To War Against Felenga (FINAL UPDATE POSTED!)

[the Jester]

Sybele's Interrogation Technique

WARNING: Mature (er, well maybe immature) content enclosed. Don’t look if you’re offended by... well, if you’re easily offended.

The party waits for the mazed elemental to return. Suddenly, a troll walks partway into the room. It notices the party and grunts in surprise, stopping. Its slow brain gradually interprets the threat facing it, but by the time it’s really comprehended the fact that a band of adventurers are in front of it, Angelfire’s hit it with a mind blast. Groaning, the stupid creature slumps down to the ground drooling.

Our heroes aren’t too concerned that the troll might be a threat; indeed, it seems likely that they could give it a couple of free rounds and take it down blindfolded. They keep it covered with weapons while the large archer Sybele starts questioning it.*

“So where does Felenga hang out?” she asks sweetly, placing her hand on the troll’s thigh.

“Uh?” it grunts back. “Er, me no know.” It squirms, watching the array of weapons pointed in its general direction by the rest of the group.

“Well, let’s put it this way,” Sybele says. “If you help us, we’ll let you go. If you don’t, we’ll kill you.” She’s running her hand up and down the confused troll’s leg, and he’s clearly becoming aroused. Horbin walks away, a little disturbed and strangely reminded of a certain whale he knew long ago. Sybele continues her interrogation, playing with the helpless- and by now, completely confused- troll’s thingie** while she coos at it for information.

Soon enough, the party learn that the main villains of the place other than Felenga seem to be a group of individuals called the Triad. The troll is both stupid and ignorant, but it knows that their main headquarters is not actually in the Temple of Elemental Evil; it’s actually at a place called Crater Ridge, in an abandoned mining complex.

“What about the troll?” asks Lester.

“He helped us out. Let’s let him go,” Sybele says.

“He’ll let others know we’re here,” Orbius points out.

“They probably already know, and if not they will soon,” Sybele answers, which Orbius has to admit is probably true. So they let the troll escape, Sybele first warning him not to mess with them again.

The troll- his name is Luubrig- shambles out of the central chamber the party is within, and off to one of the cleared chambers. A few dirty hill giants are in there, but he doesn’t care. He roars at one that sits on his pile of gravel and it grunts and moves over for him. Luubrig throws himself down into his pile and rubs his body against it, agitated, aroused and confused. He can’t shaked the image of the big human from his mind.

Luubrig want her, the troll thinks to himself. Luubrig must have! But he knows that with her companions, they are too much for him. They hurt poor head, Luubrig groans inwardly. Head weak. Body strong, but head weak. And they know fire, the red one like fire! Bad, bad!

Must get her alone.

***

Meanwhile, the elemental returns from its maze and is easily dispatched, though it smashes Sybele with an awesome blow. Our heroes debate their next move.

“We’re in the wrong place,” Lester opines. “We should check out this Crater Ridge Mine place.”

“Hey, I’ve been there,” Horbin exclaims.*** “I once infiltrated that place! There were a lot of arrow slits.”

“Well, in any event, we’re in the wrong place right now, right?” says the L. “So let’s go back to Var and do some more divinations and stuff. Maybe we can narrow down the search.”

Our heroes depart. Moments later, a lovesick troll sniffs into the room. He looks around mournfully for any sign of his beloved. All he can find are a few sprays of her blood. Ahh, the smell! Ahh, the taste! He laps it up with his rough black tongue, aroused again. He will have her. He will. She wants him, he knows it.



*Remember, Thrush is babysitting the kids back at the castle.

**That’s right, its thingie. You know what I’m talking about.

***From just before my old story hour. The initial post of that thread mentions some of this as back story.


Next Time: Jezebel’s in trouble!

 

[the Jester]

Here's a fun little game! See if you can match the pcs! Each of the two columns here consists of pcs from my story hours. See if you can figure out which were played by the same players! For instance, if you think that Horbin and Clambake were played by the same player (they aren't), you'd choose 1A!

I'll post the answers after a while here...

1 Horbin
2 Alcar
3 Malford
4 Sybele
5 Brother He
6 Zeebo

A Clambake
B Angelfire
C Sandy
D Airhead Ed
E Sheva
F Drelvin

 

[the Jester]

Jezebel's Rescue

Horbin and Orbius are sitting together in a reading room in Malford’s castle.

“I really need to contact Marius,” Horbin mutters. “He still has Till.*”

“Well, I was going to send a sending to Jezebel,” Orbius says. “Maybe she can help us negotiate with him.”

“It’s worth a try, I suppose,” Horbin answers glumly. Marius hasn’t been entirely forthcoming about Till’s circumstances. In fact, he’s been quite close-mouthed and refused to divulge much of anything.

So Orbius sends a sending to Jezebel, but the reply he gets doesn’t really have much to do with anything he sends to her.

Help! Caught by githyanki, don’t tell Marius, he’ll be furious! Please rescue me, I’ll do anything for you!

“Crap,” Orbius moans. “She’s in trouble. We have to rescue her.”

“What about Marius?” Horbin asks impatiently, and Orbius explains the situation. The cleric’s face falls, but he agrees to help the Eye rescue her. The divine oracle casts gate, and the two of them look through it into an astral cell. Jezebel sits calmly on a seat. She looks older than when last they saw her, just weeks ago.** When she sees the gate open, she smiles and rises. But when she steps to the gate, she finds that she cannot pass through it!

“Don’t worry.” Horbin the Holy steps through, takes care of the wards and dimension lock with an area dispel, and together he and Jezebel step back through the gate and back to Var.

“What happened? How did you get captured?” Orbius asks. There is worry in his voice.

“Oh, I got myself into trouble with the githyanki,” she says. “But thank you so much for rescuing me!” She throws her arms around Orbius and gives him a long, tight squeeze. He finds it almost uncomfortably pleasant.

Horbin leaves the two of them alone, brooding about Till. He has to do something about that, and soon. He’s shirked that responsibility too long.

Orbius and Jezebel, left alone, talk long into the night. Then, at some point, the kissing finally starts. She starts it; he’s not sure she’s old enough (and after all, how old is she really? How can you tell when the timeflow changes all the time around you? How many years has she experienced, under how many calendars? Even she probably doesn’t know), so he keeps it as restrained as he can, but...

In the morning, Orbius, the Eye of Boccob, heads into town to commission a wedding ring.


*Horbin’s shield-bearer of old.
**Because she’s been in areas of faster time passage with Marius the Chronomancer, natch.


Next Time: The search for Felenga’s phylactery continues!

 

[the Jester]

Swelling the Ranks

Armed with the precious little knowledge he has of Felenga’s familiar, Orbius casts a vision and sees a cartoonish image of a hand scrambling across some sort of span surrounded by roiling darkness. He tries to determine more about the location; surely the Dark One’s familiar is near his phylactery!

A series of frustrating scrying attempts and divinations gives our heroes a few clues; not much to go on, but enough for the Eye of Boccob. Orbius announces to the group that the entrance to whatever place Felenga’s familiar is at can only be found through the Bleak Academy, also called the Black Academy.

The Bleak Academy... it’s almost a legend. It’s where the strange necromancers called Pale Masters learn their weird skills. Tales of forbidden experiments, black magic, undead walking the streets, even human sacrifice- who would give such things credence? But this is Dorhaus, long overrun by evil, where all life that was not evil was destroyed. How easy would it be for such a corrupt society to spring up like a boil in the hidden places of the wracked continent?

“Hey,” Lester exclaims, “that’s where that hunter of the dead we were trying to recruit was!”

“That’s right! Well, maybe we’ll have better luck this time, since we’re going where he already is,” says Malford.

“Patyn. In the morning,” Orbius states, “I’ll send him a sending, then, if he’s amenable, scry him out and teleport to him. We can either all go to him or bring him back to us, depending on circumstances.”

“Maybe he has other allies as well,” Lester muses. “We could certainly use some, if we’re going to go attack some kind of necromancer academy. In fact, I think I’ll head down to the bar first thing in the morning- only truly hardened adventurers start their drinking at 9! Well, and the town drunks, but I can tell the difference.”

So it is that, in the morning, the L heads down the hill and into the town, seeking worthy adventurers. Angelfire joins him; though philosophically they couldn’t be further apart, they share the bond of the adventuring party. As the two of them leave, Lester’s cohort sends his message to the hunter of the dead, asking to join him. The response is disheartening.

“He says,” Orbius related glumly to Malford, “that the rest of his companions are dead, and that he could use all the help he can get.”

The Eye scries out the hunter of the dead, then Orbius and Drelvin greater teleport to him. He’s on a little raised area of land in a marsh. The air is heavy with moisture; mosquitoes buzz in the air. A single tent is pitched nearby; a bird of some sort is roasting on a spit, over a modest fire. Patyn, a thin man in an emerald tabard, raises his head and stares sharply at our heroes as they arrive. He lifts a hand and seems to be concentrating in their direction for a moment- checking to see if we’re undead, thinks Malford- and then visibly relaxes.

“I am Orbius,” the Eye proclaims. “We spoke via sending earlier...”

Patyn nods grimly. “Yes. I am glad for your aid...” He frowns. His eyes glisten for just a moment. “My other companions are all dead. I am the last.” Through gritted teeth, he growls, “The Black Academy must fall!”

Patyn relates his tale of woe. Even the approach to the place was deadly. Beneath the peat, in the boggy mix of rotting vegetation and muck and water, lurk undead. They dragged one of Patyn’s companions to his doom. The other took to the air. “Our wizard and cleric reported that ethereal assaults were guarded against by demons- too many, they said, to even consider an assault that way.” Patyn continues his story, telling how he and his companions made several attacks on the Black Academy and found that it’s surrounded by a small city of evil! They fought their way in more than once, even to the steps of the Academy, but a barrage of death magic and undead was too much for them to penetrate. “There are powerful necromancers and hordes of undead in there,” he reports grimly.

Retreating to what they thought was a safe distance, Patyn’s group found themselves horrified upon waking in the morning. Their middle watchman had been murdered, while on watch, without making enough noise to wake anyone else!

Things went downhill from there. Now only Patyn’s left. “And some of my friends may have become undead themselves,” the hunter of the dead groans.

Malford and Drelvin exchange a worried look, then ‘port back to Var with their new ally. “Come have a real breakfast,” Drelvin offers.

Angelfire and Lester, meanwhile, have found pretty much exactly what they’re looking for: a pair of tough adventurers. One of them is cloaked and hooded at first, but seems enamored of the L’s bat wings. After a few minutes of conversation, the figure casts off its robe to reveal a draconian looking form and wings of its own! “I’m Rex,” the dragon disciple says, and he shakes hands with Angelfire and the L.

The other of their new companions appears at first to be a female elf, but soon shows her delight in changing into a cheetah. She tells our heroes that she is a master of her shape, and can turn into nearly anything. Her name, she tells them, is Ulla.

Their ranks swollen, our heroes return to King Malford’s castle after finishing their drinks. They find Malford, Orbius, Drelvin and Patyn eating in the main dining hall. As the sinister-looking group full of dragon and bat wings and scarlet skin enters, Patyn raises his hand to examine them.

His face darkens. He stands up and walks out to Angelfire.

”You,” he states flatly, “are evil.”



Next Time: Uh-oh! Will Patyn and Angelfire get along? What will Orbius summon to help the group? How will our heroes attack? Beware- a dozen demons!

 

[the Jester]

Ethereal Assault

Malford grimaces as Patyn, hunter of the dead, squares off against Angelfire. There are no weapons drawn yet, but Patyn looks ready to fight. His words- “You are evil”- hang in the air. Angelfire’s thoughts immediately flash back to Alcar, the angel of food, and his challenge on the same grounds. Servants of Good- will they never learn?

“I serve Coila,” the scarlet-skinned man answers. “I have no quarrel with you, but my loyalty is immutable.” His eyes smolder and his lip quirks in a half-smile. “I travel with a cleric of your god, Galadorian. We work together. And surely the need to destroy Felenga, one of the most powerful undead ever, outweighs any... differences we might have.”

“And there will be no fighting in my home,” Malford snaps.

The tension stretches for a moment. Then Patyn growls, “Very well, then, Coilite. I’ll tell you what. Vow not to turn on me so long as we work together and I’ll do the same.” He glares at Angel. “Your goddess is Lawful. I will take your word, and to destroy the Academy, I’ll take your aid.”

“And you’ll help us destroy Felenga’s phylactery?” Angelfire presses.

“It sounds as if that will be half the battle in my quest anyway.” Patyn sneers. “Phylacteries! Bah! Too bad I wasn’t with you before. When I kill undead, I kill them dead. They don’t come back from my blows! I kill them dead!!” Spittle flies from his mouth. He leans back, breathing hard and fingering his holy symbol. Seems we’ve got a bit of a fanatic here, folks.

Oaths are exchanged and everyone sits down. Ulla and Rex, the two new companions Lester and Angelfire managed to find, are a little wary; they’re in the king’s presence- some even style him a god- and there’s clearly some level of dissension in the group. Everyone’s heard of some of the people here- Malford and Lester themselves, who’d have thought that we’d meet up with them! thinks Rex- and if high adventure has a definition, they’re it. From the clockwork horror invasion to Fuligin’s victory and defeat, these folks are heroes of legend!

The group discusses strategy. Patyn tells them that there’s an entire city of necromancers and undead that’s grown up around the Bleak Academy, or Black Academy, as it is also called. He repeats what he told them before- that there are tons of evil spellcasters and undead. “Giants, too- the biggest I’ve ever seen,” he reports grimly. And, of course, extraplanar incursions were discouraged by a horde of demon guardians.

“I still think an ethereal assault is our best bet,” Malford opines. “A city of necromancers or a few demons. How many could there be?”

“Our cleric and wizard thought it would be prohibitively difficult to assault that way,” Patyn answers, and Malford leans back and frowns.

“Well,” Orbius offers, “there’s always a solar. That would probably even the odds against us considerably.”

“I’m all for using the ether,” agrees Lester. “Let’s kill some demons!”

Within a few hours everyone’s bathed and dressed for battle. The Eye has summoned a gorgeous angel named Azekia, who’s agreed to help them for two weeks or until Felenga’s phylactery is destroyed. Angelfire tries to buddy up to her, but she clearly perceives his aura of evil and frowns at him. He tries showing her some of his trophies, but he pulls out a few of Alcar’s feathers and she fixes him with a steely gaze and points an accusing finger at him.

“Hey, he started it,” Angelfire smirks.

Then they’re off, Orbius teleporting them to a location near the Academy and then the group going ethereal. Their surroundings change, becoming misty analogies of the material plane. Some things are gone, some slightly different, some almost exactly the same- but all of them are made of colored wisps of mist. The group starts moving forward, in the direction of the Academy, passing wispy mounds and tree-like shapes to either side. The ethereal matter swirls around them as they float through it, and then-

Ahead, Orbius warns over their telepathic bond. Demons!

And indeed, looming ahead are a trio of horrible monsters- huge dog-like heads atop a massive torso. Two man-like arms emerge from the creature’s body, but so too does a pair of deadly pincers. More start moving into visibility through the mist, closing in on the party. Even as the solar dismisses two of them, the rest of the party starts maneuvering for good combat positioning. The glabrezu, meanwhile, are moving in and some are initiating mirror images. With a gigantic bellow, two of the demons closes on the solar and start battling it! Another engages Patyn, who responds with his blade, slicing through one of its images. More demons are arriving- and now they’re starting to teleport across the battlefield, one appearing right next to Drelvin!

Patyn charges and smites, landing a smashing blow on one of the glabrezu. The creature roars and slashes back, dealing punishing damage to the hunter of the dead. Rex and another of the demons wheel across the sky, natural weapons slashing at each other. Blood is flying all over. Ulla’s form melts and twists, and suddenly she’s become a stone golem! Her massive fist smashes into one of the demons, snapping its head back and letting a spray of blood flow from the doggie snout. The demon growls, but then she smashes it again, and this time her blow is so strong that its guts fly from its mouth! It stops moving, slain!

Malford and Drelvin are double-teaming the demon that teleported in on the archer. With his extraordinary skill, Drelvin calmly plugs the demon with arrow after arrow even at point blank range and still manages to avoid giving it an opening!* Malford’s combination of his sun blade and Memory, two weapons of surpassing puissance, finish the evil beast, and then the god-king moves in on another.

Then, emerging from the mist, a horrible beauty comes forth. Think Britney Spears with six arms and a long serpentine body. She’s armed with more swords than you can shake a stick at and otherwise naked. More glabrezu are still coming, too! There must be half a dozen or more even after the ones that have already been slain or dismissed...

*i.e. Order of the Bow Initiate close combat shot ability (or whatever it’s called)- no AoO provoked by bow fire!



Next Time: The Battle of the Dozen Demons!

 

[the Jester]

The Battle of a Dozen Demons

Somewhere, a spirit wanders through a plane of dead black. Negative energy roils around it. If it were alive, its life energy would have been snuffed out long ago, sucked away greedily by the ebon cold of the environment.

There is almost nothing here, in the entire plane.

A thousand years ago the spirit felt a flake of ash fall across it, and two hundred years before that there was a momentary encounter with a crust of salt- the absence of water. But since then, nothing has caught the spirit’s immaterial eye; at least, nothing here.

There are always intruders in the Tomb, of course- every few decades, sometimes even more often. Most have been grave disappointments; only a few have riddled their way through. Recently, there have been... supplicants. The spirit’s thoughts curdle for a moment. And, of course, that upstart who dared to find his way through the Gap to Power without the intent to finish the course. Bah! Well, the spirit’s looked in on that one several times, and in closely watching its activities, the spirit has grown more and more disturbed. Here is something that might be able to challenge him for supremacy. Here is something extremely dangerous. And what dealings has it had with the supplicants? What is the relationship?

Well, that one has enemies, and from watching them, the spirit thinks they might just be able to finish it off. And if they can do that, they’ll already be halfway through the Course of Tests, and after all- apotheosis is near.


On the ethereal plane, bubbles of blood float lazily in the non-gravity. Screams of anger and pain echo through the weird mists of ethereal color. The sounds of metal clashing on metal, the whiz of arrows, the chanting of spellcasters- all these herald the Battle of a Dozen Demons.

If you’ll recall, the bad guys consist of quite a few glabrezu and a marilith whose upper body looks like Britney Spears. Naked, though- hey, if you’re hot for Britney and lookin’ for the nudie pics, just fight this marilith, you’ll probably have about six seconds to look- and with a serpentine lower body, she’s meaner than she looks. Which she promptly demonstrates, charging at the solar accompanying our heroes and trying to encircle it with her scaly tail. Azekia the solar, angel of Heaven, flexes her wings and flies out of the demon’s coils. The wrath of god is on her face. “By the Light, we will destroy you all and send you back to the Abyss from which you came!” the angel thunders, and then speaks a holy word that stuns four of the glabrezu*. Reeling, they whine like piteous dogs (albeit huge, four-armed, pincer-wielding dogs), clutching at their heads with their human arms. Unfortunately, Ulla, herself not exactly Good, is caught in the area as well and cannot see! Shaped as a stone golem, she cries out in confusion.

The singing of Drelvin’s bow is a constant refrain. Chortling, the whipcord-thin elf destroys one of the glabrezu’s knee, blasting off its lower leg. A huge spray of blackish-brown, foul-smelling blood joins the ether mists. The archer turns to another of the glabrezu, continuing his rapid barrage of missiles. The demon yelps in displeasure, and then Rex, the party’s new dragon disciple, chops him in the neck with his bare hand! He use his remarkable unarmed fighting ability to strike, kick and headbutt demon, again and again. It’s like a rain of limbs on the glabrezu’s head and chest. The thing staggers, and Malford is suddenly there, stabbing with Memory and the Sun Blade.

Several of the active glabrezu are swarming the solar, aiding the marilith in her furious, screeching assault. But Azekia is a powerful force of good, her radiant aura helping her fend them off. It looks like she might be overwhelmed for an instant; moreover, the rest of the group has suffered an assortment of mounting injuries. So the solar draws a deep breath, concentrates, and prays to her Lord, Galador. A mass heal ripples out, and those of our heroes that are within range feel themselves heal and hearty again. Better still, Ulla’s eyes clear- she can see again! Taking note of the demons stunned near her, she begins smashing one of them to jelly, and in her golem form she makes short work of it. And look, there are more stunned ones right nearby...

Whiz! Whiz! The arrows just keep coming, a constant stream of missiles from Drelvin. The demon facing Rex and Malford looks like a pincushion- it strikes at Malford but only eliminates some mirror images. Rex and Malford, flanking it, slash, stab, kick and strike it, and finally the huge demon dies! Then the glabrezu, seeing that they’re losing the fight (several killed, several stunned), change tactics. One of the great demons rushes Drelvin and grabs him with a huge pincer. The archer struggles to get free, but the demon gets a good hold on him and laughs enormously. [color=AA8844]"EAT YOU,"[/color] the demon rumbles in Abyssal, salivating. Another of the dog-like demons begins grappling with Angelfire, whose muscles bunch as he struggles with it. It has the worst breath she’s smelled since the brood gibberlings long ago in Firestorm Peak. Angelfire and the demon struggle back and forth for a moment, and then the scarlet-skinned Coilite breaks free of the pincers. The demon yells in surprise as Angelfire strikes at it, but it has mirror images up and the templar only destroys a few images. Then Patyn’s there, charging in and lopping off a pincer. The monster squeals as more demon blood sprays out.

The snake-woman snarls in rage, unable to hurt the solar, and teleports immediately next to Rex. “Whoa!” cries the dragon disciple. He breathes a line of force at the marilith and immediately tumbles away. The demon is pummeled by his breath weapon, and though not badly hurt she’s angrier than ever. Then Azekia’s there again, flying swiftly to engage the demoness, and a heavy blow falls from her blade on the marilith! The demon unleashes its anger in a full attack on the solar, landing only a single blow- but that one a critical hit!** The blow cracks into the angel’s side, cracking ribs, but then Azekia cries, “For Galador!” –and strikes back! Her massive sword slices across the marilith’s snake body twice, then stabs into one of her arms! Sparks fly as the weapons of the outsiders flash and jangle off each other. Truly, this is a clash of forces of almost cosmic power.

Drelvin is struggling in the grasp of the demon on him. It’s pincer is around his neck, trying to pop his head right off- and it feels like it just might work! But Drelvin’s arms are strong from decades of archery, hours of it every day. He struggles with it and slowly draws the pincer open like a bow and ducks out from the glabrezu’s grip! His neck throbs and he can feel torn skin shifting beneath his shirt. His voice full of gravel, Drelvin coughs, “That’s gonna hurt for days,” and starts firing arrows again, at point blank range, at the demon that held him. Malford’s moving in to help him, too. The demon, looking worried, tosses a dispel at the god-king, but doesn’t have any effect. Then Malford sticks it in the leg and it shrieks, knocked off its feet.

Angelfire raises the Deleter. Pointing, he unleashes its weird power at the marilith! A coruscating beam of weird energy jabs out, accompanies by a strange crackling sound, and strikes the demon. It yowls in anger and pain, sending a sneer at the Coilite.

Who, suddenly, is female.

The negative energy that has been accumulating in him with each use of the Deleter ebbs partially away, but there’s still a bit. And she’s female again.*** She’s a little dazed by the sudden change and her mind starts sorting the implications.

The marilith teleports away from the immediate battle, badly wounded from her melee with the solar and a little annoyed by whatever that just was, and brings out a potion. She’s glaring at the accursed Galadorian angel when it points at her and cries out a loud, strong prayer of banishment. With a frustrated cry of rage, the marilith vanishes back to the Abyss.

Ulla looks up from the last stunned demon’s body. (CRUNCH! Well, it isn’t stunned any more.) The battle is thinning out. She sees Patyn and Azekia double-teaming one of them while Drelvin and Malford finish off the last. Then there’s a moment for everyone to catch their breaths.

Breaths caught, onward they go....

*Note that this will only banish creatures if you’re on your own home plane when you use it. Bummer.

**This was from a vorpal blade, and for an excited moment I thought she’d slain the solar, but you need a natural 20 on the confirmation roll. Darn.

***Quick backstory element: Angel started as a woman, but changed gender when she was touched by Chaos. That’s also how she gained the fire subtype.


Next Time: The marilith’s boss!

 

[the Jester]

Prelude to the Tomb of Horrors

As our heroes proceed forward, a strange figure emerges from the ethereal mists. Bowing, she calls, “Hold, friends! Perhaps our paths lead in the same direction.” She’s gaunt, yellow of skin, with loose grey-white robes around her. Several members of the party recognize her as a githzerai.

Cautiously, our heroes draw her story from her. She introduces herself as Verzavi, and she has been waiting for an opportunity to enter this place herself- the demons looked like they’d be too much for her to handle on her own, so she was waiting for the opportunity to slip by them. She’s somewhat aloof and evasive, but she offers to help the party with their quest (about which they are equally evasive, initially) if they’ll later help her with hers.

“What do you do?” Malford asks. “Are you a monk?”

“I am an Arcanopath*,” she says. “I kill casters.”

“Not all of them, I hope,” Malford laughs.

“All of them that oppose me,” Verzavi responds emotionlessly.

Our heroes advance, finding a heavy concentration of ominous-looking negative energy swirling around in the ether. There seems to be some sort of globe of ethereal matter that was home to the demons; it’s a good spot to rematerialize, since the negative energy seems to get intense just past that area. Malford veils the group as a cadre of glabrezu and himself as the marilith, and they return to their own plane.

They find themselves in a long, wide hallway of earth and stone, lit by thousands of candles. One side has three large passages leading from it; the other, only a single one.

“What are you doing? Get back to your posts! You know what the master will do to you!” calls a gruff voice, and our heroes turn.

A balor.

“Uh, I need more slaves. This fool-“ Malford jabs a finger at the nearest ‘glabrezu’- “ate my human!” Someone here has mastered a balor, Malford thinks grimly.

“Hey, you aren’t demons!” the balor rumbles. Then it roars, letting out a tremendous bellow, hoping to alert nearby allies, and prepares to summon demonic aid.

***

Alas, though they don’t yet know it, our heroes have also already triggered a silent alarm spell. Elsewhere, within the Black Academy, Ferranifer, the Mistress of the Academy, snaps her head up. Her dark sapphire eyes narrow and a sneer walks across her ruby lips. It’s not often someone is foolish enough to challenge her here, in the center of her web. Whoever it is will die. If they’re worth anything, that will be just the start.

Ferranifer calls for the Dim Triad and starts casting her preparatory spells.

***

Three pairs of eyes open simultaneously to the mental command of their mistress. Absalom, Blaesing and Harrow emerge in mist form from their coffins and rush to her side. It will be only a few moments until battle is joined, and the thirst for blood is upon them.

***

Azekia gives a loud shout and flies in to engage the balor. Her sword sings as she strikes the demon a solid blow. The rest of the party is starting to move in, including the githzerai- she seems fast- but before anyone else can reach him, Nazzgarr the balor calls for aid from the last of four nalfeshnee brothers that he’s enslaved over the aeons. There’s a terrible blast of brimstone as the immense creature appears with a roar, a 20’ tall monstrosity that looks like a cross between a boar and an ape. Its beer gut is covered in rotting shaggy hair, and tiny wings flutter behind it. Its legs are gangly and bowed. With a grin, Nazzgarr thrusts his hand at Azekia, and her sword flies from her grasp! She gasps as it lands over sixty feet from her! Now laughing, the balor steps towards the solar, bringing out his flame-shaped sword. The nalfeshnee steps in to flank, a black unholy aura bursting into existence around it. The demons and the angel start blasting at each other with spell-like abilities, but the demons can’t seem to hurt the solar and the balor keeps shrugging off Azekia’s attempts to finish him off! Nazzgarr is making as much noise as he can, but suddenly the noise he emits- well, it stops being loud and starts being... silent. He roars again, frustrated, as Sybele uses her control sound ability to try to stop the monster from attracting any undue attention. It requires she concentrate on it, but she figures it’s worth a try.

She is, of course, too late. Something’s coming down a nearby hall. It is slow, but it will be there soon.**

Our heroes, for the most part, rush to the attack! There’s a telepathic consensus that they should try to take out the nalfeshnee first and let Azekai deal with the balor. Orbius tries to get Angelfire to retrieve her sword as he goes by, but he- she, dammit, she- ignores the suggestion, starting to change forms. Thrush charges the gigantic boar-ape demon. It bites at him as he comes in, tearing at his shoulder, but he’s tough enough to take it with a grin. His sword inflicts a tremendous blow on the thing. Angelfire is still moving in, polymorphed into a troll. With the Deleter on, he- no, she- can’t use her hands in battle. A bite is better than nothing, though. Lester blasts the demons with a horrid wilting and both hiss in pain, but it’s clear that the solar is their main target. Rex blasts the nalfeshnee with a wand of lance of disruption, but fails to penetrate its spell resistance.

With a growl, the huge nalfeshnee waves a negligent paw at our heroes, trying to dispel some of their defenses. To its surprise, it meets total and utter failure. It frowns, but before it can do much else Thrush unleashes some of that old-fashioned fury he’s so good at. Even though his weapon doesn’t seem to be able to fully penetrate its defenses, he still inflicts significant damage, carving into its belly, which sprays a thick, honey-like blood full of rotten chunks of fat all over him. The boar-thing roars and lashes back at him, clawing his forearms badly and biting his shoulder again. But now Ulla in stone golem form, Payton, Rex and Lester are all piling on it! Blades and fists fly; bubbling, fatty blood spews forth. The demon groans in pain.

Orbius grabs up Azekia’s sword and starts dragging it towards the fight. “Azekia!” he cries, using his free hand to pull out his trump of Lester. “I have your blade!” Angelfire glances back for an instant-

“Orbius, something’s coming out of the passage behind you!” he cries.

Azekia looks pressed. She’s flanked by demons and disarmed; but she’s far from helpless. She pronounces a Power Word at the nalfeshnee, but fails to penetrate its spell resistance! It lives, despite being badly wounded. Glaring in Orbius’ direction, the fat demon tries to feeblemind the Eye, but the divine oracle’s tremendous strength of will throws it off. Nazzgarr, meanwhile, makes a gesture at the solar and tries to implode her. There’s a rippling in space around her, but her faith in the Light saves her, staving off complete destruction! The balor turns his destructive power on the approaching Lester, trying- and failing- to implode him as well, then gestures and smashes him away into the wall telekinetically.

Orbius manages to establish trump contact with the L as he picks himself up. As Lester’s eyes focus on Orbius he gasps. “Behind you!” he cries.

Behind the eye is a horrible undead creature like none he’s ever seen. It’s the head of a giant, rotting and bloated, with a yawning mouth that looks like it's just waiting to gobble Orbius up. From its neck emerge a host of tendrils of flesh and vein, and a disgusting ichor trails behind it. And as Orbius reaches out for Lester’s hand, crying, “Pull me through!!”- the crawling head wails like a banshee.


*A prestige class from Dragon magazine (not sure which number off hand- has the githzerai monk on the cover). This is Angelfire’s new cohort. The party is ridiculously full of powerful npcs at this point- Patyn (based off Sir Malachite in Piratecat’s campaign), Thrush, Azekia, Orbius, Verzavi, am I missing anyone right now?? Sheesh. Fortunately, I usually let pcs play their cohorts, cutting down on the amount of extra work I have to do... especially in a complicated battle like this.

**Natural 20 on a Listen check the first round. Even adjusted for distance, it got a 15- more than enough to hear the roaring balor.

Next Time: Our heroes in an EL 24 fight! Watch them fight a balor, a crawling head, a nalfeshnee, Ferranifer, Absalom, Blaesing, Harrow, Instructor Ngise and Academician Drake all at once!!!

 

[Sollir Furryfoot]

Very awesome visuals here, Jester...can't wait to see how this epic battle plays out-you seem to enjoy throwing tough encounters after tough encounters after tough encounters-I like

(Not going to even guess on the 2 players list...confusing enough as is...maybe later perhaps after I can glean back some of the answers you've given around the bile mountain period heh)

 

[the Jester]

The Assault on the Academy, part 2

The scream of the crawling head is the kind of (literally) heart-stopping sound that is impossible to describe. It’s full of loss and anger and hate, and it’s the vocal equivalent of dragging steel fingernails across a titanium chalkboard when you’ve got a shattered wrist. It’s horrible, horrible; and it could drive the life right out of anyone without the fortitude to withstand it.*

Without exception, our heroes live.

Ulla and Thrush don’t even pause in their assault on the nalfeshnee. The shifter’s golem-arms pound the great demon, staggering it, and then Thrush slices it apart with a flower-like pattern of blows. It falls, dead. Our heroes are still facing two opponents, but at least they aren’t facing three.

“Ware the crawling head!” Patyn cries. “Those things are dangerous!” He rushes towards it, channeling an immense burst of positive energy. Brilliant white light flares from him with a ZOSH! The light burns the head, great gobbets of flesh blasting loose. It’s still lumbering up behind Orbius, but he vanishes, leaving a rainbow afterimage, as Lester pulls his cohort to him via the trump contact. The head gnashes its great brown teeth, bits of them sloughing away as it does so. Sybele gives up on her sound control and springs to attack the head as well- now she knows her strength is needed, and the group’s sneakiness seems to have failed them anyway. Her blows mostly fall off the head’s body, though she does inflict some damage. Grimly, she hopes the thing can’t wail again any time soon... Then it snaps back at her, missing with its great mouth, and lashes at her with the tentacles emerging from the stump of its neck. The warrior of chaos fends off the first blow with her sword, but the next fleshy tendril grabs her with wiry strength and drags her towards the monster, wrapping her arms as it does so! She gives a cry and struggles even as the monster gives her a convulsive squeeze.

Meanwhile, Angel takes aim with the Deleter and unleashes its weird, inexplicable power. A crackling ray zips out, striking the balor in the chest. The flaming demon growls and spares Angel a glance, but no more. She herself feels a burst of malaise spreading through her limbs. Shaking her head to clear her eyes of spots, she glances again at the balor. No visible effect, but clearly something happened... She manifests displacement and starts moving towards the balor. Suddenly- thanks to her cloak- she’s got four arms, and two of them can use her falchion. She’s rushing forward now, moving in on the balor. Verzavi and Rex spring attacks again, striking it while it’s distracted by Angelfire. Neither one of them harm it, but Verzavi keeps up her harrying tactics.

With a bellowing laugh, the great demon unleashes a firestorm, catching everyone. The flames roll around the group for an agonizing moment of searing heat, and then our mighty heroes fight on. Thrush yells for healing even as he approaches the balor, who smiles wickedly at the fighter. But rather than engaging it in melee, Thrush whips out his bow and starts firing a barrage of arrows at Nazzgarr! Ulla, meanwhile, shifts into elf form, heals him from a wand, and then turns to glare at the balor again. Her form is already starting to twist like taffy as she prepares to shift again.

Orbius cries, “Your sword, noble solar! Take it!!” He extends the great blade forward. Azekia smiles gratefully and takes back her blade, then turns and aims a mighty blow at the balor. Where it is cut, it bleeds fire. Lester flies in at the demon, but even Felix Optima Maxima cannot seem to get through its tough hide! But even as he flashes by through the air, Azekia stabs the balor again! Even her blows seem reasonably ineffectual against it, but she is wounding it a little. Glaring at the solar, the demon steps back a few feet and glances at Lester. For an instant, a powerful, wicked mind threatens to seize Lester’s body, but with a cry of fear he shakes it off.

I can’t hurt it, Rex thinks; his blows bounced off the demon like raindrops. He turns and flaps his powerful wings, heading quickly towards the crawling head. Magic missiles streak past him, blasting into it, even as another brilliant blast of positive energy emanates from the hunter of the dead, who’s still closing in on it. Sybele finally manages to struggle loose and staggers back a few feet from the rotting head- it seems to have some kind of sacs under its skin. It’s utterly repugnant. Then Patyn’s charging into it, swinging his blade, biting chunks of flesh from it. The head snaps at him with its rotting teeth, taking a chunk of his leg. Blood pours down his boot but he ignore it. Another spell blasts into it, but this one fails to affect it. His blows are barely effective, and he shouts, “Piercing!” Sybele smiles grimly and backs away, pulling out her great bow.

This is going to be tough, the Eye thinks.

***

Meanwhile, Ferranifer and the Dim Triad are ready. She greater teleports them to the fight, and her foes do not notice Blaesing. They never do, of course- that is what makes him so effective. So! Whoever these invaders are, they have a solar! the Mistress of the Academy thinks. That could be trouble. She casts banishment but the accursed celestial shrugs her magic off. Yes, trouble. That must be her very first priority, indeed. It’s time to use blackfire. Firing off a quickened magic missile, she communicates her intentions to the Triad telepathically, and they move like a well-oiled machine playing the part it’s rehearsed for years.

***

The sudden arrival of a trio (well, that anyone notices) of scary-looking individuals via teleportation doesn’t hearten the party too much. There’s definitely a tough battle brewing here, and the group has a time limit here- if it takes them too long to find Felenga’s phylactery, he’ll be active again! Depending on what the Deleter did to him, and how long it lasts- well. That could be bad, couldn’t it?

Absalom, wielding his bastard sword Eel, takes care of the mirror images around Orbius. Smiling, the villain stares boldly at the Eye as if at his newest piece of treasure. Rex, stopping midway between the balor and the crawling head, breathes out a line of devastating force at the newly-arrived human and elven women (Ferranifer and Harrow). Though he doesn’t know it, Blaesing, unseen, dodges the blast, for it goes right through the area she’s occupying. Harrow grimaces in anger and casts a spell- she’s got a big ol’ falchion monkey gripped in one hand, notes Angelfire to herself with something approaching approval. Then there’s a burst of orange flame as Lester calls down a flame strike upon the newcomers, catching them all! A chorus of shouts and cries from them brings a smile to the elementalist’s face, but unknown to him the unseen Blaesing once again evades.

The balor, meanwhile, teleports away from the middle of the gang surrounding it to a better location- guarding the entrance it’s supposed to guard. Orbius has wandered too close, and the terms of Nazzgarr’s contract are clear. It appears next to the Eye with a deep rumble and flames dripping from its great wings. With a squeak, Orbius teleports to Azekia’s side, and the evil balor lets out an evil laugh.

Then the solar screams as Ferranifer’s spell takes effect, and black flames flicker into existence around it, burning its very soul. She writhes with horror, shrieking, “Get away!! Get away!!” And a flicker of the black flame reaches out towards the Eye, caressing his aura...


*Thank god they’d slapped protection from spells on before their assault began, giving them a +8 on saves vs. spell-like abilities! DC 26 save or die, baby. But the save or die (or similar effect) type stuff is thick in this battle. In fact, I’d never run a battle like this before. It was out of hand.


Next Time: More instant death effects! More 9th-level spells! More insane, Epic-level battle!

 

[Knightfall]

Very... very cool.

I really like the addition of the Hunter of the Dead, Patyn. That's one cool prestige class. (Jester, do you have Complete Warrior yet?)

Hmm, a HotD, a githzerai, and now celestials and demons. Reminds me of a couple of other story hours I've read. Not to mention fighting the powerful force of undead.

Maybe the PCs could gate in another solar and start a Cascade. Of course, that's if 'the Jester' allows such a tactic.

Heh!

KF72