Demon Lord of Cyrn Sharresh

Standing beneath the tower, Surya tilted his head back and bellowed up that he wanted to speak to the tower's commander. For answer, he was subjected to a hail of arrows from the fighting turrets. Disdaining them as they skittered and snapped on Asildur's sable armour, he returned fire with his own bow, his merciless darts sending man after man sprawling backwards from the battlements with chilling accuracy. The casualties were too much for the defenders, who abandoned their firing positions and took cover.

After a few minutes, two shields were raised behind one of the battlements at the top of the tower, and an indistinct figure approached the parapet behind them. A reasonant and commanding voice demanded to know what Surya thought he was doing. The Tellaran named himself (with no qualifiers) and explained the "mission" they were on; to secure the tower for New Tellare and take its' garrison into their service. The voice named itself in turn as Carstas, castle commander, and scorned Surya's suggestion, and his threats, and his warning that he had magic to back up his martial prowess.

Meanwhile, Sack had worked his way down through the labyrinthine corridors of the part of the castle buried in the hillside. As he ghosted along the winding passages, he felt a strong taint of evil coming from somewhere towards the southern end of the structure, and faint traces of undead. Nonetheless, he worked his way across to the eastern side, and located one of the two large square towers that clung to each side of the hill.

Peering through the door, he saw a large, airy platform, well defended from below, with a heavy ballista mounted on a swivel platform and attended by a crew of five. These were all gathered at one end of the room, peering through one of the windows at what was happening outside. Sack's sensitive ears picked up the clash of steel, shrieks, and a dull roar of flames, and he grinned. Then he stepped silently into the room, his two blades whispering from their scabbards.

Below, Surya was reaching the end of his patience with negotiation; Carstas was clearly unwilling to allow them in or consider the offer of alliance. Just then, something caught his eye, and he raised his bow as a small missile arced from a window on the eastern side of the castle towards him. A truly spectacular shot put an arrow clean through whatever it was, deflecting it slightly, and it bounced across the snow twenty feet to his right, leaving a trail of fresh blood. It turned out to be a freshly-severed human head, still encased in a helmet of similar design to those worn by the hapless cavalrymen. Surya grinned; he remembered who had a tendency to collect bodyparts - including, once, a head-and-helmet. He shouted up "We'll join you up there", which to Carstas merely meant he was going to try and get in; but to Sack, it was a clear message of where to meet.

Sack turned and slunk out of the artillery turret, heading for Carstas' tower.

Clearly, Surya and Hildraft weren't going to get much done from the outside. Magic was called for, and Hildraft had just the thing. He cast an Air Walk, and soon he and Surya were striding up an invisible ramp towards the top of the keep.

The deep, distinctive voice of Carstas could be heard to chuckle, and then a tiny black dot arrowed out from the embrasure he occupied. For a queasy instant it reminded Surya of a Fireball, but Hildraft recognized it as a spell he'd heard of but never seen - Anti-Magic Cloud. With frantic speed, the dwarf wove a Dispel Magic and flung it at the oncoming spell, but it failed to break Carstas' dweomer and the Cloud struck.

The black dot mushroomed into a cloud of dark grey vapour, twenty feet across, enveloping both heroes. Instantly, all the magical effects current within the cloud blinked out - Bull's Strength, Cat's Grace, and of course the Air Walk.  With a sickening jolt, the pair were suddenly falling towards the ground fifty feet below.

Slipping into the tower at the base, where it joined  the walled courtyard below the four keep towers, Sack heard laughter echoing from the top, and paused. There were a goodly number of men up there, and there was no chance of him hiding under those conditions. Changing his tactics, he scaled the outside of the tower instead. Swinging himself around to the back, he leaped from the one he was on to the corresponding north tower - away from the front of the fortress - and climbed to the top of that at the back. Peering cautiously over the parapet, he saw that this tower had only two men atop it; and both were looking forwards to see whatever was happening outside. Silent death struck once more, and then Sack strung and readied his bow.

Below, Surya and Hildraft pulled themselves out of the snow, swearing. A combination of enchanted armour, soft snow, and the effects of the Blessing of Kord had saved them from more than minor injuries.

Clearly, a different approach was called for.

Changing his choice of magic, Hildraft shifted the pair of them onto the Ethereal plane, and everything around them became immediately misty and - more important - insubtantial. Ghostlike, they drifted into the front of the mountain, and began to move upwards through the fort towards their opponent.

His bow readied, Sack settled himself carefully, and for the first time invoked the enchantment of the Bracers of Vrasten. His hands moved like lightning, nocking, drawing and loosing missiles at superhuman speed. A blizzard of arrows hurtled across the distance between the two towers, striking home unerringly into the broad back of the commander of the castle. In less than a minute, Sack had discharged all the arrows he was carrying.

To his surprise, Carstas, although staggered, was not slain. Although the missiles seemed to have inflicted damage, the wounds were nowhere near as deep as he'd have expected. Strangely, towards the end of the assault, he noticed that the blood he was drawing was black instead of red as it'd started; and that the skin and flesh of his foe was peeling away to reveal something else underneath - something hard, black and twisted.

Dropping the bow, he drew the Blade of the Sun and sprang across the gap, triggering the Sunburst as he landed.

As they rose through the mountain, Surya and Hildraft passed through some of the chambers comprising the accomodation. On the middle floor, they emerged into a large, arched chamber, which reeked of evil and pain. A glance around was sufficient to show that this was a temple of demon-worship, by the symbols probably to the Demogorgon. For a moment, Hildraft was tempted to delay here and clear out the nest of foulness; but Surya prevailed on him to carry on and come back later.

Emerging through the tower roof, they found Carstas deep in battle with Sack, a mighty greatsword in his hands as the half-orc slashed at him with his twin blades. A dozen or so human soldiers were staggering around the tower, clearly blinded by the Sunburst. Materializing, the pair hefted their weapons and plunged in. Pinned between three foes, Carstas had no hope and was hacked down. As his body hit the stone, however, it flickered and changed, and suddenly a spiky, black, arachnid horror lay twitching before them. Some sort of demon.

Sack hurled it off the parapet and into the courtyard, where it crushed one of the garrison, and the three descended by the stairs. The presence of the splattered demon made convincing the soldiers present that the castle had changed hands; but there were still the occupants of the dark temple to deal with.