Floria has learned a little about half fiends in her search to learn of her own background, none of it good. Often the result of unholy unions, such creatures have fully embraced their demonic natures. They usually share all the typical traits of their evil sires, including resistances and immunities to elemental magics, and being difficult to affect with magic.
But as her darker half takes over once more, she finds her own mind pushing past those resistances, and driving a violent psychic thrust into the fiendish creature across the battlements! It howls in pain, as blood starts to flow from its nostrils and ears.
Nearby, Alessio quickly works to reload the light ballista, though realizes he is still within the Minotaur's reach, and will be exposed the entire time!
-- Round 8 ------
-- Round 9 ------
Bold can go!
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R 8
Eamon looks up from the crank he is helping his fellow artillery mates pull on to see Huni in dire straits! Without a thought he lets go of the wheel and calls upon Iomedae's mighty grace to once again soothe his allies injuries. Eamon then murmers to himself, enough of this! I need to help my friends! and takes out a vial of liquid from his belt pouch.
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Huni knows he can't take another hit, but his allies are depending on him, the people of the city are depending on him. He can't move away. He drops the ineffective blade and summons the strength of his god to his fist to strike at the hell-born beast.
Unarmed Strike: Belier's Bite, sacred weapon, flank
Huni can barely keep his feet under him, his leg threatening to give out at any moment. He forgoes the sword, instead striking at the fiendish minotaur with his bare hands, but it is all he can do to stand, much less plant his feet to deliver any sort of telling blow.
Seeing his plight, Eamon channels a second time, though it is not nearly enough to curb the bleeding. The artillery team falls further behind, without his assistance, Kara alone unable to make up the slack.
Sangkip leaps around the the creature, towards the edge of the battlements, trying to distract the fiend, and the beast tries to cut him down as he goes, the axe taking a large chip out of the battlments, though just missing the vanaran. He half flies, half somersaults onto the crenelation, pulling out one of his magical daggers as he goes, and jabs the tiny blade deep into the minotaur's muscular back, right between the wings.
It howls in pain and anger, the sound echoing over the battlements. Sangkip clearly hit something important, evident when it tries to bring its axe around for another swing... but it still manages it, shaking off the wound to slam the giant blade down on the vanaran with such force, Sangkip's tiny weapons are not nearly enough to deflect it. The blade cuts deeply into Sangkip's chest, down towards his midsection, nearly eviscerating him on the spot!
A dark energy starts to form around the blade, as it quickly reverses its the momentum of its swing, a baleful eye on Huni. The axe swings around and up, trying to finish off Huni on the other side. The warpriest just manages to slide back enough to avoid the blade, but nearly slips on the blood pooling at his feet... most of it his own.
The move proves a bit feint though, as it keeps spinning, and lashes out at Sangkip again trying to catch him off guard. Its large yellowed fangs try to snap over the much smaller foe like he were little more than an appetizer. Luckily Sangkip potion allows him to avoid the suddenly blood-slick crenelation and dodge aside as the maw slams shut where his head was only moments before.
But even as those jaws snap shut, its entire shaggy demon head swings around yet again, this time catching Huni completely off guard, as the twin horns sink deeply into his chest! Huni is lifted bodily off the stones, his bloodied form going limp as it lay impaled for a moment... before the minotaur gives a triumphant bellow and a contemptuous shake of its head, that sends Huni's limp body crashing unmoving to the stones at its feet. It is hard to even recognize the man through all the blood.
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-- Round 9 ------
-- Round 10 ------
Party is up.
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For the first time in a while, Floria doesn't need to exert her will to force her insidious dark half away as it fades away on its own, energies spent.
She is tired, but she sees Huni fall and tries to find the last dregs of her energy. She remembers the advice a tiefling friend of hers offered for making spells penetrate magical defences, and tries once more to assault mind of the demon.
Both Eamon and Alessio abandon their efforts on the ballista... more concerned about the fate of Huni, laying in a crumpled bloody heap on the stones. Eamon takes a small vial in hand, as he works around for a clearer line at the demonic minotaur, while Alessio digs out a healing infusion, and attaches it to one of his alchemical bombs. With a quick toss, he lobs it over to crash on the mangled warpriest, and is relieved to note some of the man's wounds appear to heal... although he does not regain consciousness, at least he must be still alive!
Sangkip has more pressing concerns, as he continues to dance around the far side of the fiend. Without someone to work with, his small blades seem barely more than insect bites to the minotaur, who snarls defiently at the small vanaran's attempts, and brings the gore-covered axe around for a killing blow.
On the far side of the siege weapons though, Floria continues to focus her mind on the half-fiend. Her darker side fades, and her thoughts clear to a crystal precision along with it. She reaches deep into her psyche to draw on the last vestiges of stored strength there, to send another blast of mental energy into the minotaur's mind. For a brief moment, the minotaur's fiendish resistances rise up to block her, but they only manage to interfere for a moment, before she cuts through them with focused clarity, her mind suddenly a weapon sharper than any blade.
The fiend suddenly throws back its head, and howls... a sound so feral, so filled with pain and rage, that you wonder if your mind is not under physical assault as well. The minotaur's entire body seems to seize up, and it stands there quivering for a moment... before its head seems to explode from the inside, sending a shower of demonic blood and brain matter over Sangkip, before the things body falls to the battlements with a resounding thud... the giant axe clattering across the stones.
-- Round 10 ------
The battle rages all around. More foes could appear at any moment!
Pathfinders fire a large volley of siege weapons from the ramparts!
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Floria is too tired to react with more than a little smile at seeing the minotaurs head explode. That was exactly how I was picturing it
She immediately moves to help Kara with the artillery team, hoping that the others can see to Huni. While she's working and wishing she'd gone weight training with her father and brother rather than staying in the library, she calls out
"Eamon! Alessio will likely be able to use that holy water better than you, you've seen how accurately he places his bombs.
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The Pathfinders quickly scramble to try to recover from the fight with the fiendish minotaur, but it did a lot of damage. You only hope the flow of battle will give you time to deal with it.
That thought causes your eyes to glance back towards the field below, where the forces of Nerosyan and the Worldwound are still fighting. It is almost impossible to tell who has the upper hand in the chaos, though the demonic forces have not managed to overwhelm the combined might of the city... and you can only take that as a positive sign.
Though your assigned ballista has been silent for most of the battle, along the ramparts you can see others completely abandoned, their crews dead or worse. But many are apparently still being manned, and firing. As the volleys fly, the towers of Kakuen-Taka take blow, after blow. Still lurching along towards the city walls, but not without cost.
But even as you see the ebb and flow of the battle below, a sound reaches your ears... at first almost indistinguishable over the clash of battle below, but it quickly rises in intensity from a low drone, to a high-pitched whine that almost hurts to hear. You see a large cloud of ... something ... darting across the sky to the west, moving with such incredible speed, its almost hard to track. You quickly realize it is not a single creature, but a small swarm of flying fiends, each one of them quite large, to be visible from this distance. They head directly towards the siege engines, clearly another directed attack to stop them from firing. Creatures peel off in ones and twos as the swarm zips along the wall, wings moving so fast, the sound sends ripples of sound bouncing off the walls and drowning out even the epic battle below.
Much to you chagrin, one of them darts off towards Seven, before you've even had time to breath from your prior engagement.
It looks like a giant hornet or bee of some sort, though almost ten feet long, its body covered in wicked-looking spines, and colored a sickly purple with vertical black stripes along its abdomen. Its wings beat so quickly, they are a blur over its huge body, and it moves so fast, you can barely track it with your eyes... just a giant blur that one moment is far off, then next right in your faces. A large stinger on the end of its abdomen drips a foul greenish liquid.
You recall reading once, long ago, about something like this, but even that text was vague, hinting at it only a myth.
There was said to be a giant hive in the Worldwound, a hive of just such creatures... created by one of the demon lord once widely worshipped in the area before the Worldwound opeend. Known as the Scourge of Deskari, these creatures are apparently feared by mortals and demonkind alike. A mindless plague of vermin that usually consumes anything they come across.
Though this time, they seem to be working with the forces of the abyss... at least enough.
It moves in too quickly to follow, right at the heavy ballista, its foul poison-tipped stinger lashing out before anyone can react! The giant barb hits Kara in the back, lancing right through her shoulder, until you see the tip thrust out the far side.
It withdraws the barb and darts to the side before she even fully realizes what has happened
Then the pain hits.
-- Round 13 ------
Party is up!
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Huni's eyes pop open and his body hurts. Then he remembers what's happening and knows he has no time to wallow in pain. Instead he summons his inner reserves to cast a healing spell upon himself and then all around him.
Use Fervor to cast Cure Moderate Wounds as a swift action then to Channel Positive Energy
x1.5= 19
Channel Positive Energy
Round 13
Huni stands up and starts to help with the ballista.
The poison rages through Kara's system, and already you can see the veins in her neck starting to darken from the foul toxin, as they spread throughout her body.
She steps away from the creature, a look of determination on her ragged features, as she continues helping to ready Number Seven, along with Floria and the remaining crusaders... though the later seem a little concerned with how close the giant insect has gotten, and look ready to bail themselves.
Sangkip immediately leaps to the offensive, flying across the intervening space with remarkable speed, though the huge bulk of Ballista Seven prevents him from charging directly at the giant insect. He jabs his magic dagger into the creatures thorax, only to find it barely scratches the surface, as the blade skitters across the the hardened carapace doing minimal damage.
Alessio swings Number Eight around, lining up a shot through all the traffic, and fires at the thing from close range. The barrage of bolts whistle past the artillery team, and the larger ballista... but the insect moves so quickly that in the brief amount of time it takes to cover the distance, the creature has moved. He can only watch in dismay as the spray of bolts disappears out over the edge of the wall.
Huni, amazingly recovered from his near death experience, quickly starts reloading Eight while the cable is still vibrating from Alessio's shot.
Eamon moves around the heavy ballista, holy water in hand, and hurls it at the giant bee-creature... but it slips in his hand as he swings it forward. He ends up hurling it somewhere to his left, where it shatters upon the battlements nowhere near anyone, the sacred water wasted on stone.
The fiendish insect seems unconcerned with what anyone is doing, beyond those working on the siege engine itself. It continues to chase Kara as she backs away, covering the short distance in the blink of an eye, the buzzing drone of its wings almost deafening.
Again it twists its body to thrust the foot long barbed stinger at her, its tip glistening with the foul venom and her own blood. It is all she can do, as her body weakens from the poison already there, to try to twist out of the way... but it is not enough!
But, just as it is about to impale her a second time, the stinger seems to deflect slightly, off of an arcane barrier that surrounds her, narrowly missing, but nearly knocking her backwards over the engines support brace/
Her sigh of relief is short lived though, as it doesn't stop there, moving with incredible speed to try again, seemingly intent on finishing her off. Once more the stinger lances out, this time dead center, before she can react. But again, there is a faint blue flash as her arcane armor deflects the blow... though a small tear in her shirt tells her how close it came, as it almost pushed through. She knows her luck will not last forever.
-- Round 14 ------
Party is up!
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"YES!" Seeing Kara cast a spell and disappear from view is a small victory, but Floria will take what she can get.
"Stand Firm!" She says to the soldiers manning the ballista, raising her voice to be heard over the sounds of combat and the constant thrum of the demon's wings. "They are professional monster hunters! They can handle the demon, we need to handle this!", all the while helping to load the weapon while it's still an option.
I hope they can handle the demon she thinks to herself. I've not got much magic left
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Eamon somehow swallows the huge lump in his throat upon hearing Sangkip's request and murmurs a quick prayer to Iomedae . Even though Iomedae's holy protection has expired, Eamon's pride and honor won't allow him to disengage with such a fearsome creature. For the Glory of the Shield-Maiden! Announces Eamon as he advances towards the hovering creature while drawing his family's heirloom sword.
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Kara, under duress, and her body wracked by poison, does the only thing she can to get away from the creature... she steps away, and with a quick arcane word, vanishes from sight.
Unfortunately, that leaves the heavy ballista one person short, and the loading of Sevene stalls... not that the remaining crew are too eager to stand so close to the fiendish creature.
Sangkip calls for assistance from Eamon, who seems a little leery of approaching the thing... but eventually he starts to circle around, trying to get on the far side of the vanaran.
While he moves, Huni finishes reloading Ballista Eight, and he can barely clear the way, before Alessio adjusts the aim and fires it again. Unfortunately, like the previous shot, the fiendish insects moves even as he fires it, and the brace of bolts again misses. Huni immediately starts loading it again.
Eamon finally reaches the far side, his sword held ready, as he attempts to draw the giant bee's attention. Sangkip, waiting for just that opportunity, swings around the far side, jabbing with both his daggers. But try as he might, none of his attempts manage to cut through the creature's exoskeleton.
It draw its attention though. With its original target suddenly gone, it turns to the next nearest to the ballista. Sangkip, focused on trying to stab the fast-moving thing, is unprepared for its sudden movement. One moment, its facing away form him, the next, its compound eyes are focused on him, and the stinger is piercing his chest, shooting a dose of its foul venom straight into his body !
As quickly as it impaled him, it is withdrawn, a thin trail of blood and venom leaking out from the wound. The bee quickly pivots, and the stinger thrusts out again, this time coming up from below, piercing Sankip just above the hip as even more poison pumps into his bloodstream.
-- Round 15 ------
Party is up!
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Seeing that the team is not getting anywhere with only three people, Floria changes tack
She conjures a pair of magic missiles and sends them at the insectoid monstrosity, again mixing in a few of the techniques her tiefling friend taught her to punch through resistances.
She then starts moving around with the goal of eventually loading the unoccupied ballista, but she's giving the creature a wide berth and is still slowed by the weight of the crossbow bolts on her back.
Floria realizes that without enough people, trying to man the ballista does no good. She abandons the effort, and calls upon her mental energy, to send a pair of psychic missiles the insect's way. She immediately feels the resistance there, but is able to will them through, and they strike the creature, ripping small tears in its abdomen.
At Ballista Eight, Alessio waits with barely controlled patience for Huni to finish loading. As soon as the ammo pack drops into place though, he is immediately turning the stock and firing another volley of bolts at the fiend! This time, he manages to account for its otherwordly speed, leading it just enough that it gets caught in the barrage, the bolts piercing its hide and tearing through its wings with relative ease... though Huni's axiomatic blessing on the ballista does not appear to have any additional affect.
As soon as he fires, Huni jumps to loading once again.
Meanwhile, Sangkip is just trying to stay alive. Fighting off the poisons from the two stings, he is barely conscious, blood flowing freely from the two gaping wounds caused by the bee's stinger. He franticly dodges and weaves in the air, as the fiendish insect continues trying to finish him off, though with no success this time.
On the opposite side, Eamon adjust his position slightly, and throwing caution to the wind, hacks at the giant insect flying overhead. His familial blade strikes true, but can barely penetrate the thing's tough carapace, only causing minor damage.
You see no sign of Kara.
Your body weakened and ravaged by fiendish poison, and under the self-inflicted infernal influences of your own magic... magic that once again seems to be feeding off the abyssal poisons in your system... your 'nap' is far from restful.
In fact, you find yourself somewhere else entirely!
One moment you are barely standing amidst the chaotic battle atop the wall, then the world seems to blur around you, and the ground rushes towards you, then blissful nothingness.
When you come to, you are standing on one side of what appears to be a small office. Shelves and cabinets line the walls, filled with books and scrolls and piles of stacked parchments. Across from you, is a large desk, its surface piled high with the same scrolls and papers and books as the shelves. Even the floor is covered in stacks of papers, all of them piled so high, they look like they might tip over at any moment. There are no windows, but there is a closed door behind you, through which you can just make out the sounds of screaming, but thankfully, those sounds are muted, as if a long ways off.
Mostly though, you hear a faint, continuous, skritching noise, interspersed with a strange clacking and whirring sound.
Those sounds seem to be coming from the direction of the desk, and you see a creature there almost hidden behind the piles of papers. It is a small reddish demon, with horns and a long tail with an arrow shaped tip. Strangely, it is wearing an odd hat that appears to be missing the top, perhaps to allow the horns to poke through, and with a translucent green peak projecting from the front. Perched on its nose are a pair of wire-framed spectacles.
The demon is hunched over a large ledger.
The skritching sounds you heard, are coming from a giant feathered quill pen with which it is writing feverishly, occasionally pausing to dip the tip into a vial with a thick dark reddish ink inside. Every few seconds, it stops writing to tap away on a strange device next to it. A thin sheet of paper seems to spool from the top each time it does.
You can't seem to move from your spot, and when you try to speak, no words come out. It is just you, all alone with the demon, who pays you no heed at all, as it works.
It feels like you've been standing there for hours when it finally glances up, and appears to notice you.
"Oh..." it mutters, speaking the common tongue, with what sounds like a faint chellish accent. It looks back at its ledger with a puzzled frown.
"Ah... I see." It adds a moment later, smiling slightly. "You're a bit early, I'm afraid. I've not finished the tally yet."
It taps one finger on the ledger. "But your account comes due soon enough"
"And we always collect what we're owed." It adds, with a smile that sends shivers down her spine.
It goes back to jotting in the ledger, again tapping the strange machine, which whirs, as more paper spools out... but this time the whirring sound increases in volume until it is almost deafening, and sends waves of pain through her body until Kara's world goes dark once more...
But the whirring sound does not go away, instead morphing into an incessant drone that has her gritting her teeth in pain.
At which point she realizes she can grit her teeth... and is feeling pain... and cold hard stone under her cheek.
She will realize she is laying in the midst of the battle on the battlements of Nerosyan again, though every nerve in her body seems to be firing at once, and she can barely move.
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The giant fiendish bee's wings continue to drone on as its stinger continues trying to skewer the little vanaran... who only manages to avoid the fate that awaits him in its venomous tip through shear desperation.
-- Round 16 ------
Party is up!