Ary grimaces - she doesn't like the idea of leaving her men to deal with all of this on their own... but she had to trust in her allies... and strike while the iron was hot, she supposed. She makes sure to stick near Ayavah, who was undoubtedly going to move with the main group, while moving, working to prevent her from being left undefended and stranded. "Just be mindful that one of the Schir may be a former commander." she says ot Irabeth before swiftly following in the steaming trail.
Thanks to Ehren's molten body paving the way, the heroes stand at the entrance of the mine. It is dark, but of course, half-demons don't need light to see... Behind them, the roaring blizzard makes it difficult to see what is going on with their army, and out of distance of Message, all forms of communication are cut off. They'll just have to trust in Lieutenant Irabeth and Chevalier Isilme to keep them safe.
The mine opens up into a narrow 15'-wide tunnel that slopes gently down into the darkness. There are torches on sconces along the walls, but they have not been lit for some time.
The schir clash into the receiving army, the poor visibility making the fight rather hectic. You can hear the calls of the networked captains whispering in your ear, calling out numbers of enemies and locations to one another, keeping yourself and Chevalier Tirablade in the loop. Ayavah huddles awkwardly next to you on Callus... she's never ridden a horse by herself before, but she's ridden with Valaria enough now that she has a basic idea of what to do ... A basic idea.
The schir surround you and Külə, but you push their blades aside with your buckler, scanning the area for more significant threats... though it is difficult to hear much of anything over the roaring winds, you can see movement within the longhouses - dark shapes moving across the lights within - but no one emerges as of yet.
Round 2!
Ehren is up!
Ehren peers into the mine, his elemental vision allowing him to see through the darkness. To an extent, anyway.
"I cannot see very far into the mine," Ehren reports with a fiery grimace. "Just a long, narrow tunnel, leading further underground. I do imagine it opens up into larger chambers... eventually."
Glancing at the others, he adds, "If we are waiting on the warlord, then we might be waiting for a while."
Valaria is up!
"I can scout inside again," Val offers. "We still don't know what's down there with him."
Xanderghul nods into the mine, saying, "So... We're going into the creepy blood-sucking dungeon to kill a washed-up general who still might kill us all. Kind of makes me uncomfortable. Like, nothing specific about it, but just in general."
"But it's fine. Brae-Hagen's lineage is done and gone. His family's time ended a long time ago. He takes a deep breath and advances into the mine, laying a hand on himself and shielding himself with a thin layer of shimmering blue abjuration.
Then, he reaches back behind himself for the side pocket of his haversack, where he keeps his scrolls. "Valaria or Ary - your choice. Who wants to get shielded from fire? His weapons will burn."
Isilme is up!
Xanderghul shrugs. "I can render you invisible again, but I think we should all go in as a group. Brae-Hagen is a magus, which means he might have any number of tricks for restraining or trapping you with magic. As much as he won't be able to see you, you won't be silent. Especially in this creepy cave."
"I agree," Ehren says before quickly elaborating on the statement, as though agreeing with Xanderghul were the worst thing in the world. "If we are going to go in, then it should be together. I have a fire protection spell prepared, so I can cover everyone that Xanderghul's scroll doesn't."
"That's fine. Strength in numbers if probably wiser when we're going in to unknown territory." Val shrugs. "Handle me last. My resistance is pretty weak compared to a proper spell, but it's better than leaving someone else without protection at all."
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Isilme does her best to keep abreast of the situation and to help direct aid where it is needed, knowing they need to bring down the schir quickly. "Keep an eye out for any Schir, cultists or demons that might be leaders," she sends to the captains. "We can come aid in dispatching them as soon as they show themselves. Be sure to keep one eye on the longhouses as well, the cultists might make a desperate attempt to funnel out to fight in this weather. IF they do, turn the exits of the longhouses into choke points."
She calls out over the howling wind at the top of her lungs, bolstering the morale of the nearby crusaders. "Crusaders! Victory here will deal a devastating blow to the cultists plans, preventing them from summoning the aid they needed to pose a threat to us and all of the north. Fight with all you have and show them why, for all their supposed power, they have failed to win the war they started after all these decades!"
"Ayavah, stay close and get ready in case we need to move to aid others," she says as they fight off the schir on them.
Ayavah nods mutely at Isilme, clutching at Callus' reins tightly. She wedges herself in-between of Irabeth and Isilme, relying on her more martially inclined companions to fence off the incoming waves of schir.
Hinagiku is up!
Hinagiku stays slightly away from the others, keeping watch on their surroundings, making sure they are not taken by surprise by schirs. However, when it becomes evident that they are preparing to head inside, she speaks with a soft yet carrying voice.
"I think it would be unwise to go in. Here, if we are needed, we can go and help out the army... Also, was the plan not to lay down an ambush for their leader rather than try to reach him within its lair?" she ends up asking, not out of fear but appreciation for their role within the army.
Anevia and Ary are up!
"Right. I definitely wouldn't mind Valaria being invisible, regardless, especially if you could keep her protected like you do with the Schir. Sure, she might be spotted by something, but if she sticks close to us, she might be overlooked until she can deal a decisive blow."
From just behind Hinagiku, and in the way of her tail, comes another voice, lower than Ary's, "Decisive blows are the best kind."
Ary then nods to Hinagiku, "I prefer coming back around behind. At the moment, we don't know of what's in there, and that means it probably has a lot of advantages. I'd hold off on making Valaria invisible until we know more." she pauses for a moment, before continuing, her heart not into leaving her men behind. "We'll actually be much more useful crashing into the Schir from behind. Our armies can't really go inside, but we'll still have their commander cut off from his men. Thoughts?"
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"These conditions are much worse than I'd thought," Ehren says finally, peering into the snowstorm with a frown. Mounting the attack during the storm had been the plan, of course. With their preparations it could not kill any of them outright, but he had underestimated the extent to which it could hamper his fighting ability. On any other day he could simply attack the schir from afar. "If we engage the enemy from behind, we won't be able to keep an eye on the mine - visibility is too poor. On the other hand, it doesn't look like the warlord has any means of being alerted to the present situation, either. Nor is there any guarantee that he will bother to come out.
"But whatever we do, we had best do it quickly."
Xanderghul shakes his head. "We've done everything we can to make sure that our forces succeed." he says. "And Isilme is out there to handle anything that the average soldier isn't able to. I think that our place is in killing their commander. If any of you disagree, you're free to head back into the snowstorm and take on hundreds of schir, of course."
"Are any of us really equipped to take on enemies of this scale, anyway? It isn't our jobs, and it's not what we're best at."
Xanderghul rolls his eyes, throws his hands up, and starts trudging back towards the battle.
Ehren heads back towards the battle. He takes the path created by his molten body, already filled with a thin layer of fresh snow which once again evaporates into hissing steam, and after a few moments reaches the tail-end of the battle. A grand melee of schir and crusader fighting in the dirt streets of Mantarin.
Hinagiku, Ary + Anevia, Valaria - Take your held actions, please!
Hinagiku takes down her hood and shakes her head gently.
"I did not mean to go and join now... simply that I thought we would make the ambush here. It's safer than inside, and we can help the troops if the battle turns against them.... right now I would suggest preparing the ambush... Mr. Xanderghul... wait." she finishes evenly while the wizard walks away.
Xanderghul breathes stiffly through his nose. His shoulders rise upward, their muscles bunching with frustration. "Yup. This is great. Whatever."
"How about Valaria runs down the tunnel, screaming that Crusaders have infiltrated the base. After that, the rest of us hide or whatever right outside the cave entrance, and we take Brae-Hagen down as soon as he comes up."
"I was under the impression that we were here to assassinate the commander too," Val replies. "But if we want to lure him out, I could give it a try. It shouldn't be that hard to shout down the mine that we're under attack and to grovel for help a little. Of course, he's more likely than not to send out whatever beast he has down there first than come up himself."
While the heroes deliberate on whether to try and lure out the commander or join the forces in their fight against the schir, Ehren pauses before leaving for the battlefield...
Ehren is up!
Ehren pauses in mid-step and lets out a huff of hot air.
"He might not take the bait. And even if he does, we do not know how deep in the mine he is - or how long it will take him to reach the surface."
Moving among the group, the fire elemental reaches out and touches everyone in the mine except for Xanderghul. His touch might burn, if not for the fact that it was bestowing everyone with fire resistance. He was more interested in coming to a consensus than in pursuing any single plan.
"But time is of the essence, and we need to act now."
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After nodding in consent, Hinagiku slowly makes her way to the side of the cave's entrance trying to find an outcropping behind which she can hide herself. As she passes by Valaria, she gives her a quick but meaningful look which seemed to say: good luck, come back.
Valaria is up!
"Maybe he won't, but I'm only going in far enough to shout like a maniac, then come back. I'm not getting anywhere near close enough for him to see me." Val rushes in to the mine and takes a deep breath. With that, she turned on her heel and rushes back toward the entrance.
Valaria doesn't run very far into the mine - only thirty feet or so - before turning around and running right back.
"Soldieeerrrssss? Fooooood? Fooooood is here??"
Anevia and Ary are up!
"Barzul... Here comes the big one!"
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As Ary slips behind an outcropping of rocks opposite Hinagiku, Anevia clears her throat, "Maybe... iunno... turn off the glowy sword?"
Ary fidgets uncomfortably for a moment, eyes casting back towards the fight she couldn't see, before allowing Radiance's glow to fade.
Your darkvision doesn't extend farther than 60', but just at the edge of your black and white vision, barely emerging from the inky blackness of the depths of the mine.... what appears to be a writhing mass of tentacles emerges from the darkness...
Qlippoth have the following traits:
- Immunity to cold, mind-affecting effects, and poison.
- Resistance to acid 10, electricity 10, and fire 10.
- Horrific Appearance (Su): All qlippoth have such horrific and mind-rending shapes that those who gaze upon them suffer all manner of ill effects. A qlippoth can present itself as a standard action to assault the senses of all living creatures within 30 feet. The exact effects caused by a qlippoth’s horrific appearance vary by the type of qlippoth. A successful Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 the qlippoth’s Hit Dice + the qlippoth’s Charisma modifier): reduces or negates the effect. This ability is a mind-affecting gaze attack.
- Telepathy.
- Except where otherwise noted, qlippoth speak Abyssal.
Unfortunately, "it has tentacles" doesn't narrow it much down to exactly what kind of qlippoth it is...
The crusaders continue to clash with the schir, when a haunting noise rings out over the battlefield - a distant howl. The grating noise ripples across your nerves like nails on a chalkboard. The sound distracts you for a moment and a schir manages to land a wide-arcing swipe across your side...
The paladins around you are brave, stalwart men and women - while they do not succumb to the demonic howling, the other soldiers do - fighters and rangers especially clasp their hands over their ears, trying to block out the boring noise... In the furthest reaches of your vision you can see tieflings wielding scythes and mounted on howlers, arrive into the fray. They are haphazardly armored and the snow prevents their incoming charge from being as effective as it could have been.
You hear a whisper in your ear - Captain Vica of the Eagle's Watch - "Ugh, they're coming out of the longhouses now... it's horrible, they're not gonna last very long out in the cold, and they're barely even armored... keeping my men focused on the demons for now."
"Hmph, no sign of their bosses over here," says Captain Halse. "Cowards, likely too afraid to come out and play in the snow, but they'll send their grunts out to freeze to death."
Round 3!
Xanderghul is up!
"Something is coming this way," Ehren alerts the others, narrowing the embers that served as his eyes. "Something with... tentacles. A lot of them."
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Xanderghul squints his eyes, peers into the mine, and lets out a small gasp. He says to his allies, quietly, "It's a qlippoth!" he says. "I haven't seen one in millennia. Don't use snowball, Ehren. It won't work. And don't get too close if you don't have to - they're pretty awful to behold."
"Have to let it get closer before we know what exactly it is, though."
Then, he steps out of the creature's way, to the side of the cave, running and diving into a snowdrift, and burrowing into it. It would be bitingly cold, but Xanderghul is fine. He'll be wet, but it's whatever. He doesn't want to waste resources, and he gave his hat to Isilme.
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"It's a what?!" Val gasps as she clears the entrance. She looks back over her shoulder and immediately feels vaguely ill. "I hate this place already..."
Isilme is up!
While silently drawing her kyoketsu shoge, Hinagiku digs herself into the rocks and snow surrounding her.
"Mr. Xanderghul, will my kyogetsu shoge work? Or will it still be too close?" she whispers to the wizard.
Xanderghul's voice is muffled by the snow, but he tries to answer regardless - "You'll want at least thirty paces' distance to look on it without fear. That said, if anyone's gonna be fine it's probably gonna be you, and we do need someone brawny to get in its face so it doesn't get its tentacles all over Ehren and I..."
"Understood." she simply whispers back, focusing her mind, stilling its pool, and preparing to withstand some unspeakable horror.
Isilme grimaces as one of the schir manages to land a blow on her. Shrugging off the blow, she focuses her attention on the fight. Though not surprised, she is somewhat disappointed that the cultists are being forced to fight out in the snow. "A cruel fate, but we cannot afford to let our guard down now," she thinks to herself, assessing the situation.
With the arrival of the howler-mounted cavalry, Isilme realizes that the soldiers will need protection from the creatures baying if they are to continue fighting at their best. "Captains, have any soldiers who were strongly affected by the howling fall back towards me, I am heading your way and should be able to negate the effects," she sends via the magic. "Come Külə, Ayavah, we need to help them with the howlers," she calls over the howling wind as she nudges the Unicorn in the right direction, moving away from the Schir that had managed to wound her.
Summoning a flute, she begins to play a soothing tune designed to counteract the sanity-draining effects of the demonic howling.