The cultist troop resist the violet beam, but the other group cries out in pain as the green beam sprays them with acid! Several members of the group fall, and Aicard moves in to attack them, landing a solid blow. Meanwhile, Targrish moves towards the demonic leaders. Oro fires on the succubus, narrowly missing twice.
Still, he seems to have gotten her attention. The demoness sighs as she abandons the ritual and flaps her wings, taking to the air. She casts a powerful spell, attempting to scramble the inquisitor's brain!
Meanwhile, the hulking toad demon moves to intercept Targrish. A horrid stench washes over the dwarf as the fiend gets close. It bites at the thaumaturge with its sharp teeth!
The weakened mob of priests wildly swing their weapons at Aicard.
The other troop moves closer to the tiefling and blasts him with burning hands!
With his previous target out of sight, Targrish focuses on the toad demon.
for
weakness or personal antithesis, and the target creature is within reach of both your implement and weapon. As you make an attack augmented by your esoterica, you also press your implement against the creature, applying its weakness as your implement's energies sear the creature's flesh. Make a melee Strike against the target of your Exploit Vulnerability. On any attack roll result but a critical failure, you also press your implement against the creature, automatically dealing the additional damage from Exploit Vulnerability. This is in addition to any damage from your Strike, including the weakness the Strike applies from Exploit Vulnerability. This counts as two attacks when calculating your multiple attack penalty.
Aicard finds himself adrift in an endless sea of cultists.
HP 97/134 (Toughness)
AC 31
Fort +21, Ref +23, Will +22; fire resistance 5 (crown), poison resistance 13 (brass dwarf), xx weakness 5? (brass dwarf)
Hero points: 2
Active Harrow Omen: The desert (shield)
Chaotic Destiny []; Incredible Improvisation []; crown of the fire eater []
Spells: 1st [][][][], 2nd [][][][], 3rd [][][][], 4th [][][][], 5th [][][][], 6th [][][][], 7th [x][x][][]
Focus Points: 3/3
Effects:
"Oh no, darling, we don't want you in our home," Vashta tells the succubus, sending her through time
Aicard sweeps his weapon all around, scoring a critical hit! Cultists fall by the handful, leaving one troop dismantled completely. Oro fires on Vashta before regaining his mental clarity. He tries to distract the succubus, but the quip falls flat. The demoness completely ignores Vashta's spell as well. Targrish exploits the toad demon's weakness to good damage, critically hitting with his kukri and searing the fiend's flesh with his mirror for good measure!
The toad demon bites at Targrish again, missing. It slashes at him with its claws, but the dwarf dodges!
The cultists try to burn Aicard with another blast of burning hands
The succubus ascends further as she flies closer to Aicard. She casts another powerful spell, attempting to dominate the tiefling!
Aicard stays close to his friends and raises his shield. Then, when the succubus thinks they're safe, the tiefling does the impossible and smacks them.
"Back to the lower planes with you, fiend," Targrish enjoins as he uses his mystic arts against the demon.
for
HP 97/134 (Toughness)
AC 31
Fort +21, Ref +23, Will +22; fire resistance 5 (crown), poison resistance 13 (brass dwarf), xx weakness 5? (brass dwarf)
Hero points: 2
Active Harrow Omen: The desert (shield)
Chaotic Destiny []; Incredible Improvisation []; crown of the fire eater []
Spells: 1st [][][][], 2nd [][][][], 3rd [][][][], 4th [][][][], 5th [][][][], 6th [x][][][], 7th [x][x][][]
Focus Points: 3/3
Effects:
Vashta frowns as the demoness ignores her spell and ascends. "Surely you must know this won't work out for you, dear," she scolds. "Disaster is inevitable."
Then she casts guidance on Targrish.
Oro's shout ripples through the mob of priests, wounding several. Vashta predicts doom in the succubus's future, while Aicard provides a more immediate threat as he slings his shield, smacking the demoness! Targrish slices the toad demon again and shoves his mirror against it to further wound the fiend.
The mob of priests falls upon Aicard with their axes!
The toad demon continue to flail at Targrish, unable to land a hit on the dwarf!
The succubus recoils at Aicard's ability to resist her spell! Angrily, she fires her hand crossbow before reloading, continue to hover in mid-air.
HP 97/134 (Toughness)
AC 31
Fort +21, Ref +23, Will +22; fire resistance 5 (crown), poison resistance 13 (brass dwarf), xx weakness 5? (brass dwarf)
Hero points: 2
Active Harrow Omen: The desert (shield)
Chaotic Destiny []; Incredible Improvisation []; crown of the fire eater []
Spells: 1st [][][][], 2nd [][][][], 3rd [][][][], 4th [][][][], 5th [][][][], 6th [x][x][][], 7th [x][x][][]
Focus Points: 2/3
Effects:
"Darling, just realize you've been beaten and go back to the Hells," Vashta suggests as she casts another spell, again targeting the succubus.
"Back to the bog that spawned you, fiend. This is our territory," Targrish taunts the demon.
for
Plus weakness x2, or x1 on a miss.
"You'll have to try harder than that!"
Oro's arrow strikes the succubus, but she resists Vashta's spell. Aicard bashes her with his shield again while Targrish continues to square off with the hezrou, slicing and branding it with his mirror once more.
The mob of angry cultists moves to surround Oro as well as Aicard as they swing their weapons wildly.
Meanwhile, the succubus flies further up into the air to get out of range of Aicard's attacks. She then reloads her hand crossbow.
HP 97/134 (Toughness)
AC 31
Fort +21, Ref +23, Will +22; fire resistance 5 (crown), poison resistance 13 (brass dwarf), xx weakness 5? (brass dwarf)
Hero points: 2
Active Harrow Omen: The desert (shield)
Chaotic Destiny []; Incredible Improvisation []; crown of the fire eater []
Spells: 1st [][][][], 2nd [][][][], 3rd [][][][], 4th [][][][], 5th [x][][][], 6th [x][x][][], 7th [x][x][][]
Focus Points: 2/3
Effects:
Vashta narrows her eyes at the succubus, realizing that her magic may well be best suited to fighting the strategic demon. A peacock appears and charges toward the succubus, who seems a horrid vision of her own.
"Vashta, you've got that fiend? I'm still playing with this one!" Targrish asks his old friend.
for
for
Aicard shifts his attention from the winged demoness to the mob of cultists. So continues the deadly dance in which Aicard both protects and attacks.
"Of course, darling. She's on her way back to the Outer Rifts right now, even if she might not realize it yet," Vashta calls back.
The succubus resists Vashta's illusion, though she is still somewhat shaken by it. Oro hits her with another arrow as Aicard lays into the mob of rancorous priests. With critical strikes, he finishes off the rabid cultists! Targrish scores another hit on the hezrou.
The toad demon claws ineffectually at the dwarf.
The succubus shifts her aim to Vashta and fires, then reloads, scoring a critical hit! She continues to hover in the air.
for
"Hey, you! Catch!"
Fortitude:
HP 88/134 (Toughness)
AC 31
Fort +21, Ref +23, Will +22; fire resistance 5 (crown), poison resistance 13 (brass dwarf), xx weakness 5? (brass dwarf)
Hero points: 2
Active Harrow Omen: The desert (shield)
Chaotic Destiny []; Incredible Improvisation []; crown of the fire eater []
Spells: 1st [][][][], 2nd [][][][], 3rd [][][][], 4th [][][][], 5th [x][x][][], 6th [x][x][][], 7th [x][x][][]
Focus Points: 2/3
Effects:
"Is that the best you can do, darling?" Vashta shoots back, along with another vision of the demon's death.
The succubus ignores Vashta's spell and dodges Aicard's shield, but Oro manages to strike her with an arrow. She raises her crossbow to fire again--
--and that's when Vashta's earlier spell of impending doom finally kicks in! The swamp below the demon suddenly bubbles up as a superheated geyser sprays up at her! The succubus shrieks as the blast overwhelms her, and she plummets out of the sky, slamming hard into the muck below and lying still.
Meanwhile, Targrish slices and burns the hezrou again. The toad demon is badly wounded but continues to attack the dwarf, missing with its attacks!
"All alone now, you monster!" Targrish taunts the remaining fiend as he slices at it.
for
HP 88/134 (Toughness)
AC 31
Fort +21, Ref +23, Will +22; fire resistance 5 (crown), poison resistance 13 (brass dwarf), xx weakness 5? (brass dwarf)
Hero points: 2
Active Harrow Omen: The desert (shield)
Chaotic Destiny []; Incredible Improvisation []; crown of the fire eater []
Spells: 1st [][][][], 2nd [][][][], 3rd [][][][], 4th [x][][][], 5th [x][x][][], 6th [x][x][][], 7th [x][x][][]
Focus Points: 2/3
Effects:
Vashta smirks. "I did warn you, dear. Though I suppose the fates meant even if you had fled, it wouldn't have saved you."
She turns her attention to the remaining demon and brings out a lesser spell against a lesser foe. "The Demon's Lantern," she says as she draws a card. "Of course. How appropriate."
With the winged one done and dusted, Aicard shifts his attention to the hezrou.
Targrish burns the hezrou again, and then Aicard delivers a brutal strike with his holy weapon! The fiend falls!
The battle is over. You are able to claim The Demon's Lantern from the succubus' body, as well as a +2 striking hand crossbow and a bejeweled belt worth 3,000 gp.
"Very nice, darlings," Vashta says, claiming the card, at least for the moment.
"Are there anymore attacks we must deal with?" she asks, looking around their new home, even as she knows they need to take a moment to bind their wounds.
"Eh, back to the Abyss with you!" Targrish nudges the demon with his boot. "These attacks won't do. After we fight them off, we'll have to get to the bottom of who sent them."
"Yes, there are still the demons gathering in the desert to contend with," All-Seeing Hajeck says. "Let us return to the keep to recover before we take them on."
Vashta nods, her own injuries paining her, but knowing that they don't have much time.
Aicard frowns and shoots Targrish a worried look. "The demons might even be chasing their primal urges. These cards, they're so powerful that they and whatever they represent could be a shining beacon for these awful creatures full of hunger and rage. And since we invest them in this place, perhaps that makes this very place said beacon ... but, I got nothing concrete to go on, it's just a thought."
After taking a few minutes to heal yourselves back to full health, you quickly return to the throne room of Harrowheart and pass through the Arch of Hammers. You find yourselves in the desert on the outskirts of the demiplane, at a small oasis nestled within the expanse of sandy dunes. Here, a tangled mass of assorted lesser demons has gathered, a chaotic mix of dretches, quasits, and abrikandilus, with a handful of more powerful babaus swept up in the mayhem. A much larger demon whips the rabble into a frenzy, a corpulent, four-armed fiend covered in yellow-orange dragon scales with draconic wings sprouting from its back. He promises them a glorious march to violence once more troops have gathered.
The demon turns towards you as you appear and gives you a toothy grin. "Ah! You have come to me! Saves me the trouble of a long march. Surrender yourselves and hand over the Harrow cards, or we will tear you apart!"
"Many have tried to take what's ours, and they learned their mistakes too late!" Targrish has no patience for the blustering of these invaders.
for and
Aicard stands his ground and readies himself to protect his friends from what's to come. He digs his heels into the ground, raises his shield, and unfolds his demonic wings. "You're welcome to try."