Turn 1 - Go if bolded
Status: -
Perrine
Yagi
Zailus
Vari
Rakmool
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Fighting alongside the First Guard forces, Pathfinders have defeated many of the invading army’s commanders. Without their minotaur overseers to direct their wrath, many of the demon-flesh constructs slow—or even begin fighting one another. The victory is short-lived. Bellowing with Abyssal rage, a massive construct takes to the sky, for a moment blotting out the sun before landing messily atop a squad of the First Guard. The brute is shaped almost like a dragon, but its elongated body, misshapen limbs, bulbous head, and grotesque wings are all stitched together from demonic skin and flesh. It easily swats a dozen soldiers into the sky with one of its immense claws before roaring a second challenge.
As if sensing a worthy rival, the statuesque Gulgamodh flares with angry light and roars before leaping Absalom’s walls and lumbering to stand beside the ones who hold its key: the Pathfinders. Who among you is prepared to guide Gulgamodh’s hand?
Vari walks up towards the minotaur and attempts to hit its tender bits.
To no avail.
Rakmool apparently doesn't like the situation. He takes two swings in rapid succession, screaming in rage. Or pain. One of those.
But the pathfinders deftly dodge the attacks.
Turn 2 - Go if bolded
Status: -
Perrine
Yagi
Zailus
Vari
Rakmool
Rakmool's lifeless body collapses to the now bloodied stone floor. As if on queue, an eagle soars through the sky and turns towards you to drop a package.
The package is a scroll case with a letter and several items within. As Gulgamodh's steps shake the very ground, you read the letter:
Gulgamodh needs to be controlled from a short distance. You are behind enemy lines, where he is needed. I hope you're up to the task.
Good luck!
-MF
Enclosed within the scrollcase are several small, odd items - a broken cogwheel, a dented metal ball, a cut chain link, a bent spool, a metal cup with a hole in the bottom, and a misshaped metal rod.
As you pick them up, you feel a flash of insight, and you immediately understand the inner workings of the items, as if you have created them yourselves.
Perrine - Boots
Yagi - Head
Vari - Heart (on handouts as head #7)
Zailus - Voice
Gulgamodh runs past you, and is headed towards the winged monstrosity made of flesh...
Turn 1 - go if bolded
status: -
Yagi
Zailus
Atalazorn
Perrine
Vari
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Zailus picks up the cup with a hole in the bottom and then immediately smiles. "Ohhhh a big strong giant metal robot man with a voice I can control, be still my beating heart." She brings the bottom of the cup up to her mouth and starts speaking into like a megaphone, her voice issuing from the mouth of Gulgamodh instead of the mouth of the cup.
She then snaps a hand out and grabs out the bent spoon. "And I get to spray things with it's massive gun! It's not my birthday, right? Cause damn this is a nice present!" A smile slpitting her face, Zalius takes the bent spoon in one hand and holds it out straight, the arm of the robot following her movements. The inner curve of the spoon then starts to show an image of the area the arm is targeting allowing her to take aim. "Exploding in three, two, one! BOOM!"
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An elite team of Pathfinders pins down one of the draconic monstrosity Atalazorn’s limbs, giving Gulgamodh an opportunity to grab the beast’s head. After a brief struggle, Gulgamodh decapitates the abomination, which falls to the battlefield with a shuddering crash. With the giant construct leading the way, formations of the First Guard and Pathfinders converge on the siege castle.
Gulgamodh bulldozes down the outer gate head-first. Waiting inside is a battalion of demons led by a minotaur champion with metal plates bolted to its body and wielding an overlarge sword. It sweeps the sword at Gulgamodh, tearing open a terrible gash that nearly splits the giant construct in two. Gulgamodh lets out a drawn-out, metallic wail before collapsing in the gateway.
The ancient guardian may have fallen, but the path into the castle is open. Don’t waste this opportunity!
The winged monstrosity roars as it first gets hit and subsequently charged by the metal giant Gulgamodh. The two colossi clash with each other as the ground trembles. Atalazorn takes to the skies, away from Gulgamodh, and suddenly turns around. It unleashes a stream of directed acidic fumes at the metal giant.
Gulgamodh attemts to shield itself with its offhand, but to no avail. The acid breath worms around the shield and hits the golem in full.
Turn 1+2] - go if bolded
Status: Gulgamodh -27 hp, +2 to attack rolls
Yagi
Zailus
Atalazorn
Perrine
Vari
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Zailus tosses the spoon over to one of the other women, and brings the cup up to her lips again. Shouting into the piece, she places a hand on her hips and moves it suggestively.
She glacnes over at Perrine and Yagi and realizes that they didn't copy her movements. In a slightly peeved tone she asks, "What are you doing? That tactic only works if you use your hips! Shelyn forgive me, but that was teeerrrrrible. Standing ramrod straight while trying to flaunt your ass just does not work! Sheesh."
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*miss*
,
(overclock)
*miss*
,
*fail*
,
,
*miss*
,
Perrine concentrates on her key, trying to anticipate the draconic constructs next moves in order to side step them before it can do even more damage to Guigamodh. But she can't quite focus on the control and the target at the same time, much less figure out whether the red blinking light beneath its head means attack or danger or abort. Beside her, Vari has a little more luck controlling the heart, as she lets her intuition take over, first twisting it one way, then shaking it slightly, before turning back the next. Somehow, that combination seems to work, and Guigamodh's damaged outer armor starts to self-repair from the acid that pocked its surface.
Zailus seems to be enjoying the amplified voice, firmly entrenched in the go loud, or go home camp as her voice, though still audible to your ears, is echoed by the much louder and more mechanical voice of Guigamodh across the battlefield for everyone else to hear. She continues to taunt it, but seems to be running out of effective words to use on a giant metal draconic construct, and they sound a little lame, even to her ears, much less the rest of her team!
Yaki focuses his attention on the head's eyes, scanning Atalazorn while the creature hovers out of your reach. He immediately notes at least two different weak points along its exoskeleton where a blow in the right spot would be sure to breach its structural integrity! Of course, he has little chance to do more than point them out to the others, before Atalazorn dives back into the fray.
With savage ferocity more reminiscent of the draconic creature it resembles, the construct dives right back in, pouncing on the Guigamodh construct and tearing at it with claws designed for destroying siege towers, and jaws that could crush rocks. The sound of metal tearing at metal is almost deafening. Even from a safe distance, you can see metal plates being torn off, and thrown aside looking more like twisted scrap metal than the protective armor of a metallic warrior. Atalazorn's tail whips around, piercing through the gaps created by the rending claws, piercing through gears and mechanical systems like they were flesh.
Despite the onslaught, Guigamodh still stands, all its system still online. It is obvious that it can not stand such treatment for much longer, so everyone focuses on trying to do as much damage to the dragon as they can before it flies out of reach once more!
Perrine stomps down with one powerful foot, putting the full weight of the construct on Atalazorn's wing. As she does so, she sweeps the gun arm around and pressed it up against its head. Atalazorn tries to bite through the arm, before it can fire, but can't maneuver with its wing clamped in place, and instead takes a full barrage of metal pellets across the side of its face blowing one of its eyes off.
Yari focuses on the heart, sending extra energy racing along Guigamodh's systems into the arms. She then takes the control key for the arms, and instead of swinging just one, somehow manages to engage both. The first one slams across the dragon's frame, though skitters off the plating there, barely scratching its hide. But before it can recover, she swings the other fist in a massive backhand, that slams across Atalazorn's neck, sending the already damaged head reeling backwards.
Zailus figures out a new way to use the cup, placing it over her mouth like a megaphone, and screaming... though loud enough where you stand, at the site of the battle a wave of sonic energy booms out from Guigamodh's mouth so loud, that Atalazorn's entire left side starts to spark and buckle from the pressure, behind it, one of the nearby tower walls is reduced to a pile of rubble and you have a hard time hearing anything but ringing in your ears for a moment. Not giving it a chance to recover, Zailus then grabs up the fist key, and flips it over, causing Guigamodh's arm to swing once more, smashing the buckled section the sonic boom just damaged. The plates there start to buckle even more, and the draconic construct having hard time operating the wing on that side.
Yagi pressed the advantage, smashing down the heavily armored plates on Guigamodh's head onto the Atalazorn's already damaged metallic skull. Already missing most of its occular section from the earlier firearm blast, Atalazorn does not sense the incoming blow until it is too late, and the entire section of its head seems to cave in. Not done yet, the tengu takes up the gun arm again, thrusting it right into Atalazorn's mouth. It tries to clamp its powerful jaws down and sever it from Guigamodh's arm before it can fire, but Yagi is too quick. With a boom that almost rivals the sonic one Zailus created moments before, the gun goes off. Atalazorn's metalic head seems to evaporate. One moment there, though heavily damaged, the next, there is only a thick metal neck, thrashing about in the air.
Sparks start to cascade along the constructs entire length, plates and cogs falling off and exploding out its side, as it staggers to one side, tries to right itself, but overcompensates and ends up crashing into another ancient siege tower on the other side, smashing through the door and gate alike! It does not get back up.
A cheer goes up from the Absalom forces all around!
The way now clear, you race to the tower it fell into, most of the gate house destroyed by the giant constructs defeat. The collapsing wall and construct seems to have done your job for you, almost half a dozen demon-tainted foe lay crushed beneath falling stones and metal.
The way now clear, the Pathfinder teams are able to reach the gates, and soon they too lay destroyed before you!
Pathfinders pour through the broken gate into a sanctum teeming with fiends. In two towers that flank the large room, lesser demons furiously work levers and cranks to load ballistae of Abyssal steel and demon sinew to fire wicked bolts upon the charging Pathfinders. Atop a tall platform stands a demon much larger than any other, chanting and weaving dark energies to open what looks like an extra dimensional portal. You move in with the stream of pathfinders, and see a minotaur's head - symbol of Baphomet - drawn on the platform in blood. To the sides, on two tower-like structures, demons pull levers and cranks to load up ballistae.
"Someone take down those siege weapons, or they will turn them in our direction!", someone yells in the crowd, pointing at the taller platforms.
Like a group of lions chasing a hurt buffalo, you are on it, and go for one of the platforms. A red-skinned, horned humanoid with a pair of black horns gives orders to two tieflings as they work the ballista. He sees you coming up, and hisses angrily at you, with his scimitar ready to cause pain.
As pathfinders and other Absalom defenders run up the central platform, they clash with demons in a fierce battle as swords clash, arrows whiz through the air and the density of magical energies can be smelled.
Turn 1 - go if bolded
Vari
Perrine
Tieflings
Yagi
Zailus
Red Demon
Perrine and Vari move up towards the ballista. The tieflings continue to load the siege engine, and point it in your direction.
Turn 1 - go if bolded
Vari
Perrine
Tieflings
Yagi
Zailus
Red Demon
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Yagi whistles at Yiel-Dan and points to the northern Tiefling. The great reptile squawks and flies up to attack them .
Meanwhile, Yagi moves up the stairs.
Rather than rush up the stairs and be attacked, he casts a spell and waits for the demon (?) to come to him. For now.
Come down here, ugly, ee. I have a present for you, oo.
Zailus rolls out her flag and holds it high, providing encouragement to the party.
The red-skinned creature scoffs at Yagi's comment, and moves over to Yeal-Dan, blade ready to strike.
He fails to strike, however. The tieflings continue to prepare the ballista to fire at you, despite being attacked by Yeal-Dan.
Turn 2 - Go if bolded
Status: +1 morale bonus on attack rolls, weapon damage rolls, and saving throws against fear and charm effects
Vari
Perrine
Tieflings
Yagi
Zailus
Red Demon
Vari swipes at one of the tieflings as Perrine moves in closer. Her strike is not accurate, however.
"Stop messing with the machine and kick these mortals off the platform, you dogs!", the demon shouts at the tieflings. They oblige. They quickly draw their daggers and go all in.
The quick change of focus causes them to miss as well.
Zailus continues to wave her flag below, providing encouragement.
Turn 2 - Go if bolded
Vari
Perrine
Tieflings
Yagi
Zailus
Red Demon
The demon lashes back at the tengu with his blade.
The distraction provided by Yeal Dan prevents him from striking, however.
Turn 3
Status: +1 morale bonus on attack rolls, weapon damage rolls, and saving throws against fear and charm effects
Vari
Perrine
Tieflings
Yagi
Zailus
Red Demon
The ritual below seems to be nearing completion, but is being interrupted by other pathfinder agents.
Vari continues attacking one of the tieflings.
The tiefling siege operators strike back at you...
... with various rates of success, if you consider various to be anywhere between zero and zero.
Turn 3
Status: +1 morale bonus on attack rolls, weapon damage rolls, and saving throws against fear and charm effects
Vari
Perrine
Tieflings
Yagi
Zailus
Red Demon
Red -3
Blue -3
Cambion -4
Yiel-Dan provides another ample distraction for Yagi to strike the demon with his blades. A severe hit causes him to collapse to the floor, bleeding.
Turn 4 - go if bolded
Status: +1 morale bonus on attack rolls, weapon damage rolls, and saving throws against fear and charm effects
Vari
Perrine
Tieflings
Yagi
Zailus
Red Demon
With a quick strike, Perrine dispatches yet another foe. Two down, one to go.
Vari tumbles through the reach of the tiefling's shortsword and stabs him between the shoulder blades. This causes the tiefling to lose consciousness and drop off the platform. The crunch noise is heard as the tiefling hits the stone stairs beneath you.
With the platform now free of distractions, the party gets ready to load up the ballista and fire it at the demons on the central platform to help their allies.