Bedlam pulls out shovel, pick and crowbar in the effort.
The dwarf seems to be pleased with the hard labor; and smells.
Talathel is meticulous with removal of slime, his dark eyes piercing through the gloom and his torch applied deftly.
After the retrieval of the familiar and the paladin's body, he expresses his opinion.
"A holy warrior could be very helpful in battling the demons and undead here. I suggest that we resurrect her, but once we are away from this...structurally compromised area."
Talathel is unsatisfied with the structural integrity of the tunnel, so the party gathers for the rite some distance from the cave mouth.
Aurora begins reciting the words of the mighty prayer--it feels a little strange to be invoking the Dawnflower instead of Nethys, but, well, she's learning a ton just by interacting with such a powerful object. She's sure the ol' guy is ok with this.
Aurora focuses closely on the words, allowing herself to feel the fervor with which they were inscribed--she marvels at the intricacies of the calligraphy, the illuminations, the sheer quality of the inks, the fine dust of diamond shimmering through the colors. And she has a vision of an enormous bird coming down from heaven, a big black bird, or rather--the bird is silhouetted against the blazing brightness of the sun behind the bird. The party hears her chanting a song of love, destiny, uncompromising devotion--the scribe has written the prayer with perfect faith.
I never noticed before that this song is about a paladin who worships a goddess being revived...
Deliver me in a black-winged bird
I think of flying down into a sea of pens and feathers
And all other instruments of faith and sex and God
In the belly of a black-winged bird
Don't try to feed me
'Cause I've been here before and I deserve a little more
I belong in the service of the Queen
I belong anywhere but in between
She's been crying, I've been thinking
And I am the rain king
I said mama, mama, mama
Why am I so alone?
I can't go outside, I'm scared, I might not make it home
But I'm alive, but I'm sinking in
If there's anyone home at your place
Why don't you invite me in?
Don't try to bleed me
'Cause I've been there before and I deserve a little more
I belong in the service of the Queen
I belong anywhere but in between
She's been lying, I've been sinking
And I am the rain king
Hey, I only want the same as anyone
Henderson is waiting for the sun
Oh, it seems night endlessly begins and ends
After all the dreaming I come home again
When I think of heaven
Deliver me in a black-winged bird
I think of dying
Lay me down in a field of flame and heather
Render up my body into the burning heart of God
In the belly of a black-winged bird
Don't try to bleed me
'Cause I've been here before and I deserve a little more
I belong in the service of the Queen
I belong anywhere but in between
She's been dying
And I've been drinking and I am the rain king
'Cause I say I am the rain king
'Cause I say I am the rain king, yeah
As the last "yeah" echoes back through the depths of earth and forest, Vael's vile flesh rebuilds. Her eyes flutter open. Her bird flutters down from Anzath's arms gives the tiefling a peck on the cheek.
The restoration goes off without a hitch, too.
Talathel stands guard. Just in case Orcus minions lurk near by.
Blinking slowly and a surprisingly gentle smile forms on her lips, "Val.."
But wither it is the second touch of magic or her brain catching up the tiefling abruptly sits up, flinging the small bird from her horn. Twisting her head around, "Hurdain! Anz.." and her gazes falls on the woman, hale and hearty.
Brushing aside the little white bird flapping in her face. Narrowing her eyes and letting her gaze fall on the others around her. Refocusing on
Anzath, "Where is Hurdain?"
And before the woman can and more words tumble out, "How long?" Because there are new people and Anzath seems fine while her clothing feels disgusting and Valrah is filthy.
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Crouching down instead of trying to distract Vael again. Honestly I do not know what I did to deserve this. I have always been a faithful servant.
Anzath's face twitches and she crouches down to Vael's eye level, "Velkome back to de land of de living."
She offers the tiefling a hand getting to her feet.
"I don't know how long. Veeks. I have been back to temple in Riddleport. Dey vanted me to burn your bodiez. Hurdain vas eaten by green slime."
She explains all of this matter-of-factly, unsympathetic to how confusing and emotional it must be to be risen from the dead.
Taking the offered hand but not letting go of it and pulling closer to the woman, "You left us down there for weeks?"
Growling and stepping back while letting go of the woman hands as if it burned her. Pacing around, "Weeks and you just moved on."
Turning and glaring at Anzath, "You had a contract. You gave your word!"
If a bird could roll its eyes and that be noticeable then that is what happens. Flying and perching on Vael horn. A slew of noise comes out of the little birds beak.
Glaring up at the mouthy bird and not meeting anyone's eyes, "Never the less thank you fore returning and bring me back to de land of de living."
Flinching at the beak that bites her ear as the little bird moves. "And that you others that I do not know."
Again, Anzath's face twitches as her eyes move downwards, searching the ground at her feet for some sort of answer. Boy, these Sarenrean's were an unforgiving bunch.
meeting Vael's eyes again, she gestures to her companions, "Dese are my komrades now. I owe dem my life. Az do you... now. Dey joined me in hunt for Yaza Mongro. Yaza yet livez... or unlivez. It vaz not easy getting to you."
She looks to her comrades for support. Regret, and a sense of shame twists at her stomach.
Tragershen steps closer to Vael, wincing a bit at the odor. "I am Tragershen, the group's sage and chronicler. If I may..." He casts a spell on Vael, and in response the dirt and grime on her falls away, cascading to the stone floor. He continues as the introductions continue, eventually getting down to her well worn boots.
As an afterthought, he glances up at the bird. Clearly a companion of sorts to stay so close to her. With a gesture, he asks the bird to come alight on his left hand.
Bedlam looks at the intersection between the two women.
Be gud if ye be stretching a bit. Being dead be tuff on da joints. Be have'n demons and diabolical witches dat we be chasing, so chop chop.
The dwarf readies to continue to get the seeing stone from down the stairs.
Even from a scroll, casting such powerful magic is exhilarating. There is a wide grin on Aurora's face.
She sits back for a moment to let Vael and Anzath have their talk before finally coming back to her feet and butting in, "Now, my new friend, it is not entirely Anzath's fault. She brought us back to the cave-in not too long after it had happened, but it became quite apparent that it was too dangerous for us to clear simply to retrieve some bodies. If we'd known about the scrolls, things might have been different." Aurora shrugs. "But that is the past.
"I am Aurora Fallowarc, priestess of Nethys. Me and Tragshershen," she pauses to gesture a hand to the wizard, "have been called to this place to attend to the deep magics... and, doubtless, whatever corruption is brewing in and twisting its depths."
"The others, have their own reasons. We are currently scoping the Demon's Maw, an offshoot of the main Rappan Athuk complex. We... killed Yaza Mongro, but she came back, so I suppose we will have to kill her again."
Sucking in a deep breath and the the little bird tugs on a strand of hair. Exhaling slowly, "Thank you for coming anyways." Faster and Hurdain might be alive instead. Clinching her jaw at the mental reprimand that though earns her.
Twisting around to face the approaching elf and flinching at the first touch of magic. Oh but the grim is fading. "Thank you."
Watching the dwarf and then human as they speak. "Thank you all. I prefer life to death. I suppose I owe you all a life debt and we have aligned goals. Waving the bird off her shoulder after her hair is tugged again.
Glaring at the gloved hand but flying over to Tragershen. Landing on the offered hand and stretching her wings out so that he doesn't miss anything.
Glaring at the gloved hand but flying over to Tragershen. Landing on the offered hand and stretching her wings out so that he doesn't miss anything.
When the bird lands on Tragershen's glove, he smiles at it. He repeats the minor cantrip he used on the bird's mistress, causing the crusted filth to fall away. Trag gestures for the bird to spread its wings, and when it does he makes sure that no spot misses being cleansed. He even puts a shine on the tiny ring. "You are properly gorgeous when appropriately attended to. And the jewelry suits you well." He then extends his hand back towards the bird's mistress.
A slender 6' 1" in height, Talathel has much darker pupils than most of his people. A cool, aloof gaze peers out at the world from below his flowing golden hair and pale skin. On his chest, a fine suit of elven chainmail. In his hands is a fine branched spear held lightly, and on his back a curveblade and longbow are clearly visible, along with miscellaneous equipment.
He turns to the paladin, smiling ever so slightly at the repitition, and speaks common in a low, soft voice:
"I am Talathel Rhuiren of Kyonin. I seek perfection in my understanding of weaponry and martial lore. I believed Rappan Athuk would be the best place to prove the results of my dedication, and circumstance has not altered my view permanently. I look forward to slaying demons and undead with you."[/b]
The elven warrior turns to the others.
"Unless anyone is feeling particularly drained, we can return to the Maw and push onwards."
Bedlam turns to the newly raised Paladin.
Bedlam Bottomland; dungeon expert. Let's be s'ploring!
Staring at the elf then the dwarf, I was dead a few minuets ago but if you fall of the horse I suppose."
The dwarf places a (dirty) supportive hand on the Paladin.
Yous be seeing dat da witch be gots dese eyes and wees knows where anuther un be so if you be able?
The party descends into the dungeon. The place is eerily empty. The row of graves at the entrance to he mouth serve as silent witnesses to noisier days.
The party shares information with Vael: they explain that the temple of Sarenrae has sent them back to take another look for the original target of the mission: to ascertain the status of a monastic hospital affiliated with Sarenrae that hasn't communicated with the outside world in far too long. When scried on, the temple heard voices, and in their holy eavesdropping they learned that a cleric named Yaza Mongro is somehow involved with the problem. Vael and Hurdain were sent to investigate--they hired Anzath for her familiarity with the underground world. Then the rocks fall, everyone dies incident interrupted the mission.
The party in turn describes finding Yaza in a sort of subterranean observatory, where they fought and killed her. However, Orcus doesn't allow his servants to escape via death--the temple confirmed that she is still active in some form, and now that they are within range, so does Tragershen's Spy Eye.
Maybe you decide to try the stairs you saw past the cobras, the ones you realized take you down to the vicinity of the fire room. When Anzath steps on the stairs, they turn into a frictionless chute and she has a slide down to the next level. The party would be pretty panicked if they were newbies, but at this point they already know a few ways around the childish trap. Maybe they just slide on down after their scout, once she confirms that there are no secondary traps.
And so you find yourselves in the mosaic/painting room, the one with the invisible staircase. You know that there's a door down the stairs, and that the door is watched by a Spy Eye from Trag's set. How do you proceed?
Bedlam resists the urge to go Wiiiiiiiiiiii! on his ride down the chute; barely!
The dwarf then drinks his Mutagen, Heightened Awareness and Barkskin Extracts (50 minutes).
Anzath is more than happy to quietly let the others do the talking while she herself avoids Vael's righteous wrath, for now. She only chimes in to let Vael know that they also rescued a bunch of helpless refugees while they were at it. She can only hope that the paladin find's their progress so far satisfactory.
Arriving at the invisible staircase, she suggests sending the bird down first.
Bedlam grins at Anzath's suggestion.
Talathel backs up Anzath's mention of the refugees, noting the three groups and the general chaos brought upon by war.
"How stealthy is Valrah?", asks Talathel.
Quietly listening to the explanation of the events after her death. Could have gone worse. I doubt I have made friends of my apparent rescuers. Biting back a grin at Anzath doing her best to pretend she isn't there. Aww, she wants me to like her, I think. That's a dumb idea.
Turning back to Talathel and then looking over at the oddly quiet bird on her shoulder. Making an odd chirping noise.
Nodding at the request and pushing off Vael shoulder. Nearly half a century in and she is finally understanding manners. Hopefully they are all alive when I get back.
Anzath's face twitches.
It vas only joke. Vhat have I done? I vill never hear end of it if dis does not end vell.
Valrah flutters down the stairs as quietly as he can.
He sees a heavy door at the bottom of the stairs.
Doves can't open doors.
Valrah should have a description of the spy eye, and Tragershen would do his best to explain where it would be from the angle he saw from it. Can Valrah see it, snatch it and bring it back?
Valrah sees an image of an eyeball apparently painted on the wall. There's nothing to latch onto, so he flies back up and bird shrugs.
"If we go down and retrieve the eye, we should then move away quickly to another section of the complex. That way if Yaza sees us through it, she won't have times to rally forces against us here."
He looks to the newcomer paladin to the group and says "We will take her down. However, we should do so on our terms."
"There is still those stairs we found where we fought the leeches. Or the room with that serpentine construct."
"That is a sound tactic. I suggest the serpentine area for when we withdraw post-ocular seizing."
Edit:
"I am not sure if our majestic avian will be able to do this after all. While I haven't encountered these magic items before this, I suspect we'll need to press the eye we have to the other to make it separate from where it is stationed."
Anzath speaks up, “I have vial of acid and vanishing potion. I kan remove scrying eye vith acid vhile invisible.”
"Boosted by magical invisibility, Anzath has high odds of successful infiltration and exfiltration with both spy eyes."
Magic-- they sink into objects and can only be removed by touching another from the set.
Taking Tragershen’s haversack, Anzath lets the wizard cast on her, and she blinks out of visible perception. Knowing time is tight, she tiptoes quickly down the stairs , retrieves the spy eye, touches it to the mark on the wall, and places both marbles back in the haversack as quickly as she can.
Bedlam whistles and rocks back and forth.
Talathel stands ready. Mainly to stab gracefully.
Mumbling, "Ok." at Tragershen's assurance. "Recklessness would amount to more death and I am out of scrolls."
Keeping quiet and watching the exchange. Sighing, "If the eye is this important and it seems that it is. And you feel you can get it quickly but might need a little more time then take this."
Tugging a small bottle free and holding it out to Anzath, "It was not cheap but you should have three minuets. Nothing should be able yo sense you."
Tugging her battered blade free. Vael waits along side Talathel.
Anzath takes the offered potion and slips it into her jacket pocket, to be used just in case.