Lubella retaliated against her assailant.
Life Link (Su): As a standard action, you may create a bond between yourself and another creature. Each round at the start of your turn, if the bonded creature is wounded for 5 or more hit points below its maximum hit points, it heals 5 hit points and you take 5 hit points of damage. You may have one bond active per oracle level. This bond continues until the bonded creature dies, you die, the distance between you and the other creature exceeds medium range, or you end it as an immediate action (if you have multiple bonds active, you may end as many as you want as part of the same immediate action).
Lubella slashes at the remaining standing foe with deadly accuracy. Blood is drawn, along with a yell of pain.
=== Round 4 ===
21-North(-dead, orange)(-prone, bleeding yellow)(green -dead)
18-Lubella(-13, light), Arcos(-1)
13-South(-9 teal D)(-prone, bleeding D)(-5 sleeping/prone pink C)
12-Fhingle(-11), Sidius(-1), Rocky(-3), Aldren(-1),Talvek(-3)
Arcos heads down to the last cultist standing, striking her with more electricity.
Arcos circles around behind Teal and stabs her in the back with a bolt of lightning. She drops in a heap to the floor.
=== status===
Lubella(-8, light), Arcos(-1)
Fhingle(-16), Sidius(-1), Rocky(-3), Aldren(-1),Talvek(-3)
The nine small dorm rooms connected to the chapel are spartan in furnishings, with just a simple bed and nightstand/desk.
Lubella attempted to stop the cultist in front of her from bleeding to death, explaining to her friends, "We don't know where the boys are yet. We might need information."
Aldren cast a dour gaze at Lubella as she tried to save the cultist's life. Part of the half-elf wanted to argue the point. It was a cruel, petty part of him. But there was another part of him that knew it was irrelevant as he was perfectly comfortable taking care of the matter himself and, more importantly, this was part of the oath he'd sworn. The boys may still be alive, but no kindnesses have been done to them here. Yet, she is not wholly wrong.
"Keep two alive. One to question, the other to threaten. I'll save them, but we deal with the others first."
He looked down at the pink-sashed cultist, slumbering almost peacefully under Sidius's hex, and said a prayer in Elven, "এই সেই মহিলা যিনি আমার প্রতিশোধ নেন এবং আমার লোকদের আমার অধীনে রাখেন"
He wasn't particularly hurried or stealthful about it and, unless stopped, he set himself over the slumbering cultist, lifted his morningstar, and swung it for a quick end.
"Finch, wait. Would it not be better to leave this one alive? It seems... a waste?" Talvek struggled to articulate his thoughts, but his unease was more about killing a sleeping person. "It's a little silly, I know, they have to die regardless, but perhaps let things follow their course with the ones that are already dying." He shrugs, waiting for Aldren's reaction, and reaching into his pack for rope.
Aldren paused, lowering the Morningstar back to his side and looked at Talvek and Lubella. With a calm voice and masked expression, there was a cold and impersonal affect to his words, ”These are cultists of an archdevil, or the nearest thing to it. They have captured two boys with the intent of killing them — if they haven’t already — and likely have killed many more before them.
“You yourselves were hunted by them after unwittingly releasing one of their kind earlier in another act of mercy. You have to decide. Do you want to liberate a city but leave the rot at its core, or cleanse it of this filth? I’m willing to do it for you so you don’t have to sully your consciences with it, but you invite doom upon yourselves — and everyone in your rebellion — with this waffling.”
He pauses, then gestures vaguely into the deeper parts of the Lucky Bones. ”Even now, our element of surprise is lost and our enemy prepares while we debate how to deal with those who just tried to kill us. Do as you wish, but if we find those boys are dead, everyone else I find in here dies, or you’re going to have to kill me.” The complete lack of rancor or fury in the masked voice was the very thing that suggested the usually emotive half-elf was completely serious.
”Now, who do you want to spare and question?”
Sidius shakes his head, "I think, Finch, you've misunderstood Jackdaw. That one will wake shortly, so we can question her without needing to take efforts or use supplies to put someone into a state where they can talk."
Talvek clenches his jaw, looking away for a moment, and then meeting Aldren's gaze again. "You... are right." He kneels to clean his rapier on the sash of one of the fallen cultists, then sheathes it. "I was not suggesting we let any of them live, mind you. Just... not kill them while they're unconscious, although now that I think more on it, there is little difference if we do it while they're asleep or while they're restrained." As he talks, he begins tying up the pink-sashed cultist.
Aldren turned to look at Sidius, "A perfectly healthy and unharmed cultist will be more dangerous and harder to subdue if things go wrong than one already at the edge of Pharasma's realm. But..." He shrugged slightly, "Question who you want. Just bind their hands and remove the symbol of their worship, first, then be quick about it. If you want me to try to charm them and see if we can speed this along, I will, but the odds are against it working." He paused, then added in a softer tone, "But if I misunderstood, I apologize."
Lubella wasn't sure what to do with the captured cultists. Holding multiple prisoners wasn't all that practical. Normally she would consider releasing them, but the plan was to use the Lucky Bones as the Silver Raven's base; letting them go could be a security risk. Find the twins first, and figure it out later.
She moved to tie up and gag the sleeping cultist. "We can question them later, unless you feel we should do it now. Let's just stabilize the bleeding ones for the moment.
"Can someone quickly check the rooms? We should try to move quickly before the enemy gets organized."
So four of the six cultists have expired already, beyond the aid of any here. One continues her nap for another moment or two, and one has been stabilized by Lubella.
Also, Rocky would dissipate shortly after this...5 rounds max, right Sidius or not?
You have not seen any other movement or heard any other sounds from the other rooms or hallways, yet.
Talvek finishes tying off the sleeping cultist, removes her unholy symbol, then moves to search the bodies of the other cultists and the rooms from whence they came.
"We can question them later, unless you feel we should do it now.”
Aldren stared at Lubella and suddenly felt much less apologetic. ”Question them later?” He could not keep the incredulousness from his voice. ”That is madness. You propose leaving a dagger at our back. Their only utility is in questioning them now — even that risks unnecessary delay — then sending them to Pharasma for judgment.”
He paused, then more calmly added, ”Even the Dawnflower has inquisitors who bring the redemption of flame. These people have made their choice. You must accept it.”
Shaking his head in disbelief and a little disgust, he stepped away to a corner to collect himself. He’d said his piece; time for the others to figure out what they were going to do.
Sidius pauses at looks at Lubella, "I'd rather go in informed - think it's worth taking a few seconds. If you think it's better to rush forward blindly, then at the very least, I agree with Aldren. Last thing we need is another cultist attacking from the rear."
Lubella sighed, "Very well. Can someone keep watch?"
She removed the gag from the sleeping woman and woke her. "Please don't raise you voice. I'm looking for two twelve year old boys from the Ludeimus tenement. Where are they being held?"
Fhingle after the combat has died down shakes his head, seeing his own wounds touches himself again and heals more.
"My friend here just wants some information on some boys, that is why we came here. You attacked us for no reason." Fhingle says
Talvek finds that other than their wooden unholy symbols and fine nets, they do not carry much. Inside the rooms are each a vial of some strange liquid. (6 of each, net, symbol and bottle).
Lubella wakes the sleeping beauty and as the woman's mismatched eyes open, her sweet dream becomes a nightmare.
She does nothing but spit vile curses and immediately attempts to escape her bonds.
Only with Fhingle's aid, is she able to get the woman to speak anything helpful at all...
“Mahathallah’s chosen will spill the blood of those twins on the altar, and the Whore Queen herself will descend upon you!”
It is obvious that this zealot is beyond reasoning and would take stronger (magic) means to convince her otherwise.
Aldren could hear the cultist’s invective and sighed. This is an exercise in futility...but at least it seems the boys haven’t been killed yet. He walked over behind the halflings and addressed the cultist. ”Now now, don’t be rude. These slips just want to talk. Calm down. We had a misunderstanding. No need for nasty words or violence.”
Aldren then clasped his holy symbol and prayed to Calistria to make the cultist more favorably disposed to him. If she succumbed, he will ask the same questions Lubella did.
"Then we need to Hurry, Aldren is right that we cannot leave this woman alive behind us." Fhingle says hefting his small mace and turning away.
The woman glares at Aldren with venom in her eyes.
You will fail! Violence is exactly what SHE wants! she laughs out loud.
She does not seem to be any more cooperative. Although, to be fair, she does not hate you any more.
The boys are still alive — we're not too late! Lubella resigned herself to the fact that the cultist was not going to be redeemable. "I'm afraid this one is a lost cause. Do what you must."
She started quickly looking in each of the bedrooms. She didn't want to miss something obvious out of negligence.
"I'm afraid this one is a lost cause. Do what you must."
Aldren watched Lubella turn and walk away. While he found the whole debate frustrating, he appreciated this wasn’t easy for the halfling and his earlier rancor faded. He gently touched Fhingle on the shoulder, a suggestion he could leave too, if he wanted.
The priest then stepped closer to the cultist, leaned towards her, and whispered, ”I tried to do this while you were asleep, but they wanted to talk. So, you wanted violence? You’re getting your wish. Enjoy eternity as a lemure.”
As he’d already said a prayer for this one’s passing, he did not repeat it as he hefted his Morningstar and swung for her temple.
"Yes, we need to hurry. Want me to take care of the other one, Finch? It's not right that you should carry this burden alone."
If the Calistrian agrees or the others do not give signs that they want to interrogate the stabilized cultists, Talvek stabs his rapier through their heart.
Turning from the pink-sashed cultist’s body, Aldren looked at Talvek. ”I was being trained to be an assassin, of a sort. It’s a burden I’m comfortable with, but I appreciate it. Thank you.”
Fhingle goes to help Talvek with the vials of liquid that he found, nodding to Finch for what he is about to do.
You are able to dispatch the uncooperative cultists without difficulty.
Fhingle is able to greatly help Talvek with the vials, and they appear to be potions of invisibility which the women did not have a chance to use, or strangely chose not to use....
After checking the sleeping quarters, Lubella said to the others, "Ready to press on? Jackdaw, do you want to lead the way? Looks like the only way to go is through the double doors."
She hated the fact that they had to kill all the cultists, but what choice was there? They seemed to be wholeheartedly into human sacrifice. Genuine repentance had been their only hope for redemption, and realistically only in the afterlife. She wondered just how many victims their cult had done in.
She took a moment to renew her light and message spells, and prepared to follow Talvek.
Sidius steels his jaw, and watches Aldren dispatch the cultists. He pauses a moment, then offers, "She was a zealot and an active danger -- and would have remained a danger, later. You were kinder there than I would have been."
He straightens himself up, his expression hardening again, and he adds, "It might not have helped, Finch, but next time, let me weaken their resolves with an evil eye right before your spell."
"Let's not waste these, then." Talvek remarks as he downs a freshly-acquired invisibility potion and presses onwards, eyes and ears open.
Sidius steels his jaw, and watches Aldren dispatch the cultists. He pauses a moment, then offers, "She was a zealot and an active danger -- and would have remained a danger, later. You were kinder there than I would have been."
He straightens himself up, his expression hardening again, and he adds, "It might not have helped, Finch, but next time, let me weaken their resolves with an evil eye right before your spell."
Aldren was reminded how little he knew of Sidius or Fhingle, and specifically recalled his initial assessment of the human as a gallivanting noble's son playing at rebel. Wrong once again, Aldy. Maybe you were projecting a bit?
He nodded in agreement and spoke quietly while Talvek faded from view to resume his scouting, "My cheyim would be disappointed if she were still alive. The vengeance should fit the wrongs done to others. But... we haven't the time and I don't want to unnecessarily upset Kyda. I just hope what I told that woman is true; that she spends eternity as a lemure and she travels to the Boneyard haunted by that thought."
Though concealed by the mask, his nose wrinkled in disgust. "How people can worship such fiends with the promise of such a miserable afterlife is beyond me..."
He stopped the ruminating with a shake of the head. "Anyway, thank you, I guess. And I'll try to remember the hex next time... And we need drinks after this -- I feel I need to get to know you and Ba a little better." Assuming we all survive.
Lubella felt that some elaboration on her theological views was in order. She replied to Aldren, "If they were to truly repent their actions, they could have possibly averted that terrible fate. But they would have to convince the Lady of Graves.
"Redemption doesn't allow one to escape consequences for one's actions in this life, but can lead to a better afterlife."
The half-elf's temper had fully receded and, with the immediate threat dealt with, his voice was gentler than before. "I don't take exception to your intent, Kyda. Believe it or not, I even respect it. I just wish you were more comfortable with the fact some people don't want to be redeemed and aren't worth your trouble. I know this caused you pain; I take no satisfaction in that. I'd rather see you spared it. The sorry bastards at the Salt Works, sure, maybe even some members of the dottari, but these cultists? They’ve sworn their souls to fiends. You'll need a quiet cell and many years; neither of which we have."
He paused, then added, ”We all make choices. It is not so easy to accept a lifetime of them may have been wrong.”
Talvek quaffs one of the invisibility potions and rounds the corner after passing through the double-doors and wide hallway to the east.
Lubella covered her glowing blade with her cloak, allowing the barest amount of light so she could get her bearings. She moved up to the open double doors and whispered, "Talk to me, Jackdaw. What do you see?"
The tiefling moves to peek through the partially open door on the left.
While Talvek went to explore and the quiet conversation transitioned to the tense routine of waiting for the unknown, Aldren stood in something vaguely resembling a parade rest, morningstar casually cradled in his arms. While it would be an understatement to say he disliked being bored, he'd learned at his father's manor to accept sometimes you had to be still and silent. He glanced at Arcos, who'd been quiet during all of this, but was content to let the warlock be alone with his thoughts.
Fhingle takes one of the potions, "I don't sneak well despite my size, Kyda do you want to put your armor back on now or do you want me to keep taking it around for now?" Fhingle points to the armor he is carrying along with his own. "We need to move quickly I think if we are to find these boys alive."
Talvek finds a storeroom to the west.
Floor-to-ceiling shelving lines the walls of this storage space, although little beyond cobwebs and dust-covered fragments remain on the shelves. A large nest of filthy rags, soiled clothing, and moldy pillows lies in a heap to the west.
Looking east he spots a chamber with opening in the center.
A ten-foot-wide pit yawns in the center of this room, leaving a five-foot-wide walkway surrounding it. No railing guards the edges of the pit...
Lubella replied to Fhingle, "I can carry the armor. The magic from the wand provides just as much protection, and doesn't restrict my movements."
When she heard Talvek's description of the storeroom, she whispered in reply, "Sounds like something nasty sleeps there. I presume that we'll meet it eventually.
"I"m going to move up; we don't want to be too far away when the action starts."
She moved forward, trying not to show too much of her light, and trying not to make noise.
The rest of the party watches as another member of the party wanders off alone in the underground complex looking for Freddie.
Talvek takes a few more steps down the corridor to the east, whispering to Kyda. "Best leave that storeroom alone for now, we need to hurry and find the boys." He inches towards the pit, trying to discern its depth, while keeping his senses tuned to any presence in the room.
Sidius looks about, thinking, In the future, we need to bring something we can use to jam doors behind us. Having a few extra minutes - even seconds - might be what prevents us from being overrun and surviving..
Lubella waited for Talvek to give her the word to move up. She whispered to the others, "Move up close to me. We don't want to be too far from Jackdaw."
Aldren 'whispered' back, "On my way, but let's not be too close. He is invisible and quiet, so let's not ruin that if he's able to keep scouting without attracting their attention. Trust him." Before he moved up and to avoid presenting a beacon to their enemy, Aldren quickly cast Light on the blade of a dagger -- extinguishing the light on his holy symbol -- and stuck it back in a sheath.
Sidius nods and follows, as directed, looking for a safe place to keep himself hidden as he does.