The remaining invalids look very nervous as they see the Blessed Angels enter. The people healed by Astraden and Carina seem to be feigning illness anyways just to avoid being notice. The Blessed Angels' eyes are back to normal, but this doesn't seem to put anyone at ease around them.
The Blessed Angels stand quite still as Astraden proceeds with her efforts. It is clear, though, that they aren't idle—their eyes are darting all around the place, and again Astraden and Carina have the sense they are communicating with one another somehow.
Wee mumbles something. Something that's probably a spell. And suddenly the floor underneath the Blessed Angels gives way.
Cuetzpalli doesn't think these are random pictographs—they actually look like a language of some kind, though certainly not one he's ever seen. After his departure from the Isle of Dread, he often saw similar primitive scripts in older buildings in Greyhawk and in the church of St. Cuthbert. These pictographs are a lot more complex than anything made by the people of the Flanaess, though, and a lot more...strange.
Wee grins a dog/half-orc/invisible grin at the ladies as she completes her spell. Her expression swiftly falls as she realizes the space she's opened underneath Mara's foot is so much smaller than what she expected.
Zalamandra examines the pictographs.
But her work is interrupted. A rectangular pillar of concrete about 1-1/2 feet by 1 foot by 15 feet suddenly falls out of the ceiling in the other room, collapsing into several discrete blocks when it lands on the ground.
Mara looks down as the floor disappears from beneath her left foot. She calmly moves to the side. "Wee Kender, you are under arrest for two counts of minor larceny, eight counts of directing illusion magic towards an Alhaster officer, charitable price manipulation, four counts of inconveniencing an Alhaster officer, patent infringement, crimes the nature of which is above your clearance level, twelve counts of spellcasting in front of an Alhaster officer, jaywalking, four counts of deceiving an Alhaster officer, assaulting an Alhaster officer, and creating a nuisance."
"Tina Kender," says another Angel, almost simultaneously, "you are under arrest for abetting items one, two, three, five, seven, eight; as well as four counts of inconveniencing an Alhaster officer, crimes the nature of which is above your clearance level, jaywalking, four counts of deceiving an Alhaster officer, and creating a nuisance.
"Please follow us to the Aerie. We will not ask again."
Farrukh watches the slabs of rock fall down.
"What the hell are they doing up there? Should we check on them?"
Astraden begins barking loudly.
Carina/Tina glares at the Angels as she kicks the secret door open with her foot. "I'm disinclined to acquiesce to your request."
She then chugs down her mutagen and gets ready to bolt down the passage.
The subjects look, feel, and smell just like the creatures the spell makes them resemble.
Cuetzpalli rush back to the first room, where they see light flooding in from two points: The secret door, which appears to have been opened up above, and a curious hole in the ceiling. They can see Carina poking her head through the door (and she can see them in turn).
At that moment, they hear a hideous sound, like claws against a chalkboard, come from above. The light shining through suddenly seems paler, harsher.
And they hear human screams.
"We regret the inconvenience," is all Mara says.
And then their mouths open wide—wider than is humanly possible—and inside there is only pure, pitch blackness. A hideous cacophony, like claws against a chalkboard, screeches from those hollow mouths, and Astraden and Carina feel a pervasive sense of utter evil washing over them. Their forms change. Feathery wings sprout from their robes, as though the robes themselves are part of them, just a fold of skin covering their true selves. Their eyes take on the dry-ice look again, steaming and hissing like water in a grease fire. And Astraden suddenly realizes what these are: They are baatezu.
Three of the infirm occupants are caught in this radius. Their screams peal through the screeching wails, pure and human. Dying screams.
Carina was about to say something else when the unholy cacophony racks her body.
Pain. Pain. Pain. Blood coming from her ears. Her mouth. Her nose. Her teeth feel like they're trying to fall out.
The only course of action available to her is a simple one.
Namely, to turn and run for her life down the secret passageway. She can barely see where she's going.
not again not again not again not again not again not again not again
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Eben's corgi ears perk up at the sound of falling stone and he's trotting back to inspect the damage even before the screaming starts. Once the wailing cacophany begins and the lighting from upstairs gets sick-looking, his stumpy little feet pick up the pace. It's actually quite cute, especially since his tail is wagging as he goes. Once he's at the base of the stairs, he pauses and starts waving his little paws around, which is absolutely adorable.
"Ah, that's the Blessed Angels. Not a silly question at all for a newcomer." Gurrek the gate guard winks. "Our sister lawkeeper organization. Us Watchers just handle day-to-day enforcement and such, but they—the Black Nuns of Hextor—they handle the high-profile problems. Errant adventurers, would-be assassins, cultists, seditionists...Speak falsely, friends." She grins.
"You - you murderers!" Astraden focuses on Mara. "Suffer."
One of the moon patches on her robe peels off and begins to shimmer, growing in size. It draws in Mara's gaze, making her vision waver, making all seem distant but the huge, white orb. Something about that orb threatens to subsume even Mara's inhuman consciousness.
Astraden then releases a burst of healing energy that catches herself and Carina. "Eben, how many of those locking arrows do you have left?"
Zalamandra runs after the rest of the group. "I'm here."
She summons two orbs of glowing light, which float in slow circles away from the stairs.
After being hastened by Eben's adorable corgi-waddling, Tanith zips beneath the opening in preparation for whatever horrors created the cacophony above.
"What in the Nine Hells was that?! I mean... woof!"
"Baatezu!" Astraden replies. "But they're not in the Nine Hells any more!"
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Cuetzpalli lets the rage that's been building up over the way this town is run burst forth at the sounds of trouble, entering his bloodrage. He sprouts his wings, and immediately flies up to help Astraden.
Carina rushes past Astraden, who lingers at the top of the stairs, and is promptly stunned by a flurry of feathers as Cuetzpalli zooms past both of them, rapidly spiraling up the stairs to arrive—slightly dizzy—on the ground floor of Sinner's Sanctum
"Whoa. Hey love." Astraden's voice says from empty air in front of him. "Don't hit me with the sword!"
Farrukh turns on the afterburners and rushes up the stairs, tackling(shield slamming) the nearest Angel.
Farrukh springs up the stairs and tackles the woman, slashing her with his klar. She recoils, and Farrukh sees a viscous transparent fluid dripping from his blade.
These woman wear the dark habits of monks or nuns, but their eyes gleam like blue glass and steam like dry ice, and they have immense feathery wings.
Mara flashes Farrukh a slight smile. "We will be back with you shortly." And as she and another Angel dart out of melee, the mist forming from her eyes starts to thicken until it resembles thick, gooey netting. She weaves rapidly with one hand, spreading a tangible web throughout the room.
Farrukh, Cuetzpalli and Astraden are caught fast as the other three devils suddenly wink out of sight with an unpleasant ringing sound.
Down below, Carina, Tanith, Eben and the concealed Zalamandra hear an unpleasant ringing noise precede three robed women appearing up above out of nowhere. Their powerful wings beat rapidly as two of them zoom downwards, landing on either side of Eben and Carina—and blocking Tanith's access to the stairs.
"You should surrender," one of them says, grinning. "The odds of your victory aren't insubstantial..."
"...but the odds of her," and the second one gestures at Carina, "surviving another volley of area-of-effect spells or spell-like abilities are not favorable."
"To you, we should clarify," says the third, still hovering above. "Her death would be disappointing to us, but very much within acceptable parameters for our interests."
Eben's spell grants Astraden the impetus to hop over a particularly sticky strand of web. Astraden begins casting a spell.
The invisible Zalamandra sneaks underneath the flying baatezu, coming up behind Carina. She's overconfident in her safety, unaware that the devils can see past illusions, and whispers over the message: "Carina, I can take us out of here. Do you want to leave?"
Carina shakes her head. Not yet.