Varien stood astride the leaking furnace, a triumphant expression on his face. Suddenly, time seemed to slow down and stop. Varien’s vision narrowed into a glorious tunnel of warmth as he saw Sune in Her glory approaching as though buoyed by a luxurious tuft of cloud. Sune was clapping her hands in applause, which made her considerable physical assets jiggle quite pleasantly. She drifted upon her cumulonimbus conveyance until she was level with Varien. She spoke, her voice husky and honeyed. “My beloved, your heroism has attracted attention from the Upper Planes,” she breathed. She leaned in to kiss Varien on the lips, bestowing upon him a blessing of health that rippled through Varien’s body like a wave of frisson. Sune placed a gentle hand on Varien’s cheek, heedless of his bucket helm, and then let her hand drift sensuously down his steel gorget and breastplate until it was resting on his shield arm. She whispered into Varien’s ear. “Torm wanted you to have this.” Varien’s sentinel shield glowed as it was imbued with new magical properties, the insignia on the front shifting into a Helmite eye. Sune nibbled on Varien’s ear. “Keep up the good work, my beloved,” she purred as the cloud pulled back, and as the goddess disappeared in a trail of rose petals, reality began to spin back up to normal speed. Glancing down at his sword hand, Varien noticed an aura around Fiendsbane that appeared to be drawing the ichor from the dead devils on the deck above into his blade like black-green wisps of fog stirred by air currents. Yessssss... Fiendsbane rattled. On the bridge, Burn-wen turned his ire against the gobsmacked gelugons, slamming them with his flaming fists. The imp gripped in his claw screamed one final time as he was pulped by the blow. In the engine room, the imps scrambled out of the way as the green gas continued to flow from the rent in the furnace. Varien surmised that the floating bell-shaped object was a magical levitation device that was keeping the airship aloft. He cast steelwind strike and darted towards the imps, slashing each one into oblivion in turn before teleporting to the nearby chain devil. The chain devil was rocked by a divine smite, reeling backwards, but Varien grabbed him by his chains and slammed him through the remaining imp officer, destroying the panel of machinery (as well as the hapless imp). The imp was smeared across the dented panel. “It’s in my eyes!” the chain devil wailed, spitting imp ichor and broken teeth. Varien grabbed the mortally wounded chain devil around the shoulders, holding the weakened fiend up as he looked at the nearest instrument panel, heedless of the merrenoloth’s anguished bellowing on the dais above. He poked at a button exploratorily. “Now, how does this work?” He asked the chain devil. “Is this the emergency deactivation button right here?” The chain devil, still trying to wipe imp ichor from its eyes, moaned disconsolately. “I’ll take that as a yes,” Varien said, flipping open the clamshell cover and stabbing at the big red button with a gauntleted forefinger. There was a coughing sound from a grate near the button. “It is not recommended that this engine ejection system be activated while the airship is in flight. Do you wish to proceed?” “Yes, yes I do,” Varien said. There was a grunt from the instrument panel. “Look, I’m just a soul coin inserted as a failsafe, but I had to ask. Initiating self-destruct protocol, and see you in hell!” “Have a nice day,” Varien muttered. He stabbed the button again. “What are you doing there!” The merrenoloth banged on the glass. “Get away from there!” The glowing pentagram on the deck surrounding the bell began to glow brightly as its sides began to reform in an infernal countdown. An alarm began to bleat forlornly. Varien dropped the chain devil and ran towards a ladder in the far corner of the room. On the bridge, the alarm console next to Siegfiend lit up with a kaleidoscope. “Sir! We’ve got a new alarm code!” the imp screeched. “It’s just a ‘V’!” Siegfiend smiled and aimed Ol’ Painless at the reinforced viewscreen and let fly. Bullets fractured and shattered the heavy leaded glass, weakening it until it blew out theatrically, letting in the full brunt of Acheron’s cold wind into the bridge. Siegfiend conjured Violance, who manifested in a puff of purple-black smoke. The nightmare pawed one hoof on the deck and sniffed. “Love what you’ve done with the place,” he murmured. “Thanks!” Siegfiend said. “Though I can’t take all the credit.” Siegfiend bundled Gnash the Slash and Lady Dejatha onto Violance’s back and grabbed Bob, planting him amid his horns. “You can handle yourself, right Bob?” “You bet!” Bob replied. “Looks like this airship will take us all the way to the crash site,” he declared. “Violence, straight out and straight on!” The nightmare stamped a hoof and bolted for the improvised exit. Over the howl of the gale-force winds, the navigatrix shouted, “The controls aren’t responding!” She hauled on the chains to no effect. Siegfiend grabbed the chain devil and tossed her out the window. She disappeared without so much as a scream. An imp, seated at his station, gasped aloud. “Such betrayal!” Siegfiend grappled the flailing chains and hauled on them fiercely, intent on putting the airship into a nosedive. There was a dinging sound and hatches above each of the imp stations opened, dropping a mask and hose to each crewman. Sulfur fogged out from the mouthpieces. “Just like we trained, everyone!” an imp shouted, affixing a mask over his snout. “This is not a drill!” He grabbed a second mask before his seat-mate could take it and doubled up on the brimstone. Another imp, secure in his five-point harness, spun his chair as red warning lights lit up on his board. “Sir! I’m getting reports of unauthorized launches from the Upper Perch! Air Marshal Zuvok and her Screaming Harpies have taken off without permission! I can’t raise Optio Rexander or anyone from the security team on that deck!” There were dull thudding sounds from the dorsal section as hapless scorpion gun crews attempted to stop the hobgoblins’ departure. A harried imp was shouting into a sounding horn. “I don’t care how dense the necrotic fog is in the Engine Room, you lackwit! The orders were for all available hands to make for the Engine Room to effect immediate repairs!” He paused. “What do you mean, ‘everyone’s dead’?” Siegfiend turned to the flatfooted Erinyes guard and the remaining imps who were still poking at their unresponsive instrument panels. “See you in hell, idiots!” He dropped a fireball behind him as he flapped his wings and carried Bob from the nose-diving airship. The Subjugator , out of control, began to fall from the sky. The Erinyes grabbed Roger the Janitor, who flung his mop and bucket aside, and dove out the window. “Who’s flying this thing!?” The merrenoloth shouted as floors became walls. “You there!” Varien called out. “Where does this hatch go?” The merrenoloth was attempting to regain control of the ship from his engineering panel. Over his cloaked shoulder he shouted, “The Ventral Battery! You’ll never survive!” Varien knew that the ventral battery was likely a gun deck and bomb bay located on the underside of the ship. “Splendid,” Varien saluted. “Thank you for your time.” Varien teleported to the ladder and descended the ladder sideways as fast as he could. Where are those bomb bay doors? He asked himself. There was chaos on the gun deck as squads of spined devils and imps argued with one another about whether they should open fire on the orcs below, abandon their posts, or head to the Engine Room. Varien kicked off the ladder and dashed across the Lower Perch, jostling among the ordnance. Below him, the bomb bay doors were sealed shut. Fiendsbane, do you think we’re strong enough to cut through these doors? I feel strong enough to cut through this entire CUBE! Fiendsbane replied. Fair enough, Varien said, raising his sword overhead. Siegfiend turned his gun on the Erinyes who had bolted out after him. “No survivors,” he said grimly. His shots missed, but he flew in and clawed her mercilessly. Bob averted his gaze but cast Palarandusk's Whipstrike and a bolt of swirling air pummeled the Erinyes and her impish cargo. Burn-wen noticed that his companions had exited the airship. He wildshaped into an air elemental and drifted out of the broken window. He noticed the fight between the Erinyes and his friends, and slammed the unsuspecting fiend from behind, bashing her twice. The Erinyes screamed in painful defiance but stayed airborne. Varien slashed open the bomb bay doors with a clean strike of his sword. There was a wrenching sound of iron-on-iron as the hinge gave way. He saw the ground approaching at high velocity. “Arcetalos!” Varien called. “Come to me!” There was no response from his phoenix. Varien put up his shield and prepared for impact. There was a tremendous crash as he slammed into the surface of the cube, sending a plumb of rust and flinders of broken steel and bones in all directions. At the bottom of the impact crater, Varien stood, undaunted. As the smoke cleared, a ring of curious orc soldiers were surrounding Varien. Varien doffed his helmet and wiped his forehead. “I’m looking for your boss, Obould Many-Arrows,” he said. Suddenly there was a horrendous crash behind him as the Subjugator impacted against the cube’s surface, its airframe crumpling as it bored a burning channel into the flat expanse. Then the self-destruct device blew – simultaneously exploding and imploding the Subjugator and sucking its remains further into the Lower Planes. The lead orc scratched his head and opened his mouth to answer. He was interrupted as Siegfiend he landed on the surface of the cube, Bob at his side, and Violance alighting nearby. He dropped his fiendish form and was resplendent as any Prince of Many-Arrows could be. Hundreds of orcish soldiers moved in for the kill. Siegfried unsheathed the Ettin Axe of Uruth and raised it overhead. Now we’re talking, the axe’s voices said in unison. “Brothers! I command your obedience this day!” Siegfried shouted at the top of his lungs. “Let us march on the Iron Fortress…” he paused for effect. “No, let’s parade to the Iron Fortress.”