Melodie is caught off-guard as she tries to describe the situation to everyone that can't see it and is unable to repel the spell. She does keep control of her actions for now however...
"Ouch! F+#+ you, why'd you hafta go and do it like that, then," Sara unleashes an unending litany of swears and curses at the newly visible menace.
Seeing Zhi unaffected, Melodie retreats from the combat and unleashes her mind on the axiomites that cast at her.
The herecites' spells prove quite effective, confusing nearly the entire party!
As Safina and Sara babble, Melodie and Zileska find themselves momentarily in control of their wits.
Zileska manages to dispel the confusion from herself!
Zhi scores a sneak attack on one of the herecites, while Maria stabs the one Sara attacked several times, scoring a critical hit. The undead creature explodes in a burst of negative energy!
Melodie manages to paralyze one of the spellcasting undead!
The enemy Zhi struck turns on her, attacking with its mace and slam, but it fails to hit. The other undead attempts to implant a suggestion in Maria's mind to fall back and regroup.
Zhi grins at the undead in between her and Sara. "It must be rough knowing that your fate is sealed," she says. "Knowing what's going to happen and be unable to do anything about it."
Her blades then sing out.
Melodie turns around and starts waving frantically at Zileska. She might possibly have had some hostile intent but its not clear...
Shaking off the suggestion, Maria concentrated on the next one and moved up to start laying into it.
Sara goes to punch her opponent and misses entirely, hitting herself hard in the face.
The paralyzed herecite breaks free of Melodie's spell. Maria and Zhi team up to destroy another of the undead creatures, causing it to detonate with negative energy.
Melodie and Sara are crippled by confusion.
The two remaining undead charge at Zhi! They destroy two of her mirror images.
With another creature down, Maria kept up the strategy.
Sara roars and throws herself at the herecite, kicking and screaming.
Zileska relies on healing to help the ladies through the buffeting waves of the herecites' negative energy.
Channel energy: Heal wounds: 8d6 ⇒ (2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1, 2, 1) = 14
Channel energy: Heal wounds: 8d6 ⇒ (2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1, 2, 1) = 14
Melodie continues to flail at Zileska, as some of her 'blows' come close to being groping. None of the are remotely effective at least...
Between Maria, Zhi, and Sara's assault, another herecite explodes into a ball of blasphemous energy!
The last herecite attacks Zhi again, destroying two more of her mirror images.
"Where did it go!" Sara shouts, peering through the haze of exploded undead, not in her right mind.
Zhi maneuvers around to flank with Sara and stabs at the sole remaining foe.
Letting the ablative protection of her extract take the necrotic hit, Maria stepped up and continued attacking.
EDIT:
Zhi and Maria work together, blades flashing as they land several critical strikes. The final herecite buckles and explodes! With their deaths, the confusion effect ends.
Phlagomi and Wyssilka emerge from their hiding spots, regarding the carnage with detachment for the former and fearful awe for the latter.
The formulae and calculations on the ceiling and the bronze plaque the zelekhut is staring at seem utterly discordant with known mathematical theory.
Several logbooks are on the table. Each one contains numerous inevitables' identification numbers and routines for infecting their minds with incoherent mathematics. One book is currently open, identifying the zelekhut here as Pvarish-19.
Zhi glances over the calculations, but not really knowing anything about them her attention moves on.
She then heads over to smirk at her wife. "That looked pretty funny - you trying to have a go at Zileska. Maybe we'll head back to the mud bath and I'll watch the two of you wrestle for top position." She gives Mel a quick kiss and then returns her attention to the room at hand.
As Zhi moves to destroy the bust on the wall, Wyssilka whispers to her. "I thought I saw it moving slightly during the fight. I'm fairly certain the Secret Shade knows you're here now. And look! See the subtle twisting of the shadows by that door?" The petitioner points to northern exit. "That's one of his traps. You'll need to disable it to pass through safely."
The negative energy blast stripped away the last of her extract's protection. As she caught her breath after the fight, she saw the logbooks nearby and wanted to see if it was safe to release the prisoner.
"We might have a problem here," she said, relaying the information from the books to the others, "I don't suppose you have a heal spell in you, Zileska? Or does someone have a way to modify someone's memory?"
Zhi moves to the shadowy area that Wyssilka indicates.
Zhi disrupts the strands of shadow, rendering the passage safe.
"I could remove his intelligence." Melodie offers. "Temporary I know, but it might work..."
"Either way we should probably take these." She says, pointing at the plates. "Leaving them here would be a danger to Axis."
Zhi looks between Maria and her wife in confusion. "I don't understand," she says. "What's the problem? It won't take long, will it? We need to keep moving, the shade knows we're here."
"This is literally dangerous knowledge." She explains aloud. "We should make sure it doesn't spread too far. This will only take a moment."
With that she focuses on the zelekhut, speaking softly.
Melodie cripples the zelekhut's mind, ensuring the plague of illogical mathematics will not spread.
With the trap disabled and the threat of forbidden knowledge contained. Zhi quietly opens the northern door.
Sara waves a hand in front of the dead person's eyes and stares at Melodie.
"What did you do to them?"
The door leads to a series of rooms that contain sitting space, a few beds, a basic kitchen, cupboards, and general storage for Lost Silhouette. "Merely creature comforts for this outpost's few living residents," Phlagomi says. "A secret door to the west there leads to the shielded cells."
Indeed, Zhi discovers the secret door, as well as a few others in this chamber. She also finds some more shadow traps that she easily disables.
"I say we check out the cells," Zhi says, looking over the group's options. She moves to the western secret door, but waits, giving the others a chance to offer up their opinions.
Sara waves a hand in front of the dead person's eyes and stares at Melodie.
"What did you do to them?"
"I stole most of his intelligence." Melodie replies. "It's a dangerous thing to do but now its basically a new-born. The effect can be reversed with enough magic but they still forget things and hopefully those things they were making it learn will never come back."
She stays well back as her wife works her own unique form of magic and then nods her agreement. "Everyone ready?"
Before opening the door, Zhi will recast shield and mirror image.
The secret door opens onto a cell block with nine cells of various sizes. The interior of the cells appear blurred from outside, and sounds are muted, making it difficult to tell what, if anything, each one contains.
Zhi's keen senses allow her to shout a warning a moment before two of the cell doors fly open. A pair of axiomite graveknights emerges from one, and from the other comes a petitioner with hundreds of names inscribed over the lines of script adorning his body. He wears a chain shirt and wields a barbed harpoon. You realize this is the same man you saw in your vision upon arriving in Axis.
"I am Thousand Names," he proclaims. "You have made a mistake coming here. Once I have killed you in Norgorber's name and taken your names for myself, I will be one step closer to enlightenment."
While one of the axiomites hastes the enemy party, the other touches Thousand Names, and the petitioner's eyes glow red. He hurls his harpoon at Zhi, and it unerringly strikes the real rogue among the mirror images!
Zhi invokes her spell of speed before moving to a potential flanking position with the harpoon thrower.
"Leave my wife alone!" Melodie commands, focusing her voice on the axiomite behind this 'Thousand Names'.
The axiomite resists the charm!
Before moving into the room, Maria drank her displacement extract (and having downed another shield extract before the door was opened).