Galin stepped up to Yridhrennor's defense, slashing at prone demon. The demon rolled clear of his searching blade just in time.
Back against the gates of the Gray Garrison, Steave gritted his teeth and slashed deep into pallid demonflesh. The demon shrieked its pain for a moment before boiling away in a cloud of thick smoke.
Screaming with rage, Theran pressed his attack. His earthbreaker came down on the demon's many jaws, smashing through to the ground as the demon boiled away.
Yridhrennor took aim and fired his crossbow on the demon that attacked him. The bolt struck home, but the demon seemed entirely unharmed despite it sticking from his stolen hide.
Silent and implacable, Abelard swung his blade once more. He cut his demon neatly in half, the halves boiling away in another foul cloud.
The last demon scrambled to its feet and ran off into the remains of Kenabres.
Last guy stands up. Provokes.
no love
He runs like hell.
Steave looks around for anything important and then recovers the ladder that he brought. Unless something distracts him, he puts the ladder up to the window that Irabeth mentioned hoping that it is unlocked if not open.
Steave looks around for anything important and then recovers the ladder that he brought. Unless something distracts him, he puts the ladder up to the window that Irabeth mentioned hoping that it is unlocked if not open.
Steave ascends the ladder and finds himself just outside a narrow, shuttered window. It might make for a squeeze, but he felt confident everyone could get through. Provided he could get the shutters open. They were barred from within.
Well done, Crusaders!
Well done, Crusaders!
Steave gets down the ladder. "The shutters are locked. Let's look at the front door and knock with the battering ram."
They brought a battering ram, right?
Abelard peers thoughtfully at the latest obstacle. "Say, at least this one ain't tryin' to kill us. Makes a nice change."
Cleaning the remains of their late adversaries from his blade, he slides it back into his scabbard.
The crusaders put their portable ram to work, slamming it a dozen times into the doors of the Gray Garrison. Their final strike knocks them wide and carries the crusaders through into the foyer. The facing wall bears a frieze of mounted crusaders crashing over a horde of twisted demons, their faces couged away and graffiti adorning the whole expanse. Fresh blood stains the floor.
A small horde of dretches, cultists, and abyss-tainted rush at the crusaders from both sides.
Inits!
always acts in surprise
Total 68, average 13.6
total 29, 9.6. Party wins!
Galin steps towards the nearest dretch, stabbing at it with his rapier and barely connecting with a solid thrust,
Steave goes into battle mode becoming a flurry of kicks and punches. He strikes the tainted after Theran to concentrate on putting them down.
Starting out with a cry of rage, He lashes out at the tainted thing.
Abelard stands tall, wading into the fray. "Howdy. This shouldn't take long, folks. You're gonna feel a cuttin' sensation, and then death. Try not to gibber too much; it's off-puttin' - take it like a thing."
With that, he lays about him with his cold iron blade.
Galin stepped forward and stabbed one of the leading dretches, gravely wounding the demon.
Steave delivered a solid kick to the stomach and punch to the face to the abyss-tainted man, a fellow with ashen skin and curled horns. He fell, gasping for breath, and soon lost consciousness. Theran, enraged, rushed forward and smashed in the skull of one of the abyss-tainted men in Steave's wake.
On the crusader's other flank Abelard greeted the opposition pleasantly, "Howdy. This shouldn't take long, folks. You're gonna feel a cuttin' sensation, and then death. Try not to gibber too much; it's off-puttin' - take it like a thing." He cut a dretch in half.
Yridhrennor stepped into the Gray Garrison and uttered an incantation, holding up a hand to his mouth and blowing softly toward the crusader's right. A dazzling shower of dust fell from the ceiling, each mote glinting in silvery brilliance as it clung to the bodies of demon and mortal alike, blinding some.
The abyss-tainted men pressed in, rushing Theran in a wave. He took a small cut from their blades, but struck another down for the trouble. The dretches forge ahead next, save for the one blinded. They leave Abelard with a scratch, but he cuts down one of the recklessly advancing demons as they come. Galin emerged entirely unscathed.
Bedeviled by Yridhrennor's spell, a pair of cultist withdraw. Two more shout with unholy reverence, "In Baphomet's name, DROP your weapons." Abelard doesn't give the suggestion a moment's thought, but Steave feels a fleeting urge, easily ignored, to comply. The last cultist strode forward with her glaive and launched an unskilled swipe at Abelard. His falchion caught the attack and knocked it aside.
Will DC 17 vs. glitterdust for 2 dretches and 4 cultists.
1 dretch and 2 cultists blinded. Any who enter the AoE must save. Good for 3 rounds. Blinded are marked.
And now all those bad guys go. Let's handle the tieflings first.
miss
hit! I'm ruling the tieflings minions who can't crit against PCs. We agreed on some kind of minion rules previously and I've done a few things behind the scenes in that direction. Expect a more formal setting out of ideas soonish.
miss, and he provoked whilst moving
hit
down
miss
Last guy tries to Acro around.
on the dot
miss
Dretches. One is blinded, so no action there.
miss
miss
miss, provoked
down.
The unblinded dretch already made his glitterdust save, so forward for Abelard.
hit
Cultists.
miss
The two blinded withdraw. The one who saved moves up and tries for Abelard.
miss
That leaves two unblinded who weren't in the area. They aren't dumb enough to risk it. Two Command spells. Abelard and Steave, Will DC 14.
no love.
Steave tries to drop the abyss-tainted next to Yridhrennor, then focuses on the other abyss-tainted next to him. He leaves the dretch to Abelard.
Abelard swipes at another dretch. "Bored, now." There's no finesse to fighting a dretch, no style, just brute force. He heals himself again to relieve the tedium.
Galin stabs again at the dretch he attacked before, hoping this time to put it down as he calls out to Abelard, Having fun over there?
In his rage he sees them fall and revels in the destruction. But one thing gets him. He's not going to let them kill Yerd... Yred... the Elf. He swings back to slam that one.
Steave tried to come to Yridhrennor's aid, but found himself slipping on blood, tangled in his shield, and then parried at every turn in a prolonged string of bad luck.
"Bored, now," Abelard said, casually slaying another dretch before healing himself.
"Having fun over there? Galin asked as he put down his demon.
Theran's blood rage didn't blind him to his companions' danger. He brought his earthbreaker down on another abyss-tainted man's head. It shattered just as the last, leaving the elf splattered but unharmed.
With the immediate threat to his life gone, Yridhrennor incanted another spell and a grease slick spread out beneath a cultist and dretch. Both had their legs fly out from under them and landed hard.
The abyss-tainted men pressed in once more, one trying to leap past Theran. The last of Clan Silverlight nearly brought him up short, but his earthbreaker didn't quite connect. Caught between two of the tainted ones, Theran took a slash to the side.
The blinded dretch caught in Yridhrennor's oil slick scrambled to its feet and cast about, unseeing. The other demon yet standing scratched Abelard with a filthy claw. The glaive-wielding cultist swung her long weapon over its head and delivered a nasty gash to Abelard. The other two cultists who still had their sight rushed away, abandoning their blinded fellows to the crusaders.
Grease DC 16
and they're on their asses. Marked.
Bad guys now. We've got 3 Abyss-tainted guys left. One of them goes for acro.
fail, he provokes off Abelard.
miss. Bummer.
He attacks Abelard from the flank.
hit
That flank gave another the flank.
sucks to be him
And non-flanker.
loser
Dretches. One is blinded and on its ass. Tries to rise.
he does. But he's still blind.
Last one:
hit
And we've got 2 blind, useless cultists. Two others can cast spells. They've blown through commands, which was all they had good for offensives. They withdraw somewhere out of sight. I left 'em on the map a ways up since you have a rough idea of the building's layout.
Prone one tries to rise.
nope
Last one stabs at Abelard.
"Ok, not so bored. More like it."
Time for some swordsmanship and footwork: Abelard uses the power of his falchion gracefully, slashing at the dretch who hurt him. It's just as he practiced the move.
He heals himself again.
Steave again tries to drop the abyss-tainted next to Yridhrennor, then focuses on the other abyss-tainted next to him. This time he connects twice trying to leave someone to interrogate.
He leaves the dretch to Abelard.
Galin steps over one of the fallen demons, lunging at the next one,
He strikes out to finish off the last of the tainted the steps forward to deal with the cultist.
"Ok, not so bored. More like it," Abelard said, smoothly dispatching the last dretch that could see. Taking spare moment, he further healed himself.
With similar ease, Steave's fists brought down a pair of abyss-tainted men and left Yridhrennor again clear of foes.
Galin made to dispatch the last demon, but saw that he would need to advance into the blinding cloud of Yridhrennor's spell. He looked questioningly at the elf, who dismissed the spell with a gesture and a word. His way clear, Galin strode forward and slew the final spawn of the Abyss.
On the party's other flank, Theran slew the last Abyss-tainted man and drew up against a cultist.
The blinded cultists blundered about, groping toward the door to the east. The one still on the ground courtesy of Yridhrennor's spell tried to rise, failing. Seeing opportunity in her travails, Galin slashed across her shoulder, coming within an inch of her throat.
The lone able cultist still present drew back from Theran, putting her glaive's reach to work. Distracted by her comrades' plight and her suddenly solitary position, she failed to come near breaking through his guard.
Did some stage directions to facilitate things with the glitterdust.
Two cultists left on the board who aren't blind. One is prone. She tries to rise.
nope. Provokes off Galin.
miss
Galin stabs again at the one who tried to rise, attempting this time to put an end to her, but missing entirely.
Steave steps through the doorway to protect their flank. He takes a deep breath and surveys the room.
He is confident in his companions to finish the rest.
Not feeling the pain, he steps up to smash the cultist.
Abelard steps in to finish off the one Galin missed.
Galin made to finish the last sighted cultist, but she slipped in the grease at just the wrong time and his blade struck the floor inches from her.
Seeing things well in hand, Steave moved to the party's left flank and looked about for new perils. He found himself in a room where hung defaced portraits of past crusaders. Two marble plasters lay smashed on the ground. Mud streaked the entire floor. But unless the discarded food and playing cards at the rooms table came to life, he saw no lurking foes.
Ignoring the pain of his late wound, Theran strode forward and brought his earthbreaker down in a blow worthy of its name. The cultist died in an instant.
Seeing Galin's poor luck with the cultist still on the floor, Abelard stepped up and cut her the rest of the way down with a practiced blow.
The two blinded women reached around and with some difficulty located both the door to their side and its handle, throwing it open and stumbling through. Inhuman roars from somewhere beyond greeted them. A human head sailed past one of the cultists, striking the wall to her side with a fleshy thud.
Anyone who can fight and is present is dead or wasted their actions on some grisly amusements.
"This way is clear." Steave announces and moves toward his companions.
Theran begins to step forward when he pauses to clearly ask for the blessing of the moon.
Abelard smiles warmly, gesturing to his ruined eyes. "Good to know; I'll take your word for it. Where next?"
Galin walks ahead of Theran, blade drawn, Let's explore this way, I'll stay close enough so you can sense me. As he walks, he peers around the room.
Yridhrennor gulps and takes a few purposeful strides paste Staeve.
Oh, great. You're going to do something stupidly brave aren't you? Falfaerel moans and wraps his head under his wings.
Hush, you. And, concentrate. Another set of eyes will be helpful. A crack opens in the air in front of him and the elf diviner slips through the gap in reality only to step out of another crack that appears just inside the eastern room in the same moment. It was as smooth and easy as stepping through a door.
Then, Yridhrennor's form disappears from the room and reappears on the other side of the door. He nods to himself and dashes back towards Galin, nose already buried in a book.
1) move 15' up to just behind Galin.
2) spend 1 arcane reservoir point dimension slide for 5' to move 30' into the room up ahead (no AoO)
3) take a quick looksee (no AoO)
4) Shift 5' out of the room (no AoO)
5) then finish movement 2 squares east of Galin
"This way is clear," Steave said as he returned to his companions. Seeing a lull in the fighting, Theran invoked the blessings of the moon to heal himself.
Abelard, unable to see distant foes, bided his time and hoped for a guide. "Good to know; I'll take your word for it. Where next?"
"Let's explore this way, I'll stay close enough so you can sense me," Galin said, carefully advancing as he did. Listening carefully, he discerned four separate voices amid the din that the unseen foes had put up.
Not content with what his ears could tell him, Yridhrennor bent time and space to appear beyond the blinded cultists. There he saw deformed, upright, ratlike demons with wicked talons and fangs. He knew them at once as abrikandilu, to whom the Abyss granted claws infused with pure chaos. They would mutilate what they touched, even unto the soul itself, and brought ruin to all that came in their grasp. The entropic power of chaos so suffused them that the demons could not bear the sight of their own reflections, which brought their being and nonbeing into conflict and produced ontological contradiction. An abrikandilu so confronted would do all in its power to destroy the reflection and eliminate the negation of self.
Yridhrennor flickered back to his previous spot before the demons could strike him.
Howling in hate, they surged forward and tore down the two cultists in a gory display hardly slowed by Galin slashing one as it pushed through the door. In an instant the demons went from an unseen, distant threat to one pressing close on the swordsman.
Galin couldn't get inside the room to see the bad guys and remain in Abelard's sight range. I opted on the side of caution.
4 demons, two blind cultists. Y goaded the demons into charging in, which gives Galin a nice AoO vs. the first past him. The first two also kill the blinded cultists. NPCs don't have a right to dice vs. NPCs. :) If you want to question one later, there are other cultists that can have actually been unconscious instead of expired.
hit
down to 2 from DR.
The other two rush up, but they have to move too far to get off attacks.
Still in his battle frenzy, Theran rushes up to Galin's side.
Hearing the fight in the next room, Steave hustles toward danger.
Galin lashes out at the demon who ran towards him,
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Galin lashes out at the demon who ran towards him,
[dice=Attack]1d20+9
[dice=Damage]1d6+4
Unable to charge, Abelard moves alongside Galin.
Yridhrennor?
Yridhrennor mumbles a few arcane words and grease appears underneath the feet of 3 of the rat demons..
His rage still upon him, Theran came to Galin's side and struck with his cold iron earthbreaker. Where it hit demon flesh, queer sparks flashed and gyred upwards to flicker and die against the ceiling. Through his fury, he knew that the demon would not withstand another such blow.
Steave came forward to the demons, shield raised high, as Galin's blade flashed again. This time, the demon was wary of it and shrank back with a throat-stretching noise equal parts chitter and howl.
Abelard joined the fray, leaving Yridhrennor well clear of reaching claws and cold steel. It made for a pleasant enough change and he used the breathing room to cast another spell. A new grease slick spread out beneath the demons. One fell on its back.
The demons left standing launched themselves at Theran and his impressive earthbreaker. He warded off the first, but the second slipped past his guard, biting deep into his forearm and clawing his flank. As Theran pulled free, his eyes could scarcely leave the hideous wound the demon's fangs left. An unnatural, soul-deadening doubt gripped him. Who was he to fight demons? What made him a crusader?
The last demon, maddened by its position in the ear, charged heedlessly forward through Abelard's blade, Theran's earthbreaker, and finally fell dead to the ground courtesy of Steave's longsword.
Ref DC 16 vs. the grease.
One down on his ass, marked with an exploding butt.
Fallen guy tries to rise.
nope.
Other two go on the attack.
Vs. Theran
all misses
Vs. Theran again
And a Fort DC 13 vs. the bite.
Theran is mutilated, physically and spiritually. -1 to all cha-based checks for 24 hours.
Last demon moves in, AoOs all around.
miss
hit
hit
Galin struck out at the one who was prone in front of Abelard, hoping to clear the space around him so that Abelard could better maneuver.
"They say not to hit a man while he's down, but you're no man, so I'm in the clear, I reckon."
Abelard strikes at the prone demon in front of him.