Anklebiter blasted the creature with magical missiles, then scurried away. The others moved back to the door, healing Lefrik as they moved and leaving Bruendor staring up at the giant demon, it's claws and beak dripping with Lefrik's blood. It dove at him, claws raking the air, and the dwarf exploded into defensive motion. Dodging and parrying, the rogue used the whirling smoke to great effect, often blending in with its shadows to foil the vrock's attacks.
The tendrils growing from the holes where the spores embedded themselves in the front line's skin began to grow thicker, ripping out from their flesh and twisting together.
Go, go Bruendor!
Lefrik, Bruendor, and Calla each take 4 damage from the spores.
Initiatives:
enemy
group
Everyone is up!
Here's the map
The smoke acts as obscuring mist, granting concealment and blocking vision in the same way as the spell. It cannot be dispelled or blown away, as there is nowhere for the smoke to go. A heavy wind increases the visibility from 5' to 10', but all other penalties still apply.
current combat hit point status:
anklebiter
bruendor -16
calla -16
kelendra
lefrik -32
"Looks like they've left us all alone, big guy," the dwarf says, gritting his teeth as the spores continue to dig into his flesh. "And I'm following them! GET THAT DOOR OPEN, AB!" Bruendor takes a defensive slash at the vrock before darting back into the smoke, hopefully losing the beast in the concealment.
"I'm on it, friend Bruendor! Hospes semper salutatus sum! Claustras omnas reserate!" Anklebiter chants, and he unleashes his not inconsiderable wizardry on the locked door.
AC 22, touch 15, flat-footed 19
Fort +7, Ref +4, Will +9
CMD 14
HP 52/52
Divine retribution (DC 16) 0/6; Judgments 1/3; Bane 3/7; Discern lies 0/6
Arrows: 0/18; cold iron arrows 0/39; bolts 0/20
Spells: 2/5 (first-level); 3/4 (second level); 0/2 (third level)
Consumables: Gravity Bow ring 1/3
Effects: anti-toxin, fire resistance 20 (8 minutes)
Calla retreats , waiting for the thing to come into sight again, a prayer on her lips: "Calistria, let this creature feel your wrath.
At Anklebiter's spell, the mechanism holding the door closed rumbled and the doors swung inwards. Fresh air from the outside rushed into the domed room, and the smoke cleared slightly. There was no longer anything obscuring the room, and the vrock's appearance did not improve for the clarity.
"Are we planning to back further out? Or fight it here?" lefrik says as smoke clears somewhat
[b]"Back out farther! Let us get a clear shot at it,"[b] Calla growls.
Lefrik steps back through the open doors
Kel moves with Lefrik as they retreat from the smokey room and again she calls upon Desna to heal the barbarian's wounds.
Everyone runs out of the open doors into the antechamber, with Bruendor ducking and dodging swiping claws the entire way. One claw managed to snake through his defenses, though, catching him on the left shoulder. Here, despite the gore on the floor, is a much better place to take a stand, what with the lower ceilings and doorframes hampering the vrock's movement, and of course the lack of smoke.
Bruendor takes 14 damage
Lefrik, Bruendor, and Calla each take 2 damage from the spores.
Initiatives:
enemy
group
current combat hit point status:
anklebiter
bruendor -32
calla -18
kelendra
lefrik -19
AC 22, touch 15, flat-footed 19
Fort +7, Ref +4, Will +9
CMD 14
HP 34/52
Divine retribution (DC 16) 0/6; Judgments 1/3; Bane 3/7; Discern lies 0/6
Arrows: 1/18; cold iron arrows 0/39; bolts 0/20
Spells: 2/5 (first-level); 3/4 (second level); 0/2 (third level)
Consumables: Gravity Bow ring 1/3
Effects: anti-toxin, fire resistance 20 (8 minutes), wrath (+3 to hit, dmg) 1/10
Calla drops her morningstar and dances to her left, trying to set up the vrock in a crossfire as she pulls her bow.
As soon as she has a clear sight of the demon, she launches an arrow toward it. She curses as the shaft bounces off its tough hide.
Anklebiter hops forward a single step and scrunches up his face. A surfe of protective magic envelops the whole group.
"I'm running low on battle-magic!" the Goblin warns. "This thing is immune or resistant to most of what I have, too!"
While the others engage in melee, Anklebiter starts a traditional Goblin war-chant for those rare occasions that Goblins found themselves opposing demons. Of course it loses a bit in translation...
Kel continues healing Lefrik while her fear continues to rise as her healing gifts are depleted.
AC 19, touch 12, flat-footed 17
Fort +9, Ref +9, Will +10
CMD 18
HP 59/59
Prayers Remaining:
0/5 (3rd level)
5/7 (2nd level)
5/7 (1st level)
Resources Remaining
Bolts Remaining: 20
Moonlight Bridge: 4/4
Spray of Shooting Stars: 1/2
Interstellar Void: 1/1
Temporary Effects
Coat of Stars
Constant Effects
Lure of Heavens: float 6 inches above ground or liquid
Lefrik, now having it further back, makes his stand again and tries to finish off the creature
Now in the clear, you threw everything you had left at the creature, which wasn't much. Kelendra healed much of Lefrik's original damage as Bruendor continued to poke and prod the vrok with his mostly ineffective rapier. Calla tried desperately to avoid hitting the dwarf, and valiantly sank an arrow into the door lintel instead. Lefrik chopped into the vrok as if renewed, trying to fell the creature through sheer number of blows. The axe bit deeply, though not as deep as it should have, and the black ichor flowed from beneath torn feathers.
The vrock shrieked in pain and anger, lashing out at both Lefrik and Bruendor. One claw blasted through Bruendor's defense and landed at the base of the dwarf's neck, where it met the shoulder. The other lashed in, taking the dwarf across the chest. The massive wounds were almost enough to kill the doughty dwarf, and blood gushed from the ruins of his upper torso. Lefrik barely managed to avoid losing an eye to the vrock's darting beak, taking the blow on the side of his head instead. A talon kicked up from below, rending anew the flesh that kelendra's healing spells had closed. Bruendor collapsed to the ground from his wounds as the others continued to battle on.
Bruendor takes a hit and a crit for a total of 30 damage
Lefrik takes 2 hits for a total of 20 damage
Lefrik, Bruendor, and Calla each take 4 damage from the spores.
Initiatives:
enemy
group
current combat hit point status:
anklebiter
bruendor -66 (dying)
calla -22
kelendra
lefrik -29
AC 22, touch 15, flat-footed 19
Fort +7, Ref +4, Will +9
CMD 14
HP 34/52
Divine retribution (DC 16) 0/6; Judgments 1/3; Bane 4/7; Discern lies 0/6
Arrows: 3/18; cold iron arrows 0/39; bolts 0/20
Spells: 2/5 (first-level); 3/4 (second level); 0/2 (third level)
Consumables: Gravity Bow ring 1/3
Effects: anti-toxin, fire resistance 20 (8 minutes), wrath (+3 to hit, dmg) 1/10
"Calistria, punish this creature from beyond that would destroy your servants!" Calla prays as she launches two arrows in rapid succession toward the demon.
"Lefrik! Anklebiter shouts. "Grab Bruendor and GET CLEAR!"
Provided the mighty barbarian complies, Anklebiter chants a spell - and an almost solid wave of sound, thunder with malicious intent, rolls away from him and envelops the vrock!
Kel prays for healing energy, then rushes forward to touch Bruendor.
Lefrik grabs Bruendor as directed and gets him clear muttering prayers in Skald for Desna to keep the dwarf alive
The wounded vrock grabbed its head as Anklebiter's spell rang inside its skull. The great demon was hardy, and shook off most of the damage, but still the spell left it distracted for a crucial moment. With a whispered prayer to her goddess, Calla launched a pair of arrows, one after the other. The arrows impacted a mere fingerbreadth apart, driving into one of the wounds that Lefrik's greataxe had left in the avian's chest. The shriek dropped to a gurgle as the demon keeled over, black ichor running from its body to cover the floor of the summoning chamber.
Ouch
"Barghests' bowels!" Anklebiter curses, staring wide-eyed at the vanquished demon. "That was crazy! Is Bruendor going to be alright? Can you guys get those icky spores out of you?"
Provided both questions are answered in the positive, Anklebiter peeks into the room the demon had been guarding. "We still need to let the Elves in... Listen, when we have a few days to ourselves, I suggest I sit down and craft us some weapons especially for hurting and killing demons. I know the method. And I think we'll need them."
"Healer girl, help Bruendor; AB, let's let the elves in."
Grabbing her morningstar and attaching it to her hip again, Calla returns to the smoky room and looks around.
Please, Calistria, don't let there be anything else, in here.
Anklebiter tries to tackle the blockage in the Elves' access route with Acid Splashes and judiciously applied whacks with his quarterstaff, for what good they'll do...
What looked like dried mud is actually stone, and nothing Anklebiter could do seemed to weaken it.
Bruendor recovered as Kelendra's spell took effect, sitting up and rubbing his head.
"It's no good. It's solid rock! I could summon earth elementals to tunnel through it, but that's about all -- oh, good! Bruendor, I am happy to see you alive."
Calla looks at the stone. Then looks back at the Ulfen. Looks at the stone. The Ulfen. Stone. Ulfen.
"Blondie -- smash!" she orders, pointing at the obstacle.
"He'd need a bloody big hammer to break through that lot! Do we even have enough time?"
"We have to get the elves in here somehow," Calla says in frustration, looking around to see if there's anything that could help.
Bruendor gasped as the enveloping darkness retreated, and coughed up some blood. "I have got to learn how to dodge those claws," he said, wincing as he began to find his feet. "So...we won? Did we get the elves in?" His face becomes a bit stony when he sees that the earthen wall is far more sturdy than originally thought. "Damn! All that for nothing. Though I suppose we did kill a vrock, so there's that. One less in the Abyss."
The air still holds traces of smoke, but the visibility is almost clear now. Calla can clearly see what had been obscured before, and it didn't look good. The round room was obviously set up as a classroom for studying planar creatures. Benches were built into the walls, several tables stood near the center, and a summoning circle had been painstakingly engraved in the stone floor. The circle no longer glowed, but it was obviously the source of both demon and smoke.
Something else grabbed Calla's attention. On the floor, interspersed among the black ichor of the vrock and the fresh blood from both Bruendor and Lefrik, were splotches of red that weren't quite dry. One clearly had Lefrik's boot print through it, and a streak indicated a body dragged in the direction of the doorway.
Under one of the tables, Calla saw a small pouch laying on top of a scrap of parchment.
Calla points to the drag marks. "Maybe the elf got in before the door was sealed," she says, moving to inspect the pouch and parchment.
She intones a quick prayer as she gets close.
Lefrik asks, "You want me to try to break this down or not?"
"If you can, sure."
Kel continues healing Bruendor.
AC 19, touch 12, flat-footed 17
Fort +9, Ref +9, Will +10
CMD 18
HP 59/59
Prayers Remaining:
0/5 (3rd level)
2/7 (2nd level)
5/7 (1st level)
Resources Remaining
Bolts Remaining: 20
Moonlight Bridge: 4/4
Spray of Shooting Stars: 1/2
Interstellar Void: 1/1
Temporary Effects
Coat of Stars
Constant Effects
Lure of Heavens: float 6 inches above ground or liquid
"Thanks, Kel," Bruendor says after the third healing spell coming his way. "Save your magics, we still haven't secured this place. Don't we still have a healing wand?"
Lefrik looks around for anything that might usable as a shovel or the like
Anklebiter thinks about vrocks, and about their known abilities. He is pretty sure that a bless spell, remove disease, or Holy Water, would remove the spores. Alternatively, they could be dug out with a dagger, though it would likely be a painful process.
The viny growths on the trio look like minature hedges, or those small trees that Tian liked to cultivate. After a few moments, they stopped growing, and the wracking pain died to a dull throb.
Looking around the room, Anklebiter can see that it was meant to contain summoned entities, not aid in the process. Likely, as its name suggests, the Academy was a school, and the room was meant for education.
Looking around, Lefrik found no tools that would be of use to breaking down the wall, other than maybe the tables?
Calla saw no sign of magics under the table. The pouch was a simple felt pouch with a drawstring. Inside, there were a number of pearls and onyx, as well as a good supply of diamond dust. The parchment seemed to be sky charts of some kind, with annotations
The parchment has many calculations written referring to the sky charts, and how the stars might have looked 10,000 years ago. One note near the bottom reads "This time is the key. We must study Earthfall more closely, no matter the cost."
Anklebiter reports on the properties of the spores and how they may be best removed... and the need to do so quickly.
"A little help, Stargirl?"
"Someone wants to know more about Earthfall," she reports as she scans the parchment.
Kel blesses the party in an attempt to stop the spores, then applies her healing arts to remove the growths.
The growths had indeed stopped on their own, though Kelendra's spell made everyone feel a little better. The healer was able to carefully shave off the viny growths with her dagger, doing minimal damage as she worked the now inactive spores out of the flesh of the three afflicted. The process took a while, and was mildly uncomfortable for all involved.
While the others work on the spores, Anklebiter looks whether the tables might be converted to break open the blockage keeping the Elves out.
The Duchess stealthily flies a moderate distance ahead of the group, scouting for danger - and perhaps tracking the smear of blood for proof of who did the bleeding.
"Dammit," Bruendor swears under his breath, kicking the vrock's body in frustration. "I knew we should have kept those picks. Or at least had an adamantine dagger. Or something. Then we'd be able to fix this damn problem." After a few well placed kicks, the dwarf let out an audible sigh. "Alright, alright, focus, Bruendor. Work the problem. We don't have a pick, so we need to fashion one. We can break the tables apart for the handle, but we need to use something far sturdier to break through the stone." He started digging through his pack, and pulled out his grappling hook. "Probably don't need this right now, since we've got the slippers. OK, here's what we do - we force the hook through whatever we're using as the handle, and then Lefrik uses his Ulfen strength to bend the hook end around the handle, helping to grip the shaft. It probably won't work for long, but it might give us a head start."
"I still have a bottle of alchemist fire. Can that help?"