Ellena again swung her sword twice, roaring in a battle cry, knowing the demons’ blood spilled here today would be a victory for the forces of good.
Power Attack with Haste , Divine Favor, Divine Bond and Hunter’s Bond
Damage
Power Attack with Haste , Divine Favor, Divine Bond and Hunter’s Bond
Damage
Ellena's sword misses each time it swings at the small jackal headed demon. This demon is so far uninjured.
While the Demon tore at his back, Karas continued to assault the cloaked figure.
Raine landed painfully in the wind, but gritted her teeth and belly crawled forward out of the blast.
Karas continued to savage the deformed caster defending the wardstone. She took more serious wounds but managed to hang onto life for at least another few seconds.
Raine crawls out of the wind and into the webs.
Jeslyn:
Jeslyn:
Target:
Anarya's healing light flared and healed Raine of some of her wounds suffered by her fall in the wind.
The same light surrounded Jeslyn with flame again and this proved too much for her. She collapsed where she had been standing. Only one defender of the wardstone remained, the Azizou demon, who had yet to be wounded.
The demon took advantage of Raine's prone posture and drove his claws into her back and after the claws of each hand had penetrated her flesh, he ripped them out, making the wound worse.
Then the demon bit Karas, drawing blood from him, but also making Anarya wince with pain.
Round 5
Tauni (Haste, mage armor, see invisible, bless)
Avelina (bless)
Raine (Haste, bless, prone, 4 nonlethal, 15 lethal)
Ellena (Haste, bless)
Karas (Haste, bless, Raging, Fast Healing 1, 3 lethal)
Azizou 1 (32 lethal, -10, entangled, dying)
Anarya (Haste, bless, 3 lethal)
Jeslyn (87/80 lethal, stable)
Azizou 2
Six against 1!
The demon has AC 19, SR 15, DR 5/Cold Iron, and 22 HP.
|
With a flash, Raine's wounds began to seal and Anarya bled from where the demon's claws tore into the archer.
Anarya cried out, not at the pain, but at seeing Raine hurt. She raised a palm, and the light from her halo gathered onto it to form a glowing sigil. In a moment, it took the shape of an eye emblazoned over a gleaming longsword, the same archaic symbol of Iomedae that she wore at her hip cast in silver. The demon's eyes hurt to look upon it, especially as it grew brighter and brighter. Suddenly, the light burst forth as a wave, snapping forth from her hand like a whip. It burned the flesh of each demon it touched - not with fire, but with pure, distilled divine wrath.
Raine somehow managed to twist free of the grasping webs, thanks in part to the magical speed her colleagues had bestowed. It didn't stop her from being ripped into by the demon's claws; she made a choked gasping noise at the gouges that were almost instantly semi-eased by Anarya's aid.
Teeth bared in fury, Raine drew her dagger and slashed at the hamstrings of the fiend.
The Paladin felt the battle turn against the demons. Her focus was to eliminate the last one st wrong. Radiance cut through the air twice in quick succession.
Power Attack with Haste , Divine Favor, Divine Bond
Damage
Power Attack with Haste , Divine Favor, Divine Bond
Damage
Avelina's skill at casting overcame the resistance to magic possessed by the demon and her magic 'arrows' wounded the demon.
The cold iron of Raine's dagger drove into the demon, drawing blood and further wounding him.
Ellena's sword finished the abomination off.
The wardstone sat within a strangely wrought cage of steel, probably created with magic so that the wardstone could be transported. For some reason, they choose not to move the stone out of the city, perhaps because they had some foul plan to use the wardstone in some way.
The stone and cage sat on a low pedastal, but it would be easy to reach through the bars and touch the wardstone with the rod of cancellation.
With a wave of her hand, Tauni dismissed the webbing, clearing the path to the wardstone. The sudden quiet of the room, absent the sounds of battle, blasting winds and their echoes, almost seemed unnatural. She knew that nearby, battles raged and many died. But the temporary calm of the room seemed oddly peaceful.
With the threat gone, she stares at the fragment of the wardstone, fascinated by it. She pursed her lips and looked to Ellena. "The rod, my friend. It it time."
Ellena gives her friends time to position herself as she moves straight ahead in a line to the wardstone. ”Perhaps the rest of you should stay back. There’s no telling what might happen here.”
With a nod to the others, she raises the rod high above her head and strikes down at the stone.
Karas felt the last of his power ebb as the last demon fell. He fell to the floor in exhaustion and looked over the relative quiet.
Anarya bled in several places despite not being struck herself and it pained the Teifling but he knew that she would take all the wounds of the world upon her if she could.
The end seemed in sight and they could soon rebuild only one task left...
Karas stood on wobbly legs and made his way to the doorway to sit next to it and watch their final triumph. "let's be done with this and go get some real rest. Do it Ellena."
Raine scrambled to her feet, breathing hard, kicking free of the webs and, at least in the moment, ignoring the lingering pains along her back. Hurrying back to the doorway, she yelled out, "Commander! We're clear! Doing the stone now!"
Others might reflect on the grandeur of the moment-- the significance of what it meant in the scheme of things. Raine was too pragmatic to have much sense of the history of these unfolding seconds, she simply thought of reporting to the chain of command.
"And so, the heroes vanquished the evil foes guarding the wardstone, clearing the way to remove the protective enchantment on the wardstone. Although they were relieved to be able to achieve their goal, the outcome, even if successful, only achieved the minor advantage of preventing the demonic forces of the Worldwound from using the fragment of the magical wall against the crusaders. Even if successful, the demons still occupied the city and driving them out would be as difficult as ever."
The storyteller paused, noting the look of disappointment in the faces of some of the youngest who had never heard the tale before. "But sometimes hope is kept alive by small successes."
Glancing back over her shoulder, Raine said no words, but nodded at Ellena, in a get on with it, we still have a lot of war to fight kind of way.
Hoping to learn more about the famous wardstones, Tauni moved up next to the paladin champion as she neared the shard. With an utterance and a way of her hand, Tauni peered into the magical interactions between the rod and the shard, hoping to glean more lore from the moment.
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Wardstone:
Irabeth ascended the steps to stand within sight of the Wardstone, wanting to witness the event for herself.
Tauni had to avert her eyes from the wardstone after attempting to study its magic aura. Even in its broken state, the stone gave off an overwhelming aura.
With everyone poised and watching, Ellena touched the rod to the stone.
Ellena waited as the glow of the stone dimmed briefly, but nothing else happened. She touched it again. Still nothing. Two more times, the rod had no effect but then, the light dimmed more abruptly.
Then the wardstone exploded, sending shards of itself in all directions at high speed. The shards completely destroyed the iron cage and turned Jeslyn's dying body into a pulp. Miraculously, however, not one of the six who witnessed this was harmed, nor was Irabeth harmed. The light of the explosion protected all and began to infuse them with tremendous power (except for Irabeth).
The light seemed to pass through the walls of the garrison instead of being stopped by them. Any wounds that may have remained were healed and each felt restored as if rested. Spell casters found their spells renewed and prepared as they had started the day. The effect was revivifying yet all were momentarily stunned by the event.
Unable to move or speak, each of the six received a vision as if present at the installation of the first Wardstone in the Kite in Kenabres in 4639 A.R. Officiating and enabling the magic of this first element of the magical protection against the Worldwound was a glorious figure, the Hand of the Inheritor, the herald of Iomedae. This winged angel was wondrously beautiful, with a halo of small swords around his head. Everyone receiving the vision instinctively knew this was soon after the Second Crusade had begun.
The vision faded and was replaced by a disturbing scene in which a 20-year-old Hulrun oversaw the burning of dozens of supposed witches in the courtyard of the Kite in the presence of the Wardstone, marking the start of the Third Crusade in 4665 A.R.
The second vision faded like the first, replaced with another almost 30 years later, in 4692 A.R., as the demonic Storm King Khorramzadeh led an attack on Kenabres. The six witnessed the fateful moment when the balor's sword smashed into the wardstone, causing but the slightest crack in the stone but shattering the sword. Immediately after this, a silver dragon, Terendelev, as glorious as the Storm King was hideous, attacked and nearly killed the leader of the invasion, sending him fleeing and marking the start of the Fourth Crusade.
This vision faded and was again replaced with another. This vision showed the courtyard where the wardstone stood as Irabeth chased a burly dwarven man (Staunton Vhane, leader of the Hammers of Heaven mercenary group) toward the stone. He turned with his back to the stone and leaned on it for a moment, but immediately had to step away as smoke rose from his back and he screamed in pain. Irabeth attacked him, righteous fury in her eyes. The dwarf wounded her and would have finished her off, but the sound of approaching soldiers forced him to retreat. He summoned a fiendish giant wasp that he mounted and used to flee the city. All who witnessed this event knew the year was 4712 A.R., the end of the Fourth Crusade.
Still stunned by the surge of holy energy and the visions, the six witnessed another vision which could only have happened within the past few weeks. Standing by the Wardstone, looking as it did after it was damaged in the recent battle, was Mingagho, a beautiful demonic woman with a long thin tail, clawed hands, and curling horns, but no eyes. She teleported the fragment into the room in which all now were standing or sitting. Jeslyn was already waiting and she was granted a wish by Mingagho, which she used to form the steel cage, after which Mingagho teleported away.
Next all witnessed not what had happened but what they had all succeeded in preventing. Another demon, Areelu Vorlesh touched the Wardstone fragment with a deep purple Nahyndrian crystal. This corrupted the stone and caused a nauseating mauve flash of fire that devastated all the border cities with wardstones and transformed countless crusaders into half-fiend slaves of the Worldwound.
All instinctively understood that this had been the plan of the recent attack, to draw as many crusaders as possible to the vicinity of the Wardstones to maximize the number of casualties.
With the next vision, the six began to recover their wits, witnessing one last vision. Areelu Vorlesh, a demonic woman with batlike wings, a horned brow, and glowing red eyes, stood before a three foot diameter semi-transparent amber crystal gripped in a jaws of a metal frame styled as a demon's head. All six somehow knew this was a device called an imago lens, which could be used to scry but also allowed the user to project an image of herself to the location on which she was scrying. In the amber sphere the party saw themselves as they looked at the remnants of the destroyed Wardstone. An instant later, the vision terminated and all could see a somewhat transparent image of Areelu Vorlesh standing just behind where the Wardstone had been..
The demon regarded everyone with smoldering eyes, furious at what had happened to the Wardstone. Everyone was still stunned as she said, "This only delays your
kind’s extinction. But at least I can take steps to hasten your own."
Irabeth had been watching, concerned at everyone standing or sitting with stunned expressions, gazing into space. Now, seeing the demon, she drew her sword and started to attack. Areelu waved a hand nonchalantly and instantly, Irabeth stopped and began gasping and clutching at her throat, apparently unable to breath. None of the six felt any discomfort, however. All six understood that she had tried to affect everyone in the room with a mass strangulation spell, but it only affected Irabeth. Still stunned, none in the group could move to help the Paladin.
Arleelu growled with feral frustration, seeing the spell not affect most of those present. "The death throes of your wardstone seem to be protecting you from my magic. No matter. They cannot protect you from my slaves!"
She spread her arms wide and a rift tore open space to the east side of the room through which tumbled six red-skinned babau demons, clutching wicked looking spears. Behind them even more powerful demons assembled and moving toward the rift--vrocks, glabrezus, and even a marilith.
With a jolt, the energy infusing each of the six surged from them and released them from their stunned states. The energy spread over Irabeth and slammed into the rift. Areelu screamed in pain as magical feedback tore into her body, breaking her bones and shredding her wings. An instant later her image vanished and the rift slammed shut, leaving the six to face the demons. The spell suffocating Irabeth was dispelled and she collapsed unconscious.
Babau 2:
Babau 3:
Babau 4:
Babau 5:
Babau 6:
Anarya:
Avelina:
Ellena:
Karas:
Raine:
Tauni:
Babau 2
Tauni
Babau 4
Babau 6
Babau 3
Raine
Karas
Anarya
Babau 1
Babau 5
• Damage reduction 10/good
• Regeneration 5 (unholy damage or evil spells)
• Resist acid 10 and fire 10
• Each PC glows with bright light that automatically dispels any 3rd-level or lower darkness effect they enter.
• Each PC’s attacks are treated as good for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction, and deals +2d6 points of damage against creatures with the evil subtype.
• Once per round as an immediate action, a PC can roll 1d12 and add the result to any d20 roll he just made.
Also note: Each PC is at full HP. All pools have refreshed, all spells that have been cast are re-prepared, and all other abilities which refresh after full rest are restored.
Anarya:
Karas:
Raine:
Tauni:
A demon begins gibbering and gesturing near the north end of the line of demons .
Tauni watched the visions swell and recede, and she absorbed every detail to obsess over later. When Arleelu disappeared, Tauni's mouth was already speaking the words of a spell. If her friends were going to overcome these demons left behind, they were going to need all of the help she could provide. She stepped a pace or two away from the nearest demon and cast her most powerful spell.
Taking a 5' step and then casting Haste on all allies except Anarya and Cobblepaw.
Avelina:
Karas:
Anarya:
Raine:
Tauni:
All except Anarya feel the energizing effect of Tauni's Haste spell.
Three more of the red-skinned demons begin to gibber and gesture, which looks a bit like an obscene parody of praying.
Anarya, Raine, and Tauni all recognize the type of demons these are and all remember a fair bit about their abilities.
A babau typically carries a longspear or other weapon with which it can strike at foes beyond its normal reach, but given the opportunity, a babau prefers to fight with its teeth or claws. The foul, caustic sludge that constantly seeps from their flesh prevents them from wearing armor unless it is specially treated or resistant to acid.
A babau is 6 feet tall but weighs only 140 pounds. They form from mortal souls of lone killers—those who, in life, took pleasure in more personal and intimate murders. Loosed upon the Material Plane, a babau often finds itself in the same role, haunting the shadowy corners of the world as remorseless assassins.
At will—darkness, dispel magic, greater teleport (self plus 50 lbs. of objects only)
1/day—summon another babau demon.
A layer of acidic slime coats a babau’s skin. Any creature that strikes a babau with a natural attack or unarmed strike takes 1d8 points of acid damage from this slime if it fails a DC 18 Reflex save. A creature that strikes a babau with a melee weapon must make a DC 18 Reflex save or the weapon takes 1d8 points of acid damage; if this damage penetrates the weapon’s hardness, the weapon gains the broken condition. Ammunition that strikes a babau is automatically destroyed after it inflicts its damage.
Initiative Order Updated
Babau 2
Tauni
Babau 4
Babau 6
Babau 3
Raine
Karas
Anarya
Babau 1
Ellena
Babau 5
Raine gasped in wordless shock as the pure holy energy seemed to suffuse her entire being. For a moment she felt she was not standing here alone, but rather that a line of her ancestors stood behind her, each one of them lifting a hand to form a long, unbroken chain that culminated in both her brothers each resting a hand on her shoulders. A sense of righteous calm infused her, momentarily stronger than the bitter rage that had filled her soul since Kenabres had fallen. The desire to see the demons suffer and pay for what they had done was no longer forefront... merely the desire to stop them, so that other lives could be saved.
She remembered seeing the hideous babau demons in various bestiaries. As she raised her bow, Raine's voice rang out, quiet but confident. "Only blessed steel can hurt them fully... but I don't think that's a problem for us right now, is it?
"They can see the unseen, though, and create darkness, get rid of magic, flee like the murderous cowards they are... and call more of their kind. Let's see if I can stop that latter."
Raine took a step closer and began to loose arrows at rapid speed thanks to Tauni's spell.
Raine put an arrow into the chests of two of the chanting demons and did such serious damage that their summoning was interrupted.
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Energized with the energies of the shattered Wardstone, Anarya's halo flared forth with even greater brilliance than ever before. Her eyes burst open as the visions faded, revealing blazing brilliant light shining within. The demons before her were anathema, corrupt and terrible monsters for which only utter destruction would be deserved. She flung out her arms as the halo pulsed outward in a ring, crashing through each fiend painfully.
"Be wary! Babau demons are coated with acid which will melt fragile weapons and projectiles. Metal weapons should resist its touch."
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Avelina shuddered as the holy energy surged through her. She raised her fists. Her eyes popped as she grinned with a righteous glee.
"BEASTS OF THE LOWER PLANES. Know that what is breath to the righteous is death to the villainous. The Inheritor's Radiant Dawn shall drown you."
She threw out her arms, a conductor calling for a sharp explosion of light. She hit the entire back line of babau with her blast of light.
The wave of energy took the tiefling by surprise. The visions renewed his purpose after seeing Terendelev drive off the Storm King in the past. She had fallen and it was his duty to take her place.
He rose with new vigor and with righteous fury replacing indignant anger. His roar echoed through the hall with the power of an ancient worm and frost caught on his breath as his blue glow mixed with the holy energy and fused into doom for the Babaus. He rushed into the fray from his seat.
Babau 2:
Babau 3:
Babau 4:
Babau 6:
DC 24
Babau 3:
Babau 4:
Babau 1: AOC on Karas
Sacred Scourge DC 17
babau 1:
babau 2:
babau 3:
babau 4:
babau 5:
babau 6:
Avelina's light burst on the demons with fierce intensity. It burned all exposed to it . Two were blinded . Two who were chanting lost their concentration and their spell failed .
Karas rushed to get a piece of the demons before the spellcasters fried them all. The babau by the north wall tried to stab him with his long spear but missed.
Anarya's light adds more intensity to the searing light, causing more damage and dazed 2 of them .
The babau to the north starts his chanting, which continues longer than most spells
Ellena took a 5’ step to the south, and squared off against demon 5. Radiance cut through the air twice in quick succession.
Power Attack with Haste
Damage plus
If evil.
Power Attack with Haste
Damage plus
If evil.
———-
Adding to my first attack roll
Ellena cut two deep wounds in the southern most babau.
The babau took a lot of damage but was tough enough to try to use one of its spell-like abilities chanting and gesturing as the others had done.
The demon NE of Karas was dazed by Anarya's assault and took no action.
Ellena swung at the spellcasting demon, trying to knock it off kilter.
Power Attack with Haste
Damage plus
If evil.
———-
Adding to my attack roll , if that applies to an AoO.
When Ellena stepped between Tauni and the demon, Tauni let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. With her confidence restored by the bold paladin stepping in, the wizard managed a calm voice when she said "They are immune to electricity and resistant to magic. Choose your attacks carefully."
Knowing that their casting could bring even more deadly foes into the fray, Tauni took a pace back to better view the action, and then invoked her wand again to try and disrupt their profane rituals.
5' step (reflected on the map) and using wand of magic missiles to attack demons 1 and 5, who appear to still be casting (though maybe not after the AoOs land). SR applies, here's Tauni's check vs. SR: .
Damage:
If one of the demon's is disrupted by an AoO, Tauni will target the other. If neither is disrupted, she'll send missile 1 at demon 1 and the others at demon 5. If both are disrupted, she'll target demon 5 will the missiles.
Anarya:
Raine:
Tauni:
Neither Karas nor Ellena managed to hurt the demons chanting near them, so the casting continued.
Tauni's wand glowed and three missiles shot out, however, the magical energy seemed to be dashed as it got close to the demons.
So the demons continue casting their spells.
The babau behind the remnants of the wardstone pedestal took advantage of Karas being focused on trying to disrupt other babau spellcasting to attempt to cast another spell. This one made the room momentarily dark, but the bright light from each of those present at the wardstone's destruction burned though and dispelled this new darkness like a flame burning through a layer of parchment.
The babau just south of the one who failed at making the room dark attempted a different spell, trying to dispel the magic glowing on Ellena, but this too failed.
Realizing that magic was not going to help them as it normally did, a third babau dropped his longspear and attacked Karas with tooth and claws. The bite ran afoul of Karas armor, but the claws found weak spots in the armor and tried to rip his flesh. However, the sharp edges of the claws seemed to lose their effectiveness against his flesh and the claws did no harm. The demon howled in frustration and anger, plus a little fear.
"They're still trying to call others!" Raine called out. She took a step closer and three arrows whistled through the tight space of the doorway, weaving between the combatants en route to the casting demons.
Good, Rainie, keep them on the ropes and distracted, she thought she heard her mother's calm voice whisper. You don't need to send them back to the Abyss yourself... just take their minds off their damned magics...
Raine's arrows hit both demons trying to cast spells, spoiling their concentration and badly wounding them.
Overflowing with radiant energy, Karas lashed out with fury at the surrounding demons.
Correction That should have read,
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Babau 4
Babau 5
Sacred Scourge DC 17
Babau 1:
Babau 4:
Babau 5:
Babau 6:
Babau 1 Attack vs. AC 18
After Avelina's burst of light, Karas' claw onslaught, and Anarya's channeled energy, 2 demons fell and a third was almost unable to carry on.
B1 53 lethal
B2 93 lethal, dying
B3 75 lethal, dying
B4 27 lethal, dazzled, dazed
B5 73 lethal, disabled, blinded, dazed
B6 60 lethal, blind
The demon north of Karas mirrored him, attempting to claw and bite the bloodrager, but one of his claws failed to draw blood and the bite only managed a flesh wound