Ayesha touched her scimitar's hilt and smiled. "I think that it would be our pleasure. Such places need to be held as places for succor, and not for evil. Besides, it would be good not to leave the enemy even a potential for a stronghold at our backs."
Aron immediately raises his voice defensively.
"You doubt me? I bare my soul and you challenge that? We are done, sir." He turns to leave angrily.
Becalm yourself. Nilus says, a hint of steel showing in his voice. I am a friend and an ally. And you know of my blessings from the Rose. Nilus places his hand on the man's shoulder I give my friendship freely. I will help you but you must only ask.
When the army makes camp (before proceeding to the chapel) Dejik approaches each one of the party and asks if they can meet with Irabeth. She also asks Sosiel to join them.
When everyone is there, Dejik frowns and starts to speak. I have noticed that Aron seems darker in my strange sight, haunted, almost. That combined with the changes in his mood make me suspect he may be under the influence of shadowblood--it's a powerfully addictive drug drug infused with the essence of a shadow demon.
She turns to Soseil. Have you noticed anything in his behavior that would lead you to think he was taking a drug? Or--and this is what I fear most of all--is it possible someone is giving him the drug without his knowledge?
I know of the drug from my time at the temple, but I've never treated anyone for it before.
Ronan goes in search of Aravashnial to see if he might be able to help restore Jinxx back to normal. And also to ask him more of what he might know of his parents.
The army calls a halt and in the confusion Aron simply turns tail and leaves, the skillful rogue vanishing into the crowd. You find yourself with the rest of your party, speaking to Sosiel about going to the chapel as Dejik brings up shadowblood.
The group all find themselves speaking with Sosiel and Irabeth as Dejik brings up the subject of shadowblood. Sosiel's eyes go wide and he slaps his head.
"I'm a fool! Shadowblood! Of course! Aron... well, Aron was an addict in the past. He may be backsliding and all the signs are there. I just wonder where he got the stuff."
Sosiel sternly looks at the group.
"Please assist me friends, I'll summon him. We can speak as one."
Sosiel speaks to a runner and soon Aron arrives, looking warily at all of you assembled.
"What?" he says, sullenly.
Sosiel spreads his arms wide.
"Aron. We love you and we know the incredible stress and pain you are suffering from. Speak plainly, do you have drugs?"
Sosiel glances over his shoulder, looking for some support.
We are here to help you.
We only want to help you, Aron. Please, tell us.
Sosiel spreads his hands and Aron takes a step back, hard-faced before his knees almost buckle.
"Damn you yes. Shadowblood. I... I just found it in my pack! It was there, staring at me! The power it gives me, Gods Sosiel I need help. I don't know where it came from!"
Aron remove his backpack and opens it up before producing several inky-black vials with trembling hands.
"I don't know why this happened to me! I haven't even seen this stuff in so long. It just appeared!"
Aron makes to throw the vials but stares at them for a moment before he simply dumps them on the ground and turns away.
Sosiel moves forward to embrace Aron, clinging to him tightly before he turns to the group.
"We are all under great pressure, the important thing is that we can handle the issue at its source. The blessings of my goddess are powerful enough now that I can remove disease; perhaps this will work."
Sosiel drapes his arm over the miserable Aron and looks to the group. "Friends, thank you for the support. I am certain I can resolve this matter privately and ask that you give Aron all support he needs. More importantly though... the shadowblood just appeared?" Sosiel stares at Aron sternly.
Aron nods. "It was just... in my pack. I found when I bedded down for the evening after the Vilareth Ford. I could swear it was not there before."
Sosiel looks over to the group. "I ask that you help me find out how this came to be, shadowblood would be very hard to come by after the destruction of Kenabres."
Nilus says Do we think someone intentionally placed the Shadowblood in Aron's pack?
Sosiel, your magic is stronger than mine, but if there's any way I can assist you and Aron, please don't hesitate to ask.
Dejik turns to Nilus. The other possibility is that another shadowblood user just happened to hide the vials in the pack of a former addict, by coincidence. If that's the case, we should be able to find the other user. But it seems very unlikely.
Sosiel, Aron, try to think about who else might have known. We'll have to be very discrete about investigating this, both for Aron's sake and to avoid alerting-- Her voice trails off as a new thought occurs to her.
Is it possible that a demon placed the vials there? Some of the smaller demons can be stealthy and manipulative. It would be disturbing to have an invisible demon following us, but much less upsetting than having one of our own host betray us.
Aron squats on his haunches and looks up miserably, tears streaming down his face.
"I grew up in Cassomir as a burglar, and was ... very good at it. I joined a gang, became very rich. Became quite the hedonist. Name an indulgence, and I was involved. The drugs were the worst and they started to erode my abilities."
He scoops up some sand, staring at it dully as he speaks, his raspy voice speaking more and more rapidly as he pours his heart out.
"I was captured. Convicted. And sentenced to a three year tour of the Worldwound. It changed my life, it gave me the structure I needed, showed me the horrors of the world, and showed me the power of good. The power of love. After my tour I volunteered to stay on, and became a crusader. My problem is I landed with the Kenabres Wolves. They saw me as a street thug, which I was, and so I ran with my own kind. This is where I found demon blood, shadowblood - tools of the demons to destroy the crusade. I fell completely into addiction."
He chokes up as he speaks.
"I was so lost in the drugs that people - friends, died on my watch. I sought to find help, and went to the temple of Shelyn."
He and Sosiel smile at each other.
"We have been through trial sand tribulations, forceful separations, and seen many deaths. All the while Sosiel has been my beautiful shield against the shadowblood, but it has always clawed at my mind. If I stop moving, I think of shadowblood. If I lie down, I think of shadowblood and some bastard knew that!"
Aron stands up and throws the dust to the ground.
"Obviously the clerics of Shelyn knew. I've told a select few others - the only here on campaign uh... Anevia knows as we've worked together a lot. A paladin named Gerand when he was having a hard time. I told Nurah once one night we were both drunk. That's all I can think of."
"While the possibility of coincidences exists, I for one think it is entirely too coincidental that the Shadowblood could be placed by pure bad luck in the pack of one person with a horrid history of using the stuff, and who happens to be one of the hand-picked advisers of Queen Gallifrey. No, it had to have been placed deliberately, and that narrows it down to the three people Aron mentioned...plus anyone else who might have learned from a chance comment or deliberate remark. Damn!"
Ayesha sat back with a concerned look in her eyes. There had to be something going on here, something nefarious. But, there was no proof was there? Just a lot of circumstantial evidence pointing towards...something.
"Look, please don't think I am unfairly pointing fingers at Nurah. However, she is one of the people that knew Aron's weakness, and we have had suspicions about her behavior before. I don't know. This sounds silly and paranoid, but could she have been the one to plant the Shadowblood in Aron's pack?"
I can speak with her if you believe it necessary...there is no evidence against her except hunches and circumstance. I'd rather not treat her as a traitor. Nilus offers.
Sosiel looks grimly at the group.
"To suspect Nurah is to suspect one of our brightest gems; she has done more for morale than I can imagine and brings such beauty to these desolate surroundings. But if she is your only suspect, then it cannot hurt to ask. We are at war and everybody is vulnerable to the taint of the demon lords."
---
The group finds Nurah sitting outside of camp with a pot of ink and a quill, writing out some music. The tiny halfling smiles as everyone approaches.
"The chapel brings me some hope here, I'm trying to write a song about it. Something to spur you when you go to it tomorrow morning. How may I help you, commanders?"
Suspicions or not, Nurah would be a good source of information: she knows the troops better than anyone else, she circulates among them and might have seen something. And she already knew about Aron's addiction, so asking her for leads won't betray his confidence. I think we should tell her what's happened and ask if she might have some clues.
After conferring briefly with Irabeth, the group move to go speak with Nurah. Irabeth is reluctant to go thorugh with this, but agrees with Dejik's idea to simply ask about the shadowblood.
"Nurah," says Irabeth seriously and without too much tact. "Somebody planted drugs in Aron's pack after the battle at Vilareth Ford. You see more than most, do you know of anyone who could do this?"
Nurah blinks and looks at Irabeth, frowning.
"Aron told me he had some... troubles in his past. This is horrible! I haven't seen anything personally, but I'll be sure to look."
Nilus and Dejik, watching Nurah, see a flash of an expression on her face. For a moment, just a moment, they see pure rage before it settles into her typically sweet expression. She was not just surprised by this question, but angered.
Nilus frowns at the woman. You seem troubled Mistress. Is there something we can help you with?
Nurah shakes her head and smiles. "No, not at all. I will be sure to keep an eye out. If someone did such a foul thing I imagine it may have been a stealthy tiefling or some such."
Having caught on to her tell, Nilus and Dejik can tell she is flat-out lying.
Dejik raises an eyebrow and shifts her grip on her bow. I would have expected a skilled bard to lie better than that. If you tell us--truthfully--what's going on, you may yet find some mercy.
Hearing Dejik's accusation, Sarkast quietly moves around to a position to intercept a sudden attempt to leave; once out of Nurah's direct sight, he also takes out a spear.
Nurah goes very, very still for a moment. The tiny halfling then makes a move to leap to her feet and bolt!
Sarkast
Dejik
Nilus
Ronan
Ayesha
---
Nurah
---
Jinxx
"Don't run , Nurah, we just want to talk."
So saying, Ayesha cast a spell, causing a pool of grease to appear underneath the halfling's feet.
Nilus refuses to believe what he is seeing Wait! No need to run Mistress Dendiwhar! To his allies he says Put away your weapons!
Nurah, please stop this and tell us what is wrong! Nilus moves forward next to Nurah.
Acknowledging Nilus's distress, Dejik drops her bow and draws her sword as she moves within reach of Sarkast. She touches his arm and whispers, You can stop her without hurting her.
Receiving Dejik's spell, Sarkast watches as Ayesha and Nilus try to stop Nurah. He prepares to attack if necessary to prevent her from leaving.
Ronan holds his action.
Nurah manages to keep her feet and leaps up to stand! Her eyes dart around and she begins to cast a spell. Nilus reaches in to grab at her but she manages to squirm away. Sarkast then rushes in, and his magically blunted spear slams into her back. She lets out a shriek, and staggers forwards to cast a spell.
"I'm not that interested in talking, to be honest!" she pipes before she finishes her spell.
Nurah then vanishes from sight!
Jinxx
Sarkast
Dejik
Nilus
Ronan
Ayesha
---
Nurah (14 NL damage)
Ronan casts Lesser Evolution Surge on Jinxx again giving Jinxx the Grab ability
Jinxx pounces where Nurah was last seen and tries to bring her down
Ayesha cursed as the halfling disappeared and cast a glitterdust spell centered on where she last saw Nurah, wincing as she realized many of the others would be caught in the spell also.
Nilus gasps as he goes blind.
Nurah suddenly appears, covered in a glittering dust. Her eyes are closed and she opens them to realize her spell has been foiled.
Dejik waits for Sarkast to go first, hoping he can subdue Nurah without hurting her too badly.
Dejik wants to use her last Mythic point to cast Admonishing Ray. With Inspired Spell, I think she casts it as 8th level (4 levels of Oracle, +2 caster levels from Magical Knack, +2 from Inspired Spell), which would be 2 rays.
If that's not OK, I'll come up with something else for her to do.
"Sorry, Nilus!"
Ayesha's spell brightens the entire area and reveals Nurah. Sarkast takes advantage and swings.
Despite it not being directly in his own eyes, the sparkling dust distracts him. With a sudden movement, he attacks again and steps to one side to prevent her from running.
Although Sarkast's first attack misses the second one hits home, hammering Nurah with a brutal blow to the neck. The protective spell Dejik cast on his weapon prevents it from drawing blood, but her shriek of pain registers that it hurt.
Depsite being at the edge of camp, you are still surrounded by paladins and a great cry comes up as people notice the fight. Somewhat stupidly, several paladins move in to stare as the group encircles and beats on Nurah.
Now that Nurah was visible once more, Ayesha went back to her role of crowd control. "Nurah! We just wanted to talk. Surrender now, so nobody else has to get hurt."
Dejik's holy symbol begins to glow. Nurah, forgive me--this should not hurt for long. A ray of silver light flashes from her fingers, immediately followed by another.
Dejik's hand glow for a moment and two bright rays of white light punch out, and hammer Nurah in the face! The little halfling flies through the air, and collapses behind Sarkast, unconscious.
End of Combat
"What the hell was that?! ... uh, commanders?" shouts one of the paladins.
Nilus recovers his vision after a time.
He says to Sarkast Bind her feet if you please Sarkast.
And he heals her wounds , hopefully bringing her conscious.
Answer us please Nurah Dendiwhar, what is going on!
A misunderstanding, we hope, Dejik calls back to the paladins. Don't worry--she's fine, just unconscious. It looked far worse than it was.
Please listen to him--he wants to help you.
Sarkast takes some rope and binds her securely, but as comfortably as possible, then helps move her to a private location to continue the conversation.
Irabeth is quickly fetched and grimly watches the group bind Nurah before hauling her to the command tent for questioning.
The group now stands in the command tent for the Knights of Kenabres. Irabeth has been briefed on what happened. Nurah is soundly bound and sits there with a neutral expression on her face.
Irabeth raises her hands helplessly and sweeps them out to the group.
"Your prisoner, commanders."
"We didn't want a prisoner. We just wanted a conversation."
Nurah says nothing.
"Well, if the report is right you questioned her, called her on a lie, and she tried to flee. So you subdued her and now she's here. You don't always get what you want, but now you have a prisoner."
Irabeth looks over to Nurah.
"Nurah sweetling, talk to us so we can untie you."
Nurah stares straight ahead, saying nothing.