Val watches the spell casters doing their work in near silence, waiting for when her blades are needed. "It's not particularly nice looking, is it? I think they've finally started to catch on to our illusion tactics. Unless we're willing to bring real soldiers down to try to lure them over, I don't think they're going to fall for it."
Shifting closer, Xanderghul has his eye on the closer drake rider. His lips pressed into a thin line, he decides to try out one of his newest spells.
He was curious to see what a creature looked like after dying of fright. Too bad it would probably fall into the river and be eaten.
He focuses on the closer rider of the two drakes, trying to impart onto it a sense of true fear. Fear powerful enough to kill it instantly. He wonders what the rider is most afraid of.
"Now we improvise," Isilme says without hesitation when the illusion fails. "Val, focus on killing the drake that is in front of us. We can wound it seriously before it flees. Xanderghul, have the illusion send up the signal to Aron before it ends, if you can. Hopefully some bombardment can harm the cavalary and archers. Oh, and give them a taunting they will not forget, if you have the time."
Turns to look at ary. Ary, call for the Banshees to help Val out, they should be safe attacking from within the building." Ary had enough military knowledge that she trusted her to figure out if there might be better options that she wasn't seeing at the moment. The important part was to spur everyone into action.
"Hinagiku, get back over here in the cover of the windwall and prepare in case they change their minds. Ehren, prepare your magic to bring down the other one if it closes," she adds. With windwall up, the drakes in range, and their troops safely within a tower, there was no reason not to open fire on the troops on the opposing bank.
"Lets show these cowardly cultists why their time is at an end!" she calls out so all the troops can hear them.
The closer drake rider is a smirking tiefling woman with crimson red hair and curved horns. She has a polearm strapped to her back affixed with a ragged strip of cloth, and in her claws is a bow. But Xanderghul wipes the smirk off of her face with a few murmurs and a gesture of his hands.... her dusty grey skin turns ashen white as an expression of pure terror is plastered across her face. She dies instantly, falling off of her drake and becoming entangled in the straps that keep her affixed to it even at high speeds... this throws the drake off balance, so it snakes its head back to free her from the saddle. She falls 60 feet to the ground into the mud with a splat. As soon as she hits the water, a long articulated arm ending in a metallic claw shoots out from within the muck, gripping onto her collar. It pulls her back several feet, then a sadistic spiked cage whirls into unholy life, encaging her completely. Bladed, articulated arms ending in all sorts of horrific implements whirl into life, making whirring mechanical sounds. She is quickly dismembered, flayed, and minced in equal measure. In truth, she was lucky her death was quick and painless - any normal person would have been left screaming in agony. The cage unceremoniously spits her out, a lump of finely minced meat and gore, then vanishes back beneath the surface.
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"Hah! It worked!" whoops Xanderghul, hopping about, clearly pleased with the success of his newest spellcraft. After a moment, he calms down, realizing that perhaps tact is sometimes necessary. "Ahem, I mean, one more evildoer vanquished."
Val winces at the sight of the beast coming to life and tearing the corpse to ribbons. "Probably a good thing too. No one deserves to die like that." She shudders and draws a dagger, absently testing its weight and balance in her hand as she eyes the now much lower to the ground drake. "I think I can make that shot now at least." She tosses the dagger into the air and catches the blade between two fingers, then whips it overhead toward the dragon.
Hinagiku watched, transfixed, as the tiefling rider falls into the maws of one of the traps. She had seen horrors since she had arrived here, but that was probably among the worst ones... thankfully, the cultist was already dead when it occurred. For seconds, she stays remains there oblivious to the comments made by her allies. That is, until Isilme speaks her name.
"Right." the monk whispers back as she makes her way behind the tower.
Ary averts her gaze from the trap-creature down in the muck. What the f!!~ was wrong with the abyss..?
Ary chews on her lips for a moment. "We need to prevent the drakes from directly countering the archers. If they spit into the building, there are going to be a few problems... I'm not sure there's not a more tactically advantageous option..." she pauses. "Though, we do need to concern ourselves with the retaliation."
She quickly moves to cross the distance of the small building she's in, moving to join the troops inside of the keep. If they're going to get blasted, she wants to be there to try to help mitigate.
"The other drake is close to in range of attacking. Their speed burst would probably let it get there."
Ehren grimaces when he sees the insidious death trap in action. When they first learned that the riverbeds were trapped, he had expected something mundane, like bear traps or something of the sort. Apparently, he was not imaginative enough to anticipate something more wicked.
"I'll try to force it to land if it gets any closer," Ehren says as he leaves his cover, hurrying over to another ruined building. The drake and its rider would be considerably less formidable without their mobility.
Valaria hurls daggers at the rift drake, two of them making their mark despite the incredible distance between them. The drake shrieks in pain, having not expected to be fired upon from so far away.
They can't volley from within the tower. They can attack using lines, but the wind wall is in the way. They can head to the roof and volley, but would be vulnerable to counterattack.
"They'd have to come to the top of the tower to volley, which means they could only fire on things nearby, unless we completely exposed them." Ary whispers through the spell. "So I'm just going to let them sit tight for now, until the drakes come further forwards, perhaps."
Ary does not order the Banshees to open fire. The rider-less drake simply flies off, heading north and west towards the citadel. Clearly without its rider it was not vested in picking a fight at this time.
The remaining drake rider remains hovering over the opposite bank. The trolls watch the crusaders, waiting for them to make a move - but it seems even the trolls are unwilling to simply walk into the riverbank, now that they were certain the urannags were never disabled to begin with. From safely on Paradise Hill, the siege engineers begin to bombard the opposite bank... though from so far away, they cannot hope to aim specifically at any of the troops on the bank. Their bombardment falls upon one of the buildings, collapsing what was once a very nice home into a pile of rubble. The cultists begin to back away from the shoreline as a result.
With the window of opportunity closing quickly, they only had one chance left to bait the trolls into attacking: Enrage their leader.
"Xanderghul, you mentioned running into the head of the trolls, correct?" she asks. "It would be quite humiliating to know that you, a crusader, deceived them. It could be our best bet for forcing a confrontation." she says, knowing time is of the essence. "Failing that, the trolls are still close enough to affect with confusion if I hurry," she says. "If they are confused, they will start fighting each other, and we might be able to kill quite a few of them with fireball at that point."
Moving forward with great haste, Isilme takes up a position next to Ehren. She needed to maximize her range to make use of her magic before the trolls fled. While they might not be able to kill *all* the trolls, confusion would leave them killing each other long enough for the group to take advantage of them killing each other off. Add in the cultist archers they'd brought into the mix, and the casualties to the cultist forces could be severe.
The trolls continue to back away from the bank, so Isilme drops the illusion of the berms and casts confusion on the trolls. The enormous troll woman backs away and starts barking something loudly in Giant as the trolls devolve into a massive melee. However the trolls' regenerative ability makes it impossible for them to actually kill each other. The archers also become confused, but because they are only wielding bows, they simply start bashing each other with their bows. It is not a terribly effective means of harming each other.
"Xanderghul, Ehren, once trolls are unconscious, it'll be up to you to finish them off with fire," she says to the two once she takes advantage of their final shot at ending the trolls. "Try to catch the archers in the blast as well, if you can."
"Well, at least this part of the plan seems to be working at the moment." Val prepares another brace of knives if the other drake rider makes a move, but keeps herself back and positioned behind the ruins to stay in cover.
"Perhaps it would be in our best interest to get started as soon as possible," Ehren murmurs, watching from afar as the trolls fight amongst themselves. At the rate they were going, it would be some time before they managed to wear each other down, and even if they did, they would just heal again in no time at all. He could call forth another large blast of flame, but it would not accomplish all that much in the long term. No, he needed something with a slower burn.
Remembering what he had discussed with Hinagiku about fireweed. As with all things in nature, fire was a force of both life and death. But in this case, it was just death. The archdruid draws on the ley's power, feeling it thrum beneath his feet with great intensity as he does so, and visualizes a raging flame. There is a low roar as flames suddenly spring to life beneath the confused trolls, quickly spreading across the ground and into the nearby troop of archers.
Ary heads into the tower to join her troops, while Ehren literally ignites the ground underneath the crazed trolls on fire. The trolls and cultists who are still somewhat lucid start to flee the area, while the confused ones stay in the melee. The trolls' supernatural resistance to fire is not enough to help them against the raging flames, but they are too deranged at the moment to realize that their wounds are no longer closing back up
Hinagiku continues making her way toward a safe spot from which she can overlook the battle. Half crouching she goes around the ruins until she can peak at Valaria and Xanderghul.
"I'll soon be in good position to intercept our enemies if they decided to cross the wall of wind." she whispers.
Ehren gazes into the flames, concentrating on making them spread among the cultists and trolls, immolating even more of them in the process.
When the fire starts, some of the trolls unaffected by Isilme's magic wisen up and simply run away from the flames. They were stupid, but not so stupid to get ripped apart when their regeneration was no longer granting them effective immortality. The confused trolls though are too deranged to realize what is happening to them, and a little more than a dozen are ripped to shreds by their own kin or blown apart by Xanderghul's spells before the remaining trolls realize what is going on and flee the flames. The spells are even more effective against the archers, who quickly perish in the fire, or, more humiliatingly, are beaten to unconsciousness by their fellow cultists' bows. All the while the bombardment of the bank continues, destroying the nearby buildings, causing the remaining troops to back up until they are out of sight and out of range of the bombardment. The drakerider flies back up into the sky - roughly 400' up, keeping an eye on the situation below while still out of range of bodily harm.
Val whistles softly as the trolls promptly tear themselves apart. "Gods above, that's brutal." She elects to allow the dragon rider to fall back unless someone calls on her to keep attacking, not wanting to provoke enemies to move while the spell casters are tearing the troops apart.
Satisfied with the results of his spellcraft, Xanderghul takes a calming breath. "Well, I suppose that we didn't really need to lure them into a real battle. Just to the edge of the river."
He shrugs. "Nice job with the spell, Isilme. That one's brutal."
All in all Isilme was pleased with the results. It wasn't quite as effective as if they had baited the troops across successfully, but decimating 3/5ths of the troll troop and a troop of cultists would send a clear message.
"Thank you. Certainly confusion did its job, but without you and Ehren there would have been no real effect upon the trolls. Hopefully we have whittled them down to the point they will think twice about attacking again. The trolls will most certainly not feel as invincible going forward." When they all group up, she turns her attention to the knowledge the enemy had howlers. "Ary, we might wish to leave the music box with Irabeth tomorrow in case the enemy does attempt to attack. The howler cavalry could wind up causing problems. At least that way Irabeth will have some way of helping those affected."
Ary doesn't look away as the creatures rip themselves to pieces, forcing herself to watch. The damage was very clearly done; they'd turned a squad of enemies into a handful of units. They'd used quite a lot of resources to do it, however.
"We'll need to scout out the east bank more thoroughly, now that the enemies have seen that we may have a way to cross." she whispers through the spell before pausing. "Though, I don't think the bridge in front of the keep will be trapped similarly to this. It will just prevent the crossing of major groups against a united enemy front... unless they plan to drop some of these creatures into the beasts of burden... that would likely cause a rather rapid stampede, though, whether away from the monster, or towards the source of food, I'm uncertain." she shudders at the implications.
After a moment, she nods to Isilme's suggestion from inside the tower. "Alright, they also might bring the harpies to bear against them."
"They're still going to be a threat, but they'll be less of a threat without their heavy shock troops. Let's just hope they don't have any further surprises." Their intelligence for the enemy forces was good, but it seemed to not be entirely perfect. "I'm ready to fall back if we're done here. I could use a restock on knives anyway. No way am I getting those back." She gestures toward the circling drake that still had a few dagger wounds in its body.
Hinagiku, still hiding within the ruins, joins into the whispered conversation.
"Should we press on or return to our encampment?"
Content with the damage they had done to the enemy forces, the heroes head back to their encampment on Paradise Hill. The Banshee Squadron disperse back out into their assigned stations, watching the borders of the crusader controlled zone for any enemies that could be attempting to cross the riverbeds. The rest of the soldiers are either assigned to patrol duty, to maintenance, or to reserve forces resting in the tower.
"So... do we have any idea if the creatures in the riverbed will react to the walkways we're going to make for the crossing?" Ary whispers through the spell on the way back.
Ehren was more or less satisfied with how things turned out at the river, though he would have liked to accomplish more. Still, they managed to thin the trolls' numbers and they learned more about the "traps" in the riverbed.
"They were hidden underwater, but I don't think they were underground," he remarks, remembering how the creature reacted when struck by the rift drake's acid. "In other words, I won't be able to build a path over them."
Xanderghul pokes Ary. "Hey," he says. "I think there's something in the tower that we should go and see." He offers no explanation, but simply tugs at her cape a bit before walking ahead of her at a brisk pace.
"So, then, do you think we'll need to find a way to disable them?" Ary asks, looking off to the west. "Or that we'll be able to find a path that doesn't include any, if we spend a few moments ensuring it?"
"Oh? Something new you've been working on, or something else?" Ary asks, working to keep the pace with Xanderghul in her armor, which was no small feat.
"I suppose we should be used to that from Xan at this point," Val says with a sigh as the wizard suddenly turns without any real explanation.
"Nothing I've been working on," says Xander over his shoulder, going fast enough that Ary has to rush a bit but not too fast that she can't keep up. "It's not enough time to explain. I'll tell you after we find out whatever it is."
Xander follows the line of energy that he can see, going where it leads.
"The creatures can be disabled like traps, doing so harms them and leaves them unable to react effectively. They require adamantine holy weapons to harm effectively, although their ability to absorb damage is less than some of the tougher demons we've fought. It seems like the best bet would be to have our group move to disarm them first, then create the path for the troops to cross. We will need the path to allow our troops to make the crossing quickly."
"So... I'm capable of dealing grievous harm, but it'd still be large enough to encase me and start flensing. Does disabling it remove its ability to cage someone?" Ary asks, as she follows after Xander, slowly separating from Isilme as he leads her into the tower. The tendril winds its way up the inner wall of the spiral stairs, leading them up, and up, until it snakes its way around, hugging a corner, never passing through, and always following a path one could follow by foot. It makes its way through the tower in the straightest possible path to Irabeth's room!
Answer to Ary's question: Depends on how good the disabler is.
"We can discuss the creatures further when we gather the captains to plan tomorrow's assault," Isilme says, allowing Ary to go join Xanderghul in whatever it was he had seen.
Irabeth is on the third floor of the tower in Paradise Hill, refusing to wander too far from her beloved's side since her death. The third floor is a barracks, though off the main hallway is a door that leads to a small gathering room. In this room, Indisy sits. The loyal halfling cavalier has been serving as her messenger woman, relaying information to and fro for Irabeth in her time of need.
Today the next door is creaked open, leading to an officer's chamber. Since the vrocks obviously had no need of it, the room was mostly just left alone, and took little work for the crusaders to right into a usable condition. Irabeth sits on the bed, scribbling in one of her books. On the desk lays Anevia's body, hands placed over her chest, her eyes closed. Irabeth had already taken the time to wash her body and wounds, combing her hair and dressing her in clean clothes. Normally, the paladin would have asked the body be buried by now, but after the ghoul attack, she was holding off until she was certain the burial could be done safely.
When Ary and Xanderghul arrive, Indisy waves hello, and Irabeth glances up from her writing. "Ary," she says. Irabeth was always less formal in private - she doesn't even stand to attention, as she normally does. "How did the plan go? Did you kill all of the trollish forces?" she asks.
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The snaking pool of energy leading Xanderghul through the tower grows steadily more broad, rather than reaching forward as they traverse the tower, brimming like a river as the snows melt off the mountaintops, rather than flowing forward. Ary's brow furrows as she recognizes the room that Xander has lead her to as Anevia... not Anevia's, just Irabeth's. She pauses for a moment, looking to Xanderghul, unable to see what he saw.
Her thoughts had mostly been on Anevia. Every soldier in the army was a friend to Ary - or at least an aquaintance. She'd ensured that during the beginning of their trip northward... but Anevia had been closer. Sitting up with Irabeth had not simply been something that a friend does for a friend, but also some measure of trying to accept the things that Ary could not change. But... sacrifice was something that Ary was almost incapable of accepting. The comprehension of that was something that she had grown to understand about herself in the wake of her own sacrifice. The assumption that Anevia had saved Ehren's life in the process of forfeiting her own made it easier, but if Ary had been more capable as a commander, asked Anevia to not go up until the team had given her a sign...
She's pulled from her reverie by the question, as she crosses the room to stand beside the desk. As the energy that ebbs and flows with Ary's concentration shoots out to touch Irabeth, her concentration moving to her, the line of energy between Ary and Anevia deepens. Her 'Aura' as it were is more clearly golden when it pools in the space between Anevia's form and her own, not unlike the motes that flow out of Ary when she's everywhere at once. It becomes readily apparent to Xanderghul with his new powers just how it is that Ary does what she does with her motes - it's not enough for her essence to be everywhere, it's an act of pure concentration, her eyes always on everything, and in the moment it's needed, her concentration simply is elsewhere. And so, fueled by whatever power lies in her shield, she is as well.
"The attack went... alright. I had a lot of misgivings about it, but I didn't have any way to make suggestions for it to work out better. In truth, it went amazingly well, given that they didn't take the bait. We learned that the traps are actually creatures, thanks to Xanderghul, and just how dangerous they are thanks to Isilme." she pauses for a brief moment, and Xanderghul is able to see her concentration waver from Irabeth, back to Anevia for a moment, before she continues, "We also wiped out the majority of two troops, leaving the dozen or so trolls as a small group of individual trolls who were capable of surviving, thanks to Xanderghul, Isilme, and Ehren. We also killed a rider, though I suspect those are replacable." she frowns at her own word, and Xanderghul sees the energy flowing from Ary's feet pooling beneath Anevia's body. That was one difference between their army and the enemy's. The enemy army could replace what they lost because they valued nothing. Some things were not replacable. A tool could be thrown away, a friend never could.
Her gaze wavers from Irabeth to move subconsciously to Anevia - no insult intended - and for a moment the pain in her sharp brown eyes is clear. She huffs, softly, keeping her attention on Anevia. "I don't think we have any other plans for the day."
As she does so, Xanderghul sees the golden energy finally reach Anevia's body, and imperceptibly, the pallor start to return to the soldier. The divine energy that had become synonymous with Ary begins to seep into her still form, the tether between them thinning from a burgeoning river of energy into a concentrated stream... until Ary finally looks away and back to Irabeth. The pool and stream were gone, now, replaced by only darkness, as she looks back to Irabeth, that same line moving back to her. "We're trying to come up with a way to disable the traps in the river without alerting the enemy troops... which will be no small feat if we have to fight them. And I don't see any other way besides continuing to search for a way across that doesn't directly interact with the Urannags. We may have a way to discover where they are, though... between Ehren and Hinagiku, or our other paladins." Ary rolls her shoulder, slightly, uncomfortable with revealing the full plan even to Irabeth at this stage.
After a moment, Xanderghul is able to note that it isn't an absense of ley energy, but actual darkness that he sees around Anevia's form. It was different from the other heroes who had not accomplished legendary deeds as the others had... there was just a very different energy there. And the color of her face was returning, even still. With Ary's attention on Irabeth, she didn't even notice when Anevia's eyes flutter open.