"Father Sidious, do you have any power to deal with these wraiths. Surely you can handle two of them while we deal with the intruders. I care little for the boggards or the servants, but we don't need an army of wraith spawn running about. The ritual must be protected above all."
Instead of ordering the deamon back to the sanctum, Johan tells him to help Sidious track down the rogue wraiths. And make sure our guest on the first floor is safe, he adds.
”I can snatch it’s mind and bend his will.” Sidious answer preparing his weapons and armor, going about in search of the wraith. The daemon hears Johan’s ‘order’ and teleport away. You are not sure if it was to do your bidding.
”Grumblejack will keep the un' safe.” he says following Sidious to deal with the rouge wraiths.
Johan’s
- See invisibility (80 minutes)
- Shield of faith (8 minutes)
- Savage maw ( 8 minutes)
- Chastising Lash (8 minutes)
- Divine Favour ( 10 rnds)
- greater stunning barrier (8 rnds)
Cedric’s
Agrippa’s
- Mage Armor 8HRS
- Stoneskin 80mins
- Protection from Arrows 8HRS
- See Invisible 80Mins
Eldred’s
- gravity bow 8 min
The knot gathers together over the throne and yells in unison the key word, being instantly teleported into the ‘prayer’ room in the third floor.
Weapons bared, prepared, magic enhanced, ready to strike with fury and vengeance!
…
But there’s no one in the room. No sign of battle, the cold chill that Erza presence brought over the place gone.
The door in the room is closed, and you hear and see no one.
"Foolish wraith, it should have sent a minion to alert us instead of just trying to feed. Ulf my servant, I need you. Find the scent. Lead us to them."
Ulf will smell about the room picking up the new scent and lead the knot after the intruders, assuming they walked out of here...
He will just be taking 10 for 11 witch can follow the trail sense it is less than an hour old.
The infernal Gorilla, once summoned puts to work as his master asked. Only the trail leads nowhere. The invaders didn’t leave this room to another place.
"They no much of this place to not only sneak in but to teleport around. Quick let us check the other spots and Ulf will use his nose."
The knot will use the teleporter and check all the spots for the scent that Ulf now has from the room.
The cowards fled?! Johan asks indignantly.
In succession, you go into the others teleporters and there’s no trace or smell of the invaders. In both floors, on the first floor you hear screams of countless, as if they were afraid of something.
Johan follows the sound of screaming, eager for a fight.
"Agrippa, can you set an alarm in that throne room? We should do that and go take care of the wraith issue, but we can't leave our backs turned on this."
Agrippa raises his eyebrow at Cedric as if to say What sort of silly question is that. but wordlessly complies with Cedric's request.
Following the sounds, you meet Father Sidious, strugling to control the wraith and the spaws it already created.
Of the 'enemies' no sign.
It doesn't take much until Sidious has everything under control.
Agrippa will return to the Eye and just use it to scry to find the enemies.
The enemy hides, or has some subversive purpose....
The knots continues assisting Father Sidious in enslaving the other wraith, while Agrippa moves to the sanctum, to scry the horn for enemies.
The alarm spell? It went off just some minutes after it was placed, but not due to any enemy, but the hydra that had been placed to protect the throne room.
1 Agrippa
2 Cedric
3 Eldred
4 Johan
@Cedrydra
Things had been strange the last couple of months. Had being captured from the woods, and dragged, chained in the stone of this strange place. Hunt wasn’t the issue, food would appear regularly, sometimes alive, sometimes dead, but food was food.
The bad thing was to put with the invaders transposing in your territory. Some of them were strong enough to avoid your heads and in time you’ve learned they were the ones that provided food. All the better, why waste time and energy killing the food bringer?
So when the man with the fire sword appeared at the throne, you knew exactly that was no food bringer, and if it was not, it was food.
The Hydra surprised at the appearance quickly realizes the man looks not like one of the bringers of food so it pounces and lashes out attempting to make food of him.
Stepping out of the teleport, and met by a charging hydra. Things were getting better and better.
The monster slashes and bit with his many heads, but only two of them are able to hit and hurt the hooded man.
Father Matthias Harkon, Inquisitor of Mitra eyes widen in surprise meeting such beast. Taking a step forward ,he brandishes the sword at the monster. He didn’t make a rookie mistake of attacking the heads, he had already faced monsters such as these. Attacking the body was a swift and fast way to deal with them…
…and as the hydra falls, dead at the man's feet, Cedric walks inside the throne room, coming to check what all the noise was about.
Brimming with confidence, the dark knight steps inside the room and seeing only one enemy, knows he is more than enough to subdue him. Even more when the powerful aura of goodness glows as a burning flame around the man. The Dark father gifts were more than enough to give Cedric an edge in a one versus one fight.
Sword and shield in hand, Cedric charge to meet his enemies, but in his confidence, he didn’t saw the smirk in the red hooded man’s face.
A fierce battle ensures and while is clear that in terms of strength and swordskill Cedric is clearly superior, the enemy seems hardened by trials and battle, as enhanced by magic, and as the battle goes on, the flaming swords seems sharper and sharper in the inquisitor’s hand.
The tide turns, when suddenly several others warriors appears from the teleport and upon seeing Cedric moving as one set out and cut his escape route.
Arrows, mace, flaming swords, halberds. Suddenly it’s too much even for the dark knight, his strength falters and he hits the ground with a sickening thud.
Before passing out, he hears the man say ”This is most likely one of the leaders. Considering his strength.”
@Cedric
The first thing Cedric feels is pain. His body aches all over. He tries to hold his head, but his hands don’t obey.
Something is wrong. he thinks and without opening his eyes he tries to remember that happened.
He remembers the fight with the hooded man and he remembers then the darkness.
Feeling his body around, it appears he is standing, but tied. All around, several sounds of people waking in and voices. While considering if it’s a good idea pretend is isn’t awaken, a voice sounds ”I know you are awake, and you’ll talk.”
Opening his eyes, Cedric noticed he was tied to the walls, in some deserted, long forgotten structure. It was a cramped and dingy space, illumined by wobbly shafts of light that spilled through the holes in the wall. Debris of old barrels and furnitures filled the place.
Father Matthias Harkon wondered whether his work would dent his appetite. He doubted it. If anything, heretic blood seemed to whet thirsts in the Inquisition. And there would likely be a great deal of blood before he was done.
He wanted to begin gently, though. Confidences won through trust were worth more than secrets extracted through torture; the latter were often fragmentary and peppered with lies. Many other inquisitors chose to rely on torture anyway, but Matthias valued effectiveness above piety.
The cellar had no chairs. He rolled one of the smaller stone debris, arranging it so that he faced the man at the wall, just in a short distance. Touching the small silver and emerald necklace in his neck, Matthias murmured the words that would grant him the gift of tongues. He'd prepared the spell with the intention of questioning any foreigner whose Taldane was shaky, but it would serve as well with the heretic.
"Speak to me," he said. The words had an odd, doubled echo as they left his lips. Matthias heard his own voice clearly. He was never sure what the listener heard—but it hardly mattered, as long as he was understood. "What is your name?"
@Agrippa
As you kept scrying the place, the Vetra-Kali eye shines with light, warning you that a devout of Mitra had just conjured a spell inside the horn. More than that, you know exactly where the spells was used: The temple in the second floor, the teleporter room.
With a swift mental command, you are able to see the scene.
Cedric is facing an enemy, a man coated in a red hood.
Jeebs! Come here! Go and fetch Master Hale and Master Crofter...tell them to make haste. Agrippa commands the shaking man
Agrippa will cast Black Tenatacles on the men, hoping to hold them long enough that Johan and Eldred can deal with them.
This is a well planned incursion...why did Elise not warn us.
"You know so much already, but so little you would ask me that question. I will tell you. I am Lord Cedric Barca. Heir to the throne of Barca and future king of these lands. Go on inquisitor ask your questions. I will tell you of your short future."
@Agrippa
Jeebs, the shaking man flees out of his master presence searching for Johan and Eldred. Only he has no idea where they are, to which he’ll go down to the second floor, search there and use the teleporter to search the other floors.
While the man is running about, Agrippa keeps looking at the eye and things are getting ugly for Cedric. Several others appeared as well. Hardened veterans, carrying a lot of weapons and it doesn’t take much until the sheer amount of enemies is enough to subdue the antipaladin.
After Cedric has passed out, they collect his body and enters the teleporter again. You immediately check the other teleporters, and there’s no sign of them! Where could they have teleported to?
@ Eldred/Johan
Sometime later, Jeebs, the shaking man arrives, breathing hard, as if the man had been running for quite some time. ”Ma… Mas.. Master Hale.” the man finally says, this one scared him more than the ogre. ”Master Eldred. Master Agrippa wishes to speak with you, and he… he…” how could he say that? ”he bids you haste.”
@Cedric
”Barca House, eh? Is that pesky Baron helping you?” he says but before you have the chance to answer he continues ”It matters not. I’ll question him afterwards as well.”
The man gets up from the debris he is sitting and walks closer. ”Tell me about what’s happening in that place, and who and how many are your allies.”
Very well servant, says Eldred heading off at a jog.
I wonder who we will find entering the Horn this time...
"You will get nothing else inquisitor. I have foretold your fate. I will find you dead at the end of my blade before all this is done. So kill me now or wait to die. Your choice."
@Cedric
"You should answer me." Matthias drew the holy symbol of Mitra out from under his shirt and let it rest pointedly upon his chest. "Sooner or later, you must. And ‘later' will come at a cost."
"Your precious sun god is your crutch. Come then let us test who's faith is stronger. I am dark champion of Asmodeus. We laugh as we bask in the light of your god and throw down the masses of its foolish followers. Your words are as weak as your sword play." Cedric laughs in the face of the man. He continues to just laugh.
@Cedric
If being gentle produced no results, there were always torture.
The inquisitor smiled at the armored man answers, the man had said enough to set things in motion. They were indeed an Asmodeus cult, and that was enough to warrant their destruction, but the inquisitor wasn't done yet. Now was time blood would flow.
The inquisitor raised from his sitting spot, and produced from his bags several pincers, pins, needles and other torture instruments not unlike the ones used in the horn. The man sighed resigned that it once had come to torture, but he would learn what he wanted.
”I’ll tell you how this ends. I’ll torture you until you tell me all of your secrets, and them, when you have betrayed all of your accomplices, I'll continue torturing you as the rewards for your service to your god. To give you a taste of what waits for you in hell.”
--
In some minutes, it wasn't possible to know if the man was laughing or screaming in pain. Nevertheless, that continue for greater part of the day and more the time passed, more bestial the screams became. It was closer to dusk then the inquisitor finally emerged from the ruins, splattered in blood, some patches already dry.
He gathered his followers to convey the news: ”He lied, all the way thru his death. But I saw the truth in his lies, and I know what wait us. Burn his corpse and that unholy armor. Then we move to another place to rest. Tomorrow we continue our sacred fight against the heretics. ”
@Eldred, Johan, Agrippa
After some minutes, you are reunited with Agrippa and the same recounts the fight the saw using the eye. How fought and how he was subdue by sheer numbers. He also explains that just after they teleported, they couldn’t be found anywhere in the other rooms with teleporter, which lead to the conclusion they were teleporting outside the horn. How? You don’t know, yet.
Johan called his mount, and together with the flying half-demon ogre, they started searching nearby the horn, not too far away, so they couldn’t rush in case the invaders returned.
The hours passed and it was near dusk, when they saw very far away the big pyre. Something was being burned, and Johan knew in his gut what was in that fire.
As Grumble:
"Big fire. Out of place for jungle. Johan fly down with Grumblejack to check."
Johan had been having trouble keeping his anger in check since his transformation, and the news of Cedric's abduction came very close to inducing a murderous rage. He ground his teeth. He and the ninth were used to being the aggressors, the instigators - striking swiftly and disappearing into the night. All this waiting and sitting in one place left him feeling impotent and vulnerable.
These teleporters have become a liablility, he said to the others. Sidious, use your stone shaping magic to form a lip around each of the thrones. As high as you can make it. Have the boggards fill the enclosure with acid from the caverns. If there is not enough acid, fill one of them with mud and relocate the mudmen there.
He turns to Eldred. Can you think of any way to trap the third teleporter? Caltrops, nets, anything to slow an invader down. Finally, have Zikomo station at least 2 boggard guards at each teleporter with orders to use that unholy croaking of theirs to alert us if anyone comes through.
After seeing to the horn's security, he mounts Cytheria Rex and flies off with Grumblejack to search for these invaders. When he sees the pyre he starts to grind his teeth again, and circles lower to inbestigate.
I've something far more fun - put the lip up then put 5 wraiths all in it, around the third teleporter - they'll teleport right into them and they also may thin out a potential pest now that Ezra Thrice Damned is gone, Eldred chortles.
@Sidious
Sidious looks distraught for a moment before saying ”This is such a great task of you ask Johan. It cannot be accomplished easily. The miracles I command have a limit, and re-shaping that amount of will take several days, at least.”
@Johan
The big pyre still burns hot and strong as you approach.
Cytheria Rex hits the ground near it and before you is an so familiar and nostalgic inquisitor pyre.
A long forgotten memory surfaced your mind. A singular inquisitor, feared even amongst its peers. The man was restless and unstoppable in his zeal and faith. Once following a trail, he would stop at nothing, which is the reason he is always moving from one place to another, from one prey to the next.
A name you heard in fearful whispers when he once visited the inquisition where you started your training.
Father Matthias Harkon, Inquisitor of Mitra, Witch hunter. Carrying Wytchbrand, his flaming sword around, burning the wicked alive is what Harkon lives for.
You had a feeling it was the same person once you head about the flaming sword, but only after seeing his handiwork in person you became sure that the most feared of the inquisitors is hunting the knot.
From the pyre? Burned bones that once belonged to Cedric. His armor however gleans with power, untouched by the flame.
Grumble reaches toward the pyre.
"Hot! Too Hot still for Grumble." He then makes way over to a tree ripping a branch from it he goes back to the pyre and starts to move larger burning pieces away from the armor and remains until it gets cool enough to recover them.
When Johan was growing up in the monastery, he had wanted to be Father Harkon. The stories of his single minded determination and relentless drive had shaped who Johan had become. It was only fitting that their paths should finally collide.
Johan joined Grumble in dismantling the pyre and retrieving Cedric's remains. He marvelled at the armor an said a quick prayer to Asmodeus as they drew it from the pyre. He had seen an infernal miracle like this before, when they slew Lord Havelyn in Balentyn. Then he assumed it was because their patron had been well pleased with their work. Now, Johan knew it was a sign that vengeance needed to be had...
After finding Cedric’s belongings, Johan return to the horn, better not linger outside alone and suffer the same fate as the anti-paladin.
When he arrives at the place, he toss the armor the late dark night room, already contemplating how to bring the man back to life. Last time, not so much time ago, they needed those services, they had to count on the graces of the baron, but that would have to wait, there’s not a chance for a trip to farhold while the horn is still under attack.
Sidious spends the night in prayer and meditation, preparing to do as commanded.
The entire night, boggards and minions working without stop, carrying mud and acid, just waiting until the cleric is ready to re-shape the place with his miracles.
Dawn arrives, prayers are said, stone is reshaped, mud poll and acid poll created.
Boggards stationed at every teleporter, their infernal croak to be used as alarm.
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Eldred works as tirelessly as the boggards, applying boot to amphibious behind as often as needed to keep things moving.
When dawn breaks he is at Johan's side... ready and bow waiting for the damned inquisitors of Mitra.
Grey Master, help me through this - else I may end up hanging, he prays silently. He notices that he's become slightly more devout of late - the bloody mindedness of Mitrans and Asmodeans alike are somewhat intimidating to the confidence man and thief turned sniper. What seems to have happened to Johan quite frankly scares the shit out of him.
Spare me from these hellish gifts - I am sure they are all a thrice edged sword
After the night in prayer Sidious goes to the three thrones and chants the divine words. As he does stone begins to take shape. Around each throne now stands a two foot tall two inch thick stone wall. When done he finds Johan and Eldred.
"It is done. A two foot high wall at each throne. I have exhausted my spell power of that magnitude for today. I will see to the ritual if you do not have further use of me."
Agrippa continues his warding of the entrances, not that it has proven useful. He also awaits his infernal minion's report...and explanation as to why they did not warn the Knot that this Harkon was approaching.
@Agrippa
During the night as the others works and pray, one of your servants return to Farhold to give you report.
The accuser devil, teleported outside and then flew inside the place, inevitable triggering one of your alarm spells,
”Master I have returned.” he says oblivious to the wizard fury. Without saying anything else, he accuser devils tries to connect his mind with yours, similar to the same way it did after you sent him to spy on the Baron and Elise.
The accuser devil’s knows his master flick mood, keeps waiting patiently to convey the scenes he’d saved from the previous day, not that he’ll get the chance to pass it on, anyway.
As per previous agreement, the knot decided to stay together, as to avoid the same fate as Cedric. Currently, they are in the second floor, which they can use to reach the sanctum just as easly.
==//==
Zukomo-Hears-the-Father had received orders from Johan-Fire-Eye spoken by Eldred-Talks-To-Toads.
Boggards were dragged from their pleasant muddy and smelly caves, to stand guard at the stone throne. The images of Dagon’s spawn all over the place gave them that sacred eerie feeling from the throne. They considered an act of blasphemy, gathering the burning water in the place, but even if they complained, Eldred-Talks-to-Toad never understood what they said.
Boggard
