When Xukhezur's second optic orb orbiting the city spotted the demons amassing at the gate and informed him of the development, he abandoned his current strategy at the eastern walls. He took a moment to consider his options, and then telepathically bade his protomorphic minion via his jump suit's teleproxy transceiver, to prepare his mecha effigy 'Shroud' for battle. He left the wall and as he made his way through the city towards the main gate, others hastily passed him on their way inside nearby buildings. More than once, a soldier or two would beckon that he enter and follow the populace into the sewers, but all he did was shake his head and move on. He was looking to play a more active role.

Once he'd discovered a secluded alley space, he spent several seconds to rapidly open a small rectangular gate to his main demiplane. Beyond this gate's threshold, his minion stood with his shadowy draconic effigy near the large oak tree that dominated the small hill at the center of the demiplane. Now within range, Xukhezur simply transmitted his eiffgy into a position around himself before dismissing the gate.

Now within his construct, Xukhezur expended one of the temporary charges on his glove-stored staff to veil himself and his construct with the illusion of wearing the military regalia of the city. He then piloted his craft up into the sky to afford himself an aerial view of the surrounding city. Falling motes of fire from the storm helped illuminate the area, and he could spot the movements of those nearby. The demons had bypassed the gate, and had begun surging into the city. The knights and soldiers were staging a protected and dispersive retreat, with some baiting and kiting the demons astray, to buy time for populace to file into the sewers. He hoped for their sake, that they had a means of evading the retrievers' potent means of locating otherwise elusive quarry.

He then dropped down to fly low over the rooftops of the city in his construct, as he made his way for the main gate, hoping to place it within range of his magic before he could be effectively intercepted. He paused only to rapidly imbue his protomorphic jump suit with two temporary magical characteristics, one of which would enable him to move freely despite any attempt to physically hinder or restrain him. His speed and mobility were essential assets that he needed to maintain, if he was going to block the open gate with a spell effect or two, and peel off some demons that would otherwise attack the retreating soldiers.

Kyalia and Fenn were not so reluctant at the others to retreated but they stayed out as long as there were other people and Fenn's method of killing was rather productive, if not exhausting.
"We need to go in, now." Kyalia demanded, seeing her friend on the brink of collapsing. Kyalia shuffled her inside and Fenn nearly collapsed. She shouldn't have used as much magic as she did...she couldn't use as much magic as she did. She wasn't that strong or that trained yet...it would end up killing her.
"How safe is in here?" Fenn muttered, closing her eyes. She was near unconsciousness so Kyalia didn't think an answer would really be noticed by her...not to mention Kyalia didn't know the answer herself so that would be something hard to answer.
"Just...rest for a second." Kyalia said, looking around at everyone who had made it threw, still holding her dagger. Fenn was a witch and in this situation, who knew what feeling were directed at a Witch...who often was portrayed as having strong dealings with Demons.

Ishmael stood out side of the sewer entrance with Cassandra, Kyalia and Fenn. He made sure those who were behind them retreated into the sewers with them safely. Ishmael then looked to Cassandra and motioned for her to enter right after Kyalia and Fenn already did. As soon as Cassandra was inside he followed behind her. He sheathed his sword as he followed the people. Fenn asked if it was safe in here and to be honest he did not know that answer. For all he knew the demons could be using these sewers as a way into the city as well. He just hoped the soldiers in here as well as them could bring these people to a safe place. If there was any. A lot of people died in that city and the group that was with them was a small one. He moved to Fenn and Kyalia and saw that Fenn was pretty much sleep walking with the support of her friend. This could not do at all but what could he do to help her. He was only a paladin not a wizard. If he could he would just summon a beast of burden for her to be carried on. They had to keep moving though and at this rate they would fall behind. There was only one solution. He moved in front of them and turned around crouching. "Place her on my back I will carry her,... don't worry my god grants me strength from beyond this world." He said.

---

Cassandra stayed with the group mostly and kept her eyes on the shadows. With her lowlight vision she made the best leader for this part. Her job was simply to lead the survivors out of the sewers and hopefully there was some sort of safe place they could go to for the survivors. This caused her to reach into the pouch she brought with her and pull forth a map. What she saw did not make her happy. The closest place was safe alright, for these people anyways but she could not enter that city. It was a good distance away though so she would have plenty of time to think. "Keep following me everyone, the moment we leave the sewers and outside we make for the city of the elves. We will be greatly protected by their magic." She said.

---

Xukhezur's flying about did not go unnoticed one of the demons that entered the city was looking up at the sky. Judging by the demons armor he wasn't your run of the mill demon. It was a balor. Not as powerful as the one running this war but still as fierce as ever. It saw Xukhezur and saw the man as a threat. It quickly pointed at him and shouted to the demons around him. He quickly spread out his wings and took the air while using his flame body ability to cover himself in flames. With him took to the air five Vrocks . They quickly gave chase with the balor starting the attack by thrusting its hand out casting out a lightning bolt.

Nova took it upon her to dismiss her weapons and instead summon a orb of light which she kept in the palm of her hand using it to create some light for the people to see. She looked to floor below and noticed that there were a few rats down here and they were heading the same way they were going. They did not really enjoy the presence of the beings above them either. She just hoped the demons would not follow them down here. Here it was a bottle neck making this a turkey chute. Elendil and Dorian held torches in their hands and positioned themselves in certain spots with the survivors so that light was distributed well. They had to take it easy from here on out. One hand holding the torches and the other resting upon the hilt of their swords.

Hotaru figured she was the best defense right now seeing as her pedals did a great job on those things. Then she noticed the light created by the elves and she rose a eyebrow. She turned around and decided to cast a globe of darkness behind them so that if any demons did come down here they would see no sources of light down here. She then rushed over to keep up with the group. She made it to Ishmael as he offered to carry Fenn. She decided to wait with them.

Kyoto had his hand on his hilt the whole time taking one step at a time looking for anything that would be suspicious. Mostly he looked for red glowing eyes or something of the sort. If you see something like that then there is a good chance that its a enemy. He counted himself as part of these survivors best defense as well as the others. What a day for these people. This morning it was peaceful and calm with not a care in the world. Now all hell had broken loose and these folks were without a home. He could already tel that the city was burning from the fire and it made it ever depressing.

---

The giant beast flapped its wings as it flew about its plane of existence until it had received a sign that it was his turn to enter the playing field. Alduin the soul eater would be called upon to aid in the destruction of the world. He shouted out with his voice causing a terror into the sky and flew through it entering the realm of the living. The smoke directed him to the city. His mighty wings flapping as he moved. The smell of charred flesh made him smile and once he entered the air space of the city he began to circle it. Lithium looked rather beautiful with the crimson color of the flames and black smoke. The panicking people below made it even more enjoyable. He swooped down and shouted once more casting his soul tear spell which ripped the soul out of ten of the survivors upon the surface of the city and then they quickly found themselves forgetting who their allies were. Well their bodies did. Their eyes replaced by purple glowing eyes. The ten people he took control over quickly began turning on people they once called their friends.

In a mountain far off from any civilization, a large cavern with a castle within rests in peace. And inside this castle is a man that is just a shadow of what he once was, whatever he once was. He had really evil looking armor on, with the gloves off showing his shadowy hands. He had little glass blocks on the table and was using them to build little structures. A human in black leather armor with white runes carved in slinks into the chamber, and clears his throat. The man looks up, and an audible sigh escapes his lips. In a voice that sounded like the beckons of death, he says "What is it? Can't you see i'm doing something here?" The human backs up a little, made uneasy at his master's voice. "Some mortals are planning on setting up a mine into the mountain. What are we to do?" "Send out a squad of the soldiers." The man bows in respect and exits. The man looks at the glass blocks, and he slams his hands onto them, causing them to splinter. His voice echoes over nightmares and through the cavern ALL QUIVER IN FEAR, FOR I HAVE AWOKEN TO THE CHANGE, AND I SHALL RETURN SOON. THE WORLD WILL FALL UNDER THE MIGHT OF SKIZZERAX THE DESTROYER!

Xukhezur spotted the flaming balor quite easily and while he could normally outpace and outmaneuver almost any other creature whilst in his mecha effigy, he knew that the demons set upon him could teleport at any time to close any amount of distance between them. The balor looked particularly well equipped and had managed to bring itself close enough to discharge a lightning bolt through the area he occupied. Although he was able to identify the balor's spell as it was being cast due in part to the divination effect of his magesight goggles, he still found himself maneuvering his craft to minimize its exposure. While electricity was of little concern to his construct, he wasn't about to let down his guard.

In the wake of having been struck by the woven ribbons of electricity with no appreciable effect, Xukhezur used a temporary trigger charge upon the temporarily accelerated staff he kept in the extradimensional space of his casting glove, to initiate an emanation effect that would delay the impending arrival of each being expected to teleport to a location within fifty yards of himself by about eighteen seconds, informing him of its arrival point at the same time. Taking this precaution left him with only six temporary charges in effect upon his staff, unless he were to expend another small portion of his essence to create more. In any case, he had decided try to circumvent and cut back behind the airborne contingent of demons before him, to make the most of those charges upon a more concentrated cluster of demons, before those charges expired within the next hour. Blocking the gate was a lost cause, but there were other ways of slowing the demonic advance if he could get into position.

Fenn stood up straight and looked at him, shaking her head. She'd be damned if she let someone who has probably killed a dozen of her species, help her. Well...supposedly she was already damned...but nonetheless, she wasn't going to let the likes of him help her.
"I don't need your help, Paladin. Besides, there are people worse off here than me, if you feel a burning need to be heroic, which of course you do, all you self righteous types." Fenn snorted and Kyalia glared at her friend but she understood why she refused the paladin's help, even if it was a good idea.
"Fenn." She said sharply but Fenn simply closed her eyes again and Kyalia resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the girl.
"I apologize for her behaviour...but her underlying message is right, even if her delivery was rude. You have your own people to tend to, we will be fine. It wouldn't be the first time I've had to carry her threw the sewers." Kyalia said, and she wasn't joking, even if there was a small smile on her face.

Ishmael shook his head. "Heroics has nothing to do with it. Last time I checked we had a demon army attacking the city which is above our heads. We need to perform all the necessary actions that it is needed to get out of here guick. I think you know exactly what would happen if the demon armies followed us down here as crammed up it is." He said. He was never the hero, never. He knew that for sure. Just by looking at these people despite that some survived he still failed them. "I was tasked with helping this city but I could not do anything to save it. I have failed them and the mission the church sent me on." He said. He then stood up looked to Fenn and narrowed his eyes. "I understand though. Me being a paladin and you being a witch. Truthfully is this the perfect time to have those two differences come between us. People are dying and all you can think of is your own pride." He then looked to Kyalia and then turned around and noticed Hotaru standing there looking right at him. He nodded and as he looked to Hotaru he felt something odd about her. It was as if the gods warned him about her or perhaps warned is the wrong word for it.
He decided talking was done between him and the witch. His order most likely killed friends of hers giving the result of bitter resentment towards him. To judge one man because of what someone or someones has done is ignorance at its finest. Right now the sin he saw though was pride with maybe a little bit or wrath. Sometimes he envied people like the young woman standing beside him. Her not being part of the church she is treated differently but him.... Everyone expects so much out of him that they forget he is just as much human as they are. He could bleed and die just like them. Although he had know clue as to who the young woman was beside him or what she was. IF had known perhaps his thoughts would have been different. He moved to catch up with the crowd noticing how miserable they were. He decided to take his helmet from his side remembering how he never put it on. He smirked at the realization that that mistake could have cost him today. Then again, with those retrievers it might not have mattered. He decided the best thing to do was to give these people some water. He moved to the side where the water was and dipped his helmet into it. He rose it up as he stood holding the water in. It was not pure, it was dirty but a quick movement of his hand over the top of his helmet purified it. Eliminating all contaminates from it. He then tapped a woman's shoulder. "Here pass this around, make sure everyone gets a drink of it." The purified water might bring some hope back to the people who had lost it.
He decided it was best to get to know the young girl beside him as well. Seeing as she was there the whole time. "Greetings,... I am Ishmael." He said to Hotaru.

---

Cassandra continued forward and every so often she looked behind her and saw that everyone was still there. Everytime she traveled underground she had this feeling that something was always following her or watching her from the dark places. The light made it a little better but not quite. She then noticed the elves and a bit of hope filled her mind. She quickly gestured towards Nova trying to get her attention. "Can you come over here real quick I need your help"

---

The balor demon tried to do exactly what he expected and teleport but where he appeared was not where the demon wanted to be. He was way off and this angered him. He had to halt his movement and pinpoint the man once more. When he saw Xukhezur he noticed where the man was heading. He headed to the gate not so much to stop their advance seeing as that was hopeless but to slow them. No this will not do one bit. He thrust out his hand again and released his firestorm spell. Thousands of tiny fireballs shooting out of his hand in attempt to knock the man out of the sky.

While that occured the Vrock that had been in pursuit as well had clinged to a roof and spotted Xukhezur once more. The Vrock's decided to play a little game. They decided to teleport as well but not around the man which would fail obviously because of the preys magic. They chose far off in front of them. On top of the gates roof to be exact they then took to the air once more and flew in his direction aim for a head on collision. To make this more effective the Vrocks used a very popular trick among their kind called mirror image. This spell created for them copies of themselves as they edged ever closer.

Hotaru frowned at first as she heard the words the witch had spoken towards the paladin. How rude of her to behave that way. She shouldn't be too surprised though seeing as there was always a difference between a witch and sorcerer. Both could be evil but at least Sorcerers had more class and had manners as well. Well most of them anyways. The ones she meet had great manners. She couldn't however let them stay in the back unprotected and with that she picked the best thing. She had to lean the staff against her shoulder for a second while her hands performed some magic. What she did was remove from the palm of her hand a black rose stem first. When she was read she knew the witch would likely be reluctant to hold onto it and looked to Kyalia. "Here,... this shall protect you from any magic the demons throw at you, if they catch up with us that is." She said. She then ran up beside Ishmael once more her staff in its rightful place. He was doing something with his helmet and she was about to say he shouldn't drink that but suddenly he performed some sort of purification method that she never saw before. He then passed it to a woman in the crowd telling her to drink and to pass the helmet around and make sure everyone got a drink from it. Then he looked to her and greeted her with his name. "My name is Hotaru,.. pleased to meet you Ishmael." She said happily.

---

Nova had her eyes forward but something at the corner of her eye caught her attention. The object was a dark elf whose name she did not know. She was helping the people by leading them out and remembered her at the sewer entrance. Cassandra was her name, she knew about her very well from her betters in the elven city. She was gesturing over to her and finally yelled out "Hey I need your help for a second." Nova rolled her eyes and decided to see what the drow wanted . "What is it you need help with?"

Kyoto paid no attention to the little conversation between the witch and the paladin. It was unimportant at the moment. All he did was keep as attentive as he could preparing himself for anything that could happen. They were safe for the time being and he did not know how long that would last. All it would take is for the demons from above to find their way down here. Hopefully that globe of darkness the young woman dropped would help some. He did pick on the little name trading though. Ishmael was the paladin and Hotaru was the young woman. Ishmael sounded familiar too him but he couldn't place it at all. Perhaps he heard people speak of him from other cities or something.

---

Alduin the soul eater landed upon the ceiling of one of the houses and breathed his fire upon the ground burning soldiers who were retreating or just simply falling back. Suddenly a arrow shot at him and bounced off one of the thousand spikes that made up the scales on his body. He looked to the owner of that arrow and found him upon the wall with the twisty turny things. Gears he thought they were called. Him and five other knights had trained their bows on him. He had to smirk and laugh." You pathetic fools are better off fighting the demons not me..." He said mockingly. He then shouted tearing the soul from one of them. The body fell to the ground and the other knights looked to their comrad. "You alright?" One asked. Suddenly their friend rose back up from the stone floor like a lifeless corpse. The once be knight looked to the people he once called friends and drew his sword. His eyes gone, replaced by purple orbs. Alduin enjoyed watching them fight among themselves. Friends fighting friends,... the helpless fools.

Fenn was getting stronger...she had a quick rebound rate luckily. She could keep her eyes open and could actually walk.
"What did I do wrong?" She asked Kyalia sarcastically, and Kyalia glared at her.
"That was unhelpful, we need all the ties we can get, and right now the Church is a damn formidable ally. I know you don't like them, I don't either, but we can't form anymore enemies then we already have." Kyalia hissed and Fenn glared at her.
"You have no idea what the paladin's have taken from me." Fenn hissed and Kyalia rolled her eyes at her.
"Oh don't play with me, we both know your coven weren't as pure as they claimed to be." Kyalia said and Fenn glared at her.
"They didn't deserve to be slaughtered. No matter what they did...they didn't deserve that. And even if they did...I am a white witch. I have done nothing wrong but I am not going to go put my life in the hands of a Paladin...that is just stupid Kyalia. Not to mention he does have other people to tend too...I will recover much faster then they will." Fenn hissed and Kyalia shook her head.
"That does not mean you get to be as rude as you want and you are far from Innocent, Fenn." Kyalia said and Fenn smiled slightly, knowing Kyalia agreed with her, no matter what stance she put on the outside. Fenn caught the rose from the woman and studied it.
"Oh, sorcerer magic." She smiled, and Kyalia rolled her eyes. Fenn absolutely loved sorcerer magic...she loved learning about any magic she could get her hands on actually. She put it in her pocket though, knowing that right now would not be the best time to study it.

Ishmael smiled at the young woman. There was a mystery about her and he would like to try and figure it out. Another time though. Too much was going on right now for him to satisfy his curiosity. He decided first of to study her by looking to her staff and what she wore. She was a odd one for her age. So young and yet so gifted. No different from him in a way. He was gifted and for that gift he was chosen for the order of knights whose soul purpose was to root out evil and destroy it.

Xukhezur hurtled and twisted about through the barrage of tiny fireballs produced by the balor's spell, to little or no effect upon himself or his craft. A customized effigy construct such as the one he currently occupied, had the advantage of possessing some unique characteristics that could not be identified simply by being familiar with others of its kind. For now it seemed that he was doing pretty well, at least, until he spotted the large flock of vrock blocking his way to the main knot of demons that still occupied the large courtyard just inside the main gate.

He almost hesitated a moment to revise his plans, before noting the pattern of matched movements among portions of the vrock flock and determined they were not all what they seemed. Very well, he thought, time to see how these bastards handle a small hurricane. With that, Xukhezur triggered his temporarily accelerated staff without slowing, using one of the temporary charges still in effect upon it. In response, the spherical expanse of air that lay between ten and eighty feet away from him began to churn and pick up speed. Within a few seconds, this air spun with tempestuous hurricane force winds. He occupied the eye of this storm as he carried it along with him at full speed, directly towards the vrock flock ahead, hoping they would realize what he had done, too late to avoid it.

Npc Post Lithium

The Balor saw the rush of wind as the powerful hurricane winds tore into the Vrock. Now he had to compromise. The man was looking to slow them by doing something to the gate. So he thought of one thing to fix that. If there was no gate his mission would be futile wouldn't it? He used his telepathy to converse with the Glabrezu within the gate house located above the gate itself. Destroy the gate was his order and the Glabrezu began doing that. Using their chaos hammer spell as well as other powerful spells about the room tearing chunks out of it. The Balor teleported himself to the gate and began to do the same launching fireball after fireball. He would use telekenisis to move any rubble to prevent it from blocking the way for other demons.

---

Ishmael

Ishmael began to move ever closer to the front of the survivors. He quickly found himself standing beside Cassandra. She was conversing or about to converse with one of the elves. He wasn't going to interrupt unless he needed to. You don't need to be a high wizard to know that there was bitter blood between Drow and elves. He looked to see if Hotaru followed him thinking maybe speaking with her would be no harm.

---

Cassandra

Cassandra simply showed her the map. "Look the closest and safest place for us to go is to the city belonging to your people" she answered. "Look me being a dark elf I am not allowed in the elven cities so I need you to them once we get close enough. I will go my own way from there. I did not survive a attack from demons to die by the volley of arrows from your kin" she explained.

---

Npc post sewers
The survivors followed their leaders passing the helmet about and each one took a drink from the purified water within. The water did some good for them but their minds had other worries besides those of the flesh. One such worry was of the shape of the battle ontop. The other was for what the road led them. They were nervous and worried and who would blame them. They lost their homes and family members. For the streets above were littered with bodies of men and women. Soldiers and Civilians. There were even a few dead children above. The fate of those still locked in their homes or fighting the demons will either soon be death or forever in servitude.

Twenty steps behind behind the group who had chosen the sewers as their escape he stood, shrouded in darkness, not even the rats of this particular slew way took notice of him. Jameson was the ultimate tracker, and he had a very good reason for tracking this group. Jameson had lived in these sewers for the past while now, going above ground from time to time to retrieve the supplies needed for survival. When he had heard of the demon attack he had immediately begun preparing to help with the defense. Yet before he was even able to even peek his head above ground he was almost spotted by the same group he was now following. They had many among them who were in need of help, this was apparent, but what piqued his interest the most, what grabbed his attention beyond anything else he had witnessed was the diversity that the group had within it. To think so many had reigned against this demon horde, even those who would have otherwise sided with the dark ones were here, running from them. Jameson was interested, and he was known for his reckless curiosity.

Jameson's ears twitched slightly, he could hear almost every word spoken with perfect clarity. He listened for a chance to appear before them, he knew of a nearby safe haven. He thought for a moment about how they might react to a dark figure such as himself emerging from the darkness to greet them. He smiled cleverly and decided to try something.

He pulled out his Harmonic and began to play.

It was a soothing melody, meant to be inviting and warming to the soul of those who listened.

The song

He bounced the sound of the walls, to make it seem as though it came from all directions. He did not mean to startle the group, only to alert them of his presence.

Hotaru adjusted her speed to h match the speed of Ishmael. She found him to be a very valuable ally and she work on it by improving the trust or just simply fortifying it. His attention shifting to hers made her feel as if he did value her company but before she could speak the sound of music filled the very halls of these sewers. She wanted to pinpoint it but it was very hard. Out of a cautionary action she tapped the bottom of her staff to the floor and a thousand black pedals circled around her.The music was soft and inviting but that would be expected seeing as their enemy had very seductive Succubi. To relax the prey before killing it. "Who dares break the silence of these halls. Show yourself if you value your life." She yelled into the darkness. She then leaned towards Ishmael. "One word and I will cast my silence spell." She offered.

---

Nova nodded at what Cassandra told her. It was understandable but unnecessary. "Don't worry, your help so far has not gone unnoticed. We will vouche for you." She counciled. Then that was when the music began to play and all atention she was giving to Cassandra shifted. She began using her elven eyes to try and locate who ever was making the noise.

Kyoto the samurai, acted like everyone else when the music randomly began playing through out the halls. He instantly drew out his sword and began looking to the dark corners moving into a stance. This time he would do something rather then just stand around and let everyone else fight. He will show off the power of Icingdeath to those around him. He was prepared for whatever came out from the darkness. Did the demons trail them down here, if so they are sure getting craftier by using music to calm them. It won't work on him oh no. He will not be cut off guard.

---

Alduin turned his around to see the demons try as they would to destroy the gate. He rose a brow and wondered the why of it and as he surveyed the battle field he saw one anomaly and that was a man with huricane winds circling around him. He must be the reason for the gate being demolished. Alduin decided he would lend a hand to these demons and took to the sky and flew towards the gate and once he got close enough began punching holes into it using his breathe weapon.