Skirmish in the Sphere

Alec strode forward towards the line of heavy knights, cracking his knuckles loudly. With a wicked grin on his face, he let his aggressive bestial energy flow through his body, manifesting a lashing, spiny tail that waved menacingly behind him. “Vengeance belongs to Helm!” he shouted as he brandished his mercurial greatsword , assaulting the Gilded Eye vanguard. His targets put all their strength into parrying his reckless attacks, beating back his blade with their shields and swords. Shadowy skeletons began to swirl about as Siegfried approached. The skeletons tore and clawed at the Gilded Eye soldiers, slowing their movements and withering them with necrotic energy. Horrified, the soldiers began to recognize faces in the undead horde that belonged to unfortunates who they had dragged off to the Gilded Eye’s prison beneath Helm’s Hold. The soldiers pressed the attack against Alec. Alec’s tail knocked the first attack aside, but the knight gritted his teeth and tried again, slashing the barbarian. The knight’s companions also stabbed repeatedly at Alec. Defiant, Alec shrugged off the attacks. “I ain’t got time to bleed,” he sneered. Further back, the two archers began to fire arrows at the adventurers. One of Siegfried’s skeletal spirit guardians fired ghostly arrows into the air to deflect two of the incoming arrows. The archer switched targets and nailed Bob with a bullseye. “I’m all right,” Bob choked out between clenched teeth. Siegfried glared at his spirit guardians . “Protect them too!” he waved at his companions. The second archer’s first and second arrows missed Erwen altogether, while another arrow aimed at Bob went wide. One of Siegfried’s guardians knocked a final arrow aside. “We only need their faces for identification,” Siegfried called to Erwen. The Gilded Eye knights withdrew from the ghostly phalanx of spirit guardians , taking up defensive positions. Erwen moved forward and surveyed the scene, trying to identify the Gilded Eye agent in charge. His gaze fell on the severe-looking woman paladin. Erwen shoved the nearest Gilded Eye knight aside, howled, and conjured animals , summoning 32 fey wolves. They appeared in a menacing circle of growls, jowls and fangs. “Sic ‘em!” Erwen pointed at the paladin. 64 eyes zeroed in on their targets, and 32 jaws slavered as they opened in unison. The fur began to fly as the wolves surrounded the Gilded Eye agent and lunged at her. The Inquisitor had just enough time to utter a fervent prayer to Helm before she was devoured by the pack of wolves. Her prayer dissolved into a frantic glossolalia for a few seconds before it changed into a horrid scream that turned to bubbly mewling as the wolves ripped into her, tearing her limb from limb. Erwen sipped from his beer stein as he watched his wolves go to work. The wounded raptoran woman took advantage of the mayhem to drag herself a few feet away. She cast a spell and disappeared. Siegfried frowned. Bob pulled the arrow out from his chest and tossed it aside. As he did so, the sphere began to rumble. Vibrations reverberated through the stone chamber as white sparks began to fly from a portal-like opening that manifested in the northern end of the room. Beneath the pile of feasting wolves, the dying Gilded Eye Inquisitor’s mouth, thick with blood, finally stopped moving. Something stepped through the white-hot radiant portal, each stomp it took like the sound of thunder clapping from the heavens. It expanded in size to fill the chamber, its polished helm scraping the curved ceiling of the sphere. Its glowing plate armor seemed to be held together by pure energy, which escaped between the shifting plates like rays of sunlight at twilight. The creature’s face was obscured by a visored helm, its surface covered in an intricate golden scrollwork that pulsed with each step. It held in its heavy gilded gauntlets a massive holy golden greatsword. Bob and Alec recognized the creature as a Relentless Holy Aggressor , a divine manifestation of pure will made flesh. There was no shortage of Helmite symbology etched in gold across the Aggressor ’s holy armour. The Gilded Eye paladins and clerics raised their gauntlets in deferential, reverent salute to the Aggressor . Bob looked around for cover and saw some braziers burning around the perimeter of the chamber. Bob took cover behind his brother and twin-cast haste on Siegfried and Alec. The pair could feel a rush of energy flow through their bodies. “Hey, Siegfried!” Bob called. “Yes?” Siegfried replied. “Jump!” Bob called, casting telekinetic shove and launching Siegfried into the air towards their enemies. Siegfried leaped forward, brandishing his weapon. The Aggressor suddenly teleported behind Erwen’s army of wolves, radiant energy beginning to build behind its visored helm as it surveyed the field of battle before it. Siegfried rushed towards the Aggressor , his skeletal spirit guardians beginning to throw up ghostly ashen chains around its massive form. He put a hexblade’s curse on the celestial creature. “Loose!” he called to his spirit guardians as he cast eldritch blast , which took the form of ghostly arrows which streamed contrails of ash as they homed in on their target. The Aggressor knocked one of the blasts aside as the other three slammed home. Siegfried charged up Azuredge and hurled her at the Aggressor . The pinwheeling axe scythed towards the target but then stopped inches from the celestial, turning back and returning to Siegfried’s outstretched hand with a forceful thud. Striking that target would put me in the bad books of several deities that I’ve worked hard to remain on good terms with, the axe explained telepathically. “Oh, my apologies,” Siegfried said to his axe. He shouldered Azuredge and manifested another weapon from his arsenal. The helmed gaze turned to Siegfried, the helm cocking slightly as it sized the half-orc up. “Come at me, big daddy,” Siegfried said. His spirit guardians tore into the Gilded Eye agents within range, but did not appear to affect the Aggressor . The towering Aggressor unleashed a searing burst from the gaps in between its armor plates, sending out a fiery blast wave closely followed by a second wave of radiance. The front phalanx of Erwen’s wolf corps was vaporized with a chorus of terrified yipes. Erwen blinked tears from his eyes. Varien used his force of will to break free from the priest’s hold person spell, stumbling forward to catch his breath and then standing back up to his full, imposing height. The Gilded Eye agents had a difficult time dealing with Siegfried’s spirit guardians , staggering under their withering necrotic assault. One of the female priests began chanting a prayer, but a spirit guardian smothered her mouth with his bony fist as Siegfried counterspelled . She reeled out of range of Siegfried’s guardians’ grasps. Her counterpart began to cast a spell, and Varien called out, “be silent, woman!” as he cast counterspell . The Gilded Eye squad’s second-in-command withdrew a few paces as he saw, to his growing horror, a small skeletal child slashing at him with a kitchen knife. “You…you were cleansed!” he said shakily as the spirit guardian cut into him relentlessly.

Alec made for the still-living Inquisitor and began slashing with his  mercurial greatsword , landing one of three blows. With a bellow of rage, Alec surged back into action, bringing his sword down on the Gilded Eye agent again, again, and again, and then attempted to grapple the  Aggressor , who evaded his grasp easily. Not to be outdone, Alec twitched his free hand and it was filled with his hand crossbow, which he shot at the Gilded Eye Inquisitor. The Inquisitor reeled back, bleeding, falling to one knee as his lifeblood seeped out onto the floor. “I’m impressed,” Varien said. The Gilded Eye knights sprang into action. The first cast his bow aside and unsheathed his sword, striking at Alec, who tried to bring up his tail to block, but failed. The second sword stabbed deep into the barbarian’s guts. Alec grinned at him through bloodied teeth, taking his third and fourth slashes without flinching. The second knight, nearest to Erwen. “You…you killed the Inquisitor!” the Gilded Eye knight spat, raising his blade and swinging it recklessly at the Halfling. Two of them struck home, opening long wounds on the short-statured hero. The attack broke the druid’s concentration, and his remaining wolves blinked out of existence, returning to the Feywild from whence they came. Two other knights attacked Bob from either side. “Do your worst, heathens!” Bob shouted. He began to dodge and duck out of the way of the knights’ attacks. Bob cast  shield  to blunt an accurate slash, and the remaining slashes failed to find their marks, the invisible forcefield turning them aside. “You’re attacking me? I’m attacking you!” Bob laughed. The last knight pushed into the protective zone of Siegfried’s  spirit guardians , taking their necrotic rips and tears without flinching as he drew his sword to attack the half-orc. The Gilded Eye knight’s first swing was blocked by an ashen skeleton. “Sit down, child,” Siegfried said. The second thrust stabbed the half-orc through the cheek, and Siegfried’s witty rejoinder was replaced by a bellow of pain as the tip of the sword tore through the other cheek. At Siegfried’s pained howl, his  spirit guardians  collapsed into ashen dust piles and disappeared. The Gilded Eye soldier withdrew his sword, and Siegfried parried his next two attacks one-handed as he held his free hand to his injured mouth. “That’s both cheeks you’ve damaged!” Siegfried said, spitting blood. “I still haven’t sat for my official portrait yet!” The  Aggressor  stared down at Alec for a moment as if sizing the barbarian up, then turned its attention to the gravely injured Inquisitor. Its greatsword swung out to tap the wounded Gilded Eye agent on the shoulder pauldron, infusing the man with a blast of healing energy that closed up his wounds and gave him renewed strength. A crackling of divine energy radiated out from the paladin, who stood tall once again. A deep thrumming noise rolled out from the  Aggressor. Erwen looked up at the knight who had stabbed him. “That hurt,” he said with a frown. Then he threw back his head and howled like a wolf, casting another  conjure animals  spell. A phalanx of wolves, two dozen strong, popped into appearance around the Gilded Eye knight, who closed his eyes behind his visored helm and steeled himself for the inevitable. The Gilded Eye knight suffered the same fate as his beloved Inquisitor as Erwen’s wolves tore him limb from limb. Erwen  wildshaped  into his air elemental form, taking on the shape of a great white wolve made of cloud and air. He rose above his army of wolves like a mighty wind. Er-Wind drifted towards Bob, flanked by his wolven allies. The  Aggressor  teleported with a flash to reappear directly behind Bob, its holy shadow spreading across the stone floor before it. Bob watched as the front line of wolves approaching him and the knights began to growl in unison, the hair on their backs standing on end as the shadow of the  Aggressor  fell over them. Bob sighed. “Hello there,” Bob said to the  Aggressor . “Skraper!” he called for his mount. Outside the stone sphere, Skraper wheeled in the air and dove towards the vast shape of the  Aggressor  that blocked the circular entrance. Skraper bared his teeth, unfurled his claws and pounced. The liondrake flew like a golden meteor and struck the  Aggressor  from behind, digging his claws into the celestial and violently shoving it. The imposing celestial stumbled forward onto its hands and knees, its greatsword clanging off the stone floor with a sound like a holy gong. “Go, Skraper!” Bob shouted triumphantly. Skraper was dug in on the  Aggressor’s  back with his long, sharp claws, and took a nip out of the celestial’s neck. “Mmmm, tastes divine,” Skraper said, light bleeding out from between his fangs as he chewed. Bob reached out to touch the two Gilded Eye knights as he twin-cast  shocking grasp , blasting them with lightning energy that overheated their plate armour and sent tendrils of smoke curling out from the gaps in their armour. Rooted in place, all they could do was scream in agony as lightning crackled over their bodies. Bob  misty stepped  into Skraper’s saddle. The liondrake beat his wings and flew 20 feet straight up into the air within the spherical chamber. As they did so, the Aggressor, still prone on the floor, unleashed another searing burst that blasted across the stone floor to catch the front skirmish line of Erwen’s wolf army, obliterating several of them in an instant. The injured Knights were spared the flames and radiance, standing firm as the explosion washed over the conjured creatures. Siegfried rushed towards the Inquisitor. The Gilded Eye agent nearest him caught him with a slashing attack as he moved forward. Siegfried shrugged off the pain and focused on the Inquisitor . “So, you are unwilling to fight this massive interloper,” Siegfried said to Azuredge. “What about this man, who has been torturing Waterdeep’s citizens?” Meh , the axe replied.  A crime has been committed against Waterdeep and that crime must be punished. “That’s fine by me,” Siegfried said, raising the axe. He  hexed  the Inquisitor and followed up with three strikes with his magical axe. The body blows staggered the Inquisitor. Siegfried flourished his weapon, making one of the wounds on the Gilded Eye agent worse, and ended up in a defensive stance. “Inquisitor Marros, I presume?” Siegfried said to the injured man as he forced the man down on one knee with the edge of his axeblade. “You have been marked; you have confessed. Subject yourself to cleansing at the hands of the law of Waterdeep.” Divine light began to spew from the Inquisitor’s wounds. The man’s eyes widened, though the fanatical zeal did not waver. “Law?” he spat through gritted teeth. “Corrupt laws are no laws at all!” He coughed a gob of blood onto his chin. “The law that would starve the widow and let the orphan freeze in the night? That is no law, Inquisitor Marros.” Siegfried replied coldly. Varien brandished Fiendsbane and summoned the Arcetalos. He strode towards the  Aggressor  and shrugged off a slash from one of the Gilded Eye knights. He stood before the  Aggressor.  “Sir,” he called. “Your presence here is not righteous. I know you to be a righteous being of holiness and good.” He pointed to the Gilded Eye paladins. “But these are cruel heretics and I would ask you to leave.” He cast  banishment . There was a blossoming of holy energy from the  Aggressor , who stood fast. Varien frowned. The Arcetalos swooped down and picked him up, bringing him level with the celestial’s visored helm. “I shall ask you again,” Varien said, making a  vow of enmity  on the Aggressor. “Change your course, and leave this place.” He pointed Fiendsbane at the celestial. “Or I will be forced to remove you.” The first female priest began to cast a spell. Siegfried frowned. “Little girl! One more word out of you! Shush!” he cast  counterspell . The priest backed away. The second priest began to cast a spell. “Don’t you start!” Varien said, casting  counterspell . The second priest backed away. Inquisitor Marros got to his feet, brandishing his battleaxe as he glared at Siegfried. “Do not speak to me of laws,” he growled. He swung his axe at the half-orc, breathing a Helmite prayer as he did so. Siegfried parried his first blow, but could not defend against his second attack, which thundered with divine energy. Siegfried stood fast against the slashing and radiant damage that washed over him. The paladin’s  staggering smite  blasted the half-orc with a psychic attack that threatened to burst Siegfried’s skull. Inquisitor Marros reared back to attack again, but faltered as his energy reserves began to bleed away. Siegfried loomed over the injured Inquisitor, getting in close to show Marros the blood seeping from his torn cheeks, and the fresh blood that was now tricking from around his eye sockets. “Was it worth it?” Siegfried asked coldly. “All this, for a drop of blood?” He pressed a finger to the blood beneath his left eye and smeared it on Marros’s forehead. Marros glared at Siegfried, defiant to the last. Again, he sank to a knee. “Alec,” Siegfried said. “Manacle him. We won’t make him a martyr.” Marros’s eyes widened in disbelief.   Alec moved on an intercept course to Inquisitor Marros. He grappled the Inquisitor, forcing him to drop his battle axe as he gained a grip, putting the man in an arm crucifix. He clapped the Inquisitor in irons, immobilizing him. Picking up his own sword, he swung it at the nearest Gilded Eye knight, slashing him. The Gilded Eye knight grabbed for the bound Inquisitor, opening him up to an attack of opportunity, which slashed him horribly. “Worth it,” he gasped as he dragged his superior away from Siegfried and Alec. The second knight charged at Siegfried, hacking at the half-orc wildly. He missed with all his wild swings. Siegfried tossed a set of manacles at him. “We’ll be with you shortly,” he said. The third knight began to slash at the wolves nearest him, trying to thin their numbers, while the fourth knight turned his attention to Er-Wind the air elemental. His sword did not find purchase at all. Erwen’s remaining wolves pounced on the two knights, baring their teeth and snapping with their jaws. The knights staggered but managed to stay on their feet. The  Aggressor  slowly got to its feet with a groaning sound and swung its massive greatsword at Varien astride the Arcetalos. The strike almost knocked the paladin from his mount as it bowled him over with radiant energy. The  Aggressor  followed up with another strike that did similar damage. Er-Wind drifted towards his enemy as a knight slashed at him. He dropped out of wildshape. At a snap of his fingers, his wolf allied disappeared. “Hey, dude!” Erwen shouted at the  Aggressor . “You’re about to have an  eely  bad day!” He conjured a swarm of electric eels that dropped out of the sky above the celestial, raining down on it with a horrible  shlopping  sound. Lightning began to crackle around the  Aggressor  as the eels unleashed their electrical charges on the creature. Bob and Skraper flew close to their allies, intent on healing. The priests attempted to  counterspell  but could not conjure the magical energy to meet Bob’s talent. Siegfried tossed another set of manacles their way. “Stop trying to contribute!” A wave of healing energy radiated out from Bob, healing his brother Alec back to full strength. “Thanks, brother!” Alec called out. The eel-covered  Aggressor  teleported towards Siegfried and Alec. Skraper dive-bombed one of the knights and pounced, nearly bowling the stout knight over. The man held his ground. The  Aggressor  unleashed a  searing burst  on the adventurers. Alec, still waving to Bob, was bowled over by the fireblast and radiant surge. Siegfried managed to dive behind Alec’s bulk to save himself from the worst of the explosion. Several of the electric eels disintegrated as the blast wave blew out from the  Aggressor . Siegfried  quickened  a spell and conjured another set of  spirit guardians  that began to march around him in lockstep. The ashen skeletons savaged the remaining Gilded Eye agents but could not damage the  Aggressor . Skeletons moved to fall on the Inquisitor. “I want him alive,” Siegfried said, sparing him from their attack. Siegfried hacked at his target with  Azuredge , landing three strikes. The Arcetalos brought Varien to the  Aggressor . “Since you’ve made your choice, then, so be it.” He cast  haste  on himself and the Arcetalos. The Arcetalos unleashed a  flame burst  that sent a blast of radiant energy out towards Varien’s enemies, including one of the Gilded Eye knights that was instantly burned to a crisp. The Aggressor stood firm, letting the blast wash over it. Another phalanx of electric eels was roasted by the explosion. The Arcetalos snapped its beak at the  Aggressor , but missed. Varien raised Fiendsbane and swept it down upon the  Aggressor  with a  searing smite.  Flames began to lick at the celestial’s armour.   Varien struck the  Aggressor  again, sparks flying, and followed it up with another strike that gouged long grooves in the celestial. Siegfried’s  spirit guardians  tore into the remaining ranks of the Gilded Eye. One of the clerics screamed as a skeleton grasped her and croaked,  HELM HAS SEEN WHAT YOU HAVE DONE. HELM HAS CHOSEN NOT TO PROTECT YOU. The skeleton tore into the priest, her screams choked off as her throat was ripped out by the scything guardian. HELM HAS GIVEN YOU TO US , another skeleton rasped at the remaining priest, who began to lose her mind, stumbling forward with her mace in her hands in an attempt to stop the madness. Her faltering swing missed Siegfried by a mile. Marros breathed deeply as he attempted to break his bonds, but could not muster the strength to break free. He turned his gaze to his knight companion, a look of fatalistic complacence on his face. He knelt before the knight solemnly. “Do it!” he barked. The knight obediently raised his sword.