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"Thank you..." the ethereal voice calls to Rhia. With a final warm smile, she adds, "Call on me... if there's anything you need. You'll know how."
Count Caromarc takes his wife's translucent hand. A question forms on his brow as he stares back at her, though his mouth fails to speak it aloud.
"She is... waiting for us..." Aunt Ceryse knowingly gestures to her left, where another translucent form takes shape! A second figure manifests... of another young woman. The second woman seems more distant and less visually distinct, as if appearing from deeper within the realm of the dead. She beckons to both Ceryse and the Count to come to her.
Wordlessly, he looks back and forth between the two women, his astonishment not abated...
The Count knew the pain and suffering of losing both his wife and child during childbirth so long ago. As you have witnessed yourselves, he had not taken it well, to put it lightly. He spent his last decades of life seeking a way to reunite with them, to bring them back into this world...
At long last, he has, in a way, completed his mission. He is reunited with those he loved most in life. It seems those final years are lifting from his face as he basks in the silvery blue light of the spirits of his wife and child. Without so much as a glance back, they embrace.
As they release their embrace, the bluish-white light grows in intensity. You see a man closer to his 40's than his 80's standing there with the two women. Somehow, you know it's still Count Caromarc... and, you now realize, an old man's body now lies crumpled on the floor before you. An unaccustomed smile rests on the Count's body's forlorn face, as his body rests beside the carcass of one of his abominations in life.
The couple and their daughter smile back at you as the light brightens even further. Reflexively, you all avert your eyes. When the light dims away, the three spirits are no longer there.
You look around. The Count's body grows cold on the floor. And Rhia notices something on her hand. The silver ring she spotted on her aunt's ghost's hand? Somehow, it made it to her own hand...
The sudden crashing sound of metal and broken porcelain cups catches your attention. Waxwood dropped his tray of biscuits and tea. The homunculus's head is cocked to one side as it stares down at its now deceased master...
If a homunculus's master is slain, it goes insane — it loses its Intelligence score, all feats, and all skill ranks, and generally claims the immediate surroundings as its domain, mindlessly attacking any who intrude upon its lair. On rare occasions, a homunculus freed from its servitude rises above its master’s original intent and becomes more than a half-insane construct guardian of a long-forgotten lair. In some cases, a homunculus might even come to see itself as the rightful heir to its master’s legacy, or even the reincarnated spirit of the master himself.
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Despite the tears glistening in her eyes, Rhia's smile is radiant as she watches the family find the peace that has eluded them for decades. Her aunt had been fully reunited with her family, the Count free of the torment that had obviously driven much of the second half of his life, both of them finally able to join their daughter, the cousin she never knew, but felt a deep warmth for anyway.
Taking in the others' expressions she catches The Speaker's eye. "Malice isn't the only thing that can leave a would restless. Sometimes the job is more usher or guide than slayer."
Looking dow in surprise at her hand, she studies the new ring on it for a moment, her family crest, a black onyx shield, inlaid with Pharasma's spiral in silver, a gleaming sword of pearl set in the center.
A loud crash of breaking ceramic and clattering silverware breaks her reverie, her eyes widening as she notes the quirky movements of Waxwood "Oh...that's not good!"
Waxwood's beady eyes glaze over. Its small form shudders in midair. Though it cannot speak, you sense it would scream violently if it could, judging by its expression and body language...
...with a sudden fury, it bolts in your direction.
So entranced by heartbreaking scene that unfolded she jumps nearly higher than her companions are tall when the sound of crashing breaks everyone out of their reverie.
"Uh, what can we do? Is 'e gonna calm down after a bit or shut down or do we have to smash em?" she asks with equal parts worry and confusion, what with not having much knowledge about how Homunculi function.
Roland meanwhile lets out a mournful squawk.
"Unfortunately, I think we'll have to render it inoperable" Istivan says, reading for combat.
"Agreed, he's beyond reason now." Rhia answers, as a swirling shield of protective spirits flares up around her.
With some regret, Istivan draws his sword, takes a graceful step forward, and strikes at Waxwood.
Naught frets before closing her eyes and stepping up to flail at the rabid homunculus, obviously not wanting to hurt the simple creature who up until just now was helping them.
The tears in Aliseya's eyes blind her to the new threat.
Sookie is swift to stab the maddened creature, skewering it.
Compassion and confusion leave the majority of the companions unable to stop the unfortunate yet rabid creature's ascent towards Rhia. With an expression of madness, it bolts right for the young woman's face with its claws raised and fangs barred...
Istivan's swift blade slices its gut. But the mad homunculus remains undaunted. Sookie immediately steps in front of Rhia. Her spear pierces through the creature's mouth and exits its rear, like a most unpalatable shish kabob ready for the roast.
Waxwood's beady eyes go lifeless.
"Sorry, poor bugger."
After a moment, Sookie carefully removes the poor homunculus from her spear with as much respect as is possible, given the situation of its death.
"Wh... what happened?!"
Wiping her eyes dry at last, Aliseya turns to see Sookie removing Waxwood from her spear.
"Poor fella went bonkers when the Count passed on. He was going for her face," she nods to Rhia.
Sad resolve comes across in her voice as she cleans her spear.
"Couldn't be helped..."
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Rhia blinks a few times, processing what happened and how incredibly fast Sookie had moved. "My heroine once again!" she says with a smile. "Thank you, Sookie. It is sad though, but now he can rest as well. His service has come to an end."
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"Of course, darling," Sookie smiles back at Rhia. "That's why they pay me the super smackers."
"Indeed it has. That was quite the show," she refers to Rhia's reunion with her long lost aunt, and of her aunt with her recently departed uncle.
"Are you... alright, love?" she sincerely asks Rhia.
"Rest in peace, Waxwood, hopefully you and the Count and his wife are doing good now," Naught sadly says as she looks at the corpse of it and the Count, curious what the living were going to do next.
"Of course, darling," Sookie smiles back at Rhia. "That's why they pay me the super smackers."
"Indeed it has. That was quite the show," she refers to Rhia's reunion with her long lost aunt, and of her aunt with her recently departed uncle.
"Are you... alright, love?" she sincerely asks Rhia.
"I... honestly I'm not really sure." she says, dabbing the last bit of moisture from her eyes now that the chaos of dealing with Waxwood was over. "This has been one of the most emotional days I can recall, which is saying a lot. When all said and done though, I'm happy for them and being able to play a part in reuniting them, and giving them peace definitely makes me happy." she says looking up at Sookie with a warm, smile. "Thank you for asking."
Istivan sheaths his sword, allowing those with history here time to process. Into the silence he asks, "Are we going back the way we came to get the horses? If so, perhaps we could investigate the door with the scratching. It's probably some horror, but I would hate to think we left someone trapped in there."
After some discussion, the weary companions decide to investigate the noises heard earlier and, possibly, rescue some trapped engineers. After then getting some well-deserved shuteye, they plan to properly bury the departed in the morning before heading out at last into Shudderwood Forest after the necromancer.
After they adjust the count's body into a more respectful pose, Christoph recites a brief prayer to the Lady. Just something to help guide the spirits to the Bonesland for now, reserving his time and energy for the morning burial ritual to come.
The companions then backtrack down the stairs of the main tower. They head back over the bridge, re-entering the doorway into the narrow hall connecting four towers.
Stretching about 55 ft. in length, you make out the four additional doors in this hall: two flanking the far end of the hall, and two more flanking the near end. You recall that you are on the second story, and that behind each door lies a 30 ft. diameter round chamber, each containing an unpleasant surprise: a chameleon-like basilisk in the southeast, a black blob sticking to the ceiling of the northeast chamber, dangerous plant creatures in the northwest, and though you did not enter the southwest chamber yet as a group, Ali and Zelda recounted how they found Naught in a cage on their previous visit and slew three vargouilles.
After carefully listening, Istivan hears the sound of faint scratching again. Peeking inside the northeastern cylindrical chamber from the hall, it seems bare, save for the darker briny water covering the floor. The chamber is about thirty feet in diameter, like the other chambers. The black blob is still on the ceiling, to your left. Odd, you recall it being to your right when you last looked in... Anyway, from this high, second story doorway, you stand thirty feet above the water level below in the chamber. Another closed door stands 90 degrees around the chamber to your left, level with your own high door: the scratching sounds seem to be coming from that general vicinity. Twin doors stand directly below you at the water's level.
”Uh, Christoph, feel like pew-pewing that… whatever it is?” Naught says while vaguely motioning to the gelatinous thingy on the roof.
Istivan nods at Naught's suggestion. "Might be a good idea to shoot it from here, see if it reacts.. or... something."
"At the very least, it might indicate if it's a solid creature of some sort. Better to have an idea of that before we try bridging the gap." Rhia adds.
Christoph looks doubtfully at the gelatinous thing hanging and shrugs, "Hitting it is easy enough. The arrow doing anything, though." He shrugs noncommittally. "I'll try."
True to his word he steps to where he has a clear shot and nocks an arrow. After a fraction of a second spent aiming, he looses and draws in one smooth motion. The other arrow is loosed before the other is even halfway to his target.
Christoph's arrows strike true, but unsatisfactorily. They pierce the blob completely with a muffled thud. But, brief wobbling aside, the blob does not yet stir.
A sizzling sound then catches your attention. It grows in volume. The faintest whiff of smoke erupts from where the two arrows pierced it. The sizzling then dies down.
You get a very bad feeling about this...
Lowering his bow, Christoph scowls as the thing doesn't appear to be at all affected by the arrow. The smoke sizzling from the creature where his arrows had been does little to reassure him. "That's bad." Putting away his (apparently) useless bow, he draws his morningstar and prepares for whatever happens next.
Expecting danger at any moment, Rhia calls to her ancestors, a swirling shield of protective spirits surrounding her.
"Hrmph" Istivan says, pulling out an arrow and fitting it to his string, a brief second of concentration infused arcane energy into the weapon before releasing.
"Yup, that's bad."
Unable to see much from behind Naught, Sookie takes a defensive stance with her longspear, ready for action.
Unable to see what's going from from all the way in the rear, Aliseya senses tension rising all the same. She clutches her handbag and chants something briefly in her native tongue.
"Călăuzește-ne inimile cu stelele."
Whether they understand it or not, her friends feel soothed by her incantation.
As Istivan's arrow similarly sizzles into the blob's "body", the others make preparations.
Suddenly, the sounds of many small popping sounds reverberate throughout the stone round chamber. The black oozy blob drops from the ceiling, falling at an angle... towards the doorway where Christoph stands. Landing against the wall above his head with a quick sploshy sound, a thick and oozy black tendril uses the momentum to swipe at Christoph's upper body through the doorway...
But the undead hunter's reflexes were too swift for the black blob. He ducks low as its black tendril swipes at the air above him. The creature emits a low gurgling noise, leaving you to wonder if it possesses enough sentience to express hangry frustration.
"Well, this is... not great. I don't think I have any magic well suited to this, and from the sound those arrows made I'm not sure a sword is going to do it here." Istivan says as he carefully withdraws from the doorway, giving room for others.
"Plan B then, is it? Everyone B-A-C-K-U-P!" Sookie commands. "It might be too big to squeeze into this hall...?"
She then speaks something pleasant in a foreign tongue while waving her hand over three small pebbles retrieved from a pouch.
"Hisui no yō ni kōtaku ga ari-seki no yō ni kataku naritai to iu negai wa arimasen.
Handing them to Zelda nearby, "I suspect you're better at tossing than I am, dear."
Aliseya heeds Sookie's command, backing up a bit while drawing her sling out. She readies herself to give it a good whirl should the sludgy thing manage to enter the hallway.
"Should I just punch the damn thing?" Naught asks as the jelly... jelly-locomotes before her and Christoph.
"Only if it doesn't look like it would be harmful, though with it;'s size it would likely envelop you!" Rhia shouts as she moves backward to make room for the others.
"Most of my spells are unlikely to harm it either, and I don't know how useful a spear would be, if it comes into the hallway I'll try to spirit blast it!"
Zelda graciously takes the three stones from Sookie. She prepares to throw one at blob, should it make its appearance in the hall.
Determination in his brow, the Speaker takes a two-handed swing at the amorphous creature with his silver spiked mace, landing a solid blow. A chunk of dark viscous ichor adheres to his weapon after plunging through the blob. It begins sizzling and smoking, and though Christoph manages to shake the excess off, the acidic substance eats away at the metal weapon!
Another black tendril swooshes through the doorway. Again, the nearest target Christoph ducks out of the way of the slow-moving yet corrosively deadly creature.
As the black shuddering mass begins to squeeze its way into the hall, a stone from Zelda's swift throwing arm then smacks into the viscous mass, taking a bit of viscous matter with it as it passes right through its body. Spatter hits the elegant wooden floor, sizzling and smoking holes into it.
Rhia's armed ancestral matriarch then manifests in ghostly armor. Charging the creature, she unleashes a furious ectoplasmic mace attack upon it, causing the bulbous mass to shiver and shudder under the assault.
In light of Christoph's mace, Naught second guesses her impulse to punch the blob, carefully backing away yet watching for any opportunity to help bring it down and protect the others.
Unable to quite fit into the hallway, perhaps inspired by the assault to stay where it was, the black creature remains in the chamber, content to swipe into the hall behind cover.