Theater of Death

As Marie doled out healing, Ameiko hurried to reassure the frightened servants who had taken cover behind the ovens during the battle in the dining hall. “Is there a way up from here?” she asked in Minkaian, and one of the cooks nodded. He pointed to a door in the north. “That way, Princess,” he whispered. “The stairs to the throne room are through there. But the way is guarded.” Everyone exchanged looks – were they ever going to catch a break? Ameiko looked at the cowering servants. “Can you tell us what we’re up against?”

One of the cooks stepped forward. He was a small, wiry man, and he bowed low to Ameiko, then began sketching a crude map of the palace on the floor with a piece of charcoal from the ovens. “There is a hall beyond that door,” he said, pointing again to the north, “that leads to the stairs up to the throne room. But it leads past the Typhoon Guards’ barracks.” He scribbled a warren of small rooms in the center of the palace level. “The stairs are in a waiting room that the Typhoon Guard’s commander, Roka Kazu, has turned into a kabuki theater. She loves music, and she forces some of the prisoners, who are geishas, to perform for her and her generals there. The rest of the prisoners are held here.” He drew a long narrow room to the east of the room with the stairs. The party recalled that Asachi Isao had told them that the daughters of the most powerful families in Kasai were being held hostage in the palace, including his own granddaughter, Harumi.

“What about those doors over there?” Bella asked, pointing to the northwest corner of the dining hall. “Do they lead to the stairs?” The cook nodded. “That door leads to the bathhouses, and there is a door at the far end that also opens into the theater. There are other doors from the bathhouses to the barracks, but they are usually kept shut.”

“We should get moving,” Zhustin urged, “before our spells run out.” His trio of huge Air Elementals still had a little time left on this plane, and the party was still under the influence of his Haste spell. Marie had done enough healing by now, so everyone hustled into the baths. Several large wooden tubs filled with water sat in each of the two rooms, half-hidden by long white sheets hanging from the ceiling. Each had a closed wooden door leading east, presumably into the barracks, and Bella paused to apply Sovereign Glue to each door as she passed. Zhustin’s Air Elementals whooshed past into the lead, while Ameiko and Sandru hung back in the first of the baths, along with Nicki and his three skeleton minions. Not bothering with stealth, Bella threw the door open.

An elevated stage with an ornate backdrop had been erected along the north side of this chamber. On the stage, three geishas were performing, plucking samisens and singing. Their talent was clear, but dark bruises showed beneath their smeared geisha makeup, and bloodstains spattered their torn kimonos. The hall before the stage was strewn with sitting cushions, and several large Ogre Magi sat upon them, listening to the performance. The largest of the oni, in elaborate armor, listened with a rapt expression on her face. As the door was flung open, she turned angrily. “Do not interrupt the performance!” she hissed.

One of her ogre mage generals stood and strode to the open door, determined to deal with the servant who had offended his master, but instead he saw a band of armed humans and whirling elementals poised to rush into the room. “Intruders! Attack!” he bellowed, and moved to block the door, drawing his greatsword. Marie pushed past Bella to confront him with her adamantine mace; it hit, but he barely seemed to notice. The other ogre magi leapt to their feet. One tried to turn invisible, but Suishen’s Invisibility Purge was still running, and he cursed as his spell failed. The others saw his failure, and instead cast Mirror Image on themselves, and a multitude of ogre mage images swirled around the room.

Sandoval began singing, and cast Good Hope on the group clustered in the front bathhouse. Unfortunately, the ogre mage was standing in the doorway, and had the group effectively bottled up. The doorway wasn’t tall enough for Zhustin’s Air Elementals to fly out over his head. Sawyer tried to bull his way past him, but simply rebounded off the ogre mage’s solid girth. He lunged, and plunged Suishen deep into the oni’s side. Shinjiro used his Abundant Step to teleport out of the bathhouse, appearing directly behind the ogre mage in the doorway. Bella, cursing Marie for getting between her and her quarry, nimbly tumbled between the clumsy ogre mage’s legs, coming up from her crouch behind the oni and stabbing him in his hamstring, partially crippling him. Zhustin’s Air Elementals, unable to escape the room, began flying in circles within the bathhouse, striking the oni with flyby attacks as they passed the open door. Nicki, seeing the chaos and roadblock in the front room, decided to do and end-around; gathering his minions, they beat a hasty retreat back into the dining hall and towards the doors leading to the other hallway, leaving Ameiko and Sandru on their own in the second bathhouse.

“Support us!” Roka Kozu shouted at the geishas as his generals moved to attack. Two of the geishas obediently began singing Inspire Courage to aid the ogre magi. But one glared at Roka in contempt, and began singing her bardsong to support the foreign invaders. Roka Kozu grimaced in pain, as if the discordant singing was actually painful to her, but could do nothing to retaliate for the moment. Instead, she flew into the air, and began casting protective spells on herself.

Sandoval saw that there was no chance of getting past the ogre mage blocking the doorway short of killing him, so he grabbed Sawyer by the arm. “Hang on!” he cried, then cast Dimension Door reappearing next to the stage in the center of the room. The ogre mage in the doorway swung his greatsword at Marie, but he was hampered by having to attack through the narrow doorway, and the cleric easily dodged his blow. Shinjiro hammered him with a flurry of blows from behind, and the oni collapsed in a bloody heap.

The other ogre magi closed on the attacking party, hitting Sandoval and Marie. Bella did her stabby-stabby thing, sending blood splashing against the walls and ceiling. Suishen was a blur in Sawyer’s hands, and the ogre mage facing him was badly wounded. Sandoval cast Heroism on Sawyer, and changed his bardsong to Inspire Greatness on Sawyer and Bella, even as his harmonizing sword continued singing Inspire Courage.

Seeing the exit from the bathhouse finally open, Zhustin ordered his Air Elementals to “Go after the big guy!” (Not having actually seen the far room yet, he didn’t really know what they were fighting, but he hoped that at least one of the enemy would fit this generic description.) The Air Elementals swept into the room, and homed in on Roka Kozu, flying above the fray. However their attacks did little damage, and Roka retaliated by casting Charm Monster on one of the Elementals, wresting control of it from Zhustin.

Nicki and his crew continued looping around, hoping to come at their opponents from behind. Finally out of range of Suishen’s Invisibility Purge, Nicki cast Greater Invisibility on himself as he ran. His skeletons pounded through the dining hall, burst through the doors, and turned up the hallway leading back to the theater, led by the oversized skeleton of another ogre mage they’d killed an hour or so earlier. But as they passed the barracks, they encountered a squad of off-duty Typhoon Guards, who were just spilling out of their bunks and heading towards the sound of battle. A quick fight broke out between the Typhoon Guards and the undead, but Nicki put an end to it by dropping a Fireball in their midst. When the smoke cleared, the Typhoon Guard were scorched but all three of Nicki’s minions were dead (again).

Back in the theater, the battle was intense. Marie was trading blows with one of the ogre magi, and getting the worst of the exchange. Shinjiro charged her attacker, but only managed to dispel one of its mirror images. With the images out of the way however, Bella had no trouble finding a vital organ to target with her blade, and the oni collapsed with a scream of pain. Sawyer continued slicing again and again with Suishen, but each swing only served to eliminate an illusory image. Zhustin fired a volley of Magic Missiles at one of the ogre magi, but the missiles simply evaporated as they reached their target. Above their heads, the rogue Air Elemental turned its attacks on one of its mates, while the two still under Zhustin’s control continued harrying Roka. She ignored them, and turned her wrath on Marie. Using her long naginata coupled with her size, she had no trouble slashing down at Marie from high above, nearly knocking the cleric unconscious with the unexpected blow. Her head ringing, Marie stumbled away from the fight.

Zhustin’s Haste spell expired, and everyone suddenly felt like they were moving in slow motion. Nonetheless, they still managed to dodge the ogre magi’s clumsy blows. Sandoval bellowed a Shout at the clustered oni, and Shinjiro launched a flurry of blows that sent one of them staggering backwards. Bella tumbled between its legs, then stabbed it in the back. From high above, Roku swung her naginata down, opening a deep wound across the rogue’s shoulders. Zhustin cast Finger of Death at Roku; she bellowed with pain, but stubbornly refused to die. The Air Elementals continued to harass her, but the rogue Elemental killed one of its mates, leaving only one to attack the oni.

At the far end of the room, the squadron of Typhoon Guards came charging around the corner, just as another of Nicki’s Fireballs exploded around them. Seeing these reinforcements, Sandoval cast a Sound Burst among them, leaving one of them stunned and helpless. Then Zhustin dropped yet another Fireball on their heads, and two of them fell smoldering to the ground. As the survivors tried to clear the smoke from their eyes, the one in the back suddenly heard an irresistible voice inside his head: “Come to me!” He turned, and shuffled obediently back down the hallway, where he bowed before Nicki. “What is your command, master?”

The last surviving ogre mage slashed Shinjiro with its greatsword. The monk retaliated with a flurry of blows that dispelled image after image, concluding with a vicious kick to the groin that left the oni doubled over in agony. That presented Bella with the perfect target, and she spitted the ogre mage with her blade, and he fell without a sound.

Finally freed of any distractions on the ground, Sawyer activated Suishen’s Air Walk and charged up at Roka Kozu. The oni commander responded by slamming the fighter twice with her huge naginata, crumpling his armor. Marie had moved to the stage, where she’d been trying to comfort the frightened geishas (two of them had stopped singing as the ogre magi died, but the third continued defiantly singing in support of the party). Now she tried to move to Bella’s side. But she’d underestimated Roka Kozu’s long reach; she spotted her dashing across the floor below, and her polearm came slashing down, sending Marie sliding the last several feet through a puddle of her own blood. Nonetheless, she reached out and touched Bella, casting Fly on the rogue.

Suddenly airborne, Bella flew like an arrow at Roka Kozu, sinking her blade deep into her back and leaving her weak from loss of blood. Sawyer took advantage or the oni’s distraction to hammer her with Suishen, opening a gash across her midsection that showed the organs inside. As Roka grasped at her wounded gut, the last loyal Air Elemental slammed her from behind. The oni’s eyes rolled back into her head, and she plummeted to the ground with a loud thud.

Zhustin immediately dispelled the summoned Air Elementals, lest the rogue turn on the rest of the party. Sandoval sent a volley of arrows into the stunned Typhoon Guard, dropping him, and Shinjiro finished off the last of them.

The group stood, bloody and panting, their ears still ringing from the sounds of battle and explosions. The stairs leading up to the throne room stood before them, and a thin stream of smoke bearing the unmistakable stench of scorched oni wafted up them. “Do you think they know we’re here?” asked Zhustin innocently.

The PCs earned 19,657 XP for the night, putting them at 623,548 XP, with 635,000 required for level 15. We’ll be at Rich & Joette’s next week, although Roger will be on call and Joette will be laid up.