Seeing that she cannot get to the mage, Anevia slips to the side (and out of the mage's sight) away from the glaive-wielder.
Rashak will move to flick a glob of acid at the wizard, trying to advance without taking a glaive to the stomach.
,
Once again, Belgood attempts to move in to distract the glaive-mistress and attacks.
Distracted as she is by taking advantage of the opening in Lyddy's defenses, the glaive-wielder can't manage to get her weapon back into position in time to cut at Belgood as well. Once he reaches the flank spot, though, the tiefling still finds her defenses impenetrable.
The wizard hurls his staff again, this time at the badly-bleeding Lyddy. Meanwhile, the priestess, flanked and too close to her enemies to use her glaive effectively, reaches out to try to lay her hand on Ellena, the glove pulsing with a vile, bruise-black aura. Ellena cannot back away in time, and the aura seems to seep through her armor and into her very soul. Seeing no other choice, the priestess then moves away from the wall, but her speed makes her drop her guard.
Ellena swings at the priestess, trying to keep her insides from spilling out, due to the vile energy she had been struck with. She tries her best to pit down the evildoer.
Attack
Damage
Damage
Ellena's massive greatsword slashes into the priestess, undaunted by the unholy energy coursing through her. The woman staggers, holding her feet with sheer will only - and then Belgood's rapier runs her through from behind. She gives a little gasp, then collapses.
Ellena moves to the wizard and swings her large sword with her new massive frame.
Attack
Damage
Lyddy drops the glowing morningstar on the priestess, feels a little guilty at the satisfaction of the sound it makes, and proceeds to search for and use a scroll of cure light wounds on herself.
Anevia drops her shortbow to the side and draws her shortsword. Feinting to one side, she tumbles past the man to come up behind and box him in while giving her allies an advantage.
Anevia's arrow slices into the tiefling's throat, He collapses, choking on blood.
The woman whips another arrow from the quiver and stalks into the room to verify the fallen tiefling is not faking it.
Lydia's voice is unusually cold as she asks, "Do we need to keep either of these two alive?"
She starts searching the priestess for healing magic, feeling it only just that the woman provide for undoing the damage she's done.
With the sudden quiet as the battle suddenly ends, Aravashnial asks, "Our allies seemed to have the upper hand. Are they victorious?"
Seeing the look on the paladin's face, Lyddy apologizes, "Sorry, that was my anger speaking. She nearly gutted me with that sword-on-a-stick. Maybe we should take them back to the mongrel village to face their justice."
"That is probably for the best. I can't in good conscience strike them down. The mongrels can let these two stand trial. Can we stop them from bleeding out?"
Lyddy casts stabilize on each of the defeated mongrels.
Anevia, having overheard the conversation, puts the thought of her head and searches the fallen spellcaster for equipment and potential surprises.
The tielfing wizard has three potions and six scrolls, plus two smokesticks, his quarterstaff, a vial of antitoxin, his spellbook, and 50 gp.
The Baphomet priestess has two potions, a wand, two flasks of alchemist’s fire, a tanglefoot bag, a chain shirt, her masterwork glaive, another vial of antitoxin, a bejeweled book of prayers devoted to Baphomet (potentially worth something for its jewels, if you could bring yourselves to sell it), a lockbox key, and 32 gp. She is also carrying a letter.
Hosilla,
You will remain, for the time being, in Kenabres, but know this: the city’s days are numbered. Seek a place of safety — the underground den of your mongrel lackeys should suffice to keep you safe from the devastation to come. I shall assume command of Drezen shortly, and once Vorlesh has finished with the wardstone and Kenabres is no longer of interest to us, you are to return to my side. Excellent news regarding the salvage of Yaniel’s sword from the museum as well — bring it with you, for I believe this weapon could be quite useful once we corrupt it. Before you leave for Drezen, stop by the three safe houses (Nyserian Manor, Topaz Solutions, and the Tower of Estrod — the passphrase remains "I’ve new material for the archives," for now) to ensure no evidence remains behind.
May Lord Deskari and Lord Baphomet watch over you!
S. V.
Lyddy holds up the letter and lockbox key. "We may have found something big. Keep your eyes open for a sword and lockbox. It says she got Yaniel's sword before the attack and she was to take it with her to be corrupted. Does not say if the box holds the sword or not."
"That sounds correct, Lyddy. Check them again, and let's clear out this room. Yaniel's sword will not be corrupted on my watch."
"If they truly have stolen Yaniel's sword from the museum, we must return it to its rightful place - which in these days, might be on a hero's hip."
"He mentions the witch's name - rumor has it she is still alive, I guess this might be her or a child. Do you suppose S.V. is that traitorous dwarf Vhane?" She holds up the letter. "This might well be the most valuable thing I have ever held."
She takes a moment to detect magic on the quarterstaff and hands the spellbook to Rashak for his inspection. She also detects on the priestess' gear, just to be complete.
"We clearly need to search every square inch of these evil mongrel tunnels. The sword must be found at all costs. This mission could be more important than us getting home. Keep that note, though, Lyddy. Like you said, we will need all the information therein once we reach town, it seems."
Rashak will leaf through the spellbook to see if there is anything interesting.
The wizard's potions are cure light wounds (x2) and shield of faith. Lyddy determines that two of his scrolls are shield and two are comprehend languages, but she can't figure out what the other two are. The quarterstaff is not magical and one of the priestess' potions defies Lyddy's analysis, but the other turns out to be a potion of invisibility, while the wand is a wand of spiritual weapon with eight remaining charges. Rashak, with the aid of his read magic cantrip, has more luck - the two scrolls Lyddy couldn't identify turn out to be endure elements and grease. The wizard's spellbook contains the usual assortment of cantrips, along with burning hands, comprehend languages, endure elements, enlarge person, grease, mage armor, mount, and shield.
The room in which the battle occurred is basically just a large dining hall, but the room from which the priestess and wizard emerged looks to be some kind of private quarters. A stone pedestal holds a copper brazier aloft in the center of the room. Against the western wall, an enormous pile of animal furs and thick quilts appears to serve as a bed. Sheathed weapons and stone carvings adorn the walls. The eastern half of the room holds a wooden desk, beneath which stands a long, thin iron lockbox. The weapons on the walls are degraded and useless relics from the First Crusade, but the lockbox opens easily when the key Lyddy found is applied to it. Within are a small leather pouch containing an assortment of semiprecious gemstones (three chips of lapis lazuli, two bloodstones, a citrine, and a white pearl) as well as two more scrolls. The lockbox also contains long, thin darkwood sword case, itself a work of art no doubt worth a coin or two if you can find someone to buy it. What is inside, however, truly takes your breath away for a moment.
Lying on a bed of rich purple velvet is a longsword. It is obviously of exquisite craftsmanship, with a razor-sharp edge, but that is not the most startling part: the blade, hilt and crossguard all appear to be of pure, shining gold. The stories of Yaniel all mention her golden blade Radiance - it is difficult to imagine that this could be anything else.
When Lyddy mentions the magical sword, Elena stops focusing on the remainder of the letter for the time being. Upon its discovery, Elena picks up the blade, looking to inspect the gilded blade even closer. "This is the most beautiful weapon I've ever seen...can it truly be a sword of legend?"
Lyddy will share the contents of the letter and will read it to Aravashnial. She respects his knowledge and suspects he can shed further light on the information.
"If it truly is what we think, do we carry it back in a box or on our hip? If there has ever been a time we could use Yaniel's aid, I think this might be it."
Lyddy's search skills are lacking, so she turns to her allies, "Is anyone else injured?"
"I feel great through the Inheritor's Grace! What to do with these awful heathens is the question? Do we take them to Justice on the surface or do we trek back to the friendly mongrels and let them stand trial?"
As Ellena picks up the sword, it suddenly glows with a warn, golden-yellow light. Awareness of the blade seeps into her mind.
Anevia blinks when she hears the name "Vhane." "What does that bastard have to do with this?" she asks harshly. "Irabeth already exposed him and sent him packing - how'd he get involved here?" She also seems surprised to hear of the safe houses, shaking her head and adding, "As if we needed more reasons to hurry back to the city and get in touch with the authorities..."
Aravashnial is familiar with all three of the locations described as safe houses by the letter, although all he knows of Nyserian Manor is that it is owned by a noble of minor repute called Kandro Nyserian, and Topaz Solutions is simply an alchemist's shop of no real consequence as far as he was aware. "But the Tower of Estrod," he continues with a rapt expression, "I have visited it myself; it is a library and archive theoretically cataloging the history of the crusades. The potential implications are exceedingly unpleasant if the information they have collected has been turned to an Abyssal purpose. We must investigate it!"
Sense Motive
Ellena was distracted by the power of the sword, and noticed nothing of her surroundings. "This is Radiance all right...I have never felt anything with this sort of power! " Ellena repeats the command word and the sword lights up, glowing with illuminated radiance. She holds it out and allows the others to admire it, before repeating the word and causing the light to extinguish. "I don't think I'll need your Light spell for a while, Lyddy."
Looking impressed, "As long as that sword's blessings keep us alive, I'm fine if I never use the light on another sword."
"I don't know if Vhane is involved, but the letter is signed S. V., so I just wonder if he was the writer. Who is this Kandro Nyserian?" She asks the room at large, but watches Horgus from the corner of her eye.
Ellena repeats the command word and the sword lights up, glowing with illuminated radiance.
Belgood instinctively shrinks back slightly from the sword's brilliance, and cannot contain a small whimper as he shields his eyes.
"Do not know him, but some one may," the half-fiend says, being less circumspect in his glance at the merchant.
"Let's get these two trussed up and taken back to our friendly mongrels. They can decide what punishment these lawbreakers should received under their laws. I won't let them just bleed out here. Iomedae would never forgive me for such an act."