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"He's not getting away! Not this time!" Erlathan says as he beckons his lightning ball to move towards the bearded devil. "My forces will now target him exclusively! Go on, Akela, you too!"
Akela again snaps at Netokkurai, unaware that his attacks are mostly ineffective.
The elf then points his quarterstaff at Net and activates it, two glowing serpent bolts slamming into the devil's chest.
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Hanlin unleashes another blast of his goddess's divine energy at the fiends littering the battlefield, delivering significant damage to Netokkurai and sending the red hell hound to its eternal unrest, the last lemure back to Hades, and the two hell ravens back to wherever they came from.
Erlathan bowls his great ball of lightning into Netokkurai again, but the arcanist is unable to pick up the spare. With another trick up his voluminous long sleeves, Erlathan pulls the triggers on his staff, sending two arcane bolts hurtling at the bearded devil. Then, the elf orders his summoned celestial wolf to attack. Akela steps toward the fiend and tries to bite Netokurrai.
Nina seizes the opportunity to attack the devil's exposed flank. Her lance strikes true, the mighty blow impaling the fiend through its infernal lungs. Netokkurai falls, inky black ichor seeping into the scorched and trampled grass.
Vegazi's tiefling sibling lies next to Netokkurai, her wounds no longer leaking.
Netokkurai
Maroon Hell Hound
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Hanlin
Erlathan
Akela
Vegazi
Nina
Inky
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Bax
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Lord Braggett
Sir Kibble
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Red Hell Hound
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Bishop
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Lord Braggett turns a deep shade of red at Netokkurai's accusation. "Coward!? How dare you! I merely need the run-up to- Oh!" The bitter disappointment of missing out on dealing the final heroic blow and proving the devil wrong is quickly tempered by the warm glow of a glorious of victory. "HUZAH!!! Excellent work, comrades!" He cheers, "Kelseph is fast running out of allies and deranged children - no offence, Vegazi - to send our way. Onward to victory!" He rides halfway across the plateau before suddenly remembering that the cursed braziers are still crackling with potential ravens. "Aha! Come Kibble, we still have work to do..." He spurs his poor, bruised wolf to lope towards the stairs as he roots around in his pack. Once by the strange iron brazier, the knight holds up his recently acquired flask and heroically empties the holy water within, all over the spooky flames.
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After taking down the barbazu devil, Netokkurai, Nina breaks out in a mounted gnome summoner's rendition of a victory dance.
Meanwhile, Lord Braggett, never at a loss for words--many, many words--rides Sir Kibble up the uneven stone steps and pours a flask of holy water over the flames of one of the iron braziers, extinguishing the eery fire.
The flames atop the other three braziers continue to flicker, hissing and crackling, casting shadows in the smoky mist...
Netokkurai
Maroon Hell Hound
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Hanlin
Erlathan
Akela
Vegazi
Nina
Inky
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Bax
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Lord Braggett
Sir Kibble
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Red Hell Hound
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Bishop
Bishop moves over to the nearest iron brazier, removes his cloak and drops it over the flames, snuffing them out.
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The ground is covered in fallen foes and steeped in blood, yours and theirs. Lord Braggett and Bishop extinguish the flames on two of the eery iron braziers.
Two hell ravens suddenly emerge from the smoke and flames of the other two braziers, attacking the nearest targets. Though Lord Braggett avoids the fiendish bird's beak and talons, the other sinks its claws into Nina's upper arm.
Vegazi reacts, moving to get a clear shot, nocks an arrow and fires at the orange hell raven, wounding the bird.
Netokkurai
Maroon Hell Hound
Orange Hell Raven
Yellow Hell Raven
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Hanlin
Erlathan
Akela
Vegazi
Nina
Inky
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Bax
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Lord Braggett
Sir Kibble
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Red Hell Hound
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Bishop
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"This is like that story about the town and the-eeee!" Nina exclaims as another bird swoops in and leaves a nasty scratch on her arm.
"Inky, keep it busy, I'll put the fire out!" Not needing another reminder in the form of a scratch or losing an eye, Nina turns to the nearby brazier and follows Bishop's lead in smothering the flames with her cloak.
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"Well, now that the big bad beard is down, I suppose it's time to get a little closer to the action." Erlathan snaps his fingers and dimensionally slides 35 feet, reappearing just behind Nina and Bishop. "Did you miss me? Of course you missed me. Sorry I'm late, I was just, you know, controlling two lightning balls and a celestial wolf with nothing but my mind from afar, but here I am!" He quips, then fires another set of magic missiles at the yellow raven.
Akela stays put for now.
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Nina doffs her cloak and snuffs out the flames crackling on a third brazier, and Incandescence engulfs the orange hell raven in her chompers. It disappears before she can gulp it down.
Erlathan blasts the yellow hell raven with his staff, eliminating the last immediate threat.
Lord Braggett and his wolf answer the call of the wild, using the only field expedient method they can think of to douse the flames on the last brazier.
Hanlin turns away, giving gnome and beast a little privacy, while gingerly prodding Sir Kibble with his healing stick.
You hear the last hell hound emits its final death rattle.
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Although Netokkurai carried no gear save his glaive, Bax was a walking arsenal. Her mundane gear includes two masterwork daggers, two hand crossbows with 20 bolts, adamantine weapon blanch, cold iron weapon blanch, two smokesticks, and 122gp in a belt pouch.
Erlathan detects magical auras on her studded leather armor, three hand crossbow bolts, four potions, and, of course, her hideous skull mask.
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"Ew...none of these disappeared..." Nina grimaces, glancing around at the hell hound corpses and the unconscious Netokkurai. "I think that means that they've been summoned in such a way that if they die on the Material, they die for real."
Uncharacteristically serious, Nina hops down off of Inky and walks over to the devil. She grips her lance tightly in both hands...and then pauses to look at Lord Braggett. "We can bring Bax the Lax there back to town if everyone wants, to face a proper trial but we can't bring a devil back! Do you want to do it? If not, I'll do it," the gnome asks, making a stabbing motion with her lance.
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Once the matter of the unconscious foes is decided, Nina tries to help Erlathan with the identification of all the magical gear they'd found.
Though she has no idea about the bolts, armor, or the first potion, Nina fares better with some of the other items. "Ooh, nice! This is a Potion of Invisibility and these two here are Potions of Cure Moderate Wounds," she exclaims. "And the mask...oh, this is an odd enchantment - but not really surprising considering who probably made it or ordered it."
"You see, wearing the mask makes you look scary...and you look scarier and scarier the closer someone gets to you, until they're completely unnerved as long as they're standing next to you," Nina explains. Then she sniffs disdainfully. "Not the sort of thing for me. It's ugly but it's cowardly, too, to use magic to make someone afraid!"
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"That's very gracious of you, Lady Brightspark." Lord Braggett says as he rides back down the stairs, "However, I believe it was your magnificent strike that finally felled the fiend. As such, the honour of removing such a blight on this world should be yours." The banged-up knight slides gingerly out of the saddle, bends down to pick up his favourite flail with a knightly groan, and starts rooting around in his backpack for some rope. "I'll take care of the Material girl, from the Material world." After stripping her arms and armour, and removing the creepy mask, Braggett practically cocoons Bax in silk rope, leaving only the tips of her toes and her head uncovered. "There! That should do it..." He says as he tightens the last knot. "Once we take care of her mother, we can return to pick her up. I dare say Kibble can carry her all the way back to Arwyll Stead with little trouble." Kibble's ears prick up and he looks askance at his knight. *Arf!?*
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As Nina and Erlathan work on identifying the Bax's magical arsenal, Lord Braggett thanks Hanlin once more for keeping him in the fight and asks for one more favour. "While 'tis just a scratch, I fear we will need to be in tip top condition in our forthcoming showdown with Kelseph." He smiles as he hands the righteous knight a wand. "Would you be so kind as to activate this thing for me?"
His feelings about the mask are pretty similar to those of Nina, and he has no use of crossbows, arrows, or light armour. However, Braggett has started to acquire a taste for the menthol flavours of curative potions, and decides to pocket one of the vials as soon as it is identified.
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Erlathan snaps his fingers, and both lightning orbs disappear along with Akela, and then he raises his hands up to the sky. "WE DID IT! And what a fight it was! You were all excellent in your own ways, truly valiant and heroic!"
The elf dimensionally slides over to the magical goodies. In fact, Erlathan chooses not to walk anywhere at all anymore, and only travels in this way. Poof
"The armor is a studded armor +1, and these bolts are hand crossbow bolts +1. This one other potion is a potion of cat's grace. Perhaps Inky should take a swig," he remarks with a grin.
Then he takes the mask and throws it on, his voice muffled behind it. "Erlathan the Infernal!"
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"Good lord! Is that what your skull looks like?" Lord Braggett exclaims as the magical mask starts to do it's stuff. "I assumed it would be... bigger." Once over the shock of seeing Erlathan's head inside out, and his off putting new habit of 'poofing' instead of walking, Braggett jumps back in his saddle. "Speaking of swigging potions... If we are soon to meet your mother, Vegazi, I fear you will need this more than me." He tosses the half-orc a vial of bear's endurance that he recently found on a fallen enemy. "I suspect she will be more determined than ever to see your blood spilt."
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Hanlin pats Braggett on the back "It is far easier to heal those who take the risks than do so yourself sometimes. I'm honored." He quickly adds "Yes, let me continue healing everyone. I've got some power left in it, and afterwards I've got mine to finish everything off." He goes around healing everyone in the group.
Found wand
Found wand - Burnt!
My wand
My wand
Hanlin agrees with Braggett's decision to give Vegazi the constitution potion then adds in his thoughts on the invisibility one as well "Perhaps being able to go invisible would be a boon as well, just in case..."
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"Thank you, Lord Braggett," says Vegazi as she accepts the potion of bear's endurance.
Foes dispatched and secured, wounds healed, loot distributed, and self-confidence restored, the party resumes its track up the mountain.
Who (or what) built the staircases and braziers on Eiseth’s Roost is a great mystery to those who know of the mountain, but the area has long been associated with ill omens and devil worship.
Queen.
The broken staircase to the east is a difficult prospect.
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Crouching down to get his breath he looks up as the others go about their business "I think some scrolls were found awhile back we could use them to ward off evil I think one of you had mentioned? Especially on Vegazi. If they want you alive it has to be for something nefarious and with devils involved we should protect you as much as possible."
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Hanlin quickly points out a little tidbit "That's the unholy symbol (resembling a dark-winged snake) carved into the ruins here belongs to worshipers of Eiseth, the Erinyes
Queen. Be wary."
As he looks at the two routes ahead he tugs on his collar, a bit daunted. "Yes, those scrolls sound like a great plan, but first we should conquer this climb. Scaling mountains wasn't part of my formal training I'm afraid." He stops to retrieve a coil of rope from his backpack.
"Anyone got a way to secure this thing up there? I've gotta admit I thought I had a grapple with it but seems not." He shrugs.
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Lord Braggett agrees with Bishop, but Hanlin's discovery weighs on his mind. "Wary indeed! Why, the thought that Kelseph may have made some kind of pact with someone like Eiseth is enough to make even I pause." As Hanlin holds out the rope, however, the knight's mood changes. "Haha! I know of just the method." Lord Braggett slides out of the saddle, a wide smile on his face, and starts removing Kibble's saddle bags, bit and bridle, and finally the saddle itself. After giving the surprisingly naked looking wolf a quick scratch where his fur had been flattened by the weight of his gear, Braggett hops back onto Kibble's bear back. "Time to show your stuff, my friend. GERONIMOOOOOoooooo!!!" He holds on tight as Kibble rushes toward the gap in the stairs.
The normally agile wolf make quite a meal of it, but still leaps the gap with a foot or so to spare! The delighted knight cheers as he hops off Kibble and gets in position to catch and secure the rope. "How's that, Sir?"
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Erlathan keeps the mask on for now. "I hope you guys can get used to this. I kind of like it. Gives a whole badass feel to the mighty magical mage, you know?" He bends his knees as if he were about to leap, but then disappears and dimensionally slides to reach the other mountain top. "I suppose it's a little unbecoming, however, and may not make me many friends in town."
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Sir Kibble leaps from rock to rock and then up to the ledge above, Lord Braggett riding bareback and trying to hang on. Erlathan slips the surly bonds of time and space and appears next to them, his new mask revealing his skull grinning like an elven jack-o'-lantern.
Their sudden appearance does not go unnoticed.
A jackal-headed, brightly painted clay statue animates and lurches forward from the cliff face, hefting an impressive-looking longbow.
Sensing her friend's alarm, Vegazi calls out to Lord Bragget and Erlathan, "Drop a rope, so we can climb up and help!"
Vegazi
Bishop
Erlathan
Hanlin
Lord Braggett & Sir Kibble
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??
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Nina & Inky
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"Egads! The situation is grave and getting graver." Lord Braggett exclaims, starting to rue the decision to use fifty foot of fine silken rope to tie up a single captive. Curse my inexplicable flair for style, but that cocoon looked so impressive! Why, it was enough to make a giant spider jealous... He looks around and sees that Erlathan is equally bereft of climbing equipment. "I'm afraid I cannot do that, Lady Vegazi! You need to throw the rope up..." He calls over the edge, turning his back uncomfortably on the graven guardian.
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While the others take to the climbing Bishop dashes off following the crazed gnome and his frantic pup and leaps at the end of the broken bridge. He easily clears the crevasse landing beside gnome and the elf. As he looks up he wonders what guardian is now blocking their way.
"Nothing is ever easy is it?"
Sir Kibble digs his paws in and growls up at the incoming threat, hackles raised and his considerable teeth on show. If that wolf wannabe wants to get anywhere near his knight, he'll have to get past Kibble first.
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Nina knows a thing or two about graven guardians. An adamantine weapon can best penetrate the construct's defenses and it's resistant to spells.
Erlathan recalls a number of graven guardian's special attacks. In addition to wounds it inflicts causing additional bleed damage, such a construct is also capable of two other special attacks:
Bishop makes bounding from rock to rock up to the ledge above look easy.
Erlathan points his staff at the graven guardian and fires two magic missiles at the construct, but the arcane bolts fizzle when they strike their target. Then, the arcanist appears back at the base of the collapsed stone steps.
Hanlin gets ready to throw a rope attached to his mace, and Lord Braggett dismounts, ready to catch it. Sir Kibble is ready if the graven guardian attempts to approach his master.
The graven guardian activates a spell-like ability.
Vegazi
Bishop
Erlathan
Hanlin
Lord Braggett & Sir Kibble
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Graven Guardian
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Nina & Inky
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"A rope? Ain't nobody got time for that," Inky snorts as she narrows her eyes and takes a running leap across the gap!
And manages to clear it, though her hind paws do scrape perilously close to the edge of the broken stairs as she lands.
"Geeze Nina, I told you to lay off the pancakes! We probably looked about as majestic as a flying turkey just now!"
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"But they're sooooo tasty..." Nina huffs, actually looking a little put out for once by Inky's mouthiness. "Hey, we can worry about my diet later, alright? Let's take care of the statue first!"
Hoping to buy a little time for Erlathan, Hanlin, and Vegazi to be able to get to them, Nina conjures a puddle of grease near the bottom of the path where the guardian will have to pass through to reach them.
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Lord Braggett reaches out to grab the flying mace and almost slips as it falls teasingly short, teetering precariously on the edge. "Darn it Sir, it needs more oomph!" He yells down as he steadies himself, waving his arm around for balance, "When this is all over, I'm signing you up for a gym membership!" Once he has recovered a stable base, the knight holds out a hand yet again, ready to catch the next attempt. "Now then... Lady Vegazi, how's your arm?"
Sir Kibble continues to growl at the statue, ready to defend his knight from harm.
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"Agh, it's hastening itself! Careful, it'll be able to use an extra attack!" Erlathan calls from below the cliff, still wearing Bax's mask. "And I suppose I have no choice but to get back up there if I'm to assist here. No matter, with a mask like this, even a demon would tremble in my presence!"
The elf flits back onto the landing, and activates his staff again. "Behold, graven guardian! The terrifying elven magician, Erlathan! Once bitten by a scary devil bat, now devilishly scary himself!"
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Incandescence takes matters into her own paws, springing with cat-like reflexes from stone to stone, ascending the rubble to the ledge above. Nina hangs on, and once she's safely up top, she casts a greasy obstacle across the path, between the graven guardian and the party.
Vegazi steps forward, grabs the mace and tosses it to Lord Braggett. "Nice catch!"
The graven guardian draws back its bow and launches three arrows at the gnome summoner, the intruder on the path who is closest to the summit. While two miss, one of them strikes Nina in the thigh.
Vegazi
Bishop
Erlathan
Hanlin
Lord Braggett & Sir Kibble
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Graven Guardian
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Nina
Inky
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Much to Nina's displeasure, she suddenly finds herself with multiple arrows sticking out of her as the guardian reveals itself to be packing a longbow. And not only do they hit but they hit hard, leaving her noticeably bloodied and weakened.
"Oh geeze, this...this's gonna be harder than I thought..." the gnome gasps as she pulls out a minor healing potion she'd been carrying around and quickly drinks it down. "Anyone got any tricks that'd maybe make it lose that bow!?"
Meanwhile, Inky quickly steps over next to Bishop to make room for Hanlin and Vegazi to eventually make the climb up. The eidolon watches the guardian like a hawk, ready to try and help her master against another barrage of arrows.
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"Oh, dear, pepper the gnomes with arrows, will you?" Erlathan groans. He concentrates, squinting his eyes and trying to pull out a spell desperately. Nothing happens. "I've very little magic left over, so I will fall to the apprentice-level Summon Monster this time, and hope that my elemental friend can help us out. Or at least provide us with a distraction." The elf draws a large circle in the air, and a lump grows out of the ground next to the guardian.
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"I would need to get close first, Lady Brightspark!" Lord Braggett calls back to the gnome under fire, "But with my flail I cam disarm any- Aha!" He cheers as he catches the mace, "Excellent arm! Now, hold tight the both of you, we'll have you up in a jiffy." He wraps the rope around his arm a few times for a better grip and, as soon as Hanlin and Vegazi are ready, gives his faithful wolf the signal. "Kibble... Time to play tug o' war!"
*Arf arf!* Sir Kibble's tail swishes back and forth excitedly as he grabs hold of the end of the rope with his teeth. With a playful growl, the happy wolf starts tugging the rope away from his knight, just like when he was a puppy. With the two of them pulling together, Braggett hopes to save precious seconds.
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Impaled by two of the construct's arrows, Nina plucks them from her thigh and quaffs a healing draught.
While Lord Braggett and Sir Kibble fast-haul Vegazi and Hanlin up the rubble, Erlathan begins summoning another celestial ally.
Vegazi
Bishop
Erlathan
Hanlin
Lord Braggett & Sir Kibble
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Graven Guardian
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Nina
Inky