"In the name of the gods, people! Calm yourselves! Are things not difficult enough around here right now that we have to go seeing demons around every corner?!" Gideon calls, inserting himself between the two groups.
"People are being attacked left and right, and you have nothing better to do than stand around and bluster at each other! If you're so certain of it, then you two leaders: Harcourt, Luetin. We have a spell that can tell us if you're one of the shapechangers or not. If you're willing to make such accusations, then be willing to be tested, right here and now! Don't resist the magic and we'll find out who is and isn't a shapechanger! As many of the things as are runnin' around plain as day right now, don't you think they're all aware that the ruse is over and they'd best be cutting their losses? Hell, the four of us have just killed nine or ten of them, any more of them hanging around with us here are just idiots!"
Terana joins Gideon between the two groups, her glaive levelled between the groups to keep them apart physically if Gideon's words fail.
"We have the situation under control. As long as no-one panics or does anything stupid!" She adds, trying to help defuse the situation.
Harcourt and Luetin glare at each for a few moments longer, then the nobleman grunts. "Fine. I'll be the bigger man here and submit to your test. Then everybody will know for certain that I am no shapechanger."
"Nuh uh! I ain't afraid. Test me first!" Luetin says.
The two argue for a few moments more, but both eventually allow you to cast your spell. Both succumb to the paralysis, asserting that neither man is a faceless aberration. The colonists on both sides mutter apologies.
"Very well," Harcourt says once he recovers from the spell. "How can we assist you?"
"Yeah, point us to the real monsters and we'll smash 'em good," Luetin says.
"They seem to be trying to burn down the colony." Terana states. "Go after anyone who is setting fires, and if you see anything on fire, put it out! As quick as you can!"
"Enough people are hurt or missing or dead already from these things already; we don't need any of you added to that. Terana's right. If you see a fire, get it put out ASAP. Don't engage a stalker unless it attacks you or you see someone else under attack; feel free to cave its non-face in if you do. Stay together, stay organized, protect each other. Leave no one alone, for any reason. Let your problem-solvers be the spearhead here." Gideon adds.
If the group agrees to this, Gideon urges the hunters to keep going to the next nearest place that is in distress.
Terana nods as Gideon speaks and seems eager to be off.
Harcourt and Luetin both nod and lead their followers away to help defend the colony. You keep moving as well, and only a short time later, Carver Hastings comes running up to you, his expression grim. "There you are! We need you at the government house! There are injured people there being pinned down by those wretched shapeshifters!"
Terana nods and turns around. "We'd best move quickly then! Lead the way!"
"We're right behind you!" Gideon answers, meaning this literally. If the past few minutes have taught him anything, it's that everyone should be considered a suspect until they've been cleared, and he whispers to the others as they go,"Don't turn your back on him until he's cleared."
Carver quickly leads you into the open hall of the government house, a couple of injured colonists groaning on the floor just inside. Once you are in the center of the building, though, the pair swiftly leap to their feet and slam the doors closed, turning the lock.
Carver looks in the direction of the slamming doors, his face elongated with momentary shock, readying his crossbow as he does. Then, with a subtle shift of his expression, he laments, "This all would have been easier if I'd just killed you first. Ah well, live and learn."
The flesh of his face peels back as the faceless stalker that was impersonating the bard reveals its true form! The other "colonists" in the building follow suit.
"Not if we have anything to say about it! Kill the flunkies first!" Gideon retorts, grabbing Tobar's shoulder and quickly swiveling the crossbowman so they switch places, stabbing at the stalker that's now in front of him.
Tobar is completely not surprised by this development, and simply sidesteps and shoots the shifter by the door on the right side.
Gideon and Weyve wound one of the faceless stalkers. The false Carver fires on Weyve, hitting him in a vulnerable spot and leaving a bleeding wound. The other stalkers grab flasks of alchemist's fire but don't throw them at you. Instead, they smash them against the building's wooden walls, and the government house starts to burn!
Terana strides forward through the gather flames as her glance chooses through the thick air.
"Foul beast! I am your end!"
Tobar, unperturbed, continues to focus his fire at the shifter near the door on the right.
Gideon takes advantage of the distraction the stalkers risk my throwing their flasks, stabbing at the same one struck by Terana!
Before the stalkers by the door can throw their flasks, Gideon and Terana cut them down!
As Gideon moves into melee, the false Carver's arms stretch out and smack him across the jaw. Undeterred, the bard stabs back, scoring a critical hit! Terana smites the stalker and Tobar scores a critical hit as well, leaving the impostor badly wounded!
Gritting his teeth through the pain, Weyve extinguishes one of the smoldering fires.
Unfortunately, the other one flares up dramatically, the flames quickly spreading throughout the government house! The stalker that set the fire shrieks in pain as the flames lick it, but it avoids catching on fire.
That stalker moves to attack Terana, and the fake Carver tries to pummel her as well. Neither one manages to get past her impressive defenses. The other stalker steps away from Gideon and hurls another flask of alchemist's fire, reigniting the blaze Weyve put out.
The government house begins to fill with smoke as the fires rage...
Terana's glaive slices strongly through the air to leave the stalker bleeding and in pain. The clouds of smoke don't seem to trouble the gillwoman with her gills as well as her lungs to work with.
She focuses on Carver, allowing her divinely guided might to strike the abomination down.
Tobar covers Terana from behind, smashing his crossbow into the stalker between them.
Gideon takes a quick step to the side, staying out of the range of the billowing smoke, and stabs at the Carver imposter again!
Resisting the smoke, Weyve steps back and casts a spell defensively, extinguishing the newly created fire before it can spread.
Terana slices deeply into the stalker that dared to move behind her. Tobar steps up behind it and bashes it with his crossbow, and even though its rubbery body resists the blow, it's enough to push the thing over the edge and knocking it out!
Terana and Gideon then both attack the false Carver, the paladin landing one good hit, though the thing's breastplate protects it from the follow-up attacks.
The remaining faceless stalkers seem determined to fight to the death! Both attack Terana, but again, neither one hits!
The raging flames do not spread any further...for now...
Terana sidesteps to get a little distance from the false Carver, before smiting him once more with her glaive! Again she lands a strong blow but her follow up strike is foiled by the creature's stolen armour!
Terana's strike lays the false Carver low! The impostor falls to the floor, blood pouring from its myriad wounds!
Tobar leans against the corner and launches another set of bolts toward the remaining stalker in the opposite end of the room.
Moving as quickly as he can, half-blinded by the tears filling his eyes and coughing so strongly that those nearby would suspect he was about to lose a lung, Gideon moves swiftly to a nearby window, attempting to break it out and breath some fresh air, not to mention call for help.
Tobar fires two crossbow bolts into the remaining stalker, badly wounding it. As Weyve extinguishes part of the fire, Gideon hurls himself against a window, but he doesn't have enough force to break through it.
The stalker gives up on trying to hit Terana and stretches its arms out at Tobar instead! But it still fails to land a good hit!
The flames begin to climb up the walls of the government house, setting the second-story balcony ablaze!
Terana is overcome by coughing and stumbles away from the flames, retaining enough presence of mind to stay more or less out of the creatures grasp.
Swearing under his breath, Gideon moves down to the next window that's away from the fire, attempting to break this one out. If successful, he'll heave himself out the window and start calling for help and water to be brought to the manor.
Tobar lands another hit on the remaining stalker while Weyve extinguishes more of the flames. Terana coughs and chokes as she moves away from the flames, while Gideon manages to crash through the shuttered window, emerging into the fresh air outside the building!
The stalker tries to hit Tobar again, but once more misses!
The fire suddenly flares up again, spreading to consume even more of the government building. The flames engulf the faceless stalker, who shrieks in pain as it catches ablaze!
Somehow still lucky enough to avoid the blaze, Tobar takes another shot before running for the exit.
Tobar puts the stalker out of its misery with a well-placed crossbow bolt. With all enemies down, you quickly rush out of the burning building. It seems like the fighting his tapered off across the rest of the colony, and numerous colonists begin rushing to the government building with buckets of water from the well to try to fight the fire!
Terana takes a few deep lungfuls of breath and then heads back into the smoke filled building, trying to retrieve the bodies of the creatures left inside - focusing mostly on fake Carver.
The flames scorch Terana's skin as she plunges back into the inferno. The smoke causes her eyes to water and her breath to burn in her throat, but she manages to drag the corpse of the stalker that was impersonating Carver out of the building before it can be consumed by the fire.
A quick application of Shelyn's grace helps Terana recover from the smoke and burns as she drags the body out.
"People of Talmandor's Bounty! This is the cause of our strife! Abberations, disguised as our friends and colleagues! But their plot is foiled. Now save our buildings!"
People are too busy to pay much attention to Terana's mini speech, so she gives up and gets back to helping!
Himself so focused on trying to save the building that he didn't even notice Terana's speech, Gideon gets busy trying to coordinate the efforts to save the government building, shouting out to any colonists in earshot and making sure the water goes where it's needed most.
Though Terana's words are lost in the chaos, Gideon remains calm and commanding, quickly organizing the bucket brigade to maximize their efficiency. It takes several long minutes, but eventually the fire is brought under control. The government building is badly damaged, but thanks to your efforts, it is still salvageable.
With soot on her face and blood on her jacket, Ramona comes running up. "It seems like all of the monsters have been dealt with. Are you alright?"
Gideon takes a moment to lean over, putting his hands on his knees, and just...breaths. "I'm alright. Maybe a little harried, and my lungs are gonna hate me for a day or two, but they'll get over it. What about you? And the other colonists? Did we lose anyone?"
Before she has a chance to answer him just yet, he adds,"We've gotta do something to keep this from happening again. I doubt we're gonna have any faceless stalkers left in the colony now; they seem to have realized they were outta time and luck. I imagine that any who weren't attacking us fled outright. We should establish some kind of code or something...a pass phrase that we tell each other. Even that's not foolproof, though..." he begins, when a sudden thought hits him.
"Terana...your whole background is geared toward fighting these things, and Shelyn has given you the innate sense of evil. Clearly, just sensing evil isn't enough; is there some way you could kind of...I don't know, tweak that sense to allow you to sniff out aberrations as well as evil?"
Ramona lowers her eyes. "A few people. It'll take some time to sort out exactly how many..."
She takes a deep breath and looks back up. "It would have been a lot worse without your efforts and bravery."
A sudden thought hits the scholar and his eyes go wide. "Kulena! Gods! Sorry everyone, I'll be right back!" he says with a panicked voice, rushing off to make sure that his beloved is alright.
Gideon finds Kulena safely at home. She kept the door locked and hid under her bed for the entire ordeal. Tears stream down her face as she throws her arms around the bard, sobbing.
"Maybe. I could certainly pray on it." Terana is in the middle of saying as Gideon rushes off. She gives a shrug and turns back to Ramona. "How can I help? Weyve and I have a little leaking left."