Nyx didn't have the words to describe it. The thing that rose from Ketheric's second grave was not of this plane. Astarion's gasping, 'Oh, dear' was met with Nyx's own 'Graces have mercy.'
It wasn't Myrkul per se, but rather an aspect of him. The gargantuan skeleton clawed its way out from the hole in the central platform. Tav and Aedric's group fled from its shadow while the chamber shook under its bulk.
A whirlwind of bones swirled around the aspect, reconstituting into skeletal limbs, joints and other bones that settled onto it in layers. Building up the colossus, while its structure reached toward the ceiling above – the rest of them dwarfed in its stead.
Similar to the bone totems in the Thorm tomb, Myrkul's aspect's was a stacked arrangement of bones. A huge humanoid skull was mounted into Myrkul's triangular symbol cast in bronze. Bone crests grew from the sides of the triangle into flat plates inlaid with skulls and terminating in spiked horns that curved upward. A crown of bones rested atop the triangle and two whole skeletons grew from each side clutching bronze incense burners from outstretched hands that swirled with green power. An equally huge set of shoulders formed to support the triangular structure resting atop. Long arms twisted together from many separate bones, along with a ribcage and the pelvis. Skulls of various shapes and sizes settled themselves within the ribs and fused into the pelvis. The rest of the aspect's spine and body was made up of smaller floating skulls that thinned downwards and disappeared into the hole of the central platform.
Nyx looked up in horror when more bones outlined the shape of a giant scythe. Astarion reached for his temple and beckoned for Nyx to follow. They hurried to meetup with the rest below while the aspect's weapon materialized overhead.
Tav used her magic to project over the whirring of power, "We can't stand against it on the platform."
Gale elaborated, "Myrkul's magic is draining any life force in that vicinity."
"Chk! How are we supposed to bring it down?"
The aspect's sharp fingers reached out to grasp the weapon. Its ominous chuckle resonated through the chamber and reverberated in their chests.
---
The scythe cleaved the air, and they scattered. By grace, the blow missed most of them, but it skirted over Bram's shield, now fastened to his back. He tumbled into a hard roll and Nyx caught a glimpse of Dorran dragging Bram to cover. Nyx skid behind a portion of cartilage jutting out from the ground.
Nyx surveyed their current predicament. The situation struck her as something akin to swatting insects, and in this scenario - they were the insects. Fortunately, speed and agility were on their side for the time being. A yelp escaped her throat when she dove from her cover and the whistling scythe severed the cartilage clean from the ground.
Abyss take it! How are we supposed to bring it down indeed.
Her companions and allies quickly adjusted to the new battle, and they fell into a rhythm of baiting the aspect with one group while the others would take a moment to recover. However, the colossus was going to wear them down sooner or later, and it didn't seem in the least bit concerned at swatting at them until they succumbed either to exhaustion or its blade.
It was Nyx and her group's turn to goad the aspect, but it didn't take the bait. Instead, it heaved the scythe over its head and green tendrils wrapped around Nyx's limbs. She was bodily yanked off her feet and dragged into the middle of the chamber - along with everyone else. Grunts, swearing and prayers met Nyx's ears while they collectively strained against the power. Laying in the clearing, hapless and easy prey for one foul swoop of the scythe.
The aspect chuckled again.
Fuck you asshole! Nyx thrashed as hard as she could lashing out with her chaos and her force magic. It was to no avail. Nyx frantically searched for Astarion, but she couldn't see him from her vantage point between the failing of multiple limbs.
Myrkul's aspect adjusted his grip on the weapon's hilt and Nyx's entire being screamed at realizing that this was how she would meet her end. Nyx squeezed her eyes shut when the aspect brought his scythe into position, ready for the final reaping.
---
Something shattered in the distance and Dame Aylin's voice roared, "Lunae fulgor, descende!"
The restraints around Nyx's limbs eased, but she dared not open her eyes and curled herself into a ball against the impending magic strike. She could feel the Shadowcurse part, fleeing from the searing light aimed at the colossus. Its deafening boom made Nyx quake and moonfire lit up the entire chamber, drowning out any-and-all other sensations.
Nyx's hearing returned to Myrkul's aspect bellowing in pain and she was released from his grip. She shot to her feet, quickly blinking the spots from her vision and helped the others up. Aylin was the embodiment of celestial power, diving at Myrkul's aspect, gracefully dodging his clumsy blows as she continued to level smiting beams of moonlight at its body. Moonfire coursing down limbs, light gleaming off bronze and filling the chamber with the smell of bone smoke.
"Nyx!" Tav was digging around in her backpack and said frantically, "Do you have any more smokepowder?"
Nyx didn't need additional instruction and started handing out whatever she had left in her pack.
Wyll queried toward Tav, taking a grenade from Nyx, "What's your plan?"
"We weaken it from below while Aylin takes it apart from above. Then we use this." Tav drew the runepowder canister.
Shadowheart gasped, "All of it?"
Tav nodded gravely. "I don't see another way out of this. Aylin needs our help." She searched for Karlach and shoved the canister into her hands. "On my mark: I need you to heat this up like a boiling kettle then lob it at his skull."
Karlach's eyebrows scrunched in determination, "Soldier."
They dispersed, each carrying a handful of grenades.
---
Nyx had to time her attacks carefully, lest she be blinded by one of Aylin's moonbeams. The ground team was doing a decent job of keeping Myrkul's aspect off balance while Aylin methodically seared into its bones. The reinforced bones were tough, giving away in agonizingly slow sections. However, Nyx trepidation slowly morphed back to determination as their swarm of insects harassed the colossus closer to its downfall.
Nyx was heaving, her body aching with effort while the battle dragged on. A serendipitous combination of smokepowder explosives and Aylin's strike shred into the aspect's arm. The reverberating impact weakened its base further and the colossus leaned onto its good arm for stability. Nyx gaped, We're actually going to get through this?
Tav called to Karlach, who rushed forward and with an impressive flaming leap hurled the runepowder canister at the aspect's face.
--- --- ---
Astarion tracked the trajectory of the canister.
Shit. He scrambled for his bow.
The aspect turned its face away from the glowing canister. Instead of the canister making it squarely into the skull through its eye socket - it had landed on the edge of the socket, tethering precariously on the bone precipice.
Astarion had an arrow nocked and felt Nyx wrap her magic around it. He let it fly and for the first time in centuries he held his own breath at the outcome.
The canister teetered inward and the arrow struck it from behind, neatly on its highest point. Myrkul's aspect regained its balance and its skeletal hand reached for its eye. The now angry red-hot canister vanished into the aspect's skull.
--- --- ---
Nyx and the others were running, frantically searching for cover, heading for the chamber's exit. It wasn't one big explosion, but rather a series. The first was the largest, it's blast radius catching up to them quickly and sent them sprawling at the impact. It ripped off one half of the aspect's face - pieces of the bronze symbol crashing onto the platform below and its crown cascading into the pool behind – forcing a giant wave to the back of the lake.
The second blast erupted at its ribcage sending a torrent rain of shrapnel across the chamber. Nyx threw her force magic against it, disintegrating the sharp spear-like bones upon contact. Murkyl's aspect bellowed in pain and sunk into itself, fractured bones snapping under the weight of its own body. A succession of smaller explosions travelled down its spine, more bones and skulls violently splintered apart. They watched the aspect crash into the hole, trying to cling to the platform in futility.
Cranking her neck and leaning on one elbow, Nyx watched in disbelief as Aylin renewed her efforts, blasting more pieces from the colossus, slowly driving it into the ground. Nyx sat up with a sudden jerk after hearing Astarion make a disturbingly strangled noise somewhere close by.
Nyx crawled to his side and her blood ran cold.
His eyes were glazed over, completely white. Another disturbing part-cough part-whine escaped him. One of the aspect's bones had pierced his left shoulder. Nyx grabbed at it and cried out in pain, gritting her teeth she yanked it from Astarion's flesh and cast it aside. Her hand suffering severe necrotic burns. The veins in her hand becoming visible under her skin as the poison coursed through her blood, streaking black rivers through her blood vessels.
Her chaos magic flared and rushed to the poisoned tissue, dismantling the necrotic magic and the black veins cleared.
Panic rose in Nyx while she cut Astarion's tunic away to gain access to his wound. Nyx had to choke back a sob at the sight multiple thick black veins mapping a chart across his skin towards his heart. She snapped her head around, searching for Shadowheart, but she couldn't see her anywhere. Groggy silhouettes were scattered about the area, some being attended to while others lay on the floor, unmoving.
Shit.
Nyx's hands were shaking while she rummaged through her pack for the most potent healing potion she possessed. She mercilessly cut into her burnt hand and squeezed the blood into the potion. Astarion did not rouse after its administration and neither did the creeping black veins stop their slow spread.
Knowing that it wasn't going to help, Nyx instinctively assessed his heartbeat, breathing and pupillary response. Nothing to indicate any life. Nyx's breathing became erratic, and the black tendrils were swarming her vision.
No. Stop this. Get a hold of yourself.
She struggled for a moment to regain control of her breathing and focus.
Gale! She called to Gale, hoping that he would be able to help her control her magic so that she could use it to dismantle the poison in Astarion's body. Silence replied.
She fought down another bout of panic bubbling up from her stomach. Then the discarded offending bone fragment caught her eye.
Nyx snatched it up and drove it into her open wound, straining against the pain. Her chaos magic responded instantly. Nyx pressed her wound into Astarion's, begging for her terribly stupid idea to work. Her blood spread beneath her hand warming his skin and Nyx extended her whiskers to the contact point.
She held her breath waiting for her chaos magic to work its way from the inner area of her wound to the outer.
"Thank the graces," Nyx sighed in relief when her magic followed the trail of her blood, and the necrotic spell. It poured into Astarion's wound, tracking along the necrosis and dismantling the seeping magic before it could do any further damage. Only then did the healing effect of the potion take hold to knit his flesh together. Nyx slumped and quickly took care of her own wounds.
"Astarion?"
Although, his skin had cleared and the white film over his eyes subsided, he did not answer.
Dread gripped at Nyx's stomach like a vice - she wasn't going to be at ease until she knew for a fact that he wasn't truly dead.
She sat back on her haunches, letting out a long breath, wiped the tears from her eyes and gathered her thoughts.
---
Nyx settled herself properly into a seated cross-legged position. She placed one hand over Astarion's chest and took his hand with the other. She closed her eyes and meditated, retreating to her mental kingdom.
She walked to the edge of the forest and peered over the ocean at Astarion's anchor - his evening star at the horizon. Taking up a similar position, she sat on the ground and extended her magic toward the anchor. Not knowing what to expect or whether it would even work.
Nyx waited for what felt like an eternity, gently sweeping her magic to the ebb and flow of the ocean below.
Nothing.
She sighed, relented and readied herself to get up. A warm sensation brushed against her magic. She froze, wondering whether she was imagining it. The sensation flited at her periphery. Her heart hammered in her chest and ears. She cautiously extended her magic to it – not wanting to scare it away.
Nyx probed cautiously, trying to determine whether it was merely her own magic, but a flash of impressions touched her mind. A wicked grin, teasing voice and the scent of rosemary. Warmth filled her body, like that of the afternoon autumn sun.
It's him.
She had managed to reach him through his magic. Nyx's heart swelled with gratitude and relief. She was vaguely aware of someone else calling her name. Nyx stood to leave her mental kingdom, but the warm sensation beckoned for her to stay, and the star glinted in the night sky. Nyx smiled and hoped her message would reach him. She projected, I've got you Erenerhym, but the others need my help too. His magic released her reluctantly.
Nyx's opened her eyes proper and looked over to him. She smiled at his still expression.
Almost as tough he is sleeping.
She wiped the hair from his face and said onto him, "Don't you go anywhere. I'll be right back."
---
Nyx was assisting Gale with Nima, who was the only other person unlucky enough to be wounded by one of the necrotic-spell-laced shrapnel bones. Fortunately, she had only been scraped by a small piece on her forearm. Nonetheless, it was one thing to have healed Astarion the way Nyx had, but she wasn't keen on mixing blood like that with anyone else. Gale helped Nyx channel her magic instead and the necrotic magic ceased to be.
Nima's unconscious body breathed easier for it and Gale smiled brightly.
Tav walked over, returning with Aylin and several others. Myrkul's aspect lay defeated in the background, its smouldering motionless skeleton crumpled over the platform. While Shadowheart was organizing triage for healing the injured, Myrkul's aspect started to glow again.
The able-bodied lurched to their feet, weapons drawn as green magic swirled around the platform once more.
Aylin gestured for them to stand down, a smile playing on her lips. Instead, they watched as the magic materialized in front of Aylin.
Ketheric's broken form kneeled before her. He hunched over and coughed a spray of blood onto the floor. "Impossible... death cannot take me... I am its master..."
Aylin merely crossed her arms and waited.
Ketheric begged pitifully, "My Lord, hear me!" He wrestled himself upright, still kneeling he looked around in disbelief. "Nothing... I am forsaken."
Aylin said with disgust, "Aye, death has been defeated."
Ketheric glared at her through an increasingly strained expression. "You... you have no idea what you've done." Nyx could barely make out his whimpered 'Isobel...'
Aylin's anger and magic flared around her, she kicked him in the face, and he dropped dead on the floor. They gasped as Aylin proceeded to ferociously step on his head with her armoured boot, "The villain is DEAD! The wretch! Together we have crushed him, brain and body." Her violence rendered Ketheric's body into a pulpy mess.
Nyx was surprised at Aylin's outburst, but she considered all that Ketheric had done to her and decided it justified.
Aylin remembered herself, rolled her shoulders and shook out her wings. She smiled at Tav and Shadowheart. "Now... Now... We pick our way toward our fates... Unleashed. You have my sword - my fealty. Let us fly this foul place." She extended her hands in front of her and a portal shimmered into existence. Aylin provided with amusement at their shocked expressions, "It leads to the ground floor of Moonrise Towers. A gift from the Moonmaiden to help us thoroughly rid this place of its filth once-and-for-all."
A sudden raw choke ripped from Nyx's chest. Her throat tightened and a darkening absence stole the breath from her lungs. Her senses blotted out and emptiness seized her body and mind. She was vaguely aware of arms supporting her while the Shadowcurse was torn from her body. It clawed at her, desperate to keep its host, raking at her with cold possessiveness. Blinding white light flooded Nyx's being and the curse dissipated in a final deafening howl.
When Nyx came to, she was double over heaving, sweat running from her brow. A hard pat on her back nearly made her fall over and Aylin chuckled, "Feels better, doesn't it?"
Nyx managed a weak chuckle of her own. She straightened somewhat and thanked Aylin wholeheartedly.
"Nye. It is I that should thank you." Her gaze met each of the others. "All of you."
---
Nyx watched hazily at the activity. Her mind, body and emotions both restless and numb.
Tav, Aedric and the Harpers were coordinating for the injured to be escorted to the ground floor via the portal. Lae'zel had insisted on her Githyanki protocols to clear out the mindflayer colony properly, while Gale cautioned against the wanton needless destruction of the library. Jaheira's inputs on the matter resulted in the usual back-and-forth squabbling.
They'll figure it out. Eventually.
For now, Nyx was unconcerned about such things. Rather waiting for her turn to leave and move Astarion to more appropriate location for recovery. Fortunately, she had enough mind left to treat and bandage his wounds. She was sitting by his side, staring blankly while her bandaged hands hung limply over her knees. In a moment of clarity; she leaned over to touch his cheek. Her magic probed gently and his responded, reassuring her that he was indeed only recovering. She checked in with him over a dozen times by the time the triage had reached them. Best for everyone concerned as Nyx's patience was waning dangerously thin.
Careful instruction from both Shadowheart and Nyx saw Astarion out by way of a makeshift stretcher with Nyx in tow.
Latin incantation:
Lunae fulgor, descende: Moon's radiance, descend
Second last chapter
