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On the contrary, Saki appears absolutely flabbergasted at the very notion. For the first time all through the mission, she seems almost angered at the suggestions being thrown out, being so incongruous to her beliefs--or at least just incredibly frustrated.
"I will not lie to Hamaria Blakros and the rest of the family about something as serious as this! This isn't some children's game. This is something that would rock the entire family and would likely cause a scandal of the likes Absalom has never seen!"
"First of all, I sincerely doubt you would be able to fool your mother. Perhaps everyone else--but a mother's love would certainly be able to tell you two apart in an instant."
"Second of all, you do realise that Michellia just got married? I understand the unfortunate necessity for loveless marriages in noble houses, but I would certainly not stand for either of you to simply abuse Damien Kastner's feelings in this manner! This is, of course, assuming that he too would not notice something amiss."
"Third of all, there are much better options available to you than this absolutely foolish plan. Eleanir, if you wish to come back into the family - have you perhaps considered speaking with your mother? At least in a way that doesn't involve barbarising your sister on her wedding day and doing unfathomably horrible things to that dress? Michellia, if you wish a little more freedom - have you perhaps considered speaking with your mother? Maybe now with your husband here, there would be some leeway for you to stretch your wings, so to speak!"
"This is an absolute mess. Every crazy thing that has happened over the past couple of days is because people are stewing in their bitterness instead of approaching things in a calm and diplomatic way. This is what happens when you allow hatred into your heart!"
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Maps barks a rough laugh at the mention of Damian Kastner's feelings. When Saki's said her peace, he seems amused by her words. "I say we tell Hamaria. Pretty sure Krunch could convince her that this makes both her girls happy. Hell, if they switched before the wedding vows..." He turns from Saki long enough to give a secret wink to the girls. "Then no lie need be told."
Eleanir snorts a cynical laugh at the words of fooling their mother being so hard to do. "We did it all the time as girls. We spent a month once masquerading as each other, and Mother never caught on.
"I was.... frazzled, today-- I'd just managed to get the dress on when you lot showed up-- but if I was prepared and had time... I doubt a soul on this earth, including Damian Kastner, could tell the truth of it."
Michellia seems less cocky, and she looks at the sand beneath her feet when Saki delivers her outraged indictment of the whole scheme.
"Damian and I have had... honestly little time to ourselves, with each other; everything has been formal dinners or supervised chit-chat over tea. What we have had... there's nothing quite like the man who is to be the father of your children impressing upon you his admirable qualities-- and having those qualities be the number and nature of tortures he's visited on the criminals he's caught."
Michellia rubs at her face with a sigh. "I would wager anything he cares far more about the name than he does which sister is attached to it. But that said, I recognize what you are saying. It would be quite the-- coup."
Eleanir opens her mouth to speak again, but Michellia gives her a small headshake and looks up at Saki. "I'll tell you truly, since you serve the goddess of love: I don't love Damian Kastner. Obviously my sister doesn't either, as she doesn't even know the man, but if love plays no role in either, does your goddess care so much how great a sham the sham marriage may be?
"What if..." and Michellia chews at her lower lip in thought, then continues, "...what if we agreed to trade roles for a time, a few turns of the moon perhaps? Could your vows keep quiet about such a thing for that long? Eleanir would get a taste of the life she thinks she wants, and I... could have a brief time to see some of the world on my own, and then return to do my duty.
"Could you condone such an arrangement? Or at least... not tell of its nature?"
Eleanir gives Maps and his sly suggestion a tired version of her earlier crooked smile, a small shrug. She's thinkin' about how to make it work.
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Ahhhhh...for a short time, then? If you were successful on this grand coup, then both of you could truly experience the things in life that they have missed. It would no doubt make you both more well-rounded and experienced women. Switching back would be just as easy, or maybe not even warranted after your taste of the other side. Saki, if love does not play a role in the current union, then your apprehensions dissolve. After all, I am sure that you would not condone a loveless marriage, regardless of the sister associated with it.
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"My apprehensions dissolve? Are you kidding me?" Saki snaps acidly. "That nobles treat marriage as a game and love as an afterthought is only the beginning of my issues here!" After letting her anger out a little, Saki flushes and bows her head apologetically. "I apologise for my temper, but you must understand that you are asking me to do something that I cannot do. I have sworn oaths against falsehoods, I have promised to the greatest powers in the land that I shall uphold the words and ways of my Goddess, and you think it's simply a matter of assuring me that there is no love lost in this marriage?"
Saki turns to stare at the Blakros sisters, her face a veritable stormcloud. The peaceful and peaceable paladin of previous almost seems to have been an illusion, or else been swapped off with a doppelganger of her own. "I cannot and will not condone your actions, and I cannot and will not lie in the face of what you have planned. If someone ever asked me to divulge the truth of this situation, I am morally bound to do so, and I will not apologise for it."
"... But, I also promised an old, heartbroken man that I would make sure that you are kept safe and happy." Saki turns her attention to Michellia in particular. "For all the effort I undertook to try and stifle his protestations, I am beginning to wonder if he was perhaps correct in this matter as the only one with any heartfelt emotion amongst all of this nonsense. And I'm certain that, if anything, he would appreciate you being as far away from that ex-Hellknight as is possible." For a moment, there's a faint smile on Saki's face, but it's very quickly swallowed up into stoicness once more.
"So long as you do not attempt to play with Damien Kastner's feelings--should they exist, or later develop--then I will not step forward to speak, so long as I am not asked. But do not expect me to back you up on this matter in any way, shape, or form."
Saki becomes quiet at that point, but it's very clear that she is incredibly displeased by the outcome, and refuses to speak to most of the others. Instead she busies herself by cleaning the blood off of her glaive and muttering in annoyance under her breath in Minkaian.
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Well, then, it appears that you have the support of all of the Pathfinder representatives present, with the exception of our stoic, Saki, but even she would not speak out against you without provocation or prior query. Now that we have worked that out, can somebody please heal me, or may I borrow the potion of Olaf's while the sisters prepare themselves?
It's hard out here for a paladin, yo.
It is not, perhaps, an ideal solution as far as the paladin of Shelyn is concerned. But Michellia and Eleanir give each other assessing glances, then both begin talking at once, in low murmurs to each other.
"--need to switch shoes--"
"--your hair won't work at all--"
Cosmetics aside, the sisters are both rather bruised up. And then there's the matter of Filios, who in recent history had his spine nearly hacked in two, and the lesser-but-still there wounds of, well, everyone else.
Soooo.... as you have no cleric..... do you super-prepared Pathfinders have any wands of CLW?
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Kardak hands his wand of cure light off to someone else, Saki perhaps, to use on him.
To the Pathfinders: "So now that I've finished stripping the armor off the northerners we're waking them up and telling them this was all a mistake and they are free to go? Now do you see why not killing your foes is a good idea?"
To the Blakroses: "I doubt anything I can say will dissuade you from this crazy scheme, but I will say this: 'Beauty comes from within', and so does contentment. Are you so sure a change of scenery will change you, or will you still be your same, discontented selves, just in different positions? Cultivate inner peace and inner beauty, whatever path you choose."
"And if there's discord in your marriages, Saki and I know some people who could help you sort through things, one way or the other," he adds, patting his glaive and growling playfully.
To Olaf once we've woken him up: "Should you ever treat her," he gestures towards the sisters, "with anything less then total respect, you will be in for a world of pain. Understand?"
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"I assume we won't be waking Olaf and his henchmen up until we're ready to leave the beach, since it wouldn't do to have them privy to our plans. Will we let the henchmen go and try to outrun the long arm of the Blakros family, or drag them along and have 'Eleanir' plead their case with her mother?"
Eleanir muses over Kardak's suggestion. "I don't think they're bad men," she says with a shrug. "Only loyal to their chieftain, and when the man you follow is mad... personally, I suggest we, uh..."
She blushes. "...I hit Narra on the head," she confesses, referring to the guard that you found unconscious in the bushes by the estate. "Tapped her, really, so I could-- anyway. If she's okay, maybe we can have her run and fetch Commander Shafar, and we'll explain the situation... I'll put in a word for the men, but Shafar will want to see them all restrained."
The details of the plan are quickly cobbled together. The guardswoman returns in a few minutes with several men, and Commander Shafar, who is very surprised to Eleanir (well, Michellia dressed as Eleanir) but greets her warmly.
Shafar's surprise is even greater when the sisters relate the (slightly altered) version of what has happened. She swears and then looks to the Pathfinders gravely.
"If you had not been present, this man 'Olaf' might have taken my lady away for his barbarous purposes. I am shamed before you, that you have done what my own security could not. As for you, Michellia..."
Shafar turns her gaze on Eleanir. "...well, I wager your mother will have harder words than any I could deliver about having left the security of the pavilion."
The sisters exchange slightly guilty glances, and Eleanir nods. "Of course, Rubani. I'm sorry for the worry..."
"Yes, yes. Let's get these thugs back. Men! See they're tied and then march 'em back to the stables. We'll lash 'em well until we can ship them back to the mainland!"
The Blakros family soldiers get to work, further restraining the Ulfens. Olaf has regained consciousness but sits in a sullen, intense silence, his eyes grimly fixed on Eleanir-whom-he-believes-to-be-Michellia. With the greater time to dress herself in bridal fashion, Eleanir does make a very convincing Michellia.
The procession of battered Pathfinders, Blakros guards, sisters, and captives makes its way back to the buildings that have been erected on Pariol Island. Shafar orders the captives taken off to be secured, and then heads back into the pavilion to brief Hamaria on the incident, and her other daughter's 'arrival'.
Michellia and Eleanir both pause a moment, looking over the Pathfinder who are present.
"...I must thank you," Michellia says. "I know your other colleague has her misgivings about the arrangement, but... if you will, relay her my thanks. I am not a slave to Olaf Kvaran's mad plans, as I would have been if you had not shown up to rescue me-- and it is possible I am free in other ways. I owe you a great debt."
Eleanir looks sheepish. "Myself as well-- you, ah, could have made this considerably harder on me than you have. I also wish to--"
"Michellia!" calls a man's voice, and the assembled Pathfinders can see Damian striding up the path from the pavilion, towards them. "There you are. What the devils has been going on?"
The sisters exchange one last glance, and then Eleanir speaks up with a bright smile. "It's quite the story, my dear! Let me tell you all about it..."
As the Hellknight strides up the path to meet you, his brows furrowed, a blood-curdling howl rings out from the direction of the pavilion, followed by several more in quick succession.
Damian whips around looking in the direction of the screams, his hand flying for the sword he no longer wears.
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Krunch's head immediately swivels towards the scream.
"It wasn't Krunch!" the big tiefling says while holding up his hands innocently.
Seeing that nobody is pointing at him or yelling, the Pitborn Pathfinder determines it's more non-Krunch related trouble.
Without a word he takes off towards the cottages.
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Having a heart-to-heart with her Goddess does little to ease Saki's frustrations with the whole affair, and most of all with herself for succumbing to the group's pressure to just let it go ahead. If she had been more convincing, or perhaps have taken a stronger stand on the issue, maybe she would not have to be part of an elaborate lie crafted this day? Ugh. I can't believe myself. She would definitely be paying a visit to Absalom's church of Shelyn as soon as possible.
Of course, her session of self-hatred comes to an abrupt end upon hearing the sound of howling from the pavilion. Saki wastes no time in grabbing her glaive and rushing out of the guest room in the direction of the howls. More danger? Gods, why?!
The Pathfinders hurry down along the path, racing to the sounds of trouble! Kardak, mounted on Amsi, will no doubt arrive first, the camel skidding to a stop outside the pavilion.
The howls that were audible at the cottage have been joined by screams, human-sounding screams, from within the pavilion. Even as Kardak reins in and takes in the scene, he sees figures bursting forth from one of the food preparation tents-- servants, pursued by a shadowy form that run on all fours, laughing maniacally.
One of the Blakros guards runs to intercept the monstrous black shape-- the young man that Rubani Shafar scolded for inattentiveness the day of your arrival. He slashes furiously with his sword at the creature, his face pale with sweat. He is clearly outmatched, but doing his duty as best he can.
From inside the pavilion, Kardak can hear a booming voice shouting.
"So glad to crash your party, you darling little sweetmeats! I am Arastrax of the Onyx Alliance: I tell you this so that you may inform Pharasma who sent you, when you stand before her!"
In the pavilion itself, a man is standing atop the stage while the guests scream in fear. You all remember this man-- it seems to be the mustachioed captain who first looked over your weapons back at the dock, two days ago! He grips a halberd in one hand and stares around with a mad, leering grin. His skin seems suffused with tendrils of inky blackness just below the surface, and he is chanting.
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I will if the difficult terrain is in the tent only with my movement speed of 40 brings me next to the halberd guy. Gotta love monk fast speed. I am almost as fast as kardaks camel.
Edit: Sorry, I missed an earlier post. Serves me right for trying to update in between clients. Please disregard and I will post when appropriate.
Closer to the nauseating creature, Kardak has a better view of what he is dealing with-- it's small as a halfling, and appears to be a bloated little humanoid despite its moving on all fours. Other details are hard to see given that it seems formed from pure darkness.
Kardak's glaive strikes true, though. It pierces deep into the shadow stuff-- although it does not seem to do as much damage as it should do. The guard looks up with an expression of pure gratitude. The shadow-thing hisses and wheels on Kardak. It scurries in to close the gap and bites and claws at Kardak's leg. Amsi's spit HITS, read the right roll, self. The hideous little creature is sickened.
As Alan races into the pavilion, dodging and darting through the press of panicked people, the booming voice of the mustachioed soldier rings out over the crowd. Another creature similar to the one Kardak is in combat with appears next to him on the stage as he finishes his invocation.
With that done, Arastrax steps back further from the edge of the stage, raises his hands, and begins chanting once more.
Meanwhile, outside the tent...!
Kardak strikes again. The glaive descends dead on to target, in a powerful blow!
This time, your lance strikes through the shadowy thing and obliterates in a puff of inky blackness. Amsi's spit globs through the fading whiffs and lands on the ground.
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Saki follows Maps around the side of the tend, worried at both the crazed shouting and the terrified guests running from the pavilion. She catches sight of Kardak causing a strange shadowy creature to apparently implode before she moves inside, trying to move past the throngs of people to reach the strange figure on the stage.
"Why are you terrorising these poor people?!" she demands, trying to shout loudly to be heard over the noise. "No matter your grievances with the Blakros family, don't take it out on innocent guests!"
The man calling himself Arastrax laughs, although his hands never stop moving in his gestures.
"My grievances? Many and long, little flower! As against all your kind! Innocent or guilty, all souls on this island are MINE!"