Together, we had conquered enemies that were the nightmares of all. On this day, the rising moon would cast its gaze upon three more such corpses upon the isle. Should any future beings come upon these forms, they would see them marred by three distinct marks scattered over and over. The painful cuts from a whip-dagger, the deep chasms from an enlarged bisento, and the precise puncture marks of an insanely enchanted rapier. So how did a golem, a ghost, and a god meet such grisly ends? It falls to me, Crimson Knight, the whip-dagger wielder, to tell the tale.
Though it was much larger than us, we somehow found a way to stare down the lemorian golem that was an avatar to Demogorgon. The defeat of the ape demon king by our hands had gained us the loyalty of the remaining demons. Now, in the face of an avatar, Gustav had challenged it for ultimate proof that its construction had become obsolete. The lemorian had laughed at the challenge, but had accepted. Now with only five hours to prepare, we readied our minds for our toughest battle to date. Gustav sharpened his blade, Garland sharpened his skill, while I prepared a secret plan to help keep us from being killed.
Before long, the time had come. Lefty’s sacrifice was put on hold for this greater spectacle. Nearby were the remaining sixteen ape demons, all cheering Gustav’s name. The lemorian golem seemed not at all concerned. It came on hard and fast, howling in its charge. There was magic in that roar that seemed to panic many of the listeners. None of us dared fall under such a sway with the fate of the world stomping towards us. Gustav saw tentacled death flashing towards him, and he knew his death had finally come to claim him again. Miraculously, even though he felt pain, he was still standing. The reason for this was that I had secretly cast a shield other spell on him just before the battle. Thus did I suffer some grave wounds, but nothing that would impede me from my true plan in this battle. And as the cries of triumph and pain echoed all around, I allowed myself to fade into its violent cacophony, giving me all the space I needed.
Gustav dodged a reaching tentacle and thrust his construct-baned sword into the golem’s leg joint. Garland meanwhile sprung to hit the adamantium thing from behind. Both he and his weapon had been magically enlarged before the battle by Cindel, allowing for even more devastating strikes. Gustav meanwhile felt soothing magic as the polymorphed mouse that was our druid, healed much of his wounds. I then reached to a secretive power and used the Dread word of the Dark Speak tongue. Blood oozed from everyone’s ears as I commanded four ape demons to aid their king. In their charmed state, they leapt at the chance to help. By doing so, I felt some of my beauty slip away, but I had no choice. We needed all the help we could get in this, our finest hour.
Another howl from the avatar, caused two demons and our crocodile ally to seek refuge in the magical fog that imprisoned our crew. Garland meanwhile charged in again and knocked another ingot of adamantium off. Before my ensorcelled subjects could get into position to be of true benefit, Gustav was slashed on all sides by a mighty barrage of tentacle slaps. Once it was over, I had no choice but to cancel my shield other enchantment as we were now both feeling light headed from the wounds. As the minutes went by, my two male companions continuously cracked their weapons on the avatar, while I used the Dread word to send in more of the apes to aid their king. Soon the golem became exceedingly frustrated over it all as with all the fur and claw in the way, he could not strike at Gustav. He could however, do something about Garland and his spear thrusts. Using one of its tentacles, the avatar grabbed Garland’s bisento from his hands and thrust it hard into the ground. Without missing a beat, I tossed my whip-dagger into the air as my lover came in closer to me. He caught it in midair, and with a silent thanks, he used the lover’s lash to make a fancy adamantium furrow in the golems body.
The avatar of Demogorgon suddenly became as furious as a dire badger in heat.
Despite eight tentacles raining down on his enemy, there always seemed to be an ape demon claw in the way to intercept it. What’s more, the flea he had disarmed was now using a whip-dagger he got out of nowhere to pull free the painful spear he’s lodged in the arena floor. There seemed only one thing to do: kill the apes. The avatar began pummeling the furry beasts to a pulp one after another. Yet it all seemed as if this was what Gustav had been waiting for. As now the rapier hits seemed to be coming in faster and harder. And that thrice bedamned bisento also started striking in again fast and painful.
The lemorian golem was weakening. For every ape it dropped, I sent in another to take its place. Soon I was out of apes to charm and so moved in to aid Gustav in his defensive skills. With a last effort, the golem succeeded in striking twice the dodging scout duelist, before an incredible spear hit from Garland and a retaliating attack from Gustav sent the avatar crashing to the ground. From the center plateau of the Isle of Dread came a sudden scream of pain. The cry of a demon I knew all to well.
There were more cries as well. All around us, the magical fog had dissipated. And from its fading mists, came the shouts of joy from the newly freed crew. The remaining ape demons also cried out in victory for their king. Although they questioned our actions, I was easily able to convince all that this was Demogorgon’s Will. I told them that he had been dissatisfied with the work that had been going on, and that he had sent us to clean up the mess that was being created on a daily basis. The demons looked to Gustav in awe after my proclamation. They then asked him if he would honor them by giving his True Name, as obviously “Gustav” was just the name for dealings with the surface dwellers. Gustav said that his official advisor would speak it, and he looked towards me. Honestly touched by this sudden confidence, I thought fast and proclaimed that Gustav’s True Name was Vasharan of the Worm Pod. And that we who follow him are known as the Thralls of Vasharan. The demon apes gazed upon us three in fascination, before all bowing down to their new leaders. Their servitude was won.
We told our new disciples that our mission was now to check upon the shadow pearl construction. Our next big stop would be to teleport under the Isle, to see to the affairs going on there. But first there was some business to attend to. Priority one was to get our people safe. Naturally I still silently regretted not seeing them all sacrificed to Demogorgon, but I knew that pleasure would come in time. Patience had guided me this far after all. Anyway, after convincing the crew that the apes were now our friends, we began having them teleported to the safe haven offered to us by the Bat god.
After some time, we realized that the demons we had sent with the first wave of crew had yet to return. Concerned, we decided to teleport a mile away from the cave entrance of our supposed ally. There we witnessed that all the fire bats upon the Isle had all conglomerated high above in the skies, as though on guard and waiting for an attack that was soon to come. We thus had the ape demons teleport us directly in the cave entrance. There we beheld a curious sight; the heads of ape demons and crew members hanging from the ceiling. From deep within the bowls of the bat cave came Zotzilla’s booming voice. The abyssal words were a demand to someone as to the identity of “Vasharan” and when the attack would come. It seemed that with the new powers he had gained through more worshippers, he had used a divination to find out that his death would soon come at that hands of someone named Vasharan.
So it was that the Thralls of Vasharan were in for another fight today.
Garland suggested we teleport to the fire god, to beg him for aid. We were right in doing just that, as he was more than happy to help us kill off one of his rivals. We took the healing and flights he offered. To give some confusion to the chaotic battle to come, I suggested the ape demons change their appearance so that they looked like “Vasharan”. We then teleported to the cave, right behind Zotzilla, and stabbed him through his bat ass.
Enraged at the surprise strike, but barely hurt, he turned upon us and let loose a cone of darkness. With the reflexes of a magma imp, we all dodged away from the attack unharmed. Only the apes took some minor burns. And now the time had come for an even truer test to our skills than the paltry lemorian golem had offered. For my own part, I had placed another shield other on Gustav, and used a conviction spell on both my male allies to bolster their resistance to all foreign dangers to their bodies. Had I not done so, the battle would have been a completely different one by the end.
Zotzilla, for his part, seemed to care little for physical attacks, and instead began sending Vasharan’s into a chain-death torture magic. Luckily for us, it was the disguised ape demons who suffered this fate at first. The true Vasharan meanwhile, began stabbing with practiced precision each and every chance he got. His subjects aided him in his defense as they did in the previous fight. Garland as well used his tactic of jumping in and out of combat, most times scoring a bloody wound on the god with his bisento in the process. It didn’t take long for Zotzilla to realize that, on the ground, he was at a disadvantage. He suddenly took to the air, where the apes could not reach him. He then used some sort of mystic power to drain all the light from the room, leaving only his eyes visible for his enemies to look upon in fear.
With so little to see, we none the less flew up and tried to continue the fight. Bisento, rapier, and whip-dagger, streaked in at the Bat god. Sometimes we made contact, other times we hit only air. Zotzilla meanwhile sent more and more of the ape demons into the chains until finally he realized that they were truly inconsequential to the battle at hand. He also started using his greatest weapon: his assisted suicide gaze attack. The first time, my two companions barely resisted the urge. The second time, Gustav looked to Garland for approval. When he didn’t sense it, the magic of the gaze compelled him to stab himself through the gut. Had my shield other spell not been in effect, our Assassin would have killed himself then and there. Luckily Cindel was nestled in his pocket to heal him up.
We stepped up our assault, with a furious weapon barrage. Gustav was so inspiring in the way he fought, we all felt as though we could all fight as well as he. Using the eye patch that Cindel had given him, the duelist was able to visualize better as to where Zotzilla was in the dark. Zotzilla finally tired of the constant stabbing rapier, and sent Gustav into the chains of death. My ally was fortunate to have one of his subjects below teleport him out, before the pain became too much for him. The Bat god’s gaze then turned on Garland and me. I felt the suicide pact within me, but pushed the urge aside. Garland somehow sensed this, and so thrust his own weapon through his own chest, rather than waiting for the oh-so-wanted whip-dagger strike. By then, Zotzilla was barely able to hold himself in the air. With a final battle cry, a gravely wounded Gustav charged up and ran his sword through one of the glowing eyes. And just like that, the death of a god came to the pantheon.
Now came the time to count our winnings and losses. Chief among the dead was the man who always seemed to escape afterlife’s grasp, was poor Lefty. A few other whalers and crew had also been slain. The only true loss was that Lavinia had not been one of those slain by Zotzilla. Overall, the rewards very much outweighed the deaths. With the treasures of the lemorian golem and the bat god, we were rich beyond anything we could have hoped to be in life. Still it was not enough for us. Our dearly departed Lefty would have wanted more, and so in his, uh, honor, we vowed to seek the treasures of Bakura’s fallen servants.
Upon arriving at the glade that had been described the phantom shaman, we beheld a small pond of haunted water. At its center was a small island with a falchion blade planted upon it. After much debate, we finally convinced Garland to throw a rock at the sword.
It would be the last pebble that the Legendary Captain would ever throw.
The falchion suddenly unsheathed itself from the earth and flew to imbed itself in Garland’s chest. Frantically, he and all of us tried striking at the sword as it seemed to plant itself deeper and deeper in his flesh. Then, rising from the water, came an unholy ghost. Even in death, his fearsome visage remained ghastly painted. The one, the only, the first: Immortal.
The apparition simply pointed at Garland, and the Captain was under its sway. Charging, Garland took a stab at Croc, but miraculously missed. With our undead-baned weapons, we went to work, sending ectoplasm flying with every wound we struck upon Immortal. Soon, the ghost began fading into nothingness. Yet this was not the end. Reaching again to Garland, the falchion burst out in a fountain of blood from Garland’s chest and into Immortal’s hand. With a sudden burst of speed, the ghost began slashing at Gustav over and over. And each time, Gustav parried or sidestepped aside of the swings. Garland, now free of the possession, took his vengeance upon the entity that had violated him by stabbing his bisento over and over into the undead being. The Thralls of Vasharan worked in tandem to beat down against our foe to finally show Immortal how true death felt.
After collecting the ancient guardian’s treasures, we decided to finally deal with the spirit naga, Ilzytyk, back where we had slain the golem. She apparently was an emissary from where the shadow pears were being constructed, so had said the ape demons. As we arrived in her chamber though, we noticed that she had fled in haste, leaving only an expensive magical ring with the sign of a demon inscribed upon it. I think we all understood then and there that the mind tricks we had played to win this day, would likely not work against the denizens of the deep who guarded the shadow pearls. This meant that the way to the next avatar of Demogorgon, would be a path that we would pave with blood.
And that suited the Thralls of Vasharan just fine.
