Viska slides forward to meet him at incredible speed, twisting to avoid one ray, another contacting her flesh and fizzling into nothing from her natural magical resistance.

"Quite likely." Viska growls.

This time, swords simply wouldn't cut it. It was time to kill the mage the way mages should be killed. She passes him to the right, coming around and encircling Aeryn with her snakelike body. Within a split second, the coils tighten, constricting the poor mage with muscle and sharp scale, threatening to choke off his oxygen supply, and leave him helpless.

OOC: OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG! FILLS… BRAIN… WITH… HURTING!!!!!!!
I am SO not gonna read all that. Therefore, I shall put in some humour. I DID say I was gonna lay low.
Bic:
All throughout the duration of the life-and-death battle endured by Aeryn and Viska, Myrra was engaged with her own battle for words and spells to use on the ever-increasingly annoying Tiral. Just flaunting out of reach, the winged eyeball was literally poking a rather forked tongue out at her, though how it looked completely defied logic.
“What’s the matter, Farty? Out of words already?” Tiral scoffed gleefully when Myrra couldn’t choose the right word to describe him in the most despicable way ever. A minor fireball made Tiral swing nimbly out of the way.
“HAH! I knew you were gonna do that!” Tiral squealed, before facing an eye-full of ice shards that shredded him where he hovered.
“Note to self,” she muttered with an exasperated sigh, “make sure that the fricken eyeball is in an antimagic-field cage next time he respawns.”

Aeryn realized he was in severe danger, if he couldn't breathe, he couldn't cast. If he couldn't cast, he would die...or worse.

He managed to choke out the words of an Iron Body spell, and the need to breathe vanished...his body becoming similar in composition to that of a golem. He grinned fiercely, his voice strong and clear despite the blood (which now looks like liquid metal) that still dripped from his shoulder, he chanted a spell designed to paralyze Outsiders, and followed it with one that sent a thin, green, pernicious ray of magic darting at her from his fingertips.

Viska stopped abruptly as her quarry suddenly turned into a metal statue, uncoiling him and preparing for the killing blow, but at that very moment, she stopped. It most certainly wasn't voluntary, because as much as she willed her weapons to rend and tear the mage into confetti, they simply wouldn't respond.

"Curse you and your paralyssiss ssspellss." she telepathically curses, at Aeryn.

Trying desperately to break the spell, Viska really didn't expect it to be so painful. Apparrently the sonic spells had done more damage than she had expected, easily underestimated do to her lust to kill. She took a moment to look at herself, and found she was covered with her own blood.

"Imposssible!" she hisses, disbelievingly, "I refusse to be defeated by thiss... thi...ssss..." as Aeryn's green beam hit her, it became hard to do just about anything, not just move and resist spells.

Aeryn hadn't expected his spell of paralysis to work, but grinned wickedly as the Disintegration ray hit her. Her constitution was stong, and she wasn't turned into a pile of green dust by the blast, but it dealt damage nonetheless...eating into her snakelike coils.

He shook himself free of her snakelike constricting, stepping back, and picking up his staff from where he had dropped it. Pointing it at her, he asked in a calm voice, "Do you yield, or shall you die?"

"Arrggh!" Viska growl-hissed, also giving a psychic scream that startled the dretches in the background, and probably startled Aeryn too. The disentigration spell hit low, and although it failed to slay the greater deamon, it certainly did not go out without doing severe damage.

"F... Fine! You beat me! now... Now let me go!" Viska says, almost startled and disbelieving at the mage's power.

The young mage laughed cruelly, caressing her cheek, "And our agreement...?"

Though he had also been surprised by her abilities, impressive even for one of her powerful kind, and he knew better than to free her until the magically-binding contract had been signed.

Viska would have recoiled, if it were possible. "Yess... I agree." she says silently, embarrassed by losing to a mere mortal.

"He is far too strong for his own good! I should have been given orders to kill him, long ago! He may be strong, but agaisnt my army?! Not a chance!" Viska angrily thinks to herself.

The Marilith coughed blood, wanting to collapse, but being unable to, held in place by the paralysis spell. Her wounds seemingly weighing more and more the longer after the battle, strangely enough, considering they should be regenerating by now...

He grinned, turning away and releasing the spell, but remaining on guard against a potential attack, "So...what is your true name? I can't call you Za'rel anymore, not in private, anyway..."

He began looking over the items on the overturned table, the Dretches continuing their mindless activity as he approached.

((Actually, the dretches are mindless, fearless, and can't communicate verbally. IE: Too stupid to back off.))

"You know I cannot give you my real name." Viska states, trying to prop herself up on one of her larger swords.

"Not good enough!" Aeryn yells, thrusting his staff at her. (I'm pretty sure that's what you'd do.)

"Viska. Iss my name, if you are sso keen to have it." She reluctantly gives in, still visibly humiliated by being dominated by a mortal.

The dretches slink back as Viska orders them away mentally, slowly shambling away from Aeryn.

((That works, and it's fairly close to what he would do! :D))
((previous post edited, by the way.))

He pulled out a healing potion, one of the few he had remaining, and uncorked it.

"Good...I'm sure we'll work well together, Viska." he smiles, cruelly as ever, drinking the potion, then beckoning her over, "What are these, and what purpose do they have here?" he gestures at the items, now spilled onto the floor.

"Also, I have a way to make that little telepathic bond you established permanent. We will be able to communicate without the others overhearing."

"Very... well..." Viska manages, dropping her swords, straining to telekenetically summon Za'rel's equiptment, polymorphs back into her human form, and hastily dons her armor and weapons.

"This will do.. If we're being spyed on." Viska replies, now fully human again, the polymorph working admirably. She doubles over for a moment in pain, but finally composes herself, after coughing up a mouthful of blood. "Those are the bargaining items. Rings, Amulets, Rare draconic spell componets, all to tempt you with. And, *snatches a long, thin sack* MY bag of holding." she then walks back to her dropped swords, tossing each of the 6 massive weapons into the bag, and then slinging it behind her cape.

"I'm not sure to be impressed or not, now I have to endure you twice as much as I usually do."

He smiles, as if pondering something, even as he looks through the items. Taking out a potion, he says calmly, "If you would prefer not to wait until your regeneration takes effect, drink this."

He returns the table to an upright position with a quick spell, then magically deposits the spilled items back on it. Sitting down in a fine chair, he places the healing potion on a table.

"Just out of curiosity...what would you have done with me, if you had won?"

Viska stumbles over to the table, gratefully grabbing the healing potion and slurping it down. Taking another seat, she gently rolls the vial back to Aeryn. "No thanks to your Disintrigration spell, but I would be quite capable of functioning by myself by now."

"Approximately an hour ago, I lost a rather competent lieutenant. I was hoping I could get you to replace her. Unfortunately, I am more concerned as to what will become of me, under you."

"Interesting...who was she?" he asked, picking up a spellbook, its title written in Dark Abyssal, along with a Ring of Telekinesis and a greater Ring of Wizardry.

"I'm still thinking about what I want you to do, so feel free to imagine while you answer my question."

"Another Marilith who I enslaved along the way to becoming a rather powerful general of the abyss. Unfortunately, my master elected to throw my life away on you, seeing you as a threat. He won't like me telling you that, but I'm not his anymore, now, am I?" Her mouth curls into a grim smile.

"He might even be a better master. Perhaps I could eventually usurp him at the end of his natural life." she thinks, thoughtfully.

"Well. Personally I thought you'd order me to lay seige to the drow city of Menzoberranzan. With a good battleplan, a few months to get the first houses thrown agaisnt each other, we could pull it off, not like we have a reason to, and it would certainly attact... some unwanted attention. from Lloth. Asmodeus and Mephistopheles probably wouldn't look too highly on it either."

OOC: Menzoberranzan? We're in the Forgotten Realms!!??

Oh god...Aeryn is Gromph Baenre's son! It all makes sense now! :D

If we ARE in the Forgotten Realms, it changes nothing except the background...

IC: "Oh, how did you enslave her? What became of her?" he began paging through the spellbook, looking pleased at the vile potency of the spells contained within.

"Lolth is currently not answering the prayers of her Clerics, and some believe that she is dead. If she is truly incapacitated, we can invade Menzoberranzan...though it's already under siege by its enemies. I doubt two archdevils, proponents of a lawful form of evil, would care about a goddess of Chaos." his lips curved in a wicked smile as he looked up from the book, into her eyes, "You're right...you are mine, now, I just have to decide what to do with you." he grinned, as though savoring a particularly cruel thought, then returned to looking at the book.

((Spellbooks. dear god, at this rate, Aeryn will soon surpass Elminister in his munchkindom.))

"Defeated her, of course. A bad trait, begging for mercy is. She tried to summon me after being overwhelmed, I politely declined, and told her to die."

"She's alive, that much we know. One can never expect what an insane goddess will do, however." Viska continues strategizing. "I'd rather not know what you have in mind." she finishes, dryly.

((That's impossible, he's Elminster! Nothing can be more munchkinny than Elminster! Well...almost nothing.))

"Too bad...so, what goddess is holding her prisoner?" he looked up, then answered her earlier statement, "I intend you to serve as a consort, advisor, confidante, and general lackey...I might add more, when it suits me." he gestured offhandedly.

"We aren't sure yet. We only know that she isn't dead."

Cringing at his other remarks, she continues, "Very well then. Master (almost choking on the word) Aeryn."

"Say it again..." he smirks, finding that he rather enjoys making the proud, capable demoness acknowledge these new circumstances.

"Don't worry, I intend to serve the interests of the entity that sent you here, I needed entertainment, anyway." his smirk increases, "Now...I'm a bit sore from that battle, your first task is to give me a back massage. Then, you can tell me more about the forces now under my command."

"I'd rather not, Master." Viska replies, angrily.

"And it is not within my capabilities to give you a back massage. Anyone I knew capable of giving you back massages would subsequently kill you in the process. So I'd advise you agaisnt one."

Viska audibly groans as Aeryn inquires about "his" forces. "*I* command and army of 100,000, with various divisions, subdivisions, companies, and the like. It's quite formidible, although currently engaged, like all of our forces."

He raised an eyebrow, "You have six arms, and a brain. It isn't hard to figure out...so do it, now." he rolled his eyes, putting on the Ring of Telekinesis, and continued.

"So, basically, you're saying that our forces are needed elsewhere...so we have no support, and only our own powers to rely on, for whatever it is our Lord wants us to do? I'll need the name he goes by, of course...I can't just give him a nickname."

Will had seen most of the happenings. He had seen the first conversation and the battle afterward. After the battle ended he had decided to leave, lest they noticed him. "This explains everything”. He said to himself. “I must find someway to survive all this.” “I need someway to gain power, or else they will enslave me, but how, how can I do it.” “The second I try something, they will blast me into dust”. “But if I lay low for a while maybe, I will find something.” “It all depends on their lack of attention if all go’s well maybe I can equal them.”