With ropes and grappling hooks, the crusaders with sight slowly help the others climb up the wall. They accomplish this by tying ropes around their waists to ensure that they cannot possibly fall, even in the absolute darkness. The other ends of the rope are tied around the crenellations at the top. Some of the heroes and their allies stand at the top of the parapet guiding the crusaders up, others stand in the water below, helping to get the next batch of crusaders geared up and ready to make their ascent.
But of course things can never go truly to plan, and just as the second batch of soldiers makes their way up onto the balcony, the door to the parapet swings open and a young tiefling man stands in the doorway, mouth agape. He is wearing Deskaran armor, cobbled together piece-meal with random bits of Crusader plate and chainmail that the cultists had scavenged from Drezen. His skin beneath his armor is an ashen grey, and so his tangled hair.
"Oh....f&%!."
Initiative!
1. Isilme
2. Valaria
3. ??? x3, Surprised Mook
4. Ehren
5. Anevia
6. ???? x2, ?????
7. Shu-Lien
8. ????
9. Ary
10. ???
11. Hinagiku
12. ????, ??? x2
13. Xanderghul
The cultist turns back to the hallway and calls, "Bi'li krushi! Bi búshdoghub ashi krushi! Thrili busha!"
He then mumbles something under his breath as he draws his blade - a longsword, scuffed and worn down from the decades with a shaking hand.
Round 1!
Isilme and Valaria are up!
Val doesn't think as she half turns and sees the cultist approaching. She simply draws her starknives again and flashes across the rooftop in an instant. "Today is really not your day," she quips as her knives come around, aiming for the weak points in his armor.
Isilme is up!
The cry of alarm up above is all the reason Isilme needs to get moving quickly. "Keep everyone moving, I am heading up." Isilme says to those on the ground helping paladins onto the ropes. Moving to the side of the paladins on the ropes, she begins scaling the wall herself, unaided by ropes or the footholds that Ehren had erected given the paladins were making use of most of that space.
Isilme climbs betwee the paladins, unencumbered, so that she reaches the top just in time to see Valaria move against the cultist man. She brings her knives around, and the tiefling closes his eyes, bracing himself for the blow... when suddenly he vanishes, a shadowy version of himself taking the place of where he just stood. Her knife goes through the shadow and it vanishes. Valaria manages to conserve her momentum, bringing her other blade around and scoring a deep hit to his gut, too sharp and sudden for him to even scream. He coughs up a bit of blood, and Valaria can see another three cultists come up the stairs in her direction. Two make it to her and start swinging their weapons, but she backs away, dodging their blows effortlessly.
Ehren and Anevia are up!
Watching Butterfly fighting the cultists that had burst through the door, Anevia takes a deep breath and steadies herself. Watching the rhythm and flow of the tiefling's attacks, she predicts an opening between swings. As Valaria raises her arm to bring her star knife around, a shadow passes right under it, implanting itself into the already wounded cultist's abdomen.
Ehren is up!
Ehren glances over at Valaria, debating on whether he should hurry over and wallop some cultists himself. Realizing that he is surrounded by at least half a dozen people that could do a better job of it, however, he decides to take advantage of the distraction instead.
"I'll see whether there is anything unpleasant waiting for us ahead," he says as he steps over some of the dead cultists and sinks into the northern wall, checking on whether there is a chamber beyond the one they are in, and if so, whether there are any hostiles within.
Anevia quickly shoots over Valaria's shoulder, silencing the grey-skinned tiefling for good.
You poke your head into a rather grisly sight - this room was at one point, a barracks, but the furniture has been torn to pieces. The corpses of several dead dwarves lay rotting on the floor, a few of the bodies being devoured by their own kinsmen - four undead dwarven abominations with long, pointed ears and pallid grey skin. In the center of the room is a large, fat nabasu. He is standing with his head tilted, one large bat-like ear tilted towards the doorframe, his back to you. Wordlessly, one of the undead dwarves walks over to the door and opens it, another of them pushes past him and into the hallway opposite, turning the corner out of sight, then another follows suit. Then, suddenly, the nabasu vanishes.
In the back of the hallway, you can see what appears to be a dwarf with ashen grey skin and hungry eyes turn the corner, slowly heading towards you...
Just as one appears, a second appears right after.
Behind you, flying 30' higher than the parapet, a nabasu suddenly appears in mid-air. He leers at the goings-on unpleasantly.
"Heh. Heh. Heh." he chuckles in Abyssal. His stomach is fat and round from a recent meal, his claws stained reddish brown with gore. "Look what we have here. Fresh meat! And I am so...so hungry..."
Shu Lien glances between the new demon and Valaria for a moment, deliberating on what to do. Finally, she leaps into the air at Valaria's side.
"Winged oni there, in the sky," Shu Lien informs Valaria. "If I had my shuriken, would be dead oni. But you have knives, Valaria-san. I can hold them off on my own," she says as she kicks the cultist in front them square in the breastplate. The cultist collides into the wall, knocking her head violently against the stone... there is a nasty cracking sound and she falls to the ground, likely dead.
Ary is up!
"Ehren, if the Nabasu casts us all into darkness down here, it will have limited effect - many of the soldiers are already blind, but if it does so up there, you may need to dispel it with daylight. Don't do so preemptively, though. Do we have any way to draw it away from the troops?" Ary briefly considers dropping her melee weapons to bring out her bow, but recognizes the danger of drawing the Nabasu towards her troops.
Another cultist appears down the hallway. Just how many of these guys are there?
Hinagiku is up!
"Someone will have to turn on a light soon, so that our soldiers can be effective. Especially inside the building." remarks Xanderghul, turning and squinting towards the source of the Abyssal speech. He had wholly packed spells for groups today, but his hand drifts towards the scroll pouch on his haversack.
Hinagiku's first instinct is to help out the climbing crusaders. But when the crusader discoversthem, she becomes painfully aware of their precarious position. Helping one last man up, she looks over her shoulder at Valaria and Shul-Lien. Seeing as though they have the corridor well covered, she runs to the other entrance into the fort. Yet, as she makes her way, she sets eyes on the Nabasu...
"Ary, what can we do... mrs. Isilme?" she whispers, not knowing how to stop the demon.
Val nods as the monk moves in. "I can manage that. Be careful though. Those cultists just keep coming and the undead are ghouls. If you get paralyzed, you'll be helpless."
"We will need crusaders on the ballistas immediately, they can help against the Nabasu. Anevia and I can attempt to keep it from harming us while Val brings it down. Without the ballistas manned we cannot risk light, as the drakes may return, and the remaining Brimoraks may be able to fire upon us," she replies. From here on in things would get significantly more hectic before they calmed down.
"We may not wish to risk holding back at this point. Our troops are at their most vulnerable now." she adds.
Hinagiku moves to the other entrance to the parapet, only to find the hallway almost completely impacted with rubble. Though she can see through the gaps to the other side of the hall, she would need to take time to clear a path to pass.
Shu Lien turns to Valaria and grins, her dark eyes glinting. "Good. At last, a challenge."
Another rotting dwarf emerges from the hallway behind the others.
All but one of the undead dwarves has left now, and you see two additional cultists pass by the open door in the opposite hallway.
Xanderghul, Ary, Isilme, and Valaria are up!
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"Roshai'l geg Gloshoshdi // Krokhi i okhush ai gloli? // Am nali ni krol thrili, // glil i't ghu gil ish bolul!" Isilme calls out to the Nabasu. The rhyme's weight is infused with her own power, causing it to weigh heavily on the demon. Following it up quickly, she weaves a spell designed to leave it helpless while her dirge weakens its will. "Bi dumb skol, krishukhum, hol irk bezg búrz lúshak ashâzg bi thrâshul kreshul, loshisha sheshak kim kul. Izg il bishosha bat bushi glil, bugak ashâzg krushusha."
"The true entertainment in defeating Maugla, however, was its great ghul running about the courtyard headless, randomly searching for foes. It is probably still there now, searching for its head!."
"Crusaders, man the ballistas and ready yourselves for battle once you are on the battlements, today we end this!" she calls out to her allies.
Xanderghul, Ary and Valaria are up!
Ary rolls her shoulder a few times as she crosses the distance between herself and the wall, intoning 'And I will have faith in them' as she does. As soon as she reaches the wall below Ayavah, she begins to climb. Even as she does so, she's moving to intervene with whatever actions the Nabasu may take. Should it dive into her allies below, or approach her allies above, it will be met with her golden motes... and should it attempt to wrest control from her allies, she'll be ready to intervene there as well.
Valaria nods. She can certainly appreciate the monk's confidence. "Then I'll leave this to you." She steps back a pace to give Shu Lien room to fight and draws a collection of her cold iron daggers, letting her starknives fall for a moment. Though the nabasu is a good distance off, she feels an unearthly confidence in her strikes and power behind her throws as she launches the barrage of knives toward it.
Xanderghul thinks for a moment, and decides that he wishes to use up one of his scrolls. But the creature is too far to reach with a ray spell, at least not one from a scroll inscribed by an inferior wizard. Brow furrowed, he leaves Jorsal with the other crusaders for now, and climbs up the wall, finding that thanks to Ehren's magic the feat is not much more difficult than climbing up an old ladder at one of the Pathfinder Society's larger libraries. As he reaches the top, Irabeth gives him her hand to help pull him up the rest of the way, just as Ary emerges from her opposite side.
Then Valaria begins her assault. Once dispatched, her knives waste no time... though three whiz right past the demon, one blade finds it target, inflicting injury. Shu Lien turns her back to her, delivering a demolishing blow to a hapless cultist who dared try to get past her in the doorframe, leaving his left eye bruised and bloody, but her reckless fighting style opens her up to another's blade cutting into her side. A surface wound only, but the blood begins to spread through and stain her already tattered and filthy gi.
Your keen eyes can see the horde of dretches on the drawbridge. Even now, with the citadel keep in chaos, they were lazily sprawled about on the ground... until Isilme started her performance, which seems to have roused them somewhat. They slowly start to stir, but true to their name, the sloth demons do not seem to be in much of a hurry to send someone to fetch their masters.
Round 2!
Ehren is up!
Ehren frowns when the nabasu and undead creatures promptly vacate the room. Had he arrived a second sooner, he might have been able to hit them all with a single spell. Hearing Ary's instruction, however, he slips into the wall again and returns to the previous room.
He quickly locates the baleful demon and recognizing Isilme's dirge, attempts to rob the nabasu of its sight with a wave of radiant energy. It could not target anyone with its spells if it could not see them. Unfortunately, the druid's own spell fails to even penetrate the demon's innate resistance.
If I ever see another nabasu after this, it will have been too soon... he thinks with a grimace, growing weary of the vile things.
The nabasu sneers at Isilme's jibe. "Maugla.... kugal biti... I nil krum bozg krolbug gag glizg krokhi bozg bi glul nu ghu krili. Bi bâl krokhi bug har ri.."
The demon extends a hand with long claws - "Anevia! Now!" calls Isilme, but the rogue's shot is rushed... it veers off wildly away from the demon, and he is able to finish his spell.
Meanwhile, in sharp contrast to Hinagiku, who only seems to become more serene when surrounded by enemies, Shu-Lien's attacks become more hasty, unorganized. With two savage blows she fells one enemy, only to have a ghoul elbow its way past her to take its place. She bares her teeth and punches it in the face, as one comes up behind her and sinks its teeth into her back. She roars and shakes it off, just in time to duck beneath the whirling scythe of yet another cultist.
Hinagiku is up!
From her position below, Ary barely notices the Nabasu's spell as it washes over her, focused instead on her allies. "The lack of stars in the sky does not mean Desna isn't watching. Free your heart, Isilme, so that you may free others!"
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Despite the nabasu's innate magic surpassing her own natural resistance, Isilme easily shakes off the effects of the hold person. "The stars are no less there now than on a cloudy night," she replies calmly to Ary. Bishop's exhortation of hope was welcome and useful, even if it might not have been needed just now. The contingency was cerainly important, however, as Isilme's freedom guaranteed it for the rest of her allies as well, thanks to her ability to call upon the Symphony of the Elysian Heart.
True to form, Isilme calls up to the demon, taunting its failure to affect her. "Is this all you have demon? You should spare yourself the embarrassment and teleport away now, while you still have a chance. You'll be returning to the abyss shortly one way or another, after all."
At the sight of rubble filled hallway, Hinagiku turn heels and quickly heads across the parapet to the aid of her fellow monk.
As the nabasu's magic washes over the ledge, the majority of the troops are left frozen in place, unable to move or speak. More cultists and ghoulish dwarves pour out from the door around Shu Lien.
Xanderghul, Ary, Valaria, and Isilme are up!
When the nabasu's spell worms its way past his magical defenses, Ehren flexes his fingers, feeling a momentary stiffness in their joints... but that is about it.
Val scowls as she doesn't manage to land many hits on the circling demon. Even more so as its magic freezes a number of their troops in place. She kicks her starknives up into her hands as the cultists and ghouls storm out onto the parapets, attempting to surround her allies. Her blades swing out, striking with stabs and slashes. Then she steps back a pace to try to limit her exposure as much as possible before she lets her knives drop again and hurls most of her remaining daggers at the nabusu again, this time hoping to do more lasting damage. Then she kicks her starknives back up, all the in space of a few seconds. It almost appears as if she's juggling her wide array of knives.
Xanderghul, Ary, and Isilme are up!
Though many of the crusaders were likely affected, it seemed the group had shrugged off the effects of the paralysis without too much effort. Drawing her bow, she prepares to attack the demon along with the others, hoping to bring it down quickly.
"Focus on bringing it down quickly," she relays to the others.
Xanderghul and Ary are up!
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Ary easily makes it to the top of the wall, dodging by several of her allies as she does. She calls out, voice resonating over the din of battle nearby "Crusaders, rise up and throw off the Nabasu's attempts to shackle us! Rise together, channel her light!" she says, piecing together edicts of Sarenrae and Iomedae's paladinhoods. "And bring down that craven cannibal!" she calls, twisting Radiance in the air to point out the Nabasu.
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Xanderghul presses his hands together and pronounces a word too slippery to hear properly. When he pulls his hands apart again, smoke envelops him, dissipating quickly. In his place stand four identical copies. He then strides out of the crowd of mostly-paralyzed paladins, shouting at the nabasu. "That cannibal is so cowardly in fact, that he'll turn down an invitation by a puny wizard for a free taste of diamond flesh!" he shouts, grinning and winking and hoping that somebody backs him up when the demon lands to rip him apart.
At the sound of their Commander's call, many more of the crusaders shake themselves free of the nabasu's spell, and resume climbing. Those with darkvision start to man the ballistae, which have surprisingly been kept in good condition these many years, unlike the ones on the battlements with the brimoraks. As they move around, Valaria cuts down on the cultists pouring through the doorway, leaving most of them close to death.
Then Isilme switches the magic behind her performance, moving to bolster her allies rather than hinder her foes, just before Valaria continues her assault. With the aid of her friends, Valaria lands all four knives, the nabasu managing to contort out of the way so that none of them are truly lethal on their own.
Round 3!
Anevia and Ehren are up!
In the aftermath of Valaria's deadly barrage, Ehren glances at Anevia, knowing that the archer is more than capable of finishing off the grievously wounded nabasu. Still, some extra insurance would not hurt. Trusting that the others could handle the ghouls and cultists, Ehren moves to the edge of the parapet, his eyes locked onto the flying demon.
Evoking the elements, Ehren draws on the power of water and adds a dash of air, just for good measure. In an instant, an orb of compacted ice and snow forms within his grasp; the very moment he feels it in his hand, he lobs it at the injured nabasu.
The damage the demon suffered from Valaria's barrage was enough that the Nabasu likely wouldn't be expecting another to come from its side. Anevia brings up her bow and nocks two arrows in quick succession, each one flying rapidly towards their wounded mark.
Anevia fires an arrow into the nabasu's side, then Ehren follows up with a conjured snowball, which he chucks into his face. Even with his innate resistance to cold, the nabasu falls like a rock, dissolving into black, sulfurous ichor before it reaches the ground and spraying the poor crusaders beneath him with goo.
Meanwhile, Shu-Lien's eyes widen with an almost manic glee as she rips into those cultists and ghouls in front of her. She barely seems to notice Hinagiku's presence, even as she kicks a ghoul behind her in the stomach just as it leaps through the air to sink its rotting teeth into her neck. She is too focused on the enemies before her, she knocks down one... then another. But her wild motions leave her open to attack, and so Hinagiku is forced to intervene once more. She gently pulls her out of the way of a cultist's blade about to spear her through her left side. Though she managed to save her life, she did not spare her from a deep cut down her front. Shu Lien growls at Hinagiku while clutching her bleeding stomach, almost feral, before snapping, "それを停止する。あなたは私の方法でやっている."
Hinagiku is up!
For now, Hinagiku does not respond to her fellow monk, despite her agitation. She does not help others for their thanks, after all. She simply falls low to the ground, sweeping her leg in a large half circle close to the ground, pulling the ghouls near her off their feet and crashing to the ground. She then pushes herself back to her feet with both hands in a fluid motion, just in time to kick one of the cultists in the chest as she struggles to do the same. The woman falls to the ground and does not get back up again.
The ghouls continue their advance, one stepping up to Valaria to claw at her with crooked, yellow nails. The swashbuckler simply takes a step back, staying out of reach of his short dwarf arms.
Xanderghul, Ary, Isilme, and Valaria are up!
Val nods as the nabasu falls from the sky. "Nice shot you two," she murmurs to Anevia and Ehren. She's more than a little glad that someone managed to take it down, since she was nearly out of knives. She turns back to the undead and cultists and immediately starts hacking at those closest to her.
Xanderghul, Ary, and Isilme are up!
Isilme closes on one of the ghouls, drawing her rapier and imbuing it with flame magic as she does. When she reaches Hinagiku's side, she takes a haphazard slash at the creature, hoping to deal some damage.