Rescuing MandalarRescuing Mandalar |
The creature that emerged was enormous, at least the size of one of the smaller giants. It had dark red skin, cruel horns, and wore a steel breastplate. A huge sword was gripped in one of its' hands - a hand equipped with an unnerving number of fingers. As it charged forward, Ozymandias couldn't help but notice that its' hooved feet weren't actually touching the floor, though it ran exactly as if they were.
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Perhaps because everyone had come here expecting trouble, no-one was surprised, and all three reacted simultaneously. With a sinking feeling, Ozymandias realized that - with the death of Rative the Priest - no Bless spell was running to enchant his weapons, meaning that his now very small-seeming hand crossbow was his only weapon able to harm fiends from the Abyss. Frantically searching around, his gaze lit on the body of the Marilith he had slain earlier in this room. Reasoning that bits of a demon might damage another demon, he grabbed a piece and hurled it at the monster. Other than a wet splat as it hit the breastplate, it had no effect at all. He tried a couple of shuriken but the demon flicked them contemptuously aside with its' huge greatsword.
Mandalar braced himself and shouted a spell. Instantly, great glowing bars of light sprang up from the floor, moving to enclose the demon in a Forcecage spell. Ozymandias grinned - for once, the demonologist seemed to have done something useful. However, the spell took no accont for a creature that could run on air, and the demon evaded the trap before it could close. Dropping back to (nearly) floor level between the two, it lashed out left and right. Both parried the blows, but were rocked back by their force. Both steadied themselves to renew the attack on their foe.
At which point a second huge demon burst out of the portal and charged straight at Mandalar.
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On the floor above, the thick stone walls and floors had prevented any sound of the events below reaching the other members of the party. None the less, Tallan the vampire suddenly froze in place and stared at the floor. Her hunters' senses had noticed the sudden appearance of two huge heartbeats in the room below, and she guessed what had happened. With a yell of "More demons below!" she flipped into Wraithform and slid through the floor towards the workroom. As she did so, she yelled silently in the caverns of her mind for Violenna, but the succubus, already miles away, was not listening to her thoughts and there was no answer.
With the exception of Viesental the sorcerer, the rest of the party dashed for the stairs and started bounding down them to rescue their comrades. Viesental was absorbed in his search for magical treasure in the rubble and didn't immediately notice them leaving.
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The second demon to emerge was shorter than the first, but much bulkier, a great block of muscle with black iron breastplate and helmet apparently bolted to its' flesh. With a guttural snarl, it looked around, located Mandalar, lowered it's head and charged straight at him, while the first one continued to beat Ozymandias back as the assassin desperately parried its' attacks. Ozymandias noticed as he fought that he was growing weaker, much more quickly than he expected, and surmised that there was something poisonous in his opponent's aura that was harmful to all around it.
With a terrific impact, the second demon rammed Mandalar with its' horned head, hurling him from his feet to crash to the stone floor, knocked cold. Reaching down, it grabbed him, tossed him casually over its' shoulder, and turned towards the Fistula, preparing to leave. At that moment, the rest of the party burst into the room.
Siân launched two arrows at the demon Ozymandias was fighting; her bow's powers prevented her from risking hitting him (ironic given his history) and wounded it, spilling black blood for the first time. Baron Iraj leaped in beside Ozymandias and, with a deft flick of his halberd disarmed the fiend's enormous sword. Benedicta stabbed with her lance but the red demon danced out of the way.
Tallan's strong voice rang across the chamber; "Demon!" she called, "You're free to go. Leave now!" She'd been hoping to release the two demons into the world rather than forcing them to kill everyone to achive it, but had misread their objectives. The larger red demon grinned at her in a way that made even a vampire feel soiled, and grated "I know we are." The other one set off at a dead run towards the Fistula, Mandalar dangling from its' grip.
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Realizing that to lose Mandalar meant never being able to close the Fistula, Benedita lunged forwards as the demon passed her and grabbed Mandalar. There was a moment's terrible strain, and then the brave paladin's strength prevailed and the unconsious demonologist was pulled back over the demon's shoulder and out of its' grip. Benedicta grabbed her lance back up and stepped forward over his still form.
At this point, Viesental appeared at the doorway, having belatedly joined the party, and hurled a Magic Missile at the red demon. The energy bolt burst on its' arm, burning a hole and distracting it from parrying Ozymandias' next shuriken. To everyone's astonishment, the razor-edged star slammed into the demon in a spray of dark gore.
It wasn't immune to mundane weapons at all. It had been protected by a Stoneskin spell!
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Disarmed and vulnerable, it began to back towards the Fistula. Tallan sank three arrows into it, and then Baron Iraj saw a perfect opening and struck home. The huge demon collapsed all at once, slain instantly.
At the same time, the squat demon charged at Benedicta, trying to push her off Mandalar so it could grab him once more. The paladin had braced her lance, however, and the demon's own weight inflicted a horrible wound on it as it lunged forwards. The others closed around it, slashing and striking, and then Tallan shot neatly through the combat, her arrow striking it in the middle of the back and exploding out of its' chest - carrying the demon's black heart with it!
It took a few minutes to revive Mandalar. Once that was done, the demonologist confronted the Fistula and dispelled it, sealing the portal. Of all the demons that had passed through, only one remained....
Session Date: 26th April 2016