The terrified cries of the townsfolk rang shrill in the air as FCG scrambled to assess the situation. Through the midst of the multiple chaotic outbreaks, the party caught sight of a dark leather clad figure hurriedly hailing them. Sprinting up, the figure introduced himself as Krodah, a fellow associate of the Gentleman’s, and informed the party that he had been sent to aid them. Additional reinforcements arrived in the form of the Empire’s Righteous Brand. Still disguised as Starosta Wyatt Fedar, Endrin was peppered with questions from the recently arrived platoon. The panicked mage haphazardly sent “his” troops towards the arcane barrier shielding cultists, who’d just begun to chant. Half of the soldiers charged the barrier, while the others were dispatched to deal with the unleashed monstrosities.
After dropping Endrin’s disguise and distributing what few healing potions they had, FCG set their sights on the cultists before. The initial group of soldiers, sent towards the barrier, were repelled by its dark siphoning magic and instead headed off towards the sounds of adjacent chanting in the nearby vicinity. Determining the barrier would be too treacherous to overcome head-on, the party followed suit, splitting into two different groups to fend off the cultists, now fully engaged in their ritualistic efforts.
To the north, the soldiers engaged a group of cultists gathered around a smaller violet bonfire. Despite Endrin’s pleas to remain together, Soren and Krodah engaged the cultists to the north while Endrin, Triple J, and Conan took on a similar group of cultists to the south. All the while, screams denoting the rampaging chimera’s destruction echoed through the Pentamarket. Sensing danger, the leaders of each cult pack called forth spectral figures from the violet flames to defend the ritual. Along with the soldiers, Soren confronted the horde of specters and cultists head on, while Krodah struck at the cult leaders from the shadows… err various sets of nearby barrels.
To the south, Endrin, Triple J, and Conan faced their adversaries alone. Conan dispatched the lower ranking cultists single handedly while Endrin focused his efforts on the leaders, hampering their ritual through sheer gravitic force. Triple J was stuck tangling with a rather handsy specter atop one of the nearby roofs, exchanging ill mannered gropes and viscous insults. Before Endrin could cast his next spell, the fledgling wizard caught sight of a true display of arcane might occurring above the Zauberspire to the east. Above the towering Cerberus structure, two ornately robed figures engaged the skeletal foe with immense ferocity, sending lighting and fire flashing across the sky. Allowing himself a moment of awe, the gnomish wizard refocused on the conflict before him only to see Conan grappled by the throat, necrotic energy pulsing, black, through the fighter’s veins. A moment later, the headstrong warrior fell limp to the ground.
As Triple J rushed frantically down to his friend’s aid, the chimera reappeared in sky above, blood spiraling down from the monster’s body. Fleeing the danger below, the chimera soared gimply to the north… straight towards the party. Lacking the strength to escape the city’s walls, one of its wings gave out, and the chimera plummeted from the sky, crashing to the ground just south of Conan’s unconscious body. The jagged crystals embedded in the creatures back crackled wildly once more, filling the battlefield with fog. Adrenaline coursing through Endrin’s veins, the stout wizard finished off the remaining cult leader, ending the southern portion of the Remanants’ ritual and weakening the arcane barrier to the west. Amidst the fog, the chimera consumed the remaining specters, save the on harrying Endrin. Triple J seized his brief moment of relief to revive his dying friend, Conan, with a healing word.
Meanwhile to the north, the situation looked dire for Krodah and Soren, the corpses of the soldiers lying at their feet, a wall of specters closing in around them. At that moment, a second battalion charged in to aid the endangered heroes. With the help of the next wave of Righteous Brand, Krodah finished off the final cult leader while Soren carved through the remaining specters with divine might, thus dampening the arcane barrier surrounding the stage, entirely. There was no time for celebration however, as the wounded chimera continued to besiege Krodah and Soren’s allies to the south.
Triple J was nearly gored to death by the chimera’s goat-like head before the creature suddenly vanished and reappeared, mere feet away from Endrin, on a nearby rooftop. The wizard frantically hurled firebolt after firebolt at the creature before ducking inside a building for cover. Conan spared Triple J from death with a healing potion, plucked from the bard’s person, while Soren and Krodah began surrounding the chimera from the north.
Fearful for its life, the chimera leapt down from its exposed position atop a roof and slank back into a nook in one of the nearby buildings, readying itself for a final stand. Conan charged the monster head on but, was felled and brought to the brink of death again by means of dragon tooth and lion claw. Amazed at the fighter’s insanity, Soren charged in to heal his ally. As evidence that one’s purpose is not lost in death, Conan rose, bloodied, wearied, exhausted, and severed head, head, and head from the chimera’s body in one fell strike.
A moment of silence gripped the party as they stared at the lifeless corpse of their original quarry. In this moment, they heard the frantic, manic, sounds of chanting growing louder to the west. FCG steeled themselves for their final confrontation and began their haphazard charge anew. The party arrived to find the barrier around the stage entirely dissipated, thanks to their handiwork, and the four remaining cultists, disguised as guards, chanting hurriedly around the largest of the nearby violet bonfires. Soren and Endrin unleashed arcane destruction upon the nearest cultist, slaying him before the Remnant ritual could be completed. The surviving cultists cursed and resorted to their backup plan. Each one pulled a crystal amulet from their necks and broke them in unison. Their souls were sucked out through their mouths and pulled into the flame. The flame went black, narrowing into a slit, before cracking open once more. A terrifying monstrosity, bearing the many heads and limbs of the cultists, stepped forth from the planar tear and set upon the party…
