San covers from the explosion of the skeleton, relieved to not suffer much. Unfortunately, he feels the familiar ache of the rust creep. But that's a problem for another time. Taking out the potion they found earlier, he pops the cork and quaffs it in one gulp.
He immediately feels the relief of the magic working out the wounds left over after Morga's magic.
Halberd in hand he nods to the others his readiness to engage.
Vildran does a quick search of the antechamber, but the fungal growths and irregular walls yield nothing obvious in the way of traps or mechanisms. To be fair, it's a little hard to concentrate with the light show of the ritual just beyond.
Vildran nods at Autumn and crosses the opening, ensuring his feet pad softly on the stone beneath them. Along the way he hands two oils of anti-corrosion to Morga and one to San.
San applies the oil to his halberd while glaring at the cultists at the alter, doing his best not to wince in pain when the horn gets blown.
Vildran draws a wand of grease... just in case his Command doesn't work.
Nodding her thanks to Vildran, Morga rubs the anti-corrosion oil on her light hammer and armor. Pity there isn't another for my shield. Tough luck. Glaring all her righteous anger at Meitremar, she stalks forward, stopping just before crossing the threshold that the glowing wall had marked. Her jaw muscles bulge, release, bulge, release, bulge, release...
Autumn looks at the unusual horn. The most striking property is the soul-shaking noise that emits from it each time Meitremar blows into it. But beyond that, she's not sure if she'll be able to deduce anything about what it might do without studying it up close.
The rest of you apply your anti-corrosion oils as you discuss your next move.
Like a lion in a cage, San paces back and forth before approaching the barrier. Gripping and re-gripping his halberd, he's anxious for the hostilities to start.
Vildran takes one deep breath before muttering
The calm before the storm.
Striding to the center of the threshold, and taking a step back , he begins a short incantation.
Success The creature is unaffected.
Failure The creature must spend the first action on its next turn to obey your command.
Critical Failure The target must use all its actions on its next turn to obey your command.
-
-
With ichor raining down across the room you see a horror upon the dais. Where once rose the ghostly form of a grand demon lord now stands a different demonic entity entirely - a strange insectoid creature with a chitinous carapace, faceted eyes and barbed, darting tongue. While this isn't Xar-Azmak, it appears the failed ritual has opened a path for something terrible nonetheless!
A moment later, the corpse that laid across the altar, now drenched in ichor, stirs. It seems the void energy that ran rampant throughout the room has reanimated it! San and Morga are the first to respond after this turn of fortunes for Meitremar and his fellows.
|||| INIT ||||
San (Rust Creep Stg 1)
Morga (3 dmg)
Meitremar
??? Demon
??? Zombie
Autumn
Vildran
"Well. That ain't good." Morga grumbles, trying to identify the insectiod demon.
And of course, the dead rise. She sends a Vitality Lash at the undead former sacrificial victim. I'm so sorry we were too slow to save you. Rest in peace. *Please.*
The moment has come to slay the demon. It might not be the one we thought it would be, but it still needs to be slain. Gripping his weapon, San steps up to harass the fodder but strike at Meitremar.
-
-
-
Morga's vitality lash falls upon the zombie and immediately sets it to thrashing. Its undead flesh burns vigorously under the attack . San follows after and lands a clean slash across Meitremar's torso. The butt of his halberd strikes against the altar before he can trip the zombie.
The zombie opens its mouth and a sluggish mist of rust flows forth. It takes a sluggish swing at San and he ducks out of the way. A second ponderous haymaker ploughs through the air next to him. Meitremar, regaining his bearings, he spits curses "You cretins! You know not what great legacy you meddle with, what work of centuries! This..." He snarls "No. Xar-Azmak has seen fit to send his emissary to punish this interference!" He calls to the demon in Abyssal "These maggots work against the great lord, join me, destroy them!"
The demon eyes Meitremar and then your team before responding "Gladly. And you will follow." It clicks its claws together and points at San.
San feels his body seize up, his limbs ceasing to respond to his will . The vloriak ambles its way off the dais and approaches him up close. "This one stinks of some foul oil."
Meitremar seizes upon the distraction to back off. He raises the horn to his lips and blows. An orange glow fills the horn for a moment and then a black wind gusts from its open end. The smog billows forth until it settles around those of you in the back. While you can see mostly through it, the vapors are terribly noxious!
|||| INIT ||||
Autumn (Rust Creep Stg 1)
Vildran
San (paralyzed 1 rd, Rust Creep Stg 1)
Morga (3 dmg)
Meitremar (9 dmg)
??? Demon
??? Zombie (23 dmg)
I guess that forces the issue...
Vildran rushes forward and to the right until he exits the cloud.
Thrusting the wand forward, he casts grease.
|||| INIT ||||
Autumn (Rust Creep Stg 1)
Vildran
San (paralyzed 1 rd, Rust Creep Stg 1)
Morga (3 dmg)
Meitremar (9 dmg)
Vloriak Demon
??? Zombie (prone, 23 dmg)
“So not good,” Autumn mutters darkly as things goes from bad to worse. The zombie and demon are bad enough—she should have expected unintended consequences like this, especially after the debacle when she first disrupted the spinning apparatus—but the paralyzed elf and noxious smog make the situation absolutely dire. She freezes for a long moment, trying to figure out how to save the archer, then calls out to Morga.
“Finish the zombie,” she coughs, trying to avoid breathing in the fumes, “I’ll help San.” While waiting for the cleric to recast her spell, so effective against the undead, she visualizes the image she wishes to create. Didn’t Vildran say something about cold iron being detrimental against some demons? The sorceress focuses on the exotic metal of Morga’s hammer, then, when the cleric is clear, she conjures a thirty-feet high wall of cold iron, neatly cutting off one arm of the cross-shaped room, with San and Vildran on one side, and the demon and zombie on the other—if the demon wants to attack something on its side of the wall, it’ll have to be Meitremar. The entire wall glows with a shimmering white light, as if magically reinforced to be incorruptible and indestructible.
Then she beats a hasty retreat out of the nauseating vapors, holding her breath as best she can. Unlike the wizard, she sensibly runs away from the demon.
As the cloud rolled toward her, Morga took a deep breath and held it. Whatever it is, it can't be good. She strides forward, surging toward the edge of the noxious fumes, following the faint shadow of Vildran. He's getting too close to danger. I'd better catch up to him. Popping out of the cloud, she begins breathing again and does exactly what Autumn suggested. There is wisdom in reducing the number of foes, after all.
San tenses as Meitremar beats a hasty retreat. Seeing the opportunity he was waiting for, he asks or with his Halberd! But his arms don't move... and he let's stayed planted. What foul magic is this! And this demon... not Xar Azmak at least, but what? Forcing himself to calm down, San thinks on what he knows of demons.
-
-
-
-
Unable to move, San tries his best to remember if he's heard of any other lore about vloriak demons. Try as he might however, all he summons up is a half-remembered story about a vloriak getting weaker whenever something is stolen from it. Autumn, somewhat nauseated by the smog, executes her spell and a shimmering wall of cold iron appears in front of you all. Both your foes and your team completely lose sight of the other side.
This new wall doesn't dissuade the mindless zombie. You can hear it on the other side of the wall, shuffling to its feet. However all it manages to do is swing wildly at the wall without any success. You see its rotting limb flailing through without any effect.
You hear a "Hmph! A silly trick." from Meitremar on the other side before he begins incanting a spell. A sudden burst of blight engulfs the three of you up near Autumn's wall!
Meitremar's magic proves potent, badly sapping the life force of all three of you . Autumn sees the vloriak probing the wall with its long tongue. Seemingly pleased with the taste, or lack thereof, it rears back and then slashes down upon San with a claw before jabbing at him with the tip of its tongue. San just barely manages to break out of his paralysis in time to block the claw flashing through the wall with the haft of his halberd and dodge the tongue. Neither strike draws blood.
|||| INIT ||||
Vildran (24 dmg, prone, dying 2)
San (26 dmg, Rust Creep Stg 1)
Morga (16 dmg)
Autumn (Rust Creep Stg 1, sickened 1, slowed 1)
Meitremar (9 dmg)
Vloriak Demon
??? Zombie (37 dmg)
So not what I wanted, Autumn curses to herself when the cultist and demon see—or taste—right through her spell. “*koff* The wall’s an illusion!” she quickly informs the others, knowing that the one enemy duped by the wall won’t understand her words. “Get out of there!” she sputters with heaving lungs, then takes her own advice, stumbling back towards the exit. Her friends don’t stand a chance if they stay next to a wall that their foes can see through but they can’t. Once she reaches the doorway she involuntarily doubles over, leaning heavily on the door jamb as she pukes her guts out.
Taking Autumns advice, San evacuates his position and sprints through the noxious fog. Now that there's space, he swaps his halberd for his magic bow.
“*koff* The wall’s an illusion!”
Morga squints at the wall to verify.
“Get out of there!”
Not without Vildran! Morga fumes. Quickly, she patches his wounds, then sends another Vitality Lash at the zombie.
"Get up, Vildran! And hold your breath when you go back!"
Vildran wastes no time, as he sees San is no longer here and Morga is yelling retreat.
He holds his breath and breaks into a brisk jog.
-
-
Morga and Autumn see the zombie struggling on the other side of the wall, but after a bit more fumbling on its part it seems to finally realize the truth of the fake wall and finishes by shambling slowly toward Morga. Meitremar surveys your group all split up and decides to take a moment to reinforce his erstwhile ally. He casts a spell that causes the vloriak to swell up in size! He follows by magically healing himself, causing his minor wounds from earlier to mostly disappear.
The Vloriak turns to regard Meitremar for a moment, faceted eyes evaluating, and then it turns to cast another spell. An acidic bolt leaps from its outstretched claw and speeds toward San, successfully finding him beyond the smog. He tries his best to dodge the unexpected attack, but is caught despite that. Acid burning, he collapses a moment later with the remnants of the acid still clinging to him .
Morga, now with a clear-ish view of the demon, notices that it seems somehow a little worn down. It visibly flinched earlier around the time Autumn was retching...
|||| INIT ||||
Vildran (18 dmg)
San (36 dmg, Rust Creep Stg 1, 1d6 persistent acid, prone, dying 1)
Morga (16 dmg)
Autumn (Rust Creep Stg 1)
Meitremar (2 dmg)
Vloriak Demon (13 dmg)
??? Zombie (37 dmg)
Feeling better now that she’s purged her system, Autumn straightens and surveys the unfolding chaos. It’s looking pretty grim—the elves are dying or close to death, and their foes are barely injured. The only hopeful thing she notices is the demon’s glance at Meitremar—that uncertainty might be their only chance at surviving.
“Meitremar will betray you, just like the abrikandilu!” she yells a warning at the enlarged Vloriak, before forcing herself to clear her mind and focus her magic on coaxing San back to the living. Nearly all her energy has been spent just trying to keep the archer alive, so when he blinks back to consciousness, her greeting is a bit harsher than intended.
“I swear, if you die I will so kill you! Go!” The sorceress makes a sweeping gesture with her arm, pointing back towards the narrow ledge they used to skirt past the chasm. Then she dashes out the door, clearly intent on self preservation. In Autumn’s mind, the battle is lost, and it’s time to run and hide.
"The demon's looking worn down! And it flinched when one of you retched!" Morga shouts, hoping someone can do something with this information. She casts Vitality Lash at the zombie in her face, then holds her breath as she dashes into the fog.
Feeling the acid arrow pierce his armor then suddenly have a soothing warmth envelop is a very disconcerting feeling. Standing and retrieving his bow, he San looks to Morga and Vildran. "We need to regroup! Follow Autumn."
[ooc]Stand, Interact, Stride[/dice]
Vildran nods wearily, first swapping out his wands.
He soon pops out of the other side of the cloud next to Autumn.
[ooc]◆ Stride 25ft
-
-
-
As San is escaping, Morga notices the demon shudder once more, clearly getting worn down by something. Nevertheless, the injury doesn't seem to dissuade it from its course. As for Morga, she finds herself growing dizzy within the cloud of smog. Meitremar calls out "There is nowhere to run. You will become the next offering."
He focuses himself and then casts a spell on Morga. Luckily for her, the vapor obscure her enough that he can't get a clear enough view for the spell to land. The Vloriak on the other hand steps part way through the illusory wall and then strides forth into the smog. It jabs its long tongue at Morga out through the smog. The barbed end strikes her hip and drops of saliva spray across her shield. Where they land the metal starts rusting at an alarming rate. Luckily, the anticorrosion oil prevents it from completely rusting away .
|||| INIT ||||
Vildran (18 dmg)
San (28 dmg, Rust Creep Stg 1)
Morga (21 dmg, sickened 1, slowed 1 in cloud)
Autumn (Rust Creep Stg 1)
Meitremar (2 dmg)
Vloriak Demon (23 dmg, sickened 1)
"The demon's looking worn down! And it flinched when one of you retched!"
“Wait, what?” Looking confused, Autumn gives Vildran a questioning look when he retreats next to her. She doesn’t remember anyone attacking the demon—they’ve been too busy just staying alive. Does the wizard know what’s going on? Perhaps this is something they can take advantage of?
Despite her better judgment, she slips across to the other side of the room to take a hopeful peek. Indeed, something seems off with the beast. And the zombie has fallen. Maybe they have a chance? With that glimmer of hope, she shakes her head and grits her teeth at the thought of doing something foolish, then levels her crossbow and releases a quarrel at the demon.
“Get out of there Morga!” she cries while reloading her weapon. We need her healing, she rationalizes this blip of bravery to herself. Hopefully she can afford to buy the dwarf a bit more time.
He sort of shrugs back at Autumn and follows her to the doorway to get a better look.
He points his wand at it, peering through the cloud as best he can.
Success The target is frightened 1.
Failure The target is frightened 2.
Critical Failure The target is frightened 3 and fleeing for 1 round.
Her limbs like lead, Morga skirts past the demon and emerges from the cloud. Here's hoping there isn't going to be another cloud like that.
-
Meitremar approaches a little closer, visibly emerging from the illusory wall as he gloats "Scurry and scatter all you like." He raises a hand and an orange lance of energy forms above it. He propels it through the smog at Autumn. The lance passes through her, burning her spirit in the process . Meanwhile the Vloriak advances eastward, spitting a close range gob of acid at Morga through the doorway.
|||| INIT ||||
Vildran (18 dmg)
San (28 dmg, Rust Creep Stg 1) x2
Morga (29 dmg, sickened 1)
Autumn (6 dmg, Rust Creep Stg 1)
Meitremar (2 dmg)
Vloriak Demon (23 dmg, sickened 1)
Seeing what was aimed at Autumn, Vildran backs away from the doorway, between Morga and San.
Fumbling at the wands at his belt he swaps the current one for the last with energy left today.
Vildran gesticulates and forms a ring of glyphs, that expands to shield his allies.
“It’s better outside the fumes,” Autumn turns to reassure the slow-footed dwarf, just when Meitremar’s spell slams through her chest. Gasping, she winces at the unusual pain—it’s as if a dagger was plunged through her very soul. But her spirit is undaunted, galvanized by the cultist’s repeated taunts. “I am so done with you,” she curses, dashing back to where Meitremar can’t see her—if he wants to target her, well, he’ll just have to waltz into his own stinking cloud.
“And you,” she raises her hand at the demon and cruelly twists her fingers. Her eyes glow with arcane power—one a vibrant green, the other a dull midnight—as she wrenches her way into the creature’s mind. Seeing the cleric covered in blood and acid, with her armor and shield still sizzling, the sorceress adds “and heal yourself, because we can't.” She knows that Morga would put the others before herself, even though she looks the worst of them all.
On the other side of the mists, San adjusts his stance and fires at the demon.
“and heal yourself, because we can't.”
"Yeah, I was getting to that." Morga grumbles as she patches herself up, then sees to San's wounds before raising her suddenly rusty shield. It's going to take Vildran an hour to fix this. If we make it.
-
-
Morga treats San's wounds as well as her own in time for Meitremar to send another spirit bolt out across, this time at San. Luckily it's well off-target. The vloriak follows, taking cover around the corner of the door before leaning over and spraying a gout of acid and metal shards across all but Autumn.
The acid and metal tear and melt flesh in equal measure. Vildran falls after a moment, his warding sigils flickering out as he does. The demon is clearly beleaguered at this point, but it shivers with delight at the sight of your suffering.
|||| INIT ||||
Vildran (24 dmg, dying 1, prone)
San (15 dmg, Rust Creep Stg 1)
Morga (38 dmg, sickened 1)
Autumn (6 dmg, Rust Creep Stg 1)
Meitremar (2 dmg)
Vloriak Demon (56 dmg, sickened 1)
There’s a very good reason why Autumn didn’t huddle with the others inside Vildran’s ring of protective glyphs. She half opens her mouth in warning, but it’s too late at this point to tell them to spread out. With her back literally against a wall, she instead channels a trembling phase bolt through her crossbow and at the demon, who at least has the decency to look quite injured.
“San, can you finish it off?” she asks, more out of desperation than genuine hope. Focusing on her pendant, she summons a bit of occult guidance for the elf.
Weathering another wave of filth from the demon, San readies to react. Seeing his expectation has come to pass, he moves to bully the demon that has closed the distance.
"Gaaaah!" Morga shrieks as she's turned into an acid-soaked pincushion, barely clingling to life. Vildran slumps to the ground, dead again, as she glances his way. Quickly, before anything else bad can happen, she casts her final Healing Font spell.
"San! Get in here and close the door!" Make Meitremar come get us! His ritual is interrupted. We have time. We have time... Time to retreat and rest, if needed. Maybe. Or at least set up an ambush on this side of the door.
At this point Vildran is used to the routine. He gasps awake, fumbles around for the wand and stands up.
A wave of healing from Morga brings Vildran back up off the ground, though you're clearly running out of resources. In the distance, Meitremar hisses "What impudence." before sending another spirit lance at San. The attack saps the elf's spirit before Meitremar retreats back deeper into the ritual room.
|||| INIT ||||
Vildran (15 dmg)
San (8 dmg, Rust Creep Stg 1)
Morga (29 dmg, sickened 1)
Autumn (Rust Creep Stg 1)
Meitremar (2 dmg)
“Fetch,” Autumn murmurs to San, impressed by his killing blow. Emboldened by the demon’s demise, the sorceresss edges up to the door and peeks through. Seeing that Meitremar has retreated out of sight bolsters her confidence even further.
"San! Get in here and close the door!"
“Really? After how long it took to open?” The dwarf isn’t the one who spent an hour breaking half a dozen lock picks to open the damned thing. “Anyway, relax. Meitremar’s run away.” She leans up close against the wall, trying to hide herself from the cultist, while peeking around the door jamb to keep an eye on his likely return. “Let’s heal up and figure out how to finish this.”
"Heal up? How? I'm out." Morga morosely declares. "And we don't have to close it all the way. Leave it open a crack, enough to see through but still give us cover. Maybe put a rock in there as a door-stopper so it doesn't accidentally close." She huffs, deeply worn and spent, then suddenly pukes.
"Ugh. That cloud must soak into your skin, 'cause I held my breath the whole time I was in it and it still got me sick." She pulls out the wand from Gurga and shifts back out of Meitremar's potential sight.
Morga recovers from her dip through the sickening cloud and you brace yourselves around the doorway. You hear some spellcasting from behind the illusory wall of cold iron to the west, but Meitremar doesn't show himself.
|||| INIT ||||
Vildran (15 dmg) x2
San (8 dmg, Rust Creep Stg 1) x2
Morga (29 dmg, sickened 1)
Autumn (Rust Creep Stg 1)
Meitremar (2 dmg)
We have very little healing left to get through this on. Vildran mutters as he trudges back towards the door. He visibly slows, once he gets close to the opening, remembering the spells that flew through it previously.
Time to see through that wall, which I know you created...
He squints hard at the wall.
I know Meitremar is back there...
Squints harder...
Squints harder... eyes almost closed...
Oh right. That won't work.
Making sure there is no line of sight from the ritual room to his hiding place, San strategizes in the couple seconds of peace in the fight for Iron Harbor. "He's used a bunch of his spells already. He's got to be running low right?? We need to keep up the pressure."
As he speaks he swaps the cold-iron longhammer for the more heavily enchanted halberd.
"Now where did he go..."