Undari/Elemental continues to maintain the whirlwind (standard action) and flies quickly up in the air, dragging the deadly fog away from his companions (speed 90 hasted, just put a vertical tag on them at about 100feet up or so, for simplicity).
Thorek's first swing leaves the phantom armor dented and misshapen like a discarded can, its wounds blackened by divine fire. His second swing leaves the hulk an inanimate, ugly heap of scorched metal upon the ground. His third swing only misses because his target is already dispatched.
Not to be outdone, Esperanza cuts down the third and final armor. Although her latter swings struggle to pierce the thick metal, they manage to find their mark. As surely as if it had been an enemy of flesh and blood, she separates critical joints so that it falls to the ground, the spirits bound within freed from their prison.
Undari hauls the mist further into the air above the battlefield. The amorphous creatures recoils with a sound like a very distant roar when the bolts of Gaius's spell impact and detonate upon its wispy mass.
Lily affixes her mesmeric eyes upon the ghostly faces that appear in the roiling mass high above.
Her first arrow strikes a coalesced, almost solid chunk of the mist, damaging its whole. Her second arrow, though, merely passes through harmlessly.
Meanwhile, the elemental-form Undari continues to dodge and weave as tendrils of burning mist reach and grasp for him.
Undari/Whirlwind holds the deadly mist in place focusing all his effort into trying to rip it apart as arrows and spells come flashing in at it.
"No way José, that's all you Gaius! Hit it with that baby making magic! UH! UH!" Flopsy shouts, hip-thrusting twice before slipping out of sight.
________
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Gaius reddens a little at Flopsy's order, on the one hand not sure at all what she's talking about and on the other uncertain if his friends will take that as some sort of insinuation.
Nevertheless, he unleashes another barrage.
________
Unable to reach the swirling cloud high up in the sky above her, Esperanza falls back to screen Gaius from attacks.
Frowning up at the whirlwind, Thorek cups a hand next to his mouth and shouts up. "You're going great, Undari! You just, hold 'em there I suppose." Turning to Gaius, the dwarf spins one gauntleted finger clockwise in a hurry it up! gesture.
Gaius' latest battery of magic missiles strikes the mist, resonating especially hard, owing to the Painful Stare that Lily affixes to the gaseous foe.
Unfortunately, the mist shows no signs of yet weakening.
Unable to break free and unable to engulf Undari high above, the trench mist again attempts to seize the transformed druid in its burning grasp.
Miraculously, Undari continues to escape the massive, albeit formless aberration caught in his whirlwind.
Ejecting the fog cloud out of the top of his funnel (free action), Undari/Elemental shrinks from his 30 foot height back down to 5 feet, suddenly looking like a very weary and somewhat dizzy and translucent version of himself. With the aid of Gaius' haste, the druid speeds back to the group (90', so still probably 10-15 feet up given the diagonal) and turns to cast a spell at the fog cloud he just expelled.
Casting Flame Strike on the creature, Undari sends a column of holy fire ripping into the acid cloud twenty feet in diameter and forty feet tall, enveloping its entire amorphous form. "Sorry, I couldn't hold it any longer," gasps Undari/Elemental.
Fire and Holy Damage, DC 19 Reflex for Half
Gaius sputters and starts as Torrak gestures for him to hurry it up. I'm firing so many missiles already! I'm even using that loop hole I found for a whole other missile! What else am I supposed to do? "I'm doing everything I can," he mutters weakly.
When Undari funnels the mist out, his eyes go wide. "Scatter!" he shouts, firing more arcane energy as he runs.
________
Strafing south so that no matter who the mist goes after it can't get everyone, Thorek chants another battle-prayer to Angradd and feels the holy fire wreathing his dorn-dergar begin to radiate intense heat.
"You're doing well," Esperanza reassures Gaius, before moving to follow his instructions. She stands near the remains of one of the destroyed armors, and shouts a wordless challenge at the animated cloud, her glaive braced for a counterattack.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Still reeling from the whirlwind, the mist is unable to evade the brunt of Undari's fire. As his and Gaius' spells strike the aberration, they trigger an explosion of radiant fire. A more solid enemy might have been wrenched apart by the powerful magic force unleashed.
As the struggle stands, although the mist begins to descend back towards the scoured battlefield, it is clearly losing cohesion.
Lily just stares at the mist kind of dejected at how she can't mind control it and fires off one more arrow.
A bit of Lily's mesmeric magic ensures that her arrow manages to wound the mist.
Like an angry wave, the trench mist rolls down from the sky and bears down upon Thorek.
Undari/Elemental swirls his hands together and forms a ball of fire, shooting it at the noxious cloud. Another sphere of fire forms in the elemental, but does not yet fire (only one shot on the same round as casting, I think).
"DON'T LET IT TOUCH YOOOOOU!" Gaius yells at Thorek. He starts casting another round of force bolts.
________
"Come on then, you cowardly cloud!" Thorek bellows at the mist, then intones a prayers and with a flash and shower of sparks a glowing greataxe materializes next to it.
Esperanza steps up to the poisonous mist, her glaive's blade dancing all around it in a confusing display. Even after making her actual strike, she continues to harass the creature.
Lily tries to attack the mist but isn't sure her aim is correct due to the amorphous nature of the cloud.
Thorek's spiritual weapon cuts through the mist, its holy fire searing at its amorphous form. This is exacerbated as Undari hurls a gout of raw flame at the foe.
Esperanza's whirling glaive seizes the gargantuan aberration's attention, just before she uses it to slice through the mist - although she likens the feeling to slashing at the sea. Nevertheless, the magic blade burns away at its ephemeral mass.
Gaius' latest barrage of magic missiles explodes and nearly rends the trench mist, wisp from wisp in lieu of limb from limb. This leaves the creature a hollow shadow of its former malevolence.
It is Lily's arrow that finally ends the trench mist's cohesion, striking the last bit of...whatever it is that binds such a thing together. With a voiceless moan that briefly sets the ground itself rumbling, the trench mist dies and evaporates into the aether.
His translucent form drifts back to the group, Undari/Elemental speaks with a hollow voice, "We were fortunate to avoid the touch of that malevolent cloud. I could sense its evil intent while it was within my whirlwind."
"I've never seen anything like that," Esperanza says, rejoining the others. "Trolls, hobgoblins, and giant zombies, I know how to fight. An evil cloud of poison? Not so much."
"That was horrifying! If we hadn't ended it now, imagine the countless citizens and would-be-heroes it would likely have laid waste to..." Gaius says softly. So many would have died. We were fortunate ourselves too, as Undari said.
"Your whirlwind was a wonder to behold and no doubt the reason why we were spared the extent of it's Evil! Now then, what, uh, what's the plan again?"
Indeed, that went better than I expected. I suppose we should inspect the area where the mist and animated armor was, then on to the next task. I could go up high and see if I can catch a glimpse of any Ironfang armies on the march,” says Undari, moving to scout the area.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"You were all spectacular," Esperanza adds, smiling. "I am fortunate to be one of your number."
"Is this something the Ironfangs conjured? Or created, somehow?" Thorek nudges one of the fallen piles of scrap-armor with a boot. "Nirmathas is in dire peril if the Ironfang Legion knows how to deploy these things regularly..."
As the group makes ready to leave, Thorek dismisses the floating axe and gives Gaius a comradely thump on the back. "Good blasting, Gaius! We'll make a soldier of you yet!"
With the evil mist destroyed and dispersed, the scorched and furrowed ground around Redburrow now lays bare. Inside, you can see the burned and twisted corpses of the village's fallen defenders, as well as Hobgoblin legionnaires and minotaur auxiliaries. These larger, more monstrous soldiers wear armor akin to that of the phantom armors, suggesting their origin.
High in the sky, Undari sees no nearby contingents of Ironfangs. However, perhaps eight miles to the north, he can dimly make out signs of a large military camp set up among the ridges of the Hollow Hills.
Returning to the others, Undari reports, "I see no Ironfangs on the march right now, but there is a large military camp set up about 8 miles to the north, in the vicinity of Radya's Hollow. I could not tell for sure from this distance, but it could the their main force."
"Should we investigate, or head to Longshadow now?" asks the translucent druid.
Or I suppose I could get a closer look while I am in this form and assess numbers and types of enemies, then catch up to you on the way south. That way we can give Longshadow more specifics," offers Undari as an afterthought.
Gaius almost manages to take the full brunt of Thorek's thump, but does his best to look as tough as possible. He responds with his best guess at what a manly grunt would be.
"Undari, while admittedly it would be through no risk on my end, I think the more we can provide Longshadow, the better off we will all be."
Thorek shakes his head sadly at the destruction before him. "Angradd, these are not our people, but they died bravely defending their homes. Please, bless and keep them on their way to the Lady of Fate's realm."
Coiling up and stowing this dorn-dergar, Thorek begins pulling bodies from the rubble and arranging them in state. "I'm not as familiar as I should be with Nirmathi burial customs. Are their dead buried, or burned?"
”In this form, I can reach the camp in less than an hour. Add some time for looking around and returning, it should take me less than 3 hours. If I stick to the clouds, I should not be noticed,” offers the wispy cloud-like Undari.
"Be careful, then. In the meantime we can tend to the fallen."
"Right," says Undari, "I will return."
Gaining altitude and aiming for the clouds, Undari/Elemental speeds towards the distant army encampment.
Perhaps owing to its emphasis on individualism, there is no unified burial custom in Nirtmathas. Typically, residents of the land's scattered towns and villages will default to the customs of their favored religion. However, there is a preference for burial over cremation, with some scholars and tavern goers alike speculating that it represents the Nirmathi belief that they will always return to reclaim this land no matter the calamities arrayed against them.
Two tall towers of wood have been erected, each one watching either the northern or southern ends of the camp. They hem in a collection of drab tents that form a rough circle encompassing the uppermost ridge of this steep hill. Red banners flutter in the winds that roll down to the prairie below, and the smell of animals and rotting meat wafts up to tinge the air.
A line of ten iron gibbet cages dangle from wooden posts, left hanging over an abrupt cliff, slightly removed from the camp proper.
Besides the troop of hobgoblins that occupy this war camp, you can also spot - oddly enough - perhaps a half dozen harpies patrolling the perimeter.
Staying well away from the harpies and keeping to the clouds, Undari tries to get troop type and numbers, emphasizing stealth over gathering intel if he has to make a choice.
If the harpies are not near the gibbets (and they are otherwise isolated), Undari will risk approaching (perhaps using the cliff as cover) to see if there are any prisoners left alive.
A seventh cage contains, strangely enough, a naked hobgoblin man.
Once he is ready (and assuming there are no obvious enemies nearby), Undari will head over the the gibbet on the end bearing a human and whisper, "Remain quiet and I may be able to help you. Whisper to me, what has happened here in Radya's Hollow?"
The human occupants first react with surprise and fear, but as it dawns on them that you may be here to rescue them, they are forthcoming with information.
In hurried whispers, they tell you that Radya's Hollow fell to the hobgoblins...they estimate two weeks ago. Their recent harrowing experiences have blurred their sense of time. The conquerors enslaved the population and put them to work reopening the old mine around which the town was originally founded.
These prisoners represent residents who managed to flee, but they did not get too far before running afoul of other Ironfang patrols in the area.
Unfortunately, your time is running short. The spate of activity and conversation among the caged prisoners seems to have attracted the attention of some of the harpies, and a pair of them are winging their way over to investigate.
Undari quickly says, ”I’ll be back,” and flies off in his translucent form to hide and prepare the Warp Metal spell. 15 minutes later if the harpies are gone he will continue with his plan. He is wary of the hobgoblin, but hasn’t been told anything about him yet. Let me know if you need rolls, etc.
Even when the harpies finally leave the prisoners alone, they do not go very far. What's more, the commotion seems to have roused the attention of the company of hobgoblins stationed at the camp. Their patrols go on alert, wary of saboteurs or rangers skulking about.
It soon becomes clear that even if you manage to sneak in and free the prisoners, getting them out and away from the camp is all but impossible.
Meanwhile, back at the scoured remains of Redburrow, the party finds spades and shovels left behind by the residents and militia. Once used to dig the village's ill-fated defenses, they are now - in a macabre and bitter turn - used to bury its fallen defenders.
Realizing with frustration the murmuring of the prisoners has put the enemy on alert, Undari regretfully accepts temporary defeat and makes his way through the layers of clouds until he is alone above them, then races back south to join the others in Redburrow.
When he returns to Redburrow, Undari is able to report on the size of the force camped upon the ridge. The contingent numbers about two dozen, including a pair of sharpshooters stationed at each of the watchtowers, and the commander who was accompanied by some manner of wolf or large hound. Furthermore, he also identified five individual harpies before being forced to withdraw.