NationStates Jolt Archive

Baalzephon stood with his red-scaled wings wide open over the dull metallic balcony that projected itself several meters out of the walls of the Iron Tower. The vast extension of Dis grew below in all directions, where the red glow of infernal heat burned within the scorched iron walls and structures. The Dark General gazed straight downward, toward the base of the tower itself, hundreds of meters below, where hordes of devils clogged all the free space they could find, awaiting for the orders to proceed. Such a magnificent force, under his command, ready to race behind him and obey even his most pedantic dictate. The calm, well-mannered voice of Dispater interrupted the pit lord's contemplation.

"Your legions seem in perfect shape, Baalzephon -came the voice, cold and deep- Eager to leave, should I add. However -he made a short pause, and smiled at the back of the pit lord- you do not seem ready, not ready to leave"

Baalzephon contracted his wings and quickly turned his horned face to the Archduke of Dis "I am eager to depart, eager as any, if not more, of these troops! -his voice was powerful, and his tone vehement- Do not doubt that I will march before these legions on every moment, be it through the upper realms or this temple of paranoia you call your own!"

"I am always impressed of the comportment your kind develops with time -responded Dispater, calm and cold as always- Feed them, raise them, and they will rip your eyes out at the first chance. They must hold you in high regard down in Malsheem" His last words were clearly marked by a tone of sarcasm.

The pit lord went closer to Dispater, his massive claws scratching the searing iron. Baalzephon cracked his long reptilian tail twice "Lord Asmodeus himself placed me as commander of this new legion, and I will personally see it's mission being carried out"

"I expect no less from you, Baalzephon, nothing less"

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A horrifying howl came out from one of the fiend's fanged mouth, reverberating throughout the metalic streets. It was chored by a daunting number of hellish throats, followed by a mechanical serie of clawed appendixes walking over hot iron cobblestone. These howls repeated all around the Iron Tower, where the fiendish hordes of the Third Blood Legion had been awaiting for the signal to advance toward the next layer of Hell, Avernus. By hundreds, the devils walked inside the massive tower, reaching it's twisted bowels, a maze of halls and gigantic stairs, through which entire battalions could walk shoulder by shoulder. The bestial yet methodical howls were amplified by the structure, and the feets of thousands trembled all around, generating a dreadful cacophony, for a dreadful army.

The great tower grew several miles over the iron city of Dis, impaling the uppermost layer of Hell, Avernus. This created the only stable and large enough corridor between the two layers, and now it served as the route for the Third Blood Legion to reach Avernus and, from there, the Gates.

It took the Legion almost a full day to climb the tower and reach the Pillar of Skulls, a massive landmark composed of myriads of craniums taken throughout the many wars of Hell, which marks the division between Dis and Avernus, and home to the great dragon Tiamat.
The five heads of the humongous chromatic dragon followed watchfully the army of devils as it crossed the boundary between the layers, the great Pillar spreading shadows over their way. Almost two hundred thousand fiendish devils marched on a series of perfectly organized battalions, directed by dreadful pit fiends. And in front of this massive display of power marched Baalzephon, rising almost fifteen feets over his devilish legs, and holding a massive winged mallet made of burning brimstone.
A great triangular portal stood three miles ahead, surrounded in a fiery aura of flames. A blur and distorted image covered it's red-glowing surface, it's colors contrasting with the perpetual reds and browns of Avernus.

Baalzephon grinned, a mouth full with blackened fangs and a long, bloated tongue, as he came closer and closer to the portal. He had not steeped out of Hell since the last incursion he commanded during the Blood War, and almost sixty years have passed since then. Those had been memorable moments, when he leaded his troops against hordes upon hordes of demons. However, this time it was different. It would be memorable, but not in the same manner. This was not just a movement, but an expansion. The searing tentacles of Hell would expand beyond the boundaries of the Lower Realms, into a new, vast universe. And he, Baalzephon, first among the Dark Eight, the Generals of Hell, would be on command of the spearhead of that expansion. This will mean much in the future, much indeed.

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//OOC: Very well, this is an open, fantasy-based RP. Fantasy and non-fantasy nations are welcomed to join, as the hordes of Hell venture into this new realm, on an attempt to establish a permanent outpost of the Nether Realms, from where to further expand it's influence.

Infernal bump.

An Uridezu chitters to itself as the gateway into Baator stirs with the arrival of the Legion. The wretched thing can't even remember how long it had been here, watching this one way out of Hell for its Abyssal master. Still, centuries here hadn't changed its orders; summon a replacement and report on any movement out of the gate.

It hardly waits for the other ratlike demon to take its place before scurrying over the broken landscape, towards a crevasse that leads down into the earth, to a secret way into the Abyss.

Baalzephon was the first to cross the portal into this new realm. He was suddenly invaded by a strong surge of vertigo, sensation commonly experienced during planar travels. The whole process did not last more than a fraction of a second, yet it felt long and slow.
The light at the other side of the portal was much stronger than the bleak glow that predominates over Hell, and his eyes had to adjust to the wave of photons. As they did, he quickly noted the change of temperature, as cold wind raced around him, once again a reminder that this was a different place. Upon regaining focus, he gave a quick inspection to the surroundings: A few tall and green trees grew here and there over a wide slope covered by grass, that descended gradually for about three miles, until plummeting into a small canyon. Beyond the trench, tall, white-caped mountains rose, extending in both directions and creating a long mountain range covering the horizon. The green slope rose to the other side for a few hundred meters, before becoming lost beneath an astoundingly green forest of very thick and tall vegetation. Large rocky formations grew scattered around the slope as well.

Being used to the monotonous landscapes of the Lower Planes, Baalzephon stood before a mixture of colors he had not seen many times before. Baator, the Abyss, Gehena and Hades, all places more bleaker and somber than the other, lands of grays, reds and browns. No, this was different. It was not beautiful, but it was different. The blue sky above and a shinning sun circled by white clouds was a picture new to him. And he would have to get used to it.

Five tall pit fiends came out of the portal then. They all carried massive iron armors and weapons larger than a human. Their massive clawed feet dug deep marks on the soft soil, and the green grass around them quickly withered and fell burnt into ashes. Behind them, the blur image of the portal showed the hellish landscape of Avernus, and the thousands of figures ready to walk through the gate. The five of them, with Baalzephon before them, walked away from it.
During the next ten minutes, nearly two thousand devils crossed the boundaries between the planes, as more and more of their ranks poured out from the portal and into this new world. The cavernous throats of the fiendish officers were already vomiting horrendous howls, that sparked eerie echoes on the mountains not far away. The battalions spread over the expanse, leaving room for the rest to walk in.
One of the devilish officers was leading his battalion of two hundred and fifty devils to stand near the forest uphill, when he suddenly stopped. His troops behind came to a rapid halt as well, as their leader moved his head. He seemed to be sniffing the place. The pit fiend took a few steps forward, toward a rocky formation, after ordering his troops to stay where they were. A few seconds later, the devil struck the rock with his massive hand, which then came out holding a bloated and hairless rat-like creature, the fiend's burning claws nailed on the creatures back. The uridezu was still living, and shrieking as the pit fiend too it out from it's hiding place.

"Tanar'ri!" Shouted the fiend with a terrible, cavernous voice, turning his head toward his troops.

Baalzephon, who was standing with his officers not far from there, heard the shout, and his eyes glowed with inner fire as he heard the name of his most loathed enemies, demons. He and his officers ran with long strides toward the place from where the howl came, and there was the pit fiend, holding the hysterical creature with his claws.

Baalzephon stood before the uridezu "Speak! Who sent you!?" He spat, but the creature was in a state of frenzy and did not even care to look him. The Dark General then took the creature by it's shoulder, turning bone into dust and splinters as he crushed it. With a brutal movement, he dropped the uridezu to the ground and squashed it's head with one of his feet "More of these pathetic demons must be around. Find them! We can not risk ourselves to let the tanar'ri spies inform of our arrival. Prepare the troops, and make those still left on Avernus hurry their step!" He ordered, and a group of devils immediately divided to inspect the surrounding for more of uridezu. It is likely, however, that the news of the baatorians walking out of the portal is already on it's way to the Abyss.

Brass horns herald the return of the Uridezu scout through the hidden portal, easily heard throughout the fell city. For a moment, existence in the city comes to a halt; the horns hadn't sounded in centuries. Baator was on the march.

More horns, in turn, take up the call to war, to the Blood War. Creatures which have not stirred in mortal memory begin to wake. Their terrible urges whip and flay the lesser demons of the city, stirring dretches and uridezu to gather in the streets and open places of the city. A chittering mob surges towards the portal, flowing around little knots of violence where demons so frenzied by the prodding of their masters that they turned on each other.

Near to the Endgate, twin massive doors, wrought of iron and feet thick, begin groaning open. Armanites and goristros pour out of the doors. The mobs takes on a note of panic as the powerful cavalry and seige demons charge for the gate, driving the lesser infantry before them, lest they be trampled. Soon the streets are slick with blood and choked with the corpses of those who were not quick enough. When the abyssal army has passed, ghouls and the perverse citizens of the city emerge to begin feasting on the broken bodies.

The ground above the physical end of the portal swells and erupts in a geyser dozens of yards high as the mad swarm pours out of the Abyss.

The Endgate trembles with the force of the being it contains. Madness and hatred radiate from it, crashing over the city like waves. The great archons guarding the gate do not stir from their posts.

Over one half of the total forces had already stepped out from the gate. Pit fiend officers all over the area directed tens of thousands of ozyluth and gelugon into defensive positions, concentrating on areas where a few thousands of cornugon grouped. Baalzephon himself was at all time escorted by his personal pit fiend guards, as he went back and forth through the new hellish advance post.
Hordes of shambling lemures were already emerging through the portal, carrying with them the materials that would be used to erect the crude temporary outpost for Baalzephon's force. A pit fiends acted as taskmasters, pushing the pathetic support devils onward with their horrifying metallic scourge whips.
A few hundreds of erinyes mounted aerial guard around the ten-mile wide perimeter designed by Baalzephon, inspecting the surroundings for any signs of abyssal troops.

The Dark General walked near one of the pit fiend taskmasters, who had just turned an uncooperative lemure into a pond of bubbling ooze and bones "Order your workforces to move faster, and bring the materials here at once. Almost eighty thousand troops are stuck beyond the portal due to this mass of petty things, and I need each one of them!"
The taskmaster grunted in disapproval, but then his whip began cracking faster. Other pit fiends among the lemures did the same, forcing the lesser devils to hurry their step. Quite a handful of lemures became squashed beneath heavy bronze and iron plates as they lost their balance.

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In a matter of few hours, thousands of lemures crawled all around the place, digging the soft ground to stand the bases for the new fortification. The bigger mammoth lemures, almost as big as a house, moved the heavy crudely prefabricated metallic pieces, delivering them to different points around the construction site. The spiked walls and guard towers would be constructed soon, as the devils began assembling the parts. It would not be an impenetrable bastion, but it would help keep the enemy at bay for a while.
The many battalions grouped in three concentric rows around the site and the portal. The outer forces were composed mostly of ozyluths, although a few groups of cornugon stood as stronger support here and there. The second concentric row was completely composed of ice-breathing gelugons. The majority of the cornugons stood on the innermost row. Each batallion was commanded by a pit fiend. The few hundred erinyes still circled the area as scout teams. Baalzephon, followed by his five guards, walked around the forces, checking them for any problem.

The baatorian knew what they were about to face. They had fought the tanar'ri for more years than even the oldest of calendars could measure, on the plane-shaking Blood War. Although both sides have been at the verge of victory many times in the past, the War has never shown any clear sign of coming to a definitive end. The battles had taken place all over the Lower Planes of Hades, Gehena, the Abyss and the Nine Hells, being the first of them the most battle-torn field. Due to the massive proportions of the War, conflict had spilled over the Primary Planes one certain occasions, although never on a vast scale. This first battle would not be grand in scale either, although it could signal the beginning of a new battlefield, on this so called planet Earth, populated by mortals who have not yet seen either devilish or demonic hordes fight each other. And Hell's desire was to establish a permanent extension on this new plane, no matter how many demons are sent to stop it. A new episode of the Blood War was about to be written.

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//OOC: Exact numbers:

Total number of devils (including support forces): 205.138
Total number of troops: 197.138
Number of Ozyluth (bone devils): 120,000; 48 battalions of 2,500
Number of Gelugon (ice devil): 60,000; 40 battalions of 1,500
Number of Cornugon (horned devil): 12,000; 30 battalions of 500
Number of Erinyes (lesser fallen angel): 5,000; 50 groups of 100
Number of Pit Fiends: 138
Number of Lemures (support): 8,000

The army of demons which pours up from the ground defies ennumeration. It's not large, a fraction of the size of the devilish force, but the moblike mass swirls shifts, seeming to be as much a living thing as an organized group. Even as the swarm approaches the orderly lines of the infernal army, it swells with tanar'ri summoned by their kin.

Leading the charge is the mass of dretches; the shambling little demons waddling forward as fast as they can, mostly out of fear of the bigger demons coming up behind them. Interspersed amongst the dretches, the armanite heavy cavalry, bearing their long and wickedly barbed lances.

Bringing up the rear are a number of massive goristros, perhaps one or two hundred, all dragging sleds full of rather large rocks. Somehow, despite their burden, they manage to keep up with the gibbering horde of dretches.

Behind them, in Endgate, the first of the Baalor awakens at the behest of the Ender.

((Not gonna post numbers for this.. Just assuming the layout above numbers less than 10k. When the real tanar'ri force arrives, then numbers'll go up. This is just for fun))

((Bippity Boppity Bump))