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With three people striding into melee, Olivia is a little torn on who would need her protection most. The lodestone was one obvious choice. Then she hoped the new guy's shield would protect him as she decided her other target would be the one who could not wield a shield with his two-handed weapon. Climbing on her broom, she flew as high up as the ceiling would allow before letting her magic and crossbow bolt fly free. Unfortunately for her, only her magic flies true.
Olivia believes these demons are resistant to fire, among other energy types, and non-magical attacks. The large demon is somehow able to charm the weak-minded that get too close to him with some sort of alluring stench.
Enizver muttered in mild annoyance. He would have to enchant his weapon when he had the chance. Perhaps that would negate some of the resistance these creatures seemed to have.
Still, the Gnome decides that the best place for him is to flank near Alain, and try and fire a shot through the door. To help with the situation he cast Sanctuary on himself as well.
Nervous and frustrated that the Toad-Demon he's just cursed has left his line of sight, S. A. M. turns his attention to the demon Horat has been targeting:
If target drops to zero hit points, S. A. M. curses the nearest demon.
Horat manages to strike the demon while Olivia and Enizver miss their blows, failing to land them.
Sam then launches a mighty magical blast that seems quite effective against the demon, bypassing its resistance to magical damage!
The demons claw viciously at Horat and Sam but oddly, don't attack Alain Turick, despite his expert attacks against them with his sword. Instead, the toad-like demon advances, brushing dazed and confused guards aside. He chuckles and speaks in thickly-accented common "You're the one we want!" Then he locks eyes with Turick, whose gaze begins moving inexorably toward locking with the demon's. You're not sure what will happen if Turick's gaze is drawn all the way to the demon's but you don't expect it to be good! Meanwhile, Horat and Sam find their hands full as they take two blows from the demon claws each!
Trying to make sure he had a reasonably clear shot, Enizver moved to the side while muttering beneath his breath, reloading and trying to shoot the one menacing Alain.
Despite being struck and wounded himself, Horat sees the danger to Alain and does his best to interrupt it.
"Champion! Do not meet the creature's gaze!", he yells from far to Alain's right, then disappears in silvery mist!
The Untherite then reappears beside Alain, and between a pair of demons, striking at the large one with thunderous force in an effort to sweep it down!
Horat stands ready to continue striking!
Believing that Horat's words will not be enough to prevent the champion from falling to the demon's power, Olivia pulls out a dagger, tearing a strip of cloth from her cloak. "Sir, we cannot have you falling under the demon's sway! Though I'm sure it pains you, you must at least keep your distance!" She tugs the back of the man's shirt, well aware that she would not be able to force him back should he disagree with her assessment.
S. A. M.'s lidless eye glints a faint reddish color as the lens brings the wicked toad demon into focus and out of focus. Clutching his holy symbol once again, he resonates with a faint and deep hum as he heals himself.
Action: Lay on Hands [self][15hp]
He then lifts his holstered battleaxe from his side and holds it aloft above his helmet, letting it gleam with the same dark crimson hue as his eye. He knows it's now or never to stop these evil entities. He shouts to the demons in the room: "Denizens of darkness, taste my axe! You'll never take this man while Kelemvor sustains me."
Bonus Action: Champion Challenge [all four demons] WIS saving throw [DC 14]
Channel Divinity
Champion Challenge. As a bonus action, you issue a challenge that compels other creatures to do battle with you. Each creature of your choice that you can see within 30 feet of you must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, a creature can't willingly move more than 30 feet away from you. This effect ends on the creature if you are incapacitated or die or if the creature is more than 30 feet away from you.
Reaction: Shield Spell
Casting Time: 1 reaction, which you take when you are hit by an attack or targeted by the Magic Missile spell
Range: Self
Components: V, S
Duration: 1 round
An invisible barrier of magical force appears and protects you. Until the start of your next turn, you have a +5 bonus to AC, including against the triggering attack, and you take no damage from Magic Missile.
Seeing that the champion was intent upon swinging his sword, Olivia instead opted to try to place the amulet over his head, hoping that that would at least help ward him before once more flying backwards and putting her thoughts towards helping fell the ringleader and keep her companions up. Some small part of her noted that she seemed to be getting better at this, no longer panicking as soon as fighting broke out. She wasn't entirely sure if this was a good thing.
Horat strikes the large demon but doesn't manage to trip it while Enizver can't quite get his shots lined up, for some reason. Perhaps its the strange, demonic aroma affecting him. SAM calls the attention of all the demons to himself and only the master demon manages to resist. He leers greedily into Alain's eyes but when Olivia puts the necklace on him, he curses in a booming voice "What devilry is this!?" Alain's eyes grow entirely black and he pauses, then a calm, feminine voice, that heard in your visions, retorts "This lodestone is mine. It will not fall to you." Alain attacks the demon in a vicious flurry of strikes, tearing chunks from it. Enraged, the demon strikes at Horat, trying to bring the interfering Untherite down, but he can't manage to land any of three blows on the doughty human. The lesser demons, meanwhile, swarm S.A.M. but he casts a spell and none of them can touch him.
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Enizver said a very naughty word in Gnomish that called into question the exact nature of the demon's parentage, reloading the Thunder Cannon and trying again. Now that Alain had the lodestone this should be a little different.
Enizver muttered another phrase regarding the parentage of existence itself.
"What is this indeed?", asks Horat out loud, in reply to the bizarre turn of events.
He does not however pause in his efforts to cut down the once-gloating demon, grateful for the support of his allies.
Pleased that those in melee were able to dodge and block the demons' attacks with ease and that Alain did not seem to be mind controlled by the demon (though controlled by this other entity didn't entirely seem all that much better), Olivia unleashed as much magical power as she could on the ringleader.
Wrathful against the demons who ambushed them but distrustful of the voice emanating from Alain, S. A. M. focuses on obliterating the demon he's hexed:
Enizver and Sam let loose wild attacks that can't manage to hit their targets while Horat lands a couple of blows with some effect. Olivia unleashes a barrage of force missiles that draws the hezrou's wrath. "You'll get it when I'm done with your friends!" he bellows to the flying sorcelock. But Sir Alain Turick knocks his confidence down a couple of pegs with two mighty blows from his sword. The rest of the watch stands around rather dazed and confused by demonic mind-warping.
In uncontrolled rage and total abandonment of strategy, the demons lash out fiercely! Somehow, this works and they land many, deep clawing blows. Horat dodges the hezrou's bite but is clawed twice (20 damage) while Sam heroically blocks three claw attacks but is hit by three more (27 damage!).
Olivia's confidence began to waver as her side suffers a massive beating. It was unfortunate that she had to keep pulling back her magical offensive in favor of keeping her allies standing, especially given their lack of magical attacks.
Just let them fall. Let your power rage. You will have time to revive them once all are dead before you.
A cold shudder ran down her spine as the soft voice whispering to her. She couldn't do that! Their lives were important! She needed to keep them standing.
You cannot keep the meat shields up for long. Soon they will be overrun and you will be next.
All the more reason to try to keep them up! Otherwise, she'd simply be charged now! Or Alain would be taken.
Foolish child. You would do better to let me take charge.
No! She couldn't! Gritting her teeth in determination, she let out twin bursts of healing to Horat and the strange metal man while a dark bolt of energy shot at the toad demon once more.
"If we can take down their leader, maybe the rest of the guard will snap out of it and help us!"
Horat weakens under the rain of blows but is not done yet.
He takes the briefest of pauses to leverage some control over his racing heart and torn flesh.
He calls out:
"Focus on the large one, as she said!"
Then, he continues to batter at the unholy form of the mocking demon!
S. A. M. nearly stumbles, feeling his circuitry exposed by the demons' claws. Thankfully he feels his wounds mend slightly at the word of the human. He wonders if he displeased Kelemvor in some way so as to deserve this. He agreed with Olivia and Horat, the larger demon had to be stopped, as he was obviously the ringleader, and maybe that would intimidate his thralls and awaken the guard as well. Hammering at his shield with the butt of his battleaxe, S. A. M. charges the leader and braces himself for the attacks his exposed flank will inevitably invite. He rushes between Alain and Horat to get a shot at the ringleader.
As he charges shield first, battleaxe poised to strike, he says a short prayer to himself, ignoring the enemies (and friends) all around him:
Still grumbling, Enizver moved to try and get a shot in on the biggest one.
The Gnome yelled an obscenity again.
Horat stays on his feet but misses his blow as he has little stamina left for this kind of beating. Olivia slams several force missiles into the lead demon but he continues standing and striking as Enizver misses him and Sam strikes him a solid blow.
Thanks to his metal shield, Sam manages to move without needing to spend his defensive spell (highest to hit was 20 so you never cast shield, which triggers upon being hit but it will trigger in a sec here). Alain tries to finish the demon but misses twice.
The lead demon attacks with a vengeful roar, intent on bringing one enemy down out of the fray. He bites Horat incredibly powerfully, striking him to the ground (crit bite for 25 dam). He then claws Sam but the metal man deflects the claw with his magic. The lesser demons rush over to help and manage to land two blows on Sam (Two 26s to hit for 17 dam).
Horat crashes to the ground, his stamina spent.
S. A. M.’s confidence wavers slightly seeing his comrade fall. He does what he can to revive the Untherite:
“Arise and fight once more, Horat the brave! Your time to die is not yet come. A greater death awaits you than one this demonic filth could offer!”
He then strikes at the leader once again:
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"There are only so many times you can miss," Enizver muttered as he took aim again. "The laws of probability demands this works eventually." He squeezed the trigger.
"That was EXTREMELY STATISTICALLY UNLIKELY!" the gnome bellowed as he reloaded.
As the demons continued their vicious assault, Olivia tried desperately to both keep her allies up and put the head demon down.
You can't keep splitting your attention like this. If your allies cannot put the creatures down, it is up to you. Let loose the power I gave you.
Sam strikes the lead demon hard then Enizver fires another errant shot, his thundercannon misfiring again and again. It's apparently jammed and needs to be cleared. Then Olivia fires a blast at the demon from her broom and it bursts open into flaming, swirling shadows. Its deep voice roars "We're not finished!" The guards snap out of their reverie as the demon fades away and rush forward to help, landing a few crossbow bolts and sword strikes. Their mundane weapons aren't particularly effective but their sheer numbers help greatly.
The enraged lesser demons leap about, howling and clawing. They scrape against Alain's shield multiple times then one lands a heavy blow on Sam (nat 20 for 13 dam).
S. A. M.'s targeting systems begin to blink furiously as he totters precariously, severely wounded but persistent. He swings his axe at the demon to his south-east.
He braces himself behind his shield, awaiting the next clawed strike.
Horat rises, turns, and powers his blade at the demon nearest him!
Looking at the weapon for a moment - perhaps the ridling was worn, with the unusual amount of use it had seen - before smacking it once as percussive maintenance and trying another shot.
Olivia felt a surge of energy as the demon disappeared. At first she thought it was pride or satisfaction. She quickly realized with a slight shiver that it was part of the demon's life energy flowing into her. Trying to distract herself from it, she focused on trying to take out the demons.
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Enizver, Sam, and Olivia all land attacks but none of the demons fall yet! The guards and Alain attack and continue to wear the demons down somewhat but not as much as you'd like to see... It looks like one of the demons is nearly worn down (The one furthest south now, tho he just moved to there).
The demons unleash another onslaught. Two of them rake their claws against Horat and Sam but can't get through the armor (highest to hit Horat was a 17 and highest against Sam was a 20). One demon is frustrated with his position and hacks down a guardsman, running around to attack Horat from another side. Horat strikes out as he approaches but can't land his blow.
Horat strikes at the most injured demon, hoping to finally put it down!
Feeling the healing energy flow through Liv's spell and the residual revivifying effects of the greater demon's demise, S. A. M. shouts: "They are routed! Press our advantage and blot them out! We must protect the champion!" and brings his battleaxe crashing down on the one to his south-east before lifting his shield once again.
Whooping loudly Enizver racked his next shot and fired once more.
Olivia hesitated briefly. Should she heed the voice in her head and switch to offensive now that none of her companions were down? But she knew her healing couldn't keep up with the damage being dealt; perhaps it was better to try to keep ahead?
The dying guardsman staggers to his feet and moves back carefully, drawing his crossbow and firing a wild shot that still manages to strike a demon. The group seems to have hit a stride and attacks with much more unity and power. Horat brings down the most wounded demon but these fiends aren't done yet.
They lash out wildly but only manage one blow, on Horat this time (6 dam)!
Continuing her strategy, Olivia once again heals Horat before trying to damage the most injured demon. Hopefully it would fall soon as she was beginning to run out of magical energies.
Exhausted but persistent, S. A. M. swings at the demon to his south-east once again:
Surprised by the precision and agility of the guardsman, he shouts "Great shot!"
Nodding his agreement with S.A.M - the guards had been impressive - Enizver tried to take another shot at the leading demon.
Horat does not pause. He has demons to slay.
"Strike them all down!", he yells as he strikes!
Everyone attacks but only Sam can get in one slight blow! The guards all miss as well but Alain strikes a pair of mighty blows, very precisely, one to each demon.
The demons snarl and these lesser fiends speak for the first time, venting their frustration. "We'll have him another time, lady." Conspicuously, they still do not attack Alain. Instead, they lash out at Horat and Sam, landing one blow on the construct and tearing off another gear.