The ranger, high above saw the wizard flee and with her fly spell still up, fled as well, flying up & over the top of the spire, out of sight.
Brother Summit looked ready to go after her, but the order was given to fall back. The dragon was stirring and the Shroud was down a third of their strength. Mardus brought the Shroud back to the pocket plane. Once there they quickly got Yvainne back in her coffin where Emmerick used his negative energy to bring her back up while Mardus used a positive energy to restore Quell & the other living members of the Shroud.
A quick restoring of magical protections and the Shroud was back on the battlefield. They wanted to go help their devil ally against the Solar.
But as they reached the battlefield, in the brief five minutes they were away the battle had changed considerably. Two massive silver dragons flew in the air above the battle. The Eye of Vitra-Kali shone true in Yvainne's mind. One of the dragons was the Princess, polymorphed into that shape. But it didn't matter to the soldiers. Far below the Shrouds forces were breaking. The Dragons were destroying the forces that crossed the bridge. The King's flanking force fled across the bridge in terror. It was turning into a rout.
Thankfully the mother & daughter team were avoiding the main fight where the Solar & Pit Fiend were last spotted.
The Pit Fiend would have to fend for himself, the Shroud wasted no time, their target was out in the open. It was time to end this war, once and for all.
The Shroud considered their approach. The Dragons were close to the spire still. The ranger could be a factor. The Shroud considered coming in from that direction, but Summit spoke up, saying he could use his Ki to shadow step to engage with the ranger if she showed up again.
So the Shroud moved with haste to stop the rout of their troops and rushed the Dragons head on.
They focused on the colossal mother. Emmerick provided a group smite good to all the Shroud. With the powerful boon in place, Summit led the way, getting right up to the dragon & laying down a vicious flurry of smiting blows. In his zeal, the monk used up all but his last reserve of Ki. Cursing his over enthusiasm, he called out saying he could not go and engage the ranger should she show up.
Almost immediately after that, the Ranger started long range sniping Emmerick. Emmerick shrugged it off and pushed onto the mother, landing a powerful blow. Quell and Mardus joined him. Soon the dragon was surrounded.
Wasyli landed a quickened critical hit of enervation onto the daughter & tried to Trap the Soul on her, but somehow she managed to shrug it off. The daughter then cast timestop along with a succession of delayed blast fireballs and buffered herself up. Fighting her would be like the fight with the wizard, only compounded by the fact that she had form of the dragon up.
Some in the Shroud groaned. Still, their primary target was the Mother. The massive silver dragon tried to get out of flank & managed to land some damage on the group however, she didn't get far enough away. Quell managed to land a succession of smiting sneak attacks, followed by Emmerick doing a dizzying number of smites.
The mother dragon was dripping blood all over, the Shroud could not understand how she could still be up. Until Wasyli remembered that powerful Silver Dragons can sometimes even shrug off death for a round, to go down in a blaze of glory. And he would have none of that. He landed a Trap the Soul. And sucked the dragon into his gem, still clinging to life, and now in a permanent state of suspended animation.
The Ranger continued to snipe the Shroud until Mardus turned and cast Telekinesis and yanked her bow from her hands. Unfortunately for her, it was at that exact same time that two dark and brooding shapes came up over the spire behind her. Nibarius and his lackey were victorious over the Solar it seemed. Quell gave an almost sad look. "She doesn't even have her bow to fight them." He said. And as he turned away, he saw the devil's pounce on her. Her screams were barely audible above the thunderous rumble of the battle.
Summit tried to hit the dragon princess and kept struggling with the combination of concealment and mirror image as did Quell & Emmerick. And one point Emmerick, with Helbrand in a vorpral state, managed to take off a head, but it turned out to be the head of a mirror image. Still, they did some damage, but then the Princess rained down delayed blast fireballs and in her state of fiery body healed most of her wounds.
Yvianne though could see her clearly in the green taint of the Eye of Vitra-Kali. She transformed herself into a dragon with form of the dragon. And stepped forward. The vampire dragon shrouded in darkness with a gleaming pin-prick of green light shining out enveloped the Princess in her shadows.
The yelling and screaming could be heard loudly. There was a moment of silence after that followed by the sound of Yvainne casting soul bind. The army far below looked up & saw the lifeless form of the princess falling down to the battlefield below. Her soul trapped in a gem resting on Yvainne's cold, unmoving chest.
Nibarius flew over to the Shroud, his claws stained with angel blood.
And far below heroes from all across the Inner Sea saw Hell triumphant against Heaven. Talengarde would be in the grips of fiends for the foresee future.
The overwhelming armies of the undisputed King of Talengarde wasted no time in clearing the battlefield.
The Shroud returned at the head of their victorious army to the capital. There were no celebrations, no peasants throwing flowers at the feet of the triumphant. Just silence. A still city. A scared city. Many faithful Mitrians had quietly prayed for the return of the Princess. Knowing she was still alive out there. And return she did. Only to die. No one was left to save them from their new King and his fiends.
At the old palace the King's entourage received a warmer welcome. The Quisling court of the King heaped praise on their absolute monarch. Many spoke of a grand triumphant celebration. But something was different this time. This time, their praise and kind words were undercut with something else. Fear. For the forces of Hell had found a new home. Talengarde.
The End
