Demon of PossessionDemon of Possession |
Kry'Ojenix had already cast ESP, which had allowed him too to track the oncoming demon. Now, as it approached the surface, he could read its' surface emotions more clearly, and what he perceived was not encouraging. A hideous miasma of hatred and malice washed upwards, accompanied by a lustful appetite for something - the dwarvish battlemage wasn't sure what.
Alarmed by Kryo'Jenix' and Tallan's warnings, the party spread out and backed away to missile range (Kryo'Jenix' sling being the shortest they elected that) with the exception of Ozymandias (who was still perched atop the mausoleum), Brellmone (who remained closer, his God's teachings urging him to close to blade's reach) and Sergio (who was still submerged under a bush). Ralisha remained with Sergio, controling whatever the bush was doing. Hopefully healing Sergio, though no evidence yet pointed that way.
Tallan had a bright idea, and leaning forward she cast a Guards and Wards on the mausoleum itself. The structure was too small for much of the spell to operate, but the doorway filled with mist and the walls shimmered with defensive power. Kry'Ojenix added a Web in the now doorless entrance, which he felt was sufficent to pin whatever was coming where they could shoot at it.
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There was a brief and breathless silence, broken by the reverberations of massive footfalls deep in the earth. The ground shook as the creature approached, and everyone tightened their grip on their various weapons.
There was a grinding rumble, and then movement became visible inside the mausoleum, seen only in glimpses through the strands of the Web. With a jolt, they realized that what they were looking at was a head, and that it filled most of the inside of the tomb...
A moment later, the monster's huge shoulders came into view, accompanied by the sounds of shifting earth and tearing stone - indications that the tomb wasn't big enough to contain it. With a convulsive heave, the demon smashed its way out of the tomb, reducing the front half - and the Web to a slope of rubble up which it walked out of the pit. As the structure collapsed, Ozymandias was driven to a desperate leap to safety to avoid being carried into the depths with the ruins.
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Seen clearly for the first time, the demon was horrifying. Fifteen feet tall, its' shoulders and chest were so muscular that they looked too big for it. A shirt of mail, forged of some alien metal, covered its' torso, and a two-handed sword sized for its' bulk rode across its' shoulders. Its' skin was a glossy, deep red, and its' red-irised eyes had luminous golden pupils, slit vertically like a cat's.
Each of the observers felt a deep, primal fear arise from the depths of their being, a terror of That Which Walks Outside. Each had to face it in their own way; some opposing it with the duty to their friends, or their realm; some with their codes of honour; some with their hopes for plunder. For Ozymandias the assassin, however, looking up from the ground to which he had been violently thrown, nothing was enough. Cold fear siezed him and he leaped up and fled across the graveyard.
Shaking off the horrified paralysis of the moment, the party opened up with their missile weapons. Tallan sank three arrows into the fiend, noting with relief that the weapons did pierce the hide; she knew some demons had immunities. Evidently the Blessing of the two priests had been effective. Kry'Ojenix sent two lead bullets smacking into the thing from his sling, one opening a deep wound in its' head from which flowed black, steaming blood; while Bendicta's arrows skated off the tough skin of the demon. Undeterred, she invoked her magic and caused the metal of Tallan's arrow-head to heat rapidly to red heat. As she did so, Trixis Shadom sent two more arrows against the foe; but he too was foiled by its' tough hide.
Almost forgotten at the base of the pit, Sergio the dwarf opened his eyes. His last memory was of an explosion of pain between them, but all seemed well; he felt strong and refreshed, and a little surprised to find himself lying on the ground. As he looked down, he saw tendrils and fibres of plant growth remove themselves from where they had been growing into his body, leaving small round wounds that shrank away and vanished. Looking up, he saw two enormous, muscular red legs standing at the top of a slope surrounded by wreckage and down which sunlight was streaming. Looking further up, he saw the massive form of the demon climbing out of the pit into a hail of arrows and bullets. Hefting his sword, he sprang up and charged at the back of it.
 DM Note: Crafty metagaming from Steve here, reasonably claiming the victim of Fear was the natural target for his character to react properly to the Domination. . |
Above, the demon pointed a huge finger at Rative. "Slay your friends!" it roared in a hoarse voice. Instantly, fury deluged the priest's mind, and he whirled, looking for a victim. His eyes fell on Ozymandias, terrified and fleeing, and his newly-awakened murderer's urges latched onto him as the weakest target. Snarling and slavering, the priest took off after the assassin.
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This violation of a fellow comrade's mind was too much for the paladin Trixis Shadom, and he too succumbed to terror, fleeing towards the monastary. Shaking her head, Tallan sent an arrow up under the hem of the demon's mail shirt. Its' roaring went up half an octave and the vampire grinned nastily to herself.
Kry'Ojenix launched another bullet at the demon as it drew its' sword, but incredibly it managed to get the broad blade in the way and the missile was deflected away across the gravestones. Standing defiantly below its' vast bulk, Lord Brellmone slashed it across the belly, and was splattered in black blood as the sword cut deep. Weaving with incredible deftness for its' massive size, the demon evaded two arrows from Benedicta the paladin and lashed out with its' vast sword. The edge struck the top of the priest's head and carried on, barely slowed, right through his body to emerge between his legs, leaving his body bisected and his head exploded into fragments. The gruesome remains toppled to the grass.
Within the mausoleum, Ralisha looked up, raising her immaterial hands. Then, realizing that some hurts were beyond even her healing, she lowered them again, a look of sorrow on her face. Instead, she gestured at the grass around the demon's feet, and it instantly swelled, growing and twining to impede its' movements. Behind it, Sergio's sword slashed at its' legs, further hampering its' movements.
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On the other side of the graveyard, Ozymandias made the mistake - again - of looking back at what he was fleeing. A desperate lunge carried him out of the path of Rative's sword as it hummed past his face. The sudden appearance of a real, tangible threat as opposed to the undefined fear of the demon's aura was like a splash of cold water to the assassin's face and all at once he was in command of himself again. Whipping out his light handaxe, he reversed it as he had with the monk the previous day and smacked the priest sharply between the eyes with it. Rative went down like a sack of spuds and Ozymandias grinned smugly. The smile slid off his face, however, as he noticed that - despite using the back instead of the blade - he'd split the man's skull anyway. Ozymandias glanced around rather guiltily.
Back at the mausoleum, only Sergio, Tallan, Kry'Ojenix and Benedicta were still fighting. Tallan kept hammering arrows into the demon's face as it slowly closed with them, beginning to despair of being able to bring it down before it killed them all. Benedicta, belatedly realizing that a demon of the Abyss wasn't going to be harmed by Heat Metal, shot at it too, without any more success. Sergio and Kry'Ojenix struck next, a sword from behind and a bullet from the front, and - flanked by dwarves - the Possession Demon finally groaned, staggered, and toppled over face forwards.
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With the demon's death, the effects of its' magic faded, and Trixis and Rative returned to normal. Ralisha grew more tendrils into Rative and rescued him from death at his own comrade's hands.
No sooner had quiet fallen than it was broken by argument; Trixis Shadom and Kry'Ojenix were nose to nose, fingers jabbing the air, arguing violently over the demon's greatsword. Various other members of the party pointed out that it was a ridiculous weapon for a dwarf but both were adamant. Finally, the two dwarves decided to fight bare-knuckle over it. They squared up, both ready to fight, though Trixis' face fell a bit as Kry'Ojenix cast a Strength spell before closing.
| DM Note: Zac's new character. He's always been there. Didn't you notice? |
They circled for a moment, and then the battlemage landed a single punch that stretched the paladin stunned on the grass. When he didn't get up, Kry'Ojenix picked up the weapon and walked away as Benedicta, shaking her head, healed Trixis' damage and helped him up. The fight had been refereed by a newcomer, the ranger Baron Irarj Ren-Yen Clea. As thanks, Kry'Ojenix presented him with the ring Warvan.
While this was going on, something had drawn the vampire Tallan to the corpse of the demon. Dippling a finger into the black blood leaking from its' wounds, she touched it to her tongue and instantly reeled backwards. A rush of barely-controllable urges roared through her, desires to slaughter her companions, tear out her own veins, destroy anything breakable within reach; just barely she managed to hang onto her control. As the feelings ebbed she was left feeling shaken and afraid. Looking up, she saw several of her companions looking at her nervously. "Not good stuff," she said. Ozymandias didn't comment, but collected a vial of the dark fluid for possible poison-making.
A little later, after Rative had emerged healed from the foliage, the party went back into the pit. Two rough earth passages led away from it, one leading towards normal human heartbeats, the other towards several demon-possessed ones. Taking the latter first, the party prepared for more battle and followed it to the end - where they found a large bare-earth chamber containing a huge throne of rough stones and eight possessed monks and villagers, wandering aimlessly. These responded not at all to the party's arrival, and it became apparent that some element of the death of the demon had rendered them mindless - either temporarily or permanently. In a spirit of mingled mercy and self-preservation, the party delivered the coup de grace to the unresisting beings and left.
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The second passage led to a rough earthern oubliette, wherein half-a-dozen villagers huddled - terrified, dirty, traumatized - but normal. After checking them most carefully, the party hauled them out and ushered them towards the chapel.
As they did so, they became aware of five figures approaching from the direction of Monksbridge and the forest. They were a remarkable group; three slender humans dressed in greens and browns, a burly human in the robes of a Dalethorpe monk - and a brown bear.
Despite the bear, it was the monk the party was most wary of. However, careful examination with ESP, Detect Evil, heartsense and so on showed pretty conclusively that he wasn't possessed, and the party introduced themselves. Returning the honour, the monk named himself as Vistuvius, the Huntsman of Dalethorpe. Not a full brother but only a friar, he had been out in the woods with his druid friends when evil came to Dalethorpe Abbey.
The druids Kebiryan, Parak and Lebiyr, though not particularly partisan to the abbey, respected Vistuvius enough to warn him what was going on and restrain him from throwing his soul away trying to fight the demon. They'd sensed the arrival of Ralisha - with whom they exchanged deep bows of respect - and had set out for the abbey, arriving in time to see the demon fall.
As the surviving prisoners were cared for, Vistuvius exchanged information with the heroes, and told them that - in his and the druid's opinion - the most likely culprit for this incursion was going to be the sorcerer Mandalar.
Even the adventurers who were familiar with Dalethorpe had never heard of him. Apparently, he'd moved in at the north'east end of the valley in the years since they'd been there last, raising his tower in a single night. Since then he'd not been seen in the village, though his manservant Vetch had been a regular visitor to trade for supplies.
Like Sir Arvin, Mandalar's distant presence had induced unease in the villagers and monks, and the general opinion was that he was a black magician up to no good.
"If he has started bringing monstrosities to the Realms," said Vistuvius, "he should be stopped. And who better than those who stopped this demon?"
As Chappie is now ready to resume control of the Iron Realms, this marks a pause in the Dalethorpe Back-Pocket Campaign. It will be documented and prepared for when flood, sickness or the Milk Gods take our usual DM away again, at which point the heroes will ride once more, possibly even in the same direction, though you can never tell.
Thanks for playing, I really enjoyed dipping into Chappie's system and world..
Session Date: 2nd Feb 2016