Pathfinders of the New World- Knights of the Cross(roads), the Next Generation: Book Two, Chapter Nine

The Bandit Woods

Dramatis Personae:
KlikKlick BoomBoom, the Kobold Platinum pint-sized Dragonborn Beastmaster and Priestess of Apsu
TickTick, KlikKlik's Giant Bat animal companion
Taryn Al'Maera, the Drow Assassin and future Ralliakkan
Niss'RizDax Kenarn, the Drow Sword Dancer Priestess of Eilistraee, "the Moonlit Dancer"
Xara, the Dorc Circus Eldritch Knight

Comrades we have lost:
Sonitri, the Samsaran Arcane Prodigy Sorcerer- went home
Nyneve, the Water Genasi Druid of the Fountain- eaten by zombies

NOTE: Things will be mostly from Dax's perspective, anything in italics is from a third party view, since the priestess can't be everywhere at once.

***** Astron 26, 480, Crossroads

       In preparation for their stupid circus, the others ordered a bunch more wagons and tents for our employees. It would take a couple of weeks, I really hoped we wouldn't just be bumming around Crossroads, there's so much more we could be doing.

***** Astron 27, Crossroads

       Today Klik decided we should give Stormageddon Mach II to Kelani for battle training, and we left Athas to learn from her. She said it would take about a month, but she could at the very least get the training going before we left with the circus.

***** Astron 28, Crossroads

       I was so fucking bored by this point I was about to join the military just to give myself something to do. Well, maybe not that bored, but I was seriously getting antsy. Finally, the others decided that we could go do something while waiting for their crap for the circus to be done.

       We decided to clear out the Bandit Woods, which had begun to fill with bandits again recently; apparently the stories had become myth, not warning. We knew there were three camps in the woods, so we were going to have Klik fly into each camp, offer them mercy if they surrendered, and slaughter them if they refused. Xara was still sleeping when we were ready, so we left her a note and headed out.

       When we arrived at the first camp, Klik flew in, per our plan, and told them to surrender in the name of Apsu and they'd be granted mercy. One of them said that they should just shoot her instead- big mistake. Taryn shot that guy with Bad News, one of her guns, and his head literally exploded. It was kind of awesome... though I shouldn't find amusement in this kind of thing anymore. Instead of the intimidation tactic that I think Taryn was going for, a couple more of the bandits turned and shot at her.

       I saw another one drop to Taryn's gun, and Klik used her scatter gun to kill another eight of them. I followed up with a fireball on the cluster, killing all but one of the bandits in that group. In the corner of my eye, I saw Taryn fall from the shots they'd fired at her; Klik hurried to her side though. I had sunk kind of low to the ground after my fireball, in hopes it would keep them from shooting me. Technically it worked, but some of them came at me. I summoned my Spirit Guardians, killing the bulk of them. On the other side of the tent I'd hidden behind, I heard the boom of Taryn and KlikKlik's guns, it sounded like they were doing okay. A couple of the guys on me managed to land hits on me, and I responded by killing one of them. Klik and Taryn took out the last of the bandits.

       As we were cleaning up, Xara finally joined us. Once we'd finished getting things sorted out we headed toward the next camp. We weren't too far out when we saw a small ambush party coming toward the camp we'd just slaughtered. Klik offered them mercy, as per usual, and of course the idiots didn't listen. We killed them all with ease, and decided to return to the first camp to store what we'd gotten off these bodies, and to take a quick rest.

       We found another ambush group heading toward the second camp, so we decided to wait until they got back before we ambushed them; we didn't want reinforcements to pop in mid battle. KlikKlik demanded surrender again, and the man who seemed to be the leader responded by leveling his crossbow at her. Klik dropped bombs on them while Taryn shot the lead- a bunch of them died from that. I dropped a fireball on them, killing another six and catching some tents on fire. Because of my fireball, the bandits thought I was a mage and they all targeted me. Great.

       Taryn flew in and shot the leader right in the head, which exploded. It was kind of comical hearing that deafening "boom" and seeing the head splort like a melon dropped off a balcony. Klik used her scatter gun and dropped a bunch more of them. Xara and I stayed at range, slinging spells for a few moments, before she decided that this was boring, and flew in to fight them in melee. She swooped down, jumped off her broom right on top of a guy, and somehow managed to smush him to death. There were only a couple left at this point, and when they realized they were doomed, they turned and started to run... they didn't get very far before we dropped them though.

       There was only a single camp left at this point, and it was even smaller than the other two. Taryn scouted it and saw signs of children- little wooden play swords, and things like that. Our tactic wouldn't work in this case, we couldn't risk killing the children. We quickly made a new plan, Klik would demand that the leader surrender, in hopes that we could prevent slaughtering him in front of his kid.

       The leader asked Klik why he should go with her, since she seemed to be alone, and she explained that she was very much not alone, prompting Taryn to shoot the ground near his feet- without hitting any of them. KlikKlik told him that if he came peacefully, his family could get shelter and assistance from the Church of Apsu... I was a little surprised when he gave in. We helped them pack everything up and headed back to the smaller camp we'd just cleared for the night.

       That night, about three hours into the rest, a growl came from the prisoner's dog. A small pack of wolves was going for the bodies of the bandits. KlikKlik got them to back off, but allowed the wolves to take a single body with them. 

***** Astron 29, Bandit Woods

       We spent a good portion of the morning packing up what we wanted from the small warehouse the bandits had at this camp. Once we'd taken what we wanted, we headed to the large camp to do the same thing. It took so long to sort the larger camp that we decided to sleep there for the night. Wolves showed up again in the night, wanting to eat the bodies, but Klik scared them off again.

***** Astron 30, Crossroads

       When we got back to Crossroads we took the prisoner straight to the Temple of Apsu. Kibbik found him guilty, he repented his sins, and said he would devote his life to the service of Apsu so long as his family was provided for. Kibbik took the first two knuckles of his ring finger, and the trial was over.

Pathfinders of the New World- Knights of the Cross(roads), the Next Generation: Book Two, Chapter Eight

Cirque de Whoreleil 

Dramatis Personae:
KlikKlick BoomBoom, the Kobold Platinum pint-sized Dragonborn Beastmaster and Priestess of Apsu
TickTick, KlikKlik's Giant Bat animal companion
Taryn Al'Maera, the Drow Assassin and future Ralliakkan
Niss'RizDax Kenarn, the Drow Sword Dancer Priestess of Eilistraee, "the Moonlit Dancer"
Xara, the Dorc Circus Eldritch Knight

Comrades we have lost:
Sonitri, the Samsaran Arcane Prodigy Sorcerer- went home
Nyneve, the Water Genasi Druid of the Fountain- eaten by zombies


NOTE: Things will be mostly from Dax's perspective, anything in italics is from a third party view, since the priestess can't be everywhere at once.

***** Astron 18, 480, Crossroads

       Taryn found a letter and package on the table in her room upon waking, the package contained several smoke bombs, and the letter was from Ralliakkan telling her that her services were desired by the military.

       KlikKlik was greeted by Gabtar this morning and given a gift from Kibbik. Gabtar told her that they appreciated her military service, and hoped she would continue assisting them. 

       Xara was walking toward the market when Maggie came skipping up to her, said "you're weird, I like you," and handed her some potions. 

       I was greeted by Kelani this morning, the druid thanked me for my assistance in the military and handed me a couple of very useful potions. I wasn't expecting that.

       We all got together after breakfast and talked about our options. Taryn was very set against working for the military, even though it sounded like Gabtar didn't want us on the front lines. She said there were bounties we could go after, which would allow us to do some good in this world, without actually joining the military. Since the others agreed, I figured I may as well go too. Eilistraee placed me with them for a reason, so this must be the path she wishes me to follow.

       We were going to hit Deadwood first, but we decided to hit up the arenas one more time before leaving. Today we hit the Hunter's Arena, instead of the Gladiator's Arena. I had to hunt down and kill four dire wolves, it wasn't easy at first, but I managed it. Taryn had to fight four giant spiders- which was just mean, putting a Lolthite up against the creature that's sacrilege to kill. I chuckled to myself as she dropped them, wondering what Lolth would do to her for this. KlikKlik had to fight four vultures, and she took them out quickly. Xara's fight was the most peculiar. She was fighting four giant toads, and got swallowed by one... she managed to bust out of it, but for a few seconds I wondered if she'd die in the belly of the toad.

       Once we were done with our fights, we geared up Stormageddon Mach II and headed to Deadwood to look for some bounties. I settled down to take a reverie while we traveled.

       After a couple of hours, Taryn noticed some shadows up ahead, and shot at one of them. About twenty bandits emerged from the woods and came toward the group. I woke up to Xara shaking me awake, telling me there were bandits in our path. As I oriented myself to figure out where I needed to be, I heard the familiar boom of KlikKlik's gun, and watched twelve of the bandits fall. The kobold yelled she'd show them mercy if they left. Before they had a chance though, I dropped a fireball on the ones still standing, making sure I wouldn't hit any that were already down- we didn't want to kill them. A couple of them dodged my fireball, so Xara shot one, and Taryn made Stormageddon Mach II charge them. We spent the next two hours rigging up a couple of nets to carry our fourteen prisoners to Deadwood with us so we could turn them in. We only killed one of the bandits, and a couple of them managed to escape us.

       When we got to Deadwood Taryn asked for the best room available, and we were greeted to a group of whores waiting in the room. She didn't want them, but Xara did, so  she hurried out after them, asking if I wanted to join. I thought it sounded like fun, so we got our own room and grabbed two whores each. We had a quite the fun, wild night. And damn, Xara is good. I may have to do that again soon...

***** Astron 19, Deadwood

       Xara asked me to teach her how to brew potions, so we spent the first couple hours of the day getting the ingredients. I didn't do a good job of teaching her, her tits were a bit distracting, and I burned the potion. Failing at that venture, we joined Taryn and KlikKlik in the casino for the rest of the day.

       That night Taryn decided to buy a couple large kegs of alcohol to take to the front lines and sell to the soldiers. As she was purchasing that, she and KlikKlik heard Xara and I say we were going to pick up four more whores for another orgy, and she decided to follow us. Somehow KlikKlik and Taryn came up with the idea of creating a mobile whore house to take to the front lines... I'm honestly not sure how this happened. Apparently this is going to be a front to get us near the high profile targets, but it's a fucking weird one.

       I went to have my fun, and hoped this idea would be gone when I got up in the morning.

***** Astron 20, Deadwood

       It wasn't. The others were all gung ho for this stupid mobile whore house still. They decided we should head back to Crossroads to see if we could purchase some of the land boats for the whores to live in.

       On the way there, a single bandit popped out from behind a rock, took a shot at us, missed, and bolted. We decided he wasn't worth going after.

       When we got back to Crossroads, KlikKlik and Taryn went to talk to Kibbik and Ralliakkan about bankrolling this stupid idea, and Xara contacted her circus. She thought that we might be able to get some large tents from the circus for the whores, and potentially a couple of the land boats.

       Kibbik would bankroll us for 15% of the profits- part of the 15% was purchasing brooms of flying for all of us; he would also be giving us three paladins to help protect the whores. Ralliakkan would also be taking a 15% cut, and she gave Taryn a writ to allow us to order things.

       We then set out to find Xara's circus, and ended up spending the night in the North Shire.

***** Astron 21, Xara's Circus

       We reached the circus in the early evening and were well received. Through negotiations we were able to get a second elephant, tents, a couple carts, and some drugs. We also hired a few of the carnies, some guards, dancers, and game hustlers, along with a kid who couple handle the elephants and his mom.

***** Astron 23, North Shire

       We set out in the morning for Crossroads, but Taryn decided to stop in North Shire to purchase some shire leaf and mead. She made the mistake of asking who makes the best of each, and we had to listen to every halfling in the tavern argue over whose product was actually the best. When we were finally done there, it was too late for us to reach Crossroads by nightfall, so we stopped in Brookwood for the night.

***** Astron 25, Crossroads

       It took forever for us to get back to Crossroads with so many people, but eventually we made it. I hit the arena that night to blow off some steam.

Pathfinders of the New World- Knights of the Cross(roads), the Next Generation: Book Two, Chapter Seven

Blowing off Steam

Dramatis Personae:
KlikKlick BoomBoom, the Kobold Platinum pint-sized Dragonborn Beastmaster and Priestess of Apsu
TickTick, KlikKlik's Giant Bat animal companion
Taryn Al'Maera, the Drow Assassin and future Ralliakkan
Niss'RizDax Kenarn, the Drow Sword Dancer Priestess of Eilistraee, "the Moonlit Dancer"
Xara, the Dorc Circus Eldritch Knight

Comrades we have lost:
Sonitri, the Samsaran Arcane Prodigy Sorcerer- went home
Nyneve, the Water Genasi Druid of the Fountain- eaten by zombies

NOTE: Things will be mostly from Dax's perspective, anything in italics is from a third party view, since the priestess can't be everywhere at once.

***** Astron 14, 480, Crossroads

       We spent the day shopping in town. KlikKlik and I went to the Mage's Guild to see if we could pass their test for entrance- we both did. We made it in, when we aren't mages, but Xara couldn't succeed. Both of us teased her, so she went back and managed to get access. It was nice being able to just hang out instead of chasing after fucking undead.

       That night Taryn went out and found the underground fighting pits, and completely dominated them. 

***** Astron 15, Crossroads

       We decided to hit the arenas today, there were two different fights for teams of two, and one four-on-four team fight. Xara and I entered one of the two person fights, and KlikKlik and Taryn entered the other; then we decided to meet up for the four person fight later.

       Taryn and KlikKlik had to fight a group of bears. They won, though Taryn took a heavy beating in the process.

       Xara and I faced eight dire wolves, and I took them out easily enough. She didn't kill a single one of the bunch.

       In the four person fight we faced a monk, a sorcerer, a warlock, and a rogue. They did not like Xara at all. The monk shadow stepped to her and began punching her, the rogue shot her, the sorcerer hit her and Taryn with a lightning bolt, and then slimy, black tentacles came out of the ground- which were aimed at Taryn, Xara, and I, but they only managed to hit Xara.

       Taryn took out the monk right away with ease. I dropped a fireball on the remaining three people, then KlikKlik and TickTick dropped the rogue, Poor Xara was completely tangled in the tentacles- it didn't look like she was going to get out of those any time soon. The sorcerer hit our tangled dorc with another lightning bolt, and their warlock finished her off. My other three companions dropped the sorcerer, leaving only the warlock for us to take out. I revived Xara and blasted the damn warlock, but I didn't hit hard enough to drop his concentration on the tentacle spell; thankfully Xara made it out of the zone on her own. Then a quasit appeared in from of us and went for KlikKlik- I think it was the warlock's familiar. We polished off the warlock right after that attack though, and its quasit vanished. We had won!

       That night Taryn took KlikKlik to the fighting pits, and they both completely dominated their opponents. 

***** Astron 16, Crossroads

       This morning Taryn told us about the fighting pits her and KlikKlik had started going to. They sounded like fun, so Xara and I decided to join them tonight.

       Taryn returned from our shopping today announcing that she had made it into the Mage's Guild- even though she has no magic aside from her natural drow abilities... and she gained higher clearance than Xara had.

       During my first fight in the pits tonight, I hit the guy with a sacred flame and the angel of death appeared and ripped his soul out... I did not expect that to happen. I feel bad about it, but obviously Eilistraee saw a need for the magic she grants me to slay that guy. I beat but didn't kill my second opponent, and then a barbarian challenged me. He did some damage to me, but I still kicked his ass. Then KlikKlik challenged me, TickTick gives her an unfair advantage, and the kobold beat me.

       Xara killed the first two people she faced too, so I didn't feel quite as bad about accidentally summoning an angel of death on my first guy. She beat the assassin who challenged her next, and finally didn't straight up kill someone she faced. Taryn challenged Xara and completely owned her.

The final fight of the night was KlikKlik versus Taryn, without TickTick. KlikKlik just barely beat Taryn.

***** Astron 17, Crossroads

       Xara got completely shitfaced today after our shopping trip, but still decided to come with KlikKlik and I to the pits tonight. KlikKlik challenged the very drunk dorc, but she had to fight the barbarian I'd beaten the night before first. We didn't think she had a chance at winning, but somehow the dorc prevailed. It was no surprise when KlikKlik completely mopped the floor with Xara after that.

Pathfinders of the New World- Knights of the Cross(roads), the Next Generation: Book Two, Chapter Six

Ending the Siege

Dramatis Personae:
KlikKlick BoomBoom, the Kobold Platinum pint-sized Dragonborn Beastmaster and Priestess of Apsu
TickTick, KlikKlik's Giant Bat animal companion
Sonitri, the Samsaran Arcane Prodigy Sorcerer
Taryn Al'Maera, the Drow Assassin and future Ralliakkan
Niss'RizDax Kenarn, the Drow Sword Dancer Priestess of Eilistraee, "the Moonlit Dancer"
Xara, the Dorc Circus Eldritch Knight

Comrades we have lost:
Nyneve, the Water Genasi Druid of the Fountain- eaten by zombies

NOTE: Things will be mostly from Dax's perspective, anything in italics is from a third party view, since the priestess can't be everywhere at once.

***** Astron 12, 480, battlefield outside the Red Keep

       We took a quick moment to get ourselves healed a little bit, and I wiped the blood from my face, before we began to run to the front lines. I was concerned about the next wave of the battle, red spots had begun to creep into the edges of my vision, signaling that I was nearing the ends of my magical reserves and would only have cantrips at my disposal.

       About 500 feet away, I saw tons of undead pouring out of huts, and at least sixty of them were coming right for us. As usual, KlikKlik began shooting at them as soon as they got into range, but unlike the demons, the skeleton archers could shoot back. She had TickTick grab Taryn to go help with the archers, leaving Xara and I to deal with the ghouls and zombies running toward us. I fucking hate undead.

       TickTick and Taryn swooped down and took out a couple of skeletons, but when TickTick went to take off again, he did a weird swooping thing and his saddle swiveled around, leaving Taryn hanging from his belly. TickTick and Taryn got swarmed by the undead, and poor TickTick got paralyzed by a ghoul's claw. KlikKlik cast a sanctuary spell on the two of them, yelling to Taryn that she couldn't attack the undead in order to stay protected.

       Xara and I were slinging spells at the zombies and ghouls coming toward us, and as soon as the zombies got close enough I destroyed a shit load of the fuckers. I am so grateful for the blessings Eilistraee has laid upon me.

       TickTick tried to take off again, spun in a circle, and went back to the ground. I heard KlikKlik swear as she placed sanctuary on the two of them again.

       The soldiers with Xara and I were taking out the ghouls quite quickly- I was impressed. A few of them were injured, but overall they were holding their own. I used the blessings of Eilistraee to dust another large group of the zombies, taking as much heat off of our troops as I could.

       TickTick and Taryn killed both ghouls that were attacking them, then attempted to fly again... but TickTick got tangled in the saddle and broke his wing. KlikKlik flew over to her bat and healed his wing- that poor bat just was not having an easy time in this fight.

       We mopped up the last couple of ghouls and zombies quickly, and ended up only losing a single soldier in the battle. Thankfully we did not lose TickTick too- or Taryn, I suppose.

       We moved toward a cluster of small huts, that we thought had goblins in them. There was no movement at the huts, and it was eerily quiet; they were probably hiding from us. Taryn decided to sneak in and see what was going on with them. Goblins emerged from one of the huts, and KlikKlik yelled that she'd save them in the name of Apsu- they started shooting at her instead. Evidently these goblins didn't want redemption. The kobold yelled "if you keep shooting, I'll kill you all!" Of course they didn't heed her warning.

       Taryn tossed a flask of alchemical fire into one of the huts, killing all of the goblins inside- then she stepped into a trap and hurt her arm. She continued on, tossing another flask into a hut to take out that group. Xara decided to copy Taryn, but stepped into a trap instead and almost went down from it. This didn't seem to be going well. Our people kept getting dropped from the stupid traps, and I couldn't get to them fast enough to save everyone, we were just spread too thin. This didn't even seem like a proper battle, their traps were doing move damage to us than the goblins were, and the others were mostly setting the huts on fire, not attacking them directly. I kept as many of the soldiers alive as I could, and eventually all but one of the goblins was dead- we kept that one as a prisoner.

       We got some healing from another cleric before moving on, and Pinkerton told us that all we had left were orcs before we'd reach the cult itself. At least we'd have reinforcements for the final piece of the fight, if we all made it there alive.

       The orcs were in six huts, and when we got close to them they began pouring out of them. Apparently they weren't as cowardly as the damn goblins were. We began exchanging blows with them right away, and they went down pretty fast- though poor Xara took some heavy injuries during the fight. Unfortunately my magical reserves were almost completely tapped. I knew I had enough left for one more spell, but I had to save it in case I had to bring someone back from the dead. My head was pounding and those red spots were dancing along the edges of my vision more rapidly. I prayed we'd survive the final showdown.

       We met up with Pinkerton and the others, and saw up ahead of us a massive sea of people. There was a circle beyond them, with some sort of ritual happening. I could see ghasts in the group, but they were currently sheltered by the people. Taryn hurled a bomb at the crowd, but it didn't do as much as she seemed to have hoped it would. As we began exchanging blows with the sea of people, TickTick picked up Seipora and carried her toward the circle so she could unleash hell on the people in it. All around me people were hurling spells, bombs, and weapons around, and the undead kept paralyzing our people. I was moving as quickly as I could to stabilize the fallen so we wouldn't lose them.

       Someone in the circle hit TickTick hard, and I saw the poor bat go down. Thankfully Silifrey revived him right away. Taryn charged the guy in the circle and ripped into him; the revived TickTick finished him off. Once the cult leader was down we were able to mop up the rest of the cultists easily. We had won and ended the siege!

       Once we were  done, all five of us turned and headed to Stormageddon Mach II, leaving for Crossroads right away.

***** Astron 13, Crossroads

       We reported in in the morning, and Pinkerton told us our services were still needed if we wished to continue working for the military. None of us committed to anything, we wanted to relax and blow off some steam before we made any sort of choice.

       Sonitri decided she was done with adventuring and wanted to go home to Riverside.

Pathfinders of the New World- Knights of the Cross(roads), the Next Generation: Book Two, Chapter Five

Taking the Fight to Them

Dramatis Personae:
KlikKlick BoomBoom, the Kobold Platinum pint-sized Dragonborn Beastmaster and Priestess of Apsu
TickTick, KlikKlik's Giant Bat animal companion
Sonitri, the Samsaran Arcane Prodigy Sorcerer
Taryn Al'Maera, the Drow Assassin and future Ralliakkan
Stormageddon Mach II, Taryn's elephant
Niss'RizDax Kenarn, the Drow Sword Dancer Priestess of Eilistraee, "the Moonlit Dancer"
Xara, the Dorc Circus Eldritch Knight

Comrades we have lost:
Nyneve, the Water Genasi Druid of the Fountain- eaten by zombies

NOTE: Things will be mostly from Dax's perspective, anything in italics is from a third party view, since the priestess can't be everywhere at once.

***** Astron 11, 480, Crossroads

       When we arrived at the base this morning, it was filled with about 150 different adventurers. Major General Mavha Trak'len told everyone that the land had been mostly cleared of the undead threat and the cities were safe again; but there was still a lot to do in this war. She said the Scourge had attacked the Keep again, and that it was under siege. We were going to the Red Keep and taking the fight to them, hopefully we'd turn the tide in this war.

       All of the normal mounts had been sold, so we decided to buy an elephant to ride. Xara was thrilled when she found out what we were doing. The elephant was old and not in the best shape, but she would get us there; Taryn bought her and we all pitched in for the gondola to ride her. Taryn named her Stormageddon Mach II, after the horse Ralliakkan had ridden into battle so many times.

       Tarhun, a dragonborn druid who had been recruited into the military, saw the party purchasing the elephant and decided he wanted to join them. Instead of approaching the group, he decided to wild shape into a mouse, climb the elephant, and hitch a ride with them. 

       Our procession was slow, and I doubt the road out of town has ever been this crowded. As we were getting out of Crossroads, a dragonborn randomly appeared in our gondola. Taryn reacted instantly, getting to the stranger and holding a dagger to his throat. He said his name was Tarhun, he was another recruit in the military, and that he could help Stormageddon. That convinced Taryn to let him stay with us.

       There were literally heaps of undead bodies around the outer wall of Crossroads. As we traveled, a couple of zombies started to come near us, and we easily dispatched of them. True to his word, Tarhun talked to Stormageddon, found out what was wrong with her, and healed the elephant.

        Sixteen hours later we finally reached the camp outside of the Keep. There were thousands of people in this makeshift camp, and it was kind of disorganized. I thought military was supposed to be structured, but this is war, and they did hire a shit load of sellswords. In the distance, from our excellent view, we could see orcs, trolls, goblins, ogres, and who knows what else surrounding the Keep. Pinkerton told us the fail safes had been activated, and the shield around the Keep would fail soon; likely within the next two or three days.

***** Astron 12, camp outside of the Red Keep

       Pinkerton told us we were going to try to break down the waves of enemies surrounding the Keep, and hopefully we'd be keeping the front defenses from getting broken. We were assigned to a section of the wall to keep the defenses from getting decimated, and we'd hopefully be able to push forward.

       We were going to be teleported to our section of the battlefield, and were met by some terrified soldiers. We set up on the palisades and in the trench for some defensive cover, and could do nothing but wait for the hoarde of demons to reach us. Great. This was just fucking wonderful. I was a little worried about the size of the battle, but I knew Eilistraee would protect me, and aid me in cleansing this land of demons.

       KlikKlik could begin shooting at the demons long before they were in range for the rest of us, so I granted her the blessings of Eilistraee to aid her; I gave it to all of us, but I felt the magic slide off of Taryn- that was likely Lolth's doing. When they got closer, Sonitri threw a fireball at a cluster of them, dropping a couple, and I began slinging sacred flames at the lot of them.

       The hellwasps made a bunch of our soldiers pass out, and the vrock's spores knocked out a few more. Fucking demons. We began exchanging fire with them, and I saw Taryn take a nasty hit. A hellwasp pinned Xara and began pumping her innards out through her stomach. Before I could get to her, KlikKlik killed the hellwasp, and Xara was able to heal herself enough to keep going. We took out the first wave relatively quickly, and only lost one guard in the process, though a bunch of them were poisoned from the vrocks. In the distance we could see glabrezu coming toward us, and I hurried to stabilize the poisoned guards before the next group of demons arrived.

       KlikKlik was able to kill two of the glabrezu before they could reach us, but the last one scooped up Taryn and began beating on her pretty badly. A ton of quasits appeared in front of us- jackasses must have been invisible. I saw Taryn empty a water skin onto the glabrezu- from its reaction I think it was holy water. Sonitri tossed a fireball at the quasits and took out a decent amount of them, before they all turned invisible again. Xara finished off the glabrezu easily, making several quasits appear in the process. With the glabrezu down, mopping up the last of the quasits was easy enough.

       The next wave was dretches, with large gaps between them as if there were invisible foes between them. Great, more invisible demons, just what we fucking need. Two fireballs blossomed on the dretches, taking a few of them out- thanks to Sonitri. Eight bar-lguras appeared as four of our guards dropped- evidently those were the invisible things we'd spotted earlier. KlikKlik dropped a net on one of the bar-lguras, holding it still long enough for TickTick and Taryn to drop it. Sonitri tossed another fireball at the demons, doing some damage to them. We continued exchanging blows with them, while I attempted to keep as many guards stable as possible. These guys weren't nearly as easy to handle as the other demons had been. By the time we'd killed them and the dretches, quite a few guards had gone down, but not nearly as many as would have if I hadn't been able to keep them stable.