Aladir wills himself invisible and sneaks up to the stairs.
A short flight of stairs flanked by two statues leads up to a thirty-foot-wide opening in the northern cave wall, beyond which the worked stone of a large chamber lit by flickering red torches looms. The ceiling rises a further thirty feet. The room is dominated by a floor to ceiling statue of a goat headed demonic figure seated in a lotus position on a seven foot high stone platform, also flanked by statues, against the northern wall.
You see three figures in the room praying before the statue.
Aladir creeps out of the room, trying to be at least as quiet as when he entered so as not to make the figures aware of his presence in the room.
If he gets back to the others without alerting the trio, he drops the invisibility for a moment and gives them a report in a low voice, describing the minotaur-headed armor they wear and the black robes with the inverted red pentragram.
"They seem to be praying. There's a huge statue in the room of a goat-headed demon against the north wall. The three in the room seem to be praying to it."
Quinn nods at Aladir's report. He pauses before responding as he notices how morose Ezro has become. "Do not let concern overwhelm you," he says self-consciously after how introspective he had been previously. "One hill, one temple, one house... one foot at a time, if necessary... we will cleanse this land of the demonic taint."
Aye! Agreed! Let's go say hello!
Try to flank the with me, they should be easier to hit. He counsels.
"Aye, let's see if we can give these bull-headed fellows a proper hello!"
Ezro gives a smile to Quinn, "Of course my friend. As it has always been. Our quest is daunting, but it is ordained. These creature cannot stop our crusade. Let us go and remind them of such."
Giving a prayer to the others, he quickly makes ready, stowing his holy symbol and hefting his sword and shield, the half elf nods to the others.
Aladir wills himself into invisibility again, in preparation for the assault to come.
Aladir wills himself invisible, and the group proceeds towards the stairs and the landing. Not being a sneaky group, as you top the stairs the three foes stand and turn around, "kill them" one says.
Remember! Flank with me! Hyram urges.
In order to set up the flank, Hyram heads straight between the two foes. Using Irabeth's sword, he strikes at the one on the left.
He was unable to strike a blow with all the maneuvering.
Aladir will first shoot at the eastern-most enemy, to Hyram's right, not concerned with the dispelling of his invisibility.
After taking his shot, Aladir will move into melee, switching his bow for his rapier, to end up in a flanking position with Hyram.
Quinn moves into the room.
"Have you not yet heard of us?"
vs AC 24 Hyram
vs AC 24 Hyram
vs AC 24 Quinn
Aladir shoots an arrow at the rightmost opponent, hitting him hard with the sneak attack damage, but also dispelling his invisibility. He then moves up so he can flank the man with Hyram.
Hyram moves up between two of the men, and swings but he is not used to all that maneuvering and misses, however he expends some of his mythic energy giving himself and his allies protection from weapons.
Quinn moves up and and power attacks the Templar on the end, wounding him.
The foes flanking Hyram attack him, and the other one attacks Quinn, but with the Earth Protection, even the hits do no damage to the two warriors.
Hyram smiles as he sees Aladir flank with him.
This will teach you to befoul such a holy place!
In an excellent position for pouring on the damage, Aladir takes advantage of the distraction provided by Hyram to focus his efforts on the chink in his enemy's (literal and figurative) armor.
Quinn levels the cultist with a final blow before stepping into the space to flank with Hyram.
vs AC 24 Quinn
vs AC 24 Quinn
vs AC 24 Quinn threat
vs AC 25 Aladir
vs AC 24 Quinn crit no
Ezro steps up into the open area, and as his comrades seem to be handling things well, he simply casts bless on the group. Alikia also steps into the room and looks around, sure that there are more than just these templars.
Aladir, flanking with Hyram, puts down the templar in front of him. Hyram smacks the one to his left, damaging it. Quinn kills the templar on the end, then steps forward to be flanking with Hyram, and wounds the one that Hyram just damaged.
The remaining templar, ignores his wounds and waits just a moment as three more templars step out from the side rooms, and then three of them attack Quinn, and one attacks Aladir. Quinn is severely wounded, but the attacks on Aladir miss completely.
Now that the one between him and Aladir is finished, Hyram will turn his attention to the one between him and Quinn.
Your turn!
Aladir backs away from the enemy he is facing, wanting to get to where the rest of them are so he can help them bring down the cluster that brought so much damage to Quinn.
Ezro feels a growing urge to cleanse this site and the odd anger grows inside him. Brandishing his sword and shield, he yells, "Iomedea guide my blade, provide me your Righteous Might!"
Casting a spell, the cleric begins to grow, doubling in size and pushing Alikia off to the size as his stature grows. With a surge of mythic power, he swings the now doubled in size long sword at the foe to Quinns right, slicing into them.
"You will befoul this place no more!"
Quinn had become somewhat accustomed to the astonishing. But, that did not prepare him for a suddenly twelve foot tall Ezro, bristling with power, to enter the fray with a vengeance. "My friends are always full of such surprises."
Stumbling backwards, Alikia lets out a squeak of surprise as Ezro grows. "Oh uh..." Unsure of how to respond to the righteous fury. Pointing a finger at the one engaged with Aladir, Alikia releases two bolts of fire.
vs AC 24 Quinn
vs AC 24 Quinn (2nd threat)
vs AC 25 Aladir
vs AC 24 Quinn (crit)
Suddenly Ezro grows large, which moves Alikia slightly to her right, and using his mythic powers swings at the wounded templar in front of him. Alikia meanwhile points at the templar engaging with Aladir and casts a scorching ray at it, hitting with both rays and wounding the creature.
Thinking he would help Hyram, but after Ezro sudden growth spurt, Aladir simply turns around to the creature behind him and attacks the creature twice, hitting it both times. Hyram continues his assault on the templar between him and Quinn and barely scratches it. Quinn however hits twice, the second blow cleaving the templar in two.
The two to the left of Quinn, each swing twice, but each hitting only once, however one critically wounds the paladin. The one on Aladir, misses.
Seeing the dire straits that Quinn is in, Aladir calls upon the mythic power available to him again, using it to move across the room in a flash of golden light and stab at the minotaur in front of his tiefling comrade.
After his attack finishes, Aladir drops into a roll, moving swiftly to the opposite side of the minotaur to end opposite Quinn, avoiding the glaives wielded by both of them, hoping to take advantage of the flanking position to do more damage.
Quinn falls back quickly, having reached his limit. He lets a sustained burst of healing energy flow into him while he considers how to re-engage.
vs AC 24 Hyram
vs AC 24 Hyram
Ezro stays where he is, and reaching out with his large sword, hits one of the remaining templars, damaging it slightly. Alikia watches as Quinn withdraws and stands her ground, keeping on looking around.
Aladir puts down the templar in front of him, then using his powers, runs and tumbles across the battle area with such skill that he is missed by the two remaining creatures and lands on his feat behind the one with Quinn flanking. Pausing a moment to let Quinn and Hyram switch places he almost puts that one down. Quinn and Hyram switch places and as Hyram distracts the templar for a moment, which is almost put down by Aladir, Quinn calls upon Iomedea and he is healed of some damage.
The two remaining templars both swing at Hyram, but following his lead, both miss.
Aladir aims at the one between he and Hyram, trying to bring down the weakened enemy and leave them only one to deal with.
With that foe dropped, Aladir takes a quick hop to the adjacent one and flanks it with Ezro so they can both take on the last one.
"Iomedea guide her children and smite these heretical fools!" Ezro yells as he brings his blade down on one of the two remaining creatures.
"I will send you to the Abyss! Begone from this holy site!"
Hyram, glad that Quinn is out of danger, turns his attention to the last remaining foe.
Quinn steps further back, resting from the attacks he had endured. Rather than re-engaging the battle, he begins a low chant to inspire his allies as he allows more healing energy to close his wounds.
vs AC 24 Hyram
Ezro, swings, and using his mythic powers, wounds one of the templars. Seeing only two remaining foes, Alikia holds off on using any magic, while she continues to scan the area.
Aladir swings twice. His first hit puts the foe between him and Hyram down, so he steps to be behind the remaining templar and wounds him. Hyram seeing the foe in front of him go down, and Aladir move, also steps so he and the rogue are flanking the last templar and he hits him but not enough to kill him. Quinn, given a respite by his companions, calls upon Iomedea to heal him, as well as he begins a soft chant that helps his allies in the fight.
The last templar, swaying on his feet attempts to attack Hyram, but misses with both of his glaive attacks.
As you almost have finished the templars, a secret door that is just below the statue opens and two creatures appear, one a quadrupedal creature with horns but as large as Ezro, and the other a human woman. Both creatures move off to the side, and prepare to attack.
Hoping to finish off the last of these foes before taking on the new comers, Hyram attacks with his sword.
Turning to the sudden appearance of the unwelcome guests, Ezro brandishes his holy symbol, and begins a quick prayer, beseeching Iomedea for further strength, and then with a surge of mythical energy, releases a wave of positive energy to his surrounding allies.
"the fight is not yet won! We must push ever onward!"
Attempting to take a step back away from the quadrupedal monstrosity, Alikia finds herself with her back against a wall. "Well, drat." she mutters, pulling out a piece of licorice, Alikia waves the offending stick at the creature. "Now see here, didn't anyone tell you that it is impolite to just charge into other planes demanding tribute? Really, your summoner should have taught you better than that."
As she speaks, Alikia uses the distraction of her licorice to put the finishing touches on her haste spell, pumping it with some of the mythic power granted to her by the wardstone.
A few moments' rest along with a double wave of Ezro's magical healing had Quinn back into fighting shape. The appearance of two new nemeses had his partly demon blood back at a boiling point. The sudden energy he received from Alikia's spell set him into motion.
Quinn was not one to judge on appearances, but the threat the draconic creature posed to Alikia was too great to ignore. A quick step was all that was required to get inside its defenses, and Quinn exploded into deadly golden flame.
With Alikia's magical caffeine coursing through his system, Aladir surges forward, weaving beneath Ezro's body and around the back of the room. The beast seems as if it is almost going to sweep the elf with its claws when a sudden burst of golden speed gets him out of reach!
+
Safely on the beast's opposite side and in a flanking position with Quinn, Aladir tries to stab at it with his rapier.
vs AC 24 Quinn
Ezro, using his mythic power, channels Iomedea healing waves twice, healing everyone completely except Quinn, who is still wounded but in much better condition. Alikia, with no where to move out of the way, defensively casts mythic haste on the party once she sees the new attackers. Aladir pauses just a moment as Quinn moves up, then he tumbles past everyone to flank the creature and attack, critically wounding the creature. Quinn smites the creature hitting it three times, but finds out that it is not a dragon and while he almost kills it, it is still standing. Hyram, meanwhile, finishes off the remaining templar.
The creature attacks Quinn with hits bite, gore and hooves, hitting all but once and wounding the Paladin. The woman, seeing and feeling the pain being heaped upon her companion, shouts, "we will return" as she steps back, casts a spell and is no longer there.
Hyram will move next to Quinn and attack the creature.
He swings valiantly but misses.
"Do we have an Invisibility Purge??" Aladir questions aloud as he unloads on the creature.