Hinagiku is surprised when, out of nowhere, Valais attacks her. But she recovers quickly, dodging most of her attacks. As she is about to grab the pathfinder's arm and topple her over, she notices the changes induced by Valais shaking off Laktharis' control over her. Restraining herself, she looks into her eyes just in time to hear the apology.
"No need for apologies." she kindly says. Though she takes only a second to say the words, they don't sound rushed.
This pause gives Hinagiku just enough time to process what the voice had said. It seemed more concerned with the fact that they were allies of Jorsal than not being his followers. For a moment, she wondered whether Ary was right, whether it was pride... whether it was really an Oni, why the angel would have given its arm and stayed. So she looked up, followed the stares of Valaria and Xanderghul, and tried to see whether evil emanated from that direction.
Whatever, she sees, she keeps for herself, for Ehren speaks to her.
"Understood mr. Ehren. However.. " she begings, but she is interrupted when she notices Houna tense up and prepare something. Stepping forward and around Valais, Hinagiku slips a foot next to Houna's one and drags it toward herself. Once the kellid's knee comes within her reach, she strikes it.
Hinagiku smoothly pulls Houna straight to the ground. Houna growls, getting ready to draw another arrow to replace the one she dropped, but stops when she hears Isilme speak.
Isilme sighs as she turns to Houna,seeing that she needs to talk sense into her again. "Houna, byddwn yn gwella Mam ruddin, ond rhaid i chi roi'r gorau i wrando ar lais y cythraul yn. Mae am i chi orffen llygru hi, i roi ei ôl ato er mwyn iddo barhau i gam-drin hi. Meddyliwch am yr hyn sydd orau iddi hi, ac ar gyfer eich pobl. Bydd Gwasanaethu cythraul yn dod â dim byd ond dioddefaint a phoen i chi!"
Houna glances from Isilme, to Ehren with the charwood staff, back to Isilme, doubt creeping into her face. "Mam ruddin ... pam y byddai mab angen ei weision i fynd yn ôl i chi?"
Turning to Shyael, Isilme says "Leave Valais and Houna to us. Prepare yourself, for it is certain the demon will show itself soon one way or another."
"Be wary, horned demons are capable of dominating the minds of mortals, as well as commanding them into action. Only weapons carrying the power of good can pierce their hides, and will use spells such as haste and telekinesis to grant them an advantage. Finally, like the Hezrous, they are capable of summoning others of their kind to their aid," she whispers to the others.
Round 2!
Valais retreats to past the big ivory doors, fearful that the demon will attempt to attack her mind once more. She needn't worry, for when the demon appears, his fury is utterly focused on Ehren. 25' up in the air, near the apex of the domed ceiling, is a Kalavakus demon, but this one is somehow even more grotesque. Half of his face and one arm has been replaced with stitched on glabrezu parts, giving him one, enormous claw. His other arm appears to have been taken from the raelis azata.
He points his azata arm at Ehren. "YOU!" he booms, his voice the same as the one the heroes were used to hearing come from Valais' lips. "YOU WILL GIVE ME THAT STAFF." He attempts to exert himself on Ehren's mind...
Xanderghul is up!
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Xanderghul takes a step away from the menacing wolf, his eye still on it cautiously. When Laktheris re-appears, Xanderghul huffs a little bit... See invisibility seems like a waste of resources when your target re-appears so soon. That said, if Laktheris tried to flee... He and Valaria would know to locate it.
He focuses. Casting light-based spells was slightly difficult for him, but when it came to demons, this spell was one of the best offensive ones. He holds out a hand, fingers closed and palm downward, and says an arcane phrase. From within his clenched fist, bright light starts to spill out of the cracks. Then, he opens his hand and turns it over. As he does so, a burst of brilliant light washes over Laktheris.
Laktharis barely dodges the flash of light, sidestepping it as if he were on an invisible platform in mid-air. Still, the holy energy washes over him, rending into his very core.
Ary is up!
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Ehren's body is again seized by pain when he feels Laktharis imposing his will upon his already wounded mortal soul. Though the struggle was mostly internal, he grits his teeth as he struggles to resist the demon's grasp. The druid instinctively unleashes a surge of his mythic power to empower his attempt, but the kalavakus is simply too powerful. The nimbus of soft, silvery light that envelops Ehren's form is abruptly snuffed out as his soul is enslaved.
But his struggle was only halfway over. He feels the demon's influence once again, this time encroaching on his mind. For a moment, Ehren feels compelled to simply allow Laktharis to take over. Perhaps Houna had been right all along; perhaps unquestioning obedience is the way. That last thought crosses his mind like a slap across his face, snapping him out of his stupor. In spite of the hold on his soul, his will was still his own. As quickly as it started, the struggle ends. Ehren brushes aside the demon's spell, before finally looking upon the hideous creature.
"This staff will not reach your hands, false god!" Ehren calls out to him defiantly, tightening his grip on the charwood staff.
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Ary shakes her head. One of the two was too far gone, perhaps. "Any ideas on what will happen if we kill him as opposed to knocking him out?" Ary asks the others as she interposes herself between Laktharis and Ehren, adding at least a little bit of cover for him - not that physical cover was what the druid needed. Her shield arm went to her belt pouch, quickly flicking it open and pulling out a topaz blue potion, which she unstoppers and presses to the downed Raelis's mouth, before running her fingers along his throat to help him drink it, rather than choking on it.
The raelis awakens, thoroughly disoriented. Though his features are androgynous, they tend towards masculine rather than feminine - he has long brown hair and soft, brown eyes.
"So my story hasn't ended..." he murmurs. He stares up at Ary, his eyes following a familiar path, darting from sword to shield. "Captain Bishop! This is a pleasure. So you must be... the heroes of Kenabres? My name is Kitarlo." He glances up at the ceiling, where Laktharis floats in mid-air. He frowns. "But now is not the time for introductions."
Meanwhile, Houna lays on the ground. "Hrida, sawdl." she murmurs. The wolf stops snarling at Xanderghul and obediently trots back to her master. Houna stays on the ground while she contemplates this turn of events and the implications it had for her ancestors.
Ehren is up!
As quickly as he had spoken, Ehren averts his gaze from Laktharis with a grimace. For all his bravado, the mere act of directly looking at his "master" took a monumental effort. Whatever hold the false god had on his soul was making his willpower wither away. In other words, there was no guarantee that he could resist another compulsion.
Ehren rummages through his belt, searching for a potion he had almost forgotten about. Within seconds he finds it - one of the potions of invisibility Irabeth had left in her stash, all the way back in Kenabres. He was reluctant to rely on invisibility, but it was the only way he could keep the staff - and his soul - safe from Laktharis.
Removing the vial's stopper with his thumb, he downs it in one draught and promptly vanishes from sight. He gives Ary a brief tap on the shoulder, just to let her know that he is still there.
Valaria is up!
"Oh good, I do get to stab him to death." Val grimaces, considering that she doesn't really have a way to bless her weapons to pierce the creature's hide. One glance in the general direction that Ehren had been standing clears away any doubts however. She refuses to allow him to remain bound to such a creature. "Well, guess I have to try..." Her knives come out in quick flashes of steel, forgoing her usual cold iron to simply bombard the demon with her daggers.
Valaria's second dagger punctures straight through Laktharis' defenses - he streams black, oozing ichor down his front. A third follows soon after, finding a home in the demon's thigh.
"So this 'god' bleeds?" Shyael grins, lining up her shot soon after - no blunt arrows this time. "By Erastil, may my shot be true..." She focuses and her arrows shimmer with holy light. The circumstances demand a precision shot and she delivers just that, embedding two arrows in Laktharis' side, leaving him howling in pain.
Hinagiku is up!
Hinagiku was in her calm place, fully focused on both herself and on everything that was going on around her. Houna hesitated, her wolf had backed down, Valais was momentarily safe, and Ehren was hiding. Now, it was time to attack the would be god.
Hinagiku advances toward Laktharis, drawing her new weapon and sending the heavy metal ring flying toward her enemy. As she does, she reaches deep within herself, where the seed of peace and harmony resides, and lets it coat the weapon.
Hinagiku flings the ring at Laktharis. It cuts through his leg, though his powers of regeneration are considerable, and he is able to recover through some of it still.
Isilme is up!
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Isilme looks with relief as Ary heals the Raelis and he returns to consciousness. The thought of being able to converse with one of her own kind excites her, but she does her best to push those thoughts to the back of her mind so she can focus on the battle against Laktharis.
With Houna and Valais under control now, Isilme focuses on pushing her friends and allies to do their best. Recalling a story fitting to the situation, she begins to recount the tale, hoping to inspire them.
"In a distant land, there lived a small town of people who looked to their lord for protection and guidance. And for long did their master take care of them. Over time he changed, however, and began to demand many things from them. The people of the town, long having given their all to sate the appetite of their lord and master had finally reached their limit. Toiling in fields, giving their fattest calves as offerings, and giving up what little they had in money was one thing, but they drew the line at surrendering their children to the fiend. Incensed, they rose up against the tyrant..."
Round 3!
Laktharis fumes in rage. "Insolent mortals! You will halt!" Unfortunately for him, his command goes unheeded - indeed, Ary focuses, and the spell rebounds on him, leaving him stunned in mid-air.
-----
Xanderghul is up!
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As Ary feels the taletell signs of a demon trying to mess with her head, she smirks at him and responds, "No, you."
Though she hears the command, it washes through Isilme without any effect. She quickly looks to her allies, seeing if any of them were affected, and noting Valaria struggling, ends her oratory, instead channeling it along with some of her magic into a command of her own, "Be strong Val, the weight of his words is imagined!"
As he shrugs off the effects of the demon's enchantment, Xanderghul weaves his own into the words he addresses the demon with next - "Laktheris... assuming such a pitiful, meaningless demon could be he. Don't I look an inviting target? Stop focusing on that witless druid. Come down here, and fight me."
Laktharis scoffs. "Insect. You aren't worth my time."
Ary is up!
Ary provides the man with a small smile as he realizes the timing is a bit off. "There's another topaz blue potion in my belt pouch. Feel free to use it, or to slip out of the room - better if you're safe than sorry." Ary says, nodding. "Get near Butterfly, Isilme's rune should help to protect you a little, Rocky." Ary whispers through the message linking them, as her hands reach into her pack and pull a Tanglefoot Bag from a side pouch. She watches the Demon for a few moments, then fast-balls it towards his underside, hoping to make him a sitting duck for her allies. She simply didn't feel comfortable giving up their light source by letting Radiance go... and it still felt wrong to give up Faith for a bow.
rounds.
The tanglefoot bag explodes on Laktharis' legs, wrapping his legs together in goo and hindering his movement.
Kitarlo shakes his head at Ary. He stands, still shaky on his own two feet, and raises his remaining arm at Laktharis.
"You will not use my body to do evil, demon!"
Laktharis snarls, his raelis arm flailing around without his control. He grabs hold of it with his enormous glabrezu claw.
"Nid wyf yn gwybod beth ydych chi, anghenfil, ond eich bod dim duw y pwll." Houna growls.
She stands up and fires an arrow at him, though it sails harmlessly past.
Ehren is up!
"Okay," Ehren whispers back to Ary. Turning away from Laktharis, he starts moving back toward the entrance of the chamber, where Valaria is. Despite knowing that he was doing his part just by remaining invisible, it wounded his pride a little to know how helpless he was. His friends seemed to have the demon handled, but the druid resolves to finish him off if they could not. Still invisible, he quietly draws on the ley's power, waiting for his time to intervene.
Valaria is up!
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Val shudders as the command passes over her, but Isilme's words punch through the oppressive magic and she shakes her head to clear the sound from her mind. "Thanks," she says. "Ugh, why did we have to meet the one demon that's as in to oppression as the nastiest devil? You'd think the ideas would be anathema to each other..." She hesitates a split second, something clicking in her mind, something she'd forgotten. "Anathema... a gift..." She closes her eyes and focuses inward, remembering the touch of her goddess and that unequaled feeling of liberation. Anathema to a demon such as this. Her tattoos begin to glow again, but with pure golden light as opposed to the reddish hue that usually appears when she calls upon her mystical powers. "Begone enslaver. Your plan has failed and you are no longer welcome here," she declares, her voice echoing with power. Her daggers hurtle through the air with incredible force and accuracy, each blade coated in the nimbus of power that surrounds her.
Two of Valaria's mythic-imbued daggers find their mark, lodging deep inside of the demon's abdomen. Shyael follows up with three arrows of her own, though she runs out of evil-outsider bane arrows in the process. Laktharis is a sitting duck, a veritable pincushion of daggers and arrows at this point.
Hinagiku is up!
Having Houna and Valais on their sides, Hinagiku needn't focus on anything else than Laktaris, but the oni seemed to have climbed slightly higher than before, it was now out of her reach. So, she simply backs out to stand protectively in front of Kitarlo.
Isilme is up!
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Isilme draws her bow and knocks an arrow. Focusing for a moment she enchants the bow with arcane energy before loosing the arrow at Laktharis.
Seeing that Laktharis is still not dead, Ehren unleashes a burst of light upon him. He manages to shield his face with his enormous glabrezu claw at the last moment, though the light sears into his already tortured flesh, leaving hideous burns all over his body.
Round 4!
Laktharis descends slowly, moving down in a spiral pattern - though his limbs are entangled he moves uncannily fast. He closes ground with Valaria and lunges at her with an enormous claw... but he is so worn down at this point that his movements are sluggish, making it simple for the tiefling to dodge it completely.
Xanderghul is up!
Xanderghul raises his hand, his palm brightly shining with light. He brings his hand downwards, and when it reaches waist level the bulb of light cupped in his palm flashes. The flash is mirrored by another flash that surrounds Laktheris, enveloping him in holy power for the third time.
Xanderghul envelops Laktharis in light. This time, the demon is too slow to react. He nearly falls to his knees, screaming as he is suddenly blinded, even if just for a moment...
Ary is up!
Ary briefly ponders the possibility of trying to lock the demon down - it was... possible. But their resources for such a thing was incredibly limited. They also didn't know the repercussions of killing the creature - and possibly the person bound to it. But the risks of trying to prevent the demon from uttering a word during the time it took to bind it was simply too much without knocking it out first...
She huffs, before planting one foot in front of the other, driving herself forward towards the demon, before slamming Faith, and her full weight into the creature who thought itself to be Laktharis. With any luck, she'd drive him into the wall, then promptly into the ground - without killing him.
Ary slams Laktharis into the wall, knocking the demon unconscious. He begins to quickly bleed to death.
Combat ends
Valais comes out of the hallway slowly, her eyes never straying from Laktharis.
"Is he dead? I think we should bat krarb, bazg kral buzg ank katal izg." She clasps her mouth shut and shakes her head. "I mean.. I mean we should GHUZG ASHI BIRB BOZG, ISHUL. I ASHI GILZG HISHA." She shudders, clutching the kalavakus side of her face in obvious pain.
"GET AWAY FROM THAT, INSECTS. YOU ARE NOT WORTHY."
Kitarlo lets his arm fall, reaching around to feel the stump where his arm once was with a grimace. He walks over to Laktharis' stitched together body, surveying it with clear disgust.
"It would be unwise to let him live. Pride kept him from teleporting away during the fight, I doubt he will make the same mistake twice."
Meanwhile, Hrida lays on her master's lap - as soon as the fighting ceased, Houna sat back on the dead grass cross-legged. She looks away from Laktharis, her expression cold and distant. "A yw'n wir? A oedd fy hynafiaid yn addoli cythraul? Neu a yw hyn Laktharis yn ymhonnwr budr?" she murmurs to no one in particular.
Shyael doesn't put away her bow just yet. She looks at Houna, unsure of how to respond.
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Isilme breathes a sigh of relief as the battle ends. She slings her bow over her shoulder and looks around just to ensure she hadn't missed anything. It was rather amazing that they'd managed to handle Laktharis without much trouble. Had he been more aggressive, he likely could've seriously wounded several of them.
"I concur, we must finish him immediately. I would do so myself were my weapons capable of wounding him," Isilme says, agreeing with Kitarlo and Valais. "Furthermore he is still bound to Ehren and as such, Ehren's soul is at risk."
Isilme walks over to Houna, crouching down in front of her and meeting her eye-to-eye. "Efallai y bydd rhai o'ch hynafiaid wedi cael eu twyllo, ond mae'r rhan fwyaf o'ch pobl yn unig yn dymuno i ddilyn mam rhuddin, Houna. Byddwn yn adfer hi, a bydd dy bobl yn ffynnu eto yn y tiroedd hyn. Cymerwch hwn fel gwers, y rhai sydd fwyaf ffyrnig nodi eu natur ddwyfol yn lleiaf tebygol o fod felly. Rhaid i chi bob amser yn cadw eich llygaid ar agor i'r gwir am yr hyn sy'n digwydd o'ch cwmpas," she says. Finishing she stands back up and extends her hand to her to help her up.
Looking around the room and thinking back to the complex in general, it occurs to Isilme that this location might actually make for a good base of operations, especially if the Heartwood tree were to be purified. "This temple is structurally sound, and there are materials enough here to restore it. We should suggest this location as a good starting point for a forward base for the crusades," she says to the others.
Walking over to Kitarlo, she places a hand on his shoulder. "هل أنت بخير؟" she asks, clearly concerned.
After letting him respond, she continues,"أنا القمر والنجوم، وهو موظف لدينا سيدة النجوم أغنية، وراي الدعاوى كذلك - على الرغم من خلال تطور غريب من مصير لقد انتهى به الأمر في هيئة الجان. كيف يمكن أن ندعو لكم؟ وعلى الرغم من أنه قد يكون من الأمام، قد تفكر في المرافق لنا لبعض الوقت؟ وأنا أعلم أنك سوف يرغب المرجح أن تستأنف الرحلات الخاصة بك، ولكن أنا أحب فرصة لتبادل قصص معك."
"Are you alright?"
"I am Lleuad a'r Sêr, a servant of our lady Starsong, and a raelis as well--Though through an odd twist of fate I have wound up within an elven body. How may I call you? And though it might be forward, would you consider accompanying us for a while? I know you will likely wish to resume your travels, but I would love an opportunity to exchange stories with you."
Val twirls a dagger in her hand. "Is it going to hurt Valais or... I'm sorry, I have no idea what your name is." She nods to the azata. "We know that the demon has your arm. And I think that part of Valais might be from this guy. I mean... I guess there's no way to know anyway. Not without a lot of research that we just don't have time for."
Houna accepts Isilme's hand gratefully, though she keeps her eyes affixed to the ground while she speaks.
"Mam rhuddin..." she says at last, her eyes darting to Ehren's. "Ydych yn wir yn meddwl y gallwch chi iacháu hi?"
"You truly think that you can heal her?"
Shyael nods, looking around. "This place is enormous, it could easily be used as a garrison for the crusades. We'd need to bring in specialists to make sure all of the traps are completely eradicated first, but after that...I think Commander Mazrarad will be pleased."
The azata looks at Isilme with surprise, which is quickly replaced with curiosity. "الانتظار، هل تقول: لآواد أر صآر سر؟، لآواد أر صآر"
He pauses for a moment and concentrates, his form shifting smoothly into a young human man wearing a crusader's tabard. He sighs with disappointment when he realizes that despite changing forms, his arm is still missing. He reaches into his backpack and pulls out a familiar-looking journal.
"وأعتقد أن هذا هو لك؟ أعتذر، لقد شغل جزءا كبيرا من الكتاب مع التشتت بلدي - وجدت أنه بعد وقت قصير من وصولي هنا في بداية الحملة الصليبية الثالثة." He grins sardonically. "هذا لا يعني أنني يمكن أن تفعل الكثير من الكتابة الآن على أي حال، مع ما كتابتي ناحية ذهب."
"Not that I could do much writing now anyway, what with my writing hand gone."
"But in any case, Kitarlo is fine, and rolls nicely off a human tongue." he grins at Valaria. "And you are... 'free-spirited Valaria', yes? As for your friend... I really can't say for sure. But the not knowing part is the exciting part!" His demeanor is playful and child-like, completely oblivious to the implications at hand.
Turning back to Isilme, he continues. "هذا يبدو وكأنه فكرة رائعة ... و "اللفات غريبة من مصير" هي ببساطة أفضل أنواع، أليس كذلك؟," he says, perhaps a bit insensitively, but without a hint of malice.
After giving Isilme her journal back, he walks over to Valais and extends his hand, apparently unperturbed by her horrific appearance. "Valais, is it? I'm very interested to hear what happened to you... and to all of you. Perhaps we can have an exchange? Why don't you all tell me what sequence of events lead you here, and then I'll share what I know." He plops himself on the ground, looking like one of the Riftwarden orphans awaiting storytime. "You first." He grins.
As she heard Valais trying to tell the others to... she assumed help him... Ary frowned slightly, looking to her. Her shield arm moves in a pair of arcs, denoting a cross - or more likely a sword pointed blade-downwards. She takes a step towards Valais and presses her hand to her chest. "وأنا لن يستسلم هؤلاء تحت قيادتي." 'Hopefully, that will let her think for a moment, freely.'
Rather than suggesting a proper course of action, Ary simply looks to Ehren - the one person in the group who could reliably help the wounded without expending too many resources. Keeping the man unconscious would be difficult, and they likely couldn't entrust him to the city's guard even if they could make the trek back - it would only take one person to undo capturing him. Despite where her thoughts were going, the only show on her face was concern for Ehren as she waited for an answer.
You can use the heal skill to prevent a dying creature from slipping away with a DC 15 heal check.
One hour after a tended, dying character becomes stable, the creature may make a DC 10 Constitution check to become conscious. The creature takes a penalty on this roll equal to his negative hit point total. Conscious creatures with negative hit point totals are treated as disabled characters. If the creature remains unconscious, he receives another check every hour to regain consciousness. A natural 20 on this check is an automatic success. Even if unconscious, the creature recovers hit points naturally. He automatically regains consciousness when his hit points rise to 1 or higher.
Valais flinches - the spell is not wholly a pleasant sensation to her, given how much of her flesh was now demonic - but it has its intended effect.
"It's nice to meet you too, Kitarlo. Anyway, as I was saying... I'm worried about what might happen to me if he dies, but I am more afraid of what could happen if he got away. I trust you to make the right decision."
Ehren sinks to the ground with a sigh once Laktharis is defeated, falling into a position not far off from his meditative stance. He lets the charwood staff - no, Mother Heartwood - rest on his legs. The demon's grip on his soul had not been released, but for the moment at least, the two of them were safe.
"An bhfuil tú fós ann, Máthair Croí-adhmad?" he mumbles, tracing the cracks along the staff's surface with his fingertips. "Cén chaoi a raibh sé seo teacht chun pas a fháil?"
"How did this come to pass?"
He looks to Houna when she speaks to him, hesitating slightly before giving a firm nod. He did not know how the tree could be healed, but he was determined to find a way. "Bydd hi'n cyfan unwaith yn rhagor."
That just left the matter of dealing with the one who did this to her. He forces himself to look at Laktharis again, just inches away from death. He feared for himself, for Valais, and even for Kitarlo, but as far as he was concerned, there was only one thing to be done.
"Let him die. He cannot be forgiven for what he has done."
Xanderghul begins pacing around the perimeter of the room, pulling out and loading his crossbow. "I agree with Ehren and Isilme. I can't really think of a reason to leave him alive, and even if we wanted to use him in some way... you'd have to accept the possibility of consequences."
"If what you want from him is worth the death of your friends and his accidental escape, then... go ahead. Wake him up and question him."
He pokes his head out the door, looking back and forth in the hallway beyond. He pokes his head back into the room after. "It's good to meet you, Kitarlo, but perhaps it would be most prudent to leave the Worldwound before we spend hours on storytime."
Val shrugs. "I'm missing at least half this conversation anyway. And I don't particularly want him alive either." She twirls her dagger again as she rolls the demon on to his back. She starts yanking her daggers roughly from his flesh, flicking the demonic ichor off the steel before sheathing them. "Anyone going to complain if I just finish him then?"
"I don't care about answers . I care about the human being who was thrust into a position that was too much to bear by an evil man. This needs fixing. Valais does not. If you all think a mercy killing is the proper choice... by all means. We can't keep him, realistically. Nothing I have is strong enough to bind him, let alone his mouth..." She adds, still railing internally against the foregone conclusion that he had to die.
Ehren just shakes his head. "Mercy has nothing to do with it."
Hinagiku was about to rush Laktharis when he fell to Ary’s attack. So, she gently finishes her graceful charge next to the others and takes a look around to make sure everything is safe before moving deftly to Valais’ side. There, she puts a comforting hand on the pathfinder’s shoulder, she knew this would be difficult… that most of the woman’s hope must have been lost by now.
Hinagiku is relieved to see the effect of Ary’s spell. It was good to know that Valais trusted them. However, it was also irrelevant, this was an oni, a destructor of everything. They could not keep it alive, nor heal or interrogate it. It was a scourge and needed to be destroyed.
Hinagiku nods in agreement to Ehren.
”A … demon… it is, must be destroyed. There is nothing to redeem or take pity on here.” she says surprisingly peacefully considering the harshness of her words.
"Miss Valais, did any of the wounds it received hurt you? Do you believe your souls or bodies are linked?" she asks, hoping that there is no more link between the two of them.
Isilme looks genuinely surprised when Kitarlo hands over the journal. It was not something she'd really thought she'd see again, so to have it turn up now of all times was surreal. She reaches for it slowly, half expecting it to be an illusion. When she first touches it a strange look crosses her face, but it passes quickly. Taking hold of it, she runs her fingers along the fine leather of the spine--still in good condition though slightly more worn than she remembered--then opens it and flips slowly through the pages, lost in memories.
"شكرا لك ذوي القربىالقطرانلو," she says, smiling warmly as she looks down at the journal, "أنا مدين لك أكثر من قصص زوجين لهذا."
"Thank you Kintarlo..."
"I owe you more than a couple stories for this,"
Seeing Ary's trepidation, Isilme interjects, "As Ehren says, this is not mercy, Ary. We have no means of binding a demon capable of teleportation. I suspect if there is a cure to be found for Valais, it is likely to lie in discovering how to free the Heartwood tree from the demonic taint cursing it now. The same cleansing might be able to restore Valais or perhaps free her from some of the less pleasant side effects of her new form."
"Also, If neither Valais or Kintarlo have felt anything thus far, it is unlikely there is any reason to be worried," Isilme says, attempting to alleviate the group's concerns. "Please finish him Valaria, we cannot take any chances with him."
Houna nods at Ehren. Though she didn't know how, or why, she knew she could trust in his resolve.
'Yes, I am here, child.' the voice murmurs back, in Druidic.
'I was brought here many years ago by a druid not much older than yourself. She wished to make the lands of the steppe more fertile for her clan. Then one day, the demon came, and enslaved the druid. He learned the command word to transform me into a staff and control me, and used that knowledge to claim he was my own son. He...weakened me... so when the Taint came to the earth, I could not resist.'
Valais shakes her head at Hinagiku. "No. No pain, except for when he seized control of my body..."
Kitarlo grins up at Xanderghul. "Ahhhh, that's no fun. There's always time for stories."
While the heroes deliberate what to do about Laktharis, he simply bleeds to death, having needed prompt medical attention if he was to survive at all. His body vanishes, evaporating into nothing, leaving only a bubbling mass of demonic ichor in his wake. Valais screams in pain, clutching her face - the kalavakus parts seem to simply melt right off, revealing human flesh underneath. She raises a hand - a human hand - to her face, feeling it restored. She smiles, her babau parts making it seem more like a hideous leer than anything, but the heroes can tell it is genuine. She breathes heavily.
"He's gone... he's truly gone. I don't hear him whispering in my head any longer. Perhaps this is the answer? Perhaps I must track down that other demon that Ser Jorsal used to build my body and destroy it. Whatever happens next, thank you so much for keeping me alive."
Kitarlo watches Valais curiously - though her body was restored, he is still missing his arm, though he doesn't seem at all upset by this turn of events. "This.... intrigues me. You know, I might know some beings that could help you, but it requires access to a very special library. In Heaven, there is a place called the Great Library of Harmonious Scripture, which among other things, contains a record of every sacred ceremony that has ever been performed. A contact of mine owes me a favor; perhaps with his help we can get you the information you need to restore yourself, body and soul. Of course, this way also seems to work, though it requires much more violence," He eyes the bubbling froth that marks where Laktharis' body used to be. "What will you try first: hunt down and slay the other demon whose body is incorporated into yours or seek the help or archons, whose procedures can take many years to navigate?"
Valais' eyes flit between the celestal being and the ichor on the ground, finally landing on her new friends. She turns to the heroes for advice. "You've helped me face what has happened to me as no one has before. I trust your wisdom. What do you think I should do?"
"Hmmm, that was actually the best possible scenario I can think of," Val comments as Laktharis's flesh simply evaporates off of Valais's body. She goes to collect the daggers that hadn't been buried in the demon's flesh while she thinks for a moment. "If the demons who Jorsal... acquired parts from are still alive, perhaps it is as simple as slaying them to restore yourself to normal."
She taps one of her knives against her thigh, clearly letting her mind drift a bit. "Finding the actual demons might take as long as asking the archons for help. At best, they're probably in Drezen, if that's where Jorsal fled to. Which is unfortunately still overrun with demons. I'm more than willing to help hunt down some demons, but both options are more long term goals than something we can run off and do right now."
Isilme is surprised when the demon parts simply melt off. She listens to Kitarlo's suggestion that the archons might be able to aid Valais in restoring herself, and nods. "If the demon you're bound to dies at some point, you'll be freed either way, but there is more to gain from getting aid from the archons. Specifically, we know that Jorsal perfected this technique to create more powerful soldiers for the demons. Knowing a ritual to undo this might also lead to the discovery of weaknesses that might be exploited by the crusaders should we encounter such demon hybrids in the field. Also, Aiding in such research might give you something to focus on in the meantime Valais"