"Well if he's that important, at least it's unlikely he'll be in Perdition's Point for long. I'd hate for him to be my neighbor." Lineera openly grumbles.
The rest of the afternoon is taken up with the preparations for the spell casting. The two portable shrines are set up, Calleus and Savilla begin praying over them, and finally Kalvant walks into the center and pulls the great sword off his back. As it leaves the sheath, the weapon begins to glow with a pure white light, bathing all 5 of the Perdition Point folks (Plus Pyewacket!) in a cool white light.
"Magics Malicious, Spells Sinister, Appalling Arcana, be gone from my holy sight, and never more show thy eldritch power!" And the glowing white sword pulses like an angry heartbeat. White lightning erupts out from his blade and washes over the Perdition Point group, snapping and buzzing angrily as the lightning licks over their bodies, sends their hairs standing up on end. But no apparent harm comes from the lightning.
The great sword then returns to it's sheath.
Calleus picks up almost as soon as Kalvant's sword touches it's sheath. "Erastil! Great Hunter! Your humble priest calls upon thee, send forth your power to sanctify this shrine! Lend us thy power that we may hunt out the wicked and root it out tooth and nail!" As he speaks, he pours from a silver flask, and sparkling water hits the shrine. A bright white light appears, and expands out with sound of dozens of arrows being launched into flight. The white light expands out until it washes over the Perdition's Point group. As it washes over them, there is the sound of angry hissing and black smoke begins to rise from the party, and the sound of mad gibbers can barely be heard under the sound of the hissing.
Almost in perfect time with Calleus, Sivalla begins to chant as well. "Mother of Souls! Oh ye who shall judge us in death, we call on thee to help us judge in life! Pour forth your holy spirit for your Priestess, we beseech thee! Help us judge they wayward daughter while she is yet still alive!" And Sivalla also pours a flask of water, but hers is bone white. The sparkling water is the same however, and just as Callieus's shrine glowed with holy power, so does Sivalla's. The sounds of old bones rattling fills the air, and the specters of the dead march forth from the shrine, ghosts of priests and holy warriors march out, until they move through the Perdition's Point expedition, the ghostly specters adding to the hissing and smoke wherever they touch the group.
She cast a shrine enhanced Consecrate spell.
The ghosts faces change from neutral to disapproving as they approach Lineera, and the swat at her as if swatting away gnats. But their touch, while disapproving, holds not the pins and needle painful benediction of Erastil's light, and their touch, while uncomfortable in one way, is soothing of the pins and needle feeling in another.
Kalvant pulls an aspergellum from his hip, and walks forward to Mahb. He places the weapon's tip on her head as she kneels on the ground. He holds forth his holy symbol which is on a string of beads made of pearls. "Iomedae! This wayward... and crotchety... child claims innocence and seeks the clearance of her soul from any pact with evil. Should her words be true, I call upon you to strip away any evil clinging to her soul unjustly!" As he speaks, the aspergellum begins to weep, water flowing down Mahb's hair and face. The water bubbles like acid as it rolls down her body, and the hissing turns to cries of agony around her as oily black smoke rises off her body. As the Paladin speaks the words of benediction, the howls of agony rise in level and turn to curses of eldritch nature. Then as he completes his incantation, there is a burst of black smoke that sends Mahb into a coughing fit, and leaves her pale and shaking on the ground.
An atonement spell was cast by the Paladin.
Paladin's cant cast Atonement Spells.
Mahb's guts wrench as the holy water pours down her body, it feels like acid burning at her skin, but she can't speak or pull away. Finally she feels something leave her, torn out by creepy little oily roots. Her body collapses, leaving her feeling too weak to move. She's not sure she could survive that again... but... for some reason, she feels a decade younger, even as she lies gasping and trembling. She hadn't realized just how tired and old she'd felt the last few weeks until the feeling is suddenly gone.
The Paladin steps back and makes a motion toward Mahb, his eyes steely and resolved. Then, over the course of several seconds, a small smile flits over his lips. "Well, this is unfortunate. It appears the taint is gone. This means I have to put up with your foul presence for a few more years it seems, old woman." The Paladin says, sounding mildly disgusted at having to deal with Mahb further. But there is a smirk playing at his stony lips.
Riley smiles at the last bit of cleansing. Dang Mahb. That's the cleanest I have seen you in like...forever. I'd be willing to purchase a nice pink ribbon for your hair in the next town. He breaks into laughter then suddenly realizes he is weapon less should the old witch attempt to turn him into a newt.
Lineera sits quietly through the rituals.
Though she does tense visibly during the section in which the Erastil priest does his part, then slowly relax again once Sivalla begins hers.
With Mahb coughing and hacking, Lineera tenses again, worries that something had gone wrong. But with Kalvan's harsh words but approving smirk, Lineera relaxes once more and submits to the rest of the cleansing herself.
The hag sputters on the ground, disinclined to attempt to rise for awhile. She croaks, "This is why I don't bathe."
Most if not all of this religious magic was not her forte. She knew more about magic of the arcane nature. Though she did recognize that one consecrate spell. She stayed silent, just sitting there till everything seemed to be finished.
Eva looked to Mahb on the ground from her 'bath' and let out a small giggle. "Perhaps, if you took more, they wouldn't be so horrible when they do happen." A small grin on her face, her colors a little brighter and actions less numb.
Cathran keeps her voice low like the knight's as she responds to her. "I see, thank you for telling me. I am Cathran Ingwood, by the way. I was hoping for a response from the Baron, but I did not think it would garner this kind of attention." She sits silently as their other guards extol their awe for Kalvant. She thinks back to Mahb's advice from the day before they left: "Don't waste the gift your parents gave you." If it weren't for her parents, and Elda for that matter, she would never have had any clout with Baron Malleth. And she had made her enemies the enemy of a very powerful (if largely insufferable) Paladin.
Cathran shivers with each ritual, as each one briefly fills her with a terrible awe. She doesn't have much experience with divine magic, but the Pharasmic ritual seems easier to understand. Perhaps because of the time spent hanging around Lineera.
Mahb is as pithy as ever while lying on the ground, but Cathran is still worried. Her brow furrows as she asks softly, "Are you all right, Mahb?"
The hag is somewhat surprised by her own answer, "Actually... I am. Feelin' better'n I have in awhile. Seems like whatever got its hooks into the Point, has been gnawing on us for a time."
Kalvant snorts. "She'll outlive you, Ingwood." The Paladin says with some verve, and a trace of annoyance. "She's recovering from the removal of the taint. It didn't want to go, as you saw."
Calleus and Sivalla continue their prayers to their respective deities, not adding magic so much as focus to the ritual now. Again holding forth his holy symbol, and the aspergellum, Kalvant begins to cast his spell. "Iomedae! This wayward and stubborn child of Pharasma seeks to prove that she has fought her nature! She is steeped in sinful magic, Iomedae. She willfully disobeys her mother and traffics with undead, and has become tainted thereby! If she is truly repentant, then help her cleanse her soul of the taint it was born with, and the taint she courts, along with the taint forced upon her!" The aspergellum again begins to weep holy water over Lineera's head this time.
Lineera's body suddenly jackknives, ever muscle in her body spasming at once! Every vein in her body throbs visibly, every tendon stretched to visibility as her body arches. Her eyes fly open, and she screams in utter agony as black smoke coils around her, an oily thing that clings to her even as the holy water courses over her.
Lineera is in the most extreme agony she has ever felt. The oily black taint has set it's roots deep, having found fertile soil. It clings to her, holding fast. It feels like an oily rotten plant is clinging to her skin, sinking it's roots beneath it, tugging at her very soul to stay inside her.
The scream continues, long past the time when Mahb collapsed, and the cloud billows stronger around Lineera. The drow's eyes go solid black, and a darkness vomits forth from her mouth, spreading in the air like oil on water.
Kalvant grunts, sweat beading his brow as he continues the prayer, and the casting, long past when it should have completed. The aspergellum begins to glow a dull red, as if overheating where it touches Lineera.
As the ritual continues, Lineera's eyes begin to emit a black light as well, and her screams of agony grow louder. Kalvant is sweating by this point, and he's bowed back as if a heavy weight were on his shoulders. The aspergellum begins to glow cherry red as it continues to pour out holy water over a now drenched Lineera.
Finally the Paladin cries out in pain, a cry echo'd by Lineera, whose body convulses so hard there are audible snaps as several bones snap like kindling.
And then the oily black smoke finally pulls free of Lineera, although it almost looks as though tendrils of it pull something of her free as well, part of her spirit before the hissing black smoke finally explodes in a black and red flash that leaves the area smelling like rotting meat.
Lineera's body jackknifes again and collapses to the ground, leaving her coated in sweat and trembling in pain.
Kalvant groans and goes down on one knee, dropping his aspergellum to the grass, where it burns the grass. His hand smokes from burnt flesh.
Lineera drops to the ground howling as her limbs snap and dangle at horrible, unnatural angles. Her body continues to shudder as it tries to flee the pain's source, yet steady itself to ease the pain. Lineera breathing turns deeper and slower, hissing through clenched teeth as the drow tries to manage the pain. "How damn much longer does it take to feel better Mahb?" Whilst Lineera volunteered to be second far before Mahb suggested anything about this feeling renewing at all, the tone in Lineera's voice is still accusatory.
"...L-Lineera?" Eva asked cautiously moving to check on her friend extremely worried as she collapsed to the ground.
She carefully checked her over, trying not to hurt her more. She was taking inventory. She reached in a pouch on her belt to pull out her prepared cure extract. Gently, Eva tilted Lineera's head. "Drink, please."
After Lineera drinks the extract, Eva gives it a moment to take effect, choosing to check on the paladin while it does. "May I see?" She held out a hand, asking politely.
Galvanized by the sounds of torment, the smell of burnt flesh, and the bent limbs, the hag exclaims, "Gods' Blood! We need healers here NOW." She pats the necromancer on the head softly, "I'm sorry, girl, it wasn't this bad for me... and I've no healing magic for you."
Kalvant's voice is weak, but he still barks out orders like a drill sargeant. "STOP! You are still unclean, gnome! Would you re-infect her with the taint?" The Paladin winces at the pain in his hand. The two high priests stop their prayers and run over, each casting a healing spell on the two downed people.
The magic snaps Lineera's limbs back into place forcibly, causing some more pain, but finally the pain blessedly stops as her body is fully healed.
Kalvant's body relaxes as the wound heals over rapidly, leaving only a small mark on his palm. "I am afraid the rituals will have to continue in the morning, my aspergellum is in no shape to provide holy water tonight. It may not be able to tomorrow either." He says ruefully. "I think they'll be rather wroth with me if I broke it." Then he snorts and laughs.
In too much pain to comment further in the sudden deluge of shouting and panic, Lineera stays silent save for her heavy breathing until she's healed. Her breath quickens as her bones set, then slowly, returns to normal. As her breathing calms, she looks back towards Mahb. "No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped like that. You've no blame in that." Sitting up more properly, Lineera smiles weakly, "I'm just glad that'll never happen again..."
Looking Kalvant in the eye, Lineera pleads "Can't we use magic to repair it? As I said, my companions and I have little enough time to spare with that new ritual being prepared. If it's at all possible, we must continue. I don't want my friends and companions to have that blight in them any longer than necessary."
Kalvant shakes his head. "No, the ritual is broken, Lineera. I am broken for the day as well. I have not the strength to stand after that. "
Calleus chimes in. "Sorry child, I have only the one Consecrate prepared. The ritual is broken, and we must wait for the dawn to construct a new one. Even if we could somehow start again, we could not cleanse all your friends, and all your belongings, today anyway." His words are soft, but firm.
Sivalla nods, and drops down to hug Lineera. "Oh Lineera, dear one, we will cleanse them, but please, no matter how urgent things are, events must happen in the time allotted. You have always had trouble with accepting limits, even ones imposed on all living creatures." The half-elf smiles at Lineera, and gives her a kiss on the forehead before making the sign of Pharasma over her. "Oh goddess, please grant your wayward daughter patience and wisdom to know when to race and when to wait."
Eva eyes were lit up with anger when the paladin ordered her to leave someone injured. She briefly looked like she was about to give a lashing retort, before she choose to bite her tongue and keep those comments to herself. She decided instead to glare daggers at the Paladin. She looked momentarily relieved at Lineera being healed before tromping off further away from everyone. Just barely in sight, she plopped down, her back to them all.
Lineera nods in acceptance of Kalvant's words, but then chuckles groggily at Calleus' words. "Why does everyone always forget I'm older than them?" Nestling herself into Sivalla's hug, seeming ready to collapse into sleep but chuckles once more, exhausted, but clearly feeling better as well. "Alright, alright, I just thought that the aspergellum was the only problem... you all are too bossy sometimes. ...Oh, and Sivalla? I'll have to tell you later about the strangest vision I just had..."
"Child, why do you assume that because I'm human, I'm younger than you." Calleus chuckles. "If I were as young as I looked, I'd not be a high priest, now would I?"
"I just assumed that because you were human you weren't over a century. You're looking pretty good I'm that case." Lineera tiredly, but playfully retorts.
Cathran sits cross-legged, unmoving, unblinking as she watches Lineera contort in pain. Her eyes are sharp with a growing anger, her fists clenching in her lap. It is not at the Paladin, though; he is nigh intolerable, sure, but he could not induce this kind of rage. No, Cathran fumes silently at the evil that has attached itself to them, stowaways in their spirits, gnawing like rats. The havoc it visited on her home, on children, the flippancy of the note indicating that it was going to keep happening if they didn't stop it. And now it nearly ripped her friends to pieces as it desperately clutched onto their souls, tearing cry after cry out of Lineera. She sits there a while, even after the ritual is momentarily halted, stuck in her own head for a while. Only partially paying attention to the immediate events, she mutters, half to herself, "I guess we should set up our tent..."
"Only if it carries no taint." observes the witch.
Mahb's direct response snaps Cathran out of her angry staring into space. "Yes, well, three of us have not been anointed yet," Cathran replies, nodding at the witch's holy-water-soaked clothes. "Four of us, actually, if you count Bertha."
The raven, not liking Cathran's accounting, stridently barks:
: kekkekee KAW :
Cathran grins at Pyewacket. "Five. Sorry."
The black bird makes an odd purring noise deep in its throat then flaps over to land briefly on Cathran's knee before leaping off onto the grass.
The caravan clears off a space for the Perdition Point's group to set up their tent, and then makes sure that their equipment is within that area. Mahb and Lineera are given beds in the wagon, so that they can recover.
That night, they cook a very nice camp dinner for everyone. It's slightly marred by most of the Perdition's Point people being kept to one side, to avoid taint, but the food is good, and conversation is called back and forth over the 30 feet or so that separate the groups.
Having napped through the cooking, Lineera seems to have regained a little bit of her pep, but still seems far too exhausted to bother initiating any shouting back and forth. Given their time apart, Lineera spends the meal sat next to Sivalla. "So how has the church been these days? Has Father Legault kept himself well?"
After spooning a ladle full of stew into a wooden bowl (from a stove pot on the "tainted" side of the camp, naturally), Cathran makes her way over the Bertha. Placing the stew on the ground, she retrieves and sets up Bertha's feed bag, and grabs a loaf of bread. She makes her way over to Eva, and offers her the steaming bowl. "Good evening," she says with a nod, and sits next to her eating the bread in silence for a while. When it's down to the heel, she crumbles it and looks around for Pyewacket. Figuring he'll show up eventually, she turns to Eva. "Forgive me if I seem intrusive," she starts, "but you did not seem your usual self after the ritual. Is there something wrong?"
Sivalla rolls her eyes. "He's stubborn, opinionated, and he insists on wearing a cassock that's 200 years out of date." She smiles. "In other words, he's just fine." She looks Lineera up and down. "Are you ok? You seem rather pale, which is a term I never thought I'd use for you."
Lineera smiles, "That's good to hear." Upon Sivalla's question, Lineera exhales heavily. "Yes... no... I don't know I guess." The drow inhales deeply, them exhales deeply again. "When Kalvant was performing the Atonement spell. My vision darkened, it bubbled up from the bottom, like my eyes were filling with a black liquid. It was terrifying, but I'd seen what happened to Mahb, I told myself that this was what was supposed to happen. Once my vision faded, I... heard a voice. The voice was feminine, gentle. It was the Mother of Souls. She spoke to me, of my path. ... She... she said that the reason, I'm still the wayward child, the heretic." The dark elf laughs bitterly "Was because I could be corrupted. That even a friend couldn't trust that I still stood true. As the mad prophet she knew I could have, but my role is not to convince her, but others. If I was to fulfill this duty, then I must show my dedication." Lineera locks eyes with Sivalla. "That if I were to show people the truth of her will, I must be able to stand against the darkness, amongst the darkness, and still not be tainted. And... and for me to do such, that I must sacrifice myself... my soul to do so. That piece of me has been sent in for judgement already." Lineera tells the story stoically, but as she reaches the end of her tale, she begins to shake, them sob. "I don't regret it, I really don't. But gods... I feel so empty."
Sivalla gasps, and then hugs Lineera. She holds her tightly a long time, and then finally speaks softly. "Lineera dearheart, you know that I regret my lack of trust. It was.. I am sorry, I have no excuse." She sighs, a tear tracking down her face. "I had no wish for you to give up a part of yourself. For you to feel empty." She pauses for a few moments, then continues. "You should not despair just yet, dearheart. You say you feel empty. Just like when you pull the air out of a room by teleporting something big, or by popping off a fireball, that lack of air pulls things in. I believe anything that's gone now is only temporary, and will be replaced by even better things. I'm sure the goddess has a plan." She leans in close and whispers. "You know what a sneaky devious conniving b!&$+ she is when she wants to be." The girl then giggles.
"Oh no, no, no." At the expression of guilt, Lineera returns Sivalla's hug. "Please, I grew up in Zirnakaynin. I know how terrible most all... my kind are. I may be different from my parents, but I still carry that heritage. I cannot possibly blame you for your doubt. It's too well founded. I still have nightmares of being back there every now and then." Lineera falls quiet and let's Sivalla talk longer, offering a small, smile at the joke. "I know, it wasn't for nothing. She said that the taint won't be able to even take root in me anymore. I am free." Finding new focus, Lineera begins to compose herself. "I'm glad too, maybe I can try figure out what exactly the magicks on those amulets are now. These necromancers... there's something unnatural about it, more than usual. Like, I had taken over control of one of their corpses, and then one of them did something... The corpse shrieked like it was in pain worse than you can imagine, then seemed to just disintegrate. I've never even heard of a spell that can do something like that. I ended up in control of a different one shortly thereafter, and a different one of those necromancers caused the body to explode! Sent bone and gut everywhere, damn near killed me."
Lineera lets the thoughts sink in before continuing "I have to learn everything I can if I stand a chance of resisting them. Especially now, my magic feels so weak after all that's happened today. ...Tell me, Sivalla. Have you ever heard of the Lord of Things Which Are Buried? I'm guessing you never got close enough to it to see, but those amulets have their symbol on it, I remembered reading about them at the church, but I couldn't remember any details."
The half-elf goes bone white. "Oh goddess..." She makes the sign of Pharasma, then puts her hand over Lineera's mouth. "Don't even say it's name!" Her eyes are wide and the whites show all around. "Are you sure?!"
After resting for a time, Mahb gets up and roams through the caravan of priests, postulants, and sacred servants. All the righteousness and devotion makes her skin crawl. She avoids the judging eyes of as many as she can on her way to... what amounts to a fate worse than death.
She locates the tent she seeks and announces herself, "I'd like some words with Lord Kalvant."
"I... I uh, think? Like I said I didn't really remember anything specific about it. I could have misremembered it, but... I think so."
Eva took the soup, not really looking at Cathran as she sat down, though she didn't openly object. She ate in silence. She paused, when Cathran asked her if something was wrong, turning to look at her for the first time. Her purple eyes were puffy and red, before she looked away. "I just... I'm a healer. I was supposed to just sit there and ignore people being hurt? To pretend they were perfectly fine? He gets to push people around, bully them in the name of good... He didn't seem to care for a word I said earlier, but the moment I go to help someone, do some good...." She trailed off for a moment. Still not looking up at Cathran.
It was after several moments of quiet she spoke up again. "W-what about Elena? Or Elijah? T-they were in the cave when we... found those amulets. Well... t-they found them... I... I was half-dead for most of the time there..." Thoughts swirled through her mind as she spoke. "What about the others? Tommas's parents? They... They left... If this is something that spreads by nearness... d-do you think it... it might be in Eli too? H-how many have been tainted back home? ...h-how many children are... being taken... even... even killed... w-while we stall here...?"
The young female Paladin on guard duty opens her mouth to tell Mahb that Kalvant is not available, when a voice comes from inside the tent. "Tell the witch she can come in, I'm sure it's nothing she hasn't seen before." The girl snaps her mouth shut and ushers the witch in.
Inside the four man tent is only Kalvant. His armor sits on a rack, freshly polished. He himself is sitting on a folding cot, his shirt off, showing off his torso. His torso is criss crossed with scars, some of them looking fatal, despite him sitting there alive. He's changing the dressings on a wound, a nasty puncture wound on his abdomen. Looking up, he winces as he tugs the last of the bandage free, letting dark red blood ooze from the wound. "Dragon Scorpion sting. Highly resistant to magical healing." He explains. He begins washing the wound gingerly with a clean sponge dipped in astringent and herbs. "What do you need?"
Sivalla nods. "I don't know much myself either, I only know Mother Trager, before she died, burned several books she found in the back of the library about it. She looked terrified of them. Anything that scared Mother Trager terrifies me." She shudders.
"Well, our first encounter with them was... perilous." A grimace slides onto Lineera's face. "And now I'm going back after them... Wish I knew more going into this. ...How did you all figure out the magic was hidden on those amulets? Was it a spell that's broken?"
Mahb regards the wound clinically. "Nasty piece of work that." She lapses into silence for a moment before stating her business. "I can't abide bein' in no man's debt... An' I figure you done me a service with that cleanin' - at sword point or no. That debt needs settling. So I want you to think on it, and let me know how to square it."
Duty done, she heads out the tent-flap, "Jes' don't ask me to convert - that I can't do.
After meeting Eva's tear-swollen eyes, Cathran is glad that the gnome looks away. She can't decide whether this is one of those times where you comfort someone who's been crying, or do them the service of pretending not to notice. Hesitantly, she raises an arm to put around Eva to comfort her, but in the silence that follows Eva voicing her frustrations with the paladin, she decides against it. Instead, she just tosses bread crumbs on the sparse grass before them until Eva speaks again.
Cathran draws in a long breath, then slowly lets it out. She then barks a word that her usual politesse would not allow her to speak, and then shouts it a couple more times for good measure. She throws the rest of the crumbs on the ground and drops her head into her hands. "Forgive me for that. I hate that we are delayed here, too, and Sir Kalvant is an insufferable bast--uh, bully. But I also know that this cleansing is necessary. I know it feels like we're stalling, but we are trying to wipe out this corruption, not spread it further. And the elf is more than capable at what he does. It is just that 'what he does' happens to involve a lot of yelling and judging." Cathran looks up now. Tears roll down her face, but her eyes remain hard, and her voice does not waver. "It has been a difficult time for all of us. It will probably remain difficult for a while. But I believe in us. I am sure that everyone, including Eli, will be fine once these priests reach Perdition's Point." She turns to Eva and manages a hint of a smile. "If Kalvant is half as righteous as he thinks he is, he will not allow any further harm to pass."
Sivalla snorts. "No dearheart, they were the only things you carried that weren't tainted. When even the mule reeks of evil, 3 amulets that have no aura of taint are suspicious. We put them on a blanket for an hour, then tested the blanket, and it had begun to show signs of taint."