Now that the opposition is lacking Juraan looks around to see if there might be anything near him to open the draw bridges:
"Th-that was r-r-ridiculous..." Marigold sighs, relieved to be done with the battle - at least for now. But she still feels uneasy. Surely there were other kuo-toa in the complex somewhere that had heard the cries of alarm and sounds of battle.
"L-Let's get p-patched up q-quick and g-get to s-somewhere more defensible," she continues as she works to do just that. "There c-could be m-more of them on the w-way!"
_______
"Thank you for that, Marigold!"
Hearing the din of battle has subsided, Maxim continues to scrutinise the statue, but quickly realises it is beyond his ken... luckily he knows a man who may...
From the level below the gunmage hails his scholarly companion;
"Drakblood! Now ye've finished playin' with the frogfolk I've somethin' down here ye might want to cast a look at!"
JJ checks the body of the closest soldier but finds no potions on it, just a trident, a shield and a crossbow with no bolts left.
Ryan checks for the lever to extend the bridges, but finds nothing. Even flying in front of the doors brings nothing of use.
Marigold heals a bit Juraan while the professor looks around with no apparent result.
Maxim points an almost unperceptive shimmering light accumulating in a large plate at the feet of the statue, just on his level.
Kikinnin does nothing to sort through the bodies, nor does the statue draw his attention. The doors leaving the large chamber do. He looks to and fro, worrying that more frogs will come wriggling through the entrances and attempt to avenge their brood brothers.
When the group is relatively close to each other, Kikinnin kneels, and touches the floor. The black beard closes his eyes, and presses the welling energy in his chest into the stone, touching all present with its healing strength, lent from Abadar.
Standing up, he waits until his friends are satisfied with the facets of the large chamber, then moves to the double doors that should lead back to the very first place they entered into Ball-Hamtuggin.
Joining the other Ryan is pleasantly surprised by Kikinnin's growing mastery of his own healing powers. "Thank you, your power appears to be growing quickly."
Looking around he notices Marigold is still looking a bit worse for wear.
Laying a hand on her shoulder, he holds up the key at his neck "Abadar, grant your healing to this little one who works to protect and heal those is her charge."
Kikinnin regards the priest's words. "I wouldn't say 'power', Ryan, as much as I would 'privilege'. Feels like Abadar considers me a decent receptacle, so He pours a little more of His power for me to hold. It's my job to see it shared, is all." The black beard watches as Ryan shares with Marigold, and nods, nonetheless.
"Th-thanks! I f-feel much b-better now," Marigold smiles gratefully at Kikinnin and Ryan. "And I like the w-way you p-put that, Kikinnin. A 'receptacle'...m-maybe that's what I am, t-too. I'd never really th-thought about it th-that way b-before."
Then, as Maxim draws everyone's attention back down to the previous level she makes a face. "B-Better go s-see what's going on..." she nods before heading back down the stairs.
JJ takes a seat for a moment or two.
"That was hard work. I'd not want to do that every day, and I'm not sure we are any closer to finding our missing dwarf. He doesn't appear to be tied up here at all."
" A 'receptacle'...m-maybe that's what I am, t-too. I'd never really th-thought about it th-that way b-before."
Kikinnin turns to Marigold. "When I get time to think on it, it is a curiosity as to how we come by these wonders. When JJ heals himself blue, does he have an invisible fairy on his shoulder touching his wounds? When Maxim packs his pistols, how does anything other than the black powder come blasting out of the barrels?" The black beard pauses a moment, his nose scrunching in phantom form.
"When I get to thinking on what to ask from Abadar, it's not unlike a sneeze that builds up, but never releases, just eases up. But it's dependable. Not sure what it'd feel like if I called out, and heard nothing in response. Now that I know there are answers, if you ask respectfully."
"That was hard work. I'd not want to do that every day, and I'm not sure we are any closer to finding our missing dwarf. He doesn't appear to be tied up here at all."
"Closer, only because we've cleared another chamber. We press on, we'll lessen their numbers, and find Splintershield, one way or another."
Wounds are healed.
While others do their things Kikinnin descends to the mid level and open the doors there. A corridor opens in front of him, then moving to the next set of doors, he confirms the corridor connects the mid-level with the entrance.
Satisfied for a possible path of retreat, should it prove necessary, Kikinnin points out both sets of double doors, on the upper level, and on the ground floor.
If there appears to be no objection to either set first, Kikinnin heads back down the stairs to the ground floor, and flings open the double doors.
JJ hurries down to stand next to the rugged dwarf.
"I'm wondering if we should go back and talk to the two liars again, see if they can provide any directions to where we might find Splintershield."
He shakes his head.
"That is not a very inspiring name, is it?"
Maxim continues to wait by the statue, he hears mutterings from above and the unmistakable clanking of his bror's heavy armour marching around.
"When you lot are finished gassin' up there send down the Prof. Reckon his scholarly qualities might answer a conundrum I came upon..."
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"That is not a very inspiring name, is it?"
"If you knew the Splintershields in their better days, you wouldn't say as much." Kikinnin looks ready to say more, but holds back. Their better days are so far behind them, the boy's not wrong.
Kikinnin holds up, not wanting to deny Maxim the chance to study something more closely. "Sorry, Bror. Was pushing forward a little too hasty. You go on and speak with Juraan on your came-upon."
The black beard waits by the ground floor double doors, and prepares for something unwanted coming through them, while Maxim and Juraan puzzle through their conundrum.
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Ryan settles next to Kikinnin at the lower set of doors, readying himself for when they pass through. Thinking on Kikinnin's description
"I wouldn't say 'power', Ryan, as much as I would 'privilege'.
"Ruphus always described it as being like a pitcher, Abadar fills you daily, and it's your responsibility to judiciously distribute what you have been given. But I meant power as in proficiency with a skill. JJ has great natural talent for his swords much like you with your axe, however it takes repeated use to become proficient in using those instruments and your granted powers."
, Juraan shouts down below:
⋮
Once down by the statue, Juraan will check out the plate thingamajiggy Maxim mentioned:
"...I meant power as in proficiency with a skill. JJ has great natural talent for his swords much like you with your axe, however it takes repeated use to become proficient in using those instruments and your granted powers."
Kikinnin relaxes a little more with added company at the ground floor double doors. "I can see how practice with our weapons only increases our skill in the kill. Not sure I see how using the healing over and over gets me more proficient with it. I think it's just proving to Abadar I've got the sense to use it properly. I get the sense that He'd lose respect for me if I gambled it away..." He scratches his beard, frowning.
"So, when you're not on expedition, do you make sure to have cast all your magical allocation before the sun goes down? For your priestly practice?" The black beard looks Ryan over, curious as to his response.
Marigold continues to make her way down the stairs but stops on the middle level as she sees Maxim and Juraan staring hard at something. "Wh-what is it, g-guys? M-Maxim, did you s-see s-something?"
_______
"We're just examining an odd looking plate that Maxim found."
"Odd p-plate?" Marigold asks, giving the pair an odd look of her own. "Sh-show me wh-where?"
Once the odd plate is pointed out to her, Marigold frowns as she considers it for a moment.
"I h-have no idea wh-what that is," she announces.
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JJ comes over to join the inspection.
"Hmm...I think I recall reading about something like this. It was in a later volume of the Vampire picture novels. The hero, Dan 'Crossbow' McGregor had been lured into hell by a Succubus. Which by the way totally doesn't happen as they are demons and live in the abyss, anyway..."
At the lack of assisting knowledge, then JJ's outlandish assertion based on children's novellas the gun-mage merely arches a bushy eyebrow and sighs;
"Hell's Teeth... Vampire Novellas? Thank you for the insight Professor Surabar..."
"No... you see while there are some inaccuracies in them, - for the sake of story line- there is a lot of really good stuff in there too. I've done real research as well you know. That is why I know about ..."
JJs face turns a little red. And not from exhaustion.
"Anyway.."
"Are you done, then? We don't have time to fritter on art appreciation. If you've got what you can, let's move on." Kikinnin waves at the double doors, gesturing like he'd like to open them sometime today.
"Don't be too cross. Besides you never know if something like this could come back to haunt us later."
"Anyway, I'm ready to proceed."
"D-Didn't you get in t-trouble for reading one of th-those once?" Marigold asks once they're ready to move on to the other set of doors that Kikinnin seems keen to open.
JJ observes the plate in the distance he quickly forms up an idea in his mind.
You conclude a breach to the Hell is being opened. It is like if the statue was making a call.
But things go to fast for him to communicate them. All of a sudden the shimmering in the plate becomes a blast and a befallen angelic warrior emerges from the intense light.
The creature has not been summoned, it is a real creature, product of a planar ally call. You do assess though the call is temporal and it may come back to its plane after a certain time, probably in the minutes range.
The creature was called by the statue. A trigger set after 2 minutes from the moment a good creature stepped into the room.
Wings stained black shear the air as her merciless eyes search for a target.
The creature is a devil erinyes.
Known by many names—the Fallen, the Ash Wings, and the Furies—the devils called erinyes mock the form of the angelic hosts in their exaction of vengeance and bloody justice. Executioners, not judges, erinyes alight upon the bladed eaves of Dis, Hell's cosmopolitan second layer, ever attentive for chances to soar into battle, whether in defense of Hell, on the whims of diabolical masters, or at the impassioned summons of jilted mortal summoners. All erinyes weave deadly living ropes from their own hair, which they use in battle to lift their foes into the air, mocking and condemning their victims for their transgressions before dropping them from great heights.
Erinyes appear as darkly beautiful angels, augmenting their sensuality with deliberate bruises and scars. Yet despite their beauty, erinyes are not seducers—they lack the subtlety and patience required for such fine emotional manipulations, and instead vastly prefer to solve their problems with swift and excruciating violence. Often, an erinyes will stay her hand before attempting to slay a foe simply so she can draw out the victim's suffering. Death is usually the only way to escape an erinyes's not-so-tender attentions, and the most powerful of these devils excel at keeping their enemies alive but helpless so as to extend their torment—many going as far as to keep their victims alive with magic. Rumors hold that the most powerful erinyes torturers have skills that allow their torment to continue even after their subject has died from their attentions.
Most erinyes stand just under 6 feet tall and weigh approximately 140 pounds, even with their black- feathered wings that stretch over 10 feet wide.
They have DR against non-good weapons, spell resistance, and resistance to acid and cold.
"ಲುಕ್ ಔಟ್, ಇದು ಒಂದು ದೈತ್ಯ!" Marigold cries out in warning as the winged being appears. With a pang, she realizes that they were all still too spread out for many of her spells to be effective - so she draws out her little-used protection wand and gives herself a tap.
"L-look out, it's a m-m-monster!"[/I]
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"Interesting..." says JJ "That plate looks like"
And then the angel appears.
"Okay... not expecting an angel." he says.
"That creature, if it is an angel, has just come straight from Hell. So even if he is an angel, he might not be expecting nice folk like us. I'll maybe just give him some room while he orients himself."
JJ adopts a fully defensive stance.
"ಹಾಯ್, ನಾವು ಸ್ನೇಹಿತರಾಗಿದ್ದೇವೆ" he calls out.
"Give it time to orient itself? Why not just offer it some tea and biscuits?", blurts out an exasperated Juraan ...
... Who then promptly shoots at the fallen angel:
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"What are you doing? It might have just been fighting the forces of hell and we have activated a way for it to escape its doomed fight. It could join arms with us and help us on our quest, and then, when done we could accompany it back, bringing a shining crusade of knights with us to battle the very forces of hell at their front door." exclaims the lad in a single breath.
"Actually that would make a great story, I'll find the publisher one day and suggest it to them. Beats me why the author keeps themselves secret. This is quality reading material."
As the fallen angel steps out of thin air, Maxim's jaw hangs agog - not from the sudden appearance of the creature, but for the premonition in JJ's novella wisdom;
"Hell's Teeth! Surabar had the right o' it!"
The gun-mage shifts position, angling for a shot - drawing and enchanting his pistol as he goes
"God's be damned it ain't here for civilities an' such lad! Send it back to whence it came!"
The dwur draws a bead on the demon with a scowl and fires:
:
:
JJ tries to work out what sort of angel it might be.
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"So, when you're not on expedition, do you make sure to have cast all your magical allocation before the sun goes down? For your priestly practice?"
Shaking his head Ryan smiles, "No that falls back to a judicious use of the power bestowed upon you. Abadar seeks for the community to grow, sometimes that involves the use of the power given other times it means the use of other talents, be they divine or manual. Some would even say a talent could be both, but that is going far afield from your query I believe. We'll leave that for JJ to answer another day. By the way what is he blathering about now, novellas?"
Ryan turns to see what JJ's exclamation is about, only to see a blue angelic figure with merciless eyes. "This can't be good, JJ's always had bad luck with women."
casting one of the few spells he has left, a phantasmic mace appears next to the creature
Cast Spiritual Weapon, last 6 rounds, range 160'
Marigold quickly responds the winged humanoid appearance with a tap of her protection from evil wand.
Juraan's shot's an arrow that strikes true at the creature of Hell, but something is wrong. The arrow blow that should had been mighty only scraps a bit of skin from it. The "angel" poses a disdain grimace at the Professor.
Despite the distance, Maxim takes advantage of the new visitant appearance confusion. The dwarf's bullet goes through the creature's skin, but surprisingly it deals no harm.
After the many hours studying the 'Hell Doors Ajar' in the Bluecrater Academy, JJ cannot believe what is in front is real and he boldly attempts to disbelief he has come to met a real Erinyes Devil.
Ryan conjures a mace made of force that flies towards the Erinyes striking true and hard on the creature. This time it roars in pain as it fully harms it. She looks back at Ryan finding her target.
"What a look of mine. My bond has given me this time the opportunity to enjoy the suffering of a real priest" the dark angel mockery licks her lips as she aims her bow to Ryan and responds with a rapid shot.
The room's air is filled with needles that explode into Hell's fire, all flying down to the main floor. There Kikinnin can see how Ryan becomes a ball of fire as three of the arrows impact him directly. The others overhear the cleric as he suffers from the fire pain.
The Erinyes remains in the floor of the statue's platform.
Seeing what this fallen angel is capable of, Juraan quickly casts a spell on himself:
« აღუდგეს ცეცხლს » . .
... and then runs down the stairs to get to the middle level of the complex
Marigold cries out in alarm as the dark creature sends a flurry of arrows whistling down on Ryan. Though she's not sure if the magic will have its full effect on the winged woman, the halfling raises her palm and fires a beam of bright light!
Unfortunately, the beam sails harmlessly past and impacts the wall behind her. With a curse, Marigold turns and heads for the stairs leading down.
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JJ looks on in horror as the fallen angel sends arrows of fiery doom at Ryan.
"That is not how the story goes!" he shouts in indignation.
Hurrying down the stairs he rushes not to the next step, but clicks his boots and hurtles himself through space trying to reach the other platform.
"We want to be friends..." he says again, more in hope than any expectations.
Maxim curses as the creature's (un)natural defences stymie his bullet.
"God's be darned! Anyone know what in the 9 Hells this is an' want its vulnerable to!?"
He reloads with power and bullet once more , then moves toward the creature
AC = 22
HP = 66/74
Weapon Equipped = +1 Dwarven Greataxe
Condition(s) = None
Unsure exactly what they're facing, Kikinnin watches from a distance, as JJ entertains a new guest up top. He steps in front of Ryan, reflexively, lending the priest a little cover as he casts Abadar's phantom weapon. He then moves forward when Ryan suffers the slew of arrows, sure that JJ lacks the sense to run away.
"No sense in talking it down, JJ. Ryan's bleeding from several new holes. We shouldn't have lingered as long as we did." He looks back at the double doors, sure they'll have guests, now that he's abandoned his post.
Juraan shreds himself behind a magical fire-resistant layer and moves down the stairs to the first floor.
Marigold conjures a ray that effectively hits a wall behind the erinyes.
"
Erinyes have DR 5/good, spell resistance, and resistance 10 to acid and cold.
Maxim loads his gun and moves closer to the erinyes.
Kikinnin rushes through the shallow waters of the pool and steps into the statues stair.
The erinyes looks at the double-warrior stand after an extraordinary jump, then at the big axe the dwarf climbing the stairs is holding "Tsk, so you will not let this finish easy, ah?" and then her dark wings start to swing and she gains height while she strings a new arrow and shots at the slightly less armored boy.
The arrow explodes in fire as it strikes the magical shield Marigold created for JJ "So you want to play tricks?"
"Ok... so I'm going to go with a focus on the Fallen bit of the angel. I read a treatise on these, written by Sir Marlivald the famous knight. Apparently they are resistant to all but holy weapons, as well as being hard to affect with magic, acid or cold. I didn't know they could fly. I wonder how he got around that? "
JJ, stumped for the moment, does something kind of unexpected. "You know she is quite pretty, in an otherworldly sort of a manner." He fishes round in his belt pouch and takes out a beautiful silken cloak, which he affixes around his neck.
"What do you think? More to your taste?" he asks the flying woman.
Juraan, lacking options, fires his bow again at the Erinyes:
And then heads down the stairs
Caught off guard by the angels quick response to his attack, Ryan is finally able to get his shield up and block the last arrow. And steps behind the column supporting the balcony above. " Abadar grant healing to your servants"
However divine mace isn't hinder in the least by his attack, it continues to attack the fallen angel.
AC = 22, no shield
HP = 66/74
Weapon Equipped = +1 Dwarven Greataxe
Condition(s) = None
When the demon takes flight, Kikinnin holds his position on the stairs for a moment, debating how to deal with a flying foe. "Damn thing's gonna make it difficult to run it to ground. I suggest we leave. This room is only playing to its advantages."
The black beard places the exits in his mind, and waves to the others to beat their own retreats, if only to bring the winged one to them. "Seek cover, everyone! Preferably a doorway..."
Ryan looks for cover behind a column after channeling for healing himself and Kikinnin. Abadar's force keeps attacking the fallen angel, but it fails to strike this time.
With quite a style JJ festoons himself into a red and violet silk cloak, delicately embroidered with a barely perceptible web-like pattern.
Juraan's arrow fails to reach the flying demon.
The erinyes looks at the close JJ "You are certainly getting pretty lad. Come to die at Aushana's hands" then fires arrows that burst into fire.
One of the arrows ignites burning a bit of JJ's finest garment.
"I wanted to look pretty for you, but I was hoping there wouldn't be any dying..." he admits, still finding it hard to believe that a creature of pure good could be so badly corrupted.
The singed armor and pain from her burning arrow however does help bring back some reality to the situation.
Although she can't understand any of Kikinnin's shouting, Marigold realizes that there's little she can do from her current position up on the second floor. For a moment, she entertains the thought of trying a leap like JJ's and attempting to catch the creature in the air but dismisses it almost immediately.
You'll break your fool neck trying stunts like that! Best leave the theatrics and aerial stunts to JJ.
Instead, she turns and continues hustling down towards the bottom level as fast as her little legs will carry her.
_______