Val grunts as the blast nearly knocks her off her feet. "Son of a..." She grumbles a little bit as she brushes herself off. "Well, at least we're finally seeing traps. I was starting to wonder why this was so easy." She steps back a pace to let Ehren light the path ahead.
Before Ehren can circle all the way around the pit to get to them, the darkness in the next room seems to come alive, writhing like some living thing just beyond the door. The heroes can hear soft laughter in the next room. A child's laughter.
"You're finally here!" exclaims the voice. It sounds like a little girl. "Good. I was getting bored."
The shadows in the room suddenly surge out from the doorway and at Valaria like a tidal wave. They push her back just a few feet before she manages to widen her stance enough to regain her balance.
You feel the shadows move into your body and attempt to ensnare your mind.... but you manage to fight them off through sheer force of willpower.
Round 1!
Isilme and Xanderghul are up!
23. ?????
22. Isilme
22. Xanderghul
21. ???????
19. Anevia
13. Valaria
12. Ehren
11. Ary
8. Hinagiku
3. Ayavah
That they find themselves in battle once again was not surprising to Xanderghul. Having heard tales of Ary's lost lamb of a girl and knowing that they were expecting shadow demons, Xanderghul is fairly certain that he knows what he needs to do. He casts a simple spell - it wouldn't hold for long, but it wasn't likely that he needed long. He vanishes from view, if only for a moment.
Then, he begins a plodding advance down the hallway towards Valaria and Isilme. He needed to get inside that room.
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The sound of a child addressing them was disconcerting to Isilme, given what she knew about the reason for her being in Li'an's body. Steeling herself, she begins singing, the melody bittersweet and nostalgic.
"My love's fair seed, a rose she grew to be.
Feather steps, adamant will and a spirit that was free.
Long though she lived, it seemed a flash
of words so brave, and actions brash.
This rose had thorns, and wit and might
My love's pride would oft take flight
at the sight of his rose standing tall and proud
and though ne'er he spoke it, his heart screamed it loud
So loud and clear it sang her praise,
that when at last came that day of days
I could aught but grant the wish my lover gave
To give our all, the rose to save."
The climax, while heavy in its implications given the history of Lleuad-a'r-Sêr, fills the group with a sense that the task before them, while challenging, was worth the risk and sacrifice.
Ehren hold the enchanted stone in hand. Its light flickers into the next room, but strangely, rather than illuminating it, it simply seems to push back the inky tendrils of true darkness deeper into the room. The room itself, is still dark. But that's enough for the heroes, as their eyes have been enchanted to see in the dark, albeit in black and white. But even to them, the room appears... empty. Or at least what little of it they can see.
As Ehren holds the daylight enchanted stone aloft, you, and only you, can see the vague shape of a little girl about 40' in front of Val.
It is dark, and your eyes can only perceive the few feet you can see in the room in stark black and white despite Ehren's magic. But you can see a shadow erupt from the floor in front of you and attempt to push its way into your body... but you refuse to give the demon any purchase.
Then, almost imperceptibly, there is a small wisp of a shadow that can be seen emerging from the ground in front of Valaria.
Anevia is up!
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The fact that the sword of valor was their goal was clear to everyone there, but it was not Ary's only goal. One of her greatest regrets was what had happened to Sana - and Li'an - as a result of everything that had occurred that afternoon. So while the retrieval of the sword of valor was tantamount to victory, the largest victory in all of Drezen for Ary was likely saving that one soul. As she sees the young girl's silhouette, she makes the obvious assumption.
"We're here, Sana." Ary calls into the room. "And we're not leaving without you."
Anevia tilts her head slightly, peering into the darkness... she didn't like how it seemed to dance and dart about, and so, she darts along the balcony and looses an arrow of pure force into the space just ahead of Valaria, feeling that offense was the better part of shadow demons in your head.
"Watch out!" Val calls back. "There are other shadow demons here and they're trying to body jump!"
Although unable to truly understand the true meaning behind Isilme's words, the power behind the bard's voice followed by Ary's clear determination are enough to inspire here. And, as the monk settles in a figthing stance ready to join the fray, she begins to remember the others speaking of Sana.... so this was the child they had lost to a ritual... here, in Drezen...
Anevia's force-arrow takes the shadow demon by complete surprise. The demon shrieks in agony as it blasts a hole straight through it, which after a few moments seals back over but the 'wound' is wispier than before.
Another tidal wave of shadow erupts from the dark room, flooding through the shadow demon in front of Valaria and slamming into her like a sledgehammer... but the swashbuckler was expecting this by now, and holds firm. The wave ends, and the many-tendriled darkness recedes back away from the daylight along the floor like the ocean tide.
The little girl lost in the darkness giggles. "Heeheehee! What funny little crusader-puppets! Little marionettes, dancing on your strings, thinking you matter in this grand, cosmic game we all play..."
"Round and round and round we go..." she sings softly. "Where we stop..." The light shining on Valaria casts a shadow on the wall in front of her. Disturbingly, her shadow starts to writhe... then it peels itself off from the wall entirely! The dark, shadowy form of Valaria gives her a little smirk and twirls her inky-black starknives around her fingers once before cutting through her abdomen with them. The blades go straight through her body, leaving no visible signs of entry, but to Valaria they feel cold as ice. The wind is nearly knocked out of her and she feels weak, her limbs heavy.
The creature is not a shadow demon, but an undead shadow.
Undead shadows sap the strength of their victims, and can transform them into shadows themselves. Shadows are incorporeal, flying creatures that are resistant to a cleric's holy channel. They are immune to non-magical weapons and even magical weapons and spells only deal half damage to them. Force magic is the best option for such creatures.
They are immune to ability drain, bleed, critical hits, death effects, disease, energy drain, fatigue, mind-affecting effects, nonlethal damage, paralysis, physical ability damage, poison, precision damage, sleep, and stunning.
Natural undead shadows are formed from the restless souls that are greedy but lackluster evildoers—those whose crimes are heinous, but who lack the rage of a spectre or the exultation in evil often found in wraiths. However, the majority of shadows found in the world are actually conjured in full by spellcasters seeking an undead servant.
Regardless of how they are created, shadows prefer to lurk in the darkness awaiting potential prey to pass them by.
This shadow is unusually powerful, which suggests it was conjured by a shadowdancer. Shadowdancers are spellcasters that learn to harness the power of shadow to a variety of effects, the most terrifying of which is the ability to animate it. Shadows animated by a shadow dancer have half of their master's HP, share their masters BAB, and are immune to turn or command undead. As they are not true shadows, they cannot create spawn. However, they are intrinsically linked to their masters, so when they are killed the master suffers a negative level as a result.
Valaria, Ehren, Ary, Hinagiku, and Ayavah are up!
"Not just Invidiak! Undead shades, as well. Wait, no. That's a Shadowdancer's shadow, not a simple shade. It will be harder to bring down, but worthwhile, as robbing the dancer of its shadow weakens it." Ary calls to the others, "Be mindful of the other shadow demon just around the corner. Don't let it catch you unaware," as she steps next to Hinagiku.
"I will channel her strength through my body." she intones as she teases the ring on her hand with her thumb, waiting for the kitsune to pass by her before grasping the Kitsune's shoulder, suffusing her with the blessing of her goddess.
After a quick nod, Hinagiku leaves Ary's side and circles to pit's side all to way to Valaria.
Valaria, Ehren, and Ayavah are up!
A chill runs down Ehren's spine when he hears the little girl's voice. Of all the fearsome and deadly opponents they've faced over the course of the long march to Drezen, somehow a possessed child frightened him more than any of them. They had all done their best to prepare for this encounter, but now, he could only hope that their best was enough. He looks over at Ary, knowing how much this moment must mean to her.
Steeled by Isilme song of inspiration, Ehren continues his way around the pit, hoping to drive the shadows further back. After their battle with Arastrax, he was determined not to let his friends be enslaved again.
Valaria and Ayavah are up!
Val grits her teeth as the shadow's touch makes her whole body feel heavy and she visibly staggers under the weight of her own equipment as the creature's touch drains her. "I can do that," she says. "I can very much do that." Despite her slowed movements, she's still a more than capable fighter and her starknives come up in arcing slashes toward the incorporeal beings.
Ayavah carefully circles around the pit, keeping a little distance from the shadowy monsters near the back of the group. She steps around the trap and raises a hand to bombard the shadow with glowing force missiles.
Valaria starts shredding at her shadow duplicate, but finds that her blades have difficulty finding purchase in its incorporeal body. Still, each strike distorts and warps its body across the air, like passing a hand through candle-smoke, forcing it to re-materialize into its desired shape. With each strike, it heals itself slower and slower still. While she is busy striking at it, she doesn't notice another shadow's clawed hand protrude from the wall... but Hinagiku has her back, grabbing her by the collar of her clothing and pulling her away before it can slash at her face.
Round 2!
Isilme and Xanderghul are up!
Still invisible, Xanderghul snatches up his crossbow and winds the crank, loading a cold iron bolt into it. The group needed to push into the room and Ehren needed to bring the daylight in before he could do anything more, and he might as well be ready to actually fight in the meantime.
Having worked her way around top, she finds neither the shadow nor the invidiak attacking Val paying much attention to her, despite her singing. Lashing out with two quick strikes, she does her best to help Val the Val-shaped shadow down as quickly as possible.
Isilme slashes at the shadow demon in front of her twice, while Valaria dodges the shadow demon in front of her trying to tear her face off with its long claws.
Anevia is up!
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Anevia steels herself. There was no reason to be afraid of the dark! Sure, there were scary things in there... anyone from Nidal could tell you that. But the darkness also held wonders! She was born in the dark. Molded by it. Some stupid shadow-val-imposter wasn't going to just threaten her friends and get away with it.
As she steels herself, so too does she steel her arrows. Small filaments of shadow and force limn the white-fletched arrow as she draws it back, running along her string and her bow, reinforcing it subtly, but dangerously for the current foes. She lets the arrow sail, allowing it to find likely-easy purchase amidst her allies, but more importantly, amidst the imposter that turned the light of their friendship into some cruel mockery.
She's already got another normal arrow nocked before the first has landed, drawing a bead on the foe.
As soon as the creature attempts to attack her ally again, the nocked arrow is loosed, flying through the intervening space to attempt to throw their foe's attack off... hopefully it would arrive at just the right time.
The darkness once again surges at Valaria from through the doorway, pushing at her, whose strength has now been sapped by her shadow duplicate. She slides five feet towards the pit before regaining her balance once more. Her duplicate raises a starknife and goes in for the kill, moving faster than Hinagiku can react, not when it can kill with merely a touch... but Anevia is clearly something the monster did not account for. Her shot catches the creature's swing at the last second, giving Valaria the moment she needs to get out of the way.
Valaria, Ehren, Ary, Hinagiku, and Ayavah are up!
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"Watch your step, Valaria," Ehren whispers as he carefully drops the glowing stone yet again, making sure not to drop it into the deep, dark pit. He glances at it for a moment, his curiousity nagging at him... but then directs his attention to the ledge that the tiefling was very much in danger of being pushed off of.
The druid taps into the ley, drawing on just enough of its power to let him use his most powerful magic. As he focuses on his spell, he visualizes a ball of clay and begins to mold it into the shape he desires. It was not dissimilar to his stone shape spell, but this time, he would be conjuring the stone from nothing. With a wave of his hand, the rapidly shrinking distance between Valaria and the edge of the pit suddenly seems to expand. A large, stone balcony appears behind her, overlooking the pit. Then, with another subtle gesture, Ehren adds a safety-compliant railing.
With a huff, Ehren then takes out his daylight wand, deeming it more practical then simply picking his rock back up.
Valaria, Ary, Hinagiku and Ayavah are up!
"I've got it Ehren!" Val calls back as she regains her balance and pushes herself back into the fray, her daggers coming up to strike back at the shadow monsters trying to claw through her and her allies. "Ayavah! Hit the shadow again!" She waits for a few moments to see if the magical blast can put the summoned shadow down before she starts slashing with her knives once again.
"Right!" Ayavah jerks for a second as Val calls out to her. Then she raises her hand and fires another burst of magic missiles and the shadowy copy of Val.
With a rumbling sound, the stone lining the pit seems to extend and form a small, railed balcony directly behind Valaria and Hinagiku.
Ary and Hinagiku are up!
Ary lofts a brow at Ehren as he puts up the railing along with a balcony. Maybe with a few more castings, they'd just be able to ignore the statue entirely.
Ary moves forward beside the Kitsune and brings Radiance around in a heavy stroke, hoping to bring the shade down and keep the tempo of the fight moving. They had to move forward, and for that, they needed to bring Daisy and Val into the forefront.
Ary cleaves Radiance through the shade, though it merely reforms as it did last, though there are small see-through splotches scattered through her body now.
Hinagiku is up!
Hinagiku slows down her pace as Valaria slows her own attacks, the monk knew well that she could not compete que the fierceness of the tiefling and so waits for her to be done before plunging into the corridor.
Ayavah's last volley of missiles tears the shadowy duplicate of Valaria completely apart, eliciting a shriek of pain from the child in the other room. She goes eerily silent shortly afterwards.
Valaria then cuts apart the shadow demon in front of her, leaving only the one mostly obfuscated by shadow remaining. Hinagiku waits for a moment, then takes a step forwards, watching the shadow writhe as it slashes at her again and again...but she sees no need to intervene, Valaria is simply too fast for it. She peers into the room, looking for the possessed child...but where Ehren is standing, it is hard to see very far into the room at all.
Round 3!
Isilme, Xanderghul, and Anevia are up!
Unseen, Xanderghul moves up next to Hinagiku. While his spell still lasted, he wanted to preserve the benefits of invisibility as long as he could... and it wasn't like he really had anything to offer anyway. Frustrated, he waits for Ehren to bring the daylight closer... he had a little surprise for their shadow demon friend.
Isilme and Anevia are up!
Anevia, startled by the clinging bands of force and shadow, shakes her arm trying to get the weird things linking her and her bow together, and darting along the surface. Oh! It was like her force arrows, but more permanent. Neat! Anevia had learned a new trick. Now for an old trick!
She bends down and scoops up the rock, the same filaments connecting to it immediately - super neat! Not giving herself time to really enjoy the moment, given that there were children to save, and Northerners to light the way for, she tosses the rock underhanded to let it clatter into the space just ahead of Valaria.
Isilme reaches in to draw upon the last bit of healing energy remaining within her, but the butterfly on the back of her hand barely responds, only briefly glowing before going dark.
Wispy blue and silver light washes over the heroes once, then Anevia tosses the rock into the doorway, illuminating the chamber beyond - a large, cavernous room hewn into the rough stone. At the edges of the light, a small girl, no more than six stands alone. She has blonde hair tied into pigtails, and is wearing a simple black and white collared dress. She purses her lips at the sight of the glowing rock, and takes a step backwards away from it. She closes her eyes, then suddenly snaps them open when Xanderghul fires a ray at her. The sickly green ray winds around her body in the shape of an intricate rune before vanishing from sight, snaring her from any possible magical escape. The child's lips contort into a sneer as she clasps her hands in front of her, and she is suddenly surrounded in a veil of writhing, living shadow.
Ehren, Ary, Ayavah, Hinagiku and Valaria are up!
Hinagku is right below the luminous stone as it is been thrown. As if rising it with, or casting away the darkness Hinagiku closely follows the receding void until she reaches Sana, then, with deft footplay, she goes around the little girl, nothing her disturbingly childish looks before cutting her retreat.
"Sorry for what's to come. I will make sure it hurts as little as possible. " she says with her usual calm.
Ehren, Ary, Ayavah and Valaria are up!
"What's the play here?" Val mutters as Xanderghul's spell binds the shadow demon and prevents it from escaping. "Because I'm not big on trying to stab up Sana unless we can get the demon out."
Without as whisper, to avoid giving any information to their enemy, Hinagiku stares at Valaria before opening up her fists into flat palm her usual technique to inflict non-lethal wounds.
With the stone balcony in place, there was now ample space for everyone to push forward. Ehren finally reaches the doorway to the next room, where he is able to lay eyes on Sana for the first time in months. His mouth twitches slightly as he thinks back to that fateful day. There were things they could have done differently, tragedies they could have averted. But everyone had made their choices - including Li'an. Those decisions started them on the path that led to this very moment. Now, they just had to save one little girl.
Reaching out with his wand, Ehren taps the front of Ary's shield, illuminating Faith with a brilliant glow. One she could carry with her, as they took the fight to Eustoyriax.
"Be gentle, Hinagiku," he warns when the monk makes her intentions clear. He knew that she preferred to knock mortal foes unconscious rather than slay them outright, but despite being possessed by a shadow demon, this was an ordinary child they were dealing with. Even a soft blow could potentially kill her outright.
Ary, Ayavah, and Valaria are up!
Ary nods to Ehren as he casts the spell on Faith, a good option unless they had reason to hide - she didn't suspect that they would, her cold iron spikes doing most of the illumination as the dull green obfuscated and the brilliant crimson shone the light clearly. She steps into the gap left by Hinagiku and brings her weapons to bear, Radiance no longer acting its part as Faith brings more light to bear than the sword possibly can. She allows her eyes to waver on Sana for just a moment before returning to the task at hand.
The first arc of Radiance bears down dangerously upon the Invidiak, and the second does the same, before she finally presses forward the daylight spell clinging to the holy symbol buried within the crystalline shield biting white hot in the shadow demon.
The invidiak shrieks in agony as Ary's shield brings it into the light and promptly starts tearing into it with cold iron.
Ayavah and Valaria are up!
"I'll just help handle this one," Val says, knowing that Hinagiku is far, far better than her at subduing someone without badly injuring them. She steps forward and slashes at the invidiak next to her and Ary, hoping that her daggers can at least take a few bites out of its insubstantial form.
Ayavah works her way around the pit, carefully avoiding the pressure plate and getting too close to the edge before she stops next to Anevia. She reaches out and touches the archer, sending a pulse of fated luck into her body.
Valaria steps next to the glowing rock on the ground and proceeds to cut into the remaining shadow demon again, and again, and again... making up for the lack of substance of her cuts with sheer quantity of them. Eventually the demon simply does not reform again.
Round 4!
Isilme, Xanderghul, and Anevia are up!