A forest, the country-side, maybe a town

Zahktuthal hears Orion's shout, and he instantly dashes right up next to Orion and says "What do your eyes see?" He looks in the same direction but sees nothing, then looks back at Orion. He goes through a list of spells in his head, thinking of what Orion might be seeing.

Sylph patted Brising, trying to comfort the whining chimera as best as she could. "Something is coming." she observed by her chimera's uneasiness and Orion's command. "Orion.. what's going on?" she asked cautiously, trying to decipher his present worry.

Orion calls out from his location in the brush, " A warp gate is opening, and through it will come at least one agent of the burning shadow. A demonic creature know as an Infernal. I do not have time to explain any more of this now. However the light over there," Orion points to the hills Nicholas mentioned, "means that another Infernal has already landed. We must leave this place immediately or we will all die." He glances skyward once more and is horrified to note that the burning body is already beginning to emerge.

Zahktuthal growls and looks up at the sky. Not good at all...from what I've read, my magic will be useless against these things! He looks down at Orion and says "Is there any way to hinder them? Something that can blind them?"

Zahktuthal looks back up at the sky and spots the body. Not good...

"Infernals are drawn to areas where there has been large discharges of magic," Orion replys. "The only way to avoid death is to use their low intelligence and limited time on this plane to our advantage. If we disappear, into the woods it should be confused. Most likely it will head in the direction of the lights beyond the hills. However, I suggest we move rapidly for at least an hour, by then the Infernal should have dissipated back into the warp. We must not cast or use any enchanted object in that time or it will draw the Infernal to us like flies to honey."

*I ended up with a double post, nothing happens here*

"We're running away?" she muttered, looking at Orion quizzically. Sylph reluctantly lowered her already drawn arrow and sighed. She grabbed Brising's mane and moved away from behind the tree where she was hidden. Retreating usually went against her principles, but this was no time to be picky. "I suppose that means we're going the opposite way of which we came.. and then doubling back.. and then at some point, we're going to have to defeat them when they're least expecting it?" she asked, trying to summarize the mages' plans with some difficulty. Hesitating, she steered the Chimera backwards and into the forest darkness.

"No, Sylph we cannot double back. Not if we want to live that is," Orion says. "I'm not proud of this, but i think it is the only way to clarify what i mean. I was there when we used an Infernal to wipe out a renegade mage covenant. No, the only way to survive this is to stay ahead of it until it dissipates back into the Nether." He then notices that the Infernal's leg has come all the way through. The leg itself stands half as tall as the trees of the forest. "Quickly," he calls to the others.

Sylph blinked and stared at the giant leg at the giant infernal. Panicked and not thinking clearly, she unexpectedly leaped off the chimera's back and aimed the arrow at the infernal's head.. right between the two of its eyes. She released her attack in mid-air and landed lightly on her toes. Her head miraculously cleared for a mere second and she gasped at what she had just done. Sylph didn't want to look up and face the damage she had done.. but she forced herself to do it anyway. Peering at the infernal with one eye, she realized that her attack had only merely gave the infernal a scratch on the forehead. It barely even pierced the skin. The infernal looked outrageous and grotesque in form. She was afraid it might snap at any moment and destroy the entire forest.. taking Orion and her in the process.

Resigned and shivering, she casually lifted herself off the ground and walked towards Orion. "Run? Or fight?" she asked him feebly. The chances were pretty, damn slim.

(Infernals look like this: )

Orion is horrified to note that the Infernal is already through the gate. He watches as Sylph in a moment of panic fires a arrow at the demon. No, you fool that won't hurt it, he thinks. As he thought the arrow only does superficial damage at best. Sylph walks over to him and asks if they should run or fight. When she does this it snaps him back to the moment. He quickly undoes his robe revealing this black shirt and pants underneath. As he does this he notes that the others in the party are taking cover in the underbrush. The Infernal lets out a unearthly roar and calls out, "Where is the caster of the magic that called me here? Know I will find you." Orion grabs Sylph's around her shoulders and trips her. After gently setting her on the ground, he covers the two of them with his robe. Putting all his weight on her he whispers, "make no sound, and do not move, and absolutely NO magic. We must wait for the monster to move on before we can do anything now."

With another roar the Infernal begins to move to the south. Orion realizes it will pass right by himself and Sylph. He prays Sylph will have the sense to follow as he has instructed her.

Sylph inhaled quickly, as Orion was not as light as he appeared to be. The first part she could definitely obey.. since she didn't know how to use any form of magic anyway besides enhancements for weapons. The second part, she had a difficult time comprehending. "What?! Are you crazy?!" she silently yelled at him from under the robe. The elf squirmed under him in attempt to escape and found herself unable to move or budge even an inch under his weight.

She rested her cheek against the ground and went silent as the infernal started to move. Sylph could barely see his feet through the crevice of the robe. It was uncomfortable in the cramped space; her weapons dug into her back at the most annoying angles. Grimacing, she tried adjusting her position and failed.

"This is a piece of cloth." she reminded him, as if he didn't know that already. Given up, her eyes flashed as her thoughts went to the chimera, Brising. No. He'll be okay.. he's kin with the infernal, after all.

Orion, stifles a laugh at Sylph's question about his sanity. "I might be crazy, but my crazy is going to keep us alive," he replies. Noticing her discomfort he shifts to allow her to shift into a more comfortable position. When she describes his robe as a 'piece of cloth' he gets a wolfish grin on his face. "It is a piece of cloth that will keep us both alive, as long as you do not move."

The Infernal completely ignores the chimera not at all interested in this lesser being. It looks around and does not see anything. "Caster," it calls out, "If you do not show yourself I will destroy the settlement south of here."

Orion looks at Sylph and says, "It is trying to bait us do not move. It has spent to much time in this plane to make it to the village in time to do any damage."

Sighing, Sylph moved away from Orion and glanced at him gratefully. She lifted the robe and peeked under. The infernal was marching around the trees, looking back and forth for the fugitives. "We're going to die." she mumbled, disbelieving in his abilities to protect them from something so gigantic.

"So.. basically we're just going to stand here and wait for it to move away?" she asked glumly.

"Well," Orion responds, "we don't have to wait for it to go away, But I like living so I suggest we wait." He notices that the Infernal continues to move to the south. It then lets out a loud roar. It then charges off to the south and disappears into the depths of the forest. Orion rises to his feet and dusts himself off. He then offers his hand to Sylph to help her up.

Rh'rohild had been walking for a long time. He did not know what was driving him, nor did he care. He only knew that something was wrong.
He was deep in thought, but stopped before a large clearing. A huge fiery beast with what looked like stone for skin loomed above the trees, speaking in a language that Rh'rohild couldn't understand. But that didn't matter. What mattered was that something about this creature was wrong. Unequivocally, unquestionably wrong. Rh'rohild knew that it didn't belong here, and he was going to make sure that it didn't. He started preparing a powerful spell that he hoped would counter the dark flames, but he knew he had made a mistake. The giant rock creature turned a roared, and Rh'rohild knew that he couldn't win. So he ran.
Only a few minutes later he heard a cracking sound and turned. The creature that was chasing him roared in pain and frustration as its flames extinguished and the boulders that made up its body turned to fine ash as they tumbled down.
Rh'rohild found himself at the mouth of a dark and foreboding cave...

Sylph gratefully accepted his helping hand and stood, brushing off the dirt that had gathered onto her once-clean tunic. She was about to tell the mage how lucky they were that the infernal had moved on without noticing them until she heard a ferocious roar sounding from where the infernal had run off. Turning to Orion, she gave him a look of genuine curiosity. "Do you think.. someone.. might be, you know, fighting him?" she asked, frowning a bit. Sylph looked into the distance and noticed a flock of birds fleeing from their shelter from a disturbance. "We have to find out what happened. It was bad enough, hiding like cowards!" She purposefully neglected to add the part where she was partially guilty in the rising of the infernal's rage.

The elf moved towards Brising and swung her legs over the Chimera who resigned from his rest and stood loyally, also staring at the mage expectantly. She was preparing for at least a semi-hostile response from Orion. It was only natural when one's life was being threatened; Sylph stared at him stubbornly and folded her arms together, daring him to turn away from her burning gaze. "We're going to need a fast ride and Brising will do. Either you get on the Chimera, or I'm leaving you here." she told him in a casual manner, patting the extra space behind her. The Chimera growled uncomfortably at having to carry not one, but two people on his back.

Orion pauses to think at Sylph's words. "Some poor soul may be fighting him, and you are right we cannot let that poor soul stand alone." He moves over to her and the Chimera. He kneels before the great beast, "I suppose you think that it is a great and noble thing to fight a battle with no hope of victory or even escape," he says to it careful to make sure Sylph can hear. "I think another person would be a hindrance, but how about a raven?" Brising gives him a puzzled look. Orion smiles at the great beast. Rising to his feet he pats the Chimera's head. Orion then snaps his fingers and is surrounded in a blue light as his form shifts to that of a raven. He flies over and lands on the Chimera's back (around the base of the neck). He looks at Sylph and says, "ready when you are."

Rh'rohild looked at the remains, the vile ash spread across the ground. It looked like the thing was dead, but he could not shake the feeling that something was still there.

That something tempted him to step closer, tempted him to give into curiosity. Rh'rohild refused.
The thing leaped up, flames crackling anew, its hulking presence once again dominating the skyline. Its prey had not given in to the ambush, and now it was desperate. It knew time was running out.

Rh'rohild dodged blow after blow, clods of earth smoldering under the constructs massive fists. He knew he could not fight it alone, and so he continued to evade the attacks, hoping that the adventurers he had been spying on would come to his rescue.
He originally intended to kill them if they stumbled across his home, and the treasures within. How ironic.

"Thanks Raigi, we'll all keep that in mind." He gave the cat like boy a nod as he wrote this knowledge down.
- - -

Upon hearing the creature looming over their heads, he quietly made his way through the forest making sure not to rush himself. If he was going to take Orion's words seriously, he did not wish to die just yet, especially not like this.

He saw Orion transform himself into a hawk and perch himself atop Slyph's shoulder. Slyph climbed aboard her chimera and backed into the trees as Severyn followed behind them. What to do... He decided he would keep pacing forward anyway to get out of here. Why did the Infernal have to come now of all times? How did it get here, and who was it drawn to? It certainly couldn't be Nicholas that he was sure.

Passing through the bent branches and narrow ways, he made sure to creep through and not make a sound. In the night, his breathing was still made visible by the moisture in the air. The amber light still seemed like it was pretty far.

Nicholas gave a signal to Slyph and the group from the side. Pointing two fingers towards the hills to the north, he hoped his sign language could be made visible in the moonlight. He was making his way through the brush and although not next to them, was within the same area.

Rh'rohild knew that he could not last long. He knew that mortal weapons could not harm the dark creature, and his only knowledge of magic was of fire, which would only make his foe stronger.
However he did know magic of another kind.
'If the creature is made of dark fire, perhaps I could weaken it, if only just.' he thought to himself, as he dodged yet another pounding blow.

Rh'rohild summoned up all the power he could, and focused both it and his mind as he stood motionless. If the creature could feel anything, it would be surprise.
A pure whitebeam shot from the mage's hand, Illuminating the creature. White flames erupted from its chest, and began to creep all over its body. The white fire seemed to be fghting the creature's dark red flames, which began to drip from the stone that comprised the fiends body. In that instant, Rh'rohild's mind touched that of his foe.
The struggle seemed like an age, but the mage managed to win the mental battle, using the Infernals own pain and fury against it. Ro'rohild kept his sanity, and his free will, and now the only fire that burned was that in the Infernals eyes.

He threw his spear and it skewered one of the glowing red orbs, causing the creature to roar in pain. It was mortal, if only just. It needed to only touch him once, gain a single drop of a mage's blood, and it would be back to full strength.
And Rh'rohild knew he could not cast the spell a second time. Apparently, so did the infernal.

The lupine had been observing the little skirmish between the reptilian and the stories-high demon from the safety of the forest's loft, high above where the fight was staged. It was hard to miss it. The infernal towered like a burning obelisk that shone in the bleak darkness, and what's more, the painful throb of empathic spikes that pounded at the walls of his mind were far too much to ignore, even from his prior distance. He simply had to investigate. Keen eyes watched the two exchange back and forth in their bout, watching carefully for every dip and bow and roll and tuck that the reptilian executed, narrowly avoiding the thunderous blows that the demon belted out. This was a creature who boasted experience, and from what he could feel, considerable magicks. The sudden welling arcane power that erupted from the reptilian's psychic signature only bolstered that conviction. Even with that decisive blow to the towering demon, he shared the belief that this battle could not be won solely by the reptilian alone.

Now was the time to strike. If he waited any longer, there wouldn't be another opportunity; the infernal could end it all at any moment, and from what he could compare from before, the reptilian was backed against the ropes, "It would be a shame..." The lupine thought to himself as he drew twin blades from their housings with a soft hiss of steel.. "..to see such skill put to such waste," ..and lept from his perch. Down, down, down, he dove through the branches, closing in on his target, until...whoom! He blinked away, if only to flick back into materialism above the demon's head. In a passing strike, he spun, and cleaved one blade cleanly through half the infernal's head, which bellowed in mortal agony. Still yet airborne, he spun to rake his offhand in a backhanded blow across the second half of the infernal's head, neatly cleaving it in two with a loud snap of steel through rock. Hopefully, that would do the trick, but at the very least it would distract the thing. All that was left was to watch his effort bear fruit.

Whoom! The lupine blinked away again. Whoom! And with a rush of wind and leaves, rematerialized on the forest floor not more than a few paces away from the until-recently floundering reptilian; blades low at his sides, feet set, and muscles tense, ready for anything. This was turning out to be a fun trip.

Oblivious to thelipine, but not to his effect, rhoiuld doubled his efforts to destroy the creature. Armed only with his blades, he cut at the legs, hoping to topple the infernal and finish it when it fell.
The huge construct started to topple, as its legs were cut time and time again. When it was on the verge of falling, Rh'rhoild took his chance and drove his sword into the hole that the lipune had created. The sword glowed white hot, and rh'oild was forced to let go before it melted and flowed into the would he created. The thing howled so loudly that he shought it would crack the sky, and then crumbled. A large pile of broken rock was all that remained.

Once he had gained his breath, he asked the lupine what the creature was. 'I have never faced anything like it, even in my many years of exile.' He breathed, still racked from his spell. 'I know it's name', he added, as he wrenched his spear from what remained of the head. 'But that was not the spell's purpose, merely a side effect.'

[In the earlier spell, Rh'rhoild and the Infernals minds touched for a brief second. They both knew what each other was called, but nothing more than that. You may notice that in earlier posts I do not call it an 'Infernal', but use workds like 'golem' and 'creature'.]

The lupine watched with a smiling satisfaction as the scorched pock marks that scarred his blades slid from the silvered steel and dripped onto the earth beneath, as if nothing more than water. He'd naught to offer when the dust settled but a ghost of a smile. It didn't appear to wear him in the very least, the way he moved just moments ago. It was a practiced and perfected maneuver that he employed liberally with great precision, and what's more, it was fun.

"What is it?" He'd regard the reptilian calmly, riding the high induced from the satisfaction of such decisive blows to their foe. Nothing got him off more than a quick and precise kill. It was what he was good at. It was what he lived for, but he kept his relishment under wraps, as if there was nothing to be excited about.

"Dead, is what it is," For a split second, his voice might have seemed to invade every corner of the reptilian's mind, and just as his words began to trail; a vastly distant echo, as if whispered from the deepest reaches of the forest. The next time the warrior would turn to face the stranger lupine, he'd find him vanished, just as quickly as he'd arrived - which could have only left the reptilian to question if the lupine was not real, but only a figment of his imagination, or the forces that inhabited the forest playing tricks on him. Sure enough though, the behemoth was defeated, and ultimately, that was all that mattered.

[This is assuming, of course, that Rh'rohild had asked him what the thing was. I may have read that wrong. ;>> Anyway, don't you worry about him disappearing and such, that's just how he does his thing. He'll show up again, hopefully sooner, rather than later, depending entirely on how the rest of this story goes. However - if there's more that Rh'rohild wanted to say to him, or more interaction that you desire, let me know, and I'll just edit accordingly.]

'Yeah, thanks.' he said to the wind, after looking back and finding the lupine gone. Rh'rhoild proceeded to examine the corpse, if you could call it that. A twisted lump of scarred rock, but once again he had the undeniable convictions that it was not of this world. 'That means a summoner, or something worse.' he said to himself quietly. Knowing that he could do nothing else right now, he set up camp and waited. For what he still didn't know.