Diomedes/Random - Childe Diomedes To The Dark Tower Comes

Random has to fight now to keep the sails and their little sky-boat on track. This time, the air currents slam against the hull of the boat, making Diomedes gasp and grab on to the rail to help steady himself.

Diomedes grits his teeth and holds on as tightly as he can to the Dolphin.

"Sorry," Random murmurs through gritted teeth. "It's getting tricky." But Diomedes can see that with one final nudge, they have reached the tower in the distance. A cable in one of the sails snaps and Random swears as they pitch forward and lurch downward

s.

"That did it," he says to Diomedes, "do what you can. We're going down. Goggles," he says, throwing a pair to Diomedes.

Diomedes snaps the goggles on and looks carefully at the scene before them.

Diomedes can see, fortunately, soft sand coming up to greet them at an alarming rate, along with flying boulders at different altitudes that somehow Random is flying them between. They hit it with a shudder. Prepared as he is, Diomedes is still catapulted

forward, out of their boat into the sand.

Diomedes rolls with the impact, trying to come up to his feet as rapidly as possible.

Just as he looks upwards once again, out of the sand he sees one of the huge flying boulders coming at him with alarming speed - beyond it in the distance is the tower with the gleam of the guardian clearly seen.

"It's coming to smash us!" Diomedes warns Random. "But I have an idea. We'll get on board it and try and change its flight to bring us to the tower."

Diomedes attempts to sidestep the incoming boulder so that he will just be out of the path of the deadly missile, and then, if he sees foot and hand holds, will leap to grasp its side and, assuming he manages the feat, attempt to climb toward the top.

Diomedes has to do more than sidestep, but given what he wants to do he can roll to the side, stop himself short and reach up to catch what looks like a fairly decent hand-hold. Fortunately for him, this is one of the smaller boulders in the area so it is

n't moving too fast - as Diomedes will shortly find out, the greater the mass of the boulder, the faster it moves. There's a crunching, smashing sound as the boulder hits what is left of their ship. Then Diomedes arm is stretched and almost pulled out of

its socket as he catches hold and grimaces to hang on tight, which indeed Diomedes manages.

It's a little like getting pulled after a car while trying to climb on board, except the sand really doesn't help. He grits his teeth and pulls himself up, very slowly as the boulder begins to make a graceful arc and turn around, which he would decidedly

more appreciate if he was safe on board.

Then a hand reaches down and grasps his arm and helps pull him up. It's Random, without the goggles on, looking very scraped himself. They clamber on to the top and survey what lies before them.

At first glance, the scene seems chaotic in the extreme with boulders and even small islands flying in and out of each other. The ground is hot sand with jets of flame occasionally and unpredictably rising up out of it. This mixes with the unfocused brigh

t sky above them to confuse the senses and send them spinning. However, neither Diomedes or Random are simply human. After a while of watching as their rock arcs around in a long winding pattern, Diomedes begins to see the overall pattern. Each rock is sp

inning in its own orbit which sometimes intersects with others, but all are rotating around the tower at the center and they do sometimes collide, sending showers of rock and dust over the ground. The larger rocks move much faster. He realizes the goggles

will be of more use when they get closer when they will doubtless help against the bright guardian who they can see like a glowing crystal next to the Tower itself. Doubtless Random is also noticing this as he too surveys what lies before them.

The rock they are currently traveling on is much further out and its orbit doesn't take it close enough for their purposes. Diomedes can either try and move the orbit of this rock in some fashion, or jump from one rock to another gradually working their w

ay in, or travel by foot - it is still a long way to go.

Diomedes has to do more than sidestep, but given what he wants to do
he can roll to the side, stop himself short and reach up to catch what
looks like a fairly decent hand-hold. Fortunately for him, this is one
of the smaller boulders in the area so it isn't moving too fast - as
Diomedes will shortly find out, the greater the mass of the boulder,
the faster it moves. There's a crunching, smashing sound as the
boulder hits what is left of their ship. Then Diomedes arm is
stretched and almost pulled out of its socket as he catches hold and
grimaces to hang on tight, which indeed Diomedes manages.

It's a little like getting pulled after a car while trying to climb on
board, except the sand really doesn't help. He grits his teeth and
pulls himself up, very slowly as the boulder begins to make a graceful
arc and turn around, which he would decidedly more appreciate if he
was safe on board.

Then a hand reaches down and grasps his arm and helps pull him up.
It's Random, without the goggles on, looking very scraped himself.
They clamber on to the top and survey what lies before them.

At first glance, the scene seems chaotic in the extreme with boulders
and even small islands flying in and out of each other. The ground is
hot sand with jets of flame occasionally and unpredictably rising up
out of it. This mixes with the unfocused bright sky above them to
confuse the senses and send them spinning. However, neither Diomedes
or Random are simply human. After a while of watching as their rock
arcs around in a long winding pattern, Diomedes begins to see the
overall pattern. Each rock is spinning in its own orbit which
sometimes intersects with others, but all are rotating around the
tower at the center and they do sometimes collide, sending showers of
rock and dust over the ground. The larger rocks move much faster. He
realizes the goggles will be of more use when they get closer when
they will doubtless help against the bright guardian who they can see
like a glowing crystal next to the Tower itself. Doubtless Random is
also noticing this as he too surveys what lies before them.

"Thanks." Diomedes says sincerely.


The rock they are currently traveling on is much further out and its orbit doesn't take it close enough for their purposes. Diomedes can either try and move the orbit of this rock in some fashion, or jump from one rock to another gradually working their w

ay in, or travel by foot - it is still a long way to go.

"We have to work our way in carefully." Diomedes says, as he stares at the orbits of the rocks that make their circuits around the Tower. "We've got three choices, but I think its really two."

"We can get off this rock and try to make it on foot, now that the pattern of their movements is a little clearer, or we can try and jump from rock to rock and move in that way." Diomedes says to Random. "We could try to alter probability and move this r

ock, although I don't know how well that would work in this place. We could try that first, though, and if it fails, try one of the other options."

"What do you think, Uncle?" Diomedes asks. "How would *you* play this hand, if I wasn't here?"

"I'd head out on foot," he replies as they look at the view together. "The rocks might work as a quick getaway if we need it. Right now, if we go up there on foot, we have surprise on our side."

"But" Random says crossing his arms. "I'm the last word when we get to Rebma." He gestures towards the Tower. "We're trading favors remember? That's your father in there, he's only my brother." He smirks. "Your call."

"You've known him longer." Diomedes counters, but with a smile and a slight grin. "But your point about stealth and surprise is well taken. Not that I think that such a guardian as we saw is going to be easily fooled by a land approach." Diomedes gestur

es in the direction of the tower.

"On the other hand." Diomedes amends. "There may be lookouts in the tower, and doing a little too much hopping on rocks will draw attention. I've got a couple of force-spells loaded in case those rocks suddenly start changing their pattern of movement an

d come at us unexpectedly, but the flight spells I use aren't useful for taking both of us. And I am not sure you want me to ensorcel you again" Diomedes grins.

"There." Diomedes points. "We ride this rock toward its perigree to the Tower, we get off quickly, and approach from there on foot. The pattern of the rocks is complicated, but it doesn't seem chaotic, it seems to be almost orrery-like, from this vantag

e point." Diomedes adds.

"Sounds good," Random agrees. "Maximize whatever advantage we can get for free." As their particular moving monolith careens round and round in a series of complex orbits, Random puts on the goggles just long enough to study the Tower and the Beast.

"You're right," he mutters to Diomedes. "I do see something that might be windows. On the other hand," Random slips the goggles back off. "There's a lot of dust and smoke out here." He pauses to turn around in order to continue to face the Tower as the di

minutive island rotates them around. "Not sure what their visibility is going to be until we get closer." He points to the structure. "Notice that it's on a kind of strange little hill.. like a platform almost. Damn near vertical slope, like these rocks c

arved out all the earth around it. We're going to have to get up there fast, before one of these things scrape the side and smear us between ah.. rock and a hard place."

"We will have to move quickly and decisively." Diomedes agrees readily.

At last their rock appears to have gotten as close as it's going to get before rotating back out and away. Random crouches down the side with Diomedes and makes ready to jump off and on to the level ground. "Good luck kid!" he calls.

Diomedes watches carefully as the spot nears and Random prepares to leap off. When Diomedes does so, he speaks a couple of words of Enochian, not a real spell, but a cantrip enough that the impact on the ground is far lighter than Random might expect his

nephew to make.

When they touch base they both find the ground to be scorching hot, radiating upwards in waves even if their foot gear protects them. There is no time for conversation as both men sprint off toward the nucleus of this madness.

And Diomedes does not, moving forward toward the center, goggles sticky on his face, and squinting even with them with the heat and light of the awful place.

Split second judgments eventually cause them to be separated, but only momentarily. The ground doesn't stay consistently hot, sometimes it is only warm. The entire area plays tricks on the senses. The smoke obscures sight after a half dozen yards as it is

definitely thicker down level to the ground, though they have no trouble seeing the rocks flying towards them. All around is the ever present sound of grinding earth on earth, and their nostrils are filled with fumes, vapors, and smoke. Through it all th

e queer bright skylight remains strong and makes the smoke seem even thicker, like car headlights in fog.

Diomedes cannot be bothered to stop of slow to try and get through the battle like conditions, although his throat coughs, and his skin perspires as he tries to maneuver past the rocks through the landscape.

Like an amusement park ride through a military battle.

They catch up with each other after a few frenzied minutes. Random waves at him from a dozen yards, but then calls "Jump Dio! Jump!" Diomedes leaps away just before the ground beneath him erupts in a geyser of flame.

"Fire!" Diomedes shouts, in obvious discomfort as he lands on his hands and knees. The soles of his shoes are slightly scorched from the experience.

With ragtag determination, and coated with dust and soot, they reach the vertical edge of the Tower's base. It's high, but the blood of Amber will let each of them jump up high enough to pull themselves up.

"This is it, kid," Random pants. "After this we're really committed." He pulls on his goggles. "We got a few seconds, but then we gotta jump."

Diomedes nods, and puts on his goggles. "That guardian will not give us much time to react."

And then he jumps.

The goggles work. And yes, the beast is waiting.

The serpent is a horror to be sure, but in a sense it is also quite beautiful. It has a snake body as big around as a barrel, with a head sort of like a massive claw hammer, but kind of tapered to the snout end. It's eyes are a very pale green. The whole
thing is as clear as glass, with very faint fine lines seeming to indicate scales. Whatever flows in its veins is also reasonably clear too. Both Diomedes and Random can look right into it and see its organs- opaque or cloudy as the case may be. It is alm
ost distracting to watch the entire thing function. And it also has a dense mane, like bristles of glass, about the head and collaring its gullet. It moves when it sees the two Amberites, raising its head and slithering forward, and the effect is like flo
wing water- living water, like a bedless river without banks. What jars both men is when they can see in its stomach. There is a partially digested man inside of it.

The creature rears its head back, and opens its jaws to reveal fangs of jagged crystal.. focusing on Diomedes, it moves to strike...

"It's keyed on me as Brand's son." Diomedes shouts to Random as he draws Pagono. "Flank it and take advantage. I'm casting my Icy Aegis."

Diomedes starts speaking the final words to a spell prepared on the journey ever since the fateful scrying in the bowl. A spell evoking the cold and chill of his sword, combined with the properties of a hemispherical transparent force shield around him.
Diomedes' hope is not that his shield will prove permanent defense against the strikes of the Glass Serpent, but the cold aura from the shield, and the transparent's shield defense should distract it as it tries to get Diomedes so that Random will get a
shot or two in, without molestation.

If the shield seems that its going to quickly fail or doesn't go off at all, Diomedes is going to start dodging, trying to get the snake to overextend itself in its strikes so that Diomedes might get a blow as he sidesteps the creature's attack. And, ag
ain, all this should provide Random opportunities for his attack, unmolested.

Random already has his pistol drawn and taking aim. He squeezes the trigger but only receives a dismal 'click' for his trouble. Cursing once, he hurls the gun at the monster with his free hand and rips his sword from his sheath.

As for the monster, Diomedes may suspect it is keyed on to him as a target, but the moment his frozen ice shield goes up, he *knows* he has the beast's attention.

"Come take a bite." Diomedes says grimly. "You're in for a surprise."

They both can see it snap to attention and move to strike with amazing speed and ferocity. It's crystalline fangs and bristles snap over one shoulder and arm.. and part of his midsection.

Its an extremely strange sensation for Diomedes, because those jaws, that look strong enough to bite him in half, exert no pressure against his flesh. Diomedes is completely unharmed. He also can barely move, if at all, because he can't exert any strength
or leverage in return- and this thing can get it's jaws around him. He has the feeling that all it has to do is lift its head and spit and he could go flying like a baseball.

Fortunately Random is not just standing there. Sword raised he is charging, mostly like to plunge his sword in the serpent' pale green eye.

It sees him coming, and unhooks it's jaws to whip it's scaled head towards Random, who is trying to adjust and nail a blow to the neck instead. It doesn't quite work for Diomedes' uncle, as the rippling coil of the creature's body slams into him with it's
sudden motion. Random is bowled over and sent sprawling a dozen feet away.

Faster than anything that big should be, the glass serpent abandons Random as prey and goes right back to Diomedes. Diomedes raises his sword arm to ward it off, but the snake still snaps it's jaw over it. Diomedes is still quite protected.. but...

The shield starts to pulse. Within the transparent body of the beast, those thin lines of fluid starts to course with an even brighter inner light than its scintillating scales do. Like pulses of power or some sort of bright dye running through whatever i
t has for blood. Little ripples undulate down the length of it's front half from it's neck- as if it was swallowing something.

Random has regained his feet silently, and it running forward again for another go..

Diomedes then realizes what it is doing...

It's absorbing the spell.. it's eating his enchantment.

"Its an arcanovore! It's *eating* my sorcery and strengthening itself." Diomedes says aloud, in frustration as he realizes what the Glass Serpent is doing. Letting out a stream of Greek that, if his mother were alive, would cause her to wash out Diomedes
' mouth with soap, Diomedes dodges to the opposite side of the creature from Random. As soon as he feels he is clear from immediate strike, Diomedes drops the spell, to deny the thing any more sustenance from the enchantment.

The Glass Serpent whips it's head around, the crystal fangs trying desperately to snap down on him. Nevertheless, Diomedes manages to barely keep just ahead of it.

The taste for magic appears to have given it a rather single-minded sort of appetite however, as the Serpent appears to discount Random. Random does not reciprocate those lack of feelings, however, and pays the Serpent a great deal of attention. Particula
rly around the the neck, and with his sword.

From there, he will wait for Random to have a go at the thing, and strike the head or upper neck in as coordinated fashion as he can with his own sword, trusting that the creature is not fast enough to ward against a coordinated attack from the pair of th
em.

Diomedes scores a glancing blow, doing a small cut through the near invisible scales. Random however gives the creature a solid jab with his sword. The various liquids flowing in thin lines and through what passes for veins suddenly mix and become cloudy
inside that part of it's transparent body.

The beast rears it's head in pain and swivels to face Random, who looks ready to skewer it if the head dives to attack. Instead it rises like a cobra, and everything goes suddenly very quiet. The ever present sound of the grinding goes mute. Smoke rises f
rom silent fountains of flame around the Tower. Every other noise except perhaps the sound of Diomedes' own heart and his labored breath goes silent. Almost as if all the sound around them were being sucked up around them, and Diomedes will suspect the ca
use even as the next events unfold.

The monster opens it's mouth and the sweet voice emerges, singing a long and perfectly pitched note. It is noise of angels, doves, and the sighs of fresh and tender love. A perfect choir blended and merged into one voice, straining to Heaven. And it direc
t this right at Random.. like a weapon. A sonic weapon towering fifteen feet or more above the ground.

Random stares up at the Creature, his grip tightening on his sword for an instant but Diomedes can see the effect on his face. That angular grin of his softening along with all his other features. Random stares in wide-eyed wonder, looking almost boyish a
gain with his mouth relaxed to an 'o'. His sword point slowly lowers to the ground. Then the hilt slips nervelessly from his hand, as the sword breaks the eerie silence with a metallic clang on stone. Dio's Uncle has literally become a moth staring into
a flame, all the while the Glass Serpent sings it's crazy perfect note. With Random safely mesmerized, the Beast opens that jaw even wider, making to strike..

If Diomedes doesn't act fast, Random is sure to be the next to be digested inside of this beautiful obscenity!

"Oh no, you don't." Diomedes swears.

His voice sounds very odd, the only other sound is that of the singing Serpent, every other sound is masked out- or absorbed.

Spells that he has racked fly through his thoughts like his Uncle riffing rapidly a deck of cards. Finally one, with some lynchpin adjustments, comes to mind.

If Aunt Flora ever deigned to watch baseball on Shadow Earth, she might recognize the stance that Diomedes takes as that of a pitcher on the mound. She is unlikely to recognize the blend of Greek and Roman that Diomedes uses to speak the syllables of the spell, as the swirling knot of pressurized air forms in his right hand.

And then, with all the grace of Johan Santana or Tom Glavine, Diomedes hurls the ball of pressurized air at the head of the Serpent. As soon as his hand lets go of the invisible ball for its flight, he puts his hands to his ears and steels his stance, for the pressurized ball, upon contact, is certain to have an deafening and concussive effect that will at the very least disrupt the Serpent's strike and stop the Perfect Note being sung, and thus free his Uncle, and at best, cause some damage to the Serpent's head in the bargain.

The Serpent careens to the side as if an invisible hand grenade just went off on the side of it's head. It appears to have suffered no mortal injury, but it shakes its head back and forth painfully as the air is suddenly filled with dozens of different sounds from many sources.

Diomedes, hands to his ears, still winces as he watches the effect of his spell.

Meanwhile Random raises his eyebrows and then takes a long blink. A second later he realizes that he's lost a few moments of time and is no longer holding his sword. He moves fast to look around and then recover it.

Diomedes' hands drop from his ears and he moves instinctively to a Pankraton Stance.

The momentary stunning doesn't last nearly long enough however, and Diomedes has well truly gotten the Glass Serpent's attention now. The entire translucent body turns towards him with alarming speed. Those pale green eyes slant with menace as the head towers fifteen feet above Diomedes head. It's fangs glistening like icicles.

As that maw of broken glass arcs down to strike, the son of Brand has just been promoted to the main course.

Diomedes calmly brings up his sword to a fighting stance as the maw of the Glass Serpent arcs down toward him. Diomedes eyes lock with the Serpent's pale green orbs and waits as long as he can, lets the Serpent commit itself as far as he can.

Finally, Diomedes steps of the way, with the sword still held in a high position that Dina would recognize as la poste di Falcone , The Guard of the Hawk. As the Glass Serpent continues to descend, Diomedes calmly holds the sword in this position, until he has the opportunity to strike upward and fast with Pagono, at the pale green eye, or if that's not a viable target, then the closest overhanging fang from that maw that threatens to make a meal of Diomedes.

Diomedes bends his knees to make a frantic high jump, and leaps
stright up for all he's worth. His reward is Pagono's hilt solidly in
his right hand. Dangling there for a second, he can feel himself being
lifted up as well, higher and higher after each passing second.

But for how long? He can feel that Pagono is not wedged tight. Gross
as it might be, Pagono is stuck on the frozen guts inside the monster
itself. Enough weight or one solid yank will free it.

"What the hell?!" Random can be heard to exclaim once he finally looks
for his back-up, only to see Diomedes dangling and rising into the
sunless sky. With no more time to spare before he is too high to take
the fall without serious injury, Diomedes bends his knees and gets his
weight behind one strong yank downwards. Pagono slowly and then
instantly slides free leaving it's master to drop to the earth.

He lands hard and ungracefully, but with only a few scrapes and a
small bruise. Diomedes gets to his feet just in time to ward off the
blows of a large brutish humanoid. Even if it wasn't armed, with a
large muscular physique and large spurs on the back of it's hand it
could still do him some harm.. if it could get close.

A few yards away he catches a glimpse of Random reaching out to snatch
one creature to pull in front of himself as a shield, while it is then
impaled by one it's fellows.


"There is Aristeia here for the both of us, Uncle.." Diomedes says aloud, stepping backward enough to get the advantage of the length of Pagono, to deal with the brutish humanoid that has chosen to die first at the end of Diomedes' blade.

"Sure kid, sure," Random grunts as he shoves the dying warrior in his arms at another one that is advancing.

"If Jack, or Dina, or Miho, or Obi here, they'd have plenty too." Diomedes continues, seeking to defeat his opponent as quickly as possible. Brand's son is methodical and direct in his sword strokes.

"But they're not! So f^ck 'em! More Aristeria for us!" Diomedes has the strong suspicion that the mispronunciation is genuine and not for show, but the sentiment is, nevertheless, very heartfelt.

The battle goes on..

The large horny-handed men, with their pronounced foreheads and large frames don't stop pouring out of the Tower. The ground grows wet with their blood, and more than a handful die in the next handful of minutes- but there is no respite for the two Amberites.

Yanking Pagono out of the belly of one of them, it gasps it's dying breath showing small fangs. As it falls to the ground, Diomedes catches sight of Random fighting frantically against three of them.

And as Diomedes continues the fight, he begins to recite, in a loud and clear voice that Random can hear.

"No words the godlike Diomed return'd, But heard respectful, and in secret burn'd: Not so fierce Capaneus' undaunted son; Stern as his sire, the boaster thus begun:

"What needs, O monarch! this invidious praise, Ourselves to lessen, while our sire you raise? Dare to be just, Atrides! and confess Our value equal, though our fury less. With fewer troops we storm'd the Theban wall, And happier saw the sevenfold city fall In impious acts the guilty father died; The sons subdued, for Heaven was on their side. Far more than heirs of all our parents' fame, Our glories darken their diminish'd name."

"Very nice kid," Random cries, "but I think we're outnumbered here! And they're bringing out the artillery!" There is a touch of desperation in his voice, and its not unwarranted. More warriors are pouring out the base of the Tower, and some of them are armed with crossbows.

Still, even without time to rest or stop, the look of alarm at the newest of the foes grows on Diomedes' countenance.

One of them pulls back to cock his weapon and level it at Diomedes head while the son of Brand is kept busy by two others.

• No!* Diomedes thinks. *To have come so far...*

Then comes a thud, as a pool of blood blossoms in the center of the crossbow weilder's chest and the man-thing slumps to the ground without firing a shot. An arrow is seen to be protruding from it's back.

"Diomedes!" he hears, "you're too exposed out in the open! Fight your way to either side of where they're coming out!" Diomedes time with the military and even summers tutored by Jack will reveal the wisdom of this plan. While he and Random are out in the open and the enemy is emerging the building, the best place to be is on either side of the doorway, striking them down as they come out. But it's only a second after Diomedes hears this advice that he realizes what is wrong with this scenario.

"Who the hell said that?" Random calls as he tries to keep from being surrounded by all sides.

'Thwapp!' Another monster-man falls with an arrow sticking out his neck.

Somewhere over by the Tower is where an indistinct figures waves them to head in that direction. A third party has entered the fight, seemingly on their side.

"I don't know, but the advice is sound!" Diomedes manages to shout. "Fight toward the left side, Uncle, and I will take the right!"

Unspoken, Diomedes adds, mentally. *We'll sort out our mystery ally later.*

Diomedes fights as quickly as possible to reach the tactical soundness and the relative safety of the right side of the Tower's entrance. No more quotations from the Iliad, but instead a somber determination to have himself and Random survive.