Characters are now 8th level, 2nd mythic tier.
The next morning, the Knights met to divide up the treasures they had found in the chimera's den. Asami was given the magical blank spellbook that could hold a thousand spells, as well as the quiver which she could use to store wands, rods, and staves. She also asked if her friends would let her take the gems, as her training allowed her to use gems in place of other materials when casting spells. Her unusual training seemed to be causing Eldrazi some confusion, which was the only satisfaction she could find as she continued to seek a way to be rid of him.
The other Knights all approached Quartermaster Gwerm to see if any new useful items had been found. They also gave some of the books from the magic bag to Aravashnial to be copied in an effort to restore some of the materials that had been destroyed in the damage to the Riftwarden library in Kenabres. Runa acquired a healing wand, and Shim found a an elven curved blade made of cold iron.
The scouts reported that there was no sign of sentries on the towers of the Citadel, and they had seen no indication that anything had come from the summoning circle above the chimera's lair. Before the Knights set off for the Citadel again, Runa performed a memorial service for those who had fallen in battle, which lifted the hearts of all those who heard her prayers.
Aegon and Darra went to interrogate some prisoners rather than join the rest of the group in entering the Citadel. Jiro suggested that perhaps the party should prepare mantlets to protect them when they approached the main gate, in case there were any archers hiding up above. Shim agreed with this idea, and the two of them found carts that could be armored with planks of wood to give the assault party cover from overhead attacks. When the mantlets were ready, the party split into two groups and pushed them up to the gates. Shim then cautiously stepped out from behind the cover of the mantlet to examine the gates. He found that they were jammed shut. Closer examination of the area revealed that all of the tracks in front of the gates showed no sign of actually have emerged through those gates. It appeared that some creature had created a portal to bring the defenders out into the courtyard rather than the defense force having walked through the gates.
Fortunately the party had thought to bring battering rams. With Shim's surprising strength behind one ram, one side of the gate burst open. Beyond the open gate they saw an antechamber perhaps twenty feet wide and thirty feet long, divided by an iron portcullis that had been locked in place about five feet above the ground. The portcullis couldn't be moved from the side the Knights stood on. But there were several heavy doors leading out of the antechamber. Shim opened one of these, and the group was immediately met by blasts of fire from two brimorak demons, one on the side where Shim had opened the door, and the other appearing through one of the other doorways on he opposite side of the chamber.
Zosta immediately pounded one of the brimoraks with her fists, while Runa moved to attack the second goat-like demon. Asami blasted a demon with a ball of snow and ice. Jiro dropped the battering ram he had been holding and extended his aura of purity to block the brimoraks' breath. As he did so, he realized that there was an unusual sensation about the area the Knights stood in. It reminded him of the oppressive feeling in the desecrated chapel, and he warned his companions to be wary of it.
The brimorak that Zosta had attacked teleported away. The second brimorak spat burning blood at Runa, Jiro, and Zosta. Shim fired his crossbow at it. Zosta jumped over Runa's back to knock the brimorak down and stomp on it, and Runa ran it through with her sword.
Shim gave the portcullis a brief try, and then the group turned back to the doorway to their left. They found a set of steps ascending to a platform holding an intact ballista that showed no sign of having recently been tended. Another side room contained a second ballista but no defenders or other equipment.
Shim and Jiro worked together to unlock a set of double doors and force them open. These doors led into a long hallway dotted by piles of rubble and lined by six crouching statues of horned demons standing on low plinths. The statues were clearly not original to the dwarven-built Citadel, so the Knights decided to topple them after Jiro confirmed that he didn't detect anything magical in the hall, though he did feel that it had the same aura of desecration as the antechamber. Runa took out a length of rope to use to pull down the statues, while Zosta prepared to leap onto the head of one and smash it with her fists.
Stone shattered as the six figures transformed into six gargoyles that turned on the Crusader Knights. Asami reacted first, hurling her wooden spear at the gargoyle threatening Jiro. One gargoyle clawed and snapped at Zosta but its teeth and claws failed to connect with her flesh. Jiro took a step back and called on an ancestor spirit to come to his aid, summoning a young woman bearing a tetsubo. At the same time he handed his morningstar to Shim. Zosta sheathed her fists in acid as she punched her opponent. Asami called for a small elemental of air to appear and attack the gargoyles, which were all hovering on their bat-like wings. A nine-ring broadsword of force appeared in Jiro's hand. Zosta's first opponent was smashed to rubble and she charged across to drop Runa's foe. A third gargoyle fell to her onslaught. Asami struck another with her spear while the air elemental slammed into it. Only one gargoyle now remained. The entire party attacked it as one and it joined the others in becoming a heap of stony rubble on the floor.
Runa had taken some hurt from the gargoyles and Jiro attended to her wounds for a moment before the group moved on. There were two more demon statues at the far end of the hall, and these they shattered. The next set of double doors were locked but Shim opened them after verifying that they were not trapped. Beyond them stood another portcullis, this one fully closed. A section of wall had been turned to rubble. Zosta immediately clambered over this to see what lay beyond it, and suddenly vanished from sight with a cry of alarm.
Jiro called out in the Tian tongue, and was suddenly cloaked in a shining golden robe. At the same time he rose off the ground in flight. He flew over the rubble, perceiving that it was actually illusory. Zosta had fallen into a pit and been wounded by a spike set into its floor. Just as he realized this, arrows began to rain down from arrow slits above their heads. Runa threw a rope down into the pit to help Zosta climb out. Four arrows struck Asami. Shim swallowed a potion that allowed him to climb on the wall and scrambled over the illusory rubble. Runa made her way across it more cautiously. Zosta climbed out of the pit then jumped across to the other side, away from the arrow slits. Asami granted herself the ability to fly and flew over the pit, as did Jiro. The wall partially blocked the archers from continuing to fire on the party, but Jiro improved their cover by conjuring up a mist to block them from view.
The area beyond the disguised pit held a ledge, which everyone moved up onto to get to another set of doors. Jiro healed their arrow wounds while Shim picked the lock. As they passed through, Jiro reminded everyone that Aron's map showed the hidden storeroom where the Sword of Valor had once been kept in a shrine very near to where they now stood. He wanted to investigate that area next.
As Zosta stepped through the doorway into another hall, she spied four half-orc mercenaries with bows and a large creature that resembled a bipedal vulture, which she recognized as a vrock demon. The half-orcs fired and the vrock surged toward her. Hovering on the other side of the doorway, Asami saw the vrock and recalled as many details as she could about such creatures, calling out to her friends everything she could remember. Then she summoned a lantern archon from Elysium to come to their aid. As Asami called for the archon, Runa cast a spell that would imbue all of their weapons with the power of good.
Jiro remembered that vrocks could emit poisonous spores and filled the area with his purifying aura. The vrock's spores shot out and then fell harmlessly to the floor. Zosta's fists flew at the demon. Shim crushed the elemental gem they had found and commanded the earth elemental to rush the half-orcs. Under Eldrazi's influence, Asami sent a globule of acid to blast the mercenaries, while Runa called on Iomedae's divine light to dazzle them. Jiro, who had been absorbing harm from his companions since they entered the Citadel, suddenly collapsed at the vrock's feet. Shim grabbed him and pulled him away. Bohgong used a wand to heal some of his wounds and then backed away from the demon. Zosta leaped high into the air, kicking the vrock in the head and knocking it off its feet. The earth elemental knocked down all but one of the half-orcs. Asami then sent another ball of fire enhanced with divine power into the end of the hallway, consuming all of the half-orcs and the vrock in its flames. When the flames dissipated there were only smoldering corpses lying there.
Next: part 36, In the Name of Iomedae
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