(this will get us caught up to present)
The PC's asked the Guardian if there were any way to get to the River Gate since The Everstone King still blocked the way. The Guardian replied that it might be possible to descend from the "Upper Defenses". That would be the ledge on which they found the rotting catapult and nest of the spined Mist Demons. Mialain did some quick calculations based on her mapping and estimated the distance from there to the ground outside the gate to be between 200 and 300 feet. A hell of a climb.
The group had, between them, 200 feet of rope and so Eshik did some scrounging among the shops along the Promenade and came up with another 50 feet of chain that had survived in usable condition. They'd have to hope that was enough. They bedded down on the hard stone once again, trusting that the presence of the Guardian nearby would be enough to keep those smaller Mist Demons at bay.
Rested they ascended once more to the passage where they had fought the spined Mist Demons and made their way out to the ledge. Eshik offered to descend ahead of the rest and fasten the rope to the cliff face with pitons in order to make the descent easier for the others. They all doffed any armor that would hinder their climb and Eshik lowered himself over the edge.
Mialain and Zanne both nearly lost their grip and had to catch themselves, cruelly injuring their hands in the process. But all made it down to another ledge where Eshik waited for them before making the remaining descent. As he waited he peered down into the Mist below and made a pair of discoveries. First, the Mist below seemed thinner than he thought it should be and thought that there might be some kind of clearing in the Mist. And as he looked for some explanation for this phenomenon, he saw the winged form of another of the Mist Demons ghosting along some 50 feet below.
The group had a whispered conference and it was decided that Eshik pounding in further pitons would certainly attract the Mist Demons and thus they would attempt to make the descent quietly. This would also make it more difficult but there was little that could be done for that. Cautiously and quietly they made their way down. This time it was Eshik who nearly fell. He managed to catch himself but not before a panicked cry escaped his mouth. Moments later the alterted Mist Demons emerged, laughing from the murk and began to fire off volleys of their quills.
Eshik, Mialain and Astavian were already on the rope and could do little to defend themselves. But Zanne was still up on the ledge and began to fire off spells at the creatures to distract them from attacking her friends. This worked rather well and a moment later one of the creatures landed on the narrow ledge, face to face with her.
The other Demon kept up its attacks upon those hastily climbing down. Eshik was getting close to the ground with Mialain not far behind when the Demon had a diabolical idea. It swooped over to the cliff above Astavian and, with a single swipe of its claws, severed their rope. Miraculously all three managed to keep their grip on the rocks nearby but the climb down just became MUCH harder.
Above, Zanne was giving ground and unleashing spell after spell upon her adversary. It slashed at her with its claws, preferring to stay in close as it pressed her toward the edge of the precipice. The other demon below fell away from the cliff and dropped even with Astavian, continuing its cruel laugh as it fired another volley of poisoned spines at the helpless Dragonborn. Astavian, still some 70 feet above the ground, would not stand for this. With a roar he leapt out from the face of the cliff and grabbed the leg of the surprised Mist Demon some ten feet away. Its spines dug through his scales and into the flesh below but the Paladin kept his grip, swinging on the creature and trying to pull it down to the ground with him.
Eshik finally reached the ground intact to find himself inside a "bubble" in the Mist. For some strange reason the air was fresh and clear of the corrupting substance. Above him, Mialain called upon her link with nature and the small vines and scrub that grew amid the cracks on the cliff became much larger, giving her ample handholds for the rest of her descent. With renewed confidence she moved closer to the ground, only to lose her grip and fall the last ten feet.
Zanne was driven nearly over the edge of the cliff 100 feet above and fell to the ground right at the edge. As the Mist Demon loomed over her she peered through the murk below and saw Astavian
climbing the Mist Demon and hammering his fists in an attempt to break its wings. She saw an opportunity to help and...rolled right off the ledge, kicking herself away from the cliff and towards the Dragonborn.
Astavian called upon ever ounce of his strength as he hammered at the spiny Demon. And yet despite his efforts, its wings remained intact and it even managed to climb higher into the sky. Suddenly the Warlock was falling past him, her arm outstretched, wishing only to touch the smallest part of the Dragonborn...but she failed.
Zanne had been prepared to grab the Paladin and use her Etherial Stride to get both of them closer to the ground where the fall might not kill them. But her aim was off and her grasp missed Astavian by inches. As she shot past she thought to herself, "Looks like we're going to have to do this the hard way..." And Teleported back up to where Astavian struggled with the infernal creature. Zanne suspected that there was no way it could remain aloft under the weight of both of them. She reached out to grab the Paladin's belt...and missed again. A moment later she landed in a crumpled pile next to Mialain, having, thanks to her Teleport, fallen more than the distance from the ledge to the ground.
Miraculously however she was alive. This would certainly not have been the case were she not wearing the Catstep Boots that had been a gift from King Klo of Opkhar. Instead she was only hovering at the brink of death. But since she had fallen directly next to Mialain, the Cleric of Melora only had to extend her arm to provide a healing touch to the fallen Warlock.
Eshik meanwhile was firing his crossbow up at the Mist Demon with which Astavian still struggled. But the creature was managing to climb still higher despite carrying the full weight of the Paladin on its back. Eshik watched helplessly as his friend was borne up into the obscuring Mist and he could no longer get it in his sights.
But it did not vanish for long.
An instant later the Mist Demon and Astavian both reappeared as they were snatched out of the sky by steel claws. The flapping of metallic wings was all around the Paladin as his spine wrenched from the sudden change in direction. Although the Dragon had slowed their fall, he still hit the ground with a bone jarring thud as he rolled away from where Steelslicer ripped the Mist Demon in half and feasted upon the upper portion of its body.
Astavian managed to rise to his feet, bloodied and battered. Then he spoke in Draconic, "It's good to see you, Steelslicer."
******
The Skill Challenge for descending the cliff was a simple one but the group still managed to bring some creative solutions to bear. I thought it was very smart of Eshik's player to go in search of some chain to extend their rope. And Mialain's idea to have the plants grow to provide more handholds was inspired.
The key feature of this battle was the PC's collossal bad luck. There were several extremely cool stunts that took place, some of them with a pretty good chance of success. The high roll during any of them was a 4. I have seldom been rooting harder for a stunt to succeed than Zanne's skydiving attempt to rescue Astavian from the back of the Mist Demon. But when they roll a 4...well stuff just fails.
I think it was very gratifying to see Zanne's Catstep Boots save her from another Death By Falling event. Especially since she upped the ante by adding an extra 30 feet to the fall by way of the teleport.
So having Steelslicer show up when she did seems like somewhat of a deus ex machina. And to some extent it was. But she has a reason to be here and I was also having Astavian roll a "luck roll" each round for her to show up and help them out. Yeah, until that last one, the high roll there as a 7 I think.
I can only hope that their luck takes a turn for the better when they have to enter the River Gate next session and fight a big pile of undead!