S04e09 - FriendFell Demon Beat Down Faeris the Bard is an operative of the GateKeepers. Very need to know, very generous payouts. Faeris has been sent to slay the demons in FriendFell... so he gets the Droaam military to lend him some mercs.. the team They Head off in Lavor-Hai II for Friendfell, three+ hours away. Faeris lays some dank buffing on Gang-- Foresight. Guy is at advantage on everything now, making him a sneak attack beast. They start by shooting down fleeing elves with ballista fire to prove to the human sacrifices just how free they now are to run Took them a moment o really get the confidence to move but yeah. already shutting down operations. Friendfell is a massive tower shield -- a full 8000 feet tall The limestone/steel like nature of the armor's material is consistent throughout all the Mega Structures strewn about the Demon Wastes, and in the eons of laying exposed to the elements, the structures are brittle and rivetted with long decayed ribbons of nooks and tunnels throughout the strucutres that link and cluster like spider webs. At the base of th shield is such a pock in the armor, leading inward, the underground river seeps into the structure with a strong current pullinig anyone through with it... as the team starts freeing the human refugees trapped within, a demon comes out of the river and attacks the team, leadingt to a series of demons falling back away from the river past the entrance, into the large crook in the tunnels through a choke point... Faeris caught sight of the dragon approaching a round before it could shove its head through the chokepoint and necro the hell into everyone in the tunnel-- so they bumrushed him with Chuck chucking a lightning bolt down the narrow passage that Gang sidesteps and stabs the fuck out of it with Foresight at the advatage That dragon didn't know what the fuck was happening. Chucks's divination kicked in and served the dragon a crit fail on saving throw vs disintegra for some scathign 120 damage, punching a huge hole in the dragon's flank. It ran the fuck away. leaving a long swath of necrotic tar as its essence poured down the tunnel to the river where it promptly dunked itself in and made to reatreat On the other side of the bend where the river meets the surface again, a massive 1000 foot vertical shaft rose aove the river breach where the dragon flew up to escape the team Gang dives in after and takes chuck's haste spell to climb like a quickling up the shaft walls behind the dragon, knocking possessed elves aside while he made his way up 160 feet to the next gap where a large collection of human refugees were being held captive, a massive bronze and brass pot -- stolen from The Burning Keep-- was brewing moss tea-- filling the interior space with spirit steam, ranting everyone spirit sight Faeris takes a True Polymorph into a Planetar and starts the vertical pursuit carrying Chuck, pointing him like a ray gun at enemies for chuck to annihilate with various spell slots. the cauldron was rocking precariously, splashing people parts boiling for many hours from the nights before . each night, the humans dig a ditch, put moss in it and at the end of the day are killed as part of a ritual to power the magic circle my absorbing the life essence into the moss like a sponge. The corpses are then torn apart by demons while bullying and torturing the living trapped inside finally dumiping the shredded people into th e spirit tea to boil into cannibal soup. From this soup, in the spirit world, the shadowdragon splashed out and flew fast up a chimney the cauldron was positioned under to higher chambers above. Faeris, Chuck and Gang pursue the dragon and catch it at a thick, musky heated tier where humans lay about in some sort of stupor The team unload on the dragon and it starts disolving like jello in the sun pouring down the chimney into the spirit soup below The heat in the room pulses like a heart beat pulling their attention further inward... the shield material taking a hot red hue that pulsed with the heat. Was the Dragon the Boss in charge.... or the dog in the yard.. 2/3 to level 18 about 16 hours spent in game.. magic circle is 3 days from being finished.. 95% to completion.