The giant hook fly falls out of the sky under the combined assault, it's bloated abdomen pulsing ominously.
Combat! Round 8. Bold may act.
Takumi
Zeldana
Xanac (mage armor, shield 1/10)
Shalendra
Imojin & Whiskers
Gellion (unconscious, stabilized, -25 hp)
Hook Fly (unconscious, dying, -24 hp)
Faust (Shield 8/10, -2 STR)
Imojin rushes toward the pulsating giant hook fly, but unfortunately makes it there too late to stop the gestation. The hook fly's abdomen explodes with a wet and gory pop that splatters the ratfolk and the eagle with foul smelling ichor and blood. Hundreds of tiny hook flies emerge from the remains of the now dead mother hook fly and immediately begin to drain the eagle of blood.
Takumi-bot curses his spell selection.
Eagle-bot flails ineffectually at the swarm of flies.
Combat! Round 8/9. Bold may act.
Takumi
Eagle (-2 hp)
Zeldana
Xanac (mage armor, shield 2/10)
Shalendra
Imojin & Whiskers
Gellion (unconscious, stabilized, -25 hp)
Hook Fly (dead, -33 hp)
Hook Fly Swarm
Faust (Shield 9/10, -2 STR)
The swarm buzzes louder as Shalendra's fire stirs them. While some of the little beasts fall into the pool of burning oil floating on the surface of the bile, it does not have as dramatic of an effect as anyone would have hoped. Several of the flies remain burning as they fly, creating a bizarre effect within the cloud of dark, fat insects.
This flaming, buzzing, hungry mass of blood drinking flies leaves their birthplace and engulfs Shalendra. The celestial eagle-bot gives chase for what little it can do. Takumi-bot moves away, once again cursing his spell selection.
Combat! Round 9/10. Bold may act.
Takumi (standard action left)
Eagle (-3 hp, bleeding)
Zeldana
Xanac (mage armor, shield 3/10) (action from last round available to you)
Shalendra (-2 hp, bleeding) (DC 13 Fort save vs. Distraction/Nausea)
Imojin & Whiskers
Gellion (unconscious, stabilized, -25 hp)
Hook Fly (dead, -33 hp)
Hook Fly Swarm (-2 hp, on fire)
Faust (Shield 10/10, -2 STR)
Between the fire, holy water, and acid, the swarm of fiendish hook flies is dispersed before too much damage is done. Shalendra does continue to bleed from dozens of small wounds that refuse to clot.
The warehouse is eerily quiet now, save the occasional buzzing from an isolated hook fly here or there makes you jump. Gellion lays comatose on the floor--a portion of his intestines still on the wrong side of his skin--and several masses remain hidden within the sheets of demon's bile.
It takes you some time, but you manage to free all of the apprentices from the growing demon's bile and lay them outside on the street. With six of them--especially the giant Morvinarr--it is a trying endeavor to carry or drag them all to the temple of Erastil, but you do manage it, if rather gracelessly.
"By the graces! What have you found?" Ildris exclaims as you pull the first purple-stained apprentice into the temple. He hurries over, wiping stray bits of bile away with the flat of a cold iron knife.
"Are there more?" he asks hopefully.
Father Ildris nods his head as the last of the six apprentices is laid out on the temple floor. "Yes. I believe I can," he says.
He takes hold of the antler-shaped bow carved from bone hanging at his neck and concentrates for a moment. Everyone except for Faust feels a wave of rejuvenating energy wash over them. Faust's skin merely crawls.
The five captive apprentices rouse almost immediately, confused and bewildered but whole. Gellion's intestines retreat inside his abdomen and the wound seals. He too regains consciousness but seems a bit staggered. He gropes around for a weapon and weakly shouts, "The worm gods come home! The worm gods!"
"I must bring the worm gods!" Gellion's eyes bulge as he grabs at Shalendra's legs aggressively. "You will be the door!"
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Faust growls a little as he steels himself for the searing pain he expects from the priest. As the wave merely flows past him, he exhales with relief. Certainly not the effect I'm accustomed to...
As Gellion gropes for Shalendra's legs, he quickly steps forward. "That is quite enough out of you," he mutters as he moves to restrain the mad boy, trying to pin his arms behind his back and rest his knee between his shoulder blades. "Priest, I only know of one cure for this sort of thing, and I assure you it won't be in your favor. Do you have any... alternative methods?" What a picture, I'd be the laughing stock of Geb if they saw me asking an Erastilian for advice on anything, much less on how to deal with a mortal in the throes of lunacy!
________
Faust finds it easier to grab and pin the mad apprentice with the youth on the floor. Gellion struggles frantically against the dhampir's grip, crying out hoarsely, "No! I must bring the worm gods through her! She is the door! Bathe in the seed of the worm gods!"
Father Ildris looks on aghast at the scene. Eventually, Faust's words shake him out of his stupor. "Oh, yes! No! He's affected by the demon's bile. Curing him of the disease should cure him of the insanity as well. Please, please don't kill him."
The other apprentices add their voices to Ildris' to varying degrees, but unanimously in favor of sparing his life. Morvinarr stands and moves over to assist Faust in keeping Gellion still.
"I will need to wait until morning prayers before I can attempt to cure the illness," the priest says. "Unless any of you have the means."
"If you have something that might cure him of the demon's bile, do, please use it," Father Ildris requests. "I hate to see him suffer any longer than he has."
Gellion continues to struggle against Morviarr and Faust, but between the two strong men, he will not escape. However, your ears are all assaulted by some very vulgar insinuations and curses that only the blackest soul could imagine (mixed in with raving praise of the worm gods).
Before you can make a decision, Mayor Trinelli enters, escorted by two town guardsmen. "Excellent, I see that you have found--by the gods of good, what is wrong with him?" Sandra Trinelli asks, her face going pale as Gellion continues his curses.
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Takumi stands near the door as the mayor enters. He reaches out to her, and calls out, "It might be better if you stand back. He is not himself, and could still be dangerous."
Meanwhile, he continues pondering on Gellion's words that were addressed to Shalendra. What did he mean by Shalendra being the door? I hope she was not infected by anything when the swarm attacked her. Not trained in the healing arts, however, Takumi is uncertain what to look out for. He can only summon his arcane power and examine if there are traces of magic emanating from within her.
"Shalendra, you are feeling fine thus far?"
Morvinarr helps Faust hold Gellion's head back as Shalendra pours it into his mouth. Morvinarr slams the apprentice alchemist's jaw closed before he can spit the potion out. After a frantic struggle to keep the boy pinned and his mouth shut, the magic in the liquid begins to do its work. Gellion goes lax against Faust's hands and begins to quietly murmur his mad words instead of screaming them to the world.
"The worm gods... Must bring the worm gods..." Gellion chants dully while staring at nothing in particular.
"I'm sure that you can protect me if my own guards cannot," Mayor Trinelli says as one of the guards pushes Takumi out of the way. "Now, tell me what is going on?"
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"I'm feeling fine. I think he wants to kill me to open the door. I'm pretty sure anyone would do."
"We've managed to save all the teenagers, but don't know much about the Worm Gods yet. We're hoping the potion will clear his mind so he can tell us what happened."
She thinks for a moment. "We haven't actually spoken to the other young ones about what happened." She looks over to see if they are awake yet.
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"We found this lot covered in Demon Bile with Gellion here spouting off about 'bringing the demon worms home.' I couldn't tell you what that means," he admits. Once he wakes, a quick interrogation would be prudent. Maybe even find out how he learned about all this and quell the darkness before it spreads further.
The apprentices relay their tale of being lured by Gellion to meet alone and then he attacked them. They faintly remember waking in a pool of purple ooze but by then were too weak to move. The apprentices vary in how sympathetic they are toward Gellion's madness--ranging from, "It wasn't his fault. The ooze took over," to "He should have known better than to mess with that stuff, but, yeah, that wasn't like him."
"He has certainly caused a great deal of harm and suffering to the people," Mayor Trinelli says sadly. "It seems it is time to dust off the gallows."
Gellion definitely seems more subdued following the potion. His ramblings--and this thoughts--are still clearly deranged, but he is not trying to assault anyone any longer.
Mayor Trinelli says, "Keep him here under watch. He will have to be judged by the town as is our law, and I suspect that they will want the harshest sentence. However, If what you say is true, that this material infected the youth and caused his behavior--and that you and Father Ildris can cure it--then I will advocate for the boy during his trials."