c02s04e14 - 3 out of 4 aint bad. day 198 Having felled the Penguin Belly Demon and shattered the altar upon the pinnacle of the ziggaraut-- the Shrine of Stone Paths-- the tar demons fled on the various stone paths leading away into the mist. One path in particular led down... innert Black Tar laid in dried puddles away from the shrine in splashes along the stone path as it descended. Dhraksis got the sense of Strong demonic presence, so they follow the path down. during the walk, the team came upon a group of demons hauling a cart of innert black Tar un a sort of mine cart-- full of the sludge like a 500 gallon bucket of pudding. Dhraksis pops Daylight onto the mass, causing it to explode into activity-- writhing tentacles ripped the attending demons to shreds while thee team leave them to thei fate... it would seem the tar used to form the Tar Demons in Penguin's belly was delivered to the Ziggaraut along this path to some source below.... As the team proceeded further down, the mist receded to reveal a petrified forest full of hot red fruits that hung from branches out of easy reach.. demonic monkeys roamed the stone plant branches, plucking fruit to eat or hurl mischieviously at the team, exploding with a necrotic black plume of unstable seeds. The roots of the trees rose from a bubbling quagmire of Black Tar-- the dark mass coalesced at the feat of the heroes when the dallied too long at any particular stand along the stone path barely above the surface of the black ooze. Ahead, in the heart of the Black Ooze swamp, a massive 20 foot demon with the head of a Boar occupied a small island in a stale grotto full of the same ooze-- the fiend dipped a catapult- sized ladle into the ooze-- pulling the writhing material out of the mass, pouring it into a bucket on the island. There were a few dozen buckets on the island; all stacked around the altar that dominates the small island alongside the Ladle Demon. The Demon puts a freshly-filled bucket on the altar-- and with an incantation, the tar becomes innert and the Demon sets the bucket aside among other similarly treated buckets-- no doubt the innert tar would be poured into the cart if the team hadn't totally destroyed the cart whe they sunblasted the tar held within. hehe. The crew seems to get the drift of what's happening here-- both Dhraksis and Rogar pull their rifles free and start taking pot shots at the Ladle Demon as it screamed in rage at the team's intrusion. This sets off the monkeys that begin throwing lots of exploding fruit at the team and the Black Ooze- which exloded in a hail of steel-sharp flurries of spines like a sea urchin. Frank bounces into the trees, chasing down monkeys and batting them down into the hostile goop below while Rogar took shots at the straying fiendmonkies Dhraksis kept up rifle shots at the ladle demon who would dump a bucket of innert tar over his wounds to make the force-radiant seared flesh whole again. Once the monkeys were cleared out, they closed on the Boarhead demon, thrashing awakened ooze at the team-- with enough concentrated firepower and Frank closing in on the hellish beast, they felled it and kicked it into the sludge while Frank takes the ladle for himself. After investigating the area, the only other feature is another magic circl3 on this altar still glowing faintly from the last pacifying enchantment uttered by the ladle-demon. After shattering the altar, the team reassesses. More amassed demons lay ahead through the forest with no clear path. Backtracking to the ships for a long rest and safer travel, it doesn't take long until the paladins catch wind of the next shrine beyond the forest. day 199 after a long rest the team navigates the small fleet toward the next beacon of Evil-- the third shrine. The landscape shifts from the candlestick spires of the hazy hellish mountains to a thick soup of color washes that bleed into the landscape.. sky began to congeal into land masses and then dissolve into another color shift.. Very Chaotic compared to the stable rocky terrain... they slid deeper into the bleeding ribbons of color.. the radiant hues filled the air of the ships around the crew, causing visions of forgotten memories to coalesce and haunt the crew.. many apparitions of long lost pets, family, friends.. all were figments of imagination but incredibly distracting. The Pickle Ship careened off a manifested island of red rock, scuttling the vessel. When the fleet navigated around the already-dissolving land mass, on the horizon loomed a range of mountains, dark gray against the bright hues of the sky locked in an eternal sunset. The face of Kazarak was carved thousands of feet high, blocking a valley between the high sharp mountain walls. the monument's gaping maw and carved eyes glowed with a yellow light that eminated from the bottled ravine beyond the visage. Roosted along the carged facial features like flocks of pigeons along cliffwalls were swarms of imps entertaining themselves, picking at moss growing along the surfaces of the mountainsides and carved face. The team senses the shrine within Kazarak's maw.. they grab a bold pilot and take the merc dragonfly out. The fleet closed distance to lay suppressing fire over the imps as they swarmed out intent on engaging the invading ships. The shrieking imps, frustrated at the casualties inflicted, get reinforcements from larger demons-- putrid vultures with warforged autobalistas fused to their wings - GunVroks - to repel the team's infiltration. the 15 gunvrock take fleet bombardment before releasing their own torrent of megadamage onto the pickelship, rendering it adrift and skewed as the team closed distance in the merc ship. Only a handful of gunvrock survive long enough to make it to the team's jumpship, autoblaista firing as the team exchange with the seige machinery on the dragonfly. once the demons get close enough to land on deck, the team shreds them and lets the fleet continue to harrass the swarm of dispersing imps while the dragonfly shoots down the yellow-lit chasm of Kazarak's gullet-- the big bad demon no doubt protecting the shrine awaited ahead. the passage starts some 400 feet wide at the teeth then quickly funnels into a 200 foot then eventually to a thinner than 100 feet-- the larger vessels would eventually get stuck in the passage. The tunnel is lined with thick moss, and eggplant-like pussbags yellow like mucus. The entire tunnel was covered in the material.. the team feels the poisoning effects of the yellow pollen and spores released by the swollen eggplants, getting in the eyes, nose, tasting it smelling it-- shooting them causes them to release a larger slotch of spores that sticks to everythign around it. the tunnel starts to squeeze in on the wingspan of the dragonfly, lending disadvantage to maneuvering when ahead they find the shrine-- a massive ball of coalesced spore and secretions blocking the majority of the tunnel. a wind was felt shifting the spore slowly outward from the mass-- as the team drew near, the top cracked open, revealing a massive snot-vrock parting its wings like an egg peeling open-- massive in size-- fifty feet tall, wingspan rivaling the dragonship. It released a shriek that tore at the minds of the team, dropping the bold pilot where he stood at the helm leaving Rogar to control the craft. The damage from the psychic shock was mind-shattering. They coudln't stand for long atainstait and kicked in retreat out the way they came. The beast peeled itself off the loogie island and began pursuit, releasing anothe rshattering mind-shriek that caused the egglants to explode and release more poisonous spores. massive demon nipping at the heel of the dragonship as it sped through the tunnel, autobalista blazing back at the winged demon. whittled down, the team changes tactics to let the vrock close distance... once it was close enough Frank jumped clear of the ship into the face of the 50 foot beast, cleaving into it's body, critting through with massive smite damage ripping the critter apart. The wind has picked up with the demon leaving its perch-- the spores and pollen began drifting out of kazarak's maw into the color-splashed sky... after a quick debate the team heads back in, carves the clogging mass away until the wind picks up and pushes at the ship's position. The whole set up was bad news. Holy fire and radiant damage torch the tunnel-- the spores burning, the eggplant exploding-- let it burn. streaking from the maw, the dragonship beelines to the three claw monster as the imps rally with the arrival of more gunvrock. The new Stingray takes a massive volley of hellfire and loses control, faceplanting into the side of the mountain at the base of the monument of kazarak. The imp swarm down upon the felled craft as the remaining three ships open up with autofire, shredding the gunvrock and thinning the imp swarm as the fiends envelope the downed ship. 300 some imps against a crew of 250 in the stingray.. it's ugly math. The team close the distance and join the 3 remainin ships to open fire across top - deck,. Rogar leads the marines aboard the ship into the vessel to clear the imps from the bowels of the wounded pirate ship. At the end, fifty crew are wounded... 100 dead. Frank begins working on Mending the ship while Dhraksis tends to the wounded. The yellow smoke bellowing from the mountain maw adds a sweet death scent to the air while the team gathers their senses.. the final Shrine lays further within the mountain ravine ahead... a heavy darnkess sensed within. <End of session> Day 199 Now level 16 Loot gained ----------- 12 compact, warforged autobalista sample of yellow spore copy of the grotto shrine magic circle sample of the explosive fruit copy of the ziggaraut shrine magic circle