you hear a moan of pain from Etna.
When the paladin asks for any sign of life the tiefling responds with a cough followed by a wince of pain. He softly responds, "By Cayden's lucky whisker what happened......" Xeros stopes talking as he starts to feel dizzy.
"Dunno Xeros, I just remember all those arrows being fired, then nothing just waking up. Pia is breathing over there, but from what I see Neculai is in a bad way. He isn't moving and there's a lot of blood, I just hope..." her voice quietens as tears wheal up, her eyes showing red. "I'll crawl over to Pia, you look to Neculai and see what you can do to help."
Tarvinda starts to make her way, crawling on her stomach, round to Pia's body. The woman has been battered by the arrows, yet her breath seems to be strong. Tarvinda assesses Pia's health, before she puts a hand on her head, letting Iomedae's life force and warmth penetrate Pia's body.
in a slowly gaining consciousness she quietly says
"Oh crap,"
"How are you Pia? Glad you're still alive. We must leave here and recover. Any ideas? Which way?" Says Tarvinda still keeping herself prone on the floor, sweat breaking out on her forehead as she concentrates on Pia's wellbeing, although she must ask her some questions, nagging at her mind. What happened to her, has something in here affected her?
still groggy
"Try ... eastern ... door."
The tiefling crawls on his belly moving towards his bardic companion, as he gets close to the body he mumbles "How could I be so careles..." With silent remorse he looks over his friend to see if he displays any sign of life.
Her breathing becomes easier as her body recovers, she winks at Pia. "Ok then, let's make it out of this death trap." she says with relief in her voice. Tarvinda crawls to the eastern door, slowly gets up, arming herself nefore she tries to open the door.
Etna crawls her way to and through the door, and encourages the rest of the group to go through the door, even proping it open with a loose stone she found near the door.
Tarvinda is startled as she is separated from the others by the closing door. She tries to get back in, as it opens with a crawling Pia coming out and trying to wedge the door open with a stone. They wait for Xeros to make his way over.
While still lying on the ground the tiefling ties it around the bards body. He crawls to the other two with the other end of rope in his hand and when he gets to the door he'll ask the aid of Tarvinda to help him pull the rope so they don't have to leave there friends body in that cursed room. Xeros stays quiet the whole time not wishing to talk about it.
As Tarvinda pulls the rope given her by Xeros, she sings quietly a dirge, "This ay night, this ay night every night an all, Fire and sleet and candle light, and god receive thy soul....." As the notes of the dirge fade, the body is pulled ever closer.
"Let's get into the pool room, and rest there for a time."
The man, wearing a breastplate wrapped in brown cloth, closes his mouth.
The man unstraps the morningstar at his side. In a husky voice, he calls out, "Hey, what'd'you think you're doing?"
Tarvinda looks up from carrying the dead weight of her friend on her shoulder. Sweat on her brow, salty and stinging it drips into her eyes from her wet and matted hair. A face red with exertion tries to search out the stranger in their midst. A dark outline of a man is silhouetted towards the exit of the cavern. "Honoring our friend, but stay! rest you weapon. Who comes in Kassen's caves? To do homage or harm?"
She adjusts her pose, to allow the body to drop and unsheathe her longsword should the stranger approach closer with his weapon threatening her or her friends.
Your friend? And you say you are from Kassen? It is a sad day that one of Kassen leaves us. I myself stay there occasionally. I certainly haven't come to do harm. Hold a second.
The man doesn't put away his morningstar, but rummages in his pack for a bit. Once he seems to have found what he's looking for, he strikes a foot-long rod against the ground, at which point it lights up brightly. As his face is lit up, you recognize him as a trapper that came into Kassen occasionally to sell furs, herbs, and alchemical supplies.
Is that better for you? You've probably seen me, if you really are from Kassen. I wasn't a celebrity or anything, but I'm fairly well known.
The light doesn't quite reach Tarvinda to illuminate her, so he can't tell who she is.
Xeros peers through the darkness at the alchemist just looking on the man and trying to figure out how he knows that face. As the man throws a sunrod on the ground it clicks, "Arpi?...Arpad....Is that you? What are you doing down here?"
"I don't know if you thought it through coming here its dangerous, follow us we'll explain when get to a safer room.." The tiefling grunts in pain as he carries there fallen comrade to the next room.
Xeros? You're here? Excellent. You can vouch for me, right? In any case, there was a man, came through the woods like a bat outta hell. When I stopped him to have him take some food and water, he said he'd come from the crypt, but apparently some bad stuff happened to him, because he wouldn't speak directly about it. Kept mumbling "The others, the others," though. Escorted him most of the way to Kassen, and thought I'd check it out here. So here I am.
Xeros looks to the two ladies, "Arpad is a good man, let us get moving to the pool room and pay our respects to our fallen friend. We'll fill you in on whats going on there Arpad, I am glad you helped that man I was worried that the wolves got him." The tiefling still covered with bruises grunts in pain as he helps carried his fallen friend into the other room.
Arpad puts the morningstar away. If you would like, I can help you carry him, you know.
Tarvinda watches and smiles at the banter between the two friends as they recognize each other and greet in the darkness of the cavern. "So Xeros you vouch and identify this man as a friend. Well now you speak of it, the face is familiar, indeed we lunched exceedingly well off a venison this man sold. Tasty it was too, Sir Dramott complemented the hunter for what must have been a good clean kill." As she speaks the longsword is sheathed and a hand extends in friendship towards the man. "So Arpad is the name, welcome Arpad and thanks. I'm sure your more than capable of helping in our purpose to bring flame back to Kassen. However the price has been high, not least because we have lost our friend Neculai and it seems some dire necromancy has already brought the end to other villagers as they prepared the challenges for us. So if you are willing, a friend of Xeros, is a friend to us all and is invited to join us."
She helps Xeros carry Neculai's body to the pool room, where they can set up and rest to recover a while.
Arpad graciously accepts the hand of the paladin, and, rummaging on his belt for a little while, tosses an extract of CLW to Xeros. That'll make you feel better, I'm sure. I can make more for the rest of you tomorrow, if need be. And thanks for the compliments, my Venison is some of the best around, as far as I'm concerned. And I'd be honored to help you in your appointed task.
with a painful moan
"This is better.
Alright What is it that you want to know?"
Xeros takes out a cloth and pours some on water on it. He cleans off Neculai face, he pulls out his sacred bottle of wine. "I didn't think I would open this so soon, my friend I am sorry I couldn't save you......I know your entertaining Cayden himself with your singing and stories, we will finish this quest in your honor." He takes a drink of the wine and buts some on his clean rag. Squeezing the rag so a few drops of wine land in the bard's mouth. He then draws a mug on his dead friends forehead. He takes another drink and moves pool side ignoring the screams or objections from the females. "Come take a drink with me in honor of our fallen friend, Arpad come on in and take a drink of the finest wine you'll ever know."
Very well. I may not have known him very well, but I'll toast to his good afterlife. I'm sure this one's right up there singing away.
He will indeed partake of the wine.
Tarvinda joins Pia in the water, to wash away the pain and hurt of the proceeding day. She looks at Pia with doubt clouding her mind, "Pia, there's no way to get round this, but who I think you are and the who you really are are different. When you lay dying close to death, your form changed, your body changed. What am I to think, who is the real you? Have you been deceiving us all this while? Why? Do you not trust us? If you deceive us so readily, are you really a friend we can rely on, or do we keep you at arms length? I cannot understand why you treat us such, friends! But are we, can I trust you again?" tarvinda's eyes pierce deep into Pia's eyes searching their depths. Intent though she is, there is an agony, a melancholy, a hurt in her soul at the deception of her erstwhile friend.
"I'm sorry about the deception and I do hate to lie,
but it's part of my job.
My real name is Etna Venus Van Ash.
I use the previous form and name when I do investigative work,
or when someone is looking for an information broker."
she pauses a moment
"As for my form changing abilities, you could say it's a gift from my mother.
And I still find to many paladins with the "Attack first, ask questions later" though process, when they encounter my kind, and I am sure Xeros figured it out a bit.".
"But" says Tarvinda "when when met, we had no need or asked for an 'investigator' so what were you up to that required you to act so?" Tarvinda seems a little more agitated. "And when you say, 'my kind', what do you mean? Should I have struck you through before now in the name of Iomedae, to maintain the goodness and order required for this task. What creature are you, Etna Venus Van Ash, that lives in fear of the good and the righteous? Of my brothers and sisters who fight for the underprivileged, the poor and rich alike, to banish and destroy the evil of this world." She rises from the pool anger rising in her blood, but keeps a control on her emotions. Silently she counts a few numbers, never reaching ten, as she resumes her place in the waters once more, though there is a tenseness in her being.
"I was asked by the mayor to watch over you, and that was my job.
I said I was looking after a package, the group happened to be the package.
The mayor did not want that known, but I included a clause that stated I could reveal this information If I was knockout out."
"Then answer me this, if you were from a Paladin in Mendev,
what is your first reaction to a tiefling,
especially one descended from Succubi
and can disguise herself as almost any woman."
Tarvinda's face is a picture of shock, the pain of not being worthy with her original companions to complete Kassen's task. The pain forms into an anger, "Watch over us, so the Mayor gave us a nanny as though we were mere children. They send YOU! A woman's whose blood is steeped in the demons and devils whose evil bring destruction to all that is good! You use deception for your means to live, hide the truth from those who seek it. The truth will out, as it has here and not before you cause harm to those you purport to protect." At these words Tarvinda's anger seems to subside, as confusion wracks her mind and face contorts into different expressions showing the conflicting thoughts that fight for supremacy. She sinks down into water looking sternly at Etna.
She remembers the woman's part in their adventure. She mumbles almost apologetically, "hmm...redemption and forgiveness are the gifts of the gods whose goodness shines as a light against evil. I suppose ...... if such is the case ... " her demeanor towards Etna thaws, she lets out a sigh, but doesn't quite manage to lift her hand in friendship, she reserves her judgement until Etna's actions speak louder than any words. In still a quite cold voice, Tarvinda continues, "Enjoy the waters, I feel it is time to dry off, my body didn't take the injuries yours sustained." She gets up out of the water and starts to dry and dress.
she keeps her cool the entire time she talks
"The mayor knew nothing about my heritage.
He was like most of my clients,
he thought I was human and did not ask."
"And you still have not answered my question, on the first reaction of a Paladin in Mendev hearing the word tiefling?
I'll answer that question from my point of view then and you'll understand,
I was more honest in my youth, but when I got in Mendev I found too many paladins rushing to attack any tiefling, without even using their ability to sense evil in the first place to see if they were evil.
As most just assumed you were evil.
Hence, why I use these front forms and aliases."
after a moment of pausing and recalling some unpleasant memories and using her arms to hold herself
"I doubt you have never been on the side that is hunted down because of your heritage,
even though your innocent and committed no crimes.
You don't know the horror of it."
Barging into the pool room shouting about sharing drink, he catches the last bit of there conversation. As he moves through the room he starts to stagger the mixture of alcohol and exhaustion from the past events and falls with his back hitting the side wall of the pool, "Being constantly hunted takes it toll on any soul, the one that can mantain there civility after being treated like an evil beast that is true strength or honor or.......I could use another drink." He chases the cure light wounds infusion with some more wine offering the bottle to the rest of the group. "But I didn't think Asamir's like yourself got hunted like myself."
"Sorry, but I'm not an Aasimar."