Session #22 - Grindhouse
The plain of Avernus blurred by as they traveled south. Would they actually find Zariel’s sword? It felt like they sought it for their entire lives, but in reality they had probably been in Avernus for less than two weeks. So much had changed about all of them since they had arrived. Their skills and powers had increased at staggering rates. Almont and Kent faced nemeses from their pasts, while Katla learned that her mentor might be still alive and held in tortuous captivity. As for Donyxn, his reputation appeared to grow and spread like a wildfire, stories abounding and multiplying of the tiefling from the material plane wrecking carnage across Avernus.
Almont pondered these things as he stood with his arm resting across the Tormentor’s harpoon gun. The wind blowing through his hair was hot, the ever-present particulates of sand coating him with a thin layer of hellish dust. Katla and Lola sat below communicating telepathically, partially protected from the elements. Up front Kent drove the machine with perverse glee as he traded hand gestures with Donyxn, who darted around them on his Devil’s Ride.
Suddenly Donyxn’s path became straight and true as he craned his neck to look south. He turned toward the Tormentor and pointed forward, then raised that hand and counted off with his fingers. One, two, three.
It took a few moments for the others to catch a glimpse of what Donyxn saw, a dust cloud on the horizon from which emerged three black dots that grew larger with each passing second. The two vehicles on either side looked to be Tormentors, but the one in the middle was noticeably larger. It was difficult to make out the shape with all the sharp angles, but it sported two massive claws in the front and something large seemed to swing side to side from its back as it lumbered toward them.
It was time to go to work.
Donyxn pulled up alongside the Tormentor. Kent passed his pistol crossbow and immovable rod to the ranger. Almont took the opportunity while all of them were in close proximity and uttered a quick prayer of blessing, calling upon Kiri-Jolith to aid them in the impending battle. All of them glowed gold for a fraction of a second as the magic flowed from the cleric to them. At that point Donyxn broke off to the right and began to circle wide.
“Hold on!” Kent shouted, giving an extra push to the accelerator. The Tormentor lurched forward at an even higher speed, thick oily smoke belching from its various pipes as if in anticipation for what was to come. Metal groaned with the additional pressure and the increased pounding as they hurtled towards their enemies.
The largest of the approaching vehicles slowed and stopped a few hundred yards away. The two Tormentors continued onward, opening a gap between them. It looked as though they planned to come at the party from both sides.
It was Katla who struck first. The temperature in the back of the Tormentor dropped dramatically as she raised her arms to the infernal sky, calling an ice storm into existence centered on a spot directly between their two oncoming adversaries. Fist-sized chunks of hail materialized and pounded the vehicles and their occupants, denting metal and tearing flesh as the pair of Tormentors swerved and slowed on the suddenly icy terrain.
“I love it when she does that,” Kent whispered in anticipation of the fight to come.
The enemy Tormentors each fired a harpoon, one missing badly as its driver tried to get back onto a straight path, but the second striking true, puncturing a hole in the bed of their vehicle. Black fluids sprayed out of the hole, but Kent appeared to still have complete control.
They were closing fast now. Off to the right Almont saw Donyxn skid his Devil’s Ride to a stop and climb off of it. He was a few hundred feet off to the side of the Tormentor to their right, and while the cleric wasn’t sure precisely what the tiefling had in mind, he figured the ranger could use a little help. Almont threw forth a bolt of radiant energy at the driver of the vehicle, missing him but impacting the cage that comprised its cockpit, energy crackling across its surface.
“Hang on!” Kent shouted as he jerked the wheel to the right, the Tormentor screaming in protest as the hard turn threatened to roll it. He then swung it back to the left as he tried to get to the outside of their opponents.
Donxyn stood next to the Devil’s Ride and grinned. He then pulled the hood of the Cape of Mountebank over his head and disappeared, reappearing mere feet from the left side of the enemy Tormentor. As it darted past he could see it was manned by three mezzoloths, one of which looked startled as it saw him suddenly materialize. He gave it a wink, pointed Kent’s pistol crossbow at the back of the vehicle as it passed him, and pulled the trigger.
When the party discovered their first fireball bead in Elturel, Kent affixed it to the tip of one of his magic crossbow bolts. He’d been waiting for an excuse to use it ever since. And while he didn’t get to launch the bolt himself, he was rapt with anticipation as he saw Donyxn shoot.
The infernal Tormentor was engulfed in a tower of fire that wove through it, leaving nothing untouched. While the mezzoloths had some resistance to fire, to be caught in a tower of flame always had repercussions. Their vehicle, however, had no such resistance, and it immediately lost power and coasted to a stop as it smoldered.
Kent drew them up alongside the wreck and slowed. Katla threw a pair of thunderous chromatic orbs at two of the mezzoloths, striking them both. That didn’t stop them from firing their harpoon, though, and it crashed into the side of their vehicle with the sound of rending metal. Their other Tormentor swung around wide and missed with its harpoon.
The driver of the burning Tormentor appeared to have gotten it started again and was putting it into gear as Kent brought them around. Almont smiled as he reached into a pouch on his belt, pulled out his own fireball bead, and threw it. For a second time the enemy Tormentor and its occupants were surrounded by a cylinder of flame that spiraled up into the sky in Avernus’ hot air. The machine was totally destroyed and it’s burned but still intact occupants jumped off.
Kent skidded the Tormentor to a halt, jumped out of the cockpit, and landed a vicious scimitar slash on one of the mezzoloths just as it reached the ground. Donyxn, running toward them, fired off a pair of arrows, striking the same devil in the back and killing it.
The other Tormentor would be on them in a moment. They needed to finish this fight so they could turn their attention to the new arrival. With that in mind Katla send forth another pair of thunderous balls of wild magic energy, obliterating one of the two remaining mezzoloths and driving the other backward just as it was about to stab Kent with its trident, making its blow miss wide.
The second Tormentor slowed as it came upon the scene, and its mezzoloths were so distracted looking at the melee that they didn’t see Almont grab onto a bar sticking from their vehicle’s side and hoist himself aboard. The two mezzoloths manning the harpoon gun were surprised to find the cleric in their midst, roaring with righteous rage and battering them with his warhammer.
Kent nonchalantly skewered the remaining mezzoloth near him and dashed toward the other vehicle as Donyxn struck its driver with a pair of arrows.
The Tormentor was still moving as it passed by and Katla was concerned the party might get separated if the driver accelerated away. She grabbed a handful of sand from the ground and picked out a spot directly ahead of the Tormentor’s left front tire. As she threw the sand into the air a five-foot cube of earth disappeared. The driver tried to avoid the sudden obstruction, but the suddenness of its appearance and the pair of arrows sticking out of its shoulder made that impossible. The Tormentor lurched as the front end went into the hole, throwing Almont and one of the mezzoloths to the floor. The other held onto the harpoon cannon and remained upright, firing a shot at the same time and adding yet another hole to the party’s idling vehicle.
Lola seemed to appear out of nowhere and began stomping on the gunner as he tried to load another harpoon. In its distraction it didn’t see Almont, who was still on the floor, reach over and grab its leg. Necrotic energy flowed from the cleric and through the devil causing it to wither away and decompose within a second, leaving behind a pile of dust, ash, and bone fragments.
Kent clambered aboard and slashed at the driver, Donyxn following up with a pair of arrows that finished it off. Meanwhile, Almont and the remaining devil were back on their feet and facing off on top of the Tormentor, each looking for an opening to strike at the other. Its back to Katla, the mezzoloth didn’t see the blasts of Eldritch energy she cast, but it definitely felt the scorching pain that enveloped it. With that momentary distraction Almont brought his hammer around and struck the devil in the head, snapping its neck and permanently ending its existence.
The scene was one of utter destruction. One blackened Tormentor crackled as the residual flames from two fireballs continued to consume any flammable material. The second enemy vehicle was nose-first into a hole in the ground, a dead mezzoloth still strapped into the driver’s seat and another dead on the floor. Their own vehicle was in rough shape as well, with four harpoons jutting from it and fluids of indeterminate, but probably important, purpose dripped and hissed from pierced hoses. Three partially charred mezzoloth bodies lay on the ground. Amazingly, none of the party had so much as a scratch on them.
“I love it when a plan comes together,” Kent grinned.
Katla dusted herself off and straightened her robes. “But there’s still the big one.”
She was right. The large vehicle was still a few hundred yards away, completely still and idling.
Kent walked around their Tormentor. “Mildred is in rough shape. Even if we could get her moving, one more harpoon, or even a big bump, and she’ll probably give up the ghost.” He looked at the other two vehicles. “Too bad that one is stuck in the hole. Looks to be in decent shape otherwise.”
Katla grinned. “I can take care of that.” Once again the sorceress grabbed a handful of Avernus’ sand, but this time slowly raised her clenched fist in the air. As she did so the hole she created began to fill from underneath, raising the Tormentor slowly until it was back on even ground.
“Nice trick, that,” Kent said as he grabbed the body of the driver and unceremoniously threw it onto the ground. “Shall we go get the big one?”
The large machine was called a Demon Grinder. It was larger than a Tormentor in every way, requiring six wheels to handle its weight. Up front was a pair of metal claw-like appendages for piercing and catching smaller vehicles. Like the Tormentor it had a harpoon cannon, though a somewhat larger version. The back had a boom of sorts, from which hung a big metal wrecking ball on a chain. If the Demon Grinder and their ilk weren’t the kings of the wasteland, they were surely near the top of the food chain.
A ghast sat in the driver’s seat trying to make out what was happening up ahead. There were three vehicles parked. The burning one was clearly one of theirs, but it couldn’t tell about the other two. And its master had been very explicit that it was not to take the Demon Grinder forward to join the battle until their prey had been disabled. Both appeared to still be operational given the smoke still coming from their exhaust pipes, so the ghast did as it was told and waited. They were not known for their initiative.
A couple of minutes later it saw one of the Tormentors heading toward the Demon Grinder. It wasn’t moving particularly fast, and as it grew larger the ghast saw what it thought was a mezzoloth driving, which was in fact an illusion cast by Katla. Kent was hidden down as low as he could be in the driver’s compartment, using one hand on the accelerator and the other holding the bottom of the steering wheel. Lola peeked over the edge and relayed driving instructions to him telepathically. In the back Almont cast a spell on his warhammer, imbuing it with extra holy power for the battle to come.
The illusion fooled the ghast right up until the Tormentor slowly came up alongside and stopped. Donyxn leapt from the back, firing a pair of arrows as he did so, one of which struck the startled driver. When he landed the tiefling tried to pierce the floorboard of the vehicle with the immovable rod, but to his surprise the Grinder was made of much sturdier stuff and all he managed to do was dent it a bit. Oh well, he thought, and set the rod in place anyway.
The ghast looked over its left shoulder at the ranger. As its eyes skimmed over the Tormentor it noticed a smiling elf standing there, which seemed odd, but everything that was happening at the moment was beyond the undead apparition’s comprehension. When the rays of blasting energy burst forth from the elf’s circlet the ghast didn’t even have time to register what was happening as it blew apart.
By this point both Almont and Kent had climbed aboard the Demon Grinder and were faced off against six ghouls. But before they could close on them, a human woman dressed in all white appeared seemingly from nowhere. “You fools,” she shouted, “kill them!”
Almont surged forward, a prayer to Kiri-Jolith on his lips as the glowing head of his warhammer swung around and struck the witch with a wet thud, waves of magical energy flowing over her. The cleric battered her with a pair of powerful blows from the hammer and a third from the mace Lightbringer, its crystalline skull head glowing with an impossible blue brightness. Kent charged at her from another angle, slashing with his scimitar as he passed, the wails of the dead that now seemed to follow the dwarf into battle moaning in time with the strike.
The witch staggered back, her white robes stained crimson and her left arm hanging limply from the warhammer’s blows. Over Almont’s shoulder she could see Katla conjuring forth another chromatic orb of energy. Before the elf could finish the spell the witch raised her right hand and… Katla’s spell simply fizzled out, the ball of thunderous energy failing to form as she looked confusedly at her hand.
The witch grinned, made a move to take a step forward, and disappeared. She reappeared about thirty feet away on the ground, where she turned and cast forth a lightning bolt that struck Donyxn and just missed Kent. The tiefling was in bad shape, bleeding from a number of wounds and now burned from the electric strike. Lola blasted a sound from her trumpet, causing a multi-color surge of energy that disintegrated the disembodied hands, which helped, but Almont and Donyxn were both badly hurt and surrounded by six ghouls.
Almont had a difficult decision to make. He could stay on the Grinder and attack the ghouls to help protect Donyxn, or he could go after the witch. It was obvious that she was the biggest threat, so he made the difficult decision to jump from the Grinder, trusting in Kent and Katla to help Donyxn. He turned and leapt, a pair of ghouls swiping at him as he passed and getting nothing but empty air.
The cleric landed and ran straight at the witch, who was too injured to move away. She tried to cast another spell, but her damaged arm limited her abilities and before she could complete an incantation he was upon her. He drove the spiked end of the hammer into her left thigh, and as she bent to reach for the wound Lightbringer came from the other side, its skull face grinning in anticipation. The blow from the mace was probably fatal, but Almont was taking no chances with a witch as powerful as this and delivered a coup de grace with his hammer.
Almont turned to look a back at Donyxn, afraid of what he might see. He watched Kent fire a brace of magic missiles from a wand, disintegrating one ghoul, and then neatly slice another of the undead in half with his scimitar. Donyxn had consumed a healing potion and while he still looked dangerously close to death, he did appear slightly stronger. A lighting bolt shot forth from his bow that struck all four of the remaining ghouls, disintegrating one and knocking the others back. Katla, still standing atop the Tormenter, picked one of them off with a lance of flame.
Almont charged forward, leapt into the air with his warhammer held aloft. It’s glowing head burst forth with radiant energy, killing one of the two remaining ghouls and knocking the other back even further, right into the tender embrace of Kent’s scimitar as he smoothly severed its spine from behind.
Donyxn fell to one knee as Katla leapt from the Tormentor and climbed aboard the Grinder to his side. Almont too was in rough shape, breathing heavily and supporting himself on his warhammer. Kent stood looking down at the final ghoul to fall, his eyes glassy and left hand outstretched. What was this new ritual? What were the powers of death that seemed to haunt the rogue? None of them were sure, not even Kent himself. All he knew was that changes were happening to him. The essence of the ghoul floated upward and coalesced on his hand, leaving behind a white sequined glove.
Donyxn was on both knees now, but still watched the drama unfold. “A white sequined glove? I don’t know what’s stranger, this new sorcery or the fact that he’s now carrying around a single glove.”
“I don’t know, Donyxn,” Katla said softly by his side. “But I’m not sure I like it.”
Almont’s magic reserves were depleted, but it was obvious that both he and Donyxn needed some of the priest’s healing spells. After thirty minutes of prayers together the pair returned to the others looking much better. Almont was almost back to his normal, dour self, and the worst of Donyxn’s injuries had either healed over or looked much diminished.
While they had been praying, Kent searched the bodies. He was holding a pouch in his hand. “Only the witch had anything.” He pulled out six soul coins and tossed them to Almont for safekeeping. “There’s also this,” he said, holding out a folded piece of very expensive-looking paper.
Unfolding it, Kent turned his head away, a look of disgust on his face. “Argh! What is this written on here?” He moved his hand as far away from his face as possible.
Katla took the paper from him and looked at it. “It’s infernal calligraphy.” She grew quiet as she read the note, then looked up at the others, her mouth open slightly.
They all stood looking at her, even Lola. “Well, what’s it say, lass? Out with it,” said Kent.
“It’s… it’s a bounty. For the tiefling leading the band of adventurers. It says a dozen soul coins for Donyxn’s head.”
Everyone turned to look at Donyxn. The tiefling grinned. “At least I’m worth more than that idiot Smiler.”
Kent shook his head. “The next time we see Madhi, he will taste my blade for not warning us of this.”
Only two of the three Tormentors were functional, and both were in rough shape. The Demon Grinder, on the other hand, didn’t have a scratch on it. So they loaded their gear onto the larger vehicle, retrieved Donyxn’s Devil’s Ride, and headed to a rock outcrop they could see in the distance. They needed a chance to rest and recharge their magic, because no one expected retrieving Zariel’s sword to be easy.
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