Not being able to reach the minotaur with his big sword, Thrall remembers he stole a longer weapon from the cultists down in the caverns. He gets it, as it was hanging from his back, and tries a wild shot at the beast.
Bitey latches on as three warriors descend on the beast. Arianna's strikes prove vital, allowing the bigger hitters to come to bear. The monster howls as it falls!
The door forward is locked and no key is found on the body. You do find a magical horn, however. A Horn of Battle Clarity, able to rouse many to readiness at a moment's notice.
The door stubbornly refuses to be opened.
Arianna breathes and tries again, more slowly. The lock is tricky to say the least, but she gets it.
With the Minotaur dealt with, Balthasar nods in approval as Arianna moves to unlock the door. ”Everyone be ready. Who knows what fiends yet lie behind this door.” Once everyone is ready, he will motion Vance to open the door.
Bitey stares at the door, waiting to attack his next foe.
Deeply sighing, Thrall stands at the ready for any danger that might sprout from the new room.
Serena held up one hand, concentrating magical energy onto it. "Ready when you are." she said, comfortable in her roll supporting others.
This circular room's original purpose is unclear, but now it seems to be a trophy hall of some sort. A low stone pedestal sits on the floor in the middle of the chamber under a domed ceiling. Atop the pedestal is an iron, barbed cage-and within the cage sits a chunk of softly glowing white stone.
In the room, standing near the caged stone, is a twisted, mangled half elf. She has a twisted foot and a clawed, insectoid arm that looks vicious, but not quite as vicious as the scythe she wields.
She is supported by at least 4 demon dretches and numerous cultists who all immediately charge you in your choke point!
[dice=perception DC 15]near the back you spot another, small demon. This filthy creature resembles a small, wide-mouthed fat child made from leaves, vines, tree bark, dirt, and pallid tubers.[/spoiler]
"Watch out for the other demon in the back! They have a choke point, but so do we. Back row, use ranged attacks to deal with their reinforcements. For Kenabres!"
Thrall uses the long glaive he retrieved from a corpse not so long ago. It seems like ages, though!
Before everyone rushed forward, Serena flicked her Piercing Metamagic Rod up and pointed into the room. "For the light!" she called, detonating a Glitterdust spell within the crowd.
Almost all of the demons grab their faces and all the teiflings cry out in alarm! Two demons, the one closer and the one to your right, still have their eyes on you. The priestess also looks unaffected... and angry.
Thrall proceeds to attack, but he can't find his target through the cover of his allies and the constrained space.
The dretch demon in the front attacks vance and gets a couple scratches in.
Vance is in full defense mode and offers only a token offense.
The half elf in the back casts a spell!
Vance freezes in place!
Seeing Vance's arm fall down along his body, and all of his fighting stance wash away, Thrall tries to pull him out of danger, grabbing him by his cloak while leaving a gap behind him. "Someone take his place, quick!"
Thrall pulls Vance out of the way and Balthasar steps right into the gap. "Someone do something about the spellcaster! Use bows!" He then strikes at the dretch before him with the (unpowered) Radiance.
Vance is rescued from danger by Thrall as Balthazar steps up and swings... and misses! The demons and the cultists start to laugh.
Noticing the caster in the back casting, Serena raised one hand and sent a bolt of light shooting forward, trying to at least weaken him and keep him on the defensive so the others could do their work.
for
The fire just misses the caster, who looks at Serena with a hateful glare!
The demon attacks, but cant get past Balthasar's defences!
A rain of crossbow bolts comes flying out the door. Most are poorly aimed and thud into the floor, walls, or ceiling, but one catches Balthasar on the cheek, slicing it open.
The caster in the back casts a spell at Serena! It's in Abyssal, so most of you can't understand it, but Serena can feel it. A curse bound to her very force of will!
Irabeth growls in frustration and raises her sword. The Inheritor guide us! A golden light bursts from her, encouraging all of you.
Balthasar continues hacking away at the demon before him, ignoring the wound in his cheek.
"Keep at it, Serena! Anyone else who can, start raining arrows on them!"
From his position behind the lines, Thrall keeps slashing with the glaive, a weapon which, ironically, belongs to the cult of those it is now being used against.
Balthazar misses, but that'll finally finds a hole and manages to cut down a cultist and cleave into the frontline demon too!
The curse shot towards Serena's mind - and shattered against the force of her will. "I'm not going to let you win that easily!" she called, shooting out another burst of fire towards him.
for
The demon and the Cultist that can see continue to claw and hack at Balthasar's defense, and some damage gets through this time! (take 8)
The rest seem to be coming out of their blindness as they funble to reload their crossbows.
Irabeth steps up and lays a hand on Balthasar and
We need to get in there! She growls.
The caster takes the firey hit from Serena and growls. She starts to cast a spell!
Thrall keeps slashing with the glaive, trying to create some gaps from where the heroes can squeeze in and help Arianna.
"For Kenabres and for Iolaire!"
Thrall cuts up the front line and the party finally has an opening!
Balthasar moves into the room and ducks to the side of the door, shouting, "Move in! We can cut these wretches down! For Kenabres! For Iolaire! Bitey, sick 'em!"
Serena wasted no time at all in hurling a pair of Magic Missiles at the caster to try and disrupt their concentration - the fewer spells their foes could cast, the safer her companions would be.
The spell Fizzles!
Bitey dives for the back dretch in an attempt to make himself the biggest target.
Arianna reaches the rod into the cage and touches the fragment that is all that remains of Kenebres' most potent defense. Immidiately the stone glows brilliant white! Noo-- the caster screams as the stone explodes in a million white hot shards! The turn the caster, the plant demon, the cultists and the Dretches into chunky salsa in an instant and somehow manage to avoid all of you!
Seconds later, an unexpected side effect of the wardstone's destruction occurs. If the holy energies stored in all of the wardstones were the waters of a vast lake formed by a dam, then the fragment just destroyed was the plug in that dam holding the waters back. Rather than simply diffusing the wardstone's border as the Eagle Watch theorized (and thus removing the border from possible corruption), all of the energies of the wardstones along the border rush out of the "hole" caused by the final destruction of the last and largest fragment of the Kenabres stone. The energy of all of these simultaneously draining artifacts bursts into the room and pours into you with incredible power, causing you to glow with golden light. All debilitating conditions and wounds are immediately healed as the PCs are restored in an instant to full health. All expended spells are instantly restored, and all limited use per day abilities recharge. You are also stunned for several rounds as god-like levels of power overwhelm your pitiful human senses! You can semi-feel/hear Irabeth rushing to each of you, trying to bring you back to the present!
Still stunned, receive a vision of the first wardstone being erected in the Kite here
in Kenabres in 4639 AR, in a ritual involving the aid of the
Hand of the Inheritor-the herald of Iomedae : a golden,
winged angel with a halo of small swords around his head.
This event happens soon after the Second Crusade begins.
In the year 4665 AR, you see a vision of a
20-year-old Hulrun leading the burning of dozens of
supposed "witches" in the courtyard of the Kite before the
wardstone. This event launches the Second Crusade.
In the year 4692 AR, you a vision of
Khorramzadeh the Storm King leading a brazen attack on
Kenabres. The Storm King manages to strike a resounding
blow with his sword against the wardstone, which suffers
only the tiniest of cracks as the balor's sword shatters.
Khorramzadeh is then attacked and forced to flee when
the silver dragon Terendelev nearly kills him-this event
launches the Fourth Crusade.
In the year 4712 AR, you see a vision of
Irabeth chasing a burly dwarven man- Staunton Vhane
(leader of the Hammers of Heaven mercenary group) into
the courtyard containing the wardstone. Both paladins
are heavily wounded, and as Staunton backs against the
wardstone, smoke rises and he screams in pain. He ducks
to avoid one of Irabeth's blows, then manages to smash
her knee with his hammer, dropping her to the ground.
Staunton seems ready to deliver a death blow, but the sound
of approaching soldiers forces him instead to back away
and summon a fiendish giant wasp that he swiftly mounts
and then flies away to the north, abandoning Kenabres.
You see a vision of Minagho, a beautiful
demonic woman with a long thin tail, clawed hands, and
curling horns protruding from where her eyes should be,
placing the wardstone fragment in this room and of Jeslyn, the half-elf caster, using a wish granted by Minagho to create the cage around
it before Minagho teleports away.
The PCs see a vision of an event they know will
now never happen-Areelu Vorlesh using a deep purple
Nahyndrian crystal the size of a human's head to corrupt
the Wardstone fragment, causing the entire border to flash with
nauseating mauve fire that devastates the border cities and
transforms countless crusaders into half-fiend slaves of the
Worldwound. You should realize at this point that the demons' entire plan was to draw as many crusaders to the
border to defend it from their attacks, in order to maximize
the damage this event would have caused.
You come out of your stunned state to see a woman standing before you in front of the ruined cage that held the wardstone just moments before. She is a somewhat transparent beautiful demonic woman with batlike wings, a horned brow, and glowing red eyes. You realize qickly that this is just a magical Image.
She regards the still half-stunned group with a smoldering,
furious expression, then says, "This only delays your
kind's extinction. But at least I can take steps to hasten
your own." Irabeth bravely attempts
to charge the image of the powerful witch, but Areelu waves
her hand and Irabeth stops dead in her tracks, grasping at
her throat as she suddenly seems to be suffocating. The
witch seems frustrated when her mass suffocation spell fails
to affect the party, and she says, "The death throes of your
wardstone seem to be protecting you from my magic. No
matter. They cannot protect you from my slaves!"
With this, Areelu spreads wide her arms and a rift tears
open in reality. A half-dozen babaus tumble through into
the room, and beyond them you catch glimpses of even
greater demons preparing to enter-vrocks, glabrezus,
even a marilith-when suddenly the energy in fusing you
pulses back outward. You are no longer stunned! In the
same moment, the mass suffocation spell affecting Irabeth
is dispelled-she drops to the ground, unconscious.
As this happens, the powerful energy hits the
Abyssal rift and slams it shut-Areelu screams in pain as
the magical feedback tears into her body, breaking bones
and shredding her wings. An instant later, her projected
image vanishes-her connection to the Material Plane has
been severed!
The six babaus that managed
to clamber into the Material Plane before the rift closed
remain and immediately start to summon more babaus!
Balthasar sees the Wardstone glow white and knows Arianna succeeded. He shouts in triumph even as he expects to be destroyed by the magical explosion. Instead, it engulfs the forces of the Abyss before him and freezes him in its power.
As the visions unfold before him, he watches his great-great-aunt Tabitha Heimrin in her work in the ritual to create the Wardstone, along with Iomedae's herald.
He sees Hulrun leading the burning of dozens of witches in the courtyard, and his grandfather Dunsan, outrage on his face, shaking his head in disgust at Hulrun's zealotry.
As Khorramzadeh the Storm King attacks the Wardstone and is driven back, he sees his father, Valus, younger than he was when Balthasar had last seen him, lead a charge to drive the demons from Kenabres' streets.
As Staunton Vhane flees, rather than slay Irabeth, he sees his brother Silas rush into the room at the head of the soldiers, doing his best to pursue the traitorous Dwarf.
The Heimrin legacy spun out before him in visions, and through it all, every one of them had helped create or protect the Wardstone from the demons. They had done what they could to make the world safe from their Abyssal foes, and here he was, undoing all their work. It was enough to make him weep - until that last vision, where he saw the witch Areelu Vorlesh work her magic, and realized the demons' plan was to draw as many crusaders to the area as possible in order to convert them into the very thing they fought. He saw that, just as his family had before him, he had acted to protect the Wardstones and the Crusaders from a greater threat - even if his actions were those of necessary destruction as opposed to creation.
Maybe he could actually live up to the Heimrin family legacy after all.
|
Arianna closed her eyes as the tip of the rod touched the stone not sure what magical thing was going to occur. She was ready to bolt, sure, but that was only if the explosion gave her the chance.
Perhaps with this..his name will no longer matter. she thought just as the brilliant flash of light pushed its way through her eyelids. She heard the screaming and forced her eyes open just in time to see the creatures of evil decimated by the erupting wardstone.
Then the visions came. Images of people and places she'd never really seen, only heard of in passing. Everything happened so quickly she'd barely had time to process the events before being mystically whisked off to the next one.
A sense of relief washed over her as she saw the last vision. At least that would now never occur. For now, at least the people OF Kenabres would be safe for a time.
As the visions faded she was not greeted with the expected view of the boneyard or some bright light or burning fire as she'd been expecting but instead felt her mind return to where she'd been. Standing in the room near the wardstone held in place by the immense power running through her.
Her face twisted as the strange demonic woman started causing Irabeth to choke. She wanted to scream to attack to try and save the noble paladin. But then the energy responded and pulsed from her and her friends surging back and collapsing the hole in reality and shredding the demonic female.
With control of her limbs restored she quickly grabbed her daggers realizing that there were still more demons to face before they could get out of here..apparently alive.
Slash after slash, blow after blow, Thrall tries to gain some inches and push the defenders back till one of his companions can reach the since. It seems an impossible task... but then everything turns white.
Visions of the past, of the present and of some futures - the ones that could be and the ones that can't. Unable to move, Thrall is forced to witness how everything happened, and senses a new threat. "Demons!"
An army of fiends is about to be brought to reality, though at the very last moment a burst of energy seals the portal. Thrall breathes, alleviate. It seems no one got damaged further, and only a few minor demons remain. Work the strength of the shattered stone empowering them, the crusaders should finish this challenge with no problems. Thrall feels he was made for this moments alone, his muscles cracking with adrenaline and a clear strategy filling his tactical mind. "For Kenabres!" he shouts, just before asking his Lady for assistance.