"Just knowing you are unhurt is thanks enough! We need all the able bodies we can to help save the city, so let's get you back to family safely."
The crusader moves out of sight beyond a building.
The young woman smiles and points over to a building with the windows boarded over around two blocks away.
"My parents are in there," she picks up a small bag she was carrying. "And I found some bread and cheese." She frowns. "I haven't heard too much but there are rumours everywhere. Some of them are total nonsense. But I saw for my own eyes something terrible - Terendelev's body was carried away by the Storm King himself into the Worldwound! After the Kite was destroyed."
She accepts the group's offer for escort, although it's a matter of minutes before she is safely back with her family. She pulls out a bit of strategically-placed rubble, and crawls into the building with her food.
"Glad to see we've done some good in the world. Let's get moving to Blackwing. Please," says Aravashnial with obvious impatience. "Gods I hope it's still standing."
Blackwing is also a matter of blocks. Anevia grows uneasy as the group gets nearer and nearer, picking amongst the rubble. "I... should be able to see its silhouette by now."
Anevia's fears are soon confirmed. The group come to the facade of the great Librarium, and encounter yet another one of Kenabres' great buildings reduced to rubble. Once a sprawling centre with various wings and peaks, everything has been destroyed save for the main hall itself.
Aravashnial leans heavily on Anevia as he stalks towards the building.
"I know these streets like the back of my hand, we must be there soon! There is a great secret there I must show you, it will give us great aid against the demons. Tell me of its condition once we are there, I must know!" His voice is joyous, excited.
Nilus stays silent, not wanting to dash the poor elf's spirits.
Ayesha looked at the destruction, and then back to the hopeful elf. "I am afraid it has been totally destroyed. Oh, Aravashnial, I am sorry. Perhaps something of what you seek lies within, but I wouldn't be too confident of that."
"What? No..." Aravashnial's knees buckle as he clings to his staff. He lets out a scream before staggering forwards and tripping over some of the rubble. "I'm all that's left," he chokes out. The blind elf remains sprawled on the rubble, stricken with grief.
It appears that Blackwing was specifically targeted for destruction. While other parts of the city have been completely destroyed, this area is largely untouched save for the rubble that was once the great library. The great hall of Blackwing stands more or less intact in front of you, and the door is ajar.
You hear a gravelly man's voice yell, "Stack those damn books better!" and the sound of someone being struck.
The Kellid's head turns suddenly as he hears a voice. He holds up a hand to the others to quiet them, and quietly sets down his pack as he takes up his weapons. He carefully walks in the direction of the sound.
Dejik lays her hand on Aravashnial's shoulder. If the librarians knew of the danger, perhaps they managed to escape.
Dejik(whispers, There are voices other than ours. There may be danger. Who is still injured?
Sarkast peers inside to see a bizarre sight. Several of what appear to be librarians have been bound and gagged and surrounded by a ring of books. One of them, an older woman, is being batted about by a rough-looking, well-armed human and two tieflings. They appear to be making her stack the books around her co-workers.
"Bah! This is useless, I'm not sure we have enough books for a ring. Well we'll improvise, won't we?!" shouts the armoured man. "I didn't say stop!" he shoves the older woman towards more books. He looks at the tieflings.
Thankfully, over the noise of the man's shouting nobody seems to have noticed Sarkast.
Sarkast sees the scene, then backs quickly and quietly back to the group. In a whisper, he reports what he saw. "We will need to rush in. I fear for the librarians if don't disable their captors quickly. I could try to throw my spear for a surprise attack, then everyone else could move in. What do you think?"
"Sounds good. Looks like they are going to burn the librarians in a ring of books. Let's move quickly!"
"I might be able to trick them. I can make it look like the books and librarians are burning, but it's an illusion. It will be scary, but hopefully, they won't try to do the real thing."
Bellis pulls out her silver scale for emphasis.
Nilus grips his glaive, ready to spring into action whenever Sarkast gives the go ahead.
Sarkast looks at Bellis and nods. "I'll start the attack and you can start the illusion to make sure they don't try anything desperate."
Seeing everyone waiting on him, Sarkast throws open the door.
Bellis
Dejik
Anevia
Jinxx
Ayesha
Aravashnial
Sarkast
Ronan
Nilus
The door flies open and Sarkast and Anevia manage to completely surprise the inhabitants! A spear and an arrow fly at the closest tiefling. Both connect simultaneously into the tiefling's chest, killing it instantly!
Surprise Round
Nilus charges forward with a bellow! The Eternal Rose!
Round 1
Surrender now! Or face certain destruction!
Ayesha: down 3 hp
Nilus: down 2 hp
Jinxx: down 1 hp
Ronan: down 2 hp
Dejik: down 4 hp
Sarkast: down 0 hp
Bellis: down 0 hp
Dejik switches her Life Link to Ayesha .
"Wait! Uh... Okay..."
Bellis watches as everyone rush in instantly. Remembering the plan, she whistles momentarily and starts to dance around. Flames leap from her form, and she shoots a fireball out, at the ring of books and librarians!
Nilus rushes in, skewering the gravelly-voiced human, who look at him in shock but remains upright.
Bellis weaves an arcane spell and sends an illusionary fireball into the circle. As the fire leaps up from the books, one of the librarians catches Bellis' eye, winks, and starts screaming loudly. The others look at her for a moment, shrug, and start sceraming along with her.
Jinxx charges in alongside Nilus, and Ronan loads his crossbow. Aravashnial seems too despondent to do anything. The gravelly-voiced human looks around and lets out a laugh, despite his wound.
"You fools, your spell missed and my plan is working perfectly!"
The other tiefling circles around the edge of the room to avoid Nilus' glaive, and attacks Jinxx, but the small blade bounces off of his tough hide.
Tiefling
---
Bellis
Dejik
---
Chaleb
---
Anevia
Jinxx
Ayesha
Aravashnial
Sarkast
Ronan
Nilus
Librarians
Bellis, acting oblivious to the "conflagration" inside, keeps up her fire dance, taking on a beautiful corona as she twirls and spins about. Her companions' knowledge of the ruse fill them with a sly confidence.
Round 1, here's the summary of everyone's status:
Ayesha: down 3 hp
Nilus: down 2 hp
Jinxx: down 1 hp
Ronan: down 2 hp
Dejik: down 6 hp (I mistakenly had this at 4, earlier)
Sarkast: down 0 hp
Bellis: down 0 hp
And what plan would that be, exactly?
As Dejik tries to puzzle out the situation, she's surprised to see a tiefling enter her limited field of vision. Dejik draws her bow and fires.
Ayesha moved into the library with the others, her black blade spinning through the air as she rushed the tiefling on her left. she called up a bit a magic into the blade, knowing that if she could get a decent strike in, she could remove the tiefling from the fight.
, touch of fatigue, DC 14
As Bellis whirls and dances, spreading illusionary flames around, the screams of the librarians fill the room.
One of the tieflings snarls at Jinxx, and then looks down to find Deijk's arrow buried in his stomach. He lets out a miserable groan. "Chaleb... help..."
The man, apparently Chaleb, sneers at the tiefling and smacks a heavy mace against his shield before stepping in beside Nilus, very carefully trying to avoid the fire illusion. He steps in, and swings hard.
The mace slams into Nilus' chest with brutal force, possibly breaking some ribs before he snarls at the paladin, gesturing to the tieflings.
"Those two are just tagalongs, I work solo and I'll take all six of you myself!"
Nilus responds with a swing of his own, slamming the side of his glaive brutally into Chaleb's head, almost knocking the big man to his knees. Ayesha spins into combat, and takes out the tiefling.
As Chaleb and Nilus trade blows, Sarkast pulls out another spear and runs in, moving between Chaleb and the librarian. He then stabs the man.
Sarkast bends backwards, a brutal swing of the mace barely missing him as he slides into position. However, his spear clanks off of Chaleb's armour.
Jinxx leaps over the downed tiefling, and at Chaleb's back, viciosuly scratching and biting at his neck.
Chaleb throws Jinxx off, but the man is covered in blood and barely moving. Anevia leans in from the doorway, and fires an arrow which slams into his banded mail.
He grabs the arrow and looks up at Anevia.
"Enough! I surr-"
The librarian who was stacking books steps aside as Sarkast passes, and loudly interrupts Chaleb.
"Here's some of your fire you evil man!"
The meagre burn is enough to send Chaleb down and screaming. He collapses to the ground, unconscious.
End of Combat
End of combat, here's what I have:
Ayesha: down 3 hp
Nilus: down 10 hp
Jinxx: down 1 hp
Ronan: down 2 hp
Dejik: down 6 hp
Sarkast: down 0 hp
Bellis: down 0 hp
Dejik puts up her bow as she moves into the library. Is everyone all right? What is going on here? She notices the dying tiefling. This one still clings to life. Is there any reason I should save him?
With a pirouette, Bellis sucks the fire back into herself, and everyone is, as promised, not burned from it.
Nilus walks over and disarms the Human. He calls over to Dejik. All things that live love beauty, it is our duty to show them the way. If Dejik doesn't help the tiefling then a round or two later Nilus will use his Lay on Hands ability to heal the tiefling and stop it from dying.
Ayesha didn't sheath her scimitar. Instead, she stepped over to take a defensive position near Dejik. She called out to the librarians. "Is everyone okay? Are there more survivors about? what was this man trying to do here?" The questions tumbled out in a rush, and she kept glancing back to the doorway to see if Aravashnial was about.
The woman who was digging books out of the rubble kicks some stones at Chaleb and almost collapses. She rights herself and then begins untying the librarians in the circle.
"My name is Fenna. This... horrible creature destroyed Blackwing. A man made of worms who used magic and demons to smash the structure to rubble. He looted all he could from the ruins before he left but we're not sure what he grabbed. There dear - you're free now."
She looses one of the librarians and gets to work on the next.
"Then this... monster shows up with his tieflings. He overpowered us and was forcing me to build a ring of books to burn the others. I went along to play for time, thank the Gods that worked. I think he just wanted to impress the demons or some asinine plan like that."
Aravashnial staggers through the rubble, feeling out blindly.
"Fenna? I... I think I remember you! Did anyone survive? The demon took my eyes and I needed to find the others..."
Fenna looks at Aravashnial sadly. "I think this is the first time you've spoken to 'the help' but I've no time for bitterness." She frees another librarian.
"I'm not sure what he's told you, but this was the base of the Riftwardens and he is one of them. There's no point in keeping secrets anymore. I'm sorry, the demon killed them all. The only ones missing are you, and Quednys."
Aravashnial lets out a wail of grief and slides against the wall, burying his head in his hands.
Sarkast collects his pack and thrown spear, then does an inspection of the area while the others tend to wounds and discuss what has happened.
Dejik nods to Nilus. As you wish. She removes the arrow from the tiefling's stomach and stops the bleeding, wincing as her ribs crack from absorbing Nilus's wound.
She points at Chelab. Should we bind that one before he wakes up?
Then she whispers a short prayer.
Before the channel, I have:
Ayesha: down 3 hp
Nilus: down 5 hp (10 - 5 absorbed by life link)
Jinxx: down 1 hp
Ronan: down 2 hp
Dejik: down 11 hp
Sarkast: down 0 hp
Bellis: down 0 hp
After the channel, everyone should be at full except Dejik, who is still down 3.
Dejik puts the arrow back in her quiver and moves to help the librarians however she can.
The dying tiefling awakens to find himself tied up. He immediately begins struggling and shouting but a stern look from Fenna calms him. Chaleb pipes up.
"So... what happens to me?"
Fenna ignores him and manages to free the remaining librarians. The company gets a chorus of 'thank yous' and awkward praise. Aravashnial suddenly looks up.
"Wait, you said Quednys was not here when Blackwing was destroyed? That's wonderful news! There's still hope - he is the most powerful of us; we can work to rebuild. I have to find him."
His voice is still hoarse with grief but the news of the Head Librarian's survival seems to have helped.
"Then we'll find him together!" says one of the librarians. "Aravashnial, your friends have brought you home, what's left of it. You're the last Riftwarden, we need your expertise and magic. All of us can work to find Quednys."
Aravashnial pulls himself up from the wall. "You do need me." Although blind, he more or less looks in the direction of the group. "Friends, we've been through a lot together and although my association with you has brought me more grief than I can imagine, I'd be dead otherwise." He smirks. "Besides, I can live to be right about something for once. The Riftwardens are shattered and I must work with what remains to rebuild; I will stay here. You will always have an ally in me."
Chaleb starts to speak but Aravashnial cuts him off. "I can handle that cretin. Feel free to explore what's left here and take what you need."
"So, you'll be staying here, then? I thought you might come with us to reunite Anevia with her wife, and then on to the Defender's Heart. Surely that is where the survivors of your order would gather? Still, if we find any other Riftwardens about, we will be sure to let them know you are here, and in need of magical healing."
Ayesha looked around the main library hall for any supplies that they might need, though she was sure they would find all they needed at the Defender's Heart, once they finally arrived.
Bellis winks at the librarians. "Thank you for following with the ruse. I knew it would be scary, but I wanted to make sure they didn't think of starting that fire for real in desperation."
She nearly skips over to Aravashnial and curtseys. "It was a pleasure to accompany you. May the rebuilding of the library go well!"
Aravashnial, are you certain you and the others will be safe here?
Dejik stands over Chelab. You said you had a plan involving the death of the librarians. What was this plan, and what did you hope to gain?
Nilus stares at the tiefling and human.
You are sure you will be alright here with these two? he asks Aravashnial.
As Ayesha scours the area she comes upon a wizard's spellbook which shows some damage, but still has many spells in it. As she picks it up, a scroll falls out of its pages.
Also, while searching through the rubble, she comes across a half-dozen leathery grey strips, about the length of a finger, of what are either strangely dried flesh, or even worms.
These are certainly worms, but are so strange and alien in appearance they cannot possibly be of this world.
As Dejik hears about the Riftwardens, she racks her brains to think of what she knows.
The Riftwardens are widely known in Kenabres to be a semi-secret society of spellcasters. They follow their own agenda, but are generally seen as an ally of the crusade, if not always there when people think they're needed.
The true goal of the Riftwardens is the closure of planar gates. The Riftwardens of Kenabres are focused entirely on studying the Worldwound and are dedicated to its closure. They are not motivated to save lives or join the crusade; the only goal is closure of the Worldwound at any cost whatsoever. As such, the relations between the Riftwardens and the crusaders has sometimes been strained, but they are considered the best source of demonic knowledge and a valuable asset. Their leader is unknown but they are represented by Beltran Ravenken.
Aravashnial nods as the group share their concerns with him.
"Unless you have a good way to carry these books, I must remain here with them. They are too valuable to destroyed. This hall is protected by magic and if we seal the doors and -not- let any more maniacs in, we shall be safe. As well, you need to scour those cultist safe houses... I can't risk taking the librarians there. It is too dangerous."
Fenna speaks up, prodding Chaleb with her toe - who has remained silent under Dejik's questioning. "This one is a convincing liar, we erred in letting him in and won't make the same mistake. As this place is safe, you are free to rest here if you need to."
Finding no further danger, Sarkast circles back to the party as Ayesha uncovers the spellbooks and odd strips. Hearing Fenna mention resting, he speaks up. "Should we check on Anevia's wife, then return here to rest and recover?"
I'm concerned his "plan" might involve more compatriots than these...but if you're certain this place is safe, you would know better than I.
Dejik looks over at the small strips of flesh Ayesha found.
What are those? I've never seen anything like them. She pauses and frowns. Or, at least, I don't recognize them with this new "sight".
Anevia shakes her head, looking over Aravashnial.
"Of course you're a Riftwarden, it makes perfect sense." She looks over at Sarkast. "It isn't feasible to go to my house and back here, not in the same day. Let me... do you have a map of Kenabres here?"
One of the librarians recovers a book and and opens it up to show a map. "Sorry about this..." She rips out the page, ignoring the gasp of horror. Anevia limps back over to Sarkast and motions the rest of the group over. She carefully numbers several spots on the map and jabs her finger on the number 1.
"We are here. Far south of the city. As you can see, we've actually been heading south -away- from Defender's Heart and my house. They're a good distance from here. There is also the Nyserian Manor nearby - a cultist safe house we should investigate."
She shrugs and makes a sweeping gesture with her hand.
"To be concise - everything is north of here. I will go where you go and follow your wisdom on what path to take. But the question I would ask myself is if we rest now and strike out north, or if we strike out north and then rest. I obviously have my preference, but we also haven't slept since Neathholm and the less we talk about my leg, the better."
Nilus nods at Anevia's plan What if you stayed here Milady? And we went to this Nyserian Manor while you rested. It does not seem that far, we would come back and retrieve you before heading north to your home and the Defender's Heart.