Alexa slowly opens the door to the room in the north and immediately a deep evil voice welcomes her.
"Welcome, please come in."
A long table engraved with a relief map of Mendev stands to the east in this long room. A dozen bodies lie scattered about the room, each bearing gruesome wounds and missing limbs.
A tall, muscular humanoid with the head and hooves of a demonic goat sits in the farthest chair. A ragged hide covers patches of its body, around the forearms and lower legs, with a crest-like patch running down from the creature’s crown to the nape of its neck.
IMAGE
Although not especially intelligent, schirs are cunning warriors and able sentries. Although they prefer to charge into combat, a schir’s natural jumping ability makes it a nimble enemy, capable of using its surroundings astutely. A schir will often jump on top of rocks, crumbling walls, or any other high place to hack with its disease-ridden halberd. For all of schirs’ capabilities, their spitefulness makes them distrustful of any creature that has not proven its greater power and strength numerous times.
The demon extends his hands to the other chairs.
"Please take a seat."
Sario hearing the voice then looking over shoulders at this Demon, scoffs at it. "Sit down? Are we to have tea with you?" Sario's squeezes her scimitar's handle hard.
Sario hearing the voice then looking over shoulders at this Demon, scoffs at it. "Sit down? Are we to have tea with you?" Sario's squeezes her scimitar's handle hard.
"Ran out of tea. I never liked the stuff anyway. But I found very nice souls to devour here."
He waves at the bodies around the table."But I don't think they will be of your liking."
He fixes his sight towards Alexa Dorne.
"Yet."
Feeling off-guard and not quite knowing what this new threat is, Alexa stiffly walks into the room and holds the door open for the others.
"After you."
Know planes
Why would we have dealings with a demon? You and your kind have wrought enough misery and sorrow to last a thousand elf life times she calmly says.
The demon laughs as he waits for you to sit.
"And we will bring misery and sorrow for another thousand of your puny lifetimes more. We will feast and rule over the pain and sorrow of your mortal souls."
But he stops after a second.
"But let us not linger on happy thoughts. I am here to make you a proposal. We have seen you. We know you now."
He looks at Alexa Dorne again.
"You could say we have grown fond of you."
He looks at the map on the table.
"You need to understand. When you live forever, when you are all-powerful, victory is a given. It is something that is going to happen, sooner or later. It's like... like dawn for you. It is going to be there. You don't even have to try. You can enjoy it or sleep through it, but it's going to happen anyway."
He traces the map relief with a claw.
"So winning is not important. We don't really care about winning. We care about the game."
He looks at you all.
"We care about the players."
He smiles a horrible evil grin.
"We can kill you all and doom your souls to the abyss. But what is the fun of that? What do we get out of it? Another half dozen souls besides the thousands that we have harvested from this city in the last few days. It has no meaning. No fun."
He pulls a scroll from his pocket.
"My master is willing to make a deal. Interested?"
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Alexa waits until everyone else is in the room before approaching the demon with an expression devoid of emotion.
She walks right up to him...
...and drives her gladius into his gut.
"No."
Her hair stands on end and turns from black with glowing tips to a brilliant orange that waves like flames.
Kelly dashes around the table to the demon, opposite Alexa, weapons still drawn.
Initially stunned by the strong response of his second sight*, Uriel is embarrassed to be beaten to the punch by Alexa and Kelly. Even so, he draws Radiance and charges.
*
The poor Schir Demon makes his best Caesar impression as he is murdered mercilessly by Alexa, Kelly, and Uriel, without a chance to defend himself.
After you check the room and somehow make some rites for the bodies here, the only thing that remains to investigate in the scroll the demon showed you, still on the table.
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Alexa's hair is still waving and violently burning as she watches the demon die.
"Search the area. Then let's find some more to kill."
She grabs the scroll and gives it a look over.
"A Schir demon. Created from the souls of those who respond to petty slights with violence, and often framing others for their actions," he says, surveying the demon's remains. "I don't suppose anyone has a guess as to who their 'master' is."
Before Arloric can even say anything the grisly scene unfolds before the party and he's left dumbstruck. He stammers to recover quickly.
"That...was damned impressive, Dorne! Like my own kin Uloric Dziergas himself!"
He shrugs at Aberus' implied question.
"The Storm King? Areelu Vorlesh? Deskari himself? It matters not. We'll fight them all the same."
"That...was damned impressive, Dorne! Like my own kin Uloric Dziergas himself!"
Alexa shrugs in response. "It talked too much. Left itself wide open. Nothing new there."
"The Storm King? Areelu Vorlesh? Deskari himself? It matters not. We'll fight them all the same."
"'Fighting' implies that we can lose, Arloric." The aasimar growls, her hair still waving like fire.
"That's why I said we should find more to kill."
"Um...okay! Point taken!" Arloric says, trying to look calm but clearly concerned and maybe a little unnerved by Alexa's grim determination.
She will take a look at the scroll.
Sario relaxes a bit as the demon is killed quickly. "So 2 more rooms? We have to hurry to stop whoever is here in charge." Sario says
The scroll is written in what you only can think is now coagulated humanoid blood.
To Alexa Dorne and company.
As you all know, we destroyed the Kenabres Wardstone. I have the last piece, and with it, I will corrupt the whole Wardstone barrier that prevented our forces of the Abyss to finish the conquest of your planet.
You, and your crusade, are doomed.
But I have seen you. And I have seen promise in some of you. So I will give you a choice.
If you murder half of your group or more, we will spare the killers, and grant them enslavement at my service.
I have faith in you.
Jeslyn, the Oracle of Abyss, Wardstone destroyer, the Scourge of the crusade.
The elf will read the note to the group.
”It’s too bad I have no need of a toilet right now; that would make good paper to wipe my rump with.” Uriel says, with a gesture to the scroll as he cleans and sheathes Radiance.
The elf will cast detect magic.
Nothing, not even the scroll.
Standing in the doorway, Darya watches the flawless assault, her eyes momentarily going wide at just how sudden and devastating Alexa's attack was especially.
Striding into the room, the paladin can't quite keep the smile from her full lips. "That was...amazing."
"That was...amazing."
"That was a bit cathartic."
Alexa walks up, takes the scroll and pointedly tears it to pieces before throwing the scraps on the floor.
"Southeast doors. Let's go."
The first door (more or less in front of the stairs) is locked.
Alexa gets to work on the lock.
Arloric reads over the shoulders of the others and makes a disgusted and outraged noise.
"By every god and their mother! Do they REALLY think sons and daughters of the Crusades would be swayed so easily by such blatantly false promises?! Let's find and slay this Jelsyn, if only for the insult!"
He twirls his seax a bit as he follows the others, ready for action.
The elf follows
"We've met a few who have done so, Arloric. Some peoples' convictions crumble when faced with overwhelming odds. This Jeslyn obviously either does not know us, or is worried and grasping at straws."
"I agree that she seems to be putting on a face, she must be above or in this locked room. We should prepare as we don't know who or what she will have with her." Sario says flexing her hand with her scmitar in it.
"When the battle is joined, I'll begin the Song of Sarkoris...nothing is more inspiring in the face of overwhelming odds."
Alexa is unable to pick the lock. Maybe if she spends a lot of effort, she could manage.
"Dammit!" Alexa punches the door with her cestus.
"Check the other door. I'll have to keep working on this one."
Like a fortress door. It is possible to break or destroy it, but it is somewhat hard.
Six cots sit in two orderly rows in this room. The bedding has been tossed on the ground, and an iron lockbox lies on its side, empty. A lidless box holds scraps of moldering food, while a pair of large barrels nearby look to be filled with water.
[Oov] I think I might have a scroll 9f knock [/ooc]
"So do we just try to break through the door or chop it down?" Darya asks, staring intently at the door barring their way.
The elf will try to weaken the dirt with acid splashes.
"Those sound like one and the same to me," Aberus says.
"Knock it down, they can fix it later. We were sent her to stop whatever was happening and this door is stopping us from doing that." Sario says stil ready for someone to come and attack them.
Uriel nods to Sario. "What she said."