Bitey stands in dazed confusion at the bursts of a history he can neither understand nor truly care about. The visions pass through him as a tableau of history unasked for, and as quickly as it runs through his little squirming mind it is gone... only one thought remains... They Owe Me Chicken.
Light. Brilliant, blazing, everlasting light. It burst from Serena's body as her power responded to the energies surging around, brighter even than the others surrounding her as daylight itself seemed to walk beside her.
Magic wasn't everything. A sword through the stomach would kill you as surely as a word of power. But it could certainly go a long ways... and if her power was for anything, it was for bringing hope and light to those who needed it. The fatal flaw of the darkness was that it retreated from even the smallest sources, and she had far more light than that.
The Babau's summons complete, but only one additional demon appears in answer to the call! It appears outside the door, sealing you in!
The demons lay into the party with tooth and claw, but the divine radiance flowing off of them turns away the worst of their attacks. Only Balthasar takes a scratch, one that is already rapidly healing.
Irabeth, however, seems to lack your protection. He takes two good hits, but seems undeterred.
Thrall, sword in hand, once more feels the power of the Lady running through his veins. "Give me strength!" he shouts, knowing She will make sure he strikes true.
Radiance suddenly flares to life in Balthasar's hand, glowing with a bright light. Balthasar looks to the nearest babau and calls out, "For Kenabres, and Iomedae!" He then struck at the nearest babau.
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Arianna took a quick glance around looking for a place to stand in order to gain an advantage and seeing none she turned towards the one standing in front of Irabeth. The paladin didn't seem to be glowing with the same power as her and the others and was likely more vulnerable.
Quickly she lashed out trying to drive her daggers into the demon before Irabeth.
Bitey rages forward, a surging writhing green blur snapping and snarling as he goes for the jugular.
Serena clutched one hand tight, then threw out another Glitterdust spell, aiming to cover the demons as best she could and blind them if possible, leaving them open to followup strikes from the many warriors within their group.
A demon strikes at Serena as she casts, but misses!
The two demon right next to her are blinded, but the others shake off the spell's blinding effects!
The party carves into the host. They don't bring them down immediately, but this fight is clearly more in the party's favor than these demons are used to.
The entire northern flank focuses on Bitey as he latches onto the center demon and refuses to let go!
- Bitey takes two damage from a confirmed crit.
Bitey weathers the blows with an unnatural toughness and only takes a scrape from his attackers!
The southern line recognizes Irabeth's vulnerability and focuses on her!
Irabeth does her best and manages a formidable defence, but it's just too much and she falls unconscious once again!
The demon outside attacks Serena!
But her divine protection prevents all harm!
Locked as he is between Bitey and Serena, Thrall desperately tries to make room for him and his companions to maneuver, lest they fall to the trap that the small room represents. Slashing with his greatsword he cuts deep into demon's skin.
Balthasar raises up the glowing Radiance over his head and calls out, "For Kenabres! Slay the demons who dare to stand against those who are righteous!"
Balthasar then steps to shield Irabeth's body from the blows of the demons.
Seeing the demons hit a bit, Serena focused - but with a shower of bright sparks, her magic fizzled as she failed to cast more cautiously. Not a good time for that!
Bitey continues to snarl and thrash as he holds tight.
The demons start to fall. Thrall and Bitey take out their entire side in a flurry of steel and teeth.
The other side isn't nearly as pressed and attacks with desperate vigor!
The demons attack and attack... to no avail. Every strike is missed or blocked!
Balthasar continues fighting. "Stand with me! Let us fight for our friends, our families and our city! For Kenabres!"
Finally breaking free of the demons' pressing on their flank, Thrall and Bitey are able to move and help their friends. Thrall looks around to check if there are new enemies engaging the party, since it seems surprises are today's theme here. Then maneuvers to the rightmost wing of the combat line, and hits ferociously.
"For Kenabres!"
Serena focused, gathering energy around the swirl of her metamagic rod before unleashing another torrent of energy towards the demons. Every bit helped - and she was aiming for the strongest.
Bitey gets hit, but the demon is immediately bitten in return as the little goblin latches onto the monster!
The monsters again fail to land any critical blows.
"I can keep going for a little while!" Serena called as she unleashed another trio of magic missiles at the one brawling with Bitey. Still, she only had so many spells left - and might yet need some for later.
Thrall sees a light at the end of the tunnel, but still keeps himself worried. Too many nasty surprises today!
He closes in to one of the last demons and tries to finish him, even though his own companions limit his capability with a sub optimal positioning.
[ooc]Good and Cold Iron[ooc]
With Bitey, Thrall, Arianna, and Serena all focusing on one demon, Balthasar turns to the last and holds Radiance high. The sword seems to glow even more as he yells, "For Iomedae, and Kenabres!" He brings the sword down on the demon in an overhand chop.
The demon facing thrall and company goes down!
In its wounded state it just can't muster the speed necessary to hit anything! The party rapidly dispatches it!
As the last of the demons is slain the power infusing you fades, but not completely. You feel... different. Powerful. Not as much as you just did, but still. The power of the Wardstones lingers in you, bound to you. You feel Destiny has her eyes on you!
Thrall can feel it. He can touch it, smell it. The power of ancient magic, the energy supporting creation itself, it has many names but it's the same thing. He knows it's in itself and i the others.
For once in many days, Thrall completely regains hope. The day might have been dark, the hour is grim, but this is not over. In the name of the Lady, the Heroes of Kenabres will show the world!
Balthasar stood over the final demon with his comrades, then looked at Radiance in his hands. Glowing with holy light, he could feel that, somehow, Iomedae had judged him worthy of wielding the legendary blade. He could feel her divine power within him in a way he'd never felt before. All his life, he'd desperately tried to live up to the Heimrin family name, while secretly fearing he would never be able to. Now, he knew that he could walk the same path his family had walked before him.
His father had fallen during the Fourth Crusade. He didn't know if his brother was even alive anymore, nor the rest of his family. The ruins of Kenabres made it impossible to tell. He hoped that, now that this threat had been dealt with, they would be able to take the time to save them.
Looking up at Arianna, he said, "I am, yes. But Irabeth is not."
Balthasar knelt down, and his hand suddenly glowed with light as he reached out to touch the other paladin, some of her wounds closing.
She remains unconscious. The demon-inflicted woulds had nearly killed her.
Balthasar expends another use of his newly granted divine healing power for Irabeth, then looks to Thrall and says, "Thrall, do you still have the wand?"
Huff. Huff. Huff.
Serena didn't have the kind of stamina that some people did, and it showed. She looked exhausted, though a bit better after the flood of energy that had moved into their bodies. "One of these days... mark my words... I'm gonna make a ton of healing wands." she said. "I'll keep watch while you heal."
The second dose of healing brings Irabeth around. She groans and rolls over slowly. Uhhh… Did we win?
Balthasar looks up at the others, then back down. ”Yes, we did. The Wardstone fragment is destroyed. Now, we’ll have to handle what comes next.”
Irabeth struggles to sit up. She is still clearly wounded. She looks around the room at all the demon corpses and shudders. This place needs cleaned. Lets repair that fountain and get back to base.
Thrall shrugs. "Repair? How do we do that?"
She shrugs. Let's go clean it up and see.
"Alright, but first let us be sure we're able to sustain another potential surprise attack." As he says that, Thrall chants and casts a holy incantation on Irabeth.
"Well, I have a few ideas for large-scale rebuilding..." Serena noted as she tottered along with the others. "And I want to see if there's any news from the army. All this can't have gone unnoticed."
Balthasar modded. ”There is much that we need to do. Let’s clean the fountain, the rest of the Garrison, and see if we can repair the damage wrought by the demon occupation.”
Bitey goes where the others show and does what he is asked.
The pool isn't magically tainted, you find, but it takes some effort and magical power to polish it up. When you're done, you feel the warm approval of Iomedae fill you and you feel more confident in your skills than you ever have before!
You then travel back to base without incident. Everyone there is celebrating! You gather that all the demons in the city have either been slain or driven off by a strange golden light!
"The Lady's work! We're saved by Her grace!"
Thrall enjoys the triumph, though deep inside he knows tomorrow they'll have to deal with bad news. He's sure the evil guys, specially the evil chick that fled, will have more evil to be vomited around.
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[ooc] Is there a list of what the enemies had on them if anything of value?[/oov]
As they arrived back at Defender's Heart, Arianna moved off to the side enjoying their moment of victory. But she knew that the real work would begin the next day when they needed to assess the damage to the city in order to start Kenebres on the road to recovery.
The devils had nothing of value on them.
The twisted leader had scrolls of dispel magic (3), + 1 scythe, amulet of natural armor + 1, cloak of resistance +2, keys, 350 gp in onyx gems, 32 gp. There was no other loot to be found.
Balthasar smiled as they completed restoring the Grey Garrison, and he felt the Inheritor’s blessing upon him.
Once they returned to Defender’s Heart, Balthasar said, ”Celebrate now. Soon, there will be more work to do.”