"Hmm... maybe we should keep moving?"
The head, with eyes wide with fright says, The demon! He was looking at me - at us. It is like he could tell that we are here!
Is it still looking at you? Are any of the other pictures looking at you as well?
Well not now! You can see the empty alcove that your friend is standing in, can't you? Then the realization comes over her. You..you want me to look into the other mirrors?
"No need to torture her further, Tal. Seems like everyone knows we are here." Richard takes a closer look in the empty alcove, detecting magic along the way.
I will not force you to look at the other mirrors. You have been shaken enough. I will look into them myself to spare you the torment. My idea was not to make you stare into the mirrors directly, but I did not know if you had some magical sight that would see things as they truly are instead of an illusion.
Tal drops his weapons to the ground before he stands in front of the closest mirror awaiting its results.
Tal will go from mirror to mirror as needed as long as he does not touch the melted gold or until his brain melts from the terror he is witnessing.
Will saves fail
fail
fail
When he glances at the first mirror, Tal feels an overwhelming sense of despair. He begins to wonder why they are even doing this. He, too, notices the demon noticing him.
When he glances at the third mirror, the feelings of despair are magnified. He wishes he could be home to protect Lily from this damaged, diseased, rot-filled world. The demon this time not only notices him but seems to mock him!
At the fifth mirror, the feelings of despair are so great Tal feels Lily would be better off without him and he should just fall on his sword and get it over with. The demon in the mirror seems to be encouraging him!
When it is all over, both Tal and the head are shaking and weeping uncontrollably.
Tal lays on the ground overcome with grief. All of the ideas that he and his wife have had for a better life were painstakingly stripped away before him as he came to realize that she would have been better off without him. He was the reason that she left her family and the financial support she was entitled to. It was his fault that they did not have any children yet as he could not support Lily and them. Now she was home alone wondering if or when he may return to her. Then again, perhaps she was not alone at all and had someone come 'console' her the same way that Mera was always trying to console him. Could he really blame her at all if that was the truth of the matter? No, he couldn't and deep down he knew that it was all his fault. He lay there on the ground sobbing not caring if anyone saw him or if the world has judged him. Lily had judged him and found him lacking.
Richard looks at Sherix, and she nods at him with a mutual understanding.
"Tal. Be strong. That's what you told me once, when I was lost. Whatever the mirror showed you. It was a lie."
He keeps his distance. Not out of fear of Tal's immense strength, but out of respect. Who else would willingly enter a hellish manor and even sign his soul to forces unknown?
But right now, Tal faced his greatest challenge. All Richard could do was offer himself as an aide.
"I... I don't know what to do to help you."
Tal looks up at Richard and Duke with tears still streaming from his face. There is nothing any of us can do but to destroy this hell of a place and send everything here to oblivion. Then maybe afterwards I can convince Lily to forgive me and come back to me. Slowly Tal manages to crawl his way up onto his feet. His eyes are wet but no new tears are being shed. Don't get in my way either of you. Just tell me which way to go to find this devil. In the meantime I am going to turn off the last of those valves and hope this place blows up.
"In that case, let's blow it up."
Duke doesn't have any clue how to boost up Tal's morale, but awkwardly tries to pat him on the shoulder.
"I'm jealous of you Tal. Someday I hope to meet someone like her. Kind, gentle, understanding. Patient." He pauses, hoping Tal doesn't bludgeon him into a pulp for evoking her name.
"Destroying this mansion will prove your willingness to do the right thing despite the great personal sacrifice involved. Something tells me watching you come back safe and sound is all a special someone needs to see."
"When you are ready, we will move."
"When you are all prepared, I suggest we double back through the storage."
Tal picks gathers himself for the coming obliteration of everything within this place as he nods his readiness to Richard. Feels like we may be coming to the end here soon. Everything is spiraling inward at this point. Lets go.
The walls of this large chamber are supported by wooden beams. Several pick axes and other mining implements lie on racks near some walls. To the north, the walls drop away to give a stunning view of an impossibly immense cavern—a vast underground mine populated by countless toiling miners at work extracting glittering ore from the walls. Burning devils flap through the air, descending now and then to encourage productivity with strikes from glittering barbed whips, while amid the miners slither and crawl great many-legged serpents that spew lightning from their draconic jaws. A narrow ledge runs down into the mine below to the northwest.
One of the lightning-breathing creatures approach the lot of you and bellows, [b]Drop those weapons and pick up those axes and get to work! There is a beating in it for you if you don't!
Will save
Tal sheaths his sword as he picks up an an axe. Where do we need to start?
Noah shakes his head as he is about to step forward. He then casts a spell on Tal protecting him from evil. He says "You don't have to do what this creature says you know."
"It's not a spanking, but he does have a point." Richard coils his whip and leans over to grab an axe.
"Work now, play later." Sherix urges Richard before turning to their new boss. "Uh, do you have an axe in size tiny?"
Reroll save
Not knowing exactly what happened but that Noah helped him clear his thoughts, Tal drops the axe on the ground turning to face the lightning demon. No thanks. I have other more important thing to be doing now. Now if you excuse me I will be leading them the rest out of here. If that is a problem then too bad for you.
The behir looks at Tal with hate-filled eyes. It opens up its mouth - not to talk - but spews a line of electricity right at Tal!
Richard drops the pickaxe and draws his whip. "Sherix, I think we've been had."
"That's no way to treat your employees. Go, Tal! Destroy them!"
He begins to Inspire Courage (+2) among his allies.
Reflex .
My turn you overgrown centipede. Tal brings his sword up with a powerful cut before thrusting it at the creatures eyes.
Power attack keen inspired for
Iterative for
Noah prays for assistance and scimitar of force appears and attacks the creature.
One of Tal's attacks hits true, as does Noah's spiritual weapon.
Richard inspires courage.
The Behir attempts to bite Tal!
It misses!
Richard tries to recall knowledge about this thing.
Then he moves up to the behir to help flank with Tal. "I wonder if cold iron weaponry will help."
Thanks Richard for the flank! With the aid of Richard and the inspiration Tal tries again to lay into the many legged behemoth. Thankfully it missed him last time and the group could really pile on the damage.
power attack keen magic longsword flank for
threat for
iterative for
threat for
Tal's blade must have been guided by the powers above looking down upon him favorably after the torment that the devils in this place were giving him. Both of his attacks were aimed true hitting vital points in the creature. For you Lily...always for you.
Duke starts to play along, bending to pick up an axe, but as soon as the creature attacks Tal, he springs into action .
Round 1:
Move into flanking position.
Round 2:
Duke starts side kicking as fast as he can.
+
+
+
+
Duke slams the behir, but Tal puts it down.
Tal wipes the gore off his blade onto the body of the dead demon as he looks around waiting for the next foe. His blood was boiling and he felt like he could rip this place down with his bare hands if he needed to. Yet nothing else approached and so Tal moved on to the north to the next room. Anyone else hurt? I could use a little healing if someone has it,
"Hmm, does that help, Tal?"
Richard stares down at the pit. "One fewer tormentor to deal with... That could have been us, Sherix." He realizes how easy it was to fall in line. He almost threw his whip away. Then there was the sinful succubus playing with her food, against their will.
Richard walked a fine line. "Thank you for keeping me on the straight and narrow, friends. Onward?"
Tal looks down at a hangnail that he has on the third finger of his left hand. He uses it to point at the other demons in the pit here. Yeah Richard all good. Thanks for that. Just got this hangnail bothering me now but that can wait till we are done with this mess. Just out of curiosity…how many uses if that stick do you have left and do you think we could get rid of all the demons down here before it ran out? Between Duke and I doing the damage and Richard you providing the healing and inspiration we could just clean this area completely along with your gargoyle friends at the feast. Noah can bless us with his powers as needed. Let’s go kill this engine running this place.
Ripples of heat rise from the sand-covered ground, where thorny metallic plants grow in heaps and mounds. The desert stretches away in all directions, while in the distant sky fly titanic, winged horrors, draped in scales and pale leather, that periodically dip down to whip with long, thin tails at legions of distant trains of staggering figures on an endless trek through this burning realm. Now and then, immense four-legged bird-like creatures dart among these legions to pluck up a meal in immense razor-sharp beaks.
Four of the four-legged birds shrike as you enter the room!
"Each room's motif feels more like a portal to some godsforsaken hell hole..."
The birds scream and Richard instinctively draws his whip and begins to Inspire Courage. "Oh, I'm sorry. Good gods forsake these devil pits. I guess they aren't fans of being mislabeled."
These rooms seem so vast. How are they able to trap legions of people and demons down here. It seems impossible. Do we travel through dimensional gates each time we go through a doorway. Take a look at those birds for example…there is no way they should be able to fly indoors like this yet there they are. It truly is amazing…..watch out they coming for us!
The yellow, red, green four-legged birds exhale a black cloud that envelopes the room!
"Boss, those are achaierais. They breathe toxic clouds- oh man!"
"Ugh!" Sherix looks at her hands. "Get 'em off! They're all over me!" She buzzes away from Richard, confused.
"What about the toxic clouds?"
Richard controls his breathing and wards away two of the clouds, but the greenish cloud gets through. "Stay calm and keep killing!" He asserts himself.
The waves of acid wash over Noah as he manages to resist their confusion. He thinks about what defenses these creatures as he calls out to his goddess to bless his friends; "Dawnflower, please aid us in this fight against evil and empower my allies."
Fort saves
Fort saves
Fort saves
Tal heeds Sherix’s warning as he has just enough time to brace for the clouds. Thankfully he was able to resist the mental assault even though it felt like his flesh was rotting away. He then tries to team up with Duke to take out one of the bird things as he drops his shield.
Inspired 2-handed power attack keen for
Blessing for
Iterative for
Crit confirm for