Enter the King

Imagine falling from a building. No need to be picky, any height over a few stories will do. You fall, and you hit the hard cobblestones outside, and you scream as your bones shatter into razor-sharp shards. It doesn't kill you, though; oh no, that would be much too easy. Instead, you lie there on the paving stones and you feel those shards of bone grinding into your flesh every time you try to breathe, and you know it's just a matter of time before the internal damage kills you. Or you could stop breathing. Your choice.

Now, imagine if this happens when you hadn't eaten anything in four days, and you land in front of a gourmet restaurant where the smell of food sets you salivating, even as you taste your own blood inside the ruin of your mouth.

That's what it's like to be near the Ivory King.

Disoriented and overcome by a sudden famished hunger, Tao scrambles to her hands and knees. She catches a sudden glimpse of her dirt-covered fingers. Those look so good, she thinks to herself. So tasty. Ladyfingers. She smothers a little laugh. But I have food with me, don't I? Trail rations, and meat juice for the dogs. I can eat those. First. She gives a little shudder as she begins to franticly rip apart her belt pouches. She catches a glimpse of the Ivory King out of the corner of her eye, bulging naked fat with a crown of some sort of horns or antlers rising from his misshapen head, but other than a random thought – He looks like a portobello mushroom. A huge, delicious piece of fungus! – she pays him no heed.

The rest of the Defenders are also suffering from hunger and crippling pain, but unlike Tao they're still able to concentrate on their surroundings. Galthia and Velendo close on Nolin, both of them lowering their spell resistance in preparation for a mass haste. Mara lurches forward, hoping that she too will be within range.

Nolin gets his balance and looks around. The entire group isn't close enough to catch everyone in the spell, but with the Ivory King regaining his senses just a handful of yards away there's no time to spare. Gritting his teeth against the pain in his joints, Nolin casts mass haste. Magical energy swirls around everyone except for Burr-Lipp and Stone Bear, who are both out of range, and Priggle, who is standing just ten feet from Nolin.

"Hey!" yells Priggle. "You forgot to include me!" Nolin spins around, surprised.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Priggle," he explains. "I didn't see you there."

"Of course not," grumbles Priggle to himself. "Everyone forgets the deep gnome. Why not? Not like I can help. It's always the same. . ." His voice trails off as Nolin casts a flame strike on the Ivory King. The pillar of phoenix-born fire is shrugged off by layers of smoking fat.

The Ivory King's beady eyes narrow to slits as he regards the fiery bard with contempt. Nolin gives him a weak smile, eyes watering from pain, and shouts back over his shoulder. "Tao, it's great to see you. What are you doing?"

"I'm eating!"

"Is now really the time for a snacky cake?"

Velendo is pulling his shield up in front of himself. "Tao, don't eat. Attack the bad guys!" His voice is tinged with frustration.

"Mmmm hmmm," Tao nods enthusiastically as she shoves dried fruit into her mouth with both hands. "Eating!"

Velendo squeezes his temples with the knobby fingers of one hand, feeling the same hunger himself but fighting it down with sheer force of will. "Eating. Right." He sighs. Cruciel flexes in his shadow beneath him, poised to leap forth and block Velendo from harm.

Malachite hefts his sword Karthos and takes a step forward. The Ivory King is now licking his gaping maw with a long, oily tongue as he sizes up the situation. His pasty white skin smokes slightly as the light of Aeos falls upon it. "I have to close with him," Malachite warns Velendo. "I have to be the one to kill him."

"I have to close with him," announces Mara stridently in bell-like tones. "I want to hit him!" She summons the power of her God to create a sacred shield of sunlight around herself and anyone nearby.

"First things first," chortles the Ivory King wetly. He regards Nolin with distaste. "Soder is so infatuated with you. To tell you the truth, I can't see it. You are.. abrasive." His wide, lipless mouth wrinkles.

In a rare show of humor for Galthia, the githzerai says, "You just haven't taken the time to get to know us." A half-smile plays across his long face.

"Let's fix that." His mouth gapes open to inhuman wideness as his dripping tongue shoots out at lightning speed. Galthia takes a swing as it flashes past in front of him, but even he isn't fast enough to impede its progress. The barbed tongue slams into Nolin's left leg and knocks him upside down, even as it yanks him over 20 feet of rubble into the ghoulish king's waiting maw.

"Oooof!"

Gl'Yuute's filth-encrusted teeth snap down on Nolin's leg, flashing with black energy that saps every bit of the bard's muscular control. Nolin can still speak, but his entire body goes limp from paralysis. The Ivory King's prehensile tongue then flips Nolin into the air as easily as if he were a child. The ghoul tries to catch the bard's head fully in his mouth. He misses, sinking his long dagger-like teeth into the bard's shoulder instead.

"Did I say you were abrasive?" croons the Ivory King. "I was wrong. You're so very, very sweet." The voice is low, intimate. "I think it's the phoenix."

Nolin gasps for breath and gains just enough control to cluck his tongue disapprovingly. "You know, you could use a breath mint," he confides in a mock helpful voice. His eyes flash with anger and disdain, and maybe even pride. "I may die here, but I'll go to my death knowing one thing: my mother loved me."

The ghoul's teeth grind together in utter hatred. One of his two spindly arms snakes into the rolls of fat on his body and pulls something out. It isn't clear exactly what, but both Velendo and Agar's magical vision see a screen of abjuration magic flash into being around the Ivory King.

"Look out!" yells Agar. "He has some sort of protection up!" Mara briefly considers dispelling evil on it, but reasons that the magic item triggering the abjuration probably wouldn't be affected by her spell. She leaps atop Luminor and nudges him forward. The winged horse easily hurtles a gaping pit in the wrecked mansion's broken floor, launching Mara right alongside the Ivory King. She reaches out, smashes her holy mace Lightbinder downwards. . .

And it caroms off the side of a cube of force. She catches Nolin's eye as Luminor skids past, and with a sinking heart Mara realizes that her powerful blow hadn't even scratched the force wall.

"Oh, crap," she says quietly.