Before the Crusaders left the vescavor lair, they examined the rift they had found carefully to make sure they understood what it was and how they might be able to deal with it. As they were looking at it, Zosta spied a creature on the other side that seemed to have noticed the rift, though it didn't give any indication that it saw the people in the cavern. Her training on demons and evil creatures of the Abyss told her that the creature was a type of demon called a vrock, which resembled a vulture but walked on two legs like a humanoid. She also knew that such a demon wouldn't have posed a difficult foe to the group had they been at full strength, but in their current state they would find it a challenge to combat such a creature.
When Zosta told her companions what she'd seen, Jiro realized that while they lacked the ability to permanently closed the rift, they could cast a spell that would prevent the vrock from emerging, at least temporarily. He also recognized that the rift could only be passed through in one direction, from the Abyss to the Material Plane, so while the vrock could come across none of their group could go through in the other direction. The vrock showed no indication of wanting to come through at the moment, so the group members decided to move away from it, keeping an eye on it as they did so, and take the opportunity to heal some of the wounds the vescavors had inflicted on them.
While Jiro used his magic to heal his friends, they all discussed what they could recall about vrock demons. Asami remembered that they were resistant to magic and capable of casting some spells themselves, as well as able to summon others of their kind. Like all demons they were immune to harm from electricity or poison, and resistant to injury from other forms of energy such as fire.
They moved closer to the rift again after Jiro had expended his magic, and Jiro cast a spell in front of the rift that created a circle to block evil creatures. He then drew the symbol of Iomedae on the floor and placed a vial of holy water on it in the hope that if the vrock did come through the rift it would tread on the vial and break it. That was intended to tell them if the vrock had come through later on, after the magic circle spell faded.
With their preparations completed the group returned to the paladin army camp. The caves and the valley weren't completely clear of vescavors, but the foul insects were no longer swarming and made no attempt to attack. The army scouts told the Crusaders that they knew the queen must have been slain because the numbers of vescavors had decreased as the creatures wandered off. When they met with Aravashnial to talk with him about the rift, he told them it was good they had chosen not to try to wait for the vrock and attack it. It was only midday by this time and the paladins were ready to leave so the camp was packed up and they resumed their journey to Drezen.
As they continued their travel, the Crusaders preceded the slower-moving army by a short distance. The surrounding terrain continued to be desolate and devoid of life, which both Asami and Jiro found oppressive and disheartening.
Suddenly Zosta heard something that sounded like a cry for help coming from among the thicket of dead trees that bordered the road. After she heard what sounded like a scream, she left the road and went among the trees to investigate. Her companions followed her while Aron and Sosiel lagged behind. Ahead of her she saw what appeared to be a human woman surrounded by six dog-size creatures that had fat round bodies and many spindly spider-like legs. These creatures, which she didn't recognize, kept leaping out one at a time to bite the woman before hopping away from her. On closer inspection Zosta observed that the creatures had somewhat humanoid-like faces with large, toothy mouths, and one pair of their spidery limbs was equipped with small hands.
Zosta approached closer with the intent of rescuing the woman the spider-creatures were attacking. When she did so the creatures spat webbing at her, immobilizing her. Jiro moved up behind her, drawing his morningstar as he did, then exclaimed, "Demons of the East! Gorupi!" as he recognized that such creatures were sometimes seen in Tian-Xia. Asami followed him cautiously. As she stood at a greater distance she couldn't identify the creatures herself, but she sensed that Jiro was correct and they were not creatures native to this part of the world.
Zosta cried out that the spider-creatures' webs were coated with poison. Asami had readied her wand and now fired missiles at one of the monsters, but the missiles failed to strike it, indicating that they were resistant to magic. Several of the creatures responded by spitting on Asami and on Zosta. Asami was unable to move. Jiro summoned up a barrier of wind to prevent them from spitting more webbing on the party. Now that several of the party members were closer to the creatures' victim they could see that her clothing had been torn away and her arms and legs had been severed.
Runa uttered a short blessing from Iomedae to protect her comrades and moved forward. The gorupi seemed to be communicating with each other, though they didn't speak or make sounds. Then several of them simultaneously spat out globs of webbing with great force, directing it up and over Jiro's wall of wind. Fortunately their aim was poor and the webbing failed to find a target. Jiro moved to pull the webbing off Zosta, but nearly managed to get himself entangled as well. Aron and Sosiel tried to do the same for Asami with no more success. Asami was unable to move, but she could still activate a change from her wand. Again the missiles failed to harm the gorupi. Runa touched Zosta's weapon, imbuing it with divine power, then stepped up to attack the gorupi.
As Asami pulled partly free of the webbing with aid from Aron and Sosiel, Zosta broke free and attacked. The female victim began to scream and wail in a frenzy, demanding to know why the group weren't saving her. Then she began to rise into the air and Zosta realized that there was something connected to the back of her head. The ground shook, knocking everyone but Zosta off their feet. A huge creature burst forth from beneath the earth. It looked like a giant version of the gorupi, dangling the limbless, screaming woman in front of itself from a branch-like protuberance. Some of what the Crusaders had taken as dead trees in the area proved to be the creature's limbs. It radiated immense power and ancient evil.
Zosta slew one of the gorupi while Runa regained her feet. Aron and Sosiel helped Asami up. The wall of wind vanished. Then a wave of paralyzing terror spread over the group, leaving everyone but Zosta helpless. Asami tried to reason her fear away but failed and stood frozen as the creature stepped over her. At first it seemed disinterested in the group of people at its feet, but then it appeared to take notice of Zosta. Its face and huge, long-fingered hands had been turned away from her, but its body metamorphosed, eliciting a scream from the captive woman, as its face and front limbs reformed to point toward Zosta. Zosta realized that the bite wounds the gorupi had inflicted on the woman were healed as she was momentarily absorbed into the giant creature's body. It also manifested numerous eyes that turned their alien gaze on Zosta. It stared at her briefly, seeming to see something in her that made her interesting to it, before it morphed again and its face pointed once again to the direction it had originally been looking as it strode away. Zosta struck out at several of the gorupi as they ran past her following the huge demon, hopping up to bite at the dangling woman. All of the members of the group sensed that even had they all been able to move they would have been no match for the power of the huge spidery demon.
It wasn't until some time after the demon and its madly screeching prisoner had departed that all of the Crusaders recovered from the abject horror it had inspired in them. Asami was also seriously weakened by the gorupi poison. Sosiel was able to neutralize the poison so it didn't weaken her further. As the group went to rejoin the army, Zosta suggested that perhaps they shouldn't speak too much about the demon's captive. Runa in particular was extremely disturbed by the thought that they had been unable to do anything for the woman, and Zosta didn't want to demoralize the paladins. After they rejoined the army and told Irabeth what they had experienced, she called for camp to be set up.
The following morning Irabeth made a speech to encourage the paladins and prepare them for what lay ahead. Runa was harder on the squad under her command than usual. The mood among the army was one of grim determination as they set off for Drezen. As they marched toward their goal, the Crusader group at the front of the line noticed a disturbance coming from the rear but moving toward the front. Most of the group simply saw a blur flying past them. The flying shape resolved itself into a small female humanoid, either a child or a small adult woman, accompanied by a large air elemental. This girl or woman paused in her flight, hovering as she looked over the group and observed that Asami and Jiro both wore clothing somewhat similar to hers. "You're not from here," she said.
Jiro introduced himself and asked for her name, which she told him was Xiao Pi. When he asked what she was doing there she explained that she was looking for a creature that sounded very much like the horrifying demon they had encountered the previous day. Xiao Pi explained that the creature had taken her mother and she had to find it. After she confirmed that she had come from the East and not from the vicinity of the Worldwound, the group members sadly explained that the woman they had seen held captive by the demon had not resembled a person from Tian-Xia but had appeared to be someone from Mendev or its surroundings.
When Xiao Pi heard this news she seemed distraught, and Zosta and Jiro both noticed that the sky had grown stormy overhead. Zosta tried to comfort Xiao Pi by embracing her. At first the air elemental seemed ready to come to her defense but Xiao Pi waved it away. Gradually the clouds dissipated and the air elemental grew smaller until it vanished, seemingly as a reaction to Xiao Pi's emotional state.
Xiao Pi agreed to accompany the group to talk to Aravashnial, who was riding in Horgus Gwerm's wagon. Xiao Pi told them that she had been born in a small fishing village in the southern part of Tian-Xia. Her mother had been powerful in the element of water, which had meant that her father was a very successful fisherman. But one day the huge demon had appeared, heedlessly destroying their village as it lumbered through, and had taken Xiao Pi's mother. Most of the villagers had been slain by the gorupi as the larger creature had been uninterested in them. Xiao Pi had been knocked unconscious by the creature and hadn't awakened until after the demon left so she hadn't seen where it went. She had been tracking it ever since. As Runa observed her, she realized that Xiao Pi was probably more powerful in her magic than Aravashnial or any of the Crusaders.
Aravashnial cast a divination spell to locate Xiao Pi's mother after Xiao Pi explained that her mother had been born with a vividly-colored birthmark that resembled a wave spreading across her back. With the description of the birthmark to guide the magic, the elven wizard was able to determine that her mother's last resting place lay some forty miles away from the army's current location. Xiao Pi thanked him, and in return offered the group a diamond-like crystal, which could be used to call her to their location if they wished. She declined to remain with them despite their warnings of how powerful the demon was. Instead she demonstrated her own power by calling lightning from the sky to split a dead tree. Aravashnial gave her a map describing the area where his spell had located her mother, along with markers to point out the locations of Drezen in case she wanted to find them again and Kenabres if she chose to go there. Then Xiao Pi bid them farewell and set off to find her mother.
The army continued its journey toward Drezen after seeing off Xiao Pi. A stench of smoke and decay rose from the town surrounding the citadel as they neared it. Most of the inhabitants had left to fight the main Crusader army, leaving behind only enough residents to populate a small town. Aron reported that there were rumors of a marilith inside Citadel Drezen. When Aron and Anevia went forward to scout the area, Asami and Runa went with Aron while Jiro and Zosta accompanied Anevia.
Their observations found that on the south bank of the dry riverbed was a cluster of tieflings and cultists standing guard over a cache of captured Crusader gear. In the area known as Paradise Hill, schir demons guarded a prison holding captive Crusaders. A cemetery was infested with undead, including many ghouls, and one of the vaults showed signs of something more powerful and sinister inhabiting it. Only one of the two bridges across the river was still whole. On the watchtowers they could see that large catapults were still in place and intact.
When they returned to camp, they discussed their plans for getting into the Citadel to search for the Sword of Valor. They agreed that the plan that seemed likeliest to succeed and most beneficial would be to take the south bank, capture the intact bridge, and free the prisoners.
Next: part 29, The Haunted Vault
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