The Razor's Edge, Ch. 1

General Summary

Eliana is banished, the sentence read out by Robin Adlehyde before the Council and the assembled Heroes of the Reach. She leaves the assembly to go prepare for her immediate departure, persuading a still-convalescing Pim to stay behind, but trailed by a dogged Matthias and Child as she makes her way south through the town.
Snow is falling as the afternoon turns to dusk. She passes through the Ogre Gate, past the small church to Ilmater on the final rise before the Old Battleground--and then the sky darkens, and the demons arrive.
A fell presence emanates from the stained glass windows of the chapel, and several townsfolks passing by are immediately possessed by a demonic influence and begin setting upon their fellow citzens, brutalizing them and dragging them towards the church. In the distance, Matthias shouts a warning as Eliana springs into action, taking down one of the possessed townsfolk before fully understanding what is happening; the man falls to the ground with an arrow in his neck, dead, and the abyssal spirit immediately takes over the woman he was dragging, and she turns to pull his now-lifeless corpse towards the church entrance. Stowing her bow, Eliana unsheethes the Blackrazor and, ignoring the pandemonium around her, sprints into the church, followed closely by Matthias.
In the darkened sancturay, they behold a grim sight: Blood spatters the walls and floor, and possessed priests are dragging the bodies of their fellows towards the altar, where a dark void has been rent in the fabric of time and space and is consuming the mangled corpses of the citizens of Last Rest as they go through in turn. Eliana springs into action and tries to race towards the portal--but one of the priests slits the throat of his fellow, releasing his possession, and Matthias is taken by the fiends. With his last coherent moment, he throws the bundle containing the child towards Eliana, but too late... the next moment, he has reached the unprotected babe lying on the bloodied flagstones, and has driven his shattered blade through it into the floor.
Eliana leaps towards Matthias. She graps his shoulder, calling upon the divine protection of nature to push back the darkness; with the other hand, she reaches towards the Child.
The Child reaches back. A pale human hand stretches out towards her. It touches the Blackrazor. A door closes in the fabric of time, two impossibly ancient forces conferring beyond earshot of these children. A bargain is struck. The Child smiles, its elfin features relaxing in satisfaction. The Blackrazor thrums in Eliana's hand.
"Free him," they speak, as if in one voice.
Matthias's eyes meet hers, the rictus grin of hunger plastered to his face but his black eyes imploring, tears streaming down a face that is no longer his. The faintest nod of acceptance.
Eliana swings the blade. It shimmers as it cuts through the air, growing infinitely thin as it strikes Matthias's exposed neck--
The Blackrazor passes through flesh, meeting resistance as it cuts--not through Matthais, but through a dark shadow suddenly superimposed upon him, the blade screaming in triumph as it carves through it like thick, unyielding cloth, the demon's spirit consumed in the void of the sword.
The rest happens in a flash. Matthias, throwing aside the hilt of his sword as it turns to ash and curling himself around the child, Eliana racing to save the priests as they run towards the yawning rift, Shloopurr, Domokos, and Sig bursting through the door having subdued any still-living commoners outside, the massive form of a master demon rising from the Abyss, its fell presence compelling many who gaze upon it into dread servitude, Eliana resisting, cutting through it with the Blackrazor, Domokos leaping bravely into battle only to be dominating by the Master of Cruelties and turned upon Eliana, grappling her and throwing her towards the black gate--
--Pim breaking through the chapel doors, his bandages discarded, ancestral spirits of mousefolk elders swirling around him as he throws himself at the Demon Lord and carries both of them into the Abyss.
Eliana dives in after him. The rest of the party, freed from the dark compulsion, follows in turn.
As he is pulled into the Abyss, just before he is taken by darkness and flame, Domokos catches sight of something through the haze.
Piercing the desecrated altar of Ilmater is a golden sword, bloodied runes dripping with malice as it holds open the gate to hell.
(to be continued)
Songs of Glory: Eliana (+3), Matthias (+2), Shloopur (+1), Domokos (+1), Sig (+1)

Report Date

19 Jul 2024