"Loris Raknian....a blast from the past. I see you wormed, pun intended, your way into Kyuss' good graces and here you are to show off your new gifts I imagine. Well, my friend, I always did want to test my skills against you. So, you think you can take on the current champ? Let's see what you got! Alie, fling me over the damn barrier to our friend!"
Alie flings the dwarf over the blade barrier and into range of the confident (overconfident?) Loris Raknian. Valgrim's first blow is a precursor of what is to come, as it lands perfectly, chipping off some the graveknight's bone. Five more attacks follow from the dwarf, as Raknian is overwhelmed by the dwarf's power and skill and speed, able to deflect only two of the blows. The ranger's hatred for undead is apparent as he drives each sword blow more forcefully! The former gladiator champion has never seen such drive and Valgrim's blows drive him down, to one knee...as the graveknight barely survived his first six seconds with Valgrim!
Round 1:Enemy
The kneeling Loris smiles at Valgrim from his severely wounded position. "I had a surprise for all of you...did not think I would have to resort to it so soon but you leave me no choice!" Loris looks behind him and yells, "Grazmir, I need your assistance..now!"
Valgrim does not see anything, although his uncanny dodge ability and blind-fighting sense something coming at him fast. As Valgrim prepares to dodge whatever is coming at him, he hears the following exclamations from behind him from Exousia and Friar, even above the sounds of the twirling blades of Blade Barrier, "By the gods, Valgrim....it's a Balor!! Watch out!"
Valgrim tries to dodge the invisible attack, but the sword's blade strikes him across the upper chest area, near his exposed neck area, inflicting a powerful blow. From invisibility appears a 14' tall winged demonic fiend, with a horned head and fanged visage, fire spurting from its flesh, who wields an unholy blade in one hand and a flaming whip in the other! The ranger can sense the intense evil emanating off the creature. He feels an invisible force trying to pull the falchion from his grip but the dwarf is too strong. The fiend speaks in a evil throaty voice, "This is a worthy opponent. I will behead him for you, Raknian!" Balor pic
Round 1: Liches
Meanwhile, the now five flying liches act:
Friar has evasion also and buffed by Good Hope and Haste (extra +3) and Mythic Lightning Reflexes so he gets 2 saves for each since the liches are not mythic, if he fails one so no damage.
Automatic Failures and Successes: A natural 1 (the d20 comes up 1) on a saving throw is always a failure (and may cause damage to exposed items; see Items Surviving after a Saving Throw). A natural 20 (the d20 comes up 20) is always a success.
Seeing no one damaged by their magic, the four liches who cast cones of cold on the party, each cast Quickened Magic Missile, unleashing 20 energy missiles on Valgrim that slam into the dwarf!
Friar invokes a Fire Storm to strike all the enemies around, including the three knights in the pit and pulls out his Rod to maximize the damage!
The Balor and Loris are struck by the flames but they are immune. All of the liches are burned by the fire and catch on fire and will collapse before their turn next round.
Exousia flies toward the Balor and presents her holy sword to it from 20' away and casts Banishment on the demon lord. "Back to your foul plane!" ...damn.
Valgrim smiles as his last blow fells the graveknight. "Guess you weren't ready for the Championship Belt, Loris?" When the Balor attacks and appears from invisibility, Valgrim grunts in frustration. "Really, I took that guy out like that, the guy who summoned you, and you still think you got the sack that you can take me out?! Really?!"
With the Balor in his face, Valgrim can tell the demon lord is encased in a malevolent darkness. Taking advantage that it is a bit off balance, Valgrim maneuvers in and lands two blows, wounding the fiend, despite the fact that his weapon is not cold iron, while the other three blows bounce harmlessly off the demon's thick hide. The Balor easily shakes off the dwarf's effects to daze him as he stares with anger at the ranger for harming him.
Valgrim circles the demon, raging at him. "Let's see what you got, fiend!"
Surge 1d6
Surge 1d6
Alie flies up 30' and unleashes her sickly green ray, but the Balor is quick and ducks the beam, which lands 10' behind the demon lord, causing a huge crater in the ground. The Balor points at Alie menacingly with his whip, "After I kill this dwarf, you're next wench!"
Round 2: Balor
The flying liches scream and crumble to ash as Friar's holy fire consumes them! Meanwhile, the Balor Lord full attacks the ranger seeking to behead him!
The Balor swings its blade, drawing blood, and then on its second attack, it wraps its flaming whip around Valgrim's neck, causing the ranger's eyes to widen in panic! Then with a smile, the Balor pulls and rips the ranger's head clean off his body!
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Valgrim sees the whip wrap around his neck and can see the Balor's evil intentions so he quickly maneuvers his falchion under the barbs of the whip, while his bracelet glows for a second, and he rips it off his neck, causing some damage but leaving his head intact on his body! "Not dead yet, fiend! Got to do better than that! Now I'm mad!"
Friar smiles and shakes his head..That dwarf is unkillable! Yay!
Valgrim sees the whip wrap around his neck and can see the Balor's evil intentions so he quickly maneuvers his falchion under the barbs of the whip, while his bracelet glows for a second, and he rips it off his neck, causing some damage but leaving his head intact on his body! "Not dead yet, fiend! Got to do better than that! Now I'm mad!"
The Balor's eyes widen and his smile disappears as Valgrim escapes from the clutches of his whip. "You insolent dwarf! Die already!" With his Quickened action, the Balor casts Greater Dispel Magic on the ranger's bracelet, but Valgrim's Ring of Counterspelling negates that attempt causing the Balor Lord to scream in frustration!
Friar readies a Quickened Dispel Magic to counterspell the Balor's Quickened Greater Dispel.
Exousia realizes she needs to distract the Balor Lord so Valgrim can find a weak spot in its defenses so she flies and flanks the fiend and strikes at it with her holy blade!
Valgrim asks Bubba for a Brilliant Inspiration and full-attacks the Balor seeking to kill the fiend for trying to behead him! He silently thanks Exousia with a smile for her tactical advantage of flanking!
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The Balor Lord is not worried when the angel comes from behind and stabs him! "More heroes for me to kill!" It grips its sword and whip tightly as it prepares to defend itself against the resourceful ranger and it feels pretty confident that it can withstand and survive the attack...until it hears the half-orc bard's voice rise clearly through the noise of the battle and he sees a determination in the dwarf's eyes unlike he has ever seen in his five centuries of life. The 10' dwarf's first attack lands squarely across its shoulder, the second pierces its ribs, and the third should have been a miss but at the last minute the dwarf jams into its knee. The Balor Lord is bleeding profusely and severely wounded but the dwarf is relentless and his fourth attack is a perfect strike across its chest, leaving the fiend breathing hard. He knows he cannot survive another blow. He needs to teleport away and heal...he remembers answering the Gate summons from Raknian who promised him thousands of human souls...He left the comforts of his Abyssal palace where he was king as he had never been bested in battle so he said yes to the undead graveknight...the same Raknian who lies at the dwarf's feet crumbled in a broken mess after he was taken out in 6 seconds! He can only stare at the shocked look on Raknian's face...so yes, he must escape and go back home to the Abyss and leave the ranger and his allies alone, to plot his revenge on them one day. For he recognized the legendary skill of the dwarf as he had faced many warriors in his day and survived. The sound of steel and the dwarf ranger's raging growls brings him back to the battle...he must deflect one more blow and he can escape! Survival is key! It did not matter that he ran from the battle. He did not survive all these centuries being courageous. If he can evade one more blow... The dwarf grips his falchion and swings it in a downward angle...the Balor Lord, a legendary warrior in his own right, times the deflection perfectly and parries the blow with his own unholy sword. For a second, the two warriors stand there pitting strength against strength and falchion versus sword as the dwarf tries to break through the fiend's guard. The Balor Lord summons all of his strength and for a second, he is victorious....until he sees the dwarf's eyes and they flash with heroic power and Valgrim pounds the Balor's sword over and over, until the fiend can no longer withstand the onslaught and his sword falls to the ground and the dwarf delivers one final blow to the Balor, slicing it open from throat to navel! Shock and pain are the Balor Lord's final thoughts as it collapses to the ground dead in front of the dwarf.
The site goes quiet except for the dwarf's raging grunts of victory until...the Balor Lord's corpse starts shaking and glowing with energy! A second later, it explodes in a blinding flash of fire that engulfs everything within 100' feet of it!
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Valgrim is so joyful at vanquishing the legendary fiend, he does not notice the explosion until it is too late and he screams in pain as the blast engulfs him and he swears he can hear the Balor's laughs while he burns. When the blast is over, he falls to his knees in pain and fatigued, charred and smoky.
Friar casts Mass Heal on the party healing everyone of 210 damage and a Heal on Valgrim curing an additional 150 bringing him to full hit points.
The bard steels himself as the wave of flame washes toward him, but he is not prepared for the soul-chilling power of the evil tide within and gasps despite himself. Friar's quick healing is very welcome, indeed.
After the blast, thankfully, Friar's soothing healing eases your burns and returns everyone to full health. Citizens of Maskholm, attracted by the blast, applaud the city's heroes and Alie ushers more of them into her mansion until it is full capacity. The rest of the citizens return to their homes to await the end of the apocalypse, now with hope in their hearts after having witnessed the party's great deeds.
As the party ponders its next move, Celeste appears from teleportation and hails the party. "I have been sent to summon you. It is almost time to assault Kyuss' tower and Manzorian needs to speak to you all." She gathers the party, links their hands, and casts a teleport spell that takes you directly to the waiting area in Manzorian's keep.
She ushers you into the library, where you usually meet with Manzorian and Agath. Food and drinks are arranged for you as usual. After a few minutes, the Archmage walks in and you can instantly tell he looks very fatigued, bags under his eyes, and his hair unkempt. "I have been monitoring your efforts and you have succeeded in bringing hope back to Maskholm. This coupled with your destruction of the Anti-Life Vortex will have a great impact on the battle to come. However, I have done all the calculations and there is no preventing Kyuss' return to the Prime Material Plane. He will emerge and now we must plan as to how you all can defeat him. Yes, you must defeat a god. My spells and energies have so far bought you some time but I cannot hold him back forever. We must prepare for your battle with him. It is the only way. Your defeat of the Balor Lord was impressive, but Kyuss will be ten times a greater threat than the fiend. So how to harm a god?"
Manzorian pauses to get a drink before he continues. "My research has led me to only one conclusion: the Rod of Seven Parts, the weapon the Wind Dukes uses a millennia ago to defeat Mishka the Demon Lord. If you remember, you found a piece of the Rod in the Tomb of the Wind Dukes and traded it to me in exchange for magical treasures. Well, I have located another piece of Rod. Unfortunately, the piece is in the hands of an evil titan, General Blood is the name he has taken, and he is much more powerful than the one you defeated in your search for the Library of Last Resort. I have located him and can teleport you to within a mile of his location in the Abyss. Unfortunately, you cannot rest and prepare much for this battle. I need to teleport you there now and you must acquire the piece and come back immediately. Kyuss' emergence is upon us. Are you ready to undertake this mission of grave importance?"
"Oh brother...those titans are tough! Hopefully this one doesn't have a band of gargoyles with him. I still have plenty of healing left so I say, let's go. We are ready."
Manzorian sees the curiosity in your eyes. "General Blood is no normal titan. He is the child of one of the old gods banished to the Abyss so he has been around for a millennia. He is the epitome of evil slaughter so there will be no reasoning with him for the piece of the Rod. Your weapons, if not created a thousand years ago, will find it difficult but not impossible to harm it. He is highly resistant to magic and has a constant spell turning effect, Air Walk, and Mind Blank on, but the lady's Disintegrate spells can bypass his protections if she can pierce his magic resistance. Thankfully, he is not naturally resistant to any energy attacks. His magical axe is unholy and he can do godly amounts of damage with it. At his Colossal size, he can run over and trample the lot of you if you group up on the ground. He has numerous spell-like abilities, including the ability to heal himself. Finally, if he strikes Friar or Exousia in melee combat, it is possible he can sever the connection between them and Sarenrae for a few seconds, preventing them from casting divine magic! Like I said, he will be very tough. Anything else?"
Valgrim listens to the Archmage. "Yes, it will be tough, but not impossible. We brought down a titan previously, so it can be accomplished. We just killed a Balor Lord, who I imagine lived for many centuries before it challenged us. It seems we are now facing challenges few mortals have ever encountered. I have confidence in my team. I am ready to be teleported when they are."
Valgrim: 334/334
Ferez: 233/233
Bublaka: 219/219
Alie: 188/188
Exousia: 229/229
Party Buffs:
Good Hope (extended with rod): +2 morale bonus on saving throws, attack rolls, ability checks, skill checks, and weapon damage rolls - 20 minutes
Life Bubble - party - 19 hours left
Status - party - 22 hours
Heroes' Feast - party - +4 morale vs. poison and fear, +1 morale bonus attack and Will saves, 10 hours
Valgrim:
Magic Vestment - Valgrim armor - 20 hours
Barkskin (40 minutes)
Freedom of Movement (90 minutes)
Shield of Faith +5 (42 minutes) (expired)
Longstrider (15 hours)
Ferez:
Magic Vestment (x2) - Friar's armor and shield - 19 hours
Shield of Faith +5 - 21 minutes (expired)
Constant Freedom of Movement (ring)
Alie:
Magic Vestment +5 (19 hours)
Constant Freedom of Movement (ring)
Bublaka:
Freedom of Movement (90 minutes)
About 2 hours of game time have passed so far, so you have some expired buffs. Let me know of any other buffs prior to teleportation.
"Will his skin turn aside normal steel as does that of the balor?"
"Will his skin turn aside normal steel as does that of the balor?"