She leans forward and examines the sculpture. "Tasteful and elegant, yet still sensual. You're an exceptional artist."
Ayavah grins. "Thank you. Why don't you keep it? A thank you for saving my ass from Commander stick-up-her-butt - and for the fantastic evening." She pulls her long, green dress back on - the inside of it is padded, to give her the illusion of breasts she doesn't have. She sidles over to Valaria and gives her a long, wet kiss.
"I hope we meet again, Valaria," she smiles and heads out the door. "Dream of me!"
"I have a feeling that we will," she says as Ayavah departs.
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It seemed to Hinagiku like an eternity since she had died, yet it also seemed like minutes ago. So many thoughts had had time to go through her head, yet boredom hadn’t had time to settle in. It truly was strange how time seemed to pass and also stand still.
Hinagiku’s thoughts were currently concerned with the reason why she was still within the ब्रह्मा’s warm and comforting embrace. By now, shouldn’t she have been sent to be reincarnated or allowed into the Serene Circle. Or was she simply going to rejoin ब्रह्मा. If it was the case, then wouldn’t she be losing her memories and sense of self? While pondering these issues, a feeling of suction overcomes the monk’s spirit, as if her soul is drawn through a funnel.
In a single instant, feeling of warmth and comfort are replaced by feelings of the cold and damp ground pressing against her back. Memories of wracking pain comes back to the Tian woman. She tries to focus, regain her calm, but her mind is not her own anymore, thoughts are disorderly, senses are different, here instincts are to run, hide, changer her shape!? Assailed in such a way, all she can do is let out a single shriek before opening her eyes. Black and red is all she can see. Has he own blood veiled her eyes? Are the Onis still there?
After hearing a cry of distress, the others can see the form under Mendev’s flag flail around and sit up, trying to untangle itself from the flag covering up. Finally, in one swift motion, it tears down the flag from its face and upper body. Reincarnated Hinagiku is changed, not human anymore. Her body still looks feminine, and lithe yet muscular. However, it is now mostly covered in reddish orange fur, except for her torso and abdomen which are of an immaculate white. The changes to her are even more important, a muzzle having replaced her mouth and nose and two pointy hears stand atop her head. In short, she looks like a humanoid fox or a vulpine human.
Heart palpitating, chest moving up and down from the heavy breathing, Hinagiku looks left and right. Seeing herself surrounded by a few familiar faces and no demons, se slowly calms down. Looking toward Valaria, she tries to articulate a question, but her mind is still confused and alien, which strange thoughts appearing here and there. Worst, her mouth feels strange, her tongue so much longer than it used to be, making words much harder to pronounce.
As she reached for her face, worried that it might have sustained irreparable damage from the last fight, Hinagiku is wracked with pain once again. Though, this time, it comes from her chest. The other can plainly see a wound tear its way through Hinagiku new body, leaving an inch wide hole from which a few drop of blood trickle. The woman looks down to see the wound and her new body. Her reddish brown eyes grow wide in surprise, not at the wound, but at the fur. She looks are her furry hands, touches her abdomen, arms and face. The look of surprise on her face turns to astonishment.
Hinagiku starts shaking. Looks around, and finally is able to pronounce her first words in this form.
”What happened to me?” she says, in the exact same voice she used to have.
Her eyes dart back and forth between Valaria, Isilme, and Markus, as she awaits an answer.
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Ehren was not alone. He could feel them, the countless other presences floating alongside him at a slow, deliberate pace. The silvery haze that enveloped them made it difficult to tell anyone apart, but he could swear that he recognized a few of them. Still, he does not linger on these thoughts. What commands his attention is the path ahead, a long and winding road that seemed to go on forever. For the duration of his pilgrimage, all he could really think about was how familiar the gleaming silver trail appeared. It was almost as though…
“Ehren de na chellaigh Ferron, mé achainí dhuit…”
For the first time since the start of his journey, Ehren is given pause. He looks back, something he had not dared to do before. The voice originated from somewhere far away, yet it had reached him regardless.
“Ehren de na chellaigh Ferron, mé achainí dhuit…”
Hearing the words again, Ehren realizes that not one, but three voices are speaking. What was more, he recognized all of them from somewhere. But where?
“Ehren de na chellaigh Ferron, mé achainí dhuit…”
The words are repeated over and over again, and each time he hears them, he can feel some semblance of self trickling back to him. Until finally, he realizes what the words truly are.
They were an invitation.
I see.
Without a moment of hesitation, Ehren accepts it wholeheartedly.
Right away, he can feel the pull dragging him in the opposite direction. He takes one last look at the silver path ahead of him, realizing that he had not gotten very far at all. It might have taken an eternity to reach the end… an eternity he could not afford to spend in this place. Not yet, at least. Conversely, the way back is far, far faster. As he speeds back to the start of the trail, he can feel his memory of the place bleeding way, until finally, all that is left is the fog...
-------
Beneath the silken sheet, Ehren wakes as though from a long slumber. He moves slowly but not quite deliberately, writhing as a thousand strange sensations assail him all at once. Stretching his arms out, he can feel the soft fabric resist him. Eventually he pushes himself off the ground, leaving him in a sitting position. The red and black sheet cascades down, exposing his naked upper body. Out of instinct he sluggishly raises his arms, to shield himself from the light of the rising sun.
Still human, still Kellid, and - if the familial resemblance is anything to go by - still Ferron. The curve of his jaw is familiar, as are his cheekbones, set high like his father’s. And of course, there are his dark eyes, gray like flint. From there however, the resemblances are more vague. His brow, his nose, his mouth, his cheeks… the differences in proportion and placement are far too numerous to identify individually. But altogether, it is a more rugged visage, though it retains some boyish qualities. For lack of sun exposure, his hair - which hangs past his shoulders - is a deep dark brown and his skin is untanned, leaving it somewhat pale. His body, slightly taller, but also a little less lithe.
Without a reflection to observe, most of these changes escape the druid; in his current state, they might have escaped him regardless. Instead, what seems to perplex Ehren the most are his hands, the first things he notices as eyes adjust to the light. He watches them intently as he slowly rubs his fingers against one another, their surfaces utterly devoid of calluses. His thoughts are at first muddled, obfuscated by some heavy, silver fog. After another eternity (a few seconds at most), everything comes rushing back to him.
Ehren’s eyes suddenly dart upward, only now taking in the faces of everyone present, both familiar and new. His new face cannot quite keep up with the emotions swelling up within him, his mouth twitching more and more awkwardly with each companion he recognizes. Until finally, his eyes come to rest on the faces of those standing right before him. Faces that, from the start, he knew he might never see again. And yet, there they were. He looks to his sisters, and then looks his father right in the eyes; then, and only then, do the tears fall.
“Father, I…” he chokes out, before abruptly averting his gaze. He squeezes his eyes shut and, trembling now, shakes his head. Something resembling shame burned hot inside of him. “I am sorry. This… this is not the reunion I had in mind.”
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As the bodies begin to grow, refilling the space beneath the sheets, there's a steady groaning, creaking noise from near the fallen Crusader's belongings...
There were things she couldn't remember as easily, though. Pain, and fear and darkness crashed like waves on occasion. But still, for now, it was dreamlike. Beauty, in slow motion. A unity of purpose that hadn't existed before in her mind.
She was worthy. But that wasn't what was important when she felt the first tug in the pit of her stomach. What was important was 'who had closed the music box?'
* * *
She awoke with a start, in a blind panic. She didn't belong. The sounds were all wrong, not as she remembered them. The air tasted... Bittersweet. Like tea that had been left to settle, growing tepid and cold. Everything was so much less real than the dream. She could remember so many things that were, but now were not. Breathe. The taste of a spent youth would go away. Everything was so much colder now, and her arm felt wrong. Worse, she felt naked in the worst of ways.
Memories rolled forward, unbidden. Hina... Hina had been torn apart, she remembered, as tears formed in the all-wrong eyes that didn't belong to her. Then her, she'd come next. Then... Pain and nothing. Not nothing. Days in heaven. Her reward. Did all the things they said she should, all the things she thought were good... And things had changed, little by little.
And now, she was back. The girl who returned. Her Lion. There had never been a question of staying by her side. She was needed... And things were different now. Would she have been worthy if she hadn't returned? It was a painfully unfair question that flew into her mind unbidden. As tears broke over the brim, she pushed herself up. That was different, too. And there was a red haze she couldn't remember, as her veil fell away.
Tears slid down ashen gray cheeks, as she came into view of the others. Red hair all of nearly the same length dangling from her head like a veil and covering one of two chocolate brown eyes and half of her charcoal-black lips. Ears that taper into a point to either side of her head mark her as a half-elf and hold back only one half of her hair.
She's taller than she had been, even as an ulfen woman. She still clearly had some Ulfen features... though the drow had shifted that. She had always been strong, but now her features were more lithe, thin. Fingers slightly too long claw at the ground as she remembers to push with the rest of her body, the sheet sloughing off to show a much more delicate frame and precisely the same amount of body shame she had had before - things were currently 'business' for her.
There's a sound like shattering glass as Faith, nearby grows out of the sickly gray shale that it had faded into, thickening at the edges, but peeling back in the center, so that the entirety of Iomedae's holy symbol became visible within the concave space. Sleek curves remain, but the buckle side sleekens as well, also becoming concave, a metal plate becoming visible, the cold iron of the plate and holy symbol each glowing golden just long enough to be noticed, then each fading, as golden light dances along the silver-gray metal.
Everything was different. Simultaneously wrong and right. So quiet, so deafening, all at once. Pain. Right... Exhale. Just a few short steps from home. And... There they are. Her friends. That was right, at least. Mostly. Their colors were... wrong. She moved to try to brush away the veil, but her hand came away tangled in straight red strands of hair, which she looked at, confused.
"How long?" she asked, in a tenor voice that was different, to the friends that had become so much larger than life in her time spent away. "How long was I away?"
Even as they were being answered... she was pushing her way up, and blinking away the tears. Everything was deafeningly quiet... distractingly so. The sheet began to fall, as she became aware of the obvious differences in who she is now, compared to who she was. She snatches for the sheet, pulling it to cover some of her modesty, suddenly aware that she didn't have her own body... and that these people now had seen more of her than she had... which felt somehow... wrong. She shivered slightly in the sudden cold as she covered herself. She didn't look at anyone specifically, instead staring off towards the sun, which didn't seem to bother her at all.
Markus sits, cross-legged, staring intently at the whole business as the ritual goes down. His neck cranes forward, and he gazes as forms begin to stir underneath the sheets. His normally-sluggish heart begins to speed just a bit in anticipation, and then.... a fox head pops out of a sheet. Followed by a human head not unlike Ehren's original, and... a half-elf.
Markus frowns. "Hmm.", he says, taken aback for just a moment at how... passe it had seemed. It was so anticlimactic. Just faces, poking out of sheets, naked bodies below them.
Still, he's excited. He uncurls his feet out from under him, and gets up. He takes off his outermost jacket, walking forward to Ary's sheet. "It's good to see you again... Captain.", he says, offering her the jacket. "It's been three days. We found Gilas here just after your...departure, I suppose, and Sosiel just a few hours after that. We started working on bringing you back as soon as we could."
His cocks his head, offering a hand to help her up, if she wants to stand. "Can I get you anything?"
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Aron groans and stirs, sitting upright and cradling his head as if to ward off a pounding headache. Wild, long, curly brown hair falls around his face - his skin now a deeper olive in color. He pulls his hands away to feel his hair, his body strangely unfamiliar to him.
"Aron?" Sosiel asks, hesitant and breathless.
Aron looks up - he is now tall and thin, rather than stocky and muscular - his familial resemblance to Annabelle all gone. Instead his features appear more Keleshite than Taldane - almond-shaped brown eyes, an up-turned nose and long-fingered hands.
He glances from face to face, finally locking on a familiar one - "Sosiel!" He scrambles to his feet, the sheet, forgotten, falls to the ground, all to embrace the man tenderly. Tears stream down Sosiel's face as he returns the hug. He peels off his own red cape to drape around the man, murmuring, "Darling, you're exposed."
Aron frowns, staring down at Sosiel in confusion. "How am I taller than you? What is going on?"
"Shhhh," Sosiel cradles Aron's face in his hands. "All that matters is you're here with me." He lifts himself up onto the balls of his feet to reach his face up to Aron's. The two exchange a lingering, tender kiss. The young lovers don't notice anyone else. It is as if there were no one else there in the clearing with them.
-----
"Ehren!"
Ellyn and Audrey nearly knock Ehren back down to the ground with their hugs - each twin clinging on to either side of him tightly.
"Ehren, byddwch yn ffug, byth yn dychryn fel yna eto!" scolds Audrey, while her sister Ellyn continues to cling tightly to him, refusing to let him go.
Gilas hangs back, positively beaming at his son. His shoulders sag with relief as he finds that the ritual went as planned - better even, seeing as his son was close to unchanged. He glances over at Hinagiku - the most changed out of all of them - but first he had to embrace his eldest child.
"No, Ehren. I am proud of you. So proud."
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"Mae'n ddrwg gen i," Ehren murmurs after nearly being bowled over by his sisters' hugs. His voice, like everything else, was different. Slowly, his arms snake their way around their shoulders, clutching both twins in a tight embrace. His hand strokes Ellyn's hair, his fingers oddly tingling with each motion. The newness of his body was all too apparent. He holds them that way for a while, letting out one last sob before working up the nerve to look at his father again. His emotions finally settling down a bit, he manages to twist his mouth into a smile.
I am proud of you. Hearing those words from him again meant so much to him, made him so happy. And yet, some part of him felt like they were undeserved. That he had failed, somehow. His memory was still a little foggy, but there were some things that he remembered with perfect clarity. Hinagiku and Ary, being torn asunder by the demons. Valaria and Isilme vanishing before his very eyes. And of course, the agonizing prospect of being devoured himself... The thought alone is enough to make him shudder. He opens his mouth to speak again, but instead gives his father a single firm nod. He would be okay. He had to be.
With his thoughts more or less in order again, he turns to look at the others that had been reincarnated. Unsurprisingly, he did not recognize any of them - at least, not in the manner he used to be able to. Out of consideration for their modesty, he does not let his gaze linger on any one of them for two long.
He could faintly overhear Markus (who had also managed to escape that nightmare somehow, thank the Green) speaking to the half-elf, who, surely enough, bore a vague resemblance to Ary. Any doubt is dispelled the moment he sees Faith, ever at the crusader captain's side. Three days... he overhears, nodding his head slowly. Not very long at all, yet it had felt like an eternity.
He next looks to the two men sharing an embrace, knowing right away that they had to be Aron and Sosiel. There is a pang of regret when he realizes that this meant Annabelle's brother had fallen in battle, no, during the massacre. At the same time, there is joy and relief to be found in seeing reunited with his lover.
Finally, he looks to the strange fox creature, who he knew could only be Hinagiku. Her appearance was undeniably odd, stranger than any of their new forms. He worries for a moment that the change might be too drastic, but quickly brushes the thought away. That she reincarnated at all meant that she had chosen to come back. The rest, they could overcome together.
Ehren looks back to his sisters, still held in a vice grip, and then down at himself, realizing that he was just as naked as the others. He makes a feeble little tugging motion, pulling the silk sheet just a little higher. Just then, something rather important comes to mind.
"The rest of the clan. Are they safe?" he asks his father, trying and failing to avoid sounding too worried.
Gilas gestures to a nearby wagon - inside are all of the formerly deceased person's belongings, carefully recovered and cleaned for their use. Their belongings are a bit lighter, however, since the heroes had to spend all of their valuables and trade off a few of their things to afford the oils of reincarnation. Audrey detaches herself from Ehren to grab his clothes and armor for him - they look brand new. Ellyn stays right where she is, rubbing the tears out from her eyes with her free hand.
He smiles at Ehren. "They're fine. We left them up north, near Star Keep, to come looking for you." He looks distant. "We've spent the past few weeks traveling up and down the border checking the menhir - it appears they've all gone inert. If I understand correctly, you and your friends had something to do with that, yes?"
"My stuff." Ary says, "Doesn't feel right being outside of it. Thanks..." she takes a moment too long to have gears click back into place, "Gloomy. And we need to be scanned by some trustworthy inquisitors." she adds, slipping into the jacket and bundling it around herself, rubbing her left forearm awkwardly, as her eyes moved from person to person.
Hina..? A fox..? No. Daisy was a fox. Ehren was... still Ferron. She spotted Li'an, and a small smile broke out, before the crushing weight of what had happened returned, and she looked hollow for a moment, eyes closing before too much of the emotion slipped out. Markus was still there. Her eyes opened once more and scanned the group, spotting Butterfly amongst them. It took her several moments to piece everything together, far too many.
Sosiel... she thought, before her eyes moved to the man. He didn't at all look the way she had expected him to. But... they hadn't died in vain. He was still alive. She remembers to stop holding her breath again, exhaling in what sounds like a sigh, before she snaps back to reality.
"Paper, too. I never got a letter out to Horgus. Three days is enough time to hear I was dead... He shouldn't be worried. The same for everyone else. Is my diary okay..?" she asks, with somehow more concern than should be reasonable, given the situation of everything else.
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Val draws a slow breath, trying to keep herself calm. A sudden urge to hug every one of her rising friends nearly over takes her, but she restrains herself. First because it doesn't really feel appropriate to hug them while they're naked. Second because she can't decide who to hug first and she's pretty sure that her arms aren't long enough to get all three of them at once. "You're back," she finally gets. "You're actually back." She feels a wet spot running down her cheek and hurriedly wipes it away. Hina is a fox person now, and Ary has pointy ears, but that doesn't matter now that they're actually back. The instant Ary is dressed, she finds herself the victim of the first of Val's hugs.
Ehren looks down at his clothing, marveling at its pristine condition. The outfit looked just as it did when he first selected it at the Loumises' shop, as a reward for saving the couple's lives. Even at the time, he had been reluctant to accept such fine clothing. Seeing it like this now, knowing that it had been ripped into messy tatters, did not sit well with him somehow. Even so, he accepts the clothing from Audrey with a smiling nod.
"Peidiwch â phoeni, Ellyn. Nid wyf yn mynd yn unrhyw le," he says to Ellyn softly, gently extricating himself from her grasp.
He listens to his father as he slowly pulls on his clothing, breathing a sigh of relief when he hears that their family is safe. When Gilas inquires about their hand in the wardstone field's destruction however, he hesitates briefly, his pants stopping at mid-leg. Despite what good had come out of it, the weight of that task had never quite left him. Still, he had quietly steeled himself, in anticipation of having to share the news with his clan. With a grimace, Ehren nods once.
"It is... a long story," he says lamely. At this point, the details were not quite as fuzzy as he might have hoped. With at least the lower half of his body properly clothed, the druid finally stands, wobbling a little when he does so. The feeling of his soles against solid earth is a welcome one, though much like his hands, they were no longer callused. That would change soon enough.
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Ary finds all her things in her backpack relatively unmolested (though all of her money and gems are gone) - including her journal. The pack itself is nice and clean - courtesy of prestidigitation and mending.
Gilas' brow furrows, not at all satisfied with Ehren's answer, but given his recent ordeals he doesn't press further. He nods understandingly, leaving his daughters to obsess over their big brother.
"Is it true you reincarnated some lady?" Audrey asks, eyes wide.
Ellyn grins mischievously. "Was she each cariad?"
Audrey smiles dreamily. "Oh, so romantic...Ni all unrhyw beth gael yn y ffordd o cariad gwir.."
Ellyn tilts her head. "Did you promise her you'd love her no matter what, even if she came back as a troll?"
"Or a bugbear?" chimes in Audrey.
Meanwhile, Gilas carries Hinagiku's pack and clothes to her. He smiles at her. "Hinagiku, is it? I am Gilas, Clan-Liege of clan Ferron... I am Ehren's father. You died three days ago. With the help of your friends I have reincarnated you into a new form. I... essentially invoked druidic magic to summon your spirit from the nether and bound it to a newly created body, formed for you by the will of the Green."
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Markus nods, fetching Ary some pants and her notebook, helping her to her feet once she's partially-dressed, and then excusing himself for a few moments to gather a few pieces of parchment paper, a quill, ink, and an envelope.
He takes a moment to shake Ehren's hand, congratulating him on his return to the mortal coil, and nods vaguely at Hinagiku.
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Unfortunately, we barely had time to push them to talking before there was a massive demon invasion. Such is our life. We did our usual thing of running off to help and Aron informed us that his lover, a cleric by the name of Sosiel, was in a nearby temple that would no doubt be a target. Being the foolish, overconfident heroes that we tend to be, we ran off to help. Of course, by the time we arrived, things were a mess. There was a pair of extremely powerful hezrou demons in front of the temple in the process of desecrating it rather thoroughly. We formulated a plan where most of our number would do their best to distract the demons for a minute or two so the rest of us could infiltrate the building and get the priests out through the back. Logically, it wasn’t a bad plan. Unfortunately, the universe is extremely unfair, as it seems that hezrou demons are literally impossible to run away from. Several blasphemies later, we found ourselves in the precarious situation of having half our number dead. I can’t even bring up enough tears to cry anymore. I only survived because I was able to convince the damned Horror to teleport me and anyone else I could grab away. I only managed to get Isilme. I could have taken Ehren but… there wasn’t time to get two. And I… I couldn’t lose Isilme. Markus managed to slip away, but Annabelle was killed in a rash attempt to avenge Aron, who also perished.
I suppose that all I need is for Markus to die and every one of my friends will have died at least once. Even Isilme was dead before she was reincarnated in Li’an’s stead.
Perhaps fate was on our side, but we encountered Ehren’s father almost immediately afterward and he offered to reincarnate our friends, though that required us to obtain the necessary oils to perform the ritual. Which meant dealing with the sleaziest black marketer I’ve met in a while. Which went well enough. Unfortunately, there was no sign of Sosiel at the temple at all. In fact, there were no priests there at all. So it fell to Markus and myself to find him before something unfortunate happened. Our search fortunately led us to a friendly, if somewhat odd, woman by the name of Ayavah. She’s a Chelaxian tiefling, and even from Westcrown as well, and she was having a bit of a dispute with a crusader captain over her devil bodyguards. Sigh. I grow tired of arguing down prejudiced crusaders. I have no more love of devils than any of them do, but I’m not foolish enough to reject the support of powerful allies when the situation is dire. At least I can trust that a devil won’t stab me in the back unless it’s specifically written in to the agreement in the first place. And they hate demons more than they hate the average paladin, which is always a plus.
Ayavah was able to point us to Sosiel and his companions, who had been aiding in the defenses on the walls. Or former companions, I should say, as they all seem to have perished. Far too many good people died in this attack. We managed to save him from being killed by a squad of cultists and demons in a rather unfortunate fight. I’ve grown a bit too used to Isilme and Ary’s support in battle. I’m starting to lag behind fighting on my own. I’ll need to correct that. Thankfully, Ayavah’s devils made up the difference. Sosiel was heartbroken at the news of Aron’s death, but he seemed to recover a bit when we explained the full situation. Hopefully nothing goes wrong with the ritual. I fear it may break the man if he were to lose Aron immediately after losing all of his fellow priests.
Ayavah and I decided to… distract ourselves this evening. She’s just left as I write this in fact. It was certainly an… entertaining night. I had never met a tiefling before who had a mutation that caused them to have both forms of genital. It made for a most enjoyable experience. Afterwards, we got to talking and I learned some… interesting things. It seems that Ayavah is a member of a group whose name I probably shouldn’t give. It seems that they believe that certain… darker powers are capable of redemption. A noble belief, if a bit unsubstantiated. I almost want to believe that she’s right. Because if they are, that means there’s still some hope for our world after all. Still, I’ll reserve my judgment until I see a demon deciding to turn good.
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The completion of the ritual brought back memories of her own awakening, surrounded by the very people who were with her at the moment. The sense of disorientation, the unfamiliar body, the flood of memories: She'd felt it all. She looked down at the four as they began to sit up, becoming aware of their situation. Though their forms were different--well at least Ary and Hinagiku had different forms, Ehren seemed to have made it through with only minor changes--she could tell clearly who they were by their mannerisms.
Isilme moved up to her friends as they stood, leaving Aron and Sosiel alone to kiss their hellos, and fell in behind Val starting off with Ary, since Ehren was preoccupied with his family, and Hinagiku seemed to be still adjusting to her drastic change in form, having apparently been brought back as a Kitsune.
As she moved up to Ary she saw the look of recognition flash in her eyes briefly, followed by her quickly breaking eye contact. She waited for the newly minted half-elf to regain her composure before putting her hands on her shoulders and speaking to her. "Welcome back, Ary," she said smiling brightly. "I like the ears by the way," she said, touching the tip of her own ear in reference to Ary's new elven features. "They suit you!"
After giving her a big hug, she excuses herself to speak to Hinagiku, although on the way over she overhears Ehren's sisters talking about her own reincarnation, grilling him as to the identity of the one who was brought back. "Fi oedd yr un ei fod yn dod yn ôl, er nad bwriad y sawl sy'n derbyn y ddefod. Er nad oedd y canlyniad y byddai unrhyw un ohonom wedi dymuno, gan gynnwys fi, mewn sawl ffordd yr oedd yn wyrthiol. Hir ers i mi wedi rhoi'r gorau i obeithio byth yn dychwelyd" she interjects into the conversation as she walks by. She gives Ehren a smile and adds, "I'm glad your return was far less eventful," before continuing on to Hinagiku.
She looks over the monk's new vulpine form, recalling that kitsune were natural shapechangers as she had been. She wasn't certain if Hinagiku would be aware of it naturally or if it was something she'd need to practice, so she decided to broach the subject discretely. "どのようにして、菊花をやっていますか？あなたはそれはそうキツネの形をとっています。私が正しくリコール、私は、彼らが人間の形をとることができると信じて 、いくつかのもキツネの形をとることができます。、何らかの理由で、それは自然に来ない場合は、私は、彼らはあなたが同じことを行うするのが容易になるかもしれ ないことを期待して形を変えて、私の経験を共有するために幸せになります。" Isilme says quietly to Hinagiku, placing a hand on her fur-clad shoulder and giving her a reassuring smile.
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Ehren watches his father walk away with a frown, well aware that he deserved a proper explanation. One that he would get by day's end, if he had his way. That is, if luck permitted the rest of the day to pass uneventfully. For the time being, he was content to take advantage of this moment of respite.
He responds to his sisters' teasing remarks with a scowl. For them, it was back to business as usual, it seemed. Fortunately, Isilme herself approaches to clear up the matter. Well, mostly.
"Thank you," he says to her simply, with a wide smile. In anticipation of his sisters' antics, once the aasimar has moved on to Hinagiku, Ehren says to Audrey and Ellyn in a more hushed voice, "Na, nid yw'n fy nghariad."
When Markus comes over, Ehren gives him the firmest handshake he can manage. The dhampir might not be able to tell, but the druid's grip was weaker than usual. Fatigue had started to sink in, mental, physical, and spiritual. He knew that crossing over had its price. That does not stop him from smiling, though.
"I am glad you are all right," Ehren tells him. "In the end, I had thought for sure that you..." He pauses and then shakes his head, dismissing that line of thought. "No, never mind. That is not important anymore." Something else suddenly occurs to him, turning his smile into a faint frown. The sun was out. "Did... Annabelle make it?" he asks tentatively.
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Markus returns Ehren's shake with the firmest one of his own. "I... am ashamed that I was unable to do anything for you. I tried to render you invisible, I didn't have time to stall the hezrous... I felt completely useless. In the end, all I could do was run."
"That you're back... it barely makes up for it. But I'm glad." he says, nodding definitively.
At the mention of Annabelle, Markus reaches into his pocket, and withdraws a beautiful silken black masquerade mask. "Annabelle fell in the battle, it seems... but she'll be back. This mask will return her." Markus frowns. "It seems she's not a full vampire, either. It's normally extremely difficult to destroy one with any finality."
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The twins are surprised to hear an elf speak in their native tongue, and immediately start giggling. They aren't really sure what Isilme meant when she said she wasn't the intended recipient - the whole affair was bizarre to begin with, and they had only just begun their druidic training.
"Mae coblyn sy'n siarad Hallit!" says Ellyn, bemused.
"Fel arfer eich math yn rhy ffroenuchel ar gyfer ein tafod," Audrey agrees with a grin.
"Ydy, mae'n rhy... sut ydych chi'n dweud ei fod? ... Barbaric." Ellyn adds.
"Ydy. Barbaric. Mae'n dda gwybod nad ydych yn coblyn o'r fath." Audrey smiles sweetly.
"Usually your kind is too snooty for our tongue."
"Yes it is too... how do you do you say it? Barbaric."
"Yes. Barbaric. It is good to know you are not such an elf."
Once Isilme has diverted her attention to Hinagiku, the twins giggle and resume tormenting Ehren.
"Ciiiiiiiiiiiinnte," says Ellyn. She winks at Ehren. "Tá sí i ndáiríre deas!"
"Geall liom fhoghlaim sí Hallit hamháin ar Ehren ..." says Audrey, dreamily.
"Ah, conas a rómánsúil!" swoons Ellyn.
"Suuuuuuuuure. She's really pretty!"
"I bet she learned Hallit just for Ehren..."
"Ah, how romantic!"
When Markus approaches Ehren the twins finally give up on their teasing, breaking off from him to join their father's side. Aron finally emerges, having put on his clothes - his pants are now comically too short, but there isn't much he can do about it at this moment. He approaches Ehren and Markus, then extends his hand to the dhampir lieutenant.
"Lieutenant Markus, Sosiel said you and Valaria helped save his life... and then you went out of your way to save mine. I owe you a great debt. Thank you so much." Sosiel nods in agreement, his arm wrapped around Aron's waist, his head resting on his shoulder.
He looks around anxiously. "Where is Annabelle?" he asks, having missed Ehren and Markus' discussion on the very topic.
Sosiel bites his lip. "She hasn't been to any of my services. Was she sent away with a squadron?"
"No way..." Aron says firmly. "She wouldn't have missed this ritual for the world... is she..?" He looks at Markus and Ehren pleadingly. "Where is she?"
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Hinagiku kept on staring at the familiar faces until they all started moving toward the half-elven woman next to her. Alone, still confused, her gaze falls on the horizon and she freezes as hundreds of thoughts mingle into nonsense within her mind. Overhearing the others talk about a delay of three days or about them being “brought back” did not make sense and she simply ignores it, still in a daze.
Then, after a time, a man looking a bit like an older version of Ehren, steps toward her with a pack bearing the color of Irori in his hands. His approach snaps her out of the confusion, and she stares at the man, eyes mostly filled with confusion and fear, and partly with tears. Her eyes riveted on him, all she can do is mouth a silent “what?”.
As she listens to his explanations, Hinagiku relaxes visibly, her breathing slowing down to its normal rhythm and her eyes regaining a normal size.
”Th… thank you.” she answers softly, still looking shaken.
Slowly regaining her composure, she stands up, holding the cloth that was draping her with one hand and taking the clothes from Ehren father’s hands. She does not seem phased by her nudity, but has enough modesty to hide her lower body with the cloths bearing the colors of Mendev.
As she dresses, Hinagiku looks arournd, almost in a daze, yet discerning enough to understand that Ehren and Ary both came back somewhat changed.
When Isilme finally approaches her, the Kitsune is already wearing her pants and in the process of bandaging her chest, carefully leaving the wound in its middle uncovered. Still, her movements seem slightly off, much less in harmony as they used to be.
She lifts her gaze from her chore, and listens intently to the celestial.
Yes, change, steal the sight of my new body away, remain secret. No.. no, what am I thinking? Hiding the truth? Lying? I can’t. I really shouldn’t. she thinks, almost giving way to the alien desire.
” はりがとうございます Isilme さん” she says lifting her head to look at the celestial. ”However, I do not think I could do it… its would fee like a lie.”
As she finishes putting on her clothes, Hinagiku overhears Annabelles name. Again, her mind starts racing as she looks around, trying to find her. Unable to, she walks toward Markus.
”Did the mas…. Did it work? Was it destroyed?” she asks unsually cryptic and without paying attention to the two unknown men by her side.
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As if dealing with the Hag was not bad enough, today we wound up tangling with a pair of Hezrous. The end result was… horrific. The group rushed in to fight them, a laudable but ultimately futile effort given their ability to utter blasphemies. I did my best to negate the blasphemies’ effects, but in the end I was unable to prevent the final blasphemy. In the meantime, the creatures managed to summon another Hezrou and get ahold of both Hinagiku and Ary. The two of them were torn to pieces in short order, a sight I hope I never have to experience again. If I were myself, it would have been trivial to at least buy time for the others to escape. Unfortunately, once again the limitations of this form have left me unable to help those I care most for. I must talk to Ai’sintar about how we can go about restoring my form and freeing Li’an’s body. In the end, Val and I escaped only because her “guardian” decided to get her to safety and apparently brought me along as well. Markus also managed through luck to somehow evade the Hezrous thankfully as well. Ehren and Aron were not so lucky, however, and both perished along with Ary and Hinagiku. Annabelle fell as well, though the mask she’d been wearing should ensure she returns to life.
When the effects of the blasphemy wore off of Val and I, we set about trying to gather help to defeat the Hezrous and recover the remains of our friends. It was at this point that I had the pleasure of meeting Kathon and the misfortune of meeting Captain Montvale. The former was a member of the squad commanded by the latter, and Captain Montvale had decided to sit out the siege of the city in order to avoid having to risk his own life. While Montvale was completely apathetic to my request for his aid, Kathon and many of the other soldiers were eager to help. Val and I were able to convince them to ignore Montvale’s orders and aid us in defeating the Hezrous. As we headed to the temple where we’d found them we met up with Markus, who had also managed to secure aid from a group of crusaders.
The battle was costly, and many crusaders gave their lives defeating the demons so we could recover the remains of our four friends. Because of their sacrifices, I’ve decided to dedicate the next two days to recounting their heroics to the people of Nerosyan. Hopefully they will be willing to donate to the families of the fallen crusaders to help ease the loss. At this point there is nothing else to do before the reincarnation ritual is completed by Ehren’s father, so I will do what I can for the others who fell.
Speaking of which, we needed to obtain special oils and medical supplies to help Ehren’s father and the infirmary they were running. The oils were required for the reincarnation ritual, and the only one who had them (along with much needed medical supplies) was an unscrupulous Garundi man who went by the moniker “The Sovereign”. Needless to say it was easy to play to someone with an ego that large, and with a bit of sweet talking and some unlikely-to-ever-be-fulfilled promises, we managed to lower his asking price for everything to a reasonable level.
The previous night I was too busy to write, so I will summarize now. I have spent these two days visiting the families of the crusaders who fell and letting them know that their sacrifice meant something. There was much sadness in the eyes of the crusaders’ loved ones, but I believe that they were better off for having been able to hear about their final moments.
Both evenings I spent travelling from bar to bar and inn to inn within Nerosyan, hitting as many as I could. I composed a short epic from the events of the twelfth, focusing on the deeds of the crusaders in defeating the Hezrous. The performances went quite well, and word spread fast enough that I found each venue more packed than the last. This evening they were packed to the gills, and I received more than a few offers of employment from their owners.
Especially popular in the tale were Captain Montvale and Kathon. Montvale provided comic relief by being portrayed as a buffoon. Kathon, on the other hand took the role of the savvy and cunning second in command to the captain, singlehandedly ensuring the success of the squad despite Montvale’s ineptitude. More than once I heard people repeating jokes about the Captain as I left the bars, something that pleases me more than a little. After this second day I strongly suspect the Captain will be seriously regretting having refused to render aid when the city was endangered.
Tomorrow the ritual will be complete. I intend to spend the rest of the evening in vigil, offering prayer to Starsong. Hopefully everything will proceed as planned with the ritual.
"Should you change your mind, let me know," she says to Hinagiku. "Just remember that learning to change form does not mean you need to hide your true form."
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Hinagiku seems to debate the issue for a moment before nodding.
"Miss Isilme, you are probably right. Perfection has many forms... maybe this might open a new way for me to better myself." she lifts her eyes to meet those of her companion. "Thank you." she finishes, her voice shaking a bit.
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Ary is a little slow to react, still oddly distant, then smiles. That was also different. Kind of. "Hey Val. Sorry about... that." The now taller Ary musses Valaria's hair. "Dying is... really selfish." she says, quietly, before wincing slightly at the somewhat harsh Hallit. "Would you believe i couldn't find a single person in the afterlife to teach me Hallit?" she asks, rather lamely, before brushing Valaria's cheek to help dry it a bet more, apparently not too worried about Markus's jacket... then breaking away. "I should probably put on pants... amongst other things." she adds as she digs through her backpack. Everything was simultaneously too large and too small... the expertly tailored clothing that had been painstakingly mended... were vastly improved by the use of a belt, though it was assuredly not an ideal solution. It would be terribly ironic to be brought back, only to have the city attacked once again... literally with her pants down.
She sighed wistfully, then tilted her head as Isilme tapped her own ears, hand moving up to the sides of her head. "That... explains so much." she says, nodding, before mussing Isilme's hair as well.
As Isilme headed off to greet Hinagiku, Ary was already trying to fit back into her belongings... The breastplate had to go on before Faith, but it was still Faith that got most of her attention, as it had shifted once more. "Guess it thinks I'm a new owner..?" she asks no one in particular, as she worked into her belongings, one by one. Everything needed to be adjusted. But once Faith was back in place, her arm felt right again. Lastly, she checked the scale... and then Radiance. She didn't doubt that Radiance would accept her, she realized, which was met by a warm feeling in the pit of her stomach.
She puts on the ring Markus had given her, once more on her left ring finger... at least that fit perfectly. "I will shine in her legion." she says with a surprising surety, as her appearance managed to right itself as much as it could. Finally, she picked up her Crusader Cross, which had been restored from hopelessly mangled, running her finger over the inscription she had carved into it herself. "Some day." she adds, before realizing she'd slipped into her own little world while entirely surrounded by friends.
She snaps back to attention as Aron... or someone..? Probably Aron, returned. How many had died because of her mistake? How many had lived? Her eyes lingered on the soft, yet firm contact between the two men, bringing a gray hand into view of her face for a moment.
Then she overhears Hinagiku and realizes that being gray and having pointy ears is the least of her worries... and decidedly out of place.
She lets the question of Aron's linger for a moment, now that she's certain of who it is, and crosses the intervening distance, pinning her captain's badge to the crimson cloak as she did so, slipping back into the space of accepting responsibility, one of the few parts of being a leader that came naturally to her.
"Aron... it's complicated." she says softly. "Your sister... well. Annabelle died. But it wasn't in the last few days. During the second battle of Kenabres, when we fought our way to the Hall of the First Fatalities, she was there with us. The gods and ley protected some of us... but Annabelle wasn't quite so lucky. The wardstone shattered..." she leaves the unecessary words out, instead leaving a brief pause.
"But both the Ley and Gods allowed Markus to bring her back. The Annabelle that you met a few days ago was a vampire - a good one. The same as she'd been in life. Whatever happened that day, she was destroyed... but that shouldn't be permanent. She was wearing a mask that would keep her safe from anything... permanent. Given the situation, at the time, I was leaving it to her to decide, but..." she offers a small, and rather unhappy shrug of one shoulder. "I think it's better that you know that she will be back as she was when you last saw her... and that neither of her sacrifices have been in vain."
Aron and Sosiel listen to Ary's story intently, the color rapidly draining from Aron's face. "A vampire?" he repeats faintly. He appears to be in shock, but can you blame him? It's a lot to take in at once. Slowly, the wheels click into place in his head.
"That weird spell you put on her... the one that cast her in shadow. That's why, isn't it? That's why she didn't want to talk to me..."
Sosiel grips Aron's hand firmly, massaging it within his own in an effort to comfort him. He turns back to Ary, Hinagiku, Markus, and Ehren.
"If she was destroyed, how are you so sure she'll come back? What's that mask?"
Markus grips his temple. Yet another thing that he had to be ashamed or insecure about. "I'm sorry, Aron. All I was trying to do was help her. She had died, and it was our fault. She just wanted to help us, I couldn't just let her lie there."
"The mask, though - it's something we pulled off of a dhampir that was trying to frame her for murder. If you're alive, it turns you into a vampire when you die. If you're a vampire, it brings you back when you die. And besides that, that happens to regular vampires too. When they're destroyed, they just dissipate into gas and fly to their...uh, bed."
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Ehren quietly pulls on his robe as Ary and Markus - the two perhaps most responsible for Annabelle - explain her condition. There is some relief in finally hearing the issue put out into the open, but also apprehension about what her brother's reaction might be. With just a few adjustments, he finds that his clothing fits perfectly. His physique had changed, but not quite as dramatically as Aron's, or Ary and Hinagiku's for that matter.
"She is going to need you, Aron," he says calmly, remembering their ordeal with the vampire assassin. How appropriate that her memento would end up saving Annabelle's life. "She has already endured so much, but it cannot be easy. I think knowing that you can accept her would ease that burden... however hard that might be."
Val playfully punches Ary in the arm. "You are an idiot," she says bluntly. "Don't you dare ever leave us like that again. Don't you dare."
She looks over at Markus. "Say... how long is that mask supposed to take anyway? She still hasn't shown any signs of regenerating and it's been days."
"Yeah, yeah, Val. No promises." she responds with a smirk that doesn't quite reach her too-dark eyes.
"Maybe the mask needs something. Put into a safe place. Or... fed." Ary says, offering a small shrug. "Yeah. She didn't want her big brother to be all 'big brother' over things. But she really needs you to be 'big brother' once she's back. I think... you not knowing was important to her... but only because you wouldn't treat her differently." she moves to push her hair out of her eyes once more... somewhat for emphasis, but also because she needed a haircut. "Change is... hard." she adds.
Aron nods at Ehren, cracking a small smile. "She's seen me at my worst and loved me anyway, I'm a little hurt she thought that something like that would matter. But I'm glad that she'll be back... somehow." This business with magical masks and vampires and wizards was well beyond Aron's understanding, but he trusted Markus all the same.
"I always thought vampires were all evil. Kind of like how demons are all evil," Aron says after a moment.
"Well, I mean, you saw her, yes? Did she seem different?" Sosiel asks.
"A little mopey, maybe, but no... you're right. It's silly of me to worry." Aron says, kissing the Shelynite affectionately on the side of his head. He watches Gilas and his daughters finish cleaning up the ritual, loading their things back onto the wagon. "So... should we be off?"
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Markus shakes his head. "Demons are evil from their core. They are chaos and evil souls made manifest. Vampires are evil... externally. Because their existence requires that they go insane with hunger or take the life force of others, a great majority of vampires become devoid of empathy, viewing living creatures merely as cattle. It would be possible to have a non-evil vampire, but because of...circumstances, it really doesn't happen very often. Few are willing to give their blood to a vampire, and few vampires wait to ask."
Markus offers up the mask to Aron. "Do you want it? I doubt there's someone she'd rather see first than you when she returns. Just keep it inside - it could be up to five more days, and there will be fatal consequences should she be restored in daylight."
"Trust me, we had to work through a lot of angst to get her comfortable enough to take blood when we offered it. She's still not really okay with it, but I'd rather help her through it now than wait until she can't control herself and she does something she regrets."
Again, Hinagiku relaxes visibly when Markus states that Annabelle's revival could take a few more days; for a moment, she thought her closest friend in this land could have been lost forever. As for the others, they can easily notice the changes of emotions of the monk's face, her vulpine features being surprisingly expressive.
"I do think lieutenant Markus is right, she would be delighted. She talked a lot about her brother." she says to Aron, trying to smile. However, her new mouth does not make it easy, and she partly seems to bare her teeth, and partly to smile.
Her mind having regained some of its focus in the last few mintures, Hinagiku realizes that much must have happened in three days, and barely anything as been mentioned to them as of now. She turns toward Ary and hesitates a moment, battling her respect for the woman, and the feeling that remaining mute might lead to more unfortunate events.
"Ary, everyone, Nerosyan is safe? The priests at the temple? And... miss Valaria? She still looks... sickly."
Markus shakes his head at Hinagiku, holding off fingers to tick off the things that need to be addressed - "Yes, Nerosyan is safe. It turns out the attack was a full-on invasion, but it was repelled. Valaria and I actually went up to the walls to help Sosiel man some siege weaponry."
"As for Valaria, we still have our unwanted guest. If Isilme's still willing, we should take immediate steps about her, now that our other priorities are out of the way."
Markus looks at Valaria directly. "Your quasit bodyguard - how do you feel about it? I feel like a little bit of help from it could go a long way in the planning stages, but... I'm unsure when it comes to the consequences of asking favors from demons."
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"The sooner the better," Val agrees. "I'm starting to run out of soul to be drained at this point." She considers Markus's question for a minute. "I'm not any more fond of him than usual, but I don't think he'll actively screw us over if we asked for help. I'd be more worried about what we'd have to do to get him to be in the slightest bit useful. I suppose we should explain to the five people here that didn't know I have a demon following me around about that before they freak out."
She looks at the five people who didn't know the Horror existed until about ten seconds ago. "The short version is that my demonic ancestor sent a babysitter for some reason. He's annoying, but obnoxiously powerful for a quasit, so we can't seem to do anything about him. He powered through a super charged holy word without much more than being disrupted for a few days. Thankfully, he's not hostile. He just floats around invisible and heckles people. Usually."
Aron nods, running his fingers over Annabelle's silken mask. "Alright, I will. Thank you, so much."
Sosiel takes in Valaria's explanation in stride. He chuckles. "Your sister has made some fascinating friends, that's for sure."
The Bound Horror appears, as if on cue, flying leisurely a few feet over Valaria's head.
"How about you walk into a orphanage, I teleport you out, and boom - no more hag." The "quasit" giggles sinisterly. "All you gotta do is divert her attention, I doubt she's too picky about what sorts of souls she can collect..."
Markus sighs when the Horror appears, but addresses it all the same. "That's not exactly what I had in mind. I meant more along the lines of allowing us to see it by using your magic. You've done it before, right? see invisibility to confirm that it's there and invisibility purge to keep us able to attack it once we have it Material-Plane-bound?"
"Speaking of help... Sosiel, what we face is likely to be a difficult foe. Is it too much to ask for your help taking it down? It puts all our lives in danger."
"Good to hear," Ehren says with a smile, more than satisfied with Aron's answer; Annabelle was lucky to have him. He makes a last few adjustments to his armor as he listens to Markus give his rundown of what they had missed. An awful lot, from the sound of it.
At the mention of the night hag, Ehren decides to take the opportunity to see if everything is still working as it should. He closes his eyes and concentrates, reaching out with his senses. And surely enough, when he opens them again, everything looks different.
He looks to Valaria, searching for the two evil presences that had been following her. The Bound Horror's abrupt announcement of its presence saves him half the trouble. Ignoring the demon's sick joke (or genuine suggestion, more probably), he looks further past her, hoping to locate the hag.
Sosiel nods, grinning. "Yes! Absolutely. I'm in your debt, after all, twice now." He lets go of Aron and moves over to inspect Valaria more closely.
"I think I can help repair the damage done to your soul, but I'd need some diamond dust to accomplish that. Once I have that, I could pray for Shelyn's aid and help you."
The Bound Horror doesn't actually ping on your spirit sense. Hm.
The Bound Horror does a little somersault in the air over Valaria's head. "Oh, you're no fun."
"I don't answer to you, necromancer. That is, I couldn't if I wanted to. There are some strict limits in place on what I can do," He lands on Valaria's shoulder, looking like some hideous pet bird. "But you, of course, those are things within the scope of what I can do. If you ask."
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"Yes, you're as helpful as always," Val mutters as the Horror is his usual self. "Do you have any ideas that don't involve child murder? Perhaps you know how to make us ethereal so we can beat her senseless. That would be helpful."
She frowns. "Sosiel... can you perform a magic circle against evil? That could contain her while we work something out. Or even a dismissal could deal with her."
"I could pray for those tomorrow, yes," Sosiel says with a nod. "Though magic circle against evil only works on beings that were called here by another caster... did someone sic her on you? And dismissal... could work. I'd only get the one shot. Two at most."
"Today I have... Dispel Magic, Remove Disease, Searing Light, Protection from Energy, Freedom from Movement, Neutralize Poison and Death Ward," he counts off.
The Bound Horror spits on his monocle and rubs at it to get it clean. "Hmmmm, no, can't go ethereal. That's not something I can do." He places the tiny thing back in place. "But I can certainly let you see her. Nothing can sneak past me."
"If you're so worried about children you can dump her off in a prison, or something, instead. As long as the souls are evil or chaotic, she'll be happy," he adds, as helpful as a demon can be.
"She is nearby, predictably enough," Ehren says, neither surprised nor happy. He very gently tilts his head in her general direction. "Over there, near those trees."
He eyes the Bound Horror with a curious expression, but says nothing further.
Val's eyes light up. "Wait... could dispel magic force her to become corporeal for a few seconds? Long enough to grab her heartstone and strip her of her worst powers. If it could, we'd actually have a decent chance to stop her."
She looks up at the Horror. "Your trick to reveal her will counter her invisibility and without her etherealness, she'll be weak and especially vulnerable. That way we can stop her without feeding someone else to her."
Isilme waves her hand briefly, invoking message. "We already bought the scrolls necessary to handle her etherealness. Having see invisibility from the Horror will be handy, but the main thing we need to do is get you close enough to her for me to steal the heartstone, as I will need to borrow some of your talent in thievery briefly," she whispers to the group. "Once she is forced into the open we only need to ensure we have see invisibility on Val and Ary--at the bare minimum--to bring her down quickly."
"Hmmm, maybe?" Sosiel shrugs. "I'd get one shot at it, though, and it's not guaranteed..."
"Where would be the ideal place to execute your plan?" Ehren asks quietly, glancing in the direction of his father and sisters.
Ehren
Hinagiku
Ary