Zhi gives her wife a cheeky grin before vanishing without a word.
She follows up with another spell and her feet leave the ground as she attempts to unobtrusively approach the 'nexus' bird.
As Zhi slips closer, the cockatiels keep glancing in her direction, forcing her to take a roundabout path. Fortunately, Sara is drawing much of their focus, and she is able to slowly descend from above until she is right over the nexus bird! She deftly slips the ring off of its head without it even realizing it's gone--at least, not yet!
Melodie waits a few moments longer, until her wife gives her the all-clear before stepping up next to Sara and speaking quietly in her ear.
"We've got the ring, so unless you want to try and take down the swarm anyway just to look good then we can, and should, get out of here!"
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Sara smiles sweetly at the birds and lights a cigarillo. "Very smart," she laughs, petting one under the chin and puffing on her tobacco and mixed herbs as Melodie whispers in her ear. "I've been raising birds all my life, so I consider myself something of an expert. I know you remember faces very well, so I have a deal for you."
"I'm not going to be here forever, but while I am," Sara smiles and blows the smoke over the birds, before pressing her lit cigarillo into the bird that spoke to her. "Stay out of Sayashto."
"I'm not going to be here forever, but while I am," Sara smiles and blows the smoke over the birds, before pressing her lit cigarillo into the bird that spoke to her. "Stay out of Sayashto."
The cockatiel Sara burned shrieks and thrashes in pain. A chorus of cries erupts from the swarm as they get the father effective message. As one, the birds depart for greener pastures.
"Yes! That is how it is done!" Ohalia shouts on triumph, kissing Sara passionately.
***
The monkeys are pleased to hear that their rivals were driven off. Lord Squire Saip formally gifts the ring to you and offers his troop’s services in your investigation.
Your campaigning heats up as election day draws near. Two nights before the big day, a tremendous clattering of collapsing stone echoes over the district. Your agents quickly report that part of Sayashto's cemetery has collapsed!
By the time you arrive on scene, hundreds of inevitables and axiomites have surrounded the cemetery grounds. Lieutenant Fanalyx makes her way to you and hails you. "I am glad you've come. Part of the Hall of Final Deeds sank into the ground, which coincided with a supernatural presence that began spilling out of the ground and contaminating the area. This contamination stands to poison the local waters and usurp part of the plane's quintessence, so our forces are focusing on containment. My standing orders are to avoid contact with the enemy. Those same orders don't extend to you, though. I'd like you to inspect the disaster's epicenter. Find out what caused this and do what you can to remove the source of the contamination."
In the waning days of her campaign, Sara gives a speech and organizes a march through the streets of Sayashto.
---
Sara bravely volunteers herself to enter the breach.
~~~~~~
Zhi seems suspicious of the timing of this event, but agrees with Sara that the ladies should investigate.
Melodie too sets to work burnishing Sara's image.
----------------------------
Melodie simply nods, before reaching around the group, pressing hands and implanting fragments of her power in her companions. She follows with a series of spells before finally drawing the Scion's Dagger.
"Ready."
Zhi gives her wife a cheeky grin.
Maria still had trouble wrapping her head around a graveyard in the afterlife. All the same, she was still willing to help and started drinking her potions as Mel cast her spells.
"If any dangers break out, the forces here may need more assistance. I'll stay behind to help keep things contained," Safina volunteers.
"And I'll keep her safe," Ohalia adds.
***
You make your way up the gentle slop towards the Hall of Final Deeds. The path winds past hundreds of gravestones and freestanding mausoleums. However, the graveyard's lovingly maintained gardens have rotted and dissolved into a noxious mess. Just stepping foot in the putrid morass threatens to expose you to disease.
The corruption here has caused the plane's quintessence to warp and roil, and the cemetery has disgorged several mockeries of the outsiders who died here most recently. These risen abominations resemble ghastly incorporeal assemblages of petitioners, inevitables, and other lawful beings congealed into a twisted whole. In addition, two of the open graves awaiting burials seem to have developed a life and unholy hunger of their own. All of these threats begin to converge upon you!
The graves slither slowly across the ground, but the spirits swoop in to attack before flying back. Mirror images appear around Zhi, protecting her from harm, but both Sara and Zileska are struck. The spirits' touch drains their health and coats them with foul-smelling slime!
Melodie stays well clear of the morass all around.
Maria gave Ohalia a nod of thanks before turning back to Safina. "I'd ask for a good-luck kiss, but I think we both remember how well that went the last time we tried that before the barkskin wore off."
"I swear; this place gets weirder by the day." Maria muttered to herself before moving to engage the creature ahead of them.
Melodie lashes out with the Scions Dagger, which vibrates dangerously as she hums.
"Yeah, you stay here and keep things contained," Zhi says. She barely manages to resist making an air-quotes gesture. "We'll deal with it."
Before moving into the graveyard, Zhi takes the precaution of casting a few defensive spells.
The rogue nimbly avoids stepping where she shouldn't for the most part, until ... "Son of a ..." she grumbles to herself, lifting one of her feet up to notice ichor dripping down from one of her precious boots.
When undead begin moving towards them, her eyebrows raise. "Now that's a first. I don't think we've ever been attacked by one hole in the ground, much less two of them."
Zhi casts her spell of speed before rushing forward to flank the spirit in front of her as she draws her blades.
With a shriek, Sara slips and falls full into the filth! "Oh my god," she cries, voice uncharacteristically shrill, "oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, my dress!! Oh, and my shoes," she bites her lip and suppresses a tear.
Sara swallows and launches a full assault of kicks into the curious undead between her and Zhi.
Zileska mutters something indecipherable as she tries to shake muddy grave dirt from her shoes, then holds forth her holy symbol and unleashes a wave of energy.
Sara, Melodie, and Maria move in across from Zhi and gang up on the horrid almagamated undead. Though it resists the damage of their blows, their combined attacks disrupt its incorporeal form, causing it to dissolve into putrid slime.
The other two undead shudder as Zileska's channeled energy wracks their forms.
Shrieking, they swoop in at the priestess, trying to get to her despite her mirror images. They tear apart the images but leave the half-elf untouched.
Meanwhile, the graves slither underneath Maria and Melodie, trying to get them to fall inside!
The rogue steps away just a bit and gestures with her hands. Words flow and then crackle as a bolt of lightning strikes the one threatening Melodie.
Melodie leaps out of the way again with a disgusted yelp. "Flying would be good right now!" She calls, before letting out a brutally high-pitched whistle.
Sara heeds Melodie's words and shouts for a charge, lifting the girls off the ground.
She swings around Maria and kicks the tombstone with her sharp heels.
Nimbly darting away from the "living" grave, Maria felt the flight magic kick in and she let herself drift a few inches off the ground (to both avoid the muck and to hopefully make it less likely to fall into the grave) before lashing at what she could with her sword.
Zileska releases more positive energy, hoping that she can destroy these undead before they destroy her, now that the mirror images are gone.
But the usual bad luck continues.
Sara and Maria focus their fury on the strange grave, stabbing its amorphous form until it dissolves into a harmless puddle on the ground.
The other grave avoids the worst of Zhi's lightning bolt and resists Melodie's dazing shriek.
Both undead resist Zileska's channeled energy.
Unable to drop anybody into its pit, the grave lashes out at Melodie with tentacles! Meanwhile the undead attack Zileska again, coating her with noxious slime!
Trusting to Sara to finish off the ooze attacking Melodie, Zhi races around it to assist Zileska with the creatures threatening her.
Melodie stabs at the strange pit thing, trying hard not to be sick.
Electricity still arcing from her sword, Maria stepped up and continued her assault.
Zhi scores a good hit on the undead creature. Maria and Melodie team up on the remaining grave ooze, reducing it to a quivering pile of inert protoplasm.
Sara floats gently to the side and attacks the things threatening her friend and lover.
Sara's flurry of kicks eradicates one of the spirits, leaving only a badly damaged one behind!
Zileska tries to convert a spell to positive energy to destroy the spirit.
The last spirit continues to coat Zileska with putrid slime!
Zhi continues to stab at the spectral form between her and Zileska.
Zhi stabs the ghost repeatedly, leaving it open for one of her companions to finish it off. The slime lingers on Zileska for a few moments longer before evaporating without a trace.
Once the ghost is terminated, Zileska quickly casts cleanse to wipe away the life-sapping effects of its touch.
"I've never fought pits before," Zhi comments with a raised eyebrow. "Hopefully there aren't too many more things like ... that. Are you ok, Zil?" She looks around at the others. "Let's keep moving while some of my magic is still in place."
"I'm fine, though I was admittedly a bit worried for a moment," says Zileska. "Thank you for asking, though! And thank you for saving me from that last one."
Zhi reaches out and takes the priestesses hand for a moment, giving it a squeeze. "We've got your back," she says with a grin before releasing her hand. She then moves to her wife's side to continue towards the center of the disturbance.
You finish crossing the graveyard to reach the grand entry hall of the Hall of Final Deeds. Several plaques have been pulled from the lower walls, and two horrid creatures lurk about. These filthy, shuddering masses of sludge and bones seem to have formed from a mass of muddy grave soil. One of them busily gnaws on the arbiter Iphalt-C, whose metallic body shudders and crumples. The inevitable appears to still be alive, if barely so.