Demons in the skies! They're in the skies!!!
"I'd hazard they're also coming through the cracks in the earth." Willow says urgently; she calls out loudly.
Ionnia moves forward slowly. "Change of plan - we're not heading for the tea-lady that's a dragon. Go to the stage! - And no stepping on the cracks!"
Hiro quickly takes a moment to identify the creatures in the sky and the foul creatures coming through the cracks in the earth.
While assessing his opponents Hiro decides that discretion is the better part of valor and begins and incantation that coalesces arcane energy and forms it into an invisible shield in front of him.
His spell complete, Hiro follows Ionnia's lead and moves slowly toward the stage mindful of where he steps with the ground itself being torn asunder. While moving towards the stage Hiro informs his companions of the specific threats they face (provided his roll was high enough).
Hiro, watching everything with wide eyes, see Lord Hulrun cast righteous might and the elven man preparing to somehow counter a summons.
The party makes slow, careful progress over the shivering ground, making for the steps on the east side of the stage to join the rulers of the city.
Terendelev cries out a spell as she charges the Storm King, but he only laughs and gestures at the ground, shrugging off the titanic spell as if it were nothing. The martial competition areas burst into flames and the tortured screams of dying humanoids and their mounts pierce through the rising black columns of sulfur scented smoke.
An older human with an intricate tattoo on his face casts a spell that seems to suffuse many on the stage, and Lord Hulrun rises into the air, his eyes fixed on the approaching cloud of creatures from the west. A pillar of blue white light rises next to one of the casting clerics on the stage, while the other flies toward the burning conflagration that was once the festival grounds. He calls out to others in holy vestments as he flies, and they begin making their way toward the burning horror. Here and there, a small shower of water begins to fall.
"Into the cathedral!" a corpulent, well dressed human cries, a slight tremor in his voice. He is holding a young toddler, a stocky dwarven girl holding on for dear life, crushing the fine velvet of his doublet. A few women, mostly human, but some elves, halflings and dwarves as well, follow him with a mismatched gaggle of children, struggling over the heaving ground. A reddish-brown spider, the size of a small dog, crawls out of one of the cracks. Disgustingly, it has a human face, distended in horrible laughter, its fangs on gruesome display. The man scrabbles with his free hand at his belt, and comes up with a pearl-handled knife, probably kept on his person for dining or letter opening. He stabs wildly at the demonic creature, and manages to land a blow. As the small knife strikes true, steaming black ichor spurts from the wounded vermin, and the man cries out and lets go of the knife in horror. Two other creatures climb up behind the wounded spider; a pale green maggot and a glaringly magenta centipede - both with human faces.
The woman with the bow on the edge of the stage curses blackly as she peers at the sky. "That's more succubi and incubi than I can count! The small ones... multitudes..." She swallows and glances once at the half orc paladin, who is still giving orders to set up a defensive line, then relaxes her arms on her bow for a moment, takes a deep breath and re-aims.
The cloud of approaching creatures is growing slowly closer, and throughout the crowd in the plaza there arise pockets of screams and battle. It appears creatures are arising from the cracks in the earth in other locations throughout the plaza.
The pall of sulphur and burnt flesh turns the stomach and Willow hesitates for an instant against the tide of horror that's befallen the ceremony. The sight of the demons crawling through the despoiled paving, a hideous parody of humanity horrifies and raises her heckles.
"To Holy ground!" Willow calls, but the wavering lilt of her voice shows that she's not certain that even that could save them. 'Mustn't loose hope, despair will destroy us as surely as the Demons.' she thinks screwing up her courage and faith inside her, a white hot ball of fire deep inside her.
She doesn't see many options the enemy are too numerous and her combat skills too limited, however she's still a pair of hands and whomever survives it might need her healing abilities. Quickly she assesses the only course of action, to help the man beset by the trio of creatures.
Moving across the broken ground and rubble, uncaring of the unsure footing Willow tries to get to the childrens' side.
However her naturally clumsy nature spills her as she rushes across the ground. She tries to be brave in the face of the monstrosities for fear of scaring the children more.
Lol, it did it again....
Am I close enough to attack the spider?
Willow moves toward the three human-faced vermin, eager to assist the rich man who is obviously out of his depth. She trips as a particularly violent quake shakes the ground and lands amidst the crowd of women and children making their way toward the Cathedral of St. Clydwell. No one in her immediate vicinity look badly injured, though skinned knees, scratches and bruises abound.
Hiro notices the plight of the corpulent man and toddler he is carrying about the same time as Willow and Kipka do and spurs into action racing across the shaking ground to position himself between the man and foul creatures if possible.
As Hiro races to the aid of the man and toddler a particularly strong quake knocks Willow from her feet, nearly taking Hiro down himself. He manages to barely avoid Willow and stumbles a bit without falling before recovering himself, amazed at the little gnome and how light on her feet she is despite the burden of her trinkets. He briefly checks on Willow to make sure she is OK before advancing on the spider-creature sword raised, a war cry bellowing from his mouth!
Hiro reaches the spider-creature and attempts to bring his sword down upon it with a vicious slash!
"Boys and girls, get inside the cathedral. We'll keep it safe out here." Willow says insistently from her position on the ground despite all evidence to the contrary. Though she never had any brothers and sisters, she's used to bossing around her adopted cousins and uses the same authoritative tone.
She waves off Hiro's concern and it turns to a startled look at the amazing samurai skills.
+2 if favored enemy - evil outsiders.
+2 if favored enemy - evil outsiders
"HOLD it right there WORM-in!" Cernan bellows, pointing his sword at the closest trio of disturbing creatures.
"I'm afraid they aren't on the menu! But you can try ME on for size!" He somehow manages to be both large, bellowing, and cheerfully flippant as he stomps his way towards them.
"WHOOPS! HEADS UP!"
Ionnia moves to help Willow protect the toddler and the rich looking person.
"In the name of the Eternal Rose, get away from that child you foul fiend!" she shouts at the three-faced demon-thing.
"You're no meant to join me on the floor." she gasps exasperated at the torn-up pavement.
Attack with longsword:
Ionnia swings at the demon, although one of the tremors causes her attack to foul up and makes her stumble forward and fall onto her back.
"I really wish I'd remembered to bring a helmet," she mutters as she carefully stands up again.
Cernan swings with all of the might behind his enlarged size at the creepy creature,...
And THEN the force of his swing at his unaccustomed size, and the uncooperative ground, cause him to tumble,...
"Keep those creatures back. We do what we can and have faith in the Gods and our temple." Willow calls seeing her companions stumble in a similar position to her.
From his taller-than-normal-height, it seems to Cernan's hyper-active-battle-frenzied mind that he is taking a duecedly long time to fall.
"Faith I have in abundance little Willow." Cernan calls out as he topples in a most undignified manner.
"What Cernan fears is a lack of respect from the little demon-@$$#@^^$,...D@#N!" He bellows as he falls, finally, heavily to the ground,...
Willow moves toward the corpulent merchant to help with any healing that might be needed, but as she gets close, a the ground wrenches sharply and her feet lose their purchase. The precious healing magic she cast causes her hand to glow with a soothing golden light as she looks for a likely target.
Hiro moves up, his strange sword drawn. The quake that knocked Willow off her feet nearly trips him up, but he manages to not only keeps his feet, but lands a telling blow against the spider!
Kipka dances gracefully up behind him and takes a swipe at the creature. Her knowledge of demons encourages her strike higher than a ground hugging vermin would usually extend its reach, and her blow just barely strikes true, laying the spider low. As she examines the humanoid featured creature, she realizes that somehow it's not a demon, yet it possesses some demonic traits.
Ionnia and Cernan, both giants above the fray, are unbalanced by the shifting earth, but Cernan manages to cut the disgusting maggot slowly crawling toward a young elven boy. The vermin is still alive, and turns to face his attacker.
The maggot makes a face, and regurgitates yellow and red bile over Cernan.
The centipede attacks the gnome.
The half orc woman leaps off the stage stage and dispatches the centipede. "Good job," she nods at the group approvingly and turns to the disheveled group of citizens. "The cathedral! I'll cover you!" Her eyes flick up to the woman with the bow. "Watch the skies!" The man shepherds the women and children ahead of him as the half orc woman turns to lead them into the stout walls of the cathedral. The elven wizard on the platform turns his attention to the succubi, incubi and quasits that are beginning to resolve as more than a plague of locusts against the blood-stained sky above what used to be the Kite.
More sounds of battle ring out across the plaza as crusaders begin swiping at their feet with cries of alarm. Screams from the fiery martial competition rings are heartrendingly frenzied, and the sounds of more casting can be heard as an obviously supernatural raincloud begins to form over it.
As Terendelev nears the Storm Lord, she roars and a stream of icy white emerges from her mouth to coat the demon lord with a heavy layer of frost. He wrenches his arm aside, shattering the layer of ice about his body with a mocking laugh. The shards of ice have damaged him, and his wounds bleed lightning, but his flaming whip flies and lands three quick blows on the dragon, drawing a visible spray of blood across her silver scales. The whip wraps around a wing and she falls, her wings unable to find purchase in the air. As she tumbles out of reach of the Storm Lord's whip, her trapped wing unfurls with a deafening snap and halts her fall just above the steeple of the cathedral. Khorramzadeh laughs as his flaming whip curls back toward him. "You won't turn me back from this sad little fort again, you overgrown lizard!" he gloats in grating Abyssal.
"Your ilk will always fall against the might of the Inheritor!" Terendelev roars back defiantly.
Cernan, propped up on one elbow still facing the maggot-demon-spawn, reacts as if to someone speaking to him.
"Don't bite off more than you can ch-EEEWWWWW!!" He finishes with a bellow of disgust as the maggot-thing belches nastily upon him.
He manages to duck his head behind his enlarged buckler, avoiding the worst of the nasty-blast.
"Really. And people say I have disturbing habits?!?!?" He barks as he stabs out with his Large Rapier once more, not bothering to try and get up first.
His attack swinging wide, it looks more like an attempt to warn the nasty-bug-thing off than an actual attempt to fight.
Seeing the maggot-thing rear back for it's own attack, Cernan grins, waggles his eyebrows, and a GLEAM shines briefly from his teeth,...
"Sir, this way. Children you too." Willow urges vociferously; "Get towards me and we'll get to the cathedral."
As she starts to crawl to the townsfolk, she asks her friends. "You guys alright? How can I help?" The tone conveys a surprising desperation and humility, something that's unusual for her.
Kipka dances gracefully up behind him and takes a swipe at the creature. Her knowledge of demons encourages her strike higher than a ground hugging vermin would usually extend its reach, and her blow just barely strikes true, laying the spider low. As she examines the humanoid featured creature, she realizes that somehow it's not a demon, yet it possesses some demonic traits.
The centipede attacks the gnome.
Attack: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18
Damage: 1d6 - 1 ⇒ (4) - 1 = 3
If that hits, give me a fort save, please, Kipka.
*KIPKA IS AT 9 HP*
Yowwwwww!! These things aren't demons! They're... Well, I don't know what they are! Someone save a corpse for later investigation/analysis/making a poultice out of/light snack!
+2 if favored enemy - evil outsiders.
+2 if favored enemy - evil outsiders
Ionnia stands up and shakes her head to clear it.
Adding her voice to that of the half-orc woman, she shouts at the commoners, "To the Cathedral! To holy ground!"
Looking around she sees the demon-centipede thing bite Kipka and moves to help the gnome.
"FOR SHELYN AND THE SISTERS OF THE ROSY DAWN!
"To cathedral! Quickly!" Hiro shouts the the corpulent man once the demon-spider threat had been neutralized. Hiro and Kipka's triumph over the demon-spider was short lived, however, as he witnesses in horror as a demon-centipede pounces on Kipka, delivering a nasty bite.
"KIPKA!!" Hiro screams as he starts to rush to her aid, only to find a half-orc woman has beaten him there and dispatched the foul creature. "Thank you!" he blurts out to the half-orc woman. "Kipka, you allright?" he asks the brave gnome.
Feeling the gnome is as safe as can be at the moment, Hiro turns his attention to the rest of the chaos that was once a peaceful plaza. He quickly spots the giant Cernan cleverly distracting some demon-maggot from a small elven boy and makes his move.
"Easy child! You are safe with Hiro!" he tells the boy, as he picks him up, trying to keep him calm and not struggle. Mentally, he repositions his magical shield to the left side of his body to better protect the boy from any harm.
** spoiler omitted **
Ow.... Why do I feel so.. Arthritis-y
"Do you need some tonic?" Willow asks Kipka softly, keeping an eye on both the sky and the giant segmented demonic maggot.
Yezth, plezth. Odo. Mah tung idsth messthd ud!
"I promise, if... no when we get out here - I'll get you a lovely drink." Willow says keeping the panic from the corners of her voice.
"Oh that sounds great! Count me in!" Cernan says from his prone position, still SMILING at the horrid person-faced demon-thing.
Kipka, suffering ill effects from the foul creature's bite, attacks the centipede and kills it.
Terendelev's wordless, enraged roar rips the fiery sky as she again charges Khorramzadeh. "You won't drive me off this time, Terendelev," he sneers, revealing teeth as long as a human's forearm, and then mirrors her actions, charging back at her. His whip lashes out first, opening a deep gash in the silver dragon's tough hide, then his terrible flaming sword strikes her, and Terendelev falls back toward the cathedral. Her wings snap out in an attempt to slow her fall as she crashes into the cathedral. The cracks in the ground widen and spider more aggressively through the cobblestones of Clydwell Plaza as the great walls of the cathedral fall around Terendelev, the stones crashing into the plaza and over the stage.
Screams and sobs break though the rumbles as broken bodies, those innocents struggling to reach the safety of the cathedral, not to mention those already sheltered inside, begin to react to the havoc wreaked around them. The half orc, women and all the children but the one sheltered in Hiro's arms are hidden by crumbled masonry and dust. The rotund courtier who had been trying to usher them to safety stares in shock and horror at the 4 foot tall stone that landed mere inches from his nose. The archer, who had been determinedly watching the sky, turns terrified, tear-filled eyes toward the crumbling landmark, her mouth distended as she screams "Irabeeeeth!" into the rubble before her. The elven wizard behind her grits his teeth and looks up at the Storm Lord, beginning to cast a spell.
The balor lord falls mere moments behind the fallen Terendelev and a huge flaming hoof falls on each side of her head. The elf finishes his incantation and points at the Storm Lord, and with nothing more than an annoyed flick of his eyes as warning, the balor lord's flaming whip strikes the elf in the face, dropping him bonelessly to the ground as if he were a puppet whose strings had been cut. The ground near the corner of the stage yawns open into pitch blackness, and the merchant screams and tries to grab a corner of the stage as the ground drops out from under him. It is no use, however, as the stage itself cracks and breaks under the strain, falling into the darkness. Cernan and Willow, still prone, don't even have a chance to reach out for anything as they tumble toward the widening pit. Kipka, struggling against the centipede poison in her veins, stumbles into the it, and Hiro and Ionnia, even though they are on their feet, are unable to avoid the sudden catastrophic yawning pit beneath their feet.
"You may have chased me out of Kenabres the first time, wyrm, but I will leave this ground the victor! You die a worthless death, and I and my minions will delight ourselves with the death of all these you failed to protect!" Khorramzedeh gloats, his whip flicking back and forth mockingly as he raises his sword.
Terendelev's eyes meet Hiro's for a moment, even as he feels himself beginning to lose his balance for a final tumble into the darkness below. Time and sound both seem to cease for an endless moment, and Terendelev's voice, speaking Draconic, rings clear over the stage, "...the gods themselves speak... FEATHER FALL!" Everyone feels as if the air around them is molasses. The last sight your eyes see before you fall into darkness is the Storm Lord's sword cutting through Terendelev's neck as if it were butter.
The small patch of sky above you narrows, and the ground above seems to close over your head. Others caught in the open pit have fallen normally through the darkness, cries of fear fading away or, more horribly, suddenly cutting off. After a minute of drifting, you find solid ground, covered with stones and rubble, beneath your bodies. Everything around you is pitch black. To one side, you can hear faint sobs. On the other, a shaky voice weakly whispers "Is...is anyone here?"
"Maybe....." her voice uncertain, then there's a growing realisation that the worst that can happen has happened. Through all her days there has been a dull pressure, the soft insistent stress that comes from living near the Worldwound - for your people being responsible to hold it at bay.
Now that pressure seems to have eased upon Willow's psyche; "Depends on where here is!" she adds with an unusually light-hearted response, seemingly scoured of emotions. Absently she pats around for her basket and Echina that dwells within.
"I'm Willow..." there's a reassuring note to her voice as she realises that others aren't as light-hearted as she feels, that they are scared. "Everything will be resolved, are you alright?" she asks into the darkness.
'That was all a dream, it must be...'
Even the persistently peppy Cernan can only stare in nothing less than unadulterated shock as the Demon strikes the silver dragon down from the skies to crash upon the temple. As the once gleaming symbol and last hope for shelter lies crumbling before him, a single tear makes it way down the Aasimar's dust covered face.
Ignoring the disturbingly human-faced demon-spawn before him, Cernan struggles to rise, to aid the mighty silver dragon, to save the people that just moments ago were sheltered within the temple, to distract the demon, to do ANYTHING to stop the flow of nightmare images unfolding before him!
"Hey! Fang-Face! Try picking on someone your own size!" He shouts, hoping to distract the terror if for only a second. But his shouts go unheard in the tumult, drowned out by the cries of fear washing across the once great city like an ocean wave, and by the bellowed boasts of the Balor Lord.
As the demon stomps upon the ground, causing it to open a chasm almost directly under them, Cernan instinctively lets go of his sword, which immediately shrinks to normal size and is lost to sight in the cascade of dust, debris and bodies sliding into the dark hole, and reaches for anyone and everyone he can, bringing them into his Large sheltering embrace and using his own body to protect them from the plummet he realizes there is now no avoiding,...
The last sight the cleric sees is Hiro, somehow still standing upright, and holding a child protectively next to him, Facing the demon lord seemingly as calmly as the warrior might face a would be pick-pocket. Then he slides into the darkness, curling protectively around the one person he managed to grab. He hears the silver dragon's stentorian bellow, ringing with authority and defiance, and Cernan's plummet becomes a gentle drifting.
As he gently settles upon the ground in the darkness below, he can feel the rubble even through his armor. He releases the individual he had grabbed as they fell, and lies there for a moment, his mind refusing to accept what he has just witnessed with his own eyes.
It is Willow's surprisingly chipper voice that snaps him out of his reverie.
'Enough of this! I can contemplate the spiritual ramifications later. Right now there's people to help. And I'm just the one to do it!'
Cernan carefully makes his way to his knees, (which currently still puts him at a normal person's height) and speaks in a language which sounds melodic, hopeful and authoritative all at once.
"Let there be light!"
And light springs into existence, a warm, golden light as bright as daylight. It emanates from the top of Cernan's head.
"Caydean will light the way! And Cernan will be your guide!" The enlarged cleric declares in his best worship-day preacher voice.
"To me good folk! Call out if you need help! Aid others if you are able!" Cernan declares with an amazing combination of warmth and authority.
Willow gasps at the sudden startling brightness, screwing up her eyes and pushing back against the floor. With light everything seems more real, that the past few moments (or was it a lifetime) weren't but a dream.
As they settled on the ground, finally, his nervous and shaky "Is...is anyone here?" testifies to his shock and disorientation, as Cernan still has him in a tight grip.
Cernan can see that he is lying on a large pile of rocks. He is in a large underground cavern whose open space extends further than his darkvision allows him to see. He can pick out the forms of his companions from the morning, and the occasional buried and bloodied body parts that inidicate those who fell without Terendelev's magical assistance did not survive this journey.
Willow had crawled over the rocks tearing at her skirts. As the rocks and ground moves from under unstable legs, she grasps tightly upon the wicker basket as it tries to escape her clutches. As an external foci the devout lady concentrates upon her companion inside.