The War Without End – Episode 1.21

Before morning the Med-Jai are woken from their slumber by sounds of alarm ringing through the Fortress of the Second.

“To Arms! To Arms!” Heiron cries.

A force of nearly two-dozen Med-Jai rapidly assembles in the main hall. The eleven champions are there, along with the majority of the Second Tribe.

Those present are Kovu a Leonal Guardinal of the First Tribe, Hashok a Gargoyle of the Third Tribe, Canus a Lupinal Guardinal of the Fourth Tribe, Ardep Bey representing the Fifth Tribe, Jansen Van Vuren a Ranger from the Sixth Tribe, The Silent Man a Githzerai of the Seventh Tribe, Burberry a Halfling Paladin of the Eighth Tribe, Silas of the Ninth Tribe, two Modrons from the Tenth Tribe, Tanemous of the Eleventh Tribe, Gergo a Dwarf Cleric of the Twelfth Tribe and of the Second Tribe, Heiron, Ebon, Shilaze, Blanca, Elsabeth, Kai, Korbin, Baratus, Sa’ara, Growler and Delwar.

It is time, Heiron explains to the gathering. The Conjunction has arrived earlier than expected and 111001, the Modron representative of the Tenth tribe who went through the portal twenty years ago, has returned to transfer its accumulated knowledge into its successor 111010. During this procedure, it has become clear that a massive Daelkyr led attack is already under way and that the threat to the portal is far greater than they had imagined. If the Lords of Madness are not stopped, all will be lost, so Heiron has decided to break protocol and send not only the champions but as many of the Second Tribe as he can muster to aid with the defence. Before asking for volunteers, he makes certain that everyone understands the severity of the situation and explains gravely that those who go may not return. The Med-Jai have grown accustomed to facing danger however and none of them wavers.

Heiron looks upon them proudly and then turns and leads them through the portal.

They pass down a long stairway and across a narrow bridge over a huge chasm. On the far side they enter an ancient fortress that guards the only access to the portal.

Within the fortress they find many beings making ready for battle. Most are recognisable as Humans or Elves, but others are from races the Med-Jai have never seen before; some bestial, some encased entirely in metal. All are making final adjustments to their equipment and then setting off purposefully to defend the portal.

Heiron leads the company of Med-Jai along the path of the exodus until they emerge, between two huge ironbound doors, into an open area, surrounded by steep rock faces, riddled with tunnels. Into these the defenders rapidly depart. Coordinating their movements is a large brightly feathered serpent, who introduces herself as Salarassa.

“Greetings Med-Jai of the Twelve Tribes. Your aid is most welcome” Salarassa acknowledges upon seeing them. “Please, there is little time, the twisted progeny of the Daelkyr are already through the first lines of our defences and will soon be upon us. Every able body is being sent into the tunnels to delay them for as long as possible. Once they breach this enclosure we will be forced to fall back to the citadel and make our final stand. We dare not falter for we must turn them back from the portal at all costs.”

Hurriedly Salarassa confers with Heiron and then divides the Med-Jai into four groups. Each team is sent into a different tunnel. Heiron, Delwar, Salarassa and the Modron 111010 remain behind to coordinate the defence from there.

Shilaze, Ebon, Blanca, Elsabeth, Kai and Baratus are chosen together. They set off into their designated tunnel at a jog, trying to get as far as possible before making a stand.

It is not long before they discern a great clamour emanating from the darkness ahead, and they stop to ready themselves for the coming battle. Ebon and Shilaze take the front, Kai and Blanca flank them and Elsabeth and Baratus stand to the rear.

Moments later a multitude of demonic creatures boils up the tunnel towards them. The first wave is composed of chittering things with four-arms and two-mouths. There are also some larger serpent creatures with clusters of barbed tentacles instead of heads.

As the first of the abominations reaches Ebon and Shilaze, Elsabeth steps in, breaking the horde’s momentum with a magical web that holds many of the creatures at bay. Without their overwhelming weight of numbers, the lead elements come to a bloody end.

While the Med-Jai are engaged in the fighting however, a dark spindly looking shape scuttles across the ceiling above them. Suddenly long appendages lash out, grabbing Kai around the throat, and the creature starts choking him. Despite his struggles, Kai is snatched off the ground and lifted up into the darkness.

In the nick of time, Elsabeth hurls a barrage of magic missiles at the Choker. Uttering a shriek, the beast relinquishes its grip and tumbles to the ground with a thud. Fortunately, though Kai is badly injured, he remains sufficiently agile to break his own fall.

Before the Med-Jai can regroup however, a huge fireball tears through the web. It incinerates many of the demonic creatures that were entangled. On the edge of the explosion, Ebon only just manages to shield Elsabeth from the searing flames that threaten to engulf them.

No sooner has the conflagration subsided than a cluster of monstrous alien-looking crab creatures bursts through the smouldering remnants of the web. With them are more of the tentacle-headed serpent things.

Ebon quickly moves to face the new threat, once again shielding Elsabeth from harm. He fells the first creature with a mighty blow, but the second is rapidly upon him. It clamps wicked looking pincers around his torso and begins to squeeze. For a moment it looks like it will crush him to death but then Shilaze comes to his rescue. Between them brother and sister fight the crab creatures back, killing three more before they are finished.

By now the Med-Jai are battered and bloody but they stand together, valiantly refusing to give ground as again and again the demonic creatures hurl themselves against them.

More Chokers appear, scuttling across the ceiling. Blanca fends one of them off with her halberd as it descends to make a grab for Ebon, and Elsabeth scorching rays another, but it seems only a matter of time before the gallant defenders are overwhelmed.

Suddenly a ghoulish figure, with tentacles in place of arms, materialises out of thin-air behind them. Elsabeth immediately incinerates it with a scorching ray but, as she does so, two more of the things appear and ensnare her with their tentacles. She struggles to be free of them until a Choker reaches down from the ceiling and starts to strangle her. Her face turns purple and she slips into unconsciousness.

Realising the enemy is in amongst them; Shilaze, Ebon, Kai and Blanca desperately fight off their immediate opposition and turn back to help. Shilaze cleaves through one of the two ghoulish figures that has Elsabeth in its grasp, and it screams and falls. Meanwhile Ebon deals with the Choker, severing its arms with a single blow, and then follows up with a strike to the remaining ghoul. Blanca finishes it off. Freed from their grip Elsabeth slumps to the ground.

While Kai attempts to revive her, Baratus creates a wall of swirling blades that holds back the growing multitude and gives Ebon, Shilaze and Blanca a chance to deal with the creatures that pose an immediate threat to the group. However, as the desperate struggle continues, a many-eyed Beholder ominously appears beyond the blade barrier. Opening its central eye it suppresses all magic in the area, and everything goes dark.

Suddenly the heroes realise that they have no illumination other than magical everlasting torches. With all magical effects negated by the Beholder, all these have gone out.

Hauling Elsabeth to her feet, Kai starts feeling his way along the wall, back down the tunnel. A short distance away, Baratus helplessly does likewise. However, Shilaze, Ebon and Blanca are surrounded. They have no hope of escaping past their adversaries in the dark. For them there is no recourse but to stand back-to-back and fight it out in almost total darkness. They hold their ground and lash-out at any thing that moves.

Long moments pass and the situation grows increasingly desperate for the three siblings, but they will not yield.

Soon the Beholder tires of their defiance and closes its central eye so that it may use its many other powers against them. Light returns. The Beholder’s eyestalks writhe in agitation as it appraises them disdainfully. One of the eyes fixes its gaze on Ebon and a ray shoots out of it causing him to stagger and double over in agony. There is a buzzing in his teeth as something starts tearing at his atoms. Seraphine, the guardian angel bound into his armour, struggles to resist the forces straining to rip him apart.

At the same time Shilaze is overwhelmed by two of the monstrous crab creatures and goes down. Locked in combat with the other abominations that surround them, Blanca is powerless to help her.

Summoning every ounce of will and determination, Ebon fights against the ray’s disintegration effect and, with Seraphine’s aid, withstands it. The Beholder looks on nonplussed.

Rising up, Ebon swings his glaive mightily, scattering the crab creatures.

“BLANCA GET SHILAZE OUT OF HERE!” he roars.

For a moment, Blanca balks at the thought of leaving her brother, but it does not take her long to realise that this may be their only chance for survival. Quickly she hefts her sister up and helps her stagger away down the tunnel.

Behind them, Ebon holds back the pursuing creatures, doing his best to keep them between him and the Beholder. In the end however, one of the crab creatures slips past.

Blanca and Shilaze have not gone far, and the crab creature scuttles after them. Rapidly it eats up the ground.

Ebon shouts a warning. “BLANCA, LOOK OUT!”

Blanca turns. Dropping Shilaze, she stands over her sister, raising her halberd and defiantly facing their pursuer. But she is no match for the power of the crab creature. It bears down on her, smashing through her defences and crushing her with its powerful pincers. Blood trickles from her mouth as it raises her up off the ground in order to finish her.

Fighting for his life, Ebon can only look on in horror.

And then, with a superhuman effort, from where she is lying on the ground, Shilaze drives her sword up, deep into the creature’s underside. The crab rears and staggers backwards, then falls. It releases Blanca from its vice-like grip. However both women remain motionless and do not rise.

Ebon cannot tell whether his sister’s are dead or alive, but either way he senses the battle will soon be over. He only wishes that with his death he had been able to earn their survival. With a final onslaught, he drives the chaos creatures back, cleaving through many before he is caught in the grip of another of the crab things and overwhelmed.

An instant later, another huge fireball erupts in the corridor. There is searing heat all around and the Daelkyr’s minions burn. Many are swept backward by the blast. Others scuttle aimlessly back and forth, their carapaces on fire. Then the crab creature holding Ebon is incinerated by a magical beam of light. Elsabeth, Kai and Baratus have returned.

Baratus rushes over to Shilaze and rapidly restores her with divine healing. Then he moves on to Blanca. Struggling to her feet, Shilaze goes in search of Ebon. She finds him amongst the creatures’ smouldering bodies, barely clinging to life. Hurriedly she tends to him, praying to Heironeous to keep her brother from dying.

As she gets him back on his feet the Beholder emerges from the smoke. From its eyes, destructive rays begin searing through the air, and more of the serpents and crab creatures slither and scuttle into view. One of the rays hits Baratus and his life force instantly departs. The cleric collapses.

“Hurry” Elsabeth shouts. “We have to get out of here!”

Grabbing Baratus, Shilaze and Ebon miraculously survive the deadly effects of the Beholder’s rays long enough to get back to the others. As soon as everyone is together Elsabeth opens a Dimensional Door and transports them all away down the tunnel.

With the Daelkyr’s minions hot on their heels the battle-weary group make best speed back to the open area. There they find Salarassa waiting for them. About her the magic wardings on many of the tunnel mouths are failing and the first wave of abominations are already spilling out.

“Go” Salarassa commands. “Hurry back to the fortress. You are the last. I will hold them here so the gates can be closed. Your place is inside. You will do more good there.”

Reluctantly the battered company withdraw. Behind them there are screams and alien cries, and explosions of powerful magic. Eventually the gates clang shut.

To be continued…

Notes:

Salarassa eventually succumbs to the combined attacks of four Beholders.

Once the small company are safely back inside the citadel, 111010 is able to undo the death effect of the ray that struck Baratus and the cleric is restored.

The remaining three groups of Med-Jai that were sent into the tunnels were:

Group 2 – Hashok, Tanemous, Gergo and Jansen van Vuren.

Group 3 – Canus, Kovu, Brother Silas and Burberry.

Group 4 – Ardep Bey, Growler, Korbin and Sa’ara.

Originally this was going to be the last episode of the first season but the series was continued because the intended end-of-season climax had not been reached.