14 - 11/7/25 : Divide et Impera

 

"You.. who are you, anyway? Got yourself a little more power than mortals usually have, and now you think you're equal to the gods? Ha! Ha, ha, ha! If you're equal to anything, it's my breakfast!"  

Nulkineth

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  The Knight-Commanders, along with Sosiel, proceeded to the site of the skirmish where Joran had disappeared and began to investigate. Although the former battlefield was strewn with tracks of all sorts, Hilda was able to find a more recent set of footprints. However, they seemed to defy the common logic of walking. When observed from a distance, she realized that the tracks spelled out "made you look" in Abyssal.   As the commanders pondered this deliberate misdirection, they were greeted by the sudden appearance of Minagho, the lilitu that they had defeated on the roof of the Gray Garrison. She mockingly addressed them, and the party retaliated with caustic jabs of their own over her defeat in Kenabres. Minagho seemed rather unbothered, however, for she was taking delight in what was happening while the party was away; she remained coy about the nature of this threat, but it was evident that the camp would soon be in danger.   Minagho also confirmed that Joran had left, and that she had teleported him to Drezen after he sold the crusaders out. She mused on the irony that another Vhane brother had become the Warden of Drezen, and then vanished - but not before summoning a nalfeshnee to occupy her enemies. The last words she offered insinuated that the Knight-Commanders were not the only ones to have been imbued with mythic power, leaving the details a mystery.   The party was able to match the nalfeshnee's might with their mythic powers, but they lost precious time while slaying it. Once the beast was dead, they gathered themselves and rushed back to camp, a journey that took nearly an hour.   When they laid eyes on camp, it was already under attack by the gargoyles Minagho had spoke of. The Knight-Commanders and Sosiel rushed to join the fight and help repel the gargoyles. Ulbrig held off a good few gargoyles before he was knocked out of his griffon form, preventing him from pursuing the gargoyles that had taken to the air. Despite solid crusader resistance, the gargoyles still managed to carry off a number of captives - including Sylvia, who was plucked from the ground and whisked away while Hilda stared in horror.   The gargoyles seemed to focus their efforts on grabbing Staunton, but the party's efforts saved him from being swiped.   As the gargoyles largely peeled off from their attack, a hulking demonic monstrosity crashed down on the scene, slamming Irabeth to the ground beneath his feet. The Knight-Commanders observed him to be some sort of cambion, likely half-nabassu; an extremely dangerous type of demon.   The demon introduced himself as Nulkineth, and announced that he had been granted mythic power not unlike the Knight-Commanders. He dared them to follow him and his gargoyles to the Lost Chapel to the southeast, and then launched himself back into the sky with Irabeth in his clutches.   Anevia, after she finished mournfully screaming Irabeth's name as her wife disappeared into the sky, outright told the Commanders to form an urgent council immediately. Choosing to overlook this small act of justified insubordination, the party gathered in the strategy tent to plan their rescue mission.   Anevia mentioned that Paralictor Regill had also been carried off by a gargoyle before the party arrived, and Woljif had disappeared during the fighting. He was not, however, carried off like the others - Anevia believed that Woljif had cracked under the pressure after the experience with the vescavor queen, and the gargoyle attack was the last straw that shattered his morale, causing him to desert.   The party looked over the map of the region, and Anevia outlined where her scouts had come across an old abandoned chapel. She reasoned that this was likely the location Nulkineth mentioned, and she suggested they all get some rest so that they could begin the march first thing in the morning.   Since the gargoyles had been accompanied by ghouls, Anevia reasoned that the crusaders were being carried off to be transformed into ghouls themselves by way of the foul disease known as ghoul fever. Although this was a serious threat to the crusade, this luckily meant Irabeth and Regill, both paladins, were safe due to their divinely-reinforced health. This did not mean that they could not simply be killed, however.   Alanis brought up that the Lost Chapel was also mentioned by the voice believed to belong to the wizard-crusader Zacharius, which she had been hearing ever since acquiring the wand from the Tower of Estrod.   The group largely agreed that this was almost certainly a trap. However, between Irabeth, Sylvia, Regill, and many other crusaders being held in the clutches of the gargoyles, they could not afford to ignore this invitation. They all settled on an expedited march and retired for the night.   After a troubled night's sleep, the party immediately embarked with the army towards the Lost Chapel. When they arrived at their destination, they found it to be swarming with ghouls and gargoyles, sparking a battle at the foot of the outcropping upon which the chapel stood. While the army clashed with their enemies, the party rushed ahead to the chapel proper to get to the captives as soon as they could.   The party, along with Sosiel and Anevia, broke into the chapel. Anevia informed the party that she was going to split off and quietly look around for Irabeth while the party drew most of the attention; Satomi bade her to be careful before doing so. Not long after Anevia departed, the party was set upon by a number of gargoyles that stood guard over the Lost Chapel.   As the party fended off their assailants, another gargoyle dropped down from the sky; however, it was soon made evident that this was not by choice. As the gargoyle crashed into the ground, the party was surprised to see none other but Regill scramble off of the beast, which he followed by jamming his hooked hammer into the gargoyle and ripping it away to tear the beast's throat out. Regill greeted the party candidly and joined the fight, helping to drive off the remaining gargoyles, a kalavakus demon, and a few smaller maw demons.   Once the coast was clear, Regill explained that as he was grabbed during the attack on the camp, he decided to allow himself to be carried off instead of fighting back like he knew he could, so that he could be brought closer to the base of operations that the gargoyles were coming from. He intended to find out why they were kidnapping so many crusaders, and then spring as many of the victims as he could so that they could wreck the gargoyles from within; it was good fortune then, that he happened to wind up with the Knight-Commanders just as they arrived.   Joined by the Hellknight, the party pushed forward. They encountered a heavily warded door that Hilda determined to be subjected to a bloodlock - a powerful magic ward that linked directly to the life force of its caster, likely a nearby demon. Although they had no conventional ways of dealing with the bloodlock, Satomi came up with an unconventional solution. Drawing the Nahyndrian Chisel, Satomi struck the bloodlock, and the nullifying properties of the chisel caused it to dissipate, all while thankfully not chaotically exploding from the violent battle between magic and antimagic.   Proceeding through the door, the party encountered and dispatched a pair of disgusting, bloated ghouls that exploded into showers of gore upon death. Little else remained in this room, but when they pressed onwards, they finally ran into one of the individuals they were seeking; Joran Vhane, arguing with Minagho.   Joran reprimanded Minagho for failing to hold up her end of the bargain they had struck; the task of getting Staunton out of the crusader camp alive. Minagho rebuffed this, saying that it wasn't her fault that Staunton was so stubborn. Joran then noticed the commanders, whom he attempted to greet cordially - a greeting that was rebuked. Before the meeting could escalate to violence, however, the area was shaken by Nulkineth once again crashing down out of the sky.   Taking this as their cue to leave, Minagho bade the commanders farewell and teleported herself and Joran to Drezen, leaving the party to contend with the mythic half-nabassu, Nulkineth. He taunted them and promised their souls to Kabriri, the demon lord of ghouls and graves, and then braced himself for conflict…