Kingdom on the Brink - Session 43
General Summary
The party moves closer to the Lakecliff Ruins, as they continue on the road they are debating beliefs, Uriel saying he honors the divine but he ultimately worships the sword. They notice Merigold starts to look unwell. As Duromar and Uriel check on her, she begins to misty step several times in quick succession, eventually disappearing completely. The group comes across an old monastery and decides to explore, Duromar finds a potion of awakening, Del Varis finds papers with summoning inscriptions (he doesn't understand the writing). Uriel finds a journal that describes the final days of Lakecliff, describing the fighting and the fear that gripped the people. The writer goes on to describe how they have reached out to others for help, with no answer, the writer ends it saying others are looking at other options for help. As Duromar finishes identifying the potion he notices a Hound of Tindalos, and the party prepares to fight. Del Varis is taken by surprise by an Alnaar (Fire demon snake), but Del Varis dodges two of the attacks, but it sinks its fangs into him on the third attack. Duromar starts his bladesong and casts haste and hurls a firebolt out the Hound of Tindalos and Uriel moves up and lands several smites. Rosemary fires off a guiding bolt which strikes true, Del Varis strikes the Alnaar several times and realizes that he his burning himself with each strike. Both Hounds move up, Duromar parries with ease but Del Varis isn't as lucky, Duromar and Uriel strikes down one of the hounds and move to help Rosemary and Del Varis. The Alnaar follows Del Varis, but is intercepted by Rosemarry, it strikes with its fangs. Uriel and Duromar move to strike the Alnaar, hitting their mark, but getting burned in the process, Del Varis strikes the Alnaar and pushes it back 10 feet (nearly knocking down Duromar and Uriel). The Alnaar heat becomes more radiant and it discharges, catching three of the party members in the blast, it's heat dies down and no longer burns the party. Uriel smites it and Rosemary follows it up and then heals Del Varis, and Del Varis returns the favor, Duromar finishes off the Alnaar and the party quickly overruns the Hound of Tindalos. The party heals up and Duromar searches the monastery noticing some glyphs which he can't read, and the rest of the party compares what they found. Duromar realizes they found some summoning notes, but there isn't enough information to discern what it could mean. The party moves on, they continue on the path and the fog starts to get thicker.
The party starts to see some multi-colored lights floating in the distance and a Neophron (demon vulture), while the party is distracted by that, Del Varis notices a Nightgaunt hiding in the trees to the north and informs the group. The monsters start to close the distance, the party buffs themselves (Rosemary performs emboldening bond, Uriel casts heroism and summons a lion, and Duromar starts singing the bladesong and casts haste). The Neophron attempts to hit Duromar but he casts shield and blocks all the hits, Rosemary moves up and strikes the Neophron several times with her quarterstaff. Uriel attempts to channel his conquering presence and frighten the Nightgaunt, but fails due to it being immune, the Nightgaunt responds with by using baneful presence on Uriel and the lion he's riding (Causing disadvantage on attacks and saving throws). The Nightgaunt follows up his baneful presence with a strike with it's barbed tail, Rosemary and Duromar continue to strike the Neophron several times. Del Varis hits the Nightgaunt and uses his hands of healing on Rosemary, Uriel maneuvers around the Nightgaunt to cancel out the disadvantage and manages to land several strikes. The Neophron manages to land a critical strike on Duromar and then Shallows Del Varis, Rosemary strikes the Neophron several times and kills it, causing Del Varis to be thrown up. The Nightgaunt and Uriel continue to exchange blows, with Uriel landing a critical hit, the floating lights finally get to with striking distance and party realizes it's a type of ooze. Duromar realizes the ooze has several immunities and sees lightning arcing between the orbs, he strikes with his rapier with discharges some of the lightning into him trigger a small lightning storm. Rosemary strikes the ooze several times, not getting shocked due to not having any metal on her, Duromar casts steel wind strike and kills the Nightgaunt and takes out a portion of the ooze. Uriel charges forward with his lion and stands upright and perfectly performs a back flip over the ooze, causing the ooze to be flanked. The Lion bites the ooze and Uriel strikes it several times with his sword, getting shocked each time (and a stray bolt hits Rosemary), but with his last swing the ooze collapses into a puddle. Uriel works quickly and saves a tiny portion by putting it into a potion of healing, the party hears sounds in the distance and Uriel quickly puts the ooze bottle into Duromar's bag of holding.
The party yells out, demanding who goes there, an exhausted looking human stumbles out of the fog, the party remains on guard but they start to approach the human. They use abilities to see if he is as he appears, not perceiving any reason to believe he is lying the party starts to question him. He says he's been trying to get away from the creatures, they've been toying with him, seemingly taking delight in his suffering. He tells the party there are others in his group, Del Varis sees the human is in need of medical care and takes away some of his exhaustion and gives him a note with directions to his monastery. The party asks if it is safe to rest with the human's group, it is and the human offers to lead them there, he efficiently guides them through the foggy area and eventually the fog thins out and they see a church. The party approaches and see a few people, they don't wave but do acknowledge but nodding their heads up at them, Uriel continues to follow the human into the church. On the way in Uriel makes no attempt to keep his voice down and thanks the human for leading them here, exclaiming how it's a charitable display of hospitality they are showing strangers (as he's saying this he's trying to see if it's some sort of trap). The human moves toward the altar, a grandmotherly figure stands there, Uriel and Rosemary follow while Duromar and Del Varis stay in the back and observe the area. Uriel asks how long they have been here and why they are here in the first place; the woman answers a very long time and they serve the dragons. Uriel looks around and notices a divine presence of Kyzet and questions further, as this goes on Duromar notices that the figures don't seem quite normal. He sees hair moving when there's no wind and hears voices but there's no mouth movements, he points this out to Del Varis in Draconic and attempts to get Rosemary and Uriel's attention. Rosemary joins Duromar but Uriel stays put, Duromar insists and Uriel yells in Dwarvish that he's busy, Duromar gets agitated and yells back that this is important. Del Varis decides to punch the figure Duromar pointed out, the figure no longer stays human and turns into a large dragon-like skeleton. At the same time the older woman Uriel was talking to stepped back and turned into a gargantuan wraith like draconic figure, Duromar prepares for a fight, the gargantuan draconic figure says there is no reason to be afraid and explains they are Ankou. She says she is the leader and a Soul Herald, they serve Kyzet, The Overseer and their job is to lead souls to him. They have been here since shortly after the siege of Lakecliff, but they found there was a demonic presence, the two factions have been battling it out since that time. The party asks if there's anything they can do, the Soul Herald says that the demons have built a dimensional gate that has been providing an easy way to enter this plane, destroying it would tip the scales in the Ankou's favor. Duromar asks some questions about the gate and realizes that if it acts like he thinks it does then destroying it would cause a crater several miles in diameter, since normal gates tap into the energy of the planes themselves. Further discussion takes place and the Ankou ask if it is possible the gate could be fueled by souls, they weren't able to recover very many and there were tens of thousands of souls in the area due to the fighting. The Ankou further explains that the gate became useful very quickly, it confused them how fast they were able to power it and that maybe the souls were a shortcut. Duromar thinks it's possible but it couldn't stay on forever, they'd need more souls eventually, this worries the Ankou because then it means the demons would eventually venture out for more souls. They give the party information on caches of potentially useful equipment that were hidden around the city before it became ruins and the probable location of where the demon stronghold is located. The Ankou says they can distract the demons while the party makes an attempt to recon the ruins and find out where the souls are located, if they remove the souls they remove the power and the gate can be destroyed without harm. The party agrees and long rests, during this time Del Varis goes looking for ingredients but only finds a stream of blood and Duromar further examines the summoning notes from the monastery. Duromar brings the notes to the Soul Herald and the Soul Herald believes it summons a Pit Fiend, but it's incomplete as it's missing information on controlling it.
The group wakes up and sees the skeletal Ankou forming up outside, the Soul Herald is out and giving instructions and the groups start to take flight, the Soul Herald wishes the party luck and joins the rest of the Ankou, the party heads towards the city ruins. As they enter they see a Erinyes, thinking quickly Rosemary embolden bonds the party and Dimension door's with Duromar to the other side of the Erinyes. Rosemary casts guiding bolt but misses, Duromar then speeds up and casts chill touch and swings with his rapier but it gets parried by the Erinyes. The Erinyes attempts to strike Duromar but he dodges the strikes and Uriel runs up and grapples the Erinyes so she doesn't fly away, using his silvery barbs to stop her, smiting her in the process. Del Varis moves up and hurls a needle at her and Rosemary casts Sacred flame which strikes true. The Erinyes strikes Uriel once, but Durmar follows up with more Rapier strikes and Uriel smites her to ashes.
The party starts to see some multi-colored lights floating in the distance and a Neophron (demon vulture), while the party is distracted by that, Del Varis notices a Nightgaunt hiding in the trees to the north and informs the group. The monsters start to close the distance, the party buffs themselves (Rosemary performs emboldening bond, Uriel casts heroism and summons a lion, and Duromar starts singing the bladesong and casts haste). The Neophron attempts to hit Duromar but he casts shield and blocks all the hits, Rosemary moves up and strikes the Neophron several times with her quarterstaff. Uriel attempts to channel his conquering presence and frighten the Nightgaunt, but fails due to it being immune, the Nightgaunt responds with by using baneful presence on Uriel and the lion he's riding (Causing disadvantage on attacks and saving throws). The Nightgaunt follows up his baneful presence with a strike with it's barbed tail, Rosemary and Duromar continue to strike the Neophron several times. Del Varis hits the Nightgaunt and uses his hands of healing on Rosemary, Uriel maneuvers around the Nightgaunt to cancel out the disadvantage and manages to land several strikes. The Neophron manages to land a critical strike on Duromar and then Shallows Del Varis, Rosemary strikes the Neophron several times and kills it, causing Del Varis to be thrown up. The Nightgaunt and Uriel continue to exchange blows, with Uriel landing a critical hit, the floating lights finally get to with striking distance and party realizes it's a type of ooze. Duromar realizes the ooze has several immunities and sees lightning arcing between the orbs, he strikes with his rapier with discharges some of the lightning into him trigger a small lightning storm. Rosemary strikes the ooze several times, not getting shocked due to not having any metal on her, Duromar casts steel wind strike and kills the Nightgaunt and takes out a portion of the ooze. Uriel charges forward with his lion and stands upright and perfectly performs a back flip over the ooze, causing the ooze to be flanked. The Lion bites the ooze and Uriel strikes it several times with his sword, getting shocked each time (and a stray bolt hits Rosemary), but with his last swing the ooze collapses into a puddle. Uriel works quickly and saves a tiny portion by putting it into a potion of healing, the party hears sounds in the distance and Uriel quickly puts the ooze bottle into Duromar's bag of holding.
The party yells out, demanding who goes there, an exhausted looking human stumbles out of the fog, the party remains on guard but they start to approach the human. They use abilities to see if he is as he appears, not perceiving any reason to believe he is lying the party starts to question him. He says he's been trying to get away from the creatures, they've been toying with him, seemingly taking delight in his suffering. He tells the party there are others in his group, Del Varis sees the human is in need of medical care and takes away some of his exhaustion and gives him a note with directions to his monastery. The party asks if it is safe to rest with the human's group, it is and the human offers to lead them there, he efficiently guides them through the foggy area and eventually the fog thins out and they see a church. The party approaches and see a few people, they don't wave but do acknowledge but nodding their heads up at them, Uriel continues to follow the human into the church. On the way in Uriel makes no attempt to keep his voice down and thanks the human for leading them here, exclaiming how it's a charitable display of hospitality they are showing strangers (as he's saying this he's trying to see if it's some sort of trap). The human moves toward the altar, a grandmotherly figure stands there, Uriel and Rosemary follow while Duromar and Del Varis stay in the back and observe the area. Uriel asks how long they have been here and why they are here in the first place; the woman answers a very long time and they serve the dragons. Uriel looks around and notices a divine presence of Kyzet and questions further, as this goes on Duromar notices that the figures don't seem quite normal. He sees hair moving when there's no wind and hears voices but there's no mouth movements, he points this out to Del Varis in Draconic and attempts to get Rosemary and Uriel's attention. Rosemary joins Duromar but Uriel stays put, Duromar insists and Uriel yells in Dwarvish that he's busy, Duromar gets agitated and yells back that this is important. Del Varis decides to punch the figure Duromar pointed out, the figure no longer stays human and turns into a large dragon-like skeleton. At the same time the older woman Uriel was talking to stepped back and turned into a gargantuan wraith like draconic figure, Duromar prepares for a fight, the gargantuan draconic figure says there is no reason to be afraid and explains they are Ankou. She says she is the leader and a Soul Herald, they serve Kyzet, The Overseer and their job is to lead souls to him. They have been here since shortly after the siege of Lakecliff, but they found there was a demonic presence, the two factions have been battling it out since that time. The party asks if there's anything they can do, the Soul Herald says that the demons have built a dimensional gate that has been providing an easy way to enter this plane, destroying it would tip the scales in the Ankou's favor. Duromar asks some questions about the gate and realizes that if it acts like he thinks it does then destroying it would cause a crater several miles in diameter, since normal gates tap into the energy of the planes themselves. Further discussion takes place and the Ankou ask if it is possible the gate could be fueled by souls, they weren't able to recover very many and there were tens of thousands of souls in the area due to the fighting. The Ankou further explains that the gate became useful very quickly, it confused them how fast they were able to power it and that maybe the souls were a shortcut. Duromar thinks it's possible but it couldn't stay on forever, they'd need more souls eventually, this worries the Ankou because then it means the demons would eventually venture out for more souls. They give the party information on caches of potentially useful equipment that were hidden around the city before it became ruins and the probable location of where the demon stronghold is located. The Ankou says they can distract the demons while the party makes an attempt to recon the ruins and find out where the souls are located, if they remove the souls they remove the power and the gate can be destroyed without harm. The party agrees and long rests, during this time Del Varis goes looking for ingredients but only finds a stream of blood and Duromar further examines the summoning notes from the monastery. Duromar brings the notes to the Soul Herald and the Soul Herald believes it summons a Pit Fiend, but it's incomplete as it's missing information on controlling it.
The group wakes up and sees the skeletal Ankou forming up outside, the Soul Herald is out and giving instructions and the groups start to take flight, the Soul Herald wishes the party luck and joins the rest of the Ankou, the party heads towards the city ruins. As they enter they see a Erinyes, thinking quickly Rosemary embolden bonds the party and Dimension door's with Duromar to the other side of the Erinyes. Rosemary casts guiding bolt but misses, Duromar then speeds up and casts chill touch and swings with his rapier but it gets parried by the Erinyes. The Erinyes attempts to strike Duromar but he dodges the strikes and Uriel runs up and grapples the Erinyes so she doesn't fly away, using his silvery barbs to stop her, smiting her in the process. Del Varis moves up and hurls a needle at her and Rosemary casts Sacred flame which strikes true. The Erinyes strikes Uriel once, but Durmar follows up with more Rapier strikes and Uriel smites her to ashes.
It is early morning on the 9th day of Leranth
Character(s) interacted with
Ankou Soul Herald
Tobias Rolt
Tobias Rolt
Report Date
14 Oct 2023
Primary Location
Comments