While running, Hinagiku quickly notices that the light of the fiery wagon and of Ary's sword quickly declines. She slows down, letting Ary catch up with her so she might not advance in complete darkness, but still keeps a short distance between the two them in case another ball of fire flies towards them.
Val immediately cuts her speed a bit as Hina slows down, not wanting to run ahead of the ground entirely on her own. She keeps a bit more than twenty feet to one side of them, so another fireball won't catch them all at once, but stay roughly in step with them otherwise for as long as they're the furthest forward. If anyone else takes the lead, Val picks up her pace to keep up, always trying to stay with the front of the group so no one charges into the demons alone.
Annabelle hoists Markus up onto Blossom with her, and then they ride ahead - keeping pace with Hinagiku and Valaria isn't quite easy due to the speed spell that's on them, but it's not hard.
She draws her glaive while she goes, shouting a battle cry and raising it in the air.
When they spot the enemies, Markus calls upon the spirits of his predecessors - the living and the dead - to bolster his allies' morale in battle.
Then, he's hoisted up onto Blossom by Annabelle and they ride forward together.
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The wagon catches ablaze, and the heroes are forced to act quickly. Ary ducks and rolls, quaffing a potion. She turns around and presses her ring to Hinagiku with Bless Weapon. Meanwhile, Isilme activates her wand of haste – catching the whole group with 2 castings. Ehren casts owl’s wisdom on himself, and Markus catches a ride on Blossom after casting bless on the group. They then run forward as one group – the slower Ary and Ehren taking up the rear, staying 20’ apart.
The demons aren’t idle during this time, though. The mounted knight lifts his visor to drink a potion, and then readies himself to charge.
The schir hesitate for a moment, before casting their own spells - shimmering, faintly red barriers appear around the both of them.
Savash, in the meantime, casts his own spells. He then walks upwards, into the air itself, until he is 30' from the ground.
Savash stares out at the group. When Ary is within 170 feet, he attempts to dispel bless - but Markus' ancestral magic is too powerful.
Hinagiku rushes forwards, and is met in battle by the cavalier. As the man charges forwards, the heroes recognize him as Chaleb Sazomal! He still has his cocky grin - and his banner of the cockatrice is proudly displayed on his new steed.
But Hinagiku is too fast for him - he misses completely. Meanwhile, Savash flings a small ball of flame at Ary - leaving an angry, red burn.
The farthest visible schir turns and casually beheads one of the prisoners. The man's head rolls onto the ground beside of him.
-------
Initiative Rollz
Initiative Order
1. Valaria (Mythic Heroism)
2. Ehren (Cavesight, Owl's Wisdom)
3. Savash (Air Walk, Produce Flame)
4. Markus
5. Schir #2 (PoG, Exp.Retreat)
6. Isilme (Run)
7. Schir #1 (PoG, Exp.Retreat)
8. Annabelle
9. Ary (Run)
10. Hinagiku (Bless Weapon, Run)
11. Chaleb (Haste, Charge)
Chaleb grunts and cusses - he hadn't expected the unarmed, unarmored woman to be so damn fast. He spots Ary.
"Hey! Bishop! Long time no see!" He grins - his swagger not at all hindered by his fumble. "Why don't you just lay down that pretty sword of yours and take a seat on my stallion, baby. Then I'll make sure we spare your life at least."
Valaria is up.
"The two schirs nearby are protected from good, Savash is using produce flame and, obviously, air walk" Isilme says to the others as they close.
Val groans as she recognizes the black rider. "You've come up in the world Chaleb. Running errands for a bunch of spite demons instead of running around like a psychopath and hoping that a demon will think your worth his time enough to let you run errands for him." She braces herself and launches at the mounted warrior. She isn't about to let him get away again. Not after he managed to slip through her fingers last time. Her speed seems almost superhuman as she charges across the ground and leaps up, her blade going straight for the fallen warrior's chest.
Something akin to a snicker, but with decidedly more snorting erupts from Ary as the man 'offers her a ride'. The pitiable flame that hits her evoking memories of the fireball, but being pitiable compared to even what she's seen a dretch do. "Stop thinking with your cock, big guy." but then her voice turns serious. "Help us free the prisoners, now and I'll not turn you over to the man whose students you planned to sacrifice."
Chaleb spins around, seeing Valaria coming. He attempts to skewer her through.
Lagging behind the rest of the group, Ehren picks up the pace, racing to the front line.
Savash stares at Ehren, and attempts to dispel Owl's Wisdom - but fails entirely. He grunts in confusion.
Another brimorak - this one normal size, only three feet tall - emerges from up on the ravine. It grins evilly and points at where the most enemies are fighting - Valaria, Hinagiku, and Ehren... and even Chaleb. A small, pea-sized ball of flame shoots at them... and explodes!
Hinagiku leaps out of the way, and Chaleb and his horse are caught in the blaze. Valaria is too slow - and takes the brunt of it.
"What the f!%@?" Chaleb cusses as his horse nearly dies.
Markus is up.
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As Val closes in on Chaleb, everything seems to slow down for a moment as his lance thrusts straight at her, trying to stab into her side. Her off-hand lashes out with lightning speed, catching the point of his lance between the blades of her starknife. With a deft twist, she pushes the lance aside, causing it to strike nothing but empty air as she takes the final step in close and slams her blade into his torso. However, there is little that she can do against a blast of fire. "Aw, what's wrong?" she taunts as Chaleb takes the blast nearly as badly. "Demon master not care about you? Big surprise."
The brimorak up on the cliff closes its eyes in bliss as it surveys the enormous scorch mark its fireball left behind. Markus hops off of Blossom and heads in the direction of Chaleb. He isn't able to get far, though, because he lacks expertise at getting off of horses.
He frowns, knowing that he has to boost the power of his magic in order to effect Chaleb. He shouts, "Isilme, Ary, Annabelle - you have to move forward and take on the Schirs."
Then he speaks a few words of power... 'magnus-fragor glaciem'
An icy explosion envelops Chaleb and his horse, coating them in rime. Valaria and Ehren are caught in the fringes of the explosion, but Hinagiku once again moves out of the way.
One of the schir moves forwards, moving impossibly fast.
Isilme is up!
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"You read my mind Markus. Ary, Annabelle, I'm going to try to disable the Schir near the prisoners.
Isilme moves forward swiftly, her speed still enhanced by the haste spell. As she closes on the schir, she turns her attention to the one in back near the hostages. "You back there, look here! Good, now that I've goat your attention: Looks like Chaleb's horse didn't last too long... you might say he was stuck between a cock and a hard place! I can't express the schir delight I feel at recounting that for you," she calls out to the schir in back, infusing magic into her intonation to attempt to leave it unable to focus on anything but the joke.
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The schir falls to the ground, laughing - its voice deep, throaty bleats. The nearby captured crusaders stir in their manacles, amazed.
After a few moments of shrieking laughter, the creature regains its composure, though it is still laying on the ground.
Annabelle is up.
"Hey, Chaleb!", Annabelle shouts. "You picked the wrong side!"
Then, she kicks Blossom into action and charges Chaleb, swinging her glaive with only the might that undeath could muster. She focuses on him, knowing that she must bring down the opposing cavalier quickly, so that her allies can move on to the demons.
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Ary watches the second fireball erupt... and then the iceball, for lack of a better term, shatter, leaving Chaleb on the ground. She whispers to Markus, and by extension the others, through the link. "Easy, remember, they're on our side. Hit the Brimorak with those, we can't reach him right now. Daisy, keep Gloomy protected if Sparky comes down for him. Remember, don't breathe that gas."
As she crosses the battlefield towards the cavalrymen, she calls out to Chaleb, "Do you know what a Thoxel is? It's a type of demon. Demons born of traitors. Men who abandoned their post and let their allies die, so they could seek glory of their own. Do you know what their job is? To get flayed and burned. For all eternity. Because even demons don't trust traitors, Chaleb. If you die here, that is all you have to gain. An eternity of torment. If you win? Same thing. Eventually, they kill you. And your eternal reward for a deserter's soul is torment. Stand down, soldier. If he surrenders do not kill him."
Annabelle charges the downed cavalier, easy and quick, her glaive slides down and deep into the fallen man.
Running helps Hinagiku focus. The feel of the earth and stone through the thin soles of her shoes, first on her heels, then on the tip of her feet, allows her to concentrate on the movements, trying to perfect each and every one of them.
This is all she needs to recover most of her calm. Now grounded, she finds it much easier to deviate the lance aimed at her heart with a push of her own spear, to hide behind the horse right in time to avoid the fiery blast, and to jump away from the blast of cold created by Markus.
Seeing as the two brimoraks are out of her reach, Hinagiku chooses to focus on the one named Chaleb. In one deft jump, her knee lands on the man's waist, between two pieces of his armor. She follows with a quick jab to his throat, using the hand holding the potion. Finally, she applies her foot on the man's codpiece to push herself away.
Chaleb curls up on the ground, flinging his glowing lance away from him, and putting his hands on his head.
"Okay! Okay! I give up! Please don't kill me..." he whimpers.
Round 2
Valaria is up!
"We won't kill you," she tells Chaleb as he cowers like the rat that he is. "But you're going to face what you've done. And if you get executed for that, well it's not my problem. Pray that the goddess you abandoned still has some mercy left for your pathetic life." She spins and charges down the nearest demon, her blade flashing in the light.
Whether her blade impacts of not, she immediately falls back into a defensive stance, ready to reflect a counter strike from the demon.
Ehren notices the pea-sized orb a second too late to respond properly. Before he can raise his shield the orb explodes violently, sending a torrent of flame sweeping over all of them. All he can manage is to instinctively shut his eyes and brace himself against the scorching pain... but it never comes. What he feels instead is a familiar power welling up from within himself, reaching to push the conflagration away from his flesh. Opening his eyes, Ehren looks down at his arms, noticing the ley just before it recedes, leaving him unharmed.
Ah, there it is. He looks to the fallen horseman, genuinely surprised to see that it is indeed Chaleb, but much less surprised that the cavalier's demonic "allies" had betrayed him. Relieved that the man had the good sense to surrender, Ehren turns his attention toward what lies ahead. He moves past Chaleb, sparing him one last glance before hustling to catch up with Ary and Isilme.
Valaria charges at the schir... but the spite demon sees her coming and steps out of the way, swinging at Valaria with his fearsome halberd as she comes. She manages to dig her heels into the ground and stop herself.
Savash smirks from his station high in the air watching as his minion cuts deeply into Valaria.
"Skarzashúrz búshdoghub. Bushi hat di glimbak dúzg al pul bush hi ashi katashug har i. Bal ponk il ab"
Savash raises a hand at Ary. Her breastplate begins to warm up, but the demon is not powerful enough to do anything to Radiance nor Faith. He then observes the distant tiefling's speed and dexterity - he wonders if there was something he could do about it, but decides that it must just be innate to her.
The other, smaller brimorak walks straight off the edge of the cliff as if it continued into the air. It does the same to Valaria - the blades in her hands and her chain shirt start to heat up...
Markus is up.
Ary watches as Savash says a long string of gibberish. She really needs to learn abyssal... and then points at her. She sighs as her breastplate begins to slowly heat up. "Is it getting hot out here, or is it just me?"
Markus moves closer to the fracas, but he still isn't close enough to affect Savash or any of the schir - he had to rely on his martially-inclined allies for just a few more moments. He can still help in his own way, and he speaks another word, curing Valaria of some of the wounds inflicted by the schir.
'tu donum', he says, and Valaria feels positive energy flow from Markus to her, sealing some of her wounds.
He knows he has just enough power left to affect Hinagiku with something critically important, so he calls out to her, "Hinagiku, if you could approach me, I'd appreciate it."
The schir with Valaria lunges forwards to gore her with its horns, then steps back to cleave into her with the halberd, swinging low at her feet. The nimble woman quickly steps backwards, avoiding both blows.
Isilme is up.
Isilme takes stock of the situation, trying to figure out how best to go about getting to the prisoners. Realizing their speed advantage would disappear momentarily, she decides her best bet is to empower the group again, as the Schir near the prisoners was still getting back up. "Hinagiku's too far... she thinks, considering whether or not she should wait.
"Hinagiku, get closer to Val, I am going to reapply haste on us all. she says as she moves up to be able to get a good shot at the schir near the hostages next round.
The schir on the ground growls as it hefts itself to its feet. It grins wickedly, turning to one of the helpless crusaders - driving the spear-end of the halberd into his chest.
Annabelle is up.
"Stay put, Chaleb!" shouts Annabelle, riding towards the schir menacing Valaria and Ary. She brings her glaive to bear against it, the leverage from her higher ground and its small stature allowing her to apply large amounts of force.
At the same time, Blossom steps back and forth, chomping its teeth, daring the demon to step forward.
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Annabelle rides up to the schir and swipes at it with her glaive - but she does not swing with enough strength to penetrate the creature's thick, natural hide.
Ignoring the nearby Schir (possibly to her own dissatisfaction), Ary charges across the battlefield towards the other Schir... the one distracted with killing the Crusaders. Her cloak flutters behind her, as her sword arcs upwards into a bloody crescent. In retrospect, it was probably a terrible idea... but if her life could buy other's time to escape...
The schir sees her coming from pretty far away, and lowers his halberd to receive her, inflicting a grisly wound... but Captain Bishop is made of some tough stuff, and is not fazed.
Hinagiku is up.
When called by Markus, Hinagiku has to shake off a feeling of unease, before moving toward the man, the impression left by the hallucination still having some hold over her. As she steps around the horse, without looking at Chaleb, she hears Isilme's demand.
"Mr. Markus has something for me too, I'll get as close as possible to you miss Isilme. If it's still too far, forget about me, I'll make due without the magic." she whispers approaching the white necromancer.
Round 3
Valaria is up.
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Val feels her armor growing slightly warm, but she barely even notices it with her natural resistance. "Is that the best you've got? I'm born of the deepest flames of Hell and the Abyss. Your little magic tricks don't phase me." She closes in on the Schir, with lightning speed, she knives spinning like a whirlwind of death.
Valaria cuts into the schir, skillfully raking her cold iron starknives across the demon's body.
Ehren watches Ary rush to the prisoners' aid before turning to face the nearby schir. The two brimoraks would have wait a moment. With little more than an errant thought, he draws on the ley's power, pulling it through the soles of his feet. He proceeds to kick the ground in front of him, digging his heel into the ground. The energy he had borrowed comes rushing right back out of his foot, imbued with the power of the spell he had cast. The shockwave ripples through the ground, exploding outward when it reaches the demon... but unfortunately the tremor is not strong enough to topple it.
Valaria's weapons and armor start to heat up - but true to her word the tiefling barely notices. Ary's breastplate likewise starts to sear into her skin, but she grits her teeth and powers through it.
Savash moves downwards, descending 10' until he is 20' from the ground. He then points at Annabelle, and her sheathed sword turns red-hot as it begins to heat up...
The other brimorak descends 10' and is now 35' from the ground. He tosses a small ball of flame at Ehren- it hits him in the neck, searing through his flesh and leaving a shiny red burn.
Markus is up.
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Markus summons the last of the ley's power to him, to grant him a new spell - the power of flight. He reaches out and touches Hinagiku, pointing at the brimorak and saying, "Go get 'em."
The schir closer to the melee steps up to Annabelle's steed and thrusts its halberd at Blossom, but Annabelle is a skilled rider - she simply guides Blossom away.
The other schir decides to address Ary. With a mighty grunt, it thrusts the spear-end of the halberd at Ary's abdomen But with surprising agility, she sidesteps the lunge and it stumbles forward, off-balance from its attack.
Annabelle is up.
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Hinagiku feels light, surprisingly light. She can slowly feel the pressure of the rocks on her feet diminish until she floats an inch above the ground. Surprisingly it does not feel strange. She can feel the same power that guides her action flow through the air around her, and lift her up. That somehow puts her at ease, for it is a reminder that even in strange lands and places, there is still a tiny glimmer of hope and stability.
"Thank you Mr. Markus." she says, her eyes now focused on Savash.
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Blossom snorts, kicking and biting at the schir before prancing back a few feet to allow Annabelle the opportunity to attack.
Annabelle swings her glaive in a direct downward chop, shouting a battle cry. When the weapon reaches its median, she stops the downwards motion, draws it back and thrusts it forward with a deadly stab.
Ary winces as her breast plate begins to singe flesh. Thank goodness for the leather between. She then slips between the Schir and the prisoners, bringing a heavy stroke around her side as she does so. As a result, the blade doesn't bite quite as deep as she would like. She then follows up the attack with another downward stroke, hoping to catch the enemy off guard... or too wounded to defend itself properly. "Remember, don't breathe near the Brimorak. Hold your breath." Ary whispers to the group as a whole.
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Annabelle thrusts her glaive through the schir and the creature trembles for a moment – before shuddering and disappearing into ichor, while Ary cuts into the remaining schir.
Fly, Hinagiku, fly!
"Ary, I will engage the brimorak Savash, and try to prevent it from assailing the prisoners." she whispers, to keep their commander appraised.
Lifting one knee up, and pushing herself with the other foot, she lifts herself from the ground and flies toward the large flying oni. For a moment she closes her eyes, finding the kernel of power within her. The one she can feel deep withing herself ever since the vision given to them by ब्रह्मा. Opening them, the opens up her arms, letting her spear describe a large arc in front of her. Using the distraction, she twirls on herself and brings her foot toward the chest of the monster. Her second foot flies toward the head of the oni.
Isilme closes quickly with Ary and the remaining Schir. She looks down at the two fallen soldiers, clearly one was dead, having been beheaded, but she makes a note to check on the other one as soon as she and Ary dispatch the Schir. Pondering their situation, she tries to think of something appropriate for bolstering the morale of her allies and the troops who had been captured. A story not coming to mind, Isilme decides instead to improvise, and begins to recite a poem in a loud, clear voice brimful of confidence.
"Though the ground beneath is cracked and torn,
and the prisoners' thoughts turn dark as the skies,
surrender not my friends, nor be forlorn,
for it is within hope our victory lies."
Surprised by Hinagiku's sudden burst of speed, Savash can only find the results of her quick strike... he reels back, eyes narrowed, trying to comprehend what he just saw.
The cold iron longspear arcs into his chest.
"...Ash ashdalom?" he snarls, spinning out of the way of her kick.
Hinagiku is enveloped by the horrible smelling fog cloud, but since she's been holding her breath for an hour now, it does not do anything to her.
Round 4
Valaria is up.
Val looks up at Hinagiku slamming into the brimorak, then at the remaining schir stuck between the two fighters. "I don't suppose you can do that again Gloomy. Because I think Daisy could use a hand and I Ary and Isilme have the little one handled."
Ehren is up.
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Inhaled: These poisons are delivered the moment a creature enters an area containing such poisons and do not usually have an onset time. For most inhaled poisons, 1 dose fills a volume equal to a 10-foot cube. A creature can attempt to hold its breath while inside the area to avoid inhaling the toxin. A creature holding its breath receives a 50% chance of not having to make a Fortitude save each round. See the rules for holding your breath and suffocation. If a creature is holding its breath and fails the constitution check to continue doing so, rather than suffocating it begins to breathe normally again (and is subject to the effects of the inhaled poison if still in the area).