AMEN XLVII: Who's the Leader, Again?

[Felandria]

[Temple Assault- Inside]

The ranger says to Felandria,"Use your super strong growing power thing. We need to get out of here fast." He pulls out a silver arrow and aims at the demon making all the noise in the back. Hopefully his arrow will kill it in one shot.

Felandria doesn't need to be told twice and begins to grow larger, soon being nearly as tall as the roof.

Bring it on!

[Shadowcaller]

[Temple Assault- Inside]

Wenomir's sword cuts the woman's arm and she screams out in pain and backs away, nearly stumbling into throne itself. The group might note that instead of blood there is what appears to be motes of radiant light coming out of her wound. Right now she seems to confused to really react to anything going on in the throne room however.
Back at Wenomir, his dagger hits its target, but it is not enough to actually crack it, they are carved crystal after all, not glass. They might need crushing damage, or hitting them with even more force than a thrown knife.

The possessed KR sits down on her throne again, and frowns. "Plans? There are no plans, Wenomir. But I don't want to kill you, if you would just listen, I did not take KR's body. She took mine and then-"

But she is interrupt by the holographic demon that Luvon just attempted to shoot, the arrow passing right through it as it is simply an illusion. "Just kill the filthy thing! Kill them all!" It has begun sounding increasingly frustrated with what is going on. "Have everyone but me grown weak?!" The demons single eye sweeps across the room, its cracked maw looking like it could devour them in a single bite.

Behind the group, the gates suddenly start opening and two pit lords starts entering the room. The huge armored demons don't seem to be in any hurry in attacking the group, but there mere presence is intimidating enough, being twice as tall as a man even hunched over.

Steve might also notice that the demonic pictures on the walls near the throne are starting to move as he is running towards it. That is likely something to be concerned about.

[Temple Assault - Outside]

"I don't have any orders from my commander, so no, you may not shoot at the temple. If you want to aid, figure out another way, mortal." The demon replies.

Meanwhile, as the drones are shooting down flying bats, the demons are trying something else as the drones rapidly bury themselves into the temple. They are attempting to gate soldiers into and onto the drones. The flying demons steadily keeping up their attacks, despite losing a lot of their numbers to the lasers.

[ThePhantom]

[Temple Assault - Outside]

The henchman nods and turns to his radio.

"Alright, its good enough then. Ceasefire and get the hoverdrill out here!"

As the garage opens up to let the hoverdrill out, the henchman looks at the drones.

Front Gate

Assuming that the figure is at just a little different time, a henchman manning the gate look up.

"So what do you want?"

[8BitNinja]

[Temple Assault- Inside]

Wenomir's sword cuts the woman's arm and she screams out in pain and backs away, nearly stumbling into throne itself. The group might note that instead of blood there is what appears to be motes of radiant light coming out of her wound. Right now she seems to confused to really react to anything going on in the throne room however.
Back at Wenomir, his dagger hits its target, but it is not enough to actually crack it, they are carved crystal after all, not glass. They might need crushing damage, or hitting them with even more force than a thrown knife.

The possessed KR sits down on her throne again, and frowns. "Plans? There are no plans, Wenomir. But I don't want to kill you, if you would just listen, I did not take KR's body. She took mine and then-"

But she is interrupt by the holographic demon that Luvon just attempted to shoot, the arrow passing right through it as it is simply an illusion. "Just kill the filthy thing! Kill them all!" It has begun sounding increasingly frustrated with what is going on. "Have everyone but me grown weak?!" The demons single eye sweeps across the room, its cracked maw looking like it could devour them in a single bite.

Behind the group, the gates suddenly start opening and two pit lords starts entering the room. The huge armored demons don't seem to be in any hurry in attacking the group, but there mere presence is intimidating enough, being twice as tall as a man even hunched over.

Steve might also notice that the demonic pictures on the walls near the throne are starting to move as he is running towards it. That is likely something to be concerned about.

[Temple Assault - Outside]

"I don't have any orders from my commander, so no, you may not shoot at the temple. If you want to aid, figure out another way, mortal." The demon replies.

Meanwhile, as the drones are shooting down flying bats, the demons are trying something else as the drones rapidly bury themselves into the temple. They are attempting to gate soldiers into and onto the drones. The flying demons steadily keeping up their attacks, despite losing a lot of their numbers to the lasers.

Steve turns around to the nearest pit lord and yells at it "Today I bring you back from whence you came, demon." If and as soon as it turns around, he stabs at its torso, still with the Smite Evil he put on his sword earlier.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Front Gate]

It is indeed a different time, an ordinary, sunny day. The figure looks to the henchman and smiles warmly, spreading his hands.

"Why, I'm merely here to admire your volcano, my good man. Tell me, is the crater open to visitors?" His voice is deep, with a slight British accent. His expression seems friendly enough, though there's the slightest hint of a predatory edge in his smile as he asks about the crater.

[Morty]

[Temple Assault- Inside]

"Too damn bad, because I'm here to kill you!" Wenomir shouts. "How did she take your body and why?"

He turns to his companions briefly.

"Steve, Luvon - keep those things off us. Felandria, help me destroy the throne!" Then, through the comms: "We're in the throne room, wherever that is!"

The Answer shifts into an axe again, as Wenomir leaps forward and tries to smash a crystal with an overhead strike.

[Darkcomet]

[Temple Assault - Outside]

Gating into the drone pod is likely to be extremely hazardous for anything that tries it due to interference from the radiation. That'll throw it off course, fusing the unfortunate demons (inevitably fatally) with solid objects like temple walls or the pod's outer hull, even as it's (much more slowly) eaten away by acid.

Of course, that won't last long. Eventually, something is going to teleport mistakenly into the power core instead of getting fused with a piece of hull and dying horribly. It doesn't happen yet, but it almost certainly will, and when that happens, all bets are off.

A-2's shuttle continues its uncannily precise laser attacks, fading in and out of cloak with its bursts.

[Felandria]

Temple Assault

Felandria looks down to Wenomir and smiles.

Thought you'd never ask.

Felandria makes her way towards the throne and attempts to pick it up, so she can smash in into the ground.

[Shadowcaller]

Temple Assault

((I'm afraid I have to skip green elf at this point.))

The pit lords are actually at the other end of the room, so Steve will have to cross the room to attack the two demons who gets a chance to react if he is going to charge against them. One of them creates a transparent red wall of energy before them while the other sends a huge fireball right at Steve as he comes rushing towards them. The all will not protect the demons from Steve's attacks, but it will deflect any projectile coming towards it.

Meanwhile, it looks like Not-KR is about to reply, but when Felandria comes charging towards the throne she seems to panic and raises her hand again, this time towards Fel. This time, instead of a person, a huge statue of what appears to be Luvon dressed in a general's uniform, materializes right in-between everyone else and the throne, making it nearly impossible to reach unless someone squeeze around it. Wenomir, however, as he goes for one of the crystals, ends up behind the statue together with not-KR. Steve, Luvon, Felandria, and the winged being all ending up in front of it.

While Wenomir doesn't manage to actually break the crystal, he does manage to tear it off the wall with his axe. There is a loud crackle as it is torn off the wall and there is a powerful electric discharge, the Warrior might be in for quite a powerful shock.

[Temple Assault - Outside]

Lesser demons continue being gated inside the drone, with little care for what is happening to them. Of course, there are limits to how many things that can be gated so quickly in such a short amount of time. Therefore, they will be running out of those soon.
Meanwhile, the drone is starting to break through the hull of the temple. It appears oddly empty however, there are far more demons outside of it than outside with the swarm of bat demons. However, the swarm will start to thin of the lasers can keep up that under the attack of constant spit attacks. They won't be able to gate in more demons endlessly.

[happyturtle]

No Longer Parleying With Demons

Simone's shade flits through the shadows, away from the demon camp, just wanting to return to her own body now.

That was a disaster.

[ThePhantom]

[Temple Assault - Outside]

The hoverdrill, a drilling machine like the others that AMEN has used in the past, flies out of the garage and by going up a natural ramp on the side of the volcano launches itself into the air and adjusts itself to land on the outside wall of the temple. Once that is done, the hoverdrill charges for the nearest drone, trying to use the drill to destroy the drone.

[Front Gate]

"On some occasions, but why would you want to see the crater?"

The henchman leans back in the chair provided inside the gatehouse.

[Darkcomet]

[Temple Assault - Outside -> Inside]

BREACH COMPLETE

WARNING: CRITICAL CONTAINMENT FAILURE

The AMENite drill won't get a chance to engage the (single) Evolution Industries drone pod, because it's just about out of commission already. The group of four drones inside (formerly six, two having ended up horribly fused with demon flesh) blasts its way out of the heavily damaged pod with several large, white energy beams, flying out of the doomed drill pod and into the hole it made as its systems sputter and die, falling away from the temple. They're vaguely humanoid in appearance, more bulky and reinforced than the shield-only Evolution Guardians, each bearing four limb-mounted energy projectors and a repulsor-based back-mounted propulsion pack for flight purposes. Each holds a strange heavy rifle in its hands, bulky and crude-looking unlike any normal EI weapon, and sports copious amounts of what seems to be reserve ammunition. They scan the breached area for any targets, taking cover at the walls to make sure the swarm outside doesn't melt them.

Can't have them playing stupid with two down.

Meanwhile, something else happens. A whirling blur ejects from the stealth shuttle, visible only in bursts of a similar disrupted cloaking field. Muzzle flashes and heavy caliber gunshot reports fill the air as A-2 makes her entrance to the temple after the drones, her abilities granting her absolutely impossible precision, knowledge of exactly where to fire for the most likely and most devastating hits, to the point where it may as well be a form of precognition for a cybernetic mind capable of processing it far faster than humanly possible. The demonic swarm and the new AMENite drill alike are targeted, and if she can't get the right angle on weak points in the drill's armor in the midst of her flight, she'll just fire right where the ricochets off the temple or a demon (or even multiple demons) might just hit it in those critical vulnerable points anyway. The upside for everyone dealing with this is that her ammunition is perfectly normal, if large-caliber bullets.

Once she's in, Two will use those same powers to find a way to go, to converge with the VIGIL party. "Breach complete. Linking up ASAP."

Her shuttle seems to disengage completely, the lasers ceasing. They certainly wouldn't be as accurate now anyway.

[AMEN Below]

Down below, the drone pod falls to the earth, too heavily damaged and telefragged to continue operating. Depending on how far this actually is from anyone, AMEN might find this unpleasant as the ruined insertion vehicle explodes with familiar chaotic, irradiating power, quite possibly meshed with demonic energies. Anyone who survives the energy blast and the shrapnel might not be in such good shape for long as the usual concentrated chaos wreaks havoc on their bodies.

[8BitNinja]

Temple Assault

((I'm afraid I have to skip green elf at this point.))

The pit lords are actually at the other end of the room, so Steve will have to cross the room to attack the two demons who gets a chance to react if he is going to charge against them. One of them creates a transparent red wall of energy before them while the other sends a huge fireball right at Steve as he comes rushing towards them. The all will not protect the demons from Steve's attacks, but it will deflect any projectile coming towards it.

Meanwhile, it looks like Not-KR is about to reply, but when Felandria comes charging towards the throne she seems to panic and raises her hand again, this time towards Fel. This time, instead of a person, a huge statue of what appears to be Luvon dressed in a general's uniform, materializes right in-between everyone else and the throne, making it nearly impossible to reach unless someone squeeze around it. Wenomir, however, as he goes for one of the crystals, ends up behind the statue together with not-KR. Steve, Luvon, Felandria, and the winged being all ending up in front of it.

While Wenomir doesn't manage to actually break the crystal, he does manage to tear it off the wall with his axe. There is a loud crackle as it is torn off the wall and there is a powerful electric discharge, the Warrior might be in for quite a powerful shock.

[Temple Assault - Outside]

Lesser demons continue being gated inside the drone, with little care for what is happening to them. Of course, there are limits to how many things that can be gated so quickly in such a short amount of time. Therefore, they will be running out of those soon.
Meanwhile, the drone is starting to break through the hull of the temple. It appears oddly empty however, there are far more demons outside of it than outside with the swarm of bat demons. However, the swarm will start to thin of the lasers can keep up that under the attack of constant spit attacks. They won't be able to gate in more demons endlessly.

Steve attempts to block the fireball with his shield. Although he does get it up in time to ensure that he isn't killed, he is knocked down and wounded. He yells to Luvon "Shoot at them now!"

[Green Elf]

[Temple Assault- Inside]

((Sorry for not being here to post))

Luvon laughs at the thing that looks like him before throwing a fragmentation grenade at the pitlords, then opening fire with silver arrows.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Front Gate]

A dark, hungry edge enters the figure's voice, and a black miasma seems to coat his teeth for a moment as he replies to the henchman.

"I had a craving for something warm." His voice seems to return to normal after a second. "Can't get much warmer than that, right?"

[Morty]

[Temple Assault]

The Answer absorbs some of the shock, but the rest of it brings Wenomir to his knees.

"You vile little... it'll take more than that to stop me," he says, as he gets up.

[Felandria]

Temple Assault

Felandria crouches down as she pulls out an Immovable Rod, clutching it in one hand.

Then she casts Righteous Might, causing her to double in her already prodigious size, then she swiftly swings the arm clutching the rod at the statue, the rod acting as a huge battering ram, and hopefully shatter the statue.

If it does, the bad guys will see an enormous, angry giantess smiling wickedly, ready to attack.

[Shadowcaller]

[Temple Assault]

Once the crystal has been removed, the rest of them goes dark. Whatever Wenomir just did, it seems to have deactivated something.

Not-KR rolls her eyes at Wenomir, "Yes, that was me, and not you sticking your weapon into delicate machinery." Then Felandria starts crushing the statue with her rod which starts crumbling at the might of her rod. I should note that if Felandria grows anymore, she will be at a disadvantage as the ceiling does not allow her to get much bigger.

Not-KR grinds her teeth together as she stares up at Felandria. "So be it then. Activate the inner defenses." She says as a shield envelops her and the throne.

Then there is a low rumble that echos through the entire building as the murals on the walls starts moving, the underwater landscape painted in the throne room suddenly springing to life. Then black water starts pouring out of the walls and starts filling the room. With the watery liquid the group will be able to see the skeletal skulls that were in the paintings can be floating down with it.

Luvon and Steve will no doubt notice this too, the large doors behind the pit lords suddenly slamming shut, blocking all the entrances in and out. In addition, they will note that the red barrier that one of the pit lords created the last turn will cause the fragmentation grenade to bounce down on the floor, along with any arrow Luvon fires at the two demons. It does seem to cause them to retreat with their tails touching the doors though. Perhaps they are hoping that the water will take care of the group before they need to engage them.

The illusionary demon seems satisfied with simply watching the battle right now, grinning as it sees the walls opening up.

The winged being on the other hand seems rather uneasy, still clutching her bleeding wound she still seems to be trying to figure out what is going on in the room. Looking at the different fighters however, she rather seem to want to escape rather than seeking refugee at either side.

[Temple Assault - A2]

A2 will notice two new things happening as she enters the temple, first, that the gating sequence to cuthun have been aborted, second, that the murals on the temple walls have animated and the enormous hideous creatures that they depict now are literary staring down at her and the other drones. Huge monstrous arms now reaching out from the walls, attempting to pull the drones into the very walls that they sought cover behind.

Outside, the swarm is starting to thin out under the hail of constant laser fire, but it does seem like the demons are starting to engage the enemy in other ways when the inner defenses are activated.

[Temple Assault - Outside]

The wreckage falls down on the fortifications underneath the temple, wrecking them completely as they explode. At this rate, they will never be finished!
There were no fiends there however, the majority already having been evacuated.

No Longer Parleying With Demons

Simone's shade flits through the shadows, away from the demon camp, just wanting to return to her own body now.

That was a disaster.

No Longer Parleying With Demons

But look how happy they are, killing one another. Wouldn't it be wrong of us to interrupt their fun? Helios asks sarcastically. I mean, I'm sure they have good reasons to.
Back at her tent, Ambrosia is standing guard, eyeing the temple in the distance. Even she appears to have seen the battle going on. "Simone? Are you okay?"

[ThePhantom]

[Temple Assault - Outside]

The hoverdrill takes a number of bullets, but while its functions are reduced the machine still works. Well, while the drone it came out to smash is broken, there was some signs of something came from it. So the henchman driving it tries to get the hoverdrill into the temple, trying to chase after whatever was in the drone without causing damage to the temple.

[Darkcomet]

[Temple Assault - A-2]

Oh, this is different. How do I destroy those?

That is the question A-2 is asking herself and her powers. They don't seem to be going for her yet though, perhaps fooled by the cloak. She'll check to make sure of that too. While she's at it, she primes a plasma grenade and casually tosses it out the breach at the exact moment the AMENite drill would be trying to get through the hole. The drill's getting a face full of burning plasma from a precisely aimed grenade. A much heavier piece of munitions than Two's heavy pistols ought to do the trick against something already suffering. And even if not, the plasma drill was never meant to get the boarding pod itself in, only its passengers, so the henchman might have a hard time getting a vehicle in there.

The drones, well, those react in a different way. Energy shields coursing with electricity flare up as they retreat from the walls, dealing a nasty electrical shock to anything that tries to touch them, and they open up with those strange rifles. Those turn out to fire repulsor-propelled explosive shells with armor-piercing tips that detonate an instant after contact, hopefully showering the target's inside with a payload of shrapnel and searing molten silver.

Good thing I'm watching these things or I don't think the normal drone control would've spotted that. Needs work.

[8BitNinja]

[Temple Assault]

Once the crystal has been removed, the rest of them goes dark. Whatever Wenomir just did, it seems to have deactivated something.

Not-KR rolls her eyes at Wenomir, "Yes, that was me, and not you sticking your weapon into delicate machinery." Then Felandria starts crushing the statue with her rod which starts crumbling at the might of her rod. I should note that if Felandria grows anymore, she will be at a disadvantage as the ceiling does not allow her to get much bigger.

Not-KR grinds her teeth together as she stares up at Felandria. "So be it then. Activate the inner defenses." She says as a shield envelops her and the throne.

Then there is a low rumble that echos through the entire building as the murals on the walls starts moving, the underwater landscape painted in the throne room suddenly springing to life. Then black water starts pouring out of the walls and starts filling the room. With the watery liquid the group will be able to see the skeletal skulls that were in the paintings can be floating down with it.

Luvon and Steve will no doubt notice this too, the large doors behind the pit lords suddenly slamming shut, blocking all the entrances in and out. In addition, they will note that the red barrier that one of the pit lords created the last turn will cause the fragmentation grenade to bounce down on the floor, along with any arrow Luvon fires at the two demons. It does seem to cause them to retreat with their tails touching the doors though. Perhaps they are hoping that the water will take care of the group before they need to engage them.

The illusionary demon seems satisfied with simply watching the battle right now, grinning as it sees the walls opening up.

The winged being on the other hand seems rather uneasy, still clutching her bleeding wound she still seems to be trying to figure out what is going on in the room. Looking at the different fighters however, she rather seem to want to escape rather than seeking refugee at either side.

[Temple Assault - A2]

A2 will notice two new things happening as she enters the temple, first, that the gating sequence to cuthun have been aborted, second, that the murals on the temple walls have animated and the enormous hideous creatures that they depict now are literary staring down at her and the other drones. Huge monstrous arms now reaching out from the walls, attempting to pull the drones into the very walls that they sought cover behind.

Outside, the swarm is starting to thin out under the hail of constant laser fire, but it does seem like the demons are starting to engage the enemy in other ways when the inner defenses are activated.

[Temple Assault - Outside]

The wreckage falls down on the fortifications underneath the temple, wrecking them completely as they explode. At this rate, they will never be finished!
There were no fiends there however, the majority already having been evacuated.

Steve gets up and charges at the pitlord he was attempting to attack. When he reaches the barrier, he prays "Bringer of Justice, please break this arcane scourge." (Dispel Magic). If it is successful, the barrier should disappear. If it is successful, he charges up to the pit lord and slashes at its torso with his sword.

[Morty]

[Temple Assault]

Wenomir looks at the walls, then the floor, when the water starts flooding the room. Riddle damn it. Is there no end to traps and obstacles in this hellhole? He can't really do anything about the water... he needs to take out the demons' leader quickly.

"Winged... woman! Those demons brought you here to save their skins! Help us and you'll be free of them!"

Regardless of what the winged being does, Wenomir leaps into action. He makes a powerful overhead chop at the shield, hoping to batter and weaken it. Then, quickly enough that it seems like the attacks happen concurrently, he makes another one, diagonally. The purpose is to concentrate all his strength, willpower and the Answer's might against a single point on the shield. Then he runs back, splashing through the black water, jumps at the nearest wall, pushes himself off and falls down towards the shield, aiming a thunderous blow against the same point on it.

[Green Elf]

[Temple Assault]

The ranger looks around wondering what to do. "Am I going to blow a hole in the temple and risk the outside or keep the temple intact and risk the inside? We're not going to last too long with the water, but it'll probably be worse outside."

[Felandria]

Temple Assault

Felandria considers smashing a hole in the wall or floor to alleviate the water rushing in, or attacking the shield, but she might catch Wenomir in the strike if she did that.

Then she has an idea.

Guys, this might sound weird, but you should probably start climbing me.

[happyturtle]

No Longer Parleying With Demons

But look how happy they are, killing one another. Wouldn't it be wrong of us to interrupt their fun? Helios asks sarcastically. I mean, I'm sure they have good reasons to.
Back at her tent, Ambrosia is standing guard, eyeing the temple in the distance. Even she appears to have seen the battle going on. "Simone? Are you okay?"

"I am unhurt. Someone attack floating temple while I talk to King of Demons. All anyone want to do is fight." She is despondent, and phases through the tent wall to reinhabit her own body. After a couple of moments, she emerges from the tent.

"I met King Sargon of Therazim. They call us spider-paws. They think we need to be eliminated so we do not enslave them. Then someone attack."

[Shadowcaller]

[Temple Assault]

Wenomir slams his sword into the shield and it appears to collapse, shrinking down to nothing at the very first blow. Yet then a smaller shield, just large enough to still protect the throne, takes the last shields place. This one seems stronger however, capable of taking the next the next blow as Wenomir slams down at it. Not-KR sits back down on the throne and shakes her head. "I think I've had enough of this. Don't worry though, Wenomir, perhaps we can bring you back." She smiles, and then with a flash she is gone.

Back at Steve and Luvon, the paladins spell succeeds and the shield that protected the two pit lords disappears. However, the two demons were expecting an attack so one of them manages to parry Steve's sword with its own, attempting to punch him in the stomach with its metal glove. The other one attempting to grab Steve and give him a powerful shock, so powerful that it will either daze him or knock him out if it succeeds.

Meanwhile, as the water continues rising, the aforementioned skulls that were floating down with it suddenly raise into the air, forming monstrous bodies of water underneath them that starts moving towards Felandria, Luvon and the winged being.

She looks at Wenomir, and nods. "I do not know what is happening here. But I can get you out. Just take my hand, please." She offers her hand to Luvon who is closest to her. Looking at him imploringly.

[Temple Assault - A-2]

The drones attacks seem to have effect as the demons retreat back into the walls with hisses as they're hit by the molten silver. However, it doesn't appear to have killed them as they're still moving around in those murals which the silver appears to do little against. The wall demons are now coming at the drones from below, through the floor, their arms attempting to grab the drones by the legs and pull them down into the floor itself.

They still appear to ignore A-2 however, perhaps the cloak is somewhat effective?

Nonetheless, A-2 will suddenly learn some information about the defenses. These 'murals' are actually extremely complex magical creations that defend all demonic temples. They are created within cuthun itself and are not capable of leaving it. If they stay too long outside of it, they will simply cease to exist as they constantly must be fueled by its primal energies. Yet while they are inside of it, they are effectively immortal, capable of resisting even damage from silver while inside of it. The walls, the floors and even the ceilings are all portals to cuthun, activating whenever these demonic creations wishes to pull something inside of them.

No Longer Parleying With Demons

"Really? That's more of an motivation than I expected, honestly." Ambrosia observes. "Beings called 'demons', as I've learned, are usually associated with beings that supposedly represent the very core essence of evil." She then seem to realize that Simone had made another observation. "Any clue who the attackers might be? I saw those machines flying straight for the temple, they were so fast that I barely caught a glimpse of them."

They're likely associated with the old Inside Empire, I recognize that technology. It is extremely advanced and crude at the same time. Most of it is simply made to kill and destroy as effectively as possible. Helios remarks.

[Morty]

[Temple Assault]

"We're not retreating, you-" Wenomir bites back on a vicious insult towards the winged woman. Not-KR's disappearance has thrown him into a rage. "If you want to help us, do something about this water! Felandria, stop talking about climbing burn those skull-things!" Cowards always teleporting outside his-

Wait.

There was no rush of air that accompanies someone disappearing suddenly And- yes. He can hear her breathing. Sounds like real Kr's breathing. And the shield is still there. Is the throne important enough to warrant it... or is it more smoke and mirrors?

The warrior closes his eyes, to shut off distractions, as he spins around, back towards the throne. His axe cuts a straight line, directly towards where he assumes Not-KR's neck has to be. If the shield stops it, he backs up and makes another swing, putting all his determination to end this behind it.

[ThePhantom]

[Temple Assault - A2]

The henchman swears as the plasma grenade wrecks the drill, leaving the front of the machine a lump of molten metal. He then turns on the speakers as he still tries to bring the machine within the temple.

"You think a little bit of damage will stop me from crushing you? Think again, this machine is built tougher than that."

[8BitNinja]

[Temple Assault]

Wenomir slams his sword into the shield and it appears to collapse, shrinking down to nothing at the very first blow. Yet then a smaller shield, just large enough to still protect the throne, takes the last shields place. This one seems stronger however, capable of taking the next the next blow as Wenomir slams down at it. Not-KR sits back down on the throne and shakes her head. "I think I've had enough of this. Don't worry though, Wenomir, perhaps we can bring you back." She smiles, and then with a flash she is gone.

Back at Steve and Luvon, the paladins spell succeeds and the shield that protected the two pit lords disappears. However, the two demons were expecting an attack so one of them manages to parry Steve's sword with its own, attempting to punch him in the stomach with its metal glove. The other one attempting to grab Steve and give him a powerful shock, so powerful that it will either daze him or knock him out if it succeeds.

Meanwhile, as the water continues rising, the aforementioned skulls that were floating down with it suddenly raise into the air, forming monstrous bodies of water underneath them that starts moving towards Felandria, Luvon and the winged being.

She looks at Wenomir, and nods. "I do not know what is happening here. But I can get you out. Just take my hand, please." She offers her hand to Luvon who is closest to her. Looking at him imploringly.

[Temple Assault - A-2]

The drones attacks seem to have effect as the demons retreat back into the walls with hisses as they're hit by the molten silver. However, it doesn't appear to have killed them as they're still moving around in those murals which the silver appears to do little against. The wall demons are now coming at the drones from below, through the floor, their arms attempting to grab the drones by the legs and pull them down into the floor itself.

They still appear to ignore A-2 however, perhaps the cloak is somewhat effective?

Nonetheless, A-2 will suddenly learn some information about the defenses. These 'murals' are actually extremely complex magical creations that defend all demonic temples. They are created within cuthun itself and are not capable of leaving it. If they stay too long outside of it, they will simply cease to exist as they constantly must be fueled by its primal energies. Yet while they are inside of it, they are effectively immortal, capable of resisting even damage from silver while inside of it. The walls, the floors and even the ceilings are all portals to cuthun, activating whenever these demonic creations wishes to pull something inside of them.

[Temple Assault]

"We're not retreating, you-" Wenomir bites back on a vicious insult towards the winged woman. Not-KR's disappearance has thrown him into a rage. "If you want to help us, do something about this water! Felandria, stop talking about climbing burn those skull-things!" Cowards always teleporting outside his-

Wait.

There was no rush of air that accompanies someone disappearing suddenly And- yes. He can hear her breathing. Sounds like real Kr's breathing. And the shield is still there. Is the throne important enough to warrant it... or is it more smoke and mirrors?

The warrior closes his eyes, to shut off distractions, as he spins around, back towards the throne. His axe cuts a straight line, directly towards where he assumes Not-KR's neck has to be. If the shield stops it, he backs up and makes another swing, putting all his determination to end this behind it.

Steve gets hit by the punch. He isn't grabbed because he is knocked back about five feet. Luckily, he knows how to roll and rolls on his shield. When he gets up, he puts his shield arm to his chest and prays "Great Healer, please mend the wounds of your dying servant." (Cure Serious Wounds) After he does that, he charges at the pitlord again and attacks at the torso again. He yells to Luvon "I need some support here!" And then addresses the winged woman by saying "I'm not going to run. If we are to die here, so be it. I am a soldier and death is just an occupational hazard."

[Darkcomet]

[Temple Assault - A-2]

Off the surfaces, Three.

Two's warning spares the drones the portals, save one, which does have its shield grabbed...except the shield immediately turns off and lets the demon's grip go with it as the drones resume flight mode. With that, they'll continue their attack on anything that comes out at them, but it should be harder to get at them now, hovering as they are.

A-2 is going to use her powers to find a way further in, taking advantage of her cloak somehow working while it lasts. Since they didn't seem to catch onto her when she threw the grenade, she's also going to make a point of using that ability to know to find the most likely way to put a bullet in that AMEN henchman's skull and fire one more heavy pistol shot, whether it's through a weak point in the ruined vehicle's hull into the cockpit, a ricochet off the wall, or any other way to generally shoot that guy in the face.

The plasma damage ought to make that a lot easier.

She and the drones will both move immediately upon finding a route.