"Well, frankly, it's disturbing and I hope we can get it fixed soon" The Ulfen admits hoping to finish off this one.
plus bane
plus bane
plus bane
"Dammit!", Bruendor shouts as his demonic foe rakes his head, causing blood to slicken his cheek. "Alright, no holding back now, beast." His blade shimmers, and with blinding speed he unleashes a flurry of attacks at the vrock.
Kel supports Brue with a healing hand.
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Between them, Calla and Lefrik down their foe. This time, Lefrik uses the bastard sword to cut the head from the vrock before it can fall from the tower. he kicked the vrock's head to anklebiter to hold onto. Bruendor managed to pink the vrock, but that was all. It's demonic skin turned his blade with ease, allowing only the smallest amount of damage through. It winced as Anklebiter's spell rang in its head, and let out a scream of its own, calling to any others in the area to come and join the fight. Bruendor avoided its return strikes, except for one claw that tore across his shoulder. Fortunately, kelendra was there to patch him up.
Bruendor takes 1 hit for a total of 11 damage
Bruendor takes 4 damage from the spores.
R5: bruendor, kelendra, calla, lefrik, anklebiter, vrocks
current status:
anklebiter 70/70
bruendor 73/90
calla 84/84
kelendra 83/83
lefrik 152/153 (stoneskin 51/100)
"I think we're done here! Let's go!"
HP 84/84
AC 26/29, touch 18, flat-footed 21/24
Fort +11*, Ref +9*, Will +13*; CMD 25
Divine retribution (DC 18) 0/6; Judgments 1/4; Bane 0/10; Discern lies 0/10
cold iron arrows 0/29; elf-bane arrows 0/3; human bane arrows 0/4
Spells: 0/5 (first-level); 1/5 (second level); 2/4 (third level); 0/1 (4th level); Consumables: Gravity Bow ring 0/3
Effects: Heroism, greater magic weapon, protection from evil, Destruction judgment (+3 damage), Justice judgment (+3 to hit; +6 to confirm criticals); blessing of fervor
"Maybe we can kill the last vrock, if that's OK with you?" Calla snaps back a reply, arrows singing from her bow toward the last of the demons.
Kel heals Brue again before the remaining Vrock can tear into him.
Lefrik agrees with the Inquistor, "Aye, we're trying to impress are we not?"
The barbarian turns and goes forward to strike at the remaining vrock
plus bane
plus bane
Anklebiter mutters a Word, and flicks a speck of lard at the vrock's feet.
Barely has the little lump hit the ground, or rancid grease bubbles up out of the brickwork, hampering the demon's footing!
The last vrock dropped to the ground, and Lefrik hacked that one's head off as well. With two heads in hand (to speak), you were left with the decision to head down and see if two heads were enough, or stay on the platform and await more of the demon vultures who were winging their way towards you even as you looked around.
"Two should hopefully be enough to satisfy Arlindil," Calla grouses. "Let's go back down, as they seem as numerous here as if we were in the WorldWound."
"Yes", Kel agrees, "let's return to Arlindil with proof of our deed. Even if he requests more, we'll have a better understanding of the requirement."
Quickly you grab the heads and scamper back down the stairway. The guards raise their eyebrows a bit at your grisly trophies, but step aside and give you plenty of space to enter the old druid's rooms once more.
The druid looked up from his meditation and smiled. "I see that you are indeed both capable and determined. Yes, I will will do as you ask and call for Hialin to listen to your course. But, you should at least make the attempt to talk to him and the others by yourselves, first. The more of the Council that you can persuade to listen on their own terms, the better off you will be."
Bruendor did some quick mental math, made more challenging by the horrid vines that were sprouting from his flesh. I can delay one while they kill the other again, but those three would be on top of us by then. Not worth staying. "Let's go," he said, grabbing his crossbow. "And maybe the druid can do something about this damned foliage!"
"Would you fix up Bruendor before we go?" Anklebiter asks the Druid.
As soon as the party is back in the corridor, he looks at the others.
"Which one next? The priestess? Um. That might mean giant friend Lefrik Olegson and Kelendra need to wait in the corridor."
"Yes, Perelir sounds like a good option. Though it might be worth bringing Lefrik in in case he catches her attention. Perhaps she might be as amenable to that as a fellow devotee, considering the differences in our appreciation of Calistria's aspects."
"I'm not sure I feel comfortable about throwing our friend at a lecherous Elf who's already made her way through most of the warriors in this fortress. He might catch something. Or he'll be too exhausted to move, and we still have other work to do."
"Ah yes. Your friend got infected with the demon spores, did he? No, I have nothing that will improve his condition. You would need a cleric or priest for that. Perelir would be your best bet, though I am not sure how she would react to a dwarf in need."
The guards led you from the druid's chambers back down to the fourth floor, then over to the eastern spire tower, and from there one floor up. This was where the chapel was for the fortress, and with it the living chambers for the acolytes and high priestess. Unfortunately, only Perelir lived there now, as your guards explained that all of the acolytes perished in the initial attacks.
Perelir was in the chapel, kneeling to prayer before the wasp icon of Calistria, when you arrived. She finished her prayers, then stood and looked interestedly at you. She was a beauty, even by elven standards, with long, flowing red hair, deep green eyes, and wearing a diaphanous gown that looked to be made at least partially of stars and shadows. One of her perfectly sculpted eyebrows quirked at your appearance, and one corner of her mouth turned up slightly in mirth. Still, she waited for you to introduce yourselves.
"I suppose that really should be up to the person - or persons, I guess - that Perelir takes a fancy to," Bruendor says with a shrug. "Though I'd be surprised if that's all she needs to win her favor."
"Greetings, Revered One," Calla greets the fellow priestess in her tradition's traditional manner, slightly inclining her head in respect. "We have come in search of help and vengeance, a mission blessed by the Sacred Sting herself in opposition to one who has wronged us and you and would do the same to the rest of Golarion if allowed."
"It's revenge on someone who betrayed your whole species, became Drow, and now wants to smash your cities with rocks from space such as destroyed old Azlant, which would put a damper on all our days," Anklebiter says in a dry tone. "The collateral damage to Golarion would be appalling, and we none of us want the Drow conquering the surface. As I am sure you can see, we truly do have a common interest."
Calla knows that a simple Bless spell or application of holy water would remove the demonic vines.
Calla passes on that information, assuming Stars will handle the actual work.
Kel blesses Brue prior to the party encountering the priestess. She waits in the corridor as suggested, not wanting to offend Perelir in her chapel.
"Her attention?" He pauses "I feel vaguely used..." A beat "i'm not saying no." All that before they go in.
When they do, he quiets, out of respect for the goddess being prayed to. He does give an admiring glance to the priestess "I am Lefrik Olegson. No doubt you would consider me a barbarian, many do, but my friends speak the truth. So whatever you may think of our rag tag group, like a wild horse, we might be able to get you to the target of your and maybe your goddesses' ambition."
The quirked lips turns into a flat line as Anklebiter spoke. "Allevrah. You are talking about Allevrah, are you not? Damn her! Is it not bad enough that she should betray us all, our entire nation, but that she must perpetuate her foolish plans even unto the death of this world? Tell me what you know of her plans, and what you desire of me."
Despite her reputation and that playful smirk as you entered, there was no double entendre on that word 'desire'. Apparently the mere reference to her fallen friend and lover was enough to put Perelir in a serious state of mind.
"We hope to assemble a meeting of your Council. Action must be taken against Allevrah -- who is indeed the problem -- and we will need your help," Calla explains. "She seeks to bring about another Earthfall. Arlindil is ready to listen and support us, but urged us to talk to each of you as well before he calls for a meeting."
She continues to lay out the story of their dealings with Allevrah if her fellow priestess wants or needs more information.
"This is the time to fight her, eliminate her," Anklebiter says. "We delved into the Darklands themselves to find out who was responsible for the Drow's first test run of a cloned Earthfall, over at Riddleport. Even other Drow are opposed to Allevrah's madness. They are not allies, but they are at least denying the traitor their support. The time to go after her and end her is NOW, with her away from her home, her fortress, and deprived of support besides her House. But the Winter Council must stand with us, not against us. Help us bring vengeance to the traitor."
"Yes, Allevrah must be stopped. That was the reason she left the Council, you know. She wanted to call down a stone from the heavens to destroy the Fallen, and she had detailed knowledge of where their largest cities were. the Council may be a stodgy bunch of backwards reactionaries that have long outlived their usefulness, but even they wouldn't permit anything like that. I think that is why she turned. So much hatred..."
Perelir broke off as if she might have said too much.
"At any rate, yes I will support a Council meeting to go after the Fallen and stop this plan of action. Of course, I have been recommending that course for several decades now. If Arlindil is willing to support you, then that is one more hurdle. I would suggest you talk with Hialin. Oh, he is irascible and insular - he will not like the dwarf or goblin, for certain - but he is also one of the most powerful mages of elvenkind. He has been a bit reclusive since Allevrah's treachery, but his knowledge of the arcane arts and studies of the Fallen would serve us well. Plus, with him on your side you would have the majority needed to convene the Council and enact a plan."
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"He can dislike me as much as he wants, so long as he gets off of his graceful Elven butt and starts helping to actually save the world," Anklebiter says in a very dry tone. "Friends, let us go see Hialin."
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"Let's go," Bruendor replies with a nod, agreeing with Anklebiter's sentiment. "Every moment we tarry is another that Allevrah gets closer to her prize."
With another member convinced, the party follows the guards to Hialin. Kel prepares herself for the likely verbal assault that she's about to face. "With his skills in magic we may have an advantage if we let him use his arts to pull the truth from us. It will support our cause and he'll feel like he was extracting the information, rather than being told what to do by half breeds, dwarves, and goblins."
"Don't offer. Zone of truth is not a Wizard spell; Seek thoughts is. I don't want him to have the idea he can root around in our brains whenever he feels like it -- I don't know about the rest of you, but I have had unkind thoughts about the Winter Council. Be polite, be to the point, and be logical. We wizards often value such, and we have good reasons for him to help us, reasons which benefit him personally as well as his whole species."
Calla nods in appreciation. Of course the Calistrian priestess is the most sensible of her companions -- no different than her own life, of course.
She leaves Perelir's quarters to head for Arlindir's with the other.
"I'm not letting him use his magic if there's no reason," she says crossly. "If he wants to ignore the truth, we'll make him see it."
The guards took you over to Hialin's quarters. The elves do not say anything untoward, but you can tell that they are very uncomfortable with this task, unlike their behavior when escorting you to Arlindir or Perelir.
After lengthy walk and many stairs, you find yourselves standing outside Hialin's door. After a knock and a brief word, one of the elves motions to the open door. From within you can hear an elven voice saying "...Can't be bothered with this nonsense. The demons will break through any day now and they want me to talk to a bunch of half-breeds and monkeys? This place is lost without my constant supervision and careful vigilance. But, do they understand? No! They just want to leave. LEAVE! As if all we have worked towards for these last few centuries is worth nothing!..."
"It will be, if the Drow aren't prevented from enacting a second Starfall on your cities, Hialin of the Winter Council," Anklebiter says, voice slightly raised to cut through the ranting.
"And the demons are at your door. All you are doing is preventing them from entering -- barely -- for less time than one of these monkeys will be alive. We didn't even have to leave the tower to fight enough vrocks to prove to Arlindir that we're competent demon killers. Surely you're smart enough to know that what you're doing is NOT working."
Calla manages to be more diplomatic than usual, waiting to see what the elf would do before threatening to knock down the door if he didn't open it himself.
She might be proud of herself if she weren't so annoyed at having to be diplomatic in the first place. Even a little exposure to Perelir appeared to be rubbing off on her in a bad way.
"Only the great can admit failure, Hialin. The Winter Council has failed, your former member is trying to destroy the world and your precious fortress. By your own words, the demons would be here now if not for your efforts alone, this is the time to admit the Winter Council has failed and attempt a new course of action before all is lost. If it takes the intervention of us half-breeds to prove you were right, then so be it."
"Besides, what do you gain if you do nothing but keep your present course?", Bruendor inquires. "You get to live out your remaining days, prisoners inside your own towers by the demonic jailers that skulk about the woods. If they don't break in and murder us all, then you get to live just long enough to see Allevrah pull another stone from the heavens - right before it crashes into everything and everyone you've ever cared about. That is what staying your course earns you - a rather ignoble death for someone of your capabilities."
Calla was thinking about the guards' reactions, and their clipped words about how Hialin was flighty. Perhaps that was why she tried to be diplomatic. She really did try. So did the others. But it was for naught.
"Get out and leave me be. I am working on a solution that doesn't involve killing demons by ones and twos. If the others want to fritter away their time and energies with self-doubt and maudlin remembrances, that is their lookout. I have better things to do. More productive things. Now leave!"
This last bit was thrown over his shoulder as he once more turned to a large tome propped up on a stand near a scrying ball already filled with swirling energies.
No more discussion or cajoling can get him to respond to you, and the guards motioned you out of the room and gently closed the door. One of them said, "I was afraid that was going to be his response. It is basically the same one he gives anyone, minus the remarks about 'half-breeds and monkeys' of course. Shall we escort you to Malindil now? If you can gain her support, then Councillor Hialin will have no choice but to attend an emergency session of the Council, lest the others commit the Council to a course of action he disapproves of without his chance to shout them down again."
"Let's give it a try," Anklebiter says. "Please take us to her. But by my teeth and Brigh's clockwork mask, there will be no shouting down. The Council must change course."
Calla nods.
"We can always come back here and force him to listen if we have to," she says.
Bruendor said little, grinding his teeth in frustration at the wizard's foolishness and arrogance. "Let's go," he mutters at last. "I'll enjoy seeing him full of sound and fury once we get this last councilor on our side."
"He may best serve by continuing to keep the demons at bay. Let's talk to Malindil and hope for a better outcome."
"I can admire someone who hopes to kill many demons, but I doubt it would come without a price" Hmmmph as they move on
The guards escorted you to Malindil's chambers, and there you found a statuesque elven woman in golden chain. Her white tabard had symbols of hawk and flame on it, and her countenance was severe.
"Who are you and why are you here? I assume you have some legitimate business to be escorted by these two, but I can hardly imagine why Armistril allowed you entrance."