With swift reflexes, Yui channels her power through her illusionary form, intercepting Vang’s deadly spell just before it strikes Ehren. The green ray of disintegration dissipates midair, its lethal energy undone by Yui’s deft counterspell.
Hinagiku, Ehren, and Unafe are up!
Unbeknownst to Ehren, Yui's counterspell saves him from certain death. Oblivious to the danger, the druid focuses on the fog surrounding them, its acidity strong enough to erode even his formidable resistance. Dredging up all that remains of his mythic power, he reaches out and takes command of stagnant air in the sanctum, whipping it into a frenzy. A tremendous windstorm blasts across the area, blowing right toward Vang. Meanwhile, Ehren stands in an eye in the storm, his hair not so much as billowing despite his proximity to the mighty current.
The wind howls as it tears through the acidic fog, churning the corrosive mist and slowly scattering it toward the far end of the chamber. The dense vapors begin to thin and waver under the onslaught, the air crackling with the power of Ehren’s control. In the middle of this maelstrom, the eye of calm air centered on him remains untouched, a pocket of stillness amid the chaos.
Unafe is up!
Once the babaus are defeated, Unafe calls again on the spirits of the Demetae to guide her strikes, reaching out with her heart to draw them near.
As she does, she asks Rue to pass on to Hinagiku: "Rue, can you ask Hinagiku to again enchant my fists? With her powerful blessing, I am confident I can take this fight to Vang and win."
She also reaches out to Goryon, "Honored Ancestor, as you see we face tremendous foes. Is there anything you can do to aid us here?"
Free: Berserk
Full: Cast Swords Motif
Free: Ask Hinagiku (through Rue) if she will re-cast Enhance on Unafe's unarmed strikes
Free: Reach out a hand 15' toward Hinagiku (and 5' step if enough of the fog has dissipated to do so) so it'll be easy for her to cast on me, assuming she chooses to.
Tracking
31 AC +2 vs evil outsiders // includes -2 berserk
32 CMB (35 vs Grapple) +2 vs evil outsiders // includes -2 berserk
147/147 HP
38 THP // 14 berserk-7 Acid, but then refreshed to 14 by Berserk again, 13 guardian, 11 giant fortitude
0 Nonlethal //
3/7 Tension (2 +1 damaged)
5/6 M.Tension
9/9 AP //
9/11 MP //
7/11 Momentum //
2/2 martial focus //
4/22 SP // -1 Swords Motif
1/3 stone shapes remaining //
2/3 stone to flesh remaining //
DR 2/- vs evil outsiders.
0/3 Honk rounds remaining
Slapper rounds remaining
4/10 Advancing Carnage rounds remaining
“She says that she will lend you her power as always. We are in this together,” says Rue. Hinagiku reaches out, focusing her ki to extend her enchantment, and as she draws close to Unafe, she places her hands over her fellow hero’s fists. Unafe feels the surge of magical energy as her fists are blessed with the strength to pierce even the strongest demonic protections.
As Goryon’s presence settles deeper within her, her voice comes through like the rumble of distant thunder.
"Mae’r gwltistiaid hyn yn chwennych y tywyllwch; mae eu meddyliau a’u calonnau wedi’u rhwymo i dwyll ac i gysgodion. Ac eto, rydym ni’n defnyddio goleuni ein cyndeidiau. Rwy’n synhwyro bod eu harweinydd wedi dod â mwy na dur a dilynwyr i’r frwydr hon—mae ganddo hud a thwyll. Gadewch inni dynnu ei amddiffynfeydd i ffwrdd, datgelu ei wir hunan, a dallu’i lygaid gyda disgleirdeb na all eu gwrthsefyll. Byddai angen llawer o’th nerth arnaf, ond gallet ti alw arnaf i ddwyn patrwm enfys i’r frwydr. Bydd ei ddilynwyr yn llewygu, coll yn y llusern, ond byddi di’n gweld ei leoliad yn eglur. Ymosod arno wedyn, pan fydd yn ddi-amddiffyn."
In an instant, the heroes hear the telltale crackle of magic missiles tearing through the fog, each bolt aimed precisely at Ehren. The archdruid braces as the arcane energy slams into him, one after another, each impact a relentless burst of pain.
Anna, Beatrix and Yui are up!
Beatrix gasps with pain as she is suddenly surrounded by a solid acid fog, her movements slowed and her skin burning. She pushes through the pain anyway, relieved when the Archdruid summons wind to relieve them of its effect.
She summons her goddess' blessing, her hand glowing with positive energy which she reaches out towards the Archdruid, healing him of some of the damage done to him so far. Then, she pushes through the fog towards their foes, hoping to unleash upon them her strongest spells before it was too late (although at this point, both of her sure castings had been wasted)
Ehren reels from repeated impacts of the force bolts, the pain nearly bringing him to his knees. Beatrix's healing spell takes the edge off, but only barely.
Sana begins to creep forward as she establishes a mental link to Rue once more. Could you check on how everyone's doing, Rue? I heard magic missiles and a slump... and it it wasn't me. I'm going to move forward and fire blindly into the room to try to take someone or something out.
Sana does her best to ignore the cloying acid as she struggles through it, keeping low as she readies her bow... glad to know that it would maybe be clearing out soon, based on the archdruid's winds.
The cold magic surrounding her fingertips causes the vitriolic mists to congeal along the string of her bow as she begins to build up an arrow once more. With their foes having used their magic missiles on someone else, this might be the last opportunity she has to remove further threats en masse. She visualizes the shape of the building that she's seen, and where she believes herself to be, and pulls back her nocked frost arrow, launching it into what she believes is the center of the room ahead.
The illusory Yui charges ahead, her movement unimpeded by the acidic fog. She heads towards Vang, moving up to the edge of the fog and taking a position just outside to the right of the door out of line of sight. At this range she would be able to detect all the magic being used by their foes and have the best chance of stopping Vang's spells outright.
"Magic Missiles? Truly? What is this, Xanthir Vang's Abyssal Academy for Underachievers and Incompetents? I thought the goal was to drive me to despair, not cause me to double over in laughter," Yui calls into the room. "Well? What's your next move Vang? Have something better than that pathetic disintegrate that fizzled out? Or are you content to have your apprentices keep at their lessons? Perhaps one of them might succeed at casting acid arrow or web."
This time she explicitly prepares herself to counter Vang's magic, knowing she'll be significantly more effective in doing so with time to prepare.
Rue reaches out telepathically, her voice threading through the fog in everyone's minds.
"I'm here with Unafe and Hinagiku," Rue sends. Her tone carries a hint of concern. "Visibility is zero because of the fog. But Anna is checking in on everyone; she heard magic missiles and something that sounded like a slump. She wants to know if everyone is alright. If you can respond, please do."
"If you can reach her, Anna is moving forward to see if she can fire into the fog."
Beatrix maintains her concentration, despite the acid fog and the winds that dissipate it.
Suddenly, the roaring winds start to slow.
"Everyone, Ehren is wearing down fast—the adepts are relentless. He says he can't hold much longer at this rate," Rue conveys telepathically, her concern evident. "And... there’s been no word from Beatrix. Has anyone seen her, or felt her presence? We need to rally, or we risk being separated at a critical moment."
You can sense the spell, dispel magic being cast.
You can sense the spell, summon monster VI being cast.
You can sense the spell, cloudkill being cast.
A shadow demon appears and lunges toward Ehren, its ethereal form twisting and darkening as it attempts to sink into his body. Just as the demon makes contact, a swirling, thick yellow-green mist rolls into the clear eye of Ehren’s windstorm. The toxic fumes swirl around, clinging to him. Ehren feels an oppressive weight in his mind, a menacing presence clawing for control.
Round 11!
Hinagiku, Ehren, and Unafe are up!
Sitting next to the door in her illusory form, Yui focuses her senses on the adjacent room, preparing for the inevitable magic spells coming from Vang and his compatriots. As expected, tuning out the noise of the windstorm howling in the room, she feels magic begin to flow around where Vang had been. She immediately recognizes it as a dispel magic, which she assumes is intended to dispel the winds that Ehren had conjured to dispel the acidic fog or perhaps her own illusion. Stepping around the corner, she once again draws upon her magic to negate the spell, this time doing so trivially by tweaking the flow of magic within her spell to undo the energies gathering around Vang.
As she finishes unleashing the magic she becomes aware of two more spells, one of which she recognizes as a conjuration spell likely to summon more demons. Drawing on her divine power she raises her other hand and points to fingers in the direction of the spell, channeling a second dispel magic almost instantaneously to prevent the summon from completing.
"Beatrix is down here with Anna. I am doing what I can to hold of Vang and the other casters, but we need to take the fight to them quickly or I will run out of magic," she responds to Rue. "They have piled up in front of the door and are attempting to push through now,"
The acidic fog dissipates, swept away in the relentless current of Ehren’s magic. Visibility clears, revealing a faint, pale-green haze clinging to the corners of the chamber but offering the heroes a much clearer view of their surroundings.
The shadow demon abruptly disappears.
Rue's voice echoes through everyone's minds.
"Beatrix and Anna are with Yui, holding off Vang and the other casters for now, but they’re taking heavy fire. Yui says they’re grouped at the doorway, preparing to push through. If we don’t move in now, she’ll exhaust her magic reserves.”
Rue sends a quick message of reassurance: “Hold tight—we’re on our way.”
Hinagiku, Ehren, and Unafe are up!
With the thick, acidic fog blown away, Ehren quickly ducks into the nearby room, again saved by Yui's quick intervention. He reaches into his polymorphic pouch and retrieves one of his jars of celestial honey, hoping to address his grievous wounds.
”Goryon, diolch! Byddaf yn ceisio gorffen rhai o'r babaus hynny. Yna, os gwelwch yn dda, disgleirio patrwm eich enfys dros ein gelynion sy'n weddill, a gadewch inni dorri drwy'r us fel y gallwn daro eu meistr. Fy nyfaliad yw y byddai tynnu sylw'r locustiaid a'r medrus yn arbennig o fuddiol.”
Unafe lopes through the hall, shoving one babau, and then closes her eyes before attempting to smash Vang–snarling at him as she does so–and then swinging at as many of the remaining babau as she can.
As she opens her eyes back up, she feels Goryon draw upon her power to cast a brilliant pattern of shimmering light upon their remaining foes, attempting to fascinate as many as possible.
Unafe silently asks Rue, ”Please let everyone know to avoid harming any foes who are fascinated by Goryon’s rainbow pattern, or else we might free them from their fascination.”
Free: Berserking -2 AC, +14 THP
Free: -1 MP to gain Slapper (again, since it ran out)
Swft: Dismiss Swords Motif : can now ignore concealment for 10 rounds
Move:
Free: Close eyes
Stnd:
// If intimidated, -4 to
// The following attacks only trigger if the preceding one triggered, AND the foe is adjacent to who I struck last. See the arrow I drew on the map. I think I removed Bane from the two non-demons.
Free1:
Free2:
Free3:
Free4:
Free5:
Free - Champ:
Free - open eyes
Tracking
31 AC +2 vs evil outsiders // includes -2 berserk
32 CMB (35 vs Grapple) +2 vs evil outsiders // includes -2 berserk
147/147 HP
38 THP // 14 berserk, 13 guardian, 11 giant fortitude
0 Nonlethal //
3/7 Tension (1 -5 fiery (including 4 from Mythic Pool) +1 move, +1 hit, +1 intimidate)
1/6 M.Tension (-4 above)
9/9 AP //
9/11 MP //
7/11 Momentum //
1/2 martial focus // -1 brutal strike
4/22 SP //
1/3 stone shapes remaining //
2/3 stone to flesh remaining //
DR 2/- vs evil outsiders.
10/10 Slapper rounds remaining // -1 MP: just refreshed
4/10 Advancing Carnage rounds remaining
As the acidic fog clears, Ehren stumbles into the adjacent room, finally able to draw a breath that doesn’t burn his lungs. His gaze sweeps over the narrow chamber: a cozy-looking firepit and cooking stove occupy the far end, casting soft shadows that play over the long table and the rows of stools surrounding it. Along the right wall, three towering bookcases are crammed with texts and scrolls, while a pair of desks stands nearby, littered with arcane writings and half-used quills.
Unafe barrels forward, her fist blazing with fiery energy as she tears through the line of babaus. Each demon falls in quick succession under her crushing blows, their forms crumbling as her spirit-infused strength overwhelms them. Just as she dispatches the last one, a wave of disruptive energy pulses through the air, directed at her. The babaus’ dying curse and the adepts’ desperate attempts to dispel her magic surge toward her, but their efforts falter, failing to strip her of the protective magics that still cling to her. The babaus’ final curse mixes with the adepts’ attempts to dispel her protections, and she feels the familiar weight of her swarmbane clasp vanish from her side.
As she presses on, Unafe’s gaze shifts to the looming form of Xanthir Vang, his hollowed eyes flickering with a dark intelligence. She feels the eyes of his hulking locust guardian on her, and she gathers her strength, dismissing her Swords Motif to cut through the shadows around him. Her fists swing, each strike a burst of fiery light against the darkness. She delivers a powerful blow aimed directly at Vang, but the locust intercedes, shielding him from the impact. Her fiery strike dissipates harmlessly against its carapace.
Xanthir Vang’s mocking laughter fills the chamber. His eerie, buzzing voice carries a disturbing resonance as he flies in the winds, his locust guardians looming protectively beside him. "And here stands the fierce Unafe,” Vang sneers. “You think the spirits will save you from my wrath, that your strength matters in the slightest? Your efforts are a joke—just like your ancestors. Soon you and your pitiful allies will crumble, just like those weak demons at your feet.”
At that moment, Goryon’s voice fills Unafe's mind once more, though it now carries a weary tone. “Unafe, yr wyf gyda ti, ond mae dy gryfder yn tynnu’n ddwfn ar yr ysbrydion. Ni allaf roi mwy o gymorth i ti ar hyn o bryd. Dal ati, a gwybydd ein bod yn ymladd fel un.”
In that instant, Rue appears, darting through the remnants of acidic fog, her starknife gleaming in her hand. She sidesteps the patches of green vapor and reaches Unafe’s side. "Everyone,” Rue’s voice carries telepathically, calm but urgent, “the babaus are down. Unafe cleared the way, but she asks we don’t strike anyone who might still be charmed by Goryon’s rainbow pattern. It could break the enchantment.”
Anna, Beatrix and Yui are up!
Yui continues waiting for her next opportunity to prevent Vang from successfully using magic against her allies.
Sana rolls her eyes at taunting Unafe as she allows the frost to gather along her bow once more, coaxing the crystals to elongate and dragging it into an arrow shape, "Oh wise and powerful Vang! If you're so smart... do me next. Which nameless, faceless templar is the one that will have spelled your doom?" she asks, as she pulls the arrow back and fires it into roughly the same location she'd previously fired. She chases behind the orb until it detonates into shards of ice and continues into the chill mists.
Beatrix has no words for battle, only her most powerful spell for the crowd of spellcasters behind their leader. She quietly and effectively prays to her goddess, the Sword of Valor, for a powerful strike onto the adepts. In answer to her prayer, a pillar of shining divine fire roars from the ceiling and strikes onto the evil spellcasters.
The pillar of flame crashes down, consuming three of the adepts instantly, their screams vanishing in a fiery blaze. Two others are left staggering, barely holding themselves upright as they emerge, charred and clinging to life. The cloaked woman behind the locust evades the worst of the divine fire with an uncanny grace, emerging from the flames nearly unscathed. The apocalypse locust, shielded by its unnatural fortitude, remains untouched.
"Is that the best the servants of Iomedae have to offer?" Vang's voice drips with derision. "Your flame falters. All of you—your valor is worthless before me."
The moment Sana's arrow strikes, it explodes, scattering shards of deadly frost across the group. Amidst the spray, the last two adepts drop to the floor, their lives snuffed out by the icy blast. The apocalypse locust beside them falters, its vile body freezing in place as the ice laces through its form, causing its movements to slow under the bitter chill.
Unfazed by the carnage, the cloaked woman near Vang steps back from the shattering ice, her reflexes unnaturally sharp as she escapes most of the blast. Vang, however, seems oblivious to Sana’s words, his hollow gaze focused forward as he continues to hover. With calculated detachment, he observes his remaining forces dwindling and then turns his gaze toward the approaching heroes.
"Childish taunts won’t save you, spy,” Vang sneers, his voice dripping with contempt. “When you join the dust, it will be by my will and no other’s."
Xanthir’s grim figure drifts back deeper into the sanctum, where the archdruid’s winds do not reach. He raises a squirming hand, sending a ray of shadow hurtling toward Unafe, but the crackling energy veers wide, dissipating in the air beside her. In the shadows near him, an abyssal portal shimmers, and a babau materializes, attempting to dispel the winds altogether. Yet the fierce gale holds strong, thwarting the demon’s magic with ease.
Meanwhile, the dark-robed woman retreats from Sana and extends her arms, chanting words of power. In an instant, black tentacles erupt from the floor beneath Unafe, Hinagiku, and Arueshalae, twisting and ensnaring around them with merciless strength. Hinagiku and Arueshalae struggle against the sudden grip of the monstrous limbs, wincing as the acid burns their skin.
Just as the tentacles tighten, one of the monstrous apocalypse locusts exhales a blazing line of fire aimed at Rue and Unafe. Flames surge through the room, but Rue is left unaffected. Unafe, however, is caught in the inferno’s path, the searing heat threatening to overwhelm her.
You can sense Vang casting summon monster V
You can sense Vang casting enervation.
You can sense the woman casting mythic black tentacles
Round 12
The Heroes Are Up!
Ehren opens the jar of celestial honey and lets a thick globule fall into his mouth, not exactly having the time to exhibit more decorum. The heavenly sweetness of the thriae honey immediately takes the edge off the wounds he sustained from the last barrage of magic missiles, but he is a long way off from being fully healed.
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Yui once again peers around the corner and unleashes a dispel magic aimed at countering one of Vang's spells. He was using resources to cast faster than she could counter, but at the very least she was still pressuring him.
Ignoring the tentacles for the moment, she steps into the room, intent to put pressure on Vang. Hopefully by so brazenly challenging him by standing before him she would focus the attention of the woman and Vang on her long enough for the others to push past the tentacles.
In a serene voice, she recites a brief poem to the wizard. "Waves crashing, breaking // The rock thinks itself mighty // The sand knows the truth." Openly she raises her arm towards Vang and extends two fingers towards him, channeling magic once more in preparation to counter him.
Bound up by the tentacles, poor fragile Beatrix is unable to concentrate sufficiently to cast her magic. She wriggles and struggles against the tentacles, but is unlikely to find her way out of them.