Once the woman's hands are tied, Betha continues to the feet and completes her preparations with a gag. She then drags the woman into the hall with the cells and sits her up against the bars of one of the cells and secures her there.
The witch takes a moment to seat herself comfortably next to the bound woman and strokes her cheek to wake her up. When her eyes flicker open. Betha smiles back hungrily.
"You and I are going to have so much fun. I only wish I had more time. It's also a shame I have to gag you. There are all sorts of things we could do if your mouth was free. But since I can't have you screaming for help ..." She shrugs.
Betha returns to the front area a little while later, a sated look on her face.
Staelish bears up well for the first five minutes or so, until Betha's ministrations get the better of her and her composure cracks and falters.
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The death of Rhona Staelish is the death blow to Longacre's rebellious spirit. Although the coven are still subjected to abuse when they travel the streets and angry looks all round, there is no more organised resistance.
After three days the coven is relaxing in the jail house when the usual whiff of brimstone announces the presence of Razelago. The little accuser devil smiles and rubs his hands together unctuously.
"You handled that well in the end. The Archbaron is very pleased. Your payment, less some for my troubles in concealing your... difficulties of course." With a wave of his pudgy hand a large bag thuds into the table.
"Your work is not done though. As long as this Angel Knight survives there will be a risk to Longacre. After dealing with the troublemakers in town I trust you have some idea of where to find this Angelic ringleader?"
"The fort with the manticore," Jordanna growls.
Alyssa scowls again as the devil interrupts them.
Betha seems slightly dissatisfied with the time she spent with the Sheriff. "She was the Sheriff; she should have been tougher than that. I expected so much more from her," she says with a shake of her head.
~~~~
"Unfortunately the Baron wants your hobgoblin friend to stay here." Razelago explains. "The town is in need of a new sheriff now that Staelish has proved so unworthy. He has greater things in mind for the three of you."
As normal he vanishes in a puff of brimstone.
---------------------------
Arriving at the old fort everything appears quiet and the coven makes their careful way inside. Although the fort’s walls have largely kept their shape, the structures within have fared far worse. The rubble of two collapsed towers spills into the courtyard, as do the moldy heaps of smaller wooden structures. Rickety stairs rise to a partially collapsed wooden walkway to the north and east that follows the remaining ramparts and leads to the door of the mostly intact gatehouse.
Surrounded by a pair of mirror images, Jordanna sniffs the air warily. "That manticore may be lurking nearby. Be wary."
Betha's eyes travel over the structure, looking for likely ambush locations and places to hide.
"I'm going to climb up and check out the gatehouse," she whispers with a grin.
She moves quietly to the base of the structure and her hands move over the stone, getting a sense of how difficult of a climb it would be.
Betha scales the rough and worn stones of the gatehouse easily, arriving on the parapet just next to the wall and out of sight of any potential ambushes.
Just as she arrives she hears, or almost feels, a high pitched whistle from inside the gatehouse, which is answered by a loud roar from the other side of the courtyard.
Snarling, Jordanna grabs a bomb and moves towards the roar, ready to hurl it at the first enemy to present itself!
A huge lion-like head shows itself from the rubble, flinching back as Jordanna throws a bomb in its direction. Unfortunately it splatters on the rubble to no avail. The manticore spreads its wings and leaps onto one of the wall towers, launching a barrage of spikes at the alchemist as she does so!
One spike pierces all of Jordanna's defences and slams into her arm. Two others whistle by close enough to pierce her illusionary doubles and changeling is left bleeding and (relatively) defenceless!
Behind Alyssa the gates swing shut with a resounding boom!
"Damn! Betha curses as she looks back and forth between the door into the gatehouse and the manticore. Deciding that the monster visible is a bigger threat than the unknown, she dashes towards it throwing a hex as she moves across the battlements.
Howling with fury, Jordanna hurls another bomb that goes wide!
Lacking ranged weaponry, Alyssa casts a spell of protection and moves into cover while she considers her next move.
The manticore continues to pepper Jordanna with spikes from its position of (apparent) safety on the tower-top. Thanks to Betha and some dark power all of the spikes sail wide or rebound off her considerable defences.
Alyssa protects herself as Betha moves across the courtyard to join her, but from behind them an arrow comes flying down! It catches Betha just above her hip, the barbed arrow-head causing the wound to bleed profusely!
The doorway to the tower is now open, although whoever fired seems to have ducked back inside.
Lacking in ranged options, Jordanna continues to prove that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
Betha turns back to the tower with a glare.
"As much as I love being the cream in the cookie ..." she mutters to herself before casting a spell that causes clouds of mist to emanate from her location. Very quickly the fog surrounds her and she vanishes.
Using the mist as cover, she moves closer to the huge beast, readying her weapon as she goes.
Alyssa gives Betha a tap with the wand, causing her wounds to start closing up.
That done, she moves towards the open door to confront the archer.
The manticore switches targets, aiming its spikes at Alyssa as she heads towards the tower, seemingly untroubled by the bombs that keep flying past it.
From the tower ahead a small head pops out, followed by a bow and yet another missile aimed at Alyssa!
The figure disappears back inside but Alyssa has a target now!
Jordanna is almost surprised when her bomb--possibly--hits the manticore!
Deciding to reduce her targeting cross-section, Betha chants the words to another spell and shrinks in size to half her original height.
Pulling the manticore spikes out of her shoulder, Alyssa gives herself a tap with the wand of Infernal Healing before moving into the tower.
"Coo-eee! Anybody home? Come out, come out wherever you are..."
Taking Jordanna's bomb full to the face the Manticore lets out a pained roar and leaps from its perch, bearing down on the alchemist with several tonnes of claws and violence. It proves no match for her arcane protections however...
Meanwhile Alyssa enters the tower, her unnatural eyes immediately adjusting to the gloom. A whisper of movement to her right presages another arrow, whizzing down through a trapdoor to the roof.
Jordanna -7
Alyssa -16 (IH 1/10)
Betha -6 (IH 2/10)
Manti -27
"Finally!" Jordanna snarls, sprouting fangs. She tears at the beast in front of her.
Still benefiting from the concealment of her summoned mist, Betha casts one more spell before leaping down to join her sister in the assault on the beast.