A Time For Heroes

The party divides into two groups, with each of them having roughly equal access to muscle, clerical magick and magely magick. One group consists of Winnacer, Xavier, the Padre and Faewen'il, while the other consists of Bennett, Gronk, Aneira, Yaz and Will.

Before the two groups separate, Aneira produces a couple of small pieces of rock that she picked up during their travels. She places one of the rocks on the floor and then begins to mutter an incantation before gesturing towards the rock. Upon her completion, everything around them goes quiet. She hands the rock to Kokal and then steps away from him. She then repeats the exercise on the second piece of rock, placing it in her pouch once the enchantment has been completed. The party then quickly sets about its tasks.

Winnacer's group takes the western door, while Bennett's group heads off to cover the eastern door, taking the flame-thrower with them. Tadeus is located in the southwest corner of the corridor outside, while Milan takes the southeast corner.

Once Bennett's party is in position, they give the thumbs up sign, which Milan passes on to Tadeus, who passes it on to Winnacer's group.

Both groups then begin to clear away the beds, chests and sundry other furniture with which they have barricaded the entrance. Due to the silencing spells that Aneira cast upon the rocks, not a sound can be heard as they pull the furniture away from the doors and they toss them aside as quickly as possible so as to benefit from the silencing spell for as long as possible once combat is joined. After three minutes of everyone helping, the two doorways are clear of the barricades.

Once the way to the doorway is clear, Aneira hands the silenced rock to Yaz so that he can take it a short distance away from her and then Aneira takes a look at the glyph that is guarding the door.

Once again, she begins to cast a spell, gesticulating and murmuring as quietly as she can so as not to alert the occupants inside. One the incantation is complete, she gestures towards the glyph. Much to everyone's relief, the glyph disappears. Yaz returns to the group and hands the silenced rock back to Aneira.

There is nothing stopping them from entering the temple now and so everyone says silent prayers to their gods and Bennett passes on the thumbs up symbol once more. Winnacer nods as he sees that the other group is ready and then starts a slow countdown with his fingers, which the squires relay to the other group in real time.

Five

Four

Three

Two

One

At precisely the same time, Winnacer and Xavier throw open the doors on the west side, while Will and Yaz do the same on the east, as Bennett and Gronk have their hands full with the flame-thrower.

As they all look inside, they quickly see that little has changed inside. The nine yellow and black clad priests of Nemotz are still in there along with the GermSpreader, who is still clad in black platemail. However, it is the disease beast that they see first, as its huge form almost fills the center of the room.

The disease beast is easily the most terrifying creature that any of them has ever laid eyes upon in their lives. Standing nearly 10' tall and nearly as wide, the creature is a greenish yellow color and is covered in open sores and rot. Its skin seems to move of its own accord, undulating slowly. It has two powerful arms, with vicious looking claws at the end. Its face contains two small eyes that are dwarfed by its huge gaping maw and is crowned by a pair of demonic looking horns atop its flat head.

The terrifying sight is simply too much for several members of the party and on the west side, Faewen'il and the Padre shriek in terror before running off as fast as their legs will carry them, with Kokal dropping his morningstar and the silenced rock in his haste to depart. Now just Winnacer and Xavier are left on that side of the room.

Opposite them, Will and Aneira have the same terrified reaction and run away in terror. Will drops his bow while Aneira still holds on to the silenced stone as she tears away from the hideous sight. Just Bennett, Gronk and Yaz remain on that side to counter the occupants of the room.

As if the loss of half of the party before the combat started wasn't enough of a problem, Winnacer and Xavier have another problem to counter. Right in front of them, filling the doorway, they can just make out the hazy insubstantial form similar to a wyvern blocking the way to enter the temple.

Winnacer realizes that there is no time to waste, however, as the priests, although somewhat surprised at the party's silent entry are starting to get their act together. Immediately the LawBringer's eyes start to glow red with fury and he mouths the words of Spravedelna's wrath.

Winnacer's words are unheard, as the silenced rock stops any sound from escaping the area. It seems to make little difference, however, as Winnacer's face is enough to have an effect upon the priesthood in the temple.

Unfortunately, those inside the temple are fairly spread out and so not all of them are within range of Winnacer's ability. As a result, just four of the priests are effected by the Fear and start to run towards the eastern door. Needless to say, the disease demon just starts laughing a maniacal deep booming laugh.

With Gronk holding the barrel behind him, Bennett ignores the fact that Aneira and Will have fled the scene and raises the hose part of the flame-thrower towards the oncoming priests. He waits until the priests are just a couple of feet in front of him and then mutters:

"Eat flame, you scum."

With that, he pulls the trigger:

"WWWWHHHHOOOOOSSSHHHHH"

A jet of white-hot flame once more erupts from the pipe of the flame-thrower, filling much of the room. Although only four of the priests were sent fleeing from Winnacer's Fear, the flame catches not only these, but also another two priests and the disease demon that occupies much of the center of the temple, meaning that only three priests and the GermSpreader manage to avoid the fiery blast.

Of the four that ran towards the weapon, three of them are cremated even before they had chance to scream. The fourth throws himself to the ground, trying to rid himself of the fire and screaming in agony as he does so.

The other two priests also erupt into flame and similarly try to roll on the ground in an attempt to put out the flames, getting badly burned as they do so. The disease demon is also hit by the jet, but doesn't seem to get too badly burned. As the flames lap around it, the huge creature starts to slowly waddle in the direction of Bennett and Gronk on the east door.

Bennett lays the hose down carefully, asking Milan to hold the weapon handy, in case another dose might be called for.

Seeing that the two unharmed priests look as if they are making ready to cast, Xavier picks up the silencing stone that the Padre dropped and throws it in their midst. As he does so, the western half of the temple falls silent.

Yaz sees that the GermSpreader appears to be unfazed by the fact that most of the priests are either dead or dying as a result of the flame and is readying his scythe as he heads towards the east door. He produces from his pouch a ball of sulfur and wax and starts to utter an incantation. As he finishes the spell, he hurls the ball towards the GermSpreader and the area around the evil paladin erupts into more flames. Although the GermSpreader staggers from his burns, it manages to walk through the flames, still heading for the east door. One of the other priests standing close to the GermSpreader was also caught in the radius of the flames. The priest, like so many of his comrades, starts to scream in agony as the fire sets his robes aflame and hits the deck, frantically trying to extinguish the flames.

Winnacer watched the initial results of their assault with a grim smile as a large number of the priests are taken down before they can even mount a response. But the smile quickly fades as he notes the paralytic spell standing in the way of Xavier and his charge.

Although the warding spell in front of the door makes it impossible for him to join the combat without the chance of getting himself paralyzed in the process, he sees that the huge bulky form of the disease demon stands between him and the others on the east door and immediately starts to drag the huge device of the gunne to the doorway.

Winnacer calls out:

"Tadeus, attend to me" as he lifts the heavy cannon and takes aim at the demon.

"Go help out on the other side, Xavier, I'll hold down this end."

"Yah, mein Lord," Xavier responds and immediately starts to run clockwise around the corridor so as to join the others on the eastern side of the temple.

Tadeus rushes up the short distance from the southwest corner of the corridor. Although the young lad is quaking with fear, he listens to Winnacer telling him not to look inside the room, but rather gets the rest for the gunne set up and holds it securely, while Winnacer sets the match burning and aims it at the back of the disease monster.

On the other side of the temple .. .

Intent on the GermSpreader, Yaz snarls and suddenly starts to undergo a startling transformation. His arms simultaneously shrink and grow a thick, striped orangey fur, while his fingers contract and his nails lengthen into claws. His legs perform similarly, shrinking and growing fur at an unnatural rate, and he appears to rise up on to the balls of his feet before his hind legs stabilize into their feline form. His waist seems to elongate, and the scimitar and pouch at his belt melt into fur, and his chest expands, and seemingly with the weight of his now muscular upper body he drops to all fours with a low growl. His face seems to be the last to change, as his lip merges into his furry snout and long feline whiskers grow out of his cheeks. His ears migrate back on his head, and within but a short while the sleek form of a tiger is ready to pounce upon the nearest target, claws extended and sharp teeth glinting redly with saliva in the light of the flames.

In the temple itself, the majority of the priests continue to burn. The only one of the four feared priests to survive the initial blast from the flame-thrower quickly expires from his burns. The same happens to the one who was caught by Yaz' firey blast upon the GermSpreader, who is unable to extinguish his burning robes before he falls as a result of his wounds. Two more priests continue to roll around on the ground desperately trying to rid themselves of the flame. The flame upon the disease beast still seems to be having little effect upon it, as it lurches towards the east door, leaving a trail of slime behind it in its wake.

The effects of Yaz' flame having worn off now as a result of his not wearing anything flammable, the GermSpreader continues to charge towards the eastern door, much faster then the lumbering disease demon.

There are two remaining priests who have not been caught by fire in the western half of the temple. Realizing that all around them went quiet once the rock was thrown among them, it's not difficult for them to figure out what has happened. One of the priests runs over and picks up the rock and hurls it into the northeastern corner of the temple and sound returns to the western half. Immediately that it does so, the other remaining priest starts casting while gesticulating towards the eastern door.

At seeing the GermSpreader nearly upon those at the eastern door, Gronk takes Thunder in his hands and hurls it the ground in front of the advancing GermSpreader and disease demon.

"CCCCRRRAAASSSSSSSHHHHHH"

The crash of thunder unleashed by Gronk's action is even louder than it usually is, as a result of its being hurled into the confined space of the temple. All of the occupants of the temple immediately fall to the ground if they are not rolling around on it already, and those that are trying to extinguish the flames go still, powerless to stop the flames from continuing to cremate them.

Except for the disease demon.

Unaffected by the thunderclap, the disease demon steps over its fallen comrades, plugging the door. As it approaches, it opens its gigantic mouth, filled with several rows of rotten, but still sharp, teeth and a mighty rumbling sound is heard from within:

"BBLLLLUUUURRRGGGGGHHHHHH"

The demon opens its mouth and it vomits forth a stream of slime, blood, maggots and other putrid foulness. Bennett, Gronk and tiger-Yaz try to get out of the way as the flood of puke heads towards them. Bennett and Gronk both manage to avoid it, but tiger-Yaz, who is still in the process of changing, is caught by the flow. Already twice-diseased as a result of swallowing the putrid water yesterday and having been hit by the plague zombie, tiger-Yaz feels no immediate effect from the demonchunder, but gets the feeling that he soon will.

Thankful for being able to avoid the effects of the vomit, Bennett wades through the pool of puke and brings forth 'Retribution', pleased to be finally getting in on some of the action after having been incapacitated through much of the recent combats.

Bennett, in usual dramatic fashion, strides forward with Retribution held loosely in his left hand:

"I've handled your kiddies, foul one, now it's your turn."

He then wildly hacks at the creature with reckless abandon.

The disease demon fills the doorway, stopping anyone from getting at any of the stunned occupants of the room. As a result, Bennett has no choice but to make the disease demon his target. He lashes out with 'Retribution' towards the disease demon, but his burning flesh seems to be as hard as steel and neither of his blows are able to penetrate.

Jarred by the contact, Bennett recoils slightly, shaking his head, and draws back for en even mightier stroke.

Yaz' mosquitoes, Schlurp and Slaver also try and get in on the act, flying above the heads of the combatants below. They both try to penetrate the plague-ridden hide of the disease demon but, unsurprisingly, neither of them are able to do so.

The disease demon lashes out at Bennett and the mosquitoes in response. Bennett gets hit by one of the demon's flailing claws, but his 'Fabio' armor protects him from any serious harm. Bennett briefly thanks the strange wizard who created his armor as the creature's claws slash at him unsuccessfully. Schlurp gets hit by his other fist, which swats the mosquito away with ease. Its jaws strike out towards Slaver and it bites a huge chunk out of the insect, which the mosquito only just manages to survive.

At seeing the disease demon completely filling the door, Winnacer aims the huge gunne as carefully as he can and says a silent prayer to Spravedelna that his aim be true as he waits for the match to burn down and ignite the pan. Finally it does:

"BBBBOOOOOMMMMMM"

Winnacer is prepared for the recoil now and so is able to remain upon his feet as the weapon fires the projectile into the room. To his great disappointment, however, he sees the bullet miss the disease demon by a couple of feet and sees it take out a six-foot long section of the wall right next to the south edge of the door.

Xavier charges around the northeast corner of the corridor and rushes in to reinforce those who are combating the demon beast.

Despite the fact that he is in the tiger's form, Yaz still feels weak. He knows that, whatever he caught from the demon is bad news indeed and that it is going to start effecting him badly soon. Nevertheless, he fights off the feeling of nausea and tries to exact a measure of revenge upon the hideous creature.

Although he is unable to bite through the disease demon's putrid flesh, he does manage to rake the creature with his right claw, damaging the beast a little and proving that the creature is not invincible.

Above him, Slaver and Schlurp attack the demon once more. Perhaps surprisingly, both of the mosquitoes are able to penetrate its hide this time and both start to drink of its putrid blood. This annoys the demon, as it bellows out in rage.

In order to add to the demon's woes, Bennett, Gronk and Xavier all pile into the demon.

Seeing the addition of his eight-fingered friend and the mad dwarf, Bennett smiles at the nasty creature:

"Back to the foul dimension that spawned you!"

Bennett manages to make up for his previous lack of success, as he rents a large tear in the beast's flesh with a well-aimed strike from 'Retribution'. His delight at causing such damage to the creature is marred as he sees a disgusting sight, however. Two small claws appear from inside the flesh of the demon and then a small head appears. It appears to be the head of a miniature replica of the giant disease demon. The mini-demon gibbers excitedly as it pulls itself clear of its father's wound, coming out with a disgusting sucking sound.

Bennett curses in harsh fashion:

"Once you die, your foul spawn will join you! I hope their mother proves a more serious foe when your filthy spirit returns to the hell-hole you were summoned from!"

Xavier rushes in to join the attack, anxious to see what 'The Purifier' can do. With his first blow, he misses the beast, unused to the lighter weapon after using heavy 'The Justifier' for so long. However, he makes up for it with the second attack, which causes the beast some serious damage as 'The Purifier' lives up to its name and tears a gigantic rent in the creature's flesh.

A smile of triumph crosses Xavier face.

"Take dat you foul abortion from der pit of hell!"

As the disease demon bellows out once more from the pain, two more little sets of claws emerge from the wound and another mini-demon pops out.

Gronk realizes, to his annoyance, that the disease demon is standing on Thunder, leaving him currently weaponless. Now getting quite used to being in this situation, he grabs 'Regret' off Bennett's back and uses it to start laying into the beast. Infuriated at the fact that the beast is standing upon his beloved 'Thunder', the dwarf puts all of his power into a mighty blow aimed at the creature's leg, unable to aim any higher at the beast that towers over him. The blow connects easily with the demon's huge fleshy leg and, with a sickening squelch, Gronk cleaves off the giant leg, sending putrid blood and slime showering into the room. With a loud cry of anguish, the demon starts to fall backwards before landing on the ground with an almighty crash.

As the demon lies upon the ground wailing in fury, another mini-demon pops out from the stump of the demon's leg.

With the adrenaline pumping through him at seeing how much damage he caused to the demon and seeing how close to death the creature is, Gronk picks up 'Thunder', which has now been freed as a result of the demon's falling and hurls it into the demon's gut with as much force as he can muster.

The second mighty blow causes another huge rent in the demon's stomach from which another mini-demon appears. Then, with one final blood-curdling scream, the demon expires, as its body goes still.

From this day forth shall the dwarf be known as 'Gronk the DemonSlayer'.

However, with four gibbering, slobbering mini-demons before you, there is no time for rejoicing.

Bennett nods in appreciation of the little fellow's deed before turning to the demon spawn.

On the opposite door, Winnacer waits for the smoke from the firearm to disappear around him and sees that the others have managed to kill off the huge beast. He also sees, however, that the flames upon the two remaining priests has now burned itself out. He also sees that one of the formerly burning priests is starting to come round, moaning as a result of the horrendous state of his burns.

Winnacer looks at the lit match in his hand and has an idea. The young Lord snatches one of Jihan's vials that he took from his pack, sets alight the wick and hurls it towards where two of the remaining priests are laying stunned and close together.

As Winnacer hurls the flaming vials, he calls out to the enemy:

"Lay down your weapons and surrender to Spravedelna if you wish for any margin of mercy!"

His words have no impact upon the priests, however, as only one of them is conscious at the moment.

Winnacer's aim is a little off target and catches just one of the stunned priests rather than the two that he was hoping to hit and even then, the priest is not quite caught in the center of the burning pool. However, as the priest is stunned, he is powerless to stop the flames from licking over his body.

Yaz jumps through the hole in the wall left by the cannon blast and looks to find the most-damaged priest. As he moves, he feels himself getting weaker and weaker. Already every step that he makes sends a wave of dull pain coursing through his body. His tiger-tongue is lolling out of his mouth as he feels horribly hot and nauseous.

As he gets through the wall, he sees that one of the priests is getting up. Tiger-Yaz can see that this priest was very badly burned and seems to be just about on his last legs and so decides to take him out quickly. As he sees the tiger approaching, the priest starts to utter an incantation and his terribly gnarled hand starts to flicker with a brown radiance. He has no time to wield his ensorcelled hand, however as Tiger-Yaz pounces upon him.

Fighting off the effects of the disease, Tiger-Yaz rakes the priest with a claw, which tears a horrendous gash in the priest's side. He tries to rake the priest with his other claw, but the priest manages to dive out of the way and punches Tiger-Yaz in the flank with his glowing fist. As the fist strikes him, the area that the priest hits flares up in a mass of welts and Yaz realizes that he has just received his fourth bout of disease. Luckily, however, the results of the punch are very minor and, with all the rest of the diseases pumping through his system, he hardly feels it.

However, it serves to annoy the hell out of the druid and he brings the tiger's almighty jaws down towards the priest, who is recovering from throwing his punch. The tiger's jaws connect around the priest's neck and there is an obscene crunching noise as Tiger-Yaz rips the priest's throat out and breaks his neck, leaving him quite dead.

Back at the east door, Bennett, Gronk and Xavier are faced with four mini-demons, which gibber excitedly as they rush the warriors.

One of them rushes at Bennett and rakes him with its claws. Being so small, the damage is minor, but it takes the warrior by surprise a little. The mini-demon tries to rake him with his second claw and bite him with his fangs, but Bennett's 'Fabio' armor saves him from any further damage. Wanting to rid himself of the anklebiter now, Bennett raises 'Retribution' high and brings it crashing down upon the mini-demon, easily cleaving it in two.

Seeing another one coming in aiming for Gronk, Bennett lashes out at that one too and inflicts another horrific injury upon it, but not quite enough to kill it.

Furious at Gronk's taking down their father, two of the mini-demons rush him. Both of them rake him with one of their claws, but in both cases, the damage is minor. They take him by surprise, however, and Gronk is unable to repeat the success that he had in countering the large one as his blow with 'Thunder' is off target.

The fourth of the mini-demons heads for Xavier, but the Saxon manages to avoid any damage from the ferocious little imp. He brings 'The Purifier' crashing down upon the little demon and easily manages to cleave the thing in two.

Two more of the priests are starting to come out of the shock from 'Thunder' now and struggle to their feet.

Winnacer realizes that he is all out of things to throw and doesn't trust his shortbow to cause much damage knowing his past experience with the weapon.

He hands the gunne to Tadeus:

"Go and run after those who fled earlier. I'm not sure whether we're going to survive this encounter and I want no harm to come to you."

Tadeus looks upset at hearing the young Lord's words, but nervously agrees and heads off down the corridor, dragging the firearm with him.

Realizing that there is little that he can do without getting into the room, Winnacer draws the 'Ripper' and offers a prayer to Spravedelna as he charges through the wyvern watched door.

It appears as Spravedelna was listening, as the wyvern shaped essence tries to lash out at the LawBringer, but Winnacer is too fast for it and it fails to connect with him.

Entering the room, Winnacer sees that the Greek fire is continuing to burn on the body of one of the priests, but another of the priests who is fairly close to him is starting to come round.

As soon as he sees Winnacer running into the room, the priest starts casting. As Winnacer gets to within inches of him, he finishes the incantation and gesticulates in Winnacer's direction. It appears as if Winnacer's graces with Spravedelna have all been used up for the day, as Winnacer goes completely rigid, unable to move a muscle.

On the other side of the temple, another of the priests is staggering up. Although badly burned, there still seems to be plenty of life in the priest. As he comes to, the priest immediately starts casting. Tiger-Yaz seems him do so and pounds across the room towards him, every muscle in his body aching as he does so.

Bennett also sees the priest come to. Leaving the two remaining mini-demons to Gronk and Xavier, he dashes over to assist Tiger-Yaz in finishing off the priest.

As they get close to him, the priest finishes his incantation and a billowing cloud of yellowish-green vapor issues forth from his hands, engulfing Tiger-Yaz and Bennett. Tiger-Yaz starts coughing violently as he breathes in the noxious vapors but, on top of all of his other diseases, he presses home his attack upon the priest. Bennett, however, is unaffected from the vapors and raises 'Retribution' in order to bring it down upon the priest.

Fighting off all of his various sicknesses, Tiger-Yaz attempts to lash out at the priest. His paw strikes home, but the priest is obviously wearing some serious armor under his robes, as his claws do not pierce the priest's flesh. He misses with his other paw, but manages to bite out a small chunk of flesh with his bite.

Bennett is well and truly on form and manages to catch the priest on the shoulder with another mighty blow from 'Retribution'. The force of the blow takes the priest by surprise and he loses his footing and tumbles to the ground.

At the east door, the two remaining mini-demons continue to lash out at Gronk and Xavier. One of them manages to rake and nip Gronk, but the damage in both cases are not serious. Gronk retaliates as he finds his demon-slaying form once more and hacks the already damaged creature in two with another almighty blow from 'Thunder'. He lashes out at the one facing Xavier and inflicts a minor wound upon that one too.

It doesn't put the little demon off his stride at all, however. It leaps up with an almighty bound and sinks its sharp little teeth deep into Xavier's throat, ripping out a huge chunk.

Xavier drops 'The Purifier' and brings his hands up to his throat while uttering a loud gurgling sound. He then keels over backwards, blood flowing from his gaping wound.

Gronk cries out in alarm as he sees Xavier falling to the ground:

"Shit!" he cries. "Can someone 'elp Xavier? I think 'e's in serious shit."

The last of the stunned priests comes round in the western side of the temple. Seeing that his robes are alight from Winnacer's Greek fire, he moans in agony and rolls around on the ground, extinguishing the flames.

The other priest on the western side which just held Winnacer reaches into his pouch and produces a piece of flesh, a boneshard and then pricks his finger in order to extract a drop of blood. He then starts casting while gesticulating towards the charred priests on the eastern side of the temple.

Yaz realizes that he is in serious trouble. He can hardly lift his paws now, let alone realistically cause much in the way of damage to the well-armored priest before him. While Bennett keeps the priest busy, Yaz turns on his tail and pounds away from the combat, heading for the hole in the wall caused by Winnacer's using the gunne. As he runs for cover, the form of the tiger begins to morph back into the regular form of the druid. As he fully changes, you can see that the druid is in a terrible condition, with his whole body covered in spots and sores. Yaz is coughing his guts out now and his vision is blurred and shaky. The druid takes refuge behind the wall until the transformation is complete.

Bennett now faces the priest alone. He can see that the priest is wearing a helmet under his cowl that glitters in the light from the burning substances that cover much of the floor of the temple. Bennett knows that the priest needs to be taken out quickly, as the GermSpreader is not going to be hors de combat forever. He hacks into the priest with all of his might, with both of his blows cutting great gashes into the priest before him. However, the priest is obviously made of strong stuff, as he does not fall from the blows, although he is obviously getting very weak now.

Bennett grimly stares at his opponent, hoping his luck so far endures the inevitable spell.

The priest fights off his wounds and begins to cast. As he finishes, his hand begins to glow with a brown luminescence, but he does not have opportunity to use it to try and strike at the warrior before him.

Gronk is standing, looking stunned as he sees the horrendous damage that the mini-demon has inflicted upon Xavier, who is laying on the ground rolling around in agony. However, as the mini-demon starts to attack the dwarf, Gronk is forced to defend himself. Gronk manages to avoid any damage from the creature, but is unable to land a blow upon the already injured beast.

To add to the dwarf's woes, two of the charred priests are starting to get up off the ground and shuffle towards him, their lifeless eyes showing that they are undead.

Gronk is not the only one to have company heading his way, as the GermSpreader is starting to get up off the ground and is heading towards Bennett.

The priest on the west side of the room, who had been badly burned by the Greek fire that Winnacer threw over him, finally manages to extinguish the flame. He is badly burned from the flame and takes advantage of the fact that there is no opponent on him in order to try and heal his wounds. The healing spell that he casts upon himself has little effect, however.

The other priest close to him, who has just finished animating the zombies, also takes advantage of the fact that the remaining party members have their hands full by casting a spell upon himself. Once the spell is complete, the priest's body starts glowing with a dim yellow light.

On the other side of the wall, Yaz feels closer to death than he can ever remember, as he feels the multitude of diseases coursing through his body. He can hardly see anything now, as his eyes are cloudy and he can see nothing but a blur. As he sits down, he tries to utter the words of the chant that he knows will cure him of all of the diseases. However, his tongue isn't working properly. Everything seems to be moving in slow motion. He tries to continue to utter the words to the chant, but he feels his lids becoming heavy and, before he can finish the words to the spell, he drifts into unconsciousness.

Bennett can see the GermSpreader clambering to his feet and heading over in order to help out the priest that he is fighting. The warrior tries to finish off the priest as quickly as possible so that he can concentrate upon the anti-paladin. However, the priest's armor seems to be blessed, as 'Retribution' is unable to penetrate through it. The priest tries to retaliate by punching Bennett with his glowing fist, but again Bennett sees the blow coming and is able to dodge the blow.

All too soon, however, the GermSpreader is upon Bennett as well and lashes out at him with his scythe. The 'Fabio' armor saves him from the GermSpreader's first strike, but he cannot avoid the GermSpreader's second strike and the scythe cleaves into the warrior, inflicting a terrible injury upon him.

Bennett looks about for help, but sees none. He begins muttering to himself as he desperately tries to stay alive.

Gronk furiously tries to finish off the mini-demon as he sees the two zombie priests coming in to reinforce it. With a resolute expression, he hacks into the mini-demon to make up for the terrible injury that it inflicted upon Xavier and makes the hellspawn pay by cleaving it in two.

However, as he does so, the two zombies lurch towards him and lash out at the dwarf with their fists. Both of them miss the dwarf by a mile, however, with one of them accidentally punching the other, as Gronk manages to sidestep way from the blow. As the zombie staggers back from the unexpected blow from its comrade, Gronk finishes the abomination with another mighty blow from 'Thunder', leaving just one of the zombies remaining.

On the opposite side of the temple, the badly burned priest tries once more to cast a healing spell on himself. This time the results are better, and most of the damage caused to him by the burning Greek fire is healed. The other priest with him casts once more and his fist starts to glow with the brown radiance, as many of the others have done. He then proceeds to stride over to join the other priest and the GermSpreader deal with Bennett.

Bennett realizes that he is badly outnumbered here. Not liking the look of the priest's glowing hand at all, he redoubles his efforts to finish off the priest. He hacks into him with 'Retribution' once more, but yet again the priest's armor saves him from any damage. The GermSpreader tries to cut into Bennett with the scythe once more, but the 'Fabio' armor again saves Bennett from any damage.

However, as Bennett steps back to avoid the damage from the GermSpreader, he is unable to see the priest attempting to strike him with his glowing fist and he strikes the warrior firmly in the faceplate of the armor. His punch seems to corrode through the armor and strikes Bennett a glancing blow upon the face. Mercifully the damage caused from the blow are almost negligible, although Bennett feels his cheek erupting in a mass of angry welts.

"Damn!" Bennett begins to yell defiantly as he sees death approaching.

Bennett strikes out at the priest again to exact a measure of revenge, but the priest sees Bennett's blow coming and neatly sidesteps out of the way. The GermSpreader tries once again to land a blow upon Bennett, but the warrior is able to dodge out of the way, avoiding any more damage.

Gronk can see that Bennett is struggling with having to face the two powerful opponents and realizes that Bennett is doomed unless he can assist him in the combat. He lashes out at the zombie with 'Thunder', but misjudges his attack and misses the abmination. The zombie launches a swing at Gronk in response, but the dwarf's armor manages to absorb any damage from the blow.

The priest on the floor gets to his feet and casts yet another spell. He chooses what seems to be the favored spell of the Nemotz priests and his hand starts glowing with the same brown radiance as the others. The other priest whose hand is glowing brown joins in with the combat on Bennett, lining up with the GermSpreader and the other priest.

The GermSpreader lashes out at Bennett with his scythe once more, getting as angry as Bennett at his lack of success in hitting the warrior. This time he manages to find a way through Bennett's armor, inflicting another terrible wound upon him.

Bennett is now getting really pissed with this. He lifts 'Retribution' high above his head and brings it crashing down upon the head of the first priest. The blow is the stuff of legends, as it hacks the priest's head right off. The blow continues onwards to impact on the second priest, which has joined in the combat. The axe head cuts through this priest's chainmail as if it were cloth and hits the priest full square in the heart, killing him dead also.

As Bennett tries to pull the axe head free after slaughtering the two priests with one blow, the GermSpreader tries to take advantage of Bennett's situation by lashing out at him again with the scythe. Bennett manages to dodge the blow again and pulls his axe free. Ignoring his horrendous wounds, Bennett pulls the axe free and gets ready attacks the Germspreader with total recklessness.

He turns to face the GermSpreader, grinning with a glazed expression on his face as he is drunk on battlelust:

"Just you and me now," he says to the GermSpreader.

Gronk is spurred on by seeing Bennett taking out the couple of priests and lashes out at the zombie before him once again. 'Thunder' is bang on target and Gronk is able to hack a big chunk out of it. The zombie ignores the pain and lashes out at the dwarf once more, but Gronk smashes the zombie's fist away with his shield. Gronk tries to finish off the zombie with another blow, but misses it by quite a wide margin.

The last remaining priest rushes into combat alongside the GermSpreader. Not liking the look of the priest's glowing fist, Bennett tries to take him out quickly so as to concentrate upon the GermSpreader. He hacks 'Retribution' deep into the priest's flesh, leaving him close to expiring from the single blow. The GermSpreader takes advantage of a gap in Bennett's defense by striking him once again with the scythe. Once again the damage is severe and Bennett knows that he cannot take too much more of this damage.

Bennett looks about:

"Where the f*** are you, Winnacer?"

Seeing the expected assistance still frozen near the other entrance, Bennett realizes death is still a lot closer.

The priest, with his last breath, tries to punch Bennett with his fist, but Bennett manages to sidestep away from the blow. He tries to finish off the priest with another blow from his axe, but is unable to penetrate the priest's armor. The GermSpreader again tries to connect with his scythe, but Bennett's armor once again saves him from any damage.

Gronk continues to slug it out with the zombie, but the dwarf is tiring now and his blow misses the zombie by a wide margin. The zombie is similarly unsuccessful and is also unable to connect with the dwarf.

Bennett, seeing the priest on his last legs now, redoubles his efforts to finish him off, and sinks 'Retribution' deep into the priest's skull, adding a third priest to his tally. He does not have long to relish his victory, however, as he fails to see the GermSpreader's scythe descending upon him. The scythe inflicts another horrendous wound upon the warrior, which proves to be too much for him, and Bennett finally falls beneath the GermSpreader's feet.

At seeing Bennett fall, Gronk realizes that he alone holds the key to the party's survival. He tries to finish off the zombie quickly so that he can concentrate upon the GermSpreader. He lashes out at the zombie but, once again, his blow fails to connect. The zombie manages to connect with Gronk and hits him with a glancing blow. However, as he does so, the zombie trips forwards and ends up landing upon the head of 'Thunder'. With the zombie already badly damaged, it is enough to finish it off and the zombie finally expires at Gronk's feet.

Gronk looks up and sees that he is now all alone with the anti-paladin. He knows that the final showdown will be GermSpreader versus DemonSlayer.

The GermSpreader advances upon his diminutive adversary and brings the scythe down low. Gronk tries to leap over the blade, but the GermSpreader manages to catch him, inflicting a bad wound on the injured dwarf. Gronk fights like he has never fought before, as he realizes that he is in a fight to the death and retaliates with a powerful blow, which cleaves through the GermSpreader's armor. Shrugging off the blow, the GermSpreader lifts the scythe high once more and brings it crashing down upon the dwarf's shoulder, cleaving into his shoulder and leaving him a hair's breadth from death.

With his eyes filling up with blood, Gronk tries to fight through the pain in order to lift 'Thunder' again. However, he is now weak through bloodloss and is unable to penetrate the GermSpreader's armor.

The GermSpreader sees that Gronk is on his last legs and wields the scythe once again. However, Gronk has more life left in him than the GermSpreader bargained for and the dwarf is able to step aside from the blade. Gronk tries to retaliate with another blow, but he is still too weak and 'Thunder' slides harmlessly off the GermSpreader's platemail. The GermSpreader also seems to be tiring a little now and launches another clumsy blow towards the dwarf, which Gronk is able to duck away from.

Gronk realizes that the GermSpreader is wearing him down and his feeble attempts to strike the anti-paladin are having little effect. With an heroic effort, he puts all of his effort into a mighty blow against the GermSpreader, which splits open his platemail and inflicts a terrible wound upon him. The force of the dwarf's blow takes the GermSpreader by surprise and he staggers backwards. Gronk sees that he has the GermSpreader on the run and strikes back at him. However, after the huge amount of energy that he expended with his last blow, Gronk does not have enough left in him to cleave through the platemail once again.

The GermSpreader picks himself up and decides to rid himself of the little pest once and for all. Gronk sees the scythe descending upon him but just has no more energy left after all of the Herculean tasks that he has performed. He is thus powerless to dodge as the scythe bears down upon him and sends the dwarf falling to the floor.

As Gronk hits the floor, he realizes that his end is near. With all of the strength he can muster, he clutches to the handle of Thunder and draws his beloved weapon to his chest. In but a faint whisper, he begins to sing to Thunder, but the time is at hand and all signs of life leave him as he lays with Thunder.

The GermSpreader stands above the downed dwarf panting from his exertions. Just then he hears a voice booming from behind him:

"Prepare to pay for the Injustices that you have caused to mankind."

The GermSpreader turns around to see that the holding spell upon Winnacer has expired after keeping the LawBringer out of action for the past ten minutes and the young Lord is striding towards him looking for vengeance.

The GermSpreader wearily raises his scythe above him once again and prepares for the final showdown of paladin versus antipaladin.

Fresh as a result of his past inactivity, Winnacer charges towards the GermSpreader and lashes out at the antipaladin. Unfortunately for the young Lord, his attack is a little too eager as he sees, to his horror, that 'The Ripper' flies out of his hand and skitters 12' feet along the floor.

The GermSpreader finds this to be rather amusing and starts bellowing with laughter as he brings his scythe down on the defenseless LawBringer. Winnacer tries to avoid the blow, but the scythe still catches him with a glancing blow and he grimaces with pain as the point of the scythe cuts into his arm. Quickly, he reaches behind him and pulls forth 'Old Bohavia'. However, as he does so, his guard is down and the GermSpreader cuts into him once again, causing him a more serious injury.

Winnacer fights off the pain and brings 'Old Bohavia' to bear, cursing the loss of The Ripper. However, 'Old Bohavia' is more than sufficient to strike hone and he inflicts a serious wound upon the already injured GermSpreader. The antipaladin cries out with the pain and brings the scythe to bear once again. The GermSpreader is an awesome opponent and, despite Winnacer's efforts to dodge the blow, the GermSpreader finds a way through the young Lord's defense and hacks the blade of the scythe into him once again. The blow took Winnacer by surprise and his follow up attack is clumsy, leaving him open for the GermSpreader's next attack.

The GermSpreader laughs once again at the LawBringer's predicament and launches his scythe towards him once again. Winnacer is still trying to regain his balance from his last clumsy attack and is caught off guard once again and feels the blade of the scythe cut into his flank once again. He tries to summon up more energy to strike home, but he is getting weak now and the GermSpreader easily manages to avoid the blow. Winnacer realizes that he is in trouble now and starts to pray to Spravedelna for her protection in order that the unholy before him not strike him down. Spravedelna appears to be looking after him, as the GermSpreader's next attack slides off Winnacer's armor.

Hoping for a change in fortune, Winnacer tries to press home his advantage, but it is not to be, as his blow fails to penetrate the GermSpreader's platemail. The GermSpreader launches himself at the LawBringer once again, but Winnacer parries the blow away before launching himself at the GermSpreader. However, once again, the force of his blow is insufficient to penetrate the GermSpreader's plate. The GermSpreader lashes out with the scythe once again. Winnacer tries to dodge it, but is still caught a glancing blow from the weapon. The damage that it causes is not that great, but Winnacer is already weak from the multitude of injuries that the GermSpreader has inflicted upon him and knows that he can't last much longer.

The GermSpreader lifts his scythe high in order to finish off the terribly wounded LawBringer. As he does so, however, he starts to see a many-layered mass of strong sticky strands similar to a spider's web descending from the ceiling. With lightning fast reactions, the GermSpreader leaps out of the way and avoids the sticky strands that fills the center of the temple, stopping him from getting at Winnacer.

He quickly turns around to see that Aneira, Will, Kokal and Faewen'il have fought off the effects of the Fear and have returned to the scene of total devastation in the temple just in the nick of time. Faewen'il has the strands of a spider's web in her hand.

Will has his lute out and is strumming a magickal tune. He finishes his quick tune before throwing his hands in the direction of the GermSpreader and then shouts out to him:

"Throw down your weapon and surrender."

The GermSpreader ignores him totally, however, and raises his scythe once again before heading off to do battle against the new foes.

The Padre and Aneira are casting too. Kokal is singing a Radegastian battle hymn that fills the four of them with courage. Aneira has a shard of glass in her hands and is also uttering an incantation. Upon completion of the chant, a swirling sword-shaped formation of jagged, fast-swirling ice shards emerges from her hand.

As the GermSpreader charges in to finish off the rest of his adversaries, Faewen'il utters another incantation. As she finishes, she raises her hand towards the GermSpreader. As she does so, three bolts of magickal energy emerge from her fingers and go flying towards the antipaladin. They all strike home and the GermSpreader jolts from the impact.

Kokal, Will and Aneira all charge towards the GermSpreader in the hope of finishing the abomination with their weapons. Will is on the receiving end of the GermSpreader's scythe as they close and is cut badly by the weapon. He does not let him throw him off his stride, however, and lashes out at the GermSpreader with his blades. Neither 'The Educator' nor 'Teacher's Pet' are able to penetrate the GermSpreader's platemail, however. The Padre tries his luck with his morningstar and manages to connect with a mighty blow from the weapon, which causes a serious wound upon the GermSpreader.

The GermSpreader is definitely starting to look very beaten up now. Aneira sees this and launches at him with her ice sword. The swirling ice shards easily cleave into the GermSpreader's armor and hacks a terrible wound into its gut.

The GermSpreader goes still for a moment before crashing to its knees and keeling over in front of the three of them.

The GermSpreader is dead and the combat is finally over.