Azura says to Luci, "Just for good luck!" as she continues working on getting the armor onto the tiefling paladin.
Darya flares with sacred energy and her sword seems to pull at the air, bringing a wave of holy light crashing along behind it. Her blow strikes true and knocks the flying demon out of the air. The wretched creature bounces off the ground like a child's ball, letting out a squeak of compressed breath and an angry "OW!" It lies there panting, but even as she watches Darya sees that its wounds are rapidly knitting.
Kelly leaps onto the other flying demon suddenly!
The demon lashes and catches her with a claw, but the halfling woman brings the demon crashing to the ground!
Merlin grows to enormous size!
The demon tries to escape from Kelly...
...but she keeps it down as they roll around on the ground!
An invisible voice says, "Time to make my exit!"
Kelly holds the vile creature on the ground by the neck, and lays into it with her knife.
Hearing the voice, she shouts, "Close the door! Don't let him get away!"
3/8 rounds raged
Grappled: -4 Dex, -2 Attack and CMB, except maintaining grapple
Controlled rage: +2 Dex, +2 Str
World Serpent Totem: +1 AC vs outsiders and aberrations while raging
AC16 (T14 FF13) CMD15 | F+6 R+6 W+2(+2 vs Fear)
'No one is LEAVING!"
Sario, slowly raises both her hands up into the air as the plant life comes up to entangle everyone.
Iomenna pants heavily as she comes to the bottom of the stairs, still racked with fear of the tiny demons. What is wrong with me, she demands of herself. Why can't I even stand up to some tiny little runt of a demon like that? Am I even worthy to be this team's leader? How could they trust me after this?
Darya's halo blazes with golden light, divine fury bathing the room as she raises her blade in the air.
she shouts, the weapon descending in a blazing arc of judgement.
In her heavenly fury even the reaching vines seem to avoid invokng her wrath.
Having reached his full size, Merlin peers around to see if he can locate the invisible voice (hoping it's caught in the Entanglement).
Darya smashes down her gleaming blade on the incapacitated demon, shattering it into leaking pieces of spongy, bloody abyssal matter!
Iomenna has a crisis of confidence while avoiding Sario's spell.
Kelly continues to roll around on the floor with one of the demons. She twists and bites at it but is unable to hurt it due to its abyssal resilience.
Merlin tries to pinpoint the invisible flyer, but is unable to spot anything that gives away its telltale position. He's pretty sure that nothing has gone past him at the door, though, so it must've gone deeper into the building!
The demon wrestling with Kelly tries to squirm free.
...the angry halfling woman keeps it pinned down.
Iomenna stands at the base of the stairs, Sario's writhing vines still clutching at her ankles. "Ah! Gotta get these things off of me!"
Still radiating anger, Darya strides over toward the demon pinned down by Kelly, stabbing down at the demon as it tries to break free.
Merlin moves into the room. The youth attempts to find another exit.
Darya, flank!
Kelly keeps on cutting at the imp. "Close the door!" she shouts again.
4/8 rounds raged
Grappled: -4 Dex, -2 Attack and CMB, except maintaining grapple
Controlled rage: +2 Dex, +2 Str
World Serpent Totem: +1 AC vs outsiders and aberrations while raging
AC16 (T14 FF13) CMD15 | F+6 R+6 W+2(+2 vs Fear)
Kelly continues wrestling with the demon, but is unable to injure it.
Darya manages to stab the creature and injure it, but its wounds start to heal as soon as it is stabbed.
Merlin moves into a better tactical position.
Iomenna comes to her senses!
Azura continues concentrating on Luci's armor.
The demon in Kelly's grip tries to turn invisible again...
...but she beats its head against the floor several times, unable to injure it but able to keep it from doing anything.
Iomenna continues to struggle against the plants, trying to free herself to get back into the building.
Finally, Iomenna manages to wrest her legs from the clinging vines. "About damn time! I'm coming, everyone. Just give me a minute to get past these blasted vines."
Kelly concentrates on holding the imp still so someone bigger and stronger can hit it.
5/8 rounds raged
Grappled: -4 Dex, -2 Attack and CMB, except maintaining grapple
Controlled rage: +2 Dex, +2 Str
World Serpent Totem: +1 AC vs outsiders and aberrations while raging
AC16 (T14 FF13) CMD15 | F+6 R+6 W+2(+2 vs Fear)
"We need to finish this one off quickly!" Darya shouts, laying into the demon as Kelly holds it down. Her rage against demonkind empowers her attack, causing it to cut deep.
Merlin also approaches Kelly's wrestling partner, determined to end it.
The young warrior reaches into his pack for some rope.
Hold it a bit longer, Kelly.
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"Merlin just end the demon, they wouldn't be so kind in turn. We are not taking prisoners here."
Sario will then turn and move into the house.
"Scared little man, come out to play, children cannot defend themselves like we can. Your demonic masters will kill you when you return with news of your failure here."
The invisible voice replies to Sario, "Come and get me... IF YOU DAAAARE!" and trails off into the distance.
The demon struggles in Kelly's grasp...
...but she flips it like a pro, sits on it with one hand over its mouth and the other yanking its arm hard behind its back.
Darya stabs the demon and it goes limp, though its wounds still start to heal immediately.
The oldest child throws off the noose around her neck and says, "Thank you! Thank the gods! Those horrible monsters have kept us here for the whole day, I had only just come back from trying to find some food for everyone... you've saved our lives!"
Azura finishes helping Luci get her armor ready to go.
Now that you're no longer busy fighting, you are able to help the children up, and you note that the dividing wall on the east has a small passage on the north side that goes deeper into the building.
Merlin begins searching the passage for traps.
Sario charges through the room and to the back door, stumbling and tripping in to it.
"Taunting me into being alone? You're just lucky that I tripped or else."
Sario will then come back over and help with getting the children free.
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Kelly rolls off of the remains of the disgusting creature. She sits on the floor, visibly tired and shaking slightly.
"Let's get everyone back to the Inn, before anything else happens."
As Kelly rolls off of the vile little demon, Drya plats her boot on it's chest and cleanly separates head from body, permanently ending the treat. "Nice job Kel, he made the fatal mistake of underestimating you." The paladin says with a grin. "I agree, we get the kinds back to safety first. We can always come back to deal with the last one."
Sario will help with keeping the children calm, she will call up a few small animals for the children to hold and talk to while they escort them back to the Inn.
Iomenna comes up the stairs and enters the orphanage, still struggling to pull her feet from the entangling vines. "I...I'm here," she pants. Her head looks back and forth, looking for the nearest threat, but she finds none. "Oh. I guess I missed it. I'm sorry. Seems like the children are alright, though." She walks over to the older girl and kneels down beside her. Laying a hand on the girl's shoulder, she smiles and introduces herself, "Hi there. I'm Iomenna. My friends and I are here to help. What's your name, my dear?"
With her armour now secured, and feeling a little bad about not having been able to contribute to the fight, Luci started to help remove the children's restraints and keep them calm as best she could.
The children, once freed from the ropes, mob around your legs, clinging to you, many of them sobbing.
The oldest child - the teen girl - says, "I'm Marella. Thank you so much for saving us! Those demons have been here making us do things, like forcing the children to give up all their toys to the bossy one, or slapping and clawing the little ones just to watch them cry, or dumping gruel on them and leaving only the spilled leftovers for us to eat. It's been horrible!"
"Are you gonna stop the bad man?" asks one of the younger children. "He used to sit on the throne, but he went away."
Based on the child-sized chair in the middle of the room with the toys piled in front of it, this was probably the one that turned invisible and fled further into the building.
Even the toys are sad affairs, faded and battered castoffs, some of which have been very deliberately broken into pieces.
Sario is trying her best to keep calm, biting her tongue from yelling very loudly in a city under siege.
"We will do our best, I helped some children before and I think it is the same bad man. My new friends and myself will help with stoping him."
Iomenna smiles softly at Marella's gratitude. "You are very welcome, Marella. And I must say, I'm rather impressed with how you took care of these children. Did I overhear that you've been helping find food for them? Perhaps you could help us with that too. We'll be glad to take all of you back to where we've been holding up. Any provisions you could help us gather would be a great help for everyone. Together, we can all get through this, and hopefully push the demons and the bad men and women that joined them out of the city."
Iomenna stands fully and turns to address her companions. "Now we have a decision to make. It seems like that foul little man or whatever it is fled deeper into the building, which might mean we have him cornered. This could be a great chance for us to finally catch him and put an end to his cruelty. On the other hand, he might be well prepared for any kind of invasion, which could mean any manner of traps or hazards. Plus, it would mean leaving the children alone for as long as it takes us to take care of this problem. So what do you think?"
She picks up her hammer from the floor beside her and holds it ready. "Personally, I think we should take the opportunity before us. We'll lock and barricade the doors to keep any other threats out, and the children can hide for a little while longer. From what Sario and Marella have said, it sounds like this creature has a penchant for torturing those weaker than it. That cannot stand. What do you say?"
"If we do, we should have at least two of us stay with the children." Darya replies
Taking a step into the passage, Merlin looks back at the others.
I can already feel this large body beginning to revert in a few more moments. Shall we give chase?
Azura finishes buckling on Luci's straps and says, "I'll stay. Can anyone spare a knife or something for Marella, for self-defense?"
Merlin peeks around the corner and sees a large common room, probably shared by all of the children. Beds line the walls and dressers are up against the dividing inner wall, while stairs head down in the back to what must be a basement. There are three tables, all rickety wooden affairs, scattered with a few remnants like apple cores and the inedible bits of cabbage cores.
"I've just got my kerambit to spare but they can be tricky to use, and not the sort of tricky you can clear up with a crash-course."
"Here, she can use my crossbow. I want to get right up on this little man with my hammer." Iomenna smiles as she tightens her grip on her earthbreaker. She lowers the weapon and unslings her crossbow from her back and hands it and her small hip quiver to Marella. She then kneels next to the girl and shows her how to hold it, how to pull the trigger, how to pull back the string to reload the weapon, and so on. "Remember," she says, "It takes time to reload, so be careful with your shot. Don't shoot unless you have a clear view of your target. Azura will take care of the rest."
Azura nods and says, "We'll be careful. You do the same!"
With Merlin waiting at the entrance to the large common bedroom, there's nothing to keep you from heading down into the dark...
Merlin speaks, Some Light and guidance, please.
Merlin slowly enters the chamber. His blue eyes looking for danger.
Merlin stalks into the large bedroom. Ominously, there are some recent bloodstains on the floor. The beds are unmade and unkempt, and dirty wooden plates are stacked haphazardly on the tables nearest the northern wall. There are several candles tossed into the southeast corner of the room, most of them half-used.
Merlin doesn't spot any traps... yet.
The stairs both seem to go down to a large cellar area, likely storage space for more food and supplies. Maybe extra clothes, furniture, things of that nature.
The cellar chamber is large and has sacks, chairs, clothes racks, and the like breaking up lines of sight, making it hard to navigate...
Iomenna nods to Azura. "Good luck," she says, "We'll be back soon as we can." She turns and follows Merlin. As she enters the bedroom, her eyes begin to scan for potential hazards.
Sario will cast light on the end of her spear, holding it spear point up to cast light all around her.
"Room then down?"
Sario follows Merlin into the bedroom, feeling disgusted at the state of the room.
"They had children in here? This little man will pay dearly"
Her golden halo blazing angrily, Darya adds to the ambient light as she follows, sword in hand.
Merlin continues to lead the way.
You make your way down the stairs and into the basement. The walls are hewn from the earth and lined with plaster, which is cracked and in some places seeping with moisture. A wooden wall separates the southern part of the basement, likely some kind of office. Narrow holes in the walls slope up sharply to the base of the foundation above, to permit air from outside to flow into the area; even so the air is stale and smells of rot.
Small fragments of cloth are scattered about the ground, along with spatters of blood and a few fragments of bone.
As your light illuminates the room, you see a pair of blobby, semi-humanoid figures emerge from the shadowed corners. They are short (about Kelly's height) but broad and covered in tough, fatty layers, with a few short, wiry hairs and sharp claws. They make low growling noises as they advance, sniffing at the air.
"Careful everyone, I've heard of these things..." Iomenna explains the nature of these demonic creatures, almost surprised at her own degree of insight. Thank you, Iomedae, for revealing the truth of these creatures to me!
Rushing towards the vile rubbery demon, Darya slips in a pool of blood just as she approaches her enemy, her attack going horribly awry.
Allowing a big of her anger to flow into her palm, Sario generates a buffet of wind and hurls it at the creature that no one is attacking.
The wide eyed youth with mouth drooping open mumbles
Shield me from these abominations.
The soldier also recalls defensive training from the army.
Kelly moves out into the room, carefully approaching the lone dretch to the south.