Pit Fiend 2

"A pit fiend?" Nolin's eyes are round. "What kind of girl are you supposed to marry, anyways?" He studies the image again with distaste. "And I'm thinking we might want to offer her the marilith's bra. Ick."

"I'm not going with her!"

"You won't have to," says Nolin to his cohort. "Not a chance. We'd fight her before we let her take you." Agar looks around worriedly, but sees resolute determination in everyone's eyes. He takes one more look to Nolin, likes what he sees there, and relaxes slightly.

As Agar slumps into a chair, Stone Bear patters down the stairs into the common room, his face pale after viewing the halfling with his spirit sight. The long-dead spirit of his ancestor still chatters in his ear. You can not defeat such a thing alone, warrior. She is sure to be fierce in combat, but her spells will be deadlier than her blades. Her type uses raw hellfire as a weapon. Be prepared to counter it. The mouldering voice pauses. Her sisters torture the spirits of your great-uncle and aunt even now, so do not be surprised if she mentions it. She may wish to taunt you with the knowledge. I would expect no less from the beasts of Hell.

Stone Bear leans against one of the black iron wall. "She is a shepherd of the damned. I can see her corruption through her form."

Velendo looks flustered. "How in the name of God do you fight a pit fiend? They're about as powerful as servants of Hell can get, right?" Agar nods, concurring. "Oh, good. Well that's a relief." He snorts sarcastically. "Just what we needed."

"It's worse than that," says Agar. Velendo regards him flatly.

"How could it possibly be worse?"

"I saw a silver tail coming out of her back." Velendo groans, but Splinder looks confused.

"What? As opposed to a red demonic tail, you mean?" He tugs his beard in consternation, and next to him the githzerai monk takes a deep breath.

"No," says Galthia grimly. "She's astrally projecting. She's not really here."

"Oh, good," says Splinder. He reaches down to grip his greataxe, reaching a conclusion. "Then we can kill her more easily."

Galthia shakes his head. "No. The exact opposite. Cowardly mind flayers and githyanki do this as well; her body is somewhere safe, and we're just dealing with her soul - such as it is. She's just as powerful, and we can't kill her permanently. If we take her down, she'll be back tomorrow - or even this afternoon, if she's able." Splinder groans.

"So let me get this straight." Velendo plops down in a chair. "She's immensely powerful and we can't kill her? Hmm... at least a spell like dispel evil should be able to get rid of her, as well as the banishment spells. That's some small comfort."

"If they get through her magic resistance," adds Tao with a frown.

"Well, she's still waiting," reminds Malachite. "If we can't kill her permanently, just getting rid of her is a better tactic."

"On it," says Nolin as he pushes himself up from the table. He and Tao head towards the door, almost everyone else following behind. Agar is in the back, using Mara as cover.

As the metal door clanks open, the elderly halfling woman raises one eyebrow at the delay. "All packed?" she asks politely.

Tao shakes her head. "No. He's not going with you."

"I'm afraid that won't be the case, no matter how much you wish it was."

Malachite almost snarls, "We know what you are." A bemused smile gradually crosses the halfling's face, scudding across it like the sun peeking through clouds on a foggy morning.

"Do you? Good. That ought to save some time."

Nolin steps forward. "We have no doubt you're extremely powerful, but so are we. If we fight, there is no sure guarantee that you would succeed without killing Agar in the process." The old woman merely looks at him, and Nolin turns on the full force of his persuasive charm. "I'm sure you can see why we don't trust you. We're afraid that you aren't being sincere when you tell us where you're taking him."

"Are you accusing me of lying?" The halfling's voice is placid and slightly amused. Nolin looks deep in her eyes, twisting his face into a convincing mask of sincerity.

"It's what you do best." The halfling inclines her head slightly, acknowledging the compliment. "So I can understand that you want Agar in his home village. Does he have to go with you?" The halfling looks at Nolin, studying him.

"No," she says slowly. "He just has to be there at the appointed time. If you are capable of planar travel, you may take him yourself, if you wish."

"We are able to travel the planes. It does seem wiser if we bring him."

The elderly halfling shrugs and smiles, showing her dimples disarmingly. To Stone Bear's inner sight, the effect is horrible. "You will have him there tomorrow by this time, 24 hours from now. You do this so that I do not have to; as I said, my interest is that Agar is where he needs to be, when he needs to be. If he isn't there by tomorrow afternoon, you'll be held responsible." She catches and holds Nolin's gaze, and he meets it with steadfast nonchalance as he smiles disarmingly and lies like mad.

"Not to worry. We'll have him there by this time tomorrow." The paladins both glare over Nolin's shoulder, but the bard seems unworried and self-assured as he addresses the female halfling. Near the back of the crowd, Agar lets out an involuntary moan.

The matronly woman smiles, perhaps a bit too widely. "See you tomorrow, then. One way or another." She turns to Tao. "Thank you for the snacks. They were quite delicious."

"Our pleasure," says Tao politely, her hands sweating as they grip the pommels of her sheathed swords. And she watches as the elderly halfling turns and slowly strolls away. A faint, tuneless whistle reaches her ears as the small figure disappears into the darkness.

Everyone lets out held breath that they hadn't realized they were holding.

Later, in the safety of the Flickering Needle, Velendo asks Mara and Malachite about the sendings that they've just received from religious contacts on the surface. "Mine was from Father Whalter," says Mara, her rich voice tinged with fond recollection. "Last time I saw him was at the Mother Church in Corsai, back when he convinced the Clarion that those divinations about Sir Aleax were getting intercepted by Imbindarla and her priests. Now he's with the Army of the Sun, attacking the Necromancer Kings to the east of Corsai."

"What's he have to say?"

"He said, 'Have you accomplished something decisive? Strange omens and signs for several days. You? Our Army triumphs, in Aleax's memory and Aeos' name. Go with God, Mara.' I replied and told him that we'd had some victories, we're having strange omens as well, and that we're going to try and find out something about them."

"What about yours, Malachite?"

"I got one shortly after Mara. Lord-General Coronis told me, 'Fort Lessos defeated, days from decisive battle. Heavy losses, bad odds, good morale, bad omens. You stir something up, or know why? How goes quest?' I told him 'Might have stirred something up. Some losses, some successes. Too soon to tell.'. Fort Lessos is a fort at the top of the crater that the Necromancer Kings live within, they should be within days of reaching their central city."

"I wonder why you each were contacted." Malachite shrugs.

"They're in the same army, of course, so they might have each been instructed to try and reach us."

"Fair enough. Now, let's talk about the pit fiend." Agar's face falls.

"Do we have to?" Over the next few minutes, the group briefly reviews any magical items and spells they have that might affect an astrally traveling devil. "Boy," says Agar as he thumbs through his current collection of magical scrolls and pulls out a particular sheet of vellum. "This scroll of banishment is looking more valuable with each passing pit fiend!"

"I'll say," agrees Velendo. "You know, the spell is more effective if you're using something that is hated or feared by the creature you're trying to banish. What does a pit fiend hate?" Everyone begins to offer suggestions.

"Paladins." "Oh, sure. Everyone hates paladins." "No they don't!" "Not everyone." "Ahem? We're talking about devils." "Holy water." "Holy weapons." "Angels." "Demons." "Yeah, demons."

"Demons?" Velendo rubs his chin. "Good point. We don't have any angel feathers with us, so we'll have to go with the next best thing. Nolin, if you don't mind, I'm going to keep the marilith's demon bra on me."

Nolin snorts. "Mind? I'll sell tickets!" Velendo fixes him with a dirty look that Nolin blissfully ignores as the bard checks his reflection in his personal mirror of vanity, tugging his fingers through his flaming hair in an attempt to straighten it.

"Err," interrupts Agar. "Can someone contact my parents? It occurs to me that this whole thing might be a trap." He grins hopefully, completely lost in denial. "And maybe I won't have to get married after all."

"Sure," agrees Tao. "Let's do that." After some quick consideration she casts a sending. Carried by the prayer to Galanna, the divine agent's voice spirals outwards towards the distant plane of the Outlands and arrives unerringly at the ear of Agar's mother. "Something tried to collect Agar for marriage. Why? Who sent it? Need a few months to save world. Can it wait? Respond 25 words."

There is a brief pause, and the affectionate voice of an elderly halfling whispers faintly back into Tao's ear. "Agar! We miss you, honey. We didn't send anyone. Belle's family might have. We were getting worried. Presentation date in two months, so no rush."

Tao wrinkles her nose as she repeats the message. "Well, that's something. You've got a few months, apparently; I wonder why the pit fiend was in such a hurry to get you there?"

"I don't know. I don't like it, though. I'm glad my Mom is okay."

Tao's face blanches. "You know, devils are creatures of lies. Let's hope no one intercepted that sending." The frown on Agar's face grows larger.

"Let's hope not," says Nolin as he tugs on his collar and fastens his celestial battlecloak.

Stone Bear considers. "What if that pit fiend WAS your bride? What if that's Belle herself?"

"Um... then she gets jilted?" People pause for a moment to consider the implications. The halfling alienist looks slightly ill at the possibility of marrying that thing. Even worse, every time Agar tries to think about it too hard he can feel invisible beetles crawling up his legs. He paces back and forth across the common room, and only the comforting feel of his familiar's wriggling tentacles keeps him relatively calm.

"Be back," says Nolin.

Tao looks up. "Where are you going, Nolin?"

"Back into Akin's Throat to meet with that drow elf Ma'chel. Anyone coming with me?" Stone Bear stands up, and Agar decides to stretch his legs as well. "Great. Let's go! We'll be connected by Agar's mind link, folks, so let us know if you need anything."

"Fine." The frown on Velendo's face makes it look as if splitting up the group is anything but fine, but he doesn't voice his objection. "but we've just bought ourselves 24 hours from the pit fiend, that's all. We'll stay here and see if we can come up with anything."

"Be careful," says Mara, and Nolin winks at her as he heads out the door.