The Secret of the Isle

October 19, 2020

The group heads down further into the isle's center structure.  The first level is disturbing.  The floor is covered in blood that is fresh enough to be tacky but not drying to a brown.  Worse, the blood doesn't stick to their boots, but stays on the floor.  As they head down the corridor, they hear voices and eventually find two demons.  The demons are willing to talk a bit but the group isn't having it and attacks.  

These are the toughest opponents the group has fought.  Their thick hide and ability to teleport, means they move around the battlefield.  However, Marcus soon finds their weakness and he feebleminds one, taking it out of the battle.  With the help of Drewgan's new dinosaur friend, they are able to contain two of the three.  The third proves to be difficult.  When they hit, their weapons do well.  They have problems finding the vulnerable spots to it.  At one point, Raz slide under the behemoth of a demon and sliced at each of its legs but found only one place the armor didn't protect it.  Marcus slammed this one with a spell causing it to be less sure of itself, which opened up more opportunities to hurt it.  Then it breathed on them.  This wasn't the intense fire or frigid cold of a dragon's breath.  This was raw corruption fueled by souls.  Green energy, looking like flames, belched out.  Volhoric thought it best to get out of the way, and dropped under it.  Raz was caught in the middle.  This wasn't physical damage but psychic damage.  The souls within the breath weapon shared their torture, their pain, their agony that went deeper than the physical.  Then the demon pulled them all back into it!  It would have pulled Raz's soul as well but he resisted but still experienced the agony that the souls went through.  They managed to do some more damage here and there but eventually Shyrrik moved up and cut at the demon with the sword of the planes.  Shyrrik hit twice but knew how to use the misses and turn it into a portal.  Shyrrik sent it back, banishing it.  With the fight was over, Dakxer healed them.  

Traveling the rest of this level proved tough.  There were more souls stuck in the walls and they would come shouting out, sharing their torture.  The souls rattled the group as they traveled more and more into the cave but helped each other get through it.  They found stairs going down.  

The next level was also a cave but no blood on the ground and no souls.  Something about the curves and loops of the carved cavern nagged at the group but they kept going.  Until the damsel in distress asked them to stay away or she would be hurt.

Really?

That was the best these demons could do?  Raz charged.  

It turned out the damsel illusion hide a Marilith, who pulled out many long sword and attacked, slicing up Raz.  Raz couldn't remember the last time he received so many cuts and he had deflected some of the attacks!  A giant scorpion started moving down the corridor but Drewgan summoned more dinosaurs, blocking it off.  That allowed Shyrrik's arrows to take the scorpion out.  That left the Marilith alone.  And that was the problem.  Had it more scorpions or the ability to move about more, it might have done better.  The sarcophagus it was guarding demanded it stay near, though, and while its attacks hurt Raz, they were able to take it down.  

Drewgan ordered the remaining dinosaurs to open the sarcophagus and the spell they activated sent them back.  Then Volhoric moved up and started working on the intricate carvings.  They carvings formed a massive trap that went around in a clockwise motion on the sides of the sarcophagus and culminated on the top.  A few times, Volhoric's chisel worked the wrong space and he hoped he had compensated.  A few sparks came out as the group watched Volhoric work his way around it and to the top.  As he rounded to the top, several members held their breath until Volhoric marred the top of it and stepped back.  The trap faded.  

Getting in to it took the strong members of the group lifting a stone lid off to reveal three angel feathers.  Not white but a dusky grey color.  They knew as they touched it that it was from Kydri.  They also knew it was to the north and where to go.  Finally, they could put it on weapons, it would only take a minute to put it into a weapon but would take an hour to remove it.  On a weapon, or used as a focus, that wielder could damage Kydri.  Nothing else would hurt him.  After some discussion, they gave them to Shyrrik, Raz, and Volhoric.  The rest would have to buff or perhaps distract with spells.  Besides, Kydri wouldn't be alone.  

As they headed back up, they thought of cleansing this place and this island.  Dakxer would love to do that but it would take tendays.  That didn't take into account the soul steel they wanted to cleanse and free the souls.  They went back up, killed the slave demons, and then sealed the building as best as they could.  They got back across the lake and moved a few miles from the island to make camp.  

Discussing their options, they didn't need to rush directly to Kydri.  They could go rest before facing him.  They discussed this late into the night and the next morning, feeling better and refreshed.  

46400 xp

GM Notes

• I almost called this Stupid Smart Demons because of Meredith's attempt to be a damsel in distress.  In a cave.  After the blood and soul cave.  And other demons.  
• We did discuss this and I don't mind them just attacking.  Makes more sense, really, than a monologue.
• It was a very tough fight between all of the demons and was worth a lot of xp.
• Still had some issues with d20Pro but I shared my screen and we kept going.    

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