Once the maggots recede, Slick lets out a sigh of relief. "Phew! Who would have known that a bunch of maggots could do so much damage. Things really are different here in the Abyss."
Feeling a little ill, he finds a corner and retches.
Feeling better, he helps heal the party with his laying on of hands before praying and recovering his spiritual strength.
Slick looks up the sides of the massive chamber rising hundreds of feet above them with no apparent exits to be found. He searches the floor of the chamber and the walls as far as he can see without leaving the ground.
He looks further up the walls. "I presume there must be a way out of this place. Perhaps a concealed door or something similar further up. I could fly around and try looking for it, but I can only do so for 5 minutes every hour, which will likely take me more time than we have before the maggots return."
Slick puts his recently ineffective sword away. Closing his eyes, he says, "It's flyin' time", and feels himself getting lighter. He takes off and flies all the way to the top of the chamber to see if there is a ceiling and whether it is solid. He then slowly drops down to the floor spinning as he goes so as to examine all the walls for any semblance of a discontinuity that might herald the presence of a secret opening.
When he runs out of flying time, he falls to the ground apparently unhurt. Shrugging, he spits on his hands and rubs them together. Slick then starts climbing the walls in a systematic manner so that he gets a closer look at the whole thing.
While Slick is flying and climbing about, Billy says hopefully, "I learned a spell a while back. Haven't used it yet." He continues, "It should give me a clue as to what's occurred in this chamber recently. Maybe help us find an exit." He shrugs and sings,
♫"This room is oh so vast. No cause for celebration.
Impressions from the past. May lead us to salvation."♫
Billy casts Retrocognition, and sustains the spell up to ten minutes to get impressions of what's happened here over the past ten days.
"Well, with that thing you can fly faster then I can--but I can fly all the time. Oh, but maybe it would be faster if I--yeah!"
Pine casts one of his minor spells, one he rarely uses but which might be very relevant in this box. He gains sticky fingers, though not in the usual sense that people with his skillset sometimes do. Then he climbs up to the ceiling, before resuming his inspection. If he they're here long enough for him to get used to this place...
Billy casts his spell. His vision quickly scrolls through the dark room with nothing much happening until near the end. He sees a large demon appear in the chamber, it appears surprised and then the maggots appear and start to consume it. The thing tries to escape by flying into the air but the lashing tendril appears and gradually tears it apart, no matter how far up it flies. The thing never manages to escape and is torn apart and utterly consumed.
Meanwhile, Pine and Slick spend time flying and crawling around the chamber. It rises hundreds of feet into the air but, after several exhausting hours, they finally locate a well hidden secret door near the top, about 200' off the floor.
As Sigourney sees the giant tendril about to smash into her, she is paralysed by the thought of dying in such a horrid manner. Even when revived amid an empty pit devoid of maggots, she is so sickened by the experience that even after retching her guts out, she spends the first hour or so deliriously catatonic.
Reginald, after puking his own guts out, can do nothing but watch on helplessly and worriedly.
It's only after she watches Slick and Pine climb while Enfeebled that she snaps back to attention. She moves to the two of them, calls them down to her for a minute, and reads off the entire Restoration spell from her scrolls.
"Thank you...Thank you both for saving my life. You all keep going, please. I will...catch my breath down here." She says after administering magical treatment.
She then sits down and waits for Slick and Pine to do what they do best.
As Slick and Pine inform the rest of the rest of the party of the secret door, Sigourney looks up from her meditation. She puts Reginald on her shoulder and addresses Billy.
"Do you need assistance getting yourself in the air? I hope you have not forgotten the limerick you sing that gives you flight. Was it...red minotaurs give you wings?"
If Billy asks for it, she Casts Air Walk on him before she quaffs her Greater Potion of Flying. Together, they fly up to regroup with Pine and Slick near the secret door.
After casting his spell, Billy frowns. "Alas, my new spell didn't prove useful. Just showed a demon being eaten alive. No hint at an exit." While he checks in on Sigourney, he hears the others call down that they found something.
When Sigourney offers to grant him flying, Billy waves her off. "Thanks, but they would've kicked me out of Bard School if I couldn't manage a little flight."
♫"Minotaurs of red? Should they give me wings?
Quick, before we're dead! Let's do amazing things."♫
Billy casts Fly and joins Sigourney to approach the others at the secret door.
"That does still sound informative. This wasn't a trap specifically for us. Which I guess explains why nobody's checked on us."
The group climbs or flies up to the secret door. The air in this chamber is humid and fetid. A colossal, six-foot tall crystal, flickering with blood-tinged light, thrums from atop a thirty-foot pedestal of dark stone and rusted iron. Its vibrations make limbs leaden and the air thick. Surrounding the crystal are four thirty-foot-tall metal poles that appear to siphon the crystal’s light into the ground. The chamber has no ceiling, instead rising to a height of a few hundred feet before opening into the night. A low-hanging moon, much too large in the sky, illuminates the shaft with its light.
A figure flies up from behind the pedestal, a thing with far too many limbs and winds. It buzzes and its voice echoes in your minds...
Welcome mortals, I fear you should not be here. I invite you to return to the oubliette until you expire and your souls are used as fodder for your betters...
Billy looks up at the gigantic demon. He says aloud, "Greetings! Can you understand me? I'm at my best when I'm heard."
Retrieving his jug to pour drinks, Billy continues, "I'm Billy. It's very interesting to see you alive. I had a disturbing vision that you were eaten alive by the haunted maggots below." The halfling looks confused. "Did you not suffer such a fate?"
After his response, Billy assures the demon, "We mean you no harm. We're adventurers, just trying to save the world from a power-hungry tyrant. Perhaps you know of the Prince of Wolves?"
The creature smiles, Aah, I think you have me confused with a rather presumptuous Balor who thought he could challenge my master, the Prince. He has now learnt his lesson. You think to oppose the Prince? That is regrettable.
Billy gulps and explains, "Of course, a Balor. That makes sense. Alas, my visions aren't always specific." Realizing drinks are probably not in the cards, Billy stows his jug.
Looking back up at the figure, he tries stalling while Sigourney gathers information about the creature and this large crystal, "We may have opposing political views, but it doesn't mean we can't enjoy civilized conversation." Assuming the creature doesn't immediately attack, he continues, "Is this your home? It's quite ... vast. And your moon is larger than normal. I like it!" Billy smiles and asks, "You suggested we leave. You'll forgive us if we don't wish to share the Balor's fate -- is there another exit?"
A somewhat exhausted and weakened Slick climbs back down and reports the finding of a well-hidden secret door some 200 feet up. He is happy to let Sigourney remove his maggot-induced weakness. "Thanks, Sigourney. It's nice to be back at full strength. I have the feeling we'll be running into more bad guys soon and every little bit helps."
Slick lets the others figure out the best way to get themselves up to the secret door, and scampers up the wall after them. With Pine, he leads the way through the doorway. Seeing the large blood-colored crystal thrumming away on top of its 30-foot pedestal, he stops. A moment later, he notices the spindly creature fly up from behind the pedestal.
After listening to the creature's invitation, Slick snorts in derision. "Fat chance of that, bub. If you want to use our souls for fodder, then I invite you to come down here and take them from us." He grips his sword in preparation for battle.
Sigourney knows that all of Billy's stalling is meant to give her time to think about their soon-to-be for. She Recalls Knowledge on the crystal and on the buzzing telepathic creature.
She then addresses the creature in Abyssal.
"Would you not even bother giving us the pleasure of your name, flying one? I am Sigourney...and you are?"
The massive crystal is clearly magical but it does not appear to be any sort of trap or hazard and will require some time to learn anything of us.
The creature regards Billy and Sigoruney, My name, of course, I am know as Ixerari, not my true name of course. As for civilised, it seems your burly friend has ill intent. Oh well, so be it..
Initiative
, +2 item visual/hearing, +2 circ scout
, Perception +26, +1 circ if visual, +2 circ scout
, +2 circ scout, +2 item visual
With that, he swoops down to the ground and casts a spell at Billy. A pale green ray lances out and strikes him full in the face....
, critical hit
, pass, reduced to a fail...
Billy sees the demon swooping down at him, Billy says, "Point of order. If my burly friend has ill intent, why attack a harmless little halfl..." He gets cut off by a green ray heading straight for his ... face? His bread and butter??? He quickly chants to cast another virgin spell, Spell Riposte, to hopefully return the spell to his new friend.
♫"You had best believe: Better to give than to receive."♫
The ravening bolt of green energy is reflected back at the demon, but it disperses harmlessly against his chest. My, my, arent you a clever little mortal he says with a chuckle.
, hit
, crit pass
Turn Order
Ixerari
----------------------------------------
The Party
Bold to act.
Combat status
Slick [263]
Billy [210] see invisibile, energy aegis 10, enfeebled 2
Pinebrush [244] enfeebled 1
Sigourney [212] enfeebled 2
Reginald [119] enfeebled 1
Too clever by half he snarls.
, halved for 49
After sending the demon's own spell back at him, Billy sings out inspiration.
♫"A demon, a crystal, a cave.
It's time for us all to be brave.
.....His disintegrate spell
.....It turned out quite well.
It's fame and attention I crave."♫
He then speeds up the team.
♫"This demon isn't nice. His spell did not succeed.
It's he who paid the price. Let's finish with some speed."♫
"Aren't you against us because we don't have ill intent?" People always try to justify themselves, but... really? A demon working for another demon, in the Abyss, is still gonna try that?
As usual, Pine's battle babble isn't really the point. The point is at the end of Minty Toothpick, which he maneuvers close by words and movement and a distracting flick of his whip.
As Ixerari tries (and fails) to disintegrate Billy, Sigourney decides to show it how it's done properly. She waits for Billy and Pine to act first. Her patron, though, is not so hesitant and commands Reginald to act first.
Once properly motivated to act, she studies Ixerari and using divination, becomes Sure of her next Strike.
She then points a radiant and glowing knifewand at Ixerari. "I'll show you how a real beam is done. Take this - Fire sign, Holy Light!" As she fires, she activates her Shadow Signet, causing the beam to melt into the Netherworld and target Ixerari's newly lowered reflexes.
Reginald decides to mess with Ixerari's movement. He unwinds himself into strings and tries to hold the demon in place.
Having waited for everyone else to do their thing, Slick comes out of his stupor and with guttural yell, launches himself at the demon and brings his sword down on it repeatedly.
Target takes an additional 2d10 persistent fire damage - no resistance (Greater Flaming).
Reactive Strike (↺) (extra reaction from Tactical Reflexes)
Trigger A creature within your reach uses a manipulate action or a move action, makes a ranged attack, or leaves a square during a move action it’s using.
Make a melee Strike against the triggering creature. If your attack is a critical hit and the trigger was a manipulate action, you disrupt that action. This Strike doesn’t count toward your multiple attack penalty, and your multiple attack penalty doesn’t apply to this Strike.
Will Saves
, Bravery, +1 vs magic, fail
, Greater Resolve, +1 vs magic, pass
, +1 vs magic, fail
, +1 vs magic, resolve, pass
, pass
All of you find yourselves discombobulated close to the demon. The ground and air around you twists and writhes.
Pine moves deftly through the miasma.
As Slick advances to get close enough to leap at the demon, he feels the air around him twist and writhe. He focuses on his target to avoid being distracted by the demon's aura.
Billy does Billy things, speeding everyone up and encouraging them.
Pine scurries over, wobbling as he goes, but Ixerari is alive to his tricks and easily evades the blow.
Slick staggers forward and shouts at the demon. He seems mildly perturbed.
He leaps at the demon, landing two solid blows.
Pinebrush takes the chance to stab him while he is distracted.
Slick also takes a cascading chance for a bit of revenge but his swing is well wide.
Sigourney blasts him with holy light and he narrowly evades being vaporised. He avoids the worst of Pines entangling nonsense.
Badly injured the demon raises his various wings and arms, Well mortals, it seems that I have misjudged you. It seems you may well have the strength to defeat the Prince. Perhaps we can parlay...
Turn Order
Inspire 1/3
Haste 1/10
Ixerari
----------------------------------------
The Party
Bold to act.
Combat status
Slick [263]
Billy [210] see invisibile, energy aegis 10,, enfeebled 2
Pinebrush [244] enfeebled 1
Sigourney [212] enfeebled 2
Reginald [119] enfeebled 1
Ix, 347 damage, frightened 1, off guard, no reactions, -10 speed
Billy looks up with surprise and says, "You had me at 'parlay'." He continues, "I can't speak for my friends, but that's all I wanted when I arrived." He frowns, "All this bloodshed could have been avoided." He looks at his relatively healthy group and then to the demon and adds, "I mean, all your bloodshed. Not so much ours."
Billy pauses to allow anyone else to participate in the conversation (or attack), and then thinks to ask, "Wait! You seem quite fond of your master. How can we trust you?"
"He doesn't care who wins, as long as they think he's on their side in the end."
But Pinebrush waits for his answers to Billy.
When Ixerari pleads for a parlay, Slick purses his lips and scoffs loudly in disbelief. "Yeah, right! Like that's going to happen." He hefts his sword and is about to launch himself at the demon when Billy pipes up.
Slick rolls his eyes at his friend's totally predictable response to the demon's offer and decides to play bad cop to Billy's good cop. "You really think talking to this guy is going to get us anywhere? He's just trying to buy time."
Slick then turns his attention to Ixerari. In a threatening voice, he says, "Give us one good reason why we shouldn't just cut you down where you stand."
"How about you turn off this infernal aura so we can talk without feeling discombobulated all the time?" Sigourney says, trying to stay upright. "Then we can talk."
Of course, says Ixerari, I shall make things easier by relocating myself...
With that he steps back and vanishes, reappearing on the top of the large pillar.
Now we can talk without being distracted he says with a smile. You ask why you should not just cut me down. Well, several reasons really. Firstly that may not be as easy as you think but secondly, and more importantly I can tell you a great deal about the Prince that would give you a significant advantage when confronting him...
What say you?
Slick looks up at the relocated demon and frowns. "For being a lackey of the Prince, you seem oddly willing to help us defeat him. Why is that? What do you get out of it? What do you want in return?"
Billy repeats his earlier question, "I love nothing more than meeting potential new fans. But I ask again, how can we trust you?"
"Give us some knowledge, then. Who really is the Prince? A demon? A mortal? How does he fight? What is he weak to? What's his favourite ice cream? Come on, spit it out."
The demon grins, Trust, of course you cannot trust me, no more than I would trust you. Which is why I am now up here and, should you seek to pursue I will simply keep removing myself. However, we may well be able to make use of one another. The Prince of Wolves is potent although I am no lackey he says with a snarl.
I can tell you that this stele, he says, gesturing at the large crystal, inhibits magical teleportation and its twin in the fortress empowers the Prince. Whilst it remains the Prince cannot be killed. Likewise, I can tell you that he is served by a great host of demons but there are only three of major concern. Mogaran is a vavaika he has bound into his service, through the use of a powerful magical crystal embedded in his skull. Vespardu and Ornak are a pair of Nalfeshne's, former minions of Mogaran before the Prince took over. A pair pf Glabrezu also serve the Prince but they are unlikely to be of concern to such as you. As for the Prince, he is a mortal of some kind I am unfamiliar with but personally powerful enough to treat with powerful fiends. He is a powerful warrior but is also possessed of some potent magic. Does that suffice to engender a little trust?
Slick listens to Ixerari, then replies. "That's all fine and dandy, and should it prove accurate, will help us take down the Prince."
A slight look of confusion then appears on his face. "But I'm still asking myself why you would help us in this way? You claim not to be the Prince's lackey, yet despite the fact that you can easily evade us by teleporting away, here you remain, acting as his gatekeeper and risking destruction at our hands. Why is that?"
He tilts his head questioningly. "Is it that you have no choice but to remain; that in some way, the Prince compels you to guard this..." Slick waves his sword around to indicate the structure they're all in. "... oubliette of his against your will?"
Slick thinks about it for a moment more, then shrugs. Did it really matter why this demon was helping them? All that really mattered right now was that it was in the way of Slick getting his hands on the Prince. "Sooo... How do you see this little conflict of ours resolving itself? Is there any way we can convince you to leave here under your own power and save us the trouble of destroying you?"
Sigourney tries to wrack her brains for what she knows of the vavaika, Glabrezu and Nalfeshnee species of demons.
"That helps, assuming what you say is correct. I don't suppose you know how to destroy the twin crystals, do you?"
"Well, it's a crystal and it's up on a pedestal, so... gravity," Pine suggests.
Regrettably, the crystals are beyond my ken. My power was used, in part, to create them for I possess a great deal of power over space. However, your burly friend there has the right of it. I am compelled to remain here and prevent entry to the island and so, while this has been most diverting and hopefully this information will help you dispose of the Prince, now I must kill you...
Sigourney considers what she knows about these different types of demons. She will know (automatically) that as greater demons they are likely weak to cold iron and holy effects. She knows that Vavaika's are generally large and clumsy (lowest save reflex), likewise Nalfeshne who also possess several powerful at will spells (dispel magic, divine wrath, true seeing). Glabrezu are also clumsy as well as being capable of grabbing their enemies.
Examining the stele it appears that they can be shut down temporarily with dispel magic, otherwise they must be smashed. This would be a long and arduous process normally (AC43, Hardness 30, 120HP) however using the heart of the colossus that attacked Harrowheart should immediately destroy thee stele.
You also find a breastplate of command in the room.
Slick looks up at the stele, then at Sigourney. "So what you're saying is that we can use the Heart of the Colossus in some way to destroy this stele? If what the demon said is true, that'll remove the teleportation problems we encountered getting here. That should in turn make it easier for us to create a beachhead that Usilket can use to bring our allies over here. I suspect we'll be needing their help against the Prince when we finally run into him."
"You have the Heart of the Colossus on you, right? Do you happen to know to use it to destroy the stele?" He looks back up at the pulsing red crystal. "Maybe just touching them together will do the trick?"
He puts out a hand. "I can clamber up there and give it shot if you don't have any better ideas."
"Heart of the Colossus? You mean that red stone I've had up my sleeve for the better part of a year? That old thing?" Sigourney shoves a hand up the extradimensional space that is her sleeves and pulls out the stone.
"Well, yes." She starts to explain. "I think we can use this stone to remove the teleportation issue. We can't have Usilket and our allies get dropped into a pit of bugs."
She hands the stone to Slick. "I'm not really sure how to use it to destroy the stele, but I reckon if you smack one rock into another rock it's bound to do the trick." She picks up Reginald and floats herself into the air with the power of the Potion of Flying.
"I'm going to wait safely in the previous room in case you or Pine cause this crystal to blow up. Don't take it the wrong way, but you both have histories of causing crystals to spontaneously shatter and blow up in our faces. Billy, if you want to hide in the last room we were in, you can ride my flying disc and wait with me behind the walls of the bug room."
Slick takes the Heart in hand and nods in agreement. "Yes. Good thinking there Sigourney. These crystals we've been dealing have shown a distinct propensity to explode when so much as looked at the wrong way. I suggest the rest of you clear the area as best you can."
Slick waits for the others to find as much cover as possible. He then looks back up at the crystal and momentarily considers throwing the Heart at the stele from a distance to try and minimize the damage from any potential explosion.
He shrugs to himself mentally. Any such explosion was likely to affect anyone remaining in the room. Deciding to rely on his friends' curative powers in the event of such an explosion, he clambers up the pedestal to get within reach of the stele and brings the Heart down onto it, repeatedly if necessary.
Billy looks confused with all this talk about a heart of colossus. And he's surprised when Sigourney pulls out some red stone from her sleeve. "Not sure what that stone is or why you think it'll help here, but you seem to have it figured something out." Billy follows Sigourney into the next room and waits for the all-clear.
Slick strikes the Stele with the crystal, which, predictably, shatters, showering him with hundreds of razor sharp crystalline fragments.
"When we find the next one maybe we should throw the Heart at it from a distance," Pine suggests as he dutifully tends Slick's cuts.
"So the 'Prince' is mortal? So he probably only thinks he controls the demons... although I think that's true of demons, too."
Slick picks himself up off the floor and helps Pine heal the group of whatever damage the explosion inflicted. After brushing the last of the crystal slivers off his armor, he hands the Heart back to Sigourney. "Here you go, Sigourney. Keep it safe. I expect we'll be needing it again once we run into the other crystal in the Prince's fortress."
Once everyone is all healed up, Slick rubs his hands together and follows Sigourney up to the exit several hundred feet above by climbing the walls. "Last one to the top is a rotten egg."