Larissa's spell fails to affect the demon and a familiar wall of wind appears.
Eager to enable the hobgoblin royalty, Na’shok magically hastens the party.
Varda moves up with the others and levels a finger at the demon. "Come out of the shadows, fiend!" she exclaims.
Aen moves up with the group. Drinking an extract, his skin begins to look like the bark of an ironwood tree.
"No."
Gorn-Rel blurs with speed.
The hobgoblin prince remembers that fell ritual from which his father saved him. He feels a spark of that power left within himself.
Gorn throws out a flurry of shuriken, imbuing them with his mythic power, hitting with three of them. Enraged by being hurt, the demon pounces on Gorn.
Varda raises her bow and fires at the creature before her, choosing the arrows that seem likely to do the most damage. "Reposition and destroy it!" she exclaims loudly.
Gorn-Rel's iron skin proves little deterrent for the shadow demon's claws.
Unfortunately, his shots go wild.
Knowing he has little chance of hurting their ghostly opponent, Na'shok focuses on supporting his companions.
He chants and brandishes Soulsheer, sharing the ancient strength of the shoanti with his friends.
Aen moves back five feet and fires more ghost touch arrows.
Varda lands three arrows while Gorn's shuriken fly everywhere except for the direction of the shadow demon. Nash inspires his companions much as a bard would but with less singing. Aen lands four devastating shots of his own, but the demon is still standing strong. He ignores the prince for the time being and attempts to kilt a dorfadin.
Na’shok continues inspiring his allies with his mighty presence and reaches out to touch Varda with a surge of intense orcish rage.
"Agh! Let me out!" cries Varda as the demon's claws tear huge chunks out of her flesh. Glancing over and timing her moves with Na'shok's, she dodges between him and the wall just as the demon is distracted by the orc-man's movement. Darting away from the fell creature, she pauses behind Gorn, unleashes a roar of rage, and unloads into the evil shadow.
Varda moves away and lands a rage-fueled arrow that dissipates the shadow-demon for good.
The diminutive woman takes a deep breath and leans over toward the wall. "Tired... just need a moment..."
Fishing a few potions out of her pack, she guzzles them down.
Gorn-Rel meditates to restore his strength.
Then he reaches down to pick up the crumpled clothe. "This goddess is too honorable to have her possessions disrespected."
Feeling the slain demon’s power becoming his own, Na’shok tests his grip.
”The Sword is ours. Now to get back to the surface and put it to work.”
As you take the Sword of Valor back to the camp, Radiance glows for a moment as it becomes more powerful.
The troops cheer the group on for liberating Drezen and bringing back the banner. For now, you have earned the right and luxury of a
short rest. Word comes soon after the Sword of Valor’s recovery in the form of a sending from one of Queen Galfrey’s aides that more soldiers are marching north to aid in the occupation of Drezen, and that they should arrive very soon.
Gorn-Rel directs his monk army to begin to ready Drezen for their people's occupation, and sends word to his family to bring the rest of their people north to begin their kingdom anew.
Over the next few days rumors flood through the camps of Gorn's ascendance into demi-godhood. At first most scoff at the rumors of a near-deity in their midst. Soon however, everyone starts seeing the signs and some even start praying to Gorn. The prayers reaching his ears even at inopportune moments. The Hobgoblin for his part feels different than before. A sense of responsibility along with the great power.
The hobgoblin prince felt both exalted and humbled. Humbled because his people had come to put their faith in him, which had kindled his innate divinity. Their fierce love had put his feet on the path to true divinity. Exalted because this power was in someways his birthright. He was made to rule. His divinity was the truth of this right.
Gorn-Rel sends scouts out to look for arable land and for the rich mines that were promised.
The hobgoblin prince also seeks out his elven friend -- the riftwarden mage. "Arvash, we discovered a potent forge beneath the citadel. Varda is investigating it. Would you please aid her in examining it?
Furthermore, he will look for the prisoner taken from our army. Were we able to recover our scouts?
"I can if you wish for me to." The elven mage nods to the now demigod prince.
Arvash explains what he has gathered about the corruption forge. Once work begins on redeeming the forge, its actual redemption is handled similarly to the construction of a magic item. At least one person involved in the redemption must have Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Craft Wondrous Item, or Master Craftsman, and the process requires the casting of a hallow spell each day. At the end of a day, the redeemer attempts a Spellcraft or Knowledge (religion) check—on a success, the corruption forge is redeemed and becomes a purity forge. On a failure, that day’s efforts are unrewarded, but the next attempt’s skill check gains a cumulative +1 bonus. Up to four others can aid another on the Spellcraft or Knowledge (religion) check.Once the forge is redeemed, it can be used to rework evil magic items into good magic items. An unholy weapon can be made into a holy weapon, for example, or a wand of unholy blightcan be transformed into a wand of holy smite. To redeem a magic item, the redeemer must work as if he were crafting the item from scratch, yet the forge supplies much of the magic and energy for the process. Ignore any spell or cost requirements for crafting the redeemed item, and the time required to complete the task is 1/4 the time it would normally take to craft the final item from scratch. At the end of the redemption process, the redeemer must succeed at a Spellcraft or Knowledge (religion) check (DC= 5 + the item’s caster level) to redeem the item—if the redeemer fails this check, the item is not redeemed; this can be attempted again, starting the process anew.
You were able to find Anevia in the nest of the Chimera. She was set to be it's lunch. You find her injured but otherwise healthy. Your other scouts come back to tell you that there are farm a few miles away that look large enough to help sustain the army, though they seemed rather barren. They suggest that you speak to the owners to find out more as they are skilled at diplomatic relations.
Larissa asks around the city, using her assets to the fullest, finds out some rumors that could interest her master. The most notable of which is a rumor of a beast that has been terrorizing anyone trying to gather supplies from the nearby forest. It is said to be ten feet tall with razor sharp teeth and runs through the forest like a bolt of lightning. The singed bite marks that are displayed during such tales gives weight to these claims. Anyone who could slay this beast would prove themselves powerful indeed.
The hobgoblin prince will go look up these farms himself.
Gorn makes the trek to various farms and they all tell the same tale. Strange not-natural animals have been raiding the fields and taking more than is normal for simple minded beasts. As such they barely have enough for themselves, let alone enough to support an army. Unless some clever demigod were to solve this problem of course.
Na'shok almost immediately begins donning his gear.
"You might have just saved my life. Another day of rotting here while the princeling and Varda play at nobility and I might have gone mad. Let's see how this beast compares to my strength."
Gorn-Rel appreciates the industry of these people. They still worked the land despite the demons that haunted these lands and the open portal to the Abyss itself a few hundred miles distant. This is strength with which I can work. I will raise a mighty people up from these lands of ash!
The prince will use his scouts to survey the land and help direct him to the farms when they are attacked. More importantly, he will speak to the farmers and encourage them to stand with his monk-soldiers. These people needed to come to be familiar with hobgoblin rule.
Nash and Larrisa strike out on their own to the nearby forest.
Gorn-Rel appreciates the industry of these people. They still worked the land despite the demons that haunted these lands and the open portal to the Abyss itself a few hundred miles distant. This is strength with which I can work. I will raise a mighty people up from these lands of ash!
The prince will use his scouts to survey the land and help direct him to the farms when they are attacked. More importantly, he will speak to the farmers and encourage them to stand with his monk-soldiers. These people needed to come to be familiar with hobgoblin rule.
[dice=Diplomacy]1d20+15
The farmers readily agree to join if someone could go look for and end the threat to their livelyhoods.
Na'shok had enjoyed his days as a demonslayer but there was a freedom he missed that came with surviving by his own strength in the wilds.
He kneels to study some tracks.
Gorn stakes out a little ways away as he has scouts on watch for beasts. Sometime during the middle of the night, they rush to tell the prince the news that they see beasts coming to raid the farm.
Meanwhile Nash searches for the legendary monster he'd been told about. Tracks are not so much prevalent but the clawed trees and singed terrain are easy to follow which leads the pair to a cave. As he approaches, he finds a nearby boulder for cover and hears a tremendous roar.
Gorn-Rel runs like the wind to defeat these fell beasts.
Gorn races to the field to find what is raiding this farmer. He is shocked to see a giant reptile. Somewhat resembling a giant turtle, this creature has been twisted in some way. You see some other similar massive beasts off in the distance raiding other farms.
Na’shok chants a spell that makes his skin as tough as stone, wills Soulsheer to take a keener form, and then squares off with the mouth of the cave.
”Show yourself beast!” he bellows in reply to the roar.
Gorn-Rel charges the beast landing a heavy blow but his other blows are not so fortunate.
Nash bellows his challenge and the creature squeezes its way out of its cave. It is a massive furred bear, with armored shoulders and claws seemingly made of steel as well. It shakes its horns and rushes towards Nash.
Gorn lands a single kick but his followup punches only hit shell. Though he practices the snapping turtle style, his foe is one and thus better at it.
It bares its teeth and snaps at Gorn.
It barely fails to hold onto Gorn.
Gorn-Rel spends a point of ki to increase his AC to 28.
Gorn hits twice against the reptile and gets a bite in return.
But Gorn dodges out of the way.
Despite his ursine opponent’s enormous size advantage, Na’shok stands his ground, confident in his might. He gestures for Larissa to stay behind him before bringing Soulsheer around for two vicious blows.
Gorn-Rel continues to meditate to increase his defenses.