Archdruid Session 41

Riding the giant pegasus provided by the angel Radiance, the group sailed the painted skys and entered a paint storm, with feather-stroked clouds, liquid wind like a river current, and sheets of colorful rain. It wasn't long before the three were soaked, and then the "Whooing" began, echoing shrieks of owls and men crossed. Rend spotted them out the corner of his eye and cried a warning before four of the rainbow-colored owl mutants, which I call Pollocks, attacked. The battle was fierce and chaotic, Rend fighting on a wing and causing the mighty pegasus to spiral groundward. Serren fighting in the air against two himself. Sev morphing into a bat-like creature and tearing eyes out on the pegasus's opposite flank. Pollocks fought with razor claws that managed to sink and tear Serren off the horse, but worse was their liquefying gaze, which thankfully was resisted lest Rend or Serren might have suffered a Flesh to Paint spell. Through magic, claw and steel the trio dispatched the Pollocks just 250 feet off the ground (having plummeted 750), where the massive mount righted itself and they continued, paint-drenched and weary, through the storm sheets, the neon lightning, and the roiling, rumbling thunderheads toward Ixitila's mountain.

In time the passed into the eye of the storm, revealing a soft-brushed blue sky with white clouds. The summit of the mountain was also laid bare, a barren peak but for a circle of seven cairns at its upper most region. The pegasus landed, exhausted from stormriding and the fight. Sev and Serren examined the circle, which held a static charge. Alien runes covered each of the twenty-foot pillars and the mage discovered what each name read, though kept it to himself. After evoking Radiance for guidance, Ixitila's thunderous voice answered. In a massive bolt, he fried the pegasus into vapor. Then lightning began to hit the circle's center as the group and the demon prince traded words.

When the demon has healed enough of his wounds, he manifested on his new home plane in all his heinous glory:

Standing in the white space of the cairn circle stands a hideous behemoth that strikes fear into every fiber of your being. You lose control of your bowels in the face of the thirty foot demon prince, looking like a cross between a bloated bearded dragon and a giant rottweiler. Albino scales mix with matted, black fur across a twisted frame of bulging muscles.

His face is impossible to look directly at, no matter what your will power, akin to looking at the sun and surely capable of burning away your sight. From what you can gather from side-glances its a ruined mess of teeth and flesh designed to be as offensive as possible by abyssal architects beyond mortal comprehension. You are able to look at his jagged three horns like lightning bolts of bone, though, and his four paws of mangled nails and scales wrapped in razor wires.

He exhales, a cloud of lethal, red fumes, and speaks again, his very words paining you. "NOW DIE."

A long and arduous fight ensued, the demon prince barely getting scratched, but in turn hardly doing much to the group. This violent stalemate saw Sev and Ixitila locked in struggle, while the mentally controlled Rend kept Serren occupied. On they fought and avoided or healed each other's attacks, until Serren summoned another water ball which created a rapids sending Rend, Ixitila and Sev down the mountain. Along the way Rend escaped, but was hit with a vertigo spell and sent careening, while Sev created a bubble that shielded him enough to stop the tumble. Ixitila, having at least sent his own electrical current through Serren's for a maximized effect, continued on his way toward the mage, who was thankfully protected throughout the encounter from electricity (and shared such a boon on the rest of his party, lest things would have seemed much more dire). When Serren struck Ixitila with a vertigo spell, the entire plane began to spin violently and all ranged combat and even movement was halted. Ixitila receded back into the fabric of the plane itself, for here he was a god in many matters.

While the plane spun, Radiance managed to show the group the way out to the East. The group followed east once the spinning stopped, discussing aloud the potential for Ixitila to become an ally and overtake the other demon lords once all was said and done in the outside world. Things mostly fell to deaf ears, and Rend and Serren got in an argument. Near the edge of the plane, Ixitila did speak up, possibly considering a deal, but Serren's clumsy attempt at diplomacy led to a statement that ended negotiations.

He and Rend exited the plane, but before Sev could the demon attempted to make a deal with the archdruid. The goblin agreed and exited the plane. Rend was sleeping by that time, exhausted, and even Serren was quietly meditating for his alloted two hours. Sev had a seat and began a mock ritual, feigning to be able to destroy the mural. All the while he watched as Ixitila crept along Serren's blind spot in order to get a surprise attack. Once at the cusp of the plane, Sev raised his knife to Rend's throat and gave the signal. Ixitila leaped out of the mural and took a bite out of Serren, though luckily the mage had enough spells left to shield most of it. Sev took the opportunity while Ixitila was half in and half out of two worlds to thrust his hands into the painted plane and cast a sleet storm, and act that melted the painted portion of Ixitila's body and severed his real-world head. The ten by ten demon maw fell to the floor and began snapping and thrashing in a violent death throw, trying to take something with it before it died.