"Into the closet, then, I suppose..." Ella says wryly.
"Pretty sure the room's safe." Judah said. "Still though, all these little haunts in this place make me think Cassiel aught to be the one to be opening most doors."
Cassiel strides forward and opens the door.
"At least it shows the villagers' fear of the place is well-founded. Even without a cult of maniac necromancers deliberately stirring the place up, Petros shouldn't have come here alone," Lorant says with a frown.
I think he knew what he was doing... thats why he called for us.
Ella nods sadly. "But it surely would have been better if he'd called us first..."
Judah slipped through the door and slowly moved his torch to push back the shadows and survey the room.
"Lovely." he said looking out at the lake.
Ella, too, gazes over the lake. "...I see no reason to venture out there, though it's probably best to be aware of the back exit. Shall we try the doors to the west?"
Lorant steps forward and takes a few sniffs, dipping his fingers into the water.
Cassiel wrinkles his nose. "Anyone fancy a dip?"
Not hardly - I shudder to think how sick someone would get in those foetid waters.
Ella snorts. "I agree with Mathus; that seems like a terrible idea." Striding across the room, she lifts her torch high, looking at the doors to the west. "What about over here?"
|
A huge stone furnace dominates the south area of this room, large enough for a child to climb inside. As Lorant crosses the room to test the waters, the furnace seems to animate into a leering skull-like visage made of metal and bars. It roars, then a fiery tongue lashes out from its maw to strike at Lorant. The not-so-delicate stench of burning flesh fills the room as the flame strikes and engulfs the inquisitor
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Lorant screams as the fire lashes out at him, one searing off half his face to reveal leering sharp teeth, another reducing his holy symbol to a charred wreck and another hitting him square in the chest, causing him to double over in pain and collapse to the floor, his flesh crackling and smoking. He thinks he hears the screams of mobs and cries of children, the uncaring wrath of the gods overhead, and the dark, dusty laugh of the Whispering Tyrant.
"Lorant!" Ella cries as she hears the furnace's blast. "Hold on!"
Judah grabbed Lorant and dragged him back from the possessed furnace.
"Hold on, Lorant!"
Lorant grunts in pain as Judah drags him along, reaching into his miraculously unharmed pack and retrieving the vial he handed to him earlier. Charred hands fumble with the stopper until he forces it open, and he jerks it toward his half-burned open mouth. It splashes on his tongue...
...and almost immediately his face mends, the skin of his cheek reforming and the burn scars fading away. He retches and twitches a bit, but this doesn't impede Judah's getting him the hell out of there!
I have some training at treating wounds but nothing so miraculous as a healing potion... Did we not find a wand and holy waters as well? Use the wand on him and I'll take the holy waters. Better than bombs - I have less chance of injuring you if I miss
"Don't...waste...on me," Lorant manages to groan out.
Ella hisses as she dashes over to him. "Don't be a fool, Lorant, we need you back on your feet." Pulling the wand they found out of her pocket, she touches it gently to the least-injured parts of his flesh near the injuries.
Seeing some more of the burns fade, Ella lets out a sigh of relief. Lorant may not be back to full health, but he looks much stronger than he was. Looking up at the others, she asks, "Shall I send Edmund in there to try to...disable that mad furnace thing? It should hurt him less, being a spirit. The risk is slight."
"Easy for you to say!" Edmund snarls.
"Not that...I'll go...go through charges twice as fast," he protests, but doesn't offer any resistance to Eleanora's healing.
Despite his concern, more wounds close and soon all but the worst damage to his face is healed, and even that looks more like he pressed his face next to a forge than and less like he'd stuck his head in a hellmouth.
"Hush," Ella says firmly, studying his face. "We need you in shape to face anything else that's lurking down here."
Lorant drags himself to his feet.
"And I'm grateful, but remember that every resource we spend on me is one that would be doubly better on the rest of you."
Cassiel recoils in surprise as Lorant is suddenly immolated, then rushes the furnace with his sword swinging.
Lorant draws his morningstar and edges closer to Cassiel, keeping the paladin between him and the furnace.
Cassiel gives the furnace grate a contemptuous kick.
"Stick THAT in your pipe and smoke it!"
Judah snorted, trying to stifle a laugh, then wiped his eyes and took a deep breath. "Smoke it?" he laughed again, then stopped. "When did this start getting fun?"
"Well, since I realized Lorant went up like a Desnan candle. Had to do SOMETHING to keep our spirits up." Cassiel shrugs.
His eyes then widen. "...oh, gods."
"I'm alright, Cas," Lorant says, wiping soot from his tabard.
"Judah and Eleanora's timely intervention saved my life."
Lorant coughs a bit.
"Next time, don't object," Ella says tartly, clambering to her feet as well and stowing the wand back in her belt. She moves cautiously into the furnace room, eyeing the malevolent heating unit with dislike.
"Well, it seems quiet for now..." she mutters. "Where to next? We've still found no evidence of this cult that Petros was after."
"I wasn't objecting, I was reminding you that healing magic is only half as effective on me, so it'll take more of it to heal me. I don't want us to run out of it if you're spending it all on me and leaving none for yourselves," Lorant says, rubbing his temples.
He strokes his ruined beard.
"Dammit. I spent twenty years perfecting this thing!"
...which also happened to be about the same time that style fell from popularity.
Lorant looks about the room, nursing his wounds.
"I wasn't objecting, I was reminding you that healing magic is only half as effective on me, so it'll take more of it to heal me. I don't want us to run out of it if you're spending it all on me and leaving none for yourselves," Lorant says, rubbing his temples.
"That... sounds like a problem. Any way around it?"
"As far as I'm aware, no. I'm lucky. Most dhampir are burned by the energy healing magic draws from, and instead are healed by the dark energies that fuel undead. I can be healed by both, but only half as much. It's like drinking a poison long enough to build up a tolerance to it, except in my case it was because my mother was literally blasted with healing energies by four priests at once to keep her alive while she gave birth to me."
Judah paled a bit. "...none of that sounds pleasant."
"Still, I imagine it's better than getting set on f!!$ing fire..."
Ella's lips tighten. That is what happened, then. She says nothing, just holding her torch high. "It is certainly the preferable option, and I will continue to heal you, Lorant, your flawed intentions for nobility aside." She glances at the door to the south. "We've not been into that part of the building yet, I don't think..."
"Thank you. You've Andoletta's compassion, Eleanora. And her sternness," Lorant replies. As she mentions the door, he turns to Judah.
"Would you do us the honors, friend?"
"Oh, right. Sorry. Lost between my ears for a second there." Judah said getting back to business.