Briar rips apart with the shadows with her teeth inches from Pen's face, but the elven wizard doesn't even flinch at the display, instead reaching up and digging her fingers in her fur. In thanks and trust.
As the corrosive fire rain down on her she feels a protective shell descend on her that practically smells of the ocean and steel. She nods a small smile up to the Amazonian warrior.
Pen tries to repay their help by sending middling searing lightning shattering into the horde with overwhelming energy.
Briar gets Pen and Hajeck free from the grasping hands, then charges into the horde of demons, though she is unable to get a good hit. Pen's lightning crackles through the fiends, slaying a good number of them. Torgral avoids some of the electricity, and Clara's bombs only splash him, though the alignment ampoule triggers his weakness to good energies.
As he dodges Visna's axe, Torgral flies a few feet closer and attacks the Ulfen woman with his jaws and claw! She reacts by slicing him with her axe, eliciting a roar of pain and anger!
The demonic rabble eagerly swarms around Briar!
Visna's normal joyous battle-snarl takes on an altogether different aspect when those teeth are poised to tear and shred the flesh of her foes, yet it is the smile of her axe that bites home. Matching the demon in stature, she pits force against force, grabbing, heaving, twisting as her short-hafted axe plies its bloody trade in close quarters until at last she heaves herself off of Torgral to await his next charge.
Pen follows her lighting with rays of scorching fire shooting from her fingers like elemental arrows.
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Briar spins through the crowd of demons a flurry of muscle and coldiron burning and chopping the frenzied swarm of lesser beings with just as much crazed ferocity in return. Though she takes some nasty wounds in return the party would know she's shaken off worse. Setting her sights towards the next nearest threat.
Freed from the claws and fangs of the oppressive swarm of lesser demons, Briar looks skyward to see the skald and the bulbous greater demon doing battle. She froths with rage and rockets skyward herself driving the blade into the fiend's mouth and wrenching back with the stuck blade giving Visna a good opportunity to strike.
"Open wide!" She growls through grit teeth as she pries on the demon's skull, using it's own shoulders to brace her feet and pry on the blade.
Clara refocuses on the horde, hoping to maximize the full breadth an over-shook fizzy drink can cover.
Pen fires scorching rays to burn both Torgral and the demonic horde. Clara lobs two more bombs into their midst, then Briar sweeps her blade through the rabble, finishing off the stragglers. The gnoll then rockets up into the air, moving to flank Torgral with Visna, who slices the fiend twice!
Torgral turns on Briar, biting the barbarian!
Pen feels a slight bit of pity for the fiend as Brair and Visna turn their full attention to it. The playful savagery they display would be enough to send shivers through the most hardened veteran.
Pen joins their attack with a half dozen glowing orbs that slam into the bloated creature in every sensitive spot on its being.
Clara keeps drawing and hucking fizzy pops, but she shakes the fiery one a bit less, so that it won't catch her new friends on fire.
Abandoning her delaying tactics now that Briar is there to be savaged by the demon, Visna swoops back in to join the fray wholeheartedly, carving runes of avulsion into the flesh of the demon himself!
Torgral howls with agony as you slice, bite, burn, and blast him! The mighty demon plummets from the sky and slams into the ground, sending up a huge plume of sand!
You are able to claim The Uprising from his body. He also wears a king’s ransom in jewelry—necklaces, bracelets, rings, and belts worth a total of 4,500 gp.
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Briar is quick to come down from her battle high and the building pains and new cuts and bruises on her body look to be taking their toll as she seethes through her teeth for a moment. Pulling her blade free she looks at Visna, "A... small few moments to tend to our wounds before we rush off to the third. Perhaps, but let us return to the court first."
Visna smiles. "Perhaps those moments may be yet be shortened." Laying a hand on Briar she traces out a rune of healing, and the gnoll's wounds begin to close.
Pen joins the others "Thank you for the help, Briar" she smiles, then bursts in a radiant light which erases the bruises and cuts from the battle off her skin.
Clara looks Briar and Visna over, clucking her tongue. "Oooof. You both are pretty dinged up. Clearly time for another fizzy drink. Here you go!"
After helping the brave frontliners, she downs another herself and announces, "Well! What're we waiting for?"
You return to Harrowheart and quickly move through the next arch, emerging elsewhere within the Harrow Court. You find yourselves in the fetid swampland in the southern reaches of the demiplane, just on the edge of the farmland surrounding the central village. Here, two large groups of cultists are engaged in a foul ritual. The swampwater around them bubbles and churns with poisonous gases that the cultists are encouraging along. Leading the cultists is a succubus with a hand crossbow at her belt, and standing guard beside her is a hulking, toadlike demon with a large, toothy mouth.
The succubus glances in your direction and scowls. She and the toad demon remain focused on the ritual, though. The two groups of cultists move forward to interpose themselves between you and the demons, then they cast spells, bombarding you with empowered fireballs!
Pen is unprepared for the first fireball, but manages to dive out of the way for the second. Her magical staff protects her somewhat.
In retaliation, she mentally calculates the most optimal course of her magic, then lets loose crackling lighting that jumps from target to target, with all the speed and eagerness of a child going from present to present on their birth day.
"Ow! Ahhh!!" Clara yelps as she gets burnt, despite managing to dodge the worst of them.
She has Hats hand her two ready-made fizzypops, primed for throwing...but the burns throw her aim off.
Visna hurls herself through the explosions, Crowstarver's heavy plating keeping her skin from the flames. In a flash she stands opposite the hulking toad demon, Maiden's Smile gleaming nearly as fiercely as her own grin.
The first troop of priests takes the full blast of Pen's lightning, but the other priests and the two demons dodge some of it. Clara's bombs only splash the priest troop, but they still serve to thin their ranks. Briar then charges forward, her blade cutting a bloody swath through the assembled priests. By the time she is done, they have fallen around her.
That opens a path for Visna to get to the hezrou. As she draws near the hezrou, the toad demon's horrific stench assails her nostrils!
Ignoring the foul smell, Visna enhances her cold iron axe as she attacks, wounding the fiend and knocking it off-guard!
The remaining troop of priests blast Briar with a cone of flames!
Meanwhile, the demons reluctantly abandon their ritual to turn their attention to Visna. The hezrou bites down on the thaumaturge, grabbing a hold of her! It holds her tightly against its sore-ridden body as toxic fluids spurt from its burst boils and weeping wens!
The succubus flaps her wings, lifting off into the air. She then casts a spell, attempting to scramble Briar's thoughts!
Mouth twisted in disgust against the hezrou's slime, she doesn't free herself from its grasp, but seizes it instead!
Clara soothes her rattled nerves, and tries again to bomb the remaining troop with fizzy retribution.
With Briar and Visna confronting the demons, Pen helps clear the cultists. Grasping her staff before her in both hands, she calls deep into the power held within, summoning a crashing wave that sweeps away from her, smashing limbs and clothed bodies.
Pen moves up and unleashes a powerful wave that batters the cultists and the hezrou. Clara's bombs further wound the cultists, reducing the troop to just a handful of members.
Briar charges at the succubus, but the demon dodges the gnoll's clumsy swing. Meanwhile, Visna hacks at the hezrou, scoring a critical hit and following pu with another chop that eviscerates the fiend. Its blood and entrails pour out onto the Ulfen woman as it releases her and crumples to the swampy ground!
The priesthood turns its ire on Pen, blasting her with flames.
The succubus gives Briar a beguiling smile as she tries to wrap herself around the gnoll. However, Briar proves too wily to fall for its tricks! Pouting, the demon tries to fly away from Briar.
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For fun, Clara mixes up something a little different this time. She throws a fizzy drink filled with various germies she's collected...and then swirls together a cola-colored concoction and opens it. When she does–somehow–a gargantuan tyrannosaurus emerges with a loud pop! and tramples over the remaining cultists.
"Pfah!" Visna recoils in disgust for a moment before realizing that more fiendish foes still remain.
She soars up after the succubus with the lingering remnants of Pentella's enchantment lending her speed.
"Your hopes and schemes lie in tatters. Tell us then of the master who sent you to such an end, and take what meager satisfaction remains to you."
The remaining cultists are too slow in their casting, giving the elven mage plenty of time to weave a watery shield. Since their numbers are greatly reduced and the succubus has earned the attention of both their legendary warriors, Pen retaliates with a simple half dozen glowing orbs.
Clara's first bomb only splashes the cultist, but the summoned tyrannosaurus wreaks havoc, stomping flat the remaining members of the troop! Pen blasts the succubus with magic missiles while Visna flies up to attack her, snagging her with her axe! Badly wounded, the succubus attempts to cast a spell to teleport away, but both Visna and Briar interrupt her with brutal blows! The demon tries to use The Demon's Lanter to save herself, creating bright lights in an attempt to dazzle Briar, but the gnoll is not deterred and her strike is true. The succubus cries out as she drops from the air, thudding to the ground below and lying still.
You are able to claim The Demon's Lantern from her body, as well as a +2 striking hand crossbow and a bejeweled belt worth 3,000 gp.
"Was that the last of them?" Pen asks as she approaches, her eyes looking around for more portals.
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Though Briar is the one to strike the final blow she shifts her grip and catches the succubus before she plumets to her death. The battle frenzy quickly leaving the gnoll as she leveraged the magic from Pen to slowly land, cradling the beaten demon in her arms.
Easing both the succubus and her weapon to the ground, Briar gently held the devil's face in both hands looking her in the eyes and speaking quietly.
(Gnoll) "Go gently fallen sister." She placed her nose upon her forehead in a respectful sort of kiss manner. Pulling back Briar gave the Succubus's chin a quick twist, snapping her neck, to make sure the last moments of her life were ended as quickly and painlessly as possible.
Closing the demon's eyes and letting the body lie she retrieved her weapon and began cleaning it as she rejoined the group, ready to head back to the court proper. "We should check in with the order, I fear this is but the first of many brazen attacks."
You return to the Harrow Court to find a moment of relative peace. The paladin order reports no active threats at the moment, but All-Seeing Hajeck tells you that the battle is not yet won. Still, for the time being, you have some respite...
Visna salutes the figments of her former comrades of the Ulfen Guard. "Stand easy friends, but keep your axes ready and shields at hand."
"A moment, my Pen." She places a hand on Pentella's shoulder, and vitality flows from the smaller woman to her, and then back, stronger, in an inexorable tide. "There, now all is mended."
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Clara is covered in soot, and streaked with sweat.
"That was a tough fight. Nice work!"
Where the tyrannosaur was a moment ago, now there's a pile of brown, bubbly goo and a strong scent of caramel. With a chuckle, Clara says, "I don't mix up those temporannosaur fizzypops too often, but they're a sight to see, eh? It should mostly evaporate...but it does tend to leave the area a bit sticky until the next rain."
Pen pauses at Visna's request, and stands a little straighter as the warrior's healing spreads through her. "Thank you" she replies warmly.
"Your creature was interesting." the wizard tells the alchemist, but there is a hint of something in her voice. The others might recognize it was a dislike of mess, but a dislike quickly pushed away since the blood, bodies, fire, and smoke greatly eclipse the remains of the pop creature as a mess.
After only a few minutes, the trumpeters on the ramparts of Harrowheart sound the alarm again! A series of lightning blasts and churning clouds in the skies above the village herald the arrival of another group of attackers. The cadre of paladins takes up arms and rushes out to confront the newest threat. You swiftly follow them, arriving on the site of the village square just as the enemies emerge from a shimmering portal in the air!
The first foes through the portal are a ragtag throng of lesser demons like the ones you fought in the desert. Behind them, though, lumbers a gargantuan construct seemingly made form flesh and bone, almost as if a leathery skin clung tight to a strange multi-legged skeleton. Even the hammer-like weapons it wields are coated in this diseased-looking leather.
Flying around the construct is an armored, bulky, wolf-headed man armed with a morningstar and a black-bladed knife. As the paladins charge and begin clashing with the demonic rabble, the man points his morningstar at you. "I am the Shadow Prince. Your time as masters of this realm is at an end. Surrender the Harrow cards to my control and give up your destiny to the Unmatched!"
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At the sight of the looming construct Brair tucks The Mountain Man into the band of her vambrace during their charge. Her already bulging form from Clara's mutagen begins to swell even further causing her to grow to a towering fifteen-ish feet tall. As she continues her charge through the battle lines towards the 'living?' siege engine her temper whips up and her jog becomes a full-tilt sprint tackle against the being causing the ground to ripple as she hefted the construct up and off balance.
Visna watches the Shadow Prince carefully. A foe straight from the sagas... "Perhaps even more than he appears." She traces a rune of clear sight across the palm of one hand and smiles.
With a stomp of her heel she triggers Clara's borrowed contraptions strapped to her boots, then blasts off into the sky, the rockets not giving her the easy balance of Pentella's magic, but still just enough to snag the Shadow Prince, and bear him back to the ground! Visna vanishes from sight at the apex of her leap, and the Shadow Prince seems to fall unsupported to the earth, only visibly held tight in her orcine grasp once they both land safely.
Before her companions rush into battle, Pentella Cole weaves complex arcane patterns into them, hastening their every movement.
The two heroic warriors dive into battle without a single war cry, which makes the wizard pause to contemplate that aberration. After the pause, she decides that cannot be, that it would be a disservice to them both.
Clearing her throat, she calls out to the Shadow Prince "A shadow can only exist when faced with the shining of a light. But you face two such lights, and in the wake of those lights, shining from an equal distance on either side, no shadow can exist. Which means you cannot." It is sometime in the middle of her speech, Pen realizes she is not good at this, and should have stopped... but she didn't, so it is there and will be until everyone can forget it.
She then attempts to hide behind a magical shield, for tactical reasons.
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Critical Success You knock one held item out of the creature's grasp. It falls to the ground in the creature's space.
Success You weaken your opponent's grasp on one held item. Until the start of that creature's turn, attempts to Disarm the opponent of that item gain a +2 circumstance bonus, and the target takes a –2 circumstance penalty to attacks with the item or other checks requiring a firm grasp on the item.
As Pen hastens the group, Visna literally leaps into action! She soars high into the air, grabbing the Shadow Prince and pummeling him as she floats back down to the ground with the creature in her grasp! Meanwhile, Briar charges the massive construct, hacking at its legs. She hits, but the construct resists her physical damage, and cannot bleed. Still, she grabs a hold and begins beating on its arms, weakening its grasp on its hammers.
"Your resistance is pathetic!" the Shadow Prince laughs. "Accept me as the future that all reality deserves!" He swings his mace at Visna, but can't get past her armor.
The colossus swings its heavy hammers at Briar, pummeling the gnoll! Red Abyssal energy flashes with the force of each impact.
The demonic horde clambers over around Briar, attacking with their natural weapons.
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After the first swing of the Colossal construct's first blow Briar tries to rip it's weapon from it again only to be repaid by an even heavier strike which breaks something and causes a spray of blood across the battlefield as she reels from the blow. She manages to shake off some of the clawing grasping and biting forces of the demonic hordes lessening the hurt they bring.
Eyes bleary from the ringing pain of the blow, Briar sweeps her sword against the grain of the demonic hordes instead of the bigger threat, but her sight and balance are off for both strikes, so she drops the blade and shaking her head goes for the Colossus again, knowing if she could just slow it from reaching the others then they'd be able to handle things.
Crouching low she grabbed it by the leg and lifted to try and topple the infernal contraption. She also honestly needed a few seconds to get her breath and bearings again.
Grasping her staff, Pen pushes through time and space, not far, just a sliver of a second in the future, to help see where the giant construct will fall. Then a beam of disturbing green rips into its side, shredding flesh and bone into dust.
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Visna slams her fist into the illusory Prince again and again, Pentella's haste impelling her massive gauntlet into a blur of sickening crunches.
Clara decides to focus on the horde, to maximize her fizzy fizzy splash.