A pleasant smile spreads across Naught's face for a moment. "R’yoi, ngngr'ukhyoi?" Placing her remaining hand on Aliseya's other shoulder Naught will then begin vigorously shaking the dancer. "HHA Y'KYOI ALI, HAI!"
"Oh, is that so?"
"GIVE ME BACK ALI, NOW!"
Enraged by the spider bite, Cellawyn lunges again at the wounded spider.
Cellawyn lunges at the spider and plunges the steel of her rapier through the abomination's fanged maw, splattering green ichor across the prison wall.
The smiling face gives way to an expression of vehement hatred as Naught shakes her. The... presence? ...that assumes Aliseya's form now grunts demonically, viciously swatting Naught right across her face. Aliseya's sharp fingernails sting the left cheek of the lady with the dancing hair, leaving a few thin slashes that trickle blood.
The dancer cautiously takes a step back, snarling like a wild beast, ready to swat her "friend" in an instant should she try that maneuver again.
Naught's eyes widen in shock as Aliseya slaps her. Staying on her guard she'll call out to the others, "Guys! Something's wrong with Ali!"
With the thrill of the combat over and the adrenaline that was pumping around her system now abating, the true pain and discomfort of the spider bites hits home to Mirelinza. Slowly, but surely, her body is starting to go numb.
But before she can speak up, she hears Naught's warning. But a combination of pain, fatigue and numbness added to the fact that she's not entirely sure what is going on mean Mirelinza simply plays a watching brief for now.
While you are all numb and dizzy, a shadow passes beside you, jumps, startles the spider, and lands behind it, sticking her rapier in its back. You see it is the locksmith . She digs her rapier into the spider's back, and the animal staggers frantically. It is still partially dominated by Zelda's rapier, which she then twists and pulls out, using her feet as support, and kicking the spider back to the floor.
You do not kill the the spider, but you leave it in pretty bad shape, worse off than how the others were after being gored by Mirelinza and Cellawyn. You also wonder whether the paladin is alright, and whether she will find enough strength to strike once more against the spider.
Mirelinza is brought out of her stupor by the figure of Zelda flashing past her. Now aware of the danger behind her, she turns and lunges at the arachnid. Gone is the flow of her attack - no dance this time. Instead she simply stabs at the creature.
After you dig your steel into the spider's back with your body weight and barely any strength left in your arm to do sustain the strike, you leave the spider in quite bad shape. It is staggering, and when you think it is going to fly at you again, it turns and jumps on Zelda; the locksmith tries to dodge, but the spider's vicious strike was not defendable by any of you : with the very last little bit of your senses, further hampered by the excruciating pain you feel as your body fails to counteract the bulk of the poison in you, you see Zelda contract in pain as the spider injects poison on her belly.
Cellawyn attacks the spider on Zelda.
Aliseya continues to glare at Naught. But her breathing begins to calm, her hands begin to relax, and her glare slowly fades to a blank stare.
The girl's mouth drops open. She falls to her knees as the darkness lifts from her eyes...
Slowly, she raises her hand to examine it. She stares blankly at Naught's blood by the end of this round...
Seeing clarity return to the dancer's eyes Naught will abandon all caution and hug-tackle her. "You're back! You had me scared for a moment."
Mirelinza looks in a bad way. Although the effects of the bites aren't so bad, two doses of poison are now coursing through her veins and all this activity just speeds up the effect of the spider's venom.
But whilst she still has some strength left in her arms, she stabs at the creature - more in hope than expectation.
The three of you advance against the spider; Cellawyn, overcoming the pew in front of her, strikes first, killing the animal, while Mirelinza's unconscious attack also hits its margin, and Zelda's double strike follows, mangling the carcass.
The three spiders are dead, but who knows if there are any others hiding?
While Zelda bends over from the excruciating pain you know all too well, you feel that yours is starting to recede .. It is still painful, and the damage to your body is done, but you are not getting any worse, at least. Zelda, on the other hand, needs immediate attention.
You immediately rush to help Zelda, and direct your prayers for the Dawnflower to lend her strength. Perhaps it is indeed Sarenrae's favor, or maybe Pharasma's power in her own chapel , that makes the difference and helps Zelda recover from the poison .
With some more time to breathe, you start to notice the toll of this combat on your group: the paladin and the locksmith are both weakened; the gypsy is confused and lost, while the orphan's face displays scratches, and the military elf's face carries a gaping cut across the forehead and nose, with dry blood up to her cheek.
The room you fought the spiders in is a chapel of Pharasma. Pews run north besides the walls, and the center aisle leads to an altar at the back. There are no windows in this chapel, and here, too, you sense the smell of burnt flesh that seems to pervade the building, and you see the dark soot gently covering the rough stone walls, wooden pews and chandeliers, under the thick layer of dust.
|
Zelda quietly whispers to Cellawyn
"I think we both need time to heal and I think Aliseya is being more affected by whatever is growing inside her than she will admit. Maybe we should pick up the papers we left behind and search the desk before we head back to the house and rest. I think we can keep an eye on Aliseya better at the house. What do you think"
Cellawyn nods at Zelda as she binds her wounds, "Yes, we should return back to town and regroup."
She turns wearily to the others, "Well fought. Let's recover the papers and withdraw back to Ravengro."
Aliseya is startled by Naught's embrace. Holding her near, she examines Naught's bloody cheek with her own eyes of hazel and red. "I... did I do that? Oh my gods... DID I DO THAT?!"
She looks back again at her own bloody fingernails to confirm it. The gypsy seems quite distraught at her handiwork. Instinctively, she places her palm on Naught's wounded cheek. Muttering a quick prayer to Desna, Naught feels a soft caress on her cheek, and her wound is sealed.
"Yes. Let's go... I need to see Grimburrow," she simply replies to Cellawyn.
As they take their leave, she looks at the others with grave concern. She moves right in without asking, touching their wounds and repeating her prayer of healing. She also props anyone up who is struggling the most to walk in their weakened state. She remains uncharacteristically quiet and somber (except when someone might ask her something)...
Naught is about deter Aliseya from her self-admonishment but stops when the dancer touches he cheek and she feels the warmth flow into her, more than just the warmth of being touched by her, and the wound close. Letting out a quick "Ooo!" of amazement she'll then happily nuzzle the healer's face with her other cheeck.
As they're leaving Naught will hook an arm and hands through Aliseya's. "I didn't know you were healer. That's pretty awesome!" Her tone is friendly and excited, definetely at odds with their current environs.
"I guess I'm just full of surprises," Aliseya responds with a half smile to her nuzzling friend. "I'm not like a priestess or anything. I just... well... when I pray to Desna, wounds seem heal through me, since I was a child. My heart chakra is just really open." She stumbles a bit as they walk, "Though I think I'm done for the day." Looking at her weakened friends, "I'm afraid I don't know what to do for spider bites, though."
Unhooking her arm she'll put Aliseya's arm over her shoulder to better support her. "Lucky you, when I pray to Desna she just sends beautiful naked women to my dreams, not that I'm complaining mind, just not very useful during the waking hours."
"Oh, thanks. I don't know why. It just... is, the way it is. I don't really know anything about healing or medicine, I just pray, touch, and wounds close up."
Then, as they near the horses, a look of puzzlement comes over Aliseya's face. She innocently asks aloud, not necessarily for Naught to answer, "'Beautiful naked women?' I wonder why she sends you that..."
Naught can't help but don a wolfish grin. "Because I happen to like beautiful naked women... And happy dreams help to keep the nightmares at bay."
"...oh. Oooh! That's cool," the healer responds, her confusion giving way to a smile. "I was gonna say, like, maybe they represent us, like you were granted visions of your future with us ladies, which is now. But that didn't explain the nudity..."
"Most likely it does," she pauses for a moment but her mouth still keeps a hint of that wolfish grin as she gazes at Aliseya. "And if it is of future, maybe it does explain the nudity as well..."
Cellawyn basks in the warm glow of Aliseya's touch, "Praise Desna. Thank you for the curing Aliseya."
Cellawyn cleans the spider gore from her rapier and cautiously leads the way back through the hall and out the prison main doors.
"Your welcome Cell."
Puzzlement comes over the gypsy's face once more. Then, realization... "Oh my..." is about all she can muster to the chronicler of stories. At a loss for words, she now distracts herself with the task at hand of preparing and helping her weakened friends mount the horses... all the while blushing at Naught's naughty thoughts.
Seeing Aliseya blush just adds even more of a curl to Naught's grin.
You try to distract yourselves with a lighthearted conversation, but it is hard not to feel pressed in by the walls and the thick, dead-ridden air. The darkness of the hallways gobbling Cellawyn's faint light embeds a colony of venomous giant crab spiders, ready to jump and strike at you whence you cannot see.
You move tight together as group back where you came, silently hoping that the foyer doors will not challenge your weakened bodies. They are normal doors, after all, you realize as you cross them to reach the offices, grab the papers, and move out. Harrowstone all strangely calm, silent, non-reacting...
It is now close to noon, you guess, and the hot sun shines outside. After being blinded for a few moments, you finally see the prison grounds again. The silent lake to the west, the walls all around, the gates to the south.
This trip to Harrowstone is concluded; your way back is marked by an emptiness in your heart; you visited the grounds and gained nothing. Some of you were almost killed by a ceiling collapse, you were attacked by wild spiders, you experienced those doors that closed by themselves. No, they must have been stuck, or it was he wind, you must have imagined it, none of you has a clear mind at the moment to say with certainty that what happened cannot be explained... and the stench of charred flesh, oh, that stench lingered in your nostrils, a heavy mass that the fresh valleys' wind cannot carry away.
Cellawyn's occasional strokes along the scab on her face remind her that that she could have been killed by the spiders just as easily as she killed them... Zelda's and Mirelinza's pain remains, aggravated by the horse's movement and the heat of the day. Naught -- who knows whether her thoughts are ever soothing -- is intent on keeping Aliseya entertained, while the gypsy's mind is elsewhere, wondering about the mass in her thigh, and the necromancer.
Then it occurs to Zelda to tell Naught and Cellawyn that the professor has been murdered.
You see the sheets of paper Aliseya took from the first drawer on the right, with markings of her fingers impressed with soot and dust onto the yellow paper. You see the crest of Harrowstone dry-stamped on the lower corner of some of these sheets. They seem to be various supply orders (cloths, materials) for upcoming months. Only the oldest, top few ones, contain the signature of Lyvar Hawkran, Warden of Harrowstone, and based on the dates subscribed, you guess that the Harrowstone fire took place some time in late Rova 4661.
At the two large bottom drawers you find rations, a gear maintenance kit and a shaving kit. The other drawers are either empty or contain office supplies (a scrivener's kit, ribbons, blank paper, scratch paper, sealing wax), dry tea leaves, candles, flint, lamp oil and a magnifying glass.
Also, the loaded small crossbow that Cellawyn inspected is atop the table, and there is a small quiver with bolts hang under the table out of sight from anyone on the other side. As Cellawyn must have mentioned, the crossbow requires some minor repairs to be usable, but it is not a special weapon of its kind.
Lucky you! Although you are not sure how high a price you could fetch for the magnifying glass, you certainly can make enough out of it for the week (or more, since you the group is currently not contracting any lodging expenses). It is also quite interesting, as in broad daylight you can use it to create fires!
Aliseya gasps. "Oh sell it!" she answers her roguish friend. Then maybe I can buy that sweet new dress!
Looking at the rations that must be nearly triple her age, "Uh, I wouldn't eat those, though. Or sell them. That would be wrong."
...
Along the way back to town, Aliseya's internal dialogue slowly gravitated from severe contemplation of the prison events, necromancers, and black masses... to dancing tonight and, of course, to shopping. Forgetting about the temple, she begins walking hastily down to Zokar's place.
Unless someone reminds her of more pressing matters, she announces with a mischievous smile, "I'm going to Zokar's. Who wants to go with?"
Naught's hand inmediately shoots up.
Wide-eyed Aliseya grabs Naught's forearm and excitedly starts hustling down to the town square arrange her performance for tonight.
Naught wears a happy-goofy grin as Aliseya pulls her along.
Aliseya stops so suddenly that Naught nearly bumps right into her. She swiftly heads back to Zelda and asks, producing the translucent yellow gem she received from Naught, "Say Zel, almost forgot! So do you know what this pretty thing might be worth? Not that I would sell it," she winks at her naughty friend with a smile. "It was a gift. Just curious though."
Naught's face goes flush at Aliseya's wink, causing her to start to dig one of her toes into the ground.
Looking back to Zelda, she quickly adds, "About the gem. Curious about the gem..."
Naught goes about teetering from her left foot to her right, simultaneously waiting for Zelda's appraisal and resisting the urge to tease the dancer further.
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Zelda looks at the gem.
"Before we think about the gem or buying things, we need to talk to the priest about your behavor!"
Zelda suddenly has a look of shock on her face.
"We never looked around the room with the spider! They might have been protecting something that would give us a clue into what is happening and we never even looked!"
"Zelda, let's plan to return to the prison at first light tomorrow, after we've had a chance to recover. Whatever the spiders may have been guarding will still be there."
The eatery is open! The window shutters are only partially lifted, to keep the excess heat and the dust out. Behind the building runs the creek with its cold water; the ground around is soaked, as though its volume had increased due to rain, but there has been no rain.
You come in to find Zokar talking to Councilman Hearthmount at one of the tables that touch the circular wall, with small doses of wine and some bread, cheese and ham combination on their plates.
As you enter, Zokar raises his eyes, and excuses himself from Vashian, speaking at a louder voice, without rising from the table, "Yes? How may I help you?"