Rost nodded his agreement to the plan.
Lets finish this.
Each of the combatants nods to each other, a silent gesture of luck for what will be a fierce conflict, and perhaps the last for some of those now standing here. A glint of knowing in each eye tells these companions that they all know the stakes; this battle must be won, and even death in trying is better than failure.
With that, Angelo links an arm with Rost, nods at the others, and vanishes from the hall. Raven and Rotann break into a sprint down the hall, each taking to the air after a short distance and flying the rest of the way.
Angelo and Rost appear at the north end of the chamber. The chamber is a grand, domed rotunda and is ringed around its edge by a parapeted balcony. On the spanning dome, some eighty feet above the floor, images of an aged, bearded human signing a contract held by a massive, flaming devil seem almost to glow as if burning, and move as if alive. On the floor beneath the sweeping dome, a massive, luminescent summoning circle undulates and crackles with trapped arcane energy. The Devil you have come to face, the Master of Belzeragna, the Devil of Contracts, stands near the southern end of the chamber, the Handmaiden, his consort and lover stands near him, a few paces to his left.
Round 1:
As Angelo and Rost appear, and Raven and Rotann come gliding into the chamber, the large Devil lifts up one hand and says,
Angelo doesn't even stop to consider the devil's offer. Following the plan they laid out in the hall, he zips across the room a foot above the floor. Once he's in reach of the handmaiden devil he lashes out at her with his fangs. His bite catches her flat footed and his nine inch long fangs pierce into her torso.
_____________________________
Hit
Rotann moves up a few more feet into the air (10 ft above the ground now) and opens fire on the Handmaiden.
The Gylou devil must have healed herself at some point, as she is clearly still standing, even after the barrage of bullets and claws.
Rotann: As the bullets hit the devil she recoils, knocked back by the impacts, and wounds blossom across her body; however, the timing of her movements seems slightly delayed...
You both realize after a bare instant that the Handmaiden is an illusion. The image is not destroyed by your touch however, as many such tricks usually are.
Following his comanions lead; Rost didnt offer a reply to the devil either. With a force of will a set of translucent wings sprouted from his back and flew into the air and settled his gaze on the Gylou.
Even devils have minds; if there is no mind there, it must be... an illusion?
Ignore the Handmaiden! She's an illusion!
Raven 5' steps closer, adopts a martial arts pose , and unleashes a full attack on the Gylou!
Ravens claws strike a tear at the Handmaiden, but as was experienced by Angelo, there is no resistance to the strikes, no sensation of tearing flesh, only claws whistling unobstructed through the air and devil alike. She reals back, the claws tearing deep furrows, and spraying inky black blood on the floor.
Like the others before him, Raven learns too late that the devil is only an illusion.
Round 2
A massive fireball races from a seemingly empty portion at the westernmost point of the balcony, striking the ground midway between Rotann and Rost. As it hits the ground, fire explodes outwards, consuming all the heroes in the resulting conflagration.
Raven somehow manages to dodge between the flames, and is completely unscathed when the fireball clears.
Rotann rides the crest of the flames upwards, and they wash over and around him without harm.
Continuing to rise into the air (15ft high now), and shifting his aim to the larger devil, Rotann continues to fire, this time avoiding the illusory Handmaiden.
Guess what: Illusion.
Angelo also flips up out of the way of the fire, taking no damage. His eyes narrow at the spot where the spell emerged from. "If sssome one can dissspel magic, do it there quickly!" he says, pointing. Then he steps back from the illusion and casts another spell on himself. It grants him the ability to sense vibrations in the air. He searches about for any hidden foes as best he can with his new sense.
_______________________________________
Success
Rost knew he couldn't take another blast like the last one and guessed his companions were hurting as well. He called upon his innate abilities and let healing energies radiate.
Raven edges forward , and unleashes a full-attack on the big devil!
Like on his previous attack on the Handmaiden, Raven finds his claws tear through the devil without resistance, and this time the image tears apart and vanishes, having done its job distracting the team. As the Devil disappears, so too does the handmaiden.
Round 2:
The area around the Eastmost point on the balcony warps for a moment, and an illusion collapses, revealing the red skinned Contract Devil looking down with a disconcerting smile on his face, and his companion devil, the Gylou, eyes closed in concentration beside him.
The Handmaiden finishes her casting and around her three winged devils burst into view. You recognize these as the same type that killed that dwarf back in the real world, just before you entered the Hall of Wards. Fallen angels, these Devils fly, use lariats to entangle, swords, or bows that launch flaming arrows.
The Erinyes spread out and attack, coordinating their attacks upon the most prominent target (at the moment: Angelo). One breaks each way, left and right at a height of some 40 ft, while the last moves upward along the dome, till he is some 60 ft above you. Each rains down their flaming arrows on the giant synthesist.
, +
Her summoning complete, the Handmaiden flies down from the balcony, closing with Angelo to attack. She comes up short at the limit of his reach and lashes out at him with twin tentacles.
One of the tentacles lashes out through Angelo's defenses, and wraps around him, gaining a firm grip.
The Contract Devil in turn begins to concentrate, no doubt on some unpleasant results he wishes to visit on the interlopers.
Angelo is caught by the b*tch again. Despite taking every precaution at his disposal. It's win or die. He lashes out at her with everything he's got, trying to kill her before she crushes him to death inside her tentacles. "Help!"
Her tentacles are restraining him so tightly that only manages to barely scratch her with his horns.
____________________________________
Miss
Miss
Miss
Hit
Woohoo...
Hearing Angelo's call for help, Rotann rises up a little further, and moves forward a touch to avoid banging his head into the balcony. He draws aim at the Gylou and unleashes everything he can muster.
Rotann hits the agile beast with a total of four rounds, but one, added only due to the effects of Angelo's Hasting spell, strikes the woman in the head, knocking her reeling from the impact. She retains her connection to Angelo, but her inky black blood splashes out from her face and flows down her dress.
The Handmaiden screams in pain. Pointing blindly in pain, she indicates Rotann.
"Kill that one!"
Seeing that the large Devil appears to be concentrating, and deciding that he would prefer *not* to wait to see what the results of that are, Raven flies forward, and attempts to disrupt his concentration.
Rost wanted to continue to heal his companions but knew that as long as they were outnumbered they had little chance of winning this fight. He stuck with their plan and with whispered words thrust his holy symbol towards the handmaiden.
A white spear hurls across the chamber to strike the devil's tentacled cohort.
Round 3:
The Contract Devil is knocked off his balance by Raven's brazen attack, causing him to lose concentration on his spell. Although he appears furious at being reduced to hand to hand combat, he attacks Raven without hesitation with his horns, and by whipping unfurling contracts at his attacker.
The attacks fail spectacularly, leaving Raven untouched.
The Handmaiden's tentacles, acting almost of their own volition, pull Angelo towards her lower body, squiggling to pull a cage around him.
Angelo is once again trapped within the tentacle cage of the Gylou devil. She moves down and back a pace, gaining a little more distance from her foe, and using him for cover from the incoming barrage of bullets.
The Erinyes all turn their attention to the attacking gunman, and launch arrow after arrow towards him.
,
Chagrined that his spell had no effect on the handmaiden, lashed out and gave the hag the Gift of Madness.
Seeing Angelo start to be swallowed within the tentacle skirt of the Gylou, he moves up further into the air and continues to fire at the woman.
Three shots connect, knocking the creature back as her blood sprays forth from the wounds. She remains floating in the air for a second, her eyes fixed on her killer, and then she drops from the sky, her tentacles relaxing and releasing Angelo from their grip. He is left floating above her mutilated corpse.
"Yesssss! Thankssss Rotann!" Comes Angelo's disembodied voice. Hoping that the contract devil at least can't see him in his invisible state, Angelo flies up towards it and tries to bite it.
_______________________________________
Hit
Raven slams into the big devil, hitting it several times, and rending flesh.
The massive red devil is surprised by the power and fury of Raven's attack, and seeing Raven closing with equally sharp claws, you think you see perhaps a moment of doubt in his eyes. He takes a step back, and raises his hands in concentration. . In an instant he vanishes.
Although the creature that summoned them is dead, the Erinyes continue to fight on. Bound to obey their master's last command, they continue to attack Rotann, and must do so until he is destroyed before they can move on to their mistress's other foes.
Rotann, feeling the attention of the Fallen Angels upon him, moves his weapons, taking aim the center creature, he fires.
The second one, the one in the middle, is struck four times. The first three shots pepper his stomach and torso, spinning him round while his eyes go wide staring at the gunman. The fourth hits him directly in the middle of the head, causing it to explode in a shower of brain, skull, and gore, until an instant later, before the corpse can hit the ground, the summoned creature vanishes, returning to whatever Hell he was summoned from.
...cant be far though...
With just the two erinyes left, Rost targeted the closest one of them with a spell suited to just this sort of thing.
"I'm going after big boy while my enhancementsss are ssstill running." Angelo says from invisibility.
______________________________________
Raven nods.
"Let me know if you spot him, and I will move to assist. I think Rotann has the situation here well under control."
Round 5:
As Angelo flies forward, he does not see any obvious sign of the red devil.
A second of the three Erinyes vanishes from sight, as Rost's spell takes hold, and forces it back to Hell.
The last of those remaining targets Rotann with his arrows, as commanded.
Rotann twists out of the way, not allowing a single one to touch him.
Whatever the Red Devil is up to, it remains unknown.
Angelo throws open the doors to the library and the lab, trying to spot the contract devil.
Round 5:
Moving slowly towards the last remaining Angel, Rotann aims carefully at it with his weapons.
The flying creature is pummeled with four hits from the guns, spraying its lifeblood out into the air before both body and blood fade away. Unfortunately, two of Rotann's guns proceed to jam through the exercise, and will need to be cleared to effectively continue the fight.
Now there is only the Contract Devil to deal with. Lets fnd him.
Rost cast Detect Magic and starts scanning the area.
Round 6:
Angelo throws open the doors of the library and the lab in turn, searching for where the Contract Devil has fled. He finds him when he throws open the door to the laboratory. Smoke is just clearing from a half dozen devils, freshly summoned from the netherrealms, they look around at their new surroundings and take up defensive positions around their master. Though none of them seem to be able to see Angelo, as none of them really seems to look at him, they all see the doors fly open and turn towards the motion and sound as they crash against the walls. The devils, red skinned and barbed bearded monstrosities about man sized, wield deadly looking halberds.
The contract devil yells, and as if to illustrate his point hurls a trio of flaming rays into the spaces outside the door.
One of the bolts whizzes past Angelo's head, but the other two connect with his body with hisses of fire and smoke.
Seeing the bolts fade from the air before contacting the wall, the first two devils thrust into the space with their weapons.
Though thrusting into his space, the attacks are paltry compared to Angelo's thick reptilian armour. Those that connect are harmlessly deflected.
"Angelo, call out the positioning of our foes, and I will Teleport to assist."
"Teleport ten feet in from the doorway, and five to its right!" Angelo calls down the hall to Raven. Angelo slides past the devils confident from their poor shooting that they can't see him. Once he's in reach of the contract devil he lashes out with his fangs, aiming for the devil's thigh. His fangs sink in deep, despite the devil's thick hide. Angelo withdraws them quickly leaving two bloody holes leaking from the devil's leg.
_________________________________________
Rost hears the call of Angelo finding the quary and flies down teh hallway after him. He waits in the hallway to give the brawnier types the direct route to the devil.
Rotann flies down the hall at expeditious speed. Moving as far as he can, one of the lesser devils comes into view, just around the corner. Rotann levels a gun and fires.
He hits the creature, spraying blood from its shoulder.