Horillo steps back into the fight with his dagger. "That's right, you try and take out the weakest won't you. Have a go, come on what you got!!"
Apparently stepping away and then getting back into the fight did wonders for Surexeria and Horillo as they both land their attacks and put an end to the vile man.
Mawl out of rage, 40 seconds of rest.
Sorix lies unconscious, oblivious for now to the outcome of the combat.
When the sound of someone else collapsing to the ground and dropping their weapon rings out in the adjacent room, Cassie fears it is yet another potential ally. As he song fades out and only the sounds of ragged breathing can be heard, she calls out tentatively "Is it? Is it over?"
She closes her eyes and hopes the voice to answer isn't the same one she's heard day and night for as long as she can remember.
Surexeria saunters out of the mist, cleaning her blade on a scarf dangling from her hip. She sheathes her blade and says ”Dontcha worry about him anymore, sugar. He’s headed to take it up with Pharasma. Let’s see about these shackles, savvy? He have the keys on him, or they stashed around here somewhere?”
Standing in the corner against the wall, filthy, bruised, bloodied and shaking, Cassie looks around nervously as she rocks back and forth on her feet. "He's? He's dead? Are you sure? " She holds her whip in her hand in her left hand, covering her breasts with her arm and right hand.
"Uhm." she tries to think.
"Master?" she calls out hesitantly, as if she expect to hear back from him.
"Uh. On him? Maybe? I, uh, I don't know? He's always got them with him."
She looks nervously around the corner, keeping her back pressed to the wall.
Surexeria turns to the most and says ”Hey, H. Check on your downed friend. Big Guy, look that bastard over for some keys.”
She takes a couple steps closer and looks Cassie in the eyes. ”So, here’s the rub. We can let you loose, but we aren’t necessarily up to anything that the folks currently in charge would be happy about. So we can’t have ya running off and maybe gabbin’ yer gab to the wrong folks. So, yer gonna be comin’ with us. You’ll have yer freedom, but ya won’t quite be free, savvy?” she asks as she crosses her arms and stares the chained girl down as she waits for a reply.
If Cassie understands Surexeria, her response doesn't make that clear.
"They found me here, they'll find me again. Nowhere is safe."
Looking past the swashbuckler she proclaims "It's a test. I'm being tested. I'm a loyal servant. I won't escape again."
Pulling her arm tighter, she squeezes her legs together and looks around the corner. "Master?"
Surexeria rolls her eyes. ”He’s as dead as a fish out of water, hun. Yer only hope is with us, but ya gotta promise to not cause trouble, understood?”
Cassie nods hesitantly, I sure what to do. ”He’s dead.”
”He’s dead.” she repeats louder, trying it out and deciding it feels good. She doesn’t smile, but she lets relief wash over her. She blows out a long breath and says it again. He’s de-“ her eyes go wide and she drops to the floor, pulling her knees to her chest. ”No! No! If he’s dead, she is going to be so, so mad! Hide! You should all hide!” she says, pulling her knees to her chest while sitting on the floor. She buries her face in her knees and say She’s going to be SOmad again! Hide! Hurry!”
Mawl checks the man as per Surexeria's request and does find a key to unlock Cass's bindings.
Mawl does ruffle the man, and tosses the keys to Surexeria, "Yeah, I got them, here you go...She seems in doubt about his current state do you think I should drag him over there for her to see? Did she just say something about 'SHE..' is going to be so mad? Is this someone else we don't know about. I have a CL potion I can pour down Sorix's throat, but I don't know that will be enough." Mawl roughly, not reverently, treats the corpse as he continues to search it. Then coaxes a CLW potion down Sorix.
As Mawl checks the body he finds the man also has a scroll of dispel magic, 2 vials of unholy water, a breastplate, +1 heavy mace, mwk light mace, a golden unholy symbol worth 100 gp, four onyx gems worth 25 gp each, and 8 gp.
Horillo touches the fallen Sorix and immediately lets Erastil's stag warm and keep her from death. "Mawl move that carcass of devil god follower away from me, then you come over here by this poor helpless prisoner."
Horillo picks up the young mages body and carefully carries her towards the chained prisoner. He holds his arm in the air, exposing the holy symbol tattooed on his forearm. "Erastil, let the warmth of the stags blood warm this makeshift family of friends."
"Once the blood has stopped flowing, we should see what this evil one was up to. Strip him and take what might be useful." He looks t o the ex-prisoner, "We are in your debt for the help your words gave us, accept our thanks. Maybe we can offer you more in the way of healing and help tomorrow. I need to retrieve my bow and rest, Erastil's hunt has turned elsewhere."
Cassie has a fair number of injuries visible on her body and hasn't received healing any form of healing for weeks now. When the warmth of Horillo's channel washes over her body, she closes her eyes and inhales a long breath as if she could capture the feeling. When her eyes open a moment later, she lets go of her knees and lifts her head up to look at Horillo.
"Thank you."
Cassie adds "Uhm," before stalling.
"Did you get them all? Did you check the lower levels?" she asks hesitantly.
”Lower levels?” Surexeria says before she groans in frustration. ”No. where is the way down?”
"It's hidden. I don't know if they found it or not. But..." she looks around as if she expects someone to come rushing in any moment. "But they. They made me tell them about it. And show them. I can show you too. If you like? Will you, uhm, go get them all?"
”Get who all?”
Cassie's head moves to the other room where you killed the man who was holding her hostage. He leans her head forward and opens her eyes to accentuate the word "Them."
When it's clear the rogue isn't getting it, she clarifies. "The Asmodean redactors? Lead by the woman with the pure white eyes, the ones that don't sit quite right?"
"Wha.." she starts, shaking her head, confused. "What are you doing here if you didn't come to save me from the Asmodeans?"
”We killed every one of those pricks we crossed paths with, luvvy. And we are here of our own accord, savvy?” Surexeria adds, stepping towards her to emphasize that she means business. ”Names Silvaria, that’s Big Guy, Bowman, and the lady slowly waking up from a dirt nap is Enchantress,” she adds, making up code names on the fly. ”Tell me what you know about these lower levels...”
Mawl is busying himself with checking things out as the mist clears, and puffs up a little bit when he hears Surexeria refer to him, "Big Guy". But he is listening carefully. Downstairs is hidden, lady with the white eyes, and Asmodeans.
She watches as Silvaria points people out. "Uhm, my name is not luvvy or savvy. Do you add Y to the end of all of your words or something?"
Shaking her head she squeezes herself a little tighter, obviously chilly "Hello everyone. My name is Cassandixia Fourthwilkonson Margeritte Glencassandra." After a few eyeblinks she adds "You can call me Cass or Cassie if that's too much."
She looks at Sailvaria and wrinkles her brow with her attitude "What's with the attitude? You saved me and now you want to boss me around too?" She tightens her hand on her whip. "I don't think that is necessary."
Surexeria shrugs, not caring about her comment on her lingo. ”Can’t help it, what I’m used to. But the point remains, we can’t risk you runnin’ off and blabbin’ to those Thrune pricks. So looks like you’re gonna be rollin’ with us for at least a little while.”
"Hold on. You're rescuing me from being kidnapped by kidnapping me? Are you even serious right now?" she groans, pushing on her eyes with the palms of her hands.
"You need to check the lower level for survivors. I doubt there are any left, but we should check. If you see the lady with the white eyes, I'd run away."
"Um well Hi Cass, I'm Mawl, oops" Mawl quickly looks around and remembers that he probably wasn't supposed to tell her his real name..."Er, I mean big guy, yeah and we are saving you, you kinda just happened to fall in our lap. But if it was Thrune or Asmodeans that caught you, well then we would have gotten you sooner."
I need to stop talking because I have no idea what I am saying and what I shouldn't be saying.
Finally, he stumbles his words out and ..."Well, um I'll just be over here if you guys need me." He helps Sorix up after all the healing has been spread around.
Cass holds her left hand up to Mawl, waiting for him to help her to his feet. "Thank you for your kindness Mawl, I appreciate the rescue and the honesty. I know one you has a kind heart at least."
Moments after Mawl administers the potion, Sorix’s eyes open and she sees her big friend crouched above her. ”I’m … alive?” She looks around for a moment, then says, ”I thought I was done for. Master of the two maces seemed bent on killing me. Looks like the rest of you were able to stop him. Thank you, my friends.” After Horillo’s channels Sorix perks up even more. ”Well then, I’m suddenly feeling right as rain again!” She pats around her robes until she finds her familiar. Stroking the bunny’s head she adds, ”Looks like Luna’s no worse for wear, but I’m sure she had quite a shock herself.”
After looking through the now-dead attacker’s possessions and helping to identify them, she lingers on the scroll of Dispel Magic. ”This could come in handy for me—mind if I hang on to it? I don’t think anything else here is of much use to me.”
Sorix listens to the exchange between Cassie and Surexia, trying to follow along. When she gets a moment she approaches Cassie and says, ”I’m Sorix...the, um enchantress, I guess. Sorix rolls her eyes as she says ‘enchantress,’ thinking to herself I’ve never cast an enchantment spell in my life as far as I can recall. And you’re Cassie, right?”
”So. Back to business. There are more captives downstairs? And some lady with white eyes we should stay clear of?”
Cassie rubs her limbs where the manacles were attached. She looks away from Ms. Sassitude to address Sorix "I don't know if anyone else is alive. I haven't seen anyone in weeks? Months? I don't know how long I've been here actually? It felt like eternity. Maybe there are others still alive downstairs? I ... doubt it though. Once I told them about the entrance, they probably killed everyone." She looks down, ashamed. [smaller]"I'd like for you to check though. If you don't mind."
She looks over to Surexeria, annoyed. "Since I have no choice, I guess I'm coming with you then."
Looking down at her mostly naked body, rubbing her goose-bumped arms she asks "I don't suppose any of you with those big packs have some clothes I could put on by chance? I've had quite enough of this look for awhile."
Surexeria rolls her eyes. ”You lot are the worst at secrecy.”
Mawl rummages through his pack and pulls out a very dirty shirt."This would be too big for you and would certainly hinder you in battle, but you are welcome to it if nobody has anything else"
Extending it to her.
Cassie takes the offered shirt, pulling it to her chest as if it were her most prized possession. She looks up at the large man, a thankful expression on her face.
After slipping the shirt on, she whispers "Thank you, Mawl."
Turning to Surexeria, she glares at her briefly before moving her matted white hair from her eyes. Turning to Sorix she states "The lady with white eyes, she's uhm, she dangerous. I would have gotten away had it not been for her."
”Who is this woman? What’s her name? Station? Where did you see her last?” Surexeria asks. Noting her glare, she sighs and says more calmly ”Look, hun...I may come across as hard, but that’s because there is a lot at stake here. I don’t think you have any allegiance to these Thrune bastards, all things considered. But they hold the power right now, and have already done so much to be held accountable for. So we are just being cautious. So, tell us who you are and why this prick was doing this to you so we can understand one another, ‘Kay?”
"I don't know. She's in charge, I think. I told you already, my name is Cassandixia. I'm not supposed to talk about this place to people I don't know. It's a secret.""
Looking around at the disaster that was once a place of secrets and lore, she sighs. "It was a secret. Still is? I don't know. Who else have you found alive down here? Are there others like me?"
Cassie tries not to look around the corner where her master lay dead. Hopefully dead, that is. She pinches her shoulders to her and as she closes her eyes and tries to make herself smaller when she looks in that direction. A shiver runs up her spine and her body twitches as she shakes it off.
"I was working late in the library, helping Josef with reorganization and expansion of a section of the library pertaining to the earliest years of Kintargo." she starts. "Suddenly we were under siege. There was no warning, just screams and violence and we were quickly overrun. Somehow the Asdomdeans discovered our secret location and were killing us off."
With a deep breath she continues "I tried to fight back with the whip I had used during my performance earlier in the night.
I'm not really trained for combat, just show. Anyway, I must be better than I thought because it worked and my attacker ran from the room." She looks over in her former master's direction again. "I made him cower in fear and run from me. As I was making my escape I ran into this... woman? The woman white eyes. She was the most capable of their group. I think they called her Knocks or something like that. She.." she trails off and closes her eyes for the next part, sighing heavily.
"I was taken prisoner and made slave to server my master, Azvernathi is, was, his name. I had to ..." she pauses and clears his throat "I had to serve his every desire and heinous thoughts as he used my whip on me to reinforce his..." she doesn't finish and just shakes her head.
With her eyes still closed, tears spill from the corner of her eyes as she continues to talk, but her voice cracks as the words get more difficult to speak and she pauses several times. "They made me tell them all of our secrets."
"All of their names. All of their everything. I gave them all up as they beat it out of me.
"Everyone died and we lost all of our hard work because I opened couldn't keep my mouth shut."
”Then it sounds like you have the same enemy we do. So let’s work together, savvy? Help us make them pay for the things they’ve taken from us!” Surexeria says as she extends a hand out to Cassie.
Cassie regains her feet with Surexia's hand. "Thank you."
She looks down at the whip in her hand and nods silently in return to Surexia. "I'm hungry, tired and everything hurts. I'm not much of a fighter, but I'll do my best."
Horillo comes back from recovering his bow and some of the arrows that had not broken. "Sorix, glad you're back on your feet again. ANd what was that name I heard ... .Cassie, I'm Horillo a blacksmith and follower of Erastil, who grants me powers to heal the unfortunate. I'm glad his power could enter your body too." He smiles warmly before continuing , "n you say there are chambers below, with an evil doer at their head. We should do all we can to rid the place of such and rescue their victims. Some from undeath and some to life. But let's take stock before we rush in, our magiks are weak or worn out, we are vulnerable. Is there any way we can rest before start?"
After searching the rest of the rooms above there isn't much of interest, but you do find a chest in Azvernathi's room. It contains the rest of Cassie's belongings in addition to a book called 'The History and Future of Humanity, a text sacred to the worshipers of Aroden. The inside cover contains a short note: “Turn the eye to spell the name of the Master of Masters.” The book itself is otherwise in good condition and is worth 100 gp. Once she has a chance to re-quip herself she leads the group back out of the room, where she passes by the remains of the Lord and Lady Victocora, recently slain, again, by her rescuers.
She takes you back to the room with the singular statue of the regal man, his arms outstretched and his chest adorned with a carving of a winged eye. She moves over to the statue and rotates the pupil of the winged eye back and forth several times until you hear a click and the statue slides to the northeast against the wall, revealing a circular flight of stairs leading down.
As you descend down the wrought-iron spiral stairway you eventually come into a massive library. Bookshelves, both freestanding and wall-mounted, rise up to a ceiling forty feet above. Ladders on tracks allow access to the higher shelves, yet few books and scrolls remain here. Bloodstains mar the floor here and there, and some of the shelves bear what appears to be recent battle damage. A strange rune inscribed in a circle decorates the floor.
Cassie is overjoyed by the returning of her belongings, thanking the group again for helping her escape the clutches of her tormentor.
As she leads the way down through the secret passage, she notes "Watch your head, I saw a man bonk it quite loudly on some of the lower beams as we descend. He fell and well, it wasn't pretty."
Mawl grunts acknowledgement, "Thanks Cassie, and I'm glad you got your stuff back. I hope you are up to helping us out. Just so you know I'm not just a basher, although that seems to be all I was capable of and then wasn't even doing a good job of it upstairs. I guess I was nervous with you watching."
"This large circular rune on the floor is the Master’s Rebus — a rune sacred to Irori."
Cassie nods to Mawl "Oh, there is no need to be nervous around me Mawl. I'm sorry if I threw you off, and I think no less about you for bashing. You saved my life, I am grateful for your assistance."
She finishes her sentence with a slight smile and then turns to Sorix as she proclaims what the rune is. "That's correct Sorix, I'm impressed. You are a learned woman as well, it would seem. It's always a pleasure to meet another scholar."
Mawl looks around the room, seeing only the Rune and the double doors off to his right, he slides through what appear to be pews so that he avoids stepping on the rune, toward the doors.
"So this rune...is it going to explode, summon some demon, or paralyze us if we walk into it?"
Not waiting for an explanation from the others since they didn't seem all too concerned with the rune on the floor, Mawl takes the lead and heads toward the double doors to the west. As he approaches the doors something comes out from behind one of the shelves holding up its hand? This humanoid-shaped figure of folded paper and silken ribbons hovers gently in the air. It wears the open cover of some great tome like a metal and leather-bound mask. In it's other hand it is holding a particularly ancient looking tome.
It calls out to Mawl "I'm sorry but you can proceed no further into the complex."
cartographers, and archivists of the multiverse. You know they are resistant to cold and sonic damage, immune to poison and are resistant to magic. They also resist damage from any type of weapon that is not chaotically aligned.
Mawl stops and readies his Bec, I don't know if I can hit this thing but if it starts something with me--I sure will try
"What!? Why can't I? I didn't touch anything" To his party "Guys, I don't think it is just me, I think he means everyone."
Cassie pauses, concern evident in her face. She lowers her voice and says "Mawl. This creature is a scrivenite and either it's come because it's been told of the knowledge that exists here or it's always been here acting a defender. Either way, I didn't know it would be here. They are particularly good at resisting cold attacks as well as auditory attacks and are resistant to magical attacks and poison will simply do nothing. If your weapon is not formed from chaos, it also will do nothing. Let me see what I can do."
Cassie steps beside mawl and places her hand on top of his Bec, steadying his weapon. "We are not like the others, we mean you no harm. I am with the Order and these are my companions. We are here to protect the archives, not destroy or harm them. Please let us pass peacefully so that we may continue to do so."
The creature continues to hold its hand up and then shakes its head "I'm sorry but I am not permitted to allow anyone other than Asmodean's to pass at least for the next 65 days 7 hours 23 minutes and 2 seconds. I do not wish to fight but I am required to defend this path from any intruders as per the orders of the one who commands me."