The Fall of the House of EmTor

That was fun. Incredible. And man, Barrel, wow, that was raging. That was brutal. That guy has some issues.

It all went largely to plan.

I roused FarTolth as dusk approached; he slept through the day. "It is time to go, FarTolth."

He looked at me sourly. "It will be my pleasure to leave this accursed place. How do we go?"

I led him out. "You, me, and these three will all fly on the winds of Kord's breath."

"Wait. You are going to take on the house of EmTor with just the four of you? Just make sure you never mention my name as they torture you to death."

"Your faith in us is reassuring. We also have this wolf, you know. She really is a big help. Don't worry. We will take care of our common enemy and the dog-slayer DieLess." And with a flourish, I sought Kord's grace to transform us in to the breath of Kord.

We flew to the city, showing to FarTolth's satisfaction that we knew where it was. We floated around above the city and found a crack leading down. In our gaseous form, it was easy to waft down. And then we were floating above the underground city. I felt a pang of sadness at what I failed to stop the last time we were here. No more, I silently vowed.

We landed on a ledge and reformed.

"This is intolerable. I told them we needed better defenses. Just floating in! I will have the heads of those sniveling mages. I ask them to do one thing..."

"FarTolth. Stop blabbering. Where is the house of EmTor?" I asked impatiently.

He pointed to a very large and ornate building, one with statues of demons leering down from its corners. "Do you see that ornate window? DieLess is likely to be on that floor. In its middle is their main hall. Have fun." And he swept away, mumbling of disgraces and fools.

I looked grimly at the others. Pitter and Throw Down seemed anxious. Barrel, however, was gripping his bow fiercely, licking his lips with the taste of what was to come. He took aim with his bow to an arrow that I silenced and let the arrow fly across the great city, smashing through the window. We followed rapidly in gaseous form, slipping through the broken window, reforming, and beginning our search.

I prepared for combat while Barrel gathered the arrow to keep our approach quiet. We searched from room to room, killing as we found dark elves. Barrel was getting more and more frustrated.

Then we heard arguments coming from a set of massive doors.

"Where is your master now? You assured us that his might would prevail against these elves. Our position is now greatly weakened. We want you gone. And you, you wretch of a nephew, you swore to me that we would not be shamed. But look at us now? The other houses have turned on us. The loss of FarTolth has been met with great suspicion. We are all but lost!"

A voice rumbled, "You wretch. Your cowardice sickens me." We heard a roar, a thump, and a yelp.

We thrust open the doors. Inside we saw a massive demon, with four arms, two of which had nasty claws on its end and the other two had pincers. Its red eyes tracked towards us, its fangs glistening in the dim light. Against one wall, lay the crumpled figure of a dark elf, and another old one cowering, backing up from the demon. And there, standing by the demon's side, was DieLess.

"What have we here? You are not drow," bellowed the demon at us.

"I am Mord, I serve my lord Kord with this greatsword. We have come to stop the attacks on the elves. You involved?"

"I have had some involvement, you could say. But I think I can say that those days are over now," as he reached over and pincered the elder dark elf, severing its head. DieLess sneered and then glanced at us with fear.

"Kord, keep the coward DieLess here," and a green light shot from my hand at DieLess, locking him to this place.

The demon glanced with puzzlement. "What do you want with that scum? Look, maybe we can come to an arrangement. I hear you might be having giant troubles. I can help with that."

We all looked at it each other, uncertain how to proceed. That is, all but Barrel.

He took a step forward, cocked his bow, aimed at DieLess, and spitted out, "Hello. I am Barrel. You killed my dog. Prepare to die." And he loosed a hail of arrows down on DieLess, who cried out with pain.

The demon took this as a sign of us not willing to deal with him. Vulture-men creatures descended on us, shrieking from the shadows, and suddenly an entire flock of them appeared, heading for us.

I yelled out Kord's holy word and the flock of creatures fell apart. Some fell to the floor twitching, many others blinking out of existence. Then ThrowDown summoned a storm of fire that burned the vulture men to a crisp. The only one to survive this had the misfortune to meet the end of Pitter's club, felling it into a corner.

Meanwhile, Barrel advanced towards DieLess, oblivious to the huge giant demon. He again, louder this time, called out, "My name is Barrel. You killed my dog. Now you gonna die," unleashing another hail of arrows.

The demon moved up to slash and grasp Barrel, but I charged forward, "For the glory of Kord!" and got the demon's full attention. He wailed on me with his devastating attacks, clawing, pinching, biting.

Pitter rushed up and clubbed the demon without much affect. Throw Down threw fire at him, apparently making him angry.

Barrel, now screaming with rage, "I, Barrel, lost my dog at your hands. Now let my hands take your life," and a third and final volley of arrows went out, felling DieLess. But this was not enough for Barrel. He rushed up, tossed his bow aside and started pummeling DieLess, choking him, raging on him in every way he could. I think I even saw some rather goat-like head butts.

I was mesmerized by this and only brought back to my conflict as the demon wailed on me yet again. I could not take much more of this. And so I cried out to Kord, "Give me your strength Kord so that I might fell this beast of the Abyss." And I unleashed blow after blow, shattering through the demon's thick hide. My last blow almost fell short, but I could feel Kord guide it straight, right into its dark heart.

It looked at me with hatred and a sneer on its face, crying out in pain, as lightning crackled around my killing wound, spreading out, knocking me back against a wall, consuming the demon and leaving nothing but a smudge on the floor.

I lay there for a time, stunned at what we just did. Throw Down was walking amongst the paralyzed vulture-men, slashing their throats with his dagger. Pitter came over to Barrel, trying to stop him. Barrel had continued to pound on the very dead body of DieLess. I could not even recognize him.

Exhausted, Barrel slumped to the floor crying, bleeding from torn knuckles. LowShow went over and licked him. The rest of us turned from the room, waiting.

Shortly, Barrel emerged, took us by the shoulders, barked out, "Thanks. I am done with this filth."

We emerged from the house to find the bells ringing and a group of dark elves, led by FarTolth approaching us. They did not look friendly.

I waved, yelled "Thanks for the help," smiled, and called out to Kord, "Recall us home, my lord Kord." And so we vanished, leaving the dark elves behind with their fallen schemes.

Mords of Wisdom: Brutality leads to brutality even in the best of us.