"Dang it." Issil struggles under the ropes but makes no progress.
"If we find her again, I am prepared at least," Morvena sighs as she quickly stuffs the pearl back into a pocket and moves to try and help break Issil free from the netting.
"Don't worry, I'll go check on the others!" Pava tweets, fluttering back the way they'd came to go check on the kids (or warn them).
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Victor and Geoffrey both hear the muffled sound of Luculla's feet as she rushes towards the double doors. They can hear her stop just past the center of the room, just as Pádraig rushes over to block the exit doors.
Issil struggles against the net, but it holds her fast, while Pavanna flutters over Pádraig's head, back towards where the children were.
The sound of movement continues, and then a section of the western wall drops into the ground as a concealed door is opened.
-- Bold is up --
Issil (-21, entangled)
Luculla (-31, 16 NL, invisible)
Geoffrey (-40), Morvena (-11), Pádraig (-21), Victor (-30)
"Yeah. I'd love to help, but. This net? Yeah."
Issil pulls out her dagger and begins hacking away at the ropes.
Geoffrey sees the door opening up at the far wall and it didn't take a genius to figure out the cause.
I hope what Morv told me about the invisibility spell is correct...
Holding his blade hehind him he sets his shoulder down and charges the spot in front of the door.
.
As the others attempt to stop the fleeing Luculla, Morvena drops her quarterstaff, draws her dagger, and attempts to finish cutting Issil free.
And unaware of what's happening behind her, Pava continues back down the hall the way they'd came, tweeting and chirping all the while!
"Trouble! Trouble, trouble, lock your doors!"
Now on his feet, Victor rushes ahead down to the now open door, old dagger in hand.
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Issil hacks and slashes at the weaves in the net holding her down, and Morvena runs her dagger along the length of the net. The net comes apart and Issil steps out, free at last!
Geoffrey attempts to charge towards the unseen Luculla, and bumps into her, but he's halted in his place as she plants her invisible feet in the ground and blocks his way through.
Pádraig quickly steps towards the open door, and, realizing someone had to have opened it, slashes the air ahead with his rapier. The rapier catches something that resists it, and whatever it is shrieks. Then there's the messy sound of something heavy falling over.
As she appears back into visible light, you see the blade sticking out of an unconscious Luculla's side, blood streaming from the wound.
Morvena hurries up to rejoin her companions, scowling down at the unconscious and bleeding Luculla before looking to her companions.
"Well? If we have questions for her we had best staunch her wounds now before she bleeds to death. But if not...then I suggest we leave her to her fate," she remarks grimly. "Or hurry it along if you prefer a quick death for our foes as opposed to a slow one."
"Ugh! Finally!" Issil wriggles out of the net. "Normally I get paid for that kind of stuff." She steps out just in time to see Pádraig defeat her.
"Good job, man." She pulls out her mace. "Now then. Time to bash her brains in... the kids aren't in earshot, right?"
"Take that to your whore goddess." Issil laughs. "Vic, Geoff: you too don't look so good."
Once that's over with, she proceeds to heal the duo from some of their injuries.
"What did she have on her, anyway? Besides a cool eyepatch and a terrible taste in religions?"
Geoffrey places a hand on Issil's arm. "Wait, maybe she knows something of what lays beyond those doors? Wake her up and then put her down."
Issil lowers her mace. "You really want to trust this lady? I was convinced she was about to be sacrificed, right before Pádraig called her bluff."
"I'm glad to help you guys, but I have... one, maybe two spells left in me before I need to sleep. I'd rather continue healing you rather than waste my energy on her."
Victor shakes his head. "Let's just try to stop the bleeding with a dirty, filth covered rag. Give me a couple minutes to check the doors to see if they've been tampered with. I'd rather not deal with this woman more than necessary... she's too clever."
Victor scratches his rear end then sticks the finger into the wound to try stopping the leaking blood. Oops, isn't that how its done?
If/if not the woman is stabilized, Victor will check out the doors regardless to see if they've been disturbed recently. And if possible how they may open them. "Hey, someone check these for magic ok? I don't want my legs blowed off by something."
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Luculla was carrying a masterwork sickle, three potions, and a scroll. She's wearing a +1 chain shirt, a cloak, and a ring. The cloak and ring glow with magical auras.
The amber-and-jade facemask of Mahathallah one of the other cultists is wearing is likely of some value, as is Luculla's gold unholy symbol.
She also carried 74 gold pieces.
Issil lets Pádraig do the talking while she looks through Lucella's goods.
"Cure Light Wounds." She jingles the blue potion.
"Cure Moderate Wounds." She looks at the purple potion.
"A scroll of glyph of warding. Yeah, alright." Issil read the magical scroll.
"A cloak of resistance, minor strength."
"Uh... two thousand platinum pieces? Who did she steal this from?" Issil stares at the mask.
"Someone very stupid would pay 100 gold pieces for this unholy symbol. Probably to melt it. I'll spin it off to some holy idiot as a reward."
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After binding Luculla's arms and legs with rope, Pádraig applies healing magic to her. In a haze, she slowly opens her eyes, and then scuttles back towards the wall in a frenzy. She struggles against her bindings long enough that deep purple welts appear along her wrists.
"I'd not show you any mercy, nor should I expect that you do the same. If you're going to kill me, just get it over with!" She spits. She tries to grab her unholy symbol - a single eye surrounded by mystic runes - and whispers what sounds like a prayer, but nothing happens. "Mortal existence is both limited and meaningless. If I cannot serve my Queen any longer, I'd rather die. I shall roam Voiporl just like all the other souls I've delivered!"
Then the cult leader begins to pull so hard at her bindings that her oxygen-starved hands are engorged in a deep shade of blue. She mumbles to herself in the most unsettling of ways, and stops to smile only when Issil holds her dagger above Luculla's head.
"Wow, this was such a great use of our time. Happy I didn't waste a spell, here." Issil grows more impatient. "Blah blah blah. Can I kill her now? We need to cleanse her stench from here and the candy shop."
Geoffrey sighs, "Do it Issil," he shakes his head sadly, "Send her to her just reward."
Victor watches on, intrigued. "Wouldn't it be much more fitting to, I dunno.. clean her up nice and say some sweet prayers to a more fitting deity before offering her up to like some nice, sweet God? Sort of like her giving her soul to the good guys to help offset all the evil she's committed. We could get some nice holy water, maybe a baptism kinda thing? May do her good in the long run." He says with a smirk and a smile.
"Bear's endurance... helps make the body tougher for a few minutes. So they say."
He grabs up the mask and double checks such a valuable find...
Issil yawns as she buries the dagger into the woman's eye. "Gods, you talk so much. You'll wind up as her ash tray, if you're lucky."
"This is our home, now." Issil drops the body. "Let's finish exploring this place and clean up the bodies, eh?"
Victor shrugs as the deed is done "Or that." He rubs his temples a bit as the raging unholy headache is still with him, much duller thanks to Padraig and Issil's healing, but still there.
"Let me get a look at that door to be sure its still sealed up tight, then maybe a rest for the evening and bring those kids home during the day? Probably stop by that Candy Shoppe too... Anyone good at finding poison? I hear there's a spell for that. Would be a shame to waste ALL the candy there if only some is foul..." He raises his eyebrows before holding his temples in pain.
"Ya... that hurt. Time for the door." He heads over to check it out in thorough fashion.
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All is quiet after Issil plunges her dagger through Luculla's skull. Victor checks out the door Luculla had opened, and finds it free of traps. The other side opens to the area where the twins were rescued, and where Elgadazum's corpse still lies.
The door at the opposite end of this hall opens to a bedroom, but Victor finds that the entrance is trapped with a glyph of warding.
The sealed doors you'd earlier passed by aren't trapped, but there's something strange about the hall leading to them that you hadn't noticed before. When you approach, you realize how cold this area is - nearly freezing - and the long, mournful moans of something otherworldly sigh out in greeting. Even Padraig's dancing lights seem less powerful in front of the sealed doors. Morvena detects a faint abjuration aura on door's lock.
"Ummm problem guys. Whoever opens this door is gonna get their legs blowed off by a magic boom. You guys got any magic boom fixes maybe?" He mimes a massive explosion before backing away.
"But at least those freaky, cold double doors seem like they've been sealed a long time. Maybe we can wait on those till we rest up and get those kids home.. and visit that candy shoppe before any more of those cultheads figure out we just busted their leader?"
"We did get that scroll of Glyph of Warding. Could we um... counterspell or whatever with it?" Issil shrugs. "Otherwise we gotta look for a scroll of dispel magic or something."
"Let's wait out the night, kill the other cultists and escort those kids home."
Once it's time to rest, Issil heals herself.
"I have one more heal. Who wants it before we rest up?"
"If its one of those nice back rub, massage ones then count me in!" Victor slides in front of Issil and leans back for some massage.
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Pádraig Henry takes a look at the ring and the mask. "This is a ring of protection +1. I'm not sure of the mask's value, but someone would surely pay us for it."
The argent voice is familiar with Luculla's destination. "Voiporl is the infernal realm of the whore queen Mahathallah. It is contained entirely within vast caves, whose ceilings are in certain locations rent open to reveal dizzying alien constellations. The floors of the caverns are filled by a violet desert, dotted with ancient temples and oasis gardens the size of jungles."
"We'll all be happier with her there than here with us."
The halfling uses his last low-level spell to heal some of his wounds. "I've got our wand, just let me know what you need."
"Resting here the night would be wise, as would killing the other cultists," Geoffrey nods, "I could use some healing too before we rest. We should rest back in those rooms with the kids."
"Yes, we should rest up first," Morvena agrees. "And no, I currently do not have the means to dispel the trap on the door," she adds with a scowl. "I am working on acquiring such magics but it is a slow process when funds are limited!"
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Morvena shakes her head. "I am afraid not. The only thing that I can definitively state about it is that it is frightfully ugly and gaudy! These cultists had poor taste and in more ways than one."
"Oh. We can buy a scroll of Magic Dispel, right?" Issil shrugs. "Maybe our favorite dealer is willing to trade some of the junk here." She wipes her dagger on Lucella's clothes and prepares to execute the unconscious cultists.
"I'm not going to win nice gal of the year. But they were ready to eat kids. That... I don't deal with that." Issil grips her dagger hilt even harder. "I don't want to scare those children anymore than I need to."
Victor nods in agreement, then offers to help Issil with her CDG skills "You have a number of options here. Being that they are already unconscious this is pretty easy. If you want to avoid having more blood to clean up I suggest where the skull and neck meet. Insert the blade precisely here and at this angle... then give the pommel a firm strike with the heel of your dominant hand."
He lines up the dagger for her then gives it a solid 'pop'. It slides nicely between the vertebrae and severs the spinal cord/brain connection, missing any main veins and arteries in the process.
"Yes, hopefully that would not be a problem," Morvena nods to Issil. When the matter of the cultists comes up, Morvena shakes her head. "No need to explain yourself to me. They are a menace that needs to be eradicated swiftly. Were circumstances different I would have agreed with something similar to Victor's proposal - delivery to the authorities rather than the martyr's death Luculla and likely these ones here wanted. But given the situation we must handle things as best as we can on our own."
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Issil doesn't have the precision Victor has. But to spare those children more grief, more shock, if even for one night, would grant her some peace. Issil prepares to do the deed and wash herself as much as she can.
Issil's aunt was actually nice to her for one night. Let her play with all the toys, let her play dress up and apply as much make up as she wanted. She even let young Issil eat a bunch of biscuits after hours. Whenever Issil asked why she was so nice, her aunt just laughed it off. Issil didn't understand where the bruises came from. Or why her aunt's eye makeup wouldn't come off. Or why her aunt did not want to speak to any other adults. And then Issil's uncle arrived with a scowl and dragged the woman back home. A look of raw, distilled fear was the last look she gave Issil. Jail was too good for that man.
So tonight, Issil wouldn't give the children the look of a murderer. If they asked, she would tell them they died in their sleep, so it was painless. But for tonight, she wanted them to feel joy. They were free now.
Victor ponders a bit over the glyph "I've got an idea. Geoff, help me with this cultist woman with the buck teeth. Let's just toss her in there and see what happens ok? Be sure you stay back more than five feet if it explodes it should miss us.. and hopefully make quick work of this hoe."
Geoffrey gives Victor a dubious look before shrugging, "Worth a shot I guess. It would take time to track down that dispelling scroll...time I don't know we have now." He then fireman-carries her over near the door.
"BRRRR...it is chilly here...help me with her Victor!"
Morvena grimaces when it becomes apparent as to what Victor has in mind. "Eugh...if you must. But if there is a mess then I am not helping you clean it up!"
But then she considers the fact that this place will ostensibly be theirs once everything has been safely cleared and investigated.
"Oh very well...perhaps I will help a little bit..." she sighs.
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Pádraig finds the twins, Angus and Phenio, awake and playing some sort of game with one of the comatose cultists. Phenio has placed her on a chair and is spinning it around as quickly as his stubby legs might allow him to. When he stops it, he points to one of her eyes, and Angus calls out, "Green!"
A dastardly Phenio slowly lifts the changeling's eyelid to reveal a purple iris. "Aw man, that's five for five! No fair!" Angus complains. "This game sucks. Oh hey, it's the halfling. We're getting kinda bored, and it's eerily quiet in this place. I hope we can go home soon!"
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Back in the statue-filled hall, Victor further injures the already unconscious cultist, then Geoffrey hefts her onto his shoulder. He tosses her at the glyph of warding, and the body slams against an invisible wall. A defeaning sonic blast bounces her back, throwing her in a smooth arc past Geoffrey and into a pillar with a horrible crunch.
"Well that seemed to do something unfortunate." He declares with a grin. "Check to see if the magic is still there.. it shouldn't be but we should figure it out for sure right?"
Once the magic in the trap has been spent, Victor and Issil makes sure the cultists never rise again, but not around the children. "So.. quick question.. we need to get rid of these bodies... I'm not one for having the stink, or the chance they'll rise as undead in our home court. Any ideas?"
"The only place I can think of is the garbage room where we fought those otyughs," Geoffrey shrugs, "If one of those was still alive then they would be set for life! At least the stink will keep away any curious bystanders."
"Ya... but as far as we know WE need to use that entrance too. Hopefully once we explore behind this frosty door we'll find some more exits. It isn't good to not have a back door... you'll end up constipated."
"I could... cremate them." Issil flexes her hands a bit. "But the smoke would be obvious." She waves her hands. "If we had a wagon we could move them to a garbage dump or something. Next to the other trash."