Stay of Execution, Part 2

As Little Rock, Hand Banana, and Tao Ren flee the execution compound, they come across a familiar face:  Nyridius.  He appears to be imprisoned along with two other individuals on a flat-bed semi.  The semi isn’t moving, and they can see several guards milling about or tinkering with the engine.  Little Rock approaches the semi’s guards, and asks what they’re doing with the three prisoners.  The guards reveal that they, too, are part of Windsor’s flame cultists, and that they’re transporting prisoners to the execution site (the location that Little Rock and the others just escaped from).  Little Rock offers to take possession of the prisoners, but his lie is a critical failure, and the guards immediately recognize him as an enemy.  A fight erupts!

Immediately, Hand Banana attempts to leap over a pit, only to fall face-first to the bottom.

The enemies spread out; the unimaginative guards engage with melee attacks, while the flaming spellcaster shoots fireballs from afar.  In addition, a wild cultist by the name of “Crazy Jimmy” hacks and slashes at the team with the fury of a madman.  Little Rock and Tao Ren engage the lunatic.

Hand Banana crawls to the top of the pit, and promptly slips and falls back in.

Nyridius and the others realize that, when it comes to freeing them, they are on their own.  Nyridius utilizes his vines to free himself from an imprisoning force field, while the other two display their own powers.  Lieutenant T. Fitzgerald employs his magnetic powers to lower the force field, while Dr. Drizzle uses strange alien powers to disrupt the field.  They free themselves, but Nyridius is immediately knocked unconscious by a potent fireball from the spellcaster.   Fitzgerald and Drizzle spring into action by incapacitating one of the guards and stabilizing Nyridius.

Hand Banana manages to struggle to the top of the pit, only to be tackled back into it by “Crazy Jimmy.”  In a final shaming, he is knocked unconscious by powerful seismic stomp from Little Rock.

Despite their struggles, the adventurers defeat the cultists.  They introduce themselves to their new friends, and share what they know about the infamous Windsor.  Tao Ren convinces the party to travel south to the “Big-Ass Tree,” which throbs with a powerful life-force.