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"Careful, it might be able to spit acid," Ehren warns, remembering what he was told about dark spitter beetles. Of course, this one might well be of a different species. He sidles over to the opposite side of the doorway but does not dare look through it, lest he gives away their presence prematurely.
Str 18
AC 19 (+1 deflection, +2 Dex, +6 natural)
CMD 23
Bonus Feat Power Attack
Val crouches down at the lip of the tower to give herself a lower profile and waits for the enemy to be in position.
There is a moment of silence. The duergar stop chatting amongst themselves. Then, a voice can be heard again, though their voice is low, and it is far more difficult to make out their words than before.
The duergar is not chatting in dwarven - he's actually casting a spell, though he is using conventional dwarven intonations to do so. It is leaden blades. A divine spell that is associated with rangers, leaden blades increases the momentum and density of weapons just as they strike a foe. It is not useful for ranged weapons.
Lann, Xanderghul, and Hinagiku are up!
Unable to determine anything useful about the random muttering he is able to hear from his vantage point, Xanderghul merely goes through the motions of casting a spell, doing his best to mutter under his breath instead of declaring the spell out loud. He pulls a small blindfold from his component pouch, which vanishes apparently without anything having been done to it between blinks. Then, just like his blindfold, Xanderghul himself vanishes from sight. His spell conceals him as just another patch of darkness, just the same as everything else. Then, he glides down the hallway with a quiet whoosh of air.
Reaching the top of the platform, Lann quickly climbs to his feet and draws his sword and shield. He glances around warily, uncertain of whether things are proceeding according to plan.
Unsure about what is going on, but certain that leaving the underfolk without help would be unwise, Hinagiku approaches the parapet and lowers the rope she took from Xanderghul.
Xanderghul simply floats down the walkway, functionally invisible in the darkness, and comes to see that there is a masked duergar riding an enormous beetle on the opposite stair. Xanderghul recognizes the beetle from the book he read - it is a Dark Spitter Beetle - mostly known for their ability to spit acid great distances. Vermin are typically too simple-minded to domesticate, but the duergar appear to have a special affinity with such creatures. The rider is lightly armored, and he has a warhammer in one hand, and a light crossbow strapped to his back. He is staring directly at the tower that the Underfolk are climbing up, eyes narrowed. He gestures one arm at the tower, and then looks behind him into the darkness past where Xanderghul can see and shakes his head. Then, two more riders come out from the darkness to join him. They start gesticulating with their hands in a manner that Xanderghul knows is to intended to invoke primal divine magic.
The Gunduara tribe finishes scrambling up the wall, some using the rope that Hinagiku had let down, others merely using the footholds and handholds that Ehren had magically sculpted into the sheer rock surface. Once they enter the tower, they quickly back themselves against the walls or pillars, trying to stay hidden and quiet. The heroes can still hear the duergar, speaking in low, barely intelligible tones.
You can hear 2 distinct voices. The duergar are not chatting in dwarven - they are actually casting a spell, though they are using conventional dwarven intonations to do so. The spell is lead blades. Lead Blades is a divine spell that is associated with rangers, leaden blades increases the momentum and density of weapons just as they strike a foe. It is not useful for ranged weapons.
Isilme is up!
"They're muttering about something, but I've no idea what." Ary whispers from her position. "We should move quickly."
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The duergar were getting ready for battle. That meant the group had already been seen, which was not a good sign. Xanderghul still believed that the day could be won, especially because of him. It would take some careful maneuvering and an attack at just the right time, however.
"Now or never," she whispers she realizes the duergar are already prepping for combat. Moving back towards her allies, Isilme unleashes the magic she had prepared to replace the haste spell that had left her repertoire during her time in Elysium. Each of her allies is filled with fervor, their thoughts and actions quickening much like the arcane spell.
Isilme strides out closer to the northern tower and then invokes Desna's blessing onto her allies. As she finishes, a duergar rider on an enormous beetle comes out and into her view. He reaches for his hammer, but hesitates when he sees a fellow duergar (though oddly garbed). "Cé hé tusa?"
"Who are you?'
Ary, Ehren, and Valaria are up!
Isilme is surprised when the duergar approaches and hesitates, questioning her instead of attacking. Nevertheless, she moves quickly to take advantage of the opportunity.
"Emissary ó Hagegraf. Tá mo sclábhaithe agus mé á leanúint ag grúpa amadán ó Janderhoff, tá siad síos an tollán. Bhí súil againn iad a luíochán anseo," she says in as surly a dwarven voice she can manage. It was unlikely a bluff would work now, but if she could throw them off even a little bit, it could help out.
Blessed by Isilme's magic, Ehren surprises himself with his own racing thoughts, several of which involve crushing the oppressive duergar. Having apparently been given the signal to attack, he is about to rush headlong into battle, only to hesitate when he hears the azata conversing with someone. Even so, her blessing would not go to waste; taking advantage of the extra time she seems to be buying, he casts another preparatory spell, absent the incantation.
As he completes the spell, sharp-pointed bristles suddenly erupt from his hands and forearms, widening some of the harmless cracks running through them.
Ary begins to move forward, but then sees Ehren's hesitation and takes it as a sign to give Isilme a moment longer to maneuver their foes - something she hadn't done before with the underfolk. The group would have a chance to surge forward again either when a signal was made, or once the group was discovered.
Val stays low and tense, ready the instant hostility breaks out in full force.
The duergar sneers. "Ó, na trodaithe saoirse atá i gceist agat? Ho ho ho," he chortles. "Bhuel tá tú ró-mhall. Rug muid ar gach ceann deireanach acu," the duergar growls darkly.
"AIRD! TÁ CUIDEACHTA DE SVIRFNEBLIN ROMHAINN. SUILE AR AN TUR THAIR THUAIDH!" he cries out, loudly. He then draws his warhammer, as his skin hardens and takes on the color and smooth texture of rough iron.
"Oh, you mean the freedom fighters? Ho ho ho."
"Well, you're too late. We captured every last one of them."
"ATTENTION! WE'VE GOT A COMPANY OF SVIRFNEBLIN AHEAD. EYES TO THE NORTHWEST TOWER!"
Svirfneblin are a highly reclusive offshoot of gnomes, who live in the deepest corners of the Darklands. Records of encounters with them on the surface are rare and far between. Those that have been written of despise the duergar, and most reports of the creatures are from those surface races that have had the misfortune of being enslaved by the grey dwarves, then subsequently freed by the strange, grey-skinned gnomes.
The magic being invoked is Ironskin, a divine transmutation spell.
You read in Despicable Duergar of the Darklands that the soul of the earth infuses some duergar, giving them the ability to harden their skin. Duergar with this ability, however, are unable to double their size as most duergar can.
You realize that Isilme's lie wasn't believable - you know that the dwarves of Janderhoff don't send their men out this far - dwarves are more like to turtle in place than pick fights with the duergar slave trade. But of course, you've spent more time studying the quirks of the dwarves than she has.
Round 1!
Ary and Valaria are up!
Chuckling, growling... yelling... and then drawing a weapon and coating himself in defensive magic... Isilme was going to yell at Ary for not letting her explain the situation again, but just on the off chance Ary hadn't misread things, she needed to press in and deal with what she viewed as a threat. So, she darts from her hiding space, down the stairs and drawing Radiance out as she goes. As she reaches the bottom of the stairs, she pivots immediately to dart ahead and brings Faith crashing against her opponent's weapon arm, holy symbol glittering as she wrenches it away in the aftermath.
Ary finds that she has to slow down to maneuver down the enormous steps, lest she tumble head-first down the stairs. She just gets to the duergar when...
Valaria is up!
"That was fast..." Val mutters as the lead duergar notices them. "That one has different innate magic than usual. He'll be harder to hurt than usual. Watch for any others that have similar tricks, he's probably not the only one in the group." The tiefling dashes out of cover to get a better angle on the lead duergar before sending her starknife careening toward his body.
Ary wasn't moving fast enough - until she realized the obstacle before her, and all of a sudden she was moving as fast as she needed to be. There's an intense feeling in her chest, zealous and passionate and mercurial all at the same time - Desna's divine blessing was an entirely different feeling than mere haste. And in a flash, she's down the stairs, and smashing the duergar's warhammer right out from his fist, just as Valaria's starknife goes careening towards his head. He jerks his head out of the way, leaving a long gash down the side of his face.
Anevia, Lann, and Xanderghul are up!
Anevia follows suit after Ary but opts to move to a more... awkward position for her foes! She slips past the group of underfolk hunkering low to stay out of sight and out of mind. She briefly contemplates stealing the spell of the Duergar, but remembers what happened the last time she got within fifteen feet of a duergar. He was so smelly that she had chosen death.
So, armed with the incredible cheekiness afforded her by the blessing of what had apparently become a priestess of Desna in months gone - in which Anevia had not been invited - harumph! -- Anevia slips past the 'invisible' Xanderghul, waving a playful, possibly invisible hand in front of his face as she slips onto the bridge, using ginger steps and footfalls to guide her path.
When the duergar starts shouting, Lann looks to Ary, only to see that the Lord-Commander has already decided to enter the fray. Seeing as she likes to lead by example, he decides to take that as an order to follow suit. The already quick-footed crusader has an extra spring to his step as he rushes into battle with sword and shield held aloft. He bounds down the overly large staircase after Ary and forms a rank beside her when he reaches the bottom.
As she engages the duergar, Lann instead takes aim at his giant beetle mount, bringing his blade down with the hope of breaking through its dark carapace.
Before he continues on, Xanderghul mutters under his breath, tracing arcane symbols in the air that symbolize copying, falsehoods, and protection. Though they are invisible, several illusory copies of himself manifest around him, moving in lockstep with his true location.
Xanderghul continues to float silently through the cavern hallways. He investigates, carrying himself to the corner of the small fort. Peeking around the corner, he sees two more mounted duergar on their way into the cavern. These he identifies as the forward scouts, but apparently there were many, many more duergar somewhere in the formation of soldiers.
Xanderghul plans to get a good view of where these duergar were located before he gives away his position.
Lann drives his blade deep into the beetle's carapace, eliciting a ear-splitting screech from the monstrous vermin. The Gunduara tribesmen follow him into battle, clambering down the enormous stairs on their strange, often a-symmetrical limbs to engage the duergar in battle.
"Measchata damanta!" curses the duergar as he sees dozens of Underfolk coming for him.
"Tá traein na sclábhaithe inár ndiaidh. Réidh le haghaidh gluaiseachta isteach sna claiseanna," says a voice from further in the darkness. He speaks slowly, enunciating each syllable.
"Brúigh ar ais iad, a leathcheann gan inchinn! Glaoigh ar Thulmaga!"
"Tá na sclábhaithe réidh le gluaiseacht isteach sna claiseanna," the voice responds.
"Damned mongrels*!"
"The slave train is behind us. Ready for movement into the pits." This voice is in a clear Dwarven accent, not a duergar one.
"Push them back, you brainless idiot! Call for Thulmaga!"
"The slaves are ready for movement into the pits."
From your vantage, you can see another mounted duergar near the entry-way to the outpost. He is gesticulating and muttering under his breath - you can tell he is preparing his weapons with the same magic as the others.
Hinagiku is up!
Things were getting chaotic, too chaotic, trying to stay aware to her surrounding was simply causing confusion in the simple mind of Hinagiku. All that was left was to close in with the others to know what was really going on, and quick. Having seen the giant stairs, the monk simply elects to jump from the tower down to the floor.
Rolling as she reaches the ground, Hinagiku uses her momentum to approach the mounted dwarf she had seen while falling and, with a quick jab, strikes at his leg.
Anevia can see two more duergar mounted on beetles behind her. They don't move forwards, however, electing to stay still as their grey flesh hardens into a dull, metallic surface.
Round 2!
Isilme is up!
Isilme shrugs and grins at the Duergar before he gets swarmed by her allies. Instead of joining the fight, she heads around to get an idea of what else is coming, and spotting another mounted dwarf, takes the opportunity to try to leave him helpless.
Taking advantage of her blessing's ability to allow her to bypass the normal necessities for casting, Isilme quickly unleashes hideous laughter on the unsuspecting dwarf below her without making any sound. Moments later the word 'svirfneblin' echos through his ears, the sheer absurdity of the name taking up his thoughts.
Isilme disappears around the corner. There is silence, then, the unmistakeable sound of uncontrollable laughter coming from one of the duergar that is out of sight.
"Is fuath liom svirfneblin! Síos!" spits the duergar engaged with the heroes. The beetle, badly injured, chitters and then backs away. Once it is a safe distance, he guides his mount up the far stairs.
"I hate f$+%ing svirfneblin! Down!"
Now atop the stairs (and completely unaware of Xanderghul directly behind him), the duergar draws and loads a crossbow. "Fuaireamar scuad de phór meascáin i dteannta le svirfneblin agus leanbh oíche, anseo tar éis na bpríosúnach gan amhras."
"Coinnigh go tapa go dtí go neartaíonn Thulmaga sinn!" responds another duergar, unseen.
"We got a squad of mongrels teamed up with svirfneblin and a nightborn, here after the prisoners no doubt."
"Hold fast until Thulmaga reinforces us!"
Ary, Ehren, and Valaria are up!
Ary allows Isilme's magic to take hold and speed her feet once more, driving past the nearest duergar to make space for her allies to press into the fray and also leaving an opening for them to fire. "I see three, no four total so far." she whispers into Isilme's message spell as she rounds the corner and moves closer.
The moment she reaches her position, she does as her allies had done and strikes at their mounts, realizing the tactical advantage it would bring a moment too late to have done so to the duergar that had escaped their reach. Driving Faith's spikes into the insect, she attempts to bodily drag it and its rider into the reach of her allies, while also forcing it to stay within her own reach should it attempt to escape. "Isilme has one down for now." she adds.
The last to emerge from the tower, Ehren takes a moment to find a target before barreling down the stone walkway, Isilme's spell granting him far more speed than his own enhancement usually would. Closing in on the duergar and his mount, the druid tosses a spiked fist at the heavily wounded beetle, hoping to rob him of his mobility.
Val hurries forward to keep pace with the group as they press their attack against the duergar. She lets out a wordless rallying cry from above, filling her voice with determination as she positions herself to snipe down on the grey dwarves as they approach.
Finally catching on that her allies are aiming at the beetle, Hinagiku joins in and strikes at it while it passes by her.
In a show of sheer strength, Ary drags one insect and its rider across and away from its companion. She turns to look across to the other side of the outpost, seeing another duergar rider emerge from the darkness, as well as a dwarf, bearing a tabard emblazoned with a smoking forge. One of the mounted duergar starts moving towards her, teeth bared in a snarl. He draws his warhammer as his flesh turns hard and metallic. The beetle rears up, screeches, and opens its dripping mandibles. It churns out a thick, gooey ball of corrosive fluid, firing it straight at Ary.
The smoking forge is the holy symbol of Angradd, a dwarven god that you learned about from stories Joran tells.
Meanwhile, above, Desna's magic speeds Ehren along the upper platform. He strikes the fleeing duergar's beetle, punching straight through its shiny, black carapace and sending its rider tumbling down. From behind him, Valaria lets out a rallying cry, then steps out onto the platform alongside the invisible Anevia. Cracks shoot out from beneath her feet, and the bridge soon collapses into a heap of rubble below with a loud crash. They each only have a split-second to react...
Anevia, Lann, and Xanderghul are up!
Val easily flips through the air and lands on her feet, unphased by the collapsing platform.
"Dornarnus?" Ary wonders aloud, "Major Colson sends his regards." she says offering a slight salute with her sword as she dips to the side of the spewed acid, lingering droplets being all that manages to catch her at this range... just in time to be cut off from her allies. It certainly was a good thing that she'd surrounded herself!
Anevia, meanwhile, was having just as much fun as Ary... this old, half-destroyed bridge was now on the verge of being completely destroyed! She pumps her fist as Ehren gets his revenge on the beetle for the previous nonsense he'd gone through, but then has to focus. As the first hairline fissures appear, she dips back... and then decides to double down. She immediately vanishes in a flicker, allowing Desna's blessing to speed her pace through... wherever it is she goes when she's not here. She reappears, insofar as an invisible deathdealing dwarfslayer can reappear, at the window above all of the chaos. Letting loose an arrow at the rider's pet before dipping back into whatever cover the raised platform could provide her.
Anevia fires a shot into the beetle's still open mandibles, slaying it in an instant, then vanishing without a trace. The dwarf doesn't offer any signs of recognition to Ary, simply staring at the scene in front of him without expression.
Lann and Xanderghul are up!
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Lann's eyes widen when the bridge suddenly collapses with Valaria on it, but as usual, the nimble bard has no trouble landing on her feet. Gesturing at the Gunduara to follow suit, he once again runs after Ary, hopping over the pieces of rubble in his path. Between Isilme's magic and Valaria's performance, there is an undeniable air of confidence around Lann as he swings his blade at the beetle before him.
Deciding that now's as good a time as any to act, Xanderghul appears from out of the darkness. Evoking shadowstuff from the Plane of Shadows, Xanderghul shapes it into a shimmering purple sheet of flame, which he unwinds from pure magic like clay in his hands. As he shapes it, it shoots out across the battlefield, starkly dividing the fort in two.
The Gunduara tribesmen charge after Lann, who has just started cutting down the beetle in front of him when an enormous wall of violet flames springs up before his eyes. The cavern is filled with an eerie light, just before the awful smell of roasted beetle flesh fills the air. One of the duergar, caught fully in the wall of flame, begins to scream.
"Tá an bealach blocáilte. Ba chóir dúinn cúlú go Thulmaga," says a voice.
"The way is blocked. We should retreat to Thulmaga." Spoken matter-of-factly in a dwarven accent - totally unmoved at the sight of the immolated dwarves and beetles.
Hinagiku is up!
"Well... fu..." Anevia begins into the message as suddenly there would be no question that an ambush was not going to be happening.
"Val, Xander, you two might be the only ones who can get to the slaves now. Don't let them kill them." Ary calls out, voice stern as the fight just went from completely in control to hell in a handbasket.
"Might be able to get around the topside, boss... but I'ma need no one to rock that particular boat." Anevia whispers into their communication spell.
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As everyone pushes forward, Hinagiku's mind goes to the prisoners and the possibility that the duergars might kill them. And so the monk quickly looks around for a good vantage point from which to survey the battle. Her gaze finally falls on the wall. Decision made. She rushes up the stairs only making up thanks to Isilme's magic. Running, she passes by the wall of fire and watches the line of dwarfs coming inside the fort. Her eyes dart from side to side for a moment. None, no prisoners, they were still far at the back them.
Before withdrawing back behind the wall of fire, Hinagiku's eyes come to rest on the surface dwarf among the duergar. There was something odd about him, but she wasn't sure what... maybe his expression was emptier than that of most dwarves... no matter, the fire was at her back, and though it burned less than she had expected, it was still unpleasant. Having seen what she wanted, Hinagiku backs down.
The duergar swings his warhammer at Lann, who is trying to kill his mount, but the underfolk soldier bashes the swing away with his shield. He turns, seeing the beetle open its dripping mandibles, its mouth aimed right at his face!
One of the mounted duergar turns and scurries into the darkness - the one directly under the tower Xanderghul has suddenly appeared in.
The roasting beetle screeches and runs out of the flames as fast as its six legs can carry it. The fallen duergar stops laughing, his chortles turned to screams at the sight of the terrifying sheet of flame before him.
Round 3!
Isilme is up!
A wall of fire separating them from the slaves, Isilme decides to fall in behind Hinagiku when she sees the monk running up the stairs. Taking advantage of the speed granted by her magic, she easily makes it up the stairs.
"I am right with you," she says to Hinagiku as she stops. She then incants a shield spell to better protect her in the coming battle.
The duergar on the floor in front of Ehren heaves himself to his feet and backs away from him. He takes aim with his crossbow, but his arms tremble as he latches the bolt in and he manages to misfire instead.
Ary, Ehren, and Valaria are up!
The wall of violet fire briefly grabs Ehren's attention, but he quickly identifies it as Xanderghul's handiwork when under closer scrutiny, the flames become opaque shadowstuff. With any luck, the duergar's minds would not be able to penetrate the illusion.
The druid clubs at the duergar as he climbs onto his feet, and when he attempts to line up a shot with his crossbow, he brazenly steps over the dead beetle and continues to swing.
Val nods as Xanderghul conjures the wall of searing fire across the passageway. "Not going to happen on my watch," she promises at Ary's call as she lifts off the wall with the help of the fly spell and charges forward to clear the wall with enhanced speed. She sends a her knife flying back at one of the dwarves scorched by the fiery spell to try to clear the way as she advances.
Ary is up!
Ary follows behind the dwarven rider, where she had thrown him into danger, and immediately begins to assail first the mount, and then the rider with a string of sword swipes, punctuated by a slamming shield, feeling faster than she had in a long while... and perhaps not knowing what to do with that.