Ælfric pulled at the sword with his mage hand to see just how tightly wedged it was. If it won't budge, he tried to pull it out himself, careful to only let the hilt touch his gloved hands.
Elayna doesn't know where the shadowy stranger slipped off to, but his wizard-like friend seems to be buying time. The least she can do is help.
"A-as thanks," she stammers without really thinking, "maybe I might gift you with... some song?" Committed to the offer, she quickly thinks back to the old chants of ancient deeds, careful to avoid proselytizing about good over evil out of respect for her audience.
OOC:
Adding a Performance roll if the demon lord obliges and deigns to listen, pre-empted with Bardic Inspiration to herself.
Rolls
Performance - (1d20+11)
(4) + 11 = 15
Bardic Inspiration on self to apply to Performance - (1d6)
Aelfric grips the sword tightly and pulls. It takes a moment, but he manages to yank it out of the wall. In his hands, he holds a short sword with a large sapphire set into the hilt. As he holds it aloft to inspect it, it glows with a soft blue light.
[ +- ] Sword
Elayna begins her song and it promises to be quite good, but the demon lord clearly doesn't appreciate it. He growls, "Enough!" he shouts loudly enough to shake the chamber, "Go. Now. Before I change my mind."
"Shiny," Ælfric thought before he stowed the shortsword, took a deep breath, said a prayer to Erevan Ilesere, and prepared to return the way he had come: past Baphomet once again!
Elayna begins to back away just as Aelfric appears from around the corner and makes his way back toward you once again. It's a close call, with Baphomet's bulk almost bumping into the rogue as he makes his way down the hall, but he manages to get back to the group.
In his best (or just most frantic) miming, Ælfric implored the group to hurry back the way they'd come. After a few turns, he slowed his pace but did not let up his cloaking for as long as it would naturally last. Tiny beads of sweat were barely visible on his brow when he pulled back his hood with barely trembling hands. His shaggy brown hair and pointed ears seemed happy to be free.
"Six feathers from six different angels. You want to keep these safe until we get back to the dark wizard, big guy?" Ælfric said lowly as he held up a pouch in Mai'ngor's direction. "Now let's get the Nine Hells out of here."
"Thanks. I nearly had one, too, but I got the feathers and a shiny," Ælfric said as he pulled out the beautiful shortsword. "I don't think it's cursed but I'd like your second opinion while we run. There's no telling if that thing is going to realize the feathers or this sword are missing."
OOC:
Ælfric's player almost had a heart attack a few times, too. Got past Baphomet. Twice. Damn. This is one for my D&D record books.
Identify the shiny sword, please, Seftan.
Was there a magic signal to let Vizeran know to teleport us out or do we have to find our way out of the maze?
"Understood. I wish the dark wizard would hurry up and 'know' we're done here," Ælfric grumbled as he stowed the shortsword again. "In the meantime, keep moving."
As a wizard, you can cast it as a ritual if it's in your spellbook even without prepping it. It just takes an additional 10 minutes to cast it that way.
You attempt to make your way out of the Labyrinth and aren't making much progress. After a few hours, a spectral vision of Vizeran appears before you. "Have you gotten the feathers?" it asks, staring directly at Mai'ngor.
OOC:
Jabes is on somewhat of a hiatus, so anyone can feel free to post an answer to the question
During the course of the party's wandering through the endless maze, Seftan takes 10 minutes to identify Ælfric's new sword as the rest of the group catches their breath and contemplates their course.
Seftan takes the time to identify the sword and finds that it's a Defender Shortsword.
[ +- ] Defender
Legendary (requires attunement)
You gain a +3 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this magic weapon.
The first time you attack with the sword on each of your turns, you can transfer some or all of the sword's bonus to your Armor Class, instead of using the bonus on any attacks that turn. For example, you could reduce the bonus to your attack and damage rolls to +1 and gain a +2 bonus to AC. The adjusted bonuses remain in effect until the start of your next turn, although you must hold the sword to gain a bonus to AC from it.
Vizeran nods, "Hold still and I'll bring you back..."
After about 30 seconds, you feel a strange sensation and the world goes sideways and then dark. Moments later, you open your eyes and find yourselves in Vizeran's tower in the sitting room.
"Thanks, Seftan. A Defender, eh? That makes it even more beautiful. I'll have to get a nice scabbard for you."
The teleportation was disconcerting as always but Ælfric happily endured it since he was leaving Baphomet's lair far behind. Once back in the dark wizard's sanctum, the arcane thief pointed to Mai'ngor.
"Big guy's got the feathers, boss. They weren't easy to come by but we did it," he said, magnanimously sharing the praise for the heist with everyone else.