The merregons closed ranks around Varien from both ends of the corridor as he unsheathed Fiendsbane, brandishing their halberds menacingly. To Varien’s surprise, Optio Dundarth turned to the merregons who were closing in from behind, putting his back to the paladin as he brandished his own weapon in defiance. “Fools!” Dundarth bellowed. “This is a VIP under my protection! You know not what you do!” Undaunted, the front two ranks of merregons attacked Varien and the Optio simultaneously, slashing with their halberds. The squads further back in the corridor swapped out their halberds for heavy crossbows. “I’ve got your back, Varien!” Optio Dundarth said. “I will not fail in my mission to protect you!” He gave Varien an opening to attack the fiendish infantry. Iseddon pulled out his frostquall partisan and slashed violently at Varien. Varien blocked the attacks with his shield in a spray of ice chips, the shield frosting over with the impact. Varien sidestepped and slashed at Iseddon with Fiendsbane, missing with his first strike, but following up with a destructive wave . Iseddon’s smirk disappeared in a flash of bright light as Varien teleported behind him. The destructive wave sent a shockwave of thunder and radiance down the corridor, blasting the merregon infantry and sending most of them sprawling. Iseddon too went down on one knee beneath the onslaught of the wave, momentarily senseless. Varien’s destructive wave mangled and mauled the ranks of legion devils, leaving them devastated and prone. Fiendsbane was in its element, rattling insistently. Varien raised his sword and brought it down on the sprawled gelugon general, cracking his carapace. Fiendsbane whipped back with frost on its blade. Optio Dundarth used his quick-claw rend to savage the merregons before him, dropping one instantly and pushing the rest of the squad back. “This had better go in your report, Varien!” he called out. Varien shivered as the cold aura emitted by Iseddon swept over him like deepwinter frost. Iseddon got to his feet and loomed over the paladin, stabbing with his frostsquall partisan. Varien was rocked by the first strike, and was pushed back, but managed to get his shield up to block the gelugon’s follow-up strikes. Varien realized he’d been pushed into the ranks of the merregon infantry only moments before the merregons did. The assaulted the paladin with a flurry of halberd strikes, striking with mechanistic precision, the product of relentless training. Varien endured the attacks without betraying any pain. The rear guard aimed their crossbows and fired a blast of bolts, the hail of bolts striking against Varien’s armour. The merregons facing Dundarth renewed their assault, forming a scything wall of halberds that slashed at the Optio with relentless aggression. “You know, Iseddon here was my drill instructor when I was first rising through the ranks,” he yelled to Varien, “so I’d be lying if I said this betrayal wasn’t cathartic on my part!” Dundarth did his best to parry the flurry of slashes, but withered under their assault, bits of frost chitin chipping away to reveal runnels of black-blue ichor. He fell back, gasping. Turned to Varien with a fatalistic gleam in his compound eyes, he called out, “Remember me to the boys on the bridge, comrade!” He raised his claw in salute to the paladin and then created a wall of ice that sealed the corridor off before him. The ice was smeared by splatters of ichor as the blurry shapes of the merregon devils descended on the lone defender, tearing him limb from limb. Iseddon chuckled darkly. “You see now, mortal, how misguided loyalties are rewarded under my command.” He pointed a cold claw at Varien and snarled, “You should have stayed out of my way!” Varien’s eyes glowed red as he replied, “I should have stayed out of hell!” He teleported behind Iseddon and unleashed another destructive wave . Varien’s blast wave utterly devastated the already mauled merregon ranks, sending body parts and bits of broken armour flying down the corridor, painting walls, floors, and ceilings with ichor. Varien invoked a crimson rite and Fiendsbane was suddenly wreathed in holy fire. Iseddon planted his feet and leaned into the blast wave, refusing to bend beneath the onslaught. Below deck, a lone imp janitor sighed with satisfaction as he finished mopping up a utility corridor. There was a pattering sound and the imp felt a droplet land on his coveralls. He looked down, seeing a spot of black ichor, then felt another strike the brim of his hat. He looked up in time to see a gushering blast of black ichor rain down from above, washing him down the corridor with a scream. Iseddon threw back his head and laughed. “Fool! There are many more where they came from!” He attacked the paladin with his frostsquall partisan. On the bridge, Siegfried felt some concussive vibrations through the soles of his infernal boots. A smile tugged at his mouth. Varien cast Shield and blocked Iseddon’s second strike. The gelugon hissed in fury and then shouted “My merregons, to me!” as he pressed the attack. There was a thump from behind as halberds began hacking at the ice wall blocking the remaining merregons. Iseddon slashed at Varien again, but his blows were blocked by Varien’s magical defenses. The ice wall shatters as the horde of merregons burst forth, trampling Optio Dundarth’s remains as they charged at Varien. Only a few lucky strikes were able to get past Varien’s shield spell. Iseddon pointed at a squad of merregons standing near Varien. “Merregons, by my cold heart, I command!” The merregons had time to salute before there was a sound of arctic thunder as the five-fiend squad instantly turned to statues of ice. Varien quickened a haste spell and teleported away from the frozen fiends, and stabbed Iseddon, striking twice successfully. He unleashed a smite as well as the crimson flames of his rite, blasting the gelugon commander. He followed up with another concentrated wallop. Iseddon staggered back. The gelugon general said, “you have traveled through my ship unimpeded for far too long. It is time for me to place you in shackles!” He cast a spell and a bridge of ice formed out of his chest to bind Varien to him, laughing as he dragged the helpless paladin back towards the frozen merregons. “My merregons, this I command!” he barked. The frozen foot-soldiers exploded, peppering Varien and the other merregons alike with fragments of ice shards. The surviving merregons renewed their assault on the frozen paladin. One of the merregons moved to a switch on the wall and pulled it. A klaxon began blaring down the corridor. On the bridge, an imp crewman noticed a red gem begin to blink on his alarm console. “Sir, we’ve got an alarm sounding aft of the Lower Perch!” he exclaimed. Siegfried strode over to the imp’s station and bent down. There was a bas-relief of the airship’s main decks studded with gems of various sizes and shades indicating relative positions and placements, and sure enough, a red gem was winking in the corridor leading towards the engine room. “You can use this eyeball to check on the corridor’s status, sir” The imp said helpfully, indicating a strange set of goggles built into the deck’s instrumentation. Siegfried put his face up to the rubberized gasket and felt a prickling sensation as though tiny tentacles were probing his eye sockets. In the corridor, a brass eyeball opened its metallic lid from its position on ceiling, cycling around cycloptically. through a blood-red film, Siegfried could make out the battle between Varien, a hulking armoured gelugon, and a squad of merregon infantry. “I need the controls for the nearest ioun turret,” Siegfried said.