Mal sneaks vertically downwards 15 ft into the blacks and greys of a total absence of light. A white plaster tunnel roughly 10ft high turns south, then abruptly to the east in a dead end.
It is something of a conundrum.
Mal realizes from the hinges and flush stone on that dead end that he is actually on the concealed side of a secret door. What the door opens up into, or how noticeable opening the door will be from the other side, is completely unknowable. However, at this closer distance he can discern 6 distinct voices constituting the devil worshipping chants still droning on and on.
Mal sneaks back up the tunnel and whispers a brief to everyone, "we need to be prepared to rush the room, in case the opening of the door is observed. Who's first?"
Donal moves up, hand on a wall to guide him, I can go first.
Careful does it then...
He casts light on a copper then hides it in his fist so only a whisper of light peeps out.
Two rows of tall wrought-iron candlesticks light this vaulted chamber, each one bearing nine flickering candles. A seven-foot-tall statue of an angel with white glowing eyes and a longsword stands atop a dais to the south. A six-foot-tall fiend bristling with spines stands west of the statue, glaring at four black-robed cultists who kneel and chant in the middle of the room, their faces hidden behind golden devil masks...not at all similar to the earlier Dead Three cultists. Nine tapestries depicting the layers of the Nine Hells adorn the walls.
To the north is a set of double doors.
The secret door the party currently hides behind is certainly within their cone of vision, however their attention is currently split between the very real devil and the larger devil statue. Also, luckily, a large column stands between them and the door, somewhat obscuring its view...not to mention the large tapestry also covers the secret door.
Dammit... idiots are nothing but that devil is a concern, he mutters.
with disadvantage
At least it ain't a '1'... when doing group checks I count a 1 as a double fail and a 20 as a double success.
Coordinating with the rhythm of bowing heads, the party creeps from wall covering to wall covering...passing behind each layer of hell on their way to freedom.
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Vilhelm the Tailor was easily distracted, so when Jena leaned over, with her good smock, and whispered that her husband would be away that evening, he had trouble concentrating on his current order. But these people, in particular, did -not- like to be kept waiting. It was because of a delay in the last order that the business is called Vilhelm and Sons and not Leopold, Vilhelm, and Sons.
Still, Jena also hated to wait, and she was known to go to bed early, so what to do?
To finish his last part with a panerkrein cross-stich is what was to do. Sure it wasn't nearly so strong as his normal work, but it looked just fine all the same, and as long as no undue stress was put on it, or, even, a little bit of stress, really, then no harm done. Jena awaits!
So it was that when Brian absentmindedly waved away an intrusive cobweb from his face that his hand brushed against a tapestry a -little- too hard, and the panerkrein cross-stich that held the thing up gave up the ghost, tore asunder, and dropped, exposing him fully to the room's occupants.
"Uh-oh. Plan B," he whispers to his comrades before BRAVELY striding forth toward the outer-world monster.
"Pochemu ty delayesh' eto nepravil'no, cherv'? Brian spits at the devil, slowly but boldly walking toward him, paying absolutely no attention to the cultists. "Dumayesh', Zariel' dast khot' zadnitsu svin'i za myaukan'ye etikh nikchemnykh negodyayev? Yesli pobedyat samyye mogushchestvennyye, nuzhny samyye chistyye, samyye sochnyye, samyye... optimistichnyye." He stops to lick his lips and raise his eyebrows suggestively.
"Yesli ty poteryal vkus k ubiystvu smertnykh, ya sdelayu eto za tebya. Togda mozhesh' bezhat' domoy i rasskazyvat' vsem, kakim sovershennym stal tvoy strakh pered smertnymi." His hand drifts toward a shortsword as he only now rotates his gaze at the cultists. "Yesli vy nashli koreshok, to delayte eto i delayte eto bystro. Ikh dushi, kakimi by zhalkimi oni ni byli, nuzhny, i Voyna Krovi nikogo ne zhdet."
"If you have lost your taste for killing mortals then I will do it for you. Then you can run home and tell all how perfect your fear of the mortals has become." His hand drifts toward a shortsword as he only now rotates his gaze at the cultists. "If you have found a spine, then do it and do it quickly. Their souls, pathetic as they are, are needed, and the Blood War waits for no one."
Mal follows the new guy out from behind the tapestry and says, "yes, master."
Then in infernal, he continues, "мне их всех сейчас убить за их некомпетентность?"
The devil growls, clicking and clacking its barbs against each other in a soft rustling sound. It swings its gaze between the group of cultists and the party a moment, and a smile slowly curls at its lips. Finally it responds to Mal in Infernal "No, there is a greater test of devotion." giving another glance to Brian "We will see whose spine is lacking." The devil cracks off one of its thousands of barbs with some obvious pain, the black ichor within spilling and burning the tiles below like acid. The twisted natural dagger is handed to one of the gold masked men "Join your children in hell, murderer."
The man actually does hesitate somewhat. It's not everyday you are commanded to commit suicide.
But he stands, the barb gripped in two hands, holding it at his own throat. "..." silence for a moment then "....aaaahhhhHHH!" he reaches the right nerve, mentally and physically, to kill himself. The spike is pushed through his trachea first, cutting off his air supply and causing a great gargling of blood to foam out the small holes in the golden mask. But he manages to push it further...finally severing the important brain stem and therefore all motor functions, sending him splatting on the ground.
The devil slowly moves over, unceremoniously ripping the barb out of the dead man's throat and passing it to Brian "Now it is your turn to prove your devotion...as you have surely convinced me the Blood War will not wait." And so Brian too is assigned the darkest of tests.
Donal, there's been many theories about what and why devils persue during their time on the Material. While wild and highly varied, there is one strong current of agreement among them all...the corruption of mortal souls in preparation of what follows in the hells. You suspect for a moment some kind of enchantment at work, some magics...but no. This is raw authority.
The devil bade his follower to perform the ultimate corruption of self, suicide, and so it was.
The devil had called the cultist a murderer, of his own children no less. No doubt the Hamatula had motivated this as well, and the suicide was the capstone on such earlier progressions towards 'ripeness'. Ripe enough, corrupt enough, evil enough, to be plucked from this world and reborn in the next...motivated to a premature completion by Brian's strong words.
The devil is challenging Brian to do the same, or in failure prove the bard's inferiority to his own thralls...for surely only the truly devoted would acquiesce to such commands.
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Brian looks on stoically as the cultist takes his own life. Inwardly, however, he's thinking, 'No way. He's not really gonna...okay, that -looks- like it might hurt but he's gonna back off aaaaaand nope, he's going further but he won't really OH MY BUTTERMILK AND BLUEBERRY PANCAKES he. will. go. all. the. way. What the FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF---'
None of this showed on his face, but inwardly he was shocked and stunned by the turn of events. (Was some of the shock of his plan actually having a partially desired effect? We'll leave that to the historians.)
He stared disdainfully at the barb. "Mne ne nuzhno vtorosortnoye oruzhiye," he says before drawing a short sword and holding it to his throat. "YA pokazhu vam, chto nuzhno Voyne Krovi," he adds, pausing, and then looking at the group meaningfully.
"Chto nuzhno Voyne Krovi...Plan C!" he yells before lunging at the devil.
He stared disdainfully at the barb. "I do not need second-rate weapons," he says before drawing a short sword and holding it to hit throat. "I will show you what the Blood War needs," he says, pausing, and then looking at the group meaningfully.
"What the Blood War needs is...Plan C!" he yells before lunging at the devil.
Inits:
As Brian shouts in common "Plan C!" the underground temple erupts in activity...
Round 1:
Odius, Cultists <--UP
Mal, Don, Brian, Grim
"Not worthy." the devil concludes in Infernal. The barbs across its body lift straight as Brian charges, but that only distracts from the powerful tail thrusting up from between its legs.
"Where is it...where is that spine...?" reaching out with its massive claws and tearing into Brian's chest, feeling around for the vertebrae of his backbone...
...the pain is overwhelming, and the bard goes silent.
The cultists draw scimitars and advance on Grim...Mal and Donal still well hidden behind the tapestry from their perspective. It is immediately clear they are not trained warriors, but mere meat sacks with blades. Nobles perhaps charmed by the secret societies of diabolism...
...who find no flesh but rather a stalwart shield and hard steel plate.
Round 1:
Odius, Cultists
Mal, Don, Brian, Grim <--UP
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Plan C sucks!!, says the priest trying to cut down his foes.
for
Bonus action Warpriest attack
for
Donal slips in, swinging at the cultist closest, hoping that he can take this one out and still have some surprise on the others...
”Time to give worshippers of the god of murder their desire.” The mean-looking halfling concludes. He slides up to one of the cultists in melee and tries to stab him with his shortsword.
Mal and Don rush to Grim's aid, tearing into the cultist's robes...and finding only thin leather beneath.
Round 2:
Odius, Cultists <--UP
Mal, Don, Brian, Grim
From behind the melee of mortals, the devil (claws still wet with the blood of Brian) seemed to next tear into existence itself...ripping a line of dark fire across the space beside him, reaching into the gap and pulling forth 2 melon sized balls of flame. He paced a moment, clacking his barbs together in contemplation...
...before launching them both towards the halfling.
One rolls wildly behind, igniting the tapestry that once provided cover to the escape tunnel back to the stables. The other squarely hits the halfling, burning him alive.
Distracted by the scent of Mal burning alive, one of the cultists connects with a mad slash against Donal's side.
Round 2:
Odius, Cultists
Mal, Don, Brian, Grim <--UP
Mal screams in a heap of, heap of, heap of burning pain and passes out.
$#!%, what deal has the b_tch made with you? What would it take for you to leave? Donal addresses the devil as he swings at the head of the cultist that stabbed him.
EDIT:
Donal's mace breaks through the false gold of the cultist's mask easily, not to mention his skull.
The devil grins a toothy grin as sharp as its skin "Deal? I serve only Zariel, Bane of Bel, Slayer of Kostchtchie... wielder of Matalotok, the resplendent Warlord and Archduke of Avernus..." he offers a gesture again to the statue behind him, whose glass eyes glow white from some magical power within. And as if he needed to add more "...the Fallen who has Risen Again. I will leave after I send your corrupt soul to the hells, at her pleasure..."
Don, now that you hear it direct from the mouth of this abominable creature (who physically winces in sweet agony to say it) you actually recognize the word 'Zariel'. Not by virtue of any lore persay, but simply by its linguistical conjugation. It's Celestial, meaning roughly 'Companion of Light'.
"Odious!" comes a shout from the secret passage. Standing half-high in gleaming armor is a young woman with short red hair and brown skin, the same woman with the face of a teenager but skills of a warrior which Grim recognizes from the chase a day earlier. "I will not suffer your presence on this plane any longer..." drawing forth a silver longsword "...in the name of the Hellriders!" before charging the creature.
The white blade slices upwards against the grain of the devils barbs, causing him obvious pain. She yells back at the last two standing, nodding down at the shortsword at her belt "Take my blade, yours is no use against one of the Abyss!"
Donal draws the blade from her belt and thrusts at the devil!
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Bonus action, Healing word on Brian.
Action, Spare the Dying on Mal...
Kelemvor will protect me!
Looking down at the woman "Ah yes, the Hellriders. How quaint. Here I thought you were all gutted and entombed. Tell me, Hellrider, what lies you speak to yourself...go on, recall your Creed." It was more of a rhetorical command, as really, the devil was quite content to shred the newcomer to bits...
...or such entertainment was the immortal's hope, anyways. The nimble girl didn't just get a lucky dodge, she was obviously trained to fight creatures such as this.
As the Doomguide tends to his companions, he willingly leaves himself open to attack...a sacrifice not unnoticed by Kelemvor. As the cultists hack away, he feels a surge of energy from within and knows indeed that his god favors him.
Donal doesn't waste time taking the offered gladius, the brightness of its silvered edge making him blink reflexively in the dim candlelight as its pulled from the sheathe. He rolls across the Hellrider's side, stabbing upwards with full force in the devil's exposed belly by the time he opens his eyes.
Round 3:
Odius, Cultists
Mal, Don, Brian, Grim, Girl <--UP
Faith renewed that he is still standing he attacks the cultists again.
for
Bonus action Warpriest attack
for
Grim continues to tickle the cultists...
A spell cast with a bonus action is especially swift. You must use a bonus action on your turn to cast the spell, provided that you haven’t already taken a bonus action this turn. You can’t cast another spell during the same turn, except for a cantrip with a casting time of 1 action.