The party could hear the sound of violence echoing across the plaza at the base of the tower. A phalanx of city guards had pushed their wagons into a cordon, beyond which a horde of misshapen humanoid creatures frothed and howled. “Bob, might I have a touch of frost on my shoulder?” Siegfried asked. Bob nodded and drew the shard of the ise rune, touching it to Siegfried. An icy mantle spread over the half-orc’s body, and without pomp or ceremony, Siegfried stepped off the edge of the God Catcher’s outstretched palm, plummeting more than a hundred feet to the cobblestones below. Varien rolled his eyes. “Show-off,” he muttered, summoning the Arcetalos. Bob called for Skraper. Like an icicle falling from an overhanging eave, Siegfried’s icy mantle shattered as he struck the pavement, absorbing the impact. Siegfried landed in his signature three-point posture, then straightened up, brushing shards of ice from his waistcoat. “Take heart, friends!” Siegfried called to the embattled city guards. Barnibus Blastwind and Saeth Cromley had taken up defensive positions behind one of the wagons’ wheels. Siegfried cast protection from evil and good on himself. He stepped forward smartly to survey the scene while his companions took wing. He saw a scene fit for the Hells themselves, like an insane artist’s garish nightmare painting come to life. A horde of bent, swaying bodies pressed forward, as though puppeteered by unseen strings in herky-jerky stutter steps. Bodily cavities were being distended and stretched as screaming devils clawed their way out of their hosts, some wearing the flesh and skin of their unfortunate victims like rags while others seemed content to stay half-hidden within the bodies they now possessed, raking at the guards with long, misshapen claws. More than a handful of unfortunate Waterdhavian protectors were already down, laying in pools of their own viscera. Siegfried frowned and clucked a tongue. “Exactly what happened to Brevindon Margaster,” he said to Barnibus and Saeth. “Thankfully my friends and I have some experience with these horrors.” The Arcetalos and Skraper landed on the pavement behind Siegfried and Alec disembarked, his fists already turning into animalistic claws in preparation for impending violence. He picked out the largest demonic hulk and cracked his knuckles. “This is going to hurt like hell!” he howled as he dashed forward to slash at the creature recklessly, laughing triumphantly as he put the fiend in a headlock to stop its advance on the guards. Suddenly Alec was surrounded by fiends. “Oh, right,” Alec said, grimacing. The fiendish creatures tore into the barbarian. Other devils bowled over the first line of defenders. One torn open a guard from throat to pelvis with one swipe of its elongated claws. Another tried to bite Varien, who cast shield to turn away the creature’s attack. Varien, sitting astride Arcetalos, held a rattling Fiendsbane aloft. “Get back!” he shouted authoritatively as his phoenix mount took wing, nipping at the nearest creature with its beak. Varien brought his sword down on the nearest target, unleashing a divine smite. He followed up with a critical strike that blasted the creature with radiant energy. “Pitiless creature, begone!” Varien shouted as the devil exploded in a spray of brimstone. “This, friends, this is Varien, Calamity of Sune in action!” Siegfried shouted to the guards. “Watch and be amazed!” Not to be outdone, Siegfried hurled Azuredge at his nearest target, dazing it. “Fiends! Your quarrel is with me!” he shouted at the mass of malevolent monsters. “You mongrels from the pits of Hell, be you servants of Lorcan, Asmodeus, Levistus, I care not, because you will all fall before our blades this day!” “Damn, he’s good,” muttered Saeth Cromley. “Fly Skraper, fly!” Bob called to his liondrake mount as he cast haste on Varien and Siegfried. He then cast spare the dying on the nearest dead guardsmen. Skraper bellowed and laid into his target with his claws, shredding dead and demon flesh alike. Alec grunted and hefted the creature he’d put in a headlock, turning it into a bludgeoning weapon that he used against its allies, thrashing them with the creature’s body. Each blow he landed resulted in a sickening cracking sound from his improvised weapon. The devils continued their attacks on the adventurers, wracking Alec with body blows and claw strikes. Siegfried found himself surrounded but with an easy flourish he ducked, dipped, dove, dodged, and otherwise avoided the melee attacks thrown at him by the increasingly frustrated devils. “I remain just out of reach, I’m afraid,” he said to his assailants. Varien looked at Fiendsbane clutched in his gauntlet. “These creatures are fiends, but also undead,” he said. I concur , his sword replied. “Well, then we are both in our element, aren’t we?” Varien said. You can’t see it, but I’m smiling in agreement , Fiendsbane replied. “Well then,” Varien replied, casting steelwind strike. He became a blur of radiant energy, appearing in flashing strobes of holy vengeance as he struck target after target at lightning speed. Two of the devils he killed outright, their bodies becoming hellish cinders. The Arcetalos unleashed a flame strike that summoned a column of holy fire down on the nearest knot of fiendish creatures. Siegfried wielded Azuredge with a surgeon’s skill, cutting down fiends left and right. His movements inspired Bob. Skraper attempted a pounce attack but mis-timed his landing, striking one of the police wagons instead. “Oops,” the liondrake said sheepishly. Bob twin-cast harm on two targets, causing necrotic wounds to open and fester on the flesh of the devils. They screamed in agony. Bob then used his breath of life ability to restore life to the fallen guards. Alec continued to bludgeon his foes with the body of their ally, raging all the while. The devils did their best to return the party’s attacks blow for blow, but Siegfried continued to dance his way out of danger and Alec merely shrugged off the worst of the damage. The Arcetalos screeched and unleashed a flaming burst on its enemies, blasting them with radiant energy. The horde of creatures withered before it. “All yours, Varien,” Siegfried said to his companion. Varien leaped from his saddle to the cart, standing before the last, hulking brute that had torn its way out of an unfortunate man’s midsection. The man’s upper body hung like the bib of an undone overall from the creature. “One cut takes your hands,” Varien said with a slash. “Another takes your legs,” he continued with a second strike. “Finally, your head!” With a violent slash he decapitated the creature. “Friends, you shall not die this day!” Varien called to the city guards as he bolted towards his next opponent, catching it with an underhanded swing that launched it into the air. “Bob!” Varien shouted. Bob pointed a finger and unleashed a guiding bolt that blasted the last devil to smithereens. Silence descended upon the plaza. Siegfried wiped fiendish ichor from his face, dabbing at it with his scarf. “So,” he said to the city guards. “Which one of you lads wants to buy us a drink first?”