09:54, Today: Stan Fetchin rolled 14 using 1d20+13. Spellcraft.

Failure
Demios screams on the as the poison continues burning him.

Stan begins to get angry. His efforts are doing more harm than good.

"I wish Garrett were here!" he says. "He would know what to do.

"Look," he says, still thinking aloud. "We can't heal Demios until the acid is off. And we can't remove that without knowing what it's made of. It's demon blood, so it shouldn't hurt him. Because he's something like a Demon, too. So what do you use to save a demon from another demon's blood?"


20:27, Today: Stan Fetchin rolled 24 using 1d20+15. Knowledge (Arcana).

Success!
Hennessey growls an angry reminder that Garret isn't here, and sets about cleaning the burning ooze from Demios' armor.

...

The blood burns demons as something of a deterrent to others, or to have the creatures prove more effective in the battlefield...  Because he isn't a full demon, you suddenly realize, removing his mask.  Demos is a half fiend!
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:48, Mon 19 Dec 2011.

Stan keeps the starting discovery to himself for the moment. Armed with new knowledge, he begins to reconsider his approach.

He remembers having read something about half-fiends while researching conjuration. They can inherit different qualities from their fiendish parent depending on the operation of (poorly-understood) processes of life. He would have to try to figure out which parts of Demios came from his Material parent and which from his Spiritual.

13:13, Today: Stan Fetchin rolled 33 using 1d20+15. Knowledge (Planes).

Success
Your eyes scour his body as you wrack your brain for information pertaining to half-fiends.  You can't help but notice his facial structure appears eerily familiar... And the highlights in his hair remind you of Clementine's.
A moment later you realize the others are talking to you.  Shrugging them off, you command Hennessey to empty his wineskin on Demios to wash the goo off.  To everyone's surprise, the ooze is coming off, allowing Chubbs an opportunity to heal him.  Just a bit more goo needs to be removed...

Another child of Bhaal's? Although Stan is surprised by the evidence of relation, there's no time to ponder it now. They're finally beginning to make an inroad on healing Demios, and it's important to seize that opportunity.

The wizard tries a prestidigitation. The cleaning and organizing magic of the spell should be enough to remove the remaining ooze from Demios' flesh, if Stan can tailor the spell to these unusual circumstances.

16:36, Today: Stan Fetchin rolled 26 using 1d20+13. Spellcraft.

Success
XP: + 150

Your magical efforts prove effective, and remove much of the demon blood.  Chubbs wastes no time in healing Demos with his wand, once you give the command.
The half-demon lurches forward, gaping for breath.  Any celebratory measures will have to wait, you think to yourself as the sound of the assault reach your ears from below.
”We're still in a war zone!” Hennessey cries as he fires a hail of arrows down the stairwell.
”Stab the eye,”  Demios says after casting a quick charm, which causes the eye on the lock to be held open.  ”We must hurry!”

Stan relocates the dagger-key and plunges into the exposed sclera.

He gives one last wistful look around the library. It would be worth more than perhaps even Kaele's, and yet if he owned such a place he would never sell it. Indeed, he would spend fortunes of his own to protect a great library.

The wizard readies himself for an opening to the next level. He wants to be first up the stairs. After all, it's his wife that needs rescuing.

You stab the eye affixed to the gate, causing an ear-shattering wail to issue from the stairwell above, and the gate swings open.  Hennessey continues to fire arrow after arrow down the stairs behind you, trying to hold the tower's defenders off, now that it has become obvious that the bulk of your invaders have been captured, killed, or simply driven off.
Demois opens the gate wide, allowing you to take the lead in the ascent.  Chubbs is close behind you, grumbling all the way.  You hear Demios call for Hennessy to move away from the stair; but following a brief argument between the two, another scream—a human scream—fills the stone walls of the staircase.
Demios curses loudly, slams the gate behind him, and dispels the charm.  Your climb is halted only a moment as you glace behind yourself, noting that Hennessey is not following.  The half-demon's set jaw is all you need to see to infer the ranger's fate.  A moment later a demonic crescendo assails your ears as they reach the gate.

Your body aches all over as you reach the top.  You feel like you've just climbed the fabled Windward Stair at the Arcanius Academy; but in truth you know you couldn't have gone more than a story or two.
The level here appears to be a grand, albeit demonic, bedchamber.  Blood obsidian and crimson ungoliant-silk drapery make up this level of the accursed Tower.  Behind you, Chubbs huffs and puffs his displeasure with the given predicament.  You aren't sure he knows about Hennessey.  Low and sinister music coming from somewhere in this chamber draws your attention as you rest at the top of the stair a moment.
"Damn," Demios literally spits on the floor as he enters the room.  "It's Her bedchamber.  Be on your guard.  She no doubt keeps strange bedfellows.  There should be an entrance to the observatory above."

Stan readies his staff and cautiously checks any potential hiding places: the closet, under the bed, etc.

Once he's certain of who or what might be in the room, he casts detect magic from his wand and searches for the source of the haunting music.

The chamber is a bizarre place, a nightmarish realm and complete preservation of it's analog whereupon the Material Plane.  You scan the furnishings, and stand nearly stricken dumb by the dwelling's overtly macabre overtones.
At one point in your investigation--sometime after Porto realizes that Hennessey isn't going to be coming, bounding up the stairs after you--a wall mural of the tower's mistress animates and begins to berate your party.  The halfling becomes unnerved at this, but Demios commands the illusion to be still, at which point it complies.

Tearing through the room quickly, and given the circumstances behind your visit, you make little progress.  At length, youyou discover two small, pale-skinned demons locked in a pair of cages, one beside the bed and the other near an armoire (which appears to be upholstered with human skin).  They pay you and yours little heed.

Despite the chambers outward appearance, very little here registers as magical.  The mural bears an illusion aura, of course, and both cages seem afflicted by moderately-powered abjuration spells; but every other item in this accursed domicile appears to be simply (for lack of a better term) supernatural.

Stan leaps as the mural begins to talk, but soon calms himself. Demios seems to know a lot about the inner chambers of his enemy.

"Demios..." As the wizard talks he keeps one eye on the suspicious creatures in the cages "...how are you connected to the lady of this place?"

Without thinking Stan pokes at one of the demons with his wand.

Demios glances at you, pausing a moment before removing the mask from his belt and placing back over his face.  He turns away from you and continues searching the chamber for the secret entrance to the observatory.
"Many of my kind hold such connections as little more than factual linage; although your kind generally place honors on these connections," he says as he opens and looks through armoire, which quivers and cries in pain as he touches the skin.  "...she's my grandmother," he finally and bluntly states.

Before anymore can be said, however, the small demon in the cage swipes at your wand, knocking it between the bars.  You retract your wand hastily, knocking the cage from its stand.  With a loud clang, it slams onto the floor and its door opens!  The demons scurries out and under the bed before any of you can react.

Initiative


...And Happy New Year!!
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:18, Sat 31 Dec 2011.

Stan draws his quarterstaff and attempts to probe around under the bed and make contact with the demon. The last thing he wants to do is lie prone and stick his face near the thing.

12:56, Today: Stan Fetchin rolled 8 using 1d20+5. Initiative.

Not sure what this counts as. Probably a trip attempt with concealment.

Total cover, actually.

You rush over to the bed and slide your quarterstaff underneath.  You twist and swing your weapon under blindly, as a child might stir up a bee's nest.
You can hear the creature scrambling to avoid your attack.  It gurgles and growls, and the heavy bed shakes momentarily.  As it suddenly stops, you retract your staff.
"There!" Chubbs cries out and points to the end of your weapon.  The creature clings to the end; but just before you can react, it springs toward Demios!  The half-fiend shifts and bats the demonic missile away, inadvertently redirecting it into the other cage.
With a crash, the other is released and together, they turn to face your party...

"This day keeps getting better and better." The wizard unconsciously parrots from his favorite low-rate bard's tale.

Stan drops his staff just as the creature leaps away. He draws his dagger and attempts to scare off the small creatures with a masculine display of aggression. Unfortunately, not even he himself is impressed.

Move: draw dagger
Standard: Demoralize (fails if the targets have 3 or more hit dice)
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/skills/intimidate
Edit: 20:36, Today: Stan Fetchin rolled 12 using 1d20+2. Intimidate.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:41, Wed 04 Jan 2012.

The demon baying at Stan gives slight pause, but ultimately leaps at him!  He is able to fend off one of it's claw attacks but the other find purchase.
Chubbs screams and runs from the one attacking him as Demios moves to help.

2-damage

Stan tries to take advantage of the creature's focus on Porto. The wizard jabs his dagger at its exposed flank. His reach overextends him, and the inexpert jab becomes little more than wasted motion.

13:42, Today: Stan Fetchin rolled 9 using 1d20+2. Dagger, aid another.

Your distraction proves ineffective, and Demios growls as he continues to pursue the cat-like demon, all the while also stepping awkwardly to avoid crashing into Chubbs.  At length, he grits his teeth and scoops the halfling up with one hand before setting him onto a nearby desk.

Chubbs shrieks loudly and stomps his foot on the desktop.  He flings his magical rope at the monster fleeing Demios, in an attempt to snare it before it can crawl under something else.

You track the action going on between the other monster and your friends, but forget to pay attention to the one pressing you!  It lunges again and claws you twice more, drawing a few more thin wounds.

5-damage

Stan redirects his attention towards self-preservation. There's no reason he should be getting beat up by a cat-sized foe, even a demonic one. He keeps his dagger ready for parries or counterattacks, meanwhile trying to back himself into a defensible corner.

Full defense (with 5-foot step if that's still in the rules)
This message was last edited by the player at 21:29, Thu 05 Jan 2012.

You cycle yourself backward and stand defensively against the demon's continued attacks.

Demios chases the other one as it scurries under the bed once more.  The half-fiend leaps onto the bed and stabs his double-bladed sword through the center of the mattress.  The bed immediately begins to move and quiver, as if made of some liquid beneath the jet black blanket.  A loud pop sounds from under the bed as a rush of air and blood issue forth—and with force!  The wave knocks you back into the corner and Chubbs from the desktop.

As he falls, he knocks over lamp made of thick bone, and you notice a distinct, audible click as a section of the wall slides away across the room.

Seeing the halfling momentarily slumped by the desk, the creature rushes away from you and leaps on poor Chubbs.  As it moves away, you lash out with your dagger and deliver a decent cut to the monster.  However, it presses its attack upon the prone halfling, mauling his neck and face!

"M'lord!" Demios calls to you.  You notice now that he is sinking into the surface of the bed—or what you thought was a bed.  Instead of a mattress, you see now that much of the sheet has been knocked away, a mass of human arms!  "Look out!"

They grope around and hold onto Demios, pulling him down...

Happy 3000th post!  Refresh one prepared spell. =)

The halfling has been Stan's traveling companion and ally. Demios is a fiend, but a nephew or closer, and has fought valiantly with Stan. In any case, there is little the wizard can do to turn the tide of battle.

He would rather not face the pool of human limbs, and Demios is a better fighter than Porto. On the other hand, Stan's intuition tells him that if he doesn't help Demios, they are all doomed.

He points his finger at the mattress and speaks the words to a missile spell. The formula calls for a creature, but Stan hopes that the mattress is close enough to the infernal conception of such that the magic will still have effect.

A trio of magical orbs rocket from your finger tip, each slamming unerringly into the mattress.  Any of the arms quiver and wiggle as if in pain, allowing Demios to leap free!
A sharp pain explodes in your shoulder, and you immediately feel the warmth of your blood soaking your sleeve.  You turn to face a new adversary, another Ruterkin has arrived--from the reveled secret passage.  It stands, holding its wicked implement before you.
Chubbs continues to scream as the smaller demon bites and scratches him.

6-damage
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:28, Sun 08 Jan 2012.

Giant demons with snap-tongs are more of a problem for Demios than for Stan. Besides, Chubbs is still in danger. Stan jumps back from the Rutterkin and towards Demios, then takes as wide a path as possible around towards the halfling. Although there's no time to be cautious, he is at least careful not to let the creature get an attack in as he withdraws.