"Yridhrennor!" Blink shouted, wishing she had a way to help the stricken Elf. Glaring at the demon, Blink hurled one of her Snowball at the creature, pouring her newly gained strength into it, and focused on the blasphemous being, studying it in preparation for a more brutal assault. The snowball struck solidly, square in the face, and the half-breed swayed on his feet.
Galin growls as he sees Yridhrennor drop like a rock, snapping his fingers as electricity crackles along the tips of three more arrows aimed at the demon, however two fly far wide. The first struck and its lightnings played across the demon but appeared not to touch it at all.
Theran sees Steave's head turn at the thump of a body hitting the floor and knows that the crusader is going to help. He nods and slams into the halfbreed to give Rojerz the opening to leave. He didn't connect, but it was enough to take the half-breed's eyes from Steave.
Steave's snaps toward Yridhennor and the demon that he had thought fled. He moves toward Galin and the wizard. "Get up! Get up! You're not done fighting yet!" The words of a hero of the first crusade could move even those on the brink of death, and Yridhrennor pulled back.
Then, he slings his shield at the demon across the room. The shield glances off the demon and ricochets back to Steave's hand.
The last cultist again flails at Theran, clanging against his iron hide while the half-breed fell back under his magical pall and worked healing magic on himself. The demon laughed and spoke an abyssal benediction of its own, which drew many of its wounds closed. It stepped up to Blink.
Demon is immune to electricity, so no love on the shock.
Cultist.
meh
Half-breed: GTFO. He goes back to the door in the distance and then
Demon
Taking a deep breath, Blink focused as the creature approached. Her attack would require most of her abilities to see through and would be an unprecedented expenditure of power for her. Once more she wavered from sight, blurring behind Shadow Veil.
Moving smartly to the side, Blink tried to use the confusion of the Blur effect to get into position for a sneak attack. Her silvered blade lashed out as soon as she thought she saw an opening.
...and then she vanished, appearing again several feet away thanks to her Shift ability.
Shaking his head as the electricity seems to do nothing to the demon, Galin dismisses it with a mere thought as he nocks yet more arrows and sends them the way of the demon.
Seeing his words ineffective in waking Yridhennor, the captain charges the demon slamming his shield two handed into it. "Be gone demon!"
Hearing the bastard's word, Theran advances in the darkness.
When he can see the ugly demonspawn, he swings wildly.
Taking a deep breath, Blink focused as the creature approached. Her attack would require most of her abilities to see through and would be an unprecedented expenditure of power for her. Once more she wavered from sight, blurring behind Shadow Veil.
Moving smartly to the side, Blink tried to use the confusion of the Blur effect to get into position for a sneak attack. Her silvered blade lashed out as soon as she thought she saw an opening. She connected and cut, though not as deeply as she hoped.
Shaking his head as the electricity seems to do nothing to the demon, Galin dismisses it with a mere thought as he nocks yet more arrows and sends them the way of the demon. Only one of his three arrows struck home.
Hearing the bastard's word, Theran advances in the darkness. When he can see the ugly demonspawn, he swings wildly and fails to connect.
Seeing his words ineffective in waking Yridhennor, the captain charges the demon slamming his shield two handed into it. "Be gone demon!" The shield struck deep and the demon staggered under the impact.
Across the building, the halfbreed demon swung his aspergillum in an arc that brought it through Theran's guard and crashing into his shoulder with jarring force.
Facing Steave, the demon finally closed for a proper battle of fangs and claws. The sentinel of Andoran caught the worst of it on his trusty shield, but one claw slipped past and dug deep into his forearm.
The cultist, suddenly almost alone, turned and raced after Theran. It ran wide to avoid his reach.
DR takes Blink's damage down to 7.
Both the Cultist and the half-demon have darkvision, so AoOs.
Halfsies gives it a swing.
, down to 6 with DR.
Just double-checked and I think I'm misreading Absorb Blow. I've been granting a flat DR 5...but on closer reading I think that's only if Theran keeps spending mythic power on it. Otherwise he defaults to the DR 1/epic and energy resistances for a minute per 10 points prevented by the ability. Oh well. I'll do it right from here on, unless I forget.
And his bite and claw
misses
Demon: Time for that full attack magic. Power attacking.
hit
And the cultist double moves to get to flanking Theran without an AoO.
Galin attempts to distract the demon from Steave, sending yet more arrows at the dark creature, but proving as ineffective as before.
Steave grins at the demon. "Let's do this." His first bash doubles the demon over, while the counter attack glances off.
He steps away from the cultist to finish off the half-demon. "This is for Yridhrennor!" As he swings, there are dozens of faint echoes "Yridhrennor!"
Seeing Staeve heading for the damnable creature, Blink once more vanished and teleported in behind the creature. Her weapons and attacks weren't effective - she really needed to pick up a cold iron sword - but she could at least provide a distraction to allow the other warrior to strike.
I am tired of this creature, Blink thought, focusing her own abilities into a second, sudden attack.
Seeing Staeve heading for the damnable creature, Blink once more vanished and teleported in behind the creature. Her weapons and attacks weren't effective - she really needed to pick up a cold iron sword - but she could at least provide a distraction to allow the other warrior to strike. I am tired of this creature, Blink thought, focusing her own abilities into a second, sudden attack.
Galin attempts to distract the demon from Steave, sending yet more arrows at the dark creature, but proving as ineffective as before. Only one of his arrows struck true.
Theran steps away from the cultist to finish off the half-demon. "This is for Yridhrennor!" As he swings, there are dozens of faint echoes "Yridhrennor!" His strike carried through the half-breed's head, slaying him.
Across the building, Steave grins at the demon. "Let's do this." His first bash doubles the demon over. His shield crushed the creature's chest and it collapsed, melting instantly into a vile mass of worms and other crawling things. Moments later, the crusaders finished off the last cultist.
It was over.
After watching the demon certainly dissolve, he heads toward Yridhrennor and tries to revive him.
After watching the demon certainly dissolve, he heads toward Yridhrennor and tries to revive him.
[dice=last lay on hands]2d6
Under Steave's ministrations, Yridhrennor promptly wakes.
Leaning on her sword, Blink breathed heavily. "Is everyone OK?" Whiping her brow with one hand she, looked around at the chaos. "That was hard work."
"Can anyone figure out what's going on here? What were these demoniacs up to?" Steave asks the team.
Galin shakes his head wearily, I feel like I just got kicked by a mule, but at least we're all alive.
"My guess is the main sanctum is where we'll find whatever awful this lot have cooked up," Blink noted in response to Steave. "And yes, alive and aching is better than being neither."
Theran sighs and breathes deeply as he heads back to the others. He'll step over to Yridhennor, who looks like he still needs help. His stance changes, as if he has aged a few decades and he begins helping him. "Let me do the healing. I don't use much magic when the spirits take me in battle"
He then turns to Blink
And a little for Galin
"That's better."
Straightening up a bit under Theran's magic, Galin shakes out his arms and cracks his knuckles, Thank you, much obliged.
Blink also nodded, her breathing coming slower and easier. "Yes, that is a great deal better. Thank you, THeran."
With the demons and demoniacs diligently dispatched, the crusaders thoroughly searched the ruined chapel. The demons had been thorough in their desecration, but they had somehow missed a cache of arms and supplies hidden in the altar itself by long-ago crusaders.
Aside from the usual detritus, the cultists left little behind of note. The ghouls had fed on someone recently -on the altar, no less- but the chapel didn't seem to be part of any greater demonic enterprise. It was just a strong point on the road to Drezen.
Blink looked at the others. "Do we have the time to clear and re-dedicate the place?" Hefting the new cold iron curved blade she'd found, she added, "It would be good for moral to see us taking back this piece of the world wound before we hit the city."
That may be wise. Tactically, it could provide us with a place of shelter and respite as we advance into the Worldwound.
If we have the clerical capabilities to consecrate, then Steave orders camp setup and a clean up of the facility.
He asks a cleric type to use his wand of IH on him. Infernal powers for good. He like the irony.
If we have the clerical capabilities to consecrate, then Steave orders camp setup and a clean up of the facility.
He asks a cleric type to use his wand of IH on him. Infernal powers for good. He like the irony.
Sosiel did not look entirely pleased to use such a wand upon Steave, but he did as told and began preparations to cleanse the chapel as the army set up camp. The ruin was still defensible, if a bit cramped for their numbers. On a thorough assessment, the priest informed the Knights of Mendev that it would be the work of a complete day to restore the place.
Blink got to work, helping to restore the chapel as best she could. She left the heavy lifting to the others, of course, and isntead focused on being able to dust in hard to reach places. Teleporting was fun.
Speaking of heavy lifting, Theran throws his back into the more physical endeavors. Moving heavy items seems to work better for him, as the small ones sometimes seem to skitter from his grasp.
It was the work of a long day, but toward evening Sosiel pronounced the chapel ready for re-consecration. His armor polished to a mirror finish, he delivered an eloquent sermon -parts of it beautifully sung- about the righteousness of the crusade and how truth and justice would always prevail in the end. The assembled paladins listened closely and received it well. When he finished a great light filled the chapel. The chaos and despair of the Worldwound became, for the first time in a while, a distant and unimportant thing.
The next day, the army marched down the Ahari Gorge. A few hours in, all of three miles from Drezen, they came around a bent in the gorge and found it filled with a seething cloud of green vapor.
"I'm sure it's a perfectly natural thing to breath, down in whichever nightmare dimensions the Demons like to inhabit," Blink said with a dry tone. She looked over at the others, she said, "Is through our only option?"
"Anyone have an idea on what that green vapor is?" Steave asks for more information.
"Anyone have an idea on what that green vapor is?" Steave asks for more information.
The officers consulted maps and memory before making an answer.
"It's no good," Nurah said. "Only way up and over is to scale the cliff. That's half a day or more backtracking. Don't think we'd keep all the men if we tried the climb."
"Heavy armor is not the best for scaling rock," Sosiel admitted. At his request, Aron skulked forward to get a better look. He came back with mixed news:
"My lords, there's no going through that. What we're seeing is swarms of vescavors. Tiny things on their own, but there's millions of them. They'd eat us all and come looking for seconds. But this many in one place means there's a queen spawning them. They're all tied to her, somehow. She dies and they'll scatter."
"I went close as I dared, then some. Doesn't seem they want to go out of there way. Mostly, they fly in and out of some caves. I found one about a hundred feet from the cloud. Could hear the things buzzing like the end of the world, but there's not a constant stream through there and they didn't come to see what I was up to. Probably that's where the queen is. Could be my lords would get in, end her, and this all goes away."
Theran consults with the spirits of the elders to see what they know of swarming demons.
Theran consults with the spirits of the elders to see what they know of swarming demons.
[dice=Kn:Planes]1d20+4
The spirits whisper that vescavors are like insects, tiny and easily slain. But they swarm in such numbers that strength in arms is naught against them. They may be burned away, but like all such foul creatures the touch of flame does not harm them as it does mortal beings.
"So we go in, kill the queen, and the swarm disipates? OK. I can do that. I mean, it's just a giant flying swarm of murderous insects, right?" Blink glanced at the bugs again, and took a steadying breath. "So...does protection from evil or Sanctuary or some other spell stop them swarm from eating us while we head in? I mean, if the queen calls we'll be swimming in bugs in seconds, right?"
"So we go in, kill the queen, and the swarm disipates? OK. I can do that. I mean, it's just a giant flying swarm of murderous insects, right?" Blink glanced at the bugs again, and took a steadying breath. "So...does protection from evil or Sanctuary or some other spell stop them swarm from eating us while we head in? I mean, if the queen calls we'll be swimming in bugs in seconds, right?"
Galin racks his brains, wondering if any of his spells might protect the group from the bugs.
"Yridhrennor? Are you still coming with us? What do your books tell you about what we could face? How should we prepare?"
Galin and Blink believe that trying to target individual vescavors with a spell would be an exercise in futility, but anything that fills an area with damaging energy would be effective against them.
Yridhrennor opens a few books, somehow managing to balance three separate tomes and walk at the same time. Let me see.. Falfaerel.. can you...
The bird hops onto another book and starts turning pages with its beak as it mutters.
Yes, that.. thank you.
Yridhrennor opens a few books, somehow managing to balance three separate tomes and walk at the same time. Let me see.. Falfaerel.. can you...
The bird hops onto another book and starts turning pages with its beak as it mutters.
Yes, that.. thank you.
** spoiler omitted **
Yridhrennor knows all that Theran, Blink, and Galin do. He also recalls that like most demons vescavors are somewhat resistant to magic in general.
Oh..oh dear.. this this is not good, not good at all. Vescabors are somewhat resistant to magic. I'm not.. I'm not sure how much help I'll be when we encounter them.
Steave orders the army to make a defensive camp and return to the temple by evening, if they don't return in time.
"Do we have the supplies for an alchemical solution?" Blink glanced around. "Something non-magical and for preference non-fire based. If we could simply make something that stopped them from flying for a minute, that would reduce there threat."
"Do we have the supplies for an alchemical solution?" Blink glanced around. "Something non-magical and for preference non-fire based. If we could simply make something that stopped them from flying for a minute, that would reduce there threat."
Sosiel regrets to inform the crusaders that because of the demonic resistance to flame and the risk of carrying large amounts of alchemist's fire into the Worldwound, the army was not supplied with any.
Yes! some sort of alchemical webbing or glue on their wings. Hmmm..
does Yridhrennor know how to make alchemical glue/tanglefoot bags, etc?
Yes! some sort of alchemical webbing or glue on their wings. Hmmm..
** spoiler omitted **
Yridhrennor knows how.
With some time, and assistance, I think I could craft these for us