Over the next few days, the team sits in the lowest level of the Lavosha treasury, planning their assault.
Not much more is learned of the Belier devil the party killed, other than that the shadowdancer it possessed (who is now dominated by Delyliath) had only been recently affected, just preceding the party’s arrival in this city.
Delilyath makes frequent jumps in and out, coordinating with her enthralled Succubus; together with the newly-dominated Captain of the Palace Guard, the three of them plot a strategy for immediate takeover of the town upon the death of its queen.
Shimsil, controlling the guard sergeant sent to the basement to escort you, reports back that your party was unfortunately dragged into the depths of Orv by a gug raiding party. He and the Guard Captain inform the Queen that in two weeks they will send down an armed party to kill any remaining gugs and recover your valuables.
Illia- reports back to Sir John, informing him that the others could use his help in the assault. The Crimson Stranger suggests that a return to battle could help recover some of the fighting skills and memories he’s lost over eons of decay, and so he jumps back to meet the party in the treasury, transported in a bag of holding. With a quick divination, he is able to confirm that Lavosha is no longer under the patronage of the Demon Lord of Traps who once protected it, and that this time around, there should be no unpleasant surprises.
Zhu da Tusha, having given his word, honors it. When the party is ready to exit the dungeons, he sends a small force of Bebiliths, gugs, and enthralled drow alike screaming forward from its lower levels, tearing apart every soldier between the basement and the throne room.
And so the party arrives to face down a Drow Queen in her throne room.
The approach to the throne room is 20' wide, and 30’ long. A row of four soldiers blocks the hallway, 10’ from the party, weapons drawn; another row of four soldiers stands 10’ behind them (20’ from the party), and a third row of four soldiers, with different insignias and drawn halberds, stands 10’ behind those (30’ from the party).
Beyond these rows of soldiers is the throne room itself, a square room fifty feet wide and deep. Though you’re too far away to see into the corners of the room, you can see the queen, still seated on her throne, an ornate work of wrought gold and bronze that forms a halo of bladed wings behind her. Her left hand sits on her lap, clutching a pile of gems, while her right holds a scepter of some sort, and a nimbus of arcane energy crackles around her. In front of the throne, two guards stand with halberds drawn.
"You wished to examine the treasure we retrieved from your dungeons, my good lady? It is of mild satisfaction to me that fulfilling this request did not contradict previous agreements."
Illia- decides to go with her Kolyarut disguise again, just to keep throwing them off for a bit.
~Haha, yes nailed it! I feel so cool!~ But she seems a bit too preoccupied with it and not with sword-ifying.
Sir John stepped into the dim room the others convened in. Intent on merely listening to their plans and gleaning more about what had transpired in the past several thousand years, his entrance was noticed, to his dissatisfaction. He took note of the gregarious erinyes responsible for his delivery, and thereby reconstitution, then looked to the others for clues as to their profession.
"Hmm... You must me the 'dragon-kitty' that Illia referred to," he says, regarding Anaxian. "and I am to understand that there is a 'perfect scout' by the name of Drisquar?" he asks, looking for such a suspect.
He is a tower of black iron, just over seven feet tall, his features obscured by full plate mail until he reached up to remove his helm. The sound of his armor didn't match that of iron slabs clamoring, but rather like thin sheets of elven metal. His face revealed to the group, they were met with mithral-colored eyes, his hair appearing to have once been close-cropped but since having grown out slightly. His face was comparable to a typical middle-aged guard captain or upstart warlord.
"I am Sir John, in my time known simply as 'The Black', knighted into Her Scarlet Majesty's service and now at your disposal, more or less... Though I won't be disposed of easily," he says with a genuine smile.
The once-mere-skull walks around the others to the side of the group opposite the entryway, and at his back a greatsword hangs by a short length of thick chain under its immense and ornate hilt, the blade visible as it lacks a scabbard. The flawless blade, over five feet in length, appears moist with a thin sheen of black oil. Under this mysterious sheen, thin veins of glowing red pulse arrhythmically.
Anaxian chuckled in his dry-mind voice as his telepathy picked up Illia's internal monologue.
He had decided he liked her. She was entertaining, and quite useful as a buffer between him and his enemies. He was currently standing next to her foot.
I doubt this queen will live long enough to appreciate your impressiveness.
A tall, wiry, airy looking man with very pale blue skin, and hair that seems to always blow in the wind, smiles at the mention of Drisquar. [b}"I'm the perfect scout you seek"[/b]
"Should I just go dispatch the queen now? Seems silly to let her live much longer"
Behind Illia were three skeletal Gugs. They were coated in blackened, cooked blood. New blood seeped from between the bones and boiled to a hardened crust as it slowly dripped down their forms. Shimmers of heat lifted off them. Occasionally the caked blackness would crack and show glowing redness beneath the surface, like hardening lava.
They smelled like cooking meat, quietly sizzling and popping. Their many eyes and vertical mouths glowed like a furnace.
Anaxian had used the extra bones he'd found to make "improvements" to their forms. Each had an extra set of arms, which, given that each of a Gug's arms split at the elbow into two sets of terrible claws, gave each of the horrors eight sets of superheated rending talons.
Behind them was a horrific creature. It hovered off the ground, the skeletal torso of an armless, man with three brutish skulls atop its shoulders. Long, prehensile tongues from each mouth were gyrating slowly. It's torso transitioned from a humanoid skeleton into strings of thick viscera where it's stomach and legs should be. It dripped sizzling, clear mucus from the flailing ligaments. It was reminiscent of a jellyfish, some strands lashing on their own, but most forming a tangled central core that ended in a thick knot of cartilage and connective tissue wrapped around a fang-filled sphincter. It lashed around like an angry serpent while the three upper heads gazed around with baleful ire.
It had been a powerful demon, a proud creature of unspeakable evil, able to employ the bodies of others as puppets.
Now it was a mockery. A puppet itself.
Anaxian loved poetic irony.
Before you stands a regal drow female in an elegant gown and barefoot. She carries no weapons and any detection magics you may have do not work on her.
"Are you the skull?" she says plainly
Dris blasts the approaching Drow with a crackling bolt of lightning
He then seemingly vanishes and reappears next to the queen, striking one of the guards with his blade.
"Yes, my form had deteriorated over quite some time. The Red Queen restored me."
She cast Grace to avoid an AoO from Drisquar...
The queen gracefully stands from her throne (provoking no AoO from Drisquar) and moves 20' forward to the center of the throne room. She calls out in Elven, and then proceeds to cast a spell.
"Don't attack the Metal Man without a blessed weapon, but use shields and hammers on the skeleton!"
The spell she cast was Align Weapon, Communal—she appears to have given everyone in the room lawfully-aligned weapons, and the object she is holding is thus likely a Reach Metamagic Rod.
Drisquar's strike connects, hitting the guard hard, though the halberd-wielding elf still stands.
So, I get 10 AoOs a round, and my threatened reach for AoOs is 10ft. So I will roll all 10. Also, in case they try any funny ninjer business, the DC to use acrobatics in my 10ft zone is increased, as my CMD versus their acrobatics is considered 9 higher (so CMD 38 instead of 29, and add +5 to that if they are trying to go through my actual space instead of just a square i threaten)
Also, my Fear Aura is DC 15 Will or they are Shaken (i am assuming they have more than 5 HD), which will give them a -2 on their saves including my Paralyzing Touch). Most of my DCs are pretty low so I am hoping for the best and using all the synergy I can.
and DC 15 Fort or paralyzed
and DC 15 Fort or paralyzed
and DC 15 Fort or paralyzed
and DC 15 Fort or paralyzed
and DC 15 Fort or paralyzed
and DC 15 Fort or paralyzed
and DC 15 Fort or paralyzed
and DC 15 Fort or paralyzed
and DC 15 Fort or paralyzed
and DC 15 Fort or paralyzed
Also, a logic statement for you:
IF they are under a fear effect (such as my aura or any other fear effect)
AND IF they are struck by my AoO
AND IF they continue to try to move past me to attack the PCs behind me (and thus are not paralyzed)
I will use a free action on strike to use Armiger's Mark (from Warder class) on them, up to 6 of them. This Mark combined with [Fear] effects causes them to be subject to my Guard's Glare feat, which means they must make a DC 17 Will save [Mind-affecting, Fear] or be unable to move away from ME in any direction.
If any of that business happens, just let me know how many Marks to tick off of my daily uses. I can do up to 7, but I am saving one for later so i will only use up to 6 on these dudes.
Anaxian focused on the queen and gestured with a wing. D̺̟̱̠̰̱͇͌̂̾i̹̣ͫ̓͑s͎͇͔p̣̥̪̦̺͠e̷͎̜̩̠̳̘̭͗l̩̬̪̦̼̈̌̓̅͞
Lamarchand, Stone Call. Anaxian communicated to his familiar.
Inside the little dragon's hollow chest, the puzzle box where his heart should be clicked and churned, rearranging itself to a new configuration. Within one of its many small compartments a small, rune-carved dragon scale was manipulated, crushed and crumbled to dust.
Dust and debris on the ground leapt into the air, expanded suddenly, and came crashing down as bouncing boulders. Everything in front of Illia suddenly became a churning mess of rubble.
Then he took a moment to look around the room, scanning the life-auras of the combatants.
Once he'd assessed the enemy's strength, Anaxian commanded his minions forward.
Split formation. Flank from the sides. Kill the Drow. Belier, target the queen.
The monsters surged forward around Illia. Two skeletal gug went left. The third and the creature that had been a Belier demon went right. The Belier drifted over the rubble, unaffected by the difficult terrain. The gug were hindered until the reached the wall, at which point they climbed up it like horrible skeletal spiders. Their eight claws scrabbled and lashed out at nearby drow.
On the other side, the third Gug lashed out at the first target it reached.
The Belier drifted upward, twenty feet off the ground above the drow, it's long tongue lashing out to grab the queen.
Anaxian successfully dispels an unknown spell.
From within the room, you hear chanting, which Anaxian automatically identifies as two castings of Haste and two castings of Magic Circle Against Law.
Drisquar's lightning bolt (which I forgot about before) knocks out two swordsmen, injures one spearman, and hits the Queen squarely as well.
The three rows of soldiers move forward in a line through the difficult terrain to attack Illia- and Sir John, taken completely by surprise by the Lich's attacks of opportunity. Of the six soldiers who move into melee range, four are targeted and all four hit by opportunity attacks; of these, one drops from paralysis, and three others are knocked unconscious by the force of the blows, falling to the ground too quickly to even warn the others with their screams. Two swordsmen make it to melee range, with the four halberdiers unable to close the full distance through difficult terrain.
One sword clatters harmlessly off of Sir John's armor, and two bounce off of Illia-.
The two spearmen near the queen move to attack Drisquar; both attacks hit, but fail to pierce his damage reduction.
The three Gugs move to counterattack, taking out one of the two remaining spearmen and injuring the second.
Unfortunately, the hallway is the same height as width; Anaxian's Belier devil provokes atatcks of opportunity from the seven still standing elves it passes over, but each attack rattles harmlessly off of hardened bone. The Queen raises her hand as though to block the tongue with some kind of ability , but fails to deflect it enough, and is yanked into the air.
Illia- also moves forward, heedless of enemy AoO using her flight, taking her time to clearly search every corner of the room she can for further threats. The enemies currently on the field are neutralized, in her opinion.
She activates her Golden Warrior Stance, and tries to end behind enemy lines. All her allies now flank enemies if there are two or more allies adjacent to a target.
Dris focuses himself and adopts a mystical stance that basically turns him into a whirlwind of death.
He then unleashes a flurry of attacks on the guards.
"They've got a wizard and a swordguy on each corner of the room."
"Wizards are Irritating."
Meridian says as she waves a hand dismissively.
As Mer waves a hand numerous candelabra and other assorted dense items around the room fly forcefully at one of the wizards.
Telekinetic crap assault
No one resists Illia-'s fear; two wizards and their two soldier guards are now panicked and huddling in two corners of the room. The soldiers have already made their attacks of opportunity, and don't attack Illia-. Drisquar's critical hit slices one spearman cleanly in half, and injures the second .
Meredian does, in fact, hit one of the wizards cleanly in the side of the head for critical damage with a 200-lb candelabra, for 45 damage, shattering the elf's skull and staining the wall behind him with blood and bone.
Sir John swings the massive blade, Blackblood, with practiced ease as he strikes those who foolishly attempt to pass him. Now, with one remaining close, he continues the momentum of his swing in an upward slash.
As he brings his blade to bear against the guard nearest him, the magical veins in the blade pulse, tearing a minor hole in reality itself. The distortion cloaks Sir John in a brackish miasma.
and DC 15 Fort or paralyzed
During the initial slash, Sir John steps into the attack with the practiced grace of a ballroom dancer, his momentum carrying him up towards the spearmen.
and DC 15 Fort or paralyzed
vs DC 17
The Queen drops her staff, letting it fall the the ground, takes an unknown action, and dangles in the air without moving, as though waiting for something.
"This is too easy. Perhaps this is a double? Or are the defenses of paranoid drow truly so pathetic?" Illia- says this aloud, to gauge the reactions of the defenders. "Though, I suppose it isn't paranoia when they're right.."
"This is too easy. Perhaps this is a double? Or are the defenses of paranoid drow truly so pathetic?" Illia- says this aloud, to gauge the reactions of the defenders. "Though, I suppose it isn't paranoia when they're right.."
"Or we're just awesome."
He then spins and hurls his dagger at the queen
Anaxian had a strong suspicion of what had just happened. He flapped once taking to wing and landing on the Beliar's shoulder.
Immobilize her. he commanded it.
Three horrible tongues lashed around the Drow queen, choking and binding. From below the savage worm-like maw rose to swallow her lower body, tangling her in the strands of viscera that made up it's lower half.
Anaxian's tail lashed out.
Now within reach of so many fleshy targets, the Gugs on the left side of the room lashed out in a horrible flurry of ropy arms.
Drisquar does, in fact, land a critical hit against the Drow Queen.
The single injured soldier facing Sir John attempts to cast a spell defensively, but fails. The four Guisarmers move forward to attack Illia- and Sir John, staying near the center of the hallway to avoid AoOs from the Gugs and attacking with their reach weapons. Naturally, the weapons clatter uselessly off the party's armor.
Spells fly through the air, as the Drow begin to chant. The one functioning wizard casts Haste on all the enemies in the throne room . Of the two swordsmen in the corner, one hits the Queen with Grease, while moves to grab the fallen rod and uses it to cast Invisibility on the Queen where she hangs in the air.
And, newly quickened, invisible, and slippery, she uses a held action to slip out of the Belier's grasp.