-freed. But, you’re not stupid enough to try and attack us, are you, Samael ?
- Of course not, o great Valsharess…
- You do not believe him, do you ? – Phaere asked.
- As a matter of fact, I do not. But I do believe he is smart enough not to try anything unless we present an opportunity ourselves. Which I will make sure we do not.

One day later, in the Netheril ruins…

The asabi found an unexpected package – figures of a pair of scaleless, one male, one female, a bunch of equipment – mostly armor, and quite high-quality one at that, and a grip of a sword lying next to a bunch of shards that were forming a blade, but one that looked like it was about to crumble any second.
The quality and amount of equipment as well as the look on the statues’ faces made it clear to the Asabi that the stone figures where the result of the Hooded Sorceress’ actions and not actual statues.
The equipment might have been a good loot either way even if some of the armor pieces were unusable for Asabi. And the humans could be turned back to flesh forms by their leader and prove to yet be useful. Even the broken sword on the ground may have some use afterwards. Therefore, the lizardmen decided to take everything from the cave, and go back home.

Another one and a half day later, in the Underdark.


Maenaz was rarely assigned to do any scouting, but Valsharess believed that if Suldanesselar had any dangerous citizens, his assistance may be necessary. They only came in contact with the elves once and they made short work of them. Now, the mission was finish, the “right” spot for Samael in the Tethyr Forest found, and Maenaz knew that for the last two days the preparations for the assault were made post-haste.
However, did this not help his disposition. Amn was simply too far from Neverwinter to his tastes.
He knew there were many heroes in the world above, quite some of them powerful, and he never fought a single one of them.
The true level of power of people such as Khelben or Elminster remained a mystery for him – he did not know whether his talent was so supreme that he was already catching up to them or was he still far from their level.
Given the fact that he needed to get through a lot of fighting to get where he was and still for quite some time there weren’t many serious challenges, he thought the second option was more plausible. The only one who could probably challenge Faerun’s mightiest was Valsharess and only thanks to Samael.

The very fiend she was now letting her control over lessen for the purpose of the surface expansion.
Maenaz only wondered how would things go if the fiend managed to release himself fully, would Valsharess supported by the Red Triumvirate and her wizards able to defeat the fiend; even if they could, this loss would probably mean the end of her ambitious dreams, as her power was greatly dependent on the fiend’s servitude to her.
However, on the bright side, despite the risk… he believed if that situation happened, they would win.
Because simply looking at the fiend’s current state told him so.
Apparently the process Samael spoke about – losing his physical form – was already beginning, as the fiend’s right eye changed to an emerald flame as all the flesh around it was already dissipated, changing instead to a dark-grey shape seemingly that seemingly consisted, or was at least strongly covered in, smoke.
More of the shadow-seeping wounds opened on his body, and Samael’s left arm was blood-seeping from the elbow all the way down to the wrist. The palm itself was changed to a shape of the very same smoke that now composed the right part of his face.
In short, the fiend was losing the mental and spiritual battle against Valsharess’ rituals, a battle to keep his essence intact.

The moment, however, that the symbol that was put on the ground around him was disturbed and the spell that stopped him from moving and was a part of what made it impossible for him to exert his power if not by Valsharess’ will, it was clear to Maenaz that Archfiends were more than just a bit over-powered Balors, Pit Fiends or whatever else. The fiend stretched his wings and, suddenly, the atmosphere in the room became extremely dense.
Thankfully there were no paladin drows – if there were any Paladins nearby, he had a feeling they would likely pass out of shock and the beginners in the trade would probably go into comas.
Maenaz then mentally noted to himself that the strange effect he noticed before was no joke – his mentality actually DID get a bit more negative, selfish, evil even, by just being in the fiend’s presence. It wasn’t a permanent effect, but he noticed his thoughts spontaneously going into the areas of pondering things like murder, theft… looking at the females in the room, even rape went through his head once.

It wasn’t an overwhelming feeling – the drow would probably not recognize it. He probably only recognized it because he actually waited and watched whether he would find such a change. This change of mentality wasn’t strong – it was small, subtle.
But, he reminded himself, the fiend was neither fully free nor at full power.
He was mildly curious as to if the fiend at full power was stronger than all the mortals in Faerun, or were those mightiest ones above him. It was however something he did not wish to test just yet.
Never would be more accurate, but there’s always room for some unpredictable situation.
The fiend jumped from his platform and landed just before Valsharess. Of course, the first reaction should be trying to cover oneself, but the drow in the room simply continued to gaze at him intensely.
The warlock was instead pondering what the fuck was wrong with their heads that they summoned such a thing.

Then, of course, it became worse. Maenaz suddenly felt like if the fiend was about to do something ridiculously destructive (or corruptive) for a moment, and a moment after, the fiend’s power became utterly focused and centered, as if he was really going to try something. However, Samael did nothing. Despite Valsharess actually making half a step backwards (and about anybody else in the rooms reacting with different, but overall larger amount of suddenness), nothing unusual or suspicious was happening, The fiend simply stood there as the wizard’s changed the magic holding him and took it on their own to support it, the spell’s success marked by a ray of viridian light connecting each one of the five mages to the fiend, identical symbols appearing on their foreheads and on his wings (one of them probably appeared on his chest or back, as it was nowhere visible, and those parts were hid by clothing).

Finally, the fiend was presented with a pair of bracelets that were seemingly popular as a “gift” among the drow – ones that joined in the wrists upon wearing, making spellcasting and swordfighting extremely difficult. That particular pair was joined by chains to a giant throne that Valsharess was to sit on when carried to the surface.
Maenaz smirked to himself, at two things. First, the Empress seemed to get extremely lazy, as she wanted to be carried or ride practically everywhere. Second of all…

Well, the mages were scared shitless. Because the former Baatorian lord carried a disturbing smirk on his face about all the time since the moment they finished their ritual.


The travel to the surface went fairly easily – since the Underdark denizens were pretty much either under Valsharess’ control, dead, or too scared to make a move against her, and the surface elves did not yet know about their presence – or they were awaiting a better chance.

The location of the place were Samael was to be held in was, in his mind, pretty fitting for a being of his kind – it was an old, long-forgotten temple to some currently dead deity apparently associated with death, probably either Bhaal or Myrkul. He was surprised a place like this even existed in the very same mass of threes – after all, the forest of Tethyr was very large if you call all the terrain where threes dominated in the nearby area a part of the forest.
Samael was released from the chain that bound him to Valsharess’ portable throne and commanded to stand in the prepared magical circle.
Everything was fine, besides that…Valsharess claimed the binding ritual will take between two and half and three hours.
Damn it all.
And of course he’d have to be simply standing there like an idiot, watching the wizards and Valsharess weave their hands and speak incantations to perform the ritual, looking like idiots, and to see this fiend’s perpetual grin.
What the hell was he so happy about ? Where there going to be consequences of his temporary freedom ?





About four hours later, in Maenaz’s tent…

Maenaz was just about to go to sleep, not really interested in sharing the night with Valsharess this time. The empress also confessed to be too drained after the ritual to do anything of the sort, even if he wanted to.
The bad thing was that he wasn’t sure he wanted to sleep. Too big of a probability that he would have some fucked-up dreams once again.
Moreover, he had other things to worry about.
What to do with Valsharess ?
How to defeat the Amnites quickly and convince Valsharess to go after Neverwinter before the whole Sword Coast is on their heads ?
How to fight people like Khelben, Elminster, or the Seven Sisters should they appear in their way ?
And last, but most important.
His eyesight.
It was pretty clear now that he had some sort of strange, perhaps unnatural eye condition. His eyesight was getting considerably worse while he entered any sort of magical darkness effect, and it never fully recovered to the state before he entered it. Actually, he had a feeling it was getting even worse while he simply was in the Underdark.

He HAD to consult some healer on this. Only that…
Telling a drow that he was regularly getting weaker in a way seemed so stupid.
But there were only the drow and the fiends here, along with some other Underdark… mercenaries ?
Well, a Beholder or a Duergar seemed to be even worse choices than a Drow.
Could he count on Sinvyl with something like this ?
Maybe. Maybe not. Better now than later, and yet…
He had a feeling he shouldn’t put himself in a position where he could owe her anything.
And…
Something was entering his tent.
Too short and minimally too stocky to be Sinvyl, too slim to be a duergar.
Drow. Male… Hunched. Armed with some staff… a wizard ?

- What in the Demonweb Pits do you want ?
- I… must…
Of course.
He did not need to ask. It was in the movement.
The bastard was insane, he was suffering and somehow he decided that attacking HIM would help him ease the pain.
Blast. Then ask question’s.

[“ Well… give him back the arm, and… doesn’t he resemble one of those guys who took part in Samael’s binding ?”]

What a freaking coincidence, isn’t it ?”
- So, why did you want me to relieve you of your body parts again ?
- He… The Baatezu said… he’ll make the pain go away if I manage… to defeat you…
- So, you got an ache and you go to a fiend to cure it, and you believe killing the second most important person in your team is going to help ? Look, I will help you now.

[“ Heart ??”]

Maenaz turned his palm towards the drow. And he fired the blast.
Of course the head was a better choice, so he went for it.
Going past the drow’s falling body, there were only three places he could go to.
First one was to get the hell out of here and leave the place behind.
Out of question. No way in hell he was running away. Ever since defeating Desther, there were only three times he was truly scared, and two of them had to do with meeting a supernaturally powerful creature that at least in theory he had no chance of defeating.
The third one was a super-stressful situation in which he had to fight and perhaps kill the woman he loved.
So, run away now because a single drow got crazy ?
Never.
The second option was going to Sinvyl. To… Valsharess.
Tell her that there was an assassination attempt on him by her fiendish pet and produce an incredible situation in which she has to choose how to deal with her fiend, or choose between them.
It’s obvious who would she choose. Despite his best hopes that she actually CARED, the choice was obvious for a drow.
And there’s nothing that would stop her from trying to quicken the drow’s draining process of the ex-lord of God’s-know-which level of Baator, which in turn would make him expendable.
The last thing to do was to go to the fiend himself.
Normally a bad idea. From surface, it would seem the fiend just tried to kill him.
Except…
Fiends of high rank were supposed to be freaking geniuses. Masterminds of evil. Capable of outthinking even the greatest mortal minds, some of them even gods.
And Samael, against him, send a single drow wizard in pain whom he managed to finish in half a minute of talking and two standard Eldritch Blasts.

That was not an attack. It was an invitation. A violent, unusual and exotic one, but an invitation nonetheless.
It would be insane to accept it, probably, but curiosity was driving him towards it.
Not to mention he’s done some pretty insane things in life so far.
Well, he went to the Underdark.
May as well go to Hell and back.

Maenaz was never truly the sneaky type nor did he care about backstabbing or surprising his enemies.
He did, however, like to be prepared for different situations and he did collect some scrolls along the way to get spells whose effects he couldn’t hope to duplicate.
And of course, he had a scroll of invisibility.
Getting through two sets of guards who couldn’t see him was a piece of cake, and Valsharess did not trust anybody enough to put anyone right next to Samael.
And miraculously, this time she did not arrange things so that she would be sleeping right next to where he was.
Which meant he could get whatever was needed done.
And there he was, on the highest point of the former temple, next to an altar which was just before the magical circle the fiend was bound in to ensure he wouldn’t move.
Maenaz invoked a flame wall between himself and the fiend in the case that he really wanted to slay him and somehow regained his movement.
- Sending somebody to kill your guest isn’t precisely the best invitation.
- What else would you have me do, warlock ? Send you roses ?
- Couldn’t you have told him that you’ll take away whatever pain you cursed him with once he informed me of our meeting ?
- Well, pardon me, but I wanted to be sure you will kill him. I can’t have anybody going to Matron Barit’tar before we are finished.
- As expected. You will try to get free of Valsharess by all possible means.
- Were you about to be drained of part of your very soul and most of your essence by a being half your size and one thousandth of your lifespan, you’d also try to avoid it by any means possible.
- That’s probably true. Though I do not know why do you regard me as “possible means”.
Samael looked at him for a moment, and then allowed himself another moment to snicker.

- Well, I rather believe in your intelligence. You have already seen it all under Valsharess. You’ve slaughtered so many things you’d probably lose count even if you tried to keep it. And you’ve seen how drow treat others first-hand. To Valsharess, you’re useful as an enforcer, and as a source of fun… for know. However, she doesn’t care about your crusade against Neverwinter, and let me put this exactly how it is. The drow created the chitines, forced the belief in Lloth into them, then let many of them escape, and slaughtered the rest. Now, they’re decided to slaughter their own creations whenever they go, out of ruthlessness, hatred, jealousy… If they’re decided to destroy their own creations, then how about you, a human, who’s shown both power and independence, who puts his own purposes before theirs, and who dared to force Sinvyl’s dear cousin into submission ? What will happen when Valsharess will get bored with you and will grow powerful enough, both personally and in terms of territory, that you will no longer be desired by her side… more so, there won’t be any need for you to stay ? Do you believe that a drow who bound a fiend to her service, killed most of the females in her family to get a place as a Matron earlier, and later used her own body and demotion of her own cousin, her only family, as a bargain chip to recruit the only person in the whole Underdark who could match her in a battle will develop enough sympathy and attachment to you that she will keep you alive ? More so, do you actually want such feelings to appear between you two ?
- You’re extremely overconfident, Samael. You seem to think that you can read everyone to their very core.
- I’ve existed for centuries, millennia, no, more than that. And I’ve been a Lord in one of the deadliest political games in Multiverse for longer than you can probably imagine. I am not all-knowing. I cannot read everybody. I cannot control everybody, nor can I convince everybody to do something which will be good for me, in the end. But I believe I am pretty good at it after all. And it’s still up to you, you have your own will. I do recognize you have potential and you have intelligence, but you’re mortal. You have both desires which tie you to Valsharess and doubts that make you want to find a way out. I am merely presenting you an option, and I am merely telling you what is very much possible if you WON’T take that option.
- You’re right. I have doubts. Still, I cannot exactly understand why should I turn against a whole camp of drow and an experienced drow matron that can use YOUR powers against me just because you tell me so. I still cannot recognize what advantage would that bring me. I still cannot trust that you won’t simply turn on me once you’re free and able to wipe me out of existence.
- You have my word that no harm will come to you from my side because of our… cooperation. And also, once I am free, you can rest assured that we will be far away from here before the drow realize they should take revenge for their empress.
- You’ve only made your offer an option. I still don’t know what’s in it for me.
- Other than you getting to live ? Other than becoming free to take revenge upon this Neverwinter ? I’m sure you’d definitely want something that makes you come out on top. We can negotiate, if you are able to defeat Valsharess. I can, technically, force a bunch of friends into your service. When I was an archfiend, I also gained the power to nearly exactly duplicate the Wish spell. I could do that for you.
Maenaz paused for a moment.

- If you can use Wish… That means you ca revive people, right ? Even those who were dead for a longer time than usual ?
- Technically, yes, I can revive mortals. I suppose there is some sort of time limit, but it probably goes into thousands of years. However, inside Ao’s world, I know of several limits to reviving by this ability.
- Such as ??
- I cannot revive gods. I cannot revive people who were killed by certain gods or divine abilities, like, for example, those personally assassinated by Bhaal during his reign. I cannot revive mortals whose souls are bound to certain entities whose might is in a league above my own… for example, I may not be able to revive someone whose soul is a personal possession of Asmodeus himself. Last but not least, I cannot revive anyone whose soul has already been consumed by the Wall of the Faithless.
- Don’t demons steal souls from the Wall ? Why can’t you ?
- Oh, well I suppose the effect could work on a soul that just has been put there. I suppose that if I were somehow to destroy a part of the wall and rip out the souls while leaving them relatively undamaged, I could revive such a person. However, the very nature of the Wall leads to souls being fragmented, smashed, consumed and absorbed into the mass oblivion of the Wall. Past a certain point, retrieving a soul is incredibly hard. Past another point, the soul doesn’t exist as anything else but an empty shell with minimal semblance to what it was before. Past a final point, the soul IS a part of the wall and nothing else. The time limits for those many phases vary between souls. Why ? Is your beloved a Faithless ?
- She served Tyr faithfully for many years, but because of Neverwinter, she… turned away from him. They left her isolated and an easy snatch for a creature aspiring to become the mistress of the entire world once again, to which Aribeth turned to gain power necessary to exact her own… justice… upon Neverwinter.
- So, the woman was called Aribeth… was a paladin of Tyr… and had a motivation much like your own. Despite being a servant of Neverwinter, she was only hurt in the end. And the city robbed her of all hope both in this life and in the afterlife.
- Yes.
- Now I can finally see why you desire vengeance so much that you were willing to ally with Valsharess. But are you ready to betray her for the same cause ?
- I… don’t know. All I am hearing are half-promises. And you cannot accomplish my ex-aequo greatest wish of getting Aribeth back. You also cannot fully accomplish my vengeance, which is also my greatest wish. What can I gain from your proposition, and immediately ?
- Aside from freedom and what I’ve already said, there is a side advantage to all this. Obviously, when put against all of Valsharess powers, and the abilities she may gain from leeching off me, you’re the weaker one. I can help you increase your power, both temporarily as well as permanently. And I will do so, to ensure you will triumph against Valsharess.
- But… what about you ? Can’t she just force you to use your might against me ?
- Ohhh, she can. But what she doesn’t know is that I can oppose her. It will take it’s toll on me, and it’ll be hard, but if I decide so, I can enter a mental and spiritual battle with Valsharess to resist her demands. She’s got more than a fair chance of winning it… but can she hope to do so when she is engaged in an actual, physical conflict with you ?
- What about the other drow ?
- Those that are close to us are mere fodder, things that can be destroyed by a wave of my or your hand. The rest… perhaps you failed to get a closer look at exactly what type of forces does Valsharess employ.
- You… can order the fiends you summoned to turn against Valsharess ? And will they do so ?
- Of course. Moreover, they can call upon more fiends. When Valsharess dies, I will be free to cease to support her own Red Sisters with their so called “divine spellcasting”. With the all-out carnage out there, it is pretty possible, Maenaz, that you and I will destroy the drow dream of a surface invasion right here, and once again throw Underdark into chaos and lack of a strong leader. Which also happens to protect whomever you may want to protect. I assume you do have at least a couple of people you would like to save from being slaughtered by the Drow, don’t you ?
- I…I think I do. As a matter of fact, I did not give them much thought when I was working for Valsharess. But… are you sure it will go well ?
- After thousands of years of experience, I believe you’re a pretty good bet. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t be standing here right now.
- Now, the only question is…
- Whether you want to kill Valsharess, or not.
- Is it not possible to…
- No. Valsharess and I are bound so long as she is alive or she performs a ritual that releases me, which she probably cannot do, and wouldn’t do so willingly. You have only one shot. And you have to kill her.
- What will happen to Valsharess once she dies ??
- She believed in Lloth. If Lloth still exists, she will probably be deemed False or Faithless. However, Valsharess also actively sought to become an immortal, possessing a part of the soul and essence of an ancient archdevil. She directly opposed the drow pantheon by binding her priestesses to me. She may be given a chance to bargain with devils, or Kelemvor may decide to throw her into the Lower Planes right away…Either way, she has a fair chance of other sentence than the Wall of the Faithless. But, it will be a grim fate, nevertheless.
- I… I don’t want to put her through this.
- Was Aribeth given a chance of another fate ? Are you willing to put Valsharess’ spiritual well-being, which she has thrown away long ago, over your desire to avenge your love ?
- I don’t even know if I can count on you !
- Do you have any choice ? Even should you be kept alive, Valsharess will be crushed eventually. You know so. And she will try to hamper your growth, to ensure she is the more powerful one, while I offer you an opportunity to become more powerful straight away. We’re each other’s best bet. And believe me… There’s nothing more I desire right now than freedom and Valsharess’ destruction. I will do whatever I can to ensure your success. And afterwards, I can be pretty… grateful.
- I… Need to do so. At least it seems that way. But… how can I ?
- It’s too late, Maenaz. You cannot consider your feelings and your humanity now. Actually, you threw away your humanity for Valsharess. You betrayed Waterdeep just like it happened with Neverwinter. You’re responsible for the slaughter of many drow who followed the Seer and even more innocent svirfneblin. You summoned fiends into this world to do so. You abandoned gods long ago. You abandoned your humanity already. You threw it all away, and it was for Valsharess. She owes you, for one. For another… Ask yourself. Can you not throw a single soul into damnation, if not for yourself, then for Aribeth ?


Maenaz went silent. It was all so fucked up, but…
At least killing Valsharess was being faithful to Aribeth.
And even if the fiend did nothing to further his revenge, he would be given a clean sheet. A chance to start anew.
Valsharess soul ?
It was probably as corrupted and worthless as Nasher’s. She threw it away long ago.
Let it rot. Unlike Aribeth, Sinvyl was…
Expendable ?
Maenaz closed his eyes and sighed.
Samael was right. He… was ceasing to be human. He instead started to become a drow.
Most drow ended badly, and this was his one and only chance to be something else.
His preferred option was vengeance incarnate.

- Very well. How do you intend to increase my power ?
- There are two things we can do about this. First in to ensure both you and Valsharess will be enhanced with my abilities. For that, we need to perform a certain ritual. It is, in fact, boring as hell, mostly consisting of endless meditation on my part. After exactly two hours, I will need your undivided attention for ten minutes. Afterwards, I will be able to use my special ability to enhance your physical or mental capabilities for a whole day. The drawback is that the ability is somewhat meant to be addictive – after twenty four hours, you will lose that boon and instead be drained of some of the same ability for another twenty four hours. Technically, I can keep applying the boon to you, but as I understand, this is not desired here. Other than this, there is one more advantage that I can give you. Just as Valsharess has access to my magical powers, being able to use spells she normally couldn’t, so can I give such an ability to you, however, unlike with her, I require time and will to do so. Therefore, I can supply you with abilities you may find useful as well as some I simply wish to limit her access to.
- And the other thing ?
- Well, I guess you have to do something during the two hours interval. You see, your eldritch blast, while well-developed, is far from it’s maximal power yet. You are ready for some serious improvement. Most warlocks reach it after many years of practice and meditation on their own abilities, however, your extraordinary potential has allowed to reach you the point where you should be able to do it. Also, I am not sure if this works the same way with your… Self-powered abilities. However, the crux of the matter is this : Warlocks use different kinds of energies. The one each of them has in abundance is used to form their base Eldritch Blasts. Another kind is used to cast invocations, and the last of the important ones is used to power up their vitality and regenerative abilities. In order to form special Eldritch Blasts, you use the force of both invocations and the one used to power Eldritch Blasts, though much more of the latter. The most experienced warlocks can use all three of the energies in an eldritch blast, though in different proportions. The addition of a small portion of the regenerative energy allows them to accumulate more invocation-related and eldritch energy into their blasts, which in turn produces incredibly destructive attacks. After some practice, they mix the three energies almost naturally and so quickly that it’s almost on whim.
- In short… I can fire more powerful blasts ?
- More than that, Maenaz. At your level of power, the difference will be… Amazing.
- But how exactly do I put the regenerative energy into an eldritch blast ? And how do I charge it more fully afterwards ?
- It’s a bit of an intuitive thing, but in short – when you use your regeneration, the life force stored normally starts to flow through your body and join with it. However, if you survive the battle, despite the fact that the force is restored to it’s theoretically “right” state by either the warlock’s accursed blood or his fiendish patron, there is usually an abundance of the life force that was released to heal you. That abundance rejoins the regenerating energy and allows you to re-use the ability soon after, though you draw upon it instinctively, and you probably never noticed it was there. What you need to learn to do is to cut off only that small abundance of energy, fragment it and send part back to it’s source to ensure your regeneration works normally, and use the rest as “ammunition” to give your eldritch blast the ability to contain more energy. The rest is a question of focus. In fact, I think you will find it relatively easy.
- And I have about two hours to learn that ?
- Yes. Plus whatever the time Valsharess takes to notice that my powers are sliding away from her grasp… and into yours.
- Won’t she notice right away ?
- I never used the ritual while bound. She won’t be able to recognize what I am doing. As for the power transfer thing… She will know, sure, but it will be too late.
- I believe we should start right away, then.


Maenaz concentrated and searched deep inside himself for the regenerative energy. He could easily grab hold of it…
But how the hell could he only use a portion of a portion of it ?
This would prove to be a long night, he felt.


Two hours later.


Maenaz nearly fully grasped the secrets of this new style of Eldritch Blasting, but it was time.
There was already some life in the camp and Maenaz was sure Valsharess would come soon.
Now, there were ten minutes needed to finish the ritual.
- This is going to temporarily connect our minds. There will be no mental conversations or such, but you may find it a bit strange for a moment. It will feel… like if you’re being watched, but you don’t know who is watching you.
- I don’t care, just finish this already. We have little time.
- Fair enough. Valsharess is awake. Do not resist, even instinctively. I don’t think we can afford to lose those two hours.
- It is odd enough already without you telling me about resisting and shit ! Are you done yet ?
- Just a moment longer…
- Hells, I can almost smell Sinvyl already… If you’re going to finish it, do it now !
- Not the patient kind, are we ?
- I’ve been practicing the same thing over and over again for two hours and now it can become useless if you don’t end it now !
- Very well. We’re almost finished. Come closer and reach out.
Maenaz did as asked. He was going to die anyway if this didn’t work.
An emerald light appeared in Samael’s palm. In a moment, it stretched in several places, forming an irregular shape – it resembled a tree’s crown, or maybe a star… Or maybe a writhing mass of tentacles, hard to tell. Samael reached out to him and he touched the strange light. It felt … Odd. His anticipation and anxiety were suddenly risen as his fingertips touched the fiend’s claws and, suddenly, this shape of light started to get absorbed into his skin.
He indeed felt like if he was watched, and moreover, he felt somehow… more powerful. Once the shape of light finished to crawl under his skin, it formed a clear pattern on his left forearm : Emerald-green vines surrounding a silver heart, which was in turn decorated by something that looked like three black tears… or drops of blood.
- What in the Demonweb Pits is going on here ??


Valsharess was fast approaching them now, accompanied by a single Red Sister, one of the guards he passed by when invisible, and one of the wizards who took part in Samael’s binding.
Of course, out of the four, only Valsharess mattered.
- Nothing much, Sinvyl. I was simply… Expanding my horizons, that’s all.
- You neither asked for a meeting with Samael nor were given permission. What were you two doing ? And why the hell I know nothing about it ?
- You see, I was discussing my future with your dearest pet. Turns out he’s got plenty of ideas about how to make a living, unfortunately, he often fails to include one’s mates in these plans. Once we ruled out living in the countryside, he proposed that I became a fisherman, but silly him, he forgot that drow now nothing about sea nor fishing ! Poor guy, you see, you never told him anything about your interests or what kind of housework can you do, so he couldn’t include you in his propositions.
- Maenaz… what the hell are you going on about ?
- Sinvyl… Where are we going ? What sort of end did you plan out for me, for us ? How do you plan to stop the surface’s retaliation to your ambitions ? When do you plan to realize mine ?
- Why are you asking me this now ? What did the fiend tell you ?
- Answer me.
- I am not wondering about any “ends”. You’re useful so far. With Samael’s power and the Triumvirate at my disposal, I think I can stop any retaliations, and I told you the Neverwinter was a matter of time !
- Is that all that you have to say ?
- Why do you worry so much about insignificant things ?
- Wrong, Matron Barit’tar. This is not insignificant. This is everything to me. Because it turns out that you can never replace someone who’s disappearance pushed me into throwing my lot with you. Because it turns out you’ll never even try, at least not in my eyes. Because it turns out I do not fucking care about world domination nor do I wish to stand here and wait until all the Harpers and the whole Lord’s Alliance decides they want our heads. No, Sinvyl. I have a purpose, and… You’re just distracting me from it.
- Am I supposed to understand that…
- Yes, drow. We’re through. As it turns out… You’re expendable. You’re not worth my distraction. I am tired of feeling that she will never forgive me if I let myself develop any feelings for you, if I try to build anything even remotely resembling what I wanted to share with her… with you. No matter where she is or if it is only I that holds any memories of her altogether, I find it hard to keep cheating on her willingly. I… need to get rid of you to get back my clarity of mind.
- So, this is an act of betrayal. How foolish.
- No, Valsharess. It’s simply… right.
- I feel stupid for giving you even a small shred of trust.
- Looking at your society, that would only get me killed in the end. I realized it is merely a question of who strikes first. I cannot submit to you enough that you would always remain satisfied, Sinvyl, you know this. And I cannot die until it is finished.
- You’re full of bullshit, that’s all. You’re as worthless as all rivvin males. And to think I thought of using your blood… Of making YOUR progeny my chief lieutenants…
- This world holds no place for such offspring, Sinvyl. With our blood, and with your sort of morality… You’d just unleash another menace. One perhaps worse than you and I combined. I’ve been letting you keep me and Samael as a fodder for your sick ambitions a bit too long. This world doesn’t need the two of us, Ilythiiri.
- A sentiment I begin to share, rivvin. But you’re forgetting something. You cannot win. Samael, kill this pathetic excuse for my Chosen.
- Of course, o great Valsharess. Because I went through all that trouble and wasted four hours on rituals JUST to kill the only being in hundred miles who can set me free.
- Four ?? – Maenaz was unsure if he heard correctly
- I do not care about your feelings in the matter, slave. Just kill him.
- You really are a dumb cunt. Let me spell it out for you. You’re the only one going down here. Well, unless you wish to take those stupid servitors of yours with you. I guess you really want someone else to die, so let me make this easier…
Samael waved his hand towards the Empress’ servitors, and both the Red Sister and the mage suddenly fell down, writhing in pain. Before they regained control of themselves, they met their end. While Valsharess recognized the movement and what to do, the guard did not, and neither the wizard nor the Red Sister had any time to react as an Eldritch Doom was fired, finishing them off in one swoop.
Valsharess was clearly shocked that the fiend was able to resist her commands, but did not intend to simply go down. No, she wanted to kill the human who dared to defy her and to force the ancient fiend into submission before taking his power as her own.

|||||||

- Now you’ve really done it, Maenaz. I do not know how is Samael able to resist my commands, nor why did you decide to make a misplaced attempt at giving freedom to both yourself and the Baatorian, but you’ve really, really angered me.
- To be honest, I do no longer give a shit about how you feel.
- Very well. Let us end this.

Valsharess concentrated and apparently wanted to try and use a power, but found herself unable to. Meaning it was one of the powers that the fiend lend to him.
- Oh, I am so sorry. It would appear that our hellish power supplier is out of stock at the time. Let me use that ability for you.
He instinctively knew that the symbols of droplets and the silver heart were protective spells, but he had no idea about the vines – they seemed somewhat eerie, disturbing. Well, surely, he would prefer to save something like this for later.
He touched one of the black droplets and invoked the power, suddenly feeling similar to when he used the Utterdark blast. A mixture of black haze and deep, purple light enveloped his body, and he used the moment to focus energy into his right hand, throwing a sideways ray at the former drow matron. Valsharess dodged at the last moment, but was left untouched and managed to recompose herself.
- That’s actually my strategy. I often use Unholy Aura in the beginning.
- You built a whole strategy based on a power you gain from another being ? I don’t know whether to congratulate you on your cunning or to pity your strong reliance on him.
- Dead men don’t make such difficult choices.
- And they don’t have to listen to megalomaniac women whining. Truly, I envy them. Hope you meet someone nice once I send you to meet the group.
- I believe you are being arrogant, dear.

Well, it only made sense that Valsharess had at least a faint idea of what elements he was strong against, so he expected no less of her than to fire an electricity spell. Scintillating Sphere, or whatever the name for the electric version of a Fireball was.
He moved in time to avoid the impact of the main blast, but he was nowhere near quick enough to avoid the damage altogether. Immediately afterwards he tried to hit her with his blast, but she was someplace else just before he even fired.
Of course, these quickening spells COULD be pretty annoying.
Maenaz was just using his dark foresight as he was immediately struck by a barrage of magic missiles, and he decided it was no time to simply stand about and get his ass kicked. Valsharess probably wasn’t serious yet, but if he could get any additional protection, he should.
Touching the silver heart, he unlocked another power, this one filling him with stronger vitality and stamina. The Endurance spell ? Probably.
In the meantime, Valsharess was probably doing exactly the same thing. Preparing herself. Only that she took less time around it. In a moment, he experienced the old and good Flame Strike.
As expected, Valsharess made use of both arcane and divine spells. He did not suspect her to use something she could get from Samael too quickly, especially if it was a strong ability, but he had to be prepared as well.
Detecting her movement, he immediately fired a blast in that direction, followed by another blast right after she dodged, this one striking it’s mark. She answered with a series of Flame Arrows – apparently, she wasn’t as much prepared to battle him as she would prefer.
Still, quickening herself and trying to bombard him from the sides was a pretty good strategy for the beginning. If only he couldn’t predict where she was going.
Maenaz quickly put a wall of flames in her way, following up with an Eldritch Doom that was apparently at least partially accurate. He did not want to give her any time to recover and immediately rushed to her, acknowledging the fact that she would put a blade barrier on his way but predicting it would be too late to do any significant damage.
As usual, he was right and upon her in just a moment, slashing her with Enserric repeatedly. Before he could gain momentum, she unleashed another arcane spell –Fireburst, which she immediately followed by striking with her whip and accumulating negative energy in her left hand. He dodged in the last moment and tried to go straight for a decapitation, but her reflex was sharp enough. She nearly gained an upper hand – firing a Lighting Bolt straight into his stomach from this distance would certainly help, but she was at a disadvantage. Not only did he predict the move and nearly managed to dodge, the attack itself was seemingly weakened by his aura, leaving him largely unfazed.

Valsharess followed with a cold-element spell, and Maenaz decided that she was just in the right position to get her pretty body blasted away into dust. Both did as planned – Maenaz was struck by Hypothermia while Valsharess found her strength and mass to be insufficient to stay in place after a powerful blast from Maenaz.
The warlock then decided to use his newfound ability and check if the Empress could stand up after his powered-up Eldritch Blast. He focused, putting as much energy into it as he could with the whole complicated ritual about mixing the forces he used.
Valsharess was quicker, firing Scorching Rays just into his blast’s trajectory, and before they struck, he was finished.
The fiery beams were relatively powerless against his newfound ability, and while they weakened the blast, Valsharess must still have felt it when it struck her.
But that wasn’t it, he knew. The blast was getting stronger, but the difference wasn’t great. Something was amiss, that new ability… wasn’t complete. Not yet.
He considered and hesitated just for a moment, but it was enough for Valsharess, who immediately unleashed another spell. He was immediately surrounded by a mass of sinous, thick strands of flesh, as he recognized Evard’s Black Tentacles. They struck out, and Valsharess was probably healing herself in the meantime.
Before he managed to get out of the spell’s area, he was struck by a couple of the tentacles and was a target for another Missile Storm. He used his invocation to consume the magical energy from the tentacles, regenerating some of his own vitality, and fired another blast towards Valsharess. Her dodge placed her in a wall of flames, and as she tried to move further, she was met by his blade.


This time, the warlock’s attacks were too quick, and before she managed to find a way of getting out from her defensive position he shoved an acidic blast straight into her stomach. Valsharess growled in pain, but was silenced by an elbow strike from her former lover. Another slash through her body and a look at her condition confirmed that she was under the effect of a regenerating spell, but the momentum was by far on the warlock’s side. Kicking her away, he gathered energy in his right hand and fired his strengthened blast into her wounded body, sending her a few feet away.
He was… satisfied. No part of his body or mind protested, there was not so much as a twinge of guilt or mercy as he was getting further and further on the way of sending her into the other world. Just as he rushed to try and finish what he started, he was met something he did not expect.
Valsharess almost immediately breathed out a cone of mist filled with acidic droplets. Mestil’s Acid Breath ? It seemed so, but it was slightly stronger than he expected, and slightly… too sudden. She did not cast it as a spell – she was drawing on Samael’s abilities already.
She lashed out with the Hammer of the Gods, causing him to pull away, and fired another lighting bolt before separating them with a Blade Barrier. It was not truly an attack attempt – she was trying to put some distance between them.
And he soon knew why. When she finished casting the spell, part of the damage on her was gone, but another spell she started casting was definitely not a healing spell.
Maenaz quickly got out a minor healing potion and drank it, smashing the bottle as he started to accumulate eldritch energy for another blast. This time, he tried to power it up as far as he could, but remained unsatisfied with the result. If even an archfiend noted him of this ability, shouldn’t it be somewhat mightier ?
Just as he was about to fire, he looked at what sort of spell did Valsharess use, and he was…
Well, sort of amazed.
Valsharess was a relatively small woman, like most elves. Below five and a half feet tall and rather light, she wasn’t as physically imposing as some masters of evil were.
Well, she wasn’t usually.
Because after using this spell, she grew to about Samael’s height, if not greater, and her body ripped with more muscle than before.
Well, it made sense clerics were able to do things like that. It was just… disturbing, to him. That she could simply grow to be so much bigger than him.

He blasted the now-bigger Valsharess, only to find out that now she could stand after the attack. She started to run towards him, but just as he was to put a wall of flames between them, she instead pointed at him, a shadow appearing on her palm and forming a strange shape.
A claw ?
The shape fired itself against him immediately, gaining size and velocity as it flew. Maenaz moved back in the last moment and attempted to dodge, the claw hitting him above his hip… But, moments ago, it was where his throat would have been. Also, Valsharess wasted no time and lashed with her whip, the exotic weapon tearing at his flesh and leaving an unpleasant, burning sensation. The warlock thrust Enserric into the drow’s abdomen, but found her armor and hardened skin to be quite a defense this time. Valsharess kicked him and released three fiery rays at him, damaging him further. He blasted her and dodged another whiplash, cutting her thigh with Enserric and putting a wall of flames under her, just as he started to run and prepare another Eldritch Blast.
She rushed after him and whipped his legs, the quickening effect just dissipating just a moment after. Before he got up, Valsharess charged up negative energy and unleashed a major Inflict Wounds spell, the warlock groaning in pain before turning around and firing a Beshadowed Blast straight into her face. Extending his leg, he swept her off her stance and, as she fell, put another wall of flames straight beneath her. The movement was finished by stabbing her with Enserric just before she regained her sight.

Saying Valsharess was furious was an understatement, and it was enough to cloud her judgment so she would use a Flame Strike with herself still in range. Maenaz backed away and just as she rose, blasted her. Valsharess kicked and whipped at him until he was up against a wall, and then charged the Harm spell, hoping to finish him off. Just as she hit him, she herself was powerfully blasted by the warlock’s Eldritch Doom, his own wounds already healing from his activation of his regenerative abilities. Valsharess unleashed a Fireburst and decided it was time to finish this, rising to her full height and casing another spell. It was another regeneration-based ability, but this time, it seemed to be just a set-up for something entirely else.
Valsharess picked up one of the many bones that lied about the place and prepared yet another spell, the bone twisting and elongating until a whole, elegant if creepy, sword was present in Valsharess’ extended hand. Before Maenaz made a move, however, she breathed out another cone of acid, and then she pulled out a scroll. She used it immediately, and Maenaz realized what the purpose was.
Well, since the amount of spells and abilities she could draw from Samael was limited, changing herself into the ultimate killing machine seemed like a good idea. Her earlier buffs probably already enhanced her fighting ability – now, she gained regeneration. The increase in size gave her an obvious advantage of strength, but it was only now, truly, that he understood just how powerful in melee Valsharess could make herself become.
Tenser’s Transformation coupled with whatever sort of divine power she used before gave her probably close to eight feet in height, and her body was a mix of athletic and muscle-bound, forming a sight tasteful if far less pretty than her usual form.

Maenaz knew he was about to get his ass kicked, but he also had a surprise for her.
Activating his unholy aura once again, he blasted the giant woman charging at him, and dodged her first strike with the impressive bony blade. The lash of her whip was stopped by a timely intervention with Enserric, but he underestimated her strength and the blade was easily pulled away from him. Valsharess charged, pushing him away and slashing with her blade. He couldn’t help but notice that this was more than a simple sword made of bone – just before the blade struck, he could swear that it shifted, forming miniature claws along it’s surface as if trying to draw more blood, and during the cut he could notice that the sword was quickly getting eerily cold, like when he was struck by negative energy, for example. He wasted no time, blasting her with the Beshadowed blast and dashing for his sword. He was fast enough, but that was of little use – Sinvyl immediately re-engaged him and continued to push him into defense. If not for his reflex, regeneration and protection given by the aura, he would probably be bleeding out by this moment.
He dodged another strike, but was immediately struck by another acidic attack she had – a Vitriolic Sphere. Apparently, she couldn’t use her own spells while in this fully transformed state due to the nature of Tenser’s transformation, but she could still draw upon Samael’s powers.
He found the fiend’s taste in acidic abilities incredibly painful and annoying, if a bit to his advantage, as, unlike with electricity, he had a natural resistance to acid spells.


Afterwards, Valsharess smashed her whole weight into him with a shoulder-charge, and lashed him with her whip, the burning sensation covering more and more of his body. She continued by stabbing him with her blade, and this time, he was sure of two things.
The blade was a sadistic instrument that was shifting to be more damaging just as it hit.
And he was losing.
He had to pull out his plan – as well as all abilities he had – now, otherwise this whole thing would prove useless. As Sinvyl pulled her blade out, smirking, he clutched his damaged side. The regeneration was still working… But for how long ??
- Well, I suppose that you did not expect your sensual and smooth-skinned Sinvyl packed such a punch, did you now, you useless prick ? I am disgusted by both of us when I think now that I could simply squash the life out of you whenever you tried to make use of your pathetic skills in bed. Whenever you tried to satisfy yourself with *my* body. I wish I did, at least I wouldn’t have to watch your pathetic attempts at defense now.
- Well, excuse me of taking advantage of the fact that you were a whore, Empress. I do suppose you would have a better chance of taking control over the surface by selling your body if not for you binding that fiend, wouldn’t you ? Oh, actually… that’s still true.
- You’re a fool. I am about to kill you, and yet you still try to prove something. To whom ? The best you could ever be is my slave, licking at my feet when I sat upon my throne. If I am even unfit to conquer the surface, then how lowly a creature does that make you ?
- I guess… You wouldn’t understand. Just as… you don’t understand anything right now. Xa'huuli nek.
- You’re the worthless one ! Die !
And she swung the blade.

[“ Idiot, this is no place to hesitate. You made a choice, now stick with it ! This is the last shot you’re getting. This is the exact moment you should do this ! This is the moment she dies !!” ]

Maenaz blocked the larger sword with Enserric, the bony surface already shifting to some sadistic shape as it was about to bury itself in his flesh. He withstood the impact and stopped her swung, before looking up and lifting his hand. Eldritch energy swirled in his palm, and it was ready to be fired.
- Your pathetic blasts are nothing. They may be stronger than Phaere’s, but against me, they’re useless. Just as any little power you gained from that fiend will be useless. I will conquer the surface, even without the pathetic excuse for “power” you possess in comparison to me.
- You do not understand. This fiend helped you summon an army that right now is slaughtering these who are truly loyal to you. You’re the one who relies on him to get power, I simply slightly evened the field. And… You will be the one who dies. Because even if my “pathetic blasts” were “nothing” before… I have a surprise for you now.
- Just shut up and die.
- My sentiments exactly.
Maenaz then charged the blast to the very best of his abilities, but knew that might not be enough. Therefore, he concentrated. He felt this regenerative bursts that kept healing him despite his heavy wounds, and he grasped them… shredded pieces delicately, and added them to the accumulating mass of energy in his right hand…
He kept concentrating and, just a moment after, his energy filled hand started to shake from the strain as the swirling energy intensified. Valsharess’ eyes widened, as the dust under their feet started to rise, and the three his hand was nearby started to get cracks in it. The power continued to focus and intensify, and soon after, he realized that *this* was what the fiend tried to teach him all along for these last few hours, *this* was the power his blasts were supposed to carry.

He felt oddly pleased to fire it straight into her stomach. She practically yelled from pain as the blast damaged her armor, burned her stomach and threw her away.
He wasn’t finished. No, he spoke another invocation, and he reached out to the mass of magical energies that filled her normally small body.
- Powering yourself up like that against me is a tactical idiocy.
And he drew that power in. Whatever the reason, for somebody of Valsharess’ might it seemed surprisingly easy. Her body begun to shrunk as his own vitality was temporarily restored by the magical energies he consumed, the amount of spells on her nearly overwhelming him.
And then, he decided that it would be suitable to end this fight with something flashy and dramatic.
And preferably painful.
A pillar of green light appeared over Valsharess’ body. The pillar widened and intensified as drops of some liquid appeared in it. Valsharess could feel it, and looked upwards to check what was wrong.
Only to meet eye to eye with an appearing flood of incredibly potent and energy-charged acid.
Maenaz found hearing her scream almost intoxicating.


This dark shape flew at him once again, and this time, tore it’s way quite deep into his chest, drawing blood and damaging one of his ribs.
Of course, he should have known Valsharess wouldn’t go down so easily. He fought people smaller than her who refused to roll over and die, so why she would ?
Still, the newest blast was impressive. When he started to grasp how to infuse his blast with another of his powers to reinforce it further, he noticed that this, in time, could indeed provide some good results. But he did not expect THAT kind of power. Devastating.
He rushed to Valsharess, not wanting to give her much time to heal. She already finished casting one curing spell on herself, and was prepared to meet him strike for strike once again. Her whip was about to bite him, but this time, he both successfully blocked and resisted her attempt to disarm him. He instead pulled her closer and headbutted her, proceeding to kick her and strike her with the pommel of his sword, She breathed out another cone of acid and punched him, proceeding to charge her hands with electricity and grab him.
Maenaz pushed her away and slashed with Enserric, finishing the combination with another blast. Valsharess answered with a Vitriolic Sphere and, as he closed in to continue the onslaught, surrounded herself with a Blade Barrier. Maenaz indeed felt the bite of the many blades, but she was about to get the worse side of it, as he charged his maximal strength blast in his hand, preparing to fire it.
Valsharess also had an asset of her own, however, and while he was sure what she cast was a simple negative energy spell, in truth it was something entirely else.
He stupidly let the drow touch him as he blasted her, the energy sending her away but just as the contact broke, he felt terrifying pain in his entire body as blood bursted forth from him, leaving open, burning wounds in several places.
He fell down and rolled over, screaming in pain.
Valsharess wasted no time, casting a Heal over herself and generating another powerful ball of lighting, firing it into her former lover who still lied on the ground, trying to recover.
Maenaz felt his regeneration attempting to heal his terrible wounds and actually succeeding, but the attack’s effect drained the power entirely, meaning that his current amount of vitality was all he had until Valsharess was beaten.
And he wasn’t going to waste it. Valsharess was immediately struck from above, a powerful Eldritch Doom rising dust and breaking into the ground. Maenaz rose to his feet, and spoke.
- Samael… What does the last symbol do ?
- I thought you’d never asks. Well, use it when you deem it necessary. It’ll… hurt her. It’ll hurt her a lot.
Valsharess unleashed another barrage of magic missiles, to which Maenaz responded with one of his powered-up Eldritch Blasts, and rushed over to her side. She was already casting another spell and by the looks of it, it was one of those he knew nothing about. So, he stopped, and put a wall of flames right under Valsharess. He then started to accumulate another blast, and finally saw the result of her spell – Valsharess held another weapon. This one was a long, black shape, composed seemingly of smoke and dreadful, black and red bolts of lighting.


Not particularly caring, he fired the blast, but it was easily dodged. Valsharess rushed towards him, clearly intent on disarming him with her whip, but Maenaz dodged, kicking her to the side and preparing another blast.
Then, she struck him with this… Shape. She wielded it like a spear, but…
He couldn’t recall any weapon ever hurting him like that. He could *feel* the malice and dark energy pouring into the wound, causing him both pain and giving him a terrible realization that this wound was *incredibly* dangerous and just as incredibly hard to heal. He had to finish it quickly and avoid contact with this “spear”. A very quick move, he run her through with Enserric, then blasting her chest and twisting the blade inside her.
As expected, Enserric’s life-draining abilities could *not* heal this wound.
[ “ What the fuck is this ? “]
He twisted the blade inside her and pulled out, kicking her away and sending another blast into her body, making her fly away several meters. She lashed with her whip and fired another one of those dark, claw-like shapes at him. This time, he dodged, and decided it was time to end this. He touched the symbol resembling vines, and invoked their power.
The shape changed, twisted, and started gleaming slightly. Then, it burst out in flame, but Maenaz felt no heat. Valsharess fired some Flame Arrows on him, but he simply stared fascinated as the flames crawled up on his skin towards his fingers and then, they slowly died out, emitting a small, emerald star-like light that hovered just over his palm.

Silver and green flames suddenly erupted and consumed the light, nearly covering his entire hand but dealing him no damage. He recognized the “spell” upon this final effect, even though the colors might have seemed odd.
Destruction.
Hell, after getting struck by it several times in his lifetime, he was finally going to hit someone else with it.
He was delighted. Ecstatic, even.
Valsharess, on the other hand, seemed more like “terrified”.

Maenaz rushed towards her and she dodged in the last moment, jumping next to his extending hand and landing behind him. He felt something stab him in the back and then he felt a strong discharge of energy into his body, This wound was even worse than the one before, but to his satisfaction, the strange, spear-like energy disappeared moments after.
Maenaz responded to Sinvyl’s action by repeating it, throwing Enserric at the drow. She dodged, the blade just slightly cutting her skin, but she jumped straight into a wall of flames.
She started casting a spell, an action she tried to make quicker when she looked up at Maenaz.
And noticed the light in his eyes.
The worst thing was, that he was already charging on her, so she was between his wall of flames, his Destruction power, and his Eldritch Doom all at once.
She finished casting the spell and quickly used another, charging a Lighting Bolt and trying to fire it before Maenaz reached her.

He extended his arm just before the lighting flew out, and he could feel the discharging electricity tickle him, then causing some damage to his arm as he broke through the spell’s impact and into Sinvyl’s body.
And these supernaturaly flames on his hand swirled, extended wildly and engulfed the drow, who yelped with fear before yelling in pain.

[“ Damn, this feels GOOD !”]

He immediately pulled his hand back, summoning forth the Eldritch Doom with the pair right at the edge of the effect.
- Goodbye, Sinvyl. See you in the Wall.
He heard some disturbing sound from her, but it was drowned out by the blast’s sound.





Maenaz looked at the body he once desired so much, analyzing carefully how much damage did he deal.
And, my, was he proud of himself. Her body was scorched and burned so much it partially turned to ash, and the blast afterwards destroyed most of her armor and left her body twisted on the ground, her spine probably broken.
He started to realize that something was wrong. He suddenly felt *sickened* with himself. Somewhere in the middle of the battle… he started to enjoy himself. He started to desire to be caused pain by Valsharess and give it back to her tenfold.

And how sick did it make him that he got excited because he was able to use the super-obliterating spell which was quite suited to the name “destruction” against the woman he was afraid he was starting to love.
Damn, was he bad. Evil, even.
Turning away from the scorched corpse, he walked towards Samael.
- I believe this seals our deal, now, as to my Wish…
- I believe this seals nothing, Maenaz.
- I though you would try to fool me. And you spoke about a ritual that lasted four hours… what about the remaining two ?
- You misunderstand. Matron Barit’tar is alive.
- You gotta be shitting me.

He turned away, only to see a pretty creepy… dreadful scene. The broken body of Valsharess shifted on the ground and started to get up on the one remaining leg, terrible sounds coming out from it as the spine and the leg started to grow back together and set her body to the original version. A bony growth spurted out from her shoulder, slowly being covered up by the scorched flesh as she slowly regained her hand.
Valsharess’ jaws suddenly opened, giving him a rather grim visage of her skull and something pulsing inside her throat, as suddenly her tongue…
It lashed out and extended. Almost twenty feet.
And the worst thing, he was *bitten* by it.
Looking down, he saw the tongue change it’s color mid-way, and then thicken, get covered by scales…
And end in a snake head.
Fuck, this woman was disgusting. Another trick he was glad he did not see in bed.

The tongue then severed itself in half, the snake that bit him starting to rot rapidly. Another snake erupted from Valsharess’ mouth and grabbed one of the bones on the ground, returning to her mouth. She took the bone and spit out a mass of rotting flesh, before her other leg regenerated and she finally managed to stand on both her feet.
She cast a spell, healing her freshly-regenerated body some more, and then another, changing the bone in her hand into this creepy bone blade she had back when she was rapidly growing and hit eight feet tall.
After she ceased to regenerate and her healing spell took the full effect, Valsharess was still a wreck. Her body was heavily burnt, and only half of her face regenerated to the original state, the other half left a mess consisting of blood-coated muscles, ash, and uncovered bone.

Fuck, this woman really was digusting.
- You two… really gave me a scare. For a moment, I thought I was a goner.
- Well, Sinvyl, normal people usually either manage to avoid getting fully consumed by Destruction or die from it. You… recovered from it, which is unusual to say the least.
- I’d probably die if it wasn’t for the power I gained from the fiend… And the small amount of his essence I already possess. It also took the full power of my regeneration spell.
- Or maybe you were lucky.
- Did you consider the last possibility ?
- What last possibility ?
- Maybe I was already pregnant. With your child, that is. Maybe the spell targeted the CHILD instead of me. I have to say, that sounds plausible.
- ……
- How do you feel, killing your own offspring ?
- You know, Matron Barit’tar, there were many moments I desired you… There were moments I thought I was starting to care about you. But now I know… you simply disgust me.
- Still… You have no weapon. And I’m far from done.
She charged him, with Maenaz trying to stop her with a blast. It was not a successful attempt – she dodged and then, another snake fired from her mouth, biting his arm and pulling him, just as she closed the whole distance and stabbed him with this strange, blood-hungry weapon she created.
Maenaz struck her with his elbow and kicked her away, but she charged her hand with negative energy and cast an Inflict Wounds spell. He fired an acidic cone from close-range, which served to worsen her condition further, but the drow refused to give up, slashing and thrusting in a furious rage.
Maenaz fired up the last of his Unholy Auras and headbutted her, grabbing her and throwing her straight into a wall of flames he created. She responded with a Hypothermia spell and quickly rose to her feet, attacking him again.
Maenaz took another two blows before waiting and shoving another blast straight into her body. She withstood it and kicked him in retaliation, grabbing her blade with both hands and giving him a grevious chest wound with another blow.

But before she regained her balance and pulled the blade away, he grabbed her hand. And she screamed.
Moment later, Valsharess’ palm was separated from her arm, acid dripping on the floor from it’s end, and Maenaz kicked her away, claiming the bone blade and her hand for himself. He grabbed the sword by the blade, which initially tried to wound him, but once he pulled her hand off and grabbed the pommel, he realized the blade had little to no intelligence of it’s own and he could use it as a weapon.
Valsharess tried to cast another spell, but was interrupted as Maenaz shoved her own blade into her stomach, running her through and pushing the sword in until only the pommel was outside.
Eldritch energy swirled in his hand, and Maenaz smirked.

- I’d kiss you goodnight, but you’re too much of an ugly bitch right now.
Blasting her away, Maenaz knew how to finish her off. She may have survived Destruction, but that probably took all she had. She was spent, almost at her end. The only thing that could have saved her now was Samael, and he was on his side.
As was his own darkness.
Maenaz heightened the desire to murder his former lover to sickening levels as darkness crept all over his eyes, and a strange symbol flashed over his forehead.
- Wait, stop ! I can…
- Your fate is sealed, Sinvyl. Send Kelemvor my regards.
A terrifying black mist filled with dreadful red stars came down on Valsharess, the feeling of terror and murderous intent as well as the mist’s size greater than ever as it consumed the drow female.
He expected her to scream. She didn’t. She just… Sighed.
And that was all. For a moment, the silence was terrible, but then there was a terrible, thunderous sound behind him as the place were Samael’s sealing circle was exploded, and the fiend himself hissed and stretched his wings as an evil energy pulsed around him, and the strange sensation his mere presence provoked heightened.


In just a moment, the fiend took to the skies, a great leap supported by stretched-out wings, and landed right next to him.
Samael breathed out a cone of acid as soon as Valsharess’ ravaged corpse became visible, and then rose to full height, standing right next to him. Maenaz felt the archfiend’s eyes drill through him, and he mentally berated himself for feeling scared a fourth time since he “became a hero” thanks to his defeat of Desther.
He turned to face the fiend. His state did not improve in the slightest, but the fiend’s presence was somehow more tangible, he was able to *sense* how heavy and jaded the atmosphere became in his presence.
Well, maybe “it’s” presence was more suitable. He did not think Samael was at a level in which he should be attributed a gender.
- She is dead. The drow matron, the one who claimed to enslave me, died of your hands.
- Thanks for stating the obvious. I feel somehow… pressed to remind you of our deal.
- Deal ? Did we sign something ?


Maenaz sighed. He… expected that. Since the beginning.
- Fine, fine. I already guessed that there will be no wish for me. But, you did promise no harm will come to me.
- I do remember doing that. Though, I am indeed curious as to your definition of “harm”. You allowed a fiend to accomplish a ritual you knew nothing about just to release yourself from a woman that fulfilled your sexual desires and may or may not have prevented you from attaining your revenge. The latter being the more plausible version, but…
- You’re philosophizing, or should I feel threatened ?
- I merely wonder as to how much you are willing to risk to get revenge for that woman. Technically, you consorted with a high-ranking fiend. To many people, that means risking their very afterlife.
- I am capable of putting pretty much on the line, yes. However, you’re a devil. You promised not to cause me harm after the whole ordeal, so isn’t that lessening the risk ?
- Oh, but you do not know two things. First, I accomplished two full two-hour rituals since we left Underdark. One was for you… and the other was for the wizards that bound me. It was the very same ritual, and it involves the same advantages and disadvantages. Also… It was not necessary for me to accomplish it in order to give you ALL of the advantages for the battle I did. Just some of them.
- Great. And here comes that terrible, ugly truth, something which will change my perspective on what I just did, shatter me to my core.
- Indeed. You see, Maenaz… I am not a devil. No more. And currently, I am neither more or less a devil than I was at the time of my creation. I wasn’t born a Baatezu… I was merely, for a time, counted among their ranks. I do put some value on my vows, but, you see, I need to calculate what is more profitable to me.
- I do not like the sound of this.
- You see, Maenaz, you’re… Powerful. And talented. And relatively cunning. Moreover, you’re an atheist, and, well… Evil has already touched your soul. As such… You’re too valuable for me to simply let you go.
- Valuable ? Let me go ? What the hell do you want from me ?!
- Oh, do not worry. I won’t kill you and drain away your soul or some stupid myths like that. In fact, you’re far more valuable to me alive and unharmed. However, I believe I must confess that I have certain designs on your independence… Ones that I have already started.
- What do you mean ?
- The reason you were feeling watched after my ritual was because you ARE watched. As long as we are on the same plane of existence, I can track you down. And I can cause you intense pain… like with the Red Sister, and that wizard. When I was a Lord of Baator, this ability was so developed that I could kill mortals bonded to me in that way by strength of will.
- You… tricked me ?
- Not fully. It was necessary for me to do this in order to pass onto you the ability to use Unholy Aura and Destruction. If Valsharess had these, you might have lost.
- I demand you sever that bond.
- Why would I ? You undertook the ritual willingly. You knew the benefits, and you did not care about the consequences. Also, the ritual is permament. You’d only be free if you died and were revived, a deity released you with it’s own power, or maybe a carefully used Wish could free you… But I have no intention of trying to do so ?
- What do you want from me ?!
- Oh, you’re so defensive. We’re accomplices now, right ? We killed the evil drow empress and stopped the drow’s hopes for conquering the surface. In a sense we’re both the villains and the heroes. Moreover, during this ordeal we developed a very interesting bond which happens to be a blasphemy to gods, but I do not think you care.
- So… you wanted my soul ?
- Oh, you misunderstand. Your soul is still your own. Technically you can repent, choose a deity and still get a happy afterlife. The question is, will you really want to once we’re done. What I want from you now is a bit of companionship.
- You gotta be shitting me.
- Sounds too easy, doesn’t it ? The catch is… I think I’ve grown so attached to you, I am taking you home.


Maenaz eyes widened.
[“ Home ??
And just where does this sicko leave ?
I mean, being a former archfiend…
…Oh no. “]

- No. I refuse. I will not let you…
- I told you that your independence is somewhat compromised.
- No ! Die !
Maenaz quickly charged a blast and fired it into the fiend, who seemingly felt the blow but did not change his expression. Suddenly, Maenaz felt a terrible, wracking pain that made moving difficult.
- I feel deeply hurt by your refusal to keep me company, if not by your eldritch blast.
- Listen, I am not going to…
- You already did. And you’re going to continue doing it. No questions.

The fiend approached him and lifted him off the ground, stretching his wings and whispering something. He then made some signs in the air with his free hand and pointed at the place of his former prison. In the circle, suddenly, a light appeared, and it started expanding, taking shape…
[“ A portal. Fuck.” ]
- I refuse ! Don’t drag me along with you,
- You whine like a bitch. All mortals do. But I do believe you may leave my place rather satisfied. I am a good host like that.

Maenaz then heard it at last. The screams of the dark elves, barely at the edge of hearing. The grunts of fiends.
Well, he murdered the svirfneblin, destroyed the “good” drow rebellion… And now he sent the over-ambitious drow following Valsharess to their doom.
As far as bringing death upon people went, his record seemed pretty good.
But he did not wish to literally go to Hell yet. As a matter of fact, he knew he’d never want it.
And yet, he was being taken there. Unsurprisingly, a tall figure with horns and bat-like wings was involved.
Just like the in the tales old ladies in his village relayed to children.
Fuck. Maybe he should have listened then.
Everything went blurred as they stepped into the portal.


Maenaz knew he was someplace terrible when Samael threw him on the strangely castle-like looking floor in the place that was behind the portal.
One look around confirmed it. The place was rather dark, and he was surrounded…
Fuck, he did not even know what three quarters of these creatures were. Some seemed to be devils, but many, many others he could not relate to anything he ever saw.
Except there were those dogs. Oh yes, he remembered those.
One of the more wretched-looking fiends immediately jumped at him, his jaws opened, only to be send into the wall by a kick from…
Samael himself.
- Did I allow any of you to take any action related to the mortal whatsoever ?
- No, master. He simply… was an idiot.
- My sentiments exactly. I leave for some time and that’s what I see when I return. The mortal is not to be touched until said otherwise. Consider him… my guest.
A fiend similar to the one that immediately pounced upon him spoke.
- But he looks… so tasty…
- If you touch him, you’ll be the one who will become the meal. Now, what is going on here ? Why haven’t I been properly greeted ? Who remodeled this chamber ? And what was going on here while I was gone ? Also… Maleficus. Somebody bring me Maleficus.


The fiends looked at each other, until, finally, one of them spoke. Maenaz recognized that this one was a devil, a Cornugon. He did not actually see any devils above the Cornugon status in this room. He believed at least half of the creatures in this room were not devils, but… something else.
- Master, I believe we should warn you. The truth is… while you were gone, the remaining high personages of the Gate… some of them fought for control. And while Morax was out doing whatever assignments you left him before you left… Fenexia murdered Acanthophis, and forced the remaining members of the Seven into submission or, at the very least, acceptance of her “leadership”. Morax was denied entrance to the Gate, and in fact some of Fenexia’s fanatics tried to drive him away forcefully.
- And with Morax away, everybody else either got beaten or thought it was no big deal. Of course. What about Maleficus ?
- Fenexia… she dared to…
- Damn that bitch. I really didn’t think she’d have the guts to… Well, the Fallen are that way. Should have learned never to put one in position of authority again.

Maenaz couldn’t resist speaking out what he thought out loud.
- I do not know what in the Nine Hells is going on here, but I do believe I should be in the position to not give a shit. Unfortunately… Samael, why the hell did you…

The cornugon immediately threw his chain at him and bound him tightly. Wounded and tired, Maenaz realized he couldn’t beat one higher-ranking fiend, not to mention the whole bunch of them.
- I do not know why you were brought here, but in the Gate, you call *him* Master, at the very least. Lord Samael is preferable. And we’re not in the Nine Hells, fool.
- I appreciate the loyalty, but as I said, he is to be left unmolested. I brought him here for some… education purposes.
- Education ? What the fuck do you mean, education ?
- Tell me, Maenaz… Would you like to spend some quality time alone with my friends in this chamber ?
Maenaz blinked. What the…
- I guessed so. The alternative is simple. Follow me until I take care of the mess my locators left in my home.
- You owe me an explanation.
- I owe you nothing. If you prove your intelligence by following me, then I’ll judge you as someone who deserves one.


Maenaz was more than smart enough to do as asked. The placed… It was apparently a fortress, but one that definitely suggested that a fiend lived in there. There were pools in some chambers… but most where filled with either blood, or disturbing, brightly green or yellow liquids that were probably *unhealthy* for humanoids. The walls were sometimes decorated with elaborate runes and symbols, and sometimes with carvings of serpents and rarely, other reptiles.
The place was referred to by the fiends as “the Gate”, but to Maenaz it seemed more like a fucking stronghold with a religious motif involved.
Finally, they entered some giant room. The place had a throne, and upon the throne, a strange, feminine figure sat.
The woman had pale golden skin and shining red eyes, and her head was covered by a mix of short-cut hair and small, bony plates. She was about as tall as Samael himself, and her relatively unnormal visage was completely elevated to “supernatural” by a pair of dark red wings on her back.
- Fenexia, dear, I have heard that you were kind enough to assume command and attempt to bring a new order to the Gate while I was gone. How nice of you. However, there was also a certain bad thing involved, and I believe you earned yourself a punishment. But do not worry, at worst, you’ll be spanked. The good news is, ripping off your wings and plucking out your eyes before bathing you in the blood of your followers and serving me your head as a dish is far more probable.
- Samael. I actually believed you were gone for good… Though it is visible that you’ve seen some better times. I do not particularly care… I guessed I’d have to kill an archfiend to keep control over this place anyway.
- I am so proud of you. You’ve grown arrogant enough to think you’re capable of killing true archfiends. Truly, a Fallen Planetar in all it’s glory.
- It is not arrogance, merely careful assessment of the situation. Samael, you’ve been out of here for a long time. I brought a new order, and many of your former servants are now loyal to me. I’ve grown more powerful, while you were exploited by whoever summoned you and you’re drained. Also, you do not possess your weapon of choice… which unfortunately I am still unable to fully control.
- You do know what is the usual penalty for touching Maleficus without my permission ?
- I was actually thinking about shoving your blade up your ass and seeing whether you really take in poisons as well as you claim to, but I am not foolish enough to use *that* blade against you.
- Good girl. Maybe you’re not as much of an idiot as I thought.
- I believe we could negotiate, but I much more prefer killing you right now.
- Likewise. Come, let me give you a hug. I want to see your insides pouring through your orifices.

Samael was the quicker one, firing a Vitriolic Sphere at the female. Considering how many Vitriolic Spheres Valsharess fired based on his power, he must’ve been able to use dozens of them. The woman, however, did something more flashy.
Chain Lighting struck Samael and the fiends that followed. Actually, he got hit as well.

The woman called Fenexia immediately flew to her former master, drawing upon a well-forged two handed sword and casting another spell, this time a Cone of Cold. Samael drew back a bit and grabbed his hand, putting some pressure on the arm before attempting to scratch Fenexia. She nearly went out of balance trying to dodge and responded by striking Samael with her blade. Maenaz could tell the force of the blow was impressive, and even Samael had to admit that, based on his reaction. The female dodged another attempt of a claw attack and flew backwards, unleashing a barrage of Isaac’s missile storm followed by… something unexpected.
Horrid Wilting. And that coming from an angel ?

Samael fell to the ground for a moment, before rising his hand and firing that claw-like shadowy shape Valsharess used against him. Fenexia took it and remained relatively unfazed.
- You believe you can defeat me with just THIS ? You’re pathetic, Master. I was thinking you could put up more of a fight.
- Well, I’ve been through some hard times… I believe as far as using supernatural powers goes, I am a bit spent, so if you’ll excuse me…
- Just die !
She suddenly summoned a large amount of energy and cast a spell that from the looks of it was meant to be Issac’s Greater Missile Storm… but she definitely used metamagic.
After the smoke from the powerful spell cleared, Maenaz realized two things.
First, the woman was winning against Samael. And Archfiend. That’s how much his servitude to Valsharess’ drained him.

Second…
He had no place here. Even drained, Samael seemed able to easily withstand very powerful magic and seemed fairly dangerous. And the woman not only had great physical strength, she was a mage as accomplished as… well, nearly any he fought so far. She was definitely more powerful than Valsharess.
Samael looked up at Fenexia.

- You’re being rude. Well, anyway, you probably think this is all over, and now you get to rule the universe and blah, blah, blah. Well, as I said, I am rather… spent when it comes to supernatural powers. So, you’ll have to forgive me if I wish to resolve this through more direct, old-fashioned ways.
- I will kill you, Samael. You cannot…
Fenexia just shut up as suddenly, the arch-fiend was upon her. The speed was… blinding. And he wasn’t even quickened !
She pulled back, for whatever reason trying frantically to avoid any form of contact, but Samael suddenly fired a snake straight from his mouth.
Now he knew where Valsharess’ got it from.
Fenexia dodged, however, Samael was able to fire two more snakes before he focused and fired some pretty scary looking Scorching Rays at Fenexia. She stopped two of them with her Cone of Cold and easily withstood the last one, before Samael shoulder-charged her and finally got into range to rake her with his claws.
Fenexia almost panicked, but managed to cast Bigby’s Forceful Hand and push Samael away before getting hurt. Then, she answered by rushing at him and cutting with her sword, finishing the combo by kicking him away and firing Isaac’s Lesser Missile Storm at him.
Samael got up and grinned.
- You seem so super-confident, and yet you panic at the mere thought of my venom getting into your body. You. A mighty Fallen.
- I am not stupid. This particular thing you can use… I’d rather not try it on myself.

Maenaz then noticed that the hand Samael squeezed before was leaking something from the fingertips.
He could simply produce venom like this ?
Maenaz shivered at the thought that those hands touched him.

- Yeah, right. You coward. Come at me. Show me this… Power of yours.
Fenexia started to fly towards Samael, unleashing an exploding sphere of electricity before trying to cut him again.
However, Samael blocked.
He suddenly produced a sword out of… nothing.
Maenaz examined the blade. It was quite big for him, but for Samael, it seemed more like a short sword. As usually, emerald in color, this one was apparently formed out of…
Well, he couldn’t specify it. It wasn’t light.
But the blade definitely wasn’t material. And it couldn’t precisely be called a sword, as it seemingly appeared from his hand straight above his fingers.
- Don’t tell me you forgot.
- I didn’t. I was waiting when you’ll pull that out.
- I’d prefer to rake you with Maleficus, but still… This will be satisfying.
- You believe you can block my sword with something of this length ?
- Shall we try ?

Fenexia pulled back and fired a Lighting Bolt straight into Samael’s stomach, before slashing at him again.
He dodged and clawed at her, with Fenexia dodging the last moment, but being stabbed by Samael’s… out-of-nothing blade moment after. Samael proceeded to breathe out acid and finished by kicking her into the wall, which before she crawled out of it was surrounded by an acidic mist.
Samael was panting and breathing heavily, but it wasn’t out of effort.
No. He was regaining strength. Almost as if he was drawing in power an vitality with every breath.
Well, it seemed logical. He was, probably, the master of this sphere… wherever it was.

His form was slowly regaining it’s physicality and he seemed somewhat… healthier.
Fenexia immediately rushed her attack, starting by firing a Finger of Death, then drawing in close, slashing with her sword repeatedly until she hit Samael, and finishing by shoving an Isaac’s Missile Storm straight into him.
Before he responded, she jumped back and fired both a Lighting Bolt and a Scintillating Sphere into her former master, and he responded by using the dark, fired claw-like shape in a range too close to dodge. Fenexia seemingly grew desperate and then he saw an impressive display.
Because, well, a fallen Planetar undergoing Tenser’s Transformation definitely was one.

After finishing, Fenexia pushed Samael into heavy defense, repeatedly breaking through his defense until, finally, she got in a very good strike, seemingly even hurting his wing in the process. She pulled back and made another sweep with her sword, but then…
Samael swirled his blade in his hand and suddenly produced a grip and guard for the sword, that suddenly extended in size and was now more like…
A freaking bastard sword.
Samael easily blocked another attack from Fenexia and then had his own strike blocked, before picking up on pace and changing the tide of battle completely – now, the fallen planetar was starting to get defensive.
Suddenly, Samael jumped high, and, in mid-air, performed some invocation. As he fell, he fired some dark ray at Fenexia, and the ray hit it’s mark.
Maenaz did not have to wait for the effect to know that the fucker went all Avasculate on her.
Of course, having her blood burst out of her and her guts almost spilling out, there was no way she could dodge his strike.
Curiously, Samael’s sword sometimes produced small bursts of energy as it hit, apparently damaging both him and his opponent, with more harm going to the latter. This was such an occasion and Fenexia suddenly got the worse end of the fight as she found herself heavily wounded.


Samael wasted no time and bit her, his fangs apparently naturally dripping with poison.
Afterwards, he kicked her away and breathed out another cone of acid as she fell to one knee.
- You’re a fool, Fenexia. You engaged me like we were equals… No, like you were superior, instead of watching out every moment of the fight. You actually believed I would use *that* venom against you ? That I would waste it ? You arrogant bitch. I nearly killed you in three moves, and that’s before even regaining my full power and being drained of my strength for weeks.
- I… am not… done yet… Fiend…
- Oh, you make it sound like it’s a bad thing. I was your master a couple centuries now. I know what you can do. And now, let me show you just how much I can do when I am spiteful.
Despite himself, Maenaz stepped back as he realized what kind of spell it was that Samael used. Initially, it felt like an Inflict Wounds spell, but in a moment, he realized something was wrong. The strength of the spell was greater and more *dark* than even in the Harm spell, and instead of accumulating energy in his hands, the dreadful power surrounded Samael’s *wings*.
He unleashed it by nearly slamming them in front of himself, the wave of deadly energy striking Fenexia. She managed to move and dodge part of the wave, but Samael was upon her, slashing with his blade and grabbing her wing, raking it with his claws before throwing her down into an acidic mist that was already forming below. He fired three Scorching Rays before flying down to the ground, landing next to the angel.
- I take it that you want to die, don’t you ??
- …
- Beg for it. Beg me.
- Please, S… Master, just… kill me. I don’t wish for anything else.
- BEG FOR IT !!
Maenaz though about how sickening the situation was before realizing that probably the only alternative for the angel was a series of terrible, unearthly tortures.
A grim fate.
- I Beg you, Lord Samael, to give me a clean death… It’s all I want, and I humbly ask you to grant me that wish, as I was defeated fair and square, falling before your unmatched might…
- Very well. I have other matters to attend to, so this once, you’ll avoid the unpleasant things. I believe we will never see each other again, Fenexia. And quite possibly, you’ll never see ANYTHING ever again. So, goodbye.

Samael walked to the broken former Planetar lying on the ground and run her head through with his blade, before turning towards his throne and throwing a sideways glance at Maenaz.
- Sorry for this mess, Warlock. You see, this is what happens when you leave your underlings alone for a time.
- I… I still fail to realize what…
- Oh, yes, that. You see, I believe we could help each other. Strike a deal. Actually, I have much higher hopes for you than just trading services, but for now, I would simply ask you to listen to my offer. Before that happens, however…

Samael walked to the throne, picking an object Maenaz barely noticed before.
It was a sword, bended and with many sharp ends on it’s edge’s, strongly resembling a scimitar… Well, for a human, more like a two-handed curved sword of sadism, or a strangely-crafted falchion. The blade was adorned with some symbols as well as having a large, silvery green emerald just above it’s guard. Samael hit the throne with the sword, producing an indescribable sound, before speaking.
- It’s time to check on the status of my Six.

Maenaz suddenly felt like he was pretty deep in shit, as the archfiend before him apparently had some rather dark plans for him, he was surrounded by his servants, the archfiend himself was apparently quickly regaining strength, and now he seemed to have summoned his strongest servants.
One by one, the forementioned walked into the chamber through the few entrances. However, while Samael spoke of a “six”, only three beings entered.
The first one was a mix of a fiend and an old, decrepit crone, a woman of hunched posture, violet skin, dark blue hair, differently-colored eyes, and horns on her head. Maenaz suspected that she was some sort of a Hag – he heard that there were fiendish variations of the accursed witches, even though he never met either the mortal or the accursed variation himself.
Another being was also female, if the only way to surely tell was to look at it’s chest. She was probably a foot and a half taller than himself, with white-gray skin, a strange, thinning form of flesh resembling a tail or a tentacle coming out from the back of her head in place of hair. The creature was clearly a fiend of sorts, yet it was difficult to tell what kind exactly – she had strange, feminine if a bit monstrous characteristics, was plump, and incredibly busty – it was difficult NOT to notice the giant mounds of flesh on her chest.
The last creature that walked – actually, slithered – into the room was a serpent with a pair of wings, hurt and bleeding, with black scales through which red and dark orange symbols (tattoos ?) went through.
- Well, then. Allow me to greet you properly. I, Samael, as the leader of… currently incomplete… Nefarious Seven greet you here, as the lord of the Gate of Vipers. Welcome.

Maenaz thought he was going to pass out from the sheer evil that filled the chamber…
But hell, he was too anxious and excited to pass out now.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------


I... am a bastard. Yes, a cliffhanger.

Just to make things clear, Nefarious Seven is Samael, the three people who just walked in, Fenexia, Morax, and the guy Fenexia murdered, if I remember correctly ;p

And Maleficus, for all of our sakes, is this mean sword Samael cares about so much he thinks up punishments for people who touch it without permission !