Ducking the flying hammer, and with her amorphous shield-bubble surrounding her, Reine stepped up next to Lachen, where she could reach both combatants.
The strange... distortion surrounding Reine, while it served to partially hide her own movements from those outside of it, seemed to also give her a slightly better feel for the movement of those beyond the veil.
With a grim smile, Reine shoved more of her inner rage and power out of her body and through her fingertips, even as she reached out to touch the thing called Weiralai.
Lachen's hammering blows wiped the smug expression off her bloody, battered alien face and Reine added salt to the wound with her devastating touch. Looking suddenly desperate and much the worse for wear, she grimaced at the Briarstone survivors and started making some sort of arcane gesture. "Enjoy this small victory," she sneered. "I will remember you. You will never have a night's peace, I swear it."
"Die screaming," Reine responded, as she backhanded the sneering creature, once more letting the rage and terror flow into the strike.
Nobody will remember you. So die screaming, as Reine says, and watch us not caring at all.
Reine's backhand sent Weiralai smashing to the floor, where the alien creature lay as still as the stone sarcophagi surrounding you.
Hannah breathed a sigh of relief when Weiralai hit the floor. She then took stock of her friends, happy that they didn't look the worse for wear. Except for Lachen, who definitely seemed hurt by the encounter.
"Come here and take your clothes off," she said to him, matter-of-factly. "Trust me, I'm a doctor." She wasn't looking in his direction, instead focusing on pulling on her short gloves and fishing various healing implements form the inside of her vestments. She supplemented it with some of Weiralai's tools.
She pointed him at one of the sarcophogi, "Lay there." Once he was in position, she started her work. Whilst doing so, she hummed a hymn to Sarenrae, and her gloved hands glowed with soft light.
Lachen chuckles
Well, if you are a doctor, I have no reason to keep my clothes on.
Taking her to her word, his eyes burning with the temptations of sin, the fighter doesn't stop before he's totally naked and displayed on the sarcophagus
Liking what you see, doctor Sweetheart?
The man's voice sounds slightly different, as if full of unspoken desires. Lachen himself is no adverse to a crude joke here and there, but this is something else, something that cleverly use Hannah's words against herself. She notices, however, than Lachen's hands are holding the edges of the sarcophagus with strenght and tension, and she reminds herself how he acted, nearly chilvarously, when she disrobed earlier, using his own body as a wall so no one could watch her. It's as if he was restraining himself so she's safe
Hannah had heard it all before. Fuzzy memories of a hospital came to her, though she wasn't entirely sure they were real. Inappropriate advances were just an occupational hazard.
She didn't respond to him, other than perhaps a brief humorless smile. Soon enough, she was done. Her hymn ended, and she started putting her tools away. "You may get dressed now," she said, turning away from the sarcophagus.
Tearing her eyes from the mess that was Weireralia still bubbling away under the influence of her black goo she perked up. "Oh! We are also a doctor!"
Broom was only vaguely aware of what she was doing, but she was enthusiastic as she intently watched Hannah work. Seeing the priestess reach for the tools on the table she frowned disapprovingly "Here, you don't want to use any of those. We haven't had a chance to clean them. We have this."
Broom pulled a brown leather case from her pack and opened it up revealing the vast array of shining metal surgical instruments, each one gleaming spotlessly in the light.
She didn't have the breadth of knowledge of Hannah, but she did seem to know what she was doing. "You will probably need this and this." she said, handing over an implement or two. Us made a little screechy noise "Do you think so? Maybe this will help as well?" she asked, offering one more tool from the surgical kit.
Meanwhile, though Us had taken an interest in the procedure at the start, she quickly lost interest given more intriguing things in the room. While the surgery took place, Us skittered over the the royal accuser and began to explore the strange device arrayed above him.
+8 arcana, planes or engineering. If it isn't any of these Us has other knowledges as well.
Hannah smiled amiably to Broom's assistance. "Thank you," she said. "I was prepared to use the torturer's tools. Cleanliness was not an issue." She held up one as an example. It gleamed in her grasp, good as new, and without a spot of soil. But she left it where it originally was; they served no further use to her.
"We should look around," she said as she frowned at the device over the accuser.
Lachen gets his clothes on back again, then his armor, while Hannah looks around for some loot probably.
It wasn't wise from me to get naked in such a dangerous place, even for a joke...But thank you anyway for the healing.
He seems genuinely sincere in his thanking
Hannah looked around while Lachen got dressed.
Closest at hand, Weiralai's body held little of interest beyond a pouch of small, perfect rubies.
Some say Leng rubies can be used as the focus of a plane shift spell, though it is impossible to determine what location a particular ruby is attuned to before the spell is cast.
The crypt held deceased members of the Lowls family going back decades. Two generations prior to Haserton Lowls IV, including the Count's father, his grandfather and grandmother on his father’s side, a brother, and an aunt rest in the sarcophaghi; their graves were marked:
• Haserton Lowls III, 4631–4694
• Gordel “Brigandslayer” Lowls II, 4589–4655
• Ulunda Lowls, 4602–4661
• Cerilde Lowls, 4593–4659
• Elistor Lowls, 4672–4693
The skeletons of other ancestors and more of the honored dead close to the family had been transferred into the recesses in the walls, incinerated and put in urns, or — in the case of an unnamed few — unceremoniously laid on the floor. None of the graves bore the name of Lowls’s mother, Nemira.
Someone- Weiralai, perhaps?- had arranged a neat pile of valuables next to the door. The burial items had clearly been looted from the aristocratic corpses- rings, necklaces, circlets, scepters, and other trappings of wealth. The loot included the entire panoply of a Mendevian crusader- field plate, shield, and longsword, all decorated with Iomedae's shining golden longsword. The items were all scrupulously maintained but also all showed signs of actual use in the field- whoever had worn these items had been a true knight.
Us was apparently too distracted by the presence of the varied items in the room to discern the strange device's use but Hannah recognized it as a strange occult item.
Approximately 10 inches on each side, these two square, brass-colored metal plates have rubber edges and screws at each corner used to tighten the plates like a clamp. In the center of the top plate is a fleshy tube that ends in a suction cup ringed with tiny teeth. Next to the base of the tube is a small winding key that powers the device and a toggle switch that selects the device’s function (dead or plants).
To use the confabulation plates on a dead entity, the user must clamp the plates around part of the subject’s body and attach the tube to the subject’s bare skin. Then the user has to crank the winding key for 1 minute.
Once this is complete, the user can ask the corpse two questions, and the response emits from the device in a metallic, buzzing tone. This effect is identical to speak with dead.
If the device is selected to be able to communicate with plants and clamped onto a plant, the user can communicate freely with the subject for 5 minutes as the spell speak with plants.
Confabulation plates can be used once per day.
Such strange information for Hannah to know off the top of her head.
Reine hadn't been thrilled by the idea of laying their own people down on top of the sarcophagi, but she'd not objected as Hannah and Broom went to work on Lachen. Instead, she had riffled through the fallen creature's gear, before standing watch with Des and her shadow while the other three played doctor.
"Who do we think the dead guy is?" Reine asked Desdemona, quietly, as they waited.
*****
Once everyone was regathered, and the various items gone through and identified s best they could, Reine looked at Lachen.
"You fancy dressing yourself up like a crusader? Or do we just take all this stuff back to Winter and her friends?" She sighed, "I guess we'll need to take the Accuser back with us as well. Unless we want to bring them back here and hope the body is still here by the time we collect everyone?"
It wasn't wise from me to get naked in such a dangerous place, even for a joke...But thank you anyway for the healing.
"It is my job," Hannah said with a small, brief smile. "Being nude simply speeds up the process. I could then readily access your wounds. I would have asked anyone."
Her attention, however was on the device that she seemed quite interested in. "Confabulation Plates," she said to herself, running a finger along the edge of one of the plates. "Allows one to speak to the dead, or to plants. Very strange combination." She turned to anyone who seemed interested, "Used by Mi-go scientists, primarily. An odd creature; they look like insects, but really are fungi." She could go on, but for some reason she was drawn to the device before her.
Then, Reine's query about the man's identity gave her an idea. "We could ask him. But I would not be able to use it again today."
I could use a heavier armor, I mean, I've been trained for that, but I prefer lighter armor, like this chain mail. Besides, being a crusader supposes you're working for a church, and I worship no gods, even if I feel closer to Calistria and Cayden's teachings. Freedom is important for me, something ironic considering I come from a Chelaxian's family. That at least, is what I seem to remember. Not sure if these are my true memories.
The group descended down a spiral staircase deep into the earth. There were torches lit here, and as the Briarstone survivors came to the last step they could see the wide hallway beyond was also lit. From the north was a pale, unearthly yellow light and from the south came the warm, familiar glow of torchlight.
Before they walked out into the hallway, though, Hannah spotted a magical glyph inscribed on the left-hand stone post, around shoulder height.
Red circle on map indicates AoE. It has not yet been triggered.
Hannah held up a hand, immediately recognizing the glyph on the wall. "Hold up," she was quite concerned. "Glyph of Warding. Fairly powerful, this one. Whomever triggers it will be very sorry they did, as will anyone else next to them."
She made a concerned face, "I can't dispel it. If anyone else can, please do so. If not, someone will have to take the hit while we wait up the stairs. I will heal you after."
I can work my way out of simple mechanical traps, but magica ones are beyond my league. Too bad Declan isn't here anymore, we could have used him as a bait. Does the trap make the difference between a living target and a corpse? Maybe we can throw a dead body, or at least part of it, on the trap?Or summon a creature to take the hit for the team!?
Hannah looked thoughtful a moment. "Someone needs to walk through the target area. I don't think a corpse will work, but maybe a summon? Depends on how specific the caster was."
"I could summon a small monster to trigger the glyph," Des volunteered.
"IF you can, that would likely work," Hannah relied to Des. "We should all back up the stairs until it is triggered."
Des nodded and waited for the group to retreat, then started gesturing and murmuring something in a language that sounded like snakes slithering over each other in the back of a lightless cave. The shadows thickened at her feet, though her own shadow stayed distinct standing out against the direction light would usually cast one. A second later, a pure black pony snapped into existence, shadows swirling around it like water surging around a swimmer.
The shadow summoner backed up to the bottom of the stairs and ordered the creature forward. It walked forward and as it passed under the doorway an ear-shattering explosion of noise blasted down and out, an invisible wave of pure sonic force that smashed the shadow pony down to the floor for a moment before the inky black substance dissipated and disappeared.
Just like that, the glyph was disarmed. For now.
Hannah padded to the glyph and inspected the symbol with her Arcane sight. "It's safe to continue," she reported. "But don't waste time, this might reactivate."
She, herself, carefully stepped into the hallway, looking both directions and hugging the wall.
Lachen follows Hannah, and watches around for another trap, or many other traps.
The man has a suspicious mind. That's maybe why he's still alive.
To the north, In the middle of a circular, vaulted chamber, standing on a platform of natural bedrock, a black stone monolith similar to the two in Thrushmoor glows with a pale, yellow light. Blood stains the floor surrounding the monument.
To the south, this large chamber resembles the courtyard of an ancient, subterranean palace, with columns supporting a 30-foothigh cloister dome. In the middle of the floor, a tile mosaic of the Yellow Sign emits a thin, yellow vapor that fills the room with a faint odor of chrysanthemums. The vapor rises to the concave dome of the vault, through which an image of the minarets, towers, and spires of a mysterious city silhouetted against a yellow sky can be seen. The image sways softly with a slow alternation of light and darkness, to the sound of invisible pipes and strings. At the far end of the chamber, a marble throne sits within a semicircular apse. A floor-to ceiling band of gilded mosaics decorates the walls, depicting a fantastic urban landscape populated by figures in flowing robes and full-face masks.
More immediately, a short woman in her early thirties, with long, smooth hair, wearing a ferroniere with a large, teardrop-shaped topaz on her forehead and a yellow silk blouse, and a long skirt shouted at them “If you think your condition means you’re important, you’re wrong. You are nothing! You are an ember floating from some putrid bonfire that will also wink out in the cold death of the universe. We are all worthless before the Unspeakable One! Even if he has marked you, I am the one who will open this world to him—not Lowls, and not you. You will not take my place—you will die! The King in Yellow is coming!” In a shock of recognition, Broom, Des, and Reine all knew who she was- Melisenn Kororo, usurper and conniver.
By her side was a nauseating, human-sized, winged creature combining the features of a carrion bird, an ant, a bat, and a decomposing human in a most hideous manner.
Vaguely humanoid in shape, their bodies combine elements of the forms of carrion birds, insects, and mammals, giving an outward appearance that, while horrific, might at first glance seem possible in the natural world. Yet, those who have studied dead byakhees know this to be a lie, for the creatures’ bodies hold bizarre organs and masses of unknown tissue that seem to serve no purpose; the further into a byakhee’s body one explores, the stranger its entrails become. The fact that portions of its body appear to be decaying or rotting away even as it lives only adds to the mystery of the creature’s peculiar anatomy.
Scholars have long argued that byakhees’ somewhat humanoid shape suggests a relationship to a less aberrant form of life, and that these creatures may once have even been humans. Indeed, byakhees were created from the original human denizens of the ancient city of Alar. When that city declared war upon its neighbor Carcosa, Alar vanished without a trace on the next rising of its planet’s red sun. In truth, the city and its citizens did not disappear—they were absorbed and transformed by Carcosa.
Although a byakhee longs to consume the blood of the living, it doesn’t actually ever suffer the effects of thirst or starvation and can live its entire life without ever tasting a drop of blood. Nonetheless, these creatures still feel something akin to hunger—albeit a sensation driven by a mental impulse other than a biological imperative. Some scholars theorize that this hunger is nothing more than a remnant from the race’s past, a sort of ancestral memory of starvation, perhaps, that drives them to drink blood out of a psychological need rather than a physical one. Certainly, byakhees’ bloodlust is a powerful driving force; once a byakhee has bitten a foe, it has difficulty thinking of anything other than latching on and drinking its victim dry.
Byakhees’ ability to fly between worlds through the depths of space is shared by several other types of creatures, many of which are tied in similar ways to the Elder Mythos. They are often called upon by spellcasters who use rare or forbidden magic to take advantage of such transport, yet unlike shantaks, who can impart some of their defenses against the depths of space to those they carry through the gulfs between worlds, byakhees can offer no such protection. The creatures delight in carrying ignorant spellcasters into the cold, airless void when foolishly commanded, as they feel no need to warn their would-be passengers of the dangers of interstellar travel.
A byakhee can live for centuries, although most perish from violence before attaining such an age.
Habitat and Society
Byakhees serve Hastur, his cult, and the city of Carcosa, driven by an ancient compulsion that is still as much a part of what they are as their claws and wings. The rare byakhees that manage to ignore this urge in order to serve another master—or even more remarkably, to obey no master at all—are particularly hated by other byakhees, and no efforts are spared in the pursuit of such enemies of Carcosa when their existence is exposed.
Priests of Hastur can conjure byakhees with the proper magic, as can spellcasters who use rare and eldritch spells (such as contact entity I, which uses a silver whistle as the material component). Once called to a new world to serve the cult of the King in Yellow, byakhees are quick to establish a colony. Young are hatched from noxious, leathery eggs and grow to maturity over the course of only a few weeks. Yet, once a local byakhee population reaches a few dozen, they lose the drive to procreate entirely. Only in rare cases, such as within the streets of the alien city of Carcosa or on worlds that have fallen fully under Hastur’s control, are byakhees encountered in significantly larger numbers.
Despite their bestial appearance, byakhees are as smart as the typical human and much wiser and charismatic than most. As such, it isn’t uncommon for leaders among their kind to grow in power by gaining class levels. Byakhees can excel in most classes, although they tend to avoid taking levels in classes that grant companions, mounts, or familiars— they find the presence of creatures from the natural world unpleasant at best. Most byakhees that take class levels do so as barbarians, clerics of Hastur, psychics, or sorcerers with the aberrant or starsoul bloodlines.
Mechanical info will be given based on Knowledge check.
"Oh, a Byakhee," Hannah commented matter-of-factly, as if commenting on the weather. "Servant of... uh, Him. But, of course, that goes without saying." She backed up along the wall to beyond the stairwell, to allow her friends to pass in between herself and Melisenn. "Sarenrae, bless us and allow our weapons to strike true and vanquish our foes."
"Well," Reine said, her features set in cool anger, "it's got a pet." The swirling amorphia around her shifted, revealing her head and face as she raised her voice to address the woman who had yelled at them. She projected her words, like a trained performer, so that they carried, without her needing to shout.
"You're going to die, Melisenn. And not in noble sacrifice to your blighted godling. You're going to die here. Alone. Your last words will be whimpers, and your last thoughts will be of despair and terror."
It was always odd to hear such ugly words said in Reine's beautiful voice, stated as simple facts, with an undercurrent of well-leashed anger. That oddity made them - made her - seem even more frightening.
"And your keeper here will either join you in death, or limp back to your master to report your utter failure."
Reine didn't really know anything about the ugly creature, or what it might do. She just knew that it woke the specters of fear inside her, which in turn fueled her rage. And that was enough.
Enough to drive her forth. To do all she could to ensure that these evil creatures - both of them - experienced the fear and terror and rage that they and others like them so often enjoyed inflicting on others.
Even as Reine stepped out into the hallway to clear the path for her companions, her head was once more enveloped by the protective amorphia swirling about her person.
Reine seemed to fade from view for a split second, then reappeared as if nothing happened, with a Harrow card in her hand. She dropped the card, and it fell free of the amorphia to land on the stones at her feet. The frowning face and broken sword of the Rabbit Prince looked out upon the scene for a few moments, before the card faded out of existence.
"You always were a lousy schemer, Melisenn Kororo," Reine's voice floated out of the shifting bubble around her, "it's time to face the music."
You know each other, it seems, and you hold a grudge for each other. Never good for a man to put his nose into girl's stuff...Talk about the beast and the beauty...Got more beauties on my side, and I'm as much as a beast, if not more, that this ugly fella. So that's a byakee, of course, see one everyday in the streets, but what can it do? And what can she do, by the way?
Lachen moves inside the room, not too far from Reine, not too close either, and focus his attention on the Byakhee
Come at me, bub, and lets see who's the biggest monster. You wear your monstuousness on your skin, mine is hidden within my soul. And mine is hungry for your pain. For your blood. For your screams of despair. And for your death. So come at me, if you dare.
"Melissen? Why do We remember you? And not very nice memories either? What did you do with the Count? And why do you want to bring the King in Yellow here? He will break everyone!"
She turned to the misshapen creature.
Broom opposed Ancient Grandmother's desire to break everything, and she wasn't very fond of the idea of letting any other Ancient Relative from breaking even small parts of the world so she brought up thoughts of big things and began casting a spell.
Desdemona's shadow lengthened and stretched toward Melisenn and the otherworldly monster, looming up like an approaching tidal wave of blackness.
The byakhee must have been able to understand some of Lachen's threat, because it moved in between him and Melisenn and looked shaken- to the extent that any human could read an expression in that disgusting, rotting ant-human hybrid face. In spite of its reaction to Lachen's words, it looked back and forth between him and the coming shadow and stood its ground, clearly preparing to defend Melisenn.
Melisenn sneered at Broom. "You can't stop what's coming, you sick little torturer's sidekick. Pathetic, mindless hypocrite! And you can't stop me!" She put her hand out to Lachen. "You! Stop where you are, you are not welcome here!"
"Wrong target, Melisenn, as usual, and this time that's going to be the death of you." Reine had no idea what she was saying. She only vaguely remembered this woman, but it seemed to be an appropriate thing to say.
While she was talking, Reine walked towards the hideous thing that was standing between her team and their real target. It really was hideous. This was... not going to be pretty, she knew, but giving Melisenn any more time than absolutely necessary was likely to prove deadly.
"I'll deal with the bug," Reine said to the others, "kill the little spider pulling its strings."
The rotting horror was struck a massive, resounding magical blow that nearly knocked it insensible but unlike other targets, this one was not frozen in fear at the display of Reine's terrible might.
While it did try to respond in kind, lashing out with claws and teeth, Reine's concealing mist prevented every attack from landing.
If that's all you got, you're doomed to fail.
Seeing the Byakee attacks helplessly, Lachen moves to the fight, smartly managing to sneak out behing the Byakhee, even at the risk or getting hit himself, and taunting the already nearly dead creature misses.
Can't touch this?
Hannah padded into the room after the others, whispering a prayer to Sarenrae as she did so. "Sarenrae's blessing on you," she said to Reine as she touched the other woman's shoulder.
The final words that she did not understand slipped through her lips as the thoughts of the giant Things that swam lazily through the darkness below filled her mind. With the final utterance Lachen began to grow to enormous proportions!
As those thoughts faded, Melisenn's words lingered in her mind leaving an uneasy feeling. What had she really done when she was someone else?
But that didn't matter right now, the mad woman was trying to bring someone Else Here and that would break a lot of people. "We don't know what We may have done when We were someone Else, but We aren't going to let you bring Him Here!"
A ball of black goo formed in Broom's cupped hand, very similar to the way Us oozed out of her skin. The goo formed into a ball which she flung at Melisen leaving a faint scent of vinegar in the air.
Melisenn was further away than she expected, and behind a bunch of stone pillars. The black sphere splattered across one of the stone columns sizzling and etching the rock.
Already disoriented and badly weakened by Reine's devastating strike, Lachen's hammer smashed the alien ant thing to the tile floor.
Seeing the byakhee defeated, she screamed- at Reine more than anyone else "I HATE YOU!". She made a few gestures and rose through the air up to the 30' high ceiling. "You can't stop what's coming! None of you will leave here alive!"
Desdemona flicked her hand and hungry shadows nipped at Melisenn, tearing at her skin even up in the air. Her shadow slipped away from her feet and slithered toward the Hastur priestess but even with its unnaturally long arms the huge shadow couldn't reach her up there.
"Yeah, well, you've never been on my list to send a birthday gift to, either," Reine said, looking up at the now-flying priestess.
"Neat trick, the flying. Of course, that means you're stuck up there, where we can all see you clearly."
Reine pulled out her bow and reached for an arrow.
"You should fly away. Or come down here. It won't hurt as much if you come down here."
That last bit was probably a lie, Reine realized, even as she let the arrow fly.
Lachen drops his hammer and takes his bow, his now large size giving him a booming voice
says the fighter with a smirk and a wink at Reine before adressing (nay, taunting!) the flying woman
Hannah frowned and watched the priestess soar into the domed ceiling. "Now see, that's just not playing fair," she groused.
She glanced at the enlarged Lachen and considered her options. She was going to give Lachen another personal blessing, but it seemed at this point he didn't really need it. Instead, she leaned against her quarterstaff and threw her hand out towards the priestess, a bolt of fire manifesting in the air. However, she wasn't used to aiming at flying targets and the bolt went wide.
Broom dashed up to Reine and whispered "Get as close as you can to her, We will have Our friends help you reach her." Without further explanation she pulled forth thoughts of the place of dreams and entreated the unseen friends for help.
Reine suddenly felt lighter, like she could walk straight up into the air.
Lachen's arrow hit home as easily as if he'd been aiming at a target. Melisenn flinched back, her hand going to the arrow and her expression one of shock like she was surprised she'd been hurt. She sneered at him. "You don't even know what's going on, you useless thug. Why are you even here?"
Reine's arrow hit home as well, and she got more of a response from Melisenn. "I'm going to keep you alive and sell you back to the slavers. I'm going to watch them break you, you condescending monkey b***h. Then I'm going to stand there while you beg for your life so I can be one of the last things you see before you die."
The yellow mist pooling near the ceiling swirled as Melisenn swooped over the party. She drew a sign in the air that matched the one on the floor, the mist congealing around her finger like metal shavings drawn to a magnet. Once she completed the rune, the mist burst outward and down, washing over the group in a cloud of sickening energy.
Hannah stood in the yellow plume and just... didn't react. Either she was completely immune to it, or she just didn't care. "You're going to have to do better than that," she commented before launching another fire bolt.