The arachnid horror, scorched and with its companion through the ages immolated before its eyes, falls into a rage… biting and clawing at Joanna, it screeches, in barely understandable Thassilonian, for revenge…
...falling beneath the ferocity of the attacks, Joanna crumples to the floor with blood seeping from two savage puncture holes in her armour...
The monster scrambles inside Joanna's defenses mauls her other leg. As the young paladin opens her mouth to scream from pain, two claws find the seam of her armor where the two halves of her breastplate meet. She lets out a quiet gasp as its claws go deep into her sides. She coughs once, blood bubbling up and spilling from her mouth. The shriezyx snatches its claws free, ready to find more prey. Joanna's blood flows freely from the rents in her armor, staining her sides and soaking into her clothing. Feebly, she tries to stay on her feet, but she's been hurt too badly, lost too much of her own blood. She staggers to the wall, then slides down it, leaving a bloody smear as she collapses to the stairs, sword and shield clattering as they fall from her hands. Everything goes dark as the young paladin slips from consciousness.
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Arsith steps over her fallen comrade prone body, her face even paler than her hair, and strikes with renewed fury, fueled by her fear for the young paladin's life, her eyes full of tears.
Her mace suddenly glows a pure golden light, as Shelyn answers her prayers and empower her sacred weapon
Briana, Teldon, drag Jo and save her! Please! I don't want her to die...I don't want someone I love to die! Not again...Please Sheylin...My heart is only learning to beat again... Take it, and give it to Joanna if you wish, I only use it for her anyway...
Joanna finds herself coming back from the brink and into a world of pain. Briana didn't have to tell her to stay down, she couldn't move even if she'd wanted to. Her entire body spasms as she coughs up more blood that had flooded her lungs. Despite feeling as if someone had taken a white-hot poker and stabbed it into her side, she manages a small, weak smile.
"Was wonderin' why m'blood seemed t'be gettin' everywhere," she quips, her voice quiet and strained. Whatever else, she was indeed in a lot of pain.
"Joanna!!!"
But seeing Brianna tend to her friend, Zee turns her fury to the ancient Thassilonian spider, spitting words of contempt.
She steps forward to immolate it again.
Teldon, despite his growing frustration, continues to attack...
,
Stepping past Joanna's slumped form, Arsith unleashes vengeance upon the creature that brought the paladin down... and crashes her mace into its many-eyed face - whilst stepping up behind Arsith, Briana eases Joanna back to consciousness.
...Teldon, now within the chamber, stabs forwards with his spear before Ziomarra, once more, looses flame into the ancient shrine...
Shadlah's teeth grind together like stones in a quarry as she darts forward, ducking under the creature's thrashing limbs. Jagged shards of earth and stone erupt from her hand, quickly spreading and compounding, forming the shape of a Shoanti earthbreaker, gripped in knuckles hard and white as marble. She spins as she ends her ascent of the stairs, swings the weapon, but it only smashes into the ground, dissipating in a shower of clods.
Moving quickly, Shadlah does her best to squeeze into the chamber without attracting the attentions of the remaining arachnid... but, territorial and fast moving, the shriezyx lashes out at her...
...but catches only air. The sudden strike was enough though to put the Shoanti off her stride... her weapon falling apart in her hands even as she swings it... and now, devoid of strategy and blinded by wrath, the shriezyx lurches forwards at Arsith.
Injuries are about to pile up! You shall not pass, creature! You won't harm those I care for, even if I must die for that! And you know what, creature with an unspeakable name? YOU WILL DIE FIRST!
Despite multiple wounds, despite the pain, despite the venom, Arsith stands her ground, her feet firmly planted, her wild mane of white hair crowning her face.As she pushes away a few white locks, her goddess tends to Arsith's wounds.
Love gives her all the strength her aching muscles need, the passion and energy needed to not give up, the courage not to run away.
Stepping around the creature, Shadlah once again summons her weapon, this time in a roaring vortex of spinning earth and pebbles. "This. Ends. Now," she growls through gritted teeth, the weapon striking true and exploding on impact.
[ooc]Kinetic blade vanishes at the end of Shadlah's turn; she cannot make attacks of opportunity or provide a flanking bonus.[/oo
Still reeling from the brutal mauling she'd received, Joanna knows she is in no shape to fight, but that doesn't mean she can't help. She grabs her holy symbol in one hand and reaches out to place her other on one of the wounds on Arsith's leg as she stands over the young, wounded paladin. A warm, silver glow comes from both Joanna and Aristh as wounds begin to vanish.
Arsith, fighting on although the poison is burning in her veins, smashes into the creature.
...and then, with Shadlah's weapon crunching down, the shriezyx' abdomen virtually explodes!!! A viscuous fluid - yellow and pungent - seeps from a spiders web of cracks across the shattered thorax of the beast... as its legs give way and it collapses... and, as a silence sweeps across the chamber, it lies still.
Teldon, too, tries to do his part to end the shriexyz threat...
,
Joanna grabs a vial of alchemist fire and and tosses it onto the crushed body of the bug after motioning for everyone to back away from it.
"Please tell me that will keep it from coming back," she pleads as she leans on the wall to keep from falling down.
"Did we ever get the stone that kept you from not going crazy," Joanna asks after exhausting her healing energies.
Now feeling where the rents in her armor are poking into her, uncomfortably so, she begins to remove the battered breastplate. Some marks remain on her legs and shoulders, but where there were vicious gouges, there's now only scratches, the fact that her arms are bare from shoulder to elbow, and her pants leg is little more than bloody strips speaks to how viciously she'd been mauled.
"I think this settles whether I should be looking to buy a new set of armor or not," she says to herself with a rueful chuckle as she sets the breastplate down. Where the claws of the shriezyx had punched through the seams is clear to see. Even if she hadn't been thinking about replacing it with something that fit better, she was going to need to see an armorer anyway.
As long as I had Papa's armor and Momma's holy symbol, it was like there were still here, protecting me, she thinks, a sad smile coming to her face, I guess I need to let them go. I'm still a silly little girl, but i have friends, a family, that is watching out for me and caring for me now. I miss you, Papa. I miss you and Momma both. Goodbye for now. I will see you again someday. tell Momma not to worry about me.
Shaking away her thoughts and getting up she finds Arsith and speaks to her quietly.
"Hey Arsith, are you okay? You seemed a little," "A little" what? Enraged? Furious? "Um, I don't think I've seen you that upset before, even when Teldon was-- uh, being a little insensitive about some things," she says, "do you want to talk about it?"
Seeing Joanna up and already healing everyone is enough to make Arsith happy, so she hugs the young woman as soon as she has removed her armor, and cries on her shoulders
I've never been so happpy, Sweetie Pie. It was a tough fight, and seeing you down and bloodied... I couldn't let you down. I couldn't let you die. I've already lost Lenore. That's enough. That's even more that I could bear....
Perhaps there are other words that Arsith would say, but not here, or not yet. So she canges the subject
I still have some skill with armor, you know, and I'll be happy to repairs that one or make you a new one, given the time and materials.
With the shriezyx already starting to quiver as shattered chitin knits together, Joanna flings one of the vials of volatile chemicals at it… instantly wreathed in green flame, the creature’s regeneration is quashed and the threat passes…
…and here, deep in the bedrock below the Irespan and with a trail of slain derro, fiends and Thassilonian monsters behind them, the friends finally arrive at the moment that has been awaiting them since Nalathi’s vision back at the Heidmarch Manor. Nestled within the altar that the Shriezyx had guarded through the ages, lies a shard of black metal... forged of Adamantine. Exactly the same dimension as the shard retrieved from Natalya Vancaskerkin, it to has a small indentation near the jagged edge where the original Sihedron was sundered…
…and, even a cursory look at the indentation confirms that the Ioun Stone that Lady Heidmarch gave to you before heading out to the ‘Crow’… is too large to fit within the shard.
Joanna comforts the priestess as she cries on her shoulder, the words left unsaid have her feeling a little uneasy as something tickles the back of her mind.
What was it she was going to say?
"Hey, I'm still alive, thanks to both you and Briana," she tells Arsith, "that's what friends do, we help each other and protect each other. We'll see about the armor later. It's not going anywhere."
When it's discovered that the stone is too large for the indentation, Joanna lets out a long soft sigh of resignation.
"Iomedae, please protect your foolish servant," she prays before picking the shard up.
The shard, even though it has probably been held within this altar for an age, is as perfectly jet black and smooth as the very day it was created... picking it up, Joanna prays to her deity...
While the girls are healing up Teldon warns, "Nobody touch the altar or the shard, I'll need a few minutes..." He then begins scrutinizing the shrine.
I can activate it blindly but who knows what other effects that could cause... if I'm able to reattach these two pieces, though, I'm sure it will be more powerful than they are separately... it could be more dangerous too, but I'm sure that I can handle that power, and the ioun stone might inhibit both shards once they're connected... Hey, what's...
"Jo, NOOOOO!!!" he cries out as the paladin is once again impulsively reckless...
"It is Josephina, Teldon," Joanna gently corrects, her accent becoming distinctly more aristocratic, "and I must agree, these 'clothes' are simply dreadful! I must have been out of my mind to wear such rags."
The young paladin moves to her pack and sighs at how, plebeian it seemed. Just because one is mucking about in a filthy dungeon is no excuse for one to not appear as one ought. She fishes the clothing she had purchased yesterday from it and can barely keep the look of disgust from her features, though it is very plain in her eyes.
"Is this really the best I have with me? I might as well go naked," she says in resignation.
Joanna blinked as her fingers touched the shard. She can hear Teldon's cry, but it sounds off, as if she's hearing it from far off, and someone had stuffed cotton in her ears.
"It is Josephina, Teldon," she hears herself say, again as if from far off; though, the cotton seems to have been removed.
"What?! No! I don't go by that unless I have to," she tries to exclaim, but the words, so clear in her head never come out her mouth. The shrine melts away, transforming into a grand, richly decorated ballroom.
"Ah, much better, don't you think," says someone with her voice, and her step-mother's accent. Joanna turns to face the intruder, only to find herself in the most expensive gown she'd ever laid eyes on. "Really dear, you should treat yourself better," her doppleganger purrs, "although, I guess that should be we, since we are one in the same after all."
Joanna just stands there for a moment before going to pinch herself.
"C'mon!C'mon!C'mon! Wake up!"
She could already feel her ears blistering form Teldon's tirade once this was over.
"No, Briana, I am most definitely not alright," Joanna says plaintively, "My wardrobe is a mess, and I look like I lost a fight with a seamstress clown! The shard is fine; though, more than fine, really. I wish I had the proper necklace for it."
Seeing the blood on her arms from her wounds, the young paladin lets out a melodramatic sigh.
"I do not suppose you or Ms. Callinovo has some spell to get the blood off my skin. It just will not do for me to look like I stole those clothes after getting bloodied in some street brawl like a piece of gutter-trash," she continues, toeing her heavy boots off and unbuckling her sword belt. "I should be wearing Osirioni cotton at the very least, even in this mud filled heap," she mutters a bit angrily as she begins to take off the padding that had been under her armor.
Finally accepting that this was not a dream, Joanna tries to think of some way to wrest control back from her greedy side. At least until she sees that she's beginning to get undressed.
"Nonononono! What are you doing?! We-- I mean, I can't be undressing out here in the open! Not where everyone, especially Teldon can see," she blurts out in a rush as she turns Greedy Jo to face her.
"Hmm, You are right. We should be charging for this should we not," Greedy Jo answers with a smirk.
"NO! At least get somewhere that we aren't going to be showing our underwear to everybody!"
"At least you have decent taste in one thing, dear. I wonder if that boutique has something even better now."
Joanna's face turns scarlet at the thought of going to that shop with anyone else, much less with Teldon, in tow.
"I seem to remember this darling little set of silk ones that they had. Oh we must go see if they are an more like them."
"Please, please tell me you're joking."
"Why would I joke about this? We deserve the finest of everything, even underwear don't we?"
"Gods, I hope I never touch whichever shard is the Lust one," Joanna moans as she buries her head in her hands.
At first, Arsisth thought that Jo was just having fun.. then something seemed odd. Jo was happy, only a few hours earlier, when Arsith offered her the clothes, and now the clothes were too shabby for her?
With a concerned voice
Are you all right, Sweetie Pie? I can still heal some of your wounds, if you like. And if you don't like the clothes anymore, I still can buy you some better-looking ones.
Zee tenses to shout a warning to Joanna before her friend picks up the shard, then exhales sharply. "Ai milă Desna..."
The Thassilonian spider-beasts at first called us Karzoug's minions... Karzoug the Claimer he was called... the stories say his greed knew no bounds...
Zee takes out a handkerchief and approaches Jo. "I am so sorry, my friend, but my magic does not exactly work that way. If I may?" She pours some water onto the handkerchhief and helps to wash the blood away.
"You know, perhaps it would be best not to bother changing down here. We do have more work to do down here, after all. For the derro may have treasure we shoud look for! Plus, your armor is exquisite! It projects might and power far more than a party dress."
She then glances over her shoulder at her other friends with a look of concern. She leans in to Brianna and whispers, "Humor her."
As Arsith calls her "Sweetie Pie" Joanna opens her mouth, but closes it again, a smile coming to her face.
"Oh Arsith, you would do that for me? I must warn you that I might drive you into destitution with my tastes," she says as she wraps the other woman in a hug.
There's something subtly off about how Joanna is wrapping her arms around Arsith, it's almost possessive.
Letting go, she turns to Zee and eyes the handkerchief, but seeing nothing better, she lets the older woman help clean the worst of the mess.
Or she did until Zee mentioned treasure.
"Oh yes! Of course! Why did I not think of that before," she chatters off rapidly as she quickly packs her gear and pulls her boots back on. "Ziomarra, you beautiful woman, I could kiss you right now! I will be rich! Rich beyond even the Lord Mayor's wildest dreams!"
"Oh, it seems we have an admirer willing to shower us with gifts!" Greedy Jo smiles in glee as she considers the possibilities.
"Gah! No! Leave Arsith alone," Joanna demands as she moves forward to restrain her. Unfortunately, her avaricious double seems to grow to the size of a giant, and pins Joanna with just a finger.
"Really dear, you should have finer tastes than this," Greedy Jo teases, "money, treasure, men, women, all of the finer things in life are yours for the taking. You just have to reach out and take them."
"...For the derro may have treasure--"
"Treasure? The little freaks had treasure! Oh Ziomarra! You beautiful woman, I could kiss you right now!"
"What? No! I--" Joanna clams up knowing she just let slip too much.
"Hmm? Oh, who cares! There's treasure to be had!"
Soon, the entire party finds themselves being pushed back towards the Derro lair by a positively giddy Josephina.
at least she's using her real name now...
"Yes," Teldon echoes looking with frustration at the woefully under-examined shrine, "we should complete our search quickly and return to Heidmarch manor. The Lady will no doubt have a more appropriate chain and a stone for the fitting that befits someone of Josephina's station."
"Oh, how marvelous! Let us be finished here then we'll be able to get that sorted," Josephina chatters away as she continues to herd her fellow Pathfinders.
Shadlah's brow furrows as she watches Jo's peculiar behaviour. "Jo," she asks flatly, "What's gotten into you?"
As Joanna continues to lead the group to the Derro's Lair and then out of the Crow from behind, she continues to chat away, pausing only long enough to tell Shadlah, "It is Josephina, dear," before picking up where she left off with how she needs to find a pair of boots that were tough and supple and a softer bedroll.
She doesn't stop until the arrive back at the derro's lair.
"Well then. He were are," she says cheerfully, throwing her arms wide. "Now, where's the treasure?"
There might be something strange in Jo's attitude and words, but Arsith is so glad to get hugged by the scantily clad girl that she doesn't care, and returns the hug, with interests...
Upon arrival at the derro's lair, it becomes instantly clear that there are no treasures or finery to sate Josephina's desires here... the derro themselves, apart from being some two feet shorter than the strangely acting paladin, seemed to satisfy themselves with rather functional clothing... and the captives must surely have been mainly taken from the 'Shore' and the 'Shadow' for the discarded clothing near the cells are little more than dock workers' or paupers' garb...
...that is, until Josephina sees it... nestled amongst the rags, a ball gown of quite spectacular gaudiness - crimson silks, golden trim and cheap gemstones lining the hem... it seems that not all of the Derro's victims were lowborn...
Joanna takes stock of the dress for a moment... it doesn't appear to have any particular features that distinguish it as belonging to a house or family that she recognises... although, if she... or indeed anyone who might have an understanding of these things, were to guess, it seems to be of the fashion favoured by Chelaxians over the last few years.
...and, on a second look, the gemstones - whilst of quite gauche taste - don't appear quite as 'cheap' as Joanna first thought.
"Pity there is not more, but this," Josephina says with a beaming smile, "Is certainly more like it! The gems-- Okay, the gems are quite gaudy, but my, they are certainly delightful to look at!"
"You know, you're not going to be able to wear that once we get back in Magnimar," Joanna says from the floating, gilded cage she is now imprisoned in, "You'll have to wear the outfit that Arsith bought for me."
"And what makes you say that, dear?"
"Mother Dearest is looking for us. A young noble in that jewelry box pretending to be a dress would draw her dogs like the scent of blood, but a young mixed-blooded girl in Varisian garb would just be another face in the crowd."
"As if that matters."
"It does, because if she catches us, she's not going to let us near a single copper of our wealth until she can make sure that we can't control it."
Josephina goes stiff, her eyes slowly widening in shock.
"She would keep me from what is mine?"
Joanna feels lips trying to curl up in a smirk, but the temptation to vanishes as Briana's words register in her mind.
"Was there someone that looked like me here when we rescued these people," she wonders aloud.
Was there anybody, besides Fenster, that looked familiar to Joanna among those they rescued?
Arsith probably has no clues about the worth of the dress, or who could have wear it before ...
All that matters to her is that Joanna likes that dress
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Teldon continues on with the rest of the party, carefully studying Jo's current personality.
the shard's effect certainly makes her easier to influence... we should probably still try to insert an ioun stone though, otherwise trying to adequately equip everyone is likely to be difficult...
Not recalling anyone that looked familiar, Joanna shakes her head and looks back up at the fretting Greedy Jo.
"Yes she would, and she'd make sure that you never got anything again. She'd make sure to keep it all for herself," she says, hoping that her bluff would be enough to get her double to exercise some discretion.
"I cannot let her take what is mine," Josephina snarls. "I-- *gulp* I suppose that I can-- wear the other-- d-d-dress," she adds after a moment, her tone resigned, though most definitely not happy.
Josephina herds everyone to the boat and pushes off once everyone and their gear has been put on it. As the small craft makes its way back to shore, the young, avaricious lady grows more and more nervous.