Drow's Dilemma Ep. 102: Hell

The duergar, his teeth gritted and bared, pulled away the pile of blankets that had been covering the ranger. He swore in his own dwarvish tongue, aloud and sulfurously. Not a pile of blankets. Her stomach was actually distended. She was heavily pregnant.

A burst of joy ripped through Caleldir, only to be turned into distress when he realized that she was pregnant. Oh no. That... that could not have been good. It almost certainly was some horrifying hybrid from this place. And it was too far along to do much about the birth. Not without access to the original Gene-Forge.

Thoughts of what to do spun through Caleldir's mind, when Risa's voice burst through his mind in the same way as the dark god's had done.

[The time for stealth is over, then.]

Risa turned to Dahlia. "I apologize for this, but I need energy from you and your Seduction. Much more than I can get passively. This will not permanently harm you, and is necessary to get you all out."

Dahlia didn't look entirely happy about it, but accepted her fate. The rest of the succubi seemed alarmed. Right up until their power was taken and they all collapsed. But, in the end, they wouldn't be too upset by it if they ended up being free of that horrible place because of it. Risa would just have to make it up to them later.

For now, Risa shoved them into the safety of a large bag-of-holding so they would be safe until she could get them into her pocket dimension, then summoned her full power in a sudden blaze. Casting several epic-level Miracle and Wish spells at once, she punched through the dungeon to expose it all at once.

Once that was done, she took the direct route to Caleldir and the others, ripping apart the fleshy fortress with excessive force as she did so. Two terrified succubi were revealed, along with a couple of other assorted beings of varying levels of power. With a similar apology, Risa drained and stashed the two extra succubi, hoped that was the last of the seduction, and dashed towards the grouping.

The rest of the rescued people dashed after Risa and clumped up around the duergar and his protective bubble. The destruction made it easy for the paladins (who had magically augmented their speed for the mad dash) to meet up with the growing crowd. But the destruction also made it easy for the flesh monsters to give chase.

[YOU CAN'T HAVE THEM]

The furious voice spoke again. The citadel shook violently as tendrils of black rot tore their way through everything and lashed out toward Caleldir and Ashyr. The snarling duergar reinforced his bubble of protection, which stopped the attacks for about two seconds. That was when Riia, her face dispassionate, whipped out her arms and a new shield was formed, shining with intense good-aligned divine power. Her barrier seemed to be slightly more effective. Slightly. The barrier pulsed and twisted with every tendril that tried to break through; two sides of the chaotic coin of good and evil warring against each other. Her face was a mask of dispassion as if her mind wasn't even fully present in the moment.

"We need to hurry!" a completely terrified-looking Selene screamed. "Get us out of here Risa!"

"Althaia! Phanuel! Help me with the following spell!" Risa barked out. Taking refuge in the duergar' protective bubble, she grabbed Althaia and Phanuel's hands and began a casting.

Caleldir's eyes widened as he realized what she was doing. Oh. Oh dear. "We will have to fight them off for another minute!" he barked out. Taking a deep breath and looking down, he targeted himself with a death spell.

Confusion crossed the duergar's face. He looked ready to turn his attention to that spell and neutralize whatever insanity was happening within the 'safe' zone. But there was a sudden power shift. An 'awakening' of sorts. Where the not very intimidating Consort had stood, there was a man to match his power and wickedness. This wasn't cause for the duergar to relax.

Goelon looked up, eyes glinting. "Ah. Good to see that Caleldir finally found some companions worth my time." He cast approving glances at the duergar and Risa.

The Undead King lashed out at everything around him, matching and bolstering the duergar's psionic shields and destroying some of the creatures and turning some of the undead against the others.

The fool still had Ashyr in his arms and looked as if he had forgotten her. Looking annoyed, the dwarf snatched her motionless body away from whoever that was that stood in the Consort's place. He could fight with his mind and carry her with his body without much inconvenience. It just wouldn't look as dramatic.

In reality, Goelon would not have harmed Ashyr and was still aware of her. He was not particularly attached either, and so allowed the Duergar to take her without protest. Gave him more freedom of movement to attack.

As for Selene, she suddenly found herself in the very uncomfortable position of being the weakest and most useless member of the party (not including the freed prisoners). The best she could do was pick off a couple of the smaller foes and give whatever buffs she could think of to whoever seemed to need it. That terrified her into inaction, which didn't really change the tide of battle.

The minute passed with agonizing slowness, with wave after wave of enemies and tentacles growing increasingly desperate. The Voice of the god howled and roared in frustration, but the combined powers of the party were just enough to hold him off for that short amount of time.

Risa and the Paladins finished their spell. Risa's eyes snapped open. "Gate," she intoned. She ripped a hole in the barrier of hell, bringing in a small army of angels and punching a dimensional gap between the planes. The Gate forced a hole in reality that led right to the safety of Risa's dimension. A different Voice that seemed to originate from Riia gently pressed itself into everyone's minds.

[Everyone go. I will follow. Leave the Dark Paladin. She is Mine.]

"And that is enough to revive Caleldir and leave one last surprise for this wretched place!" Goelon exulted. Going back from transparent to opaque, he stumbled into the door, where he fell unconscious.

Althaia wanted to be all more-hero-than-you, but with Sidhriia and Risa both there and the Voice from Riia taking authority over the strange paladin, she could not justify waiting to jump into the portal. And so did everyone else except Risa and Sidhriia.

Risa ground her teeth. "It is everyone except you now, Sidhriia! You have to go first, for when I enter my dimension the portal will collapse!" She pulled the strange drow in with her and closed the door.

They were out. But not before Risa dropped one last spell behind her. Which was in addition to the spell that Goelon also left. The result was the force of multiple warring epic-level spells exploding all over the fortress.