Solari: The Demon-Haunted City

Cardinal Cloverfield awakens Tavros, because the Cardinal has nobody else to confess to. He’s describing his role in the battle, and that horrible moment when he shot that old man in the face. Tavros comforts him as best he can.

We still have the airship crystal. 

We still don’t know the true name of the God(ess) Vecna, and the soul of the actual Vecna (who might know) we can’t find. This is the significant missing piece we’re still, um, missing. 

We woke up in the temple of Helios in Sol Povos, which is currently kind of a ghost town. The city outside is in ruins. An ominous cloud hangs over the city, and the sky us filled with flying demons. There’s a worm-like thing swimming through the clouds, thunder-worms, apparently they sometimes come down and bad thing happen -- especially when people try to use transportation magics (teleport, etc.). The elemental temple is down from four towers to three; it’s overrun with undead, and it's now the home of Hierophant Durest Inglorian. The giant skeletal dragon is part of its guardianship. 

Cloverfield points all this out by way of explaining that we need to get the hell out of town. Which… he’s not wrong. What’s going on here is beyond our current ability to fix. 

We head for the safehouse where we’re supposed to meet the Silver Fox. Unfortunately, the place is surrounded by babaus, who are trying to climb over an impromptu barricade. Elvish archers are firing down from the roof, and human fighters are defending at ground level. Tavros sighs. “Of course they’re under siege.”

Vendril points out that we need to save the people in the building before we abandon the city. Tavros already has his sword out and is walking towards the demons. 

Leira casts Freezing Sphere on two babau who happen to be next to each other. They’re resistant to cold, but it still hurts them. The demons step up their efforts to get into the house, and telepathically shout at Leira, “The others are coming for you!”

Marshall casts Holy Aura, then turns into a massive snake. He uses a quickened Dismiss to send one of the demons back to the abyss. The elven archers finish off the one beside it. 

Then some Vrocks land nearby. They’re going to be more of a problem. They’re also behind Leira, and Tavros reverses direction to protect her. Leira drops a fireball on them, doing a fair amount of damage despite their fire resistance. Clovis has rushed to the adjacent building and opened the door. Leira drops a second quickened fireball to add to their pain.

One of the babaus forces his way in through a window. Also now some retriever demons have approached. Marshall is irritated at having to do all this work after coming back from the dead, but he uses his wings of flying to get over to the demons, then dismisses two of them. He finishes by popping Holy Aura. 

Clovis emerges onto the second floor just in time to see the giant snake outside. He tags the remaining demon with two Searing Lights, taking him out. Four vrocks start dancing; the other four surround Tavros, though their spores don’t affect him. One of them does manage to hit him with a claw, but… Tavros turns around and murders two of the Vrocks. 

Leira is wiping things out, but the Retrievers are moving in. One of them tries to eye-beam Marshall, and the other three eye-beam Tavros, who takes a shit-ton of damage from that. They move in on him. 

Marshall spreads out his wings to make a bridge, and Vendril and his crew have killed off the Babau that got inside. Clovis, unfortunately, has no idea what Marshall is doing. He jumps across above Marshall and makes it into the house. 

Two vrocks attack Tavros but miss. He kills them both, then turns to one of the retrievers and slices into it. Leira finishes it off with a Magic Missile, then follows up with a Freezing Sphere, tagging another one. It shivers, but remains upright. One of the retrievers turns and catches Leira with a cold ray; it attacks, and hits her with a claw and a bite. Leira remains upright. 

Marshall turns and dismisses the retriever who was attacking Leira. Tavros attacks the one remaining near him, damaging it; Leira finishes it off. Marshall moves onto the second floor and resumes human form. “Let’s clear out the ground floor. We can walk out the front door.”

Vendril kills off the last of the Babau, and we center on the house. We’ve gotten everyone together, we’re ready to go, and three Glabrezu show up with a Marilith in tow. This is… not ideal. Tavros throws a barrel out of the way and runs into the house. Leira disintegrates one of the glabrezu, doing a huge amount of damages to it, and then follows Tavros into the house. The Marilith casts Blade Barrier around the perimeter of the house, leaving only the front open.

Are our heroes trapped? Will Goodness and Decency prevail? And are there demons all over the place because we left the Hand and the Sword with Asmodeus?