<b>"Scion in the skies?" </b>The grugach asked of Verena, who frowned in response. "I dare not say his name in fear of drawing his attention, whispered trice, it will summon him. He rules the skies of the Abyss unchallenged and unbeaten. Powerful and cunning enough to forever make me fear the skies enough to stay on the ground." The grugach's intense gaze was not unnoticed by the half-demoness, who suspected what the celestial elf was trying to do. Her ring of mind shielding protected her from such simple detection magic however, and the darkness of her heart was hidden from Ariel's supernatural gaze. Verena smirked teasingly. "If my outfit intrigues you, I must say it wasn't exactly my choice to wear it."<br/><br/>Verena didn't notice Zixx's more subtle inspection however, but it was blocked by her ring as well. She was as clueless about his ability to detect the magic on her person as well. "I understand that you have difficulty trusting me, but I can relate my story as soon as we're no longer being actively hunted." She continued, only to notice too late that Ariel had managed to provoke the now sole demon. She hissed in frustration, barely biting back a curse as the grugach threw the orb of force. Verena knew the Molydeus's taunt wasn't mere bluffing.<br/><br/>The half-demoness hung back and simply observed while hiding as the group charged one by one. She tightly clasped the sword benedict had given, believing it woefully incapable of harming the demon. Normally, she would hang back and help the demon mop up these heroes, but she didn't know why they were here yet and how powerful they were. Even with the terrible might wielded by the Molydeus, last thing she wanted was the scales turned against her with no way to talk herself out of trouble. If anything, this encounter would at least show her better what these mortals were capable of.<br/><br/>Verena watched silently as Ariel's and Benedict's attacks were stopped in their tracks. Orlando took a defensive stance and the drow sang a song. The mindflayer and his servants performed some ranged strikes. Overall, their attacks were clearly ineffective against the demon's thick hide and powerful regeneration. Things quickly took a turn for the worse when the Molydeus took out Ariel with a Soul Trap spell, something Verena knew plenty about. The half-demoness carefully studied her foe and supposed allies. With that snake head swerving around, she would never be able to strike it off-guard as long as it knew she was around. That meant she would get only get one strike in with the blade if she was lucky, but a single strike might just be all she needed.<br/><br/>His mention of the demon lord Graz'zt she could also use, especially since it would be able to see her true form clearly. It wouldn't be too hard to convince the demon of the interest she had in seeing these mortals survive for now, but that would risk her disguise, something she wasn't willing to do just yet. So Verena sat back and watched, preparing to strike at just the right moment in just the right way. Either with her clever tongue or the blade in her hand.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>