Unfortunately, the buzzing does seem like it's getting to Aladir, the normally light-footed elf now moving more heavily than he's ever been seen to move. With the supernatural sloth crippling as it is, he simply moves to intercept the demon bug and set up a more advantageous position between both himself and Aeri.
Ignoring the buzzing, Ezro dives into the room, to lay a hand on Aerianna, bestowing a Touch of Good on her.
vs DC 24
vs AC 26
vs AC 25
Aerianna stilled slowed, steps forward and swings at the demon, doing damage. Hyram, this time falling to the beating wings is only able to move up to the demon and not attack. Alikia does not slow down, draws her crossbow but is unable to get a clear shot so she watches. Aladir, also this time is affected by the beating wings and although he tries to move up next to the demon, Hyram is in his way, so he moves to behind Hyram. Ezro, ignoring the wings steps up and gives Aerianna a blessing to help her damage the demon easier. Arueshalae, like several of her companions falls victim to the demon beating wings and is only able to get a single shot off, however she wounds it.
The demon swings at Aerianna and bites and slams her, doing minimal damage however she feels ill for a moment.
Hyram, feeling the slowness course through his body tries to stab the creature.
The slowness throws him off balance, however, and he misses the demon.
5' step forward to move into flanking position ...
Even as the demon batters aside her shield and sinks its teeth into her arm, Aerianna uses its purchase as leverage, stepping forward and turning to expose the thing -- and once again, Radiance rises, pauses, and falls with lethal finality. Afterwards, she drags her arm out from between the thing's teeth, coughing once, then reaches up to pull off her helm. "Bleah," she says, extending her tongue for a moment and looking like she's about to puke. "Gods above, I hate this."
With a glance around at the dazzled others, knowing she herself is just as mentally hampered, she reaches back to pluck a cloth from behind her belt, and wipes down Radiance before sheathing it. "Let's take a moment to shake this off," she suggests, "maybe take a look around here."
Aerianna swings Radiance at the demon, and puts it down, ending the buzzing and beating of wings. After half a minute or so, the slowness which had affected several of the group wears off and you feel normal again. Looking quickly at the table, the maps seem to be of the Worldwound area and which of the demonic commanders have been given authority over certain areas for the push.
While his body shakes off the sluggishness, Hyram will search the room.
Moving into the room, Alikia picks up the jar from the table, turning it over in her hands. "Huh, I wonder why they had this?" Casting detect magic, Alikia scans the room for any magical residue, before checking out the map and make a mental note of the war plans.
Looking around on the table and scanning the maps, Ezro remarks, "This information could be very usefull. I would suggest we keep it for later."
Looking to the others for confirmation, he will begin rolling up the maps and storing them in his pack if the party is in agreement.
"Agreed. If we're pushing forward, no time to examine the maps now; roll them up and stash them and we'll take them back to Drezen when we're done here."
Searching the room for documents takes but just a few moments, while everyone that needs to recovers from the slowing affect of the demons wings. Quickly looking over the maps and documents, you believe that the information is invaluable to the Crusade and help Ezro store the papers in his back to be brought back to Queen Galfrey.
With the quick scan, the thing right now that sticks in your mind is that the regions of the Worldwound are broken out by demonic commanders alongside notes that outline and tentatively schedule Nahyndrian elixir distribution.
Alikia checks the jar on the table, and when she does her scan for magic, notices that the jar is magical.
"Agreed Aladir, there is a lot of information here to unpack, and not a lot of time. Alikia, perhaps you can study that jar more closely at a later date? It could have something to do with the Elixir."
Squaring his pack and making sure all is ready, he nods to Aladir, "Did you want to take point or will Aerianna?"
Hyram will wait for Aladir or Aeri to lead the way.
Aerianna chuckles. "C'mon, Hyram," she says, sounding cheerful despite getting banged up repeatedly. "Let's show them how it's done." She winks at Erzo and Aladir, then stumps out of the map-room, glancing to her left towards the south hallway, but moves carefully towards the wider northern one, looking to see where it winds up, but getting ready to go into the next room widdershins (counter-clockwise) around the room -- the double doors.
Aladir quirks a slight smile at Aeri's encouragement to Hyram, shrugging and gesturing for Hyram to follow after Aeri; he then moves after the pair, rapier still in hand and ready.
Moving to the double door to north from the room, Aladir listens and checks for traps. He finds no traps, but holds four fingers up, and then points to his ears, indicating he hears perhaps four voices in the room beyond. He then steps back and lets Aerianna and Hyram do their thing.
Hyram nods a thanks to Aladir and opens the door.
Gently placing the jar into one of the groups bags of holding Alikia makes a mental note to check the item later. Following behind the group she waits to see how everyone will respond to the new foes.
Swinging open the double doors, you are confronted by what appear to be four humans in the robes of an arcane caster. Two appear to have just finished casting spells, when two small creatures appear before them. This creature’s bloated frame shudders with each heaving step, yet despite its shape, the thing moves with surprising quickness. The other two mages hurl a glob of grease, covering Aerianna and Hyram in hand weapons.
Hyram's sword clatters to the floor. He lets out an oath as he picks it up.
Hah!
All right, 10' in, and whackety-whack. As a reminder, the Divine Bond only lasts 11 minutes -- while I know going strictly by game-time we've been in here, like, five ... let me (us?) know how long it's been and if/when I need to reactivate it.
I am presuming all of these are evil ... ?
The door opens. The mages fling their hands forward, one of the globules streaking towards Aerianna -- and in an instant, she's back in Vala's Gift.
-------------------------------------------
Aerianna, much younger, much less muscular, still primed for slipping the blow instead of absorbing it, couches her shield and longsword, standing side-by-side with her swordmistress and listening to her instruction. "One of the easiest things for a mage to do," lectured Tala Mateev as the two held a two-woman shield-wall and began to fight against an imaginary enemy line, "even a mage just starting out, is to slick up your weapon so badly you can't hold onto it. And a warrior without a weapon is?"
"Useless!!" shouted Aeri, lifting her shield as if deflecting a weapon upwards, shuffle-stepping in quickly, and stabbing forward from under the shield's cover before quick-stepping back into line with Tala.
"Exactly. So when a blob comes out at you -- HOLD!!"
Aerianna immediately froze, her shield halfway to being raised. 'Hold' was the first training command she'd learned, how to halt a strike or a defense even if it were about to connect.
"At ease. Observe."
Straightening out of her defense, the young not-quite-yet-a-warrior carefully sheathed her practice blade, then came around in front of Tala to watch. The sister-in-arms cavalier remained in the basic ready position, shield couched and guarding her left side, sword held upright just below the level of her right shoulder, swordhand just in view. She was ready to step into a full stab, to retreat, to drop her weapon and thrust, to lift and strike from above.
"So. When you see a mage flick something at you, you move thus," stated Tala, and proceeded to demonstrate each individual movement, even as she narrated. "Sword-hand moves from right side to center of chest; shield-hand moves to cover. Hips turn to the right, thus. Done simultaneously." She came back into the base guard position, then made all three of the small adjustments, none of them taking much more than a twitch to execute, but Aerianna could see how the sword's grip as well as a good third of the lowest part of the blade was suddenly out of view, out of the target area. "It does not hurt," Tala added, "to tuck your head in some, just in case it is not conjured grease they're throwing at you." Again she demonstrated, the unique eye-slits of her maiden's helm disappearing behind the protection of her shield the same way her sword-hand did.
Aerianna nodded, then took a step back, to settle into the not-yet-reflexive basic guard. As Tala watched, she began to practice the subtle new maneuver. "Good. Tuck your hand in a bit more. I'll start testing you on this tomorrow -- using thrown rocks -- so you better get this right ..."
-------------------------------------------
Shift - cover - turn. The mage's grease splattered futilely against the front of her shield as memory-echoes of the pain of not getting it right made the back of her armored fingers tingle. It was only for a moment, her head re-emerging as she strode forward, the golden glow of Radiance once more laying into a foul creature before her.
Aladir flashes a familiar golden hue as he begins moving forward and, in the space of an eye-blink, finishes that step in front of the second foe, his rapier already stabbing forward at his target, attempting to take advantage of what would surely be his unexpectedly sudden appearance.
vs AC 23 (mage)
Aladir makes use of his mythic power, and rushes up to the demons holding the front line. Attacking three times, he kills the one directly in front of him and using his third attack he wounds the one in front of Aerianna. Ezro and Alikia seeing one of the demons go down, waits for a few moments to see what the rest of the group can do. The glob of grease covering his weapon, Hyram drops it, stoops over to pick it up and takes a step forward ending up behind Aladir. Aerianna blocks out the glob, moves up and puts the other demon down. Arueshalae looses four arrows at one of the mages, however she hits only twice.
As the two demons are down, the mages spread out a bit, and before you have a chance to close you see multiple images of each one, where there was only one.
Hyram will move up and attack one of the mages .
He is angry when his sword hits nothing but air.
With so many potential targets in front of him, Aladir decides to try and take out as many of the images as he can in one go, moving to just in front of Aeri before going into his quiver and pulling out one of his Javelin of Lightnings; once in hand, he hurls it forward, the lightning bolt that spawns from it aimed at the two diagonally forward and right of him .
"I feel like I am seeing double...or triple...or quadruple." Ezro says.
Holding up his holy symbol, Ezro provides a blessing to the group.
Spotting the four other wizards take evasive action Alikia feels her blood begin to boil. Contemplating her abilities, Alikia taps into her abilities again to help aid her friends. "Quickly now, before they call for help!" She states allowing her friends to make faster work of their enemies.
Advance (30'): 1 MP, grant self and allies free move action or 5 ft step, their choice.
Using the move action to move 10' forward, between Green and Yellow. I suppose that second step gives them both AoOs for movement. Concentrating on Green:
Attacks:
Well, since it's 'within 5 of AC', I think that last one would hit the image. Green is image-free!!
Even as Alikia's spell takes hold, a burst of golden light radiates out from Aerianna, the flare familiar (at least to the others) as mythic might. "Advance!" she cries out in encouragement, and follows her own advice, stepping over the slain demon to bracket herself between two of the mages and turning to strike at the bewildering flickers of the one to her left; with each strike, an image disappears.
Hyram will take his hasted attack against the same mage.
Another image disappears.
vs DC 14
vs AC 23
vs AC 23
vs DC 23
Aladir uses a javelin of lightning to try and dispel the images on two of the mages, but he did not realize that it does not do that. However he does damage both mages. Ezro casts bless, to improve the groups chances of hitting the mages. Alikia casts haste on the group, giving them an additional attack as well as other benefits. Hyram manages to dispel two of the images on one of the mages. Aerianna moves up between two of the mages and concentrates her attacks on the one to the left. Even though she does not hit the mage, she does manage to rid that one of all its images. Arueshalae looses four arrows at the mage just to the right of Aerianna, removing three images.
Two of the mages cast a spell, and a cloud of gas covers the team, while two of the mages try and cast a spell defensively and fail.
5' step out of the gas cloud; lay in on Green. If he falls, turn on Yellow; I'll roll 3 dice for him, though I do know that most won't count.
Presuming Evil:
At 87 HP, it'll take all of them to kill him.
Aerianna once again shows that the big shield she carries on her left arm is not just for show or martial defense; again that defensive shift, shield lifted, but this time her face is in somewhat closer. A stride forward, and she is out of the 'danger zone' the mages have created; turning towards the isolated one, her sword rises and falls in four certain, solid strikes.
Aladir nearly succumbs to the stench of the noxious cloud when the mythical energies in his body surge forth and seem to beat back the cloud just long enough for him to gather himself; taking advantage of the momentary reprieve, the elf lunges into the small space not covered by the cloud and lashing out with his rapier at the enemy next to him; while his first attack merely vaporizes another of the images protecting the wizard, his second strikes home!
For a brief moment Alikia seems fine, right before she begins to projectile vomit on the tile flooring. Staggering out of the way, it seems almost impossible for the amount of fluid to come out of one person.
vs DC 18
vs AC 23 (1st arrow threat)
vs AC 23
vs DC 23
Aladir, while almost affected by the noxious clouds, manages to hold on and move into position to attack one of the mages. His first attack dispels and image, but his second one hits the mage. His third attack goes wild, and the mage is till there with one final image besides himself. Ezro is not affected by the gas cloud but he sees Alikia sick and moves to help her. Hyram is also not affected by the clouds, so he moves up and attacks the same mage as Aladir did, hitting him rather than an image. Aerianna, not affected by the cloud, steps forward and rains down four solid hits on the mage with not other images and kills it. Arueshalae steps back out of the cloud and fires four arrows at the mage next to Aerianna. The first one hits and critically damages him. The second arrow wildly misses, while the third arrow dispels an image, and her final arrow hits the mage and kills him.
The two remaining mages attempt to defensively cast a spell, however one of them is unable to complete the spell, but the other disappears.
With only one, very wounded mage left, between everyone in the group, as he will not surrender, the mage dies a violent death.
Hyram suggests that Alikia search the bodies for anything that might help them in the coming fight and when she is done, he will lead the group to the room in the south.
"Hang on, Hyram...let's check this door here first, since we're already right next to it. No need to leave it unsearched." Aladir says, going to the door on the northeast side of Q11.
Moving into the room, Alikia casts detect magic, scanning the room. As she moves around to the bodies of the Adepts, Alikia picks out items that detect with magical energies.
Ezro moves with Aladir, and makes ready as he heads to the north east. Aiding with his own sight, he scan everything once over as Aladir gives a closer inspection.
While Alikia stays in the room to quickly figure out what is there, and Aerianna stays with her as a guard, the others move out a bit. Ezro, with Arueshalae, moves up the hallway leading north and sees no doors, however it turns and starts to head back to the east quite a distance, and near the end of where they can see heads a bit south. Aladir, with Hyram, moves to the double doors just to the south and he listens at the door, hears nothing, and discovers that it is not locked.
Alikia discovers that the forge is magical, and while it seems to burn hot enough to work adamantium, it does not give off heat to the surrounding area. There are masterwork quality tools on the tables, and in the rack to the north are magical weapons. One of the mages has a magic rod hanging on his belt.
Rod of Metamagic, Maximize
Hyram will wait while the others look through the items. When everyone is ready, he will continue to lead the party south.
Grabbing the rod from the downed cultist, Alikia gestures to the room. "We will need to swing back here to gather the rest of these items. It will of use to us in creating magical items. Using the rod to gesture to the northern weapon rack, [b]"That rack has some enchanted glaives that could prove useful, but I would avoid the longsword, it is enchanted to harm those of us who follow good moral compass."
Aerianna nods in agreement with Alikia. "Perhaps you might use the Forge which you redeemed to redeem it in turn," she suggests, but nods in acknowledgement. "So many useable things -- we might need to make a couple trips just to get it all back," she muses humorously. "In the meantime, shall we rejoin the others? I do not feel entirely safe with just the two of us in this place; two enemies have already evaded us, one of great power, and another of great power must await us -- or be seeking us out even as we speak."
Seeing Hyram and Aladir waiting by the double doors, she looks around for Ezro and Arueshelae. Gesturing up the hallway through which the pair are likely to have gone, she says, "This way? Let's not get out of sight of each other."