Age of Ruin IC: The final battle

[Lycar]

Orin

Orin somehow manages to just sidestep most of the lightning bolt, but this move unbalances him and so he ends up taking the full force of Azakan's fire attack.

"Aaaaaaarrghhh!!!...."

This time he does fire. He staggers around another step or two before falling down, still and silent.

Apart from the crackling of the flames comsuming his body that is.

Lycar

[Ozzy_G]

Orin's body collapses, burnt by Azakan's ray of fire.
Kaleff stabs the dwarf in the gut. He falters, coughing blood, but isn't down yet.
The elephant blunders along, knocking Govan away again, staggering. It knocks over Emorik and walks over him, leaving a battered and bloody corpse.
Out of the corridor run four Zahn warriors, waving their swords. Behind them is Wasari, his two swords out, a vicious scar on his face.
Ismal finishes her spell, and Draven transforms into a vicious-looking cave troll.
Azakan's slippery crown nearly falls off, as he's not holding it on now, but he manages to keep it on, just.
Azakan snarls as he sees the dwarf stabbed by an invisible assailant. Get off here! he shouts.
A massive wave of cold energy blasts out from his body, instantly killing the Dwarf, the Quasit, the little girl, and the three remaining Dretches. Kaleff feels his body turning numb with cold...

[Ozzy_G]

The priestess runs forward, and sprinkles a bag of diamond dust over Orin's charred corpse, chanting in Zahn.

Spoiler

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Like a muse from the fire, awake!

There is a flash of light, and he is whole again, though still badly burnt and unconscious.

[Ozzy_G]

Draven, in his new troll form, rips into Govan, literally tearing him limb from limb, his battered corpse dropped in a bloody heap on the floor.

[NobleSavage]

Kaleff

Looking around, Kaleff quickly takes stock of the situation. Azakan seemed the only immediate threat, and with no sacrifices left about... The ceremony is on hold...

Seeing no need to risk another burst, the Zhan quickly bends to the dwarf's prone body, snatching up the knife. Concentrating then, he wills himself to the ceiling, away from danger. Looking about, he looks for further threats to head off.

[Toliudar]

Ismal

Ismal eyes Azakan with suspicion, but is relieved to see Orin breathing steadily again. She sends her thoughts to the elephant.

"Stampy, if that man with the gold hat on tries to hurt anyone, I want you to go trample him. Understand?

She turns to Azakan and speaks out loud, for the first time in what seems like days. Her voice is hoarse, and she is just barely in control of her breathing.

"My lord, it's over. Govan is gone. Even if Imshaeroth does not kill him, his plans are in shambles. It's time to put that crown down, and talk."

[Ozzy_G]

Azakan looks around. His eyes dart around frantically.
This is the end, snarls Wasari, as a whole group of Zahn soldiers pile into the room, followed by the high priests of Imshaeroth and Ravir, and a couple of their acolytes.
Azakan stands, frozen, twitching. My son... he mutters, tears in his eyes. I have to become Emperor! he says frantically. It's the only way!
I don't think so, hisses Grek, the old Mokai priest, as he staggers in. He has a horrific wound down his side, he's bleeding heavily, and leaning on the tall boy in the fire mask. He's followed by the fat lady. The other two priests of the Kael Vorn are missing. We've had enough of Davethran imperialist scum like you, conquering and oppressing other people. I think it's time to end this! He raises one hand, and starts chanting in his own tongue.

[Toliudar]

Ismal

Knowing from previous experience that Azakan could leave whenever he wanted, Ismal presses her point, glancing over at the Kael Vorn Priest.

"How safe was it, being the son of a tyrant? Put down the crown."

Spoiler

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Spellcraft (1d20+20)[35] to determine what spell the priest is casting.

[Toliudar]

She goggles briefly at the words the priest is forming, and a mental shout forms in Kaleff's mind.

"Kaleff! Get further away, NOW. That's a flame strike!"

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This is on the assumption, of course, that "the ceiling" meant more or less overhead from where he'd been - potentially in the blast radius. I'm assuming that, with blindsense, Ismal would continue to have at least an approximate sense of Kaleff's location.

[Ozzy_G]

A massive strike of golden flame erupts in a pillar from the cieling straight down towards Azakan. He yells, and jumps off the top of the monolith, the crown slipping off his head. The flame ripples across his back, burning his clothes, and the burning Azakan and his crown fall into the deep, deep pit around the monolith. You hear his scream fade into the distance as he falls, then suddenly break off.
It is done, croaks Grek trimphantly. It has cost us many people, but the ritual is stopped, the would-be Emperor dead. Is Gothul gone too?

[Toliudar]

Ismal

Ismal nods, a bit numb. But, the prophesy...

She turns to Grek, and looks over at Draven.

"Sumner Kesh sacrificed himself to push Gothul into a gate to Imshaeroth. If he's not dead, he's certainly...otherwise occupied."

She glances up at the priestess.

"Thank you - for saving Orin. Do you think he can be revived? I'm sure he'll have a great deal about this situation. He usually does."

She turns back to Wasari and the Kael Vorn, and gestures to the silver bubble that contains the red-tattooed warrior.

"That bubble's going to release in a few minutes. He may have useful information about others who were involved with this plot, others back in Davethra. If you truly want the followers of Gothul rounded up, it'd be useful to take him alive. Oh, and the elephant is on our side."

She turns to Draven, and slides her delicate hand into his rather larger one. Her thoughts meet his.

"And while a TINY part of me might be tempted to keep you - with that tongue - I'd miss all the rest of you far too much. Let's see if we can get rid of that nasty enchantment."

She weaves a quick spell, focusing in on Govan's greasy aura still ensorcelling Draven.

[Ozzy_G]

Draven's body shrinks back to his human form. Of course, he is quite naked.
The Zahn warriors run out and surround the bubble, swords drawn. The man inside looks around despairingly. Then he holds his sword towards chest, shouts something you can't hear through the bubble, and falls forward, impaling himself on the sword. He coughs up blood, and slides to the floor.
Stupid Davethran oathsworn, mutters Wasari.
The High Priest of Imshaeroth walks over to Orin, and chants in his own tongue,

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Imshaeroth, heal this man!

Orin awakens, fresh and healed.
So, Imshaeroth has Gothul now, croaks Grek. How foolish... don't say we didn't warn you.

You notice that the pit around with the obelisk seems to have some sort of red light glowing inside it.

[Toliudar]

Ismal

Ismal smiles faintly at Draven.

"Welcome back."

And also when she sees the colour return to Orin's face.

"You too."

She raises an eyebrow at the self-sacrifice of the oathsworn.

"Well, that might actually make it easier. I understand that you priests have some skill in speaking with the dead."

The glow from the pit turns her smile to a frown.

"Oh, crap. Draven, care to grab your boots and gear? If I'm not back in a minute, odds are good, I'm in trouble. I'll keep you posted."

Using her boots, Ismal walks over the side of the pit and down, and provides a running mental commentary on what she sees to her three companions.

[knewsom]

Returned to his human form once more, Draven breathes a sigh of relief before a look of concern washes over him.

"Oh, Ismal... look at you. I wish they'd focus their efforts on me next time... I can take anything they can dish out... well, except being turned into a frog. Thank you for fixing that."

He reached out and touched her shoulder before she walked over the edge, healing her completely. He then switched his acidic shield aura to a healing aura, and the warmth of Draconic fast healing washed over every ally in the room.

"Right. Well, I suppose I'd better get dressed."

And he did so - VERY rapidly.

[Ozzy_G]

Ismal walks down the side of the pit. In front of her, she can see the obelisk's murals, a beast being attacked by what are obviously the Kael Vorn. She can see the bottom of the pit now. There is a shimmer of crystal, the crown. But she can't see Azakan.
At first, she can't quite see where the red light is coming from, but as she gets lower, she sees that there are cracks in the side of the obelisk, and the light is coming from them.

[Toliudar]

Ismal reports her findings upwards, mentally, to all within range. Her tone is surprisingly calm, under the circumstances.

"Kaleff, please turn off the grease on the crown. Azakan's teleported away, probably, but left the crown, and I'm going to try to grab it. There are cracks forming in the obelisk. I'm guessing that, without a full complement of the Kael Vorn, you folks aren't going to be able to stop a rupture.

Grab what things of use you can from the dwarves and bodies. Draven, if you can bring Govan with us entirely, I'd appreciate it. My guess is that we won't have long before this obelisk releases its occupant, and from the drawings on the side here, I'd really like to be on the other side of a mountain when that happens."

Gritting her teeth, Ismal dashes down to snatch up the crown.

[Lycar]

Orin

Orin wakes again with a gasp. He looks around, wide eyed.

"*gasp* Ahhh! ... *pant pant* What happened? Did we win? Where is Azakan?"

"Sumner...? Did he...?"

Orin picks himself up, still a bit wobbly on his feet.

"Well Sumner, I apologize for doubting you. You were serious about willing a demon-free Davethra."

As Ismal sends in her report, Orin frowns.

"Uh... right. Maybe we should make haste to retreat then."

(Oh well.. so I missed the great finale then... and I didn't even get to... well, maybe disarming Azakan actually did help... but now we seem to have triggered another... 'calamity'...)

Lycar

[Ozzy_G]

Grek snarls. We shall stop it, with two of us it'll be difficult, but possible. Our faith will be strong enough.
More prisoners for more power? giggles the priestess of Imshaeroth. The Zahn all look at each other nervously.
Retreat! orders Wasari, and they start filing off into the corridor.

[NobleSavage]

Kaleff Nefud

Following the falling man down the pit, Kaleff, too makes use of his boots after 'porting to a point on the chasm's lip.

I'm here with you, Ismal. Perhaps you should go back and help the other 'collect' everything of value? I should be able to jump out of danger if this thing blows, not that I'd like to chance it. Plus, I have a spell to slip over the thing, keep it hidden for a bit, and it might be a good idea to put it on with a quickness.

[Ozzy_G]

Kaleff picks up the crown and puts it in his bag, but Azakan's body appears to be nowhere to be found. There is however, at the bottom, various junk, such as old clothes, bits of wood, a non-magical ring, a little doll, some animal bones, and so on. Most of it looks very old.
Once having the crown, Kaleff walks invisibly back up the pit's side, which is very deep, casting Obscure Object on the ring that he just picked up.

[Toliudar]

Ismal

Ismal doesn't need to be told twice. She's happy to jog back up the side of the pit, and over the edge. There she casts a quick spell, and guides Draven and Orin (if they are willing) in gathering up magical items from the dead dwarves, warrior and sorcerers.

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Casting detect magic, scanning the dead bodies and the rest of the chamber for magic auras. Well, we're going to assume that the obelisk reads as magic.

[Lycar]

Orin

Orin looks around some more and notices the battered corpses of his Arcane Highness and his chief bootlicker.

(Yes well, so much for Govan of Ralm. *sigh* I almost regret not being able to witness the war that that will cause at the court... wait a moment, nobody knows that Govan is dead but us right now... if one plays one's cards right...)

Orin smiles like a cat looking foreward to eating the canary. He walks up to Govan's corps and starts collecting certain things even before Ismal calls out for them to go looting.

Spoiler

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Orin will go for Govan's signet ring and anything else that could help with impersonating him. Jewelry, magical or not for example.

Lycar

[Ozzy_G]

The priest of Imshaeroth grabs Govan's ripped-off head, before he and all the other Zahn bundle out of the room and up the corridor.
Leaning on his young comrade, Grek staggers down the stairs towards the obelisk.

[Toliudar]

Ismal

Ismal notes that Orin already has Govan's belongings in hand, so shifts to gather the ring from the sycophantic sorcerer. Seeing Grek's unstable condition, her thoughts snake out to him, ensuring his privacy.

Priest, I appreciate what you're about to do. Trust me. Is there anything I can do to help you out before we go?"

[knewsom]

After picking up the breastplate and katana, Draven hurries as Grek passes him and grasps him by the shoulder, healing his grievous wounds.

"Good luck. For what it's worth, I'm glad you came. ...what of the other priests?"

A look of concern passes over the solid warrior's face as he asks this last question of the priest.

[Ozzy_G]

Dead, he snarls. This will make it harder, but we have not already expended our true power, as our predecessors did, for which they died. Now, just get out of here.

[Toliudar]

Ismal

Ismal touches the elephant, which shrinks back to a fist-sized figurine in her hand.

Don't have to tell me twice. Good luck, Grek. This world has enough troublesome gods as it is.

Once the three of you are ready, I can pop us up to the roof. Or, perhaps, it might be best for us to simply, er, run there. And then...we have a great deal to discuss.

[knewsom]

Draven nodded sadly to Grek.

"I'm sorry. Their sacrifice was not in vain. Good luck."

Draven turned to Ismal.

"I'm ready. I vote we run - save your spells."

[Ozzy_G]

Ismal, Orin, Draven and Kaleff, having picked the items up they wanted, speed off up the corridor. They run up after all the Zahn, and into the middle room of the central building. It's a scene of carnage, dead Zahn warriors everywhere, several clerics of Gothul splattered against the floor, and several clerics from your side. This must have been the fight that kept the others occupied while you fought Gothul.
You run up the stairs and out onto the rooves, over charred Dwarven corpses. The two dragons circle above you, while the airship hovers, with knotted ropes hanging down the side for you to climb up.

[Toliudar]

Ismal

Ismal took a look around the rooftops of this ancient city. So much wisdom, so much ancient lore must be buried here. What a loss. Note to self: do not put artifacts that have a propensity to explode in the middle of your city.

With a tremendous sense of foreboding, she began struggling up one of the knotted ropes. Thank goodness for the sure foundation provided by sticky boots, anyway.