Aldren cursed silently to himself. We need to get it in the room. The half-elf willed himself to appear as the noble-disguised Maglap, then stepped confidently into the room, whip in hand.
"Mewling quim, it's not for you to understand the details of the ritual. We merely follow her orders to exalt Mahathallah," he growled at Lubella. His gaze slid towards the horned beast in the hall and affected an expression that blended mild-surprise with relief, "Ah! There you are. I was looking for you."
Aldren-as-Maglap-as-'Generic Noble' then went to sit in the chair and put his feet up on the desk.
Hearing Aldren's ploy, Arcos quickly adjusts his sleeves of many garments to take the form of a manservant's garb before following Alren.
"Master, you must stop letting the slip run wild like that!" His voice trails off as he sees the horned creature. He nods to it and says with a sigh, "Ah, well. You know the impulses of nobility."
Too many cooks spoil the broth, or so his mother tells him. Rather than try to add to the bluff, Talvek downs a potion of invisibility and steps just inside the room, rapier at the ready should the situation turn violent.
Lubella cannot quite make out what sort of creature it is as she speaks with it, stalling for time.
vs Bluffs
vs Stealth
He steps forward and considers the words of the humans while scratching his twitchy beard.
You catch him glancing at the far (east) door and seems anxious, but not sure if it is eagerness or concern
Yes, the ritual for HER. I know that! But it nigh time to get started. I have waited here in this stupid boring room entirely too long.
Lubella retreated to the side of the desk, deciding to let Aldren play out his ruse. When the red-skinned, horned creature's attention was focused on 'Maglap', she whispered, "He glanced at the far door across from me; seems anxious about something."
At her next opportunity to speak unobserved, she whispered, "Maybe trick him into revealing the location of the boys?"
While Aldren-as-Maglap tried to figure out what the outsider was and why it wasn't attacking them, he watched the outsider through half-lidded eyes, a look of casual disdain combined with body language that was decidedly unhurried. Interesting. Maybe we all look the same to him. He looked briefly at Arcos, his brow arched in exaggerated patience, then slipped his full attention back to the guard.
As he was trying to keep the creature's full attention on himself, Aldren heard Lubella's whisper but didn't want to risk a reply. He'd also picked up on the same thing. So, he said, "Yes, well, there are a few things we need to do first to prepare them. Do you know where the whelps are now? Have they been moved yet? Or have you been so thoroughly forgotten in this room they're not sharing that information with you?" Needle the pride but not so much as to anger it.
Fhingle moves up behind Acros looking around the mans hip at the Devil inside the room. After seeing what it is Fhingle wracks his brain trying to figure out exactly what kind of devil before moving behind the desk.
Fhingle doesn't say anything as he has already heard Lubella being called a slave and knows that it may be best if the second slave acts a bit more like a slave
No, they have not been moved yet. I am still guarding them. But I will not take orders from any but her. She calls the shots. I get my payment on thirteen. Done!
The creature grins malevolently while motioning vaguely to the east with a wave of a clawed hand
He also steps south again.
Aldren glanced over towards the door on the east wall, "Ah, good, still in there..." He brought his feet off the top of the desk and stood, whip in hand. 'Thirteen'?
"So," he looked back at the devil, "How many more do you need after these two before you get paid? And then what will you do once done?"
Lubella resisted the impulse to tighten her grip on her scimitar. She didn't want to give the outsider any warning that she was about to strike. Was this a devil? She thought it probably was, although she wasn't sure. Whatever it was, it seemed eager to reach the door. Five more feet.
Speaking to Aldren and ignoring Lubella for now.
Stupid waiting. Just a few more until I am paid. These two will scream plenty. Why she delays just to annoy me? I need more. Always MORE! he growls and seems to be frustrated as he steps closer to the door.
You cannot go this way. Off limits.
Lubella had never been great at doing what she was told. She generally followed the directives of the church, although she often interpreted specific instructions by what she thought they ought to be in the current circumstances. She generally followed social conventions, although she didn't feel bound by them. And she'd gotten in trouble for a number of indiscretions in her younger days. Listen to a presumed devil? She moved to attack!
Sensing aggression the devil prepares his preemptive vengeance.
STOP! I, Elgadazum command you mortals!
He raises his glaive as Lubella considers her attack.
25-Lubella(cats)
19-Elgadazum()
14-Fhingle(), Arcos()
9-Sidius(), Aldren(), Talvek(invis)
Lubella imbued her blade with arcane power and spun into her battle dance. She danced, closer yelling the traditional Sarenrite battle cry, "For the Sun and the Fury!", and swept her scimitar at the fiend's legs.
Lubella dances within reach of the devil and slashes him with her small mithril blade, drawing ichor and a shout.
Ahhhhh! Finally, an end to this boredom!
He steps over to block the door and swings at her, first with one clawed hand, then the other.
for miss
for miss
He howls as she is too fast for him, as he regrips and shakes his glaive at her in defiance.
YOU WILL DIE FOR THIS!
=== Round 1 ===
25-Lubella(cats)
19-Elgadazum(-16)
14-Fhingle(), Arcos()
9-Sidius(), Aldren(), Talvek(invis)
"Oh! We are betrayed! It is so hard to get good help." Aldren feigned shock as he considered the glaive, then remembered their problems killing the imp that had infested the Wasp's Nest. It was immune to most of our weapons -- silver it is.
He wasn't going to risk getting close enough to the devil for the piddling damage his dagger would do, so he dropped the whip on the floor, drew his crossbow and loaded a silver bolt, whistling a light-hearted tune to himself as he did.
Aldren drops his whip and loads a crossbow.
=== Round 1 ===
25-Lubella(cats)
19-Elgadazum(-16)
14-Fhingle(), Arcos()
9-Sidius(), Aldren(), Talvek(invis)
Talvek moves along the walls to position himself north of the devil as he lunges with his rapier. Alas, his own invisibility fouls his strike, as he finds it difficult to judge the weapon's trajectory.
Sidius considers the beast a moment, It's likely too powerful to be slumbered... but I can at least ruin its day... He turns his will toward it, focussing it, and then throws an Evil Eye to keep the monster distracted and make it easier to strike.
Fhingle touches Aldren, a few quick words in Celestial and Aldren feels more healthy and powerful.
Arcos shifts back into his vigilante's outfit before slinging some lightning at the devil.
Fhingle tags Aldren with some encouragement.
Talvek sneaks invisibly within range of the devil but is confounded trying to align his blade without his vision. But just as suddenly he and it becomes visible.
Arcos has no problem hurling lighting at the brute, extracting a minor burn on the creature's red skin.
Sidius focuses his evil eye on the foe with a twist of fate.
and the devil succumbs to the hex almost effortlessly.
=== Round 2 ===
25-Lubella(cats)
19-Elgadazum(-19, AC-2 x5)
14-Fhingle(), Arcos()
9-Sidius(), Aldren(aid+7), Talvek()
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Lubella continued to press her attack on the devil (it was a devil, wasn't it?), trying to remain inside the reach of it's polearm; "No more torturing for you!", she cried, slashing viciously.
Lubella spins gracefully under the arms of the devil and slashes him viciously across the underbelly , drawing ichor and a howl.
”Ohhhhhh. You will pay, welp! You have not seen the last of Elgadazum!“
And with a puff of smoke, he disappears from view.
Aldren stares at the empty place where there is only a bit of smoke and the whiff of brimstone for a solid two count before saying, "That... is getting irritating. Lubella, Talvek, one of you want to check the door? Might be trapped."
He grabs his whip from the floor and slings it at his waist, but keeps the crossbow ready with the silver bolt loaded.
Talvek gets to work examining the door, trying to work quickly, but thoroughly. If the devil had teleported somewhere, no doubt he was raising the alarm and gathering reinforcements. Best not to give them too much time to prepare.
Talvek finds the wicked looking glaive on the ground. The door itself appears to be locked.
Lubella tried to take advantage of the creature's momentary inattention.
Sidius winces, "We seem to be collecting fiends who don't like us. That's not a good thing."
Lubella gets one last cut onto the beast as he vanishes into the ether.
Upon further checking the door, the lock is not lock but the door appears to be just stuck due to swelling at the frame.
Talvek isn't sure but thought he heard noises from the other side of the door. They seem to have stopped for the moment.
Lubella replied to Sidius, "Can't be helped, unless you know of a way to stop them from teleporting away."
Turning her attention to the portal, she urged, "Let's get this door open." She leaned into the door, straining to help the tiefling open it.
She slipped and almost fell flat on her face.
"There's someone on the other side of the door. Better be prepared." Talvek murmurs as he sticks the tip of the rapier between door and frame, in an attempt to get it unstuck. He ends up fruitlessly stabbing at the wood.
"It's done. First priority is getting the boys... let's hope the fiend didn't teleport to kill them." Seeing what the others are trying, Aldren shrugged a bit, set the crossbow down on the desk, and tried ramming his shoulder into the door a couple of times.
Despite Lubella and Talvek's minimal attemps, Aldren the Mighty, steps in and with a quick yank on the handle, unsticks the swollen door.
Two young men, both thin and disheveled, cower in the southeast corner of this otherwise bare chamber. Faces dirty and streaked with tears, both teens are bound hand and foot by manacles chained to a single ring set in the stone floor. Scratches on the stone walls from desperate fingers attest to the fact that these twins are not the first of this room’s recent prisoners.
"Oh, thank the gods!" Talvek is relieved not only at finding the boys in time, but also at not having to delve too deep into this subterranean complex before doing so.
"Are you Angus and Phenio?"
He sets to work unlocking their manacles.
Lubella was very relieved to see the boys still alive. She said to them, "Angus and Phenio Shellet? I'm Kyda; we're here to take you home. Your parents will be very glad to see you!
"Jackdaw, can you unlock their manacles?"
When they were finally free of their restraints, she offered them food and water.
Aldren quickly dropped the disguise of Maglap’s noble. Instead, he switched back to the black and gold armor he’d “worn” earlier but this time with just the hood and no mask. Then he stepped into the room and took in the boys’ condition and the room itself.
Gruesome. Why are they sacrificing kids? And why thirteen? As Lubella and Talvek fluttered over the boys, Aldren brought his speculative thoughts to an end and looked more closely at them. ”As she says, lads, we’re here to help, but that devil is still about. Are you hurt? Can you walk?”
As they look at you with fear in their eyes, you can see these are undoubtedly the missing twin boys.
Talvek is able to free the first boy of his manacles but not the second, despite his attempt.
The first boy tries to stand and seems incredulous as they did not expect to be rescued.
Thanks...I...I am...Angus Shellet and this is my brother Phenio. We were kidnapped by these cultists several days ago.
Who are you again? Are the bad people...are they gone? Please! We have to leave...now!
Aldren can tell they are hungry, thirsty, and traumatized by the recent events.
Lubella helped Angus up and replied to him, "We're the Silver Ravens. We heard you'd gone missing, and got a lead that you were being held in this complex.
"As for the bad people, we killed several of the cultists. The devil fled after we sliced him up."
She unstopped her waterskin and offered it to him, "Here, have some water."
"This one is a little warped, let me try again."
The second set of manacles clicks open, and Talvek nods in satisfaction.
"Alright, let's get these boys home."
As the boys, fortunately, were not dead, the Calistrian felt no particular need to go on a blood-letting rampage through the cultists’ den. However, as he listened to the direction of the conversation, Aldren coughed softly and said in Halfling, ”This is no place for these boys and we clearly need to get them out of here, but if this is a place you intend to convert to a base of some sort, leaving now surrenders an opportunity to wipe out the rest of those who know about it and could betray its location later.”
If nobody else picks it up, Aldren will secure the glaive before they leave.
After listening to Aldren's comment, Lubella asked the boys, "Can you tell me how many of the bad people you have seen in this place? Did one of them seem to be in charge? We've seen five regular looking people, and one guy with red skin and horns."
Sidius nods, "I agree -- we should take a look - both with an eye to claiming the place and to ensure we've eradicated the cult - as much as we can,at least. Especially because this would be a riksy place for us if the Cult - or fiend - are still out there."
Angus nods and drinks the water, still unsure whether to believe it all.
That is good if you killed them. But did you get her? The leader? She likes to boss everyone around.
Talvek takes another try and successfully unlocks the manacle on Phenio.
Oh thank you so much. Yes, the devil even served her. And maybe a dozen of the other she-devils with mixed eyes.
Both boys are now standing, albeit on wobbly legs and still trembling from their ordeal.
Aldren has no problem picking up the dropped glaive outside the cell.
Lubella replied to Angus, "I'm not sure — what did she look like? Was she dressed differently than the others?"
After Phenio's comment, she said, "Sounds like there's at least six more around. I think we need to deal with them; we don't want them kidnapping more people to sacrifice."
After Talvek unlocked Phenio's manacles, she cast her eyes around the cell.
"Yes, we should clean up this nest of devil worshippers, but we also need to focus on the boys' safety. Any thoughts?" Seeing Lubella look around the cell, he checks it over as well.
Lubella and Talvek fail to find any doors in the cell, or see anything else beyond scratch marks showing the boys were not the only victims to have been held here.
However, as they are searching the room, an opening in the wall, very well hidden, becomes evident as the cracks show the light from beyond.
Talvek, Lubella (only) see into the room and a quartet of cultists looking into the room. They spot you with the prisoners.
QUICK! They are escaping with the sacrifices, our Lady! they cry out further back into the great chamber to the east.
All 4 duplicate themselves.
=== Surprise Round (move or std action only) ===
22+ cultists( red) (orange) (green) (blue)
21+ Lubella(cats), Talvek()
19+ Fhingle()
16++ Elgadazum(-4 )
16- Arcos(), Aldren(), Sidius()
5+ Leader()
"Go — I'll cover your retreat!", Lubella urged the twins. "Stay with the group!" She readied to attack to first cultist that came through the opening.
"If they want to recapture the twins, they'll have to go through me," Talvek growls as he he takes a high lunge position, ready to skewer any cultist daring to come through.