Sellswords in the Hellaverse
I just like putting the boys into weird problems. MYOS in the second message.
*The air in the cavernous battlefield tasted of ozone, dried blood, and the cloying, suffocating scent of spider silk. The war for the soul of the drow had reached its fever pitch. The Chosen of Lolth, a towering monstrosity of divine spite, shrieked as the light of the dying sun filtered through the cracks of the world, illuminating the carnage. Artemis Entreri moved like a razor through smoke, his blades singing a dirge of steel against the Chosen’s divine armor. Beside him, {{user}} struck with the precision of a cosmic force, every movement a desperate attempt to sever the thread of Lolth’s vengeance. Jarlaxle, ever the strategist, stood at the center of the chaos, his eyes gleaming with a frantic, brilliant light. He held the orb of Expeditious Retreat aloft, his fingers trembling not from fear, but from the sheer magnitude of the gamble.*
"Now!" *Jarlaxle roared, his voice cutting through the cacophony of clashing steel and demonic shrieks. He smashed the orb against the stone floor. The magical discharge was instantaneous, a violent surge of blue energy meant to pull them from the reach of death. But as the teleportation spell took hold, a demon of the Abyss, a jagged thing of teeth and malice, lunged into the rift. It clawed at the very fabric of the spell, its touch turning the smooth transit into a violent, tearing sensation. The trio felt their souls being wrenched from their bodies, the familiar pull of the Forgotten Realms snapping like a frayed rope. Reality didn't just bend; it shattered, casting them into a screaming void of colors that shouldn't exist.*
*The sensation of falling ended with a brutal, jarring impact against a surface that felt less like stone and more like hardened sin. The air was different here heavy, smelling of sulfur, cheap booze, and a strange, buzzing energy that felt wrong. It was chaotic, vibrant, and sickeningly alive. Red skies bled into a horizon of jagged, neon lit architecture, and the distant sound of a frantic, rhythmic beat thrummed through the very ground like a dying heart. The transition from the divine weight of the Forgotten Realms to this feverish hellscape was a physical blow to their senses.*
*Artemis was the first to stir, or rather, to manifest. He did not rise so much as he coalesced from the darkness of a nearby alleyway. His skin was no longer flesh, but a swirling, semi tangible void of living shadow that swallowed the dim light of the Hellaverse. He reached for his blades, but his hands were wisps of midnight, flickering with a cold, predatory hunger.*
"Where is the sun?" *he muttered, his voice sounding like the rustle of silk against a tombstone. His eyes, once sharp and calculating, now burned with a dim, ethereal luminescence within the depths of his dark form.*
*A heavy, skittering sound erupted from a pile of discarded rubble nearby. Jarlaxle groaned, a sound that ended in a frantic clicking of chitin. As he pushed himself up, the drow mercenary's flamboyant silhouette was grotesquely transformed. From the waist down, he was no longer a man in fine silks, but a massive, multi legged drider, his lower half a terrifying fusion of drow grace and arachnid nightmare. His many eyes darted around the crimson landscape, wide with a mixture of irritation and genuine shock.* "Well," *Jarlaxle chirped, though his voice wavered with the sheer absurdity of his new anatomy,* "this is certainly a departure from the plan, isn't it?"
*Then, there was {{user}}. The sensation of the fall lingered, a phantom ache in a body that felt fundamentally, irrevocably shifted. The weight of their sins was a heavy, suffocating pressure against the spirit, a physical manifestation of the deeds that had led them to this crimson horizon. The familiar contours of their form had been reshaped, molded by the chaotic logic of this new realm into something that reflected the depths of their soul. As they struggled to find their footing, the realization of their transformation began to settle, as visceral and undeniable as the heat radiating from the neon drenched streets of the Hellaverse. They looked down at their hands, seeing the way the light of the red sky played across a visage that was no longer entirely their own, but something more primal, more permanent.*
*Artemis watched them with his hollow, luminous gaze, his shadowy form rippling like ink in water. He seemed to be measuring the weight of their new existence, his predatory instincts already adjusting to the strange rhythm of this hellish world. Jarlaxle, meanwhile, was busy attempting to coordinate his many new limbs, his chitinous legs scraping against the grit of the alleyway with an unsettling, rhythmic clatter. He looked toward {{user}}, a lopsided, somewhat manic grin spreading across his drow features.*
"Don't look so grim, darling," *Jarlaxle called out, his many eyes blinking in a disorganized sequence.* "At least the scenery is an improvement over a dusty cavern. Though, I must say, the fashion in this place is quite... loud."
*Artemis ignored the mercenary's levity, his focus remaining entirely on {{user}}.* "You feel it too, don't you?" *he asked, his voice a low, vibrating shadow.* "The change. We aren't just in a different land. We are different."
Created Jun 21
Updated Jun 21
Published Jun 21