Sensing Alexa but not anyone else, Aberus carefully steps a few feet towards her. He makes out the vague shape of a vermlek demon outside the fog cloud and swings his scimitar.
Kelly shrugs off the blow, then circles around her target to flank it between her and Darya.
Uriel takes advantage of the distraction of Kelly's attack to get in a nasty slash at the Vermlek between them.
Telerin HP: 14/14 - AC: 12/10/10 Status: Echoes of Nature's Song, Bless
Sario HP: 25/25 - AC: 15/12/13 Status: Echoes of Nature's Song, Bless
Darya HP: 40/40 - AC: 16/10/16 Status: Echoes of Nature's Song, Bless
Arloric HP: 29/29 - AC: 15/10/15 Status: Echoes of Nature's Song, Bless
Alexa HP: 25/25 - AC: 16/12/14 Status: Echoes of Nature's Song, Bless
Uriel HP: 40/40 - AC: 18/12/16 Status: Echoes of Nature's Song, Bless, Protection from Evil
Kelly HP: 45/45 - AC: 19/15/15 Status: Echoes of Nature's Song, Bless, World Serpent Totem, Rage
________________________________
Vermlek Green - HP: 30/30 - AC: 15/9/15 Status:
Vermlek Red - HP: 14/30 - AC: 15/9/15 Status:
Vermlek Blue - HP: 15/30 - AC: 15/9/15 Status:
Order: Kelly (22), Alexa/Sario (19), Darya (13), Arloric (6), Uriel (5), Telerin (3), Vermleks (1)
Darya, Kelly, and Uriel gang up on the vermlek closest to the Gray Garrison, chopping its hideously-engorged armor into bloody chunks. Arloric presses the advantage on the demon facing him, hacking with his heavy, single-edged knife.
A vermlek lashes out as Sario moves past it to give Alexa an edge, but the druid is too quick, dodging out of the way. Alexa fails to take advantage of the flank, however, both dagger rebounding from the demon’s hide. Aberus and Telerin fail to hit as well.
Before either vermlek can leave their severely damaged host bodies, the third vermlek raises its arms and a wave of dark energy floods out of its hands. Rather than wound the party though, this energy closes some of the wounds of the damaged vermleks.
The demons then spread out slowly, putting their backs to the wall of the Garrison.
Arloric keeps singing as he lashes out at the vermlek attacking Sario!
Aberus steps up alongside Kelly, bring his scimitar into the fray to distract the Vermlek and hopefully give Kelly an edge.
The elven wizard will lob another glob of acid at the demon
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Sario slides to the left, hoping to keep the demon distracted and open for her allies to exploit.
Alexa lunges at the red vermlek, intent on stabbing it with her cold iron gladius!
Kelly takes advantage of Aberus's distraction to slip in behind the demon and cut at it's legs.
Darya brings her sword up high, launching a devastating descending strike, aimed at splitting the demon right down the middle.
Finishing off one vermlek, Uriel dashes toward the next!
She moves up to make sure that the protective aura is still able to get as many of her friends as possible
"Dried out, the land needs blood!" Arloric cries as they begin to drive the vermleks back!
lol
Party Buffs: (Bless, Echoes of Nature’s Song)
Telerin HP: 14/14 - AC: 12/10/10 Status:
Sario HP: 25/25 - AC: 15/12/13 Status:
Darya HP: 40/40 - AC: 16/10/16 Status:
Arloric HP: 29/29 - AC: 15/10/15 Status:
Alexa HP: 25/25 - AC: 16/12/14 Status:
Uriel HP: 40/40 - AC: 18/12/16 Status: Celestial Crusader, Protection from Evil
Kelly HP: 45/45 - AC: 19/15/15 Status: Rage, World Serpent Totem
________________________________
Vermlek Green - HP: 18/30 - AC: 12/9/12 Status:
Vermlek Red - HP: 10/30 - AC: 12/9/12 Status:
Order: Kelly (22), Alexa/Sario (19), Darya (13), Arloric (6), Uriel (5), Telerin (3), Vermleks (1)
Arloric misses Red.
Aberus aids Kelly.
Telerin hits Red with acid splash, but does no damage.
Sario aids Alexa.
Alexa hits Red for 12.
Kelly hits Green for 6.
Darya hits Blue for 19! Blue dies.
Uriel hits Green for 17.
Green heals 11 hp and hits Uriel for 9.
Red heals 8 hp and misses Alexa.
Ichor sprays the wall of the Garrison as Darya’s cold iron blade cleaves the vermlek in half, bisecting both the host body and worm-like creature sheltered within. The other two vermleks are swarmed by the party— Alexa, Kelly, and Uriel each dealing grievous wounds. Telerin is accurate with her acid, but the vermleks appear resistant to the liquid, ignoring the burns left by its touch.
The demons gorily abandon their host bodies in a last ditch effort to save their lives. The bodies they leave behind are little more than hideous skin sleeves—most of the meat and blood absorbed into the vermlek’s true forms.
The vermleks continue to fight, moving back to back and lashing out with snapping maws. One bite catches Uriel’s arm, leaving dozens of small, bloody wounds.
Uriel slashes back at the vermlek that injured him, dealing the worm-demon a grievous blow.
Arloric continues the song as he steps into the gap between Aberus and Alexa, hacking at the vermlek, hoping to finish it off!
Kelly rolls to the side, getting behind both demons. She slashes at the weakest looking one.
Moving into the space vacated by Kelly Darya sets up a flanking maneuver with Alexa, drawing the demon's attention with a vicious high strike.
Sario Moves in to help with Distracting the enemy.
Alexa strikes again!
Uriel slays one vermlek with a sweep of Radiance while Kelly and Darya work together to hack the remaining demon into pieces.
The vermleks are dead and the Gray Garrison stands before the party, its oaken doors closed to them.
"So the doors were barred the last time you tried to enter?" Sario asks moving up to them and inspecting the type of wood used.
Alexa gets to work inspecting the doors.
The elf will cast detect magic.
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With a grimace, Uriel cleans he demonic ichor from his holy blade, then sheathes the sword again. He spits on the nearest corpse, then rejoins the others at the door.
Kelly slumps a bit as the battle ends. "Give me a minute, I'm all shaky." she cleans and sheathes her sword, obviously a bit drained from the fight. "Is everyone ok?"
"We could just use the chimes and waltz in."
Darya cleans her blade and sheathes it across her back, reaching down to rest a supportive hand on Kelly's back as she recovers and flashing Alexa a grin. "Well done!"
"Doesn't make it not worthwhile to check for any kind of trap first anyway." she replies to Aberus.
I am fine. I am glad that we have no lasting damage she says.
"I've survived much worse, I'd say," Arloric quips. "Care to have me do the honors with the chime?"
"Might as well, the sooner we get inside the better." Darya says, adjusting her grip on the hilt of her sword.
The Garrison doors are a pair of thick oak barriers, although they've seen a fair amount of scarring from Kenabres's recent trauma. With a proper bar set behind it, it could withstand quite a bit of punishment.
The doors do not hide any traps or detect at all as magical.
"Chime, anyone?"
"Allright, go!"
At Alexa's prompting, Arloric produces the chime and dramatically makes a show of striking the door with it once, letting a bright, clear tone ring out!
Party Buffs:
Aberus HP: 31/31 - AC 16/10/16 Status:
Alexa HP: 25/25 - AC: 16/12/14 Status:
Arloric HP: 29/29 - AC: 15/10/15 Status:
Darya HP: 40/40 - AC: 16/10/16 Status:
Kelly HP: 45/45 - AC: 19/15/15 Status:
Sario HP: 25/25 - AC: 15/12/13 Status:
Telerin HP: 14/14 - AC: 12/10/10 Status:
Uriel HP: 40/40 - AC: 18/12/16 Status:
________________________________
Order: Alexa (21), Kelly (19), Faxon (19), Darya (19), Uriel (15), Sario (10), Telerin (9), TR (6), TF (5), Aberus (2), Arloric (1)
A bright, clear tone emanates from the chime in Arloric's hand. The oak doors, the damage from the party's previous attack on the garrison only recently repaired, vibrate in rhythm with the chime. After a tense moment, they swing open to reveal an open foyer.
The hollow mithral tube of the chime now bears a tiny hairline crack. Continued use will eventually destroy the object.
A frieze running the length of the foyer's northern wall depicts a line of mounted crusaders crashing over a horde of twisted demons. The faces of the heroes have been obliterated and vile graffiti is carved over the entire scene. The scent of fresh blood pours out of the building like a wave.
Standing in a disorderly mob are a dozen tiefling cultists, ready to fight. One tiefling stands behind the others, but the space they give him denotes a measure of respect. Their leader's skin is the color of blood and a pair of burning green eyes rest beneath a crown of four curved horns. His black clothes are tightly fitted, but his chest and stomach are bared to reveal a massive tattoo of an inverted pentagram with the star containing a bull's head. In one hand, he grasps a brutal morningstar and on the opposite shoulder perches a black scorpion.
"Stop them!" he shouts. "They seek to interrupt Mother Jeslyn's ritual."
Arloric returns the chime to his pack and looks to the new enemies, shaking his seax.
"We'll do more than interrupt, fiendblood!" he crows.
Kelly flips a rude gesture at the nearest enemy she can see. “Come on out and get us then, unless you’re a coward!”