Kel opens the door and reveals a once again empty main chamber. The lingering odors of sulfur and ammonia permeate the air, remnants of the noxious fumes that once filled the room.
Kel takes the lead back to the maze.
Tina moves up next to Deia
Kel, as you approach the entryway into the maze, you find the body of the dretch killed by Anevia. In the short time between its death and now its body has begun to rapidly dissolve into nothing. From within the maze you can hear the snarling of the surviving demon echoing back at you.
Kel carefully moved back into the maze.
Kel travels into the maze, actively searching for the remaining demon. After a few twists and turns, he finds the creature patrolling within the maze's modest depths.
Anevia follows Kel into the maze as best she can, positioning herself at the end of a long hallway and readying her bow.
"Bring him back this way if you can, Kel."
Lann steps into one of the false paths along the hallway.
"Bring it to me and we can flank it using these alcoves."
"Got it!"
With some hesitation Rex follows Kel into the maze. "Well if they can only do the poison cloud once in a while, then we should be okay."
Max hangs in the back, staying close to his favorite marksman, Rex.
Rex moves into the maze.
Anevia positions herself for archery support.
Deia moves into position and blesses Tina.
Lann moves into position opposite Tina.
RD 1
Tina holds steady, letting the more up front types move
Tina holds steady.
The dretch steps up to Kel and sinks its teeth into him.
Max moves up behind Rex.
Aravashnial stays back by Horgus at the barricades.
Kel grimaces as the thing sinks it's teeth into him, then lashes out with Radiance.
Then he backs up down the hall to draw the demon out.
Kel slashes at the dretch, wounding it, before backing off.
The dretch lashes out at the retreating Kel, but fails to do anything.
Horgus stays where he is.
"I got your back Kel, if this thing tries to get around you."
RD 3
Tina will grip her club in both hands and bash when the monster comes into range
Max is content to stay put.
Rex moves up by Lann and prepares for when the Dretch approaches.
Anevia keeps her bow drawn and ready.
Deia draws her cold iron mace and prepares herself.
Lann gets ready with his club.
Tina prepares her club.
The dretch rounds the corner, causing Anevia to unleash two arrows in his direction. However, both arrows fly wide.
The dretch moves up to Kel, provoking prepared attacks from Deia, Lann, and Tina.
Tina's hit lands solidly, but appears to do absolutely nothing to the demon. Rex swings hard and scores an incredible hit. Lann's blow only causes minor damage, while Deia scores an excellent hit and drops the beast!
About time. Once dretch is too many.
Kel grins as the disgusting demon melted into awful smelling goo.
"My mom told me once that demons who were Bound, rather than Summoned were actually destroyed when defeated, rather then sent back to the Abyss. We did a good thing here, folks."
Truly a testament to the power of stupid people in large groups.
We should try to bind more demons then for proper disposel. The only good demon is a dead demon.
"Indeed, let's press forward. If we ever finish with this place, we should return our bound prisoners to Neatholm for their judgment."
The party continues its exploration of the maze only to find that they were already practically at the end of it. The corner that Kel met the dretch at leads to a passage of the same exquisitely laid stonemasonry that seems to continue on for some ways. Though mostly intact, it shows signs of recent damage and in places the walls have begun to bulge inward or even crumble. The faint, but familiar, smell of offal and excrement reaches your nose as it wafts in from further down the tunnel's easterly reaches.
Tina wrinkles her nose. Maybe these are the city sewers? If so, we can find a way topside. Tina is ready to head out with the others.
"Either that or a demonic privy. Let's find out."
"Oh man those things were distinguishing, I lost my lunch a few times.."
"Let us be done with this horrid place."
Kel rolled his eyes at the smell. "This whole place has been one putrid experience after another. Why would it stop now?" he said sarcastically. He moves through the maze to the last corner and stops to take a good look down the passage.
The party moves forward, the stench growing ever stronger as you progress. About 80 feet down the tunnel the masonry changes to a much more contemporary style, a thin layer of foul sludge appears along the path, and you're able to see small shafts of light coming in from the ceiling up ahead. After another 40 feet or so you come to the first of these shafts - A storm drain. Too small to fit through, it gives you your first glimpse of the surface since you fell.
Though the small slit makes it hard to see much aside from the skyline, what you do see is disheartening. For the sky is filled with smoke thick enough to choke out the sun.
"We found it." Kel said over his shoulder. "This is the entrance to the surface. It looks bad up there. Lots of smoke."
"Who knows the city well? We need to get our bearings."
I don't know the city that well but my leg isn't broken so I can be hefted up for a look see.
Probably loads of demons
Rex climbs up behind Tina, and looks out.
"Thank the gods, daylight, though it looks like the city is in bad shape from this view."
Just a short way up from the storm drain you find an access ladder. Tina and Rex carefully climb out of the sewer, trying not to draw attention to themselves.
You find yourself in what appears to be one of Kenabres' residential districts. To the south, about 100 yards away, is one of the city's defensive walls, but it has been heavily damaged. A large trench has been cut into the earth and through the wall to the southeast, running northward for as far as you can see. Nothing remains in its wake, and it serves as a testament to the destructive forces that so recently hit the city.
Southgate is one of the poorer sections of Kenabres, but is by no means a slum.
Tina is appalled. All this in just a day? She helps the others up and looks nervously around. Where do we go now?
|
Deia helps everybody else up the ladder and into the city. Once they are all up in the city, she makes a mark with her chalk on a wall or building near where the sewer exits into the city.
Once they have a moment to survey the city around them, she says "It looks like we may have had the easier goings over the last day. I hope there are some survivors left in the city."
Deia continues to look around and think. "If there was time to organize a defense, soldiers would have tried to fall back to the keep." She turns to Horgus and Anevia, "Do you know how to get there from here?"
Deia looks around and does some investigation while she can.
"The keep is a bad idea." Kel said after he climbed out of the drain to join the others.
"Kanabres was attacked by a Demon Lord. The first thing the Storm King would have done after killing Terendelev would be to hit the biggest defensive point around and cripple it. The keep is either completely destroyed, or crawling with cultists and demons."
"What we're going to want to look for are sturdy buildings without many entrances that aren't strategically important. Churches would normally be good, but in this case I think they'd probably have been hit on principal. We should look for something like a large inn, or a bank, or a library. Horgus mentioned that his home would be defensible too. We just need to figure out where we are , and find the closest possible place that is likely to have survivors."
"I agree with this one," Anevia says, pointing at Kel. "They destroyed the Kite to kick off this attack, and that was the most heavily fortified structure in the city, and one of the most fortified across the entire Worldwound. The second would have probably been the Cathedral of St. Clydwell, but we watched that get destroyed when... Well, it's gone."
"But if my wife is still alive, she'll be organizing a resistance. And she would have left a note for me at our home, if it still stands, telling me where I could meet her. I'd like to go there as soon as we can. It's in the eastern section of the Gate District."
"Like Anevia, I have people that I need to check in on. I need to get to Blackwing. It's where my fellow Riftwardens have set up, and I have a feeling we'll need their help."