Taking the Fight to Them
Dramatis Personae:
KlikKlick BoomBoom, the
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.
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