But we don't know how long it will be before the devil comes for our friend! Petals worries, she gathers the other two potions and hands them to Alessandro Drink them... please.
Alessandro will drink them.
"Thank you, Petals. You are a good friend. All of you are. I am not lobbying to delay for this devil to come. I'm just saying that I doubt we have much to fear from interference from outside. As soon as we are strong enough to continue, we should certainly do so. But it would be foolish to push forward unprepared. From what we've encountered so far, the dangers in here are just as deadly as a devil could be and we haven't even gotten that far in."
Catina nods to Varius's statement. "That's what I fear as well." She looks doubtful as Alessandro chimes in. "It could be that time operates differently here, but I'm guessing it doesn't. We came in one after the other, without very large gaps in between. And when you went back to see if we could exit, you weren't gone for too long." That brings her back to the second point. "They might think that we've gone, until we pop in again, without anyone ever having seen us going or coming. That's going to be really suspicious. It's better to push on. A leap of faith, if you will."
The tiefling can be seen shivering as Petals menions the devil coming for here, but Catina does her best to pretend she hasn't heard the remark. "We're lucky for so many potions to deal with this weakness, at least. She checks whether Varius and Alessandro look well enough, then notes that Petals is still worse off, and has passed both of the last two potions around. [b]"That's very kind of you, Petals," Catina says as she moves to support the elven woman. "We'll get you back to your strength when this is all over and I can pray for spells again."
When everyone's ready, Catina prepares to make the jump.
If you want to make the jump, please roll an Acrobatics check. If you have other ideas in mind on how to get across the shaft, such as magical means of flying or levitation and so on, declare it in your post. Now we need to push forward a little bit. Who takes the initiative?
She notices the shivering, feeling like dirt about bringing it up again, even though she felt it important to not forget. She does smile in thanks to Catina's words, not liking feeling weak as a kitten but answers Their our fighters, I'm your... um... musical support. she jokes lamely.
Looking over the shaft We could use the rope Varius had the forethought to bring. If we can't get it grappled properly, we could tie it around Alessandro's or my waist... the way he tumbles through combat and the tricks he does has impressed Petals, but she doesn't want to volunteer him. So she volunteers them both. ... once we are over we could tie it against something to help the others.
|
Faustinia nods in agreement at the plan. ”I suppose we don't have the luxury of rest at the moment.” She eyes the gap warily and pulls another scroll from her pack. ”Have we got a rope? If so, let's tie it around whomever will be making the leap. That way the rest of us will be able to hold it in case they fall.”
Faustinia takes another look and takes a deep breath. ”I'm not as spry as I used to be. So you all better hang on to that rope!”
---
Catina swallows as she looks down. "It's too much to hope for gravity to work the same her as it did around the stairwell, is it? That if you miss the jump, you just fall out of the ceiling?" She shakes her head. "I think Alessandro should do it. If he makes it, he'll be able to hold the rope and allow the others to climb down." She looks as if apologizing to Petals. "With your current weakness, we couldn't ask you to do it."
Whoever is chosen to make the leap, Catina makes sure they have the confidence to make it work. She puts a hand on Alessandro's shoulder . "You're very brave to do this, and I have all the confidence in the world in you. Remember, all of us are holding the rope, so nothing can go wrong." With her touch, she instills love and self-confidence in her brave companion.
Alessandro steps forward. "I'll go first. I'd gladly leap to my death for you."
Alessandro looks at the void. A bead of sweat drips down his forehead. Even if I make the distance, that's a 30 foot drop. This is going to hurt.
Alessandro gasps as the wind is knocked out of him on impact with the hard stone then stands up and braces his end of the rope.
"I'll hold this end. Try to climb across and don't look down."
Alessandro makes it to the other side pretty easily. The jump didn't seem too hard. Now, there's a rope suspended across the shaft. Three of the remaining Irises can try and climb across the shaft using the rope (). The last one, however, must find a way to fix the rope in place if he or she wants to use the rope to climb across the shaft; otherwise, he/she will have to jump.
Catina claps here hands together in relief when she watches Alessandro make the jump. "Well done!" She then turns to the companions still on the bridge. "Climbing down with the rope shouldn't be too hard, if we just take it slow." She tries to consider the logistics. "We should tie off the rope somewhere on this bridge. Otherwise getting back out of there will prove very hard. Varius, could you tie off the rope here?"
Petals joins in with the excited/relieved applause for Alessandro's display of acrobatic skill. He made it look easy and lifted a little of the despair the shadows draped on them by doing so.
I'll go over Petals offers while strapping all her belongings down as tightly as she can. Then slowly, inch by inch, she shimmies across.
Petals does realize one thing quickly. Skirts and climbing ropes don't mix. She manages but with little of her dignity intact. Blushing like a setting sun, she doesn't look at Alessandro out of embarrassment. Instead she just grabbed any slack the rope has to help anchor it for the next person.
|
|
Faustinia covers her eyes as Alessandro makes the jump. Hearing his thump when he lands and the others clapping, she breathes a sigh of relief and slowly peeks out from behind her hands. ”Excellent work!” she calls down as the others keep the rope taut.
As Petals goes across the rope first, Faustinia averts her eyes as the elven girl’s skirt hangs scandalously. Instead Faustinia’s gaze falls on the deep, pitch black pit below. Perhaps, like the hole in the room before them, it gently looped back to the top. Or maybe it was a bottomless fall into nothingness, or a portal to the Abyss. In any case, Faustinia looks shaken and hesitant when it's her turn. ”I don't suppose we have a second rope for someone to hold on to that we can tie around me? Just in case?” she asks weakly. She takes a deep breath and reaches out a shaky hand to start the climb down.
---
Varius stares woozily at the setup, the strangeness of the room hitting him now that the rope is set up as a point to fix on. Seeing most of the group cross safely, Varius nods over to Catina.
"I'm happy to tie off the rope."
Varius looks around for a place where he can safely secure the rope on his side of the pit. With that done, he swiftly crosses to the other side.
"You don't need a second rope, Faustinia," Catina comforts the noblewoman, touching her softly on the arm for support. "You've persevered whenever faced with challenges, and you always persevere. No simple rope will be too much for Lady Xerysis, will it?" She watches the woman climb down after Petals, and gives her an encouraging smile. See?
With the two other woman safely across, Catina unbuckles her breastplate, to give her more ease of movement. "Right, Varius. I'll see you there." As the last one, she also crosses.
Now that he's on the other side, Alessandro looks around to see what's there.
"I have 50 ft. of rope if it is needed elsewhere."
When Varius safely lands on the other side of the shaft after tying the rope, the whole group is in a new area.
***
These halls are lined with doors—entrances into various jail cells. Each stout wooden door contains a narrow barred window set at eye level, and is also barred from the outside, with the exception of the door to one of the cells in particular, which is unbarred . These halls wrap around the back sides of the cells, where smoky glass windows are set at eye level. When someone in this hall touches the glass, it clears and allows observation of the cell beyond, while inside the cell the window remains unseen.
The Irises start looking inside the cells and find that the vast majority of them contain a simple straw mattress and the mummified remains of a long-dead prisoner. All of these prisoners seem to have died of old age or neglect.
***
The last cell contains something unexpected. A seething devil deftly wielding a graceful and deadly glaive made of smoky red crystal as hard and resilient as steel. while below its toothy maw writhes a hideous, twitching beard.
General information: Elite warriors in Hell’s legions, bearded devils — or barbazus — fight savagely in the name of their infernal lords and command mindless hordes of the damned into battle. They collect and train with their infernally forged glaives among the vaults of Hell’s third layer, Erebus, but inevitably return to the first layer, Avernus, to serve at the side of the dread lord Barbatos.
Barbazus are fond of making charge attacks with their glaives, and try to maintain a 10-foot gap between themselves and their foes so they can use their signature polearms to great effect. Against a foe that has greater reach (or one able to otherwise avoid the devil’s favored tactic), they drop their glaives and resort to their claws and hideous beards.
At attention, bearded devils stand over 6 feet tall (though their squatting battle stances often make them appear shorter) and weigh upward of 200 pounds.
Varius flips his swords into his hands, slowly exhaling and looking a little nervously over his shoulders. Finally he relaxes a little and smiles.
"And here I thought 'I'm going to be an adventurer, everyone who does adventures needs rope!' - glad I was right."
He pokes a little disdainfully through the cells and then stops dead as the devil is spotted.
"Uh..." he glances over to Faustinia looking for some guidance.
Like Varius, Catina takes a deep breath when they've all safely crossed. "I'm glad you did, Varius. I'll surely bring some as well, when we go on another of these... missions?" She searches for the proper word, not quite sure whether 'adventure' suffices. The tiefling dons her breastplate again. "Well done, everyone. Let's see what's up ahead."
As they search the cell complex, Catina clearly doesn't like what she sees. "That's quite horrible," she mutters. "Would the Lord-Mayor have this installed? Or is it older then Aberian's Folly, and did he simply find a way here? Probably the last, I suppose..." She looks at Faustinia when she realizes the nature of the cells, but doesn't speak up. It might be better for the others not to know.
When they come to the last cell and find it inhabited, Catina takes a step back in suprise. "A... a devil?" The presence of one of Hell's denizens suddenly makes her much more aware of her own heritage, and the physical marks that it brings. "How... how long do you think it's been here?" She follows up with a second question, spoken hesitatingly. "Do you think he know stuff about this place? Should we talk to him?"
--
|
|
Faustinia shares a look with Catina when they realize the nature of the cells. "I don't know, but it does suggest some interesting origins for the rumors around the mayor's son..." she replies, creasing her brow and trying not to dwell too much on the implications of who would have been imprisoned here. After a beat, her eyes lingering on the mummified remains in one of the cells, she adds, ”You know, I don’t think it would be long enough to get my spells back, but… if we desperately needed to rest, these cells would let us sleep a full night in just a couple of hours. It would help us get our strength back, and I bet I would be rested enough to draw on my necklace’s power again… just a thought.”
As they move forward and spot the devil in the last cell, Faustinia's heart starts pounding in her chest. She nervously returns Varius' glance before answering Catina. "I don't know. He could very well have been here for a long time. These cells... they can keep a person alive with magic, as if they had food and drink. But they say devils can subsist on air and spite alone. So it could potentially have been here for ages. Let me get a better look at it."
Pushing past through the hallway toward the cell window, Faustinia peeks in and assesses the fiend, brow wrinkled in concentrated recollection. She turns to the others and whispers, "It's a Barbazu - a bearded devil.“ Recalling pages from a tome on Hell’s hierarchy, she has a clear picture of its role. Although seeing one in person is far more intimidating than just reading about their ferocity. She explains, still whispering, "These fiends are Hell’s elite warriors. They’re well trained with those glaives of theirs, but just as savage with their claws and those strange ‘beards’ of theirs. We must be careful, this won’t be like fighting those lemures - the literal ones, I mean, not the informal usage.“
Faustinia takes a deep breath, her inhale shaky as she trembles. ”I suppose… it might know more about what’s going on here. It is a cruel and ferocious warrior, but fundamentally devils are creatures of order as well. It would likely honor a deal, if we could get it to agree to one.” Faustinia takes another deep breath, then swallows hard.
If the others think it’s a worthwhile idea, she approaches the small, barred window. Her heart pounds inside her chest, and trying to ignore the sound of rushing blood filling her ears, Faustinia calls into the cell in Infernal, ”B-Barbazu! We seek information about this accursed place and you seem to be in quite the predicament yourself. Can - can we strike a deal?”
---
"Well, if it is indeed trapped, it can't hurt to try talking to it. But why would whoever imprisoned it, let it keep its weapon?" Alessandro wonders outwardly.
Petals stomach turns at the suggestion of sleeping in the cells. Her time with the bastard's flashing in her head, the sudden fear evident to anyone looking.
No one presses the idea though so she moves on, eyes wide at the devil in the cell. Be careful she whispers to Faustinia before the devil responds There are oodles of songs about devils turning a simple conversation into a binding contract for your soul.
Varius shoots a very, very worried glance over to Petals, nodding once.
"Whatever he tells us, find out what he wants first. The one thing I know about the devils is you never come out on the better side of the deal."
"This creature is in no position to bargain. Don't offer it anything. If it doesn't provide any useful information, leave it to rot and we're in no worse position than before."
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
Infernal Wound (Su) The damage a bearded devil deals with its glaive inflicts persistent wounds that cause 2 points of bleed damage. Bleed caused from an infernal wound is particularly difficult to stanch—a DC 17 Heal check stops the damage, and any attempt to heal a creature suffering from an infernal wound must succeed on a DC 16 caster level check or the spell does not function. Success indicates the healing works normally and stops all bleed effects on the victim. The infernal wounds caused by a bearded devil are a supernatural ability of the devil, not of the weapon.
Spell-like abilities (CL 12th)
At will— greater teleport (self plus 50 lbs. of objects only)
1/day— summon (level 3, 1 bearded devil or 6 lemures, 50%)
The fiery eyes of the devil reflect themselves into Faustinia’s for a moment. The barbazu seems to be considering the wizard’s offer. Then, Faustinia graps something from the spark of cleverness in the devil’s eyes. This barbazu has lost his mind long ago, and is now a deranged being kept anchored to this world through powerful magic.
The bars of the door start to tremble and fall.
The devil smirks unpleasantly, with a hint of insanity in his fiery eyes. He tightens the grasp on his glaive and charges forward!
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
The barbazu roars furiously, but his fit of anger seems to suddenly come to an end when the devil stops at a distance of 5 feet from the door and holds his glaive with both of his red hands. He’s clearly waiting for you to make the first step, staying true to its kind tactical wisdom even in his insanity.
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
: none
Barbazu
Alessandro
Lady Faustinia
Varius
Petals
Catina
______________________________________________________
--- ---
=======
========
"... oh goody. Don't get lined up in the hallway - push in now! I'll uh... distract it."
Realizing the group is trapped in a relatively difficulty hallway, Varius goes for his natural first response - the riskiest move he can possibly make. Rushing down the hallway, he brings up his blades defensively as he pushes into the cell to get up close and personal with the devil and its long weapon.
========
========
"What happened," Catina stammers. It takes her a while to react. "Why did the bar come undone all of a sudden?" Varius's call to action makes her realize that such concerns should wait for later.
"If his glaive is so dangerous, we should box him in now," the tiefling answer's Faustinia. She's sure that a retreat sounds like a good option to the noblewoman, but she herself has experienced what it's like to fight with the glaive in close quarters. "Quick, box it in!" She draws her simple mace, its head treated with silver and moves forward once the others have gone in. Feeling a little awkward about using the metal that hurts her to strike the barbazu, she brings down the weapon nonetheless.
--
|
|
As she waits for the devil’s reply, she whispers back to the group to tell them about barbazus. ”You know, these fiends are supposedly able to summon more of their kind, or a group of lemures to command. On top of that, they can cast a very impressive teleportation spell. I wonder what is preventing it from simply going where it wants, or at least summoning other devils to try to help it escape…”
==========
==========
Faustinia’s eyes widen with fear as the bars fall away from the door and the devil roars. While the door is still unopened and between her and it, she flees back down the hall. ”Watch out! The wounds it causes with that glaive resist healing. And its ‘beard’ carries a filthy disease, but at least it can be healed! Use your silver!”
Faustinia moves down the hall to stand on the other side of the door, letting her staff clatter to the ground as she pulls out her crossbow. She leans around the corner and fires a shot into the crowded cell as best she can.
---
She shakes her head in disbelief as the bars come down. this place is horrible she thinks, everything even the prisoners are trying to kill them.
Silver? she perks up at Faustinia's words. She lifts her hammer to charge forward, but it's heaviness reminds her of her current state. Alessandro, HERE! she pushes her heavy silver hammer to him.
Then she starts to sing
Alessandro takes the hammer from Petals and steps up to attack.
"What kind of shoddy craftsmanship is the cell that the prisoner can let himself out?
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
Alessandro opens the door, but as soon as he does so, he finds himself suddenly attacked by the barbazu. The attack is quick and accurate, and deals a terrible wound to Alessandro.
Faustinia misses wildly, while Varius succeeds in pursuing his intention. Indeed, he provokes an attack from the barbazu, as he wanted to, but his defensive techniques don’t protect him as he hoped, and the barbazu manages to harm him too.
At least, Varius courage allows Catina to step into the room without being attacked and to use her light mace to assault the devil. The tiefling manages to get past the devil’s defense and hits him!
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
The barbazu roars furiously, and seems to be about to retaliate against Catina, but the party has done a good job in cornering the devil and limit his options. The barbazu darts a few angry looks around himself, then distorts his lips in something which could be defined as a smirk, perhaps…He lets the glaive fall to the ground and pounces on Catina with both his vicious claws. Catina parries the first assault, but there’s nothing she can do against the second one in quick succession, and the barbazu leaves his mark on her as well.
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
: none
Barbazu
Alessandro
Lady Faustinia
Varius
Petals
Catina
______________________________________________________
--- ---
Petals while still singing about... something... she's barely paying attention to the words, inwardly gasps at the tearing bleeding wound that staggers Alessandro back. She fumbles in her pouch for her wand and quickly moves behind him.
The healing energy barely counters the gash, but does stop the bleeding.
========
Round 2
========
Alessandro attacks the devil again but fails spectacularly.
"Thank you, Petals. Every bit helps."
=========
=========
Catina shrieks as she watches the glaive strike Alessandro. "You have to heal him, Petals, and I hope the wand has enough power for it. He'll bleed to death, otherwise!" She knows as soon as she says it that giving voice to such consequences does little for Alessandro's spirits, but done is done. The only thing she can do is strike, and at least she's found that she can hit it.
When the barbazu drops his glaive, Catina stares at it, and the distracting is enough to lower her guard. She reels from the blow, and raises her mace again. His glaive, could it be like Whisperer of Souls? A weapon of evil, meant for me to wield and purify She pushes back the thought for later, resisting the urge to pick the weapon up right then. It's too cramped in here to use it anyway. Still, she warns her companions. "Don't pick up the glaive. There's... something about it." Instead, she brings down her mace again, hoping for another hit. She also hopes to initiate a parley. "You attacked first, but we are willing to parley. Maybe you can aid us with information about the Knot, and we might be able to offer something as well." It's a feeble hope, and she doesn't relent in her attack until the devil does.
--
==========
==========
"Hey! I was going to disarm you!" protests Varius, trying his best to ignore the horrible bleeding stab wound. He quickly sets to work with his silver swords, taking advantage of the devil's exposed side.
"Attack me, damnit! I'm the annoying one!"
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
Alessandro misses the devil with Petal’s silver hammer, and Lady Faustinia continues to fire inaccurate bolts at the devil. The party is not doing very well, but Varius immediately turns the odds in their favor with two powerful and precise attacks which overcome the devil’s defenses. Unfortunately, however, Varius’ weapons are not made of the right material to harm a fiend, and he deals much less damage then he would have expected. And while Petals keeps singing and healing her allies, Catina tries another attack, but again, she doesn’t connect.
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
The barbazu retaliates immediately, focusing on one opponent at a time, in order to reduce the number of his foes. He gives no answer to Faustinia, and from his behavior it appears clear that it has gone mad, probably because of his prolonged permanence down here. And since he had started with Catina before, he keeps focusing his attacks on the tiefling girl.
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
: none
Barbazu
Alessandro
Lady Faustinia
Varius
Petals
Catina
______________________________________________________
--- ---
=======
=======
Understanding Faustinia is smarter than him, Varius just keeps trying to kill the devil, albeit with shakier attacks than before.
=========
=========
"No, it's not that," Catina replies to Faustinia, not quite making sense since she's also confused. "It's not about the wound, I think. The glaive is... It spoke to me." She's reeling from the blows that the devil dealt to her, and she looks back to the exit. If I could only reach that weapon. But I can't, not without that creature standing over it! With another longing look at the glaive on the floor, she steps back, pushing past Petals with her silver mace held out to ward off any parting attacks from the barbazu. "I'm sorry," she whispers to the weapon on the ground as she steps around the corner, only partially aware of her own words.
--
Spoke to you! Petals almost blurts out in shock. She's the one that hears voices, but steady as the day is long Catina. Maybe there is something in the beasts claws infecting her?
Worried, she moves to heal her, but stops concerned about the still deep gash across Alessandro's chest. What will happen to him if the hacking devil gets a good hit on him? So she turns back, singing of pies and biscuits for some reason.
=========
Round 3
=========
Alessandro moves to keep the devil from pursuing Catina and finally smacks the fiend hard with his silver warhammer.
"This cell is too confined. If I could only get into flanking. This creature is tough and we aren't going to get any information from it. What say we snatch up that glaive and use it to re-bar the devil back in his cage? We'd just need to make sure we are all out first."
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
Alessandro finally hits, and thanks to Petal’s silver hammer, he also deals full damage to the barbazu! In the meantime, Lady Faustinia misses again. Unfortunately, Varius is not able to hit the devil. The first attacks misses by just one inch, while the second one misses more widely. Petals keep infusing Alessandro with healing energy, while Catina withdraws.
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
The deranged devil howls at seeing his prey flee away. After roaring with furiousness, the devil concentrates his hateful attentions on Alessandro, who has just hit him with Petals’ hammer, quickly gaining the first spot in the devil’s personal chart of the most dangerous enemy.
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
: none
Barbazu
Alessandro
Lady Faustinia
Varius
Petals
Catina
______________________________________________________
--- ---
|
|
==========
==========
Faustinia looks at the glaive on the ground with new consideration, knitting her brow in concern. It's only a momentary distraction before she hears the devil roar and tear into Alessandro. The weapon will have to wait, whispers or no, she thinks, trying to refocus. As Catina whispers her “sorry,” Faustinia replies, ”No need to be sorry, dear, just stay close.”
Trying to evaluate Alessandro’s plan in the heat of battle, Faustinia’s mind rushes to consider it. ”The creature is well bloodied - we could still fight or flee, but this should help either way,” she says back, then reaches around the doorway. She says some quiet arcane mumblings, makes the correct motion, and touches Alessandro on the shoulder. In an instant, he vanishes.
The spell cast, she backs up to make room in the hallway and pulls out a potion from her bag. ”Catina! I have this if you need it!” she calls down the hall, waving what is clearly one of Arael’s healing potions.
---
========
========
Catina's been on the receiving end of the devil's ire, and doesn't begrudge Alessandro's idea to retreat and lock it up. However, it doesn't sit right with her that they might have to leave the glaive to do it. Plus, it was her the glaive had spoken to. She adds her voice to Faustinia's. "We've dealt as much as we've taken, and it's still cornered. With Petals and me healing, we can take it!"
Catina steps up and is about to heal Alessandro when she sees him vanishing from sight. That makes her reconsider her actions. "I have one of my own, Faustinia." She takes her own potion and quaffs it.
--
=========
=========
Moving swiftly from foot to foot, Varius nods some thanks over his shoulder before lunging at the devil once more.
=========
Round 4
=========
Whether we plan on using it or not, Alessandro takes advantage of the invisibility to grab the glaive and toss it out into the hallway to prevent the devil from using it.
While still invisible, he silently keeps his weapon ready in case the creature does something to provoke.
Petals has the gaping moment Catina had as well, about to heal Alessandro and then Poof. She does continue her song, and instead touches Catina to finish up her own healing.
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
Lady Faustinia casts a spell through which she’s able to cause Alessandro to become suddenly invisible.
When Alessandro, in his new invisible form, picks up the glaive, he feels something strange. An odd sensation, similar to a hot shiver, runs through his spine. Then, for a moment, Alessandro feels like his brain is being silently probed from the inside. The sensation lasts for only a few moments, however, because as soon as Alessandro throws the glaive away, he stops feeling it.
In the meantime, Varius continues to fight furiously, without a pause. Once again, his first attack connects, but it is still not enough to put the barbazu down. The devil, heavily bleeding, easily avoids the second attack.
Petals and Catina continue encouraging their companions and healing their wounds.
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
The barbazu, deprived of his target once again, roars furiously, the echo of his anger resounding throughout the Knot. His muscular arms are wounded and bleeding, but he still has the strength to attack. This time, he throws himself at Varius. Every resistance is useless against the devil’s rage, and Varius gets trampled by his assaults.
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
: none
Barbazu
Lady Faustinia
Alessandro
Varius
Petals
Catina
______________________________________________________
--- ---