Tao utters a magical phrase in the language of her Goddess, and in front of the wall her previously thrown fire seeds go off like children's firecrackers . . . that is, if firecrackers tossed ghouls backwards in screaming, fiery arcs and set their skin ablaze with holy fire. The divine agent smiles in satisfaction at the explosive "whoomp!" and the echoing howls of pain, then looks up to where Malachite is standing on the wall's defensive platform. "What's out there?" she calls up. She can smell it, whatever it is, but can't see it from where she's standing.

"Kellharin summoned some sort of demon. Prepare yourself."

Even as Malachite speaks, the spellcasting demon finishes her own incantations, and coils of black oily energy begins to crackle up and down her body. The snake queen turns her serpentine head, taking in the scene, and she locks eyes with Malachite. All six scimitars slide out of their sheathes with the sound of funeral bells. The huge demon smiles, her jaws impossibly wide and impossibly sharp, and with the tip of one blade she beckons him out from the protection of the wall.

Nolin comes instead. Fiery wings flapping and the song of the phoenix loud in his ears, he soars through the darkness above the coiled demon. His hands fumble in a belt pouch, and he removes a silver tuning fork of the planes, one that opens a gate directly to Mount Celestia. Who better to deal with a demon than a bunch of angels? he thinks. The question is where to trigger it; high in the air is safer, but closer to the demon is more likely to succeed. Nolin decides that self-preservation is the better part of valor, and triggers the effect high above the demon's head. There is blinding radiance and another gate opens, connecting to just above the plane's perfect ocean of holy water.

The demon begins to rise up on her tail, but she feels the insistent calling of the new gate, and she instinctively recoils. The pull isn't strong enough to force her through, so she ignores the hovering bard and slithers towards the wall instead. Dang! thinks Nolin. Oh well, they were already mad at us from the last time we tossed a demon through.

Meanwhile Galthia the githzerai monk finishes off an orcish ghoul and spins, moving quickly for the breach in the wall. He can see that Tao's fire seeds have cleared most of the ghouls away from the opening, so he darts through the positive wall and heads towards the coiling marilith. He doesn't make it that far, though; he's flung sideways as something unseen ambushes him from his left side. He never gets a good look at what it is, because he doesn't sense it until its claws jam deep into his side. It cackles quietly as it begins to pull out shreds of viscera and chunks of bloody flesh, and Galthia feels horrible coldness racing through his body. He tries to react, to spin, but the numbness is too insistent; his muscles lock, and he falls face down at the creature's clawed feet. He feels tugging, and hears a terrible slurp as the monster begins to eat him piece by piece.

"Galthia's down!" shouts TomTom from his perch above the central gatehouse, and Mara pulls herself atop her mount and heads for the wall. "I can help him!" she shouts over the ghoulish noise, preparing her freedom of movement spell as Luminor gallops forward. Nolin's voice rings out in a beautiful, piercing hymn, inspiring and encouraging the troops forward. Malachite, emboldened, leaps down from the wall into the breach and towards the shadowy monster feasting there. He straddles the paralyzed Galthia as his sword Karthos blazes into light.

In the light of Malachite's sword, the thing eating Galthia appears to be a horribly devolved orcish ghoul, long tongue scraping the monk's flesh as it chews and swallows hungrily. It looks up at the looming paladin with black sunken eyes, hatred blazing forth. Malachite swings, and Karthos trumpets with delight as his blade bites into the creature's putrefied chest. Small white worms tumble out of the wound. The ghoul ducks under the sword and scrabbles at Malachite, claws scraping on armor. Then an acid orb from Agar strikes it and it falls back, skin sizzling.

"Behind you!" Nolin calls, and Malachite glances over his shoulder just in time to see the immense demon bearing down on him. Her six scimitars weave and flash in a mesmerizing pattern, and like a storm of steel they dart and strike in an incomprehensibly complex rhythm. Malachite's blade can't be everywhere at once, and although he jumps over her swinging tail, six of her ten weapon attacks get through his armor. He takes a bloody gasp as black energy sizzles on his skin, and prepares a counterattack.

As Velendo hustles towards the fallen monk, Mara leaps off her horse and kneels by the body. The ghoulish orc swings at her, but winces back as the tip of its claw strikes Mara's holy shield. "Hssssssssssh!" it gurgles, but Mara ignores it as her prayer takes effect. Galthia feels the numbness fade into pain, and he rolls free.

Meanwhile, Tao opens her soul and sends her consciousness spiraling upwards and outwards. The dwarves watching her see what appears to be green vines spiraling around her . . . but Tao is oblivious, her soul rocketing across the Beastlands in search of an ally of her faith. She senses one, and with pure force of will she bridges the planar boundaries between herself and the being that she senses.

The air shimmers and rips. The gate opens. And shining, luminescent in its power, the solar steps through.

"Your will, my sister?" he intones. His voice is like the rustling of the wind in mountain pines, the sound of rapid water shattering rock. Face pale from the exertion, Tao nods towards the wall and the demon behind it. "With delight," the angel intones with a smile, and his huge wings flap once as he sails through the gap in the wall.

Partially surrounded now, the shadowy ghoul that had attacked Galthia is hammered repeatedly by the combined blows and spells of Mara, Agar, and Nolin. It turns to flee, but is cut down before it can escape.

Nearby, Malachite drops back far enough for Velendo to heal his many wounds. The towering demon carefully slithers forward, upper body dancing to a music that no one can hear as she stalks her prey. Galthia briefly strays within her reach, and she strikes instinctively. His blood sprays as she impales him with multiple scimitars, which pierce him horribly before she spins all six blades back upwards into a guarding position.

*PICTURE OF MARILITH HERE*

The demon's forked tongue flicks out to lick one of her ensanguined scimitars, and she briefly shudders with pleasure.

The solar summoned by Tao soars into the combat, and the demon turns to meet her new foe. The cavern is now lit by the clashing radiance of the two outsiders, and the air rings with the sound of their blows. The demon tries to sunder the solar's glowing sword, and the angel counters by swinging his weapon around in a magnificent arc that would have taken off the marilith's head if her reflexes had been any slower. Black energy crackles out from the demon's body onto the solar's, and is burned away by his divine radiance before it can reach his heart. Then Velendo's dispel magic sears away her enchantments, and her speed noticeably slows as the black energy coating her dissipates. The tide of battle begins to turn.

Tao rejoins the battle at the angel's side, as does Malachite and Mara. Their holy weapons carve huge rents in the demon's scaly tail, and their armor is such that her scimitars have trouble hitting them in return. One opponent, even two, she could easily overpower . . . but four, along with spellcasters? For the first time, the demon begins to look worried as black blood coats her shimmering scales. Now partially healed, Galthia tumbles in to flank, and the solar begins to sing a hymn as his sword flashes left and right. Velendo, TomTom, Nolin and Agar attack from the flank, trying to pierce her spell resistance with their spells and prayers.

Enough is enough. Hissing defiance, the demon slithers backwards and prepares to teleport to safety. The Defenders who flank her strike her as soon as her scimitars pause in their whirling defense . . . and the teleport fails! It might be that her concentration is broken, or perhaps Mara's holy mace disrupts the spell, but the magic hisses and spits instead of carrying the demon to safety. Tao and Malachite advance with blades flashing, and the marilith screams as she feels the weapons slicing into her innards. She is eternal and immortal, the daughter of demonic royalty, the commander of countless demonspawn that march undefeated across the fetid battlefields of the Abyss . . . and then she is nothing but burning bones as the Defenders of Daybreak take her down. Her scimitars and skeleton clatter on the stone as her flesh ignites, and then she's gone.

There is a pause as the Defenders look around. Dozens if not hundreds of ghoulish troops watch from the edges of the firelight, watching the solar and the battered heroes, reluctant to attack until the demon had destroyed the surface-dwellers. Tao's divine aura of awe surges as she stares back at them. The solar flexes his wings, and triumphant music surges as Nolin strums his magical instrument Veritas.

The ghouls' morale breaks. Screaming in terror, they fight to clamber over each other as they sprint back into the darkness.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------