Red King 9: King of the Hill

After exploring the null magic area that seemed to resist the powers of the Red King, Vivian and Vladimir had only a brief rest before they discovered the location of the Herald of the Red King in the city’s ruins. Hoping to put an end to the invasion, the two wizards planned to attack the demon.

As the warbands prepared for the coming battle, Vladimir attempted to use his spells to prepare. He managed to create a fresh zombie servant, but both he and Narcissa failed to cast Awareness. Then things went even worse when he tried to cast his newly learned Brew Potion spell and had the ingredients explode in his face.

Poor luck continued as the warbands began their attack on the Herald of the Red King. The Herald was positioned in a small square with a bodyguard of winged demons. As they approached, both warbands attacked with ranged weapons. Vivian hurled an Elemental Bolt at the closest demon, but missed. Shani missed the same target with her crossbow. On the other side of the square, Vladimir attempted to attack the Herald by casting Planar Tear, but the powerful demon resisted the spell’s effects. Kari finally managed to score a hit when she fired an arrow at the same demon that Vivian and Shani had targeted, and the injured Hrut blinked closer to Abigail in response. The Herald and his soldiers then counter-attacked. The Herald tossed an elemental blast towards Vladimir’s warband and the soldiers all fired their crossbows at the closest targets, but luckily they all failed to injure their targets.

With a demon threatening her apprentice, Vivian and Shani targeted it and managed to take it down. That freed Sabastian to close in with one of the other demonic soldiers while Magnus advanced on the Herald. From the other side of the battle, Margot struck one demon with an arrow and it blinked closer to Vladimir’s position. Katya rushed towards the now closer target to keep it busy while Franchesca moved to grab the treasure it had been guarding. Liam managed to strike the Herald with his crossbow. Unfortunately, both Vladimir and Narcissa fumbled their castings of Planar Tear and opened up malignant planar rifts.

The Herald blasted Magnus with an elemental blast as its followers fought against their attackers. Katya fell to the demon she was fighting, but the other demonic soldiers failed to do any damage. Then, the Herald somehow twisted the fabric of reality in order to pull its position towards the sky, cracking the surrounding ruins into a crude pyramid. Standing atop the structure, it seemed to sneer at the wizards who dared to attack it. The rifts that Vladimir and Narcissa had accidentally opened then began to spew forth imps.

With the battlefield distorted, Sabastian was distracted and went down to a strike from the demon he was fighting. Magnus finished closing with the Herald and managed to push it back off of the pyramid’s peak. Mila and Dante moved towards the demon that had taken out Sabastian in hopes of claiming the treasure it was guarding. Recovering its footing, the Herald closed back into combat with Magnus to try to reclaim its perch atop the battlefield, but the bold captain managed to strike down the demon.

After the Herald’s fall, Mila rushed the last demonic soldier and took it out with a critical hit. Then both warbands started to withdraw with the treasures that they had claimed. This was easy for Vivian’s warband, but Vladimir needed to contend with the steady flow of imps. To make matters even worse, Narcissa botched another casting of Planar Tear to open up a third imp portal.

In the end, both warbands managed to get away from the area with Sabastian and Katya being the only soldiers who fell in battle. Katya ended up meeting up with Vivian’s warband after regaining consciousness and offered to join up with the elementalist. Vladimir somehow attracted the attention of a vampire who decided to fight at the necromancer’s side.

Vivian’s Warband

• Vivian Flameborn
• Abigail the Apprentice
• Kastor the Apothecary
• Rosaline the Apothecary
• Kari the Archer
• Magnus the Captain
• Shani the Demon Hunter
• Hans the Infantryman
• Dorina the Thug
• Sabastian the Treasure Hunter (lost)
• Katya the Woman-at-Arms (switched warbands)

Vladimir’s Warband

• Vladimir Darkbringer
• Narcissa the Apprentice
• Yelena the Apothecary
• Liam the Demon Hunter
• Mila the Mystic Warrior
• Margot the Ranger
• Annabelle the Thief
• Franchesca the Thief
• Lionel the Thief
• Katya the Woman-at-Arms (lost)
• Erik the Vampire (new ally)