At the mention of the cold iron weapons, Huc considers swapping weapons, but thinks better of it. Instead, he draws a vial from his bandolier.
”Good to know,” he whispers in response to Rowane. ”So, Arien opens the door. Fynn and I lead the charge, and we take this thing down?”
"I will offer advice, and will bewilder it," says Temperance.
Temperance, oddly enough, applies a sulfurous, sweet perfume to his wrists, neck and behind his pointy gnome ears.
"Arien is right. It has been held secured for so long. Maybe once we are more prepared"
The party discusses its options. While this is happening, the schir--a goat-headed, goat-footed biped with stringy grey fur over an emaciated yet muscular body--emerges from around the corner. It glares at you as it licks one tine of its cruel-looking halberd, but says nothing.
Huc lets himself be pulled away, but he clearly doesn't like this. He looks at Arien, then Rowane. "I dont like it, and I don't think we'll find anything that's gonna make killin' that thing any easier. But I ain't gonna argue too much." He gives the gate one last, reluctant look. "Let's sweep this place and go clear out that cave."
As the party heads back towards the stairs, Huc and Arien hear behind them a clang of metal on metal.
Arien, you're pretty sure that the demon is breaking down the locked gate.
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“Damn. I guess it won’t wait, after all.” Drawing her bow, Arien repeats Rowane’s warnings.
Like all lesser demons, they resist damage from weapons that are not good or cold iron. They typically fight using halberds, which they gnaw on with their disease-laden saliva. They can inflict terrible damage with their goatlike horns; are immune to disease, electricity, and poison; and resist damage from acid, cold, and fire.
Frustration paints Huc's features. He can barely keep an I told you so from his lips, though his eyes aren't quite so discrete. Doubling back to get there before the gate is completely broken, teh woodsman tosses Arien the vial he was holding. "Right before the fight, coat your weapon in that. The man said it helped kill demons and devils and s!%%." He switches out weapons, readying his cold iron morningstar, "I'll use this."
"I think we need to overwhelm this thing. Hit it as hard as we can as much as we can until it aint movin' no more." He brings a few words of power to the front of his mind, ready to offer them up as a quick prayer to the spirits around them. Any edge helps, right?
"I believe it's time I told you about the parable of how the professor could not empty Nan-In's teacup," says Temperance. He begins the story...
"Five of us and one of it. Mobility works in our favor, I reckon. Hittin' it in that big room seems smartest." He shrugs, releasing the spell into his own weapon, "Plus, if someone falls behind it, we want everyone else to be able to reach and heal'em. And that ain't happenin' in these tight hallways."
He ushers everyone forward, suggesting that Master Temperance and Rowane stand just outside the second door while the rest stand inside the little anteroom, Fynn and himself on the front row. "Soon as it opens this door, we hit it. Fynn will move to flank."
Master Temperance first follows Arien's nod, then gulps and hustles back to follow Huc. "Demons are unkind creatures," he says, solemnly.
Rowane pulls out his crossbow and readies it, pointing it down the hall way.
Temperance readies a mindbending koan regarding the nature of mu.
Rowane cast spirit weapon and sends it in to face the demon, hoping to slow his escape.
The spiritual weapon strikes out at the demon
Round 1:
The light crossbow of force looses at the demon as it hacks at the gate, but the agile creature manages to dodge the blow.
"Mu: the outflow of a factory should be upstream of its inflow," says Temperance to the schir, and goes on to query about rivers that loop upon themselves.
Temperance also spends this round activating Advice.
"Idon't know about mus and rivers," Huc grunts as he glares through the gate at the demon, "But I ain't about to let this thing have a fair fight against us."
Round 2:
The demon pauses, clearly pondering the gnome's peculiar question.
The pair of hunters explode into the fight, taking advantage of the opening created by Master T to surround their quarry. The now-massive Huc growls out a quick command, and Fynn races in on Arien’s heels, taking up a position next to the elf as it bites at the demon’s flank. Huc releases every bit of the restless rage that had ben building on this long exploration, bringing his Lead Bladed, cold iron morningstar crashing down on its head.
Temperance will wait until the demon opens the gate to bewilder him again.
Round 2:
While the demon pauses, Rowane can attack again with spiritual weapon. (Note, incidentally, that while the demon pauses it doesn't carve away at the gate, so there are still (you figure) two rounds before it will break through.)