The seal on Dracula's land had been broken, and the proof of it tore open before the party in the form of a swirling hellmouth — a portal to hell spewing waves of demonic minions into the mortal realm. Dracula's wife, who had spent the last of her strength healing the party and granting them renewed power, lay unconscious and unable to help. The army that had marched with them was all but gone, a third of it turned against them and the rest swept away by forces beyond their control. What remained was the party alone, standing between the world and an endless tide of sulfuric ash and claws.
Sir Ulric Thornstrom surged forward, his spectral wings carrying him toward the portal, but the hellmouth answered his advance by spitting out a fresh wave of demons that materialized all around him, cutting off his path. Startled and indignant, he fought through the blockade, but the delay cost him — more demonic energy streaked out of the rift and landed in a ring around him. Undeterred, Ulric unleashed a furious whirlwind attack with his hammer, spinning in a wide arc and obliterating nearly the entire wave in a single devastating strike. He looked at the one survivor, pointed, and promised it was next.
While Ulric held the line, Mike O'Riza turned his focus to the portal itself, channeling his connection to the natural world to begin the painstaking work of sealing the rift. His concentration wavered for a moment when the demons shifted their attention entirely to Ulric, dogpiling the armored warrior in a writhing mass of claws and fury. Thirteen demons tore at him all at once — and yet Ulric simply raised his arm from the pile, caught a stamina potion tossed to him by Greg, and shrugged off the onslaught as though it were little more than a cat scratch. His telekinetic aura flared outward like invisible wings, and every strike that followed seemed to bounce off an unseen barrier, sending the demons reeling.
Greg, calm as ever, uncorked a mysterious secret potion he had been carrying and drank it without ceremony. He then dragged his sword leisurely toward the demon horde, tied a fifty-foot rope to the blade, and began swinging it like a chain-dagger — redirecting it with his feet in a fluid, almost casual display of martial artistry. The resulting whirlwind of steel tore through the swarm with breathtaking force, clearing the field and finally giving Mike the breathing room he needed. With the area around the portal momentarily clear, Mike pressed his advantage and drove the hellmouth halfway toward being sealed.
The demons grew desperate as the rift narrowed, hurling one final surge of reinforcements through the shrinking gap. Mike reacted instantly, his ooze-like form flowing over the mouth of the portal and physically shoving the emerging demonic energy back down into the dark. The sparks hit his form like a wall and were swallowed back into the abyss. Ulric spread his arms, his telekinetic power wrapping around the edges of the rift in support, and together the two of them forced the hellmouth shut. The sulfuric ash settled, the red light faded, and the portal to hell was sealed.
