Part MMMDCXV: On Bloody Steps
On Bloody Steps

Twenty Sixth Day of the Second Month 294 AC

As you and Dany show your power waves of twisting chaotic sorcery race across the steps of the pyramid, bathing the crimson stones in colors the tongues of men have no names for, and of the score of devils summoned for the battle only two endure. Two of the furies are trapped in tangles of withing shadows while a pair of bone devils ensnared by Teana's glamour strike each other with all the ferocity of claw and stinger, though alas the poison does naught to harm them, while Garin flings his crossbow aside to cast bolts of clinging darkness high and low until the very light of the sun seems to dim in his presence. Twelve of the devils are hit, their flesh chilling and flaking as though at the touch of the grave, but even among those for whom will and infernal resilience is not enough to endure are not blinded by the spell, for on their breast shine diamonds bright as damned men's tears and so they are released.

For his part Benerro speaks the prayers to the Lord of Light softly, for such would never be accepted into the ranks of the Sons, but his god hears him just the same for light like onto a new born sun bloom upon three of your foes who had best escaped Garin's darkness. They burn like kindling before the candle's flame, but they do not yet perish even before a god's wrath.

From high above him veiled in Illusion, for she had disdained taking on a harpy's foul seeming, Mereth strikes. Eight arrows fall upon one of the sole remaining uninjured bone devils, a hail of steel and ruinous enchantment that pins his segmented tail to the stones even as Ser Richard lunges into battle almost faster than the eye can see, the devil loses his head and the bespelled companion nearest to it an arm.

The Seeker moves almost as though in a dance, with the sort of grace and beauty that only perfect functionality can breed, and while it cannot quite match Ser Richard's strength another devil is brought to its knees.

Two devils dead already in moments, five gravely wounded with but moments of battle at hand, you can win this, of that you are certain. Then the steps underfoot shift ever so slightly and from the blood red stones rise a pair of judgment devils with skin of ash and eyes blazing embers. From their forms one might almost mistake them for mortal scions, at least until one happened to look right into those eyes from not ten feet away.


"You are no Harpy's fools," the devils speak as one inside your minds, the cold certainty of the words somehow cutting deeper than any threat could have. As one the devils utter a single blasphemous word, to wither blood in living veins. When Dany calls their judgement false, their magics undone, the agents of Asmodeus look up with narrowed eyes. "We know that defiance, that will. Tell us Child of Dragons, why do you hide in such tawdry garb?"

Your sister does not answer, too concerned with the enemy casting arcane tethers into the air, while many slide off Dany's wards or in your case flesh and blood alone, Teana, Benerro and Garin are all bound, then the erinyes strike. No less skilled are they than Mereth and her sisters, nor their arms and armor lesser. All take aim for Teana, likely for the affront of turning their companions against them, and loose arrow after arrow. All the shadows she can conjure are not enough. Wards crumble, healing light flows, yet still the arrows come and at the end she is left wounded and clutching her chest where an arrow lies embedded between her ribs.

Teana loses 40 Temp HP/Takes 57 damage/Heals 57 damage/Takes 92 Damage

  1. 9 Erinyes (2 Heavily wounded)
  2. 9 Bone Devils (3 Heavily Wounded)
  3. 2 Ashmedes

What next?

[] Focus on the Ashmedes, they are the leaders

[] Clear Furies out of the sky

[] Deal with the Bone Devils before they do worse than bind you to this place

[] Write in


OOC: The devils all seem to have third eye of clarity or something like it, and the Judgement Devils were Xorn Walking underfoot before they rose for their part of the attack.
 
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Aaaand subterfuge failed.
As usual.
Welp, time to burn them.

[X] Goldfish
 
It was never likely to hold.
I mean, where should the Harpys suddenly get several high-level mages with Mindblank from?
Even if they hadn't recognised us personally, they would still know our hand in this.
 
Still, there has to be a plan, some kind of expected backup.
There is no way they would have wasted actions on casting Dimensional Anchors if this is all they have to fight with.
 
It was never likely to hold.
I mean, where should the Harpys suddenly get several high-level mages with Mindblank from?
Even if they hadn't recognised us personally, they would still know our hand in this.
Fair's fair, but one still has to note how poor a history we have with it, ye?
:V

Basically, I hoped it would last at least until the end of this engagement.
 
You were also using spells in Valyrian and draconic, devils have pretty high knowledge skills
Not gonna lie, this is the first time something like that comes up in the quest in my memory.

Feels like something either you would've pointed out to us, or Viserys handled himself in some other manner, not just... ran with it?
This feels counterproductive.
 
Not gonna lie, this is the first time something like that comes up in the quest in my memory.
Language does have a role, it's just less important in-character to Viserys because of his ancestral dragon memories being a massive cheatsheet for everyone's different languages. It's more important to other characters inside their interludes.
 
Not gonna lie, this is the first time something like that comes up in the quest in my memory.

Feels like something either you would've pointed out to us, or Viserys handled himself in some other manner, not just... ran with it?
This feels counterproductive.

I mean there quite literally isn't a way around it, not everyone can silent cast and the tongue one casts in has been brought up multiple times, this is not something Viserys could fix on short notice.
 
Not gonna lie, this is the first time something like that comes up in the quest in my memory.

Feels like something either you would've pointed out to us, or Viserys handled himself in some other manner, not just... ran with it?
This feels counterproductive.
The plan was doomed the moment we started using spells of the Seventh and Eighth Circles. The Asmodeus Devils personally dismantled the Cult of the Great Harpy. They of all people knew the Harpies had nothing left, certainly not of our caliber.

That said this is still salvageable. Now that the ruse is up we can go hardcore and kill or capture everything in front of us, then rush to the temple forges and do the same thing while wrecking the infrastructure.
 
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On Bloody Steps

Twenty Sixth Day of the Second Month 294 AC

As you and Dany show your power, waves of twisting chaotic sorcery race across the steps of the pyramid, bathing the crimson stones in colors the tongues of men have no names for, and of the score of devils summoned for the battle, only two endure. Two of the furies are trapped in tangles of writhing shadows while a pair of bone devils ensnared by Teana's glamor strike each other with all the ferocity of claw and sting, though the poison does naught to harm them. Garin flings his crossbow aside to cast bolts of clinging darkness high and low until the very light of the sun seems to dim in his presence. Twelve of the devils are caught, their flesh chilling and flaking as though at the touch of the grave, but even among those for whom will and infernal resilience is not enough to endure, none are disoriented by the spell, for on their breast shine diamonds bright as damned men's tears and so they are released.

For his part, Benerro softly speaks prayers to the Lord of Light, as such would never be accepted into the ranks of the Sons, but his god hears him just the same, for light like unto a new born sun shines upon three of your foes who had best escaped Garin's darkness. They burn like kindling before the candle's flame, but they do not yet perish, even before a god's wrath.

From high above him veiled in Illusion, for she had disdained taking on a harpy's foul seeming, Mereth strikes. Eight arrows fall upon one of the sole remaining uninjured bone devils, a hail of steel and ruinous enchantment that pins his segmented tail to the stones even as Ser Richard lunges into battle almost faster than the eye can see, the devil loses his head and the bespelled companion nearest to it an arm.

The Seeker moves almost as though in a dance, with the sort of grace and beauty that only perfect functionality can breed. While it cannot quite match Ser Richard's strength, another devil is brought to its knees.

Two devils dead already in moments, five gravely wounded with but moments of battle at hand, you can win this, of that you are certain. Then the steps underfoot shift ever so slightly and from the blood red stones rise a pair of judgment devils, with skin of ash and eyes blazing embers. From their forms one might almost mistake them for mortal scions, at least until one happened to look right into those eyes from not ten feet away.


"You are no Harpy's Fools," the devils speak as one inside your minds, the cold certainty of the words somehow cutting deeper than any threat could have. As one, the devils utter a single blasphemous word, to wither blood in living veins. When Dany calls their judgement false, their magics undone, the agents of Asmodeous look up with narrowed eyes. "We know that defiance, that will, tell us, Child of Dragons, why do you hide in such tawdry garb?"

Your sister does not answer, too concerned with the enemy casting arcane tethers into the air. While many slide off Dany's wards or in your case flesh and blood alone, Teana, Benero and Garin are all bound, then the Erinyes strike. No less skilled are they than Mereth and her sisters nor their arms and armor lesser. All take aim for Teana, likely for the affront of turning their companions against them and loose arrow after arrow. All the shadows she can conjure are not enough. Wards crumble, healing light flows, yet still the arrows come and at the end she is left wounded and clutching her chest where an arrow lies embedded between her ribs.

Teana loses 40 Temp HP/Takes 57 damage/Heals 57 damage/Takes 92 Damage

  1. 9 Erinyes (2 Heavily wounded)
  2. 9 Bone Devils (3 Heavily Wounded)
  3. 2 Ashmede

What next?

[] Focus on the Ashmede, they are the leaders

[] Clear Furies out of the sky

[] Deal with the bone devils before they do worse than bind you to this place

[] Write in


OOC: The devils all seem to have third eye of clarity or something like it and the Judgement devils were Xorn Walking underfoot before they rose for their part of the attack. Not yet edited.
Here's an edited version of the chapter, @DragonParadox.
 
Not gonna lie, this is the first time something like that comes up in the quest in my memory.

Feels like something either you would've pointed out to us, or Viserys handled himself in some other manner, not just... ran with it?
This feels counterproductive.
It did matter once.

When we infiltrated the palace of the Archon of Tyrosh, we used the strategy of "dismissing a bound demon" while actually making Glyra invisible, to get her in there with us.
There was concern that people fluent in Valyrian could recognise our spell as being one for invis rather than banishing Glyra (and wouldn't the world be a safer place if there was such a spell?, thoug it worked out in that case.
 
Viserys has the ability to not use Verbal somatic components, but shouldn't the others have been able to bluff to conceal parts of their somatics?

They can (Witness Benero casting softly for instance, the others employed their own techniques) which is why i rolled sense motive as well as knowledge for the devils. This was not a guaranteed security breach, rolls were made and you guys came out the worse for it.
 
@Goldfish, thoughts on this?

Bracelet of Shielding - 1,000 IM
When activating this bracelet as a Standard action, it creates a layered shield of magical force that protects the wearer. This effect counts as the spells Shield, Shield of Faith and Barkskin for the purpose of spell interactions and dispelling, cast at a Caster Level of 1 and granting a +4 Shield bonus to AC, a +2 Deflection bonus to AC and a +2 Enhancement Bonus to Natural Armor. It can be activated 3/day and the shield lasts 1 minute.
Crafting: Create Wondrous Item, Shield, Shield of Faith, Barkskin, 500 IM
 
@Goldfish Well, it's time for Maximus Extremis eradication protocols to be engaged.

Or as I like to call them, G.U.P.P.Y

Goldfish
Unloads
Plans
Providing
Yeeting
 
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@Goldfish, thoughts on this?

Bracelet of Shielding - 1,000 IM
When activating this bracelet as a Standard action, it creates a layered shield of magical force that protects the wearer. This effect counts as the spells Shield, Shield of Faith and Barkskin for the purpose of spell interactions and dispelling, cast at a Caster Level of 1 and granting a +4 Shield bonus to AC, a +2 Deflection bonus to AC and a +2 Enhancement Bonus to Natural Armor. It can be activated 3/day and the shield lasts 1 minute.
Crafting: Create Wondrous Item, Shield, Shield of Faith, Barkskin, 500 IM
Looks good to me. Some quick napkin math puts the normal price for those effects stacked on a single item at 1st caster level to be 432 IM, but using them in that manner would require three actions to activate all three effects. I think paying a lot more is a fair trade to have them activate simultaneously.
 
Looks good to me. Some quick napkin math puts the normal price for those effects stacked on a single item at 1st caster level to be 432 IM, but using them in that manner would require three actions to activate all three effects. I think paying a lot more is a fair trade to have them activate simultaneously.
That and the Barkskin being reduced from 10 minutes to 1 minute are the counterweights. Mind that Barkskin is actually a second level spell and I priced it in as one before rounding up, dumping it's CL and duration.


With this, Dermal Adamantine Armor and Composite Armor, you get:
+ 8 Armor
+ 5 Natural Armor
+ 4 Shield
+ 2 Deflection
+ 2 Enhancement to Natural Armor
DR 2\-

A total AC line of: 31; Touch 12; Flat Footed 31
Without ASF, ACP and Max Dex +10.

@Goldfish, we should kit out Aradia and Nuri like that next month. Together with their beastly DEX scores, they become pretty much immune to close combat.
 
Well, if the Dragon is already out of the bag...

This is a no holds barred rush to destroy or capture the remaining Devils. They might have shrugged off the first round of debilitating conditions, but now there is Viserys Dragon's Roar to Stun them, SotD to Petrify them, Dany to bind them, and Garin to Daze them.

This needs to be wrapped up quickly, before reinforcements arrive to the party.

[X] Moving right along...
-[X] Viserys casts a Maximized Searing Agonizing Firebrand spell targeting all of the Devils he can see as a Swift Action, then moved to join Richard and the Seeker in melee combat against any remaining enemies.
-[X] Dany casts a Reached Chained Sacramental Seal spell, targeting as many Devils as possible, but placing priority on the Judgement Devils.
-[X] Teana places a Brilliant Barrier between herself and the Erinyes targeting her, then casts Shadow Healing on herself. If she is healed by Benerro before she can heal herself, she instead targets a surviving enemy with Amber Sarcophagus.
-[X] Garin targets the Judgement Devils and remaining Erinyes with another Quickened Darkbolt spell, then does the same with a Maximized Darkbolt spell, either hitting those which he missed, who resisted the first salvo, or who he simply could not target, then using any left over bolts for other Devils.
-[X] Benerro moves to cast a Heal spell on Teana.
-[X] Richard and the Seeker proceed to murder any enemies in their paths.
-[X] Mereth focuses on bringing down her fellow Erinyes, using all five of her ranged attacks, then activating her Belt of Battle to make five more attacks if any remain living. She prioritizes those which are most heavily injured or failed to succumb to Viserys, Dany, and Garin's attempts to Stun, Petrify, bind, or Daze them.
 
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That and the Barkskin being reduced from 10 minutes to 1 minute are the counterweights. Mind that Barkskin is actually a second level spell and I priced it in as one before rounding up, dumping it's CL and duration.


With this, Dermal Adamantine Armor and Composite Armor, you get:
+ 8 Armor
+ 5 Natural Armor
+ 4 Shield
+ 2 Deflection
+ 2 Enhancement to Natural Armor
DR 2\-

A total AC line of: 31; Touch 12; Flat Footed 31
Without ASF, ACP and Max Dex +10.

@Goldfish, we should kit out Aradia and Nuri like that next month. Together with their beastly DEX scores, they become pretty much immune to close combat.
Maybe it'd be worth adding to mage standard kit... that's a lot of survivability for a short encounter.

Edit: To clarify I meant the shielding bracelet.
 
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@Goldfish, thinking on it further, these aren't the priority here tonight. Our plan was to try to draw out a sizable response and it failed. Would it be better to simply ignore these devils and head straight for the bases and wreck everything in sight?
 
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