Arani's readiness pays off as the Asmodeans spring their ambush, she quickly unleashes a pair of arrows at the first one to come in sight.
MANY STEPS MONASTERY/HQ OF THE SACRED ORDER OF ARCHIVISTS (8 Gozran)
The valiant Silver Ravens eliminate two more of their Asmodean foes: Arani puts two arrows into the redactor flanking T'chazzar, dropping him. Meanwhile, Davina runs through her foe and moves into flanking position opposite Leora, causing Jessibel to loose a cry of frustration...like she wanted to be the flanker. T'chazzar and Falina likewise hurt their targets, but not enough to eliminate them from the fight.
The flanked Asmodean quickly renders Jessi's concerns moot, stepping out of the flank and throwing two punches at Leora while shouting, "I need some help! I've got three over here!" One punch clips Leora's shoulder . Jessi swoops in and stabs the man hard in the torso, but despite grunting in agony, he still stands and draws breath.
T'chazzar's opponent likewise throws a couple of punches, but neither comes close to landing. The last visible redactor, the one stung by Falina's magic missile, decides that Arani's the bigger threat. He charges the archer, aiming one mighty punch at her jaw in the hopes of stunning her. He comes close, but Arani's enhanced reflexes allow her to dodge the strike.
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T'chazzar counters his opponent's punches with another pair of misses.
Leora backs into the corner so at least one of her friends can flank, and takes another swing with her rapier.
With the kind of calm that only comes with seasoned practice, Arani takes a single step backward, putting a pair of shots into the man who tried to attack her.
MANY STEPS MONASTERY/HQ OF THE SACRED ORDER OF ARCHIVISTS (8 Gozran)
While T'chazzar and Leora have trouble striking their foes, the Black Thorn continues to be a black thorn in the Asmodeans' side, dropping yet another redactor with two well-placed arrows.
The redactor surrounded by Davina, Leora, and Jessibel surrenders, begging for mercy. "I'm no threat to you!" he gasps. "You'll soon have a much bigger fish to fry! Nox! She's invincible! You should flee now!"
Falina was startled by the charging redactor but fortunately he was taken down easily. She heard another surrendering and aimed the wand at him, very close to triggering it and trying to end the potential threat. She managed to resist her urge...this time and instead moved to target T'chazzar's opponent. She triggered the wand and sent another missile lashing out at her chose victim.
"No. We won't leave, and you are a threat to us." She stabs at him.
MANY STEPS MONASTERY/HQ OF THE SACRED ORDER OF ARCHIVISTS (8 Gozran)
Falina shows mercy to the redactor who surrendered, instead blasting the fellow still trying to pound T'chazzar. Davina, however, isn't so generous, running the man through mercilessly, causing Jessibel to gasp. The young bard looks warily at the aasimar, perhaps shocked at her fellow Raven's callousness...but more likely thinking that if she dares disobey Davina in the future to do so from a safe distance! Giving a quick nod, the young noblewoman jogs down the stairs and into the next chamber, doing her best to avoid all the dangling chains. She makes the task look relatively easy.
The final redactor, not yet realizing he's the last Asmodean standing, keeps throwing punches at T'chazzar, catching the drow once in the ribs .
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T'chazzar lets out an 'uff' and slices again with his backswords.
Davania moves into the room. "These chains are annoying. Who would want something like this laying around? Davina makes good use of her current extract and moves in where she can watch the doors while T'chazzar and Jess try to finish off the last visible enemy.
"Some demented masochistic cult probably," Arani mutters, prowling effortlessly through the hanging chains as if they were silk curtains.
MANY STEPS MONASTERY/HQ OF THE SACRED ORDER OF ARCHIVISTS (8 Gozran)
T'chazzar wins his duel with the last redactor, sliding his main blade between the Asmodean's ribs. As the fellow drops to the floor to bleed out, Davina and Arani join the drow and Jessibel on the far side of the web of chains, though the aasimar is briefly snagged and slowed by the tangle of metal strands.
With the immediate threat over Falina headed back towards the doors they passed and said, "We shouldn't leave these unchecked behind us."
Leora hurries to catch up with her friends. "We should try to find that hellhound too," she adds as Falina checks the last remaining door. She tries to copy Arani's graceful movements through the chains, but instead ends up stumbling over her own two feet, allowing chains to tug and drag at her ankles.
MANY STEPS MONASTERY/HQ OF THE SACRED ORDER OF ARCHIVISTS (8 Gozran)
It starts when Davina momentarily gets entangled in the chain web but becomes obvious when poor Leora gets snagged as well. It's as if the jangling tremors of the chains have summoned a spider to feast upon its prey, only the black thing that leaks out of the dangling Asmodean corpse isn't arachnoid in form...nor is it human. It's something in between. It seems to be almost an ooze--made of the same slick black gunk Leora noticed moving on the chains earlier--but when it drops from the Asmodean's body, it does so with an effortless grace...and without the big *Splat!* sound one might expect. It moves (Crawls? Shuffles?) toward the cleric, seemingly growing three clawed arms from its mass en route. One swings at Leora but misses.
"I can get through to help her easily enough!" Jessibel declares. Though the teen easily slips her way through the chains and into flanking position behind the strange monster, her swordsmanship still leaves much to be desired, and her jab fails to connect.
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T'chazzar ducks under the chains to Leora's aid and says, "I have a bad feeling about this."
Luckily, Leora manages to stay on her feet even with the chains flailing around. "Thanks guys," she says, as Jessi and T'chazzar back her up. She brings her blade down on the black blob.
Arani utters a curse under her breath as she looks back over her shoulder to see Leora struggling with the chains, her eyes widening as the dark creature attacks. Turning and taking a step to the edge of the area hung with chains, she fires at the creature shooting a silver arrow in the event that the thing might have some sort of supernatural toughness. If that didn't work she'd try cold iron next.
MANY STEPS MONASTERY/HQ OF THE SACRED ORDER OF ARCHIVISTS (8 Gozran)
The Silver Ravens react to the new threat with aplomb and impressive teamwork. Leora and Arani wound the thing and, despite his misgivings, T'chazzar is able to run the thing through, ending the strange creature's threat before it can fully materialize. The shadow creature sinks to the floor and melts into an oily puddle before fading away completely.
There's no sign yet of the badly-wounded hell hound returning, though the doors to the east are ajar and it could conceivably squeeze through if it wanted to re-engage the party.
T'chazzar pulls his sword back and flicks it to get some of the black goo off, then with swords still in hand he makes a slow turn toward the east, trying to figure out where Falina is now.
MANY STEPS MONASTERY/HQ OF THE SACRED ORDER OF ARCHIVISTS (8 Gozran)
Jessibel joins Falina and T'chazzar in quickly exploring the rooms to the north. The two on the right wall are mere closets, devoid of anything of value. The one on their left, however, is a ransacked bedroom. The only item of note found therein is a small portrait depicting a young Rexus Victocora with (presumably) his now-deceased parents.
A subsequent search of the next hallway reveals a similar set-up: a pair of closets opposite a bed chamber. This bedroom, however, show signs of recent habitation: a backpack with simple clothing for a man (or perhaps tall woman) sits at the foot of the bed, but there's nothing of value to be found.
"Gross! That thing was just as bad as that shadow goop worm thing we found awhile ago, in the graveyard." Leora comments as they dispatch the thing that glopped out of the chains in the main room.
Leora checks the corpses of the redactors, especially to see if they have keys or other information that might help the Ravens explore the rest of the building.
Noticing her friends' injuries, she makes sure they are all gathered close by so she can heal them.
"Thanks, Leora," says T'chazzar with a nod. "We still need to find that hell hound before it escapes." He keeps his blades in hand.
"If you want me to try tracking it I can." Arani volunteers, joining the others.
With little of interest in the rooms they checked Falina picked up the picture. She figured that Rexus would like to have it and carefully tucked it into her pack so she could return it to him. She returned to the others and prepared to push ahead, wand still in hand, and kept a wary eye out as she said, "Let's get this over with."
MANY STEPS MONASTERY/HQ OF THE SACRED ORDER OF ARCHIVISTS (8 Gozran)
Leora searches the corpses of the slain redactors but finds nothing of value: apparently they take a vow of poverty in addition to their vow of servitude to Asmodeus and House Thrune. Her healing is welcome, however. Moving in the direction the hell hound fled, your group enters a spacious room. Jars of preserved fruits and vegetables and stacks of salted meat fill shelves carved into the bedrock walls. A half-dozen tables in the room are heaped with scrolls, books, and parchments.
Beyond the tables to the east is an open archway, beyond which grows a strange subterranean garden. Gathered there are the still-wounded hell hound, a humanoid brute wielding a shortspear, and the devil-woman Nox, who most of you recall from the Aria Park Protest/Riot.
”Who are you miserable pests?” Nox demands, disdain apparent in her tone. Although Jessibel and Arani might secretly fear being recognized for their distinctive armor and past deeds (Jessi for singing and dancing on the fountain’s lip at the Aria Park Protest while impersonating Queen Abrogail II, Arani for being the infamous Black Thorn), the devil woman’s gaze swiftly bypasses them…Leora too. Falina and T’chazzar warrant only a raised eyebrow. Nox’s stare instead fixes on Davina.
”I remember you from the protest…or more honestly, I remember your hair,” Nox smirks at the aasimar. ”Quite distinctive in color…quite vivid. Now the only question that remains is whether I’ll mount your pretty head on the end of my glaive or deliver you to the Holding House for proper interrogation and torture.”
”Lout can has Mask Lady?” Nox’s ogrekin bodyguard asks his mistress while pointing at Arani. ”Me can tear off veil…then eyelids…then face!”
"Oh $^@&" Leora mutters as she realizes what they're up against. She'd hoped that maybe the hellhound had been hanging out at Hocum's, and that Nox wasn't nearby. Of course, they weren't so lucky.
Welp, since this lady (and her minions) look awfully dangerous, Leora decides to give it everything she's got, to protect her friends. Pulling a scroll from her bag, she reads the last few lines as she puts her hand reassuringly on T'chazzar's back. "Protect Shadowblades from these evil creatures!"
Falina was displeased with what they found before them, not only was the hell hound there but so was a hideous humanoid and some psycho b@$*! in armor who wanted Davina's head for a trophy. That was simply unacceptable and would not be allowed. Falina said, "Foolish woman, you're serving a devil's whore of a queen which makes you little more than a puppet for hell." She smiled evilly as she said, "You're kind are so enjoyable to kill, the screams as your souls are dragged to the pit are such lovely things."
With that Falina moved and chanted while gesturing. When she finished a beam of dark black energy lanced out at the ogrekin.
Though the mask covers much of her face the narrowing of Arani's eyes and icy glare, make her feelings clear as she focuses on the beast pointing at her. "I've got something you can have!" she says, sending one of her signature arrows into the ogrekin as she moves into a position to allow the others past her.
"Thanks again, Leora," says T'chazzar, and without waiting he pivots and rushes the hell hound again.
MANY STEPS MONASTERY/HQ OF THE SACRED ORDER OF ARCHIVISTS (8 Gozran)
Arani's arrow smashes into the ogrekin, knocking the brute back half a step. That tiny bit of movement is just enough to make Falina's subsequent ray of enfeeblement just miss its mark.
The hell hound bounds forward, right up to Falina, before unleashing its fiery breath upon the sorceress and Leora . Likewise, the ogrekin closes on Arani, jabbing her forearm, a glancing blow that still deals decent damage .
Jessibel starts in on another battle chant and takes a circuitous route to aid the beleaguered archer, figuring Davina can take the more direct route and attack. Davina, perhaps daunted by Nox's threat, hesitates. The devil woman smiles, vanishes, and then reappears at the double doors behind the party. "Nowhere to run, dearie," she coos to Davina as she readies her glaive for battle.
T'chazzar, his mind already made up, engages the hell hound even as Nox repositions on the battlefield. The drow paladin smites the snarling beast, but somehow the thing survives the jab.
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With a soft grunt of pain, Arani takes a single step backward, firing a pair of shots at her opponent.
MANY STEPS MONASTERY/HQ OF THE SACRED ORDER OF ARCHIVISTS (8 Gozran)
Arani reacts quickly and decisively to the wound the ogrekin inflicted, putting a pair of arrows deep into the brute's chest. Amazingly, the thing's still standing, but its eyes aren't looking very focused or eager for more violence.
"I like my head where it is. Thank you." Davina replies. She steps up and attacks the Lout.
Leora is finally ready for some dodging and manages to jump out of the way of most of Mephiry's magma. Then she reaches into her bag of tricks to pull out, well, another trick. She reads the scroll, casting another conjuration on her comrade.
Finally, Leora steps closer to Nox, though she doesn't engage the woman. She glances back over her shoulder. If she stands here, then Nox can't flank T'chazzar with her doggie. "Run? We're not gonna run, we're here to clear the place out!"
Falina gasped in pain as the flames shot from the infernal hounds mouth but despite their intensity and her inability to dodge she wasn't nearly as badly burned as she should have been. She turned her glare on the dog and then quickly withdrew the only way she could before it could react.
MANY STEPS MONASTERY/HQ OF THE SACRED ORDER OF ARCHIVISTS (8 Gozran)
The ogrekin dodges Davina's jab, but when it turns to try to stab her its eyes roll back in its head and it crashes to the floor, courtesy of the bleed damage from Arani's specialized arrow! In a similar vein, T'chazzar dodges the fiery maw of the hell hound. The effort of the beast's lunge takes up the last of its strength and it, too, flops to the floor, dying.
It appears the tide has turned swiftly and decidedly in the Silver Ravens' favor. Then Nox strikes. A lightning-fast chop from her glaive is meant to behead Leora; it comes close to succeeding, hacking deep into the cleric's neck and dropping her in a bloody heap .
"One...," the devil-woman drawls with a smirk, taking a step closer to Leora so that any who try to heal the fallen woman will be within the extended reach of her glaive. Jessibel, who's moved to Falina to heal some of the sorceress's burns from the hell hound's breath cries out, "NO!" when she sees Leora fall. Nox grins and dares her to try to heal her fallen victim next.
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"You're next," says T'chazzar as he steps up grimly next to Leora with his hellhound-stained blades.
It seems that the tide has turned, perhaps? His divine connection has finally revealed itself at the darkest hour?
Falina wasn't happy to see Leora struck down, in fact it was unacceptable! Quickly moving to get a view Falina gestured and once more sent that beam of blackish energy lashing out this time at Nox.
Davina moves in and attacks Nox. "How dare you hurt her. You wanted my head you witch." She chooses to use her inspiration to be sure she hits Nox.
She also uses a grit point for an Opportune Parry and Ripotse
Arani stalks over to get a direct line to Nox, placing a foot on the felled ogrekin as emphasis. "When you get to hell, tell them who sent you." she says firing another of her signature arrows.
MANY STEPS MONASTERY/HQ OF THE SACRED ORDER OF ARCHIVISTS (8 Gozran)
Nox proves that she's not particularly nimble: She manages to dodge Davina's thrust but both T'chazzar's attacks, as well as Arani's latest arrow and Falina's ray, hit home. The woman merely glares at Arani rather than answer her words; when Davina makes the comment about Nox previously having said she'd wanted Davina's head, however, the infernally-infused woman snarls, "And I'll have it!"
Nox lashes out with a tricky strike when Davina draws close but her smile dies on her lips when the aasimar proves her swordswomanship. Not only does Davina parry the attack, she follows up with a lightning-fast riposte that finds a weakness in Nox's chainmail armor and pierces deep into her flesh .
Jessibel (sort of) defies Nox, casting a cure light wounds spell at a safe distance and then moving up to Leora to deliver it . She also keeps singing to inspire her fellow Ravens.
The cockiness has left Nox's eyes even though her wounds start to heal. She takes a step back and launches her next mean swipe at T'chazzar, perhaps to see if he's an easier mark than the tricky redhead. Again, Nox proves to be a horrifyingly brutal combatant, her glaive strike powering through the drow's defenses and leaving him gravely wounded . Jessibel, seeing Leora stir, tersely whispers, "Healing wand?"
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T'chazzar takes the brutal hit, turns his head to one side, and spits out a gobbet of blood. Through bloody teeth he says, "Not good enough."
He steps in.
"Thanks," Leora says hoarsely as Jessi's magic revives her. She fumbles for the wand that Jessi suggested and uses on herself, then holds it out, still groggy from just waking up and not sure if Jessi wanted it to use on someone else, or was just suggesting Leora use it.
Although she's not sure how long she's been out, Leora is pleased to see Nox looks battered, but not so pleased to see that T'chazzar must've been gashed by her glaive too.