Easthaven

Round 2 Summary

With the wall of fire gone from the battlefield, the fighting grows worse. Berserkers and the two wolfmen charge the line of enemy tribesmen and shatter them like kindling (goodzerkers take 112 damage, but deal 270. The wolfmen also deal like 30 damage to the badbarians). Tansia’s spearmen focus on the barbed devils ensnared in Natalie’s entangle spell, but though many weapons find their mark in the monsters’ spiked hides, the rank of infernal warriors seems hardly bothered by the mortal weapons and return the barrage with fire (spearmen deal 111 damage to the barbed devils, but they take only half damage due to resistance to nonmagical weapons. The goodzerkers take 22 fire damage). The second group of devils turn their ire towards the dragon and gnome above. Aerihykloarara keeps her wings spread wide to protect Ras, but the flames char and blacken the luster of her silver scales (Aeri takes 88 fire damage).

On the ground, Vincent’s threats encourage the two traitorous berserkers to leave him to Hjollsted, but they continue to attack Tansia. The chieftess focuses entirely on defense, ducking and blocking desperately to avoid their axes, but cannot hold them off for long (Tansia takes the dodge action, but still takes 14 damage). Hjollsted lunges at Vincent, but the strange warlock’s movements are like the shadows cast by flickers of torchlight – unpredictable and intangible. "Who even are you?" the old shaman growls.

Natalie pokes her head up over the boat again, a glowing stone in her hand. She finds one of the barbed devils wrapped in her magical plants, then throws the stone. It zips through the air to smack the devil hard in the eye (barbed devils take 13 magical bludgeoning damage). She lets out a shuddering chuckle, overwhelmed by all that is happening, then notices that Vincent is wounded. A whispered spell, and the warlock feels some of his pains ease (Vince is healed for 6).

In the air above the middle of the battlefield, the two erinyes seek more targets. One black shaft hisses through the air towards Zenithral, but he deflects it just in time with his bow – only to have a second arrow graze his ribs (Zen casts Shield, then takes 7 piercing and 16 poison). He feels the poison immediately begin to burn through his veins (Zen fails his save against the poison unless he chooses to do something to not). Two more arrows fall from the sky, these aimed at Vincent, but he easily sidesteps the missiles. One last arrow buries itself painfully just under Aerihykloarara’s eye (Aeri takes 18 damage), and the dragon roars in pain and takes off after the hellish archer. Silver teeth and claws flash, and the erinyes shrieks (Erinyes 1 takes 78 damage).

Still perched on his dragon friend’s back, Ras sends his magic to the ground far below, and it answers his druidic call. Earth and ice shatter beneath the feet of one of the golems. Though the enormous construct hardly seems pained by the spell, if it ever intends to move from its position it will find the going slow over the torn ground.

In the rubble of the Temple of Tempus, Alalla, Ug, and the blood hunters there fight fiercely against their giant foes. A piece of thrown temple rubble slams into one of the brothers (Brother 1 takes 13 damage), but he somehow manages to stay on his feet. Mirek’s wings take him just over the top of another hurled boulder, then his scimitars do deadly work on the spellcasting frost giant until it swats him away with a heavy hand (Mirek takes 34 damage). Alalla charges in with several heavy cuts against the priest, and then it drops with a sudden shining arrow in its eye (Giant Priest is dead).

Joril grunts as his divine protection begins to fade, but he is fully into his rage even blinded as he is. He slams his axe down into the burly bouncer, then stomps the body flat with a crunch of ice and bone (bouncer takes 38 damage and then 31 more and dies). Joril flinches then as the bouncer’s retributive curse rots away at his flesh, but some of his wounds begin to heal, closing much as a troll’s would (Joril takes 38 necrotic damage, but also heals 10. He also resists much of the physical damage done to him). Ug delivers a painful crack against Joril’s knee, a blow that nearly shatters the giant chief’s kneecap. But the erinyes poison coursing through the goliath does its work, crippling the great warrior. Yet another Zenithral whistles across the battlefield to find its mark in Joril’s beefy frame, and the giant finds his sight stolen once more (Joril is blind beyond 5 feet again).

Awful music suddenly sounds in the ears of blood hunters and giants alike, and then a torrent of flames flashes across the battlefield all the way from the three ‘musicians’ to strike Joril. The frost giant chief bellows in agony as the magical flames sear his flesh and halt his trollish regeneration (Joril takes 65 fire damage and can’t heal himself next round).

Weariness overtakes Ug’s body as his frenzy leaves him. Then, oddly, he finds his head tilted back by invisible hands. "Uncle Ug! Don’t worry, I can help. I found lots of things in that stuffy Ilmater temple. I think it’s this one…" There is a small *pop*, and then Ug feels a potion being poured down his throat. Immediately the poison in his system is neutralized (Ug is no longer poisoned, thanks to a potion from Jermsy). "You don’t think I could try that devil blood drink sometime, do you? It looks like fun!"

From his carefully selected snipping position, Zenithral hears the flap of small wings nearby just in time to twist away from an invisible attack. Druzil melts into view, a wicked grin on its face. "Enough of that silly bow now, boy." The imp speaks mockingly in Erestor’s voice, its barbed tail twisting around to waive threateningly above its head (Druzil engages Zen in melee).

Above the rubble, Merodach watches the battle unfold with the calculating gaze of a general. It grins cruelly at Hjollsted’s betrayal, and then its eyes fall on the dragon harassing the erinyes. A stream of arcane syllables leaves its poisoned fangs as it casts a spell of binding, and Aerihykloarara’s wings shudder in protest. Dragon and druid begin to fall from the sky, and Ras loses his seat – but only for a moment. Aerihykloarara stubbornly shrugs off the spell and regains control of her body, righting herself in the air and settling Ras back into place (Aeri failed her save against Hold Monster, but used up her second Legendary Resistance to turn it into a pass). Caught up in the rage of battle, the silver dragon lets out her most ferocious roar of challenge, sending enemies cowering in terror (Lots of enemies failed the save and are frightened). As tribesmen, devils, and giants shy back from the fearsome display, Merodach growls and beats its wings, flying forward to engage the dragon. Aerihykloarara turns to face the pit fiend, but Ras feels a tremor run through her frame. Though she might never admit it aloud, he knows that she herself is afraid of this powerful devil (Aeri is frightened of Merodach for 1 round, but Ras passes the save and is now immune to Merodach’s fear aura for 24 hours).

Round 3 Player Phase!!!







And friends...

Round 3 Summary

More of the enemy tribesmen fall, and the heroes’ army pushes forward to meet the barbed devils hand to hand. These fiends strike back with clawed hands and spiked tails, and once more the barbarians are shown to be at a disadvantage, for their weapons simply are not effective against supernatural creatures. The two wolfmen have better luck, with their lightning claws fueled by fiend blood itself. In moments there are only a few barbed devils left standing (damages dealt, just check the statblocks to see how things stand).

With the last of Belhifet’s first line buckling, one of the golems moves forward with ponderous steps. Each step causes the ground to rumble, for while this construct is roughly the same size as a frost giant, it is far, far denser. Its black metal, the same metal used in Dorn’s Deep that ignored even the heat of lava, shines darkly in the light of the rising sun. It moves up to the line of barbed devils exhales noxious fumes that descend on the combatants there. The devils prove to be immune to the stuff, like they are to all poisons, but the berserkers are not… A few breaths of the gas are enough to cause several of the warriors to instantly fall dead (Berserkers take a BUNCH of poison damage). The second golem begins to move forward, but the ground torn by Ras’ spell prevents it from reaching the fight just yet.

Vincent’s blast of eldritch magic sends Hjollsted reeling. The two traitorous berserkers turn on the giant specter and slash at it with their axes, but the spirit remains (specter takes 15 damage after resistance). Hjollsted clutches his chest and meets Vincent’s eyes with pain… and hopelessness. Vincent has enough experience with pacts and deals to recognize the lost look in this shaman’s eyes. Hjollsted is one who has mired himself so deeply that he has no choice but to follow instructions from his fiendish masters. Whatever hero this man might have once been, he has cast it all aside for some purpose.

With the traitors distracted, Tansia turns and runs to join her people. With only two enemy tribesmen left standing, she manages to persuade them to cast aside their folly and join her people once more (blended into allies). She watches a few thrown spears bounce off of the golem’s frame, completely useless against this powerful foe (hellfire golem is immune to nonmagical weapon damage). She grits her teeth, then raises her voice above the fray. "Focus on the devils! We can do nothing against this creature!" Her expression falls as more men around her die. Will any of her people be left alive after this fight?

High above the battlefield, silver dragon and pit fiend meet with teeth, claws, and fury. Aerihykloarara is much larger, but Merodach’s supernatural strength is easily a match for her. One silver claw snags the pit fiend’s side and her jaws come down to clamp onto its shoulder (Mero takes 28 damage). Merodach tears the dragon’s teeth free with a heavy punch to the side of her head, and then his own poisoned fangs sink into her long neck (Aeri takes 40 damage). Aerihkyloarara manages to shrug off the poison, but the distraction is costly, for a flap of Merodach’s leathery wings takes the fiend around within striking distance of her precious rider. Merodach’s weapon, a large mace that smokes with hellish flames, swipes through the air and nearly catches Ras, but the gnome ducks away just in time, nearly losing his seat once more in the process. But the devil’s muscled tail cunningly whips around to smack against Ras’ back with strength enough to shatter a normal man’s spine (Ras takes 29 bludgeoning damage).

Aerihykloarara’s terror spikes as the blow connects against Ras. The silver dragon roars and strikes out at Merodach with desperation and clips its wings with her tail, knocking the pit fiend out of the air. It tumbles to the ground below in a tangle of limbs (Mero takes 27 damage and is knocked prone). Aerihykloarara roars again and nearly dives down to follow her foe and pound the devil into the rubble, but fear for Ras overrides her bloodlust. She pauses for a moment in the air, and the hesitation costs her. A boulder smashes into her chest, shattering scales and nearly dropping her (Aeri takes 67 bludgeoning damage). She barely manages to recover and stay aloft, but Ras can feel her shuddering breaths.

With the dragon injured and distracted, the two erinyes resume their sniping, though one takes a hit from Aerihykloarara as it slips away (Erin 1 takes 39 damage). Most of their shots go wide in the chaos of the battle, but on shaft finds its way into Natalie’s side (Nat takes 14 damage and fails her save). The young woman cries out in pain as devilish poison floods her body. Shaking hands reach down to touch the arrow, and she slumps against the wood of her fishing boat.

Peppered with Zenithral’s arrows, Druzil curses and fades into invisiblity, then flaps away (Uncanny Dodge leaves him with 7 hp). Though trying to hide, the imp obviously can’t keep its mouth shut (Druzil rolled a nat 1 for his stealth check haha). Zenithral’s keen ears can hear its complaining from inside a nearby shed. "Ack! Talk about your daddy issues. Bene telemara…" Ilmadia, well-accustomed to Druzil’s voice, also notes the little devil’s location.

In the temple ruins, Joril Frostbeard is having a bad day. Covered in wounds and moving with a serious limp, the frost giant chief needs someone to punish. His bleary eyes pick out Ug’s nearly naked form on the ground and lashes out in rage (After resistance, Ug takes 29 damage). Even as dazed as he is, Ug’s survival instincts are strong enough to keep him alive as Joril smashes down with axe and boot, until one of the blood hunters plants a sparking crossbow bolt into the giant’s eye. With Joril’s injuries still smoking from fire, his trollish regeneration cannot save him. The frost giant chief falls to his knees, then topples to the ground (he dead). A moment later, that same blood hunter takes a boulder to the face and is crushed (he dead too). His brother, wounded and trying to hide behind a broken wall, can only cry out in denial.

As more giants move in on Ug and his blood hunter friends more ribbons of fire streak in from afar to burn them, accompanied by faint strains of terrible music (giants take 22 fire damage). Even separated by an entire battlefield, the blood hunters are a tight-knit bunch. In the past few months they have raided dungeons and fought monsters together, though never have they experienced a battle like this. Still, they took that draught in the Root Cellar Tavern in order to slay evil, and this is their chance to let loose all their frustration and fury on the forces that killed or threatened their friends and loved ones. Behind the giants, Ug notices Jermsy suddenly become visible and cast a spell. Whatever it was supposed to do apparently doesn’t work, however, and Jermsy mutters a few choice words that no child should be familiar with and vanishes into the rubble like a ground squirrel.

Nearby in the ruins, Alalla feels an answer to her prayer. The sounds of battle and death fade away for a single, immeasurable moment, replaced instead with Torm’s clarity and purpose. The antimagic coffer is buried beneath a portion of ceiling nearby, just a dozen feet to her right. A boulder explodes a portion of wall just in front of her face, and she realizes that one of the frost giants has noticed her movements. It lumbers nearby and lifts a large piece of rubble, ready to throw again (Giant 4 has split from the group and followed Al).

The warehouse near Zenithral opens, and out come a few dozen of Easthaven's villagers. Griselda, Old Jed, Apsel, and more stumble into the light, led by one of Ug's blood hunters. With them are a handful of priests of Tempus, members of the Order of the Broken Blade, whose sacred duty it is to protect Jerrod's Stone. The priests stare at the temple's ruins in horror, then leap forward with spells and prayers on their lips to help.

Round 4 Player Phase!!!!







And friends...