"Hee. Hee. Hee. A true lady doesn't kiss and tell," Anevia whispers back. Irabeth blushes even harder, her cheeks turning a bright red. In front of her, the blinded minotaur is easy prey for Valaria, who swiftly cuts the beast down to the ground, then ducks in time to avoid the blade of a polearm of a babau who clambered up onto the rubble to strike at her.
Xanderghul is up!
Xanderghul steps into the doorway, pulling his crossbow from the sling as he does so. Dropping to one knee, he sights one of the babaus coming up from the read and lets loose a demonslaying cold iron quarrel. Perhaps he could ensure Valaria only needed to spare three slices of her daggers for that particular demon.
Unfortunately, the bolt was misaligned against the crossbow string, and the bolt fails to clear the crossbow...
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The news that Joran stood ahead of them was welcome. Perhaps with the right words Isilme would be able to convince him to abandon his brother's cause. Her train of thought on the subject, however, is interrupted as one of the minotaurs unleashes a dark cloud upon the group, herself included. What happens however, even catches Isilme off guard... or perhaps what caught her off-guard was what didn't happen. Even as a Raelis she'd never been immune to magic in any way, but somehow as the unholy blight washed over her, it seemed to be unable to grasp her at all. Where the wisps of greasy black smoke should have touched her, they simply evaporated, in much the same way the sun chases away the fog on a cold autumn morning. "هل هذا كل شيء؟ كيف درب. حتى أن الإمتداد من شأنه أن يشكل تهديدًا أكبر" Isilme says with a chuckle, making sure the Minotaur hears her.
Turning back to the issue at hand, the Azata moves up until she spots the dwarf. "Joran, consider my words carefully! I have a message for you; Soltengrobbe is dead." Immediately after speaking she unleashes a spell, attempting to include Joran into the message spell, excluding Xanderghul, whom no one really wanted to hear from anyway.
Xanderghul fumbles, his hands slipping over the crossbow's drawstring and cutting him deep. Glancing down, he can see the cut goes down to the bone. It starts bleeding profusely, the pain more distracting than dangerous.
Joran appears to simply ignore Isilme's call, his eyes focused on Valaria.
But with your trained eyes you notice him give the smallest of nods in Isilme's direction.
Another babau clambers up onto the rubble to stab at Valaria. Hinagiku is too far away to deflect the blow, and it manages to stab her in the shoulder.
You can see the shadowy shape of another minotaur approaching in the far doorway.
Ary is up!
Val meets the dwarf's eyes as he watches her cutting through his minotaur escort. She nods once and focuses on the demons. Isilme was the one setting up this play, so it was best to just keep things out of her way while she tried to convert Joran. "I think we've got more back-up coming. Stay sharp everyone!"
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
"Likely the Thoxels you scouted, Xander. Irabeth, Anevia, I intend to capture Joran, not kill him." Ary says via the whisper, unaware that he was even within the spell and Xanderghul was not, the caster having been invisible to her at the time.
Ary winces as even with her increased size, she isn't able to reach Valaria to knock the blow aside in time. She could see that if things had been slightly different, she would have been able to simply move to her side and protect her, but there hadn't been enough space. She moves into the room with a slight grimace.
"Another pair of half-fiend minotaurs, coming from the Northwest and the North." Ary whispers as she crosses into the room. "Stick closer, or I can't reach you quickly enough." Just as she reaches the minotaur's side, she adds in her normal voice, unnervingly close, "I'm going to make some space." before slamming her shield into him and sending him skittering backwards, appearing all in the same motion, smirk all the more evident on her face.
The last babau remains next to Joran, rather than entering the fray. As soon as Ary appears, sending the minotaur flying across the room, it cackles and points at her, trying to undo some of the magic on the obviously embiggened crusader Commander... it fails, its magic too weak to overcome Ary's ranger magic, let alone Ehren or Xanderghul's more powerful enchantments. Frustrated, it starts stamping its feet in silent anger.
Joran glances at the babau next to him anxiously, then clears his throat. He turns to Valaria. "Please, leave Drezen. It's not too late t'just leave," he says in a deep dwarven accent, politely.
Ehren and Anevia are up!
Val shakes her head and gives the dwarf a flat look as she forces his spell off of her mind.
As the party steadily makes its push into the chamber, Ehren follows closely behind. His view no longer obstructed by the doorway, he glances around and for the first time, catches a glimpse of Joran Vhane. Despite his small part in their defeat of Soltengrebbe, he was hardly trustworthy. Even so, if they could convince him to turn against his brother now, then they would have acquired an invaluable ally.
Looking to the ground, Ehren searches for a portable piece of rubble to cast daylight on. The babaus could cast darkness, and there was always the possibility that an invidiak might rear its ugly head. Best that they avoid either possibility.
Ehren picks up a piece of rubble and casts daylight on it. The room, previously a haunting scene in black and white save for the menacing glowing red of the demons' eyes, suddenly is enveloped in dim light, giving the room a little bit of color.
Anevia is up!
Anevia stops fanning herself, "Ah, much better. Got my mojo back." she whispers, before moving in behind Irabeth.
She reappears as a silver longsword pierces the space between herself and the nearest Babau, threading the needle between her allies -and barely missing the invisible Hinagiku - to leave a massive wound in its wake as it fizzles into nothing. She waves sheepishly to the babau with a hand half-full of arrows.
Anevia fires between Hinagiku and Valaria - just barely... the babau sees the shot coming and twists out of the way before it can hit anything vital, but the shot still throws it somewhat off balance.
Another two minotaurs trudge back into the room, almost as soon as Ary announces their presence. One snorts and gestures into the room, and another black miasma washes over the heroes, this wave stronger than the last. Anevia and Irabeth both begin to gag and cough, the evil essence permeating down into their very souls and making their stomachs turn. The closest of the minotaurs paws at the ground with one of its feet, kicking up dust, before charging in horns first at her. Ary lifts Faith to drive the beast away, holding her own against the demonic minotaur.
From far away the heroes can hear an ominous buzzing sound...
With your keen eyesight, you can see past the minotaurs there is an enormous wasp. The wasp seems to be partially made of metal, and upon its back is a dwarf in green plate...
Isilme is up!
Round 3!
Valaria and Hinagiku are up!
Isilme notices the dwarf's subtle nod, and moments later with the spell linking them begins the hard work of converting the dwarf mid-battle. Given what little time they had left, convincing him to sit the battle would be quite helpful, nevermind actually convincing him to change sides.
"We proved our might against Soltengrobbe and now the Citadel falls. Your brother and the demons have underestimated us at every turn, and are doing so even now. Do not throw your life away for your brother, who seeks to dispose of you. Charge past us and we will protect you."
The babau next to Joran tilts its head, hearing Isilme's words whispering into Joran's ears. It snarls and jabs the dwarf in the side with its spear, not enough to actually injure the guy but certainly enough to hurt him. Joran yelps and jumps up. He gives the babau a long glance, then his eyes flick over the to minotaurs in front of him. He frowns, and does not reply to Isilme.
Babaus don't typically speak Common.
Hinagiku calmly takes advantage of her invisibility to get into position to kick the closest babau's knee. Before the spell has fully worn off, she is already striking at the oni with her now visible fists only a flurry while the rest of her still remains invisible for a brief moment. And when she finally reappears, it is in a triumphant pause over the fallen babau.
Valaria is up!
"Staunton is coming, riding on the back of a giant metallic wasp, right behind the two new minotaurs." Ary whispers to the others.
Ary doesn't recognize the creature, but perhaps someone else does...
Ary is describing a Warmonger Wasp.
Warmonger Wasps construct built from the protoplasmic flesh and chaotic fecundity of the Abyss itself, similar to the Urannags, they are a strange combination of organic and mechanical parts, spontaneously birthed from the chaotic energies that swirl in the Abyss. Warmonger wasps serve demonic armies as air support in large battles, and the armies of the Worldwound are no exception. Their electricity based explosions work well on battlefields where demons and mortals clash, as electrical attacks have no effect on demons. A warmonger wasp is about 10 feet long, with a 20-foot wingspan. They weigh 1,200 pounds.
Warmonger Wasps can fly (good), see in the dark and have low-light vision, and though they cannot speak, they understand Abyssal. Warmonger wasps are only intelligent enough to understand simple commands, and only ones universally associated with battlefield conditions.
Their stings are poisonous, causing paralysis that in some cases can lead to death . Their minds are closer to that of golems - while they can be fooled by illusions that bewitch the senses, they cannot be tempted by mind-affecting sorcery. Their strange mechanical bodies possess the ability to automatically repair themselves, and if left alone long enough, even horrific battle damage will be reversed entirely.
They possess the following defenses:
- Immunity to electricity, bleed, death effects, disease, mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects), necromancy effects, paralysis, poison, sleep, stun, and any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects, or is harmless), nonlethal damage, ability damage, ability drain, fatigue, exhaustion, or energy drain,
- Fast Healing 5
- Does not breathe, eat, or sleep.
- Unlike most constructs, which do not possess alignment, warmonger wasps are so infused with the energies of the Abyss that they are considered chaotic evil.
A large number of warmonger wasps have been left to their own devices in the Worldwound. These “wild” wasps buzz through the skies in packs of 3-12 wasps, constantly watching for any non-demons to swoop down on and attack. Cultists not escorted by demons are quick to speak in Abyssal and show their unholy symbols when confronted by a flight of warmongers. Canny crusader scouts eager to do the same can convince the wasps to leave them alone with a successful Bluff—provided the attempt is made while speaking Abyssal.
Warmonger Wasps typically possess the following feats: Ability Focus (poison), Great Fortitude, Improved Critical (sting), Improved Initiative, Weapon Finesse and are skilled at Perception, Stealth, and Fly. Their strongest saves are Reflex, and their weakest saves are Will.
Although a warmonger wasp is not an outsider, it may nonetheless be conjured by either a planar ally or planar binding spell. The spellcaster must take care when doing so, however, using specially prepared incenses, the secretions of rare and violent insects, and complex diagrams drawn with expensive phosphorescent inks, lest the wasp attack the spellcaster upon the spell’s completion. These components cost 15,000 gp and replace the usual costs associated with casting either spell
Valaria steps in to the babau near Isilme and starts swinging with her daggers, continuing to try to cut through the horde of monsters trying to impede them. She wrinkles her nose when she hears Ary describing Vhane's mount. "That does not sound natural. And kind of nasty."
At the end of her flurry of attacks, the weight of Valaria's entire body plows her starknife forwards until it is submerged within her foe. She withdraws, her blades dripping with boiling blood - the babau too wracked with pain to retaliate...
Across from her, Hinagiku abruptly appears, having pulled the other babau to the ground. Her strikes are hard, but fast - working around it to try and avoid getting too much of the demon's caustic slime on her hands. Contorting around to avoid a counter attack, she stomps her leg onto the side of the babau, the magic granted by Terendelev's scale preventing the demon from regenerating the injury away.
Further back, Irabeth glances back at Anevia with some concern. "Little fox, please, stay further back," she says. She moves forward, allowing Ary to cover her approach, stopping between Valaria and Hinagiku. She then swings down, her blade tearing through the air with a hissing shriek, before cutting a furrow in the fallen babau's body... groaning, the pitiful demon tries to stand back up, when...
Xanderghul is up!
Val half turns and swings out with her blade, stabbing out at the other babau with the point of one of her starknives.
Ary brings Radiance-turned-Greatsword arcing through the Babau, leaving its remains sprinkling across the floor between the nearest babau and minotaur.
"Yes, Chevalier." Anevia musters, between a bout of coughs.
Before the babau can stand to its feet, Valaria cuts it down. It falls to the ground, and Ary arcs Radiance through its middle, causing a spray of ichor to fall across the floor.
Xanderghul is up!
Xanderghul draws and pops a potion, trying to seal the bleeding wound that he'd caused himself on his hand. What an annoyance. He preferred to fight.
Hearing Ary's description of the wasp, Xanderghul speaks up about it. "The creature's a warmonger wasp, a war machine born in the Abyss. Be careful, kill it quickly." He describes what he can about its capabilities.
The wound on Xanderghul's palm seals over, leaving a thick, crusty scab. Further away. one of the minotaurs trudges into the room. Passing between the twin stone columns, he swings his enormous axe at Ary, who deflects it away with Radiance, its golden blade gleaming in the light cast by Ehren's spell.
Ary is up!
"Ary, maybe we should call on Shu-Lien for aid. I saw here through the rubble still battling in the main room... she could come right away by teleporting... Ayavah could easily call on her... and maybe then use her wand..." Hinagiku says after jumping up and striking the minotaur's weapon to deviate the blow.
"I have heard of them before, they are able to be fooled by speaking abyssal and showing an unholy symbol," she adds to Xanderghul's explanation.
Still slick with the ichor of the babau, Radiance cleaves a glinting arc forward as she keeps the momentum from the srike dragging horizontally into the nearest injured minotaur. As Radiance comes downwards, she pivots on her foot, bringing Faith forward and hammering the shield into the minotaur, forcing him backwards once more as she brings Radiance back around in a parting blow.
"I don't like the idea of drawing away any more powerful units from our main force. I'm more worried about the succubus or thoxels assailing our troops than I am in getting aid for us." Ary responds, "Though I wouldn't say no to more healing for our wounded, if we could manage."
The babau next to Joran starts a mad little dance. Joran glances at it, then stares back into the fray. He sighs. "It is too, late, now. He is coming. You will all die."
He presents a small metallic charm around his wrist - those with keen eyes would see it that it engraved with an arch, with a flame beneath. In a deep, gravelly voice, he encants the spell, and a tremendous cacophany erupts around the heroes - it sounds like the relentless beating of hundreds of hammers against an anvil - the noise piercing into their minds and causing their heads to spin and reel... whatever it was Ehren was thinking about doing, he loses focus as soon as the unholy noise begins.
Anevia is up!
Ehren shuts his eyes and clutches the sides of his head, trying in vain to block out the insufferable noise. The hammering echoes throughout the corners of his mind, blocking out all rational thought. For a moment it feels like the cacophony could last forever, but with the slightest push of will, the druid drowns it in silence. When Ehren opens his eyes again, he finds that barely a second must have passed since Joran finished his spell.
"If we require more aid, then we will have it," he says, conveying the thought that had been so rudely interrupted. He claps his earthen palms together and focuses, once again supping power from the nearest ley line. As he begins to incant his spell, motes of light begin to form around him, lazily orbiting his body.
Anevia is up!
Between all of the magics and damage that she'd been hammered with, Anevia never stood a chance at keeping her wits about her once the hammering began... yet somehow, she managed to do so. It was probably being so close to Irabeth. She smiles at her for a moment, then does as she was asked to do. She unceremoniously steals a cure light wounds potion from Xanderghul's pack and absconds with it around the corner, drinking it greedily between coughs.
"The Babau is su-" Ary begins, but is cut off by the hammering. She winces, before continuing, "Summoning more demons. We need to prevent it if we can!"
Val winces at the sound and shakes her head. "We've dealt with worse things than Staunton Vhane. Let's do this."
Hinagiku's ears frantically move around uselessly as she attempts to suppress the cacophony caused by the cleric.
"I can't reach." calmly answers Hinagiku once she has recovered from the sound.
Having been struck by many a spell in his life, Xanderghul weathers Joran's weakling magics with pride and dignity. "Agreed. Once he is close, we cut him a size even shorter," he says.
Isilme easily shakes off the dwarf's spell. It was clear to her that Joran was acting under duress. If they could just get between Joran and the other demons and minotaurs, he'd likely cooperate.
Despite Valaria's arrogance... she was wrong. The heroes had not faced someone worse than Staunton Vhane.
The minotaur in the back steps aside from the door and spreads his massive hands. "LORD VHANE WILL BREAK YOUR BONES, HEROES OF KENABRES." He announces, and another miasma appears in the center of the heroes, creeping out the open door and filling up part of the hallway behind them. When the miasma clears, they find the other minotaurs have charged forwards - one straight into Ary's waiting shield, but the other manages to cleave his enormous axe into Valaria's stomach, nearly cutting the poor tiefling in two. She would not survive another attack like that... and on queue she feels her grotesque little guardian angel land on her shoulder, invisible as always, ready to protect her at a moment's notice.
And then, behind them,Staunton Vhane, wearing insectoid green armor, covered in barbed spikes, arrives atop the back of a metallic wasp. The wasp gains some altitude, coming to a rest a few feet over the minotaur. Electricity arcs between its wings, lighting up the otherwise dimly lit room. Vhane grins, his teeth yellow and blackened. "So nice of you to join me, Commander Bishop. And I see you've brought that she-orc Irabeth with you... congratulations on your knighting, m'lady. A pleasure to see you again."
Irabeth narrows her eyes. "Vhane. You won't escape me this time."
"You have it backwards, Chevalier. I'm afraid you're trapped here with me," In one hand he holds an elaborate glaive - normally a weapon favored by cultists of Baphomet, this glaive has an insectoid motif, clearly designed with a cultist of Deskari in mind. The glaive glows red, unholy energies swirling around it. In his other hand, he holds a small axe, which he chucks straight at Ary's head... but the crusader reacts almost instantaneously, rebuffing it with Faith. The throwing axe veers off course, then, strangely, it flies in an arc, whirling back into Staunton's open hand. His smile vanishes, and he utters a few guttural words in the demon-tongue. "Bazg bah."
The wasp chitters, and suddenly discharges the electricity in an arc, aimed at the open doorway. The bolt explodes into an enormous blast of electricity, catching all of the heroes in the blast. Once the lightning vanishes, Irabeth coughs... she first looks back to make sure Anevia is still on her feet (she is, just barely). Once she is satisfied, she murmurs, into the message, though Xanderghul cannot hear. "Should we retreat back into the hall? Valaria, I will see what I can do about your wounds in a moment."
Isilme, Valaria, Hinagiku, and Xanderghul are up!
Val almost swallows her words when Vhane makes an appearance. "Okay... so he might be the worst. Doesn't mean that we won't win." Despite the blast of unholy power, she manages to get her daggers up and twist the haft of the minotaur's ax away before it takes a chunk out of her side with her ax.
She grits her teeth and steps in to keep hacking away at the monsters before they can keep pressing the attack.
Isilme, Hinagiku, and Xanderghul are up!
"Nice to see you too, Staunton!" calls Xanderghul, needing to bellow over the din of battle. "You're even uglier through physical eyes, ya bastard!" At that, Xanderghul knew that it was time to get serious in this battle. He calls upon his source of mythic power again, knowing that he is draining it of its last reserves. As he does so, he begins quickly intoning arcane words symbolizing time, inequality, and rivers. He unleashes his magic across the group for the second time, altering the relationship between them and the normal flow of time. He gives each of his allies just an extra moment that they normally would not get.
Experiencing the extra time himself, Xanderghul marvels at how slow everyone else was. He enters the room, moving to where he could get a better view of the battle - just below Ary, and still within her protective radius. Then, he pulls another cold iron bolt from his quiver and reloads his crossbow. He would be using the most powerful magic that he could manage for some time, but it never hurt to be prepared.
Isilme and Hinagiku are up!
Even as the miasma washes over him, Ehren continues to chant feverishly, the ley starlights orbiting him gradually growing larger and moving faster and faster. However, the electrical blast that follows proves to be too much; the druid shouts out in pain and loses focus, causing the motes to scatter and fizzle away, the spell wasted.
Gritting his teeth in pain and frustration, Ehren looks up at Staunton Vhane in the flesh. He thinks back to the vision granted to them by the Kenabres wardstone, of the moment when Irabeth first apprehended the traitor. In his current state, the dwarf was almost unrecognizable. That is to say, Xanderghul had a point about him being ugly. Of course, that did nothing to diminish the aura of menace Staunton was exuding.
"Staunton and the minotaurs would have less room to maneuver outside of this room," Ehren offers, expanding on Irabeth's suggestion. It was not exactly concrete, unfortunately, but with as few resources as he had remaining, he did not exactly have a battle plan in mind.
Anevia sees the blast of lightning coming, and her eyes widen, everything slows down for the barest of a moment, as she contorts to get fully around the corner from the blast, arching her body to try to avoid a bolt of lightning hurtling straight for her.
Isilme and Hinagiku are up!
Hinagiku watches, muscles tense and ready for anything, as Staunton enters the room. Ignoring the dwarf's words she focuses on the wasp, and as soon as it emits its electric arc, the monk steps out of its effect.
Silently rubbing her eyes from the dust caused by the attack, Hinagiku surveys the room. It was becoming more and more obvious that in their current state, they would not win. Not with another babau, and not without Joran.
"I... I think we should retreat to the corridor... if not, I have a plan to stop the arrival of another oni, miss Ayavah, can you make me invisble? Mr. Xanderghul, can you make me fast?" she whispers back.
"Oh. Um. Yes. Wait a second, I can do that," Ayavah responds inside of message.
Isilme is up!
Val grimaces at Hinagiku's suggestion. "You might have a point," she murmurs into the message. "The less of them that can come at us at once, the better."
Isilme is up!