Ted Nugent

November 10th, Albanus 1

While the warriors began their assault, Marius turned his eyes to the heavens and prayed for the Gods' blessings.  And for one moment, the sun peeked out from behind the clouds and the very air of the castle seemed to glow with light.

As the dragon swooped down on Harrans Keep, Leyna and Titus made their move.  Both paladins rocketed towards the attackers, precipitating from the windwalk just as they reached Theodosius.  Two holy smites landed upon the fallen Grand Master, sending him toppling towards the ground.  The paladins fell too -- but Titus grabbed his cousin and teleported the two of them to safety.

Theodosius slammed into the castle's courtyard with a great crash.  Alas, he merely pried himself up from the ground and rose to his feet, seething with rage.  Lucellus charged him as arrows rained down from Gaius and the archers above.  Those close to the Grand Master noted that it was difficult to force themselves to attack him -- despite their great magical protection, and the paladins' (normal) immunity to fear.  The dragon, meanwhile, raked the defenses with its acidic breath, taking several arrow- and ballista-shots in return.  Then it soared up into the sky and prepared for another strafing run.

As the battle raged, Severus crept along inside the keep until he was within 30' of Theodosius.  Using his hat of disguise, he took the form of Pontifex Phinias.  Then he magically snatched the Iron Crown, the Sebetu of Pride, from Theodosius' brow.  "Eboricus was right," he shouted, "you're a fool and a tool."  Theodosius screamed, incoherant with rage.  The only words they could make out were, "DIE!  Just... DIE!"  At that moment, a wave a ice-cold energy burst from the undead paladin, draining the life from everyone within 30' of him.  Most of the Surrexi withstood this -- though Severus slumped to the ground, unconscious.  However a dozen of Harrans' men died at once.  And the life that he stole cured all of Theodosius' wounds.

Marius, who was monitoring his family through the prayer of status, darted downstairs to heal his fallen brother.  Severus then ran deep into the castle, to keep the Sebetu away from the death-knight.  Worried that his brother might fall under the artifact's influence, Marius followed him.

In the courtyard, the battle began in ernest.  Corvina struggled, largely in vain, to force a spell through the magical resistance that protected Theodosius and his draconic mount.  Gaius and the paladins struck mighty blows against the Grand Master.  But the undead lord's armor was studded with soul-gems;  draughts of their unholy power kept healing Theodosius' wounds.  For his part, Theodosius laid about him with a warpsword, a terrible weapon of chaos that twisted its victims' very bodies.  Abbot Micarius did his part in the defense, using some sort of relic that allowed him to heal the fighters from the safety of the keep's walls.

Still, despite his power, Theodosius was only one creature -- and slowly, the paladins and Gaius were wearing him down.  Time and again he staggered, only to be saved by the energies of his soul gems.  But right when things were starting to look good for the home team, disaster struck.  The black dragon snatched Lucellus up during one of its passes and sailed over the castle walls with the warrior (and his Council Blade) in its mouth.  Faced now by only two opponents, Theodosius began to recover his strength.  Both Titus and Leyna were struck down.  Micarius was able to revive them.  But now both of the young paladins were fighting from the ground, slashing and hacking frantically.

Lucellus managed to heal himself a bit -- but it was clear he wouldn't last long.  And the dragon seemed intent on flying off to the mountains with its badly wounded prey.  However Corvina, in harpy-form, flew after it, and as it banked and headed towards the hills, she cast a tiny cantrip:  a grease spell on Lucellus.  At once the knight popped out of the dragon's mouth, like a greased sunflower seed.  His crash to the ground nearly killed him again, but with cheerful determination, Lucellus staggered to his feet and limped for the front gate, eager to rejoin the fray.

Scrambling, crawling, and dodging, Leyna, Titus, and Gaius had managed to drain the last of Theodosius' soul-stones.  However at that moment, the Grand Master's warp-blade slammed through Titus' cheek, slitting his face open from ear to ear.  Where it touched, the paladin's skin writhed and twisted into tiny tentacles which waved about in the air like a bed of anemones.  Titus, not surprisingly, dropped.  Lucellus came tottering back and landed one blow -- before Theodosius struck him down as well.  But as the fallen knight turned to dispatch him, Leyna grabbed Titus' flaming greatsword and drove it into Theodosius' vitals.

The undead creature screamed in agony, as brilliant light limned his form, then collapsed to the ground beside Leyna.  As he did, the young paladin saw a remarkable transformation.  The death-knight was gone;  staring out of Theodosius' black armor was a rugged warrior with close-cropped brown hair.  "Save me," he whispered, eyes bright with agony.  "Please don't abandon me.  Please don't..."  The man's form wavered and vanished, leaving nothing except an empty husk behind.