Session 41 - Heckpuppers and Reality Cracks

General Summary

37 Amberspell - Contd.

As the party drew closer, the woman noticed their approach and hailed them, calling, "This is a rather out of the way spot, what have you come looking for?"

Ell smiled brightly, "Oh a little of this and a little of of that. But we're always up for a good crack in reality. This looks quite interesting." As he spoke, with a hand behind his back, he cast Minor Illusion and made the surface of the lake look as if it had started bubbling. Pointing at it he added, "Look, I think I see it happening now."

Glancing briefly over her shoulder, the woman turned to glare at Ell, before pointing at the tear in reality at the lake's edge and said, "What are you doing you silly man, the crack is here... and soon, soon we will have it wide enough." Looking over the rest of the party, she smiled, "Perhaps that is why you have come, would the seven of you like to help enlarge the gateway?"

In a soft voice, Denye asked, "For what exactly?"

The woman laughed lightly, but there was no humor in it, before replying, "My Lord Balor of course."

Warily, Ell asked, "And what exactly will this Balor do when he comes through?"

"Why, he will remake the world. He will destroy this land, drag it down into desolation and corruption. In his wake lay death and disease."

Over the mental link, Denye said, "Oookay, I think we've parleyed enough."

Even before Denye had finished the statement, Jilken fired off the heavy crossbow, hitting the woman in the shoulder and knocking her back, stumbling into a small figure behind her.

Janora lifted the dogstaff slowly and as soon as it appeared a fight was going to start, sent a mental Command to the three hellhounds pulling at the rift, telling them to Come. All three stopped for a moment, but two of the beasts shook their heads before returning to the tear in space/time.

Before the woman had a chance to react, Jilken had already reloaded the heavy crossbow and released another shot, this one striking her in the forearm. It was quickly followed up with a shot from the Rainbow Reaper, that hit her in the thigh before exploding in flames. Ironheart charged one of the hellhounds, but it danced out of the way. Tear of Midnight Sorrow leaned out from behind Ell and shot an arrow at the nearest hellhound, but it went short, landing in the grass just before the hellhound. Cursing in Goblin, he ducked behind Ell.

Janora's mastiff ran forward as the witch called up their barghast spirit to spread poison in a cloud. It caught two of the hell-hounds and while both reacted, one of them seemed to droop a bit. Spinning the dog around, it let out an thundering bark, throwing one of the hellhounds back towards Ironheart's hooves.

Ell nudged his horse over behind a bush as he screamed, "No you idiots...why are you running towards them." Throwing up a hand, he cast Sickening Radiance and called up a giant sphere of pale green motes just in front of Jilken and Janora. The light seemed to have an impact on the hellhounds, but the strange woman seemed unaffected.

Sighing, she turned to look down at the small figure beside her, another goblin. Placing a hand on the goblin's head she said, "I believe it is time for you to join the others my dear." With a jerk of the wrist, she snapped the poor goblin's neck, just as Tear of Midnight Sorrow called out in Goblin, "Bud of Maiden's Hope...but how? Why?" Laughing, the woman tossed the body onto the pile of corpses below the rift. As she turned back to the party her form began to shimmer, becoming a giant black spider with a purple hourglass on her abdomen.

Seeing this new giant spider, Denye began to gesture and chant in birdcalls that made the air vibrate in the clearing. Lifting her staff she moved it in circles as the air around the foe began to spin and crackle with lightning as she called up a Storm Sphere. Pointing the staff at the giant spider, she sent a lightning bolt dancing over its carapace.

Ranunkel slipped off of his horse and shifted into his stone form before burrowing into the ground and vanishing underground just as clouds of flies swarmed over Ell, Jilken, and Janora. Ell managed to back just out of the way of the insects, but both Jilken and Janora got bitten multiple times. Vellikar thrust a hand downward before making a fist and bringing it up. As the firbolg did so a square of earth erupted in the middle of the storm sphere, sending clods of dirt into the malestrom as well as throwing one of the hellhounds into the air, before it landed, unmoving.

Two of hellhounds charged Jilken and Ironheart while another two ran up to Janora. One of the hellhounds got Janora's foot as the other spat a cone of flame over the witch, the mastiff, and the swarm of flies. The fire decimated the swarm as black bodies charred in the heat. The steed managed to back up to avoid the worst of the blast, but not before Janora took some damage as well. Of the two harrying Jilken, the elf managed to dodge one of the beasts, but the other clamped his jaws on her calf, scorching the flesh.

Growling, the Aiel warrior whipped out her lightning spear and skewered the hellhound who had bit her, killing it with two blows. Calling a command to Ironheart to trample the other hound, the war mare reared but refused to move into the pale green lights.

Climbing quickly to the head of Ell's pony, Tear of Midnight Sorrow began waving his rusty scimitar around swatting at the flies. There were so many that it was easy to hit them, although not all blows actually killed them. With a cry, he pointed at the rift, where a large, red-furred figure had appeared at the gate and was pushing against the too small opening.

Janora cast Armor of Agathys on their self as dark ice began to grow along shoulders and down the arms. The mastiff let out another echoing bark that threw one of the hellhounds back into the storm sphere where it got whipped around before landing on the ground dead. Ell, meanwhile fired off two Eldritch Blasts at the flies attacking him, dark bodies spattering like rain.

Looking around at this chaos and already concerned at the odds, the strange woman cast Dominate Person on Jilken, commanding the fighter to defend her as the spider form backed out of the patch of rough earth and moved towards the edge of the storm sphere, but the high winds were too much for it to escape entirely.

Denye held out both claws, and as she chanted a small bead of flame began to coalesce. With a flick of the wrists, she tossed the bead at the spider where it blossomed into a Fireball. As the flames erupted, golden shields of light enveloped Janora, Jilken, and their mounts. As the flames cleared, Denye hit the spider again with a lightning bolt, just as Ranunkel burst out of the ground to slam two fists into the giant spider. The first blow connected, but the creature danced out of the way of the second.

The flies swarmed around the party, biting Jilken and Ell, as Vellikar rode forward and cast Blight on the giant spider. Black vines of shadow writhed all over the creature before vanishing beneath the chitin. The spell hit, but the strange woman shook some of it off as the last hellhound plowed across the rough earth and bit at Ranunkel's stony heel.

Under the influence of the Dominate Person Jilken forced Ironheart to move next to Ranunkel. The Aiel elf wilted from the sickening radiation, but it wasn't enough to shake the spell and Jilken slammed into the stone druid twice with her spear. Surprised at the attack, Ranunkel was able to knock the first blow aside, but missed on the second strike and the spear stabbing into his side. With a gasp, the dwarf reverted to his natural form and collapsed to his knees, panting.

Tear of Midnight of Sorrow let out a cry of anger as he flailed at the flies reducing their swarm around himself and Ell. From the gate, a bestial roar echoed from the other side as this creature, whatever it may be, tried force itself through the gate.

Janrora's mastiff bit at the flies surrounding them, but didn't seem to get much of a reaction from them. On the other hand, the witch got quite a reaction when they cast Moonbeam on the giant spider. The creature howled in pain and it's form shimmered, but instead of taking the form of the elven woman, it was revealed as some sort of tall waxy, greasy abomination...somewhat like a candle stub, if a candle had wax tentacles.

Ell shot off another two Eldritch Blasts and cleared the last of the fly swarm before moving further away from the lake. At the same time the fiend stepped out of the moonlight and moved to the edge of the storm sphere before turning to mist and floating up away from the spell effects. Seeing her vanish, Denye sent three Scorching Rays at the remaining swarms, destroying one of them.

Ranunkel looked up at the stricken elf on the horse and jumped back into the pit to hide. The radiation was getting to him as he muttered a quick Healing Word on himself. The remaining two swarms converged on Vellikar, but the druid managed to avoid the flies. Seeing this new threat emerging from the portal, Vellikar threw a hand to the sky and dark storm clouds boiled into being, sending a lightning bolt directly on the gate. The new creature howled in pain, but continued to push its way into the material plane as the last of the hellhounds succumbed to the radiation.

Jilken looked around wildly for the spider before she too fell unconscious from the spell's effect. Feeling her mistress pass out, Ironheart spun and galloped out of the strange magics. Tear of Midnight fired off a quick arrow and caught the monster just as it pushed its way clear of the rift. Almost 9ft tall, this was clearly a demon. Resembling a minotaur with a red shaggy coat and gold plated bull horns, his face was distended and warped and he had sharp claws at the ends of thick fingers. The creature slapped itself on the chest with a flash of red arcane energy before leaping over the storm sphere to land in front Vellikar with a snarl

With a flick of their staff, Janora moved the Moonbeam over to the demon. It howled in pain from the soft white light as Janora moved up to grab Ironheart's reins and steady the unconscious elf woman. Ell backed his horse away from the fiend as he fired off two Eldritch Blasts at the new demon and dropped the Sickening Radience. Just then the yochlol demon reformed next to the warlock and struck at both Ell and Tear of Midnight Sorrows. The goblin ducked under the blow, but Ell got hit and reeled from the blow in his saddle.

Squawking loudly in alarm, Denye threw three more Scorching Rays at the waxy demon. The first shot was wide, but the second stuck the chest, burning a hole into the demon's form. The third hit the exact same spot and sunk into the body, as with a strangled scream the creature fell to the ground, charred bits of wax scattering to the ground. The wizard backed her pony behind a bush as she called up another lightning bolt from the storm sphere, striking the red demon in the back.

The flies continued to swarm around Vellikar, biting the druid, as more flies flew towards the rest of the party. Slapping at the flies, Vellikar called down another lightning bolt of his own on the chaaor demon, before backing up. Still perched on the head of the horse, Tear of Midnight Sorrow fired his shortbow at the fiend and landed another arrow in it's shoulder. In response, the chaaor stomped forward and let out a heart-stopping bestial roar that stunned the entire party. Denye's storm sphere vanished as Ell slumped over the front of his horse unconscious and would have fallen from the saddle if Tear of Midnight Sorrow had not grabbed his jacket.

With the party unable to move, the demon stalked forward towards Vellikar and raked two claws down at the druid. Unable to move, the first left gash marks down one of Vellikar's arms, the other cutting into his back. Janora was the first to recover and once more brought the Moonbeam to shine over the fiend. This time the light was tinged with dark shadows as the witch wove a curse of pain into the spell and the chaaor howled in pain.

Denye tossed another bead of flame over the shoulder of the demon and the resulting Fireball killed the last of the flies but didn't seem to have quite as much effect on the bull-headed creature. Ranunkel, still hiding in the burrow hole, cast Healing Word on himself once more, before poking a head over the side to see this large chaaor demon.

Gasping from the attack, Vellikar quickly cast Cure Wounds on himself to stop the bleeding, and backed away from the raging demon. It swiped at Vellikar, but the pony was too quick and the demon only clawed the air. Tear of Midnight Sorrow shot another arrow at the fiend, but this one hit one of the horns and bounced off.

Recognizing the wizard as the largest threat, the demon charged at Denye and went in for a vicious bite, but at the last second, he bounced off the swirl of golden feathers that Shielded her. Janora swung the Moonbeam around once more and with a final howl, the demon began to crack and crumble into ash. Rushing over the two unconcious party members, Denye cast Cure Wounds on both. As Ell came to consciousness, he started setting bushes on fire randomly before Vellikar calmed him.

Ranunkel stumbled up and after taking a look at the rest of the party said, "I think maybe we should find an inn."

Janora shook their head and pointed to the gate, "We shouldn't leave that thing open. I can close it, but I need to sit down and rest a bit before I'll be able to do so."

"If you can close it," said Denye, "I would really like to take a long rest. That fight burned almost everything I had." 

Ell, still looking pale and weak nodded vigorously in agreement and Janora shrugged. "Fine with me," said the witch, "but I'll let you all set up camp and I'll catch my breath and patch up my hide. Once I'm finished I can set up the dome as well."

The rest of the team agreed and settled down around a small fire. After an hour or so, Janora pulled a small brass bowl out of their pack, as well as a short-bladed knife. Setting the bowl on the ground, the witch began to chant in a guttural tongue and with a quick motion sliced a wrist. As the blood welled up Janora held thier wrist over the bowl and continued chanting for another minute or so before, with a final shout, they plunged the knife into the bowl of blood.

After binding their wrist, Janora took the bowl of blood and moved toward the rift in reality. Once more the witch began to chant, casting Dispel Magic on the portal and with the final word of the spell splashing the blood over the open doorway. The blood sizzled as it hit the arcane gate and the gate vanished with a pop.  

With a sharp nod at the vanished portal, Janora returned to the group and began ritually casting Tiny Hut. As soon as the magical dome appeared, the witch fell on their bedroll and passed out. With the rest of the party in similar shape, they soon all settled down for a long rest.

Report Date

28 Jan 2022