Daemons!

Everyone on the strip of beach peered into the darkness of the cave warily. They’d just landed here, after defeating the ghost of Emperor Ito, and they had no idea what might be waiting for them inside. Zhustin climbed up the bank of gravel and cast a Light spell into the new cave. To their relief, nothing roared out at them. The cave was large, but with a lower ceiling than most of the other chambers they’d been through down here. The ceiling had the requisite stalactites, but the floor was mostly coarse sand. Zhustin cautiously moved farther into the cave, sending his Light spell into its far reaches, but saw nothing. Behind him, he could hear Sandru and Sandoval climbing the bank and following him.

Everyone jumped as an ear-splitting bleat echoed through the empty caverns. On the far side of the beach, a cloud of fog began surrounding Bella as she blew on her Horn of Fog. “Gods damn it, Bella!” Sawyer swore. “Will you put that damn thing away?” Out over the lake, Nicki was flying lazy circles. “Sawyer – take that fucking thing away from her and smash it!” he yelled.

As Sawyer took a step towards Bella, his foot splashed in water. With his next stride, water flowed into his boot, and the next found him thigh-deep. The viscous, oily water quickly rose around the party. Those on the beach were struggling to tread water within seconds, while those in the cave bounced on tip-toes to keep their noses above water. As the polluted water flowed over and into them, they began to gag and retch. Shinjiro, Zhustin, Sandoval, and Ameiko were overcome with a foul Daemonic Wasting Disease and they felt their stamina and charisma wane.

Then the lights went out. Caves are always dark, but the Well of Demons had a faint ambient glow from phosphorescent fungi growing on the walls. But now they were surrounded by a Deeper Darkness that felt as if someone had blindfolded them, thrown them in a sack, put the sack in a coffin, and buried the coffin deep beneath the earth. Just before the light vanished, Nicki caught a glimpse of something large and amphibian-looking breaking the oily sheen of the water below him.

The group flailed and shouted for one another in the darkness, the sound of their splashing echoing off the walls. But some of those echoes sounded like something much larger was splashing, and some of those splashes seemed to be coming from inside the formerly empty cave. Something large lashed out at Marie, spraying her with water, but doing no real damage. Sandru and Shinjiro also felt the spray of near-misses, but Ameiko took the full brunt of some watery blow.

Sawyer had seen Ameiko retching before the darkness hit, and now he heard her cry of pain. He was standing right beside her, and he grabbed her and activated Suishen’s Air Walk ability, carrying the princess up out of the foul water and hopefully away from whatever dangers lurked beneath its surface. Marie unfurled her wings and managed to launch herself up out of the water, heading unsteadily towards the cave wall where she’d heard Ameiko’s cry. She cursed that Helgarval had already used her Daylight power today, but she activated her Freedom’s Call aura; she didn’t know what was in the water, but she didn’t want her friends to be pulled down and drowned.

Zhustin groped for where he remembered the wall being; he was grateful he’d climbed up off the beach and into the cave, and could bob off the floor to keep breathing. As he collided with the stone wall, he summoned a Large Water Elemental to guard his back. Shinjiro also managed to find the wall. He was in much deeper water, and he tried to climb up the wall to get out of it, but unable to see his handholds in the pitch black, he tumbled back into the befouled lake. Bella managed to quaff a Potion of Fly without swallowing too much lake water, and rose up out of the water. She headed back into the larger cavern, hugging the wall as the sounds of the others’ splashing fell behind her.

Sandru had heard Ameiko cry out. “I’m coming!” he shouted, and fumbled towards the sound of her voice. He collided with Zhustin, then stepped off the edge of the bank leading up to the cave. He slipped down into deep water, the weight of his breastplate and sword pulling him under. Panicking, he grabbed for anything he could find – and found Zhustin. Trying to pull himself up, he pulled the wizard down, and soon neither could breathe.

Flying overhead, Nicki was also surrounded by blackness. He’d seen the waters rising, and could hear the others’ cries below him. He was tempted to cast a Freezing Sphere, never mind that it would like trap most of his friends in (or below) its ice, but he thought better of it. He flew away from the rest of the party, trying to find some end to the darkness, but as far as he could tell, there was no end to it. Suddenly, something large flew past him, gliding silently in the darkness. He heard jaws snap, and felt something’s hot breath in his face. Seconds later, another unseen attacker flew past, its claws tearing at his robe but missing his flesh. Then a third mid-air attack narrowly missed. This darkness might be preventing him from seeing anything, but it apparently didn’t stop other things from targeting him.

Up against the cavern wall, Bella heard a wet splat as something struck the stone near her head. Marie also felt the breeze of a near-miss from something. Down in the water, something lashed out a Shinjiro, and the almost-drowning Sandru was also attacked, but it seemed these attackers were as handicapped by the darkness as everyone else.

With Ameiko hanging onto his belt, Sawyer drew Suishen and activated its Daylight power. The utter blackness was instantly replaced by dim light, just enough that the party could see the extent of their peril. Out in the lake three large amphibious horrors bobbed in the water, as three more glided through the air, buzzing Nicki. Marie recognized them instantly – Hydrodaemons. Interspersed around the party were four Large Water Elementals, apparently summoned by the daemons.

Marie flew over Zhustin’s Water Elemental, and cast Water Walking on Zhustin, Sandru, and Sandoval. The panicky Sandru felt himself rise up onto solid-ish ground, and he released his death-grip on Zhustin. Shinjiro, now able to see what he was doing, tried again to climb the wall, but with no better result than the first time, and he tumbled back into the murky depths.

Ameiko was still hanging onto Sawyer, suspended in mid-air, so there was little she could do. But she looked down at one of the Water Elementals, and activated her new-found Crown of Blasting, scorching it with a ray of searing light. Bella drew her bow, and feathered the nearest Hydrodaemon with a volley of arrows. The daemon responded by hawking up a gob of vile spittle and launching it up at Bella, striking her square in the face. Bella felt her eyes grow heavy, but she shook off the effects of the Sleep Spittle. Another of the daemons cast Acid Arrow at the rogue, but the bolt of acid went wide, hissing against the cavern wall.

Nicki was surrounded by a trio of Hydrodaemons. They glided silently through the air, circling around for another round of attacks. Nicki cast a Delayed Blast Fireball, setting its fuse for a few seconds later, then started to fly off as fast as he could. But one of the daemons caught him with a snap of its fangs. Its jaws clamped shut, trying to hold the sorcerer as the fuse counted down. But Nicki managed to wrench himself free, and he flew off at full speed just before a tremendous explosion rocked the cavern.

Nicki could easily outpace the Hydrodaemons, but two of them pursued him anyway, drawing close enough to spit their Sleep Spittle at him. Both hit, but Nicki had too much adrenaline running to succumb. Sawyer was not so lucky; the third Hydrodaemon changed direction and charged at the fighter, hitting him in the face with a gob of poisoned spit. Sawyer began to snore, and no longer able to use the Air Walk, he and Ameiko began to drift downwards.

Sandoval was now on his feet, thanks to Marie’s Water Walking spell, and he began to sing and dance on the water’s surface (giving “river dance” a new meaning). All the nearby Water Elementals were shaken by Sandoval’s intimidating moves. Nonetheless, one slammed Zhustin with a watery fist and another punched Shinjiro. Still another submerged beneath Shinjiro and Sandru, and turned into a swirling whirlpool beneath their feet. Despite being able to walk on water, Sandru would have been pulled down into the Vortex were it not for Marie’s protective aura.

Shinjiro was at a loss as to what to do. He was in water over his head, and it would be difficult to use his normal monk attacks in such a situation. As was his wont when stumped for an action, he pulled out his Gem of Brightness and pointed it at the Water Elemental attacking him. To everyone’s amazement, the flash of light actually succeeded in blinding the Elemental, at least for a few seconds.

Marie cast a Flame Strike on a pair of the Hydrodaemons and Zhustin quickly followed with a Fireball. When the smoke cleared, one of the daemons was floating belly-up in the water. Bella fired another volley of arrows, and another daemon died. Zhustin’s Water Elemental had been trading blows with one of the daemons’ Water Elementals, and the enemy Elemental died with a splash.  Sandru stabbed down at the Elemental swirling beneath his feet while Sandoval danced out into the larger cavern, awing and terrifying the nearby Hydrodaemons. Nicki, now far off in the northern end of the cavern, fired off a Fireball that he twisted into acid with his Elemental Spell ability. The spell caught two of the daemons squarely in its blast, but the acid did no damage whatsoever.

The Hydrodaemons might have been intimidated by Sandoval, but they weren’t ready to give up. One charged the bard, clamping its jaws onto him, while another did the same to Shinjiro. The blind Water Elemental still managed to hit Sandru, and the caravan master decided to retreat behind the protective wall of Zhustin’s pet elemental.

The sleeping Sawyer and his passenger, Ameiko, hit the water. Fortunately, submersion woke the fighter up. When he finished sputtering to the surface and getting his bearings, he re-activated Suishen’s Air Walk. He swung the katana at the blinded Water Elemental, shattering it into a fine mist, then lunged to stab the closest Hydrodaemon. Ameiko, still hanging onto Sawyer’s belt, cast Heroism on the fighter. Below them, Shinjiro finally decided to try his hand (and feet) at underwater combat. It was difficult to swing, and the impact of his blows was muted, but he still landed three solid blows on one of the Hydrodaemons.

Zhustin cast a Fireball that fried one of the Hydrodaemons and one of the Water Elementals, then his pet Elemental stepped up and finished off his counterpart. Bella abandoned her bow, and drew her swords, including her adamantine short sword. She sliced through the nearest daemon’s damage resistance, leaving a trail of greenish blood oozing into the water.

Nicki, frustrated that his acidic Fireball had been wasted, decided to pull out the big guns. A moment later, an Empowered Maximized Fireball exploded in the cavern, sending two of the Hydrodaemons back to whatever Hell-facsimile they had come from. As they sank, so did the water level, leaving those who had still be floundering back on solid ground. The other Hydrodaemons continued to bloody Sandoval and Shinjiro. But now they had help. Sawyer attacked one, and Marie teleported behind the other, bashing it over the head with her adamantine mace. Shinjiro, finally able to bring all his skills to bear, sent the daemon attacking him flying, then continued his attack on its mate. Zhustin fried it with a trio of Scorching Rays, then Bella skipped in and ran her adamantine sword through its spine.

Only one of the Water Elementals was still fighting, and it was outnumbered and outclassed. Nicki hit it with a Fireball that sent a cloud of steam rising from it. It swung one last time at Sawyer, before Suishen’s flaming blade finished it off.

Marie began circulating among the party, doling out healing and Restorations. “Great – more demons,” Bella moaned. “I guess we know why they call this the ‘Well of Demons’”.

“Not demons,” Marie corrected, as she helped Ameiko, “daemons.” She pronounced the word ‘DAYmons’ “They’re far older than demons,” she continued as she worked, “and far worse, in my opinion. Demons are chaotic in the sense that they are unpredictable and capricious in their cruelty and lust for power. Daemons are chaotic in the sense of pure entropy. They seek only to destroy, and in the process to feast on mortal souls. Their leaders, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, seek nothing less than the utter destruction of the very planes of existence.”

Ameiko frowned. “But why would they want to destroy all the planes of existence? What would happen to them?”

Marie smiled. “That, my girl, is an excellent question, and one that even the gods ponder. Some think that the Horsemen believe that when this multiverse is destroyed, another will arise to replace it, and that the Horsemen will help shape its creation. But of course, that’s all speculation, even for gods.”

None of the others were paying much attention, but Zhustin frowned as he listened. Marie seemed … different somehow. Certainly a lot more talkative. And how could she know what the gods pondered?

The PCs earned 6,400 XP for the night, putting them at 523,662 XP with 635,000 required for level 15. We’ll be at Leo’s next week, but Rich and Joette won’t be there, so someone will need to step up to play Sawyer, Sandru, and Shinjiro.