Alia touches the hideous arthropod instantly covering its foreparts in a thin sheen of frost. It presses forward its web net already stretched out to strike with. It loops the webbing neatly over Illthir entangling her.
1st Round! (Boss Theme ♬)
The Bold May Act!
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__ Illthir entangled
__ Alia
__ Tougher-looking Giant Spider -15 hp
__ Zokon
__ Fergus
__ Serena
__ Durgan
Alia draws her weapon while trying to recall any information about giant spiders she might have, but her mind blanks out. Probably did not help that she found the creatures kind of gross and daydreamed about other things when she was supposed to be learning about their kind.
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Deciding to stick with what she KNOWS works best, her Estoc becomes covered with rime.
Fueling her blade with her inherent magic as well, Alia strikes a blow at what seemed to have been vulnerable areas for the smaller spiders. "Oh no you don't! Let go, vile...ugly thing.",
"I can't see anything, you come down or should I come up?"
Zokon puts away the bow as he moves to the tree they are in
Alia draws her weapon while trying to recall any information about giant spiders she might have, but her mind blanks out. Probably did not help that she found the creatures kind of gross and daydreamed about other things when she was supposed to be learning about their kind.
Deciding to stick with what she KNOWS works best, her Estoc becomes covered with rime.
And with one fell strike the elf stabs upward at the beast through its mouth and it topples from its web... directly above Illthir, Alia, and (40' below) Durgan.
"I can't see anything, you come down or should I come up?"
Zokon puts away the bow as he moves to the tree they are in
Something large, pale and with a lot of legs fall through Zokon's field of view.
"Huh? Wuhhh! Hah! Ohhh ... Ahhh!" Illthir goes through a rapid show of emotions that her sleep addled brain could barely comprehend. The end result did seem to be giant spider falling onto of her. Let's go with "Ahhhh!"
Her elven instincts quickly take over and she hugs the tree as hard as she can. While that wasn't very helpful in dodging the falling bug, it did keep her firmly attached to the tree.
"... And people live in forests out of their free will *sigh* ..." She really couldn't wait to be someplace she could take a warm bath and sleep in a soft bed.
Much to Durgan's relief Illthir does not also fall on him.
A horse-sized spider falls on Durgan and more or less disintegrates around him as it hits the ground.
The dwarf, fortunately, is made of pretty stern stuff and aside from some scrapes and bruises is not too badly injured.
He stands up and calls out, "Alia, Illthir, are you okay?"
One bad part about stabbing upward into something was that pulling the blade out was a downward motion - so the same direction into which gravity accelerated stabbed dead matter.
Absolutely unwilling to let go of her Estoc under any circumstances, Alia is hit by the brunt of the bodies force and almost pushed off the branch. Spreading her legs and sliding down onto the branch, she shifts sideways as the spider gets pushed aside by the wooden barrier, managing to untangle her blade during the rotational movement without completely losing her balance. "And STAY dead!" - it was not a particulary witty comment, but that hardly mattered, she wanted to shout SOMETHING, at the spider, to let the others know they were fine, and to release tension. Her leg was scraped despite the leather, the landing was not very soft, and her blade and parts of herself were covered in a gooey substance.
Taking a look at Ilthir and realizing the other girl was fine, she shouts down:"We are...ok. But keep those bows ready, just in case. We are almost done here..."
With the spider dead on the forest floor, the party takes a moment to reflect upon their lives up to that point....
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After catching her breath for a moment, Alia gets up on the branch again, and helps Illthir find steady footing as well. Looking up to watch for any more spiders, she then steps up to the web sack they were about to open:"I dread what we may find in there, but I suppose our search is close to an end. Let me cut this one open...I am not sure if I'll still need this..."
She raises her left hand, with the Estoc still covered in Frost, while holding her right out for the knift Illthir used.
Serena helps Duncan from beneath the bulk of the spider's remains and looks up into the trees. "Are you almost done?" she calls, clearly ready to be away from the spider-infested wood.
Durgan waits patiently and tries to clean off spider goo as best as he can.
Zokon pulls himself away from the spider and helps the others as he can.
"I think we should leave personally, we have not found our original prey and we are dangerously tired, we have something to investigate the chest, but those unexplored structures are most likely home to something that is stronger than the spiders or gets along with them.. either way, probably not much in the ways of pros for us, other than bashing some monsters."
Illthir slowly lets go of the branch and sits up with a groan. She briefly closes her eyes and mentally takes stock of herself. Once done she replied to her companions down on the ground. "Yeah, I could go for 'okay'. We're almost done. One of the sacks are wiggling though..."
"Right. You cut I catch. Let's hope we don't regret this." the skald swallows hard and gets ready to see what sort of surprise this sack had in store. She take a cautious look around - and up - the trees for more giant spiders then hands Alia the knife.
Alia cuts the web open and fist-sized version of the ivory spiders they had just fought tumbles from the opening. Laying at the bottom of the sack is Ilvah.
She doesn't appear to be conscious, but is still breathing.
Kill her. Now. End it.
Alia's hand trembles, slowly moving back to strike...then flashes forward as she stabs into the branch that held the sack.
Puliing her Estoc back and sheathing the blade, she helps Illthir handling their quarry, starting to bind her with rope across the upper body so that she could be lowered down to the ground.
"It all would've been so much easier if we had come a few hours later. But we gotta do things right. We will rule a country. There's protocol. We can't just do things on a whim."
It was an excuse, and she didn't make much of an effort to hide it.
She was torn. On one hand, she took care and grew close to the young woman, on the other, she destroyed all that trust in one fell swoop by revealing her true nature and attempting to murder them.
Combat was one thing, but ending the life of a helpless sentient being in anger, that was a path she hoped to never go down.
Memories flared up of the man she stabbed in a tavern...but she had not MEANT to kill him, that had been an accident. This? This would be murder, to avenge an attempted murder... - and she ended up in this whole situation by refusing to listen to the others. The least she could do was to listen now, before any rash action.
Durgan tries to recall how the laws of Brevoy apply to lycanthropes.
"If we deliver her to the authorities of Brevoy, they will kill her. Why subject her to the suffering of transport and a trial, knowing the outcome?
I advocate a swift and merciful end. She does not need to wake or suffer. I will do it if needed. This is the end of the battle that she began. Had she asked for quarter, we might be in a very different position. She did not. I think I should end the battle now.
I am but one voice. I have said my piece."
Durgan tries to recall how the laws of Brevoy apply to lycanthropes.
Fergus Nods at Durgan's suggestion.
I've no desire to carry them with us all the way to our destination, nor keep an eye on them in transit. She has already proven her guilt. Not only that, she has proven shrewd enough to trick people into believing her a victim and harmless. She may do so again, though it is unlikely to be effective with those who are less... empathetic. Note, I've no personal motive aside from mild annoyance for the chase, and the fact that she likely has killed many before her attempt on your lives, and would seek to kill many more should she escape. With them gone, much like these spiders, the land is that little bit safer for people. Waking them would be unnecessary trouble, though if you wish to give them final words I'll not protest. As long as they are incapacitated in other ways. He rubs his hand over his slightly less well kept beard.
Quite frankly, killing them is justice long coming for those she wronged, and it would not endanger our, or other's, lives any further.
Illthir bites her lip. She wasn't sure she had something helpful to say right this moment, so let's focus on getting the girl/murderer down to the ground at least. One step at a time. Deep breaths.
Durgan tries to recall how the laws of Brevoy apply to lycanthropes.
Ilvah coughs and goes into a fit of some sort. Her breathing grows ragged as her body twists and contorts as if against unseen bonds. The various bite marks on her weep caustic yellow venom.
"I will not permit the outright murder of the young woman. If she overcomes the poison, then it is obviously Sarenrae's will that she lives to be tried. I say that we rest, keeping her tied and watch over her. If she lives, we take her back. If not, then it was not destined to be." Serena's face betrays her difficulty in making this choice. "I will not have murder, justified or not, on my conscience."
Fergus raises an eyebrow.
Sarenrae's will? Whether this girl lives or dies has nothing in relation to her, or any of the more... good aligned deities for that matter. They rarely interfere with mortals, and even rare enforce their will. If anything, many of them would call for justice. That said, I'm not above a field trial. We don't know everything, though I doubt the authenticity her word would give. If you do force us to take her along with us... any deaths would be on your hands. Could your conscience live with that? Fergus finally finds a spot to sit down for a rest after their long endeavor.
"I do not agree with Fergus's position on the actions of the gods. But that is not truly pertinent.
I will support Serena's proposal. If Ilvah lives, she gets a trial. If at her trial she expresses a sincere wish for redemption in the name of Sarenrae, then Serena can be responsible for her.
If the poison kills her, that is her fate.
If she survives the poison but does not wish to be redeemed, then we give her a swift and merciful execution for her crimes.
Does that sound just?"
"Right. Trial by the divine then. But they did put us here so ... I'll do what I can." the skald blinks hard and wipes her brow. Oh how she missed civilization and, right just now, a proper doctor.
"She's been like this for a while, so it must be slow? Or maybe the small spiders bit her just now. Or it has a delayed onset? Or ... Bleh." she furrowed her brow and tried to gather what she knew about spider venom and healing. It wasn't much but worth a shot.
Fergus glances towards illthir.
why intercede in the gods will? Leave her be. If they wish her to live, she lives. If you interfere it is no longer in the hands of the gods... unless you believe most gods influence the world largely through their mortal followers. Acting directly precious few times?
After a few moments he grumbles a small apology.
forgive my confrontational stance, I'm a little tired and slightly agitated. Our entire goal in this chase was to slay her, and here we are aiding her survival.
"If the divine didn't want me to help, they shouldn't have given me a mushy soft heart." Illthir mutters, mostly to herself.
"They have placed all of us here, with our varying senses of justice and mercy," Durgan says quietly.
He does not attempt to stem the effects of the poison, but neither does he finish Ilvah off.
"If the divine didn't want me to help, they shouldn't have given me a mushy soft heart." Illthir mutters, mostly to herself.
"Ugh." Ilvah winces.
She nods to Serena, only responding:"The gods, then."
Not skilled in the healing arts, Alia knows that any meddling of hers might as easily cause damage as it could help.
Instead, she sits down next to Ilvah, her Estoc in her off-hand, while using a rag to wipe her face, then placing her hand on the girls hand.
"Thank you, Illthir."
She still felt compassion to the girl that tried to murder her. She was young, and Alia felt that nobody with free will was truly born evil. It was much more likely that something caused her to become who she was today. She had never interacted much with other races, having spent most of her live until now sheldered among Elves - but she had seen how swiftly they adapted, how quick they changed. From Svetlana to the Benzen kids, to her own companions, like Zokon, or former enemies, like Akiros.
Whatever happened in her young life, Alia doubted that Ilvah alone was to blame for walking this path. But how deep that corruption took root, she could not know. By all means, for what she likely did in the past, and tried to do, she would be sentenced to hang in Brevoy. It made sense. But that didn't mean it felt right to do that to a child.
"If the gods will it, we will hear you out., she squeezes Ilvahs hand slightly. And if not, you will not die alone in the dark. You were probably alone too long - to become that way. I want you to know it could have ended differently...regret what you did or dream about what could have been - whatever gives you peace...
It *was* an awfully painful poison. A shame the druid wasn't around still. Or maybe the fey down the well? But they probably didn't have time. Let's hope the divine was on their side then. The skald sang softly and unclasped her cloak, wrapping it around Ilvah.
Ilvah groans.
Her body spasms once!
And then finally subsides. A dull, wet rattle issues from her lungs and then she lies still.
Illthir continues to sing, but carefully moves her hand to the side of Ilvah's neck. Hopefully there would be a pulse. But if not ... She tried to tell herself that at least the child wasn't dying of spider venom anymore.
Durgan looks on quietly. "It is over. I am sorry for what happened to her. I lack the power to cure lycanthropy... let us hope nobody here was infected."
Alia sighs, still holding the girls still hand: "It is over, it seems. Let us return. I will carry her. She died, so the debt of her guilt is dealt with. She has no one else, so it will be my duty to send her on. As soon as is feasable, I will build a small pyre for her - also to cleanse her remains of any lycantrophy. Illthir, you are no priest, but have a way with words - if you would be willing to say a few words when the time comes, I would be thankful."
Zokon has listened to all,
"As future nobles we would best develop relations with those, whose lands we are in, justice is not really ours to dispense, although this one had earned a death sentence, I would be with Durgan in this BUT for the fact that we want to show that we respect our neighbours laws."
When she passes or at least seems to
"Lets be sure that she has passed and then give her a burial."
So it is... I hope she can find peace in her next life, one without her curse, or her desire to harm.
He then looks to the others.
Serena looks solemn, as if uncertain what to feel. Her faith tells her that evil could be redeemed if it were willing. Would the girl have accepted redemption if offered? Maybe I could have tried harder, done more.
"A pyre," she says plainly. "To be set ablaze with the first rays of dawn."
Illthir looked down at Ilvah. The last time she'd seen her, the girl had merely been asleep. But this time she wouldn't stir with the rays of dawn. And for that the skald wept. She had hoped things could still turn out well, things could end for the better. But tonight was clearly a tragedy. Bummer.
Her limbs felt heavy as she got back to her feet, as hope no longer dulled the full weight of exhaustion and sleep deprivation. "Yes. Let us hope she finds peace. I wish you could have sought it in life..."
"Lets do our best to dig a grave, I have some tools. No shovel though."
Zokon starts digging through his pack for stuff to break the ground and then dig with.. probably grappling hook and plate or something
With the hole dug and body laid within the party considers their next move, remembering their horses are still tethered miles away in the forest.
"A pyre, Zokon. That was the request of Alia and Serena. Not a grave."
Durgan does have his Traveler's Any-Tool which can form a shovel, but he will respect the wish for a pyre.
"Let's get back to the horses and rest there. We should be able to move more quickly than the time it took us to get here."
And the pyre is constructed.