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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 9486614" data-attributes="member: 508">ADVENTURE 63: OUTSIDEPC Roster:Ageratum Purslane, halfling rogue 15             Alistair Mandelberen Pastlethwaite, human sorcerer 15             Chaevaris Noarunal, elf archer 15             Harlan Starblade, half-elf paladin 15NPC Roster:Orchid, elf druid 15Game Session Date: 16 October 2024 - - -Ambrose flew in a wide circle, keeping the D’Veih estate to his right.  It was a nice-looking chateau, built as an add-on to a tower some 60 feet tall, which had itself been part of a fortified wall with watch towers at each corner.  The original wall had been extended forward until it encompassed twice as much ground as it had before, and the new areas walled in included an orchard - the limbs of its trees currently bare in the deepest part of winter - and a few outbuildings.  A gnome patrolled the grounds with half a dozen wolves, but Ambrose ignored them; he was just doing a reconnaissance mission for his master.  Now that he had the general layout of the place, Alistair would be able to focus on the area and teleport the group back here whenever he wished.Right now, though, the grackle returned to his master.  "Good work, Ambrose!" praised the young nobleman.  "Now that we've seen where the horned devil lives, let's get out of here before we're noticed!"  Harlan dismissed his celestial pegasus Nova back to the heavenly realms and Alistair cast a teleport spell that shunted everyone back to Greyhawk City - specifically, to a warehouse owned by his older brother Atherton.  Sliding inside, Chaevaris activated the magic door from her necklace and placed it on a warehouse wall, out of the way.  Then the five heroes (and Shushitan, Orchid's loyal wolf companion) spent the rest of the day inside the extradimensional interior, where they hoped nobody would be able to scry upon them or find out their present location."So what's the plan?" asked Ageratum."I think we can abandon any subterfuge at this point," Alistair conceded.  "The horned devil sent barbed devils and bone devils after us - I don't think there's any point in pretending we still think he's a human sage specializing in fiendish artifacts.  So he already knows we know what he is.  I think we should just go attack his chateau in the morning - in the early morning, that is, long before we normally arise.  If he's been scrying on us to learn our tactics and abilities, that might throw him for a loop.""Good," agreed Orchid, "because most of my more powerful attack spells on hand are fire based - useless against a devil.  I'll want an opportunity to prepare a better selection for fighting devils.""How early?" asked Chaevaris."I was thinking we get up at four bells.  That'll give us time to eat some breakfast, gear up, and for Orchid to prepare her day's selection of spells.  And then we can begin our assault around five."  The sorcerer got out some parchment and a pen and ink and started drawing out a quick map of what Ambrose had seen of the D'Veih estate.  Once finished, Harlan looked it over and provided some inputs about where they might wish to arrive, and how they might want to set up their attack."A horned devil raising wolves seems pretty odd to me," the paladin declared.  "I'd hazard those are likely barghests.""Ooh - we fought one of those before!" Ageratum recalled.  She filled Orchid in on the details, as the elven druid hadn't been part of the team back then.  But together they went over their plans until they all had a pretty good idea of their tactics for the next morning.  Then they all hit the beds early, so they'd be ready in time.The next morning, once Orchid had prepared all of her spells for the day, the heroes started casting those they wanted to have up and ready when Alistair teleported them back to the D'Veih estate.  For Orchid, that meant longstrider and true seeing spells on herself; protection from fire spells on all but Ageratum (she wore a ring that provided the same effect); barkskin spells on Ageratum Harlan, Nova, and herself; and a mass bear's endurance spell on everyone.  She then wildshaped into an eagle.  Harlan cast a bless spell on everyone, then a protection from evil spell on Ageratum, his own bull's strength and magic circle against evil, and a death ward spell as well.  Alistair granted everyone darkvision, haste, and a Rary's telepathic bond, then cast a shield spell upon himself.  Once all that was done, he cast a teleport spell and brought everyone back to the outer wall of the D'Veih estate, over to the east of the wrought iron gate.  (Shushitan, it had been decided, would remain behind in the warehouse; messing about with devils was a bit out of his league.)Chaevaris placed the extradimensional door on the solid wall by the gate, opened it, and bid Carruthers to step out.  Alistair then gave him his instructions: give them the count of 20, then smash his way through the front gate and attack anyone who either attacked him or attacked any of the heroes.  That done, he cast a dimension door spell to send himself and the others up to the rooftop of the southeastern guard tower.These towers were not as high as the central tower that bumped up against the chateau: about 35 feet tall, the sorcerer judged.  Orchid flew over to the top of the chateau's roof, itself about 30 feet above the ground, and began casting a soften earth and stone spell on the ground immediately below her, in an area covering the middle sections of both the chateau and the large tower behind it.  As she was doing that, Ageratum activated her bracelet of greater invisibility and spider climbed down the side of the tower, heading for the nearest of the smaller outbuildings.  Harlan, astride Nova, stayed where he was and scanned the immediate surroundings with his aura-sensing abilities, seeking out the taint of evil.Suddenly, six wolves popped into existence all around the chateau.  They hadn't been there a moment ago, or Orchid would have sensed them with her true seeing; they must have teleported from wherever they had been before.  But she could see their true forms: these were indeed barghests, a fact she informed the others about over their shared mental link.  Chaevaris, perched upon her carpet of flying up on the tower roof, quickly aimed at the nearest barghest and let fly with an arrow that struck the beast in the shoulder, burying the shaft to the edge of its feathered fletching.  The lupine beast yowled in pain.Nova was off the tower rooftop in a flash, charging down at another barghest and kicking it with an iron-hard hoof, allowing Harlan to lean over and bring his flaming Starblade cutting deep into the fiend's shoulder.  Alistair targeted one of the barghests closest to Ageratum - they hadn't spotted her, so her greater invisibility was fooling their eyesight, but he wasn't sure whether they'd be able to pick her up by scent at that range - and sent a maximized scorching ray spell through the lesser of his two metamagic rods.  Only two of the gouts of flame hit their target, but that was enough to encompass the barghest in a shroud of burning flames and slay it outright.Orchid, ignoring the barghests, cast the second spell she'd planned as their one-two punch: an earthquake spell, especially lethal now that the frozen ground beneath the chateau and larger tower had been sufficiently softened up.  The spell sent shock waves through the ground all around the two central buildings, keeping the barghests occupied with just trying to stay on their own legs, as the central part of the chateau's roof caved in and went collapsing inward, crushing anyone and anything below it.  A woman's scream told them at least one of the horned devil's servants had fallen victim to the collapsing roof and walls.Carruthers, in the meantime, pounded on the front gate as directed.  Although the walls were a foot thick and made of solid stone, the front gate was mere iron bars and unable to long hold up against the steady attacks of a shield guardian.Another blow from Starblade slew the barghest Harlan had been fighting, and he sent Nova swooping along the western side of the chateau to go chase down another one.Suddenly, there was a bone devil floating in the air 40 feet above the ground.  The fact that dust and bits of gravel spilled from his body gave silent testimony that he had also been in the area when the roof collapsed, and had been temporarily buried under the falling stone.  While the fiend was still fully invisible, Orchid, with her true seeing, saw him just fine.  This, she guessed, was the bone devil responsible for the illusion of the troll yesterday when the group had been fighting off the barbed devils; he'd stayed out of combat himself so he could report back to his master.  Well, they'd have to see what they could do about that.Ageratum loaded a "pebboulder" into her sling and shot the missile at the barghest nearest her.  Upon impact, the pebble - actually, a good-sized boulder that had been shrunken down by one of Alistair's shrink item spells - slammed into the fiend and regrew to its full size upon impact, crushing it under its full weight.  Just that quickly, a third barghest was dead.  Up on the tower roof, Chaevaris raised her carpet of flying higher, so she could see what all was going on in the courtyards around the chateau.  Alistair and Ambrose, on the carpet behind the elf, took it all in as well.  Unable to see anyone to attack yet, Alistair took the opportunity to cast a greater invisibility spell on himself and his familiar, matching the invisibility spell Chaevaris had invoked using her ring.Harlan slew his second barghest of the day as Carruthers smashed his way through the gate, tossing the mangled structure aside and heading towards another barghest running to attack Nova and Harlan.  Orchid, her one-two punch completed, cast a faerie fire spell on the bone devil, outlining the invisible fiend so everyone knew his exact whereabouts.Then the horned devil who spent much of his time in human form as a learned sage teleported directly outside the chateau's front doors, placing him right before Carruthers.  He was in his full fiendish form, a length of spiked chain coiled in his hands; apparently he no longer had any notions he could fool anyone with his human guise.  At the same time, the woman buried under the rubble teleported to the foyer - still inside the building but outside the area where the roof had collapsed - and she too was in her full, devilish form: an erinyes, with feathered wings and a sword in one hand.One final devil teleported from inside the building to the exterior, appearing on the lawn to the east of the chateau, below the invisible carpet of flying and not too distant from Ageratum.  This was an insectoid ice devil, twice the size of a human and built like some sort of mutant mantis.Harlan urged Nova forward and the two charged the horned devil in mid-air.  However, the fiend swung his spiked chain in a wide arc and slammed its end into the paladin's head while they were still some 20 feet distant.  Harlan was overcome by the weapon's stunning effect, freezing in motion where he sat instead of swinging his blade as planned.  Nova, sensing this, frantically flapped his wings, coming to an aerial standstill and then backing up out of range of the devil's wicked weapon.The bone devil, not appreciating having his invisibility countered by a faerie fire spell and knowing the eagle was somehow responsible, went charging down at Orchid, snapping its jaws at her.  Fortunately, she managed to fly out of the way in time.Ageratum charged at the ice devil, seeing if it noticed her as she ran under the effects of her greater invisibility spell.  It apparently had no means of detecting her until her magic short sword went stabbing into its knee, causing it to hop on the other leg and cry out in pain.  From up above, Chaevaris aimed an arrow down at the ice devil and let fly, piercing one of its insectoid eyes with her shaft.  Ageratum took further advantage of the distraction that caused by stabbing her blade deep into the fiend's good leg.  The multiple attacks were too much for the frosty fiend, and it collapsed, dead, on the ground where it had stood.The two remaining barghests went bounding over to the horned devil, recognizing their master in his true form.  But Alistair got sight of them from above and sent a maximized chain lightning spell blasting down at the horned devil, with two arcs reaching over to strike the barghests.  Alistair's spell hit the first two targets but, irritatingly, the other barghest had blinked out of existence at just the right time, and it avoided the electrical attack altogether.  That was a very good thing for it, too, as the spell slew its partner dead, the fur singed from its body where the blast struck.Carruthers slammed the horned devil with his massive fists, managing to connect with one solid blow.  Orchid cast a sunbeam spell at both the bone devil and the erinyes - how nice of them to line up for her like that! - and while the damage it dealt them was minimal, they were both permanently blinded by the powerful burst of light.  <That ought to bring them down to size,> the druid thought over the link.The horned devil ignored Carruthers and went after Harlan again, stepping forward and swinging his chain at the stunned paladin.  But this time Nova was ready for the attack, and he chose to break off combat, flying back to the rooftop of the chateau - the western wing, still undamaged from Orchid's earthquake spell - until his master regained his senses.  From inside the building, the erinyes blindly cast an unholy blight spell, not getting it anywhere close to Orchid or the other heroes.  Likewise, the blinded bone devil thrashed out with its teeth, claws, and tail stinger, desperately trying to find the damned eagle but having no success.Ageratum used the spider climbing aspect of her cloak of arachnida to run up the eastern side of the chateau and onto the rooftop, from where she could see the horned devil at the front of the building.  Loading another "pebboulder" into her sling, she sent it flying at the fiend's head, only to have it deflected by the devil's swinging chain.Chaevaris took the concept of hitting an invisible creature's unseen eye with an arrow as a personal challenge and aimed at where, given the faerie fire outline around the bone devil, she figured its eye would be.  Letting loose her arrow, it whizzed through the air and hit its target, piercing the bone devil's eye and slaying it outright.  The archer noted that, just like the barbed devils they'd fought yesterday afternoon, the devil's body didn't dissipate when slain, indicating this was no summoned fiend but one that had been permanently gated into the mortal world.  It also meant that its death was permanent; this was one bone devil who'd never perform another evil act!The last barghest went after Carruthers, who slammed it on the top of its head.  Then Alistair sent another maximized chain lightning spell at the horned devil and the barghest, severely hurting the first and slaying the second outright.  Orchid flew up into the air, sending another sunbeam flashing at the horned devil, overcoming its inherent resistance to spell energy.  However, to her disappointment, her spell did not blind the horned devil as it had its fiendish minions.  It retaliated with a lightning bolt that went slamming into Orchid's eagle body, but with the exception of a few feathers, she managed to survive the attack.Inside the building below, Orchid could hear the erinyes feeling her way around, trying to discern her exact location.  Blinded as she was, it would be difficult to use her greater teleport ability without running the risk of ending up impaled on the broken rooftop, and flying without being able to see where she was going was equally problematic.Harlan and Nova charged at the horned devil again, determined to bring this fiend to as permanent an end as the ice devil and barghests had received.  Once again, the horned devil had his spiked chain up and swinging, and with its greater reach the devil would be able to hit Harlan before the paladin was within striking range.  But this time, the loyal pegasus took matters into his own control, dodging into the onrushing chain to protect his master.  Nova allowed the chain to hit him instead of Harlan, and it was the pegasus, not the paladin, who froze up in mid-air as a result of the weapon's stunning property; as Nova's unmoving wings brought him colliding with the ground in an undignified crash landing, Harlan was able to leap from the saddle and finish his attack by flying through the air and bringing his holy blade, with the full smiting power of Pelor behind him, stabbing into the fiend's chest.It would have been an appropriate death for the horned devil, to be slain by a vengeful paladin seeking to rid the world of evil.  But Fate often has other plans, and the creature who dubbed himself "Lorne D. D'Veih" in his human guise hung on to his wicked life by a mere thread.  Blood and ichor seeping from the gaping wound in his chest, he staggered to his feet, refusing to die until he'd slain the paladin who inflicted upon him the mortal blow.  But before the devil could strike, Ageratum beat him to the punch, racing across the roof and leaping down at the devil, still complete invisible due to her magic bracelet.  Unseen by all but Orchid (whose true seeing spell allowed her to see the halfling's location), Ageratum mirrored Harlan's leaping stab move and her short sword, not quite as powerful as Harlan's Starblade, nonetheless buried itself deep into his chest and she rode it down to the ground, digging a deep furrow down his front.  By the time she had landed nimbly on her feet. she had to scoot back several steps to avoid being hit by the horned devil's lifeless body as he collapsed to a heap on the ground before her."Ageratum?  Was that you?" Harlan called.  "Nicely done!"That left only the blinded erinyes to be dealt with.  From up on the carpet of flying, Alistair took care of it by calling down to Carruthers to go inside the building directly ahead and slay the winged woman he'd find in there.  The shield guardian obeyed without hesitation, and within moments the deed was done. - - -We had a deadline with this adventure: Dan and Vicki were scheduled to leave the next morning to go visit his sister in Illinois, and Vicki likes to do the packing the night before.  She had originally wanted to bump this night's session to the following week, but Dan convinced her that we'd have a "hard stop" time of nine o'clock.  So as we got closer to the deadline, we did what we could to speed up the combat, like having the barghest and Carruthers face off against each other "off screen" as it were - we figured they'd manage to keep each other busy without us having to roll for their attacks and damage.  Vicki agreed to continue on until the horned devil was slain, and we got that done by 9:02 PM, so we just hand-waved the erinyes' death - there wasn't much she could do to us at that point - and Dan said we'd pick up where we left off next session, as there was still rubble to search through and potential treasure to find.  (Dan's hinted he had two other "plot seeds" planted in the area for us to discover and decide what to do about.)  But all that will have to wait until next Wednesday.In the meantime, we all leveled up to 16th.</blockquote>

Verification