Soul Reaver lowers his eyes, takes a deep breath, and then sets his jaw firm.  The stoic mask returns to his face.

"Then we proceed into the maw blindly.  It would not be the first time."

He hefts Blooddrinker in both hands and heads for the portal after Jharm.  His Daemonic troops fall in line behind him without him even having to utter a word.

When he arrives, he witnesses Gulgrim bashing away against Darkness' shield.  He starts forward in alarm when Darkness seizes... something from Vee's chest, but he is too slow to stop him.  Whatever it was, it must have been painful indeed, judging by the way she was grasping her head.  After her disappearance, Jharm, too, is banished.

Sensing power building within Darkness, his first instinct is to charge into the fray, but he holds himself back.  He had to check on Vee first.  They couldn't well afford to lose another warrior, and Vee might know what it was Darkness had stolen from her.

Keeping his eyes on Darkness, Soul Reaver sidles over toward Vee, quietly whispering words of magic to help anchor himself to this place in this Plane - he did not want to find himself simply banished form the room like Jharm had been.  The Daemon troops fan out around the periphery of Darkness' shield, hanging back slightly to give Gulgrim room, but ready to strike once ordered.

Soul Reaver arrives next to Vee and lowers himself into a crouch.

"Vee, what happened to you?  What did Darkness do?"

His brow furrows as he places his gauntleted hand on her shoulder.  Healing magic flows into Vee, trying to find any damage that may need repairing.

As Gulgrim charges through the portal all he sees before him is the 3 Shaiton leaders and a shadowy form standing in front of them, seemingly devoid of any features other then being of human height.  The Orkish avatar barrels forward directly at the 4 figures.  Calmly the shadowy form raises a hand, aiming its palm at the barreling Warboss.  A shield of shadow surround the 4 shaitons as the Companions on the other side can sense a serious flux of power.  Gulgrim slams against the shield, the purplish surface flickers and pulses as it absorbs the phenomenal power behind the rage-filled attack.

"Ahh I was hoping you might be the first one through.  You and your kind intrigue me greatly.  Such power and strength but sadly seemingly without much direction.  With said direction you could be almost unstoppable, even more powerful then my Shaiton."

The three Shaiton look at Darkness, slight confusion flickering over their faces at this statement.  It is at this time though that Vee comes through the portal, followed by Jharm and then the rest of the Companions. Darkness chuckles as he gazes at Vee and then Jharm and then the others.

"Ahh and the rest of them finally decide to arrive. Seraphim, it has been quite a while since we last...met."

His gaze then locks onto Vee.

"It is as I thought.  It was faint and hard to detect for some reason but now this close it is clear.  You have something of mine and I demand it to be returned...at once."

Darkness extends a hand in the direction of Vee.  A faint tendril of shadow extends from his palm and flies directly at the woman, striking her in the chest.  Her body shakes and quivers as she unleashes a howl of pain.  A sound like something tearing is heard through the area as Darkness pulls his hand back firmly, a orb seeming to slip out of Velgeims chest and flies into Darkness' palm and disappears into him.  Inhaling deeply he lets out something akin to a pleasureful sigh.

"Ahh there it is...the last bit of me finally back where it belongs. So love..."

As he is speaking he pauses mid-sentence as two orbs, roughly where a humans eyes would be, flare bright red and Darkness grabs his head.

"What....what is this?  S...such images, such sensations!"

After a moment he seems to steady himself, his "eyes" still glowing bright red as he gazes at the Companions.

"Ahh...I see it all now.  The truth of things."

Venagon raises a hand towards Darkness.

"My lord, is all well?"

Darkness lets out a chuckle, a grin appearing over his shadowy face, glowing bright red like his eyes.

"Well?  Oh yes...more then I would have expected.  There is little need for foot soldiers in this fight nad whats to come.  See to the fight outside...all of you."

Bringing his hands up a shadowy orb surround each fo the 3 Shaiton and Jharm and with a gesture all four disappear.  A moment later Jharms voice is heard in each fo the companions minds

"My friends, I have no idea what is going on but I am alongside my troops outside the fortress.  At this moment there isnt much I can do directly.  Fight on and should the chance arise I will join you as soon as I can."

Darkness simply lets out another laugh and gives a beckoning gesture towards the remaining Companions, Vee now laying on the ground and clutching her head.

"Now....Companions...show me your all and die...or side with me and we shall remake all anew."

The Companions can feel massive power flowing into Darkness from somewhere a distance behind him.

Sorry for the delay.  I blocked off some time last week to post but it got stomped on. 

Looking forward to the Big Bad Battle!

No worries, I know how that feels lol.  That being said, Ill look at getting a post up by the weekend.

Phaerys presents a chilling thought.  Jharm had been in the company of the Shaiton for a few moments unseen.  And whatever that flicker of an illusion was still lingers on Kitharsis's mind.

This is all progressing too quickly.  And with Gulgrim barreling forward in his rage, there is precious little time to evaluate.

Kitharsis glances at Jharm, as Soul Reaver speaks to him in hushed tones.

"In my heart I know Jharm would never turn willingly."  He says to Phaerys, lowering his voice.  "But it would be wise to be wary in this moment, considering this is literally a battle of Jharm's faith." 

He rubs his chin in thought. "And I wouldn't put it past the Shaiton to do something underhanded."

The curtain of sand at Kitharsis's back falls to the floor before gathering around his feet.  Two more enchanted sandstone swords rise from the pile and join the three others floating at his shoulders.

"For now lets prepare for the worst."  He nods toward Vee, who has been conspicuously silent for some time. 

Soul Reaver watches with quiet relief, though not surprise, as Gulgrim continues to barrel forward and pursue his enemies.  They had denied him what he had wanted, so he sought to extract it from them.  Soul Reaver gestures faintly at his Daemon troops, and they prepare to bring up the furious ork's rear.

Before joining the pursuit, Soul Reaver turns to Jharm and speak to him quietly.

"We have been through much together, Jharm.  I have rarely seen your faith waver.  Yet somehow Venagon's words gave you pause."

He stands next to the Seraphim, hand on his shoulder and a rare softness in his eyes as their gazes meet.

"We are friends.  Is there something I must know?"