While Tandyn cleans up the blood stains, Thawm takes a minute to mend injuries.
Aroden ensures that the demons are well and truly destroyed.
"As before, Sir Tandyn, I can open the door from range once it is unlocked. Maybe we should have all of our group outside the line of fire?"
As the last worm demon falls, Dorek sheaths his blades, moving to his brother's remnants. Gathering up what he can of the demon's shell, he builds a simple cairn of sorts using pieces of rubble, placing what he can find of Huresk within. Kneeling in front of the burial site and pulling away the bandage on his hand, he slashes open his half-healed wound with a clawed talon, scribing Hallit characters on the top stone of the simple cairn.
At Cecily's touch, he blinks back tears from his one crimson eye, nodding gratefully to the noblewoman. "T-thank you, Cecily. Since my p-parents died, it's been just m-me and Huresk - I always l-looked out for him, you see, k-kept him safe. He n-needed me, and I wasn't t-there." He seems not to hear Tandyn's talk of strategies and plans, staring down at his brother's grave in silence. After a minute or so, he stands again, drawing his blades and approaching the locked Garrison door as he scowls. "Those sons of dogs will pay for what they have done!"
Thawm finishes healing herself and checking everyone else for injuries after Dorek kneels to mourn his brother.
After seeing him cut his hand open again, she nods instead of tuts.
"Yeah, let's go smite some evil." she agrees before using sparks to knit his cut finger shut.
Finally, she cranks another bolt into position in her new heavy crossbody of darkwood.
"How callous of me. You have my condolences, Dorek. You spoke very well of your brother. This is an extremely unsafe place to linger, but we should share some stories later." He gives Dorek a quick hug. "As for the other bodies, we should make sure their rites are also respected. Once we've cleared the entrance area, let's bring them inside."
"As before, Sir Tandyn, I can open the door from range once it is unlocked. Maybe we should have all of our group outside the line of fire?"
Tandyn moves off to the left side of the door and readies his armaments.
"Sounds great. Find a good position everyone. I plan to rush to whoever's in there. Dorek, I suspect the Garrison would spare no expense on their lock. Care to take a crack at it?"
When you try the door you find it not locked but barred from the inside.
Ahmose stands silently observing the current activity being performed by his companions. The Alchemist's blue eyes watch the futility of egress by the determined door. Thumbing their his notes, he begins to smile, as he turns his blue eyed vision upwards to the ...there is one set of shutters above the front entrance that you could climb.
Placing his trusty notes away, retrieving an Elixir of Blur, the Alchemist walks with purpose towards the frustratingly barred door. Drinking his Elixir of Blur, Ahmose activates his Cloud walking Scales, rising upwards. He actually seems to disappear as he ascends....
Peering through those nicely placed shutters, the hidden Kobold observes the interior....
The Alchemist for some reason really wants to turn down to the group and tell they that they have a Cave troll....
Blinking the dust, dirt, Cultist worm guts out of his eyes, the Alchemist peers in again....
"I am sorry. I have no magic to bypass a barred door, nor to make it easier to break down."
"Dorek, I am sorry about your brother. He too will be avenged. We must consider what happened to his deity.
Do you think Azilash has returned to their divine realm? Or been slain? Turned to the demons' side? Or waiting to aid us?
Is there any way you can reach out to Azilash?
Even if you lack the training, in this extraordinary circumstance of avenging your brother there might be a slim chance that Azilash could aid us.
I ask you to try. To pray in the way of your people. It may or may not work, but there is power in the effort."
"Hmmmm... it's barred. Breaking down a stone door will take a while and make substantially more noise than we have so far. I suppose we should know more about those shutters up there, but be very careful."
Ahmose fails to find any traps. But he notices that the shutters have a lock which could be picked to allow entry.
Ahmose quietly retrieves his tools.
The Alchemist rubs some oil on them.
The strangled sounds of coughing phlegm is almost heard from above.
After a tiring, exhausting 18 seconds, the Blue Whisper silently opens the shutter to look into the courtyard.....
When the shutters open, Cecily looks to the rest of the group, points up, and says, "Climb, I'll follow up."
Then she starts beating on the front door.
Once everyone else is up, she'll climb up herself.
...or try to at least.
"We must consider what happened to his deity. Do you think Azilash has returned to their divine realm? Or been slain? Turned to the demons' side? Or waiting to aid us? Is there any way you can reach out to Azilash? ... I ask you to try. To pray in the way of your people."
Dorek nods gratefully to Aroden, but at his request, he shakes his head regretfully. "There are r-rituals that must be f-followed. Special c-chants, pleas to the g-gods for intercession. A Windstep god caller must s-sacrifice his own blood to form a g-gateway. I am not trained in the old r-rites - my... my brother may... have been the l-last of the Windstep god c-callers. I..." He stops, his expression becoming even more morose. "I may n-never see my goddess again."
As Ahmose works to unlock the shutters above the gate to the Gray Garrison, Dorek pulls his grappling hook from his bag, attaching a length of rope to it before tossing it at the secondary entrance to the cultist fortress.
The grappling hook clatters against the slats in the shutter, and Dorek gives it an experimental tug to ensure it is stable. "It s-should be easier now." Sheathing his blade, he ascends the rope using the Garrison door to brace himself, drawing his weapons at the top of the rope and waiting impatiently for the start of the attack.
Thawm shrugs as Dorek shows off his grappling hook instead of just asking Ahmose to float up with the rope.
She climbs up right after Dorek, sure that her crossbow would serve best from a higher vantage point.
With the grappling hook in place the party is easily able to climb to the now open shutter. Ahmose opens them to find a closet with barely any room to stand in. A single door leads further in. The shutter is 15ft up.
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Ahmose (still Cloud surfing) sighs at the little closet that has a door, presumably leading to The Trap, Ambush, Garbage chute.
Who is willing to take a bullet? Or arrow? Or ballistic missile? Step right up and open that door (preferably standing in front of it).
The Alchemist waits....
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"What do you see, Dorek? Can I come up yet?"
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Dorek moves into the room thus revealed by the opening shutter, impatiently motioning the others up.
Drawing his blades, he waits for the other members of the motley group to reach the top of the rope before bursting through the door, brandishing his twin swords at whatever cultist forces lie beyond, a ferocious scowl of unbridled rage on his features.
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Who is willing to take a bullet? Or arrow? Or ballistic missile? Step right up and open that door (preferably standing in front of it).
"Well certainly, I'll be right..."
Tandyn looks wide-eyed to Cecily "...up?" He grabs the rope and begins climbing.
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Dorek opens the door to find:
Several stacked horizontal shelves hold a number of small, straw-lined bird cages. A stack of parchment, three quills, a pot of ink, and a pile of tiny cylindrical objects cover a nearby table. Three giant flies also alight on various parts of the chamber; even more grotesque they have malformed hands on the tip of each spindly leg and human-like faces except for deformed rasping maws.
Round 1
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"Is everything going according to plan up there?"
Aroden delays.
Ahmose snickers.
Yes, Dorek. Everything going to plan?
The Alchemist delays any impulsive actions....
Dorek charges forward, slashing at one of the monstrous flies as he presses his back against a wall for protection. He lashes out in a tornado of sharp edges, even his stinger lashing fiercely if ineffectively at the monstrous creatures.
Tandyn carefully dismounts the rope and dashes into the adjacent room to find where Dorek went. Seeing the horrific flies, he takes a flanking position, stares, and assaults the fly.
"Eep!" Thawm explains, being too stunned by Tandyn's quick advance to climb up before him after all.
Remembering that she's in a warzone, she follows the other Aasimar up the rope as quick as she can.
After climbing up and seeing through the open closet door, she shouts down "There's more of those awful flies up here!"
Ahmose floats behind Thawm. The frustrated Blue-scaled Kobold begins politely pushing her....
This is a good time to get out of the closet...
Dorek and Tandyn cut one of the weird flies to shreds.
Since Aroden seems to be waiting with purpose, Cecily gives him a nod then ascends herself.
She brushes past Thawm and moves up next to Tandyn to menace the Fly-things, weaving into her combat stance along the way.
Ahmose just floats behind Thawm poking....poking... poking....
Aroden considers the future. Perhaps he will climb quickly?
As the future does not promise success at that effort, he makes a normal effort to climb the rope.
The brundleflies buzz as they open their maws and spew stomach acid in a forceful projectile line on Tandyn, Cecily, and Thawm.
Ahmose watches wide-eyed as the Demon Flies sprew, vomit, hurl, throw up, toss their cookies, praise the porcelain god, puking, retch, cough up, bring up, regurgitate, heave, flex their gag reflexes beyond the scope of the contents of their stomachs.
F!%~ing gross!
The Alchemist stops poking Thawm.
Better yet. You stay there. I'm good.
Tandyn chuckles. "Ahmose, this is quite clearly projectile vomit. It's nothing like bullets, arrows, or ballistic missiles..."
Dry heaving on a cloud, Ahmose coughs
No. This is worse. Much worse.
The fly jumps at the last minute as Tandyn swings.
The hard wood of the floor is merely dirtied by the putrid vomit. You get the sense that it will take multiple volleys before it has a chance of failing.
A little more surrounded now, Cecily whirls on the Yellow fly with a powerful backhand, then kicks out at the red fly to propel her into the corner where she can best menace yellow.
She's splattered with fly barf!
Dorek steps forward as Cecily strikes at one of the flies, tearing into the beast with his twinned swords. "H-hold on, Cecily - I'll h-help!"
"Ah-!" Thawm explains as she blocks the worst of the digestive juices with her arms.
She pauses a moment, realizing what she covered in.
Suddenly expressionless, she draws her crossbow and steps right up to Tandyn without even wiping off her face.
She aims the crossbow past Tandyn at the fly that blasted her and returns fire.
Ahmose almost retches.
Make them barf a few more times on that wood floor.
The Blue Whisper looks a bit green.
Ahmose gestures to Aroden.
You first, your Highness.
Aroden climbs through the window.
He then draws his sword, but thinks it likely that the battle is in hand.
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Cecily beats a fly to within an inch of its life and then Dorek finishes it off with a stroke of his sword. Dorek then maneuvers to the remaining fly, piercing it, sending hemolymph onto the wood floor. Thawm’s shot is spoiled by her concern for her companions and it goes high.
The party then gangs up on the remaining fly, putting it down.
Ahmose peers around the corner of the entrance of the closet to happily witness the rendering of safety in the chamber formerly known to habitat demon flies.
Casually Striding into the closet, through the door into the
Watch your step! That smells disgusting! By Gandalf 's beard why!
.... around his companions, tiptoeing through the devastation of tulips, to appear giddily at another exit!
Surely just a quick peek. Best to be certain of immediate safety or the other thing.
The Alchemist takes a look at the door (and surrounding area) for any Asshat cultists tricks ...
The Blue Whisper turns his blue eyes to quickly (one may even say barely) to look at his companions before reaching out his Blue-scaled hand towards the door....
Cecily looks herself over and finds minimal injury so she shoots Thawm an appreciative looks.
"Anything useful here, first? Then just...be quiet about it, Ahmose."
"Well, if it matters at this point." She favors Dorek with a look of both skepticism and empathy.
Coming to herself with the death of the last fly, Thawm finally wipes off her face with a shudder.
Thawm puts her crossbow away for a moment and looks around.
"Oh, they got you too. That's what I felt..." Thawm explains. Before she fusses too much over what's left of Cecily's acid burns, she remembers that she can burn the injuries away.
She then treats herself, some of the filth burning away also.
Almost as soon as the last fly falls, Dorek is already striding towards the next door, his blades at the ready, only to stop short at Cecily's reproachful look, which he returns with a look of bafflement. "There is a time for s-silence, but now there is deathfeud, you see? A time for s-sound. Battle c-cries. P-prayers to the gods. Like you with your mother L-lushya."
The lanky tiefling glowers at Ahmose as the little lizard scampers in after the battle is finished. After a moment, however, he turns a worried gaze on Tandyn, his look of anxiety juxtaposing strangely with his blood-drenched foundry uniform and the wickedly sharp blades he still clutches almost as an afterthought. "...W-was that okay, then, T-tandyn? I know there is h-hiding in the darkness that you w-wanted us to do, but there are t-traditions, rituals... I do not h-hold you to my customs, but I at l-least must pursue the deathfeud with h-honor."
Cecily considers, glances around the room at the desk and shelves, then claps Dorek on the shoulder.
"Time enough to search once we've killed every last demon and cultist in here then."