Anevia takes a moment to center herself before creeping forward. Given that, as far as she knew, there was only the little girl left - no more signs of battle, just whooshy shadows, she really wanted to be prepared for the enemy, not just 'in a position to shoot a little girl'. Because the latter just wasn't something she was at all prepared to do. So as she slipped past Ayavah, and moved next to Isilme, her form flickers still more than her stance would normally allow.
Isilme and Xanderghul are up!
Taking advantage of her nearly supernatural speed, Isilme jumps down and rounds the corner, following Hinagiku in. It was imperative she get to the child to help free her. Something within her compelled her to be there for the child, to be prepared to carry her to safety should they drive out Eustoyriax. She brings her rapier up and prepares to defend herself, her wounds bad enough to require extra caution on her part.
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Watching the battlefield from afar, Xanderghul knows what he needs to do. But unfortunately the spell he's thinking of has its limits, and he wouldn't be able to shove his way there in time... unless he tweaked that constant and replaced it with that other and altered the somatic components like so... Hmmm. That would work. He'd need to be just a little closer, but that would work.
In less than the time it would take an average person to work out an appropriate tip for a service employee, Xanderghul re-calculates and breaks the laws of arcane magic and weaves a protective warding spell on the child. As he finishes, the little girl grimaces and presses her hands against her temples as if fighting off a terrible headache...
Ary is up!
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It was in that moment that Ary remembered that she didn't look like the big, friendly, arguably ditzy human that she once had. She didn't at all look like the friend to the little girl's father that had taken her into the inner defenses of the city. She didn't even sound the same. She looked like some gray elf woman who pretended to know who Sana was. Despite that, she was still Ary. And this was still one of her best friend's children.
"Hey, Pipsqueak. I know you're scared in there. It's okay to be scared of the dark, everyone is." Ary calls from across the room, her voice soft and as calm as she can manage. "But keep your eyes on me, and come towards the light, can you be a big girl and do that for me?"
Sana presses her hands against her head and begins to scream, a shrill, high-pitched sound that slowly distorts and becomes deeper and more baritone. Wispy shadows start to pour out of her eyes and nose, an unholy volume of them pouring out of her, far more than what one would think such a small body could hold. Finally, the child coughs out the last of the demon and collapses onto the ground, tears running down her face.
She squints through the dim light (that was all that Ehren's two spells could manage in the horrible darkness of the invidiak's lair). "Ary?" she calls out, not able to see very far. "It's dark... it's... no. nonononono," She scoots away on her bottom and hands from the monster that now looms over her - Eustoryiax in all his unholy glory stands a full nine-feet tall with enormous, shadowy wings. But the most horrifying part of him is his body... his shadowy body is covered in dozens and dozens faces... the screaming, crying, scowling faces of children, their features so distorted by shadow that it is hard to make them out individually, though their eyes and cavernous maws glow pink, reflecting the meager light that fills the room. The shadows that compose his body seem to extend into the greater darkness of the room, coiling and writhing like many tendrils just outside of what a mortal eye can see.
The demon snarls and reaches out at the crying, shaking girl on the ground, but finds that there is something there, some physical barrier preventing him from taking hold of her once more. He snarls in frustration, and the shadows writhe with him... the shadows on the ground again rise up, one for each person in the room: a duplicate of Isilme. A duplicate of Sana. And a duplicate of Hinagiku, each born of shadow.
"Kill the girl," he snarls. "I can take care of the others."
And with that, the demon takes flight, flying towards the heroes, but as he is about to collide with them, he suddenly veers right and merges into the wall, going out of sight.
The various demons comply, and Sana screams as her duplicate plunges its icy cold hands into her arms. But Isilme and Hinagiku have their own creatures to contend with...
The heroes are up!
Ayavah hurries forward and places a hand on Val's shoulder. "Be careful." She channels her fortunate power into the tiefling and grants her a little extra luck behind her blades.
Val nods and charges in as the shadows materialize around the group within the room, her blades slashing through the air as she tries to take as much pressure off her allies as she possibly can.
Ary darts into the room, ignoring the myriad dangers present, to reach the side of her allies. If Eustoriax was like most shadow demons, there would soon be a great deal of havoc strewn throughout the room in the form of a cold mockery of a fireball, or a twisting shadow lightning bolt... but more importantly, was the risk of everyone else in the room. If she could reach them in time, things would be okay. If she couldn't...
As she brings her sword around, her distraction with the situation is clear. She doesn't manage to get anywhere near the shadow demon with the strike she'd intended, and thus doesn't bolster her allies in that way. Instead, motes of light flutter out from the shield and her form, spreading out to surround her allies... if they should flee, she would be there to intercept the foes and allow for their escape.
Anevia moves into the room, slowly at first, but then realizes she isn't quite close enough to be fully tricksy... so she abandons her attempt to stealth and simply moves at full speed into the room, her form flickers, clearly not obfuscated at all as she moves into the room to fire at the nearest Invidiak. "Thanks Isilme!" she calls, as her ally stays beside the creature flanking both of their allies, helping her to get that perfect shot. Silver swirls into a longsword in her grip, as she releases her arrow, sending the bolt of force hurtling into the child's mockery.
"For every shadow, there's a light, Sana." Ary calls, knowing fully that she can intervene on everyone's behalf for once.
Ehren always found ordinary shadow demons dreadful enough, but the loathsome thing that emerges from poor Sana manages to put them all to shame. Eustoyriax had to die, of course, but at the moment the girl's safety was his primary concern. Hearing Sana's screams, the druid quickly activates his wand once again, this time igniting Mother Heartwood with the day's radiance. He hurries into the room, uncertain of what else he can do but continue to keep the darkness at bay.
With the room now almost fully illuminated, Ehren glances about, wary of where the shadow demon might be hiding.
Ah Ehren walks into the room with his illuminated staff, the light from his staff pushes the darkness away in the corners, revealing a large chamber with several crudely carved alcoves... three to the right and three to left, and each contains a large, jagged purple crystal on a pedestal. A seventh crystal sits on a seventh pedestal to the far end of the chamber, just behind a marble slab on which sits a well maintained shrine. There are several empty glass goblets, a ceremonial knife, and a large set of unlit blood red candles. Two statues of demonic figures flank this slab in alcoves - the left one depicts Baphomet, a goat-headed winged demon, and the right one depicts Deskari, an insectoid horror armed with a scythe.
The large, purple crystals appear to be Nahyndrian crystals, which are the crystallized souls of slain demon lords and are fonts of incredible power. Areelu Vorlesh had planned to use a Nahyndrian Crystal to corrupt the power of the wardstone field to slay all of the Crusades in one fell stroke... but the heroes had stopped this from happening.
Easy to miss, a crumpled pile of red cloth lays in a forgotten heap next to the altar, covered in a heavy layer of dust.
Soon after Ehren moves in, Ary strides in after, filling the room with bright light. Sana stays huddled on the ground, shaking, eyes scrunched shut.
Hinagiku, Xanderghul and Isilme are up!
Hinagiku is on the ready as she watches Xanderghul, Isime, and Ary combine all their might and power to free the little girl. As the cloud forms above her, she searches for an opening, just a bit of space to jump in and drag Sana away from the battle. Just as she finds one, she feels the cold touch of a shade sapping her strength. Fighting through the pain, Hinagiku deftly duck over Sana and whispers into her ear Don' worry, I have come with Ary. Just follow my lead. before grabbing her gently around the waist and guiding her as best she can away from the fight. The whole thing looks like a complex dance with Hinagiku crouching down spinning around while avoiding strikes, and extending her arms to push Sana away as far as possible.
Xanderghul was AMAZED that the plan had worked. He was expecting Hinagiku to have to beat the shadow demon out of that little girl, and he was relieved that the simpler plan using their magic, their plan 1, had worked after all.
Doing his best to defend their new charge, Xanderghul stepped nearer to Ary and let loose a quintet of force missiles against shadow-Hinagiku. Right after, he pointed at the pile of cloth. "Somebody - Ehren? Ayavah? Go look at that thing right now."
Stepping to the side, Isilme prepares to take Sana and withdraw from the fight. Removing her from danger was the first priority here, and Hinagiku's move had opened up the possibility of doing so safely. "We are here to help. I need you to trust me and let me carry you away from here," she says, addressing the young girl.
Once she convinces the girl to open up, Isilme carefully lifts her up, getting Sana to wrap her arms around her neck and bracing her there with one arm. "Just hang on tightly, ok?" With Sana secured, Isilme readies herself to dodge the attacks of the shadows.
"I agree with Xanderghul. Do what we discussed, Ehren." At the very least the druid could deliver the flag, guaranteeing victory to the crusaders above, and saving many lives.
Hinagiku strikes at the shadow demon as it hurtles away, but it is simply too fast for her slow strike. Likewise, she is too fast for the shadows to do much when she moves out of the way, though they lunge at her when she grabs the little girl. Feeling her body being picked up and moved, Sana's eyes flutter open. "...Fox?" she murmurs, eyes wide. Her blue eyes dart over to Isilme, and although she doesn't recognize the elven woman, she immediately is soothed by her presence. "Okay," she says, raising her arms to wrap them around her neck. "I'm scared. Is Ary here? I thought I heard Ary," she murmurs softly into her shoulder.
Valaria soon charges into the room, tearing her blades through the cruel mockery of Isilme directly in front of her. The shadowy-elf's midsection simply re-materializes, albeit slowly, while Xanderghul's barrage of missiles arc over all of them to buffet the shadowy version of Hinagiku in the rear. The shadow-kitsune raises both arms crossed as if to weather the blow, but it doesn't do much against missiles composed of pure force. Then, finally, Anevia fires another shot of force into the room and right at the third shadow-creature, the one that was made in Sana's image. The bolt goes clear through her, and she explodes into wisps of shadowy smoke. The remaining shadows are quick to action, but Hinagiku and Isilme are no longer caught off guard. They easily dodge their slow strikes.
As the crumpled, red cloth in the corner comes into view you can't help but feel a flicker of hope... but that vanishes as you look down and realize that shadowy tendrils are emerging from floor and wrapping around your feet and legs... their icy cold blackness too deep and powerful for the bright light coming off your staff to matter. They plunge into your legs and you can feel the shadow demon's influence probing into your mind, into your soul...
Round 5!
The Heroes are up!
"Ehren, draw upon the ley! Call to your ancestors and the land itself for aid in repelling Eustoyriax!" she calls out, her keen eyes easily spotting the shadow demon attempting to possess the Archdruid.
Ayavah stepped into the room enough to keep an eye on the rest of the party. And be in arms reach if she needed help or something attempted to get behind them again. Then she raises her hand and hurls another stream of force missiles to try to destroy the shadowy double of Hinagiku.
Val keeps up the pressure, trying to take down Isilme's double before it can cause more trouble.
"Ary is here, Sana," Isilme says in a calm voice. "She just looks different than you might remember. It is natural to be afraid, dear, just keep holding tight to me and everything will be ok. Then you will be able to talk to Ary, alright?"
Clear of the shadows, Isilme falls back to near the entrance. There was little she could do if Eustoyriax came after her, but honestly, retreating all the way to Irabeth would pose quite a challenge, especially since she wouldn't be able to make her way through the forge room easily with Sana.
Ehren, Ary, Hinagiku, Xanderghul and Anevia are up!
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Ehren is at first confident that he could resist the invidiak's power... but that confidence quickly crumbles as he finds himself sinking deeper and deeper into shadow. Try as he might, he simply isn't strong enough to push against the might of Eustoyriax's black soul. In his struggle he finds that his mouth and limbs no longer obey him and that he has lost all sensation; all but the icy grip of the darkness, colder even than the frigid lands of the north. The druid continues to struggle fruitlessly, but he cannot hide his fear from the demon. Not fear for his life, but for the horrible things he was going to be forced to do.
Just as he is about to lose himself completely, Isilme’s words of encouragement reach his ears. He wants to do as she asks, but he knows all too well that he has already reached his limit. His soul could bear the weight of the ley no longer. Even so, he tries anyway. Summoning up all of his will, all the courage that the azata inspired in him, Ehren pushes against the invidiak once last time.
There is a great surge of warmth as Ehren purges himself of Eustoyriax's influence, forcing his tendrils out of his body and off of his legs. Realizing that mere seconds have passed since it all began, he nods to Isilme, before glaring daggers at the ground beneath his feet.
"I am no child, demon. You will not have me that easily."
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While Ary didn't make note of Eustoriax's attempts to take over Ehren until after Isilme had called out the threat, Ary did know exactly what was in the room with them. Her eyes widen as she looks to each of the crystals, chewing her lip. Her primary goal was certainly to keep everyone safe... but this had been a much greater crisis than she had imagined. "Nahyndrian Crystals." she says aloud, taking a moment for the concept to sink in. Plural. "Shattered fragments of demon lords. If the rift had swallowed the Nahyndrian Crystals... That would almost assuredly have done something. Could Drezen have been remade into a second permanent rift? Could it have been transformed into Aponavicius's personal demesne?"
'And if so, could the Nahyndrian crystals be inverted in some way..?' she thought, leaving the last bit out. It was definitely something to ask Avi about later.
When she hears Ary's call to Ehren, Hinagiku's heart skips a beat. Him, possessed, now. No, she would not let it. With punches and kicks, she strikes at the two shades while slowly making her way to the druid.
"I am coming, I will not let this creature take you over Mr. Ehren." she says, her tone calm and leveled but with a strength uncommon for her.
Without too many resources left and without the shapeshifting abilities of Ehren, Xander has little to do at the moment but to prepare for Eustoryiax's coming and do his best to combat it. He draws a scroll from his rucksack - a necromancy spell that could sap life and energy. Then he waits, watching, ready.
The shadows beneath Ehren's feet recoil from his body, though they remain writhing through the cracks of the stone floor, like the tendrils of some eldritch abomination from the deepest dark places that no mortal has ever seen.
'You're all but children compared to me, druid.' Eustoyriax responds in his deep, baritone voice.
Ayavah's blasts quickly obliterate the shadowy version of Hinagiku, while Hinagiku herself strides over and quickly punches through the remaining shadow-Isilme, causing it to dissolve into wisps on the floor.
Ary, Ehren, Valaria and Anevia are up!
As the shadow demon suddenly appears in their midst and his shadowy clones fall, Val spins around and instead directs her wrath toward the cause of all this trouble.
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Ehren bites back a retort, knowing that the shadow demon speaks true. And for all his bravado, he is well aware that if it were not for Isilme, he would currently be Eustoyriax's new host. Refocusing on the matter at hand, he hastily vacates the spot he has been standing on, hopping over some of the shadowy tendrils still writhing beneath him. Whether the invidiak could make a second attempt or not, he is not at all eager to be touched by the monster again.
The druid makes a mad dash towards the dusty pile of red cloth, daring to hope that it is exactly what they all think it is. He flashes a reassuring smile at Hinagiku along the way; he is about as okay about the whole ordeal as he can be.
As soon he gets to the altar, Ehren looks down at the cloth. In hindsight, the previous chamber had been an obvious trap. It made no sense for the banner to be proudly on display, especially considering the nature of its powers. No, leaving it in a deep chamber to gather dust made far more sense. Of course, he cannot discount the possibility that this is yet another trap. But it is not as though he can afford to hesitate.
I cannot pledge my life to you like Ary has, Inheritor. You know where my faith already lies. But please, let this be it, Ehren quietly prays as he reaches down to grab it.
Ary and Anevia are up!
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Unwilling, for now, to confuse the child further, Ary doesn't respond to the young woman just yet... it only just occurring to Ary that likely everyone the little girl had ever known had indeed died... and explaining that things were past the point of being able to bring her father back did her no service in explaining that Ary had been. She pauses briefly to let that settle in, before moving back to Eustoriax. Golden motes swirl around Radiance, effusing the blade with even more light than Faith, though the light itself remains contained within the blade. That is, until she plunges it into the shadow demon, the pure Radiance of the blade threatening to erode Eustoriax from the inside.
Anevia slips calmly away from the shadowed mass, "What is it with evil and tentacles. Look at me, I'm hands, but edgier." she whispers to the others as she brings another arrow to bear. A simple slip of her wrist and the shot was lined up, she releases it just as the demon is fully distracted by Radiance, and allowing a thin line to form between them, as the arrow settles where it belongs.
"Now is our chance, bring Eustoriax down!" Ary calls, the bass in her voice not quite matching the tempter of children's, but the threat was made clear, and there was little the creature could do if everything went according to plan.
Eustoyriax lets out a shriek, not having anticipated Ary's blade to cleave through his tendrils as if they were mere flesh, though Valaria's starknives find no purchase, moving through him as if she were trying slice smoke. Anevia gets off her shot at the last possible second, her arrow cleaving off a great swath of inky black substance just as it vanishes into the ground. Moments later, he erupts back out, a great liquid torrent of inky blackness, and crying faces. Xanderghul reacts quickly, conjuring the magic from his scroll to fire a sickly green ray at the demon, but it fizzles out as it touches his skin. The wave of darkness continues, curving around in an arc past Ayavah and straight into Ary's breastplate...
Normally, a shadow demon can only attempt to possess a target once per day, as the effort to do so is not meager. The fact that Eustoyriax can attempt to do so again... and in bright light no less...means that he is something far beyond a normal invidiak.
Round 6!
The Heroes are up!
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"No." Ary says simply as she rebuffs the creature's attempts to dive into her body to use her as its personal shield, the black smoke rolling over and around her as she simply wills that her body only be a vessel for Iomedae's light. "You will find nothing here that belongs to you. Curious that you can do that more than once a day, though. And not even a bit afraid of the light..."
In the wake of rebuffing the shadow demon's advances, Ary simply waits, recentering herself. The golden motes she had expended flutter back into Faith, ready to bear witness to her protecting her allies further.
Anevia meanwhile passes right by the Invidiak, trusting her commander to guard her honor against the tricksy demon, eventually reaching a small section beside another Nahyndrian crystal. She draws another bead with an empty shortbow, the energy spiraling out of nothingness into a true weapon just in time for her to release the attack and hopefully cleave another broad swath in their foe's arse...-enal.
Ayavah, Hinagiku, Ehren, Valaria, Xanderghul and Isilme are up!
Ehren picks up the dusty red cloth from the ground. The cloth is large, large enough to cover a king sized bed, and bears a faded embroidery of the holy symbol of Iomedae on its front, though it looks slightly different. The sword-cross is flanked by four small angelic wings at its hilt.
Hinagiku sigh's softly to herself from relief at seeing Ehren weather Eustoriax attack, she returns a fleeting smile, but also sigh at her loss of composure... stepping away from the fight had been a mistake. One she we strive not to repeat. Breathing out these thoughts, Hinagiku rushes back to her allies side, sidesteps their foe and positions herself to trap Eustoryax between Valaria an her.
Though shaking from the effort of running, Hinagiku battles her weakened and exhausted body to draw upon the last ounce of holy power she has left. Focusing on pure thoughts, she reaches deep within herself to the very seed of peace and harmony at her core and let it infuse her whole body. Her hands slightly shining from holy righteousness, she curls up her fingers into a fist and strikes the invidiak.
Ayavah, Ehren, Valaria, Xanderghul and Isilme are up!
Ayavah momentarily panics and hurriedly steps away as the shadow demon appears right next to her, exactly as she'd been fearing. She manages to get close enough to Val to touch her again, blessing her with another moment of supernatural fortune as the other tiefling closes in on Eustoyriax.
Hinagiku punches straight through the invidiak, her god's power empowering her strike to hit at just the perfect spot, at the perfect moment...
Ehren, Valaria, Xanderghul and Isilme are up!
Val feels the surge of insight and steps in to prevent their enemy from having any room to escape. She swings out with her knives once again. Even if she can't find proper purchase with her blades, each strike at least seems to disrupt the shadow demon for a moment.
Ehren, Xanderghul, and Isilme are up!
It seemed clear that Eustoyriax was desperate for a host, despite his obvious power. Truly invidiaks were the most cowardly of demons, which was saying something given exactly how cowardly they were in general. With Sana protected, Isilme needed to ensure that she herself wouldn't become host to the demon, thereby giving him a hostage as well.
Reaching into her pack with her free hand, she digs around for a moment before finding the ring she'd been keeping in case of an emergency. The ring of delayed doom they'd found had only one charge left, but as she understood it, it would allow her to freeze out his control for a while if he succeeded in taking control of her. Donning the ring, she resumes defending herself and Sana.
Ehren and Xanderghul are up!
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Ehren lifts the cloth as high off the ground as he can manage with just one hand before giving it a single firm shake. Squinting through the resulting dust cloud, he can just barely make out the unmistakable yet noticeably different symbol of Iomedae embroidered on it. Unimpressive as it seems in his hands, if the stories are true, then their victory is close at hand. He smiles ever so slightly at that thought, only to frown again. Now for the hard part.
He pauses to look over at Eustoyriax, who at the moment, seems to be at quite the disadvantage. Even so, the fact that he can make multiple attempts to secure a host is a troubling development. Troubling enough to make him worry for his friends. He is loath to leave them behind, even as part of a plan that would save many lives and decisively end the siege. Swallowing his pride, Ehren gracelessly tosses the bundle of cloth over his shoulder. His body then distorts, very suddenly taking on the shape of an earth elemental.
"Hold on, everyone. I'll be back," he whispers in his echoing, gravelly voice. With that, he promptly sinks into the wall behind the altar, still praying that he has not just absconded with a table cloth.
The shadow demon seems... disrupted after Anevia's last attack, making it easier for Valaria's strikes to land on its shadowy form. But after each strike, the demon seems to simply reform anew.
Round 7!
Xanderghul is up!