#135 - Smoke, Screams, and Chain Lightning

From the journal of Diva’un Mur'ss, last of House Zaughym, Bale of Nightfall, Drinker of the Blood of Erebus the Thrice Unforgiven, Bringer of Darkness / Zarantyr 26th, 999 YK

Aleae and I share a heritage of innate resistance to the harpy's song—the fey-born are not easily beguiled by petty charms—and so neither of us succumbed to its cloying refrain. Wind buffeted us and the rocking of the car made it difficult to concentrate on anything other than keeping my balance. Fortunately it took little concentration to throw eldritch energies at the remaining harpy. My blasts knocked it from its perch on the steel roof of the lightning rail and almost immediately Alea telekinetically grabbed the creature with her mind-magic. There was but a momentary struggle as the invisible hand gripped the feathered siren and then it plunged out of sight. After an electric ripping sound from below us, all that remained of the harpy was a spray of feathers.

The hostage which we rescued couldn't be left on the roof and I was hardly equipped or inclined to carry her to safety. Alea's telekinetic grasp again proved its worth and its flexible nature, as it gently cradled the unconscious passenger and lowered her to the platform connecting the cars.

To my right, motion attracted my gaze. I turned quickly enough to see a a body launched from a window of the car below me. It was not one of my companions, so I did not regret my smile at the sight.

I advanced towards the forward edge of the car, to lower myself down. My eyes squinted against the wind, the unaccustomed daylight, and the smoke. Smoke? Before I began my precarious climb to the platform below, I could see a gout of flame explode from the hatch of the car ahead of us. The dragon, awaiting us nearly three cars away, became only an outline seen through the black smoke which poured from the hatch and several windows before us. The muffled screams of passengers carried on the wind near the inferno decided my next action for me. With a word, I expended much of my eldritch power to surround myself with a chill shield. I hoped it would help me to contend with what lay ahead.

As I carefully lowered myself, I took a moment to cast one last glance at the dragon silhouette. In front of the behemoth, several smaller (thank the Underdark) figures were wrestling a metal ballistae. The roof of the rail was no longer feeling safe and so I dropped to the platform. The unconscious passenger seemed secure enough where she was. With the sounds of combat behind me and the smoke pouring from the car ahead, I could think of no better place to leave her.

I could see Aleae had confidently advanced to the roof of the next car, but I steeled myself to face the smoke and flame of the next car's interior.

Finding the door locked, I managed to wriggle through a window into the smoke-filled car. I landed poorly, but nothing jumped from the smoke to take advantage of my weakness. I felt unaccustomed sympathy for those unprepared for my cloak of darkness as I could barely see my hand before my face. I stayed low to avoid some of the smoke and headed to my right in order to open a window—perhaps the car would clear if properly ventilated...

A spear lanced from the smoke! I parried it, but a clawed hand followed and further damaged my tattered leather armor. I couldn't tell if my armor was still providing the least bit of protection, or if it was only the life-force of those I had killed before that resisted the attack. The creature—another tall, black-spindled demon it seemed—grunted after touching me. The icy bite of my frigid shield had hurt him more than he had hurt me.

A sudden but brief gust of cold, which felt colder still after the heat in the car, rushed through me. Some powerful magic had been deployed ahead of me which I only later learned was Magnus channeling the power of his weapon—the mace that has been called Defiler's Bane—from the roof of the car. I could only hope that the cold had resulted in less flame remaining to test my shield. From the car behind me, an eerie wailing issued. I couldn't imagine what Clarion and Wynn where facing, but I had other concerns.

I instinctively brought forth my darkness and taking advantage of the spear-wielding fiend's confusion, blasted the creature back. I managed to avoid a second set of attacks as the creature rushed at me in an attempt to impale and claw me. Half a moment later, Cypher slipped into the car behind me, avoiding the stab of a second spear-wielding demon that I had not seen. Now we faced two. The warforged rushed past the demons into my darkness and hid behind me.

I was nonplussed with the warforged, but those who wear the mantle of rogue, as Cypher did, would often seek such advantages. I suppose he has come to recognize my friendly eclipse as the sanctuary that it is.

The smoke stirred and the open windows dissipated it a little at a time, but still more than half the car remained unseen. As I focused on my two demonic opponents, in my peripheral vision I could see flashes of fire which never seemed to come from the same place twice. Then there was a series of bone-rattling detonations followed by a horrible scream of pain and anger that could only have issued from the maw of the dragon outside.

What seemed seconds, but was only an instant latter came another detonation which was louder still. My opponents and I froze in place for a moment and the world was silent. None bore witness to the spell-storm on the lightning rail roof except Aleae herself, who stood boldly against the shadow dragon and the arcane ballistae levied against her. It was my later understanding that though she was struck by blasts of her energy, she held her ground and badly wounded her foes with both fire and lightning. She had slain one man, sent another retreating, destroyed the ballistae, and set the dragon leaping back. If Aleae survived this encounter, she is well underway to becoming an accomplished archmage.

But I and my foes paused only for that one moment, and then both demons converged on me. I backed up, parrying their lunges, and in my darkness one managed to trip over Cypher, fumbling his attack. Cypher counter-attacked the injured demon from behind and I took advantage of the distraction to blast the fiend's head clean off. I reveled in the strength that flowed through me with a fresh kill—all the more sweet for its being a slave of Katashka on which I feasted.

I heard a bellow from the car I had left behind, which was easily louder than the dragon's howl. But while the dragon had voiced pain, this new call, whatever the beast that could make it, was a challenge. Added to the previous sounds and sights of magic and carnage, It was clear that my compatriots were in equally challenging struggles around me and that those battles must be epic indeed.

Cypher and I turned our attention to the remaining demon when a spark of light at the edge of my sight roared into a rough-limbed column of flame.  A fire elemental creature charged at us, but faltered. It seemed unwilling to enter my sphere of darkness, as if unfamiliar with the very concept.

The smoke continued to clear showing the charred rail car beyond the elemental. Small fires were still scattered among debris that had been piled up as either a blockade OR food for the hungry flames—our enemy's attempt to slow our advance. Most of the pile was still covered with a frost that had obviously extinguished most of the flames, opening the way forward for us.

With a nominally coordinated chaos, my compatriots seem to be fighting three or four discrete battles at once. While it may end in the death of one of them, I cannot argue that this apparent lack of strategy is keeping our opponents disoriented as we flow by them like water, or a particularly deadly flood. Perhaps enough of us will survive long enough to stop this hurtling apocalypse for the city of Sharn.

With that bit of optimism, perhaps stolen from the fiend as I drained its life-force, I steeled myself for the greater challenges to come.