Session 72 Report

General Summary

On February 6, 499 AV, Haymin’s Heroes went over their plan on location. They worked out various scenarios as they tried to predict how the devils would react. They marked distances and decided on positions from which to launch their ambush. Then they spent the morning rehearsing the scene. Afterwards, Ladigo Farthon turned into an eagle and flew south for a few hours in search of the Ten Crown Caravan. When he could not find them, he returned to their camp. The next day they rehearsed the plan briefly in the morning. Then Kyrie Eleison Thatcher-Stone cast Scrying, searching for the jewelry vendor in the Ten Crown Caravan she had spoken to in Thunder Falls, Kainan. Based on his immediate surroundings, she decided the caravan must still be in the gorge. Ladigo flew south again that day and did not see them. On February 8, 499 AV, it was much the same, only it was Pyzar Zim’s birthday. Titta Morco went out hunting for deer and they had venison that night as they wished Pyzar a happy birthday. For the next few days, the process repeated with the same result. On February 12, 499 AV, Kyrie saw that the jeweler was now traveling in the forest. When Ladigo flew out for reconnaissance, he saw the caravan. By his estimation it would arrive at the ambush site in the afternoon the next day. On February 13, 499 AV, Ladigo flew out in the morning to find the caravan once more. He counted the guards and noted the position of Meritas’ wagon. He flew back to give the others the details. There were six of the regular guards, which they knew were legion devils in disguise. But there were two new guards walking at the head of the caravan. These were dressed in heavy spiked armor. Titta Morco had him fly out again as an eagle, about a mile south, to wait for the caravan’s approach. When he saw it, he flew back to let the others know. They estimated they had maybe thirty minutes before it would arrive. They prepared with some long duration spells and then waited until they could see the caravan down the road. Then they cast a few short duration spells and got into position. Selia Roselyn Maxwell cast Major Image to create an illusion of an arrow demon. The demon walked out onto the road from a distance far enough to avoid a True Seeing spell, and called out to the Ten Crown Caravan in a threatening manner promising to send the “devil scum” back to the Nine Hells. Then Pyzar and Titta began firing arrows from the cover of the forest at the spikey armored guards. Despite their heavy armor, there was no metallic clang with the arrows struck them. In fact, the arrows seemed to pierce the armor and then just bounce off their target as they grunted from the impact. The regular guards began sounding out in alarm, ordering the passengers to take cover. The armored guards in front moved into the forests edge out of the line of fire. Selia rushed the illusory arrow demon into the forest, hoping to lure the devils into the woods as planned, while Titta and Pyzar continued firing, this time at the nearest of the regular guards. Then Selia cast Dimension Door and took Titta and Pyzar with her to their chosen spot in the woods. The spiked guards teleported to where the arrow demon formerly was. Along with them was a barbed devil who appeared slightly off the road ahead of them. The regular guards teleported near the spiked guards in succession on the road, one after the other, each one appearing just in front of the last one. Most of Haymin’s Heroes waited in the woods for the devils to approach, but Titta fired an arrow at the barbed devil to lure it her way. The guards then teleported into the forest, surrounding the illusory arrow demon. As they did so, they shed their own illusions, revealing the legion devils in place of the regular guards and two more barbed devils in place of the ones with spiked armor. Then, before they could attack it, the illusion of the arrow demon disappeared. The battle was hard fought. The barbed devils were particularly dangerous as their spiny hides inflicted damage on any who attacked them in melee. Plus, their own attacks were formidable as they raked their opponents with clawed hands, grabbing them and pressing them against their bodies into their spikes. Auren Sylynn was impaled in this way and heavily wounded. He was also overtaken by an unnatural fear effect which caused him to run away. He teleported via his Transposer Cloak, switching places with Mogi Delvin to get free of the barbed devil, then began running away from the creature. Pyzar was surrounded by three legion devils and one barbed devil. Despite Titta’s attempt to help him, he was grappled by the barbed devil and pressed against its spiny hide. Sistina and Meritas suddenly appeared on the scene, teleporting in just off the road. Kyrie moved to get a clear shot and cast Dimensional Anchor on Meritas. The green ray struck him and wrapped him in emerald energy, preventing him from teleporting for the duration of the spell. But Haymin’s Heroes could not take advantage of that immediately as their situation became increasingly dire. Mogi was grappled by a barbed devil. Sistina shot Auren with an arrow from her fiery bow and he fell unconscious. Luckily, Auren was under the effect of a Lesser Vigor spell from Ladigo so the magic stabilized him. Then Fisher came to Mogi’s aid and grabbed the devil on him, causing himself much pain in the process. But when the grizzly bear grappled the devil, the fiend let go of Mogi. This allowed Mogi to move away, closer to some of the others. But another barbed devil took advantage of their clustering by casting an evil spell that caused a cloying miasma of blackened mist to engulf all but Kyrie and Auren. As a result, Pyzar fell unconscious and Selia was temporarily sickened. The rest were only minimally affected, but the battle was taking its toll. The tide of the battle started turning in Haymin’s Heroes’ favor when Kyrie cast Holy Smite upon a group of devils. That was the last straw that caused the legion devils within the area of effect to fall. Once they fell, so did the legion devils outside as the area of the spell as they all shared a same vitality. The spell also blinded two of the barbed devils, making them easier to deal with. Then a casting of Evard’s Black Tentacles sculpted around the battlefield by Selia caught the remaining devils save for Sistina. Sistina began to fly overhead and attempted to grab Mogi and then Selia with a long rope she wielded as a weapon, but they managed to evade the entangling grasp. Despite several attempts to use Dimensional Anchor by Mogi, Selia, and Kyrie, Sistina remained unfettered. Haymin’s Heroes brought down two of the barbed devils and Meritas. Then the last barbed devil and Sistina teleported away. Titta revived Pyzar with a healing potion. When she did so, he stood up immediately and began to run away, similarly caught by the fear effect like Auren. Haymin’s Heroes gathered both of them as the magic affecting them wore off and gathered the group together so Kyrie could begin healing them.

Campaign

The Heart of Embril

Protagonists