Besh fires off a magic missile which slams into one of the demons, which shrieks. They snarl and start moving in. As they do, Lyr suddenly shouts out a warning as he spots a third one leap out from the darkness at the group, lunging at him with a glaive! Lyr is stabbed, but saved from a devastating sneak attack.
Besh
Lyr (-12)
---
Demons:
Red
Plain
Yellow
---
Saphren
Zoso
Brenna
|
"Time to shine! These babau have an acidic coating on their skin which can ruin your weapons, use cold iron and good-align against them!"
As the demons begin to surround, Zoso starts to sing inspiration as he looses an arrow at the demon attempting to flank.
"Ahhhhhhhhhh AH!
We come from the land of the ice and snow
From the midnight sun, where the hot springs flow!"
Brenna grimaces and draws a dark, dull gray iron dagger. Her hand pauses momentarily by her axe out of habit, and she has to pause to grab the dagger instead. She moves in to attack the one that stabbed Lyr.
(1 point is cold)
Beshtori begins humming Zoso's tune to zirself, and twirls in dance a few times. As ze does, you notice everything around begin to slow down; as if you suddenly had more time to contemplate the meaning of life, the universe, and everything - even in the midst of melee combat.
Zoso bursts into song as his arrow flies to hit the yellow babau solidly! Brenna then rushes up, and it stabs at her, but the huge warrior blasts past its defenses to slam her dagger into its chest! Acid sizzles on the blade, but does not damage it.
Besh
Lyr (-12)
---
Demons:
Red
Plain
Yellow (-24)
---
Saphren
Zoso
Brenna
Saphren pulls his cold iron falchion as he charges the center demon.
Lyr stepped back next to Beshtori and fired an arrow of white light right into the monster's face.
Saphren charges right for a babau, who stabs him on his way in, but the falchion connects deeply. He yanks it out before the sizzling acid harms the blade. Lyr then channels his God and blasts a babau full in the face with brilliant light!
The demons move in, and two converge on Saphren as the one in the north jabs at Brenna repeatedly. Brenna blocks all of the attacks, while Saphren avoids most of them, only to get stabbed once more.
Besh
Lyr (-12)
---
Babau:
Red
Plain (-32)
Yellow (-44)
---
Saphren (-27)
Zoso
Brenna
Lyr drew a cold iron arrow and fired.
Lyr's arrow bounces off of the babau's thick hide.
Brenna stabs at the demon that she faces while screeching like a harpy (an angry one, not a melodious one). Even as acidic spray spatters off her armor, leaving smoking spots on it, she keeps ramming the dagger home with relentless force.
(includes raging, power attack, bardic performance)
(includes raging, power attack, bardic performance)
Zoso concentrates his fire on the babau Saphren has already injured, and all three land solidly, almost killing the creature outright. Brenna then continues to tangle in very close quarters with the babau, brutally yanks its spear to the side to stab it twice in the chest.
Besh quickly chants a spell, and the ground becomes slippery below the two babau south of Saphren. They both keep their footing.
Besh
Lyr (-12)
---
Babau:
Red
Plain (-73)
Yellow (-66)
---
Saphren (-27)
Zoso
Brenna
Not liking the idea of standing his ground Saphren is reluctant to let these demons attack his caster and archer friends so he stands and fights despite his reservations. Focusing on first the injured demon he steps forward and takes two attacks. If the first enemy drops he attacks the second.
Saphren's falchion makes quick work of one of the babau and he deeply stabs another one. The red babau tries to step back on the grease, but almost falls. Snarling, it throws back its longspear and tries to rip Saphren apart with its hands, but he avoids the attack. Meanwhile, Brenna easily blocks the attacks from the babau she's engaged with.
Besh
Lyr (-12)
---
Babau:
Red
Plain (-73)
Yellow (-66)
---
Saphren (-27)
Zoso
Brenna
Brenna jams her dagger at the babau next to her again, somehow managing to keep in close while stabbing with the short weapon in spite of the demon's lanky reach.
Two more arrows streaked toward the red Babau on the ground.
Brenna deflects the longspear before lunging in, stabbing the babau viciously in its chest several times. It crashes over, dead. Lyr's arrows streak towards the lone remaining babau, the first one connecting solidly.
Besh
Lyr (-12)
---
Babau:
Red (-10)
---
Saphren (-27)
Zoso
Brenna
I aught to get some kind of elf medal or something for standing toe to toe with a demon. Crazy thing to do. Saphren complains as he cuts at the creature again, landing two critical slices.
Two of Zoso's arrows fly in, and Saphren then does what he does best as he slices apart the babau with two brutal blows of his falchion. It collapses to the ground.
End of Combat
The babau unfortunately had little of value, and appeared to be a patrol. You manage to extract yourselves from the city exiting out the west gate, and returning to the camp. In the south of the city, the war wages on.
============
============
Weary and haggard you return back to the camp to find many dead and even more wounded, but a general sense of optimism among the army. Your long day is not quite over yet, however, as you are ushered in to speak with Eviana and several of her officers.
"Thank you for rescuing Kaerishiel and his troop, we need as many able-bodied combatants as we can get right now. I am glad you have met Beshtori as well... and that his fireballs are being directed somewhere away from our army."
She steps back, and turns to address the room.
"This battle has been brutal," Eviana says with a clenched jaw. "But I feel that we still have a chance at victory. With the aid of these heroes here, our forces have managed to clear a path to the drow stronghold in Celwynvian: the Academy of Arts. We won’t be able to hold this route for long, though. The time for our decisive strike has come."
Eviana turns to the five of you. [b]" I would like you to participate in the attack. We have limited forces to commit here, with our kin spread so far around the city or holding the route to the Academy, so you’ll be one of three small teams moving against the building. It is my hope that we can capture or kill the drow leadership, secure access to the Armageddon Echo portal, and finally bring this war to a close. I can understand if you feel this is beyond you, and I would find another group if one was available, but this is just not an option. I need you. Will you take on this last mission?"
On the way back to the camp Saphren asks Anyone got any healing? I got stuck a couple times by them demon assassin things. he shows off his wounds. Shoulda dodged this one. He got me coming in for him. I'll remember that for next time.
Thought you'd never ask. How can I give up the chance to show you elf boys how its done. Saphren says with a half smile that shows he knows exactly how serious the assignment is. You sending us in cold, or do you have some intel to share. And are there any supplies to requisition? I could use anything that makes me stronger or quicker or hit harder.
Lyr spent a minute or so patching Saphren and himself up.
|
|
Zoso perks up at the mention of the operation, in particular the detail of delving into the Academy and interacting with the portal itself. He agrees with Saphren's request for information with a nod.
"I couldn't agree with you more Eviana, an opportunity to study and control this Armageddon Echo device is worth everything. We'll do this for you," Zoso looks around group who all appears to be in agreement, "but we don't want to be left out of any intelligence or decisions going forward. If we capture this portal for you then we're involved in deciding it's fate and functioning in the future as well. We'll just call this our last test to gain yours, but mostly Kaerishiel's, trust."
Brenna stretches awkwardly and cracks her knuckles (quite a feat in gauntlets). Then she says, "I'm raring to fight, though like Saphren said if you have anything else to spare, that would be appreciated."
Tori looks shy in the presence of Eviana, but perks up at the mention of the assault "ooh, a portal - that sounds like fun! Just... um.." frowning slightly "... maybe just don't put anything using extradimensional space through it..."
Eviana looks over to Behstori before speaking.
"I forgot you're a late comer to the battle. The drow numbers have been strangely fluctuating - vanishing when we prepared a major strike and then coming in large numbers with our backs turned. We thought they were fleeing into the Darklands but it turns out they were using a pocket dimension called the Armageddon Echo. This portal is the key to their stronghold in Celwynvian, and if we seize that, their troops will be unable to retreat and we will have them."
She looks wearily at Saphren's request.
"I will see what I can find. This battle has been grueling for our soldiers and supplies are thin. It's reasonable of you to ask though."
Kaerishiel, who was sitting with the rest of the crowd, speaks up as Zoso interjects.
"You and your friends saved my life, Zoso. I am not warm to outsiders with good reason, but you have the fullest support of the Shin'Rakorath. You have proved your merit. As for what happens to the portal..."
He shoots a glance to Eviana. She speaks up.
"What is done with the portal itself is still to be determined - we don't know enough about it. You will be included in those discussions; you've earned that right. Now."
She gestures over to a table. Kaerishiel, and the ranger Shalelu join you.
"There are three entrances that we will tackle with three teams of five. You will be one. Kaerishiel will lead the other, Shalelu will lead the third. The entrances are the main doors in the front, and two holes in the exterior in the west wall, and in the north roof. The main doors are guarded by a host of drow. The west hole is guarded by some drow and dretch, while the hole in the roof is probably the easiest to breech and mostly guarded by troglodytes and a few drow."
She looks at you.
"Which entrance do you wish to attempt?"
Kaerishiel steps back, and indicates that you can choose first.
Lyr chuckled. It sounded more like a wet cough. He nodded his approval.
Brenna bangs one of her gauntlets against her breastplate, making a loud clang. "Let's run them into the ground," she says.
Have had little trouble with the dark ones but those smelly demons were a hard to close with. Saharan says in way of agreement.
You are dismissed and collapse into a fitful sleep in your tents. All night, the groans and cries of the wounded being brought in from the battlefield make it an uneasy night before the final assault on the Academy.
The following day, you are up well before dawn and meet with Kaerishiel and Shalelu. Kaerishiel tosses a bag to Saphren.
"Eviana manages to get this together for some additional supplies. If you are going to brave the front assault on the gate, so be it. I'm going through the hole in the west while Shalelu's rangers are heading in through the roof."
Within the bag are the following:
- a wand of cure moderate wounds
- a potions of heroism
- a potion of protection from arrows
- a scroll of black tentacles
Kaerishiel's fire pelt cougar rubs itself up against his legs as he speaks. "We'll approach the academy as one and split up just before we're in sight. Once the spire on the academy is lit by dawn's light, we strike as one. Anyone who gets ahead of the rest will put the rest of the drow on alert."
The journey through Celwynvian is eerily quiet considering the incredible noise of the battle over the past couple of days. There are very few drow on the streets, and it is no problem to avoid them. Finally, the edge of the Academy can be spotted by the elves in the pre-dawn twilight.
Shalelu and Kaerishiel clasp hands with all of you.
"Good luck."
The two other groups vanish into the bushes.
The building itself is made of stone and consists of three domed structures surrounding a low, one-story stone bunker. The domes are of white marble and thick with ivy and other creeping vines. All doors are made of stone. The front entrance has some bushes and two large columns partially obscuring sight, however the front doors are long-since gone.
Lyra took the more powerful curative wand and handed the less powerful one off to Zoso. "We should spread these out in case someone goes down." he explained.
"Does anyone need Antitoxin?" Lyr asked the group, opening a pouch and pulling out a handful of water-soluble tablets. He breifly lowered his mask, exposing his horribly damaged face, popped one in his mouth, took a somewhat messy swig of water, and put his mask back up again.
|
|
Zoso nods and takes the wand from Lyr, removing an antitoxin from his pack as he stows the healing device. "Cheers, to the best of times." he says with only a hint of nervousness in his voice.
Grimacing off the bitter taste, "Agh, so we wait until the dawn's light. Then I say me, Besh, and maybe Lyr pump these Ballista shots through the front door's opening while Saph and Brenna advance. We'll be able to give arrow cover once the risk of collateral damage becomes too great. Move up and summon as needed. Damn, is it just my antitoxins or is this an especially tart batch?"
Besh interrupts a bizarre series of stretches to accept the scroll and an Antitoxin tablet from Lyr. With eyes lowered, ze thanks him shyly.
Before returning to zir preparation, ze pulls out a wand and, pointing it at Zoso, whispers a word of command.
Nothing happens.
Frowning, then shaking the wand vigourously, ze tries again. Becoming agitated, Besh looks like ze is about to start shouting commands at zir wand before stopping abruptly and slowly sheathing the wand of magic missile, hoping nobody noticed.
Drawing the correct wand, Besh provides Mage Armour to those who need it.
Saphren surveys the contents of the bag before selecting a single potion bottle from it and passing alone the rest of the contents. You sure you want to bring along the siege weapon? We cannot guard it once the fight starts. I'd hate for it to get recaptured.
He quaffs an antitoxin and drinks the Heroism after the other two teams depart and just before the rising sun. Invisibility would get me in the front door and where I can do the most damage Besh. Cast it on me just before we start the assault and just after the haste. I say haste will be most useful to close and put down the initial resistance.
With the two groups of elves heading in their separate directions, you slowly approach the academy. From down the street, you see that the front doors are in fact missing - a huge gaping hole in the front of the academy stands there instead. The entrance is somewhat obscured by trees and two large pillars.