"I think I can hear something, something other than the voices... it seems to be..."whispers Hinagiku.
1. Ary (longstrider, heroism, stance of the silver crane, darkvision, invisible) Heals 30 HP: 94/113
2. Valaria (mythic heroism, good aligned starknives x2, blur, invisible, grazed, sniper eye stance) 92/114
3. Ehren (medium earth elemental, greater longstrider, ant haul, 2 CHA drain, grazed) 89/112
4. Hinagiku (grazed, longstrider, invisible) 95/135
5. Isilme (invisible, expeditious retreat) 88/88
6. Xanderghul (see invis, 4 mirror images, 1 STR drain, 3 CHA drain, longstrider) 89/89
7. Anevia (darkvision, 2 CHA drain, invisible, sniper eye stance) 40/40
8. Ayavah (protection from energy fire, 1 negative level, 3 STR drain) 24/24
Isilme moves to the door quietly and attempts to open it. Seeing the door doesn't budge, she joins Ehren in listening through the door.
"Something hoov-ed this way comes," she whispers. Being able to open the door quickly would be ideal, but it's unlikely she would be able to budge it herself.
"I hear it too. Maybe minotaurs, given what we've run into before. And I think there might be several of them. We should be cautious." Val preps both of her enchanted starknives and prepares to push forward. "Sounds like they're ready to throw us a party."
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Xanderghul flexes his fingers, runs his hands through his spinelike hair, and adjusts his robe. Thankfully he hadn't been involved in much battle today, but he still frowns as he notices a torn fringe on his cloak. No doubt the work of some enterprising locust cultist, forgotten and trampled underneath the feet of the holy army they had with them. Such a shame, it always paid off to look your best while crushing your foes. "I love parties!" he says, grinning.
"Daisy, come closer so I can align your strikes. That way you can do a bit more than keep people on the ground. Do you want to be in front?" Ary whispers, given that they have a bit of downtime. "It's probably the minotaurs we expected to be here thanks to Xander's scouting. Four, right?" she adds, widening her stance as Xanderghul casts his spell.
Xander gives a quick reply: "I believe I saw five or six total. There may be more in the castle, and there may be fewer in the room up ahead."
Xanderghul casts a spell, and Ary abruptly shoots up towards the ceiling, forcing Valaria and Irabeth to step aside before they are squished in the process.
They hear a gruff voice on the other side of the door: "Libuti kroshag ai bump, dim."
Another voice responds, in dwarven, but further away, "Duilich, chan urrainn dhomh a dhèanamh.."
"Every moment we delay gives them more time to prepare," Ehren whispers, staring in the direction of the door. "So how do we want to do this?"
"A dwarf is on the other side, he spoke something... 'Duilich, chan urrainn dhomh a dhèanamh', I believe it was." she says to the others before backing away from the door.
Isilme prepares to cast the moment the doors open, knowing the cultists are preparing an ambush on the other side. "I am ready when you all are," she adds once she is in position.
Xanderghul nods, translating the words in his head. His mouth runs, and he whispers the words to himself. "Just a second, I think it's..."
"I don't know, I can't make it out."
Hinagiku slowly stills her heart and inhales deeply, she was ready to face some more foes. But, maybe there was another way. They had to try.
"Is there any magic or tricks that could help us here? If we are in a hurry, we cannot fight these people." she whispers to the others.
"If it's Vhane, we might not have a choice."
"I don't think we have the option of ignoring him and the minotaurs. If they realized we were down below, they would either come in behind us, or move in to assault our troops; neither are options we can afford. Should we try to force our way in, or try to fool them into opening the door?" Ary asks via their message, looking to Isilme.
"It could also be Joran," Ehren suggests, thinking on what they know about the other Vhane brother. Given the dwarf's predicament, it seemed possible that they could further persuade him to act against Staunton.
The druid continues to stand ready, waiting for everyone to make a concerted effort to open the door, or for the enemy to open it themselves.
"Something makes me think Joran is more likely to be involved below." Ary whispers with pursed lips.
"I will distract them the second it opens, I believe it best to force our way in and make use of our advantage. Ayavah, could you vanish again when the door opens?"
As soon as she sees Ehren press his stony hands up against the stuck door, Irabeth immediately joins in.... meanwhile, Ayavah nods and smiles impishly, though her gaze is pretty far off from where Isilme actually is. She murmurs an incantation and vanishes from sight.
"Okay Ary. I am prepared. But if we fight them, we won't be invisible anymore... I think..." Hinagiku whispers back.
"I'm ready as well. Let's deal with this as quickly as we can so we can avoid getting sucked into the Abyss or something equal unfortunate."
A voice in your head:
"Hmph, speak for yourself, that sounds like a much more pleasant turn of events if you ask me..."
Xanderghul nods. It seemed that Ehren, Irabeth, and Ary had the door covered, so he simply prepares himself for whatever lay beyond. "Killing Vhane will be a major step in our campaign, and if it is Joran... well. We owe him a rescue, right?"
"I'm ready."
24. Isilme (Held Action)
24. Valaria
23. Hinagiku
22. Babau #1
22. Ayavah (casts Vanish)
19. Xanderghul
16. Babau #3
16. Minotaur #1 (readied action)
16. Minotaur #5
15. Ary Bishop (STR check)
14. Babau #2
14. Joran Vhane
13. Ehren Ferron (Aid Another!)
12. Anevia
9. Minotaur #6
6. Minotaur #4
6. Minotaur #3
3. Minotaur #2 (readied action)
3. Staunton Vhane
2. Irabeth (Aid Another!)
Round 1!
1. Valaria
2. Hinagiku
3. Babau #1
4. Ayavah
5. Xanderghul
6. Babau #3, Minotaur #5
7. Ary Bishop
8. Babau #2, Joran Vhane
9. Ehren
10. Anevia
11. Minotaur #6, Minotaur #4, Minotaur #3, Staunton Vhane
12. Isilme
13. Minotaur #1, Minotaur #2
14. Irabeth
Ehren, Irabeth, and Ary work together and force the door open. A small pile of rubble rolls out of the way, creating a path for the heroes to move through. Peering through, they can see a large room. The southern wall appears to be caved in rubble, but the walls that remain are covered in various yellowed maps of the Worldwound and its surrounding territories. Directly in front of the door are two minotaurs. Their eyes move to Ehren - it appears to them that the door was pushed open by only the sole earth elemental, after all - but before they can react...
Isilme is up!
Moments after the doors open, Ary, Valeria and Hinagiku appear out from around the corners of the door, rushing into the room followed by nearly a dozen crusaders and Irabeth. They rush in past the earth elemental, flooding into the room. Behind them Isilme, Xanderghul and a group of archers step around and begin taking aim into the room.
"The dwarf has enchanted his own endurance," Isilme says, identifying the spell her keen ears made out the dwarf casting.
Xanderghul narrows his eyes, taking in the opposition. What a ridiculous number of foes... It was going to be like carving a hole in a mountain by hand, getting through this.
Hinagiku peers into the chamber to see three minotaurs. And while here illusory self rushes into the room, she ponders for a moment where were the others they had heard, and who their boss was. But right now, she only needed to wait for the other's signal.
The minotaurs greedily cleave their axes into the oncoming heroes... only to find their blades not hitting flesh and bone, but cleaving through midair. "Bok?! Bok im bam bashusha?!" snarls one of the demonic creatures. He snorts, smoke spewing forth from his enormous nostrils.
Round 2!
Valaria and Hinagiku are up!
Still on the ready, Hinagiku takes a few seconds to invoke the Master of master's favor. Silently, she prays for him to strengthen her and her companions for the incoming battle. A familiar feeling slowly creeps into her allies, wounds closing and bruises healing as an invisible wave of soothing energy envelops them.
Valaria is up!
Val steps forward as the minotaurs step forward and swing their weapons through Isilme's illusion, striking nothing but air. He daggers flash as she swings out, unleashing a barrage of deep slashes at the beasts. "Bam im al neb," she snarls as the blades cut in to flesh.
Valaria abruptly appears, having gracefully stepped over the rubble to strike at the nearest Minotaur. Her opening attack nearly kills the minotaur outright, it is astonishing that it is even still standing.
A single babau runs out from the darkness and closer to the heroes.
Xanderghul is up!
Not wishing to waste precious spell resources so early in the game, Xanderghul draws on his signature move. Perhaps he could slow a minotaur enough to prevent them from being effective against his allies. Though they risked becoming surrounded, Xanderghul believed that victory lay in pressing forward.... at the appropriate time. "Stay conservative, everyone," he whispers. "One minotaur at a time. Kill that one before we go for another. Stay tight."
At that, he hurls a ball of restricting blackness at one of the minotaurs between themselves and victory.
Xanderghul tosses a ball of writhing darkness at the furthest minotaur, but the magic fizzles upon impact. Another babau emerges from the darkness behind of it.
Ary is up!
"One of the Vhanes is in the hallway ahead, where the babau came from." Ary shares via message.
She doesn't immediately reappear as the others would likely expect, however. "I'm going to leave the space ahead somewhat open. Like Xander said, don't overextend. We have a bottleneck here. If we use it, the Minotaurs will be limited in their ability to respond." she continues, still whispering to the others. Xanderghul, and perhaps the Babau, are able to see her standing stock still, watching their enemy's movements. "Irabeth or Daisy, you should fill the space beside Val."
"Binding Darkness (Sp): As a standard action, you cast a weave of shadows at any foe within 30 feet as a ranged touch attack"
Spell-Like Abilities (Sp):
Spell-like abilities, as the name implies, are magical abilities that are very much like spells. Spell-like abilities are subject to spell resistance and dispel magic.
Usually, a spell-like ability works just like the spell of that name....
Therefore, by default (Su) are subject to SR and dispel magic, unless that would be contrary to the clause "usually a spell-like ability works just like the spell of that name" (ex: SLA of grease)
Another babau emerges from the shadows, and behind him, a dwarf with a long, braided beard in banded mail slowly emerges from the shadows. He peers at the heroes anxiously, his face pale and clammy, before starting a magical incantation.
Ehren and Anevia are up!
With the demonic minotaurs closing in on the doorway, Ehren backs up to give the group's more melee-inclined warriors some space, trusting Ary to cover his retreat. In the relative safety of the back of the group, he siphons some of the ley energy thrumming beneath his feet and weaves into a spell. With a wave of his hand, he evokes a brief flash of searing light that washes over the babau and minotaurs.
The minotaur and the babau closest to the epicenter take the full brunt... while the babau is able to shield its eyes in time, the other minotaur is not so lucky, and is left blinded. As for the others, the magic is not strong enough to overcome their innate abyssal resistance to magic.
Anevia is up!
Val winces, but manages to avoid the attempt to impede her.
Xanderghul indicates the spellcasting dwarf with a small movement of his chin. "Ey, that guy? Not Staunton. Val, do us a favor and don't stab him to death right away, will you? It's the other Vhane brother."
The tiefling nods in understanding. "I'd bet five gold on Staunton being downstairs then, but I feel like that's a sucker's bet."
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One of the minotaurs in the back runs north and out of sight, behind a large wall. The heroes can hear his deep voice echo back to them. "I bushi! Thri'hi ashul ashom! Bi skegul unk bi búlkogur ashi shushi , kribi shum, bum!" There is a moment of silence. Then, he continues, his voice becoming louder and louder as he becomes more and more enraged. " I.. i... bi ishúshishatorush! Shim noshi! Thruk ambagh Vhane sher ashâk bam..."
"You there! We're under attack! The leader of the crusaders are here , come help, quick!"
"You.. you... the insubordination! How dare you! Wait until Vhane hears about this..."
Meanwhile, the minotaur entangled in Xanderghul's shadow snorts a puff of smoke. He glares into the room across, and a thick, oily miasma appears around the heroes, enveloping them in darkness for just a moment. Most of them are merely momentarily nauseous from the spell, though oddly, it doesn't appear to affect Isilme at all. Once the miasma clears, Valaria dodges between the minotaur's whirling greataxes, as they clumsily swing out in an attempt to hit her.
"Understood, Commander," Irabeth says from somewhere in front of her. She suddenly appears at Valaria's side, sweeping in with her longsword ready. She plunges the blade deep into the minotaur's gut, and then steps back a few paces as it falls at her feet.
Unseen to everyone except Xanderghul, Anevia fans herself. "That's my wife, you guys," she gushes into message, knowing full well that she can hear her. A small tinge of pink appears on Irabeth's cheeks, but she doesn't otherwise reply.
Round 2!
Valaria and Hinagiku are up!
Xanderghul squints past the melee towards the shouting minotaur sounds in the back. "Wonder who's back there... Hmm."
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"If she's half as killer in the sack, you're incredibly lucky," Val teases the happy couple, thoroughly unashamed of the off-color joke, despite the situation. She steps forward over the corpse of the minotaur and slashes at the next abyssal creature in line. Her blessed knives sing through the air, cutting into the towering enemy's hide with focused fury.
As she lets go of her holy symbol, Hinagiku smiles at Anevia's comment before she starts rummaging through her bag for one of her potions. With it in hand, she finally elects to join the fray. Invisibly making her way as carefully as possible through her companions, she almost bumps into giant Ary before finally passing next to Irabeth.
"It's me, Hinagiku, I will be right in front of your, careful if you advance." she softly whispers.
"I've got your flank, mrs Valaria." she adds once she reaches the front-line.