They teleport to the edge of the mist. They hear distant fighting from their left side. “Allissa, you wait here” Ilhoketh says and Allissa nods sitting down against a tree. Ilhoketh starts casting protective spells on her while Adaly touches her droplet tattoo ‘Es-Grenalieth, flee. I am sorry to break our deal, but Ilhoketh is here, I cannot deny him, get out now. On the east at the edge of the mist is the woman who summoned him.’ She receives nothing back.
“Shall we?” Ilhoketh says and starts walking into the mist, he casts a spell creating a sort of bubble around them, the mist not surrounding them. Ilhoketh started to walk next to Adaly but Amara comes in between them, which Adaly highly appreciates.
In the mist nothing bothers them, Adaly wonders if that is because of the fight happening south of them, or if it is because of her warning, or maybe just Ilhoketh’s presence scares them off. Or maybe it is Adaly’s warning and Es-Grenalieth is pulling her forces out. That seems a bit to good to be true, Adaly thinks to herself.
They reach the back gate without any encounters, while they hear the fighting going on not too far from them. They enter and there are two warlocks and three berserkers waiting for them in the courtyard. Adaly immediately twins disintegrate spell, turning the warlocks into dust while Amara overpowers the berserkers. One of the berserkers stands in Ilhoketh’s way and he just tosses it aside like it is nothing.
Once Adaly is near the door of the mansion she notices a human heartbeat, she subtly sends them a message ‘Go, get Es-Grenalieth out of here, this is Ilhoketh’ ‘Stall him’ she gets back in Lucan’s voice. She swallows she knows the people here, the people she is sending to their deaths.
Ilhoketh enters the building and there are ten berserkers who immediately start attacking him. Adaly throws a few shatters on the cluster and hits Ilhoketh, she jokes “Let me get them off of you, father” but doesn’t intervene too much. She knows Ilhoketh will not die from the berserkers, but they also by now sort of need him. She doesn’t want to face Es-Grenalieth alone. On the other hand, having him weakened might help with whatever curve ball he is planning.
She slowly walks to the library while Ilhoketh fights of the berserkers, one by one they die and Adaly can see some annoyance on Ilhoketh’s face, indicating to her that she needs to start preparing for the worst. He will betray them, she just doesn’t know how.
In front of the library Adaly stops. She can sense multiple human heartbeats as well as some dog sized creature. She looks back at Ilhoketh, fear and desire filling her, then looks at Amara, her solid foundation, grounding her, before she opens the door.
There are three warlocks in this chamber and four hellish looking hounds. Adaly recognizes Jasmin and yells to Ilhoketh “She survives this” he wickedly nods in agreement while casting dominate person on Jasmin. Adaly feels her blood running cold. That… if he… shit.
The hounds all go after Ilhoketh and Amara goes after the 2 other warlocks. She makes quick work of them before going to the secret entrance while Ilhoketh, Adaly and Jasmin fight the dogs.
Adaly hits Ilhoketh once more with a shatter but starts conserving her resources. She might need to counter his spells later, she cannot be controlled like that. Once the hounds are down, Jasmin grabs a dagger and moves it to her own throat. Adaly yells “NO” Jasmin stops and Ilhoketh cocks his head towards Adaly. “I promised her mother she would survive this. Now I like keeping my word. You don’t want me to get into the habit of breaking my word, do you?” Ilhoketh chuckles “Fine, go away sweetheart. You get to live another day” he says towards Jasmin, and she walks out.
“I didn’t know you had a soft spot” Ilhoketh smiles towards Adaly “We are getting paid to keep her and her brother out of it” his smile widens “That sounds more like something my daughter would do. You got me worried there for a second” he laughs. They move down to the basement, to the portal.
They walk into the hall, four more warlocks and four more berserkers and of course Es-Grenalieth herself. “Ilhoketh what brings you here?” Es-Grenalieth says in her most innocent voice, but Adaly can see she is nervous, in her head she hears ‘He cannot get the crest. Don’t let him get the crest’ ‘I will do my best’ Adaly answers, nervous for what comes next.
Ilhoketh starts wickedly laughing “I don’t like it when my generals go off the radar.” And he starts casting banishment, Adaly counters it and yells “That was NOT the agreement, we are going to punish her here and now.” Ilhoketh shakes his head, looking disappointed in her and cast banishment again, making Es-Grenalieth disappear from the battlefield. The berserkers rush forward, and the warlocks start attacking.
Ilhoketh clouds the room in darkness, making claws appear from the ground, attacking and holding the berserkers. Amara rushes forward and starts attacking the warlocks while Adaly stays near Ilhoketh. “You cannot just banish her, she will escape. Bring her back and we kill her.” Adaly says while she just limits herself to cantrips. Ilhoketh laughs “Oh my sweet ignorant daughter, I will punish her… properly.” He sends an explosion through the darkness hitting Adaly hard and sarcastically adds “Sorry, I needed to get them off of myself”
Mateo starts pleading towards Amara “Please, stall him more, fight him with us. The demons are so close to killing the woman.” Adaly immediately sends a chill touch his way and Amara kills him. That bastard, revealing their collaboration.
Adaly looks nervously toward Ilhoketh, in the darkness his true form visible, a void, nothingness. Adaly feels herself afraid, more terrified than she has ever been. Who has she been kidding all these years? There is no stopping him, no freedom.
Ilhoketh cast finger of death towards Lucan and the warlocks falls over and immediately gets back up as a zombie. Adaly feels lost, afraid. She looks at Amara who is still fighting the warlocks but mere seconds later the battle is over and Ilhoketh reverts to his elven form.
She can feel her body shaking, trying to stop it, trying to appear strong. “Let’s wait for 18 more seconds, then Es-Grenalieth will stay away” Ilhoketh says while stepping closer to the entrance to the vault. The zombie following him, Adaly keeps a bit of a distance. She looks nervously at Amara. Amara who is clearly looking at her for getting the go signal for starting to attack Ilhoketh, but Adaly shakes no. There is no point in fighting.
Stories of my brain 