Like a wolf smelling blood, Oriax was off his target and onto Orcus’s in a split second, unwilling or maybe unable to regard the provoked attack from the secondary spined devil as he made his move.
--- Critical strike! ---
[Oriax] --- Takes 6 points of slashing damage ---
--- 3 points of slashing damage from critical ---
--- Rage active, slashing damage resisted! -4 points of total slashing damage ---
--- Health (Oriax): 6/14 ---
Wincing slightly but leaping across the gap, Oriax launched himself into a fury, his maul arcing over his head. However, the primary spined devil fluttered out of the way just in time, causing Oriax to skid across the ground, nearly losing his balance until he caught hold of himself ten feet away.
Damn it, Oriax! Orcus thought to himself angrily.
His plan for victory was teetering on the line here, but these creatures were proving crafty and agile, despite everything they’d thrown at them thus far. The fiends' ability to resist certain damage types was a real pain to deal with. Meanwhile, their own damage output and number of attacks could prove fatal in a very short window of time, if the party wasn’t careful or concise. Even still, the Prince of Demons believed that they would be just fine so long as his strategy n was carried out accordingly. Seku was a big factor in his odds of victory, as maintaining her distance in a relatively hidden area was a clear advantage. If Orcus could hold out, these fiends would be dead in no time at all.
As Orcus held firm, he was suddenly aware of the that he wasn’t in an ideal position. Yes, his plan kept him at the center of the battle, squarely focused on the fiends' attention. But as the primary spined devil in front of him whipped around with its tail, readying its next barrage of attacks, he realized that his quick decision to grapple it didn't actually prevent it from attacking him.
“Mister Orcus, look out!” Seku cried aloud, partially revealing her position on the edge of the gully, twenty feet away, which caused the spined devil to regard her momentarily. These creatures may have been feral, but they weren't quite dumb enough to disregard attacks against them from a distance. If they could deal with the threat, Orcus knew they would.
Fool! He thought frantically, but his hands were tied up now. If those attacks went for her instead of him, forget his plan, she would be done for!
*** Arlette ***
“This has all gotten a bit out of hand, don’t you think?” Arlette murmured sarcastically to herself, from roughly twenty-five feet back. Opening her eyes wide, she smirked, and brandished her golden staff. With her free hand, she dug a copper piece out of her pocket swiftly. Then, biting her thumb, a drop of blood smeared onto the coin, and she tossed it into the air, saying, “I guess a bit of philanthropy never hurt anyone. Tormentum!”
--- Fail versus Torment---
--- Save versus Torment ---
--- one target affected, chance to hit/save reduced by (1d4) until concentration is broken; 1 minute ---
Phew! Phew!
A sudden glimmer of golden light enveloped the primary spined devil hovering in front of Orcus, as it lashed out with its tail.
--- Torment active; 17 over Target AC 14 = Hit; chance to hit odds = 75%; rolling (1d4)... 1; 16 over Target AC 14 = Hit! ---
--- Health (Seku): 3/9 ---
The first of the spikes drilled into Seku, instead of Orcus, and the second attack was right behind!
--- Torment active; 15 over Target AC 14 = Hit; chance to hit odds = 25%; rolling (1d4)... 3; 12 over Target AC 14 = Miss! ---
A similar glimmer of golden light engulfed the spikey projectile, glancing it off its path but a few inches away from Seku’s startled face. It whizzed past her, ruffling her hair and hood, before exploding upon the stump of a distant tree.
“Hm.” Arlette grunted approvingly, having opened a very small window of survival for her party, just like any halfway decent cleric might. The priestess whispered, “That one’s on the house. Okay?”
*** Orcus ***
“That creature is weakened, Your Highness!” Terminus shouted all at once, gesturing towards the spined devils still caught in Orcus’s grasp, “The priestess’s spell should give you a fighting chance here!”
“Right!” Orcus shouted in the flurry of action, pulling the spined devil to within five feet of him. With a cutting glance, he shouted, “Everyone, attack!”
Shing!
Leaping from the gully’s edge, Seku dropped her shortbow and fiddled for her daggers, slicing down across the fiend’s left side.
[Seku's Target] --- Takes 5 points of slashing damage from main hand, halved to 2 points from slashing damage resistance, 3 points of sneak attack damage, 2 points of slashing damage from offhand, bonus to damage not applied, halved to 2 points from slashing damage resistance ---
*** Arlette ***
Phew!
A spikey projectile started through the air towards Arlette, but the momentary focus stolen for her spellcasting put her at a sudden disadvantage.
[Arlette] --- Takes 3 points of piercing damage, 1 point of fire damage ---
“Gah—” She gasped, scowling through the pain.
A sudden thought flashed through her mind, drawing her back to the last time she set out with a group of adventurers like this. It wasn’t a fond memory for her, and it was part of the reason she loathed field work, but she couldn’t think about that right now. She had to remember what she was here for…
--- Concentration check… Save! Torment maintained ---
“You’ll have to do a little better than that.” Arlette scoffed, a bead of sweat building on her brow from the required mana it took to maintain her spell, as she glanced at her own Health worriedly.
--- Health (Arlette): 1/10 ---
Looking ahead towards the front of the action, Arlette groaned, “You’d better make it count, Prince of Demons.”
*** Orcus ***
The fiend tried frantically to pull away from Orcus again, panicked enough now that it even disregarded the band of leather around its ankle in favor of trying to fly off. It was all the same to the Prince of Demons, who reeled his mace arm back and swung.
[Orcus's Target] --- Takes 5 points of bludgeoning damage, halved to 2 points from bludgeoning damage resistance ---
Come on, Oriax… Orcus gritted his teeth. For all his body’s strength, it was proving a difficult task for Orcus to maintain his focus. Sooner or later, he would have to forgo the whip in favor of his shield, his overall health demanded it. He didn’t want to have to resort to his limited amount of magic, but he would if things became too complicated. Seku's blatant disregarded of his orders might have taken some of the pressure of him, but she had given up so much positioning as a result. Now they were all clustered together. In any case, the fiend was weakened by the priestess’s magic. All Orcus had to do now was wait for Oriax's bounce back.
“Seku, help the priestess!” Orcus growled annoyingly, regarding Arlette’s low health for a moment, “Oriax and I will deal with this one! Go!”
Seku nodded, swiftly shifting her direction, and started moving toward the secondary spined devil. It was at that moment that Oriax ripped the spike from his forearm with a huff. Shaking his head like an angry bull, he launched another attack.
“Not—fucking around—anymore!” He shouted.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
[Oriax's Target] --- Takes 10 points of bludgeoning damage, halved to 5 points from bludgeoning damage resistance, 2 points of rage damage ---
But the creature was still alive!
*** Arlette ***
“Things really are looking grim…” Arlette shook her head, but suddenly noticed the smaller of their companions was pivoting toward the secondary devil currently engaged with her. With her daggers drawn and a determined expression, Seku seemed eager to help. Squinting, Arlette murmured, “I’m holding out for you, girl. Keep it off me, because one spell is all I’ve got. If they can just hold on over there, then I can…”
*** Orcus ***
Desperation was setting in for the fiends now, and the primary spined devil was seemingly willing to concede its own attacks in favor of retreat. With a series of guttural groans and fluttering of its wings, the creature attempted to break Orcus’s grapple!
*************
--- Fate Roll initiated; contested grapple initiated; ---
--- Initialize Athleticism bonus; Strength Score + Proficiency Bonus = +4 to fate roll ---
--- The die of fate is cast… d20(20) + 4 = 24 ---
--- Critical Success! Orcus ---
--- Versus ---
--- Spined Devil… [hidden] = 17 ---
--- Grapple maintained ---
*************
“No, you don’t!” Orcus shouted furiously, straining his left arm so hard that the creature’s body buckled and was pulled straight down to the ground.
[Seku's Target] --- Takes 7 points of slashing damage from main hand, halved to 3 points from slashing damage resistance, 1 points of sneak attack damage, 2 points of slashing damage from offhand, bonus to damage not applied, halved to 1 points from slashing damage resistance ---
Orcus didn’t have much time to regard Seku’s attack in his system overlay. But a quick glance over his shoulder told him that she was at least providing cover for the priestess, just as he’d commanded.
Good. Orcus thought frantically to himself. However, the primary spined devil made one last attempt to attack. Its forked trident struck Orcus head-on!
[Orcus] --- Takes 6 points of piercing damage ---
--- Health (Orcus): 3/10 ---
The Prince of Demons growled, discarded his mace, and with both his hands around the pommel of the whip, dragged the pitiful creature back down to the earth, shouting, “Oriax! Now!”
A flash of fear sparkled in the spined devil’s eyes, as the iron head of Oriax’s maul surged through the air and came crashing down across its skull.
[Oriax's Target] --- Takes 12 points of bludgeoning damage, halved to 6 points from bludgeoning damage resistance, 2 points of rage damage ---
The creature’s head splattered into a gooey muck of purplish-pink, its body twitching slightly thereafter.
*** Arlette ***
“Not bad, Your Eminence.” Arlette murmured, and in the same motion twirled her staff through the air. With her mana readied, and the spell engaged, she invoked, “Lancea Divina!”
[Arlette's Target] --- Takes 19 points of radiant damage from Divine Lance ---
A single beam of brilliant, white-hot energy erupted from Arlette’s staff, ripping across the gully with speed. The secondary spined devil barely had a moment to react, before it was engulfed and consumed by divine light.
The entire area rose to a radiant glow, as the party watched on in awe. Brilliant, glittering pieces of pulverized spined devil hung in the air like dust, and for the briefest of moments, it was a stunning view.
----------------------------------------
*************
Encounter Summary
--- Experience Yield: +4 xp (2 DR * 2); 50% of EY = party kill bonus (pkb): +1 xp; 50% of last DR = last kill bonus (lkb): +1 to Arlette ---
--- Experience (Orcus): 18.46/300 xp ----> 24.46/300 xp ---
--- Experience (Oriax): 18.65/300 xp ----> 24.65/300 xp ---
--- Experience (Seku): 26.25/300 xp ----> 32.25/300 xp ---
--- Experience (Arlette): 48.30/300 xp ----> 55.30/300 xp ---
*************
“Is everyone alright!” Terminus squawked frantically, as the dust began to settle.
“That's what I'm talking about, hands!” Oriax shouted, flailing his maul through the air. The vibrant, red colored aura of his rage was less purple than it usually was. However, his eyes flashed with a certain red that told Orcus he was still pent up with unspent energy.
“Take a walk, Oriax.” The Prince of Demons insisted, “See if there aren’t any more of these creatures lingering in the area. We don’t want anything to escape.”
“Yeah, yeah… right, I’ll do that—” Oriax twitched with heavy breaths, starting off in a seemingly arbitrary direction, “Little guys hiding out in the forest. You hiding out here—hiding? Hiding where…”
As the Prince of Demons caught his own breath, he shook his head, “Fine work, all of you. But that was too close! Our inexperience as a group is obvious. Seku, when I say to keep your distance and your element of stealth, I mean it! Your range was an advantage to us. You heedlessly caused the creature to attack you, when my plan was to direct its attention on me.”
“Oh, uhm… I’m sorry, mister Orcus.” She frowned, an embarrassed flush on her face, “I thought I would be more useful up close.”
“Give her some slack, would you?” Arlette replied with a chuckle, stepping up to where Orcus stood. She smiled somewhat, “If it wasn’t for her taking the attention away from me, I would have had to burn some healing on myself. In other words, that last creature is only dead because of her.”
“And who told her to swap to your target?” Orcus scowled, saying, “We are not well-suited to engaging with creatures like these just yet. Our tactics will need to evolve, if we are to find any success at the delve.”
“Don’t look at me.” Arlette insisted with a shrug, “I did my part.”
Orcus shook his head, saying, “Speaking of which, did you seriously think you could get away with subjecting me to the undisclosed payment terms of your healing magic? While we were in the middle of combat no less? Our contract precludes such things, you do recall? I specifically chastised such preposterous terms.”
“Heh…” Arlette scratched her forehead awkwardly, smirking somewhat, “I wasn’t sure that you noticed. We'll call it a... verbal agreement?”
“...No, we will not.”
“Can't blame a good Mercurite for trying...” She sighed, sarcastically it had to be said, but resigned with a smile, “Don't worry, Your Eminence, my magic comes with no strings attached. I may not like adventurers, but it's standard resource courtesy. Even I can adhere to that much.”
“What was that, anyway?” Orcus asked curiously, “Your one spell… it disoriented the devil quite effectively.”
“Oh?” Arlette raised an eyebrow, “My Torment spell. It aims to do exactly that, you know. Mitigating a creature’s ability to attack or to save against certain effects causes quite the panic. Anyway, satisfied customers are important in my line of work. I'm glad you liked it.”
“You splattered that creature in a ball of light.” Seku added in awe, her expression rising slightly, “That was, uh… very amazing, miss Arlette!”
“Er… don’t get used to calling me that, please.” Arlette groaned, but offered a sobering expression, “You weren't half bad yourself. Still, what do you make of all this? Why were those things lurking out here, anyway? I haven't run into many fiends myself on the road, despite the circumstances of the world right now, but all the way out here is a far fetch, don't you think?”
Orcus furrowed his brow.
In his mind, it was obvious that the spined devils were sent to dispatch of the adventurers, or at the very least sent to do so if an opportunity arose. He had a gut feeling that Garimor boasted fiends in his ranks, and it would make sense if the dead adventurers had been trying to flee the Glimmering Caves too. What he couldn’t piece together was why they would hang around the dead bodies for so long after the fact?
Had it really been a trap meant to provoke unsuspecting travelers?
They had been following the path that Terminus set for them, after all, which was likely the standard route to and from the delve. If Garimor was worried about aid coming to the rescue of the trapped adventurers, then spined devils were a good choice for sentry. And yet that still didn’t explain away their feral aggression. Unless whoever was commanding them simply didn’t know how to keep them under control, the spined devils should have been more aware of their advantage, or at the very least not attacked at all. They were not mindless creatures, after all. But these ones? They were amateurish, to say the least.
The Prince of Demons supposed he should only count himself lucky about that. As far as he was aware, his party had gotten off easy.
“We can’t stay here.” Orcus eventually replied, now that Oriax had returned, seemingly not finding anything, “Let us proceed for as long as we can until nightfall. We will make camp farther up in the mountains. Bird, how far are we from the delve?”
Terminus’s eyes flashed purple, “Just on the other side of the mountain pass, Your Highness, so we should be there by the end of the day tomorrow. Assuming nothing else goes wrong.”
“I would like for you to navigate a slightly alternative route.” Orcus insisted, “I believe our current route is being watched. Seeing that we don’t have the means for multiple high-difficulty fights in a day, we should take precautions where we can. This party will not be hindered on the road any longer than it has to be.”
Arlette squinted curiously, “Know something that we don’t?”
Orcus nodded, “Just a hunch. This Cult of the Withering is far more equipped than I believe we are aware of. Those dead adventurers, they were being hunted. However, something got to them first.”
As if inspired by a sudden thought, Arlette walked over to the nearest body of one of the dead adventurers and touched their cold, rigid skin, saying, “You know, I had been wondering about this before we were attacked, but these wounds aren’t dissimilar to wolf spider attacks I've treated many times, albeit much less severe. High concentration of wolf spider poison is likely to cause respiratory issues to this degree. It can’t be a coincidence, given our destination…”
“Priestess, are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Terminus asked worriedly, “The Glimmering Caves are primarily arachnid-type enemies. Does that mean…”
“I would say so.” Arlette nodded, standing to her feet, and wiping latent dirt from her armor, saying, “It’s entirely possible they fled from the delve with pre-existing injuries. As far as I know, Ruechar didn’t have access to any kind of toxin-neutralizing magic. He was too low-level, and he never bought any spell scrolls from me as far as I know.
“You'd remember something like that?” Orcus asked, not that he need much convincing from someone who had tried to swindle him mid-combat.
“The ledger doesn't lie, you know.” She replied plainly, “They died from the venom coursing through their bodies. If I had time to use my healing kit, I could confirm that for you. Wolf spider venom can stay in the body for up to six days.”
“Mm…” Orcus murmured grimly to himself. But noticing the alarm on the faces of his party members, he said confidently, “We will not suffer the same fate. Seku and I are resistant to toxins of many kinds, and the merchant gave us a potion for this exact reason. Now, if we are done idling, it is time to set out.”
Without another word, Orcus beckoned Terminus to set them on their path once again. Slowly but surely, the party fell back into its marching order, and they were off, leaving the dead behind to fend for themselves.
Whatever lay ahead, the Prince of Demons simply could not let it be known that he despised spiders with every fiber of his being.