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Vrothum proves very effective at using the cold iron weapon, smashing it into the beast's muzzle and causing it to roar in pain.
Idril approaches the fight and Rogar follows as well, but cannot take part, yet.
Apparently the demon is not amused and retaliates in kind while dark angry gusts of smoke come out of its nostrils taking your breath away!
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The flaming sword pierces Vrothum's skin once, the flames cauterizing the wound as soon as the blade opens the tiefling's skin.
The wounded dretch follows its leader's example attacking Azrael again...
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... and he suceeds, causing the vigilante to bleed!
Round 04 - Bold may act
Vrothum -20hp
Rogar -04hp
Idril -15hp, fast healing 1
Brimorak -19hp
Dretch (blue) -12hp, prone
Titus -05hp
Valentynne -10hp, enlarged
Azrael -13hp
Sir Ilivan -10hp
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Valentynne begins feeling sick this close to the brimorak, but still knows the demon must be dealt with. Turning on his heels, he realizes that he can get into a position that will provide an opening to both Rogar and Vrothum, after taking a step he tries to slam its goat-like face with his shield, but he fails to connect, it could that he's not used to the new weight of his shield or that he overshot the brimorak due to his enhanced strength.
"Gorum dammit! We need to deal with this goat to save the soldiers!"
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Azrael finishes the prone dretch while Valentynne cannot do the same with the far more powerful brimorak. Meanwhile Titus studies the situation...
Round 04 - Bold may act
Vrothum -20hp
Rogar -04hp
Idril -14hp, fast healing 1
Brimorak -19hp
Titus -05hp, delay
Valentynne -10hp, enlarged
Azrael -13hp
Sir Ilivan -10hp
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Titus closes on the brimorak while the rest of his friends unleash their fury on the demon. Unfortunately no one but Vrothum can hit the demonic goat-like creature, who just cackles evilly and slashes twice... this time aiming for Valentynne!
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The brimorak only hits Valentynne once... but the blow is enough to deeply wound the pathfinder.
Round 04 - Bold may act
Vrothum -19hp
Rogar -04hp
Idril -14hp, fast healing 1
Brimorak -31hp
Titus -05hp
Valentynne -16hp, enlarged
Azrael -13hp
Sir Ilivan -10hp
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Titus' longsword pierces the demon's defenses wounding it... and suddenly a spray of crimson blood invest the fighter. It's boiling hot and burns the fighter's weapon's arm!
Round 05 - Bold may act
Vrothum -19hp
Rogar -04hp
Idril -13hp, fast healing 1
Brimorak -38hp
Titus -08hp
Valentynne -16hp, enlarged, delay
Azrael -13hp, delay
Sir Ilivan -10hp
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The brimorak proved to be a resilient and powerful enemy but even its unholy powers had limits. Working together in perfect unison Idril and Rogar both landed powerful blows ending the creature's existance in one fell swoop!
With the brimorak's death, the chains keeping the captured crusaders captive immediately crumbled into a whiff of smoke. Despite being exhausted from the relentless march, the newly freed warriors immediately realized their fate could possibly be averted and as soon as they returned to their senses they pledged to follow you at the best of their ability.
Meanwhile, a distant battle cry could be heard. Sir Ilivan, surrounded by two scores of dead demons charged lance-first at a nabasu demon impaling it before other demons quickly surround him, tearing him from his horse within seconds. As the scene devolved into a chaotic mess of claws, wings, and teeth hiding Sir Ilivan from sight you clearly heard the half elf defiantly shouting back at the foul creatures, fearless and proud.
Realizing Sir Ilivan had valiantly chosen to sacrifice himself to give you a chance of escape you gathered the surviving crusaders and began the long march back to Fort Portolmaeus, which luckily was not plagued by further trouble. Once there you were hailed as heroes for saving their camarades with Commander Wardroxan literally reduced to tears and swearing to never again fall for such an obvious trap, no matter the lure.
Upon returning to Nerosyan, Venture-Captain Jorsal and Hulrun of Kenabres, Mendev's chief inquisitor, asked you to give a full report. Upon hearing of your deeds and the courage shown in defying the Abyss itself in order to rescue the cavalrymen, the Pathfinder Lodge and the city at large hailed you as heroes, again. A few weeks later, when an expedition recovered Sir Ilivan’s body , he was buried with full honors, while his weapons and armor were given to you as a gift, as you were the last companions to fight the abyss along with the half elf and to see him alive.
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Aye! I'm glad, he finally was able to put the hardships behind him and I think he truly died happy. I only wish I could've been there by his side...rest in peace brave Sir Knight...Vrothum says to himself as much as anyone who will listen, pausing to reflect on his last words to Sir Ilivan and thankful he was able to reach him in time to help all these people.
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"Aye, at last he found the truth of his goddess teachings. And he found his purpose on the battlefield, he will now join and drejoice along his fallen comrades. Here's to a brave soldier, who sacrificed his life for the wellbeing of his companions!"
[Ooc]Thanks for everything GM, we have a good group here. Let's keep this thing rolling.[/b]
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It has been weeks since your scouting mission on the outskirts of the Abyss and Ser Ilivan's heroic death. Months passed since the siege of Nerosyan, when demonic hordes from the Abyss surged forth from the region known as the Worldwound to assault the capital city of the crusader nation of Mendev. Brave Pathfinders stood side-by-side with the city’s defenders, managing to push back the attackers and ensure Nerosyan did not fall to the demons. Venture-Captain Jorsal, the Society’s principle representative in Nerosyan, took charge of the Pathfinder defenders and since the siege has deployed numerous groups on missions throughout the region. Having left Nerosyan to survey the devastation of Kenabres, which fell to the demonic offensive—Jorsal ensured some of his agents remained behind in Nerosyan to guard the Starrise Spire, the local lodge. Earlier this morning a messenger arrived with a sealed letter from Jorsal, signaling that more work remains to be done.
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Idril reads the communication for Jorsal and his jaw clenches as his half elven eyes stare daggers into the page. With a swift flick of his wrist, he nearly throws the parchment as he hand it to Titus. "Seems the Abyssal corruption runs amok yet again. I pray this is a terrible mistake, but I feel that it is not. I only hope the ultimate justice is tasked to us."
Idril, clearly angered by the current mission, turns to find comfort in the moon and stars of the night outside the nearest Spire window.
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Sheela is glad to be out of Chileax. The gala was quite disgusting, and her afterparty was quite enjoyable of course. Plus she got to meet Queen Prances again, yay! Still, the amount of corruption, hidden behind gentle smiles, annoyed her to no end. She was all too glad to be transferred to the Starrise Spire, even if it is boring. Terrible wine, as well.
When Sheela reads the missive, she almost jumps for joy. "Finally, I get to punish someone for his corruption. Or, I get to vindicate his innocence, of course." She opens the door to the room and giggles. "Oh, hello! My name is Sheela Kolphan, and I'll be accompanying you to Thurl's lodge." She extends her hand for a shake before stopping and casting Mage Hand to clean the dust off of her green and gold robes. "Sorry, I had cleaning duty today. One particular Pathfinder couldn't keep her mouth shut about an... adventure I had in the captain's office. Spilled ink all across the desk."
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As you arrive to Nerosyan pathfinder's lodge, four other agents by the names of Adras, Vales, Lana and Tariq are loading the last of the ground floor library’s books into a cart for transport back to Starrise Spire and later analysis.
As they recognize you they welcome you and Lana says:"Hello friends? Did Venture-Captain Jorsal send you to help or is there some other reason behind your visit? Exploration perhaps? Cooperate and reportt and fine and good but it's the "explore" part that made me become a Pathfinder. A pity we were not asked to do more than clean the place out, but paybe you'll share the information about the place later on, eh?"
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"This is Thurl's Pathfinder lodge, correct? That no-nonsense dwarf, covered in scars, tattoos and piercings? He loves sending Pathfinders out into the Worldwound, despite the... occupational hazard it presents." She waves at Lana. "Well, some people think he hasn't been entirely honest with the Decemvirate, and we've been sent to investigate. Looks like you beat us to it, though?" She looks at the wheelbarrow.
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Idril stands silently behind Azrael, and nods courteously to greet Sheela. "Well met, Lady Kolphan... the magus bows deeply then straightens [/b]"I am Idril Bladesong, most formerly of Kyoinin. Welcome to out merry band with a not so merry charge."[/b]
Idril follows the group to Thrul's lodge, but remains silent, hand on the hilt of his ominous black blade and lets his fellow agents engage the Thhurl agents.
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"Hello there, Idril. You can just call me Sheela. I'm a Pathfinder just like you. Now, afterwards you can call me whatever you want if you wish." She flirts. "And you're... um... what did the missive say... Azrael, right? Strong silent type. Don't worry, I'll do the talking."
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Greetings friends, It's been awhile. Hmm? Nice to meet you Sheela I am Vrothum, at your service. Vrothum has a very athletic build and is covered in scales. He has dark blueish purple skin, and upon smiling shoes off a pair of sharp canines. Vrothum is very honorable, and will do whatever he can to protect the weak. He's used to being judged because of his appearance, and is why he has such a disdain for those who use their position of power for to exploit the weak and powerless.
What exactly do you know about this place? You know before we delve in, is this place trapped? Where does it lead?
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"That's Thurl indeed... and yes, this is his lodge or at least it used to be" Lana answers Sheela.
And no, we didn't beat you. We were just sent here to clean the place recovering everything of notice for later study. Actual exploration of previously unknown areas falls on someone else... namely you I believe. Jorsal of Lauterbury is the last remaining venture captain left and his orders were pretty clear. We are to leave dealing with the exploration of the complex to you and help your endeavour at the best of our capacity. You may be interessed to know that the door leading into the basement bore powerful abjuration magic until recently, but it faded as though a spell’s duration had expired a little more than a day ago. Besides Venture-Captain Jorsal gave us this box for you. It contains stuff that may be useful to you during your incoming adventure..." the woman concludes
"Now then... is there anything else you want to know? Otherwise we should get going. We've to carry this stuff out of here and then start cataloguing it... so no, we can't really spare the time to give you the tour of the place, but as I said, that's YOUR job, not ours, unfortunately" she sighs, clearly unexcited at the prospect.
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"So... the sooner we are ready to start exploring this lodge the sooner we can figure out if Thurl was indeed a traitor? I'm all set."
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Sheela inspects the box and nods and snaps the lid shut. She grins at Lana.
"All of this will be useful, thanks! I'll try to bring back a souvenir."
Sheela bounds up to the door leading to the basement and takes a glance at it, trying to identify the magical auras upon it.
After that, she applies her wand of Mage Armor and switches to her wand of Burning Hands.
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Once you have confirm there is little else of interest on the ground floor you move to the heavy iron door that leads into the basement. You find it is undecorated and unlocked, but the other agents report that until recently it practically glowed with Abyssal runes and spells like detect magic identified a lingering aura of abjuration magic.
As it becomes clear what your next step will be you shrugg and open the door discovering a long set of dusty wooden stairs that leads down into an equally untidy archive of tall shelves populated by crates, bins, and tomes. A handful of folios lay scattered about the room, concentrated most heavily near a large table that stands only about two feet tall.
The only immediately apparent door in this room is the one that leads to the stairs you just descended and was already opened when you reached the archive.
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"Wow, look at all of these pages. Very exciting..."
Sheela stifles a yawn and uses her Mage Hand to sift through the pages. No way is she going to actually touch the things.
"By the way, whomever is good at investigation- I have a spell for you. It will last for about 40 minutes."
She fishes out a scroll.