"Oh dear! Quinn!" Ezro yells, seeing Quinn suddenly get launched into the pit.
Dropping his backpack, shield, and sword, he begins rummaging through the bag for the rope he has, and pulls it out, preparing to throw it.
"Alikia! Be careful over there! Aladir, do you see anything over here that might do the same?"
Loathe to leave Quinn to his own, but realizing that he probably is better served by following Ezro's suggestion, Aladir turns the pathway he is own, slowly going over it and looking for other traps along the way.
Quinn braces himself to land on the pit floor, when it suddenly vanishes revealing a much deeper pit covered with moldy slime. On pure instinct, Quinn shouts a word of power slowing his descent and landing lightly amidst the grotesque mass.
The fetid smell of the slime is enough to make even a demon-blood tiefling gag. Still, Quinn manages to choke out a request. "Terendelev's Scale... *cough* I think *cough* Hyram had it last... *cough*"
Hyram sees Quinn fall. Looks like he was right, it was a trap! He says as he rummages through his bag for the scale. Finding it, he will use it to levitate down to Quinn. Grab my hand! he says as he reaches down to the fallen Paladin.
As Quinn is pushed horizontally about ten feet, and is over the pit, he immediately casts a spell on himself before he has a chance to fall hard.
Quinn falls safely to the bottom of the forty foot deep pit, while Hyram quickly searches thru his ruck and finds the scale of levitation. The green goo, insinuates itself between the cracks in Quinn armor and the paladin feels less healthy.
Hyram, using the scale steps off the ledge and floats gently down the pit halfway, while the good continues to damage Quinn.
Hyram extends his hand and Quinn grabs on, as he levitates up about half way from the bottom of the pit. The green goo, continues to damage Quinn. Alikia seeing the goo still clinging to the paladin and hurting him, casts a minimum scorching ray at Quinn, using only one ray on the paladin and the other ray on the good at the bottom of the pit.
Now free of the green goo, Hyram and Quinn levitate back to the lower walkway level and Hyram steps onto it, dragging Quinn with him.
Messaging her temples, Alikia jumps down off the platform in order to properly assess the damage done to Quinn. "It is never easy with demons." She grumbles as she flakes off bits of the burned goo from Quinn's armor and stores it in an empty flask for research later. "We must be on the correct path if there are traps here." she muses, watching Aladir carefully and preparing to cast a spell just incase the rogue needs it.
Aladir waits for Quinn to safely get back to the path they are on, not daring to take another step before the group gets back together.
"I'm afraid I won't be able to help you recover from the energy that ooze sucked out of you...hopefully Ezro will have the right spells prepared for that today. I do think it is a better idea for us to get on one path and stay together. And let me lead. I can help search for any other traps that may be set."
Nodding to Aladir as Ezro finishes putting away his rope, he moves over to Quinn, "Now that the situation was handled, I suppose we have no need of the rope, as for the damage to you, I believe I have a remedy for that ill."
Touching Quinn on the shoulder and praying for some time, he heals the damage done to the paladins constitution. Then asking for Iomedeas favor, he makes sure to cure the damage done to Quinn as well.
Quinn manages to hold to Hyram as he pulls him up the cloud pillar formed by Terendelev's scale. He crumples to the ground as the ground as soon as they reach the ledge. What little endurance he has remaining is spent in the climb. Weakly he reaches for the scale in Hyram's hand. "Lady bless Terendelev. Twice has the dragon's magic saved my life."
Quinn's stamina returns thanks to Ezro's restorative ministrations. "Thank you, my friend. That was a bad decision on my part. Fortunately, I did not pay the ultimate price. But, it was close..." Quinn dives into his pack retrieving nine vials and laying them out. "These are restorative, though not as powerful as Ezro," he says indicating some of the vials. Pointing to others, "These are fire, though not as powerful as Alikia. Another fall may be death. But, these may buy precious seconds."
Hyram nods at Quinn. Yes, The noble dragon's sacrifice has benefited us greatly.
"May Iomedae and Desna continue to watch over our efforts to see that it was not in vain."
After Quinn is pulled back to the lower walkway, Ezro provides healing to the paladin, and restores him to full health. Alikia slides down from the upper walkway, wisely figuring that perhaps it is better to have the person who can find traps lead them over to the doorway on the other side of the room.
Taking the lead, Aladir searches carefully each small area on the way over to the door, he finds another of the telekinesis traps, and disables it. Finally over to the door, he listens closely, hears nothing, and checks the door for traps, finding none, and checks to see if it is locked and it isn't.
With the door checked out, Hyram and Quinn move to the front, and push open the door and view the room.
The north and south walls of this chamber feature three alcoves each, and each contains a large, jagged purple crystal on a pedestal. A seventh crystal sits on a seventh pedestal to east, just behind a marble slab on which sits a crumpled red banner. Two statues of demonic fgures flank this slab in alcoves—the northern one depicts a goat-headed winged demon and the southern one is an insectoid horror armed with a scythe.
There is also a the tiefling sorceress and some kind of shadowy figure that are preparing for combat.
Hyram will cast Coordinated Effort on Quinn, Ezro, and Aladir.
Let's gang up on these two and eliminate them! Hyram shouts as he follows Quinn after casting.
Nodding to Hyram, Ezro yells, "For the Inheritor! I bind thee!"
Pointing at the shadowy figure, Ezro attempts to hit the beast with a Dimensional Anchor.
Aladir will follow after Ezro, Quinn, and Hyram, but will maintain an interval of about twenty feet behind them.
"Leave an interval! Bunching up makes us meat for an area spell!" Aladir advises.
Hearing the shout of surprise, Alikia's eyes burst into an emerald green as she pushes some mythic power behind her spell. Chanting quickly, a golden glow surrounds all of her allies as they begin to thrum with unearthly energy and move with superhuman speed. "Do not let them flee! I will provide covering fire for you all!" she shouts out, preparing for the clash.
Augmented by Alikia's spell, Quinn speeds across the intervening space to the shadow demon... his eyes and his blade both erupting into brilliant golden glow.
Quinn opens with a powerful salvo against the shadow creature.
Surging with the mythic power afforded by Alikia's spell, Aladir follows his allies into combat, though he does seem displeased by the fact that they are taking on the tougher opponent first.
Aladir makes use of the extra speed to advance swiftly forward, moving sideways at the same time so he can set up a flanking maneuver with either Hyram or Quinn; when he closes to within twenty or twenty-five feet, he calls forth his own mythic power, activating Fleet Charge and closing any distance that might be remaining to his goal.
Once there, he spends the last of his mythic energy to strike at the shadow demon!
And then follows it up with a final strike once the mythic energy has dissipated!
Assured that Alikia will cast a useful spell, Quinn wait just a moment before acting, and he is correct as she casts a haste spell, pushing it with mythic power on all her friends. Quinn then rushes forward and smites the demon, using his own mythic power as well in order to get a second attack. Hyram using the mythic haste, moves into a flanking position with Quinn, but does not have enough time to attack. Ezro casts a spell on the demon, and you see a green ray spring from his hand, strike the creature and stick. Aladir moves into the room and not being able to flank with Hyram or Quinn, attempts to hit the demon, but misses with both attacks.
The Shadow Demon concentrates, and casts a spell on Ezro, while Chorussina steps back five feet and casts a spell, and a large lion appears and looks ready to charge.
Hyram is disappointed that he doesn't seem to hurt the demon much or at all, but hopes he can help Quinn out by causing a distraction.
"Get the sorceress!" Quinn shouts to the others. "This unholy abomination doesn't have long to live."
At seeing Quinn's mighty blow against the shadow demon, Aladir heeds his advice, calling on another surge of mythic power to move swiftly toward the demoness and try to cut off her spellcasting.
And then continues his assault!
Ezro laughs maniacally as he turns and runs out of the room and jumps into the pit outside the room with the green slime in it.
Alikia, knowing that the boys have everything well in hand moves outside the room as she sees that Ezro for some insane reason ran and jumped into the pit of green slime, especially after what it did to Quinn.
Quinn takes on the demon single handedly and with two critical hits kills the creature outright, while Hyram and Aladir dispatch the sorceress and the lion disappears.
Seeing Ezro rush out of the room, Hyram will follow once the evil beings have been dispatched. He will then attempt to do the same maneuver with the scale that he did with Quinn to extract Ezro out of the slime.
This is becoming an all too-familiar exercise he mutters.
Confident that his companions will be able to get Ezro out of the ooze, Aladir turns his attention to searching the demoness for any possessions of note, then the room at large...with particular interest in the crumpled red banner.
Quinn takes a heavy breath as the wispy remains of shadow, held in place by Ezro's spell, fall to pieces around him. Then Ezro, in a fit of insanity, vanishes over the side of the pit. "NO!" Quinn screams as he races to the pit's edge.
He passes by the summoned lion, heedless of the danger, even as it suddenly winks out of existence thanks to the damages Aladir inflicts on its summoner.
Skidding to a stop at the edge of the pit, Quinn watches Hyram's careful extraction with vials already in hand.
After the demon and sorceress are dispatched, Hyram and Quinn rush out to help the cleric, still wondering why he jumped into the pit.
Hyram, using Terendelev scale, floats down,, grabs Ezro by the hand, and starts to lift him out of the slime.
As Hyram lifts Ezro out of the slime, Quinn throws some alchemist fire on him, which destroys the green slime that was clinging to him, and invading the joints on his armor.
Getting the cleric to the side, the barely conscious cleric sits down.
While Ezro is being looked after, Aladir looks at the crumpled red banner, and finds that it is in pristine condition. Banner Picture
I will cast cure serious on Ezro:
I hope that helps cure some of your wounds, brother. Hyram says to Ezro.
When Aladir finds the banner, Hyram takes a look at it.
Almost in a third person view of himself, he watches as his body laughs maniacally and goes running out of the room into the pit of acid. As he hits the bottom of the pit though, he feels himself regain control. Clutching onto Hyrams hand, he holds tightly as the inquisitor pulls him out.
As Hyram tends his wounds, he looks after himself, feeling extremely weak and wounded. Praying lightly to Iomedea, he first prays to restore his constitution and then continues to pray, healing himself.
"That was a most unpleasant experience." he says, shivering somewhat, even though there is no chill. "I do not wish to experience that again..."
Quinn doesn't breathe until Ezro rolls onto the ledge, fatigued and still smoldering from the cleansing burst of fire, but alive. "The first instructions I intend to give Aravashniel and the Knights upon our return... is to pour enough fire down that pit to light up all of Mendev."
"Anything of interest," Quinn asks Alikia as she joins them on the ledge after searching the remains of the tiefling sorceress. Before she can answer, Aladir reappears holding the folds of the Sword of Valor.
Quinn nearly breaks into a run as he walks near the banner. He reaches out a tentative hand brushing the silken folds, but withdraws it quickly. "This is the banner of the mortal knight, Iomedae as she marched at the head of the Shining Crusade... This is Ezro's domain. Once he catches his breath, he will know what to do."
"That would certainly be my thought...which means it's a good thing we didn't fall for the ruse over the glowing mold in that other room. If there are any demons left that we have yet to dispatch, using this would certainly be a quick way to end their threat. The question is...how do we use it?" he queries, both to the others and himself.
After considering the question, he looks to the others. "We don't know what it does, but we do know it wasn't a demon that first took it down; it was Staunton Vhane. We know the tales of how it wards against the ilk of the Abyss. We know, or at least strongly suspect, where it used to hang...in that room with the suits of full plate armor we went through earlier. We know what it is, fundamentally: a banner. So...my thought is this. Why don't we take it back there and hang it up? Just to see?"
While posing his questions, he looks more closely at the banner, looking for any rings or other signs of how it was hung before.
Picking through the remains of the sorceress, Alikia pulls out anything of interest before turning to the others. Quietly approaching the worshipers of Iomedea, Alikia lets out a sigh of relief. "This is the true sword. It's magical properties are legendary and as hard to believe as our own new abilities." Not wanting to touch such a magnificent piece of magic and soil it, Alikia offers everyone a grin.
Quinn's skin was already a motley blend of ashen greys and blacks, cracked and cragged, broken occasionally by an irregular horn jutting through... much like the landscape of the Worldwound itself. But, the moment Quinn's finger brushed the bundled folds of the Sword of Valor, the golden power within surged. Red eyes burst gold again and from them, lines of gold ran molten along the jagged cracks of his skin, tracing an irregular pattern across his face and presumably beneath the golden armor.
Quinn looked curiously at a few of the new golden faults where they terminated at his hand. "How much of this power can a mortal shell endure?" he asks as the lines fade back to grey.
After the rescue of Ezro and watching him heal himself, you move back into the room and look on as Aladir is inspecting the banner for a means to hang it up, and discovers silken loops at the top so the banner could be hung by using a cross pole. Quinn moves up to the banner, holds it briefly, and watches as the power of Iomedae surges thru him.
He and Alikia are both sure this is the Sword of Valor; Alikia thru her ability to detect the nature of magical items, Quinn thru the knowledge that the banner imparts to him.
The Inheritor herself carried this crimson banner into battle during the Shining Crusade. An army commander who carries the Sword of Valor increases the DV and OM of her army by 4 against armies of undead or evil outsiders. Yet the Sword of Valor’s greatest power lies not in offense but in defense. Mounted frmly upon an interior wall in a visible, public place, the Sword of Valor creates a 10-mile-radius area that bars demons and those who worship demons from using teleportation spells and effects and imparts on such creatures a –4 penalty to Armor Class and on all saving throws. Once per month while the banner is mounted on a wall, a worshiper of Iomedae within 30 feet of the banner can use it to summon a planetar to protect the banner and its surroundings for 1 day. Any non evil creature that sleeps within a 1-mile radius becomes immune to fear effects from demons and demon worshipers for 24 hours.
Ezro regains his feet and moves to examine the banner, awe struck at being so close to such an artifact. Touching it, he too feels a power within it.
"Inheritor be praised. I am glad to have found the Sword before the demons had had their way with it. Never did I imagine we would find it in such a good state."
Looking to the others he says, "We have accomplished a great thing here today my friends. The Inheritor must sure smile upon us at this moment. Let us bring forth the Sword so that our army might be emboldened by such a victory."
Hyram is not a humble person, but as soon as he takes a look at the banner and realizes what it is, he is deeply humbled. He starts to say Praises to The Inher... but his voice breaks. Those that look closely can see a tear form out of The Inquisitor's eye.
"There are loops for a cross pole on the top of the Sword. Should we see if hanging it properly is all that is required to activate its powers?"
Letting out a breath, Alikia grins at Quinn in wonder. "I'm sure that it will do well hanging in the Citadel above. Something as marvelous as this should not waste away in the dark below." Patting Hyram's shoulder as he begins to tear up, she offers him a kind smile.
"It is all that is required," Quinn says, a surprisingly serene expression on his demonic face. "We could carry it at the front of the armies, and treble their power towards victory. But, it is most powerful hanging within the fortress." Quinn continues to relay the knowledge of the banner to the others.
Quinn turns towards the forge, "Dimren Omreldron, we have the banner," he whispers to the hound archon. "We will join you shortly and then your duty is discharged."
Quinn spends a few minutes with the others sorting through the corpses of the shadow demon and the tiefling sorceress and searching through the demon's throne room and the hallway where the Sword was stored, careful to avoid the crystals and the glowing lichen.
Checking out the room, the demon, and the tiefling you find gear on the tiefling that is usable by the group. The demon has nothing, and other than the crystals on the pedestals, there is nothing else of interest in the room.
Quinn stows all the uncovered gear , and joins the others. "If the dwarf is to be believed, there is still a vampire and a small army of shadows to be disposed of. We should move back towards the stairs."