The nabasu we had fought was much more powerful than others we had encountered earlier. It must have consumed many dead and transformed them into zombies to empower itself. When at last we brought it down it left all of us depleted in all of our skills and abilities. We did not feel adequate to the task of exploring the remaining areas of the Citadel that we had yet to examine, particularly because Jiro had expended much of his healing power. We reluctantly agreed that we should retire to camp and recuperate after seeking remedies for the enervation we had suffered at the hands of the demon. Only Runa had been spared that indignity.
Just as we were prepared to withdraw from the Citadel, we heard a feminine voice speaking behind us. The speaker proved to be a white-haired succubus bearing an ice-rimed rapier. Her words were directed only toward Jestak, who she seemed to know. Runa then spoke to the succubus, saying that if she knew what was wise she would withdraw from Drezen. The succubus sneered at Runa, introducing herself as Kiranda, and told her to be silent in a condescending tone. This insulting speech angered Runa, but as she took a step toward the evil creature the succubus teleported herself away. Before she vanished I observed that she wore a bag on her back, which led me to wonder if perhaps she had already decided to follow Runa's suggestion and depart before it became necessary to fight.
Kiranda
Once we arived in camp Irabeth met us and asked us to tell her all that we had experienced. As soon as Jiro told her of the storehouse of supplies we had found, she sent someone to organize a party to convey the supplies out to the camp. When we warned her of the succubus she sent another runner to warn the paladins who were occupied with removing all useful goods from the interior of the Citadel. Horgus Gwerm was summoned when Jiro explained that we had been drained by the nabasu and needed remedies that require a considerable quantity of diamond dust to remove the effects. After some discussion it was decided that Gwerm would give some of the diamond dust that had been found in the town of Drezen to Jiro so that he could cast the restorative spells. He also had scrolls of such spells, which would mean that if he waited until the following day he could remove all of the deleterious effects from everyone, even Shim, who had been most severely harmed.
That evening Aravashnial helped me to learn a spell to perceive invisible creatures, for after we encountered the succubus Kiranda, Jestak told us that she had seen the succubus in the company of a halfling woman that we suspected to be Nurah, the halfling woman who had been sent along with us to Drezen at the order of Queen Galfrey. We still did not know if Nurah was under the control of the succubus or was genuinely a worshipper of a demon lord, but we hoped that the cause for her betrayal of us was the former and that we could free her of demonic control and redeem her from evil. We knew that should could make herself invisible, hence the spell I requested from Aravashnial.
Runa meanwhile presented herself to aid in treating the wounded, and prepared to perform a funeral service for one of the paladins who had fallen in battle. He had not been a follower of Iomedae, but Runa knows some of the rites of Sarenrae as well.
At first we had thought we might return to the Citadel that same day after Jiro cast his spells, but in the end we concluded it would be better to wait until the following day. The next morning we girded ourselves for another foray into the fortress.
The first area we entered was a large arched gallery, with many doors opening into it on all sides. Shim began by checking each of the doors for any trap mechanisms, then unlocking them so that Runa could open them. At first they intended to do this to all of the doors before we stepped through any of them, but we reconsidered for worry that some enemies might enter to attack us. Shim then unlocked a single door to our left, which opened into another room with doors in every wall. The dwarves have made a very sturdy fortress of this place but I confess I do not understand the purpose of these many small chambers.
Zosta went to a door on the west side of this room which she thought by its placement should lead back into the arched gallery, but it too was locked. We have begun to suspect that the demons locked all the doors simply to be obstructive. Zosta was most confused by the concept of a door that can be locked from either side, for such locks are not used among her people.
To the north side of this room were double doors leading to stairs up to a tower. We left these and went to two doors that were side by side separated by a narrow section of wall. These could be opened at once and allow two people separately to enter the chamber that lay beyond. First another door was opened, admitting us into an entirely empty room. Then the two side by side doors were opened after we prepared ourselves with spells. Jiro linked his life force to ours so that he might remove some wounds, and I joined everyone with a spell to allow us to communicate silently.
The room beyond the two doors was a barracks place in an oddly shaped chamber. A row of bunks ran along a diagonal wall opposite the doors we had entered through. Two of the beds at opposite ends of the line of bunks showed signs of having been recently occupied. One of these was set with finer linens and a softer mattress than the other. It was also equipped with a pair of manacles and decorated with small bloodstains, which led us to suspect that bed had belonged to the succubus Kiranda. The indentation in the other bed was small, likely left by Nurah.
Upon seeing this Zosta and Runa both began to speak to Nurah as if she was present, offering to help her and in Runa's case apologizing for the hard feelings she feared had driven Nurah away from us. I had cast my spell to see invisible things and saw no sign of her within the room, but she was skilled at stealth and concealment. Jiro went in to investigate several chests within the barracks, finding that one of them contained some small items that might have been taken by Kiranda as trophies from her victims. One of these items was a badge that had been enchanted but was now damaged. The barracks room held nothing else of use, but doors exiting from it led into two small storage rooms, one containing various mundane items commonly used by soldiers, and the other stocked with arrows and ballista bolts. These we took note of that we might tell the soldiers of them. Kirara also told me that she smelled familiar scents on the bunks, confirming our surmise that the beds had been occupied by Kiranda and Nurah. Bohgong examined both and affirmed what Kirara had detected. Before we left the barracks, Zosta found a pen and tablet that had been left behind and wrote a note to Nurah repeating the same sentiments she had spoken aloud when we entered.
Behind he barracks we knew the staircase to be blocked with rubble so we did not investigate further to the south of that chamber. Instead we returned to the gallery and investigated a set of double doors on its north end. As soon as these doors were opened by Shim, boulders tumbled out and fell on him and on Runa and Zosta who stood beside him. Beyond the doors we could see that there was an area of rubble filling part of a large chamber. Then Zosta reported that she could see a winged minotaur standing in the rubble-free portion of the chamber, and she could hear noises from at least two more creatures that sounded of a similar size.
A large creature roared from within the chamber and a crossbow bolt nearly as large as a ballista bolt shot out through the doors and struck Runa hard, piercing her golden armor. She expressed considerable pain at the impact, even more than would ordinarily be caused by such a wound. She suspected that some fell magic affected the bolt. Zosta reported that the minotaur which had fired the bolt had a very large and heavy crossbow in one hand and was holding a tiefling cultist in the other, using the tiefling as a shield. This minotaur had no wings. Then some magical effect surged out of the room to affect most of us with painful wounds. Jiro exclaimed that it was an unholy blight. Shim swallowed a potion from his endless store of such. Runa touched Zosta's bladed brass knuckles and granted them the power of good, then began to climb over the rubble to face the minotaurs. She called on Iomedae's healing power as she climbed, which was a timely decision for then two more bolts struck her. Jiro moved in behind her, using his special powers to cast a curative spell on her.
At that moment darkness engulfed us all. I could see nothing, but I knew that some of my comrades could still see. I heard the flapping of wings from within the room. Kirara told me that one of the winged minotaus had flown to Runa and struck her with its very large axe. Zosta vaulted over the fallen stones to rush at the minotaur with the crossbow. I realized that if the minotaurs kept focusing their attacks on Runa as they seemed to be doing she would soon be in dire straits. I reached out with my magic to the plane of Elysium to request that a lantern archon come and grant its aid to Runa. Shim swallowed a second potion and began to cling to the wall like a spider near the entrance of the darkened chamber containing the minotaurs.
Runa healed herself again and approached he minotaur that had come to her, directing Iomedae's brilliant radiance at the other two minotaurs. The cultist being used as a living shield was slain by the injury the divine magic dealt him, but the minotaur continued to hold him up. Jiro used his newly acquired immovable rod to hand his lantern in midair and summoned from it a warm light that dispelled the darkness. A bead of force shot past his head as Bohgong employed the wand he had acquired from me. The second winged minotaur moved against Runa also. She was clearly barely able to stand and covered in blood. Jiro called to Zosta to leave her opponent and come to Runa's aid. She ran up to the second minotaur and dealt it a might blow that dropped it to the ground. Then she moved toward Runa's first foe.
These minotaurs were clearly not the ordinary variety. I moved closer to the doorway to see them better and realized that they were fiendish beasts of the Abyss, with the same ability to resist certain types of energy that demons are granted. I used my own special power to call a lightning bolt upon the first one despite not having prepared that spell on this day. Not all of the lightning harmed it, but some was able to penetrate its defenses. Then I called to Elysium again and another archon appeared, this one in the form of a female figure of wood who attacked the minotaur with a great blade like a branch. Jestak slew the third minotaur and ran to Runa's aid, enabling Runa a moment to heal herself of her grievous wounds. She then blasted her enemy with fierce light. Shim joined them versus the remaining minotaur and struck it a sound blow with his elven curved blade. Zosta then kicked its feet out from under it and slammed her elbow into it with such force that it breathed its last breath. As I have told you, one would not think it to see her but Zosta is a warrior of fearsome prowess.
The minotaurs proved to be equipped with little wealth or enchanted items, but the one without wings had its crossbow and a belt of agility, and also a protective cloak. My companions asked me if I should like to take the belt as it would improve my aim with ranged spells and make me better able to avoid attacks on me. To this I agreed. We gathered up what gold the wingless minotaur had also carried, realizing that it must have been a hired mercenary rather than a follower of the demon lords. When we had taken what we desired we decided to investigate the door at the far end of he room, for we feared that other doors would lead us to Staunton Vhane and his brother and we did not feel we were prepared to face them at that moment.
But Jiro had sacrificed more of his power to heal most of our wounds, and we wanted to complete our exploration of everything above ground. We opened the next set of locked double doors on the north side of the room where the minotaurs had camped. As soon as those doors were open they revealed another large room with columns, this one also containing three creatures of the same kind, though they were not of a type we had encountered before. Jiro recognized that they were demons called thoxel, far less powerful than the fiendish minotaurs.
Thoxel
Jestak began to look at Runa with an expression of menace, and Jiro realized that one of the thoxels had cast a spell on her commanding her to attack her nearest ally. He cast a spell of his own to remove the effect from her. Shim moved into the room to face one of the demons directly, wielding his blade. Enraged, Jestak crossed to raise her greatsword against the second thoxel. One attempted to confuse Zosta, but its magic washed over her without effect. Runa moved closer also and granted Jestak an additional attack, which she used to strike the thoxel a fearful blow. I desired to help my friends, so I used my power to grant myself a spell that would make my throw more accurate and hurled my spear at one of the thoxels. Zosta sprinted across the room and slid on her knees past Runa to knock down the demon in the center of the three and then when it had fallen she dealt it several blows. But somehow the creature affected her. These thoxels are demons formed of the souls of the insolent and disobedient, and she became afflicted with their insolence, insisting that this one was hers to battle. Fortunately this effect did not cause her to turn entirely against us. Runa slew that thoxel, much to Zosta's irritation. She kicked over a second and slammed her fist into it. Between the attacks of Zosta, Runa, Jestak, and Shim, all three of the demons died quite soon.
Next: part 41, Life and Death
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Since I've been adding humorous player remarks to some of my other campaign journals, I'm going to start adding them here as well.
Jiro: "Does Runa jump in?"
Asami: "I can't really see Runa jumping."
Shim: "More like doing the electric slide."
Jiro rolls a 42 on a Knowledge (Arcana) versus a succubus.
Asami: "With a 42 Jiro knows what size underwear she wears!"
GM: "It's XE - Extra Evil."
Jiro: "There's some taint in there."
GM: "You get an extra reroll for that."
GM: "Irabeth has a map of the Citadel with miniature figures on it."
Jiro: "I want to be the car."
The GM puts out some miniature beds and crates that look a little like mini candy bars.
"I'd better be sure I don't eat the beds instead of a candy bar. Those taste crate!"
The GM puts out three miniatures of large fiendish minotaurs. "The monsters are exactly as the minis appear."
Jiro: "They're three inches tall?!"
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