Ironbriar Strikes Back

Xer regains her balance quickly and flips away from Ironbriar, avoiding the swings of the cultists behind and beside her as she goes, to come up beside the one that slashed her. She grabs his right hand with both of hers and in one fluid motion snaps her attacker’s wrist. He cries out and drops his razor. Xer jerks the wrecked arm towards her then reverses direction and sends his own broken hand smashing into his nose. Like a dancer leading her partner in a pirouette, she spins the now nearly unconscious man around, locking his arm behind him and advancing again on Ironbriar.


But before she can close the distance, Sasha suddenly pops up between them!

At the same moment Xer began withdrawing from Ironbriar and abusing the unfortunate cultist behind her, Sasha started her own mad rolling dash towards the Justice to help her friend. She ducks and slides between the two startled cultists that are assaulting Malvick and springs to her feet directly in front of Ironbriar. The taller elf snarls and swipes down at her but she parries his blade and ripostes. But Ironbriar counters with a classic fencer’s flair and their two blades slide across each other.

Malvick again takes advantage of the distraction caused by Sasha’s flamboyant charge. Retrieving the war razor lodged in the wooden table, he slashes to the left, striking deeply at the cultist closest to where Sasha is now locked in combat with Ironbriar. He calls out to Ariva, unsure of where his loyal companion has gotten to in all the confusion. The great grey wolfhound answers his call with a growl and leaps into the fray, attacking one of the acid scarred cultists freshly returned from Li Kao’s magical pit. Li Kao meanwhile continues chanting from the stairway, and suddenly Ariva shifts and swells. Within seconds the hound stand almost seven feet at the shoulders. She looks down at the two cultists below her and growls low.

Terrified, the two turn to flee from the now over 600 lb beast and run right into Yola’s waiting blade. The first is beheaded cleanly. The second drops to the floor screaming as her backhand swing nearly cleaves straight through his thigh.

Ironbriar grunts in frustration as he watches his men broken like cord wood one after another. Though himself unhurt, he is surrounded, with no path of escape. From behind Sasha, Xer watches the Justice’s face twitch as he reaches this conclusion. For a moment she expects him to throw down his weapon and surrender. Any sane man would. But then, almost involuntarily, his expression hardens. He raises his free hand above him and calls forth the power of the god of murder. A burst of purple-golden light emanates from Ironbriar. Xer swears she smells wild flowers as the light washes over her, and then she and every other living thing in the room is racked with pain.

Li Kao, sheltered in the stairwell watches as murder sweeps the room. Amazingly, Sasha shrugs off the full effects of the assault and continues to stand toe to toe with Ironbriar. Everyone else however, takes its full brunt. Xer and Malvick stumble, blood streaming from their ears and noses. Ariva whimpers in pain, and even Yola gasps and falters in her implacable stride towards Ironbriar. The cultist that Xer holds before her as a shield finally dies, as does the one Malvick wounded a moment before. The two surviving cultists both drop to their hands and knees, retching and pitiful before their master’s wrath.

“And so father Norgorber punishes the weak and the unrepentant,” Ironbriar intones, his gaze locked with Sasha’s. “It is sad that there isn’t time for you to be marked with the seven-pointed star before your deaths so that your souls can feed my mistress’ cause, but your deaths will be a fine tribute to Norgorber nonetheless.”

Ironbriar sucks in a deep breath and prepares to unleash another wave of purple light…