Grim Ruination, Birth of a Soul (On Hiatus)

The Extraplanar Intruders

Danger was not something unfamiliar to the members of squad 12, however, the threat of demons was. None of them had encountered any extraplanar creatures of any type before, let alone creatures of pure chaos and destruction.
For several moments they flowed aimlessly through the temple, the many orbs of light flying in front of them to light their path. Isak led the group with his shield, with Tempest directly behind him with Trent and Darris behind him. Elrik was in the back in case anything snuck up on them from behind as he was the most capable of taking down a creature quickly, at least the weaker ones.

"Why do you know so much about demons?" Trent asked suddenly, glancing up at Tempest's lavender eyes. Then all the other's heads turned to him. Tempest looked around at his squadmates. "I'm a tiefling." He said, as if that answered the question.

"And? I know a ton of them, but none of them know anything about the lower planes. And it's not like you studied that, there's no reason for having had to. You mainly use spells of the elements." Trent rattled off. He might've been young, but he was perceptive.

Tempest sighed, then stopped, making the rest of the group stop. "Trent... everyone," He corrected. "I had a past before joining this guild. I'd much rather not talk about it. Which means no questions." He said, his face a mix of frustration and sorrow.

"Does it have to do with the ring?" Darris asked, gesturing to the silver ring on Tempest's finger. Tempest raised his hand to stare at the ring, as if forgetting it was there. He proceeded to spin the ring on his finger as he thought. "In a way." He sighed. "You had asked the most dangerous creature I'd ever faced? Well, I can say with certainty that it was no measly dragon." He said before continuing his march forward. "Now let's keep moving forward. We've wasted enough time."

As they continued their trek through the temple, the lights fell upon sections of the wall scarred with large gnashes. The savage marks were very large and cut deep into the masonry. Daris's hand tightened around his scimitar at the sight. Any creature that can make marks like that on hardy stone could cleave a person in half with a single swipe. He then caught a quick glance at Tempest, who was eyeing the marks along the walls as well. He looked more frightened than anyone.
Suddenly, a deep groan reverberated throughout the ancient hallway, causing the entire group to freeze. The group inched closer to the end of the hallway, the mouth of a room beginning to reveal itself as the orbs of light flew ahead. Two creatures stood in the room, facing each other. Both looked mostly humanoid in form, however, they had several differences from each other.
The smaller of the two creatures had the torso of what could have been a decrepit and malnourished humanoid. However, from its shoulders up and the waist down it had the figure of an emancipated grey ram. Flies and insects of various species hovered around the creature, landing on it and flying away for a moment just to attach to the creature again. In its humanoid hands were a crude but deadly spear made entirely of rusted metal.

The larger creature was less humanoid and was just as tall if not taller than Elrik, towering over the other goat-like creature in front of it. Its skin was a pale grey with patches of tough keratin darting across its muscular body. Atop its head were two thick horns, and its legs were set with heavy hooves. In its bulky arms was a large mace, the head of which was nearly half the size of Darris, whose mouth went dry at the sight of it.
"A Tanarukk," Tempest whispered, just loud enough for the group to hear, staring at the larger creature.

The Tanarukk grunted several times at the smaller creature, waving his heavy club around in annoyance. The smaller creature grunted in kind to the Tanarukk, gripping its spear with both hands.

The Tanarukk roared in the face of the creature who, in turn, stabbed at the Tanarukk with its spear. The spear plunged into the shoulder of the hulking demon, causing blackened bile to spill from the wound.