Returned from the shadows as the darkness, the final Cerberus lay lifeless. The bisection of the jaws and throat split open revealing the oropharyngeal cavity of the central head.  The amount of trauma caused by the Hexblade's darksaber was brutal, and the blood loss the ultimate demise as the two panicked heads tried their best to keep alive. The last moments of terror burned into the retinas, the darkness everlasting as it was pulled unwillingly to the shadowgloam. And even as short of a time it had spent there, no creature remained in the shadows so long without being touched. Anger, Confusion, Fear, and Despair, the four emotions warped and wrapt into a series of bursts until at last death came like a sweet angel to kiss those trembling lips. And alas, the silence of the beast which signaled the conclusion of the battle. Much to the disappointment of the umbramancer who had wanted to feel the bite of those teeth against his ribs, all three whelps were vanquished by the combined forces of the party. 

Though his sadomasochistic bloodlust was quelled, it appeared Jill had other plans. Dispelling away the Darkness from Koan's maw, the shining light of dark like dawn rising with fury. The splendor of the heavens radiating through her, her fingertips like the very touch of the divines! And there his eyes could not peel themselves away from such ethereal wonder, the glamour like a shimmering wool over his burning gaze that watched as a young goddess approached him with the sway of her feathery wings that sprouted behind her corona. Her sweet golden voice like the very choir angelic, befitting of a cherubic bard as the meaning of her command became a haze. Perhaps he heard her not? Or did he just naturally fall down from the glory of being in her presence? His knees gave in, falling from grace once more, the retreating shadows fading to the power of Jill's illumination. Upon his knees the fallen aasimar knelt before the other aasimar, stricken with an undeniable urge to serve her. Gone was the sight of Koan who lurked behind him, gone were the shadows that surrounded him. For now, Jill commanded the warlock's attention, her words unwittingly laced with fey guile. He had no choice but to obey, stricken and smitten by her dominating charms.

[i]The next time you banish an enemy I have brought low, I swear upon the heavens...[/i]

Words that chilled him, almost branded across his chest as 'Sauron' helpless watched the queen rebuke him. And yet the promise of her action sworn up on the heavens, an oath the aasimar should take with gravity lest they fall, was left unsaid as those glowing eyes blinked back to normal and the cheery girl returned with congratulations all around. Though the radiant one turned away and left him to rise from his trance, slowly feeling the strength return to his lower limbs, the enthrallment still present as his eyes sharpen to gaze at Jill. Indeed the haze in his mind iresome, as the whispers of the dark called back, slowly turning his head towards the once forgotten Koan. Caught between two mistresses, it seems and how he savored the fact that they would tear him apart limb from captured limb. Humbled and his resolve shaken, the sight certainly a display for the rest of the combatants there, it was a cold bath which cleared his thoughts, though still compelled to follow after Jill. The warlock felt the partial tug away from his senses, the subtle nuances of magic that made him obey her command.

"No need for spells if you want me on my knees before you." Tailing after his commander, the object of his want and will, bewitched by the song of the bard. How would Koan take this strange betrayal? Or all his attention lost from her and now directed at the shining Jill? Or would she understand that the bard had played a trick on his foggy mind, by the allure of both women and battle. Either way Noriam stood by Jill, his comment directed only to her as a casual aside, thrown into the mix as the enchanted man reached for his rod. Felt heavy in hand as the pulsating shaft was grasped and pulled free. Long as a wand but far thicker, the potency of the warlock's rod hidden beneath the mantle. Cold tarnished silver metal bore the appearance of a dark wing, yet a polished part bore the spiraling threads which snaked around the rod towards the other end. Tool in hand, his shadow blade sheathed in the darkness of the cloak, waiting to be drawn as if by magic. He would prepare himself for another battle if needed, though his shadow required rest from having pulled those creatures into the dark. For Jill perhaps he would milk one last spell from his rod, and muster up the performance he had given Koan in the darkness. Would Koan pull him back from the light and entice the hexed hexblade into the blinding dark? Or was it Jill who bore the light as blinding as the shadows themselves?

Either way, it seemed there was a lover's quarrel between the more monstrous amongst them. Namely the beholder and kobold, something of a dispute that 'Sauron' had no stake in or any interest in resolving. Thus just as he and Jill became a show for the other, so too did Dyn and Askia. Untill of course a huge tiger threw itself into the whirlpool washing machine like a blue stripped sock, and found itself caught in the beholder's spin cycle. To which their threesome ended with some exchange of tentacle waving. So the lizard followed the fish, and the tiger followed the octopus. Now, who was it that 'Sauron' should follow? The Angel or the Succubus?