OK, just squared away the Plane of Fire some Plane of Water background which is really not urgent given current thread concerns, so I figgure now is the time to stop with the world building before I get entirely lost down the rabbit hole of research and worldbuilding.
I like a good mixture of mechanics and roleplay. Generally speaking though I've trundled through the gamut of varying complexity. I've done Only War, D&D and Pathfinder, Shadowrun 3rd and 5th Edition (playing a 5th Edition game right now actually) and E6 variants. Traveller, All Flesh Must Be Eaten, Call of Cthulhu, Mage the Awakening, Vampire the Masquerade.
Qyburn cursed under his breath as he could feel the flesh of his side knitting together painfully, ribs un-splintering. If his damn knees had not given way just when the stone fist spell had triggered they likely could have gotten past the choke point unchallenged. There weren't limitless numbers of the enemy down here and they had learned to choose their battles wisely after Lady Melisandre had taught them that her god's fire might yet burn even diabolic flesh, not to mention the terror that was a myrkdreki in the shadows.
He had been slowing them down and it rankled like rusted iron under his skin, though not out of warrior's vanity nor any desire to be recognized for his deeds. Every moment they wasted in the tangled maze of tunnels, every time the Lady had to walk ahead as a shadow to find new ways past carefully engineered collapses, was one more moment for the enemy to snatch away his prize.
The former maester could not help cataloging them in his mind even now as poisoned barbs rained down out of the dark. Notes, books, those would take moments for devils to vanish away with.
Spellfire flashed ahead and the easterner had to roll aside, his robes still burning, before the storm-mage unwound the magic in the flames and he managed to pat them out. Another time Qyburn may have been faintly curious in the substance so like wildfire, but now he was trapped in his own personal purgatory of failing flesh and time slipping between his fingers.
Samples, arcane foci, anything less than fifty pounds in weight, the devils could take it and go in a moment, they could be in Meereen, Yunkai or anywhere between them by now.
At what they hoped was about the halfway mark the company decided to split in two and follow different paths to the prize, they had proven able to punch through just fine, but the constant harrying was slowing them own unacceptably. Wisdom Elaheh traveled with one group while Qyburn with the other. He wished her luck and mean it too. Of all the scholars he had ever collaborated with he respected the Lady of Chains the most, she was a bit unfocused at times and overly concerned with the aesthetics of her work, but a woman of vision and will nonetheless.
Azema
Tyene
Aradia
2x Mind Dragons
Osryx (Myrkdreki Dragon)
Qyburn (Wounded, Needs Heal or better to fix his foot, but can still cast)
Polyos (Greater Bloodclot Mold piloting a Black Champion)
Resistance grew stiffer as they advanced. Two of the nagas died spasming in a pool of their own blood and vomit, almost joined by the demon Azema. Those would cost valuable reagents to revive, but they would return of that Qyburn had no doubt. A waste, of life, of flesh, of time, always time. The thought broke off only for a moment as a seemingly innocuous stone underfoot exploded with flesh-eating venom, consuming his foot. Pain was a distraction, and impediment.
A spear flashed where his head had been moments ago, almost taking out his eye, and through the gash in empty air he spied a figure garbed in black infernal armor. Spigots of stone that had been hidden by the mold of slime of twice a thousand years poured bitter gas into the corridor that was built up for only two abreast, and Qyburn unable to walk. He cursed again with a vitriol he had not felt in months, not because they were devils, not because they were enemies, because they were in his way.
Hell had chosen to make its stand, but it would not find them waiting. The silent Polyos reached up one gauntleted hand to lift up its creator while interposing steel and flesh between Qyburn and the enemy. Arrows whistled through the air above as the incarnate drew forth her bow. Screams resounded from ahead, from behind the sound of steel shod boots. The new Unsullied had come to defend the halls of their Goddess.
Enhanced Unsullied marching from both ends of the tunnel
Tunnel filling with knockout gas
Further traps and siege equipment might be deployed
How do Qyburn and company fight?
[] Focus on the Apostasy Devil, he has to be close and watching through some opening in the stonework, there is no room to use a Myrish Eye down here
[] Clear the Unsullied, get out of the trapped stretch of corridor
[] Write in
OOC: I honestly thought about just rolling through this in the background and giving you guys the results, but this PoV of Qyburn popped into my head, combined with a tactical battlefield Azel inspired. I think it is worth showing and the arc deserves a proper end, flawed though it may have been, before we move on to other things.
Qyburn has Tomb Tainted Soul, so he needs a Harm, not a Heal. The latter would likely kill him.
Osryx breath weapon does 18d8 NE damage, so he should be able to clear one end of the corridor. Put Qyburn in the path to heal him. Polyos too has Tomb Tainted Soul, so he too can stand in the path of the breath weapon to heal at the same time.
Qyburn cursed under his breath as he could feel the flesh of his side knitting together painfully, ribs un-splintering. If his damn knees had not given way just when the stone-fist spell had triggered, they likely could have gotten past the choke-point unchallenged. There weren't limitless numbers of the enemy down here, and they had learned to choose their battles wisely after the Lady Melisandre had taught them that her god's fire might yet burn even diabolic flesh, not to mention the terror that was a myrkdreki in the shadows.
He had been slowing them down and it rankled like rusted iron under his skin, though not out of warrior's vanity nor any desire to be recognized for his deeds. Every moment they wasted in the tangled maze of tunnels, every time the Lady had to walk ahead as a shadow to find new ways past carefully engineered collapses, was one more moment for the enemy to snatch away his prize.
The former maester could not help cataloging them in his mind even now as poisoned barbs rained down out of the dark. Notes, books, those would take moments for devils to vanish away.
Spellfire flashed ahead and the easterner had to roll aside, his robes still burning before the storm mage unwound the magic in the flames and he managed to pat them out. Another time, Qyburn may have been faintly curious in the substance so like Wildfire, but now he was trapped in his own personal purgatory of failing flesh and time slipping between his fingers.
Samples, arcane foci, anything less than fifty pounds in weight, the devils could take it and go in a moment, they could be in Meereen, Yunkai or anywhere between them by now.
At what they hoped was about the halfway mark, the company decided to split in two and follow different paths to the prize, they had proven able to punch through so far, but the constant harrying was slowing them down unacceptably. Wisdom Elaheh traveled with one group, Qyburn with the other. He wished her luck and meant it too. Of all the scholars he had ever collaborated with, he respected the Lady of Chains. She was a bit unfocused at times, and overly concerned with the aesthetics of her work, but a woman of vision and will.
Azema
Tyene
Aradia
2x Mind Dragons
Osryx (Myrkdreki Dragon)
Qyburn (Wounded, Needs Heal or better to fix his foot, but can still cast)
Polyos (Greater Bloodclot Mold piloting a Black Champion)
Resistance grew stiffer as they advanced. Two of the nagas died spasming in a pool of their own blood and vomit, and were almost joined by the demon Azema. Those would cost valuable reagents to revive, but they would return, of that Qyburn had no doubt. A waste of life, of flesh, of time, always time. The thought broke off only for a moment as a seemingly innocuous stone underfoot exploded with flesh-eating venom consuming his foot. Pain was a distraction, and impediment.
A spear flashed where his head had been moments ago, almost taking out his eye and through a gash in empty air he spied a figure garbed in black infernal armor. Spigots of stone that had been hidden by the mold of slime of twice a thousand years poured bitter gas into the corridor anf them strung up only two abreast, Qyburn unable to walk. He cursed again with a vitriol he had not felt in months, not because they were devils, not because they were enemies, because they were in his way.
Hell had chosen to make its stand, but it would not find them waiting. The silent Polyos reached up one gauntleted hand to lift up its creator while interposing steel and flesh between Qyburn and the enemy. Arrows whistled though the air above as the incarnate drew forth her bow. Screams resounded from ahead, and from behind the sound of steel shod boots approached. The new Unusullied had come to defend the halls of their Goddess.
Enhanced Unsullied marching from both ends of the tunnel
Tunnel filling with knock out gas
Further traps and siege equipment might be deployed
How do Qyburn and company fight?
[] Focus on the Apostasy devil, he has to be close and watching though some opening in the stonework, there is no room to use a Myrish eye down here
[] Clear the Unsullied, get out of he trapped stretch of corridor
[] Write in
OOC: I honestly thought about just rolling through this in the background and giving you guys the results, but this PoV of Qyburn popped into my head, combined with a tactical battlefield Azel inspired. I think it is worth showing and the arc deserves a proper end, flawed though it may have been, before we move on to other things. Not yet edited.
Here's an edited version of the chapter, @DragonParadox.
Qyburn has Tomb Tainted Soul, so he needs a Harm, not a Heal. The latter would likely kill him.
Osryx breath weapon does 18d8 NE damage, so he should be able to clear one end of the corridor. Put Qyburn in the path to heal him. Polyos too has Tomb Tainted Soul, so he too can stand in the path of the breath weapon to heal at the same time.
Qyburn has Tomb Tainted Soul, so he needs a Harm, not a Heal. The latter would likely kill him.
Osryx breath weapon does 18d8 NE damage, so he should be able to clear one end of the corridor. Put Qyburn in the path to heal him. Polyos too has Tomb Tainted Soul, so he too can stand in the path of the breath weapon to heal at the same time.
Nope. That only exists on the PE and NE planes, where you get temporary hitpoints until you explode. Getting hit with a Heal doesn't make a Commoner 1 explode.
Here's what I've got so far. It's worth stopping the group's forward momentum for a short time to heal Qyburn, put a hurting on the Unsullied come up the rear, and put down a serious obstacle to their ability to follow us.
[X] Continue moving forward while acting to temporarily secure the rear in order to take pressure off that approach.
-[X] Tyene will cast a Quickened Fickle Winds spell on everyone to protect from ranged attacks and the poison gas. She will then wait for Osyrx to use his breath weapon and the others to add their own impediments before casting a Wall of Sand spell to fill the corridor behind them with as much sand as possible.
-[X] Osryx will unleash his breath weapon on the enemies who approach from the rear as soon as they come into view, taking care to also bath Qyburn, Polyos, and the Mold's Black Champion mount, in the cloud to heal any wounds they've suffered thus far.
--[X] Polyos will shield Qyburn with his Black Champion mount's body as best he can during this, using a Necrotic Skull Bomb spell as a Swift Action to target the first group of Unsullied he sees then casting a Black Tentacles spell to fill the corridor in the wake of Osryx's breath weapon.
--[X] Qyburn will cast a Black Sand spell coinciding with Osryx's breath weapon and overlaying Polyos' Black Tentacles spell.
--[X] Once Tyene's Wall of Sand goes up, Qyburn and Osryx will then each use a Brilliant Barrier charm to temporarily seal off the approach behind them before directing most of their attention back to the corridor before them. Between the Wall of Sand and two separate Brilliant Barrier Walls of Force, that will be three barriers the Unsullied will have to contend with if they can make it past the Black Tentacles.
-[X] Azema, Aradia, and both Mind Dragons will guard the front and guard against attacks from the Apostate Devil while the rear is secured, before the group continues moving forward at a faster pace.
OK, just squared away the Plane of Fire some Plane of Water background which is really not urgent given current thread concerns, so I figgure now is the time to stop with the world building before I get entirely lost down the rabbit hole of research and worldbuilding.
