The evening moon was quite full.......quite intense..........quite luminous...........divine.

She thought solely on the new creature from her most recent nightmare........or wet dream as it were to her. Another crucial pawn in the mounting crusade against the Scathachian Temple of Justice.........and its bastardized allies. Her warped psyche thought of nothing else but ?him"........the sinful abomination whose destiny was to hunt his fodder from amongst the hapless sheep of RhyDin........

She moved quietly to the leather sack which she had placed atop the roof earlier this eve........she slowly removed its grisly contents. The bloodied pelt of a recently slain lupine.......she had hunted it for some time last night.

Despite the dance, the wolf knew what its destiny ultimately was to be........this ripe beast had been chosen by a higher (or lower) force as the object of sacrificial slaughter.

Nocent killed the wolf and skinned it with the same blade with which she massacred this pathetic fool. While she shredded through the lupine?s muscle with her cruel dagger, and peeled off massive regions of its flesh with her gauntleted hands, she imagined that it was her Sister, Trixie McAllister, whom she was tearing to pieces.........such pleasurable thoughts helped to leisurely pass the time in the small wooded region.

She took the gory pelt and threw it overtop the murdered guardsman............it landed squarely over his corpse, and soon became even more soggy with his ebbing fluids.

The one she called to would understand what this bloodstained display meant........he would smell it and hunger for it long before he laid his deadly eyes upon this rooftop.

With that, Giminicka melodiously whispered the unholy name given to her by the lurking shadows of her twisted and evil mind....... ?Pharagos?.

Nocent repeated the ominous name several times.......her voice as whimsical as a calm summer wind. Her eyes fluttered closed in order to remain focused on that lethal countenance.......on those shimmering, hungry eyes.

"Pharagos................Pharagos....."

The name............the designation for that fearsome visage which had regularly frequented her deepest dreams and blackest thoughts as of late. Having settled lucrative affairs of alliance with the magnificent undead queen, Dracina Hemdagg, it was now time for Giminicka to move forth to yet another fiend. Indeed..........another ruthless card in this menacingly growing deck which was craftily being dealt to execute the murderous will of the Dark Lord Bhaal.

She stood next to the immense statue of the knightly defender. How ironic that this monument to chivalry stood atop this forboding building which was now infested with evil. The IronHelm Flats.....rotting from within and now being assailed from without.

Nocent watched with lustful eyes as the massive winged beast landed on the flat rooftop. Though her knowledge of this beast was not vast by any means, the Priestess of Bhaal knew enough to gather that this superior being, known as Pharagos, would be able to track her by the mere aroma of her unholy malice.......by that utter yearning for the cruel hunt.

Thus, Giminicka made no attempt to hide her presence from the abomination who loomed in front of her. She had not performed this grim deed to now simply hide and observe.....no.

Instead, Giminicka stood nearly ten feet from her blood-spattered offering and folded her sizeable arms across her armored chest.........the look about her was feral, yet with the unnerving serenity that one might find in the deeply haunted eyes of a demented child........a lost soul who was patiently waiting for her destined hour to unleash the fury of Hell.

After taking in the awesome sight of this new creature, The Beast within at last spoke........but in a tongue which was not of the common speech: ?Greetings My Lord Pharagos.......I, Nocent of the dark temple of Lord Bhaal, bid you welcome. You have received my requested summons and I can see that all is indeed well. We hail you and yours with promises of vast rewards and pacts of bloody vengeance.?

The priestess slightly bowed to the monster, who now laid claim over the vacant rooftop, before continuing to speak in the same archaic tongue: ?I will not insult your intelligence with denial or with coy language. Your plight I am now aware of.......you who are seemingly without any needs, would indeed benefit greatly from what I can provide to you. Search your hunter?s instincts......and open thy eyes Lord Pharagos.......behold the wondrous destiny being afforded to you.

The Night is calling out en masse with its countless damnable voices for an unholy amalgamation which must be baptized in blood and sin! You and your ?Pack? are indeed powerful creatures of wisdom as well as murderous carnage.......you must assuredly feel that the pull towards this realm is great.......this, the ordained site of an eminent and consequential conflict. A concentrated culmination of good and evil will violently clash here for a prize beyond any mortal?s comprehension......this, to fulfill the stygian prophecies scribed long ago. Those words which did forsee the rising of a new order of darkness.......one that smothers and devours the very souls of men as it blackens the turbulent sky with storms of carnage. And all the while....yes.....the fiery trees of justice and guiding radiance of truth will unhurriedly die in twisted, brutal agony.

A savage crusade for unification..... for the sole purpose of callously devastating the semblance of order here in this wretched land of RhyDin. This, my friend, is what's mounting here in this very nation.
My Lord Bhaal, who reigns unchallenged in the black realms.........calls to you great Pharagos.......will you heed His dark summons and slaughter in His name? The reward, I vow of my own blood, will be divinely supple and quite wetting to your famished jaws.?

The Priestess of Bhaal then fell silent.......the foul table was now set.

Giminicka did not flinch as the awe-inspiring monstrosity approached her upon the windy rooftop of the IronHelm Flats. The Beast within carefully listened to the intelligent queries posed by the winged lupine creatures.......valid points......all of them. She heard one of the fiends growl that she offered to them both ?confusion and chaos?. It was no wonder that this former Scathachian warrior-priestess was aptly named "Eris", when she served amongst the forces of Justice on the Isle of Shadow............but that, my dearest, was a lifetime ago.

After the mighty beast known as Pharagos loomed over Nocent and then suspiciously sniffed her aura, Bhaal's chosen demagogue spoke quite assertively to he and his ominous brethren.

?I do not offer cacophony...........I do not offer chaos. My brothers, spawned from Hell?s dreadful womb......I am dissonance itself. I, given the cruel blessing from my Lord, have become pandemonium incarnate. It was my unholy birthright..........it was my childhood sacrament from the time I spilled and drank my own father?s blood only to then lay the fatal blame on the shoulders of my weaker sibling....and then watch her die at the hands of implacable strangers. I thrive on pain....I thrive on anger. I feed on fear.......I feed on the pure lust for carnage.....?

Giminicka looked sidelong but for a moment at the gathering hosts of predatory nightmares which now roamed the pinnacle of this murderously sinful structure.....this Anti-Sanctuary of Lord Bhaal. Her voice, dripping with immoral toxin, echoed forth from her perfectly formed lips as her emerald gaze one more settled onto the powerful captain of this ravenous horde.

?My great Lord Pharagos.......dominion over the vast skies has been granted unto you......you stalk without being hunted.......you despoil without being deprived. You think I seek to place the necks of you and yours into a noose? If that be so......then I shall hang with you. And, is it so that you think I seek to make my god your overlord and ruler? Tell me this.........you who are without a soul and therefore devoid of the need for godly worship.......what promises can an afterlife mean to one such as you who will conquer death for all eternity?!?

Nocent continued with her straight-faced discourse, ?You speak of risks and gains. It is I who have taken the first risk, and a considerable one at that, Great One. It is I who hath summoned forth you and yours to this abandoned monolith........once baptized as The IronHelm Flats.........this time-torn symbol of crumbling life as we now know it. For what cause did I do this? Why else, but to converse with you in the glorious flesh, my friend. Here, under the shaded breasts of Mother Night. to whisper of such dark deeds as murder.........bloody warfare......the annihilation of souls.........and prying open the very skin laden, barbed Gates of Hell, themselves.

I have taken this extensive risk to come to you, my vampiric-lupine ally. I tell you only that we have several very potent foes who will eventually seek to destroy you, great Pharagos........to destroy your future dreams of absolute freedom from this bastardized lich who has spawned your very existence. Yes.......by the infernal grace of Lord Bhaal, I, a mere mortal, know of this Daugolozan and his egotistical campaign against Heaven.....using you and yours as mere fodder. For what gain Pharagos? What do you and your Pack gain from his victory.......the title of ?Lord of Seraphs? Perhaps.....if you are lucky.....but most doubtful given his inability to speak any form of truth to you.?

The Anti Scathachian ran her gauntleted hands up the beast?s muscular chest. Fingers passing alluringly through his coarse fur......she could smell the sweet fragrance of blood on his heavy breath........Giminicka ached for him in many ways.......many perverse ways indeed.

Words can mesmerize. Hold a person steadfast in the timbre and tonal inflections. A skillful orator can hold a audience spellbound by the simple way they modulate their sentences, leading them into the trap of their point.

And Nocent was a skillful orator.

The Pack was quiet as she spoke, the promises of freedom, of expanded numbers holding their rapt attention. Ears perked at the mention of Uthet?s Flask, amber gazes moving between the woman and the beast that was their leader as the ramifications of the offer settled. But, as silent as they were, the scent of blood thrummed over honed senses, stroking the beast?s lusts like a glove-clad hand. For whatever they are now, once, they were men.

For Pharagos?s part, plans long held close, unspoken for worry the ears of the worrisome she-demons the lich employed might hear, began to look more plausible. The massive head canted slowly as she closed, corded muscles twitched under the wandering fingers as she purred softly, speaking of war and the foundations of the treasure offered. His fangs almost ached at the thought of the harvest her words invisioned, making it hard to resist the temptations. Oh yes, it was easy enough to tell this one had given herself body and soul to her dark lord, even without the touch of eldritch sorceries. Easier to tell he had gifted her as well. And finally, it came to it; a pledge asked for. ?An offer most inviting??

?Liberation, freedom?? A second pack-brother rose to his full height, wings snapping open, and then fluttering back as it stretched. A third also rose, a flash of ivory as it snarled softly.

?She wants us to subsume ourselves again, to a master we know not.? The wolfs-head turned toward Pharagos, and again it snarled softly, a blazing glance to the smirking Nocent preceding it?s next words.. ?Why should we bow to anyone, when we can take for ourselves??

?Because I am Alpha!? Pharagos roared, taking a step in his pack-brother?s direction. The others hopped up, snarls mingling in the darkness at the confrontation, Nocent forgotten in the heat of the moment. ?I lead here, unless you challenge for leadership?? There was a tense heartbeat, the two locking gazes as the others quieted, before the second brother slowly crouched, it?s arms spreading open. Pharagos closed the distance, a massive claw coming over the bared neck and pulling the other up again.

?You forget what we are!? He snarled, glaring around the circle slowly, while a hard shove sent his pack-brother into the arms of another. As the dissenter was cuffed on the back of the head, the twosnapping at one another. A deep growl quieted the two, as Pharagos slowly stalked around the group, ?What we were, what we were created to be!?

?Lycan, leech and angelic...? His would-be challenger growled softly, as it slowly straightened back to its full height. The other pack-brothers took up the litany, moving in turn as Pharagos passed behind each of the created.

?Holy and unholy, brought together in unnatural matrimony...?

?Given life by death that walks; free will by True...?

?We are Alpha to some, the Omega of others??

??And now, we hunger.? Pharagos finished, stopping before the silent, watchful Nocent. ?Kine calls to kine, offering the promise of a vitae harvest. We were born to kill, to wage war on the both the streets of silver and gold as well as the pit below. You offer us war?? And now it was his turn to reach out, an ebon nail slowly grazing along Nocent?s cheek, and downward along the line of her neck, easily feeling the hot roar of blood and hate within the soft shell. ??and war we shall have.?

?What say you, brothers?? The nail teasing the bottom of the Anti-Scathachian?s chin, Pharagos looked back to his pack-brothers, and their reply rent the night, howls echoing under the racing clouds. His own voice joined with the others, singing the praise of the war to come.

Nocent's tone was fairly icy as she continued to speak to the demonic beast, "Lord Pharagos, unholy seraph birthed from the collective vitae of the deadly kindred......the fierce lupine....and the almighty angel. As I offer the never-ending might of Uthet's Flask to you......I entreat you to yield your mind to its influential calling.

Be still of your rage, exalted one. Allow the Flask's rich contents to fortify your utmost desire......true freedom. Liberation.... from the wretched undead beast Daugolozan, who tries in vain to suppress your greatness for his own foolish ambitions. Together, we can utilize his pompous aspirations and his merciless greed against him......and against our insufferable enemies who dwell within the walls of the Scathachian Sanctuary.

Our rivals will gawk at your invincible brilliance and at the menacing fangs of your scornful brethren......let those who oppose us fall like mere flies to the dust of the Earth in absolute despondency. I am gathering together the most esteemed of our brothers and sisters; those who have risen from their bloody Abyssal discord to ally against the puppet-bitches who poison the very air with their self-righteous drivel. You, mighty Pharagos, shall be a testimony of the unleashed fury which Hell's iron horns shall usher in behind our wave of blood drenched slaughter!

You speak of your harvest........of your sanctified crop? Even as we converse, it flourishes.....as does your eminent autonomy. For so long as you uphold your portion of the oath sworn to the dark Lord of Murder.....your perfected race will find new life.......insurmountable rewards....and the everlasting strength of glory from every kill made in His nefarious name.?

Giminicka then extended both of her crimson gauntlets. Within her palms she gripped a flask fashioned from luminously brushed silver, with a solid black diamond positioned at its center. Its top was etched with runes, and the mystical gem seemed to pulse, as would a beating heart, when she handed the relic over to Pharagos. She bowed slightly and her voice was as cold steel, ?Uthet?s Flask.......is now rendered unto you, my dark brother.?

Nocent paused for a moment, gauging the level of genuine interest that the creature expressed in his new cursed talisman. She then serenely spoke yet again to her newest ally, ?Upon your powerful left hand......the same hand with which you accept the divine Flask..... now lies the mark of the Beast.......the insignia of my Lord, to equate you as one of His brood during this looming grandiose campaign of war. We welcome you to definitive conquest and to profuse carnage my friend......we embrace you in this undeniable providence......until oblivion itself.?

Upon Pharagos?s large leathery palm, was suddenly depicted the horrid skeletal ram?s head. The insignia, like the very one on Dracina?s perfect breast, was the size of a newly coined silver piece. It blatantly seethed with an aura of sheer mockery towards all defenders of justice and hope. There, upon his immense hand, now rested the infamous icon of Temple Bhaal.....

Nocent?s devilish tongue accented each word that she whispered to the wind......?What say you brother? What.....say.......you??

Thus as destiny saw fit to deal atop the vile IronHelm.....a baleful card was drawn. The rancorous Black King was added to this malicious "Deck of the Dammed". The game consequently was intensified, for now there were two ruthless Queens and a solitary, vile King.

The night, however, was still quite young........and the diabolical deck was not nearly finished being stacked.


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