TarionzCousin
Second Most Angelic Devil Ever
After finding the village empty, our heroes tracked the yuan-ti and their captives a few miles East to the shore of the lake. They overwhelmed the guards and freed many villagers, but--alas!--the female blacksmith/potential rogue's girlfriend was not there. It seemed that she and a couple dozen of the "strongest" villagers had been taken away to be sacrificed in a horrible ritual to raise an avatar of the long-dead Serpent God.
South a half mile was the lake. It had the end of a stone snakeskin tunnel 12 feet in diameter sticking out of the shallows that was full of air. Trekking in and down, the PC's slew many guards. Water was leaking in through various places and rushing down the tunnel ahead of them. Heedless, they left the doors wide open behind them, increasing the flow of water. Yes, one player said "Hey, we should try to stop this water; it could be bad." But nobody listened to him.
Upon opening the double doors nearly 500 feet down, they revealed a large chamber containing a few things of note:
First is a close up of the action in the water pit. The yellow circles are villagers, the red marker is the love interest. Blue squares indicate different levels of water. Yellow circles on minis indicate some sort of mark or condition. At this point the wizard has gated into the pit to try to help the villagers escape. The halfling PC on his Nightmare mount (black dicebox top) is coming down the ramp.
Second is the far end of the chamber, complete with chanting acolytes, a big pile of residuum, a bottomless pit, and the high priestess (complete with a human baby--a bit of a running joke in our games. All the evil high priests/priestesses always carry around a baby).
After one round, it became clearer what was happening, as the pit filled up with water to drown the bound prisoners. Also, the residuum was disappearing, being consumed by the ritual.
Things heated up quickly. The rogue jumped into the pit to try to save the blacksmith. The wizard (black spear mini) wasn't making quick enough progress freeing the villagers. A swarm (four tokens) moved in to damage villagers and PC's alike with attacks and an aura.
The dwarf had been flanked by a yuan-ti and the notorious tiefling "half-brother" of the PC tiefling that they had failed to capture earlier. The PC halfling is moving down the ramp to engage his hated "brother." The orange snake is actually an archer on an 80' high tower. The blue marker is the PC tiefling's ongoing cold ball effect.
The halfling waited until the acolytes and priestess's defenders had moved forward to engage the rest of the group. Then he rushed to the far end and began killing acolytes. The priestess was almost impossible to hit--as her acolytes died, her defenses lowered.* The halfling really just wanted to get as much residuum for himself as possible, but he managed to interrupt the ritual by doing so. As his character is Evil, the other PC's made a big deal of his "Noble act," that displayed "definite good." He was chagrined. However, he didn't save much residuum.
The "half-brother" evil tiefling escaped by conjuring a portal in the bottomless pit. The halfling tried to blast the priestess into the pit but instead blew the wizard in and knocked him down to 3 hit points. Being an eladrin, he fey-stepped out after he learned that the portal didn't work for him (he didn't have the portal key).
Below is the final tally of how many villagers were killed or drowned (12 out of 30), and how much residuum was consumed (7 squares of 9).
South a half mile was the lake. It had the end of a stone snakeskin tunnel 12 feet in diameter sticking out of the shallows that was full of air. Trekking in and down, the PC's slew many guards. Water was leaking in through various places and rushing down the tunnel ahead of them. Heedless, they left the doors wide open behind them, increasing the flow of water. Yes, one player said "Hey, we should try to stop this water; it could be bad." But nobody listened to him.
Upon opening the double doors nearly 500 feet down, they revealed a large chamber containing a few things of note:
- A triangle-shaped pit full of the missing villagers, including the rogue's love interest. The water was rushing to fill it up.
- A high priestess and 4 chanting acolytes at the far end of the chamber.
- 3. A large "Bottomless Pit" in front of the High Priestess; and
- 4. The largest pile of residuum ever seen in recorded history. It was shoulder-high and filled approximately nine squares.
- 5. Oh, and numerous guards, including two on 80' high towers.
First is a close up of the action in the water pit. The yellow circles are villagers, the red marker is the love interest. Blue squares indicate different levels of water. Yellow circles on minis indicate some sort of mark or condition. At this point the wizard has gated into the pit to try to help the villagers escape. The halfling PC on his Nightmare mount (black dicebox top) is coming down the ramp.
Second is the far end of the chamber, complete with chanting acolytes, a big pile of residuum, a bottomless pit, and the high priestess (complete with a human baby--a bit of a running joke in our games. All the evil high priests/priestesses always carry around a baby).
After one round, it became clearer what was happening, as the pit filled up with water to drown the bound prisoners. Also, the residuum was disappearing, being consumed by the ritual.
Things heated up quickly. The rogue jumped into the pit to try to save the blacksmith. The wizard (black spear mini) wasn't making quick enough progress freeing the villagers. A swarm (four tokens) moved in to damage villagers and PC's alike with attacks and an aura.
The dwarf had been flanked by a yuan-ti and the notorious tiefling "half-brother" of the PC tiefling that they had failed to capture earlier. The PC halfling is moving down the ramp to engage his hated "brother." The orange snake is actually an archer on an 80' high tower. The blue marker is the PC tiefling's ongoing cold ball effect.
The halfling waited until the acolytes and priestess's defenders had moved forward to engage the rest of the group. Then he rushed to the far end and began killing acolytes. The priestess was almost impossible to hit--as her acolytes died, her defenses lowered.* The halfling really just wanted to get as much residuum for himself as possible, but he managed to interrupt the ritual by doing so. As his character is Evil, the other PC's made a big deal of his "Noble act," that displayed "definite good." He was chagrined. However, he didn't save much residuum.
The "half-brother" evil tiefling escaped by conjuring a portal in the bottomless pit. The halfling tried to blast the priestess into the pit but instead blew the wizard in and knocked him down to 3 hit points. Being an eladrin, he fey-stepped out after he learned that the portal didn't work for him (he didn't have the portal key).
Below is the final tally of how many villagers were killed or drowned (12 out of 30), and how much residuum was consumed (7 squares of 9).
