The hoboes
Ibizaber (aka Zaber) the Clever, Gorgeous, and Besotted, most beloved person in Cillamar
Garreth, strongest person in all Cillamar
Polly Daze, the incredibly cute deadly archer
Stonemaul, a dwarven cleric of Danethar
Whom the hoboes murder
The pit fiend gets blurry. Since nothing else gets blurry, I know this wasn't any mushrooms wrecking my sight. I pull out my knife and start to warily fly back, but the pit fiend lobs a big fireball at the wall behind me, singing me. "Uh, I think I awakened a monster!"
Garreth and Polly fly towards me. Polly asks, "Oooh, whatcha find to shoot, Z?"
I don't turn to look at her. "Pit fiend!"
Even though I can't see her, I can hear the smile in her speech. "Oh, neat, pit fiends aren't Nature!"
I can hear the shouts of Stonemaul and Thrognar as they call upon godly power to fight the pit fiend. I also hear the little punk demon Voracious chime in, "Oooh, I gotta see this. Explode!"
Garreth yells at Voracious, "Demon, can the thing move?"
Voracious snips back, "I am not 'Demon,' I am 'Voracious Von Vespertiliac the 7th,' and duh, I can move, dude!"
Garreth growls just loud enough for Voracious to hear, "Maybe I'll kill the little one first."
Voracious says back to him, "Oh, you mean the pit fiend! Yeah, it can move, it's super fast, dude."
I hear the swish of metal from where I heard Garreth's voice, so I know he's getting out sword and sai. A split second later I see the flash of metal as the sai flies towards the pit fiend. The pit fiend doesn't flinch. "That puny thing, mortal?" it says as the sai clangs on the ground, having slowed and tumbled away as it reached the pit fiend.
Garreth growls and moves in further, but shakes as he gets nearer to the pit fiend. The pit fiend speaks the word "Vadokazhul," which likewise doesn't bother Garreth much. Garreth laughs, then lobs a fireball at him, all while beating its wings, bringing great gales of wind and streams of acid from the water below as it rises. Garreth bobs and weaves away from the fireball, which bursts on the far wall, though the wind pushes him backwards. The pit fiend lunges towards him, but cannot land a blow.
Garreth chuckles. "Demon, you are out of your league."
Polly flies towards the pit fiend but keeps far enough away, and shoots for its body. "Does anyone know where it keeps its vital organs?" Her arrow bounces off its scales. "Next time, I'm using bodkins."
Stonemaul and Thrognar fly into battle. Thrognar gets near the pit fiend and shudders but keeps going forward. Thrognar yells at Polly, "Aim a bit up and to the left!" Korlos flies nearer to the fight, and casts Great Haste on Stonemaul.
I fly back further, but can hear the pit fiend growl at Thrognar, "Hey, holy warrior, I can't help but notice you're right next to the wall." Garreth tries to taunt it as he sees that it has blood oozing around its eyes, ears, and mouth, and its skin writhes like something is moving under it, but this does not bother the pit fiend. "You trying to scare me?"
Garreth mutters some Orcish curse and pulls out another sai. "It's infested with something," he tells us.
The pit fiend chuckles. "Yes, I am infested, puny mortal. Are you strong enough to grant me death in battle rather than the slow agony of infestation? Come let us FIGHT!"
Garreth tries to chop at the pit fiend with Scalemar. He misses twice, and the pit fiend taunts him as it dodges. "Try harder, mortal!" Polly peppers it with three arrows, but the pit fiend steps away from them. It flies out of the water and knocks Garreth back with his blows, but wraps its tail around him and drags him back towards it.
Stonemaul activates a Rune of Protection, keeping Garreth from taking much damage. "I'm all out of combat blessings, so be on guard."
The demon wing-blasts a cone towards Thrognar, Polly, and me, pushing Polly and me back with wind, but we stay standing. It also lobs a fireball at Thrognar, but it hits the wall and his armor takes the heat. It hisses, "Dobatazhul!" at Thrognar, but Thrognar grits his teeth and stays put. It squeezes Garreth with its tail, but Garreth somehow falls out of its grip. Likewise, the pit fiend claws at Thrognar, but somehow does not sink its nails in him. Garreth swears in Orcish again.
Stonemaul shudders hard as he gets near the pit fiend, but he keeps going and swings quickly, with the first of his many blows hitting it, making it squirt ichor and slowing it. It steps back and stumbles. Korlos casts Great Haste on Thrognar, then ducks behind the wall. Seeing an opening, Garreth cuts off its arms, knocking it down, while I keep flying back—I'm wary of Voracious. Polly flies forward and peppers it with arrows, shaking off the fear, and one of her arrows makes the pit fiend blow up.
The last blow staggers the fiend back on its heels as it spurts sticky black ichor from its wounds. With a great howl, the devil bursts apart, sending bits of horn, wing, and scale flying in all directions. A nasty carpet of blasphemous creatures swarms forth from its wreckage: maggots with mouths of lampreys and legs of crickets. Thousands of the monstrosities crawl over each other in search of their next food source: us.
I get out of the way of its bone shards, but everyone else takes damage from the flying infested demon bones. Polly yells in pain, while Garreth begins a slew of Orcish swearing, sometimes slipping into Undercommon. Stonemaul, Thrognar, and Garreth start wailing on the swarms, and Korlos casts Great Haste on Garreth.
Voracious giggles. "That explosion was AWESOME, dudes! Bye now!" It ducks into a side passage and I fly after it.
Garreth keeps swearing in many languages as he pulls out a potion and slugs it. Some of his wounds ebb, while he, Stonemaul, and Thrognar pound on the swarms. Garreth stops swearing and says in Common, "Give 'em all you got! Don't hold back for defense." A swarm gnaws on Polly, but she grits her teeth and pulls out her rapier to cut up the bugs. One of the swarms chases Korlos and chews on him, slowing him down. Korlos starts to limp away.
Stonemaul looks up from the slaughter. "Ah, this is AWFUL!" The swarms take down Polly, but, Stonemaul, Garreth, and Thrognar swat out the last of the bugs. Garreth swears again in Orcish, then gets out the wineskin. He chugs some from the funbag, then he and Stonemaul start healing Polly and Korlos.
Around the corner, I hear the clang of iron on stone echoes from the area up ahead, alternating with wheezing grunts. Chips of stone, broken rock, and other chunks of rubble line the walls of this big cave, stacked in orderly rows. Much like the rest of the caves, the walls are marked by tool and claw, but a squad of fiends is digging out a whole swath of this cave’s wall.
They have segmented tails with long stingers and achingly emaciated bodies, such that each bone stands in gaunt relief. They’ve built a wall of stones across the opening to their tunnel; two of the monsters stand watch while a third runs into the cave with a handful of rubble clutched in its long claws. The grunts and clanging seem to be coming from the interior of the tunnel.
Voracious is hiding around the corner. Neither he nor the bone demons can see me as they peer over the 3-yard high wall. The bone demons also seem unable to see Voracious, who seems to fear them.
I pull back and let the others know about the bone demons. Seeing as how we are down two Blesses and 28 Scrolls of Healing, we agree to go back to Cillamar.
Other stuff
The pit fiend didn't do much damage in terms of hit points, but it made us use up Luck, Rune of Protection, and Twist of Fate. This softened us for the swarms
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