Ayavah smiles at Valaria. "Yeah. I'd like that... but of course, let's wait for tomorrow. Let's go to sleep."
---
Chaleb nods. "Sure, that would be appreciated."
He listens to her offer while he sharpens his daggers. "To be fair, that was really just a joke. I don't actually know much about Cayden Cailean, other than a couple of catchy drinking songs you hear in taverns....do you?"
Cayden Cailean is a man who accidentally ascended to become a god after taking the Starstone test on a drunken bet. He is a good and chaos-aligned deity of alcohol, bravery, and freedom. The majority of those who follow Cayden Cailean are simple people who seek simple pleasures in life. Those who brew and sell alcoholic drink often revere the Drunken Hero, as do those who partake of such fare. Adventurers seeking to promote goodness often find a sense of kinship with the deity, their goals of freedom and adventure mirroring those of the god of bravery.
His holy symbol is a tankard, and prayer to Cayden Cailean involves singing and drinking in praise of freedom, bravery, and of Cayden Cailean.
he faithful of Cayden Cailean hold their patron's two loves, freedom and drink, as the pillars of his church. Free to seek their own means of venerating the Drunken Hero, it's not uncommon for followers to take part in events involving one or both of these. The creation and drinking of spirits is often considered a noble and holy, though not formal, pastime. Likewise, the act of fighting for freedom, both that of others and of oneself, is highly respected and honored; both liberators and chevaliers are welcome additions to the Lucky Drunk's faith.
Despite the church's promotion of drink, the faithful draw a line between drinking for merriment and drinking to excess. The latter is seen as the abuse of one of the deity's favored things, and as such is frowned upon. Similarly, although the faithful of Cayden Cailean are known to actively seek out danger and adventure, they recognize the need to withdraw when a situation turns sour. Stupidity does not equal bravery, and bravery should never be sought at the bottom of a keg.
As a small ritual, before attempting a particularly difficult or stressful task, followers of the Accidental God will often pour out a bit of ale on the ground
Few buildings exist that serve primarily as a house dedicated to the worship of Cayden Cailean. However, smaller shrines to the Lucky Drunk are common in alehouses, inns, and breweries. When seeking divine assistance from such a house of worship, it's expected for to partake in its more worldly offerings; although such temples often donate their earnings to benefit the community, they are still run as businesses. The church also sponsors a large number of orphanages, and it's not uncommon for children from such locations to take the surname Cailean when they leave.
The "Starstone Brewers" is a loose organization of Cayden Cailean's worshippers. They are an itinerant group across the roadways of the Inner Sea, with an ad-hoc membership any of the faithful can join. They are united under the guise of teaching people how to make excellent ale, but they could also be problem-solvers and competent muscle in the service of good. The primary work of the organization is helping find homes for orphans, children especially beloved of Cayden Cailean. They also throw drinking festivals, such as the "first brewing" held in autumn, or Merrymead, on 2 Calistril.
There is no holy text of Cayden Cailean.
Cayden Cailean's clergy is comprised primarily of clerics, though a smattering of druids and bards can also be counted among their number. In the rare instances where any structure exists, the church favors a loose hierarchy. Typically, priests are free to spread the ideals of their faith as they see fit; the priests of the Lucky Drunk are often barkeeps, freedom fighters, or adventurers traveling alone or as part of a group. Matters of ceremony and high society are often held as secondary considerations to such individuals, and the clergy reflects this by limiting its formal dress to a simple brown tunic or robe and a wine-red stole bearing the god's ale mug symbol. Many members also include a tankard as part of their formal garb, for luck and as a matter of practicality.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
22 Lamashan 4713
It is a cold 7° F (-13°C) and overcast during the next day at the camp adjacent to the Worldwound. After the morning preparations, Ary leads a group of clerics, along with Ayavah, Valaria, Sosiel and Annabelle into the Worldwound to help restore the chapel at Sleekrun. The Worldwound in comparison is a warmer 50° F (10°C), windy, with less clouds.
Sosiel personally consecrates the chapel, dispelling the evil magic that centered on the altar. Then, together the crusaders work to clean the chapel up. They dig graves for the undead corpses that still littered the area. They carefully clean the chapel and use make whole to repair the damage Xanderghul did to the pews within the church. They slowly and carefully mend together the shattered stained glass windows, like immense jigsaw puzzles, and clean off the vile graffiti strewn across the premises.
Annabelle, protected by Sosiel's wards from the sunlight streaming into the chapel, helps restore a beautiful mural of Iomedae that was painted onto the walls above the entry doors. Father Briathos helps restore the desecrated altar into a proper altar of Iomedae.
Sosiel helps restore the statues within the chapel, while Ayavah focuses on the enormous statue of Iomedae that was out in the courtyard, beheaded. She takes some creative liberties with her execution - her final result is both bustier and more curvaceous than your typical statue of Iomedae - but the finished work is beautiful nonetheless.
After a full day's work, the chapel is left in workable shape, though it would take more time and heavier stonework to restore the damage done to the external walls.
Xanderghul stays in camp, waking up early to cast endure elements on himself. He goes on a short walk to stretch his legs, checking around the camp for signs of the seed of discord. He avoids confrontation, though. Then he goes back to his tent, does a short series of stretches, and then sits down to do some scribing work. He has a lot of it to do. He uses Brae-Hagen's spellbook's extra pages when he finally runs out of pages in his own book, scribing from both Brae-Hagen and Arastrax's books.
When he's done copying fireball from Arastrax's book, he double-checks the book for more spells he might want from it. Satisfied with the fact that he could cast almost no spells from it, he takes the book outside. He digs a small pit with his any-tool, tosses the book inside, and then lights it on fire with a quick cantrip. He watches the book burn, taking satisfaction in the bit of spitefulness he was inflicting the invidiak wizard with.
3rd -
2nd - see invisibility, burst of radiance, mirror image, limp lash, invisibility (2)
1st -
0 - spark, prestidigitation, flare, detect magic
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
While no sense of religious obligation compelled him to do so, Ehren joins the group returning to the chapel. It only felt right to lend a helping hand, especially given the edifice's miserable state.
He first uses stone shape to open the windows he had sealed during their battle with Maugla, restoring its original shape as best as he could. Afterwards, leaving the artists to work their own magic, he turns his attention to the dead plants littering the area. A smattering of green would be the perfect complement to the chapel, but Ehren knew all too well that such a thing would be impossible in the Worldwound. So instead he cleans up the area as best as he can, plucking any particularly unsightly specimens out of the ground.
By the end, Ehren is back in the chapel, appreciating the culmination of everyone's hard work. The place hardly resembled an ideal place of worship, but it was a still a vast improvement over the desecrated ruin it had been before.
"I'm sure the Inheritor would approve," he remarks to Ary, no longer feeling the aura of dread that had been emanating from the altar. "More repairs could be done in the future, I'm sure."
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
In the evening, Isilme settles down to write in her journal again. Things had been hectic as of late, she felt the past few days events were especially worth making note of.
Another day has passed with us waiting alongside the worldwound to begin our march on Drezen. Nurah's sabotage has left us stranded here while we wait for the effects of the seed of discord to wear off. We were lucky to have caught her, and having warned the Queen's cohort I expect we will be handing her over once we have secured Drezen.In the meantime we have not been idle. The crusaders are being kept busy fortifying our current position, while those confirmed affected by the seed have been spending time alone to reduce friction in the camp. As for us, we managed a raid on Vilareth to return for supplies, and thanks to Xanderghul's magic and a scroll from Nurah, we were able to enter and exit without being caught, despite the number of brimoraks and schir that were there.
While Val and I were filling up our bags of holding with foodstuffs from the fort's warehouse, I encountered a cat--named Duke I learned later from the refugees from Vilareth--there. It seemed a shame to leave the poor creature behind to be caught and eaten by a demon, so I coaxed him into my pack with some offerings from the food we were stealing. Without much effort I managed to convince him to enter the pack, and closed him within. When we finished filling the bags of holding, we teleported out to join Xanderghul and Ehren, who had been waiting for us. Amazingly, Ehren is able to assume the form of an enormous heron now, which he used to ferry us to and from Vilareth.
In the end, we returned to camp with several days worth of foodstuffs, and a slightly miffed feline. In the days since, Duke has forgiven me for abducting him, likely due to the time he has spent with the people from Vilareth--especially the children.
The next morning Bethil, one of our scouts, had been abducted, so we headed out to Sleekrun, where we surmised they may have been taken. What we found there was a ghoul-cult led by a half-nabasu and nabasu. A massive fight ensued, and during the ups and downs of the battle, Bethil was killed. I wish that I had asked Kule if he would accompany us on the trip. Our lack of healing abilities cost Bethil his life, though we did not say as much after the fact.
The battle went on for quite a while, and several times when it seemed things were under control, the tide of battle turned. First it was simply fighting gargoyles and ghouls, and Xanderghul cleverly bailed Bethil out of the middle of the chapel, while Val tore through the ghouls with ease. Suddenly one of their leaders, Ignigena, appeared and unleashed a lightning bolt which nearly killed Ary, Ehren, and Bethil. We managed to get the situation under control when Ignigena and several ghouls succumbed to confusion, but that brief turn for the better was soon erased. A great ghul, an undead efreeti, managed to sneak up on Ehren invisible and tear into him, again leaving him borderline. I managed to unveil the ghoul's position, which at least allowed Ary to focus on it while Hinagiku helped me with Ignigena and the gargoyles.
A second turn for the worse came just as Valaria was finishing off the ghouls in the chapel. A ghoul priest fled and was able to sound an alarm, bringing more ghouls and a half-nabasu into the fray. The demon-kin enervated Valaria almost immediately, leaving her barely able to fight. With things looking dire, Xanderghul and Val fought desperately inside while the rest of us attempted to gain control outside so we could aid them. Luckily, Ary decapitated the ghul, leaving it helpless, which allowed us to focus on killing the half-demon Nulkineth. Unfortunately, before we could down him, he unleashed unholy energies which killed Bethil and left Ary unconscious on the ground.
Finally, just as Nulkineth fell and things seemed to be over, two Babaus appeared, summoned by a giant Nabasu. The demon had every advantage upon us. It seemed at that time that we might fall. Ehren was barely standing, Ary was unconscious. Valaria had been crippled by the enervate and her wounds... Thankfully Hinagiku was able to handle the Babaus nearly solo, along with some ghoul stragglers, while the rest of us worked on baiting the Nabasu indoors. Being arrogant and prideful--as all demons are--we were able to bait the creature indoors, where a combination of attacks from a griffon summoned by Ehren, Ary (who had been healed) and Val were able to bring it down when it made the mistake of attempting to hide in my illusory fog.
All said and done, we failed to save Bethil. In attempting to save him, however, we freed a halfling child, Fenton Bootblack, who had been a squire to two crusaders who had been captured and killed at Sleekrun. We returned with the three crusaders' bodies and the boy.
As Fenton was a squire, I have talked Ary into taking him on. She seems dubious that he will be able to aid her much, but I suspect he will be motivated enough to find ways to help. I suspect, given the things Fenton has been through, that he will rise to achieve great deeds in the future. I am curious to see where his story takes him.
The next morning, when the group heads back towards Sleekrun, Isilme stops to talk to Fenton quickly. "Fenton, I have found someone who will take you on as a squire. You are welcome to start later when we return, but if you would like, you could join us in heading to Sleekrun to restore the Chapel of Iomedae. You could help out and make a good impression with your new mentor," she says, finishing with a wink.
Isilme mounts up on Cynosure for the trip up to Sleekrun, interested herself in seeing the chapel restored. She lets Fenton ride with her, keeping quiet about his new mentor until they are about halfway there. She then rides up alongside Ary and makes proper introductions as they continue along. "Fenton, I believe you saw her briefly when we were in Sleekrun before, this is Commander Ary Bishop. She will be taking you on as a squire, and she is very difficult to aid, given that she neither sleeps nor does her armor ever get dirty." She grins at Ary and then looks at Fenton. "I suspect you will not let that discourage you, however, Fenton. "
She leaves Fenton to follow Ary around at Sleekrun, and wanders about the area looking at the small town for a while, remembering how it had once been. After reminiscing for half an hour, she rejoins the others and chips in cleaning up the grounds and burying the remaining bodies. While it was certainly not her faith, there was something satisfying about taking back something that had been tainted by demons and the worldwound.
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
Val woke a bit early, taking the time to fill in some of the blank pages in her journal before they actually had to get started for the day. At the chapel, she mostly ends up helping with cleaning up the rubble and moving bodies, but at least it's something to do. And there is a sense of satisfaction in undoing the demon's desecration and leaving the place in at least tolerable shape. "I'm sure Ary approves too," she says to Ehren's comment as she takes a good look at the repaired statue of Iomedae. She can't keep a playful smirk off her face. "Top quality work Ayavah."
After we freed Jorsal from his possession, he immediately returned the favor by revealing some very interesting intelligence he’d gained while being Arastrax’s meat puppet. Apparently our army had a spy in its midst. In retrospect, that really shouldn’t have been surprising. Nothing is ever easy for us, so of course we’d have to deal with a spy trying to sabotage our hard work. Ary put in most of the work trying to deal with that while we were marching toward the river. Thankfully, the spy didn’t have the chance to actually spoil our approach plan and we crossed the river with Ehren’s magic to reach the base of the cliff on the far side. Then our plan to tunnel around Keeper’s Canyon and just bypass the entire roadblock took off. Well, we had to kill a giant death worm in the process, but honestly that doesn’t even ping the detect spell for weirdness at this point.
We ultimately ended up making camp at the base of the cliff so we could begin our march fresh. Going into territory as hostile as the Worldwound sort of requires it. It still feels just as wrong as it did the last few times we made little jaunts into the territory. In fact, it might get worse and worse every time. The sky isn’t even right in that place. It’s like being in an entirely alien world that does not want us there. I think some of the others are feeling much the same. Ary and Isilme did their best to prepare the troops for the march and I did my best to keep their spirits up after the doom and gloom monologue. It wasn’t exactly fun, but it was necessary. A few people seemed to be having more… personal problems too. Aron seems to be having confidence issues and it’s been straining their relationship. I want to help, but Aron isn’t exactly the most open of people. Other than that, things were progressing quite well though. The fact that things went so smoothly probably should have been a sign that something going wrong was right around the corner.
So I woke up in a little bit of a state the next morning. Our friendly neighborhood spy had decided to poison our water supply with an Abyssal trick called a Seed of Discord. Which has exactly the effects you’d expect from something called a Seed of Discord. Needless to say I was a little testy for a while. Thankfully, I managed to overcome the effects. A significant portion of the army was less fortunate. And just to drive the knife in deeper, the magic needed to actually cure the effects is too difficult to manage on more than a few people a day, meaning our only recourse was to wait out the poison and delay our march for three days.
That’s when Isilme proposed that the spy was Nurah. In retrospect, it actually makes sense. Being a chronicler meant it was easy for her to get access to information under the guise of keeping records of everything and she has the reputation of being the sole survivor of previous failed moves into the Worldwound. Confronting her proved our favorite celestial one hundred percent correct as Nurah tried to make a run for it when we challenged her on some of the evidence. We did manage to catch her with some magic from Isilme and Daisy’s talents for restraining people, and she’s currently sealed up in a makeshift prison cell. What we do with her later will likely be… problematic, but for now we have it under control. It doesn’t get us moving again any faster, but at least it makes sure that there will be no more sabotage and no critical information leaks.
And we did put the three days to good use. We launched a small raid on the fort at Vilareth to recover some of the much needed supplies to bolster the army’s resources for the march through the Wound. It was really more just sneaking in, stuffing sacks with food, and then teleporting out before anyone noticed us. All things considered, it was remarkably easy. Things could have gone very, very wrong if we’d been spotted, but we managed to avoid that without much trouble.
Our enemies haven’t been idle just because we stopped moving though. A pair of scouts was attacked on the edge of the Wound and one, a woman by the name of Bethil, was carried off by a flying monster. We managed to trace them to a small village just on the other side of the border. Like a lot of these little border settlements, it used to be a Crusader base, but it was abandoned ages ago, complete with a now defaced chapel to the Inheritor. It seems like it would be more work than it’s worth to keep defacing temples rather than just setting up somewhere else, but now I’m getting off topic. The enemy were of course set up in the chapel doing all manner of dark rituals and planning to use Bethil as a sacrifice to their dark lord or whatever. So of course we launched an attack to get her back. We were… less than successful. The old village turned out to be a hive of undead, presumably worshipping the demon lord of ghouls. The ghouls themselves weren’t all that dangerous , but their leaders were powerful spell casters and they had a swarm of gargoyles and demons to back them up. The worst part was probably the half-Nabasu who tried to tear out my life force and then the full Nabasu who tried to tear out my life force. I suppose I should just be grateful that no one came down with ghoul fever or got themselves eaten by something nasty. And we did manage to find another prisoner who we freed, a child named Fenton. We certainly seem to attract children sometimes. So we did get something worthwhile out of our little errand.
At this point there’s little more to do other than restoring the chapel a bit and finishing waiting out the poison so we can push on to Drezen and finish our mission so we can finally be done with this.
Fenton's eyes simply light up when Isilme shares with him her news. "Oh? Really? Chevalier Bishop would take me?!" he cries. "I... Thank you, Madam Isilme! Thank you so much!"
He climbs down off of Isilme's horse and kneels before Ary. The little lad is no more than two feet tall. "Commander Bishop, I am grateful for this opportunity. I, Fenton Bootblack, pledge myself to your service. I will stand by you and learn from your counsel, and give my life for yours if need be. Under your guidance I swear to learn the ways of combat, of horsemanship, of chivalry and worship, until the day that you choose to release me from your side."
When he is finished with his pledge, he looks up at her, fierce and determined despite his small stature. "I swear I won't disappoint you, Chevalier."
As the day progresses in the Worldwound, Isilme feels a little under the weather. Her temperature is elevated, and her body is a little achey, but it isn't enough to prevent her from doing her part to help out.
Ayavah flashes Valaria a smile. "Oh? I'm glad you like it. I was planning to fix her clothes too - a little prudish for a goddess, don't you think? But Annabelle discouraged me from making too many changes."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Once the chapel is cleaned, Father Cassiel suggests that they have a short service in honor of Iomedae to celebrate cleaning the temple. He leads the mass, and though the service is done in the style of an Iomedaean service, Sosiel leads a sermon in addition to Father Cassiel's. Sosiel's sermon is both inspiring and articulate. He speaks of an ideal of all goodly religions working together - saying that it was the work of many faiths here today that made the cleansing of this chapel possible. He concludes with a statement - "And it will only be through our coordination and the blessings of all our gods that we will triumph in Drezen this coming week. But if we keep love in our hearts and trust in the strength and wisdom of our brothers and sisters, I know that we will prevail. For we have the gods on our side, and light will always conquer even the deepest darkness."
"Amen!" chirps Fenton, sitting in the pew to Ary's right, a big smile plastered on his face.
After the liturgy of the Word has concluded, Father Cassiel asks for Ary to come forward and speak a few words to her subordinates. Once she is done, he then asks her to formally redeclare this church in service of Iomedae by placing Radiance into the altar. This time, the sword retains its golden hue, even outside of Ary's hands. It glows brilliantly, showering the congregation in golden light.
Even after Ary withdraws Radiance from the altar, those who participated in the service feel a warm glow in their chests for many hours afterwards.
Once the service is done, the crusaders pack their things and get ready to exit the Worldwound and regroup with the others. If things went well, they planned to march into the Worldwound tomorrow.
"That was a really good service you gave, Father Vaenic," says Fenton.
Sosiel smiles warmly at the little lad. "I'm glad you thought so. Today was a good day for us... after all that's happened, the betrayal, the paranoia, the fear... it is good that we see that love and companionship can rise above those things." He helps Fenton up onto Libi II. "You know, someday I would like to found an interdenominational church. It would be good to have a place where we could have more services like this one.. that bring us together rather than keeping us apart. And I think that we clerics and paladins of the different faiths could learn from one another."
"I like that idea, too," Aron says softly. He hadn't spoken much during the cleaning of the church, but he and Sosiel seemed to be making up from their past few days of quarreling. Even now he grips his hand tightly. "Let's build that. Together."
"But first things first," says Sosiel, smiling. "To Drezen!"
"To Drezen," agrees Aron.
----
The trip back to camp is uneventful, as is the rest of the day.
That evening, Aron approaches Valaria as she leaves for her tent for the night.
"Hey, Val? Do you have a moment? I'd like to talk to you, in private."
Ayavah glances between the two before nodding and smiling. "You go on ahead. I'll get the blankets nice and warm for you."
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Though she finds it strange, Hinagiku spends the night in sleep like meditation. In the morning, after the monk returns to her vulpine shape, she accompanies Ary and the clerics in an effort to help clear and clean the church as well as take care of the bodies.
When Ehren starts working on the grass, Hinagiku decides to add her own touch to the church. She hadn't done any flower arrangements for months now, and felt like it would be a nice embellishment, and, even though there are no flowers, she uses the yellow grass to make interesting bouquets.
Isilme enjoys the services and is only a little surprised at the obvious blessing they received in cleaning and reconsecrating the chapel. After all, their goddesses had all spoken to them indicating the importance of what was to come. It was only natural that Iomedae would bless them for restoring the chapel.
On the trip back, Isilme moves Cynosure parallel to Ehren. "Ehren, do you have scrying prepared today? If possible I would like to attempt scrying on Mangvhune again this evening. At the very least it should keep him riled up, possibly making him less cautious in his next approach. It is a shame I do not have access to it myself. From what I understand, it is possible to cast message through the scrying sensor with a bit of luck. We could goad him into attacking before he is ready that way."
When they return to camp, Isilme suggests they meet in the command tent to discuss the plans to march. Once they have all arrived, she begins. "I believe we should decide tomorrow whether we march or hold depending on how many of the remaining troops are affected by the seed still. We cannot risk heading in with the fifty or so we currently have suffering from the curse."
Val can't fight back a little chuckle at Ayavah's comment. "Well, I guess people can be sensitive about how you depict their religious figures. I think the armor works though. It captures her beauty and her power at the same time."
Val finds herself smiling for a different reason when the services and re-dedication of chapel are completed. The warmth of the altar is refreshing, she finds Sosiel's speech more inspiring. If anyone can found a church to bring everyone together, she could believe it from the dark-skinned cleric.
"Hmm, mind coming to my tent? " he murmurs. He leads her back to his own tent, and lifts up the flap. No one else is inside. "Sosiel is out with Annabelle right now," he explains, before following her within.
He sits cross-legged on the ground and exhales. "I wanted to thank you for earlier... for talking to me about my problem. I really needed that. Sosiel is great, and incredibly patient with me, and I love him, and- well - there are still things that are hard for me to share with him. And I didn't know who else to turn to, with this."
He pulls out a set of small vials from his knapsack. They are full of some sort of black, viscous substance. "It's called shadowblood... it's a drug. Powerful, powerful stuff. I don't know how, but a few nights ago, I found this stuff stashed away in my own pack. There must be some kind of cloaking magic on it or the paladins would have found it by now with their screenings."
"It's taken all my willpower not to use any of the stuff... and I swear to the gods I haven't... but I feel trapped. I don't know what to do with it. I was afraid if I showed it to Sosiel, or to one of the other crusaders, they would accuse me of smuggling it here... or buying from the other crusaders. I mean, who'd believe an addict like me saying it just appeared out of nowhere...I mean... you do believe me, right?" he says, suddenly stopping and looking Valaria in the eye.
Xanderghul spends the night reading Arastrax's book on the shabti. With his newfound mastery of comprehend languages he can read the entire book in the evening, though the spell only gives him literal understanding of its text - not nearly enough to help decipher the arcane work within. Such understanding could only come from learning Ancient Osirian itself, but with enough time, the wizard is confident he could master it just using this book and his own superior intellect.
The book describes a series of rituals designed to sever off a piece of one's soul and "stitch" it back on. The rituals utilize an elaborate staff as its focus, which must be handcrafted by the caster themselves and attuned to that caster's specific soul. The staff is used to siphon away parts of the caster's soul, bit by bit, until enough has been siphoned away to constitute a truly separate being. Additional rituals are required to place it back into the host's body until the appropriate time.
Then using a layer of magic based on the contingency spell, an additional spell is activated upon the wizard's death. This splits the soul into the larger part and smaller portion. The smaller portion, identical to the parent's soul in every way, is sent up into the Boneyard and ferried into the appropriate outer plane according to Pharasma's judgment. The larger portion, then, is free from damnation, and could even be resurrected back into the original host body by an appropriately powerful divine caster.... though otherwise it would be stranded someplace in the Astral Plane, which is a perilous place for a wayward soul to be. The soul would also be likewise weakened, as though by permanent negative levels - but soul-restoring magicks are well-understood, so this shouldn't be too much of a problem for a spellcaster powerful enough to pull off this feat in the first place.
This is, of course, the general gist of it. Deeper understanding of the magic required to recreate such a feat would require a more in-depth understanding of the Ancient Osirian language, as well as some profound understanding of the magical arts.
Ehren grins wryly when he sees Hinagiku's bouquets, which were indeed "interesting" in the sense that they were all dead. It was a sad reminder that there wouldn't be any flowers where they were going, but her enthusiasm was uplifting, at the very least. He wears a smile throughout the entire ceremony, a smile that grows wider once the ritual reaches its natural conclusion.
"I'm afraid not," Ehren says to Isilme, shaking his head. "After what happened yesterday, I might have been a little overzealous in my preparation of combat spells. I won't have the opportunity to cast scrying until tomorrow at the earliest." He pauses to consider his next words before continuing, not wanting to sound like he was patronizing her. Asides from her being his elder by several magnitudes, he would never talk down to a dear friend that way. "I know your stance on demons; that they're single-minded and predictable. But please don't underestimate him... or his capacity for creativity."
"Fret not, Ehren. We will be waiting for his arrival with Hinagiku in my stead. I will also disguise myself so as not to attract his attention, and I will be carefully watching the tent as well," she says to the druid. "I do not intend to lose this battle due to further carelessness."
Ehren nods approvingly, having already known better than to assume that Isilme did not already have a plan. He did still have his qualms, however.
"Mm. He might not be inclined to try the same thing twice. It seems likely that he knows where we are going by this point. My greatest concern is that he will attack while we are in the midst of battle, where we won't have the luxury of being able to give him our undivided attention."
"I agree. But we cannot afford to delay the march for too much longer. Even with the food we recovered from Vilareth and Icerift, our supplies are dwindling. We could conduct another raid as Xanderghul suggested, but we would be putting ourselves at much greater risk."
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Ary is honestly happy for all of the enthusiasm from the little squire. "I'll be glad to have you and have you trained with me. We'll have to take a bit to figure out the things you're best at later tonight so that I can ensure you have proper guidance; we've an entire army, so while I'll help with most of your training, my path isn't the only one for you to follow." Ary says with a smile, before thinking better of kneeling to muss his hair. She does grab an extra longsword from the quartermaster before heading out, though.
Ary is also certain to thank everyone who had helped in the restoration of the chapel; none of them had been required to come, but in the end it was through their efforts that the place had been returned to at least a glimmer of its original beauty. If they'd been more pressed for time, there was no way she could have ensured this had come to pass... so in a way, she was thankful to Nurah. She'd pass that on - and not at all in a gloating manner. She adds to Ayavah, tongue in cheek, "I'd have needed to discipline you for undressing my goddess. She's shorter than she would have been, so you're a bit closer than most interpretations. Though you seem to have given her the chest of my old body. Not that I'm using it."
Once everything is finished - Ary having spent the majority of it simply using her strength to maneuver things into place - Ary is happy to rest and listen to someone else talk for a while. When she's called to the front, she blanches slightly, and then huffs. With such a small crowd she's not afraid to show her own unwillingness to be in the front of others more than is necessary. She takes a little too long to rise, and then moves forward as she tries to think of what to say. Finally, once she reaches the podium, she grips it with both hands for a moment, looking down at the cleaned off surface.
"Each step we've taken along our way here has lead us to this. This, in itself, is a minor victory, but it is a victory. We've rid this small space of our enemies for a time, and recovered this place for a time. One day in the future, it will be restored to its proper glory. Once we've turned back the horde, this will once again become a home. I... believe that this was once Yaniel's home, so I definitely believe that we were lead here with a purpose, to show that we can move forward even while honoring those that came before us. All that's left is to move forward, bit by bit and day by day." She chews on her lip for a moment longer, then shakes her head. She doesn't have much more to say. She takes a few steps forward after rounding the podium and slides Radiance into the altar. She wanted to give the sword an opportunity to be home for a bit, though she would wind up leaving the other sword in its stead - while she fully understood the pragmatism of having a weapon placed in an altar for easy use, leaving Radiance here wasn't a reasonable choice.
She smiles softly at the blessing of her goddess; they had returned Iomedae's warmth to the Worldwound before ever taking Drezen. She takes a few more moments to converse with her friends and thank them once more, before switching Radiance and the longsword from camp. Who knows, maybe a soldier would need the blade, in the end. Maybe this altar would save a life.
She marvels at the blade for a moment, the balance having shifted slightly. A slow, sturdy test swing, before a nod. It felt easier to maneuver in her hand, though at the same time, heavier. More real. And it was still warm, even through her gauntlet. She holds onto it for a time, closing her eyes and slowly breathing in and out. 'I will shine in your legion.' she thinks, before finally sheathing the sword and boarding Libi II.
On the ride back, she's mostly quiet, though it's significantly more contemplative than the dour of the previous day. Mostly, she pokes and prods the halfling to tell her stories of Sir Yves and of himself, and of the things he most enjoys. By the time they arrive back at camp, she has determined that he would best be served by training with Anevia when it came to swordplay, Annabelle when it came to riding, and simply talking to all of the knights to learn of the various oaths and orders that each knew of and belonged to. Learning to properly wield his blade was the first step, and fostering his abilities with animals another, but the rest of his path should assuredly be up to him.
Once they reach the cave, she slows, "Please take Libi back to eat with the others, I'd like to introduce Fenton to someone."
As they move down the tunnels, she's careful to keep him away from the acidic coating on the floor, stopping once they reach Nurah. She sets him down before slumping across from her in exactly the same place she had the day before. She doesn't offer any explanation to Fenton, just yet, of what's going on with Nurah.
"Hey." she says, somewhat dumbly, before continuing. "Nurah, this is Fenton. Fenton... Nurah. We met Fenton yesterday while we were trying to save one of the members of our army. Her name was Bethil, and... ultimately we failed to save her. The enemies were numerous, far more numerous than we expected. But in the end, we were able to defeat them, however. Three soldiers lost their lives, but we were able to save one." she says, mussing his hair, before drawing him in closer, so he's not given a chance to ruminate on yesterday, too much. "There was a church in a town called Sleekrun. Where Yaniel was from, I think. Or maybe her family. Anyway, the place was covered in gargoyles, and ghouls, and a half-nabasu, and a full nabasu, and..." she gives a small shrug. "Some sort of undead with hooves. It wasn't a ghoul, but Isilme called it one. There was an Ifrit woman, as well. They seemed to have rededicated the church to Kabriri, and wrecked the whole place. The statues were torn to shreds, the windows broken, the altar desecrated... the only thing that really seemed functional was the bell." she says with a slight wince. "But... in the end, we pulled through. We were able to fight off the monsters there that had taken the place. Today, we went back and cleaned it up. I know it may seem silly. Honestly, it definitely seems silly. But... it felt important, you know? It felt like the right thing to do. So, we cleaned it up, and... hopefully, one day, you'll see it. Ayavah did this really silly thing with one of the sculptures, and I really should be mad, but it was cute..." and so, Ary rambles onwards for a time, before finally letting the halfling get a word in edgewise.
Val cocks her head slightly at the bottle, her eyes watching as the contents slowly roll under the glass. "I believe you," she says without hesitation, a look of obvious worry on her face. "Considering we found a saboteur two days ago, it wouldn't surprise me if this was an attempt to undermine our chief engineer." She chuckles. "Maybe you should take it as a compliment. The spy thought you were enough of a threat to Drezen that she came after you personally. And I'm impressed that you managed to hold out this long without telling anyone." She holds out a hand to take the vial. "I think that first you should give me the vials so they're out of your hands. Then I think we should go directly to Ary. She trusts her friends implicitly. If we tell her they were planted on you, she'll listen. Then we can destroy them and you won't have to worry about it anymore."
Ayavah gives Ary a flirtatious wink. "Oh... so you'd discipline me, hmm? Now I regret not going through with it."
Annabelle laughs, shaking her head. "You're incorrigible, Ayavah."
Fenton has no qualms against being carried - he grasps Ary's thick furs as they head up into Ehren's tunnel. He doesn't ask where they are going, trusting her completely. When they arrive, Nurah barely perks up at her approach, so engrossed she is in writing in the book. But when she sees Fenton, she drops her quill with a start.
"Hi. It's nice to meet you, Nurah," Fenton says pleasantly.
"Hello..." she responds, not certain of what to say to the halfling child. she doesn't return his smile. She listens quietly to Ary's story, and when it gets interesting, she resumes her note-taking.
"Ah, so you met Nulkineth. A pretty vile congregation he had, didn't he? I don't think anyone will miss him, on either side, to be honest," she says offhand. "He liked to form pacts with nabasus... he'd help find them victims to feed on, so that they can ascend, and in return, his little congregation would grow in number and power."
She shrugs. "Sounds cute. I wonder how long before some new flavor of horrible-ness comes by and tears it all down?" she says, pessimistically. "But I guess with the way the troops are, it's not like you had anything better to do."
Fenton shakes his head. "Miss Nurah, that's not true. When Commander Bishop conquers Drezen, then the crusades will be able to protect that church again, too."
Nurah grimaces.... then sighs. "You're too pure for this world, kid." She makes eye contact with Ary. "Commander, you should send that kid far, far from this place. The Wound is gonna chew him up and spit him out."
"Roughly 50 of our number are still affected, though every day we dispel more and more of the curse," says Irabeth, backing up Isilme's statements.
Aron grimaces for a moment, a flash of anger at the thought of giving up the shadowblood...
He doesn't let them go. "I....I.... I can't..."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Isilme spends a good portion of the next day sitting with Külə in her tent deciphering Nurah's journal. Knowing that the halfling's code would be difficult to break, doubly so because it was actually written in halfling, she takes the time to enhance her own abilities with heroism.
With Nurah's journal and her own side by side, and a quill in hand, she pores over each page intently. As she works forwards and backwards through the book, she makes notes of patterns in the language, using her intuitive knowledge of written language to aid her. Within several hours Nurah's journal has marginalia on nearly every page. She sighs in frustration, so close to solving it, but lacking just one portion: A key to the code that would allow her to decipher it. Calling upon her magic to further enhance her skills, it suddenly dawns upon her.
Looking at the maps Nurah had hand drawn in the beginning of the book, she notes several oddities in the spellings of minor city names. The halfling had used archaic spellings of the names in only specific instances, and working between them, she soon cobbles together a string of characters which describes a pattern to use in pulling text from the journal entries.
"Every fifth letter on even lines, every third syllable on odd, and the numbers change every third page through the book," she calls out triumphantly to no one. Starting on a new page in her journal, she begins transcribing the entire notebook character by character and syllable by syllable, realizing quickly that what she was putting together was not halfling at all, but a long since abandoned form of transcribing abyssal in taldane. After nearly an hour, she has transcribed the entire piece, first verbatim and again a second time translating it into her own celestial script.
When she has finished she begins taking the time to read through the text, attempting to glean what useful things might be had from it.
Back in camp, Ehren takes the time to wash and repair his vestments before going to bed. Seeing as they were essentially his robes of office, it behooved him to keep them in good condition. That, and it simply wasn't sightly to walk around in tattered, bloodstained clothing.
"That's the thing. We can't stop bad things from happening. No one can. But we can do everything in our power to help prevent them, and we can make them better. If you don't try, you'll never succeed. Worst case scenario, you fail - which is where you already were if you'd never tried, in the first place. And... It's not my choice for Fenton to be here. It's his." Ary says, with a small shrug.
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
Before using Xanderghul’s hat to take Isilme’s appearance, Hinagiku takes a short trip around the encampment, stopping in knee deep snow. There, she begins her meditation, slowly breathing in and out as she carries her choreography. Clouds of frozen vapour appear and disappear with each of her breaths, with each of her thoughts, as if the very ideas evaporate in thin air.
The day had been a challenge, but not more so than the last few ones, and so the thoughts are quick to fly away. That is until the memory of Xanderghul taking Ignigena’s life come back to memory. She let’s the sadness for her companion dissolve into the cold air, and breaths in the sobering air knowing that he is following his own journey and that change can occur. The release is short lived, followed by a thought that had nagged at her all day, the gargoyles and Nulkineth. Their death. She had believed them to be children from the abyss. But their bodies had stayed, marking her as one of their slayers. Closing her eyes, she lets these regrets out in one more frigid cloud before breathing as she accepts her actions and let them sink into the past.
”I have once met and itinerant priest of this god in my homeland. He told me many things about The Drunken Hero….” Hinagiku begins before embarking on a long description of the faith of Cayden Cailean.
”And… I believe this is all. The priest talked quite a bit.” she smiles faintly. ”It seems to me that the camaraderie that takes a large part of this faith aligns well with what you consider important right now. So, it might be a good fit. Although, faith is much more than that. It is about what gives you hope and strenght.” she pauses, wanting to let Chaleb speak for himself and not drown him with another long speech.
Hinagiku contemplates Isilme’s question for a moment, and after Ehren brings up concerns of food, she joins in.
”There are many clerics in the army, they could use their powers to feed most of the army… Mr. Xanderghul, didn’t you form plan related to that? I think it was a worse case scenario plan. But, right now, if we stay, we won’t need to have them prepare spells for battle.”
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The coded information is largely about the Crusades, rather than the actions of the demons. It is less a journal of plans and machinations and more a detailed recording of facts and observations... this, of course, makes sense, giving that she is a spy. More importantly it provides damning physical evidence that Nurah was a spy all along. It would be pivotal in actually convicting her in an Iomedaean court of law.
The first half of the book focuses on intelligence she has gathered from the Crusades, specifically information about Nerosyan - their battle strategies, the exact numbers and composition of the troops stationed there, and their fortifications.
Of interest, she outlines the specific location and safeguards of a powerful artifact known as the Demonscope. The Demonscope helps shield the Cruciform Cathedral with a powerful dimensional lock effect, and also has the ability to automatically detect the presence of any demon that enters the Cathedral regardless of spell resistance or warding magic against divination.
The second half focuses on what she refers to as The Heroes of Kenabres - your group (with the recent addition of Xanderghul). She lists the powers and abilities of each hero in detail, as well as their weaknesses. She lists the following:
1. Commander Ary Bishop. Human.... resurrected as some sort of half-elf. Trained as a ranger by Ser Ilivan. Has some magical powers, probably granted by Iomedae herself, though she does not have the same powers as paladins do (nor their weaknesses). Notably she has some short-distance teleporting ability. Wields Yaniel's sword, Radiance, and the Bishop family heirloom, a shield known as Faith. Very well educated and well read. Additionally has a lucerne hammer and bow. She has a soft heart - reluctant to execute prisoners, will go to irresponsible lengths on behalf of any one of her soldiers. Occasionally reluctant to commit to decisions.
2. Ehren of Clan Ferron. Human druid. His druidic circle was responsible for the Wardstones and he has special understanding of the magic that enabled them. He possibly could rebuild them. Earth specialist druid, though well-rounded in other aspects of druidic magic. He is hardy, but not agile. Seems to prefer forms of elementals than animals. Carrying some sort of warped staff they are reticent to talk about - family heirloom? Recent development: The Archdruid crown Arastrax found seems to have bonded with him. Likely to have interesting political ramifications.
3. Lleuad a'r Ser ("Isilme"). Raelis azata possessing the body of an elf. Unprecedented - very fascinating. She has formal bardic training, but is capable of weaving bardic magic extremely quickly and solely with her runic magic rather than channeling it through performance. Prefers illusion magic. She is extremely arrogant and boastful but physically weak. She has a knack for tactics - some of the successes so far attributed to Bishop actually originated from her ideas.
4. Hinagiku ("Daisy"). Human resurrected as kitsune, tien origin. Priestess/paladin of Irori, arrived here with a group of others. Probably acquainted with the pair Vhane found. Extremely strong and agile, focuses on putting enemies off balance before striking with hand to hand weaponry. Has difficulty against natural regenerative properties of most demons without smiting them. Has no options against an enemy at range.
5. Valaria Alazario. Tiefling chelish woman. Desnan, prefers starknives, equally adept at melee and at range. Easily the most skilled fighter out of them. Following group due to divine dreams. Connected to Vhane's new prisoner? Suggest disabling at range with magic, though she has (likely) divine luck. She has a swift temper and sometimes acts without thinking.
6. Xanderghul. Pathfinder tiefling male wizard. Was born in the Abyss. Illusion magic specialist, capable of an invisibility spell so potent it fools even schir and babau. Physically weak (like most wizards), tends to avoid wading into combat. Because of his reliance of illusion magic, a trained magician is a must to determine the real spells from the false. Extremely prideful, but also the most intelligent out of them. Has a real mind for tactical work. Good friends with Arastrax's host - use against him?
The ending of the journal focuses on your army, with boring (but detailed) statistics of the people you have along, and focuses on "people of interest" who may be pivotal to your success. These people include Ser Markus the Grey, Aron Kir, Chevalier Irabeth Tirablade, and Ser Ilivan of Erages.
Aron pauses for a moment, listening to Valaria's words.... but the young crusader is far from thinking rationally at the moment. He takes a deep breath, grabs the vials tightly into his fist, and attempts to bolt out of the tent.
Chaleb laughs. "That does sound like my kind of god. Didn't know he was a human at one point. Or any of that, really. Guess that's because his priests don't stand around preaching on street corners like the others... they're too busy drinking or being heroes, and that's more my style anyway!"
"Hold on a second there." Val jumps up to catch Aron before he can run off. "Aron, Aron, calm down for me for just a second. I'm not trying to hurt you, but I need you to not panic for me. Can you do that? If you can't give it up, I won't take it from you by force. I don't want to hurt you, but I need you to be willing to work with me. But please sit down and stay calm. Think about Sosiel. Would he want you to run away from your problems?"
Aron goes limp in Valaria's arms. He is hyperventilating, his heart racing, palpable under her hands. "No... no he wouldn't," he says. He starts sobbing, tears running down his face. "Weak... I'm so weak..."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Val impulsively pulls the sobbing man into a tight hug, patting him on the back and trying to be comforting. "Listen to me very carefully. You are not weak." She backs away, keeping her hands on his shoulders and looking him in the eyes. "A weak man would have taken that vial the first night he found it. You've restrained yourself for days after someone attempted to undermine you. You are not weak. You've lived a hard life and it's wearing on you. I know what that feels like, believe me, I do. But you are better than that and you know it. I know it, and Sosiel definitely knows it. And he will support you through anything because he loves you and he wants to see you happy and healthy. Please. I know you're strong enough. If you need to hear it from him, then we can go find him and he can say it himself."
The contents of Nurah's book were not incredibly surprising, but it was certainly reassuring to have direct evidence of the halfling operating as a spy for the demons. The direct mention of Arastrax being in control of Jorsal was especially incriminating. The true gem in the text, apart from Nurah's appraisal of Isilme, which managed to get a laugh out of her, was the details on the Demonscope. It was certain to be of great interest to the Queen and her cohort that Nurah might have handed off details about its location and operation. The information provided two opportunities: The first was obviously to safeguard the protections of the cruciform cathedral from sabotage. The second was the possibility of setting a trap for any would-be traitors. By quietly removing the demonscope to a new location and leaving a decoy, they might be able to use the intel to capture another high-ranking infiltrator.
Of course, doing so would require keeping details about having cracked Nurah's code quiet. While Isilme did relish the thought of gloating over having succeeded in cracking the journal, it was probably best to wait to share details with anyone outside the group until she had received guidance on the matter.
Finishing up, she makes a point of cleaning up her workspace and carefully putting away both Nurah's journal and her own. When the group had some time away from the rest of the army she would bring up what she had found so that she would not be the only one with the knowledge in case something were to happen to her before she could report.
"Right. Because children always make the best choices for themselves," Nurah says dismissively.
On their way out, Fenton turns to Ary and asks. "Why was that lady imprisoned? Is she a cultist?"
"Okay... Okay..." Aron gasps, struggling to keep his breathing under control. Trembling all over, he opens up his hand and the vials fall to the ground and roll away from him. Finally, he sits back down, drawing his knees into his arms and burying his face in them.
A voice echoes in Valaria's head - 'Ugh, this is boring. I thought it was about to get good for a second there...'
"F*@@." Aron closes his eyes and clutches his head. "Gods f@$$ing damn it."
The night passes without much interest, though violent, psychedelic colored storms can be seen across the Worldwound border all evening long. A heavy fog settles down along the cliffside late at night, but it dissipates before morning.
-----
22 Lamashan 4713
The next morning, the heroes convene in the command tent. It is a frigid 18°F (-7°C). It is moderately windy, and there isn't a single cloud in the sky at sunrise.
Chevalier Irabeth has a notebook and a piece of paper. She double checks from it before confirming, "I checked with the captains this morning... it seems that our troops are starting to recover from the seed of discord on their own. However we still have thirty two troops under its ill effects." She scratches her cheek with her fingernail before continuing. "Food supplies continue to dwindle.. we're good for maybe a little over a week at current consumption. Outside of the Worldwound's effects, of course. Should we march onwards to Drezen, or continue to try and rest?"
Ser Ilivan adds, "Our scouts have reported no unusual activity in the past few days. If the enemy has discovered our position, they are being very secretive about it."
"Doesn't seem much like demons," Ser Jorsal says.
Before bed, Xanderghul makes sure to go check out Ser Markus and the clerics, advising him to prepare as many castings of abstemiousness and create food and water as they can, and to get Sosiel and the cleric captain in on it as well. They had to stretch their food supplies as much as possible.
Except... damn. They had to use remove curse on the afflicted soldiers. Spell supplies were so limited.
Well, at least abstemiousness.
- - - - -
The next morning, Xanderghul ponders at the "team meeting". "Forgive me, but I think we should start moving. Staying here is great and all, but I think we've used up all the time that we have." he says. "It would be excellent to recover all of our troops, but I'm not sure we have that luxury."
"Is there anything we can do to counter the Worldwound's effects on our food? What do you guys think of changing out remove curse for create food and water to conserve what time we still have?"
"Oh, and I have presents!" With a grin, Xanderghul pulls out a pair of scrolls from his backpack. He hands one to Hinagiku and one to Ary. "To replace the ones you used back at the foot of Icerift. I'll make more later."
Once Aron seems to start to calm down, she lets him rest and steps out of the tent. "I know you enjoy other people's suffering, but even if you don't respect that he's my friend, you could at least remember that he's important to our mission succeeding and my continued survival. And in turn keeps you out of more eternal torment from wherever you go when you're not stuck following me around." She makes her way leisurely back to her tent to turn in for the night. Hopefully she and Aron both have a peaceful night for once.
At the meeting in the morning, Val is up and ready to go bright and early. She listens with a small frown at the meeting. "I'm beginning to agree." She nods in Xan's direction. "We've been in one place for too long already and we can't afford to put off the push much longer. Is there any way we can extend our food supply other than magic?" Large group logistics aren't exactly her forte, but the question needs to be asked.
"Have all of the officers recovered from the curse?" Ehren asks, mulling over Xanderghul's suggestion. "If so, then I think we can eschew remove curse in favor of stretching out our food supplies." He pauses to give Valaria's question a moment of thought. "Since we are not yet in the Wound, hunting might still be an option, though it does run the risk of drawing attention."
"That said... I think we can afford to stay here for one more day, at most."
"On another note, I have scrying prepared today, if you still wish to check on Mangvhune," he says, looking to Isilme.
"I do not know how much food we could produce via magic, but magic is likely to fail or produce tainted food in the worldwound. I am not certain that we will be able to extend our supplies noticably. But perhaps Sosiel will say differently. All in all, I am inclined to agree . We have two days of marching ahead of us. If we make certain the affected are kept near clerics with calm emotions, we should be alright in any situation but an all out battle. Hopefully the remaining two days will be sufficient to clear up most of the cursed."
"As far as Mangvhune goes, I believe scrying before we camp this evening would be a good idea. I doubt he will risk being out in the open before nightfall."
"Thanks, Valaria," Aron says once he's calmed down. "Yeah... that doesn't sound like a bad idea." He yawns.
"Sleep well."
"Abstemiousness?" Markus asks. "Oh... the Iroran food preservation technique? I believe Hinagiku is the only Iroran cleric present... but I am also under the impression that she can only prepare a very limited number of spells per day. I could approach her, if you'd like."
---
"Well, we could cut rations by half. It wouldn't negatively impact the strength of our men, but it would cause some discontent in the ranks the longer we went," answers Irabeth when Valaria asks what more could be done. To Ehren, she adds, "Only footsoldiers at this point are affected by the curse - no officers, nor clerics."
"We certainly have enough clerics available to handle replenishing our water, however, any food that is conjured into the Worldwound will have a chance of being tainted. It is fortunate, though, that we have a number of rangers - and a druid, no less, to help discern edible from inedible," says Ser Markus. "It is a gamble, but perhaps a gamble worth making if we find ourselves running low on supplies."
Sosiel shrugs. "I think there are records of powerful enough priests being able to reverse the effects of the Worldwound on food and water.... but it is typically beyond the capabilities of the average cleric."
"I've heard this, too," Markus adds. "Purify food and drink doesn't work, I know that for certain."
Irabeth nods. "In any case, I do agree that we have lingered long enough. With your blessing, Commander, we will begin dismantling our camp for the march ahead."
Grumbling at the limitations of holy men, Xanderghul waves his hand dismissively. "No, no." he says. "I'll let you know if I have any ideas that you can actually help me with. Do my research first though."
"I didn't say it was the best decision. But there are few options, and he's willing to help." she pauses. "You know there is a lot that you know that we don't. You could help to save us a lot of harm, and it doesn't cost you anything to do so. Think on it?" Ary says as she turns to leave, hefting Fenton as she does.
"I'm fine with preparing spells to create food inside of the wound, but there's a chance the food we summon and conjure will be tainted. So we'll have to check all of that as well. The deeper into the wound we go, the less we can rely on it, but the more we'll need to."
Hinagiku stays silent during the meeting, she listens as intently as possible, trying to find ways in which she could help the others find a solution.
"Without the most basic of our needs met, there is nothing we can do. I believe we should try to save as much food as possible." she finally says.
Sosiel nods. "Captain Streigher and I will switch tactics starting tomorrow morning, then, Commander."
"Am I correct in assuming that we will be taking Nurah with us?" Ehren asks, looking to no one in particular. "If so, then we will need some way of keeping her secure during the battle."
Early the following morning, Ary introduces Fenton to each of the captains in turn - assuming they aren't busy - and then asks Anevia if she minds helping him to learn to control his weapons properly. Valaria was just as capable (if not more), but she didn't want to impose too much on Valaria. After that, she goes to see Nurah once more.
"Have you given it any thought..? Helping us, I mean? If we're all doomed anyway, it surely can't hurt anything, right?" Ary asks with a small, friendly shrug.
With most of the decisions made, Val taps Xan and Ary on the shoulder. "Can I ask you a quick question in private? I came across something last night and I think you might know how to deal with it." She steps off to the side so they can talk for a moment and pulls out one of the vials of Shadowblood. "This was planted on a crusader a few days ago and they came forward about it last night. It's an Abyssal drug called Shadowblood and I need to destroy the lot of it. Any suggestions on how to do it safely?"
Shadowblood is among the most notorious of demonic drugs—a fluid infused with a shadow demon’s essence. Anyone who drinks this substance must succeed at a DC 20 Fortitude save or take 1d6 points of cold damage and 1d4 points of Wisdom damage, and become nauseated for 1d6 rounds. Thereafter, the target gains 1d10+5 temporary hit points, cold resistance 5, and darkvision 60 feet. These effects persist for 1 hour, during which demons take a –4 penalty on saving throws against the drinker’s spells and spell-like abilities of the shadow subschool.
Shadowblood is exceedingly addictive and carries some significant disadvantages. Each time a creature takes a dose of shadowblood, it must succeed at a DC 20 Fortitude save or become addicted—shadowblood addiction is a severe addiction (see page 236 of the Pathfinder RPG GameMastery Guide). A creature under the influence of shadowblood or suffering from shadowblood addiction takes a –4 penalty on all saving throws against possession type effects made by demons, and can never gain the benefits of protection from evil or similar spells against such effects.
It is otherwise a regular drug and can be disposed of like any other liquid.
"I believe we should bring Nurah with us. Perhaps we could use stoneshape to make a permanent portable stone enclosure for her? She has light, and no longer needs food or drink, so a stone box with room for her to shift around comfortably and small airholes would likely be sufficient to contain her safely. Leaving her here leaves open the possibility of Eustoyriax or one of their servants scrying on Nurah and coming to free her."
Ary thinks or a moment, then frowns deeply, brow pursing. "Damnit, Nurah." she growls, almost under her breath, but still loud enough to be heard. "Remember when an Invidiak tried to take over Magiggs? Was this Magiggs or Kir? Or someone else? Because if it was Magiggs, that could have caused a huge amount of problems, and if it were Kir, then it sounds like a mistake caused by the limited verbage of a sending spell. Regardless, this is... untenable." she huffs... then shakes her head. 'I will be temperate in my actions.' she thinks, as she unclenches her fist. "You can just pour it out anywhere. I wouldn't suggest a fire, as I don't know how it works if accidentally inhaled."