The tear in the ward is closed

You want to talk to the priestess and find out what she is talking about, but the arms of yet two more of the demons are reaching up through the ever-widening gap in the obsidian disc and you just don't have time to deal with her. Four of your men hold the last of the blessed spears that have proven so effective against the invading horde, two of the other weapons have already found their mark and burst into silver fragments of light as their targets are destroyed. Thankfully the sword in your hand is as sound and sharp as it was when your first drew it, but once the holy spears have been spent it will be just you holding back the demons pouring up from the darkest pits of Hades.

Even as you draw back the blade and prepare to strike at the next clear target the naked woman by your side leaps past you and onto the melting stone ward. You reach for her to pull her back to safety, but before your hand can get a grip, the Priestess' legs are grabbed by the scaly claws of the beast reaching through the rend in the polished stone and she is pulled sharply into the gaping hole like a heavy post slipping into a muddy riverbank. Instead of struggling, Edlynn sinks downward into the fissure catching herself on her forearms so only the upper part of her torso is visible, once again you reach for her arms to pull her free from the monsters. It is too late. Edlynn's head arches towards the vaulted ceiling and she screams in anguish, her body jerks awkwardly as her lower body is torn away. Her sacrifice however is not in vain.

The melting black rock congeals around her waist like cooling wax, closing the hole much faster than it had been clawed open. Edlynn though is paying an unimaginable price for her effort; you can see the woman's slender belly bulge and buckle as her organs are torn away from below. Just when her screams of pain reach a crescendo of agony blood spurts from her mouth and nose staining her beautiful pale skin with streaks of crimson.

And then, so suddenly that the resulting silence is almost painful, the screaming abruptly ends.

It takes only a heartbeat for the pale skin of the Priestess of Athena to darken into the same black obsidian that the ward-stone was carved out of a thousand years ago. The beautiful woman is transformed in the moment of her greatest agony into a perfect statue. If you did not know what had just transpired, you might imagine that the coal-black figure before you had been carved and polished by the skilled hands of a master sculpture over the course of several years.

The silence is broken by the sound of rapid panting and the soft sobs of women at your feet, and it takes you a moment to realize that it is your heavy breathing that you are hearing. Considering what you had thought was going to happen, it is a miracle that you are all still there. You have two cuts from the demon's swords, one on your forearm and another across your ribs, they are bleeding, but not badly.

"Is everyone OK?" Silently your men nod as they look around the dimly lit room. Three or four of them were bleeding and Tetronian is cradling his sword arm, but all are alive and standing. You see Cassiopeia and Adriana hugging several of the naked temple Acolytes and Lady Sophia helping one of the Vestal (no longer) virgins to her feet. None of the people in the ward-room are speaking, no doubt just like you, stunned by the horror of the demon attack and Edlynn's sacrifice to say you all.

The warding stone is once again as solid and smooth as it had ever been, but now instead of the pitted and eroded surface where the poor hanging Acolyte's blood had slowly dripped arcane magic onto the weakening wards, there was now what had become of Edlynn. Naked, beautiful and somehow still fiercely proud even as her face was twisted in unimaginable pain she rose from the stone like a nymph rising up from a pool of black water. You climb carefully onto the wardstone stepping cautiously to where the Priestess has been frozen and run your hand along her cheek and jawline. There is none of the warmth or softness you remember but the smoothness of her flesh and her striking beauty is captured perfectly even as she screams in anguish. Lowering your ear to where the ward had just been breached you listen carefully expecting to hear the sounds of clawing or pounding, but there is nothing.

"Is it over, or will they be back?" You ask Cassiopeia and she turns to consult with one or two of the servants of Athena. The rest of the naked women look about them in stunned silence as they realize that while they had avoided one nightmare, they were still in a very precarious situation. Shaken by the horrors though, these young women seem slightly changed. They're glancing at the sweating and bloodied hoplites about them with newly awakened eyes - still fearful but also with a mixture of admiration and interest. Your men too are turning their attention to the beautiful women standing around them and you could see the interest in their eyes and loins.