"Let's kill her from a distance in case she explodes in Blood Veil!"
Artegall kicks the unholy symbol back into the room with the tanks and falls back (he doesn't have a free hand to pick it up).
Edit: Just past the editing window.
Artegall stabs at her before falling back.
Capture and be doing what with ‘er? If the queen’s physicians and the Grey Maidens do be involved, won’t they just be taking ‘er back?
Twilight tapped the wand against he lips pensively as she considered what could be done with their new captive. "I am inclined to leave her alive so that she can savour her defeat, seething impotently in whatever prison she ends up in."
"And, if at the end of the day she nurses that anger and somehow breaks free to come after the group again, then Callistria will be honoured and I will be tested in the act" she thought to herself.
"We could give her to Kroft who might know a nice hole in the ground somewhere where she could wallow in her failure. We might also want to see if there is some way we can prevent her from being raised as an undead if she is killed." Twilight smiled wickedly "Just a little more salt for the wound if we can find a way."
Nargun still can't land a blow
As the fog comes upWhisper continues to attack
Meanwhile Mirela growls in frustration.
Light bless it I can't see a thing.
Dwarf can you try to be knocking 'er out?
Or if someone drops 'er, I can be stablizing 'er and we can be tying 'er up!
But seeing that Nargun seems to ignore her she decides to try this herself. She puts away her bow and steps up while drawing her morningstar moving next to Whisper to keep her from retreating that way.
Andaisin mutters a prayer and starts to stand up in the murky mist. Meanwhile the looming scythe chopped down at Nargun's back again.
Whisper cringes as the cleric stands up, but Mirela takes the opertunity to smash at her.
Recognizing the effects of Sanctuary on her mind Mirla calls out!
Stop 'er, She's gonna try to run!
"She's nearly out of spells and you have cut off her path to her scythe. If she runs out of the fog then I will stop her."
Artegall readies to trip Lady Andaisin if she comes out out of the mist (taking a 5' step as part of his readied action if he needs to).
Wizard 0: Acid splash, Mage hand, prestidigitation, read magic. 1:Mage armour, Vanish, Magic weapon, (S)Colour spray.2:Spectral hand, Spectral hand, (S)Blur | Subtle misdirection 2/6.
Bonded item A:0/1, D: 0/1. Pearl Lv1 0/1, Lv2 0/1. Wand cure light (3). Wand daze monster (8). Wand prot.evil. (46). Wand magic missile CL1 (18). Wand of cure moderate (8)
Twilight had lost sight of the Urgothian priestess, but she could still make out Nargun getting attacked by the phantasmal scythe. Not wanting to stumble through the mist and blunder into the undead worshipping woman Twilight continued to mitigate the damage that the ghostly weapon was doing to Nargun.
Nargun was about to strike... then stops his axe in mid air
The pale priestess takes a few careful steps away from Mirela in the murk, murmuring a different spell as she does.
Artegall will go back into the mist until he can see Lady Andaisin, and then trip her.
If she tries to stand on her turn:
"Nargun, if you can't attack her, go get her scythe! I can use it. Twilight, I'll take any blessings you can give."
Mirela steps up and tries to hit the woman.
Twilight, The Wand, Use the Wand before she runs!
Twilight had a hand full of wands now, the curing one in one hand, the protection wand in her sash and now the wand of magical missiles in the other.
And now her companions were asking for all of them and more at the same time.
With the priestess disarmed Twilight took her cue from Mirela and chose the direct approach. With a word and quick flick of the new wand she sent a pair of arcane bolts at the enemy.
The group crowds into the hallway to lay into the unarmed priestess. Artegall trips her, Mirela smashes her, but Twilight finds it impossible to harm the defenseless priestess. She snarls as she gets to her feet "Dead or alive, I will consume your souls. You will serve me and my mistress in this form or another, just as I will."
Andiasin murmurs another prayer to her patron in spite of the storm of damage as she back away down the hallway.
Artegall is increasingly nervous about her eagerness to die at the party's hands and talk of serving Urgathoa after her death. The tale of the Whispering Tyrant comes to mind - seemingly seeking death as a mortal as a path to greater power.
Well, we can try to stabilize her if she goes down. If she ever falls, that is.
Artegall steps up, studies his target, and trips her again.
Mirela continues to smash at her as she gets up.
I will never be serving your mistress! You 'ave caused enough damage to this city already! You should stand trial!
Meanwhile, Whisper steps up trying to attack her again, but still confused why she is unable to.
Artegall lowers his sword.
We did it. Praise Torag.
"I would suggest we stabilize her, remove her armor and gear, and tie her up and gag her. Then rest."
Fortunately, Nargun can't strike her as long as Sanctuary lasts. And hopefully by the time it wears off we can have her stabilized and bound.
Artegall will try to talk Nargun down.
"Twilight wants her alive.
I have a feeling that something bad happens when she dies. She explodes in Blood Veil. This place collapses. She becomes a ghost. Something bad. Just a feeling by what she said.
So let's not press our luck.
If there is a danger of the Queen's Guard freeing her, we can kill her if we absolutely have to."
As soon as she falls, Mirela stabilizes her and starts to strip her of her armor and gear and while she is out.
You do be right Artegall, she seemed far too eager to be meeting ‘er mistress. Plus, If we did be killing ‘er then any chance of figuring out what was done to make this plague may die with ‘er. Maybe between what the guard can get out of ‘er and the notes we took from up above, someone can be figuring out ‘ow to stop this plague they introduced.
"Let's take her and Lamm back to the elevator. Maybe Kroft has arrived with the City Guard. Though I am pretty sure Lamm is dead, we need to make sure he stays that way."
Someone tie 'er up and then we can move 'er and the cultist we knocked out to bring them back up.
if nobody else is helping, Mirela just starts dragging the priestess away after stripping her of any critical gear she can find.
Artegall will help. He has an 18 Str so he can probably carry Lady Andaisin.
The group stabilizes and strips the unconscious woman then carries her back to the elevator.
We need to wait here for Kroft and 'er people. Even if there do be more cultists down 'ere, we can't be running into another ambush. I'm almost out of even my minor miracles.
Twilight was conflicted.
"I don't like the idea of staying here waiting to be discovered by the Maidens. But I also don't like the idea that the good lady here might be rescued if we leave her alone."
She thought for a moment "Why don't we truss her up and toss her into one of the crates by the back loading dock. We have someone on lookout and if the Maidens show up first, we slip out through the back and toss her into the river. If Kroft's people show up first we can let them know where she is and take it from there."
Ugg. You think there might be more of them comming?
Gods above I ‘ope not.
If you want to be doing that, someone needs to figure out ‘ow to be operating the lift. Because I can’t be caring a body up the ropes we climbed down on.
Ugg. You think there might be more of them comming?
Gods above I ‘ope not.If you want to be doing that, someone needs to figure out ‘ow to be operating the lift. Because I can’t be caring a body up the ropes we climbed down on.
He knows from his prior investigation of the lift that the lift controls are in the lift itself. He also remembers that one of the control buttons was missing, so whoever moved the lift must have had that button with them or knew where it had been stored.
"Davaulus might have taken the control button when he escaped from us upstairs and fled down here ahead of us. Let me see if I can jury-rig it."
Artegall gets out his tools and tries to make the necessary connections to replace the missing button.
If he can get the lift to work, then he will recommend taking Andaisin (unconscious) and Lamm (dead) up to the Hopsice to follow Twilight's plan.
I can help carrying her, of course, even if I'm a little out of breath yet...
The group gets back to the lift to find the basket gone, someone having taken it back up to ground level. Artegall has to scale the rope to get up into the lift. It takes him about 10 minutes of fiddling but eventually the investigator is able to get the lift running without the button and brings it back downstairs.
The Hospice is quiet, no reinforcements for either side having show up yet. The group ties Andiasin up tightly and throws her in an empty crate in the loading dock then waits to see who gets there first. Eventually the group hears the stomp of many booted feet coming closer.
Peeking out the back, the group sees half a dozen soldiers in the black and red of the Korvosan Guard taking up position outside the boarded up loading dock. In front, someone bangs on the Hospice's locked front door. "Open for the Guard!"
Mirela is paranoid and quietly says to Nargun.
Dwarf, I do be going to go out the front. Can you be standing behind the door, and if I do be saying "Maiden", you slam and lock the door behind me because something is wrong.
Assuming the others agree to this, Mirela tells Whisper to Defend Twilight, then goes to front door, and says loudly through the front door:
'Old on, I do be opening the door and coming out.
When everyone is ready she opens/unlocks the front door and steps out in front of the doorway looking around to see if this is really the guard or a Trick.
Mirela exits the Hospice to find another half dozen people in Guard uniforms with their weapons raised. She doesn't recognize any of them. "Halt! We have a report of combat at this location. Put your weapons on the ground and prepare to submit to a search. Is there anyone here with you?"
Artegall was previously in the Guard, you may recall.
He will also step out and see if he recognizes anybody.
Mirela puts her hands clearly out where everyone can see them but does not move to take off her weapons yet.
Is there anyone here with me? Oh there there is a whole warehouse full of sick people 'ere so yes there is quite a few people here.
Now I'm going to take out a weapon and put it on the ground.
She slowly starts to draw her morningstar and kneels down to set it neatly on the floor.
As she does this she says:
Odd that you got a report of fighting in a place like this. It should be a 'ospice of 'ealing. What makes you think there is fighting 'appening 'ere? Was this a citizen who reported something?
Nargun is still tense, and ready to fight if needed.
But even he hopes this can be talked around.
"You can ask questions back at Citadel Volshyenek." The Guardsman gestures at Mirela's many other weapons . "It's enough for you to know we were ordered here to investigate."
At the back Nargun sees the Guards milling around, looking at the apparently boarded-up loading docks.
"It's okay, Mirela. They are Guards. But, no, we will not be going to Citadel Volshyenek.
Twilight went and reported to Field Marshal Kroft and asked for reinforcements. And here you are. That's good. We have a lot to explain, but we need to make sure this place is secure. There is information here than can cure the Blood Veil.
I am not leaving this place until Kroft arrives and we gather all the evidence. We are not letting any more of the perpetrators escape, and we are not letting the evidence get misplaced or lost.
If you value the lives of the people of Korvosa, you will help us. Please.
We would welcome your aid in gathering the evidence, clearing out any remaining perpetrators behind the plague, and looking for any survivors. Let us wait for Kroft and then proceed. When you hear our testimony, I promise you will not regret trusting us.
If Kroft cannot join us here, then let us make sure things are as secure as they can be before we go to her."
Artegall attempts to persuade the Guard to let the party remain here and ensure the site is secure.
"The Field Marshal sent us to take control of the Hospice. She said there had been fighting and we should be ready for resistance. Are you saying you've already taken care of everything inside?"
"This is all the forces that could be assembled for this detail." The group at the front could count half a dozen Guards; if there were similar numbers on every side of the Hospice then Kroft had only been able to gather two dozen Guards to help.
"If the fighting is done then yeah, we're here to secure the site and gather evidence. We also need to secure you and anyone inside. So if you'd all put your weapons on the ground and submit to a search, like I said to your friend, that would be very helpful. You can make any sort of testimony you have to the Field Marshal back at the Citadel." The assembled Guards look tense, as might be expected of a group of Guards hastily assembled from around the city with orders to assault what was supposed to be a city-run facility.
Artegall looks at the Guard skeptically.
"Seriously? A search?"
"Here is my longsword. Yeah, there's some fresh blood on it, but most of what you see is zombie gore. You can tell by the stink, can't you? There were a lot of zombies down there." He lays it on the ground directly at his feet.
"Here are my bow and arrows." Unused, I think.
"Here is a rapier. A bit more fresh blood on this one." Artegall looks particularly protective of this as he lays it at his feet.
"And here is a dagger."
"Oh, I've also got lockpicks. Yep. I am a licensed investigator these days, and it comes with the trade. And here is a flask of holy water."
"Feel free to search me. I've got no hidden weapons. But it is poor training you get these days if such a search puts your mind at ease. I'm still dangerous without any of those. I can disarm an armed combatant with my bare hands thanks to my Constable training."
Artegall shakes his head. "And that's without me being able to do any kind of magic. You would miss any number of unseen dangers. I know, I know, you are used to ruffians who might have a hidden dagger and so are focused on dealing with that sort of threat. Well, search if it makes you feel better."
Oh thank the Gods above. We need you all.
We took care of a lot but we can’t tell if we handled everything.
It’s bad in there. There do be a literal Charnel House under this warehouse that we have not fully explored.
Sir, I’ll put down my weapons and you can ‘old me but there is much you need to know and the street may not be the best place for that. I suggest you and whoever you feel comfortable with go inside with Atticus and see for yourself. Your men can be keeping me as security until you all come out. As she does this she pulls off her spear, dagger and bow and lays them on the ground. Then she pulls her holy symbol out from under her armor making it very clear for all to see. Finally she holds her arms out to her side and says:
I Mirela Wintrish swear by my faith in Lord Erastil and on my Immortal Soul that this is not a trick and you will not be ‘armed by any of the four of us if you go in to ‘ear what we found. Although I will be warning you that my wolf is in there and She will defend Twilight, so you might not want to touch ‘er until I can go back in to ‘ave ‘er stand down.
Then she continues kneeling obviously compliment waiting for the guards to react.
Nargun knows he's not a great talker, so he remains silent, and puts down his weapons.
The big axe has seen quite some action obviously.
Here. You can search me if you want. I respect and trust Kroft.
Twilight had hung back in the building while the others spoke withe the guards at the door. She was relieved when it became apparent that they weren't Maidens, but did no fancy being brought in for questioning.
She was just in the process of working out how best to disguise herself as one of the patients when she heard her name mentioned to the guards. She looked to the wolf with a sigh and shook her head, resigned to the situation.
Still, it might serve her purposes if the guards weren't entirely keen on being near her too much.
She took a breath and as she let it out she let her shoulders droop. A quick cantrip to dirty up her appearance appropriately and some vigorous rubbing of her face to redden up the skin at least a little bit. Her scarf already wrapped around her face, she adopted a haggard expression and practiced a cough or two before joining the others.
"If we must go and be questioned then cough we should be quick about it cough cough"
"If we are to go back to the Citadel with you, I request that we be allowed to keep our weapons on our persons, although peacebonded if you wish.
We have a prisoner and a body to bring before the Field Marshal. Both perpetrators of the plague. One of their accomplices escaped so a rescue attempt on our way is not out of the question. If we - and you - are attacked en route, you will want the dwarf armed."